Ruby was running, running as fast as her little legs would let her. The sounds of heavy foot falls and vicious growling were getting closer by the second. Weaving around trees, jumping over roots, dashing through bushes, she was trying to put anything and everything between her and the Beowolf. Ruby felt like she had been running for hours, but it was probably no more than a few minutes. Even with all the adrenaline pumping through her veins, the crimson haired girls young body could only run for so long.

As she was starting to slow down, Ruby dared to take a peak over her shoulder. That action proved to be a costly mistake, and a saving grace at the same time. For when she looked back her foot caught on a large root, causing her to fall to the ground face first, but that action sent the Beowolf that was already mid pounce sailing strait over her head into a large tree. The resounding *THUD* of the impact, made Ruby lift her head to see what had caused the sound. The sight that greeted her only served to send her fearful mind into an all out panic. The Beowolf was already back on its feet, walking towards her. It didn't even look affected by the impact with the tree.

Ruby started scrambling backwards on all fours. She only made if a few feet before her back made contact with something solid. Looking left her eyes widened. She had back right into a tree! But before she could even finish possessing this, the creature of Grimm lunged forward, sinking its teeth into the little girls right shoulder. Ruby's vision turned white as she screamed in agony.

'Mommy, Help me!' Was the only coherent thought that entered Ruby's mind.

Then, ever so slowly a warmth started enveloping her body. Starting from her chest and spreading out from there. Then immense pain in her shoulder started to died down. It still hurt like there was no tomorrow, but she could think again. And with her newfound clarity in thought, she did the first thing popped into her head.

She balled her little fist, and punched the Beowolf right in the eye. Releasing her shoulder to howl in pain, the Beowolf staggered back. Using the opportunity that was given to her by this newfound warmth, Ruby got up and started running again.

Repeating the same thought over and over, Ruby kept telling herself. 'Faster, I need to run faster!'

As if in response to her mental plea, her legs started to get a tingling feeling in them, almost like they were charged with electricity. The next thing Ruby knew, the forest was passing by in a blur. She could barely keep up with herself to doge the trees in her path. Even though she was traveling at such high speeds, Ruby wasn't scared, it felt like she left all her pain, all her problems in the dust. It felt amazing!

Ruby closed her eyes as she burst into a clearing, relishing in this new sensation. Right when she was opening her eyes, she felt herself collide with something very solid, and everything went black.


Dr. Merlot was in a very good mood today. He had just finished moving his laboratory to a new location, his Grimm experiments were coming along nicely, and now he was out here in the forests of Patch to test his new prototype robot.

The reason he was testing his new robot in Patch was because Patch was home to almost solely Beowolfs. This provided a very nice proving ground for his robot, since Beowolfs were fairly weak unless they were large in number. If his new creation failed here, it was simply back to the drawing board, but if not, he could bring it somewhere like the Emerald Forest or Forever Fall to test its limits. Then it was only a matter or rinse and repeat until he was satisfied with the results.

He was wander the island looking for a nice clearing in the woods to begin his test. Though he took care as to stay far away from the single town that resided on the island, as to not draw any unwanted attention to himself.

After wandering for a while, he came upon a fairly large clearing. 'This should do nicely.' He thought, but before he could even give the command for his robot to prepare for combat, a crimson blur with what appeared to be rose petals following it shot out of the other end of the clearing and slammed strait into his prototype.

Turning to his creation, he found it was now sporting a large dent in its chest armor that was now sparking very badly. It looked like it was about to collapse. He sighed. 'Note to self, increase chest armor thickness.'

Looking down to see what caused the damage to his robot, he was very surprised to find out that it was a little girl in a red hooded cloak, no more than five years old if he had to guess, collapsed on the ground unconscious and bleeding from her right shoulder. He could only stare in bewilderment as he realized that a child had nearly destroyed his creation by headbutting it. By all rights this girls head should be caved in from such an impact, but as he got closer to examine the child a thought came to mind. 'Does this girl have her aura unlocked?!' The youngest age he had ever herd someone willingly unlocking a child's aura unlocked was eight years old. The reason most waited to unlock a child's aura was because if they had a dangerous semblance that they couldn't control, they could become a danger to themselves and those around them.

Then another thought popped into his head. 'Perhaps it wasn't unlocked by someone else. Perhaps it was unlocked in a time of dire need?' Judging by the slowly closing wound on her shoulder, that time of need might not have been very long ago.

Now he was presented with some options, he could do the 'right thing' and bring her into town and find whoever her parent or guardian was, he could leave her here to most likely be eaten by a Beowolf or two, or he could take the girl with him. The second option was out the window as soon as it came to mind. He may be considered a "monster" by some, but he was not so cruel as to leave a child to die in a forest. The first option would bring unwanted attention to himself. People would ask question like "Why where you out there?, What's your name?, Are you a huntsman?" and that would just not do, but the third option presented an unparalleled opportunity. He could use this child to further his experiments, while the thought of experimenting on a child wasn't the most thrilling, he would persevere for the progression of science!

With his decision made, he called his prototype to follow him. Merlot knelt down and picked up the girl being careful not to aggravate her closing wound. With the girl in hand, he stood back up and started to head back to the small boat he had brought. His robotics testing could be put on hold for now. He now had a more important project to work on.


A.n. 30 followers, 14 favorites, and 4 reviews. Wow... just. Wow. It hasn't even been one full day, and my expectations were blown sky high. I did not expect this much traffic so soon. Not that I'm complaining or anything. Hopefully I will meet your expectations with this story. Just seeing that people want to read this makes me want to try my best for this story. Thanks for the reviews with advice and encouragement those really boosted my confidence.

Well hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will be out tomorrow around this time.

P.S. Is pacing to fast? or is it fine as is?

P.P.S sorry abut the rapid succession updates, I keep catching things I missed in my once through before posting.