Disclaimer:
I do not own, and I am not in any way affiliated with Rooster Teeth and RWBY. You lot know the drill.
The Ursa's paw skidded off a metal shield. Scorto pulled his fist back, and his gauntlet glowed and reconfigured around his hand, flowing into a spike, which crunched as it encountered the creature's jaw. The Ursine didn't have time to roar its defiance, and it fell to the ground. Scorto pulled his white-hot gauntlet back together, wrapping it around his hand.
"Anyone else?" He called to the forest in general.
As if in reply, a growl came from behind him.
"Big mouth." He muttered, and turned.
The pack of Beowolves howled, and leaped forwards.
"Dust." He cursed.
Scorto charged through the first Beowolf, grabbing its corpse and slamming it into the 'wolf behind it. His gauntlet flowed into a spike, and he skewered the next 'wolf as it leaped at him. The next three went down as Scorto's gauntlet flowed into a dozen small stakes, which he flung at the 'wolves. A sixth didn't even realise it was being attacked, before Scorto's left gauntlet neatly bisected it.
If the pack had been anything other than demons, they would have realised that losing half of their pack members in under thirty seconds is a good reason to run. As it was, the remaining Beowolves launched themselves at Scorto.
Scorto's gauntlets flowed into one shield, which he caught the wolves on, and he hurled them away. He then raced after the flailing Beowolves, throwing a metal spike at one of the 'wolves, and stabbing another through the chest with an bladed gauntlet. He ducked under a clawed paw, gauntlet-blade arcing through the 'wolf. Another 'wolf snapped at him, and his left gauntlet's blade emerged from it's head, driven through it's lower and upper jaw. He grabbed the corpse and pivoted, the next 'wolf's claws sinking deep into it's packmate's torso. Scorto threw the corpse aside, pulling the 'wolf off-balance, and skewered it.
He straightened up, and his blood ran cold. The last 'wolf was in midair, barely a foot away. Time slowed, and Scorto brought his gauntlets up, but too slow…
Less than a second later, an arrow shot through the air, slamming into the 'wolf, and exploding. The 'wolf's head disappeared.
Scorto's eyes followed the arrow's flight, and found the person who'd fired it. A tall girl, gold haired and green eyed, standing on a tree branch. She leaped lightly to the ground, with the grace only confidence could bestow.
"That was…impressive." She smiled easily
"Thanks." Scorto smiled back, "I'm Scorto."
"Loren." Loren nodded.
"Which way's the temple?"
"That way." Loren began walking, her long strides forcing Scorto to scurry in order to keep up.
"So come on." Scorto said after a few minutes, "What tricks does your bow have?"
With a whirr, the bowstring retracted into the main body, which straightened out, flattened, formed a crossguard and finally the blade sprung out.
Scorto's eyes widened.
"Dust, that's impressive." He said.
"I know." Loren smiled.
"That," Scorto said to Loren, "Is the biggest Ursa I've ever seen."
"How many Ursae have you seen?"
"Three." Scorto replied offhandedly, "And that one is still the biggest."
They were watching the daemon from the cover of a bush, considering their options.
"Shh," Loren hissed, "Look. There."
She indicated another cluster of bushes, behind which, if Scorto squinted, he could see occasional flashes of movement.
"Dust, but you've got good eyes." He told her.
"Thanks. Do you think you can signal them?" Loren asked.
"Is Dust volatile?" He grinned.
"Depends…" Loren began.
"I meant, yes." Scorto interrupted.
He concentrated, for a few minutes, and eventually, a face peered around the other bush. Loren tapped Scorto's shoulder.
"Got them." She told him.
Scorto breathed out, and peered around the bushes. Several minutes of frantic signalling continued, as the Ursa rooted around in a rotten tree bough for any beetles that might be in there.
Scorto saw a girl count down, and sprang out as she hit zero.
The next thing he knew he was flying backwards from a casual backhand the gigantic Ursa had delivered. Loren had been hit by the same backhand, but had crashed into a tree and was charging back into the fight. The other pair hadn't been backhanded, but the Ursa was now laying into them with vicious glee.
Scorto slammed into something hard, and shook his head before charging back at the Ursa. He sprung onto the creature's back and slashed twice with his wristblades, twisting off of the creature as it reared onto its back legs. Loren's bow - now in sword mode - sunk into the Ursa's side, but it swept her off her feet with a gleeful blow, and she lost her grip on the sword. The girl from the other pair fired a pair of pistols at the beast, which attempted to bat her away, only to be blocked by the boy, who brought his spear up, stabbing at the paw.
"We need to get to the temple!" Scorto yelled to the girl.
"Agreed!"
Loren grabbed her sword and it sprang back into a bow. She took a moment to string it, then nocked an arrow. It flew at the Ursa, exploding violently. The creature's head swung around, locking onto her, and it roared deafeningly.
"We'll cover!" Loren yelled, "Go!"
"Aspidas!" The girl yelled, "Fall back!"
Scorto's gauntlets glowed again, and reformed into what appeared to be guns.
"I'm not sure how much difference that'll make!" Loren called.
Scorto smiled, then fired.
Twin streamers of liquid fire emerged from his gauntlets, scorching the Ursa.
"Move!" He told Loren.
They turned and headed after the other pair, crashing through the undergrowth in a headlong dash to escape the Ursa. Behind them, a tree crashed to the ground, and Scorto sprinted to catch up with the other pair.
"So we get the Ursa Major." The girl panted, "And I'll bet the other teams don't have to deal with anything like this. I'm Hazel, by the way."
"Scorto." He panted, "Are we losing it?"
"I don't know." She smiled evilly, "Do you want to look?"
"I'll be fine." Scorto decided.
"Good. Now keep running!"
They stumbled out onto a clearing, in the middle of which was what Scorto hoped was the temple. Around the inside were several pedestals, and mounted on each were-
"Chess pieces?" Loren panted.
"I'll guess these are the relics." Hazel said, "Pick one and let's go."
"Got one." Loren said.
"That was quick." Scorto looked at her.
She shrugged.
A crash came from the forest.
"Dust!" Scorto yelled in frustration, "Won't that thing give up?"
"Probably not." Hazel said, "Come on. We need to move."
Scorto gave one last look backwards, then sprinted ahead.
"Can I ask a question?" Scorto asked Hazel.
"Sure."
"How, by Dust, are we going to get back up the cliff?"
Hazel blinked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." She said eventually.
"And we'll have to deal with the Ursa as well." Scorto said.
"Shut up and run."
They emerged from the forest, and skidded to a halt. In front of them was a gaping chasm.
"Any smart ideas?" Scorto asked.
"There are some buildings over there." Loren indicated towards their right, "There might be a bridge."
"And if there isn't?" Hazel asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we reach it." Scorto told her.
"Don't use my own words against me!" Hazel exclaimed.
Aspidas smiled.
"You to, Aspidas? fine. You lot go on. I'll deal with the Ursa."
"I'll help." Scorto said, realising what she wanted to do.
"Then we'll stay as well." Loren said, "I'll be able to hear it before you lot can notice anything."
Aspidas simply nodded.
"Then let's do this." Hazel grinned.
The Ursa burst out into the open, and roared when it saw the prey-things it had been chasing. The two-legs had scattered in surprise when he had first appeared, but they were now turning to face him. That was good. After all, that made the fight more enjoyable.
The Ursa couldn't see. It clawed at the darkness, but the darkness would not rend. But the two-legs didn't know that the Ursa could still smell them, did they?
A stinging sensation came from the Ursa's flank, the two-leg's flying claw. It could smell the two-leg that had the flying claw launcher, and it charged at her. It heard the two-legs shout, and suddenly the Ursa's behind was burning, and then one of the two-legs' round-hards slammed into its burning posterior. Its feet were suddenly not on the ground. Where was the ground? Why had the wind suddenly increased so much?
"Hazel?" Scorto asked, "Please. For the love of Dust. Give us more warning before you do that next time."
"I told you the plan five minutes before we did it!" Hazel exclaimed.
"Yeah…more warning. Like, a day." Scorto said.
"Hey, guys!" Loren said, come on!" We're almost there!"
"Coming!" Hazel called.
The group picked their way past the crumbling buildings, and crossed the stone bridge quickly.
"Soo…How do we get to the top again?" Loren asked.
"Scorto…" Hazel began, "Your Semblance…what exactly is it?"
Scorto summoned a roiling ball of liquid fire, and let it drop. It hissed as it touched the ground, and the fiery puddle slowly turned orange, then red, then gray.
"Metalshifting." Scorto said quietly, "I can melt and reforge metal."
"How much metal can you control at a time?" Loren asked.
"As much as there is around me." Scorto asked, "Why?"
Aspidas smiled.
"Could you make a ladder to get us up there?" Hazel asked.
Scorto's eyes widened.
"Dust, I'm an idiot." He muttered, "Stand back."
He raised his arms, and for several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the ground rumbled, and two strands of liquid fire raced up the side of the cliff, cooling in seconds. Another strand slid up the cliff, forming the rungs as it went.
"Get up quickly." Scorto said, "I'll need to send the metal back down soon."
"Why?" Loren asked.
"Because I took it all from underground." Scorto said, "If I don't put it back soon, the entire cliff might collapse."
"Come on." Hazel said, grabbing a rung.
They started climbing, Hazel first, then Aspidas, then Loren and finally Scorto. A few minutes into the climb, Scorto glanced up, then blushed deep crimson.
"L-loren?" He called up, eyes fastidiously looking at the wall.
"What?" Loren called down.
"You're wearing a skirt."
Hazel's shriek could probably have been heard a mile off.
Ozpin eyed the group as the scrambled onto the cliff.
"And is anyone going to explain the reason for the…noises?" He asked. He could make a pretty shrew guess at what had caused the noises simply because of the way Mr Fortis and Mrs Theama were blushing.
"W-well, we we-were climbing, and L-l-loren was in front of my and…I…looked up." Scorto stuttered.
Ozpin chuckled.
"That was pretty much what I thought." He said, "Congratulations on getting here first." He added.
"First?" Hazel exclaimed, "We had to go through an Ursa Major to get here! What did the others have to go through?"
"You can ask them when they get here." Ozpin smiled mysteriously.
A shrill scream cut through the air.
"If they get here." Ozpin amended.
Ten minutes later, Ruby Rose fired Crescent Rose one last time, and the Nevermore's head detached itself from the Nevermore's body in a burst of rose petals.
"Well," Yang commented, "That was a thing."
"Hazel Umbaras, Aspídas Amyntikós, Scorto Fortis and Loren Theama." Ozpin's voice boomed from the speakers, "The four of you collected the white pawn pieces from this day on, you will work together as Team HASL. Lead by…Hazel Umbaras!"
Applause broke out from the catwalks.
"Well done." Scorto congratulated.
First Chapter! Thank you to anyone who reads this, and thank you thank you to anyone who reviews this!
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do for the next chapter, probably something similar to episodes 9 and 10. If anyone has any suggestions, I'll be happy to hear (read) them.