[IC] RWBY - Haze

[RyuHll]

Nevin chuckled lightly at Aurelia's reaction, seeing her nervousness ebb away. Of course, it was just misplaced within him now, but he was growing accustomed to shelving it away for later. With a grin, he picked up his pace, letting his partner drag him slightly, but keeping up with the girl. "Don't worry about it. I trust you," he commented. "One slight problem, though. The Beowolves I was running from are coming back." He glanced in the direction he had come from, certain he had heard a faint growl. Likewise, she would have almost...felt it in the same way, connected to the boy the way she was. "May need to pick up the pace. This forest is dangerous if we don't have a clear place to fight." It was an odd feeling, but she could sense a dull feeling that coincided with what Nevin himself was hearing or seeing. She knew how he was going to react before he even moved.

After a moment, he pulled ahead of her, tugging her along with him. Two Beowolves were behind them. He had caught their movement briefly. The best thing they could do now was to prevent them from surrounding the team they had formed. "It might take a moment to get used to fighting with me, but my Semblance should let us work together rather efficiently." His eyes spotted a small clearing, an easier area for her to make use of her staff as well as for him to use his swords, if need be. "Are you ready?" Even as they broke from cover, one of the Beowolves shot out from the forest, the boy letting go of Aurelia's hand to punch its outstretched claw before it could make contact. The gloved fist exploded into flame, tearing half its body away in the process. He had an idea of her fighting style after registering her weapon and her thought process. He moved close to her, though, giving less openings and making sure that, between the two of them, they had a clear view of everything around them. "Can you use your staff as a melee weapon? Or is it solely a magical, ranged type of weapon for you?"

[Lugubrious]

It wasn't until Abel almost fell into the chasm that he noticed it. As he struggled to keep from losing his balance and toppling down into the fissure, he let out a surprised sort of yell best described as “Huuuuuuurgh!” After a second or two of panic he steadied himself, and buried his face in the palm of his off hand in mortification of the ridiculous noise he had made. When that was done, he busied himself with studying the chasm.

While not particularly wide -only about four yards across, Abel guessed- the crevice appeared to be seriously deep. By squinting he could make out running water at the ravine's bottom, possibly indicating that the landform had been eroded over eons. Still, the giant crack seemed too jagged and unnatural for slow weathering by water; the idea of an earthquake opening a fault better explained its existence. For a moment Abel considered trying to leap the little gorge, but he thought better of it when he realized that the other side rose a foot or two higher than his own. Just as he looked to his right to see how far the chasm extended to either direction, a noisy grunt sounded from his left.

Abel whirled around to find a Boarbatusk roughly forty feet away, half-hidden by a clump of shrubs on the cliff''s edge. The beast looked at him curiously, apparently debating whether or not Abel was worth the effort of skewering on its tusks. With a second grunt and a toss of its head, some sort of stay-away gesture if Abel's knowledge of the Grimm served him correctly, and it resigned itself to munching grass. The boy watched it for a moment, silently acknowledging the creature's unusual passivity, then charged.

The Boarbatusk flinched, spitting out green blades as it attempted to face him. Abel reached it before it could gain any momentum, and whipped the Ampere about in a single horizontal slash with no regard for its natural armor. The weapon only got halfway through the beast's bony plates before sticking, where its cutting energy became pushing energy. The force of Abel's attack launched the pig off the edge, where it dropped, squealing horribly, to the water and granite below.

Any satisfaction gained from the brief encounter vanished when Abel became aware of more grunting—louder and angrier, too. From the underbrush all around him emerged more Boarbatusks, advancing slowly but steadily, and clearly pissed at the boy who had doomed one of their kin to fall. Abel quickly took count of the Grimm, amassing six total, and quickly ran over his strategies. The obvious ploy was to use and abuse his semblance while defending himself, hopefully getting a few of the beasts to join the one in the chasm while not falling in himself. So thinking, Abel shifted the Ampere to staff mode and let loose.

A bolt of lightning arced from the dust crystal focus in the weapon's shaft into the nearest Boarbatusk, pumping the ill-tempered pig with thousands of volts and about an eightieth of an amp. In an instant, the creature was fried, and it collapsed to the ground in spasms. While not dead, its paralysis would keep it from interfering, and with any luck it would suffocate in the process. After a brief moment of shock, the others charged. The fight was on.

Abel jumped into the air, swapping the Ampere to blade mode as he did and pivoting it down. The closest Boarbatusk was helpless to change course or otherwise react as he fell with his full weight upon it, driving the Ampere between its bone plates and nailing it to the ground. Abel heaved, pulling the dead weight up, and flung the corpse into the face of his next opponent. Upon impact, the husk dissolved into smoke permeated with electricity, distracting the Boarbatusk hit. Frowning, Abel sidestepped to let the blinded creature careen past him and into the gorge. As he did so, he was already preparing for the next one, which change direction slightly to impale him. Instead, Abel impaled it, holding the Ampere away from him and letting the Boarbatusk's momentum drive its head into the blade. Abel wasted no time marveling at the Grimm's stupidity and pulled the blade out. The next Boarbatusk had already curled up into a ball and was spinning in place, storing momentum for a devastated rolling smash. Abel quickly moved to position himself behind the smoking cadaver and crouched. No sooner had he done so than the Grimm sped forward, covering twenty feet in a split second. It unknowingly ramped off its dead comrade, flying into the air. As it did so, Abel reached a hand up and grabbed it by its nearest exposed part—a tusk. Abruptly, he joined the Boarbatusk in its flight, carried by its momentum. Mostly by luck he managed to release at a good moment, and sailed over the top of the chasm's opposite side while the monster smacked into it before plummeting to the bottom.

Abel tumbled for a moment until he collided with a tree trunk. Slightly dazed, very dizzy, but mostly okay, he regarded the lone surviving Boarbatusk across the chasm, bellowing wrathfully. Nonchalantly, Abel changed Ampere modes again and zapped it with a lightning bolt. As the twitching pig smoked, he turned away to continue his trek into the Emerald Forest.

The thundering crackle of lightning reverberated through the trees, sure to catch the attention of anyone nearby.

[MasquedMartyr]

Gwyneira began looking around the forest. Where was she supposed to head? Even if she had a compass on her, it wouldn't do much good. Not that it was difficult for her to figure out what direction was which. She didn't need a compass as long as she could tell what time of day it was and the position of the sun in the sky.

Nobody in her family really used devices for measuring time. They often used their hands as a tool for narrowing down the time. The only time that she relied on clocks and watches was when she needed a completely accurate way of knowing what time of day it was. Her method for telling time could make her late, even if it was by a mere couple minutes. Being punctual to class was a priority for her.

There were more important matters to figure out at the moment though. Like what direction she ought to head to find her partner. She hadn't really seen what direction any of the others had headed, and didn't know how far they might have gone. Standing around seemed like a waste of time. Maybe she should head in pursuit of the treasure that Professor Ozpin had mentioned, but where was she supposed to begin looking for that?

Gwyneira finally settled in a direction to move in, entirely hopeful that she wouldn’t regret moving onward. A lone Ursa suddenly emerged from behind a cluster of trees shortly after she began to move in that direction. Her hand toyed with the dial on her weapon as the segments bent and clicked into place. Her hands wrapped around the pole as she charged forward recklessly, lowering her shoulders and her head as she propelled herself forward. The bear's claws reached out and the sharp nails scraped across her arms as it grabbed at her. Rhewlif was thrust upwards, and the bladed tip at the top of the weapon punctured the bottom of the beast's maw and sank further into the beast's school. Her weapon had been angled so that one of the crescent blades of her axe had buried itself in the Grim's chest. It was as good as dead, although she'd given herself some minor injuries in the process.

The Faunus pressed her foot against the Ursa's chest, using it as leverage to free her weapon. Gwyneira would likely spend a considerable time cleaning Rhewlif when the test was over. She scanned her surroundings quickly. Looking, listening. There didn't seem to be a second Grim, but maybe it just hadn't been alerted to her presence. That was when she saw the flash of light in the distance followed by a loud sound? Dry lightning? Probably not. Most likely not a Grim.

She decided that it was someone's weapon or semblance. Gwyneira altered directions, sprinting towards the source with an emergence of purpose. The jogging continued as she approached, worried that if she slowed down that the person might have continued to move in the direction she was headed to ultimately make it impossible for her to catch up to them. Or worse – having them suddenly veer to the left or the right of the direction she was headed. That would not be fun.

The speed nearly made it so that she missed the fractured opening in the ground and she skidded to a stop in order to avoid plummeting into the cannon below her, promptly falling onto her rear on the ground. A yelp escaped her as her body weight abruptly landed on her tail.

[Hero]

He acted like a few Beowolves would be a problem. She didn't know if it was her lack of nervousness, but she felt more than ready to take them on. Nevin would then start running ahead, and he would be the one pulling her along. His Semblance was just so weird! But in a good way. It definitely would take some getting used to as he said, that's for sure. Aurelia nodded at Nevin when he asked if she was ready, brandishing Rampion and grasping it with both hands as he released her hand. As the Beowolves approached them, a glyph appeared beneath Aurelia as she cast her spell. Nevin easily took care of the first, leaving only the second. Lines of red scribbled into circles under her, and once completed, Rampion's jewel sparked red. She pointed her weapon at the Grim, and from it erupted a powerful fireball of sorts. It blasted through the beast, and Aurelia lifted her staff to her. It was unintentional, but she did notice she had cast a fire based spell, same as Nevin did; it must have been a result of being linked with him, so to speak.

"Close range combat is not a strength of mine, but I can fight well enough to defend myself." She replied. "Rampion is durable enough to be used as a melee weapon, so yes to both questions. I'll have your back, so you can count on me."

[RyuHll]

"Wouldn't dream of doubting you," Nevin replied, his grin returning to him. A surge of excitement could be felt between the two of them as he heard more growls. Despite her previous worries, it was clear that he was happy to fight alongside her. Though, for what reason was still a mystery. There was little he could hide when connecting the two of them like he had, but it wouldn't reveal every little thought he had. His fists came back up, readying for the next assault but realizing his mistake too late. The Beowolf was coming in low. It was an awkward positioning for him to attack in...but he didn't need to worry about that.

Knowing she would get his meaning without the need of words, he started to shift his stance. Yet, he still felt the need to speak up, letting her ease into his fighting style. While it helped them understand each other better, even without speaking, it was odd to fight like this for the first time. He didn't want to overload her by forcing her to adapt to this style right away. "Switch!" He shifted around, twisting quickly to slam his heel into a second Beowolf that had jumped from the trees, stunning it briefly before his right fist flickered into its stomach, a burst of electricity tearing away part of its skin and slamming it into the tree behind it. This left the other Beowolf open for Aurelia to finish on her own.

Once it was done, though, he shifted his stance again, backhanding another Beowolf that had come out from the forest, fire bursting from the seal once more to blast it into a tree, the head embedding itself within it. "Alpha at 12 o'clock," he said as the two ended up back to back again, having spotted the glowing eyes of a slightly larger form during their maneuvers around each other. With the alpha out of the picture, the rest would falter. It was the best course of action to be rid of the large group of Beowolves.

[Lugubrious]

A high-pitched squeal from the area Abel just left caught his attention. While the obvious assumption was that it belonged to one of the Boarbatusks he had encountered -and presumably the one his lightening had disabled- the noise seemed too...feminine. Every instinct in Abel's body urged him to leave the chasm in his dust and rush in the direction of the artifacts; instead, he sighed lightly before turning around and retracing his steps.

Upon returning to the cliffside he witnessed a human girl across the fissure, just rising from the ground. Closer examination revealed her to be a Faunus, which gave Abel a small jolt. He hadn't seen another Faunus -aside from Mary- since he had arrived, and this one seemed to be a sheep as well. As the girl dusted herself off, Abel's eyes quickly swept over her. White and a metallic hue of blue dominated her clothing, which Abel found to be fairly cute. Putting any aesthetics aside, he quickly noted that she didn't seem to be wearing any armor, nor did could she boast a very impressive physique. Her polearm, while complicated-looking, didn't look like a tool of defense either. If this girl was to be his partner, as she would any second now when their eyes met, he assumed he would fulfill the role of guardian. How appropriate.

A short moment later, the girl noticed Abel standing on the other side of the chasm, and their eyes briefly locked—amber on azure.

“Hey!” He yelled. It seemed a little ridiculous to shout when the chasm only stretched about twelve yards wide -and honestly, he was surprised that she didn't notice him immediately- but he did it nonetheless. “Heard your cry. Everything alright? Wouldn't want to start off with an injured partner.” Abel spared a moment to look at the two paralyzed Boarbatusks he had left behind a little while ago. One of them was inching toward the nearest bush, shoving its weight across the ground using its hind legs. The other appeared to be dead, and was slowly dissolving into smoke.

[MasquedMartyr]

She had been too preoccupied with avoiding falling into the crevice that she had failed to notice what was in it. When she had lifted her head, she was almost startled to see a pair of eyes seeking out her own. Gwyn had anticipated that the person she sighted might have been further ahead. “Just fell on my tail, I'll be fine,” she reassured him. She only kept her voice loud enough to where she thought he'd have no trouble hearing her. Not quite a yell, but the volume was a bit louder than her regular speaking voice. “I'm Gwyneira,” she introduced herself as she rose to her feet and wiped her hands at the dirt on her leggings to brush some of it off. She looked around for a second person, maybe the word 'partner' hadn't officially sunk in.

“I was hoping to find someone here,” she explained. “I was running. I noticed the lightning.” There still weren't any storm clouds, and she hadn't seen or heard anything like it since.

Had he been sending a signal of sorts to someone? Maybe she wasn't meant to be the one to find him. He was probably fighting Grim, she rationalized as she thought about it further. There was a Boarbutusk body or two to support the prediction, although the smell of burnt skin was not entirely pleasant.

The Faunus moved close to the edge of the break in the ground. Maybe she could use her semblance to get across somehow. Probably not. What would she even do? Build chakram bridge? That didn't even sound possible. “How do I get over there?” She queried. Looking to either side of her didn't tell her much as to where the fissure began, and where it ended. Maybe the leap for him had been easy enough, but she wasn't sure she should make it. Did she walk along the break and look for where it got narrow enough to cross? Did she search for a tree overhanging the edge, and attempt to climb it so she could jump over the side? What if she injured herself in the fall? However, was that any more dangerous than being propelled from a cliff towards a forest? Probably not. Maybe that was how he'd reached the location, he had happened to land on the other side of it.

"Do you have any rope?" She asked him abruptly. The chances seemed slim, but maybe she could tie it to herself and then have him pull herself up. That might involve dangling far above the watery depths below which sounded dangerous. What if he couldn't hold her weight? Maybe... She began looking around for a large branch above. "Try stepping back a little?" She felt mildly embarrassed that she hadn't given him much time to talk. Patches of salmon briefly colored her cheeks at the realization before she raised her weapon and toyed with the dial. The chakram ascended in the direction of the blade at the tip of her weapon and spun towards a larger branch. It slowed significantly when it hit the bark of the tree and seemed to have a little bit of trouble cutting through all of the wood. The chakram wasn't big enough to cut the branch clean off, but it had been enough to weaken it for the branch to snap. She toyed with the dial on her weapon, and the chakram started spinning towards her to lock into place on the weapon. Her eyes fixated in Abel's direction first, hoping her warning had been sufficient enough - and that her actions hadn't been reckless enough so as to harm her partner if it hadn't been.

Now, where had that branch landed?

[Lugubrious]

Gwyneira? A smooth name, with an aspect of majesty. Abel could honestly say he had never heard that name in his life. Still, he supposed, a designation as unique as that befitted her very well. He had already inhaled to introduce himself in full when the girl continued talking, unknowingly cutting him off. Her comment about lightening confirmed that his use of his semblance had indeed had consequences beyond sizzling a couple of Grimm; at least the acoustics had drawn in a good-looking chick rather than an Itazmná or King Taijitu. By the time he had found appropriate words to describe his semblance, Gwyn had already moved on.

“Rope?” He repeated, then mentally cursed himself for acting like such a fool. “No...” he muttered before looking around for another way. The trees seemed like a good option, and one he hadn't thought of -though admittedly he hadn't thought much about the strategy he had used to cross the chasm, either- and apparently the same idea occurred to his partner. Abel stepped back from the edge obligingly, resting the butt of the Ampere's shaft in the ground, and inserted his other hand into his pocket.

Having nothing to do but watch everything Gwyn was doing, Abel prepared well in advance for the falling branch. While the length of russet wood was long and thick, it was child's play for Abel to sidestep out of its way and allow it to crash down harmlessly in place. It proved long enough to reach both ends of the fissure despite the elevation difference, effectively spanning it.

Unfortunately, the unique placement of the big branch's ends meant that it had no sooner landed than it started to roll. Abel noticed this fairly quickly, having been staring at it for the past ten seconds, and quickly moved to keep it still. He brought the Ampere about and rammed its blade about two inches into the hardened soil at the crevice's precipice, just enough to keep it from moving. “Kinda unstable. I'd hurry across if I were you.” After a brief moment, he held out an encouraging, beckoning hand for her to take as she stepped across. “My name is Abel Fulgurate. Good to meet you.”

[MasquedMartyr]

Gwyn was glad to see that her new partner had been unharmed by her actions. The consequences hadn't been something she had really considered. All she knew was that she wanted to find a way to the other side. She was pleased that the branch was long enough to bridge the gap, and had worried that it might fall horizontally into the ravine below. It had also crossed her mind that the branch might have rolled away, or that it would be too heavy to move after coming to a stop in a location where it had been unwanted.

It was good that her partner was able to get the branch to hold for a moment, but she didn't know how long it would last. She had quickly looped her weapon through a leather strap immediately after using it. The strap angled across from her left shoulder to her right hip, causing it to dangle at her side. It would be best to have it out of her way, but she hoped that valuable time hadn't been spent in the process. Gwyn hurried towards the branch and climbed up onto it at Abel's beckoning, hoping that the time spent fixing her weapon hadn't taken so long that she wouldn't be able to get across. Her hand grasped for his when he offered to it, perhaps too tightly. Maybe not too tightly for him. Initially, she thought she might have imagined him having a larger stature than he did. She imagined that her size made her seem like a frail weakling in comparison. Perhaps she could make up for it through the use of her weapon and semblance.

“Good to meet you too, Abel.”

Her hand would only continue to tighten until she had safely crossed the makeshift bridge. That way he could have pulled her up if the branch gave way. Gwyn doubted it was possible that she'd pull him down with her weight given his build, although anything was possible.

[KillamriX88]

-Felix & Randy-

They had long since lost track of the beowolves chasing them, but just to be safe they had kept running, not feeling like gambling with their lives. Finally it seemed that they had even made it free of the forest. To the left they saw a circle of pillars and-

"Wait, wait, wait!" Randy shouted, screeching to a halt. "Umm, think we're safe?" Felix also slowed to a stop, though he glanced about nervously.

"I... can't say anything for sure..." He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets, his eyes still occasionally darting around as his anxiety ate at him.

"Well, I think we're good for the moment at least," Randy crossed her arms and smiled like she had an exciting secret to reveal.

"OK..." Felix said, glancing at her. After a few moments passed he shifted his weight. "Umm, why are w-"

"Look!" Randy grabbed his shoulders and spun him to face the pillars.

". . . Oh." Somehow he'd missed that. How embarrassing. "The... treasure?"

"Probably, let's go!" She would have dragged him, but Felix seemed to have an aversion to being touched, so she just made sure he was following her. Inside they found many pedestals, all with various stones atop them. "Wow, yeah this has to be it! This is way too abnormal!"

"Umm... they're... rocks," Felix frowned in confusion. Treasure? Some of them weren't even impressive at all, being white and rough.

"Ohhh, I know what these are!" Randy's eye brightened. "I think these are volcanic rocks! This black glass looking stuff is obsidian, that white stuff is pumice... and... well I don't know what the rest of it is, but it's probably volcanic still!" Besides the glossy black rock, the porous white rock, there were two other kinds. One was like the pumice, but much darker in color, and one other was a smooth, lightly colored stone, but not glossy or slick like the obsidian.

"Err... so... we take one?" Felix asked ,glancing around. How much did it matter which one they took? Was this a big decision, or-

"I like this one!" Randy grabbed one of the dark, porous rocks, a scoria rock, not that Randy knew its name. "I feel like it's familiar but different." Well, it seemed it was out of Felix's hands. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. How long was this day going to last? He wanted it to be over now. This Randy girl was just... so... difficult, and he barely even knew her yet. Would she get better or worse as that changed?

Suddenly Randy sat down and leaned against a pillar. Felix tilted his head in confusion. Was she... what was she doing?

"Ran... dy?" Felix spoke quietly, as usual, with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Join me! We should take a break after all that running. Besides, this is the first goal. Look, none of the other rocks have been taken, meaning everyone is still headed here. Eventually we're going to be a team or four, right? So there's nothing wrong with waiting for more people and then having some help on the way out. It's not a competition after all." Randy idly tossed the "treasure" up and down as she spoke. She was actually quite relaxed, somehow. Also she made a surprising amount of sense.

"Oh..." Felix looked around one last time, before sitting at the base of a pillar opposite her. Well, he was a little winded he supposed. She'd impressed him with her plan, so he'd follow along for now.

[Hero]

Fighting with someone had never gone so...smoothly. It was not something Aurelia was used to at all. Then again, last time she had fought with someone, they kept trying to boss her around to do this and that and whatnot. It's not that she has difficulty following orders, as she could say she was very good at following directions, but when someone tries to tell you what to do without really knowing what they were doing...well...things usually ended in disaster. But not this time. Aurelia was more than ecstatic to fight, really. Once they switched, Aurelia took Rampion with both hands and swung, sending the monster flying backwards. Of course she was well aware it would return with a vengance. As she watched the Beowolf come at her, Rampion's head clicked and warped into its cannon. The Grim creature was probably inches away when she blasted it to smithereens. Perhaps it was overkill. Perhaps she was just showing who was the hunter and who was the hunted. She blasted another one from a distance, and it was then she noticed she was having way too much fun.

As she and Nevin were back to back once more, he let her know there was an Alpha nearby, That was perfect, really. Once that one went down, the rest would follow suit. She nodded, taking Rampion and aiming it at the Alpha. She fired off three shots, each one with a different element. First fire, then water, and lastly, electricity. Once she concluded her third shot, Rampion went back to its usual staff self, and she gripped it, readying herself for the next attack.

[RyuHll]

Nevin's fist cracked against the skull of another Beowolf, the lightning speeding his fist, and the strength of it, enough to throw it away from him. However, that was the last he had to deal with of the Beowolves. Under the cannon fire from Aurelia, not even the Alpha could keep its ground, shredding to pieces under her barrage.The three that had moved to strike at them next hesitated in the wake of their leader's defeat. A howl erupted from behind them and that was enough to send them on the retreat.

Soon enough, the two were left alone. The young boy let out a small breath before grinning. "I have a feeling I'm gonna like this team we're forming," he commented , turning slightly to pat her shoulder. "Let's get moving. We made a lot of noise. I want to make some distance before more Grim start sniffing around." Starting forward, he paused long enough to let her follow before setting off with her deeper into the woods.

All in all, it didn't take them terribly long to reach the edge of the forest. As they took their leave of the trees, they found themselves faced with a large structure, stone pillars lining around a few platforms that held...rocks? Were these the treasures that they were to pick up? His brow scrunched up in confusion, trying to figure out how valuable these rocks could be. However, that was put on hold as he noticed two others sitting around against one of the pillars. So they weren't the first ones to arrive. With a smile, he shrugged, turning to Aurelia. "Well, may as well take our pick of what's left, right?"

As the two grew closer, he gave the rocks further inspection. Two of each type. A pair makes a team, most likely. It was a very simplistic way of teaming up the students, but he couldn't fault it. His steps led him towards the pedestal holding the black rock. "Well...I don't think it really matters what we pick," he murmured, glancing over to his companion. "Are you okay with this one? The other two of our team will probably be the ones who choose the same rock we did."

[Lugubrious]

A rare smile escaped Abel's face as he gingerly assisted Gwyn departing the makeshift bridge. Her tight grip went unnoticed, negated by her new partner's beige glove. Abel's mind automatically associated her taking his hand as accepting him as her comrade. It wasn't every day he got to meet someone who accepted him like this. At the edge of the civilized world, guards like him were just background. Anyone of interest simply walked right by, regarding them with only vague, unspoken appreciation if at all. Of course, the utterly impersonal method of choosing partners by eye contact marginally degraded this feeling, but nevertheless Abel found himself liking this girl, though they'd just met. Given her physique -which had not escaped his notice- he would be obliged to take the role of protector. How fitting.

Not wanting to seem awkward, he half-turned away from the chasm in the direction he had gone before. “Let's head off then. We have artifacts to find.” He took the first stiff step back into the viridian trees.

Fifteen minutes later, Abel noticed the forest beginning to thin. “About time!” He remarked, out of breath. While there hadn't been any major encounters over the course of his journey, a few Beowolves coupled with rough terrain and thick woods made for tough going. While the pillars of the structure that contained the artifacts loomed some way to the northeast, his gaze fell upon a dark shape hovering about fifty feet in front of him. Upon seeing it, he froze. “What the hell?”

The nebulous figure turned to face him, and Abel saw that while it appeared to be human, its flesh and clothes were shadow-black and partially transparent, and that its eyes glowed green. Abel instinctively raised his weapon, pointing the Ampere's tip at the smoky being. While the specter tilted its head in response, it didn't make any move to attack. The guardian did the same, standing perfectly still, his partner momentarily forgotten.

The tense silence shattered suddenly as a sprightly laugh resounded across the clearing. Out from behind a nearby tree appeared a blond-haired boy clad in green, who Abel faintly remembered seeing at Ozpin's 'welcome' speech. While the boy seemed to be in good spirits, and totally unafraid of the shadow, Abel didn't lower his guard.

“Good morning!” The kid called. He paused in his light-footed stride when Abel didn't respond. The obvious connection was made, and the boy continued. “I hope you're not afraid of my shadow here. He's a friend of mine, just scouting around. You don't want to fight, do you? That would really suck, since the artifact place is just over there.” He pointed to the left, indicating the stony pillars towering above the nearby trees. Surprise appeared on Abel's face; how had he not noticed that?

At that moment, another teenager emerged from the trees. This one Abel knew a little better: it was Mary, the sheep Faunus he had accidentally smacked with the Ampere when leaving the airship. While she seemed to keep her distance from the eerie phantom, she didn't seem particularly put off by it either, indicating some degree of familiarity. Were she and this shadow-kid partners?

He turned to Gwyn and shrugged in a befuddled manner, waiting for some sort of explanation, direction, or at least confirmation that he wasn't hallucinating.

[MasquedMartyr]

In truth, Gwyn had already accepted him as her comrade. Although Abel's reaching for her hand as he had helped her cross the chasm certainly seemed to seal it. As long as Abel didn't seem to have any issues with her, she found no reason to refrain from accepting him as her partner. At least she hoped that he hadn't begrudgingly accepted her as his partner because he had too. It had entered her mind as a possibility that he had set aside any pessimistic views about their pairing since Ozpin had announced alliances were formed through eye contact.

Abel didn't appear to have any problems with her being a Faunus either, although she hadn't noticed the scales on his neck. Maybe it had something to do with her diminutive size, but his appearance seemed to indicate he had no animalistic features. His body was fairly covered in clothing though.

Gwyn allowed her partner to take the lead for the most part. His longer legs made it to where she had to take at least two steps for every step that he took. Having always been on the shorter side among others, she was used to walking faster to keep up. However, she was not so familiar with walking alongside someone with as large of a build as Abel's. If she were going to be stuck with him until she graduated, she decided it might be wise of her to build her endurance and speed more. She didn't want to slow her partner down.

Having busied herself with focusing on her feet, she didn't notice the apparition before them until Abel spoke. She tilted her head up abruptly only for her face to promptly smack into his back as he halted his steps. Perhaps she should have paid more attention to her surroundings.

“Sorry,” she mumbled an apology. She stared at the wraith like creature, suddenly fixated on it. It couldn't be a Grim, could it? That didn't seem possible. The voice of the stranger snapped her attention his way. He had called it his shadow. It didn't take much effort for her to put the pieces together. She wondered how the semblance worked. That's what it had to be. Albeit her curiosity ebbed away when she noticed the pillars that marked the location of the artifacts.

She was a little surprised when the girl appeared. The similarities between her and the other girl startled her more than anything. For a school that didn't seem to have very many Faunus for students, she wouldn't have dreamed of seeing one with the same type of ears that she had.

“We should hurry up and collect our treasure,” Gwyn told Abel. “I'm sure we will have an opportunity to catch up with our new friends later.” She certainly wouldn't mind sparring with the boy to see what his semblance was capable of, and his companion had already piqued Gwyn's interest.

[Hero]

That went spectacularly well. Or at least, she thought so anyway. She had been absolutely terrified to think she'd actually have to work with someone, let alone a team, but perhaps she could actually do this. Once they arrived at what she thought was a monument to some random rocks. Nevin approached and picked one, though upon closer inspection, it would seem this was how their teams would be formed. Aurelia shrugged at Nevin's suggestion. She hadn't the faintest clue about these randomized decisions that Ozpin had cooked up. Eye contact, rocks...either fate or destiny truly existed, or Ozpin liked to see random things happen.

"It doesn't matter to me." She told him, looking around.

[KillamriX88]

-Amalger & Enyo-

The two stumbled out of the forest, looking a little haggard. Well, Enyo did; Amalger looked no worse than he did when he first dropped into the forest. After all the fighting, keeping up with the longer legged boy was a pain in the ass. So... many... ursa... When a king taijitu had shown up, they'd given up on fighting back and just got the hell out of there. Why were there so many grimm in the forest? Was this normal? If it was, Ozpin was a dick in Enyo's opinion. That or her luck was truly terrible today... well, maybe it was getting better now.

"Looks like we've gotten to our first stop, finally," Amalger said, cracking his neck. Nothing seemed to phase him.

"Ugh, you made us take too long! We're not even close to the first people he-" Enyo's angry complaint was cut off when she saw Felix. Felix had beaten her there. She shut her eyes tightly and bit back a tirade full of swears. She let out a long groan and just stormed forward, past those who had already arrived.

-At the Treasure Circle-

Randy looked up when the first pair arrived, though she and Felix were ignored. Well, she'd get their attention once they finished picking their relic. She stood up in preparation, but before she could speak, two others arrived. A short girl, and a tall boy with large weapons on his arms.

"Uh..." Randy wasn't sure what to say at this point. The girl just stormed past, looking quite angry, and looked over the rocks.

"Really? Treasure?" The girl, Enyo, scowled. She looked at a porous, darker stone. Well, they were just dumb rocks. What did it matter? There was no choice that was any more exciting than the others.

"We're sent in to become pairs, and there's two of each rock. Seems obvious where this is going," the tall boy, Amalger, said. Enyo's hand froze, centimeters from the porous rock. She looked at another boy she didn't recognize who had just grabbed a rock, it was shiny and black. She looked back at hers, and then noticed that it was all alone, its partner already having been taken. She turned around and saw that one of the girls, one with red hair, was holding it. She also noticed that girl was Felix's partner.

"Ugh, this is so lame," she let her hand fall. "I don't care anymore, you pick!" She stomped away from the rock, and Amalger brushed past her to peruse the stones. A few seconds later it seemed he'd made his choice.

"How's this one?" Enyo turned to see that Amalger had chosen the one she'd just rejected. Enyo's eye twitched.

"You did that on purpose... didn't you?" Enyo glowered at him, her gaze shifting back and forth between their stone and the one belonging to Felix and his partner.

"I have no idea what you mean," Amalger said casually, shrugging as he pocketed the scoria stone.

At this point, Randy forced herself to speak up.

"Hey, so, since there's a bunch of us now, can I have your attention?" Randy raised her voice, but tried to keep a pleasant tone as she did so. "It sounds like we've all figured out how this team thing is going to work, and regardless this isn't a race. How about from here we all stick together on our way out? If you want, we can even wait to see if anyone takes the stone that matches yours... err..." Randy looked at Nevin, but she didn't actually know his name. "Eheh, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Randy, Randy Riley! My partner here is Felix. How about all of you?"

"Amalger Brandt," Amalger spoke up first. "Quite possibly your new teammate. Your other potential teammate here is Enyo Allaway-"

"I can speak for myself!" Enyo shouted at him. ". . . and yes, that's my name." At this point, everyone turned to Nevin and Aurelia, awaiting their responses. Amalger decided against introducing Nevin as well, because while he knew more than enough to give a thorough introduction, he had reason to believe he was officially not on the boy's team and thus decided it wasn't his place.

Felix stayed quite throughout the whole exchange, glancing from speaker to speaker as they all introduced themselves. Recognizing Aurelia, he gave her a halfhearted wave of greeting from his position behind everyone else. Somehow she looked less nervous than she had before. Good for her. He wished he could say the same about himself...

[RyuHll]

Nevin looked over the small black stone before he heard the group behind him. Turning around, he spotted Amalger with three others he didn't really recognize from any more than passing. He had seen them on the ship and during the ceremony, but...it wasn't very long or for any extended period of time. So he didn't really know any of them. He had caught the girl's name, though. Enyo seemed interesting enough.

It wouldn't really matter, though. If these stones were anything to go by, she wouldn't be on his team.

Slipping the stone into his back pocket, he smiled a bit at the grip. "My name is Nevin. Nevin Theros. It's nice to meet you guys," he introduced himself. His eyes drifted to Felix for a moment, looking a bit curious at his shy reaction. It as mostly like Aurelia's before he activated his Semblance. However, it wouldn't really be his place to offer connecting the boy if he wasn't part of his team, though. He'd have to see how things ended up as more people came.

[Lugubrious]

Abel nodded twice. “Yeah, sure. Let's head there now.” He gave a short, stiff wave to Pan and Mary. “We'll see you guys later then.” Pan waved back as Abel turned around despite being separated from him by only a dozen feet. Mary chirped, “Bye!” before heading off in slightly different direction. Struggling to keep up with the tall Faunus, Pan hurried after here. His shadow remained, watching Gwyn for a second more, and then pivoted in midair to follow its owner.

A strand of trees blocked the direct route to the pillars, but with victory so close, Abel wasn't in the mood for detours. Wielding the Ampere with gusto, he did not hesitate to carve a path through the copse by hacking apart any branches foolish enough to have grown in his path. He paused several times, either waiting for his partner to catch up or make sure she wasn't within slicing range, but they made speedy progress nonetheless.

By the time they arrived at the structure, it was already brimming with people. The volume of those present -six, to be exact- surprised him; he hadn't imagined that nearly every participant would arrive at the same time. That was either very convenient or very unlucky, depending on what would happen next. A girl's voice reached him from the group, “"I can speak for myself! And yes, that's my name." As he approached, Abel couldn't shake the suspicion that it was all too easy.

After ascending the short climb to the dias that held the artifacts, he was quick to identify Nevin and Aurelia. “Hello!” He said, putting a little too much enthusiasm in the greeting. To compensate for it, he quickly followed up. “Funny how you two got together. I met Gwyn here instead.” He held a gloved hand in her direction, as if she needed to be pointed out; her striking white hair and attire made her stand out automatically. Expecting Gwyn and the others to get introduced, he stepped back to surrender the conversation to them, and his gaze fell upon the special stones places upon the pedestals. Without any sort of consideration, he plucked the nearest one -a smooth, black obsidian shard- from its resting place and held it at eye level to inspect it.

[MasquedMartyr]

Gwyn waved casually over her shoulder to the two they left behind, proceeding to follow after Abel. She was in a hurry to collect their treasure. She had worried slightly that the treasure might be limited, and only those who reached it first were to continue at Beacon. She wasn't familiar with the test. Even if there wasn't, there might have been a time limit. She also suspected there might be Grim to interfere with them completing the task, slowing them down before they were able to acquire it. The pessimistic thoughts were quickly brushed aside.

The Faunus acted more like an observer than anything as Abel made quick work of the lumber blocking their way. She would have used her own weapon to assist him, but knew they would only get in each others' way. Moreover, they might accidentally injure one another in the process. At least he didn't seem to be hacking down any tree trunks, but it may have been quicker to go around in that case.

When they reached their destination, Gwyn looked around to scan each of those present. There wasn't anybody that she recognized. They all looked like new faces to her. She lifted her hand when Abel gestured to her as if identifying herself among a sea of people. Really, she didn't need to. There was nobody near her. “Nice to meet you,” she told the others. Her eyes were mostly settled on the pair that Abel had singled out. Those must be his friends, she guessed. A glance was spared to the other for present as well. She considered telling the others her full name, but decided to just be Gwyn. People usually liked to shorten names to one or two syllables anyway.

Gwyn approached to glance at the stone that Abel had chosen, inspecting it and the others that were left over. “I like that one.”

[Hero]

As Felix offered her a wave, she smiled at him, offering a small wave in return. She had been (secretly) hoping that she could have gotten paired up with him, but perhaps it was for the best. This way they'd get to know more people...though she found herself hoping they could be friends anyway. As a small silence filled the group, Aurelia noticed that it was her turn to introduce herself. Seemed like despite her anxiety being gone, she was still somewhat awkward. Great. "Oh!" She exclaimed, letting out a somewhat embarrassed and nervous laugh. "Aurelia. A pleasure." She gave them a small smile, though she found herself looking at Felix again. She found herself waving at him again, hoping he would wave again.

"So this was fun so far." She found herself saying to the group, lightly letting Rampion's head drop to the ground as she was in a more relaxed state. "I was hoping for a little more challenge...though I personally think we're unstoppable." She chirped happily, motioning to Nevin and herself.