[IC] Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

[Lady Seraphina]

Sapphire Rode - Airdocks

Sapphire rolled her eyes. She wasn't exactly surprised to know that Gren was aware of the significance of her last name. Fact was that she was surprised that more people didn't recognize it, especially at a school for hunters. Janus Rode was a known name here. She'd seen it on several awards and an old team photo from a long past graduate year. The fact that Gren went at her history so bluntly was a bit of a shock. She sort of thought the boar faunus had a bit more tact than that, though she probably wasn't the best person to be speaking of tact.

"You're right Gren..." Sapphire said looking out into the blackness of the lake. "I don't trust you. I don't know you, past the fact that you're a decent cook and a good fighter" which was admittedly high praise coming from Sapphire. "Nothing I've seen of you gives me any inclination that you're someone I should be confiding in." Sapphire turned to face him. There was an unusual fire in her eyes, something some would describe as wounded pride.

"There is something you should know though. You're not some tool in my arsenal, your my teammate which clearly means a lot more to me than it does to you. It means that you're my responsibility, it means that I have to look out for you and more than anything it means that we go through everything together. What it doesn't mean is that we're friends. That is earned. Being teammates means that when one of us is down the other three are there to pickup the pieces, it means that we have each others backs, first, last and always. But if it's not relevant to what we're doing at Beacon then it's none of your business. Unless it will effect how well we function as a unit then it's off limits. I let you have your secrets, and you leave mine alone."

Sapphire's concentration had slipped during her lecture of Gren. Normally she kept a vigilante eye on her surroundings at all times, searching for threats and targets. Now that she was done her surveillance returned to normal and the first thing it picked up was the other kid, Ebon staring at her with an evil eye. Sapphire tore one of the daggers from its sheath on her forearm and approached Ebon. "You got a problem?" She said in a voice that was deadly calm, the dagger's point pushing towards Ebon's neck, forcing him to take a couple steps back towards the cliff's edge to prevent being impaled. "Cause if you do, you better say it now." Sapphire snarled. She'd been all set to have a care free night but Gren had rather spoiled the mood with his talk about her family name.

Lakebed

The R-Types stirred something as they approached the pile of treasure. Shiro who was the only one of the four close enough to be detected was so full of bubbly enthusiasm and determination that it was almost impossible for the Grimm that lived deep inside the lake to get a good grasp on him. At least at the moment he lacked any sort of significant negative emotion that would draw its attention. The R-Types on the other hand were a different story, they were sending out an aura signal, presumably so that Ebon could detect them easily but that beacon combined with the fact that they were made of a rich alloy drew the beasts attention. This particular Grimm was old, old enough know to avoid humans on principle but still young enough that it would attack any that came near it. It used the metal it collected at the bottom of the lake as a sort of nourishment. It was an Ogdoad, an giant acid spitting frog, it ate the metal, using its acid to distill it down to basic elements which served to intensify the potency of the acid, a self fulfilling cycle. The more complex the metal the more desirably it appeared and the R-Types were at this moment looking like its next meal.

There was a loud grumbling roar from inside the underwater cave that Shiro was only now noticing. The rock shook under the weight of the creature and the water churned far more rapidly. A huge mass shoved itself through the opening of the cave and a long slippery tongue shot out snaring one of the R-Types on its barbed end. The drone thrashed and struggled but it was stuck. The Ogdoad pulled the tongue back inside its mouth presumably sending the R-Type down to be digested by the potent acid of its stomach. It screamed again agitating the water around it as it aimed for the second R-Type.

[Lugubrious]

Abel Fulgurate – Airship Docks

After receiving a bemusing and noncommittal response from Sapphire, Abel opted to leave her alone and make his way toward the airdocks to find the others and hopefully get the party started. The evening wouldn't last forever, after all, and now that he'd pledged himself to having a good time Abel was determined to make adequate use of every second.

On the way, he began to feel a strange and uncomfortable sensation in his pants. At first, he dismissed it as one of those random feelings, but the second time it happened the guardian reached down to investigate. He slipped his hand into his left-side pocket and in short order encountered a bizarre object which he then attempted to grasp a hold of. Now stopped completely and standing in the middle of the hall, Abel slowly withdrew a long, wriggling, furry shape from his pocket and a few seconds later finally identified, to his very great surprise, exactly what it was.

Fun!

“Oh, hi, Scoot. Rooming with me today?” Abel held the ferret beneath the arms, just the way the online guide said how to, and watched the little beast's bottom half stretch down ward. “Wow, you're like a living slinky. Don't tell any of the others, but at this point I'm pretty sure you're the best thing ever.” He put the ferret on his shoulder and started walking again, grinning as Scoot nipped gently at his ear. “Seriously, I never knew little weasels could be so great.” Now more or less happy, Abel continued on toward the airdocks.

He beheld Gren, Cobalt, and Ebon, waved, and then stood off to the side to wait for things to start. With Scoot around, he had something to occupy himself as he stood by, and did not in fact notice when Sapphire, Delta, and Grane arrived. The conversation between Sapphire and Gren went totally unnoticed, as important as it was.

[Lucius Cypher]

Gren Orchid

Gren let the topic of Sapphire's family go for now, getting her to speak a decent paragraph to him. She likely doesn't like him very much now, but at least he opened the door to further potential. Abel was soon arriving, but before he could greet his friend Sapphire turned her weapon on Ebon, which honestly confused Gren. Unaware of Ebon's telepathic powers Gren was worried that he might have annoyed Sapphire to the point that she was looking for blood now. "Whoa whoa whoa! I know Ebon can be an ass but what's this all about Sapphire?" Even Grane arrived to this unfortunate scene, and Gren needed to quell it quickly somehow. He couldn't quite just ignore Sapphire, knowing thinking that it may be his fault for getting her riled up like this. And he certainly didn't want Grane and the others to start fighting amongst each other right now. "Well hey, looks like everyone is here! Some of us were having a hard time waiting, but now that the guest of honor has arrived we can head into the city. Just got to wait for the next airship and I'll take you around town. Let's head over there, and we'll take about where we're going to hit up first."

[Eklispe]

Krysthane: Gym + Duel

@Abillioncats

Krysthane grinned and muttered under her breath, "Won't I?" As soon as Emerald left the ground Krysthane leapt into the air herself, propelling herself upward with a mighty jump, aided by a powerful jet of water, along with a quick reduction of her own gravity. Since Krysthane had already been prepared to jump before Emerald was and since Emerald had to get both into the air and over Krysthane, Krysthane should be able to intercept her easily. And she did so by using her arms to flip herself forward, bringing her back leg into a powerful axe kick aimed directly at the center of Emerald's chest.

This was already exciting, Krysthane waited eagerly for the solid collision of her boot with Emerald's aura. Then, somewhat belatedly, she realized that she may have over-committed to an attack when her opponent could easily move into the air and could quite possibly move out of the air. Oops?

[Krayzikk]

Benjamin Lloyd (BASL Dorm)

"Look, Lor," Ben paused a second, as if reflecting on what he'd done. Thinking about what he had said. No, no that didn't work. Bad nickname. Back to the drawing board for everyone except Amy. He still had no idea what nickname to derive from 'Sangue', and 'Lorena' wasn't much better. Lauren was more casual, but no shorter. And BASL's leader was off track now. He shook his head once, refocusing and fishing another energy drink out of his nightstand. "Lauren."

"We're not going to find anywhere for that on campus. If we're going with that plan, we'll have to hop an airship to Vale." He glanced at the time on his scroll. "They run pretty much 'round the clock. We can make the next one if we want. Can run the few errands we have to do. Pick up some more painkillers. Get food. I don't think we've done a team burger run yet."

[Guess Who]

Robert Fallson - The Lake

The red-haired teen impacted with the water, causing quite a large splash. Robert stayed submerged for half a minute before sticking his head above the water and spitting it out like a fountain. "Only now, after already having had the lake water in my mouth, did I just realize that this might not be the cleanest source to drink from. Oh well, can't do anything about it now," he said. Taking a huge gulp of air, the boy dove back under the water. Unlike Shiro, he didn't have anything to keep his scroll dry so Robert left it with the rest of his belongings at the top of the cliff. With no light source and no re-breather, he was left with only one option, staying near the shallow ends of the lake.

Checking the shallow ends of the lake was boring and tedious work, but Robert didn't mind. It was certainly annoying that he had to swim back to the surface for air every minute or so, but just knowing that he was helping his friends was enough for him to not care. Since he didn't have any form of communication available to him, he had to keep looking at the blurry figures that were the other students checking the lake. It was when he looked to check on Shiro that he saw it. A large tongue shot out from the dark and grabbed one of Ebon's drones. Robert didn't know what type of Grimm it was, but a tongue that huge would have to belong to a pretty large Grimm. The redhead swam to the surface for another gulp of air before diving back down, this time toward Shiro. He wanted to fire his weapons at the Ogdoad, but even if his weapons weren't still unable to fire thanks to the fight with Megaladeus, the tiger-faunas was way too close for Robert's comfort.

[Suku]

@HereComesTheSnow

Cian Kuze - Range

Not turning her head to the senior that was also in the range Cian replied as she took another shot "I haven't seen anyone here since I got here sorry I couldn't be of more help." With that said she looked forward and decided to switch it up standing up she changed targets to moving boards representing different grimm with a few to represent civilians. Switching to the long barrel mode she let shot after shot hitting each grimm at a proposed weak spot when she could. This was actually just her getting into a small competition and no longer about testing the goggles. Though on that thought she was hitting a majority of the targets with these odd shots because of said goggles.

[HereComesTheSnow]

Sterling Johnson

He shrugged, expression changing to a glib, disappointed smirk.

"Had a feeling you'd say that. Place seems kinda dead today." he replied easily, more beads whizzing downrange and into targets before drifting back into orbit around him. And not to mention, if Goodwitch was going so far as to extend a request for help from the student body, he had a hunch things weren't going to be that easy in the first place.

Oh, it'd definitely be nice if it was, no disputing that, but it'd be pretty unlikely.

"And just for the record, how long has 'since I got here' been? Because if you just got here, that doesn't tell me very much, and all that."

He was curious, about those goggles on her head, to focus on something completely different. She have an aim assist program working there?

The sound of shattering glass in stereo denoted he'd dealt a kill shot to two targets simultaneously, their fragmented holograms fading from view.

Kid obviously loves her guns.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Oswald Connolly-Lake

Following slowly after Shiro while scanning the shallower parts of the lake, Oswald turned to see Robert land in the lake. It took a short while for him to surface, but it wasn't going to be drowning that took the team leader, it seemed. It also seemed that Robert was taking a more active approach to the 'search' part of their 'search and retrieve' mission. Giving a likely-unseen nod of solidarity, Oswald continued his part of the mission, double-checking the path Shiro had taken, albeit at a slower pace. It took a moment for Oswald to notice his compatriot thrashing about in the water, but it looked less like panic, and more like...frustration? Was he bothered with how long this was taking?

Deciding not to take a chance, Oswald figured now was as good a time as any to regroup and formulate a strategy. Taking a massive breath, he allowed himself to sink into the lake, turning his body towards Shiro and advancing on his feline ally.

[Abillioncats]

IC: Emerald Felicia - Vs Krysthane -

"EEP!" Krysthane was quicker than Emmy had anticipated. Acting on instinct alone, Emerald propelled herself to make a hard dodge to the left, using her semblance to send her flying faster. Of course she used more force that she anticipated, and ended up crashing onto the floor. Still, she had avoided that very scary looking kick, if only barely. She had gotten cocky and it had almost cost her.

She didn't have time to think about that though, right now she was on her hands and knees, recovering from her crash, Krysthane was sure to attack while she was in this predicament. The solution was to attack first. Without bothering to get off the floor she turned herself around so she could see Krysthane, and without missing a beat began to fire a barrage of blasts from her shotguns at the other girl's general area. More than likely it would do more damage to the gym than Krysthane's aura. It didn't matter if they hit Krysthane or not, Emmy just wanted to buy a little bit of time.

@Eklispe

[Write]

“Estellise Sidos Heurassein Nuit” he placed his coffee mug silently, cautiously on the table, adjusting his glasses ever so slightly in order to retain perfect vision of his target. “I knew your sister, albeit briefly.”

“Yes sir.”

“And why, may I ask, are you here?” He spun to face a great window that seemed as if it portrayed the entire world.

“My scores are high enough, I wish to transfer.”

“Tell me, Mrs. Nuit. Why have you come here and your sister hasn’t?” He let his right hand fall onto a cane that lay upon the armrest of his chair, his thumb slowly, methodically circling the grip.

“Bianca is hurt, our mother passed away, she wishes to stay with my family.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that, but don’t forget the latter half of my question. Are you not hurt by your mother’s untimely death?” He turned once more, but not for Estelle, for his coffee. He took a sip of the milky brown concoction and clicked his tongue, signifying the heat of the drink.

“I was hurt very much sir, but there are two reactions a woman can have when her mother is killed by Grimm.” He focused in on her, giving her his full attention.

“And I choose to fight.”

“Hmm...very well,” Ozpin began. “Estellise Sidos Heurassein Nuit, I hereby address you as a member of Beacon academy, and member of team JSS, please see them about renaming your team.” Ozpin said, without waiting for further acceptance from the girl he stood up from his chair and made his way toward a filing cabinet on the right to deposit a ream of records he'd been reviewing and retrieve the next folder.

Estelle had practiced that interview for what felt like a lifetime. But now she felt herself drowning in consequences. She hadn’t accepted the fact that she might not be turned away.

But here she was, walking through Beacon’s halls as a senior huntress. It felt, unearned.
She was trying to follow the map her sister had laid out for her of Beacon but it proved…
Difficult. She seemed to believe Estelle knew about all of her team’s experiences.

‘Turn right at the bookshelf Gratia called Napoli a cheese fucker at (the third time).’

“I love you Bianca, but come the fuck on.”

Estelle eventually happened upon a hallway that appeared to be a residence of some kind, she saw girls and boys walking around with toothbrushes and generally wearing casual clothing, all of these things would suggest a dormitory. She kept walking through the hall, she wasn’t really sure what to be looking for, she wouldn’t recognize anyone, or, at least it was unlikely.

There was a white-haired woman roaming around the hall aimlessly. Had this been any other situation, the stoic girl leaning back against a wall would have ignored the woman as just another one of the useless, irrelevant units that made up the faceless masses of Beacon's many students. Sparing them any of her attention would have been irregular, unbecoming of the traditionally loner girl. Yet the familiarity of the lost woman, the beautiful white hair ... that immediately pricked her interest. Gratia Mindaro's onyx eyes were sharp, gaze already following the woman's movements.

At first, she had mistaken the woman to be the previous "B" of Vignoble. But it wasn't Bianca Nuit. No wings. No smile. Too tall. She released her crossed arms. So her teammate wasn't back. It was just someone who looked eerily similar. A flicker of disappointment flashed across her face. A fucking shame then. It would have helped to have the bird back to assist the team.

Still, didn't Nuit say something about an older sister? Her eyes studied the woman again. It could fit. But what was her former teammate's sister doing here?

"Ms Estelle Nuit?"

Her voice was loud and clear.

Estelle let a sigh escape her lips momentarily, she was lost. This school, for having very unique architecture, was a damn maze. But as soon as she was ready to give up searching and head back to Ozpin, however, she heard her name.

Estelle's head turned, without her body to the source of the noise. She gazed at the girl quickly glancing up and down. She didn't recognize her. Estelle's torso turned to match her stare and she began heading towards the girl who had called her out her name. She concluded in her mind that this girl could only have been on team VGNB with Bianca, or had some ulterior knowledge of Bianca and herself that she didn't know about.

Estelle walked up to the girl with a soft gaze.

“I'm sorry, you have me at a disadvantage, may I ask your name?"

It was the elder Nuit, then. Gratia met the older huntress' gaze with her own, the coolness in her look clearly evident. So this was how Estelle was. She could see similarities to her teammate in the other girl, but there was a sense of melancholy and passivity that Bianca had lacked. Not diametrically opposed, but there were distinctions. She could not expect the Faunus to act like Bianca at all.

"Gratia Mindaro," was her clipped reply, her tones utterly lacking in any emotion. "I am a member of Team VGNB."

"I see, Gratia Mindaro... It's nice to finally meet you, Bianca told me about you." Estelle began offering her hand to Gratia to shake. "Bianca wanted me to tell you, she's sorry." Estelle paused, adjusting her posture and shifting her weight off of one leg and onto another. "She needs some time to figure everything out, she'll come around one day." Estelle said placing a sympathetic hand on Gratia's shoulder.

The senior didn't let her hand linger, taking it off of Gratia's shoulder and pushing her hair back and out of her face. She glanced around a little trying to figure out where she should be going.

"Well if you need anything from Bianca or myself, feel free to ask, I'll do anything for one of Bianca's friends, she doesn't have many. So, don't suppose you know where I'm supposed to be going? Bianca wrote this for me but I can't seem to make sense of it." Estelle handed the younger girl Bianca's directions to the dormitory.

"I see."

She would allow her teammate as much time as was necessary.

Gratia took the directions with little fanfare, eyes immediately moving to interpret the graceful handwriting that was recognisably the younger Nuit's. The directions were utterly unintelligible. Her face did not waver from her impassive, flat expression, but there was a slight twitch of annoyance present in one of her onyx eyes. How had the former Vignoble member thought such an irritatingly-written list of instructions would be something that Estelle could understand? She herself could barely interpret a quarter of it.

"It's down the next hallway," she said bluntly, folding up the instructions. "Senior teams reside in a different sector from us."

The older woman could take care of herself from there.

"Thank you very much, I'll see myself there." Estelle thanked the girl and walked straight past her through the hall she had mentioned. and quickly found a door with the room number that matched the one she was supposed to be looking for. She knocked on the door, but heard no response.

Estelle dug into her pocket before a cold metal twang resonated through her fingers. She grabbed the key and palced it into the lock, twisting it awkwardly trying to unlock the door. She was met with a satisfying click and the door began to swing open. She peeked her head in, but it seemed like everyone was gone. She found a bed, neatly made with a small calling card ontop that read ~Estelle~. She let out a short sigh and flopped down onto her new sheet, pulling them from all sides around her like she was making a burrito. Blissfully, she drifted off to sleep.

[Ryonara]

The moment one of the R-Types got caught, it began to fire wildly. It was the Claw type, and it continued to shoot it's lasers until it was crushed inside the mouth of the beast, but even so it fought it all it's might. The second R-Types, Midnight Eye, fired in the direction of the monster the best it could. It didn't know it's exact location, only the general direction the attack came from, so it unleashed what little firepower it had. It caused quite a light show until it suddenly stopped. Ebon's link to the R-Type dropped when Sapphire approached him.

Instead of backing up Ebon moved to the side, and ended up getting nicked on the neck by Sapphire's dagger. "Problem? Yeah, I got this bitch who needs a weapon to speak to me as an equal." Ebon looked Sapphire directly into her eyes as his blood dripped off the edge of her blade. It was a fairly light wound, though Ebon was slowly pushing his neck towards it just to draw more blood, and making Sapphire look like she just trying (and may possibly succeed) in killing him. A quick glance between her and Gren and Ebon could piece together what happened while he was busy looking through the lake. "Oh, I get it. You don't want to hang out with the piece of shit you call a teammate, so you're looking to stir up trouble for yourself. Well you found it." Two R-Types emerged from The Kingdom, both of them aimed towards Sapphire. At the same time Ebon's aura made sure Sapphire couldn't just slice his throat anymore then it already was.

[harinezumikouken]

Kuhaku Shiro - Lakebed

A thunderous roar shook Shiro to the core and rocked him out of his tantrum. Whirling around in the waters, the color drained from his face as his eyes widened in horror. The Grimm decided to spare him no time to completely digest and process his fear, a tongue shooting out toward Shiro to wrap around one of the nearby drones and devouring it. Wincing, Shiro instinctively attempted to swim out of the tongue's path which worked out in his favor as the other drone returned fire before ceasing. Looking over his shoulder with a delayed reaction before catching onto what was happening. Turning back round to face the frog-faced Grimm and gritting his teeth, Shiro mentally berated himself. Another misstep in the planning process, he was completely unprepared for the potentials of having to maybe combat the Creatures of Grimm. Here he floated at a major disadvantage. His mind blazed through the information he already had and knew. For one, he was unarmed save for his claws. Mobility was limited when your body was under multiple atmospheres of pressure. He couldn't use his Semblance as it relied on others hearing its glorious roar, sight alone barely had an effect. To top it all off he was on limited time and oxygen. If he abandoned his mission now when he was so close, he may never be able to recover what he came down to recover in the first place. All that time and effort wasted.

Looking over his shoulder, the second drone seemed to die. It shutting down. With an appalled look, Shiro's ears lowered. "Welp! Just lost out on that...!" Taking a quick notice of the surrounding areas, he saw others swimming towards him. So, he wasn't alone either. As for being disarmed, he could solve that right quick. Slipping out his Scroll and tapping the screen, he activated the emergency weapons locker beacon before safely returning his Scroll to his trouser pockets. As he waited for the rocket-powered locker to reach his location, he formulated his gameplan. With the singular drone temporarily out of service, it would surely find Sapphire's daggers before he ever could once it kicked back on. To protect it would probably be the wisest course of action at this point. If Shiro and whomever could fight it off and defeat it, the drone would be able to finish up safely and they could all beat feet back to Beacon. If there was one Grimm down here there could possibly be others so he had to act fast and give that machine as much time as it needed to sort through the glittering pile of loot. All of this depended on that drone cutting back on though.

Staring down the frog-face, Shiro could feel his stripes 'blacken' to a deeper shade as his glowing ice-blue eyes burned with an intense passion. Above the lake's waters like a screaming artillery shell, the weapons locker containing Perun breached the lake and continued until it pounded into the bottom of the lake bed next to Shiro. The sediment of the lake being disturbed by the weapon locker's arrival, Shiro smacked it open and ripped out his bladed shield. Brandishing it in an aggressive defensive posture, his body language screamed at the Grimm to focus on him. Challenging it. The first few minutes would be the hardest known point. As soon as help arrived, things should be easier and run more smoothly. Right now, Shiro banked all his chips on that drone.

"Bring it on, baby!"

Shiro snarled as best he could behind Gren's rebreather.
A low rumble vibrating in his chest as bubbles broke the rather serious image and gave the scene a comical appearance.

[Lady Seraphina]

Sapphire Rode - Airdocks

Sapphire had met her fair share of arrogant and unpleasant people in her life, the comments about her and her weapons did little to phase the girl with the azure hair. What did surprise her was that after Ebon removed himself from the immediate danger her weapons posed to his throat he pushed his neck back into the blade. It wasn't hard to guess why, he wasn't to make it look like Sapphire was trying to kill him. The girl in blue could respect the tactic but she'd rarely seen anyone crazy enough to mutilate themselves to gain put public opinion on his side.

Sapphire became immediately alert when Ebon's drones launched into the air. The R-Types were small and fast but Sapphire knew that she still had a few seconds before they oriented and attacked. Besides if she was lucky Gren would lay down cover fire. She'd meant what she said about being teammates meaning something to her and she would have happily kicked Ebon's face in for insulting that.

Moving as quick as her mind worked Sapphire shoved the bloodied dagger back into it's sheath (she'd have to clear that later) and drew one half of her polearm. She dropped into a crouch spinning round of one leg as she did it, the other one outstretched aimed at Ebon's shins. At the same time Sapphire extended the blade on her shotgun into sickle form, using the blunt side of the very nasty looking blade to shove hard into Ebon's chest. With the damage to his shins and the force straight back Sapphire was almost certain that he would fall into the lake, preferably screaming. She'd used the blade of her shotgun to ensure that he wouldn't be able to grab onto her desperately as he fell. The fall wouldn't be fatal and she didn't think even Ebon was stupid enough to slice his own fingers off.

Lakebed

As Ebon's control over his remaining R-Type in the area gave way the giant Ogdoad focused on the massive light and sound show that had disrupted the water all around them. It's touch flicked out again snaring the R-Type which was more or less on autopilot. The sound of crunching metal was audible as the R-Type was sucked into the Ogdoad's massive belly. If Shiro had been watching closely he would have realized something very very important, the Ogdoad that he was facing couldn't see him. This was not the first time the Creature of Grimm had come into contact with hunters but the monster would not any time forget that encounter. It had been blinded in the battle and though it escaped it's eyes had not returned. Now it operated on the emotions is sensed in others and the disturbances in the water that had become its home.

Shiro was only mildly on its radar, the most disruptive thing that the Ogdoad could see right now was the weapons locker that had come crashing from the sky sending water currents out in all directions. The beast took two lumbering steps before spearing it again with its barbed tongue. It might have been happy to leave Shiro well enough alone at this point but as it had devoured the R-Types Shiro's mood had become darker and more intense. It was stormy in his battle readiness. Though the Ogdoad could not see Shiro it turned to face the source of such powerful emotions and let out another roar that shook the lakebed.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Oswald Connolly-Lake

Groaning internally as Shiro's weapons locker plummeted into the lake for the Faunus to arm himself, Oswald forced himself to swim faster. With the development of this Ogdoad, whatever machines it was attacking, and Shiro's unceasing bad decisions, Oswald was almost ready to teleport within the water.

That was unpleasant. Very much so, in fact. Liquids were typically significantly more difficult to displace than air with the use of his Semblance. Which was why he continued to swim to Shiro, grabbing his arm forcefully and pointing his free hand toward the surface before leaving his comrade to make a decision. They weren't going to beat an amphibious Grimm in the water without a plan.

Then again, this was Shiro. They might be well and truly fucked.

[Ryonara]

Ready for a fight Ebon wasn't surprised when Sapphire tried to save face by knocking him off the cliff. However she was going to need to do more then kick his legs if she wanted him to fall. All he needed to do was shift The Kingdom between himself and Sapphire, which was all the time his R-Types needed to lock onto her and started firing. With the Kingdom between himself and Sapphire, Ebon calmly walked away from the cliff. He suspected that Sapphire would try to get past his shield, maybe even sneak up behind him, so while behind his shield Ebon grabbed one of his R-Types and began to charge it's laser. As soon as he would see Sapphire, either in next or behind him, Ebon was going to fire a fully charged laser right in her face.

"I mean, I'm not surprised how you feel about your teammates. I heard one of them did something really stupid recently, I'm surprised you haven't asked daddy to buy you a new pet."

[Lady Seraphina]

Sapphire Rode - Airdocks

Sapphire was fully ready for him to protect himself and while she was a little disappointed not to see the arrogant bastard falling into the water below she had to act fast. Ebon himself might be slow but those R-Types granted him a disturbing advantage. Rather than sweeping his legs Sapphire pushed off against the solid metal of the Kingdom as it moved to intercept her. She pushed herself into a roll narrowly avoiding the energy discharges of the two R-Types that were circling. She couldn't say it wasn't a little painful putting her full weight on a hand that was also holding onto a weapon but she made due, being careful not to let it go.

Straight from the roll Sapphire jumped to her feet and quickly fired two shells at the R-Types in the air. She didn't expect them to hit but they'd have to dodge which would disrupt there firing pattern, and if they didn't they'd be blown out of the sky. A fierce light burned in her eyes, the last thing she ever wanted was a favor from Janus Rode. Maybe Ebon knew it was a sore point, maybe he was just poking at the fact that Sapphire was well off but in that moment it didn't matter to the girl with the azure hair. She grabbed the other shotgun from its holster and aimed in the few seconds she had free from the R-Types fire. Not at Ebon or the Kingdom but at the ground that Ebon had planted his great shield in. She'd seen him move further from the cliff and while he might not be in pushable range for send over the edge the Kingdom was still fairly close to the edge and he wasn't exactly safe from the open air in between them and the lake.

The shells fired from her gun impacted the ground at the base of the Kingdom, for a nanosecond it appeared to have no effect but then what Sapphire had been expecting came to pass. She'd fired water shells at the ground and now the the dusty mildly unstable rock face saturated with water had turned to mud and started to fall into the lake below, the first second was gradual but like a rockslide a chunk of the rock began to fall faster and faster. The bottom of the Kingdom covered in the oozing mud that would not be on top of the cliff for much longer. Sapphire shoved her shotguns back in there holsters and tossed her weight behind her into a triple backflip to avoid the continued fire of the R-Types. Now next to Gren she hissed "I could use a little help if this goes sideways."

[Jedly]

Delta Snow - Airship Docks

Delta - Another perspective

Delta’s blank gaze scanned over those present. He knew a few, or could vaguely recall a vowel of their names from conversations he unconsciously overheard. He could already feel an agitated aura emanating from one certain individual with cerulean locks. If memory served him right, which it usually did, her name was Sapphire. It didn’t take an einstein to piece two and two together concerning the correlation between her hair color and her name, but he wasn’t one to criticize names, considering his own. At least, the daggers only but a breath away from another student’s neck were giving off an aggressive vibe.

Then Gren managed to step in just in the nick of time before they had a death on their hands, Grane ended up arriving at the wrong time, shortly followed by a person he recognized from lunch, and all the while this was happening, Delta and Cobalt were merely watching. The two quickly exchanged glances, waiting in expectation for how the scene would pan out. ”Hey, Delta, got any leftover popcorn?” The familiar asked from the pouch with Delta’s scroll grasped between its stubby ligaments, recording the whole entire duboccal with a mischievous grin. It was then did Eve’s mouth completely drop at the sight of the conflict growing, and just as quickly becoming extinguished. In a series of deft motions, Ebon was suddenly left suspended in the air, as if he was momentarily given the ability to defy the laws of gravity. And just like that, a student he hadn’t even known the name of plummeted out of sight.

It took Delta a few moments to process the events that transpired before his very eyes. His vision of a scholastic institution, albeit in this case a combat oriented one, was a place where peers didn’t exactly fling each other off the side of a cliff. He glanced down at Eve, who returned the same gaze of awe, and silently gulped in minute fear. ”I guess dad was right… women are scary.” The silver-haired boy then found himself shifting in minute increments behind Grane. Kinda ironic how he was seeking refuge behind a closet drunk. But then his posture eased at the mechanical shield gravitating near the cliff’s edge, chances are, the student didn’t fully go for a dive. But what was he doing behind there?

”Eve. Getting any-” The familiar jumped onto his shoulder without any preceding cue. Its irises were suddenly rimmed with a golden hue, fluently circulating within the eyes. ”Yeah. Heat readings. You may not be able to hear him from this distance, but looks like they’re not done with their little… dispute.” Delta nodded in agreement, locking onto the two students involved. Did they not know where they were? A firefight then began to ensue, leaving a bit of the cliff to give way due to the oncoming fire. After a bit of gunplay, Sapphire took a quick retreat beside Gren. The boy was in the midst of opening his lips when Eve lept into action. The familiar dropped to the ground and paced its way over, taking a stand between the girl and shield.

”Oi, oi! Don’t you know where you both are right now?! Do you seriously want to do something that’ll detriment both the docks and Gren’s party? Calm down!” The squeaky voice didn’t really seem all that intimidating, so it wasn’t a surefire chance that they would listen. But Eve could at least try to stop the whole situation before it devolved beyond repair. Delta sighed and walked over, slightly shaking his head at Sapphire. ”Save this for another time.” The boy kept one strap of his hat tightly wrapped around his finger, he glanced at the earth's condition under the shield. The cliff probably wasn't going to hold for much longer, so hopefully the student behind could get a chance to relocate.

[SevenStormStyle]

Sepia Russet - Airdocks

"This is no way to behave." Sepia thought, uncharacteristically sullen. "From my own teammate too. The girl looks like one who has a near permanent attitude problem, but I would have thought Ebon would try to diffuse the situation. I guess I just don't really know anyone here." She'd overheard the conversation that had started this mess, though. Something about trusting people, the difference between friends and allies, and family names. The last one stuck out to her. "I wonder what inherited pressure is like. I guess I could have found out myself, but that would mean..." She reached up and touched her faunus ears, then swished her tail out in front of herself thoughtfully. "Bad for business, they say. I understand, but I won't take that risk in hiding them."

Her dog ears flicked as she thought about Shiro's message and she couldn't help but laugh. "He isn't even here." Clearing her throat to make her presence known, Sepia spoke quietly. "I have to agree. Whatever's going on here is between you and whoever your dispute is with. It's probably no one else's business, but it seems like you're trying to make it that way."

[Onarax]

Napoli Fiordilatte - (Wait, Grimm Studies had a Purpose? Time to Help Shiro)

Swimming around in cold water to help out a Faunus you really only met five minutes ago.

Well, it appeared Napoli could check that off his bucket list.

That said, it was rather easy to lose sight of someone that decided the best plan of attack was to go underwater the whole time. Thus Napoli found himself swimming in merely the vague direction he had last seen Shiro resurface. That's when a few interesting events occurred. First off, some weird drones decided to fly around and engage their own little agenda.

People at this school have funnels? And here I thought Gratia was the one with all the hax.

Then something roared and a weapons locker sinned and fell from heaven. Then again, with how freaky this school had been, perhaps that was just a typical Monday. Nevertheless a large grin spread across the Sniper's face as he realized it was time for a practical application of his school studies. Adjusting his route towards the newly ascertained direction of his class fellow, Napoli propelled himself forward. Reaching the approximate location rather quickly.

With a quick dive underwater, Napoli was able to make out the blurred image of Shiro and what appeared to be a frog?

God damnit Kermit, you didn't have to start binge eating after the breakup.

Well whatever, the bigger area would just make a shot easier. Leaving his head slightly submerged in order to still see the Grimm, Napoli popped one hand out and fired a series of bullets up in the air before curving them in the direction of the Grimm. It was the same basic water displacement technique he'd employed earlier in the day. Although being in the water this time was new.