Bran Brass

---

Bran noticed the girl arriving just behind, she appeared to be drunk. Well he wasn't one to judge, after all half the Huntsmen that had passed through his mothers tavern were drunkards. He noticed her looking him over, then she winked, she must have wanted them to be partners. That was fine by him, he returned the wink and got ready to launch. "Hey try to stay close, I can get us down quick and easy. My name's Bran by the way, Bran Brass." He told her just before he was thrown skyward by his pad.

As Bran enjoyed the flight he could have sworn the ground was moving below, then he noticed the massive worm in the distance. Which had just been just been brutal killed, he decided to ignore it drawing his sword the blade folded back, he began to work the tension based triggers and lever the based inside the hilt. Firing the first two threads down into the trees they wrapped around branches he tightened the line. He then turned and fired a line at Yu and him, letting the line wrap around him, he pulled himself downward.

Once they had stopped among the tree's he cut the lines and let them drop about ten feet down, he looked over at Yu. "So partner, which way do you think we should go?" He asked, giving her a friend smile as he swapped his weapon back it's sword form sliding it into the scabbard. "I say we just follow the sound of fighting and destruction, the others have to be near the objective, right?"

@Rekaigan

Yu Zuiren

---

Yu wasn't really expecting the boy to return the wink. She felt her face get a little hotter than it already was.. 'Must be the alcohol.' She thought just as she was launched from the pad. The breeze felt good as it flowed through her long silver, white hair. She was so distracted by the feeling of flight that she didn't notice the thread wrap around her. Mid swig, she felt something pull her downward, making her spill a little bit of her drink.

Overall, Yu didn't really notice anything. Not even the massive wurm in the distance.. Not that there was much time between her flying and being pulled to the ground. When the thread was cut, Yu tumbled onto the grass below, laying flat on her back for a moment as she lifted the gourd to her mouth for another gulp. She sighed in a leisurely way before getting onto her feet with a swift kick up, however she seemed to stumble slightly as she stood up. She slowly walked over to her partner with a slightly unbalanced gait. She leaned close to his ear, whispering in a flirtatious tone, "I'll go wherever you want me to, Bran~" She stepped back a little, giving her new partner a cheeky grin

Then she suddenly remembered something, "How ruude of me~ I'm-hic Yu. Yu Zuiren~ ..It's a pleasure to meet you-hic." She said, giving Bran a very casual bow. She glanced around the trees with a slightly clueless look before looking back at Bran, "Which way are we going?"

---

Not long after the two other students were sent flying, Ozpin would hear the sound of low purring as something brushed against his leg. If he looked down, he'd see Alice, looking up at the man with her green and blue eyes while her tailed waved from side to side. Tied to her collar was a piece of paper, which when unrolled, would read out as such.

Got your message and decided to not waste anytime, due to me being so late as it is. I already know the gist of the test already, so by the time you read this I've already entered the forest. Also, if you could just watch Alice for a bit, that would be nice, but I'd understand if you don't. Asking too much of you and all.

@ReaptheMusic

---

Vi was making her way through the forest, looking around to see if she could find another solo individual, but somehow doubted it due to how late she was. Well, if that's the case, that's the case, though I'd would rather not half to get the tongue lashing from Mom about this. By the Maidens, why does this half to be such an ordeal already. Stupid Ozpin for not giving early notice, and stupid Crimson for bringing a door down on my head. Even with Aura, it still hurts. The purple haired girl, dressed in casual baggy clothes like a hoody, jeans, and the like, reached up to rub her head, wincing slightly at the pain. SUddenly, however, she turned around, bringing up her weapon as the barrel traveled down the barrel as Black Needle switched into SHotgun form, her eyes scanning her surroundings. At first, there was nothing of note, but soon after, red eyes started to glare out from the undergrowth, a pack of Beowulf making their way towards the meek-looking figure. She could tell from the way they approached and the look in their hollow, hatred filled eyes, that they didn't think much of her, not counting her as a true threat. That, in truth, was their second mistake.

The first was deciding to attack Vi in the first place.

As soon as the first one attacked, charging forward in a mad rush with claws ready to rend flesh from bone, she retaliated by launching a slug right between it's eyes, twisting out of the way as it's carcass flew past her, not a hair out of place as she stared out at the other Grim, simply giving them an exasperated look. The Beowolves responded by charging at her all at once, but before they had even begun, the maneuver was doomed to failure. As they launched themselves at her, the girl's formed seemed to fade out piece by piece, by the time their attacked would've reached her, all that was left was a sly smile, and even that soon faded away.

Confused at the disappearance of their prey, the Grimm looked about in search of her, only to be startled by the sounds of several shots being fired around them into the dirt, turning this way and that for the source of the sound, until one of them spotted the girl began to reappear just a short ways away. It took a step forward, eager to sink it's teeth into this annoying meal, only for the ground around it to erupt into an explosion of rapidly condensing cold, freezing it and most of the other pack members in ice, easy pickings for the silent huntress as she quickly picked the frozen beast off one by one. Those that weren't frozen were trapped by the frozen bodies of their fellow Grimm, and thus were ended soon after with little trouble.

After that was done with, Vi would quickly climb a tree, quickly making her way all the way to the top, where she would look through the scope of her weapon in Railgun mode to take a look at her surroundings, taking note of the giant worm Grimm that seemed to be have been killed by the other students. Hmmm, a Retrograde huh? Whoever took that down is either very skilled or packing some serious firepower . . . interesting. Moving on from the grimm corpse, she looked around until she spotted what appeared to be two other students not too far away from her position. They're already teamed up, but maybe they know where the relics are. If not, well, I can stalk them until they come across it or another person that i can team up with.

With plan set in stone, Vi put Black Needle away and quickly hopped from branch to branch until she made her way to the forest floor a couple of feet away from the other two, taking a moment to wipe some leaves and whatnot from her clothes before looking up at the two, one eye hidden behind her somewhat messy hair while the other stared out with an apathetic half-glare at the two as she raised a hand in a half-hearted greeting, her tone rather flat and distinctly lacking any true welcoming tones, though not really hostile either.

"Hey, do you two happen to know where the relics are?" she asked and then, remembering that she might end up on a team with these people(and would probably be meeting them throughout the year anyway even if they weren't), that she should probably just get the whole introduction thing over with as well. "Oh, and the name's Vi, if you care to know. Vi Hyacin, pleasure to meet you and all that."

@Rekaigan@Apollosarcher

At the mention of relics, Vlad checked in the breastplate of his armour to make sure his was still secure in there, and not in pieces or anything from his torso being held by a giant claw; once he'd confirmed that it was present and intact, he lifted his now-free hand to the side of the branch closest to the trunk, took hold, then cautiously took his hand off of Breath. It did not retract round the branch as he might have anticipated, and so he hoisted himself up on top of the branch.

"Since we're introducing ourselves," he called in roughly the direction of the two others in his vicinity, wanting something to do whilst he began working on the arduous process of unwinding the grapple from round the branch, "I am Vladimir Plasimov-Drakka, s-"

What he would have said was cut off as, abruptly, the ground began to shake as though an earthquake had hit it. Pausing for a moment, Vlad began to grin again, gripping the branch with his knees and continuing to unwind the weapon as he continued "...and that sounds like a good time waiting to happen. Or bad, depending on your perspective." Shortly, he succeeded in freeing Breath, promptly reeling it back in and holstering it; then, double-checking to make sure the fall wasn't too significant, he leapt down from the branch, landing in a roll to minimise the impact force, and rising just below where Rood and this Chen Jet were both hanging in mid-air.

"Come along, then! We don't have all day," he yelled up at the two. At least one of them still required one of those tablets, and Vlad himself was itching to discover whatever had caused that vibration, Nevermore or otherwise.

@ReaptheMusic@floodtalon

Rowan D. Valinn

---

Rowan looked up, only to get a mouthful of black feathers as the body of a giant Nevermore came falling down the Retrograde’s mouth. Rowan had almost been taken down with the beast, but her relatively thin figure allowed her to hug the wall of the worm’s throat, and avoid her untimely demise.

“Pbbfft. That wasn’t pleasant,” she said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” She yelled over the sound of the explosion, though her words were probably lost to the deafening mixture of Dust and Bonny’s cannonball beneath them. She could feel the air tearing at her skin as they soared into the sky. She was thanking the powers that be for her incredibly durable Aura, otherwise she would be dead by now. At the apex of their journey, Rowan looked to Bonny, a terrified expression covering her face.

“This is probably going to hurt,” she said before they were brought into their descent back towards Remnant. She had no method to slow their descent, and resorted to holding on to Bonny as she fired her cannon towards the forest below, no doubt causing massive damage to anything she hit.

Rowan braced for impact as they came crashing down on top of the remaining half of the Retrograde Grimm. Apparently the Grimm refused to die from their earlier explosion. Well, if it wasn’t dead then, it sure as hell was now. Rowan spit out a mouthful of black Grimm goo. She looked around, realizing that they hadn’t just killed the worm; they had obliterated it.

“I think I’m good. My Aura’s still there, but only barely.” Rowan watched as Bonny slipped around in the lake of goo they had created.

Rowan went over to Bonny. “I’m sorry, I might have been the cause of that. My Semblance drains the Aura of those I touch, and I have no control over it. I’m sorry,” she said as she helped Bonny to her feet.

Rowan stabalized herself as well as Bonny as the ground shook beneath them once more. “Oh, please don’t be another damn worm!”

@Turboshitter

---

Chen shook Rood's hand firmly, disregarding the whole walking on air thing. "Nice to meet ya Rood. Nice joke by the way." Chen giggled a little at the pun that Rood had made and narrowed his eyes a little once he mentioned the Nevermore. "Ya know how some people don't like litter on the ground? Well I don't like litter in the sky either." Chen spat out as he glanced at the Nevermore. "But you're right. That monster isn't worth my time." He looked over at Vladmir and smiled. "Go on without me. I'm gonna try and find someone to pair up with, I'll talk to ya later though. You seem like a fun guy!" Chen laughed with this last statement and left the area.

It was as he left that something abnormal happened. If abnormal meant a giant worm coming out of the ground, swallowing a Nevermore whole and then shooting out a pair of students and a fair amount of fire. Chen would go a step further and say it was pretty fucking weird. "Huh. Cool." And cool. Chen shook his head and decided to heed Rood's advice, heading over to the relics. He hopped through the trees, teleporting every now and then so he could get there faster, when a sudden shake threw him off.

Chen landed on the ground feet first and pulled out his guns. He looked around for the source of the minor earthquake and sighed. Nothing, nothing he could see anyways. He slid his guns back into his sleeves and looked around. Someone was talking in the distance. He should go check that out, strength in numbers and all.

Chen walked into the clearing that Vi, Yu, and Bran were in. "The relics are that way." Chen pointed in the direction that Rood had pointed him to. "I'm Chen by the way, but like I was saying. The relics are that way, and I'm heading that way myself. Would you three care to accompany me?" He asked with a carefree smile and his hands interlocked behind his head.

@ReaptheMusic@Rekaigan@Apollosarcher@Raijinslayer@BCTheEntity

Vi's attention was drawn away from the pair she addressed to a new person, raising an eye at his mention of needing a relic. Putting together this information and the fact that he was alone, she figured that he was probably unpaired at the moment, and thus, her partner. As such, while following him towards the relics, she decided to study him a bit, see what kind of read she could get on the dark-haired boy.

Well . . . he's short. Really short. . . and that's all I can really get just from looking. Which means I have to talk to him. Great.

Vi sighed internally before catching up to the short black haired youth, poking him in the back of his head, and keeping her finger there, as she finally decided to speak up.

"Chen, right? Name's Vi, and I guess we're partners, since you don't seem to have a partner either. Got any weapons or are you planning on punching the Grimm to death?" She spoke with a sense of dry snark, not being too hostile about it, but also not being really friendly or endearing either. She continued on, her attention turning towards the other students and the Retrograde she'd seen earlier. "Speaking of Grimm, what's with the Retrograde over there, and who took it down? Was it another student?"

@floodtalon

The slight crunch of the leave behind Glynda, whom at this point had been left alone, only for her to turn and have her purple eyes widen at what was greeting her. White magic flooded her eyes before she could speak however, and she fell to the ground where an arm, clad in ebony robings, caught her and set her down gently.

This figure looked out over the field from their vantage point on the cliff, seeing the Retrograde defeated.

Inconvenient.

Whipping out a hand, their fingertips glowed with similar colored magic. They crouched down and struck the cliff. The resounding effect was white cracks in the earth forming and shooting down the cliff, across the bridge, across the field and down to where the Retrograde lay in pieces, as though lightning had struck the ground. The dirt began to shiver, and then violently shake as though an earthquake was imminent, and it was. At this moment, Rood had run from the clearing after acknowledging Vlad and Chen's words, finding himself beside Bonny and Rowan whilst looking in awe. Beneath them, the ground separated and began to split, separating it quickly to form a chasm where dark and red light shone beneath them. A terrible, disgusting screech welled up from below them as the pieces of the Retrograde, which had begun to dissipate, fell into the abyss.

And in response, a grimm that had only been heard of in mythology reared its ugly head as it crawled out before the quadron of students present and shrieked.

---

---

Rood's eyes grew to the size of saucers and he stumbled back, his chest clenching in terror. He'd seen this thing before. His breath grew to near hyperventilation levels as he shuddered, the beast and its lower heads approaching in a slow, controlled manner as its rotten breath was blown into their face, causing Rood to nearly gag.

"F... Ff... Falthon..."

He began to take steps back away from the beast, clearly freaked out. Falthons, in mythology, were amongst the most 'young' of the Grimm and thus the most macabre. Before Grimm had found distinct, animalistic shapes, they formed monstrosities of fear that had thought to be wiped out by ancient heroes like Turnbon and Chikalis. All the while, the scholar Bentiteea had found ways to eradicate them; complicated methods as such due to the fact that dust never seemed to prove efficient against a Falthon grimm.

"We gotta run... FALTHON!" With that, Rood turned around and booked it for the cliff, knowing they already had their relics. Though he had seemed so cool headed earlier, the blonde had looked upon the monster with recognition. He knew what they were capable of, it seemed.

---

Bonny heard a ruckus and glanced back weakly to find Rood booking it like a chicken with its head cut off, squawking about a fathom or something. Then she saw the gigantic lurching grotesquerie that looked less like a proper Grimm and more like a paper mache kit collided violently with a morgue, a pet cemetery, and a chicken coop in that order, deduced that that was probably what Rood was referring to, and despite her lack of formal education, came to the stunningly astute conclusion of-

"That... doesn't look good."

She tried walking, but stumbled, falling into Rowan's shoulder. The fatigue and the Aura drain was still proving to be too much for her to recover from so quickly. Like this, she could hardly walk or pull a trigger, much less run. So she collapsed her cannon's rig, swung her arm around wildly, and somehow managed to slip it back on again like a backpack.

"Hey lass? You think ye can help carry me?" she said, nodding at Falthon. "I promise I'll use me cannon to give ye a bit of an extra boost soooooo... please don't leave me behind?"

Bonny knew how the famous horror movie trope went. The faunus always died first.

Having followed after Rood as he charged away to the clearing, Vlad found himself accompanying him, Rowan, and Bonny as a misshapen thing emerged from the ground. A Falthon, going by the tall blond's panicked yells. The creature's breath was akin to that of a corpse farm, bad enough that it made the shark Faunus' seem like a rose bath in comparison. It had bat-like wings, yet this was the only part of it that might be construed as being from a real animal, for the bone ridges and too-narrow waist and hundreds of mouths and faces across its body. In short, it was nightmarish to behold.

Vlad found himself smirking at the challenge, and would surely have attacked recklessly if Rood and Bonny hadn't decided to be cowards- he believed they were being cowardly for little reason, anyway- and run off. Or rather, if Rood hadn't run off, and Bonny gone and stumbled into Rowan, asking to be carried. It's almost like she's drained her entire aura without even trying, Vlad thought to himself. How the hell did she do that in just a few minutes, against a single Grimm of all things?

Rolling his eyes, he sheathed his weapons and charged past the two, grabbing Bonny from Rowan with a yell of "I'm stronger than you!" and lugging her over his shoulder as he ran. "If you want to help," Vlad said to her, "shoot at it if you see it. I have my ways of providing speed boosts if we need them."

Bran Brass

---

Bran blushed as his when his partner walked much closer than he expected and whispered commenting in a rather suggestive manner. Still he did like the attention, so doing his best not to awkward he gave Yu a smile even if she did seem like a drunkard. "Well glad to meet you Yu, I believe our best bet to retrieve the artifacts is back towards where I saw the other Grimm die." He pointed in the direction he'd seen Huntsman fighting as held the giants knife. "So I guess we should get going, need to find our artifact right? When we get there you grab it, I'll watch your back. From the sounds of it a lot of Grimm are out in this area right now." He said paused as another student, Vi walked and asked them about the relics.

"I was just telling Yu, that there probably over by the others." He pointed again towards where he had seen them. He just about to introduce himself and his partner when yet another Huntsman arrived, he wondered if the two new arrivals had been hoping to find a partner here. Chen Jet as introduced himself pointed just about the the same place Bran had, however it did seem a few degree's different. He was thankful for that, the boy had obviously been that way before and knew the route.

"I'm up for the four of us working together, after all teams will be made with four huntsman, best to learn some teamwork now." Bran was kind of shocked to see a boy as short as him, few were that small. Straightening his suit and carefully he brushed it clean and gave them all a gentle smile looking around as he spun his sword with ease. "So, how about we go find the guys who got that kill... Than kill something bigger? We can't be shown up on the first day right?" As he finished that he heard a roar that that sound where between of scream of pain and rage. He had a feeling he'd just gotten his wish to fight something stronger the retrograde.

@Rekaigan @floodtalon @Raijinslayer

Vi looked back at the other boy who she had originally addressed, raising an incredulous eye at his second statement. She herself couldn't care much about being shown up right now, nor did she wish to put in the effort required to find something bigger than a Retrograde to kill, much less the act of actually killing it. All-in-all, it sounded like a troublesome endeavor, and she was about to state this as soon as this diminutive boy finished speaking(Are all the guys in this group going to be so tiny? She couldn't help but think), but was interrupted by a rather loud and authoritative roar that broke out seemed the very earth she stood on. Turning around quickly, she felt a surge of dread crawl up her spine as she quickly took the trees, temporarily abandoning her fellow students as she scurried up to the top of the tree, looking out in the direction of the roar through the scope of her railgun, though it was hardly needed as she soon found out. The creature was large and grotesque it's multitude of fleshy looking faces carving their haunting image into her mind, bringing with them a whispered name that had plagued her dreams shortly after she had learned about the creature some years ago.

. . . .Falthon

As quickly as she had risen to the top of the wooden spire, she was twice as quick to retreat back down it's length, falling to the ground to land in a crouched position, barely repressing her instinct to run as she went over her options. They were really quite simple: Run to the cliff and live, or go back for some stupid fucking relics to get a job she really didn't care about and likely die in the process. Unsurprisingly, living won out, and she was quick to begin her departure, and would rge the others to do the same.

"I don't know about the three of you, but I'd rather live to take this stupid test again another year than die trying to take down a fucking Falthon. If you'd rather risk your life to get those stupid relics, I might attend your funeral. Otherwise, I'd get moving."

And with that said, she would be on her way towards the cliff, running as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't care of people called her a coward or whatever, she wasn't even a student and despite her training with her family, she knew the limits of her ability, and that mythological monstrosity was far outside of them. She doubted that she would've gone for the relics even if she did really care about becoming a huntress. There were better ways to prove yourself besides committing virtual suicide, after all.

@Apollosarcher@floodtalon@Rekaigan

---

Chen winced at the roar throughout the forest and shook his head. Falthon, A.K.A. the myths. Nobody stood a chance against those things, luckily they didn't need to. "Hey whoa, I'm all for running away from danger too, but running away doesn't mean we have to fail the exam." He said as he moved in front of Vi. "It just means we gotta play smart. Here's what we do. I'm fast, real fast. So I'm going to grab all the relics, get the hell out of there, and then we meet up at the cliffs. No need to 'Jet' away at the first sign of danger eh?" Chen put on a cheeky smile as he said this, but he was seriously terrified. You don't just go head to head with a Falthon and expect to win. You don't even expect to ever see one, much less meet one.

He then turned to Bran and his smile lessened. "And we don't need to kill anything. We'll get plenty of chances to kill something big and scary later, when we have actual training and experience. Right now, we're going to try and survive, step one is grabbing those relics. Step two, avoid the Falthon. Step three, live. Sound like a plan? Cause it sounds like the greatest plan in existence to me." Chen turned towards the relic location and thought for a second.

"Ok, while teamwork is great and all, it don't mean shit against a Falthon. So we'rd going to split up and meet at the cliffs. Try to avoid the Falthon if you can. If you can't, I'll be at your funeral. I'm going to grab the relics, and book it to the cliffs as well. Can we all agree on that?"

@Raijinslayer@Apollosarcher@Rekaigan

Yu Zuiren

---

Bran's reaction was something that Yu was aiming for, for the most part. He looked quite cute when he blushed. She grinned at his suggestion, "Sounds like a good plan~" Just as she went to move, another person strolled out of the trees to greet them. She would've responded to the other girl's introduction if she didn't have a gourd tip in her mouth. She decided to cut her gulp short to respond, but then another person walked out into the clearing. Some guy that called himself 'Chen'.

He looked.. short. Then she was hit with a realization. Bran and Chen were about the same height. They were both midgets! She tried to hold back a laugh, although it came out as a muffled 'pfft' sound as she turned away slightly. 'I guess it doesn't matter either way~ I'll get to know them in our own time~' she thought in a rather gutter manner.

When Vi spoke of a 'Retrograde', Yu didn't really know what she was talking about.. Or rather she did, but she was half drunk and hungover so thinking was a hard thing. Retrograde or whatever, Yu would face whatever came their way. The word 'Teamwork' was something Yu liked to hear. It meant working with others, which can be fun. Especially when they're all drunk with her, but now's not the time for that kind of teamwork.

The roar of a massive creature sounded in the distance, it was something that Yu had never heard before, but she saw glimpses of something big outside the forest. She could feel the atmosphere turn from rather calm to rather weary. "Falthon? Sounds weird. It can't be that bad~" She shrugged in some mock confidence. Of course, she knew that if something like that set everyone on edge, she should take it so lightly. However, Chen's idea was quite nice.

"Being the one that's--hic going to go get the relics, we'll most likely be at your funeral~" She said in a nonchalant tone with a playful smirk on her face. "But, I'll be sure to give you a.. reward if and when you get back safely~" And with that, she turned to walk toward the cliffs

@Raijinslayer@Apollosarcher@floodtalon

Rowan D. Valinn

---

Rowan stared at the giant beast that had taken the place of the Retrograde. It was much worse than a Nevermore, or a King Taijitsu, or even a Deathstalker. Hell, even if the three scariest Grimm on Remnant combined into, this thing would still top the charts.

"I don't think that's a worm," Rowan said. She wrapped her arm around Bonny as the shark Faunus fell into her. "I got you. I'd never leave a fellow teammate be-"

Rowan was cut off as Vlad snatched Bonny from her arms and took off. "Pretty boy thinks he's stronger just because I'm a girl, huh?" Rowan whispered to herself. She started at a sprint in an attempt to flee the giant Falthon. Her steps were heavy and sluggish, reminding her of the extreme near-orbit height they had achieved only minutes prior to the Falthon arriving. Perhaps it was best if Vlad took Bonny.

Rowan caught up to her partner, Rood, who had taken the lead and was nearing the cliffside. "Hey, Rood, I hope that you have a plan other than to just run. I don't think that Grimm is going to stop once we get to the top of the cliffs."

@Turboshitter @ReaptheMusic @BCTheEntity

Violetta had fled the scene and had made her way up the cliffs. However, as she hoisted herself over the edge, she would find her body weightless. The man in dark robes stood there, on the cliff, with Glynda passed out at his feet. Violetta's body was lifted, against her will, up into the air over the cliff's edge. She panicked struggling to find a way out. Her body was slowly bent backwards as the man twisted his hand.... until her body was snapped in half completely.

She gurgled, looking at the man in black, before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, blood dripping around her face. The man pulled his hand back slowly and Violetta fell into the abyss below, her body bouncing against the rocks. The man went to the cliffs edge and looked over, watching the body tumble and then finally land at the base of the cliff, right in full view of where everyone would see her when they returned. Her body bend over backwards, her neck at an awkward angle, her limbs sticking straight up where they shouldn't be, and her eyes turned white.

The man smiled.

---

---

Rood ran, not really paying attention to anything around them. He noticed Bonny was very weak at the moment, and the two others beside him were practically fighting over her. He didn't dare look back and face the monstrosity that was so effortlessly gaining on them. He squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth.

"Hey, Rood, I hope that you have a plan other than to just run. I don't think that Grimm is going to stop once we get to the top of the cliffs."

Rood opened his eyes in surprise and looked over at Rowan, the pretty silver haired girl. A plan... that's right... he needs a plan... He gulped. He only really knew of one weakness.

"The faces... aim for the faces!" He said this while looking at Rowan. Then he turned to Vlad. "You wanted to hold onto her so badly, get out of here with her!"

At that point Rood effortlessly stopped Rowan by picking her up and leaped out of the way with the use of his semblance, moving at fast speeds. He set Rowan down after rolling to the side, then gasped as the Falthon turned and snaked towards them, its maw glowing bright red at the threat of expelling flames. Meanwhile, its many faces spat an acidic bile outward that Rood narrowly avoided. Grunting, he slammed his fists together, getting himself mentally ready. He leapt, his semblance attatched to his feet as he ran through the air and at the last moment switched around to put his semblance on his fist, his eyes gleaming as he destroyed one of the faces, leaping back as acid was spit in its wake. There had to be more than fifty faces, and Rood was starting to become nervous. How would they take care of them just with the two of them?

---

This wasn’t a good start to his day. His alarm had failed to go off and now he was running to hopefully make up for lost time. Who was he kidding? Ozpin seemed like too strict of a guy to allow for such an excuse to fly, and then he would have to try again next year. Closing his eyes, Coch forced the negative thoughts from his mind. No; he had to believe that he could still make it. With one hand gripping the neck of his Stratocaster, and the other balled into a fist and swinging to power his stride, Coch saw the cliff opening just ahead and halted in his sprint when he saw a student levitate into the air. Grass ground and rolled beneath the soles of his boots until he stopped, his golden eyes gazing wide-eyed at the robed stranger. The man’s hand was outstretched to the student and he saw that not too far from him was the body of Glynda Goodwitch.

Coch’s eyes were wide in fear and confusion. What was going on? The student began bending backwards in a manner that the human body wasn’t meant to go. He saw that the robed man’s hand seemed to be controlling her. The guitarist’s hand went to his mouth in horror as he muted the sound around him. He started back-stepping, tripping over a root in his anxiety. He was able to recover his footing without falling or losing concentration. The screams…the girl was screaming in her suffering. Oh god; why was this happening?

The guitarist looked away and ran before the girl snapped in half. He knew it was coming and he couldn’t bear to watch it happen. He slapped tree branches out of his face and tore through bushes in his fright until a log tripped him up, sending him flying a few feet to land face-down in the dirt. Panting, the guitarist coughed as dust rose into his face. He needed that trip. It had been the only thing to snap him out of his panic.

Whot kinda’ test iz this? They killin’ us fo’ runnin’? he mused. Who had that robed teacher been? If it had been a teacher…He was still shaking from what he had seen when a devilish scream and human-like wail of a frightening beast tore through the sky above. Coch rolled onto his back with his guitar across his body protectively as he gazed through the boughs at the blue sky.

Whot iz goin’ on ‘ere! he mentally screamed. First murder and now monsters. It hadn’t sounded like any Grim he had ever heard before. The whole test was a slaughter-fest!

Coch sat up, his legs crossing before him. He rested his head against the neck of his guitar and closed his eyes as he descended into battle with his conscience. He could run away. He didn’t have to put up with this. He still had a life and a musical career to live out. But there were still students out there weren’t there? What if they were being slaughtered by the nightmares in that exam? They were probably feeling the same terror he was feeling at that moment, and they probably didn’t even know about the fate that awaited them if they were to return to the cliffs.

Ah gotta go to’em. They don’ even know. Ah kin’t jus’ leave’em to die, Coch decided as he rose to his feet. Swinging his guitar onto his shoulder, his brows crashed together in a frown as he mentally beat himself for changing his mind. Shaking off the last of his regret, he raced back toward the cliffs, but he took a detour that would allow him to safely take a slope down the mountainside.

As he ran to the aid of who knows what—they could have all been dead already!—he noticed that there weren’t many Grim in the area. Could they have fled when they felt the presence of the unknown grim?

---

A guitar vibrated from the forest, filling the air with a stimulating power. The instrument howled, hovering over the heads and surrounding those students who stood about the grotesque enemy. It destroyed their weakness, invigorating them with an energy that they just wanted to unleash. The tune then became more vigorous with an energetic shred. Stepping out of the treeline was a red-haired guitarist. He stopped right on the edge of the clearing, bent slightly over and banging his head to his jam. He didn’t explain why he was there. He didn’t introduce himself for there was no time. All he did was sing and imbue the team with his rock presence:

Bran Brass

---

Bran looked at the two people still standing in the clearing with him, first to Chen then Yu. "The other students are no doubt engaging that creature already. Our best bet is to join up with them, attack the beast now before it thins our ranks. Our strength is in our numbers, not mention Yu and I are just arrived, our aura's are at full strength." He explained stepping past Chen, readying his blade. As he turned back towards the forest. [color=a36209]"You can help me fight or just go ahead and run. But were Huntsman, not civilians, we have a duty to protect Vale from that thing.

He spotted the beast on the ground a man in gold before it, having just punched it. Well time for a grand entrance he thought leaping from the tree he activated his semblance. His sword extending to a full ten feet all seven Bran's soared over Rood. "Hello sunshine!" The seven Bran's slashed down, after the attack if they were intact they merged back into Bran original. After the strike, he scrambled back towards the tree's to give himself some cover from it's attacks. "Hello all, I suggest we surround it and keep striking. Wear it down, cut it down when it's weaker we have to kill it. My names Bran Brass, I'm one of late arrivals. Give me an opening and I'll do as much damage as I can, then I would look to get my artifact." Bran grumbled as he peaked out watching the beast.

@floodtalon @Rekaigan @ReaptheMusic

---

Chen smiled and nodded as Yu agreed with his plan wholeheartedly. "Great! I thought it was a pretty good idea myself." He was clearly basking in the fact that he already had someone on board with his plan, up until Yu got very... close. "Huh?" He started blushing as he imagined the possible implications of a drunk girl rewarding him.

Of course this was all ruined by Bran's sudden rejection of his plan. "You want to go towards the ultra high level Grimm. Of course you do, my day wasn't insane enough, I need a team member who wants to go commit suicide by Falthon. God damnit." Chen sighed as Bran ran towards horrible death. The worst part is that he was right. In some weird twisted way, he was kinda right.

"Well, there goes my entire plan. You wanna go commit suicide with me drunky? If we get two more people it'll become a new record for student deaths by Grimm." He joked as he slid his guns out of his sleeves. Chen rolled his shoulders and headed over to the battleground. When he arrived, Rood had punched the Falthon in the face, splattering acid all over, some dude was singing and playing guitar (oddly energizing, makes you feel a little better about certain death), and Bran had split into seven Brans which all attacked the Falthon.

"My turn!" Chen yelled as he teleported to a nearby tree, spraying a hail of bullets at another face and teleporting away when it shot acid at him. He was jumping from tree to tree as he avoided acid from all over.
@Apollosarcher@Holy Soldier@ReaptheMusic@Chickn@Rekaigan@Turboshitter

Yu Zuiren

---

Yu enjoyed Chen's reaction to her offer of a reward, however she hadn't really put much thought into what that reward might be. She may have to follow up on how suggestive it sounded. Maybe.

Bran's statement made a some sense. They could possibly overwhelm the creature with numbers and their combined strength, but Yu had no idea what it was, let alone what it looked like; she just knew the general direction of the fight due to the noise.. Noise? She could hear something a little odd in the distance.. it sounded like a guitar of some sort? Perhaps it was worth joining the fight after all.

Yu merely gave Chen a smirk when he referred to her as 'drunky', "It's Yu, not drunky." She responded simply as she watched the two shorter boys run ahead toward the fight. She stood in the clearing for a moment, taking another gulp from her gourd. She considered how she should go about joining them, but she decided to scrap whatever she was trying to think about. Best to just go with the flow.

---

As Yu exited the trees, her eyes were immediately drawn to the massive beast with a ton of faces. Hard to miss really. She had arrived just in time to see Bran and Chen attack the beast to little effect. There were a few other people nearby, whom she assumed to be other students, but now wasn't the time to think about them.. Or rather it was difficult to, since she had drunk a lot throughout the day.

She could feel her energy flowing as she took another swig of her drink. That music was really something. She broke into a somewhat clumsy sprint, running toward the Falthon, narrowly dodging acidic spit that flew about. As she drew closer, she pulled her fist back in preparation. When she came within range; she planted her foot into the ground, causing the ground around her foot to shudder and crack slightly. She swung with incredible force, her fist slamming into the creature's skull causing a loud impacting sound.