Vale West Public Beach. The time is two thirty in the afternoon. It's a beautiful day, and the place is crowded with many families with their young children. In a lifeguard tower, Lyndal watches everything through a pair of binoculars. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Anything new?" asked Murdoch, Head Lifeguard at Vale West Public Beach, sitting down beside her.
"Nope. Surprisingly dull for such a crowded day," said Lyndal.
"You make it sound like that's a bad thing," said Murdoch. "Hoping to be a big hero one last time before you go off the Beacon next week, are you?"
"What? No," said Lyndal. "Just making an observation is all."
"It'll be a bit lonely without you here," said Murdoch. "Just me, Pontus and Aqua…"
"Oh, come on. You guys will be fine," said Lyndal. "Summer ends next week, so the crowds will die down. Then next summer, I'll be back."
"Look, what I'm trying to say is that you've been amazing these last three years," said Murdoch. "And hey, if you find the Huntress lifestyle isn't for you…"
"I know. I'm always welcome back," said Lyndal. "It's just that I've wanted this for so long. I have to take this chance."
"And we're very happy for you," said Murdoch. "I just know you're gonna be great."
"I hope so," sighed Lyndal.
"What's wrong?" asked Murdoch. "Nervous?"
"It's not that so much," said Lyndal. "It's just that…well, my father…" A loud scream interrupted what she was about to say. Lyndal grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked for the source. "Jaws," she said, grabbing her weapon, Silver Mist (a harpoon/boomerang/woomera). "At least three of them."
"This close to shore?" asked Murdoch, grabbing his own weapon.
"I know what I saw," said Lyndal, running out the door. She didn't bother to use the ladder, instead stepping onto the handrail and launching herself towards the water. While in mid-air, Lyndal launched her boomerang at the Jaws.
As the shark-like Grimm closed on a child, the boomerang struck each of them. The three Grimm turned their attention to Lyndal, catching the boomerang on the run. She held the harpoon out in front of her as she grabbed the child. "Going up," she said, sticking the end of her weapon into one of the Jaws' mouths. Not slowing down, Lyndal pushed her harpoon and the Grimm down, and pole-vaulted over the other two onto a nearby pier. "Run," she said. The child didn't need to be told twice, immediately running to the end of the pier. Lyndal turned her attention back to the Grimm.
And not a moment too soon, because as soon as she looked back, she had to duck as one of the Jaws flew over her head. Lyndal thrust her harpoon up into the belly of the Grimm, impaling it. The other monster had simply kept swimming, ramming through the pier near where Lyndal was. Throwing the impaled Grimm into the water, Lyndal rolled to the right, out of harm's way as the Grimm turned around for a second attack.
Before Lyndal could do anything however, a loud bang, followed by a whistling sound and a bright flash came from her left. A flare struck the Grimm in its right eye as Murdoch, holding his flare gun, jumped on top of the shark. His small flare gun quickly rearranged itself into a small knife, which Murdoch thrust into the Grimm's other eye. The Grimm roared in agony and attempted to bite him, but Murdoch had managed to jump back onto the pier. "You didn't think you were going to get all the fun, did you?" he asked, helping her up.
"It's not dead, you know," said Lyndal. "Just blind. And pissed."
"A blind Grimm is a much smaller threat than one that can see," said Murdoch.
"But an enraged one is more dangerous, blind or not," said Lyndal. "Particularly one who predominantly sees with its sense of smell."
"Oh, right," said Murdoch, turning to face the oncoming Grimm.
"Just…let me handle this," said Lyndal, lowering her harpoon.
"Are you sure?" asked Murdoch.
"Hey, who's the one going to Beacon?" asked Lyndal, watching the Grimm closing the distance rapidly. As the Jaws crashed into the pier, Lyndal thrust her harpoon straight down, through the Grimm's head. The Jaws struggled for a moment, but then went limp. "See, piece of cake," she said, jumping back onto the damaged pier.
"But the real question is: why were they so close to shore?" asked Murdoch. "Generally they're a much deeper water Grimm, and generally survive off ships they sink."
"Maybe they were fleeing from that," said Lyndal, pointing out to sea. Only a few hundred feet from the shore, a large black shape had begun to rise from the ocean.
"What…what is that?" asked Murdoch.
"I think…it's an A'Tuin," said Lyndal. "And a big one at that."
"A Great A'Tuin? Oh, crap," said Murdoch, turning to run away.
"Hey! Where are you going?" demanded Lyndal.
"You can't honestly be thinking of fighting that thing," said Murdoch. "Might as well just evacuate the beach and hope it doesn't come on land."
"But…" Lyndal called after him, but he was long gone. Lyndal sighed in frustration. "He's probably right. Even Professor Ozpin himself wouldn't fight something like that. I should just go…" Before she could finish her thoughts, Lyndal heard terrified screams coming from the beach. She looked up to see the water pushed up from the A'Tuin's appearance had caused some large waves to wash across the beach. Most of the beachgoers had retreated out of harm's way, but a few of the slower ones were now being dragged out to sea, towards the cavernous mouth of the large turtle-like Grimm. "God damn it," she cursed, jumping into the water.
Meanwhile, a woman screamed as she tried to swim away from certain death, but her efforts were futile. She looked over her shoulder to see the open mouth of the Grimm. No matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't get away from it. The woman, now exhausted, couldn't go any further. Instead of fighting it, she simply resigned herself to her fate.
That's when the boomerang struck the Grimm in the eye. The monster closed its mouth right before it could swallow her, and looked at the young girl swimming straight for the giant turtle. The A'Tuin raised one of its enormous flippers, and swung it at the girl.
Lyndal saw the flipper coming. A'Tuin's were known for being among the strongest Grimm, but also one of the slowest. Lyndal had more than enough time to hold her harpoon in front of her and brace for impact.
The A'Tuin had no time to stop itself. Instead of a direct hit with the girl, it instead felt the sharp pain of the harpoon piercing the soft flesh of its flipper. Luckily it had a backup plan: crush the human against its shell with the same swing that was already in motion. Another half a second and…
What was this weird pressure pushing against its shell? The monster turned its head to find the human somehow pushing back against its powerful flipper. That was impossible…wasn't it? But at the same time, the Grimm could feel the water on the left side of its body pushing against it. Something wasn't right about this. The Grimm tried to push against the water. After all, it was perhaps the most powerful one in the ocean. But to no avail, and soon the Grimm felt itself being pushed over. This isn't happening, the Grimm thought. No human is this powerful. Except this one, who probably won't live to tell the tale…
"Back off, give her some air," said a male's voice. "I think she's coming around."
Lyndal coughed and managed to sit up. "What…happened?" she asked.
"Easy girl. You just nearly died fighting a giant Grimm," said Murdoch, laying her back down.
"What…That's right, I was fighting that A'Tuin," said Lyndal, sitting up again. "What happened to it?"
"I'm not quite sure," said Murdoch. "It looked like there was some kind of mini hurricane, which pushed the thing over. It got back up and looked like it was going to attack again, but instead it just left."
"Thought that would work," muttered Lyndal to herself.
"Did you say something?" asked Murdoch.
"Huh? No, nothing," replied Lyndal quickly.
"Hmm…well, you better go home," said Murdoch, helping her up. "After what you did today, I think you've earned a day off." Murdoch handed her weapon back to her.
"You sure you'll be okay without me?" asked Lyndal.
"I'm pretty sure after what happened today, no-one's gonna want to go swimming for a while," said Murdoch.
"You're right," said Lyndal. "Thanks."
Murdoch watched as Lyndal left for the day. "That storm," he said to himself. "Could it have something to do with her Semblance?" He smiled to himself as he looked back to the beach. "If it is, then she's going to be the most powerful Huntress ever."