After his short flight through the air, Darien struggled to control his breathing. That's one excitement I hope I'll never have to repeat. Taking deep, shuddering breaths, Darien forced himself to pace his lungs until his breathing had equalized to a relatively stable rate. "'Figure out how to land on your own,' he says! Blood and bones, Professor Ozpin knows how to take us out on a spin." Feeling that he was now completely calm, Darien silently dropped to the forest floor and assessed the environment around him. "Seems like there aren't any Grimm in this part of the forest - yet."
After assessing himself to be safe, Darien allowed some of the tension to drain from his shoulders, though he still kept himself wary of what could be around him. After all, with the way Ozpin had started this test, he couldn't afford to be caught off-guard again. But honestly, what living human being could predict that they're going to be launched through the air, I ask you!
It certainly alarmed Darien to no end when he discovered through first-hand experience that Ozpin literally meant to drop them into the Emerald Forest. After he had finally worked his mind around the concept, he found himself already flying through the air and quickly activated his Convertible Multi-Shot Archer Gauntlets' grappling hooks to cinch himself into a nearby tree. What he did not take into account, however, was that his particular tree of choice would not be able to withstand the force of a body being flung 60 mph.
With a resounding crack, the branch that Darien had hooked onto broke off, causing him to be in freefall as the forest floor rushed up to meet him. It was only by a stroke of good luck that his fall was broken by other branches along the way, leaving him noticeably bruised but in one piece.
Rubbing his arms in an attempt to alleviate the pain that comes with something being almost wrenched out from his sockets, Darien almost failed to notice another presence that was casually approaching from behind him. It's not malicious… which means it's not Grimm. Being reminded of the professor's words before launching his peers into the air, Darien quickly dove into a nearby bush and drew up his camouflage cloak around himself before becoming completely still.
The art of unseen movement, one of the skills that his father had taught to him personally, was a hard-won but undeniably invaluable tool for reconnaissance. By taking advantage of one's surroundings and basic human nature, a hunter skilled in unseen movement could literally move across almost any terrain undetected to the human eye. Aided by a camouflage cloak that broke up the hunter's form, a hunter could realistically walk right under a Grimm's nose and not be detected; when staying completely still, someone could be staring right at the hunter and not realize that the hunter is there since they don't expect to see anything there.
This skill proved useful to Darien now, who had no desire to be partnered to someone else so arbitrarily. At the very least, I'll want someone competent enough to detect my presence even if they aren't conscious of the fact that it's my presence they're detecting, he thought disdainfully to himself, recalling his other 'esteemed' peers of whom he currently thought very little. Battle-maniacs and high-born pricks, the lot of them.
Which is ironic, considering that Darien himself came from the very same "high-born" pricks he despised.
Twigs snapped underfoot as the figure approached until it finally emerged from the foliage to reveal a tanned tall and muscular guy with a mop of tousled black hair. "Phew, this forest sure is hard to navigate," the figure commented cheerily to himself as he picked leaves and random foliage off his white silk shirt. Closer observation revealed a double holster of black leather on the guy's right side holding two conventional pistols, while an Estoc was sheathed to his left. Both appeared to have been heavily used, which brightened Darien's evaluation of this potential partner.
Darien's eyes continued to follow him as he walked across the clearing in an outwardly relaxed but carefully calculated manner, observing that he left no opportunity for anything to ambush him unawares. He's good. I might actually have to relocate and introduce myself more appropriately after he's gone, Darien thought to himself as Nieve stopped at the edge of the clearing.
"If whatever is hiding in there doesn't come out in the next five seconds, I can't be held responsible for what might happen to them," he commented lightly to the open space, his eyes suddenly showing the steel resolve of someone experienced with being in a fight. As he said this, he casually unsheathed his estoc and held it at a fencer's position, lightly poised on his feet as if ready to attack empty air if needed.
At this, Darien froze as incredulity involuntarily took over his thoughts. Could he actually detect me? Damn it! I've gotten careless, he fumed silently to himself, taking care not to make a single movement for risk of being detected - after all, the slightest deviation from the environment around him would break the illusion of camouflage being provided by his cloak.
Without warning, the boy stepped to the right and thrust violently into the brush just in front of him, and squeals of pain filled the air as an injured hog broke loose from the foliage and ran away screeching. Almost immediately, he dropped his guard and smiled sheepishly. "Looks like it was nothing after all," he grinned as he sheathed his estoc.
Darien suppressed a severe urge to slam his face into a tree. I can't believe I got thrown off that hard by his lucky guess. It looks like I lack training, he thought as he sighed wordlessly, getting ready to relocate before he sensed another presence in his peripheral vision. What is this feeling? Dark, bloodthirsty… GRIMM.
Almost immediately, Darien sprang from his hiding place much to the surprise of the boy who was only a couple feet away from him. "Wha- how- what the hell?!" exclaimed Nieve as he reflexively reached for his weapons.
Darien paid him no heed as he quickly activated his weapon's second form, turning his left gauntlet into a metallic longbow that expanded into his left hand. He instinctively reached out behind him and drew a specially enhanced fire dust arrow from his quiver before notching it and releasing into the air. The whole process took about half a second, and the arrow just missed Nieve's cheek as it flew into the head of the Beowolf that was running towards them. As the head of the wolf burst into flames, Darien could hear the call of other wolves that were closing in on their location, most likely drawn by the squealing hog Nieve had stabbed earlier. This translated to a pack of angry, bloodthirsty Grimm that was now running straight towards them. "That was bloody foolish," he growled to himself as an afterthought, grabbing more arrows from his quiver and stabbing them into the ground for easier access.
His dumbfounded compatriot, meanwhile, had quickly regained his senses and now had his estoc and Glock 39 pistol in hand. Taking up a defensive position behind Darien, he could only grin. "So I'm guessing the dinner and movie comes before introductions?" he said playfully, clearly not taking in the gravity of the situation.
"Very funny," Darien replied humorlessly, his eyes scanning the forest in front of him to make out any visual confirmation of the impending ursa horde. "To be quite frank with you, I'm not confident we're going to get out of this unscathed."
"We'll be fine," he replied confidently. "You've got some good shooting skills on that bow there."
"That compliment is useless from you, considering that you probably don't have the first idea about how a bow works," Darien said coldly.
He shrugged. "True. But I can acknowledge good aim, can't I?"
Darien ignored his last comment, now just catching his first sight of their real problem. "For your sake, I hope you're good with that sword." Eight, nine, ten… we're facing at least twelve wolves. Maybe more. Damnation. Honestly, the best plan would be to run and pick them off from a distance, but sniping would be piss-poor with this many trees blocking my line of sight, and those pistols don't look like they have a range greater than a hundred feet. Running away completely isn't an option either, once a Beowolf locks on to your scent they'll chase you to the ends of the earth… unless you can out-stealth them.
With the bare bones of a plan to save their arses being formed in his mind, Darien realized that the first wave was almost within his definite kill range - with his longbow of a hundred pound draw weight, anything within one hundred and fifty feet might as well be at point blank for him. "Get ready," he said, teeth gritted in concentration as he notched more arrows onto his bow.
"Just watch me." With a dazzling smile, the boy leapt into action and engaged the first wolf, where he became completely surrounded almost immediately. Moving between them with movements resembling flowing water, the boy began a complicated dance of footwork and sword mastery as he began his assault on the wolves.
Darien appraised his skill and nodded slightly in approval. This one will do, he thought to himself as he turned to address the remaining wolves. Grabbing arrows from the dirt in front of him, he quickly notched three of them in succession onto his bow before releasing them into the air. Not even waiting to see if he had hit his targets, Darien was notching the next three arrows as the first ones found contact. Two hit two different wolves in the head, while the third pierced its way into a wolf's chest. But now the remaining pack was too close to engage safely from a distance. "I really wish I could have avoided this," he said apprehensively as he prepared to transform Wolfsbane into it's gauntlet state.
As his longbow broke down in a series of clicks, Darien checked to make sure his supply of darts had been replenished. "Looks like everything is good," he said before breaking out in a run towards the incoming pack. As the first wolves came upon him, he somersaulted into the air and began to use the second component of his Convertible Multi-shot Archer Gauntlets - the wrist-mounted crossbow.
As he twisted his body through the air, Darien began to pump darts into the wolves below. His wrist-bows were capable of firing multiple shots off at once without the need to reload, and he used this feature now as he fired dust-enhanced darts into the mass of black fur below him. Suddenly, it seemed as if nature were at war with itself on a smaller scale, with ice and fire spreading in equal proportions while other wolves were knocked into trees from wind darts. But no matter how many he incapacitated, they just kept coming. Landing lightly on his feet, he fired a grappling hook from his wrist-bow onto a branch and quickly ascended to a safe vantage spot where he could finally direct his attention to the boy. The situation looks rather grim, he thought darkly to himself.
On the forest floor, the boy seemed to be at the ends of his strength. Sweat gleamed on his face as he once again plunged his estoc into the dying wolf to deliver the killing blow before rolling away to dodge another that leapt at his face. The corpses of three or four wolves surrounded him along with twice that amount of living ones, and if left like this he would most likely get killed. "Hey, you!" Darien yelled out. "We're getting out of here!"
"Uh, kind of hard to do that at the moment!" he yelled back as he lunged at yet another wolf only to have his blow miss. "Got any other plans, boss?!"
"How good are you with flying?"
"What did you just- WUMHP!" The boy wheezed as Darien's wiry frame slammed into his own body.
Darien winced at the contact. This guy is packing a lot more muscle than I am, he thought as he immediately clipped the boy's belt to his own. "Don't puke." he said calmly as he fired another grappling hook into a tree that was farther away. He took one more glance at the slavering wolves around them before they were reeled into the air by the powerful mechanisms in his wrist-bow gauntlet.
Darien continued to flee like this for the next couple minutes, awkwardly trying to keep hold of the taller boy's frame as they were propelled from tree to tree. "Could your body be any more unwieldy?" he muttered as he latched onto yet another tree branch.
"What was that?" moaned the boy that was in Darien's unfortunate grip, clearly not in the best state. In fact, his complexion was quickly approaching a greenish tinge, something that Darien observed with fascination considering he'd never experienced the same.
"Nothing, just keep your mouth shut and puke away from me if you have to." Although I would prefer if you didn't, considering we're trying to throw the Grimm off our trail.
When his arms started to feel like leaden blocks, Darien stopped at one of the larger trees in the forest. He unceremoniously dumped the boy onto the branch, making sure to attach both of their belts to the tree via rope to serve as a makeshift safety should they fall. "Stay still and don't move. With any luck, we're too high up for them to smell us. We're upwind of them too."
"Aye aye, captain," the boy warbled, still disoriented from his flying adventure.
The two of them remained hunched over, with Darien's eyes scanning the ground below for any trace of the Grimm. As the minutes passed by, the howling sounds slowly grew softer and softer until they stopped altogether, causing Darien to release a small sigh of relief.
"So… that was interesting," commented the voice behind him lightly.
Darien turned around to see his new partner already revitalized and swinging his legs in the air as he sat on the branch. "Oh yes, it was very interesting to almost lose our limbs to a pack of Beowolves," Darien said dryly as he rolled his eyes.
"Oh yeah, I owe you one, partner," he replied with a wide grin while extending his hand for a handshake. "My name's Nieve. Nieve Navarro. Nice to meet you."
"Darien du Corteaux. I suppose you'll do as far as partners go." Darien stared distastefully at the offered hand before turning away. "Come on. We have a relic to collect." Without another word, Darien clipped Nieve's belt back onto his own before lining up his crossbows with the next tree in the direction of the temple.
Nieve shook his head, oblivious to Darien's preparations. "Yeesh, be a little warmer will you? You city kids really need to learn how to lighten uUUUUUUUUUP?!" he yelled out as he began to fly through the air against his will for the third time in the past hour.