The moment Cereza saw the first person get flung into the air, her mind shut down. They were being flung into the air. They were being flung into the air.

They were being flung into the air.

The blonde could hear a high pitched keening sound from nearby as her eyes locked onto the brilliant blue expanse of sky above the cliff and it took her a moment to realise it was coming from her own throat. She swallowed thickly, dully hearing the sound of the launch mechanisms activating getting closer and barely tensed her muscles before she was flying.

A scream tore from her mouth as she flew higher into the sky, the lack of gravity and solid objects around her throwing Cereza completely out of her comfort zone, and she flailed her arms in panic. ’Ohcrapohcrapohcrap.’ The blonde managed to pull herself together enough to rotate herself mid air as gravity started to take effect again, firing her pistols at the ground a few times to slow her fall slightly before unfolding Llaw Du.

The polearm was a big comfort in her grasp, and the hacker focused her sight on the tree line instead of the endless blue sky around her. She folded Llaw Du’s blades on an acute angle, catching a tree as she flew past it, and spun around the trunk dizzyingly fast. The lithe girl hit the ground hard, losing her grip on Llaw Du with the impact and skidding away from the tree and into the brush.

She lay amongst the leafy bushes for a moment, just taking comfort in the solid ground beneath her back and the canopy of leaves above her head. ’As long as I can stay out of the sky, I should be fine now.’ Cereza could feel Llaw Du back the way she had come due to her semblance, and gave a groan as she pushed herself back to her feet. She was getting kind of tired of ending up on the ground all the time. Thankfully she just had a few scratches on her shoulder and hip, which were already healing over due to her Aura.

As Cereza stepped out from the bushes a low rumble sounded from her right, and a pair of Ursa stepped out from the dense trees. Her eyes flicked to the purple and black form of Llaw Du, still hooked around the tree trunk and a good fifteen feet away from her. ”Oh. Shit.”

Having, for the most part, paid attention to Ozpin’s speech, Tamn watched in fascination as, one by one, her classmates were flung into the air. Twitching her ears she relaxed, settling into a lose stance and letting the metal plate fling her away. Gasping at the sheer rush, she glanced ahead to see what her chances were. All in all her best choice seemed to be rebounding off trees sending her further into the forest. Dragging her feet up so they’d ‘hit’ first, she plummeted towards a massive tree. Activating her sembalance, she pushed off, bouncing further into the woods, zigzagging between trees and slowly decreasing in height until she touched down, scattering dirt in an ink-stain explosion.

Deactivating her sembalance she flicked her ears around in an attempt to find anything else that might be lurking; be they students or Grimm. Having ascertained that she was alone, or as alone as one could be certain of in this forest, Tamn sighed, she was hoping to partner Cereza but was still utterly terrified that the other found her annoying. It probably didn’t help that Tamn had kept a distance, disappearing at any given moment. It had probably seemed like she was stalking Cereza, which in essence, she was, although there was no malicious intention, rather it was much like when little kids fight and one holds a grudge, so the other just keeps hanging round in the hope they’ll be forgiven. Not that Tamn had any idea if Cereza held a grudge, but she had always let stuff settle before jumping back into things.

***

Although she didn’t know it Tamn was lost. Sure her internal compass, developed from her travels, still pointed north, …or north-ish. The problem was she was a far better navigator at night. ……Not to mention the trees seemed to throw everything off. In all the time she had been wandering, quite a while, the only eventful occurrence was a pair of Beowolfs attempting to get the jump on her. She disposed of them in a solid, destructive fashion; crushing the skull of the first between her hammers, and hitting the other multiple times from above, leaving it a misformed lump on the ground. It didn’t help that she went mad round Grimm, although she couldn’t help it, but it certainly didn’t help with her finding where she should be going.

As the proffesor was going throuh his speech, a red haired girl near the middle of the line stands ready, carefully plotting her course "Alright, go about 300 feet, then launch my hook, catch a limb, and smooth sailing to the ground." the moment the plate clicks to prepare for launch, she reaches for the folded spade at her side, eyeing the other students "Shame I didn't get a chance to mingle yesterday" the faunus mutters to herself as she sees a masked boy go ]airborne, followed by one with silver hair "Guess it's luck of the draw this time." she finishes as the heavy pad at her feet pushes violently upwards.

Russ's composure stumbled when the harsh sound of the platform at the end punctuated the professor's speech. The kid went flying like a god damn ragdoll. and everyone's eyes seemed to follow him. No one said anything though, not that she could hear anyway.

"Am I the only one who just saw that kid go flying?" she asked, once again met by silence. A bit frustrated, she clicked her jaw from side to side and threw her hands up in mock surrender. "Come on guys, no one else at least a bit concerned by-"

And the last of her words were slurred by the wind as she herself was propelled into the air. A brief and faint 'holy hell!' lingering behind. So much for calm and collected, calm and collected could go screw itself in the face of the rushing wind and eagerly approaching ground. Her eyes darted from side to side in panic, trying to spot others who might have found ways to maneuver down, but all she saw were people far off. No one else looked scared, in fact some of the bastards even looked like they were enjoying themselves. What the hell. One kid vanished into the tree tops below, and she thought it might have been Jaws by the massive weapon glinting off of his back. Rest in peace, Jaws.

Her focus turned back to the ground beneath her and the air before her, and as time began its steadily increasing tick downwards, so did she.

The crimson haired girl times herself carefully, concentration on the proper release of her weapons hook to slow her fall "All clear. 1, 2, 3, NOW!" she shouts, bringing the monks spade downward as it unfolds, the crescent blade firing downwards towards a large branch, not seeing as a black haired girl veered dangerusly close, turning only as she attempted to correct for a change in the breeze "Oh, hell"' the spade wielding student says, rolling her eyes just before they collide

Perhaps her attentions had been too focused on the ground, because before she realized that she was moving just as quickly to the side as she was down, the shape of another student came rushing into her periphery.

"Shit shit shit!" her arms came up in an attempt to shield herself from the impact, but instead she only ended up horseshoed around the red-haired girl. As gravity began to take its hold back, Russ defiantly struggled against it...and gripping the girl's shoulders as if they were her last lifeline. Well, perhaps not merely 'as if'.

She got a good look at her, eyes and all, which she supposed sealed the deal. Pretty girl, faunus, looked nice enough. If they lived she might even be a pleasant person to talk to, and if not, well at least Russ wouldn't have to worry about being paired with someone she would hate.

"So, partners then? the lemur tailed faunus muses, making sure to look her passenger straight in the eyes as they fell rapidly towards the forest floor, a quick flick of her wrist sending a wave down the wire conneted to her weapon, whiping the blade into a tree below as the motor in the shaft began to rapidly pull in the slack, noticing the girls obvious fear she wrapped her free arm around Russ "Don't worry about it, i do this all the time." she giggles, a grin on her face as she uses the anchored blade as a pivot, shifting their movement forward in an arc "May want to let go know" she adds, deadpan, as the blade frees itself and rapidly ratracts towards the pole, leaving them once again in freefall with no lifeline. "Seriously. now. I need both hands for this part."

Oh good, at least the girl had a sense of humor. Made the plummeting thing seem much less threatening for around a half-second. For a moment she was prepared to shove herself off of the girl and flail for a handhold, only to be hit by the shocker that her living parachute had experience. Well now Russ, don't you feel silly.

All at once their trajectory changed, and the red-haired girl had them travelling forward rather than straight down, which was nothing less than a godsend. Then she said the most peculiar thing, in fact it was so peculiar that Russ had to go over it again in her head a few times to make sure she'd heard it correctly. Let go? Was this girl serious? Let go.They were travelling who-knew-how-fast and she wanted her to let go?

It clicked suddenly, and if there'd been any spare moments Russ might have taken one to kick herself for being so forgetful. Before the girl had finished reitterating her request, Russ let go and started the quick and horizontal descent towards the earth. Her semblance bubbled up from her gut, she felt it rise and spread to the end of each limb, pricking up the hairs on the back of her neck. The very speed around her channeled itself into the semblance, and over the course of a few moments the whistling of the wind around her quieted down. Her feet touched the ground and she slid a soft couple of feet before stopping, letting out a heaving breath as both the adrenaline and converted energy began to release.

"Holy freaking hell..."she mumbled, hunched with her hands on her knees. "Crazy-ass school with it's crazy-ass teachers and crazy-ass giant spingboards..."

Lan grips Shu Dao tightly with both hands and rams the spade end into the nearest tree, using it to slide down the trunk safely and landing beside the other girl. Lan takes a moment to straighten herself out, dusting off her shirtallowing her spade to fold up and clipping it back onto her belt as she offers the black haired human a hand, tail swishing back and forth "Lan, you?" she says cheerfully, the bags under her eyes becoming obvious now that they are once again on solid ground. she pauses a moment turning to look into the forest "Do you hear tapping?"

The tailed girl landed easily enough next to her, and wasted no time in getting her hand out. Russ gave her an odd look, still catching her breath and settling down from the fall. Her stomach still felt like it had shoved her heart up into her throat, and she put up a finger to ask for a moment, angling her head back towards the ground. If she was gonna puke, it might not be best to do it on her new partner.

A few seconds passed and she figured she'd be in the clear. Russ took the girl's hand and gave it a firm shake, eyeing her more closely. The tail threw her for a loop, then again she wasn't a zoologist or anything, so she just figured it was some kind of fluffy cat. Then again she didn't look particularly feline. Ah well, she could always ask later if it mattered, it wasn't like she had a monster-mouth or eight eyes. Her memory jolted. Right, poor Jaws, rest in peace.

"Russ," she said, motioning to the sky. "Sorry about the whole...yeah. Usually remember my blinkers."

Something seemed to have caught Lan's attention, and when she asked if she'd heard anything Russ only turned her gaze to the thick line of trunks and bushes. A hand trailed up to grasp the Son's handle. Could never be too careful. "No, you?"

"Probably just hearing things." the girl trails off, scanning the horizon "Again." Lan finishes, hand on one weapon "Alright, north. sun is there, it's 9:45:36 in the morning, early spring..." she points in a seemingly random direction "True north." she says matter-of factly "Let's go." with that, she heads in the direction she had indicated, expression going neutral

Russ just stood still and listened to Lan rattle off what seemed like pointless information. Evidently however, the girl saw far more in it than she did, and without so much as a 'wow that fall was a real doozy wasn't it?', began marching off.

"Let's go? We just, hey okay yeah we're going," she said, following along. "We just gave gravity a big middle finger, you good to just soldier on? I'm pretty sure a few of those other kids are dead. Like, dead dead. Kid-pancakes. What if we run into one of thos-them."

"You didn't go to combat school, did you? the girl inquires, stopping and spining on her heels, a grim expression on her face "People die. but not here. they're crippled at worst, they say teachers won't intervene, but that's just a scare tactic" the redhead pauses "Probably. anyways, if we run into a grimm, we kill it. simple as that." she looks around once more as a deep thumping sound comes from nearby "Okay, I know I heard something that time." she grabs the spade from her hip and spins it as it unfolds, resting the crescent over her shoulder as she watches the surroundings

Russ's brow lowered as the girl went on. Oh boy, fearless, to the point, and she heard things. She had a feeling they'd be seeing just how far a sense of humor could carry things before too long. Was this what she'd missed by coming straight to Beacon? She'd never guessed that being flung into the air and calling professors on their bluffs would be part of a huntress' curriculum.

The ground beneath her feet rumbled ever so slightly, and Russ's gaze turned immediately towards the source. Way too big to be a student, unless they'd admitted someone gigantic, or in a full suit of armor. Her hand went back up to the Son, and she began to step lightly, separating from Lan.

"Simple as that..." she muttered.

"Doesn't sound familiar," the warrior says, eyes narrowing as a flash of red and white appears through some branches "Some sort of bug?" she ponders while the massive centipede makes itself known, the deep rumbling turning to a frantic skittering as it bursts through the trees towards them "Nope. not ringing any bells." she finishes, standing stock-still as it rapidly draws closer

As soon as the beast burst into the clearing Russ's stance changed. She hunched low, weight shifted to the outer leg, and as soon as it approached she dove out of the way, a spry roll ending her up on her feet. Lan however didn't appear to be moving at all, and Russ contemplated shouting out to her. Was she catatonic? Did she just not register the monster rushing towards her? What would happen if her partner ate shit in the test? No, bad Russ. Teammate, help the teammate.

A moment before the Inkume collided with the faunus girl, she flipped her weapn forward, slamming the flat of the bell blade into its skull whilst using the leverage to fling herself over the top of it, landing on precariously on its back, still wearing a puzzled expression as she tries to remember the name of the particular species "It's a bug, so probably aim for the gaps between segments, i think?" she shouts, spinning her weapon and jamming the crescent blade into a leg joint, not even slowing it down as it turns sharply and begins to encircle the clearing

Armored bug, alright, it wasn't the scariest thing they could have encountered. Well okay perhaps it was pretty creepy, but at least it wasn't some eldritch abomination with ten limbs and a hundred mouths or something.

Lan was on it in no time, which absolutely floored Russ. No idea what it was, what it could do, and the girl decided to mount it first thing. Thank anything it hadn't just sprouted massive spikes, or rolled onto its back, or done any of the countless horrible things it might have been able to do. Instead it began to circle the area, and Russ found herself tracking the head as it did, sword still sheathed on her back. She'd need a speedy draw with range, just to be safe, and she planned to be safe.

"I need a good shot! Can you...I dunno, turn it?" she called, incing closer to the edge of the clearing in anticipation of the head.

"No idea, could be fun." Lan replies, jamming the crescent further into the joint until she heard a sickening pop, watching as the leg tumbled away, the beast shuddered violently, throwing her off balance as she throws herself aside, away from the beast, and aimed the curved ed once more, firing one blade at one segmente, the tool catches underneath one leg and the connected wire becoes entangled around several others "good start...". she thinks to herself absently as the wire unspools further "I can do better." she finishes out loud, carelessly running towards a tree and making several laps around it, jumping over the trail of wire each time . as the wire ceases to oncoil, the beasts momentum pulls against the trees roots and the razor thin wire tightens about umerous legs, cutting into the unarmored joins of many and severing them in all or in part. the sudden loss of traction on one side sends it towards the missing limbs as Lan attempts to remove the wire that is now embedded in the tree trunk "That good enough?" she asks, suddenly sounding excited as the inkume rushes towards her, attempting to find its balance

Russ blinked, her stance stuttered as she watched Lan do her thing. "Holy shit."

The grimm was clearly disabled, and Russ made a dash for the wounded side. With many of the legs gone or thereabouts, the plates would be much easier to cut between. As got within range of it, she leapt up onto its back, the balance her semblance provided going a long way in keeping her steady. She put a hand to one of the plates, activating her semblance and drawing in the beast's speed, just in case, then took ahold of the Son's handle and slashed down. As the blade cleared its round sheath, the dust kicked in, igniting each segment upon contact with the open air and turning the blade into a verible whip of concentrated lava. Her aim was for the space bewteen the plates, but damned if the thing didn't buck enough to throw her steady hands off.

Lan groans angrily and twirls the staff, severing the extended wire with the bell blade and rushing in to help her partner, jumping over the centipedes back and jamming her weapons longer blade deep into the nearest gap in its armor to act as a point of balance, rocking the handle back and forth as the blade slides deeper into the beast "Try and take off some legs. doesn't matter where" she advises, wearing an uncertain frown and trying to figure out how to retrieve her lost crescent blade "Really should have thought this through a bit more." she scowls, jerking the glorified shovel from the beasts back and spinning it downward into another leg joint, slamming it in to quickly cleave through

"Legs, got it," she said, a quick flick bringing the Son back into a rigid short sword. She kept moving along the beast's back, body low and steps quick, searching for an advantageous attack.

Russ sliced out at a few on the unwounded side, figuring if they could get the thing immobile the fight was as good as over. But then, they really couldn't be too sure what they were up against, and she'd be lying if she said the beast's eerie complacency to their assault didn't unnerve her a bit. Why just madly dash around? Did it not know where they were? Strange, these creatures, but she hadn't come to Beacon to learn about them, she'd come to kill them.

"Not doing anything. can you try and get the crescent shaped bit from that tangle of wire?" she asked, running along the creatures back as, thrown off by the imbalanced legs, began crashing into trees at random, unable to regain its balance, while its forward eyes prevented it finding them properly. The Inkume turns sharply, throwing the faunus girl off of its back and catching her across the side with on large leg, tearing through her shirt and slicing into her flesh "Son of a bitch" she mumbles lazily, attempting to regain her footing as her aura drops suddenly, the wound healing quickly as her eyes droop noticeably "We need to finish this" she yawns, finally regaining her stance and spinning, the blade on her weapon severing several legs at the lower joint as they move past

Lan went sailing off, but Russ was relieved to see her get back to her feet, if not a bit stumbly. More legs went tumbling off and yet the damned thing still rampaged on, and while the superheated blade was doing some work, it clearly wasn't enough.

Her eyes went back to the glimmer of wire on the ground, and she made a move to leap from the grimm's back. A leg swiped at her, but her semblance helped give her jump a little extra 'oomph', and she cleared both it and the distance to the pile covering the blade piece. She cast a glance back to the monster, making sure she still had time in case it caught on to her and decided to come back for seconds.

"Heads up!" she shouted, then cleaved the Son's glowing blade through the segment's wire cage, snagged the weapon piece, and then hurled it at Lan. "Oh shit please catch that," she muttered under her breath.

The faunus catches the blade in both hands, fumbling slightly as her aura slowly rises, bringing her back to full awareness. Lan quickly slides the blade onto its mount, a whirring indicating that it has clipped the remaning wire into place. "Hope this works!" she shouts, the spring back in her step as the lemur tailed girl sprints towards the beasts head, dodging a clump of dirt that is thrown towards her by one of the legs, and jumps onto its back, she maneuvers Shu Dao under its neck and splits the staff at the middle, drawing out razor wire to encircle the joint where its head met its torso, plus a bit more, before locking the spool "Catch!" she shouts, tossing one end of the weapon towards Russ and diving aside, bracing her end against a tree

Russ caught the other half of the spade, albeit barely. Damn thing was sharp and fast and about to go clean through her. She saw Lan wrap hers around a tree and figured that would do the trick for her as well.

Before the grimm could get any ideas, she lunged for the edge of the clearing and brought the spade around the trunk once before plunging deep into the wood. The wire tightened almost immediately from the three-point tension, and she turned her attention back to the beast just in time to see it rear back, lower segments continuing forward as the head stopped dead, wire tightening up just enough to cut through the tougher membrane before the momentum did the rest, tearing loose the head.

Lan whistles as she watches the directionless mess of legs go limp, remaining speed sending it sidewys into a bundle of trees "Not bad for a first kill." she says to russ, making her way towards the human girl as the wire in Shu Dao retracts itself, "So, the temple then?" she inquires, collecting the other end of her weapon and folding it back up, returnng it to its proper space on her belt

So the temple then...holy hell this girl was a trip. Russ let the Son's blade cool off before replacing it in the sheath with the longsword. Oh well, the beast was dead and they weren't, and that was about as much as she could ask for. Well, maybe a partner that wasn't a potentially crazy robot, but then beggars can't be choosers.

She rolled her shoulders, then her neck, and followed along once again after Lan.

"Damnit, I still hear that stupid tapping."

‘So my partner will be the first person that shares a glance with me within the forest.’ She liked that, she liked that a lot. It was such a romantic way of doing things. She liked that so much that she almost failed to notice that the person next to her got flung in the air.

‘Oh MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!’ she screamed in her head, for shouting out loud was rude and she was raised better than that…speaking of being raised.

‘I despise flying!!!’ she thought, for despite the fact she wasn’t technically flying, ‘This is still far too close to it. Oh WHY do people only get flung in the air when there is not a speck of rain in the sky? And why are we always flung towards a tree instead of that adorable little pond just yonder?’

She allowed a frustrated sigh to escape her lips. Not one minute into the initiation and she already had to use dust. She probably should have expected that, it wouldn’t be a good initiation if it didn’t push them to the limit, but the thought of the recent price raise in local dust still ruined her mood.

‘Let’s not use more than necessary’ she thought while drawing her rapier, a blade with a pattern of holes that coiled around it. ‘Lis, let’s let loose.’

She could feel her hair changing as water began to pour out of each hole of her rapier, followed closely by white threads like the ones that where no doubt also present on her head. The water seemingly came to life in the shape of a snake and lunged forward, assuming something resembling a U shape. With a quick command and a little timing, the water froze against 2 trees, and she found herself flung in the air for the second time that day, but this time in a more controlled manner. A slash, a flip and a roll later, she found her back against the grass and her eyes pointed at the sky, unharmed but not in the finest of moods.

“I thoroughly…THOROUGHLY…despise flying…”

As the Faunus girl and her partner wandered northward, her expression shifted from bored to a slight grin, taking in the surrounding woods ”So, you didn’t go to combat school. that much is obvious.” she started. slowing her pace to walk alongside Russ ”So, how DID you make it into Beacon?” she asked, tail swishing behind her

Uh oh. Russ knew this question would be coming from someone sooner or later, and though she had a few well-cooked answers, they weren’t as prepared as she’d have liked them to be. All the same she walked along as casually as her partner, hands finding rest as a support for her neck.

”Scholarship-type deal. Couldn’t afford Signal, so took a few tests, kicked a few asses, secured myself a slot here,” she said. ”Saw a few other kids from my exam here on the way off the ship, if you ask me it’s a good gesture for Beacon to be reaching out to us out in the sticks.”

”Good gesture, yeah. Then again they also throw us off a giant cliff and possibly to our deaths within 24 hours of arrival. she said casually, pausing a moment to examine a gouge in a tree, mostly healed over. ”Wonder how this got here...” she trailed off before continuing at a walking pace. ”So, from a village outside the kingdom, or just past the wall?”

The conversation had been steered elsewhere, good. Russ wasn’t sure what exactly the consequences of her entrance into Beacon were, but she was sure that if there were any they’d be a bit harsher than a slap on the wrist. If thieves got lashes outside of Vale, she didn’t want to think about what happened to them in prestigious places like this.

”Not too far out of the kingdom, old mining town. Like, real old, split community and everything, friendly enough though.” It took a fair bit of self-control to make the last part sound sincere, but she managed. ”How about you? From around here?”

”Vale, yeah. one of the more mixed neighborhoods.” she seemed to mull something over in her mind a moment. ”Honestly I’m lucky I even got into Beacon with my record.” she counted on her fingers ”Six counts of petty theft and one breaking and entering. they might have ignored it because I was still a kid when it happened.

Russ stopped dead in her tracks. Woah woah woah, did she just hear that correctly? She looked Lan up and down, searching for any visible scars that she might have missed beforehand. ”Did you say you got away with that? You got caught seven times and they didn’t freaking butcher you?”

”So I stole a few wallets, big deal. I was, like, ten. A slap on the wrist and i got grounded for a bit.” she said, stopping to avoid leaving the black haired girl behind ”Why? she inquired ”And what do you mean by butcher?”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Russ was the envious type by nature, she figured that was the cornerstone of all thievery, and it was hard for her not to be flat out angry. Where the hell was this girl from that ‘grounding’ was a punishment?

Russ blinked and cleared her throat, catching back up and waving off the conversation. ”Oh nothing, I just always remember those old stories, you know how they say thieves get their hands cut off? I’m a sucker for fables like that, never met a thief before so I guess I just believed it,” she said, gesturing to Lan’s own hands. ”Besides, you’re in one piece, evidence enough there.”

”True enough. I remember hearing that one, I think.” she began walking once again, gesturing for Russ to follow ”So, what do you do for fun way out in the wilds?” the lemur tailed girl questioned, pushing aside some stray branches

“You know, the usual stuff,” she said with a shrug. “We played war, hit each other with sticks. One time a kid’s arm got broken, parent’s got furious so we had to either stop or play in secret. Worked until the kid broke his arm again,” she said, chuckling as if it were some fond memory. ”But how about you? How entertaining is Vale?”

”Incredibly dull. especially the normal schools,” Lan replied ”Which, come to think of it, is how I wound up with the petty theft charges. started cutting classes, hanging out with the stupid kids who didn’t bother. come to think of it, we were way too young to have a rough crowd.” she looked back at Russ, trying to read her reaction. ”Surprising how much trouble you can get into before you even hit double digits. Be lying if I said the times I got caught were the only times i did it.” she scratched the back of her head, a goofy grin on her face. ”So, why come to Beacon, anyways? must be better career choices for you.”

Russ could feel herself growing more and more agitated by the moment. Here was this girl that had gotten away with so much, and had the nerve to be displeased with a ‘boring’ home. What kind of thief was she, she had to wonder. The mining town had been home to a few high-grade fellas, but she honestly hadn’t met another one since. Probably a lightweight, probably didn’t know how to lift a purse without tipping off the mark. Caught six times? Seven? Please.

She walked alongside Lan once again, still smiling. ”Better career choices for everyone, we’re literally sticking our necks out to monsters. But hey, put your talents to use, you know? Not good with a lot of stuff, but these?” she patted the round sheath on her back with her far-hand, and then with the other breezed against the scroll in Lan’s pocket. ”Well, I’m good with my hands, that’s what I’ve got.”

A warm smile, a quick pinch of the fingers and flick of the wrist, and Russ had it. Hah, so much for that. She slid it up her sleeve, and went to set it in her satchel, only to feel the absence of her own scroll. Her brow furrowed and she paused, looking quickly to Lan with an incredulous glare.

At the same time, Lan dropped one hand from the back of her head, quickly unclipping a pocket on her partners satchel, one with a roughly scroll shaped bulge, sliding it out with two fingers and hooking it back shut in a brief moment. The faunus girl went to slide it into the pocket containing her own, finding it empty. she pauses in her steps and turns to look at Russ, a flat expression on her face as she raised the tool. ”Birds of a feather?” she said sheepishly, nodding towards Russ’ sleeve and the nearly imperceptible edge of her croll concealed within, her attempt at maintaining a straight face collapsing into loud chuckling and a wide grin.

For a few moments Russ just stood there, glancing from her scroll to Lan’s face. She wanted to be furious, she wanted to yell at this girl for daring to steal from her. But then she felt the weight of Lan’s scroll on her palm, and dammit she couldn’t help the grinning and laughter that burst forth.

”Something something steal shit,” she said, and tossed the scroll back to her partner. Lan might be alright after all.

Lan caught the scroll and passed Russ’ to its rightful owner. ”Not bad. haven’t had someone try that on me before. usually it’s down the pant leg and into a shoe.” she praised, slipping the device back into place

”Not bad yourself, unclipped the latch and everything. Muffled the button sound too, not easy to do,” she said, and hooked the scroll back into place. ”I take it we can agree not to mark each other, huh?”

”Good idea.” Lan agreed. ”For the record, I was going to give it back when we reach the temple. the girl added, looking ahead through the next cluster of trees. ”And I believe that is the temple.” she suggested, the white marble of a pillar just visible through the branches

”That’s downright saintly of you,” Russ said, nodding in appreciation and keeping close to Lan as they approached the temple. ”I was gonna leave it on the roof.”

Cereza froze for a second beneath the glares of the Ursa pair, before diving for her polearm. The left Ursa Minor gave a terrifying roar as its mate lumbered forwards, its path intersecting with her own trajectory towards the tree. She slid underneath a swipe from its claws and pivoted from her position on the ground, swinging a foot out and planting her heel firmly in the side of the bear-monster’s lower leg. Mentally pulling the trigger of Droed Gwyn, she rolled backwards, away from the large creature and towards her weapon.

The other Ursa came lumbering in from the side, growling and swinging its large paws at the blonde. Cereza threw herself into a somersault beneath the slow attack, finally making it to where her main weapon was lying in the roots of the tree, and brought the polearm around just in time to block a second attack from the Ursa she injured beforehand. The blonde was still crouched low to the ground, and she used the leverage of the tree behind herself to prop herself up as she swung her foot again, aiming a kick at the Ursa’s face.

The kick didn’t connect, but it did line her heel up with the bear-shaped monster’s head, and she released the rest of her magazine into the creature’s mask. It staggered back and collapsed on its back, the repeated blasts to a concentrated area punching through the bone plating and killing it. The first Ursa roared once more with anger, swiping furiously at Cereza.

Tierra stood poised, scanning around for any other Grimm while keeping the two Beowolves in her sight. Seeing no trace of others, the Faunus propelled herself forward towards the closest one and swung at its neck. The hit didn’t connect, but she was on its back. The noirette sunk her sword hooks into its neck, pulled its connections towards her, and felt the body disappearing beneath her. The second one swiped, she jumped over its paw and made a parkour roll down to the ground. But it was on top of her, its mouth swooping down towards her. Behind her was an opening in the trees, so Tierra used her semblance and Sola and Luna’s dust ports to propel herself backwards, away from the maw of death.

The backwards propulsion sent Tierra tumbling in the air as the beowolf chased after her. In order to stabilize herself. the noirette attempted to point the dust ports towards the ground. After she succeeded in that, though, the push sent her back up in the air, above some of the trees. As she came back down in a clearing, she saw a Ursa pawing away at something. ”An excellent landing cushion if I do say so myself” So the Faunus pointed her swords at the back entrance to its heart and landed with a satisfying thud, a very messy cut, and the familiar feeling of disintegration. To find that the Ursa had been pawing at a student, and that student was definitely human, she was the girl she had run into earlier, and that she had now made eye contact with her. Internally she thought,”A human. Why did it have to be a human?” But externally, she managed to say, ”So I guess you and I are partners now, Cereza.”

Cereza was taken by surprise when a black and tan blur fell from the sky and directly on top of the Ursa trying to slash her past her polearm, the Ursa letting out a strangled cry as it died. As the Ursa disintegrating, the black haired girl glanced up and Cereza locked eyes with a familiar face. It was Tierra, the girl who she kept running into - literally. ”I guess?”

She pushed herself into a crouch, unclipping a magazine from her thigh and the empty pistol from her heel and replaced the ammunition.

” OK, that is a weird weapon. It’s definitely some type of gun judging by the magazine and the shape says pistol.” The idea made Tierra shiver. But why a black box instead of a trigger? Maybe it links up to her polearm somehow or… Come on, now’s not the time to examine her. You two need to get a move on.” ”Well, I guess we better get going. I left a beowolf behind earlier and I’m not sure…” Just then, the beowolf rushed into the clearing and towards the two girls.

Cereza finished loading the magazine and aimed it at the charging beowolf, firing rapidly from her crouched position. Her bullets hit the forehead of its mask in a small cluster, eventually breaking through the bone plate as she emptied another clip into the wolfish monster. She emptied her clip and switched it out for a third one quickly as the creature continued forwards, but quickly realised it was due to the creatures momentum rather than because it was still charging.

With a quick smirk she clipped the pistol back onto her heel and the empty magazines onto her thighs again, picking Llaw Du up. She leant the poleknife against her shoulder, glancing at the shorter girl as the beowolf finally fell over and started disintegrating. ”I suppose we should. Do you know which way is north?”

The blonde girl’s voice snapped Tierra back to reality, away from visions of fire and darkness. “Huh, oh North. Well, the sun is still rising, so it’s still east. When we face towards it,” the noirette demonstrated, “North will be on our right hand side.” . Saying this, she lifted up her right hand and checked to make sure the thumb and closest finger made the backwards ‘L’. “That makes North this way.”I hope..

Cereza shrugged. “Lead the way.” She followed along behind the other girl, keeping a close eye on her surroundings as they ran through the forest.

So the two went towards the temple, Tierra fuming at herself for having just stood there from shellshock and the beowolf attack’s suddenness and Cereza just worried about the possibility of more Grimm and the open, blue sky above. They made quick time travelling to the temple, arriving not long after they had met up and at the same time as quite a few other pairs.

After dusting herself off, she took a quick glance at her sword, her guard and pommel in particular, to confirm what wasn’t there; a bit of dust.

To be fair, it wasn’t a large quantity that was missing, as she made sure to use only as much as needed. She didn’t make a particularly large slide or an extra one for the landing, and even IF she knew beforehand about the launch she would have likely done the same thing since she didn’t have another landing strategy short of embracing the nearest tree while batting her eyelashes at the ground. But even so:

‘I shan’t ask my parents for more dust simply because a certain someone was reckless.’ So with that thought in mind her next course of action was obvious, ‘Find a source of water.’ And she knew just the place.

So began her trek towards a pond she only caught a glimpse of while being unceremoniously flung in the air, her left hand instinctively grabbing a piece of her knee length dress and pulling it slightly higher; a habit she’d caught from wearing one to many outfits with long skirts. Not that she managed to bring a lot of them to Beacon, since her mother forbade her from bringing more than a few long dresses with her. ‘The nerve of that woman, who does she think she is, my…ah...right...curses…’

‘...I wonder if I’ll cross paths with my partner along the way’, she couldn’t help but muse, for although she did love the partnering method employed by the headmaster, it did mean that there was always a chance the partners were not compatible. What was she to do if she ended up with a partner that hated her? 'Nothing of course', she was quick to reprimand herself, ’I will show them the same courtesy I would my own parents, although...I dearly hope I won’t have to fake my smiles any more than necessary...’

“Well...I guess I’ll find out soon enough..”

-------------------------------

Argent’s aches were slowly fading, too slowly, in his opinion, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it, so he put the thought aside. The silver haired knight kept his thoughts on the forest around him, using his senses to warn him if anything approached him as he limped along on what seemed to be a badly bruised leg, and at least two bruised ribs, probably more, but he wasn’t going to waste time checking, he needed to keep moving.

Ignoring the protests from his side and leg, Argent picked up his pace, while he couldn’t hear anything his aura was alerting him to someone, or something, watching him. Moving quickly despite his limp, he burst into a clearing with a small pond. Growls sounded from the trees behind him, Argent turned so that the pond was behind him and shifted Raphael to shield mode, drawing Michael in the same motion and shifting that into it’s revolver form.

Gun in his left hand, shield in his right, Argent’s light blue eyes scanned the tree line, just in time to widen as three Ursai burst out of the treeline with loud roars, the silver haired knight leveled his revolver and fired three shots at the lead Ursa, the slugs struck the creature in the right shoulder, upper chest, and one that ricocheted off of it’s bony mask, leaving a visible crack, a quick flip of a switch and Michael took it’s melee form, ignoring the pain in his leg and side Argent charged the three monsters, shield leading.

He couldn’t dodge around and keep shooting, even before he was injured he didn’t have that kind of speed, as he was now it would take everything he had to take on three Ursai. As he reached his opponents Argent swung Raphael into the lead Ursa’s shoulder wound and struck the crack on it’s mask with Michael, the pain and anger that resulted caused the monster to rear onto it’s hind legs for a swipe, only to get Michael’s point sliding between it’s ribs, and into it’s heart, he kicked the dissolving corpse off of his blade as the second Ursa swung a heavy paw at his head, Raphael barely caught the blow, but the jarring impact sent a wave of pain through the young knight from his ribs.

‘This is not looking good.’ thought the young knight, until the sound of water hitting flesh reached his ears, as the pressure from the blow faded as fast as it came.

“Forgive me,” said a distinctly unapologetic voice, “but i do believe that’s one of my future colleagues you are trying to ravage, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask the both of you to leave”

Argent lowered his shield to see a thick jet of water in the shape of a snake that was threaded with white light, had blasted the second Ursa off it’s paws and made the third beast hesitate, Argent didn’t waste the opportunity, he shifted Raphael into shotgun form, aimed, and shot the third Ursa in the face at point blank range, the spray of buckshot tore a hole in the monster’s skull, the Ursa instantly collapsed and began to smoke.

During this, the final Ursa stood back up, enraged and seeking retribution, yet it did not go for the serpent nor the knight, instead running around the pond towards the owner of the female voice. On the edge of the pond stood a regal witch, her white hair floating unnaturally around her head as if submerged in water. With a flick of her left wrist the water serpent entered the pond and began crossing the distance between the knight and Viola.

‘Steady...’ she assumed a fencing stance, her right foot forward and blade poised between her and the beast. The Ursa raised its right paw, ready to strike her down, but found itself hit by water for the second time that day, as the serpent lunged at it’s chin, exposing it’s neck. Wasting no time, Viola mimicked her creation and embedded her blade in the same spot the serpent struck, piercing it’s skull and killing the ursa instantly. As it fell, Argent bent and wiped Michael’s blade on the remains of the disintegrating second Ursa, then he straightened and turned to face his savior.

Two pairs of blue eyes met, one far darker than the other, and Argent gave a friendly smile to his new partner. “Thank you, you might just have saved my life. I’m Argent Roan, what’s your name?”

With the battle done and no other sign sign of danger around, Viola allowed her aura to recede, her hair turning back into the violet color she grew up with. With practiced ease, she grabbed her skirt with both hands, sword still drawn, and introduced herself the best way she knew, with a curtsy.

“Viola Lis Marsilea. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I don’t suppose you are on the lookout for a partner?”
“Not anymore, you’re the first person I’ve made eye contact with, I gather the same is true for you?” Argent pushed a loose lock of silver hair out of his eyes as he spoke.

“Splendid! I was a little worried i wouldn’t run into another student due to my little detour here” said the summoner, making her way to her new found companion while taking out a regular comb from her belt purse and adjusting the hair on her scalp to the right, a simple little trick her father taught her in order to fix her hair without a mirror after battles, with the added bonus of drawing attention to her beauty mark “Are you unharmed?”
Argent felt the pain in his side and leg decrease again, gradually, he knew, his aura was mending the damage from his landing. “Nothing too serious, my aura is healing me as we speak, I just didn’t have a very safe landing. I should be fine to make it to the temple.”
Not the answer she wanted, but she would have to trust him for the time being, “Fair enough. Just give me a moment and we can be on our way”. holding her hair in place with her right hand it changed colors once more as her eyes traveled to another side of the lake. The serpent, once motionless, traveled to her at a leisurely pace, shedding some of it’s water along the way. Crouching a bit, she allowed her creation to slither and coil around her left arm, not one speck of water seeped into her clothes. Once she was satisfied with her summon’s position, she let go of her hair as it changed back to violet. “All set!”

Argent gave a professional nod, while he was fairly sure he would get on quite well with his somewhat overly formal partner, they had a job to do. His parents had always stressed the importance of a professional attitude on a mission, ‘always keep your focus on the objective, but don’t allow it to block out your team or your surroundings, paying attention to both will save your life.’ His mother’s voice spoke in his head, it was good advice, as the silver knight walked northward with his limp already vanishing, the violet haired girl walked in his wake, she was just as attentive to her surroundings as he was, that was good, it meant that, despite the dress and heels, which Argent could never understand how anyone could fight in, this girl had some good, but not classical, training. “Hey, Viola, where did you learn to be a Huntress?” He asked.

‘That already?’ It was a question she was expecting, but only in the event she underperformed somewhere, and she doubted he saw her less than stellar landing…still, a lady does not shy away from her heritage, her father would say.

“My mother taught me everything she could on the matter.” But that didn’t mean you had to give more details than asked, her mother would retort.

“Nice, I was trained by my parents as well, your mother knew what she was doing with your training.” Argent was being completely honest, from what he’s seen, which admittedly hadn’t been much, this girl certainly operated at the appropriate level of skill required to make it in a prestigious school like Beacon. he was confident that she would have his back in a fight, but it was always good to find out as much as you could about your allies, it helped you work better together.

‘Trained by his parents, so does this mean…let’s test the waters’, “Are both of your parents teachers?”

“Nope, they’re both active Hunters, I was trained by whichever one wasn’t on a mission at the time, still, they did their best.”

She did a little dance...on the inside, as her smile became a little less polite “I can imagine, my mother, although retired, would still regularly patrol the village for grimm. It took me years before she let me accompany her, but we both figured the experience was worth the risk.”

“I can definitely relate to that, I’ve been training since I was six and I’ve only gone with Mom or Dad on missions twice, once when I was fourteen, which is also when I discovered my semblance, and once last year...”

"Uhm, forgive me for interrupting, but I was under the impression on duty hunters were not allowed to take students on missions."

“It’s fine, normally they aren’t, but when they are making a patrol round though their city or village they can bring along a student for training purposes if they get it cleared ahead of time, in my case it was the city of Atlas.”

"I see…you mentioned discovering your semblance during that mission, correct?"

Argent nodded. “I went along with my Dad on a patrol when these guys busted out of a jewelry store and…”

The two wouldn’t stop chatting anytime soon, since they weren’t in any great hurry; After all, the temple wasn’t going anywhere, and neither were their new friend.

The pale faunus groaned into the branch as he continued to try and reset his arm, an audible popping noise signaling it replacement. However it was mostly drowned out by the profanity streaming forth from Nor as he bit through the branch in his mouth. Spitting out rather unpleasant looking mixture of saliva, blood, and few teeth as well, he gingerly took his arm out from between the wood, taking a few deep breaths before flexing his hand, testing the arm.

Tsuki brushed off all the dirt clinging to her. There wasn't much she could do to get all the leaves out of her hair, but that wasn't important. What she needed to do was find a competent partner. So, she perked her ears up and listened to the noises around her. There was a squirrel at 3 o'clock, about 10 meters away. Not really what she was looking for. Tsuki twitched her right ear in annoyance. Wait. Closing her eyes,she focused on a string of sounds coming from the same organism. She couldn't make out what it saying, but she followed it nonetheless. Opening her eyes she turned to 10 o'clock, and took off. It was a ways away, almost out of her hearing range which meant they had to be around 75 meters away.

When she was drawing near, she burst into a clearing. At the edge was a male spitting out curses, teeth, and body fluids. Not exactly a great first impression. Though, she could still bail now. On second thought, it might not be a good idea. As far as Tsuki could tell, there wasn't anyone else for a good distance. Besides, that sprint to this location had been enough work for her. Hopefully this guy wouldn't be a huge let down. "Bad landing, huh?" Tsuki called out with a smirk on her face.

Nor narrowed his eyes as he realized he now had an audience. "Oh no I thought it went rather well," the shark responded, pausing a moment as he put almost his entire hand in his mouth, wiggling the appendage around a bit before taking it back with a jerk, one last loose tooth held between his thumb and index finger, "I always enjoy crashing through a tree, makes sure I'm the center of attention," a thick layer of sarcasm coming through.

He rotated the shoulder for a moment as he looked around, getting rid of the aches still lingering and searching the ground as he did so. With a soft grunt of satisfaction, he retrieved his mask from the forest floor before turning back to the newcomer. "I suppose this means we're partners, based on what they said before they treated us like ammo," he offered casually, giving his audience a once over, noting the traits marking her a Faunus as well. Well that'd make things easier at least.

"Yup, I suppose we are," Tsuki sighed. Okay the tooth thing was a bit unnerving, strike that, his whole jaw and mouth area was a bit gruesome. But, maybe she could get used to it? Oh well, no turning back now. "During your graceful descent down did you manage to see anything useful? Like which way is North, or where exactly these ruins are? I was the one who found you, so maybe you should start putting more effort into the team rather than sitting there spitting sassy comments and teeth." The faunus raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe we could sit here and wait for a creature of Grimm to come around and eat us. At least that'd be fun." She pushed off the tree and walked toward the bruised and battered boy. "The name's Tsukiko Baise, by the way." She extended her hand out in a friendly matter. Might as well get along if they were going to fight together for four years.

Nor went to take her hand before retracting his own again, grimacing at the bits of blood, saliva, and wood pulp, wiping the appendage off on the leg of his wetsuit. "How about we skip the handshake, name’s Nor," he said, seeming a bit distracted as he looked around the clearing, "I don't suppose you saaaaw-" He trailed off as he suddenly broke away, running over to tree that had been recently splintered. Hanging from the trunk by a few strands of bark and digging through the mess, he reappeared triumphantly, covered in leaves and hoisting the massive mace from the wreckage.

"Sorry, got a little distracted, luckily Jet usually leaves a trail wherever he goes," he said, a bit of the earlier tension leaving as he held the mace on his shoulder, using the other to replace his mask. While it had been covered up quick enough, he'd seen the familiar cringe when she'd seen his teeth, and figured things would go smoother with the mask.

"But as for your earlier question, I can be helpful even if I'm being 'sassy'," he said as he looked up for a moment, seeming to search for something, before walking off while opening a panel on Jet Streams handle and fiddling with the mechanics for a moment. "Might want to hurry along, I doubt it'll take the Grimm long to get here if you found me, and I'd rather not be the last pair there picking up the scraps," his voice coming out strange as it now filtered through the mask.

Tsuki followed Nor through the forest. She didn't exactly trust him, but under these circumstances, she didn't really have a choice. Though, she was rather grateful for the gas mask. Not to be rude, but his facial features didn't exactly sit well with the tigress. "You're right, the faster we get there the better. We don't even know if we're timed or if there are enough relics for everyone. Well, it wasn't explicitly stated anyways."

Tsuki's long powerful strides advanced her to her goal. A good amount of time had passed in silence as the two made their way through the thick woods. This is initiation, I need to focus. She pushed herself through cluttered branches, focusing on what she needed to do to please her audience. She wasn't much of a crowd pleaser, but this was her ticket to becoming a huntress. The distressed female's ear twitched. A noise. She suddenly stopped and held out an arm to signal Nor to stop. Then she held her index finger up to her lips. "Grimm," She muttered under her breath, loud enough for shark boy to hear. She finally looked over at him. "It's probably best if we try to avoid contact, but if it does end up getting ugly, the hit and run tactic would be best." She whispered, leaning in to him so that the beast wouldn't hear them.

Nor stood silently after she spoke, eyes widening slightly as he continued to stare at Jet Stream while his hand continued to mess with its inner workings. With a few deft motions, the plate closed once more, a blue light pulsing along the lines of the weapon, readying the weapon in case of trouble. "Agreed, but I'd like to know what it is," he said as he reached through the brush blocking his view. "Chances are if you heard it, it may have heard us too, and I'd rather not have a Grimm start stalking us," he said in a hushed voice, eyes searching for a target.

Nearby, a skittering sound can be heard in the trees as several flashes of red appear briefly in the leaves, a high pitched whine can be heard for a moment as the sky begins to darken, a single masked figure creeps down from a tree as the whine stops before vanishing once more into a bush.

Tsuki wrapped her hand around Shuo. The cold metal in her hand brought a subtle reassurance. Carefully, as not to draw too much attention, she slipped the metal rod from it's holster on her back. The feline listened to the beast's movement, but something was off. "There's a pack of them," She breathed. Tsuki's mind sharply changed course. Her thoughts of the peanut gallery turned to the monsters around her, and her posture instantly improved. "Get ready,"

Nor nodded as he loosed the head of Jetstream, the ball falling to the ground with a thud and implanting a third of the way in before Nor's aura flared to life, the spiked orb lifting easily as he raised the chain. Brandishing the handle like club, he began swinging the ball in a languid circle, watching for signs of movement in the trees around them.. "You sure you're gonna be able to take these monkeys with that stick of yours," he said in a teasing manner, trying to diffuse any tension she might have.

Once again in the shadows, several separate whining sounds can be heard as a larger of the beasts crawls forth from just beyond the clearing. Its eerily blank mask splits, revealing a mouth full of needle like teeth as the whine deepens to a wind-like howl, calling forth three of the smaller bipedal grimm, crawling on all limbs like apes. Unseen by Tsuki and Nor, a fifth crawls noiselessly from a tree behind them.

"I'll be perfectly fine with Shuo. Watch your own back." Tsuki monotoned as her polearm mechanically clanked into it's full 5 foot form. Her usual laid back attitude had disappeared from sight. What stood in the faunus' place was a tiger, tensed up and ready to pounce. Slowly, Tsuki bent her legs and lowered her center of gravity. It was now or never. The tiger pounced on its prey, leaping into the air and bringing the metal rod directly down onto the creature's skull.

Nor sighed inwardly as he watched her leap into the fray, taking his finger off the trigger. It'd probably be looked down on if he used anything that'd hurt the rather bipolar Faunus, so that ruled out most of his infusions. Looks like it was back to basics till he could get a clean shot. With that in mind he let the chain fly from his hand, aiming for one of the smaller targets not blocked by his new partner, tightening his grip to fire the barbed spike from the handle towards the tree line, aiming to get a higher vantage point. Despite the situation, a small smile formed under the mask, the familiar feeling of working together to take Grimm reminding him of past salvages.

Just after Nor launches his chain, the Dhampir behind him creeps closer, lunging forward and latching onto his back with the barbed plates on its three fingered hands and feet. a sharp hiss comes forth as it attempts to wrap one hand around his throat.
The larger grimm retreats and loud scurrying can be heard as the alpha makes its way into the treetop. After Tsuki strikes the first small dhampir, the thick armor on its head absorbs the blow and the beast grabs tightly onto the staff, pulling itself onto the weapon and clinging with both its hands and feet, hissing wildly and shaking about on the weapon in an attempt to make her lose her grip.
Meanwhile, the Nor’s flail catches one dhampir off guard, slamming into the side of it and causing it to rupture into a cloud of darkness, leaving only a disembodied head that slowly fades to an inky mist.

Tsuki let the far side of the pole drop to the ground. This damn beast was annoying. Quickly, she slid her hand further up on the pole to get closer to the dhampir and attempted to sidekick the monster's belly.

Nor let out a yell as the sudden weight landed on his back, stumbling briefly as he fought to regain his balance, and inkling of panic setting as he felt the Grimm's hand attempting to suffocate him, his aura flaring around his neck to keep the offending appendage from closing. Struggling with his assailant, the pallid runner's free arm grabbed at the hand closing around his neck, taking a firm grip on it. Attempting to keep it in place, his semblance activated as his feet sank deep into the moist forest earth, running backwards at the tree the creature had jumped from, density having increased to add to the impact.

The Dhampir clinging to Tsuki’s staff releases its grip as the kick connects, sending its light body back into a rock, the impact cracking open the thin plates over its back as eldritch smoke seeps from the wound, body going limp. Meanwhile, the grimm on the shark faunus’ back is slammed into the tree, a broken branch embedding itself at the base of the demon's neck, emerging from its throat and leaving its corpse slowly fading into oblivion. A sharp screeching erupts from behind Tsuki as the largest of the creatures drops from a tree, rushing her. Grasping her right shoulder with both hands, it attempts to bite down onto the girls shoulder with its needle like teeth.

The white haired girl switched Shuo to its spear like form. However, the transition took too long. The giant Dhampir managed to lodge its sharp as fuck teeth a decent distance into her shoulder. Grimacing, Tsuki swung the polearm up along her right arm until the blade was closing in on the monster's neck, only to have it grab onto the shaft, tugging back against the weapons owner as it releases a low, muffled hiss.

Nor's eyes sagged for a second at the sudden burst of aura use, shaking his head to get rid of the the sudden bout of drowsiness, looking dazedly back at the tree he'd just smashed against, the wood now splintered as the last vestiges of the Grimm disappeared. He broke from his daze as he heard the sounds of battle behind him, turning to see Tsuki seemingly struggling against the larger one. He grimaced as he made a decision, the head reeling back into place as he fired the barbed spike once more, angling it towards Tsuki's battle.

The sound of the line reeling in giving of a high pitched whine as he retracted it as soon as it embeded in a tree limb above, pulling him quickly through the air, retracting the spike back into it as he neared her and the larger one, bringing the mace head down near the apparent leader.

He really hoped she hadn't used much of her aura, this certainly wasn't going to earn him any bonus points.

He fired the spike once more, praying it latched onto something and grabbed a hold of Tsuki's arms as he flicked a green switch on the handle, a small hum coming from Jet Stream.

"I thought you said you could han-" his words were cut off as the wind whipped up around them, a twisted forming around them and the Grimm nearby, the trees above being stripped of their leaves by the twister.

As the swirling vortex tears at the Dhampir clinging to Tsuki, it releases its grip on her weapon and shoulder, allowing itself to be pulled away. The remaining smaller two are battered together, the impact shattering the thick armor on their skulls.
The last grimm, clearly enraged, creeps forward menacingly, mouth open as it lets loose an ear shattering wail, as if to call for more of its brethren.

Nor quickly switched his weapons to its ranged form, the head of his mace encapsulating his arm, the shifting expanding into a barrel as yellow sparks crept from the end of the barrel, a three layered cylinder at the end, each layer rotating opposite of each other as the sparks came out quicker and quicker, Nor cringing as he felt the metal getting hotter around his arm, arcs going across the spikes where the head of the weapon sat on his arm.

He turned the barrel of the weapon on the screaming Grimm, a loud crack emitting from the barrel as a pencil thin yellow beam pierced through the mask in into the forest behind the monster, the screaming halting suddenly. He gave a worried look around the area, checking for any stragglers, before switching Jet back to melee form, making a break north, "I'm not sure about you kitty, but I'd rather not be here when whatever that thing was calling shows up," he told her as he disappeared into the forest. In an seemingly unconscious movement, Nor once more had the panel open on Jet Stream, hurriedly doing maintenance as he .went, the shark wouldn't be able to use that again, but he could hopefully get it battle ready before he needed it again.

"Agreed," Tsuki mumbled. Her shoulder hurt like hell, but it'll heal in time. Her aura should help, but it was a pretty deep wound. The feline turned tail and chased after her partner in fighting crime. Or at least creatures of Grimm.

In the distance, a bone chilling cry can be heard and thunder sounds, growing ever closer.

The pairs approached the forest temple, by chance all arriving at the same time and still early in the day. It wasn't much of a temple anymore - more a run down, crumble semi-circle of pillars and flagstones, with a few walls. Arranged in a half circle, nestled in the protection of the remaining parts of the temple itself, were 22 pedestals. Each held either a blade of some sort or the matching sheath, except two which had obviously already been gathered.

Closer inspection revealed that the blades available were:

An ornate rapier with a crystaline basket hilt resembling a pair of folded bat wings. The matching scabbard was next to it, a simple thing made of brushed steel and decorated with faint, swirling etchings.

A worn broadsword with a simple round pommel, and a beaten leather sheath to go with it. The stitching on the sheath has started to fray at both ends.

A well cared for scimitar with several minor nicks in the blade and next to it is a sturdy, well oiled and cared for leather scabbard.

A slim estoc with a half-moon guard and a stylised human with four arms and four legs embossed on the pommel. Engraved on the blades in elaborate script are the words 'From Dust We Come'. Beside it rests a dark leather sheath with symbols of the four basic Dust elements stitched down one side in golden thread.

A simple gladius, looking almost new, and a simple sheath. A closer look at the sheath reveals that it has been stained with blood at one stage.

A clean and sharp cutlass with some sort of sea creature scratched into the blade, with a reinforced plastic sheath to go with it.

A broken katana with a rusted tsuba shaped like a dragon, it's badly damaged bamboo sheath looking like it will fall apart on the pedstal next to it.

A large, springsteel cavalry sabre and its sturdy kevlar sheath.

And a rainbowed titanium Jian with a Nevermore themed guard and feather tassel. Beside it is a bone sheath with red markings, similar to the designs found on Grimm masks.

As the partners move forward to choose their relic, another four burst out of the forest behind them. The leader of the pack has a bright orange mohawk and his partner is identifiable by a green pontytail. The other two are very similar in looks, cousins would be the guess of most people, with one having grey hair and a shock of purple in his fringe, and the other having purple hair and a shock of grey in his fringe. They darted through the gathered applicants and swept up the Jian and it's matching bone sheath before bouncing back the way they had come, racing towards the cliff once more as they let off jeers of 'Slowpokes!' and 'Losers!'.

next round is an all hands on deck situation, AKA a full RP collab. no time limit on this one due to sheer scale, it wil be one post, likely put up by me, containing all of our actions leading up to the teams splitting and fighting their respective 'boss monsters'

Part 1: Reaching the temple

Out of the trees and into the the clearing, the various pairs could afford to be a little less tense. Unlike the forest that was mischievous by nature, there were no more trees to block the view, no more shadows to impersonate creatures, and no rustling of leaves to fake movement. Here in the open, they would have a clear view if attacked by most species of grimm, allowing them to take a closer look at their destination.

Cereza glanced over the crumbling ruins dismissively, not really taking in much more than a forgotten piece of history that obviously bore no real impact on today’s world beyond being where Beacon held its initiation. The pedestals were obviously not part of the original structure, as they were all still in good condition and just kind of placed in a semi-circle, and she meandered into the centre of the overgrown flagstones.

The pack of loud applicants who came racing from the treeline surprised her for a moment, and she watched them with mild confusion as they yelled and jeered whilst swooping on a dark jian and matching bone sheath before disappearing into the forest again. They hadn’t even stopped to think about which relic they were taking, plus they seemed very loud and rude. ‘I’m pretty sure that mohawk guy was the one tied outside the ballroom this morning...’ The blonde mused to herself.

“This...must be the temple”, said a suddenly subdued lady named Viola. Once upon a time her father lived in a rich estate near the shores and owned most of the ships that sailed around the port, but grimm had a habit of turning even the newest of estates into ruins, much like the ones here. Old, decaying and unkempt, these ruins looked like they were claimed by time, as opposed to the grimm, nonetheless, ‘They still look far too similar to the ones mother showed me...‘

As Argent stepped out of the forest and into the temple area, the silver knight gave a quick nod of agreement at his partner’s observation, this did indeed seem to be the temple they were searching for, a semicircle of stone pedestals and some crumbling ruins, but what grabbed his attention was that on each pedestal was either a sword or a sheathe, as none of either object was repeated. Argent surmised that they were most likely the relics that each team was supposed to retrieve. “I guess we should pick one...” Thought Argent, looking around.

“What was this temple in its heyday?” Tierra wondered as she gazed around the area. The area felt still and calm, with birds singing and soft grass underfoot. The ruins were still beautiful even being only remnants of what there was before. The pedestals were the only new addition, allowing a convenient place for the relics, yet they didn’t subtract anything away from the place. As she let Cereza pick out their relic, she thought, “Could this place have been any more beautiful?”

Nor's eyes blinked rapidly as he exited the forest, his sight adjusting to the unfiltered light. As his vision quickly returned, he took inventory of the surroundings. He gave snort of disdain as he observed the small clearing, hardly even qualifying as a ruin. It looked to Nor like it might have once been the bottom of a tower, but now it was little more than a stone circle with a wall and some pedestals. The pedestals however looked a bit more recent, each of them holding either some sort of weapon or a sheathe.

He quickly scanned the collection before a disturbance from the forest caught his attention, the group from the previous night bursting through, paying little mind to the others it seemed, other than to cast a few jeers as they left. Nor's hand had crept to Jet Stream at their appearance, tension evident in his stance, cursing as he dropped a component in the panel of the weapon.

Sighing as he grabbed a pair of needle nosed pliers from a toolset found on his belt, he began digging in the weapon for the piece.

It didn't take much to put two and two together with the relics, the swords and sheaths having an obvious connection, but with the noise those bunch had made and the thing from before, he didn't really feel like sitting around to find what got curious. He closed the panel with a snap after replacing the part, turning to Tsuki, "I'm gonna take a minute to reload, burned through a couple of batteries back there," he told her as the head of the massive flail opened, a colorful assortment of short and stocky dust batteries visible, two of them now a dull black, one of them leaving a thin trail of smoke. Nor's brow furrowed at the sight, "Correction, I'm going to see if I can un-fuse this damned battery," he growled, tools coming out one after another as he tried to work the battery free.

”This is incredible.” Lan mutters as she enters the temple clearing, hardly noticing as a quartet of unruly students shove past her to reach the temple. Watching as the orange haired leader snags a grim looking Jian, her eyes tracked the others as they grabbed the matching sheath and vanish into the woods, aiming for the cliff. “Awe, man, i wanted that one. The lemur tailed girl complains as she walks into the temple, looking around at the ancient pillars. ”I wonder how many students like us have been here?” She ponders, pausing to look back to the edge of the area and gesturing for Russ to hurry up and come see. Lan looks down at the cracked stone of the temple floor, trying to imagine how it had been during her favourite Signal teacher’s initiation. The girl envisions a bright eyed young man taking some relic or another before bravely leading his team into battle, but quickly dismisses the image upon recalling the mage repeatedly insisting he had not been the leader of his team. Still, she wondered. What had his relic been? The girl had surprisingly never asked, a bit odd considering the usual barrage of questions she would issue him. Looking around, she sees gouges in the stone, as if some creature had made its final stand and lost.

That, or some kid got impatient and swang wide a few times. Who knows? She turns to watch the other students enter the temple, an oddly pale boy with some manner of oversized cannon being the greatest standout as she wanders closer to the relic stands.

"Yea, no problem, but if I were you I'd be quick about it. Since every initiate is headed towards this location, there's no doubt that some Grimm may have followed them. Plus, it's always good to be prepared." Tsuki replied to her partner, shrugging at her last comment. She tried her best to shove the feeling of punching someone in the face that the group of rambunctious boys had left on her. They grated on her nerves for some reason, but they were gone now. There was nothing the white haired girl could do about it. So, she took to observing the ruins.

It was beautiful in a kind of longing sense. As if it were waiting for a long time to finally be viewed again, but that was ridiculous. These ruins have been used for the academy's initiation for years. It was obvious in the way that battle scars littered the ground and the ruins themselves. Also the place had vines and weeds growing out from cracks, but not enough for the amount of time it's been abandoned. However, all these thoughts were pointless. Tsuki pinched the bridge of her nose when she realized that she was over analyzing the ruins. In the end, it isn't the ruins that are important, it's the freaking relics!

Russ side-stepped the fleeing students, only vaguely recognizing the scene-kid hair colors from the ship. ”Watch it shit head,” she spat, though they were gone by then. Freakin’ wonderful, as if the Grimm weren’t enough to worry about.

Lan didn’t seem too fazed, and Russ felt a bit guilty not paying more attention to the display of relics. And on top of that it seemed as though Jaws had survived, which was cool, she’d been convinced the guy would have been a pancake.

”Well, judging from the condition of some of these relics, either not many at all, or a whole damn lot,” she said, making her way to Lan’s side as she perused the ones still present. She cast a glance over her shoulder back towards the forest and the distant shape of Beacon way up high. ”I’m more curious about the route the teachers take to plant them. Doubt they’d do anything dangerous just for preparations, maybe there’s some kinda straight-shot back to Beacon.”

As the initiates wander the temple, Lan catches sight of one more interesting individual. The crimson haired faunus approaches quietly, sneaking up behind the violet haired girl. “Woah!” She shouts abruptly, forgetting to announce her presence to the other student as she observes the aquatic serpent coiled about her arm

A violent intake of breath and a flash of white hair was her initial response as Viola’s head whirled around to seek out the sudden noise. Upon noticing the source of her distress was a redheaded faunus, she removed her hand from the grip of her blade. Said faunus was so focused on her left arm she didn’t even notice Violas temporary change of hair color. After a moment of recomposing both herself and her hair, she turned towards her current source of interest and gave a practiced smile. “Is something amiss?”

The lemur tailed girl shakes her head slowly ”Nah, just looking at your weird snake thingy.”

“Lis, darling,” replied the polite witch.

”Lan” Lan replies automatically.

“If...it’s all the same with you, I would much rather it be called Lis. It’s the name I gave it after all.”

”ME Lan.’ she states jokingly, a small smile on her lips.

“...Oh! So so sorry for that, I’m not used to people introducing themselves to Lis,” her eyes traveled to her partner for a split second, “Allow me to formally introduce myself,” she continued, as she grabbed her skirt and with practiced ease, introduced herself with a curtsy.

“Viola Lis Marsilea. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss...?”

Lan Chun Tsyu” she says, standing up straight for a moment and giving a half-bow with her arms crossed over her back ”Not often you see such a cool water…thing. The lemur tailed girl says before reverting to her curious stance, slowly reaching one hand out to poke at the serpent before pushing a finger through the constructs surface, ”Kind of freaky, actually.” she adds lazily, swirling a finger around in the threads contained by the fluid form, attempting to hook the extremity around one to pull it closer to the surface

Finding her acts rather endearing, as well as familiar, Viola turned and walked at a slower pace, allowing the loony lemur the chance to play with her creation. “I assure you Lis will do you no harm; it shan’t move unless I tell her to, and even if it could I’m certain it would like you,” and she meant that. While most people in her village, even her dad for a while, where unnerved by her creations, Lan’s reaction matched her own when she created Lis for the first time; filled with wonder.

”I like her. Only seen a few construct type semblances before. I don’t think you would make the things hurt me/”

“Pardon, but Lis is an it; it doesn’t have a gender,” ‘or at least my mother hopes it doesn’t have one...come to think of it she never did tell me why that was a big deal...’

The ring tailed faunus girl withdraws her hand from the snake like entity, shaking imaginary water droplets from her limb as she stares at Lis for a minute, inactive and seemingly asleep. ”Hmm…” she mumbles, watching the threads drift about within the artificial creature, slowly withering away as if touched by an invisible flame ”Yeah, no, pretty sure it’s a she.” Lan assures, patting Lis on the head.

A polite giggle was her response as the violet lady raised her right hand to mask it. “Then i won’t correct you again on the matter...If you’ll excuse me though, we appear to have reached the temple, so I need to consult sir Roan,” she nodded in Argent’s direction, ” on which relic to pick. I would recommend you do the same, I’d regret not seeing you again simply because you and your partner believed the other would pick a relic.” she ended with another curtsy, “Till next time miss Lan.” Said Viola before leaving.

”Nice meeting you, Viola.” the sleepy girl says, waving as she walked back towards her partner ”And you too, Lis.” returning to Russ’ side ”So, relics.”

As the octet of initiates crowd into the temple, observing and deliberating relics, a rumbling sound can be heard in the distance, accompanied by the sound of a tree crashing to the earth. In the distance, an especially sharp eyed individual might just be able to discern a multi legged form moving about in the treetops, between the temple and the cliff.

Continuing her meander towards the temple after the hooligans had disappeared, Cereza absently flexed the blades of Llaw Du. Her heels clacked slightly on the old stones as she focused on the relics arrayed on the pedestals. The inhuman roars coming from the forest behind the blonde made her turn back to the forest, hefting her polearm into a ready position, but when no immediate threats appeared, she turned back to the task at hand; choosing a relic.

The hacker stepped around a violet and a red-head talking about something - did the red-head just stick her finger in a water snake? - and turned to glance over at her partner, who was slotting more ammunition into her weapon. Cereza’s eye caught sight of a cavalry saber, contrasting brightly with the dull grey pedestal, and she almost cooed over the spring steel it was made of. It’s matching kevlar sheath was excellent too, with just the right amount of high tech detailing to make her interested in the otherwise simplistic and basic weapons.

The tall girl turned back to see where her partner had disappeared to in the crowd of students, and spotted her on the other side of a silver-haired boy and the violet girl Cereza had stepped around before, looking over a shorter blade appreciatively. ’They certainly gave wannabe-Hunters good relics to pick from. Something we’re all interested in; weapons.’ She looked back at the blade in front of her, before sighing. Tierra was her partner, as odd as the thought was to Cereza, which meant that they really should reach a decision together.

Casting another glance back at the sabre and matching sheath, she strode over to her partner as the light-haired duo - who looked like a fairytale knight and witch, to be honest - picked up the sword Tierra had been looking at. As Cereza drew near to the shorter girl, she asked, “I saw a cavalry sabre and sheath on the other side of the temple, which looked pretty nice. Anything in particular catch your eye?”

She came to a stop next to the gladius sheath, and tilted her head as she looked at it. It looked new but there was something off about it…’Ah. There, old blood stains in the stitching and a slight discolouration. The blade may be new, but the sheath has seen combat.’

“I did see you looking over the gladius too. What about taking the sheath?” She held up said object, not really having any personal qualms about taking a bloodstained relic as while her own past wasn’t filled with blood and death, it hadn’t been a foreign concept to her since she was young.

Paying no mind the the sounds coming from a distance, as they were too far and too vague to raise any suspicion, Viola's eyes instead chose to focus on the relics, their varied designs contrasting with the pedestals so hard she had to fight the urge to use Lis to wash some of them.

Blades on the left, sheaths on the right, Viola’s body faced the relic she thought best to pick until her eyes noticed a rapier sheath that she couldn’t help but stare at. It was polished and well kept, colored metallic grey, it’s simple design was there to highlight its most striking feature...swirling black etchings that spiraled around in a language she couldn’t place, but with letters that were sharp and precise; not one of them farther apart from the other. It was as far as she could see, perfect.

After realizing she was staring, she took a moment to compose herself, and with a barely contained sigh, walked towards the pedestal containing a short blade, a Gladius to be precise, her eyes taking glances at the sheath every chance she had. Once she was ready to pick up the blade a thought struck her, and with the slightest hint of embarrassment, she turned to her temporary forgotten partner while twirling the aura threads inside Lis with her right hand “Is it fine if we take this...short sword with us? I may have some use for it later.”

As Viola examined the relics Argent listened to the sounds from the forest, they were clearly from something large crashing through the trees, and though Argent had an overwhelming tendency to throw himself into danger for other people the other seven initiates in the clearing were all capable of protecting themselves, and whatever was crashing it’s way towards them was clearly large enough to knock a tree down, that meant that it was large enough that the silver haired knight had no real desire to be here when it arrived. Argent shifted his grip on his sword hilt and turned as Viola held a sturdy gladius up for his approval and asked his opinion. “That’s fine, when initiation is over I’ll help you train with it if you want, I’ve got experience with fighting using two weapons.”.

“That sounds wonderful,” replied Viola, casting a final glance at the rapier before placing the gladius in between her belt and dress, using her left hand to make sure it would stay in place as best she could.

“That does not sound good.” Tierra thought when the rumble went through the woods. The cheetah faunus inserted more air dust into Sola and Luna while she scanned around for the creator of the sound. As the noirette scanned around, her eyes rested for a closer examination of the relics. The katana was broken and seemingly useless as well as its sheath. The broadsword was worn but still serviceable. The cutlass with the sea creature seemed like it would fit Nor more if he was picking it instead of the white tiger faunus who she assumed was his partner. The rapier and estoc were the most ornate which while beautiful didn’t really sit with her well as good swords. The scimitar and sabre were just not her type of sword, she didn’t like the curves that much.

Then the tawny-clothed girl’s eyes were caught by the gladius. It was simple and new, seemingly unblooded and ready for action. It was the kind of sword she had at first thought of using after she had decided to base her weapon on a sword. But the witch-like girl grabbed that before she could suggest it to Cereza. “Drats, well the sheath would also be good, unless Cereza really wants a blade.” So the swordswoman sighed and went back to watching for whatever had made that sound, not really hearing what her partner first said. Then her ears perked up when she heard her partner ask, “I did see you looking over the gladius too. What about taking the sheath?” The cheetah faunus did a 180 turn and saw her blonde partner holding up and examining the gladius sheath. The noirette then exclaimed, “Really? You would choose the sheath? I don’t know how…” Then the conflicted cheetah cleared her throat to calm herself down and said, “ I mean, I would be delighted if you choose that relic for us. But if you would prefer another, I won’t mind.” The golden-green eyed faunus hung her head and thought to herself, “Much.”

Cereza glanced up at the noirette, before turning back to studying the sheath. The shorter girl was obviously very interested in the gladius blade, while Cereza hadn’t really taken much interest in swords before. She was happy with Llaw Du, after all. Cereza’s main reasons for looking over the cavalry sabre had been more interest in how the crafter had made a basic weapon look high-tech and modern than anything else.

Plus, the blonde had read about teamwork after Midas had told her Beacon student operated in teams, and everything she had read seemed to suggest that teamwork was about working together and how sometimes compromises were made. The hacker didn’t have anything against the gladius sheath, so she saw no real reason not to pick it if her partner liked it so much. “Sure. Not a problem.”

Cereza hooked the sheath on the back of her belt, where Llaw Du usually sat.

Tierra looked up and and smiled, “Thank you.” Then the noise of the creature grew louder. The swordswoman readied her weapons and said, “Here I’m going to check it out. Are you joining?” Then the cheetah faunus approached the woods where two others were.

Cereza frowned as the noise grew louder, and scanned the area they were in, trying to see if there was a good spot for defensive tactics in the clearing.

With a short cry of triumph, Nor's head raised from the weapon, sweat visible on his face as he pulled the slightly melted battery from the guts of the weapon, gingerly holding the item between his forefinger and thumb. The outlet for the battery within Jet Stream was a mess itself, and would probably need to be replaced, but at least the battery wouldn't be causing anymore damage. It was a simple enough process to pull out the remaining battery, quickly putting another one with a green glow in its place, before the head snapped, the lines along the weapon turning a bright blue as the weapon came back to life, dieing back down to a slow pulse of light.

Nor spared a moment's glance to the forest, but disregarded the commotion, assuming it might be another group dealing with yet another herd of Grimm. The sharp-toothed faunus observed the group that had gathered around, giving them a once over as he studied them. It was a rather...eclectic group to say the least, their apparel and weaponry running from one end of the spectrum and back. It was rather enjoyable to see such an assortment of mechanical wonders strapped to the various hunters. A little bit of their personality could be gleaned from most of them.

One going the old sword and board technique, wanting to defend while he could also punish his assailant. Another seemed to prefer an elegant grace, melding weapon with a personal ability in a harmonious blend. Nor smiled as he looked at these weapons, so many moving bits and pieces, so much crafting techniques passed down from one teacher to the next, trying to perfect the craft. Best of all, each of their workings could be understood, with enough observation and study. With every bolt and nut seen, one could begin to underst-

Nor's line of thought broke off as the sound in distance continued to grow closer, standing up as he took a guarded stance. Whatever it was seemed to be coming straight for them, and with his luck today he doubted they'd be changing course anytime soon.

As the Lan parts ways with the violet witch, the lemur prepares to approach her partner, however a particular relic catches the red haired girls eye ”Ooh, shiny!” she whistles in her head, stepping towards the crystal hilted rapier. The young huntress examines the intricate patterns on the basket, reaching out and brushing a finger along the carved, wing-like pattern. ”No, bad Lan. can’t just take the shiniest thing.” She berates herself, stepping away from it and towards the next item in the line, a worn old broadsword. ”Boring…” the girl says, moving along to a highly ornate estoc, ”Hey, Russ, got any preference for relics?” She shouts to the dark haired teen, picking up the blade to look at it closer. ”From dust we come, huh? Where have I heard that line before?” The red-head shrugs, setting the sword back down for a moment to glance around at the other students to see watch the other relics being selected. Seeing a gladius and sheath taken by what she could only assume was now a team, Lan goes back to staring intensely at the Estoc, taking in the details of the pommel and clean, sharp lines of the inscription.

”I kind of like this thing.” She says just as much to herself as she does to her partner while shifting her gaze to the somewhat pale girl, eyes locking onto her face. ”Come to think, she’s pretty cute."no The spade wielding lemur thinks idly as she awaits a response, ”A little rough, but something in her face… She trails off, trying to envision Russ in a slightly less ragged light.

Tsuki's ears swiveled towards an incoming sound as her back straightened up. She heard horseshoes rapidly pounding into the ground. There had to be 8 separate hooves, and whatever was attached to them had to weigh more than the average horse. The creature was approaching the ruins at a rapid rate. It would be best to grab a relic and eject out as soon as possible. Tsuki mentally cursed herself for not noticing the noise sooner. So, the pale female started to scan the weapons.

The swords and sheaths were a pretty neat idea for relics. Preferably the faunus girl would have taken a sword, but she was pretty picky when it came to designs. That's why she didn't have a sword as a weapon, the feline could never find affordable materials that matched her high standards. While observing the relics, the gold stitching of a sheath caught her eye. With danger quickly approaching, the hunter-in-training grabbed the dark leather sheath. "You good with this one? 'Cause we need to get back ASAP."

Nor nodded silently in response, hardly looking away from the forest, Jet Stream held at the ready for whatever was coming.

Russ found herself perusing the relics as well alongside her partner, though her interest was quicker to wane away. They were pretty, sure, and the ones that weren’t were at least interesting, but to be honest she wouldn’t have even considered taking any of them into a fight. One of the weapons was flat out broken, others were battle-worn, and she didn’t trust anything that looked cushy and unused. But she supposed it didn’t matter, they all had weapons, these must’ve just been calling cards of some sort. Would it really matter which one they took?

Either way, it seemed as though Lan had settled on the estoc. Nice weapon, solid choice if not a tad cumbersome.

”Yeah sure,” Russ said, going over to inspect the blade as a whole. A sudden spark in her gut reminded her that even if these things weren’t exactly battle-optimal, they were for the most part expertly crafted. Sure Hunters and Huntresses might not take serious interest in them, but there were plenty of impulsive folks who wanted something sharp to strap to their hip, whether it would stand against a Grimm or not. Some of the more finely-detailed pieces would have sold for more than she saw in her whole damn childhood.

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Dammit, stop it Russ. No stealing anything at Beacon. Her attention turned back to Lan, and she forced a smile on her face with just enough poise to avoid looking fake.

”Well, looks like we’re set then. Good choice.”

The lemur nods in recognition, picking up the weapon and tucking it into her belt, alongside Shu Dao. ”So, time to head back, then? she inquires, looking back towards the cliff and the sound of rumbling, ”Although we may have to deal with… whatever is making that racket.”

Russ turned towards the sound Lan had brought to her attention. Oh great, one giant monster wasn’t enough, no no, and there wasn’t a single doubt in her mind that whatever this was it was going to exponentially more terrifying than the centipede had been. With a heavy breath she brought a hand to the Daughter’s handle, though she was more ready to run than she was to stick around and duke it out.

”One bridge at a time, we oughta find a way out of here. Killing Grimm won’t help us pass the test.” she said. ”And I’m sure dying to one would do even less for our scores.”

Lan sighs. ”I mean, yeah, if you want to be all logical about it.” she agrees reluctantly ”But whatever that thing is, it’s between us and the cliff,” the red haired girl adds, taking a step towards the edge of the clearing, where some of the others had gathered, seeming to discuss the impending threat.

With the relic out of the way, the perceptive postulant princess’ focus shifted towards her partner, his eyes in particular. Much like hers he seemed to be glancing to the side, unlike hers, his shifted towards the forest. “Something troubling you Sir Roan?”

“Something very large is heading our way, and I don’t like it.” Argent replied.

“I don’t like it either.” Tierra said as she approached the duo, also examining the woods. “I could try for a bird’s eye view if you’d like, but I’m not sure how close it is and if I could spot it.”

“It’s better than nothing, darling. I can send Lis,” she raised her left arm to highlight her creation, “in it’s path so i can tell how close it is, but it does not have eyes nor a method to tell me what it is we are dealing with.”

Argent’s pale blue eyes fixed in the direction of the noise. “It’s probably a good idea to try Tierra, if you could see what this thing is that would probably help alot.” The silver haired knight then glanced at his partner before directing his words to her. “Viola, Tierra and I met on the airship, though she only gave me a first name.”

“Pleasure to meet you, my name is Viola Lis Marsilea,”said the witch, ‘how many times have i said that today, I wonder...’

The cheetah faunus responded “Blerta. Tierra Blerta.” and shot herself up to a nearby tree branch with Sola and Luna. From there, she jumped from branch to branch until her claws were enough to take her the rest of the way up.

Argent waited a few minutes as Tierra looked out into the trees from her high vantage point. “See anything up there?” The silver knight called up to the Faunus girl.

Tierra looked out and tried to penetrate the cloud of dust formed from the monster’s movements. “The trees are taller than the creature, but it somehow looks horse-like with a flaming mane even with the two horns.” She responded to the silver knight’s inquiry, “Yet it seems there are more legs than horses usually have.”

Argent recognized the description from one of his Father’s lessons on various Grimm types. “That sounds like a Nightmare, this is not good, they generally run in herds, how many can you see, and how far away are they?”

“I only see one.” The cheetah faunus replied. “And it’s about 100 stone throws away and closing.”

“It won’t stay alone for long if it makes to much of a ruckus. It’s pack can’t be too far off...what could have caused it to stray from it’s pack in the first place though, I wonder?”

“We should all work together for this, we aren’t going to outrun a Nightmare that’s this close, but we should be able to take it down together.” Argent raised his voice so everyone could hear him as he’d spoken those words.

Cereza stepped over as the silver-haired knight spoke, shaking her head. “There’s nothing defensible about this spot. If we’re going to face this thing, even as a group, we’ll have to find somewhere better.” She held up a hand to stall any protests. “I’m not suggesting running blindly away - though really, if we could get away it’d be good - but we need to move to a more defensible position or it’s just going to trample us in here. We’re nothing more than adware in front of a firewall here.”

“It does have far too much room to move in this clearing, I agree. It’s probably best we fight it somewhere inside the forest and use the trees to slow it down,” said Viola, siding with…”Viola Lis Marsilea,” she did a quick curtsy, “May I have your name?”

“Cereza.” Cereza nodded to the violet witch as she spoke. “Or we could find a defensible ruin - if the temple is here, there must be more.”

Argent stepped back from the tall blonde with a slight smile as the beginnings of a battle light in his eyes. “Then lead the way Cereza, I’m Argent Roan, by the way.”

“Well, do you want me to spot a position up here or do you want to blindly run around and find one? Looks like there’s a ring of ruins on top of that hill that might work, off to the south-west.”

“Sounds like a plan. Tierra, you be our eyes in the trees, keep an eye out for any Grimm we may encounter.” She hefted Llaw Du into a ready position.

“Alright, tree jumping here I go.”

“…Guess I can forget about saving dust during initiation…” she muttered to no one in particular.

“What’s the big deal with wasting dust?”

“What’s the...?! Are you monstrously well off financially or trying to mock me? The dust price got raised by point three percent in the last week! Why, if i were more paranoid I’d say someone timed it so my expenses du...” Viola decided to glance behind her. Sure enough, Lan was there, appearing behind Viola to resume poking at the aquatic serpent.

”Professor Smith at Signal uses dust for everything, he never seemed worried about conserving it.” the lemur replies, patting the phantasmal water creature on the head absentmindedly, a slight grin on her face

“...hello again Miss Lan.”

”Nice to see you again, Viola, Lis.”

“Mind if i ask how long have you been here?” said the witch.

”Depends on what you mean by here” she replies, turning to face the ever growing rumble in the forest.

Noticing the rumble as well, Viola decided to skip to the point, “We want to try and lure the approaching grimm somewhere where it’s movement will be hampered.”

The young huntress thinks a moment, resting a hand under her chin “Like one of the older ruins lying around the forest, right?”

“Precisely. Miss Blerta has located one such set and the four of us are ready to depart, but with you still here it might choose to not follow us. Would you join us please?” said Viola, ” Eight hunters to be are better than two groups of four,” she added for good measure, a small hint of worry could be noticed in her tone.

Lan turns around, observing her teammates a moment before cupping both hands around her mouth, “Hey, Russ, we should get moving. These guys have a plan!”

"Alright, we've got a relic, and I have to say I agree with Blade Runner over here," Nor said referring to Cereza, turning back to Tsuki and the rest of his fellow students, strapping Jet Stream to his back as he got ready to leave, "I'd rather not be in the kill zone when whatever's making that noise gets here," he told them as he put the rest of his tools away, "You going to have any trouble carrying the sheathe if we have to fight Tsuki?" he asked as he made a last second check, ready to leave the "temple" behind him.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll tell you if it gets in the way too much." Tsuki replied. She looked around at her resources before taking Shuo off of it's magnetic chain. The tiger faunus then created a loop with the chain to keep the sheath in. It may not be a solid place to keep it, but it would have to do.

“Viola, you should go too, I’ll wait until everyone else has gotten out and guard the rear.” Argent suggested to his partner.

“Forgive me,” said Viola in a distinctly unapologetic tone, “but unless i missed a memo I am not the one missing a sizable percentage of their aura, so either you get in front with me or we are both staying in the back.”

"We'll need you at the front, Argent." Cereza interjected. "Tierra is our eyes in the trees, but you have the only weapon that's really suitable for sudden close range combat as well as a shield." The blonde gestured to Nor. " You've got a big mace - Viola, can you leave your little snake thing to follow along behind at a distance and let him know if it catches up? The rest of us have pole weapons - we should pick someone with a short range weapon and back them up."

"Tierra!" She called up to her partner, who Cereza could only imagine was growing impatient with the delay. "If you have any trouble up there, drop down and we can deal with it as a group."

Russ wasted no time in hurrying over to the others. A plan sounded good, it was more than she had to offer anyway. As long as Lan had their relic and they made it out in once piece, she didn’t care how things turned out.

”Let’s get this shit done,” she said, figuring enough time had been wasted. If she’d missed anything crucial, well, she’d cross that bridge when it presented itself.

The roar of thunder reached a breaking point as the massive equine Grimm erupted into the temple clearing, stopping in its tracks to glare at the group of students for a moment before letting loose a hellish whinny.
As a group, the octet peeled away from the forest temple and the relics still resting within, fleeing together into the forest in an attempt to escape the beast. It wasn’t a very cohesive group, as the recruits had never worked together before, but they were close enough to each other to help anyone who got into a spot of trouble. The thundering of the Nightmare’s hooves seemed to grow closer as the beast hunted them, even as they pushed towards the hilltop ruin where the group intended to make their stand.

The forest flew by quickly, none of the octet really paying any attention to the sights as they focused on reaching the hilltop ruins, following the barely noticeable glimpses of Tierra in the treetops just in front of them.

So focused were they on not tripping and falling behind, there was no one to notice a grimace covering the face of the currently violet haired witch, a singular frown line attempting to swallow her beauty mark. “Lis got trampled; it’s getting close!” shouted Viola towards the tree canopy, hoping their would be scout could hear it.

Tierra only just caught the words through the wind whipping past and cursed, echoed by quite a few of the others on the ground level. She barely resisted the urge to activate her semblance, realising that she would quickly leave the others behind with no clue where to go. “We need to pick up the pace!”

“We’re trying!” Russ gasped out, pushing herself to go faster.

As they drew near the ruins, a flash of white bone plating caught the eye of the tree bound Faunus. Tierra let loose a shout of alarm as a deadly sharp, sickle-like blade suddenly blocked her path, mere inches above her head, and attempted to split open the girls skull. A surprised dodge stopped that from happening, the blade instead cutting through the tree she was on, and a fair amount of branches and leaves came down around her as the cheetah Faunus dropped from the branches to avoid the sudden attack, landing near her partner. The great horned head of the beast emerged from the canopy, bellowing at the octet as they skidded to a halt to avoid the rain of timber.

Argent whipped his head in the direction Tierra dropped from, his sword automatically raising and shifting into its revolver form as his eyes focused on the angry red eyes of the beast. Three loud cracks resounded through the forest as bullets sparked off the creature's face plating, and the light in its eyes grew blinding with rage. A scream of pure rage ripped from the Chimera's throat as it turned on the group, charging forward with its tail whipping wildly from side to side.

Cereza, Viola, Argent and Tierra all dove the the left of the beast while Nor, Lan, Tsuki and Russ dove to the right, letting the large beast skitter through them on its eight spindly, spider-like legs. As it rushed nimbly up a tree on the opposite side of the clearing, the Nightmare burst through the treeline behind the octet, and the two separate groups of four shared a glance.

“Run!” Someone shouted, though none could tell who in the heat of the moment. The Chimera dropped back into the clearing in between the two groups, cutting Nor and the others off from the other four applicants.

Tierra gestured widely with one arm, “The ruin is this way!”

The noirette led the three who could follow her through the forest, towards where she had last seen the hilltop ruins. Nor cursed as the Chimera gave chase, blocking off their chances of following, and the Nightmare turned to the remaining quartet. It seemed to study them for a moment, a tense moment of quiet descending as the Chimera chased the other group up the hill, before the Grimm gave a high pitched whinny. It’s nostrils flared above jagged razor sharp teeth as it peeled back its lips and stomped two of its eight feet, before rearing on four legs and charging.

As it bore down on the group all four of the remaining applicants turned and ran in unison, heading deeper into the forest in hopes of finding a more defensible position. Shots swung wide as those with ranged weapons fired over their shoulder in an attempt to discourage or lose the creature.

After running for what seemed to be hours, though in truth it was merely a few minutes, the future team claret found themselves starting up an incline, approaching the hilltop ruins. The trees hadn’t broken yet, though they were obviously smaller than the rest of the forest due to no one having cleared them for so long. The Chimera skittered after them, traveling from tree to tree as it lashed out with its deadly tail and trying to get the drop on the four. Pieces of ancient masonry started to peak out from their surroundings, overgrown by roots and bushes and moss as the incline increased, making them scramble over the broken pieces of stone and rock.

Ahead, they could see the skeleton of what had obviously been a large fort at one point through the thinning trees. A few crumbling walls and a single rampart were still standing, with a tower looming over one corner of the main courtyard that looked like a stiff breeze may knock it over. The half collapsed shells of buildings, once used to house people and animals, were littered around a central courtyard. Littered here and there, obviously not a part of the original building but at the same time at least a few decades old, were the rotting remains of barrels and crates. Tucked away in one corner was a half collapsed trebuchet, the iron rusted away terribly on the main support struts.

As one, the quartet dove into a narrow gap between a wall and a half collapsed building, too small for the chimera to follow, and travelled further in until its tail couldn’t reach them either. The four shared a look as they listened to the skittering of the large monster over loose stones and dust trailed from the half collapsed building around them, taking a moment to catch their breath before diving into a battle against the creature.

“Well,” it was a would be princess that broke the silence, as she combed her fingers through her hair to make it look presentable, “exactly as planned, wouldn’t you agree?”

“You could say that.” Cereza wheezed, collapsing Llaw Du to allow for easier movement in the enclosed space and scrubbing the shaved part of her head with one hand. She’d expand it again when she got outside.

It was a strange feeling for most of them. For one, they were standing inside a tunnel as a Grimm tried to kill them from the outside; a few of them have been in similar situation, but it was usually the other way around. For another, they where in this situation with strangers their age. No mentors, no teachers, no escorts, no parents; just people their age that came to the academy with the intent to pass and find their dreams. Despite the situation, it was hard for the four would be heroes to describe which of the two aspects was bothering them more.

The future hunters continued to catch their breath, eyes on the tail that desperately clawed at the tunnel's walls, exiting only for a second as the beast rammed at the tunnel's entrance, trying to make room so it’s tail can reach them.

‘The walls look sturdy, but we’ll have to get out soon lest it caves us in,’ mused Viola as she stopped combing her hair, ‘it’s going to get messy again in but a moment’. Mentally checking herself to feel her aura, a thought struck the sea witch as her lips pursed slightly in a subtle show of worry. “Sir Roan, how’s your...well, everything really?”

Argent kept his focus on the large monster outside their tunnel, but he spared a quick, humorless laugh at his partner’s question. “I’m ok, my injuries from my landing are all healed, my aura is at about fifty percent, I think, which admittedly is still about the same size as most people’s normal aura level, and I’m down two shotgun shells and three revolver rounds, how about you, er... all of you?”

A wink and a smile was Violas response. “A trifle miffed I won’t get to teach that Nightmare a lesson for stepping on Lis, but fine.”

“I’ve barely done anything but run, so my aura levels are fine. I’m down to four and a half magazines though, so that’s fifty-eight bullets. They’re not very powerful, either.” Cereza muttered to herself, “One day I won’t need them at all.”

“My aura levels are still fine.” The cheetah faunus said as she loaded up another air dust canister, “and I’ll have full mags in a bit.” Then she paused and asked the witch-like one, “Any idea what would happen if we were able to send a tidal wave towards him?”

Said witch could only cringe, “I’d likely have to sell my body for the years I’d spend at Beacon to cover the cost.”

“If it’s the cost you’re worried about, don’t worry. I can cover that.” Cereza told the violet witch. She didn’t let on that her ‘covering’ wasn’t liked by the law, but the hacker had been taught well enough to cover all her tracks anyway. Plus, her semblance made it easier to erase traces. It’s hard for computers to map a human mind going through their systems after all. “Use as much dust as you need to; I’ll forward you a full load of replacements when this is all done, as long as we all survive this. Money has never been a problem for me.”

“Only if you let me pay it back with interest. I may not be wealthy, but I refuse to owe people money,” said Viola in a firm tone.

Cereza waved the violet witch’s concerns away, “You can pay me back later, but only after you start doing missions, and not all at once either. At least if I replace what you use today, you won’t be broke or have none at all for the rest of our time at Beacon.”

“Besides, I only need two dust canisters,” Tierra replied. “My swords are capable of doing more than just air dust, I just choose air dust since I mostly use it as a booster and air is just better for that purpose. But I should be able to go by the entrance and send out a downpour upon the Grimm.”

“That thing is a little too big for two canisters of water Dust to do much.”

“Besides, I...”

“I could then at least get it into its eyes,” the noirette shot back. “Then you guys can make it out while it’s distracted. Besides, using the full canister should create a steady wave to use for a bit, I only use partial canisters for my short bursts.”

“I really don’t think that we’ll need that much...”

“How good are you at using dust, Tierra, Viola?” Cereza asked, and furrowed her brow. “We should probably have the person best at manipulating it be the one striking the creature - that way the dust would last longer and do more damage.”

“I may be so-so with dust use and have more experience with air dust,” the tawny-clothed girl said. “But I have the better chance of escaping afterwards; my semblance allows me to move quickly and I learned how to effectively use it for hit-and-run tactics.”

With a huff, Viola tried again, “As I was trying to say, I shouldn’t need that much dust to get it’s attention. I can simply make a sturdier version of Lis and have it crawl up it’s tail and attack it’s eyes; it likely won’t kill it, but it should take it’s mind off us long enough to get out.”

“That might work,” Cereza nodded at Viola, and thought for a moment, “Maybe a combination of both? Viola, you could make a...Lis, was it? and distract the creature initially. While it’s distracted, we could make a break for a more open area and both of you could keep an eye on the beast in case it switches its attention back to us. Tierra, you go first and find a good spot to keep its attention without getting attacked yourself - you said you are good at hit and run tactics?”

At Tierra’s nod, she continued, “We need to keep it guessing and off-balance. It’s the only way we’ll have a chance against that tail, really. You focus on hit and run tactics, making sure to never attack from the same direction twice, while the rest of us get into a better position. That would give us the optimal chance of us all getting out. Once we’re all outside, we’ll find it’s weak spots and go from there.”

“Tierra, I’ll cover you with my Semblance while you hold its attention.” Argent offered.

“That probably won’t be necessary,” the cheetah fanus replied as she loaded up her dust canisters. “I make it my business to never be hit so it would probably be a waste of aura you can’t afford. I know you have more aura than most, but half aura is still half of your aura that should be saved for real need. Besides, you can always wait to use your semblance until I really need it, or does it have to stay on a person for a certain amount of time before being utilized?” The noirette readied her stance as she waited for the answer.

“I can use it whenever, the barrier sticks around for about fifteen minutes or whenever it takes more damage than it can withstand, whichever comes first. But like you said, I should hold onto my Semblance for now, just in case someone needs it, but I will help keep its attention. My ‘optimal position’, Cereza, is front and center.”

“You can attack it once we’re all out then. Now is the time for action.” Cereza told the silver haired young man. She gave a nod to the violet witch, “Whenever you’re ready, Viola.”

“Understood,” said the witch as she took one step in front of everyone and took one last deep breath.

‘Lis...’ came the familiar catalyst that marked the beginning of many things. It marked her hair turning into a glowing white, as it began refusing to follow gravity and eerily floated around her face. It marked water pouring out of every orifice of her blade, it too refusing to follow gravity and seemingly coiling around the blade protectively as glowing white threads appeared within the water and placed themselves in an almost skeleton like fashion.

‘...let’s let loose.’

Suddenly bits of ice began to form at the ends of the serpent, initially as fragments that slowly came together in the form of a double edged blade curved at the tip on one end and a mask with 2 saber like fangs not too dissimilar to that of a grimm on the other end, the 2 sides connecting at the middle via an artificial spine connected by an aura column with spikes protruding outside of it’s watery body, forming one row of spikes on it’s artificial back..

Cereza made sure to press herself against the wall as the young woman worked, giving the shorter girl space to do whatever she needed. She drummed her fingers on the handle of Llaw Du in anticipation, making sure to wait until she was outside before she extended the long poleknife again.

‘Steady...’ thought Viola as she positioned the tip of the blade behind her body as the Grimms tail clawed at the edges of their cave, giving her allies a chance to see her creation in all its battle ready glory.

Argent gripped Michael’s hilt and made sure Raphael was set firmly in place on his right arm, ready to move the moment everyone was clear of the tunnel.

The cheetah faunus waited behind the witch, crouched and ready. The snake was impressive, but she couldn’t let it distract her from the here and now.

The creature took a stance a real snake might do when preparing to attack, as the witch was patiently waiting for just the right…

‘NOW!’ a flick of her wrist sent the snake flying towards the Tail as it made another hole at the top of the cave. It collided with the tail and stuck to it upside down as the snake crawled without losing any speed towards the light that marked the beginning of the tunnel, and it’s mission.

An inhuman shriek marked the moment two creatures came face to face, as the creature's limbs moved away from the tunnel's entrance.

Right afterwards came Tierra, a flash of green behind her. The tawny-clothed girl jumped as soon as she was free of the tunnel, leaping upon the base of the beast’s tail and made her way up to the head, dodging the flailing tail that sought to sweep her off and slicing at its back as she went. As she reached the neck, she slashed at its base. The Grimm howled and sent its tail to rid itself of the pestering thing while its spider-like forelimbs still grappled with the serpent, it’s small body and deceptive speed making it difficult for the beast to get a any semblance of a grip on it; the serpents spiky protrusions pointing downwards and carving a wound wherever it went was not doing it any favors either. As the tail came hurtling towards the lithe girl, Tierra embedded her pommel as far left as she could reach into its skull and flung herself over the shoulder of the beast, hanging there while the tail came down. When the tail retracted again the cheetah faunus used her pommels to climb up the rest of the skull, using her same hanging tactic to avoid other lashes of the tail and avoiding the great curling horns as the creature tossed its head back and forth.

“Go,” muttered Viola in a faraway voice, focusing her attention on her serpent in order to increase it’s speed, power, reactions and aim, so they could all get out of the cave safely.

Argent heard his partner telling them to go, a quick glance over at the currently white haired witch showed her deep in concentration. Trusting that she knew that this was the right time to move Argent dashed forward, straight at the Chimera.

Cereza followed the silver knight closely, separating from him as they exited the tunnel and extending Llaw Du once more with a flourish. She flicked her eyes around the crumbling ruin as the other two attacked the beast, trying to discern a viable plan of attack beyond ‘hit it until it dies’.

With the other two reaching the halfway point near the exit, Viola gave one last order to her pet, ‘Circle it!’, as she too took her leave from their temporary shelter. Wasting no time, the serpent’s spikes reverted back on its top side so it could move faster, and hopefully stay out of trouble till it’s next order. Speaking of standing out of trouble, it seems her cyberpunk ally had decided to observe the fight for now. Agreeing with her choice of position, Viola stopped next to her and resumed her focus on the serpent, who promptly went back to making a trench on the grimms skin. “See anything?” said the witch in a low drawl, her attention focused on her more familiar companion.

“It’s unarmoured on the back and underside,” Cereza replied, flicking her eyes between her fighting companions, the crumbling walls and the squat tower in one corner, “Though it looks like Tierra’s attack didn’t do much to the back. We need to restrict its movements more - now we’re far too open.”

“Restrict...movement...” paying attention to multiple things was not one of her strong suits, but what she heard was simple enough to understand, and her summon promptly responded, choosing one of the beasts undamaged left legs as it began to spin in a circle, its spikes acting like a glorified chainsaw as it was slowly severing the limbs top joint from the monster's body.

Moving faster than most would expect from someone in armor, the silver haired knight ran directly under the monster's torso. He was nearly knocked over by one of the creature’s legs but he stepped out of the way just barely in time, he shifted Raphael into shotgun form and fired at point blank into one of the middle joints on the nearest leg. The blast didn’t do much damage but it was more than enough to knock the Chimera off balance for a moment, long enough for Argent to run out from under the beast’s torso and swing Michael at a lower joint on one of it’s back legs with as much force as he could muster.

Once on top, the noirette steadied herself on one of the horns and took a moment to judge her next move.

“Go for the eyes!” Cereza shouted to the agile girl, realising that she was in a prime position to attack it, “Argent, see if we can herd it towards the tower, get it to collapse it on itself!”

She finally darted forward, planning on assisting Argent in cutting off the beast’s legs and herding it towards the weak structure. Swinging her tri-bladed poleknife at the nearest leg, the blonde twisted out of the way of the flailing tail as it whipped past her.

The only real weak spots she could see up here was the eyes, as Cereza had just suggested, and they were on opposite sides of the head. And once she took out one eye, the ensuing panic to get her off would make it a near thing to get out alive and an impossibility to get the other one. She sighed and thought, ” Well, getting at least one eye would be better than getting none.” The lithe girl barrel-rolled to the right to avoid another tail swipe, slid down the side of its face, and pommel stabbed right next to the eye. Then Tierra used her other sword to swipe, brass punch, anything it could do to the eye. Seeing that it wasn’t quite working, she placed it into its sheath, extended her claws on her free hand and gouged at its eye until there was nothing left. The young woman pushed herself away from the creature, unsheathed her other hook sword once more and used her Dust to speed out of the creature’s limbs and to safety, tumbling a bit when she landed before getting back up for the next move.

As Tierra shredded the Chimera’s eye it began to backpedal, losing its footing as one leg is fired upon. The beast shuffled the other 3 on its left side to regain balance, narrowly avoiding the silver haired paladin’s blade. With an ungodly hiss, the amalgamous creature swung its neck down, sharp teeth gripping Cereza’s polearm.

The goat headed beast swung its head violently aside, dragging the weapon and its holder along behind. It violently shook the technophile back and forth for a few seconds, trying to tear the weapon from her grasp before electing instead to use her against her rapier wielding ally, releasing the tool from its jaws and sending the girl and her blade flying towards the white-haired witch.

Cereza clung to her weapon desperately as the monster shook her around like a rag doll, knowing that if she lost Llaw Du again she’d be left with just her pistols. The blonde tried to find purchase on the ground, but her heeled boots weren’t exactly conducive to grounding herself and refusing to move, and when the creature finally released her weapon she was flung backwards. She crashed heavily into her white-haired companion, breaking the other girls focus as they tumbled across the broken stone-strewn courtyard.

The Chimera slashed apart the fluid serpent, which refused to dodged without being told to. The beast then rapidly fled up onto the wall above the tunnel, as water and chunks of ice fell to the ground. It turned to face the pests for a moment, angry red light rising from its eye and the markings across its armored hide for a moment, before it turned away from them, scuttling around the wall and out of sight.

The hacker pushed herself off the shorter girl with a hurried apology, twisting her head to see where the monster was. It had disappeared in the short moment between her being flung away and hitting the ground, and she yelled to Argent and Tierra, “Which way did it go?”

“Up the wall,” the cheetah faunus said pointing. “ And if it comes back, it’ll have the high ground to attack. I could go up alone, but I’m not sure if we can all get up there. I’ve never tried carrying one person while jetting , let alone three. Viola might be able to convince her grimmish snake to carry her up, but I’m not sure about you two.”

Grimmish snake.’ silently mouthed the witch, as she was taking the moment to dust herself off from the surprise crash. ‘Lis is much more beautiful than those jagged things, i mean sure she has spikes, sharp extremities, a mask like head and...mines prettier...’ she fumed internally as she went to rebuild her summon out of the ice that fell when the Grimm ascended.

“It’ll have the advantage if we follow it up there as well, as that seriously restricts our movements. Shit.” Cereza cursed, looking around the ancient ruins. There wasn’t really much useful besides the half-rusted out trebuchet that was leaning against the wall beneath the one remaining rampart, and the blonde doubted any of the quartet could use it, not even to throw at the blasted thing.

“There is no need for foul language Miss Cereza,” said the witch, whose hair went back to violet, as she finished reassembling the snake. Said snake was now coiled around her waist with the head resting on her left shoulder, the spikes lying flat along the material of her skirt.

“What are you, my mother?” Cereza retorted to the other girl, “I think this is the perfect time for swearing.”

“...There is little need to follow a creature that wants us dead with all it’s might,” said the witch, deciding not to press the matter for now, “Let’s simply make a tactical retreat. It will either have to let us go or fight where it will be at a disadvantage.”

Argent smiled at his partner, his adrenaline was still pumping hard, so the smile was a little wider and fiercer than normal. “Good thinking Viola. It’s going to come back soon, so our best bet is to prepare for it.” With that he began ejecting the buckshot shells he had loaded in Raphael, before replacing them with solid slug rounds. For good measure he shifted Michael into revolver mode and replaced his spent rounds in that gun as well, when he finished loading them he returned both weapons to their melee modes. Then he started looking around their surroundings, his ears pricked for any sign of their enemy returning.

The blonde gripped Llaw Du a little bit tighter, the blades wiggling in response to the adrenaline currently rushing through her body as she tried to see if she could spot the monster again. “We need to stay away from anywhere it will have the advantage over us; that means the tower and walls. And we can’t retreat to the trees either, as that just gives it more places to hide. Until it comes out, we should probably just group up in the courtyard’s centre and wait for it to come to us. Backs together, facing outwards so we can see in all directions; what do you guys think?”

“Do we have any other choice?” The tawny-clothed girl exasperatedly asked. “Since you let it get away, we can’t now follow it. And we can’t attack till it’s here. Ugh, I hate waiting for something to attack you. It’s the definition of being at a disadvantage. If there was only a way we could surprise it and even the odds.”

“Since I let it-” Cereza started hotly, but with a sharp breath in through her nose let the matter slide. It was frustrating, but now was not the time for arguments. Any problems between the four of them could be talked out logically and calmly after they were safe and had time to calm down.

“It’s only a disadvantage if we let it be, we need to take this time to think up a concrete plan to take this thing down, when it comes back we need to be ready.” Argent replied patiently. As he spoke he walked into the center of the courtyard area, and held his sword and shield at the ready.

Tierra sighed and joined Argent in the center, swords in hand, body poised, and eyes searching. It might have to come out first, but she was going to make sure it didn’t attack first.

Viola was also tempted to sigh, for the atmosphere was getting so tense she had to wonder if it would mess with her hair. Truthfully, she wasn’t happy with this arrangement anymore then they were, but her mother once assured her that it’s normal to be nervous, and confided to her the fact she worried all the time when the two of them were on patrols; her mother simply didn’t let it show to calm her down. It was an odd feeling, she realized, to be in her mother's spot, a fact made more apparent by the comment made by the high strung blond, but she’d just have to deal with it for now.

“There really isn’t much to plan,” she said in a slower voice than normal, a trick her father taught her when talking to strangers to calm them down, while taking out a bottle of water from her purse, “It’s missing one eye, and most of its legs on one side are damaged, so it can’t charge us properly, nor can it track us properly. We simply need to take out the other eye, and from there on just strike a vital point.” Taking a small gulp of water from the bottle, she offered it to Cereza, hoping she would pass it along, “We’ll be fine,” she said towards Cereza, but she meant it for all of them.

The blonde took the proffered water bottle from Viola and took a mouthful, handing it off to the other side. She didn’t particularly mind who took it from her, but it was nice of the smaller girl to share when everyone was so tense. The hacker nodded to Viola, “Thanks. Look, I can’t think of anything beyond enraging it so much that it basically just charges us, and using Llaw Du to spear the blasted thing. But if we do that someone will have to provide a shield for me, since as you can see,” She wiggled the blades of her poleknife to catch their attention, “It doesn’t have anything to stop the beast from coming down the actual pole itself, and someone else will probably have to be on the back of it keeping it’s head out of the way. But to do that, we need to deal with that tech-forsaken tail first or they’ll just get skewered.”

Argent took the water bottle from Cereza and took a drink before passing the bottle to Tierra and speaking. “My Semblance is the ability to project a forcefield onto someone else, I will provide the shield you need.”

During this time Viola sat down on a relatively large slab of stone, eyes searching for the source of their distress as she ran her fingers through the only companion she knew for certain wouldn’t have a freakout, mindful not to cut herself on it’s spikes like she has done in the past. “Lis and I should be able to sever the tail, provided you can keep it occupied enough that it can’t bite Lis off without hurting itself,” if one looked closely they might have noticed an occasional white thread exiting her fingers, mending what cracks it could find in the serpent’s eerie form,

Tierra then put Sola back in its sheath, took the offered water bottle, and took a drink before giving back to Viola, saying, “I could get on its back again. Just tell me the best way to distract its head and I’ll see what I can do. What I can think of is implanting one pommel in the middle of its face, try to use the hook of the other sword to strike its eye and top gums, then hold on tight as it tries to buck me off with its head.”

Upon hearing Tierra’s plan, Argent couldn’t help but smile. It was completely insane, but it just might work, his favorite kind of plan. “We’ll need some way to draw its attention to Cereza, if we can’t get it to charge her the whole plan will fail.”

“More we need to get its attention towards Cereza than at her.” The cheetah faunus said as she grabbed Sola again. Then she thought of the beast’s throw, looked at Viola, and said, “Could you control your snake from beside Cereza?”

“As long as it isn’t too far away I can order Lis just fine, and given we are suppose to draw it’s attention that shouldn’t be a problem,” replied Viola, taking the time to check the relic she picked up and making sure it was still strapped safely on her belt.

“Its horns are curled around its face like a rams, aren’t they?” Cereza asked, “You could hang onto those with your hook swords and brace your feet against its neck and get it to turn or whatever. Argent, you could be with Viola and I to help attract it - the bigger the group over here, the more likely it’s going to charge. Plus, I wouldn’t mind some help making sure Llaw Du doesn’t come sliding back on impact.”

“You can count on me.” The silver haired knight nodded to the hacker. Her plan made sense and his training had involved a lot about how to take a charge from a heavy opponent head on; it was, after all, a part of his fighting style. He could help her and therefore, in his mind at least, he pretty much had to help her. It didn’t even occur to him not to.

“Your plan is feasible. Alright, we’ll do it your way then.” Cereza’s partner replied. She was a bit disappointed not to be able to help with any additional damage, but in the end defeating it was what counted, not how you did it. Well, except if you sacrificed virgins in order to ambush it or something like that.

Having had ample time to regroup, and after deciding the rookie hunters would not be attempting to pursue, the Chimera made its way to the ground around the curve of the watch tower. It lowered its body to the ground, tail curled safely at its rear and horns forward. It crept around the ancient tower, coming slowly into view, hissing loudly to draw their attention as it unfurled the scythe like blade on its tail.

“Found it,” announced Viola as she rose from her artificial seat, not caring that the sound it made was enough of an indication. Changing her hair for what she hoped would be the last time today, the snake coiled around the rapier with it’s head on the tip, it’s spiky protrusions making the blade look more like a crystal mace.

“Here it comes!” Cereza exclaimed as the creature reappeared. “We need to take out that tail before we can do anything, though. Viola, Tierra, can you at least get rid of the blade?”

“We’ll see,” was Violas short reply, since she needed to get her summon on the beast's back once more before she could do that.

Slowly straightening the appendage and bringing it to rest between its horns, the monster charged the tightly knit quartet, burning red eyes set on the source of its aquatic nemesis.

“On it,” the noirette replied. She pointed the pommels of Sola and Luna toward the ground and fired off the jets, using just enough force and on the correct angle to fly over the head and land on the tail.

Argent saw where Tierra was aiming her jump and reacted quickly. He raised his left hand, and with a shimmer of silver a nearly imperceptible dome of energy formed above the leaping Faunus girl. She smashed into the shield and ricocheted to the ground with a cry of surprise. Argent ran through the dome and picked her up, before turning and running away from the charging Grimm. When they were out of reach he set her down. “What was that? Are you trying to kill yourself? Because that’s the only reason I can think of for you to jump onto that thing’s tail like that.”

Cereza and Viola couldn’t believe their eyes as the silver knight reacted before they even had time to blink and stopped Tierra from whatever foolhardy move she was going to make. As he came back, Cereza echoed his words with a slight hiss, “Next time, think before you go trying to kill yourself. Some of us are trying to get through this alive, you know.”

Tierra growled, “I could have done it. I could have swung on the tail, rode it like a bull, and chopped its blade off.”

“And get yourself stabbed a million times!” Cereza interjected heatedly. She looked up at the beast, which was almost upon them. “We don’t have time to argue about this now - everybody scatter!”

The blonde dove to one side out of the charge line of the monster, hoping the others did so quick enough as well. Remembering the plan, Viola dove to the same side as the tall blonde, not minding where the beast’s attention would go. Glancing back over her shoulder, Cereza could just see the empty black hole where Tierra had gouged out the beast’s eye. By pure luck, the hacker and the witch had escaped to its blind side.

Argent grabbed the still prone and fuming Tierra’s hand and yanked her after him as he threw them both to the side, and out of the path of the Chimera’s charge. The silver haired knight rolled with his landing onto one knee, to meet the malevolent glare of the Grimm’s remaining eye.

As it pushed past the now separated quartet the monstrous chimera took several additional steps, attempting to reach a safe distance before turning about.
Rising to full height and once more facing down the enemy, the creature curled its sickled tail safely behind its body and took stock of the young hunters. Watching them cautiously for a moment, it backed further away whilst letting out a low warning hiss, before swiftly turning and ascending the tower, disappearing over the top of the structure. A loud thud could be heard as it dropped to the ground on the other side, fleeing into the forest.

Viola blinked once, twice, a third time, and for the heck of it had Lis imitate a blink using the white threads located where the eyes would be on the mask, ”...I...well...did it...just...ditch us?”

Tierra could only share the water witch’s surprise as the cheetah faunus got up and brushed herself off. “Are Grimm even allowed to do that? I thought they were suppose to stick around until their bitter end. No Grimm just leaves.”

“Yup...”

“...that...but...” realizing she was babbling, she took a moment to compose herself as the snake fell of the sword haphazardly. “Excuse me!,” she failed, miserably, “you do not just take a lady for a ride and DITCH her for the culminating point like some sort of discarded COMPOST left EXCREMENTED by a decrepit old ANIMAL!!!” she said, as her hair was doing it’s best gorgon impersonations.

Argent watched his partner explode with indignation with a kind of fascinated amusement. He was so engrossed in watching the normally overly composed girl go apeshit that he didn’t even notice when he started to snicker, and once he did recognise that the sound was coming from him he burst into laughter.

Cereza just about jumped a foot in the air as the seemingly composed girl beside her exploded into a rant. She started to speak, but didn’t get far before the silver knights laughter cut her off. “Well, at least-”

“And WHAT, pray tell, do you find so amusing about being DITCHED and IGNORED like an inedible piece of cuisine, CAREFULLY set for a grand feast of PAIN and SUFFERING that shan’t be delivered because it’s being served to a gigantic HEAP OF NOTHING!!!”

“I find your reaction to be hilarious, we forced it to retreat and you’re acting like you got stood up on a date. We won, Viola, we were too strong for it to handle so it ran, some of the older Grimm are smart enough to know a losing fight when they see one. Now we can take our relics back to the cliffs and be done with it.” Argent pointed out, still smiling.

“I - Uh, I agree with Argent.” Cereza stated, though she wasn’t sure the violet teen heard her. She glanced at Tierra, her own partner, to see if she was just as angry about the whole situation as the other girl.

Tierra was just flabbergasted. She kept holding her swords, waiting for the Grimm to come back. “How could it have just run away?

“Easy for you to say. I was keeping myself in check all this time, trying to avoid having those two more riled up than a Nightmare with a Hunter on its back, and now i just lost my one chance to vent some pent up frustration...at least you got to shoot it...” nonetheless, Argent’s calm demeanor did a lot to placate the witch, her hair receding back to it’s violet shade, some strands of hair falling on her face and eyes.

“If you still feel that way tomorrow I’m sure we can talk to one of the professors to arrange a spar for the two of us, you can work your frustration out then, how does that sound?”

“Unnecessary, since I should be fine by then...but I appreciate it nonetheless.”

“That’s part of what partners are for, friends too.”

‘Friends,’ the beginning of a genuine smile began to grace her lips, barely noticeable through the hair currently covering her face. She seemed to be making a lot of those recently, some of which were admittedly kind of odd, like “LAN!” she said suddenly.

“Who is Lan?” Cereza asked, slinging her weapon across her shoulders once more.

“The lemur faunus, we left her with the other 3 against the Nightmare,” said Viola, trying to direct her gaze at cereza but realized her hair was in the way, so she began messily moving the loose strands behind her head..

“Well, I’m sure she’s fine. She has three people to help her, and I’m sure they found somewhere to defend themselves or disappear into. Maybe they got lucky and the Nightmare ran away from them too?” She checked that the sheath was still attached to her belt; it was a little dusty but otherwise fine. “Well, we have our relics and we are currently not in danger of being trampled or skewered. All in favour of a tactical retreat to the cliff top, say aye.”

A very dry glare was Violas response, one that promised all the pain she didn’t get to give to a certain Grimm.

Seeing Viola’s face, the blonde hastily added, “If they don’t turn up within an hour, we can go back and find them. Tierra will probably know the way, since she led us here. But as it is, they’re somewhere in this forest and we have no clue - we might end up killing ourselves looking for them, which would defeat the purpose.”

Taking the moment to process what the blond said, Viola directed her gaze at the forest, looking nowhere and everywhere at the same time, almost hoping for a sign to pinpoint her potential colleagues location.

“I don’t plan on abandoning people who might need help. I realize that there’s a chance we reach them and they’ll have the Nightmare handled, but there’s also a chance that they won’t.”

“No,” Viola spoke, not taking her eyes away from the forest. “Although she only said that to placate me, she is right in the sense that we have no real way of finding them since we don’t know where they are. We do, however, know where they will go. Let’s head to the clifftop, from there we can ask the teachers on their status and go back if they have not returned. But,” she directed her gaze towards Cereza, “Since we are all in good health from not having to fight that thing, we’re making a run for it.” It was clear she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“We’ll just have to trust that your friend will make it out alright then.” Argent nodded his acceptance of his partner’s decision.

Tierra, who had finally composed herself replied, “Besides, from the top of the hill, it probably would be easier to see where they are.” Then the noirette sheathed Sola and Luna and said, “Alright then, last one up the cliff is a rotten Nevermore egg. I’ll even not use my semblance to give you guys a chance.” Then she broke out into a dead run towards the cliff, not waiting for a response.

Argent blinked at the cheetah Faunus, who had just broken into a run, as the silver knight put away his weapons. He felt his smile widen, then, with a quick glance at the remaining two, he took off in pursuit.

Cereza watched the duo run away and muttered to the remaining member of the quartet, “...Did they really just run full tilt through a Grimm infested forest with no plan and no backup? Midas, lend me your patience to deal with irrational fools.” She heaved a sigh and glanced at the teen witch. “I’m not really that interested in winning a leg race. Shall we partner up and make sure to stay alive?”

“...One moment please,” She said as she grabbed a handful of her hair with her right hand and let it turn as pale as the moon. The snake began to shed its bony structure, leaving it behind like a snake would it’s skin. Crouching down, Viola let it coil around her left arm once more, its head resting on her left shoulder. “The ice will slow me down due to the weight,” she offered as an explanation.

“Fair enough.” Cereza shrugged, hefting Llaw Du into a position that was much more suited for running. She’d put it away, but its hook was currently occupied by the relic Tierra and herself had chosen. “We off then?”

“Quite,” was her reply as they began to jog back to Beacon, hoping their more energetic partners wouldn’t cause trouble on the way.

...

Running through the woods, Tierra savored the sweet woodland scent and cool breeze as it brushed past her and flew through her hair. It was something she had always delighted in after the first trip to the woods, the world seemed peaceful and calm. The noirette could forget the past, forget what she had seen that day. Though she kept looking back to see where the others were, “I know I’m fast but not that fast.”

So focused on her running and the sensations she could feel, the Cheetah Faunus didn’t notice the light underneath the canopy of the forest growing dimmer. An angry whine could be heard from all around and rustling filled the air. Three small, black, human-ish figures crawled into Tierra’s field of vision; the creatures are no larger than a small child with angry red eyes, and they crawl on unnaturally long arms and slender, awkward legs. The creature in the center of the trio opened its barely visible mouth, revealing dozens of tiny, needle teeth, as it let out an ear splitting scream

As soon as she saw the eerie Grimm, she grabbed her swords while trying for a hop, semblance on, land strategy to slow down. This was an emergency, they would understand her breaking her promise. But she still sled nearer and the cry was earth-shattering, so she panicked and tried a whirlwind blade attack when she got close enough, aiming for the torsos.

The moment the blade struck the first grimms chest, it shattered into a cloud of sickly smog, and all hell broke loose. Dozens of angry cries sounded from the trees, the brush, and the ground around the feline faunus, followed by a skittering stampede as the Dhampir descended upon her. The freakish humanoids came from all sides; appearing from the ground came the smallest. Black and featureless, like a sea of shadows they swarmed around her, grasping desperately for her blades with white tinted palms

The noirette kept swiping away, left and right. But they kept coming and coming. They were endless and all were going for Sola and Luna. The tawny-clothed girl just couldn’t stand it, she hated this kind of fighting in the first place, but to have go on and on. She desperately got her blades free of them and launched up.

As the girl attempted to escape vertically, a larger specimen arose from the swarm, grasping her by the ankle and dragging her back down. Nearly a dozen more, faces imitating angry bone masks, entered the fight from the edge of the pack. Together they unleashed a hellish chorus, maws opening wide to razored fangs as they closed in. Several of the smaller creatures grabbed tightly onto Tierra’s swords, piling on and weighing them down in an attempt to disarm her.

Tierra was going mad. The noise, the enormity, she couldn’t stand it anymore. She couldn’t be dragged back into the swarm. So the feline faunus placed her feet on some of the Grimm’s hands, activated her semblance, released her swords, and attempted to jump clear of it all. Afterwards she would activate it again and just madly run, knowing it would probably kill her but not wanting to suffer anymore from the swarm. Her claws extended in case more Grimm appeared but she madly hoped to outrun their reflexes and death would be from over exhaustion, not as Grimm food.

As the faunus attempted to leap free a second of the larger creatures grabbed her, pulling her once more towards the smallest of them as the other masked creatures approached. A wave of hands carry the hook swords to the edge of the group as two man sized grim approached, walking in sync. The pair, fully clad in plates of false bone, unleashed a horrific bone chilling howl, and the smaller monsters began to gnaw, digging their fangs into Tierra’s ankles and hands and pulling her down into the horde. This was the scene Argent burst into, his eyes widening as he took in Tierra’s panicking face and the swarm surrounding her.

Argent didn’t hesitate for a second, he drew his sword and unslung his shield, and charged right in, aiming first for the creatures that held Tierra’s swords. He shield bashed one in the back of the neck and stabbed the other in the chest, before ripping his sword out with a short twist, the silver knight kept moving as he scooped up Tierra’s swords in his shield hand. The creatures were starting to take notice of him, but the silver knight raised his shield, activated his aura, and ran forward, bulling through the small, seemingly boneless creatures, straight for his fellow initiate. Several times a monster tried to bite him but the silver light emanating from his whole body stopped them. Argent hacked, slashed, kicked and bashed his way forward until he was in range, then he raised his hands and created a shield around Tierra, he just managed to throw her swords in her direction before it hit him, he must have put more into that shield than he’d intended, his aura flickered slightly, and his muscles burned. Breathing hard now, Argent kept fighting his way towards Tierra and those two man-sized creatures, one of which turned his way.

As Argent’s aura depletes, one of the deceptively fast middling sized Dhampir rushes, ramming head-first into the armor clad youths chest and sending him back into a tree. It was only then that Tierra realized the force-field was down and saw the creature as it tackled Argent. Visions of her mom overlaid the silver knight as he was rushed towards the tree. The base of his skull banged against large knot in the tree trunk, rendering him unconscious as his depleted aura protected him from spinal and other serious injuries but failed to keep him awake.

Tierra was still struggling against the nibbling monsters when she saw the silver sheen of a familiar force-shield. The noirette looked up and saw Argent running towards her, cradling something in his shield. Her hook swords were flying towards her. She unsheathed her claws and knocked the rest of the feasting creatures off, then caught Sola and Luna and swiped. “No!” was her yell as she rushed towards the monster on top of the now unconscious Argent. She was not going to let another death be on her shoulders, not again.

As the girl attempted to reach her ally, several of the smallest grimm clung to her legs, latching onto her clothes with razor like teeth. She watched in horror as one of the pair of large Dhampir approaches the unconscious Argent, only to be stopped short by the blade of a large axe cleaving the skull like mask in half. The weapon lay in the hands of a peridot eyed huntsman.

”Two jobs we give you kids” He started, flipping the weapon over his shoulder as a small aiming sight shifted out of the side, ”Grab a relic,” a small handle folded down from the shaft and he locked it onto the far edge of the swarm, ”And try not to die.” He berated the duo, pulling the trigger. A pale blue tube fired from the hollow shaft, erupting in a wave of bitter frost as it strikes a tree on the edge. ”Is that REALLY so much to ask?” The wave swept across the swarm, freezing the smallest of them. ”One wounded, another unconscious. Send in the evac crew.” He joked, watching as the several larger creatures regrouped around him.

”Stand Back!” Boomed a massive voice from above as a large shadow further darkened the sky followed shortly by a hulking young man landing directly on top of the second of the fully grown grimm, crushing it into a mess of ghastly fog. ”This them?” He asked as he drew a massive weapon from its place on his back and took aim at the frozen swarm. A quick pull of the trigger and the ice was ripped to snow by a veritable wall of buckshot.

”Gauthak, get us a perimeter.” Grey ordered, signaling the massive boy to wave his hand towards the edge of the frozen ground. A line of runes trailed along, rising into a barrier around them just before a copper haired girl arrived, hopping over the still rising fortification.

”No more in the area, sir.” She bubbled, approaching Tierra and making sure to stomp on the frozen remains of several of the smallest creatures. ”You alright?”

The feline faunus just looked up for a while at the older girl, too surprised by the rescue. Then she finally replied as she checked herself over, “I, I should be alright.” The noirette tried to get up and ended up wobbling and leaning against the elder girl. She tried to stand up again, saying, “Argent. How is he?”

Alivia turned and glanced over her shoulder, towards the hulking third year. ”Hey, big guy, how’s the boy?”

”He’s fine, Liv. just got knocked out; looks like he had just enough juice left to prevent anything serious.” The giant responded in his bass heavy voice, throwing the male initiate over his shoulder. ”So, Professor Waldgrun, how do you think this’ll affect their teammates?”

”Shouldn’t be too much damage done, they did pretty well with the Chimera - managed to scare it off,” The older male answered, ”And they were doing well for coordination until the girl ran off.” The teacher glanced at the forest canopy in thought. ”These two will lose points for reckless behaviour, but the team as a whole did fairly well...” Grey trailed off, scanning over the scene for stragglers. ”Anyhow, grab the girl. Better get these two back to the cliff.”

Nor cursed as he ducked under a low branch, the snorts and whinny letting the Faunus know a single misstep could cost him his life. Hoping to put some distance between him and the beast, he brought the hilt of Jet Stream to bear ahead of him. As he fired the barbed point ahead, a scream of escaping pressure and rattling chain barely heard over the noise of the Grimm and the trees crashing in its wake, before he heard the comforting thud as it found purchase some hundred feet ahead, small motor in the machine revving to life as he felt himself lift of the ground, forest now speeding by.

As the four flee, separated from their allies, Lan looked back at the beast, trying to count the legs on the equine horror behind them. The crimson haired lemur watched as Nor attempted to grapple his way further ahead of the Nightmare. Ducking under an oncoming branch, she drew her weapon in preparation for the inevitable fight. ”Hey, I just remembered what that centipede thing was!” Lan shouted suddenly, ducking as Nor flew past her, ”I think it was an Inkume, like the thing that caused that explosion last year. she finished, vaulting over a large, squared rock.

Tsuki focused on the adrenaline pushing her forward. The beast behind her posed a significant threat if it caught up with her. The feline spotted her partner launching himself ahead of the game. "Cheater," she mumbled to herself. However, the pale female did have to give him props for being creative. "Now's not really the time for trivia games," Tsuki called out to her fellow initiate. The tigress ducked under a tree branch, nearly tripping from the sudden shift in balance.

Russ was too busy focusing on the environment around her to worry about how far they were from the Nightmare. Her eyes leapt to each and every obstacle that presented itself, and she conquered them one by one, be it by a quick vault, a long jump, or the sudden turn. What brought her back to the present was Jaws rocketing past like some kind of missile, whereupon she took into account the positions of her of her other, less airborne-inclined compatriots. She didn’t recognize the other faunus --there were getting to be quite a few, she thought-- but hey the more the merrier. Lan was the one to pipe up among them, and Russ got to thinking about their little scrap with the bug earlier.

”Maybe not!” she shouted to Tsuki and the others, casting a glance back to the horrific thing. ”More legs means more targets, it’s how we brought down the Inkume. If we have to face this thing, we should go for its limbs!”

Nor laughed as he passed the tiger faunus, just barely hearing her deride his method of travel, unsure whether it was hysteria or adrenaline making the shark find humor in the moment. "It's only cheating if you lose, otherwise they call it tactics," he said, a limb clipping him as it flew away from the Grimm, reminding him of the consequences of dropping his guard, and refocusing once more ahead.

The trees around them were beginning to thin, making the path ahead all the easier to navigate. Ahead he could see glimpses of what looked to be some sort of barracks, though it was hard to make out through the limbs. Behind him he could hear the sound of the Nightmare getting closer, realizing without the trees to block its path, the four of them had little chance of outrunning the multi legged beast. The Faunus angled sharply towards the buildings, mentioning to the others to point them out, "We should he able to get some cov-," Nor's sentence cut short as the Grimm chasing then whinnied in what almost seemed excitement as it drew nearer to the fleeing quartet.

Lan locked her eyes onto a crumbling wall, scanning for a way into the seemingly ancient structure as the four veered ever closer, imagining the rancid breath of the nightmare at her heels as it cried out. ”Masky, Whiskers, Russ!” she shouted, pointing to a partially collapsed section of the wall some 100 feet ahead, ”If we get inside we should be able to find some cover.” the spade wielding girl finished, darting aside to make a break for cover.

Tsuki didn't need to look back to know that the equine creature was gaining on them. She could hear the rumbling rhythm that pounded the ground behind them get closer. Shark boy's laughing comment wasn't exactly true in her opinion, but she decided if things were gonna get ugly, she needed to save her breath. Speaking of breath, the Nightmare was sure making a lot of noise. Hopefully it wasn't calling others. The pale faunus had enough of multiple enemies.

Now that she thought about it, did Nightmares travel in groups? Hm, well given their similar appearance, the Grimm might be related to horses, which travel in herds. No, wait. You're in the middle of a life or death situation, idiot! Now's not the time to be a nerd! The bipolar girl mentally scolded herself.

Then the red faunus girl spoke up. Whiskers? Tsuki didn't even have whiskers. Nonetheless, what mattered was the remains of whatever that building was. Time to get this party started.

Russ wasted no time in following Lan’s advice, the open air was tempting but really all it did was afford the damned thing more room to work with. Tight spaces, close quarters, that would be their ally against such a big beast, a place where they could strike and disappear or maneuver away before it could retaliate.

She altered her course, veering hard for the opening in the wall. As she leapt up onto the rubble she let her Semblance flicker on to store the momentum of the movement for later, before focusing back on the Grimm and the rest of those following. Were she of a less tightly-wound disposition, she might find this sort of thing fun like Jaws seemed to do. However for the time being all she could truly do well was start thinking ahead for their next step. Once this thing got inside would it start thrashing around at everything in sight? They might not even get a chance to whack at it if it never ceased to flail, but then, that could work to their advantage.

Looking up she wasn’t sure just how old or how structurally sound the building was, but she was willing to bet that if this thing made enough of a fuss inside it wouldn’t stand for too long.

”Hey, worst case scenario maybe we can get this thing to bring the place down on itself!” she called before waiting for their next move.

Nor nodded as they broke the cover of the forest, entering the outpost proper. After a quick observation of the surroundings he looked to the others, a calculating look on what could be seen of his face. "For the moment we need to split up, any place we,can hole up in won't take long for it to get to. Tails here and me seem to be the best equipped for mobility," he said as he referenced her weapon, "at least I hope you know how to use that thing to do more than stab things." He told them as he ran for the outpost, nearing quickly.

He turned to the tower firing off the barbed protrusion once more as it embedded near the top, looking back at the other two, "Tsuki...." he paused, a blank look coming over his face, "...and...human," cringing slightly as he finally gave up. He knew she'd told him her name yesterday, and he cursed himself for forgetting it, but now wasn't really the time, "you two find somewhere defensible, and watch our backs, we're gonna try and at least get the damned thing to stop charging about. At least then we,can do something besides hiding and jumping," He told them, before the motor once more revved up, pulling him to the roof of the tower. Once there, he switched Jet Stream to its cannon form, scanning for the Grimm.

Lan followed immediately behind Nor, using Shu Dao to vault over the wall before rolling to her feet on the other side. ”Lan,” the lemur interjected cheerfully as the masked faunus informed them of his plan, ”One does not use a spade for stabby stabby fun times.” she corrected him, spinning the weapon in one hand and resting it over her shoulder, ”I, however, use mine for all sorts of things.” she said, turning to look up at a tall tree. ”I think I should be able to set up something to slow it down, if you can buy me a minute or so.” she added, dropping the pole into both hands and sliding the ends apart, drawing out wire just at neck level. ”So, tripline, anyone?” the red haired lemur grinned evilly as she asked, restoring her weapon to its normal state and hopping over the wall once more to deploy her trap.

Moments before the Nightmare breeched the ruins, the red haired faunus rapidly circled a pair of trees. After deploying several dozen feet of wire from within the shaft and pulling it tight about the trunks, she locked the weapon back together. With a quick spin of her spade, Lan cut the line, just as the beast arrived.

Defensible? ‘Watch our backs’? She wasn’t sure what sort of oomph this other girl --Tsuki, was it?-- was bringing to the show, but Russ didn’t have much in the way of cover-fire. Nevertheless, if Jaws and Lan got the Nightmare where they wanted it wouldn’t matter much anyway.

”Hey, Tsuki!” she called, making a mental note to think of some other nickname for the girl later on. ”If we have to draw its attention away, what’s your plan?”

Russ quite frankly would be content to run in that scenario. The thing was big and fast but mobility might not have been its strongest trait. However running wasn’t exactly an option, not with the other two actually forming a way to kill the grimm. So instead she clambered up the shoddy remnants of the wall, a hand drifting to the Daughter’s handle before she pulled away. Swords wouldn’t do her much good, not yet anyway.

Tsuki rapidly approached the outpost. Nor took up the leadership position as he commanded two of the four to become a distraction. "Sounds good to me," The feline responded to her partner. Her lungs were not happy with her, as the tigress leaped up and grabbed the edge of the outpost's wall. She pulled herself on top of the wall and faced the charging Nightmare. Then the human with no name asked what they should do.

Tsuki thought hard. Now was the time for some analysis and planning. So, for maximum results, she thought out loud. "We want to keep it's focus in one general area, and get it pissed off at us so that it doesn't notice the other two. Not necessarily a plan, but I don't know enough about a Nightmare's behavior to make a solid plan. I also don't know much about you, so it's best to stay as flexible as possible."

The shorter female extended her weapon to its full length. Given the size and armor of the beast, blunt attacks wouldn't be very helpful in fulfilling their objective. So, Shuo was further transformed into it's spear form. Usually, the clever girl didn't stand out in the spotlight, but now she had to. Being a hunter required quite a bit of standing out, so she might as well get use to it.

As the quartet finished their hasty preparation, the nightmare burst onto the scene. It’s cloven feet allowed it to clamber over the broken and uneven ground much easier than a normal horse would have, the eight legs given it extra balance and support as well. It snorted in anger as its eyes latched onto the two applicants standing on top of a wall, and the monster charged forwards in rage.

Before it got too much closer to them, however, the tripline set up by Lan caught it around the ankles, and the creature’s forward momentum brought it crashing to the ground. It kicked out with a rear leg, cracking a nearby stone as it tossed its head up and rolled onto its knees in an ungainly manner. It took a few tries for it to fold its legs in the correct manner to stand again, It’s red eyes glared balefully at the two it could see, breathing heavily through its nose as it finally struggled back to its feet.

The monstrous horse took its next steps cautiously, keeping an eye out for anymore traps that may have been laid by the hunters. As it drew closer to the ruined building, it spun about quickly, directing a mule kick with its back four hooves at the wall the two immediately visible hunters were standing on. The wall shuddered, cracking terribly and weakening the already crumbling structure. With the way the stone shifted against each other, the wall was obviously extremely unstable now.

A yell escaped from the shark faunus as the wall started to shake. "Of course we'd break the damn building," Nor cursed as he lept from the wall to the other side, hoping the barrier would fall towards the Grimm and not his way instead. Nor’s eyes lit up as the possibility gave him an idea, pointing the cannon at the newly unstable wall, lines of light along the weapon switching to a luminescent green as a wide funnel shape emerged from the barrel.

Thinking of the other two in the lower section, " Get away from the walls," he managed to yell before a blast of air issued from the weapon, blasting him backwards as the large disaster force winds hit the wall.

Nor heard a snapping sound upon impact, a worried expression coming over his face as he did a quick check, finding all his limbs to be unbroken. Relief flooded Nor once he found the source of the snapping, finding himself surrounded by rotten crates that had been left in the courtyard. Mystery solved, he paid it little mind as he worked his way out of the debris, looking to see what his shot had wrought.

As the beast lost its footing on the hastily set line, Lan watched it tumble forward, stopping just short of the ancient barrier. Judging the distance to the Nightmare, Lan elected to skirt the outpost. Scanning the structures within she aimed the crescent blade on Shu Dao skyward, firing the crystal of pure force within to launch it to the tower ramparts where it wedged between ancient stones. With a quick tug to set the line, the red haired faunus triggered the spool, using the additional boost to guide her as she made her way to the top of the structure. Making a jump for the last few feet, she flew over the nearest parapet, landing atop and quickly finding stable footing. She watched from above as the beast reclaimed its footing, slowly rising back onto cloven hooves. It took a few steps before spinning about and delivering a powerful, four legged kick that compromised the already unsteady wall. Lan prepared to signal to the others just before Nor fired a gale force at the wall.

Russ dropped to a kneel when the thing slammed the wall with its massive hooves. She needed a good, stable stance or she’d be toppling off with the next strike. But hey, at least the Nightmare seemed thoroughly distracted, which meant that Jaws and Lan had time to do...actually, what were they doing? Would it take much longer? Russ wasn’t sure the wall could sustain more punishment.

As she turned to call down to them though, her question was answered by perhaps the last thing she wanted to hear. Did that toothy motherfucker just tell them to get away from the--

”Holy shit! the very stone beneath her feet gave way to the massive force that struck it from behind. Her stable stance meant nothing with the lack of any footing and she tumbled like a ragdoll off of the crumbling wall, smacking and rolling off of the plummeting stones.

The monstrous collapse was deafening until she hit the ground, at which point the air left her lungs in one giant rush and all the sounds were replaced by a high-pitched ringing. For what felt like an eternity she just lay there, with neither the focus nor the will to move. Shit, everything hurt, but she knew most of the trauma was to her back, and the ringing from her head striking the dirt. The fucking swords in their sheath were the worst though, the leather doing little to soften harden steel cracking against her skin.

At last, after what had likely only been a few moments in proper reality, Russ rolled onto her stomach and coughed up a veritable storm of dust and dirt. A few clean breaths made it down into her lungs, enough for her to find the energy to get to her knees, and enough to realize that she was now in fact on equal ground with the beast.

Her hand fumbled around for the Daughter’s handle, a plan already forming in her head to jettison herself away and create some distance. Her fingers met air however, worse, they met torn leather further down. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed her fears, and she saw that neither blade was with her. She couldn’t find the Son in her panicked scan of the environment, and the Daughter’s steel glinted from amidst the rubble.. A pit formed in her stomach, and she prepared to fall back on plan B --well, more like plan C at that point-- and run.

Tsuki prepared herself as the Grimm stumbled over the wire. Her knees bent, and center dropped. When the blow to the wall beneath the feline hit, she was ready and stable. However, what wasn't expected was shark boys next attack. The warning that preceded the assault was too late for the two standing on the crumbling wall.

The carnivorous faunus let instinct take over as she pushed against the falling piece of rock she had previously been standing on. To lessen the blow of the ground she rolled. Unfortunately, because of the fact that the rock the pale female pushed off of was unstable, she landed on her shoulder wrong. Despite the sharp pain that engulfed her shoulder, Tsuki stood up quickly to survey her surroundings.

The acrobatic girl noticed her human comrade was defenseless, Shuo four feet away from her, and the rapidly advancing monster. Making the best of her situation, the bipolar female grabbed her polearm and ran up to the creature of Grimm's flank. Knowing how stupid her move would be, she leaped as high as she could before stabbing the equine creature and using her upper body strength to vault herself onto the back of her enemy.

The Nightmare whinnied unnaturally shrill as the Tiger Faunus’s polearm skittered on the thick plating on its flank before catching between two plates. She landed on the equine creatures back, resulting in a toss of the head as it tried to hit her with the long, sharp spikes interspersing its mane. It’s next move was to buck its four rear legs, sending the black and white girl flying forwards as the great beast heaved underneath her.

It was only by a hasty scrabbling that Tsukiko managed to slide over the shoulder of the beast instead of hitting the dangerous mane, landing at the cloven front hoof of the Nightmare. It looked down at her and huffed, wickedly sharp teeth ready to rend.

As the maw of the Nightmare descended upon Tsuki, a slight tremor could be felt in the ground beneath her feet, earth cracking as a roughly cylindrical pillar of earth bursts out near her like a shot, coming up at an angle to knock the toothy creature off course.

Tsuki's shoulder hurt like a bitch after all the strain she put on it just to get up the beast. Now, the even paler faunus was weaponless and facing impending doom. Shit, dying during initiation was not cool. However, there was nothing the tiger eared girl could do with the time she had left. Not even her semblance could help her.

Then a deep roar came from underneath the ground and the earth rose up from in front of her. What the literal fuck? The shocked faunus stepped back from the physics defying movement. This had to be someone's semblance, right? But whose? Tsuki hated not knowing what was going on.

A loud laugh could be heard as someone grabbed the tiger faunus by the back of her shirt, pulling her out from under the pillar as the Grimm seemed to be recovering from the sudden strike. The newcomer pulled her along the ground for a moment before.lifting her up, dusting her off unceremoniously, a tanned figure now visible as their fidgety motions showed obvious excitement. " Holy.crap, did you see the chompers on that thing? Swear there's gotta be more teeth on that thing than a bike gear," the interloper jumped back and forth from one foot to the other as the boxer watched the new Grimm with wide eyes before a moment of clarity seemed to come over their face and they turned back to Tsuki.

Hal began checking the faunus over quickly, hands looking for any kind of cuts or breaks and patting her down rather unabashedly, not paying much mind if this bothered the previously endangered girl. "Did it kick you or anything? I bet that thing could leave a heck of a wicked scar," A strange smile came to the boxers face at the thought. A quick observation would show no apparent weapons visible.

Russ lowered her defenses as the other faunus dashed in, and the Nightmare quickly became preoccupied with her. Well, shit, alright, if the girl wanted to throw herself willy nilly at the monster than bravo, her sacrifice would not be in vain. She went immediately for the Daughter, dashing past the beast and its new preoccupation, and digging it out from beneath the rocks. The segments were dinged, and while the thing was still intact she’d hesitate before lashing it alongside a burst of wind dust.

Then another voice, a new one, one she didn’t recognized, caught her ears. She looked to the faunus girl where indeed an unfamiliar face stood. Human-looking, but then some faunus just had subtle features, and with the amount she’d encountered recently it wouldn’t come as a surprise if they were. Oh well, she wasn’t about to look a gift-horse in the mouth, if the dude was here to help then she’d let him.

They needed a new plan now though, clearly. The wall had collapsed and now a majority of them were outside, it looked like they were clashing heads with the beast one way or another.

”Ay, googly eyes later! she called up to the newcomer. She tried to see what weapon he wielded but could spot none, clearly though that hadn’t been a problem a few moments ago.

Her focus went to the legs again, the damned thing had too many and the more they could lop off the better. Not that she was about to charge in blindly, she’d seen how well that had worked for the tiger and Russ was in no mood to get stepped on or chomped at. Instead, she circled around, careful to avoid catching the Grimm’s ire with any sudden or drastic movements. She came to a stop diagonally behind it, so as to avoid being easily kicked from behind, and began her approach. She knew even if she succeeded in sneaking right up to it she wouldn’t be able to swing hard enough to do any real damage, so halfway to it she broke into a sprint, the Daughter’s secondary mode engaged. Russ brought the extended blade around in a reasonably powerful swing, not enough to do any terrible should it land, but she would rather cut the damn thing a hundred times safely than risk her neck in an all-or-nothing attack.

Lan watched as the newcomer emerged. ’Where the hell did he come from?’ she pondered for a moment, taking note of the current scene. Russ was retrieving her sword from rubble, Tsuki had just been saved by some sort of cosmic ass pull, and Nor was… Where WAS Nor? She wondered, before shrugging it off while she took a moment to remove her weapons blade from the gap between two stones. She cupped one hand around her mouth, ”YO! GUYS!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, circling the towers edge. She hopped between crenelations before jumping overboard on the side closest to the group, the spade end of her weapon drawing a thin line in the stone as she skimmed down the wall, making her way towards the large field in the middle of the outpost.

Tsuki stared at the larger mass of human in front of her. He had just plucked her from where she was standing, and was now inspecting her like an object. The stiffened girl couldn't find it in her to do anything. What the actual fuck? Then he began to get a bit too into the endangered cats personal space. Uncomfortable, she began biting on her lip. 'What does one even say in a situation like this? I mean he did save my life.' However, the entire time mystery guy had been patting her down, he was basically talking to himself.

Then of course salt had to be added to the wound, the black haired chick who had previously been without a weapon called out to the two of them. That's when the pale girl turned red. It was distinct against her alabaster skin which made it more humiliating. 'I don't even know these people!' A part of her screeched.

Quickly, though, she pushed down her emotions and stepped away from the twitchy male to locate the equine monster. Now useless, Tsuki tried to find a way to retrieve her weapon. Shuo was still barely holding onto the creature, any movement would dislodge it. Once the female faunus caught her attention, she realized that they needed a new plan of action. Also where did sharkboy go? He's gonna get it later.

Nor gave a frustrated growl as he finally pulled himself free of the crates, glaring back at the demolished crates before looking back to where he had been unceremoniously blasted from. He could see the four of them, Lan was seeming to trapeze across the settlements, trying to get Tsuki, the girl, and....

'Who the hell is that' the pale faunus thought as he gave a perplexed look, the tan human seemingly having come from nowhere. Regardless, Nor pushed the question to the back of mind as he watched for the Grimm to reappear. It was pure coincidence that his gaze managed to avoid those who'd previously been positioned on the tower.

Hal laughed as the boxer heard the black haired girls comment, following behind the rest of the group as they made their way into the courtyard, giving 'googly eyes' an appraising stare. "Not a problem,I'm a pinnacle of focus," the teen said absentmindedly , practically oozing with self assurance. The muscular Hunter-in-training made a note to try and learn her name later, the girl's obvious disdain for Hal's actions making her an even more amusing target.

The Nightmare shrieked in anger as it shook away the dust from the newcomers attack, reminding everyone that though they may have more numbers now, they still had to contend with the beast. The equine grimm galloped forward, following Tsukiko and Hal through the new gap in the wall, avoiding the rust-coloured girl’s attacks without even realising. It’s large, cloven feet allowed its to navigate the uneven terrain easily when paired with its eight legs, and the dust kicked up from the monster stepping over and through the rubble obscured everything below eight feet. The weapon lodged in its flank-plates fell free as it chased the pair, landing amongst the toppled stones and disappearing from immediate view as clouds of dust enveloped the staff.

As it drew nearer to the human and faunus duo, the Nightmare lashed out with its two frontmost legs. The sharp edges of the hooves came dangerously close to striking its target, and as it kicked at them again it adjusted its angle to strike the pair precisely.

Hal's mind went blank as the first strikes barely went wide, feeling the wind from the hooves as they passed past the boxer's head. As years of training took over, the teen's legs bent and took a practiced form, an apparent light footedness as the hooves came down. The traditional boxers stance was as easy to slip into as the clothes the latest addition to the battle wore now.

As.the Nightmares hooves came down once more, Hal brought both arms up to guard against the hooves, aura flaring to life as it was concentrated to hold off the strike. The boxer worried briefly about the faunus being attacked as well, but for the moment, the hoof bearing down on the blonde held a premium of the bruiser's attention.

Nor growled as the Nightmare closed in on the duo, none of his shots viable without friendly fire with the pair of them so close to the equine. Reverting Jetstream back into a mace, the shark rushed in to get into range of the creature. Though he'd rather the pair not be in that situation, at least the Grimm wasn't paying attention to the others now.

Well shit, at least Tsuki was doing her job of distracting. Her main goal at this point was to retrieve Shuo. Unfortunately, whatever plans the faunus could think up, the most secure one was the one she didn't want to execute. When the Nightmare started attacking is when the Siberian tiger focused her semblance. To everyone else, she had disappeared, but she used this to her advantage. Sprinting, the invisible girl went through the monster's legs to reach the polearm.

Hal's eyes widened slightly as the tiger disappeared right before the boxer's eyes, chuckling slightly. 'Well that's useful, at least I don't have watch out for her now,' the boxer thought, knocking the hoof aside and focusing on the ground near the creature's legs. Aura gathered around Hal's arms as shards of rock began to rip through the bandages, using the earth dust to focus the teens semblance

The earth around the Grimm's left legs depressed into the ground, attempting to throw the creature off balance as the blonde rolled to the right of the creature. As more rock shards pushed their way through the bandages on Hal's arms fell away in tatters, the bruiser's arms and hands covered in a dark red shell of earth. Various wicked looking shards jutted out of the teens joints and muscular forearms.

The nightmare stumbled a little bit, but its multiple legs allowed the equine creature to quickly regain it’s footing. It abandoned its strikes on the pair as the creature shuffled sideways to the right, inadvertently stepping closer to the recent addition as it avoided the depressed earth.

Lan reacted quickly as the enemy adjusted its footing, Shu Dao’s bell like blade glowing with aura as she drove it into the stone wall directly behind her before splitting the tool at the middle. Darting past of the Nightmare, she quickly turned in a tight corner as she passed the front set of legs, beginning the first of several laps about the demons lower extremities. ”Stay clear, boys, gonna hogtie this beastie!”

Russ wasn’t quite sure what to do. The tiger faunus had vanished, most likely for a stealthy attack, the newbie was doing some sort of tango with the ground, which seemed to be playing out fairly well in their favor. Lan, damn the girl’s ingenuity, was right about to tie the beast’s legs together. Even Jaws was getting back into the fray, though she wasn’t sure just how good of an idea it was to throw himself at the beast all gung-ho like that. But oh well, the guy had survived plenty so far, she figured it would take more than that to bring him down.

While everything drew to a point, Russ was tempted to find the Son. It was nowhere in the clearing, so it must have been in the rubble somewhere, which hit her fairly hard in the gut when she realized it. The Daughter had been near the top and wasn’t in the best shape, if the shorter sword had been buried she didn’t want to see what it looked like now.

So she waited, still gripping the dented longsword and watching the Grimm. If what looked to be a plan the others were acting out came through, the thing might be dead before she needed to risk her neck attacking it. Hey, any situation where she could avoid nearly getting trampled or skewered or chomped to death was good by her.

Tsuki quickly made her way over to Shuo. The polearm seemed to be in good shape, which was good because now comes the finale. Despite the advantage her semblance gave her, it was still a disadvantage to the rest of the group. Besides, the Nightmare could probably use its senses to detect the invisible girl. While what's-his-face and scarlet lemur worked on downing the equine bastard, there needed to be someone actually dealing damage to the beast. The pale female disengaged her semblance becoming visible to her peers. Once the Grimm fell, Tsuki planned on attacking from the rear to at least weaken it.

With quick footwork, the earthen clad boxer worked opposite of the tailed faunus, earth strengthening the lemur faunus's attempts to bind the creature. As the bandages on Hal's back shifted, the boxer tapped into the dust and the ground beneath the wirebound limbs climbed up the Grimm's legs. With the.creature now immobilized, Hal's hand slammed into earth; the ground seemed to grasp like liquid to the hand as the teen brought it back. A wicked looking spike covered the bruisers hand, and Hal ducked forwards, aiming a blow to the Nightmares neck.

Nor grinned as he saw the Grimm now apparently leg locked, raising the large mace over his head. With a burst of aura, the shark faunus's feet cracked the earth beneath him and he executed a widely telegraphed blow aimed for the creature's head. With Lan and the strange human holding the creature in place, Nor had few worries of Grimm dodging the blow.

A furious panic overtook the equine Grimm as it lost its ability to evade the blows, the wires straining and earth cracking as it fought against its bonds. Eyes flared as it saw the mace baring down on it, head turning aside to avoid the blow as it now suddenly turned to the attacking boxer. Hal's arm bound stalagmite pierced through the plating on the creature’s face, the lights in the Grimm's eyes dulling slightly as it stared at the hunter.

Those eyes quickly whipped away as the shark faunus completed his attack, head whipping down with a snapping sound, lights disappearing completely with this blow. As the creature began to dissipate, Nor paused for a moment, breathing heavily, before once more bringing the mace down. He continued in a single minded rage as he rained consecutive blows, a guttural growling emanating from his throat. The head of the creature was now unrecognizable as both his blows and its natural erosion took effect, and soon the.only signs of the creature's presence were a crater where it's head had fallen, hollow pillars of earth and Lan's wire now empty.

”Sweet.” Lan whistled, slowly retracting the now unimpeded wire back into Shu Dao, careful to pause and untie any knots as she watched the cloud of rancid smoke float off into the wind. ”So, back to the cliff?” she inquired while holstering her spade, the red haired faunus checking to ensure the estoc was still resting at her hip in the same move.

"Yea, back to the cliff," Tsuki sighed. In the end the tiger faunus couldn't help but feel absolutely useless in the battle. She was more of a hindrance than anything else. Shuo quickly and rather aggressively returned to its transportation form. Suddenly the subtle taste of blood tickled her tongue. Unconsciously, the white haired girl had been biting her lip.

After seeing that the red faunus was checking her relic, Tsuki remembered to check hers. Pain spread through the tigress's left shoulder as she touched the sheath. Oh yeah, there was that too.

Well, that handled that. Russ stood up from her stance away from the beast and let her tight grip on the blade go. Turns out the others had taken care of things just fine, which was no skin off her nose. Literally, which was a very good thing in her mind. She had a feeling not every fight would go this way, which was a tad unfortunate. Zero risk and modest reward was right up her alley. Besides, it wasn’t like she was gonna be taking down any Grimm with the piece of junk in her hand.

Sliding the Daughter back into the sheath was a feat all its own, the segments not wanting to straighten out made it fit awkwardly on her back, but she managed. On her way to the rubble, she cast an odd glance at Nor, who seemed to be in his own little world of anger.

”Damn, Jaws, thing’s dead. Ground didn’t do anythin’ to you,” she said, but whether or not he heard her, she didn’t know, nor did she stick around to find out.

Instead Russ clambered onto the pile of rocks left in the Nightmare’s attack, and began to lob them away one by one. The Son’s blade glinted in the little light that touched it, and with some effort she managed to drag it free. It was in worse condition than the Daughter, but hey, two shabby swords were better than no swords at all, and Russ wasn’t too fond on the idea of losing them on her first rodeo.

The others looked to be preparing to leave, so she joined them. It had been a long, eventful day, a bit of a break was certainly in order. The sooner they got back, the better.

Nor let out a haggard breath, arms going slack as the mace went through the last of the mist. A quiet nod was his only response to Russ's comment as he strapped Jetstream to his back now that the Grimm had dissipated. He jumped as he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder, the shards of earth making the perpetrator obvious, though it made the wide grinning face of Hal no less surprising; the boxer was uncomfortably close to the shark faunus's own.

"Gotta say, loving the enthusiasm. Plus the whole S&M vibe with the mask is great, buuuut," the boxer drew out the phrase, silence thick in the air for a moment, as what seemed to be a chorus of whinnies and hoof beats in the distance came from the forest.

Letting go of Nor and jogging backwards to the cliff, Hal gave a sarcastic salute to the others, "I think we've worn our welcome out though, so see y'all at the cliff. First one there gets dibs," The teen sent a wink to the unnerved Nor, "Rooting for ya, sour cream," before turning around and making a break for the cliffs. Nor followed slowly behind with a shudder.

”Leave the poor guy alone, Rocky.” Lan interjected, turning briefly towards the rumbling forest with a concerned look on her face.

"Um, we've got massive company. I think it's about time we hightail it outta here," Tsuki's ear twitched in the direction of the barrage of sounds reaching her ears.

Russ wasn’t sure what to think about the newcomer. He gave off vibes like she’d gotten from the Tiger faunus back on the airship, which was a definite negative. There wasn’t much time to think on it however, and she followed along with the others in their departure.

Just as the quintet turned to leave, Hal already having a brief head start moving away from the approaching mass of Grimm, a pair of adults burst through the treeline. The tall blonde glanced over the applicants as her partner rushed forward ahead of them to prepare for the oncoming herd.

“Get back to the cliff,” The taller of the duo ordered the kids, hefting her warhammer as she focused on where the thundering of hoof beats could be heard.

“Make it fast, kids.” a somewhat familiar effeminate voice added, unsheathing a pair of garden sheers from his belt as the wreath of vine on his right bicep began to creep downwards, sprouting several bright pink flowers

“We’ll take care of this.” She concluded. Her warhammer shifted forms, turning into a grenade launcher as she cocked her weapon, aiming over the treetops and firing. There was a scream of rage that echoed over the sound of the grenade detonating, and the woman grinned.

”We’re what you might call experts.” the shorter hunter added, splitting the shears as a pair of long, sickle blades unfurled.

The climb back to the clifftop was tough for all applicants who had to take the long way round, though it wasn’t unmanageable. With that said though, the trek was not made easier by jogging to the top, especially when carrying a full set of gear, something two messy haired applicants realised rather quickly.

Cereza and Viola reached the top as the sun was just starting to hang low in the sky, and were greeted by the waiting faces of Professor Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin, along with an unknown copper-haired woman and a pair of older students standing slightly apart from the rest. There was no sign of their teammates, however, despite the rather large head start the headstrong pair had.

Cereza glanced about in concern, sharing a puzzled glance with her violet-haired companion. She muttered to the shorter girl, “Where are they? They had a huge head start on us, they should have been here ages ago.”

“They couldn’t have gotten lost, could they? The cliff is a rather noticeable landmark.”

“I doubt it. Tierra seemed to have a pretty decent sense of direction. She led us to the ruins earlier, after all.” Cereza shrugged.

Viola’s mouth set in a thin line, one more directed at herself than her companion, “Only one way I can think of to find out,” she said, as she sprinted the remaining distance between them and the teachers, leaving Cereza behind.

“Pardon me,” she said a little more forcefully than intended, “Have a pair comprised of a silver knight and a...overly energetic girl come here recently? They’re named Argent Roan and Tierra Blerta.”

Professor Goodwitch looked down at the young lady, seeming to tower over the girl who refused to look away, Viola's eyes showing nothing but concern. With a sigh, Glynda double checked the scroll in her hands, flicking between screens as the stern-looking woman searched through the various pages of student information. “I’m afraid they haven’t-”

“Viola!” called out Cereza as she cut off the other blonde. Cereza gestured behind her as a loud thump was heard. Another professor along with two more older students had just arrived back on the clifftop with the students Viola had asked after in tow. Argent was slung over a giant of a man’s shoulder, looking like nothing more than a ragdoll in the nine foot talls man’s arms, while Tierra was alert but being carried on the girl’s back. The brown haired man stepped away to watch over the clifftop, his eyes scanning the forest.

Cereza gestured for the girl to join her beside their errant partners. The extremely large young man carefully sat Argent against a nearby tree, with his partner carefully putting Tierra down as well.

Viola was almost ready to dash towards her unconscious friend but manners won her over, so she turned to Goodwitch and gave a quick bow, “Sorry to have troubled you and thank you for the help.” With that out of the way she promptly did what her body wanted and ran towards the other group of teachers. By the time she got there, Viola could just make out the second half of a diagnostic.

“-A broken ankle, so you’ll want to stay off it for a while as it heals. Should be good to go in a couple of weeks, if your aura is up to snuff. Might be a bit tender for a while though.” The girl was saying as the pair drew closer. Argent chose this moment to stir as well, slowly coming back to consciousness. The older girl turned to him, her prosthetic leg glinting in the sunlight with the movement. “You; you’ve got nothing but a bump of the head, but if you start feeling nauseous or dizzy I want you to go straight to the infirmary. Got it?”

She directed her last statement at the three applicants with situational awareness, and as two nodded and one gave a bow, she stepped back to allow the quartet to catch up. She and the hulking man joined the other pair of older students standing off to one side, out of the way.

“This is why you don’t just run off into the Grimm infested forest with no plan, and abandon your partner.” Cereza berated the noirette. “What the hell happened?”

“I-I-There was just too many - things, human-like with razor maws, always reaching and grasping.” The memories came screaming back and almost overpowered her, but Tierra forced them down and brought herself back into reality. Then she turned to the silver knight, “Argent, please. If I’m about to die because of something I’ve done, please don’t waste your life trying to save me again. I-I couldn’t live again with the responsibility of another death.”

As Tierra tried to get up Cereza put a hand on her shoulder, keeping the shorter woman down. “Don’t try to stand on a broken ankle, you silly girl.” The blonde sighed and glanced around at the other two. She wasn’t exactly sure on how to deal with someone begging to be allowed to die - hell, this whole ‘working together’ thing was brand new to Cereza. “Look, no one is going to die, no one is going to let anyone else die, and Tierra, I am your partner. I thought we were supposed to work together on this stuff? We need to actually stick together. Next time you want a race, let everyone else speak before you start it.”

“I’m sorry to have worried you Tierra, but I’m afraid that what you’re asking for is impossible. I came here to become a fully certified Huntsman and help people, and that certification is, to me, just permission to legally save lives from the Grimm. Saving lives is my first priority here; I’m telling you this so you know that asking me not to help if we ever get into a similar situation again is a waste of breath. I would do all of that over again without hesitating in the slightest.” Said Argent, purposefully not commenting on her implication of having witnessed death before; that could wait for another time.

“It’s a rather unreasonable request to make regardless, Miss Blerta,” Viola’s voice was heated, but it was only noticeable due to the force of her words rather than the pitch, “Are you suggesting, should I have actually managed to keep up with you, I should have let you die despite the fact it was I who suggested we run in the first place? I did not come to Beacon just to watch people get eaten by Grimm! If you wish Sir Argent, or really anyone here, to not interfere when your life is forfeit, you’ll simply have to make it so you don’t get in a situation like that again!” She ended with a huff, looking away from them and directing her gaze to the forest in order to calm herself down.

The Cheetah Faunus just sighed and sat back. There was no way she was going to convince them to not throw themselves in harm’s way for her sake. And as Tierra calmed down, she saw that really it’s not what a hunter would do. The tawny-clothed had just had this grand illusion where she was one of those grand loner heroes with friends that helped, preferably Faunus. Now here she was, broken and nearly killed along with a human teammate and being fussed over by other human teammates.

The noirette sighed again, “I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t quite grasp what being on a team was like. I thought-I didn’t take into account the possibility of a teammate’s blood being on your hands. I was imagining some coalition where they loosely worked together, but mostly handled themselves and only fell by their own miscalculations. It would have been breaking your vows as hunters to make that promise. I’ll make a promise though, I’ll strive from now on to be more cautious and to not throw myself into the most dangerous situations possible. Tierra turned towards the water witch and smiled, “Though it might help if you just call me Tierra, Viola. Seriously, I feel like some fancy noble whenever you use my last name.

“I’ll keep that in mi-” Viola paused, as she noticed a set of hands emerging at the edge of the cliff. The other quartet took this moment to appear over the lip of the cliff face, faces dirty and obviously tired but all alive.

“I’ll keep that in mind Miss Tierra,” Viola absentmindedly repeated herself as she waved to the familiar team in order to get their attention. “Over here!”

A certain redheaded faunus waved back enthusiastically, making her way over to greet the other team the moment she crested the cliff face.

They had an extra tagalong, a muscular young teen with dirty blonde hair and a large smile. The brown haired Professor who had arrived with Argent and Tierra’s rescuers stepped forward to meet the group before they could join the quartet talking beneath the trees, speaking in a low voice to Nor. He carefully drew the mask-wearing Faunus aside, away from the rest of the group.

“I have some news from home,” He started softly, dropping his voice so the curious octet couldn’t hear the conversation.

”Hey, where’s Lis?” Lan asked, tail swishing lazily behind her.

“Resting at the base of the cliff. We were both beginning to run low so I thought it was best it stayed there while i climbed,” Viola explained, while unsubtly circling the loony lemur, “I take it nothing bad befell the rest of you? Nothing broken, bruised, mangled, eviscerated or dirtied beyond a chance of cleaning?”

”Ah, aura running low. Got it.” the tailed faunus replied, turning slowly as Viola circled her, ”No more stained or injured than a day in the garden, maybe less.”

“Oh thank heavens,” said Viola, as she stopped checking her friend. “I was a tad concerned given all the...species of Grimm that litter the place. I hope you did not have anymore trouble to deal with other than the Nightmare.”

”Nah, killed it pretty easy. I THINK the herd was after us when we left, though.”

“Beg your pardon but...I imagine a pack would have made quite the commotion. How can you not be certain?” A look of disbelief could be noticed on her face.

Lan simply shrugged. ”I try not to assume things” she added, slowly tilting her head to look past Viola and stare at the somewhat dazed boy propped up by a tree.

“They’ll be fine. They had a run in with...something, but the teachers assured for their well being.”

”That’s not good, I wonder what it was.” the lemur responded, ”I think a couple of teachers turned up when we were leaving too, but I’m not sure.”

Viola could only shrug as the corner of her lips turned up, “One can only assume, but I try not to.”

Russ was too glad to be done with initiation to worry when Jaws got pulled aside. In fact she was just glad it wasn’t her, whatever the teachers were talking to him about was likely just more hassle on top of what they’d all already gone through. Best of luck Jaws, with whatever the hell he’d gotten himself into.

Lan scurried off, and Russ figured she might as well find a way to pass the time until whatever came next. Hopefully a decent amount of rest. Sitting away she saw perhaps the only other familiar face she knew of from before the test: the other faunus girl from the airship. What was her name? Tianna? No, Tierra. Russ wasn’t sure about a last name, but half wasn’t bad.

”Ay,” she said, going over to the cheetah faunus, only realizing as she drew closer that the girl seemed to be hurt. ”Yikes, what happened to you?”

Cereza looked up as a pale girl with rust-coloured hair joined the small group and offered her a quick smile. “Silly girl decided to run off without her team and got ambushed by a pack of Grimm along with Argent. I think she’s learnt her lesson now, though.”

The feline faunus nodded, the visions still dancing in her head. Then she looked up to see the girl from the ship,” Oh, hi Russ. How was your battle? Sorry that I can’t stand for the moment.”

Russ offered a smile to the other girl, waving off her apology. ”Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you’ve all had a damn rough day. If it makes you feel any better, we’ve spent the better part of it getting thrown around like ragdolls. Guess it’s just good to see everyone alive.”

“Yeah, to see everyone alive.” Argent being flung against the tree crossed Tierra’s mind but she shook it out again, determined to focus on the present. “So, you get along well with your partner?”

Tossing a glance over her shoulder at Lan, Russ couldn’t help the slight smirk on her lips. She shrugged. ”Nice girl, bit on the odd side, but I’m starting to find out that’s more common than not here. In any case she knows how to handle herself in a fight, so yeah, works out great. Her focus turned to the other girl, with the bright eyes and nifty haircut. She looked to Tierra. ”How ‘bout you? Snag yourself someone good?”

The feline faunus then looked at Cereza, smiled, then responded, “ Well, she doesn’t properly appreciate the magnificence of the outdoors, but has a good head on her shoulders. As long as we don’t keep bounding into each other, we should be fine.”

Cereza looked away, pouting as she steadily avoided actually looking up at the sky. She mumbled to herself slightly childishly, though the blonde would never admit it to anyone who asked, “Computers are much better.”

”Well, best to you guys. Let’s hope you can keep those good heads on your shoulders, yeah?” she said, offering a slight wave as she started off back for her team. She guessed they wouldn’t be standing around outside forever.

After climbing up the cliff, Tsuki saw most of the initiates gathered together. The exhausted female assumed that they have already met based on the way they interacted with each other. Not wanting to interact with people, the excluded faunus sat at the edge of the cliff and looked around. Her ears swiveled around listening to the sounds around her. Having some time to herself was nice.

“That’s the last of them,” The copper-haired woman jumped in, finally joining the rest of the gathering as another pair of teachers stepped off a rather elaborate floral elevator. She offered Professor Waldgrun a cheeky salute as she departed, and Professor Goodwitch nodded in agreement.

“The team naming ceremony will be held at six this evening, which leaves you with just enough time to get treatment for any wounds you may have and make your way to the auditorium.” The business-like woman explained to the students gathered before her.

Cereza turned to Tierra and Argent, “Argent, you grab that arm and I’ll grab this one, Tierra, you just lean on us and hop to the infirmary. Viola, can you carry Llaw Du?”

“Is there a trigger I should be aware off so I don’t unlock it by accident?” asked Viola, as she gingerly took the offered weapon that seemed to be doing it’s best imitation of a briefcase.

“No, it’s all semblance activated. You have nothing to worry about,” Cereza reassured the girl, “Unless you hold it by the blades, but that would be ridiculous.”

Teirra sighed and leant on her teammates. “Well this is a fine sight. A Faunus, having to be carried by humans. This is humiliating. Surely I could just hop over to the infirmary. No Tierra, you’re on a team now. Let the team help you, it’s perfect bonding time.

As the students left to get medical treatment or found somewhere to relax before the team ceremony and the older students wandered away back to their own dorm rooms, their own tasks done for the day, the Professors gathered in Headmaster Ozpin’s office to look over the students and their relics. Fingers danced across the screens of multiple scrolls, assigning teams and organising scores and class placements as they chatted.

“One of the teams disappeared,” Grey stated, glancing through the student list. He looked over the picture of a tall boy with an orange mohawk, trying to discern where in the forest he and his friends had vanished.

“That is most troubling.” Ozpin frowned, taking a sip from his mug. Professor Goodwitch huffed in response to his understatement.

“I told you, team VLCN or team CFVY should have been sent in to clear the forest before Initiation started.” She stated, “But no. ‘It’s fine, Glynda. My son’s team faced the same hardships last year.’”

“Well they did.” Grey pointed out to the irritated woman, and the glare he received in return was poisonous. He gave her a weak smile before hurriedly changing the subject. “That pair we had to rescue managed to stir up a nest of Dhampir with their rampage through the forest. We cleared it out, but there’s no telling how many more are around.”

“We’ll have to recall Brenner, then.” Ozpin agreed. He flicked the screen of a scroll to the next student, and the pale face of the young shark Faunus boy stared up at the adults. “Pity about Norsun, he would have learnt a lot as a leader.”

“Umuthi and I had to deal with the herd they stirred up though. Do we know what made the first one attack? That is atypical behaviour for a Nightmare.” Professor Luscinia input into the conversation. Beside her, Umuthi nodded.

“I believe it was a stray lightning shot courtesy of Norsun Draklun, actually. It must have damaged it enough that it decided to abandon the herd. Of course they followed anyway, but at least they only managed to cross a Mare and not the Stallion.” Ozpin explained, switching screens once more. A mouse eared girl came into view, and Grey felt pride well up inside him.

“Your children did well, Grey.” Glynda complimented. Her fingers continued swiping, pausing on the face of a small, frosty-haired young man. “I do feel sorry for this one though; that Tenné boy has such a large personality, I wonder how they’re going to sort out their differences?”

“They’ll figure it out,” Ozpin assured her. “That’s what Beacon is for.”

“I suppose.” She relented. Tapping at her scroll a few times, she brought up a comprehensive list of the teams and frowned. “There are still two teams missing a member.”

“Then put that kid - Haldis Nicanson, I think it was? - on the team Norsun was supposed to go on, since they don’t have a team yet.” Juniper waved a hand vaguely, “And that other kid can go with that other team.”

“How eloquent.” Umuthi deadpanned from beside her, not bothering to look up from his tablet. She scowled at him for a moment, but Doctor Oobleck spoke before she could retort.

“Placing Nicanson on the estoc team will bring the otherwise decent team placing down,” He rattled off, “I propose instead that we place the Balaur boy on that team instead, as he actually managed to compete most objectives. It was sheer luck that meant we had an odd number of applicants this year, resulting in Berry not receiving a partner.”

It took a moment for Juniper to sort the coffee-driven doctor’s words out in her mind, and the blonde protested against the idea, “But Haldis has actually spent time with the estoc team, which means they’ll have a head start on teamwork.”

“The time they spent together was negligible,” Bartholomew explained hurriedly, “And any teamwork they have made will be nigh imperceptible. A much better idea would be to put Haldis on a team where the teens failure to complete either objective will not impact the overall score of said team. This is why I suggest placing Nicanson on the katana team, who have already achieved a lower score due to the death of one of their members whilst running Initiation. Nicanson’s results will increase the team score slightly, resulting in positive results for both teams.”

”That seems like the best course of action in this case.” Ozpin agreed.

“If neither overall team placements will suffer in the end, it seems logical to me.” Grey stated. The other professors made a few taps on their scrolls as he spoke.

“Fine. Are we done here then?” Juniper asked, tossing the scroll with a completed list of teams onto the table. She stretched her back as Ozpin spoke again.

“I do believe that concludes this meeting.” He confirmed, glancing at the clock before offering the gathered professors a smile. “Just in time for the ceremony as well.”

“As always.” Umuthi muttered, Juniper nodding her head in agreement.

“Cinnamon Muscadova, Honey Clover, Maple Arboretta, Vanilla Legume. The four of you chose the crystalline rapier and steel scabbard…”

'The scabbard, thought Viola, as her eyes were once again drawn to the etchings that circled it, 'so someone did end up picking it...'

“From this day forward, you will be known as...Team CHaMomiLe, led by Cinnamon Muscadova.” The four girls wearing matching uniforms jumped in joy as they made their way off the stage, sharing hugs all around. Cereza, Viola, Argent and Tierra stepped forward to take their place at the subtle motioning of Professor Goodwitch, nervously awaiting Ozpin’s verdict. Tierra’s ankle had been bandaged and she was currently using a crutch to hobble around, with Argent not quite hovering around the smallest member of their team in case she fell.

'...I wonder if they would let me take another gander at that relic…' thought the lady of the lake, a thought that would have to be expanded on some other time, for it seemes it was her turn now.

“Cereza Floriciente, Viola Lis Marsilea, Argent Roan and Tierra Blerta. The four of you chose the simple gladius and stained sheath. From this day forward, you will be known as...Team CLaReT, led by Cereza Floriciente.” He declared.

Cereza blinked in surprise at the announcement, not quite sure she was hearing the man correctly. ’I’m team leader?’

Although initially apprehensive, '...L...really?...Was there no way you could use V or where you to lazy to try?...' the more she thought of the name, the more she came to like it, 'It does mean Lis is considered part of the team, even if indirectly...'

“Cereza will be a fine leader, while I’ll just have to hope to not cause anyone’s death.” Was what occupied Tierra’s thoughts as she solemnly bowed her head and hobbled back with the others.

Argent looked over at his new team, he felt tension he hadn’t been aware of earlier drain away, they’d made it, they’d taken the first step towards their shared dream.

“Hadrian Nightshade, Rima Tempest, Asche Stauss, Ciardha Dougal. The four of you chose the titanium jian and bone sheath. From this day forward, you will be known as...Team NighTShaDe, led by Hadrian Nightshade.” The ceremony continued behind the newly minted Team CLRT as they made their way off the stage.

At the mention of a bone sheath relic, Tierra stiffened and shot back a look. “Wait a minute, isn’t that what that group led by the orange mohawk guy took?” The noirette saw that it was indeed the relic, but definitely not the same group. She scanned the other hunters both in the lineup and the crowd, wondering if she could have missed them. Seeing the extremely large hunter who had carried Argent but not any sign of the missing group, the petite girl wondered to herself, “What happened to them? They may have not been the nicest but still, they should be here. The feline faunus mulled over it more while the others conversed.

“I - So uh, team leader. Wow.” Cereza ruffled her hair a bit and glanced out the corner of her eye at the rest of her team. Tierra seemed to have zoned out, looking back at the students currently being announced with an intense look. “I wasn’t expecting that; I thought it would’ve been you, Viola, to be honest.”

'Well now that you mentioned it...' mused the witch before realizing Cereza was waiting for a response, “I’m certain you will do just fine Miss Cereza,” she opted to dodge the topic, “...was i also considered for the spot?...”

“You’ll do great, Cereza, I know it.” Argent smiled over at his new leader. He was telling the truth; he did think Cereza would make a great leader, once she became used to the role.

“I-Thanks.” Cereza offered a soft smile for her new teammates and glanced out the window. ’How’s that, Midas? I’m a Hunter now, just like you always dreamed of.’

The remaining trio who had faced off against the Nightmare stepped forward at Professor Goodwitch’s que, Norsun having already gone home on an airship. He was instead replaced by a red haired stranger. Those who were curious could see Haldis standing off to one side with another team.

“Zhu Chun Lan, Tsukiko Baise, Rori Russette, Berry Caerulus Balaur. The four of you chose the elaborate estoc and elemental sheath. From this day forward, you will be known as...Team LamBRusCo, led by Lan Chun Tsyu.” Professor Ozpin told the group.

The red haired faunus girl was somewhat surprised. ”Guess they choose at random,” she mused, tail swishing cheerfully as she wondered what Professor Smith would think of this

‘You just HAD to use my middle name...didn’t you...’ thought an increasingly uncomfortable teen, for not only was he unceremoniously shoved in a team because he couldn’t find a partner, not that he was actively looking for one mind you, but now his middle name was on display every time the team would get introduced, ’Welcome to Beacon...I guess...’

Russ wasn’t too fond of hearing her first name blared out, but it was under the rug quickly enough. She shot a glance to Lan, or Zhu...or Chun...she’d likely just stick with “Lan”. Partner first, and then team leader? Not a bad gig, Russ gave the girl a thumbs-up then turned her attention back to the front.

Tsuki took in the names of her new team. She was kinda embarrassed that she didn't know their names, but hey, one doesn't really have time during battle for formalities. However, guessing by the way they reacted, the pale faunus was the only one who went by her first name. The one thing that piqued the curious feline's interests was the student she hadn't met yet.

“Kalte Blau, Rufus Tenné, Rost Waldgrun-Ectaris, Lila Waldgrun-Ectaris. The four of you chose the tribal talwar and stamped sheath. From this day forward, you will be known as...Team BiTteRsWeet, led by Kalte Blau.” Professor Ozpin continued as the newly christened Team LBRC moved away and another quartet stepped forward to take their place.

“Hey, I know that guy!” Lan noted excitedly, pointing at Kalte, ”We were in Signal together, I think those other two were around in our last year too.” she added, gesturing towards the twins

“Sounds like it was fun...” or at least, funner that being privately trained by some stiffs he was related to, mused the redhead.

”Fun, yeah, but also took forever.”The red haired lemur girl thought for a moment, ”Did they say what dorm we were in?”

"I don't think so. We'll probably be informed later." Tsuki answered. The snowy girl had never lived with people her age, hopefully all will go well.

Russ poorly contained her grin when she saw the tiger faunus and the skittish boy from the airship the other day. Fate had a cruel sense of humor, it seemed, and she silently wished --what was it, Kalte?-- the best of luck. He’d certainly need it being bunched together with the hothead.

“I wish to officially welcome all new teams to Beacon.” Professor Goodwitch stepped forward as the ceremony ended, allowing Ozpin to step away from the microphone. “Dorm assignments and access codes will be sent to your scrolls within the next half hour, and dinner will be served in the cafeteria until eight; get settled in and have a good night’s sleep. Classes start tomorrow at nine. Goodnight.”

It was perhaps an hour later, after the newly minted teams had eaten their dinner and taken their time to introduce themselves to each other. For most of the students the concept of a 4 man team wasn’t introduced to them up until the ceremony; there were those suspicious of the fact that every sword they could chose had a matching sheath, but in their rush to pass initiation even the most savvy applicants didn’t have the time to fully comprehend the implication.

Among all of them though, it was perhaps team LBRC that had the most ground to cover. Three of them have both worked and fought together during initiation, while the fourth was slow to talk. They all had a lot of explaining to do with one another, so much so that they couldn’t cover everything during lunch. The quartet agreed to talk along the way, as they began their search for their new home for the coming years.

”Looks like we’re pretty close to the ground.” The newly appointed leader noted, skimming a map of the dorms. Playing with her scroll as she deciphered the device’s navigational tool, ”Closest elevator is…” She trailed off as she noticed a small building near the main campus.

‘Why is she turning the map upside down?’ thought Berry while trying hard to mask his worry, having a small inner conflict on whether he should antagonize his new leader or not.

”Beacon has a gardening club?” she noted.

”I…uh...how can you tell with the map flipped over?” Berry decided to prod carefully.

”I can read upside down, pretty easy actually.” the red haired girl responds automatically, still trying to find the directions to reach their dorm.

”Doesn’t help that this map makes no sense…” she complained, attempting to decipher it.

Russ thought about lending Lan a hand in reading the map, but a quick glance over her partner’s shoulder quelled that idea. Too many words denoting places she wasn’t familiar enough with yet to know by shape, and the font was small. She took a look at the map on her own scroll before finalizing it, and with a sigh wondered if they’d have to ask for directions right off the bat.

With a resigned nod, Berry took out his own scroll and checked his own map. Once satisfied, he raised his right finger while looking at Lan’s scroll...before turning his scroll upside down and taking another look. “I think that,” he said, while pointing to the inverted elevator on the lemur Faunus’s scroll, “should be the closest elevator.”

After a slight pause Berry took another look at his scroll...before turning it rightside up. “It should be that way,” he said, while pointing in the general direction of the elevator.

”Thank you” she responded sleepily, stowing her scroll and taking a turn towards the bank of elevators.

Tsuki wanted no part in getting them lost, so she watched the three on them as they pulled up the map on their scroll. The tigress, on the other hand, was simply messing with the functions of her newly acquired device. There were so many cool hidden features and not-so-hidden features for the faunus to play around with.

All said and done, Lan gestured for the team to follow towards the elevator. As they waited for the lift to arrive an older boy with shaggy silver-blonde hair arrived behind them, standing silently for a moment as he examined the four.

Russ felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. A life spent making sure she wasn’t seen had left her with a keen sense of “what the fuck is watching me”. She tossed a glance over her shoulder, at first content to just see the single boy there, but at length she realized he wasn’t simply standing, he was observing.

“Uhm, hey dude, got something in my teeth or…?”

”Nah you’re good.” he said softly, smiling at Russ, ”Speaking of which,” he looks at the rest of the team once more, ” I’m writing a term paper on the finer things in life, and I was wondering if I could interview you?” the boy added.

She cocked a brow and turned full-on. Well, the guy was pretty smooth, she’d give him that, at least way smoother than tiger had been. Russ gave a shrug, but couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at her lips.

“Not interested,” replied Berry, not even turning to face the stranger. He wasn’t fond of being interrogated by people older than him, and he planned to avoid having to talk to one as much as possible.

It took a moment for Tsuki to fully grasp what mystery boy was implying. When she did though, she couldn't help but roll her eyes, with a slight smirk on her face. “Nice try,” The white faunus scoffed.

The boy half shrugs to Tsuki’s rejection.

”Boring bunch sorry to say.”

”Sorry to hear that, you seem pretty interesting to me.” he joked, offering a hand, ”Argento Caden, team Vulcan.” the short boy added warmly, waving to the rest of team Lambrusco.

Russ saw no harm in matching hospitalities, and took Argento’s hand, giving a firm shake in return. ”Russ, pleasure,” she said, looking to the rest of her team.

”Zhu Chun Lan” the leader responded, halfway between grinning and glaring for a split second before giving a half-assed wave.

”Ey sour puss, be a bit polite, guy seems like he means well,” Russ said, giving Lan a little nudge with her elbow.

”Oh, hush.” the red haired faunus whispered back, swinging her tail back and forth behind her. The girl stepped forward to shake his hand, attempting to slip the other hand into the pocket where the edge of a scroll could just barely be seen.

Russ kept herself from grinning when she saw what Lan was doing. Well, the guy was nice, but nice guys made the best marks. Besides, it was another chance to see the girl in action, get an idea of how she picked pockets, how sneaky she could really be in broad daylight, face to face with her mark.

“Vulcan, you said?” she asked calmly, pinching two fingers over the top of the scroll and deftly sliding it up into her palm, ”Sounds familiar, but I don’t think I saw you in the naming ceremony.” she said, shaking firmly and watching his eyes, making sure to keep contact as she retracted her other hand quickly, passing the scroll to a partially open pouch on her belt as she did so.

”You prolly weren’t looking hard enough,” Russ said, stepping in to try and pull Argento’s attention. ”Then again, you look all gussied up. What year are you?”

”Third, I believe my leader helped bail out one of the other teams from initiation so you might recognize the name if you encountered him.” The teal eyed boy replied, unaware. ”I would have been in the field with him but I was otherwise occupied.”

Russ shot Lan a subtle wink, then rolled her eyes back to Argento. ”Heroic, you guys do a lot of helping out around here? I’m sure we newbies need it all the time.

At this point she was more or less buffering. The further their conversation went after the pocket had been picked, the better. Less suspicious that way. Besides, the guy was interesting enough, she’d held much more boring conversations before.

Argento released Lan’s hand, ”Not as much as you may think. We tend to take away missions, the big guy gets a bit claustrophobic from time to time.”

“You can choose your missions?” Berry finally turned to eye the older one, curiosity written on his face.

”Yeah, starting second semester they send you on missions from time to time.”

“Don’t the teachers choose the missions for you?” Berry pressed on.

”Sometimes, for the really important stuff. Otherwise they tend to give teams free pick when mission assignments are put out.”

It wouldn’t change much in the end. He wasn’t team leader and he barely had any sway on the team's decision since he hadn’t helped them during initiation. Still, he had a chance, slim as it was, to go somewhere he would like, and that thought alone brought a silly smile on Berry’s face. “Nice,” he murmured, eyes looking away from Argento to stare nowhere in particular.

“Yea, great conversation and all, but the elevator’s here and I'd like to set up shop before midnight,” The slightly annoyed tiger grumbled. Her lack of sleep the night before was getting to her.

”I’m sorry to have bothered you, miss, unfortunately I’m going up too.” Argento apologised curtly, stepping towards the elevator.

As the door opened, a well dressed blue haired girl stepped out. ”Argento, I was just looking for you. We need to clean the room up before-” She noticed the other students and turned towards them, giving a friendly wave while also revealing the blinking light on her throat. ”He wasn’t bothering you too much, was he?” The girl inquired, a slight metallic tone to her voice, ”Come on Argento, we’ll take the stairs.” She said, and the two departed for the stairwell opposite the elevator.

The members of team Lambrusco made the elevator ride up in relative silence. Arriving on their floor after a few short moments, they began the search for their assigned room.

“What was the number again?” asked a now only slightly distracted Berry, stepping in front of the team to check the numbering on the doors.

Lan stopped in her tracks, wearing a puzzled look. ”Not sure, let me check.” The red haired girl withdrew a scroll from her pocket, opening the device and staring intently at it for a moment. She paused, eyes shifting as she slid it shut and replaced it before withdrawing her own. The girl once again opened her scroll, looking for a number, ”Looks like… 205?”

“Hold up, since when did you get two scrolls? I know you’re the leader and all, but do you even need two scrolls?” Tsuki asked, a bit annoyed. Was there something on the other scroll that was special? If so, the tiger faunus wanted in on this two for one deal that was going on.

The lemur faunus tilted her head, feigning innocence, ”I found it lying on the ground earlier. Haven’t had a chance to turn it in.”

“Maybe it’s the third years,” noted Berry as he made his way to the group, “I think if we hurry we can still catch them...what was their name again?.”

Lan shrugged and pulled the stolen scroll from her pocket, offering it to Berry, ”Feel free to take it to him then, I think third years are two floors up.”

“Right, catch you guys in a bit.” Wasting no time Berry made a beeline for the stairs...but stopped just short of the first step before turning back to his teammates. “His name was Argent, right?!”

”I think it was Argento.” Lan responded, checking the number on the latch for the nearest door as she did so and shaking her head slightly when she determined it was not their room.

Berry muttered a quick thanks before dashing up the stairs in hope of catching the duo before they got to their room.

”Good luck finding him, Berry!”

“If he doesn't come back quick he's gonna end up with the leftovers,” Tsuki observed, raising an eyebrow.

”What leftovers?” Lan wondered aloud.

Tsuki sighed, slightly annoyed that she had to explain herself. “Ya know, whatever bed is left over, the closet nobody wants, the desk that's probably broken, those kinds of things.” The feline shrugged.

A look of recognition crossed the lemur tailed girls face, ”Oooooh… I thought you meant food, but we just ate, so…” She shrugged and moved to the next door, checking the control panel for a number. ”If anyone wants to help me find our room, that would be great.” Lan stared at her first target a moment, ”Actually, I think this is it.” she mumbled, pulling out her scroll and waving it past the sensor. With an affirming click the bolt released.

”Great, I’m ready to lie down,” Russ said, stretching her arms out wide, a satisfying pop bringing a quiet hum from her lips.

The quiet of the hallway was suddenly banished by the bubble of four girls chatting very loudly as the elevator opened, the conversation making no sense to anyone who was listening. As they turned the corner, they group revealed themselves to be the cheerleader-themed team as they alternatingly skipped, danced, walked or jogged slightly to keep up with their leader; a slim auburn haired girl with a pair of sugar glider ears poking out from the top of her head.

“So I was saying we should like totally-oh!” The sugar glider faunus came to a halt suddenly as she noticed LBRC standing outside their doorway. “Hi! My name’s Cinnamon!”

The red haired faunus slowly turned towards the source of the noise, a slight look of concern on her face, ”Uh, hi?” Lan muttered, unsure of what exactly was happening.

The smallest member of their team, one with a small amount of armouring on her outfit and a platinum blonde pixie cut glanced at the latch beside her. “Cinna, what room were we again?”

“203, Vanilla,” The tallest replied instead, her raccoon tail swishing slightly.

“Then this is it.” Vanilla responded, pointing at the doorway they were standing outside of.

The last member, a curvaceous girl with hundreds of different coloured ribbons braided into her lavender hair, spoke, “Oh! That was lucky!”

Russ blinked. Oh boy, this would be something else, the four girls looked like they contained a good share of Beacon’s energy. Fair split of faunus too, from what she could tell. Made her grin thinking of what the pugnacious folks from the other day might have to say about it.

Lan looked over the four before suppressing her concern over the sudden change in the atmosphere, ” Zhu Chun Lan , but you can call me Lan.” she greeted, tail twitching nervously.

“Lan?” Cinnamon squinted at her, obviously thinking hard. Beside her, the curvaceous girl sighed.

“Lambrusco. Lan is probably the team leader.” She told her with a slight smile.

“Oh, right! Thanks, darl,” Cinnamon flashed her a grin as the red haired faunus waved her scroll on front of the latch and unlocked their door. Cinnamon gestured at the curvy lavenderette, the fiery haired raccoon faunus and the petite platinum blonde in turn. “These are my girls, Honey, Maple and Vanilla. Which room are you guys in?”

”Russ,” she said, offering a slight wave to the four girls before squeezing past Lan and into the room.

“We’re in this one,” Tsuki said rapping two knuckles on the frame of their newly found room. “I’m Tsukiko by the way, but it's easier to call me Tsuki,”

”I am the leader as well.” The lemur confirmed with a nod as she extended one hand, ”You’ll have to forgive me, but what was your team?”

“Chamomile!” Cinnamon chirped and shook the proffered hand quickly, even as Maple and Vanilla slipped into the room with a small wave. Honey glanced between the quieter pair and her leader before giving the trio a friendly smile.

“Nice to meet you, neighbours.” She stated pleasantly. “Though, where is your fourth member?”

Cinnamon blinked, before visually counting the number of Lambrusco members. “Huh. Where are they?”

”Berry is… indisposed at the moment, should be back shortly.” Lan answered, ”Nice to meet you four as well.” With that, she ducked into her own dorm, leaving Tsuki alone with the remaining cheerleaders.

Honey gave an amused smile to the tiger faunus that had just been abandoned by her teammates in the face of the overexcitable Cinnamon, “We’ll let you join your team.”

“See ya,” Tsuki waved them off with a fake smile plastered on her face. How can people smile all the time? It's so much more work. But hey, when you gotta be a decent person, it's the best way to go about it.

Honey entwined her fingers through her auburn haired team leader’s, tugging the girl into the room next door. Cinnamon waved enthusiastically to Tsuki, “Goodnight! Nice to meet you all!”

The door shut behind them with a definitive click.

Inside the dorm, Lan looked around the room carefully, spotting a sheet of paper on one of the desks bearing a simple diagram. Sitting with the paper are several sturdy wooden pages, ”Bunk…. beds?” A grin crossed her face and she looked over at Russ, ”Hey! Russ! how do bunk beds sound?” She asked excitedly.

After being left in the hallway by everyone else, the laid back first year took a quick survey of the hall. She noted the number of windows, the number of dorms, and all the exits. Then, she slipped into her new living quarters.

”Holy shit,” Russ muttered at her first sight of the room. It was massive, absolutely massive, even the beds looked like they could fit multiple people. These were the kinds of rooms people painted, or --she presumed-- wrote about in stories, not actually live in. And yet it was theirs.

She nearly missed Lan’s question, turning to her partner with a quizzical ”hm?” before shaking the sense back into her head. ”Bunkbeds? Sure, why not, love a bird’s-eye view.”

Lan looked between the beds, her partner and the conversion instructions, ,”I wanted top bunk…” she muttered half-heartedly. ”Wait, bad, Lan no sleep.” the crimson haired girl reminded herself.

”No sleep? How could you go through a day like this and not wanna just crash?” Russ asked, going over and peeking at the instructions. Ugh, more words, but at least the pictures helped get the idea across. ”Alright how do we do this?”

”That is a question I ask myself every day.” she sighed, ”Fine line between want to and can’t.”

“Well what does the first step say to do? Instructions are helpful ya know.” The faunus girl asked.

”I think we just… put these pegs onto the posts and lift the other bed on top of it. Seems simple enough.”

“Then, let's get started!” The tiger faunus grinned, grabbing one set of pegs. She headed towards the two beds on the right hand side of the room. “I call the top bunk over here.”

With a slight look of disappointment, Lan picked up the other set of pegs, moving to insert them on one of the other beds, ”So, you two have anything you want to do with this place other than bunk beds?” the lemur asks politely.

Taking silence as her answer, the red haired faunus continued to assemble the bunk beds, a simple task in and of itself, but exhausting and time consuming due to the absence of their fourth member. By the time they finished, it was growing late and the girls were exhausted.

Lan flopped on one of the bunks, physically drained, and muttered something with her face buried in a pillow.

Russ as well was fairly beat by the time the three had assembled their beds. She clambered up to the one above Lan, hearing the girl mutter something as she passed.

”Wassat?” she asked as she pulled herself up onto her bed. It took about five seconds for her to realize it was the damned coziest thing she’d ever been on.

The red haired faunus turned her face out of the pillow just barely enough to speak clearly ”I’ll measure the closets tonight”

During this time, their 4th member was making his way down the stairs. He was a bit frustrated the elevators were locked, but realizing he only had to go down the stairs helped alleviate his nerves.

‘Why are those things locked though? They worked fine when we got here,’ Berry couldn’t help but muse as he made his way to the elevator, using his scroll again to try and activate it. Much to his annoyance, it was still locked, ‘whatever,’ he thought turning back in search for his room.

As the red haired student made his way to his room, another quartet were already halfway through the hallway. The four made their way down the hall, stopping at each door so their leader -A tall red eyed youth- could check the numbers on the latches.

‘Kitchens...we have a kitchen? 201 and 202... 205 is probably the second set of doors down,’ though Berry as he made his way towards what he hoped was his room.

While the team moved closer to their dorm, the other male in the group eyed Berry cautiously, a wisp of smoke escaping his mouth as he mutters something to one of the two females. The fox tailed girl shot Berry a sideways glance before tapping the shorter of the two men on the shoulder to get his attention.

‘The hell is their problem?’ thought Berry as he removed his right hand out of his pocket. Students at beacon were given lockers to keep their weapons in but Berry would have been damned if he took it off and placed it somewhere he couldn’t see it. Of course thanks to his hoodie only he really needed to know that. Not wanting to overreact he took his eyes away from them but kept moving along.

The gap between Berry and team Nightshade closed gradually, with the team spreading out to check dorm numbers more efficiently. Berry for his part took a slow intake of breath, one that wasn’t looking like it would stop, as he centered himself in the middle of the hallway and made his way past the other four.

The four students passed by Berry wordlessly, finding their dorm at last before stepping inside. The leader paused to watch the red haired student for a moment before slamming the door behind him.

Letting out a long breath strong enough to send a gust of wind through the hallway, Berry used his right hand to search for his scroll. “Well that was anticlimactic,” he mused as he reached his room and waved the scroll in front of the lock, “guess i got tensed over nothing,” as he made his way inside the room, “...again.”

Lan rolled onto her back as she heard the door open, pulling herself into a sitting position ”How’d it go?” she asked cheerfully, cocking her head to the side.

“No one tried to punch me,” Berry absentmindedly replied as he closed the door.

”Strictly speaking that is better than the alternative.” the faunus noted, ”Hope you’re okay with bunk beds, too late to change now.”

“Huh?” said Berry as he took a look around, “Was I gone that long? Shit, sorry you did everything.”

”It’s fine, got a lot more to do overnight anyways. Anything interesting happen while you were out?”

“Thought another team was picking up a fight, some dude with red eyes was giving me the stink eye earlier, but nothing happened...which bed is mine?”

Lan pointed at the other set of bunks, ”Lower one over there I think.” She looked back to Berry, ”Get that scroll back home okay?”

“Huh, oh yeah,” supplied Berry as he was preparing for bed, “met Argent...o’s entire team before i could give it back though.”

The blue eyed girl nods in interest ”How were they?”

“...Nice?...”