Chapter 1 - Simple Souls
Beacon Academy. One of the most beautiful sights in all of Remnant. Anyone who saw it for the first, or last time would admit it's an incredible sight, and the view is even better than the mind could think.
The Emerald Forest. A calm, peaceful, green, beautiful land. However, one problem arose throughout all of the Emerald Forest. Grimm! Grimm, the creatures of darkness, plagued the majority of Remnant, and the Emerald Forest was no exception.
This made it perfect for a man, wearing green and holding a cane, to allow his soon-to-be students to enroll at his academy.
The man, known as non other than Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy. He slowly made his way towards several students, and spoke to them in confidence about how important it is to complete this trial. "Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path...or you will die." With that, all the students, even ones like Cardin Winchester, brave and bold, looked like they were ready to soil themselves.
Without much hesitation the first initiative was launched into the forest, leaving others in shock at the speed people were being launched at. It was eventually left to one young man with blonde hair, a sword and shield, and a terrified look on his face as he realized that he was the last person to be sent into the air with no way to land.
However, deep within the Emerald Forest was a small, dark cave, which held two young teenagers. Both unconscious, they were lead on the cold, solid floor, almost looking preserved by someone...or something.
- Time Skip -
Soon enough, pairs were being made. A blonde haired, energetic, perky girl with lilac coloured eyes was paired with another girl, who had dark black hair, amber eyes, and a cute bow on top of her head.
Another pair was formed with a girl, who had a little red hood and cape, and glistening silver eyes. This girl seemed to be getting dragged away by another female, that had hair that was as white as snow, and light, sky blue eyes. Both, however, seemed to be engrossed in some sort of argument. With a battle of voice between the two, the noise attracted the Grimm. One after another, Grimm started to appear from every blind spot, the two halted the argument to concentrate on the upcoming fight.
In another part of the Emerald Forest, a terrified, young man who's hoodie had been impaled with some sort of spear. The terrified man went by the name Jaune. Jaune Arc to be exact. It was short, sweet and the ladies loved it. Below him was a tall girl, who had a similar style to that of an amazon. Her name was Pyrrha Nikos. She asked Jaune in a joking manner "Do you...have any spots left on your team?". "Very funny" Jaune replied, but quickly giving in to Pyrrha's jolly nature, giving her a friendly smile in return while she helped down the blonde haired boy for the tree he was stuck too.
As the new couple searched for the artifacts which would determine the team, they discovered a dark, gloomy cave of which it looked like it hadn't been explored in centuries. Jaune and Pyrrha both decided that the artifacts were likely in the cave, where only the brave explore.
As they continued searching the cave, they came across a bright yellow light, hovering in place. Immediately, Jaune believed that this had to be one of the artifacts. How could it not? It's bright, large, had a very odd and unmistakable shape, but above all, it was in a difficult place to find. However one thing was on Jaune's mind. 'Why is there only one?' he thought to himself as he gradually made his way towards the glowing object. As he reached towards it, he noticed that it started to move away, Jaune followed it until it came to a halt, at last a clear view… It wasn't an artifact, however, something much more threatening was attached to the aforementioned item. Jaune tiptoed carefully to get a better view, and as he got closer, he realised two things. The item which he thought was a relic was attached to a creature of Grimm, more specifically, a Death Stalker. The second thing was that two people who looked around the same age as them, was held onto the inside of the Death Stalkers claws.
Deep within the forest, a man, who was wearing a dark green, diagonally buttoned tailcoat and a white pair of trousers and had a magenta streak of hair which is easily noticeable in his black hair, was wandering around, hoping to find his orange-haired friend. Suddenly, he felt the ground around him moving as he was being circled by a black King Taijitu's. The man in green jumped and fired his machine pistols in a spiral and kicking the head of the King Taijitsu, knocking it to the ground. As the creature of Grimm got back up, the green-coated man struck again with his blades underneath the barrels of his machine pistols. The creature wasn't finished, and attempted another attack, however, the man easily avoided this attack, and sent the serpent into the ground, landing on top of it, with the blades landing directly in its head.
He then realised that he was being watched. He turned around only to notice another King Taijitsu, however this one was in white. He noticed how both creatures of Grimm were preparing to attack...but he didn't move. Instead, he waited for the perfect moment and jumped on the black King Taijitsu. As he skated around, he continued shooting rounds into the white creature, hoping to end the battle soon. After jumping over the white King Taijitsu, he let his guard down, getting knocked back, he had dropped his weapons, and was expecting the worst.
The black King Taijitsu struck at the boy in green, only for the boy to fight with all of his strength, and unleash an aura-like shield, protecting his from the deadly serpents bite. Once he had the upper hand, the boy released his aura, and grabbed the teeth of his attacker. Breaking them off, he struck the black King Taijitsu in the eye, taking a fighting stance, before unleashing a powerful blast from his hand, sending the teeth through the serpent's head, blowing the head of the black creature of Grimm.
Soon enough, the boy had quickly retrieved his weapons, and disposed of his attackers, only to hear the trees next to him shaking and heard a very odd sound. As he looked up he noticed his orange-haired friend. "Hey Ren!" she said in a very excited tone, more than likely from viewing the fight. Ren responded with "I still don't think that's what sloths sound like." Shortly after, the orange-haired girl, who already known to Ren was called Nora Valkyrie, lowered herself down and slightly touched Ren's nose whilst also saying "Boop!".
Jaune started to walk backwards slowly. "Pyrrha, get out. Now." he whispered to the red headed huntress in training. Pyrrha seemed confused at first, but didn't fail in his orders. As they both started making their way out, Jaune fell over a torch which he had dropped earlier in the cave. Once remembering what he could have tripped over, he didn't have enough time to get up before the Death Stalker grabbed Jaune's hood with its stinger.
Pyrrha, who had bolted out of the cave, was now being chased by the Death Stalker, which had smashed out of the cave, still with Jaune on its stinger, and the two mysterious teenagers in its claws. "Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not!" sobbed Jaune. "Do something!". As Pyrrha began to speak, the Deathclaw became clearly agitated at how its stinger was being held on, which led to it moving its tail frantically, causing Jaune to finally be released, but still sent all the way across the Emerald Forest. At the sight of her ally being released, Pyrrha bolted in the direction of Jaune, hoping he hadn't got hurt from the fall, but she knew that not far behind her, two innocent people were in danger from a deadly Death Stalker, and she needed a team to help her, and the two hostages, had not yet awoken nor didn't seem to even notice what was going on.
During the havoc that the Death Stalker created, it made it clear that it will not stop its relentless fury but strangely, it had yet not killed the two teenagers with its claws, it as if they were special. Its rage made a sudden rush towards Emerald forest, plaguing the grasslands and toppling over trees one by one to only chase the red headed amazon that it is fleeing away from it.
Pyrrha, who has been desperately running away from the Death Stalker has followed Jaune throughout the entire time he has been on airborne. But within sight, it appeared that Jaune has clashed towards another hunter on airborne. Strangely enough, the person that Jaune has collided into was the little girl in a red hood and cape. Upon the rush that Pyrrha has made, she stumbled upon 7 huntresses and hunters including Jaune in which they appeared to be in some sought of temple, all awed of the sight of the Death Stalker apart from little red riding hood, who eagerly jumped into action had seen the two teenagers within the Death Stalkers clutches. Knowing that jumping in without a plan could end up hurting the the two teenagers, she retreated and regrouped to only gain another Grimm soaring through the sky…
The blonde girl seeing everyone together decided to joke and say "Oh great, the gang's all here. Now we can all die together!". But in immediate response, a girl with black and red hair responded with "Not if I can help it!".
A Nevermore... siding with the Death Stalker would prove a problem for the young warriors especially with the two unconscious hostages that need saving. But the reckless act of little red who charged into the Death Stalker has lead the Nevermore to rain feathers that are like sharp arrows which was aimed at little red. With little red desperately running from the Death Stalker, her red cape got caught by the arrows. Unable to escape, she pleaded for help. The blonde girl who was once energetic, changed instantly, screaming in a worrisome voice "RUBY!", knowing that she will be in danger, she ran to save her sister from disaster.
With the Death Stalker charging at little red, the worrisome girl couldn't reach her sister in time. That was until the cold hearted ice queen decided to put up a frozen wall which stopped the stinger of the Death Stalker, but the Death Stalker was still standing strong, preparing to drag its tail out of the frozen wall.
The team regrouped, not letting a second go by before choosing their artifacts. Ruby looked back over at the Death Stalker, but noticed the two people in its grasp. The blonde haired girl followed the gaze of Ruby, until finally asking "What the hell is up with them two?" while pointing towards the two unconscious teenagers. "I'm not sure, Yang, but we need to get them away from it." Blake responded in a worried tone, which also seemed to make her bow twitch. Nora noticed this, but thought that it must've been the wind that moved them, as she noticed a slight breeze passing by, only for Jaune to mention "Guys, that thing is circling back! What're we gonna do?" while pointing towards the Nevermore that was screeching as it darted towards them.
Then, the white haired member of the group spoke out. "Look there's no sense in dilly-dallying. We already have our artifacts.". "She's right" Ruby responded. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs", which made Weiss smile as she was finally getting the respect she felt like she deserved. "There's no point in fighting these things." she finished off, with Jaune agreeing that he can get behind an idea where they all survive.
"But what about them two?" the ice princess questioned while staring at both of the teenagers, which in her eyes were a pair of dolts for getting themselves in this situations. "We can't just leave them here!". Ruby was quick to respond, "Weiss is right, we still need to protect them!" she said while watching the two male teenagers, who were still unconscious, and didn't seem to even realise that they were in any danger.
Ren started to notice part of the ice, holding the Death Stalker, was beginning to break. "Time we left." he said as Nora stared at him, ready for any order he may give. "Right." Ruby responded as she ran over towards a cliff, watching over the entirety of the Emerald Forest. Yang stayed back for a few moments for two reasons. The first was to wander how the group will save the two teenagers, and the second was to admire her younger sister, Ruby, on how she has become an incredible person and leader. After she spectated her younger sister, she followed her towards the cliffs.
The group, now running towards what looked like some demolished towers, knew that the Death Stalker was chasing the group from behind whilst the Nevermore was in front. With the team being distracted by the Nevermore, the Death Stalker made its move and made a berserking rush towards the gang. "Nora, distract it", calmy said by Ren, knowing that his maniac orange-haired friend would be up to the challenge. She bolted out of cover, charging for a good spot to fire her grenade launchers directly towards the winged beast and upon impact, the beast staggered backwards, only to start circling around the arena.
The Death Stalker then crashed through the trees of the forest, quickly closing in on the distracted Nora. Nora, who noticed last second that her clawed foe was behind her, was saved by Blake and Ren deflecting the incoming pincers coming to strike her, while Weiss grabbed Nora, and used a glyph to get them both to safety.
All eight hunters and huntresses ran across a bridge which was in the open, allowing for any attack by the Nevermore. Blake, being the last person to get on the bridge, narrowly avoided the Death Stalkers pincers, which still refused to crush the two passed out passengers of its claws.
While the group was halfway across the bridge, the Nevermore swooped down and crashed into the bridge, leaving Blake, Pyrrha and Ren to deal with the Death Stalker, and Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora and Jaune to deal with the Nevermore. Jaune, glancing over towards the team taking on the Death Stalker, yelled towards Nora "We gotta get over there! They need help!" Without hesitation, Nora knocked Jaune back on the broken bridge, and slammed her hammer directly down, causing the bridge to launch Jaune in the air towards the Death Stalker while Nora fired again, sailing in the same direction.
Nora slammed directly on the head of Death Stalker, making it throw its pincers in the air, releasing the two helpless bystanders and launching them towards a wall overlooked by a huge cliff. "Great! Now I can really go all out!" Nora yelled in a psychotic tone, mere seconds before she was hit with the stinger, sending her directly into Blake, who dropped fell of the bridge.
Blake, who was already prepared for this kind of situation, threw her Gambol Shroud towards an undamaged piece of the bridge, allowing for her to swing directly towards the Nevermore. She used her semblance to get closer to the giant bird. Once reaching the Nevermore, she struck the creature eight times, before running of the tail of the giant creature.
Blake, who reached Yang, Ruby and Weiss, now noticed the Nevermore coming in for another attack. Yang yelled out the 3 other huntresses "Let's give it everything we got" and with all in sync, they got their weapons ready. All firing at once, Ruby using the sniper rifle part of her scythe named Crescent Rose, Weiss using her rapier named Myrtenaster mixed with her glyphs, Blake using pistol named Gambol Shroud, and Yang using her shotgun gauntlets named Ember Celica, were all firing at once, trying anything and everything to take the winged beast down.
The Nevermore crashed into the colossal tower, shattering it with ease, causing all of the huntresses to find a way to climb up on their own. Yang, no who immediately got back into the fight after recovering, started to hold off the Nevermore. Ruby, who stared at the newly recovered Blake, told Weiss "I have a plan." Which was quickly followed by a "Cover me!" from the small red-head.
On the other side of the arena, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren were now under attack from the Death Stalker, which had attacked the bridge causing it to slowly collapse, giving the team a short amount of time to deal with the Death Stalker, and get to safety. Pyrrha started the assault by deflecting one of the pincers off the Grimm while simultaneously attacking it with her spear. The Death Stalker attempted to counter-attack, only to be stopped by Jaune with his shield, putting all of his might into stopping a deadly blow while Pyrrha hits again knowing she had someone watching her back.
The Death Stalker tried striking the ground, only for the attack to miss any target. Ren took this opportunity to grab onto its tail, and fire down on the Death Stalker stinger. Nora started to fire her grenade launcher causing it to flinch, however this sent Jaune and Pyrrha back. Jaune, who couldn't find his footing, eventually fell over while Pyrrha instantly recovered, sending her spear directly into the Grimms eye making the creature cry out in pain, and spinning its tail about frantically throwing Ren directly into a pillar.
Jaune, who finally recovered, saw that the stinger was weak, and notified Pyrrha. "Done!" is all she responded as she threw her shield directly towards the start of the stinger, knocking it off, and landing directly on the head of the Death Stalker while her shield bounced perfectly back into her grip.
"Nora, nail it!" Jaune ordered, while Nora yelled at Pyrrha "Heads up!" Pyrrha immediately understood what she meant, put her shield above, while Nora landed on the shield, fired down causing her to get launched directly into the sky! As she came rocketing down, she fired her hammer again for increased speed, slamming down onto the stinger, followed by another explosion, collapsing the bridge, and throwing the Death Stalker into a deep chasm while the rest of the team got launched with a heavy landing onto the ground, meters away from the giant drop.
With their fight over, they looked up the see a certain yellow-headed girl on a pillar releasing missiles on the Nevermore.
The Nevermore circled around and started making it's way directly towards Yang while she jumped in its direction. In mid-air, the Nevermore opened its mouth, ready to chomp down on the blonde beauty...that was...until the giant bird found out it couldn't close its mouth! Yang had lodged herself in the beak of the Nevermore! "I! Hope! You're! Hun-gry!" she yelled while firing five shotgun shells one after another into the mouth of the jumps backwards and lands on the ground, looking behind her as the Nevermore slammed into the same wall that the two unconscious teenagers during the fight between Jaune's group, and the Death Stalker.
Before the Nevermore could fly away, Weiss took advantage, and sped towards it using her glyphs to get some ensured speed. She used the dust inside Myrtenaster to create an ice wall that attached itself to the tail of the flying beast. As she retreats, Blake was wrapping her weapon around a pillar, and then throws over Gambol Shroud towards Yang. Yang catches it with ease and proceeds to do the same. Ruby fired her way upwards and onto the makeshift catapult. After getting far enough back, Weiss prepared a powerful glyph which Ruby would settle into, allowing for Ruby to get extra power behind her jump. "Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss said, almost shocked that the plan could be possible. Ruby replied with "Think you can make the shot?" which was shortly replied with a confident "Hmph. Can I?". However, the confidence went right over Ruby's head as she had worried face asked again. "Can y-". "Of course I can!" snapped Weiss as she fired Ruby directly towards the Nevermore. Ruby flew towards it and continued to fire her sniper rifle towards the ground, giving her extra air time. As she landed next to the neck of the giant bird, she placed Crescent Rose at its neck...and waited.
Weiss was now hard at work creating multiple speed glyphs which would allow Ruby, mixed with her speed semblance, to run up the wall. Once all glyphs were made, she ran directly up, leaving rose petals where she once stood. With Crescent Rose gripping the Nevermores neck, the bird was dragged up the wall, and once reaching the top, it had nowhere to go, forcing the head of the Nevermore to fly off.
Everyone who had took part in both fights now felt relieved, but also like passing out. After everyone had regrouped, they walked over to the two still unconscious teenagers that someone had stayed the same throughout the entire fight.
"How in the hell did they both just sleep through that!?" Weiss questioned, looking more angered than concerned. "I do not have a clue, but I could learn a thing or two from them." Yang responded with an enormous grin on her face. Ruby, looking in horror at her sister started squealing "Ewwww. Eww eww eww eww ewwwwww.". "What?" Yang responded, still with a grin. "I was just suggesting we should Yang-out! Get it?"
"This is no time for jokes." Blake said with a serious expression. "They're both burning up!" she said while holding her hand up to one of their heads. "We need to get them to the medical wing as soon as possible!". "But how?" Ruby questioned. "We have to get back to the cliffs, and it sooooo far away…" she said with a sad look in her eyes. "No problem!" both Nora and Yang said, and in unison, they both picked up a stranger separately , and carried them to where they would meet Professor Ozpin.