A/N-
Unoriginal title is unoriginal and will probably be changed later. My creative juices have been zapped, but with this finally finished I really wanted to get it posted.
Celeste readied herself on the springboard, as the girl on her left was catapulted into the air. She had the time to close her eye and take one steadying breath, and then she was in the air, propelled by the powerful push of the board beneath her.
Wind rushed by her face, tickling at the edge of her senses. All around her, prospective students were hurtling through the air. Some were flailing aimlessly while others were orientating themselves for a proper landing.
Celeste leaned into the onrushing wind as the trees rushed closer and closer, counting the seconds until she had to act. When the first tips of the leaves were just about to reach her outstretched arm, she flicked out her right hand.
The metal plating over the hand opened up from the bottom of her palm, and sailed forward, before closing back over into a closed gauntlet in mid-air. Thin cables ran back from the metal glove to sheaths on her wrist, reminiscent of a puppeteer's strings.
Clenching her fingers in a gripping motion Celeste grinned with satisfaction as the gauntlet mirrored her actions, and she felt it grasp onto a rapidly nearing tree branch. Shifting her posture midair, she used the momentum of her fall to swing herself once, up and around the branch.
As the upside down world started to righten, she opened her palm, and the steel cables began winding back into the cuff at her wrist. At the same time she swept her left arm in a downward arc.
She felt the soft sensation of her Semblance activating, and her hand glowed a pale blue-grey. A gentle cushion of air swept from her palm, easing her landing. She landed smoothly on the forest floor in a slight crouch.
With the familiar weight of the gauntlet settled back onto her hand, Celeste took a look around to gather her bearings. She was in the middle of the woods. Trees surrounded her on each side, and the canopy of leaves above her blocked out most of the sky.
"Ok, Celeste," she said aloud, unnerved by the surrounding quiet. "Find a partner. Find the ruins. Find a relic. Shouldn't be too hard." She let out a soft sigh and started walking.
After ten minutes of walking without meeting a soul or soulless, Celeste deduced she had managed to land in a completely uninhabited part of the forest. Good for avoiding monsters. Not so good for finding partners. With only the sound of her footsteps to keep her company, she trudged on , hoping she'd run into someone soon.
If she was being perfectly honest with herself she'd almost rather not run into anybody. Meeting people was far from her strength, and working with people she didn't know was even further from it.
She was in the middle of berating herself for not trying harder the day before to introduce herself to any of the other students, and moments away from contemplating whether or not Ozpin would send her packing if she returned to Beacon with a relic and no partner, when a sound in the brush caused her to pause in her step.
Whirling on one foot, she faced the direction of the rustling bush, holding her arms up to ready Sedna's Grip. The rustling continued for a moment before a small brown nose poked out of the brush. It was followed soon by the brown head of a long-eared rabbit.
Celeste let out the breath she had been holding and relaxed her stance. The small rabbit looked up at her curiously, its whiskers twitching in the air.
"You're not too scary are you," Celeste muttered to the rabbit, who only cocked its head in response. "Unfortunately, even though you are the first thing I've encountered, I tend to doubt I'd be allowed to partner with a little bunny rabbit."
The rabbit continued to regard her curiously. Twitching its nose as it scented the air, the small animal's body suddenly went very rigid. In a flash the rabbit turned heel and dashed back into the underbrush.
"Where'd you go?" Celeste 's voice trailed off, as she caught the sound of another rustling in the bush behind her. A much larger, louder, more ominous rustling.
She turned around just in time to see a large Ursa crash out of the surrounding trees.
Acting on pure instinct, Celeste leaped out of its path, landing in crouched position. Tracking her scent the Grimm monster stopped its rush forward and swiveled its head in her direction. For the briefest moment Celeste was reminded of the way in which the rabbit had eyed her just moments before, but a second later the Ursa was charging.
Raising her arms up before herself, Celeste released the gauntlets from her hands. She dodged the swipe the Ursa aimed at her with its right foreleg, and slid under its upraised left.
As the thick limb eclipsed the canopy above her, Celeste sprung back to her feet and swung both gauntlets over it, clenching her fingers to grasp into its thick fur. With the thin wire cables looped around the Ursa's limb, Celeste pulled backward, tightening the cables, and wrenching the foreleg back with her weight.
The Ursa grunted in protest, and swung around to the right to face her. Gritting her teeth, Celeste dug her heels into the soft forest floor. Her grounded stance prevented her from being pulled to the right, as the Ursa tried to swing around its left foreleg.
Lunging out with its right foreleg the Ursa tried to strike at her head. Celeste ducked under the swipe. Sliding to the left, she wrenched downward with all her strength, pulling the Ursa with her. Already off balance from its failed strike at her head, the Ursa fell awkwardly to the ground.
To avoid getting caught in the mass of crumbling Grimm, Celeste opened her clenched hands as she pulled backward. This allowed the gauntlets to slide off the Ursa's limb, and close back over her hands.
Shaking its head, the beast lumbered to its feet, and let out a mighty roar in her direction.
Setting her mouth in a grim line, Celeste released her gauntlets once more. This time, in a flash of blue Dust, a set of icy claws sprouted from each finger.
Taking the initiative, Celeste flung her arms across her chest in a crossing motion. The clawed gauntlets whipped in opposing slashing motions across the Grimm. The ice claws caught the beast on the neck, cutting through black fur, and reaching flesh.
Celeste cringed as flecks of the monster's think, hot blood landed on her shoulder.
The Ursa roared in pain, but it was little more than a superficial wound. It lunged forward, and this time Celeste was not fast enough to avoid the large paw which struck at her. She was swept off her feet, and went rolling across the ground.
Without a second to breath Celeste was back on her feet, ignoring the pain in her chest where she caught the worst of the strike. She had no time to react before the raging Ursa, charged her on all for legs.
She narrowly missed getting rammed by the rampaging beast. The Ursa's momentum carried it past her, and she slashed at its flank with the puppeteer gauntlets. Again the weapons drew blood, but only enough to further enrage the beast.
Spinning on her heel, Celeste spun the arc of the gauntlets into a full circle, sending the icy claws to slash at the Ursa again, which had turned back toward her. The Ursa clawed out at the advancing gauntlets, catching them with its ivory claws and sending them to the ground.
Celeste pulled back with her arms, trying bring the gauntlets back into a useful position, but was not prepared by the time the Ursa charged in her direction once more.
The rock hard head of the Grimm rammed into her chest, sending her flying backward to the ground. Following in quick pursuit, the beast laid one of its thick forelegs on her chest, preventing any movement, and beginning to cut off her air supply.
Celeste desperately tried to reel in the gauntlets in order to fend off the advancing monster, but they had gotten caught under one of its large paws and were not moving.
Gasping for breath under the crushing weight on her lungs, Celeste eyes widened as the beasts opened its massive jaws. A wave of hot, stenchy breath bathed her face, and ropes of glistening saliva dripped off its thick fangs. She struggled with all her might but couldn't budge the massive beast in the slightest.
She was staring into the black depths of its jaws when suddenly she felt a wave of something warm spurt onto her stomach and legs. The Grimm reared up in pain, blood pooling out of a wound in its abdomen. With a pained cry, it fell, Celeste just managing to roll out of the way before its massive bulk collapsed on top of her.
Climbing onto her hands and knees, Celeste paused a moment to take a couple of steadying breaths. When her heart beat calmed, she sat back into a kneeling position, to allow her gauntlets to reel back onto her hands. Having come free from the Ursa's weight, they now reeled smoothly back onto her arms.
She was a mess. She was covered in the thick blood of the Ursa, mixed with its clear saliva. One of her braids had come loose, and the blue strands of hair were clinging to her sweat drenched skin. Her breathing was still ragged, and her chest ached, but she was alive.
It was then that she turned to see who had come to her rescue. A lanky, red haired boy, stood over the Ursa. He was pulling a wicked looking spiked staff, out of the Ursa's back.
He turned to her, with a crooked grin on his face. "You looked like you needed some help," he said as he wiped the staff dripping in blood in the grass.
"Uh, yeah," she admitted, finally catching her breath and standing up from her kneel. "Thank you." She added, taking her first good look at him.
Now on her feet, she finally took into consideration just how tall he was. At six-foot-two-inches Celeste always considered herself tall. Uncomfortably tall if she was being honest. This boy dwarfed her. She had to crane her neck up to meet his beaming brown eyes. He must have been seven feet tall, at least.
What she had taken to be a messy hairstyle, was in fact a messy hair style, but part of the mess came from a set of peculiar furry horns protruding up from his head. The boy was a Faunus.
"You're very tall," she observed bluntly.
"I am very tall," the Faunus confirmed, chuckling. With the staff clean of the Grimm's blood, he reached behind his head to secure the staff on his back. "Are you going to be alright?"
Celeste nodded. "I will be."
"Do you ever speak in more than one syllable at a time?" He asked wryly.
She shrugged, a little self-conscious. "Sometimes," Celeste replied, a shy smile forming on her face when the boy's grin widened at her response.
"Well good," the boy nodded affirmatively. "'Cause I guess we're partners now," he said. Beaming, he held out his hand. "Name's Rudy Auran, resident rescuer of damsels in distress."
"Celeste Glacian," she replied squirming a little at the mention of herself as a damsel, but shaking his hand nonetheless.
"Well Ms. Glacian, shall we go find ourselves a relic?" He asked chirpily. When she nodded, he swept into a deep bow, pointing forward with his arms, "Then ladies first."
Smiling ruefully she stepped past him, wondering just what exactly she had gotten herself into for the next four years.
A/N-
This really just me trying to get the hang of writing my OCs, but I'm reasonably happy with it. I always find fight scenes difficult, but I think I'm improving (apparently running around the room acting out the fight helps).
Oh, and for those of you wondering, Rudy is a giraffe Faunus.
Hope you all enjoyed it. I'd appreciate any and all comments and criticisms (: