Sacred Meeting

Chapter 2

It's been a while since I updated this piece but this time I had a lot of inspiration and managed to churn out a pretty long chapter. There's one more after this for the actual Team Assignment Assembly but that one won't be nearly as long.

But either way, hope you enjoy this update!

"Good morning, candidates." Professor Goodwitch greeted with a warm smile. She looked genuinely pleased to see them all. "I would like to inform you that once you are done with your breakfasts, you should quickly make your way to Beacon Cliffs where the initiation will begin once you are all present. That is all."

She didn't wait around for any audience reaction as she strode off the stage with an equal amount of confidence as when she came on. The room remained quiet for a few more beats as the occupants looked around at each other nervously but the bustle quickly came back in full force as the new subject for gossip finally showed itself.

"I's finally 'ere eh?" Griselda said as she bounced in her seat a little, a wide smile plastered across her face.

Amber had to agree, even if she had the utmost confidence that she and Griselda would pass, that still didn't mean that their victory was set in stone. Amber was still quite apprehensive about the types of people they would be up against though, if their insane-looking, morphing weapons were a match for the people themselves, then that made Amber's blood run a little cooler at the thought of an elimination, tournament-styled test.

Amber went for another spoonful of her cereal but was greeted with an unkind clang as her spoon hit the bottom of the empty bowl. She moved to her drink as she let the information from Goodwitch sink in fully.

They were finally going to start. She was on her way to becoming a fully fledged Huntress and just as Ozpin had said the previous day, it was up to her to take the first step. The mini speech from earlier that very morning came back to her then and she also began to wonder;

Is this the start of a new change, a change that will make me a better person?

Amber had a bit of a frown on her face when she felt an elbow catch her side quite painfully and she stood up to glare at whoever was behind her. Yet upon turning around she instantly thought twice when she saw the teary eyes and streaked cheeks of the rabbit, Faunus girl in front of her.

"I-I'm so sorry." She sniffled as she visibly shivered in fear. "I d-didn't mean to."

Her tall, brown ears were flopped down so far in front of her face that Amber was almost sure that she had learnt to use them as a means of hiding her face from passersby. Amber stepped away from the bench and reached out carefully to touch the girl's face but as soon as she caught the motion she hurriedly backed away and made to run away altogether but Amber instinctively made the wrong move to grab her sleeve.

The Faunus girl felt the contact and whirled around with wild eyes. Faster than Amber could react, the girl swatted her hand away with another choked sob and once again made to run away but it was once again stopped when she collided head on with the person in front of her. She bounced off the larger girl and Amber caught her before she could hit the floor.

"'Ey now, bun-bun." Griselda said as she straightened her disturbed collar a little. "I's alrigh'. We won' 'ur' ye."

Amber let the girl go carefully, making sure that the girl actually had her balance. She looked up at the girl she had bounced off in amazement, her eyes instantly locking on to the little fuzzy ears at either side of her blasted back Mohawk. They twitched cutely as if they could feel the small girl's gaze on them and like a reply, her own dropping ears twitched and perked up a bit.

"You're like me." The girl said as she stood up a little taller. "You're a Faunus."

"Yeah, tha's righ'." Griselda said with a smile. "I'm a bear Faunus and yer a rabbi' righ'?"

The tears still rolled down the girl's cheeks as she nodded in reply, her throat most likely too tight to talk for long.

"I'm Griselda Bristow and this is Amber Yarona." She introduced softly. "Amber's a mu'e though so ye won' ge' much ou' of 'er. Wha's yer name, bun-bun?"

Amber raised an eyebrow at the crude explanation of her circumstances but it was clear that the rabbit girl's well-being was of priority in this situation.

"V-Velvet." She stuttered. Obviously still unsure about Griselda's cheery disposition. "My name's Velvet Scarlatina."

Griselda and Amber shared a glance over the bunny girl's shoulder and seemed to come to an agreement. Amber set about writing on her board while Griselda turned Velvet around gently and kept a protective hand on her shoulder.

"It's good to meet you, Velvet." The board read. "Are you ready to go to the cliffs? Would you like to go with us?"

Velvet slowly read the board with her wide eyes that just seemed to get a whole lot bigger.

"Yes!" She exclaimed in relief as she wiped at her eyes for the final time. "I was just going to head there myself."

"Grea'!" Griselda cheered as she slung her long arm around Velvet's shoulders. "We'll look after ye, bun-bun. I know i' can ge' pre'y tough for our kind. Bu' i's fine as long as ye go' me and Amber. We go' yer back!"

"I don't mean to be a burden!" She said quickly as she held her hands up. "You don't have to go out of your way for someone like me."

Amber felt the atmosphere shift but did nothing about it. She knew that if she felt a change in the air it was like a punch in the neck for Griselda.

"Whaddye mean?" Griselda asked noticeably quieter than before. "Someone like ye?"

"Well, it's only my second day and I've already been singled out as bullying material because of my ears." She seemed confident in what she was saying and that just caused Griselda's stomach to churn even more. "I wouldn't want such nice people to be exposed to that kind of behaviour because you were tangled up with me."

"Velve'." Griselda said as she stopped the group outside of the cafeteria. Amber had seen that a few people around the room had given the group bigoted sneers, obviously in reference to the pair's Faunus heritage. "I'm sorry if this sounds a li'l big 'eaded, bu' I'm seriously doub'in' if there's a person 'ere tha' could bully me in to anythin'."

Amber wasn't sure what Velvet was seeing from her point of view, but between Velvet's ears, Amber could clearly see the fire in Griselda's eyes. Amber sometimes forgot how strong Griselda was. Not just physically either, she hadn't met a person with a stronger resolution than Griselda when her mind was set on something. She could've sworn that her eyes glowed when she got in that mood.

"I'm far too strong t' be swayed by somethin' as weak as bullyin', Velve'." She continued. "Bu' I ge' tha' no' everyone's like me. People ge' really upse' over things like tha'. Jus' like ye. I wan' ye t' know Velve', yer no' alone in this. Should ye ever need backup or jus' a shoulder t' cry on, I'll always be there for ye. I'm strong enough to suppor' ye too."

Griselda grinned then and it was clear that the words meant a lot to Velvet as when Griselda bumped her own forehead against the bunny girl's, she quickly returned it with a nudge of her own. Amber wasn't entirely sure if that was just Griselda's behaviour that made her do these intimate actions with almost complete strangers, or if it was a Faunus thing, like that friendly bump that cats give you.

Amber couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

"Would you really mind if I came to you if it happened again?" Velvet wouldn't meet Griselda's eyes but the wrinkles at the side of them from her wide smile didn't waver.

"No' a' all, bun bun."

With that line, Amber and Griselda pushed the back doors of the academy open and they were welcomed with a chorus of birdsong and blazing sunshine. It only took a few seconds for the three to spot a steady stream of new students wandering outside of the school grounds to a cliff side that Amber could see from the top of the grassy hill they were trekking over.

As they walked over to the large gathering of students milling about at a safe distance from the edge near some stone panels on the floor Amber wrote on her whiteboard once again and once she was done she tapped Velvet to get her attention.

"Surely you too came to Beacon to make something of yourself?" It read. "There's going to be a lot more than bullying that'll happen during our time here, so you might as well work to get over it as quickly as possible. So is this task not the perfect place to do it? The fact that you've been recruited in to Beacon shows that you are in no way a pushover. Show us what you've got Velvet."

As the bunny girl read the paragraph, Amber took the opportunity to check her face more closely. The way her teeth rested on her swollen, bottom lip was most likely from her Faunus heritage but it was no lie that it also boosted the "cute, innocent girl" vibe that Velvet radiated. Her large eyes, button nose and the tall, fuzzy ears almost made her blinding in terms of cuteness.

From the tiniest of movements of her eyes, Amber could see that Velvet as reading the last of her miniature speech. She reached out and gently sat her hand between her ears and very gently stroked the inside of Velvet's ear with her thumb. The Faunus jumped a little at the initial contact but she seemed to instinctually understand that the way Amber touched her was completely different than when she was roughly grabbed by tormentors.

Velvet's eyes closed as she leaned in to Amber's hand.

"I don't think it'll happen overnight." She said. "But yes, my goal is to better myself here. To make something of myself. Bullies or no bullies, I'll manage it."

Amber smiled and gave her a little harder pet for a moment until a familiar voice called out over the assembled students.

"If I may have your attention students." Professor Ozpin called from the front of the group. "Your initiation is about to begin. If you would like to gather round."

The three girls shared a look between them before they moved closer to Ozpin as he started to explain the trail.

"For years you have trained to become warriors." He started. "Today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

He and Professor Goodwitch went on to explain that the aim of the game was to go in to the Emerald Forest, head north, kill all enemies in your way, collect a relic from an abandoned temple and make your way back to the top of the cliffs where the candidates were stood at that very moment. They also went on to explain that the rumours about teams that had been floating about were partly true.

The first person that you were to make eye contact with would be your partner for the next four years. At those words Amber's face paled. If she was to accidentally meet up with somebody else, she would most likely look in their eyes reflexively, sealing her fate. The issues with communication would be raised and their time as partners would most likely be disastrous. That is, unless she found Griselda.

There was to be one relic per pair and they were also told that should anyone need assistance in the field, there would be no instructors to intervene. Failure meant death.

Velvet didn't look to happy about any of it but she hadn't run away. Amber thought that the Faunus would really make an effort to do well in this task, so despite her fretting, Amber wouldn't worry.

Professor Goodwitch then instructed the candidates to line up on the stone plaques that were spaced evenly along the edge of the cliff. As Amber took her place next to Griselda she was slightly intrigued by the academy's symbol that was engraved in to each of the plaques. Did the academy really need to claim ownership over a few slabs?

"Prepare yourselves candidates." Professor Ozpin said. "You will be falling."

Amber had just enough time to repeat the statement in her head before she heard a click and suddenly her legs were propelled from underneath her and she was shot by the plaque straight out and over the edge of the cliff.

That would explain the insignia. They weren't plaques at all.

Now for the hard part. Amber was just about reaching the peak off the launch and the crisp air was positively icy against her skin as she hurtled through the sky. Somehow, they had to fall well over a hundred metres and survive the fall through their own powers.

"It's a good thing our powers are superhuman." Amber thought as she pulled at the handle of her bullwhip and it uncurled to lash around in the wind beside her. "Alright Amber, concentrate. You've done this a thousand times."

Amber took a couple of the best deep breaths she could whilst the air was being ripped from her lungs and all of a sudden pushed out with her powers as she lashed her whip forwards. Her Aura fuelled arms unconsciously went through the fluid movements of cracking a whip and at the very last moment before the whip cracked Amber felt the familiar pulse of her Semblance rushing down her arm. As the whip cracked, her Semblance collided with it at the very tip and what was propelled from it was a tiny, super condensed ball of sound. The same sound that should have been produced by the whip smashing straight through the sound barrier.

But there was no such noise. The balls stayed just a few feet in front of Amber as she fell towards the floor. Amber knew very well the power that each of those little balls held, after all they were her own, and as the ball began to glow and shake, Amber raised her arms in front of her face and braced her legs.

In a mighty flash, the ball suddenly exploded letting out a tremendous roar that left a harsh buzzing in Amber's ears. The next thing to hit was the blast itself. Hot air rushed back up in to Amber's face with such force that she could feel the immense forces slowing her down as she fell.

But Amber was barely aware of all of this happening, she had used her Aura and Semblance so many times she could really understand with her body that it was an extension of her soul. She quickly cracked off another couple of explosions beneath her and managed to bring herself to a complete halt in midair just before she dropped again below the canopy.

Twigs and thorns rushed by her exposed skin and clothes leaving a few scratches here and there but Amber's trained eyes were on full alert looking for the nearest branch that could hold her weight. With one more flick of her eyes she found it and faster than her own whip, she flung it towards the branch and it skilfully wrapped around it. Amber came to the bottom of her fall and used the whip to fling herself back up to land on top of the tree's extended limb and finally let herself breathe.

She was finally on solid ground. As soon as Amber's eyes stopped spinning and her ears stopped buzzing she took a careful look around to see if anyone else was in close vicinity, but the forest was seemingly silent.

Looking back up in to the air she could see some other students that had been launched later than her, just coming to land. She hoped that they would be OK but she had more pressing matters at hand.

She dropped herself out of the tree and down on to the ground safely before surveying the area once again. Being alert in this kind of situation was essential, Amber knew that she was much more of an offensive fighter so she would need to be vigilant in order to deal with approaching Grimm before they got the jump on her.

As if on cue, she heard some rustling in the bushes behind her and she whirled around, so ready to strike the soulless beast dead. But she stopped at the last minute, as in front of her wasn't a creature of Grimm, but a boy.

The boy was taller than her and must've been somewhat competent if he could've gotten down safely as well. He wore a purple, dress shirt with silver suspenders over which he wore a long, silver, trench coat that was decorated with silver arrow patterns that pointed back towards his chest. He used the sleeve to push aside some branches as he came in to the same clearing as Amber and revealed his black, combat trousers and silver-coloured boots.

He pushed his glossy, black hair out of his mismatched eyes that Amber unfortunately shared a look with, exactly as she had predicted. His left eye was green, his right being silver.

Amber sighed at her stupidity that had sealed her fate for the next few years. She also mentally apologised to Griselda, hoping that her partner treated her well. She took out her whiteboard and quickly jotted something down.

"Let's go."

Amber turned to walk away but the boy called her back with a confident voice.

"What, no introductions?" He asked sarcastically. Oh good god, she was stuck with the funny man. "Not that you probably care, but my name is Lonán. Lonán Vulpiano."

Knowing his name did make things easier and now that she knew his name she felt obliged to tell him hers. She wrote it on her whiteboard and showed him. He looked to be fairly smart so she knew that he would remember her name and he seemed happy with her brief answers. She didn't want to spend too much time writing down her answers lest they be attacked by something.

Lonán suggested they move to the ruins as he managed to spot them in the distance while he was in the air, Amber agreed and the two silently moved towards their destination. They watched each other's backs along the way but it wasn't needed. They were lucky enough to get to the ruin without encountering any other people or Grimm.

The two stepped out in to the open area and checked for other people once again. Over in the ruins, Amber could see that none of the relics had been moved, the black and gold chess pieces still stood tall on their pedestals.

"It's looks like we're the first pair to get here." Lonán observed. Amber figured they'd have to be fast before anybody else showed up and challenged them to a fight.

But Amber only realised that she might have jinxed herself when another pair stumbled through the undergrowth.

"Damn bush!" A girl shouted angrily. "Gerroff me, ye piece of shi'!"

Amber watched her best friend stamp on the bush a few times while holding the bridge of her nose. Lonán looked ready for a fight but he quickly stood down once Griselda left the bush alone and caught sight of Amber and broke out in to a grin.

"Ami~~!" She called as she ran over to Amber and enveloped the shorter girl in a bear hug. "I missed ye."

Amber hugged her back but they broke apart once Griselda's partner pushed through in to the clearing as well.

Rana looked completely different in her combat gear. She carried herself well in her black jeans and pale, purple, sectioned skirt, her matching boots moving deftly to find the most secure ground underfoot. As she turned to see the others her lavender shawl flayed out and briefly revealed the white, long-sleeved undershirt and the fashionable, under-bust corset shaped almost like a ribcage.

From what Amber had seen of Rana before, this type of unflattering though subtle and practical design was right up Rana's timid street. She purple clad girl waved as she made her way over to them where Griselda wrapped the arm that wasn't around Amber, around Rana's shoulders.

"I told ye we'd be back together in no time." Griselda cheered as she happily squeezed the girls under her arms. "Bu' I see we've stumbled across one more?"

Amber had watched Lonán's uninterested reaction to Griselda's and Rana's entry and thought that it was fairly normal for someone as unenthusiastic as Lonán seemed. Amber would've thought nothing about his reaction if his eyes hadn't lingered over Rana a little longer than necessary. But then as introductions were made once again between Lonán and the other two girls, Amber also managed to pick up the suddenly bright smile on Rana's lips.

"Say Rana." He started and Amber had somehow already prepared her pitying sigh. "You wouldn't mind giving those back to me for a while would you?"

Rana's smile faded almost instantly as she attempted to hide her deep, indigo gauntlets under her arms as she backed behind Griselda. Amber was just as confused as Griselda was but as Amber let out her pre-prepared sigh Griselda held out her arm to block Lonán's access to Rana. Even if Griselda didn't know the situation, she was quick to defend a damsel in distress.

Amber's mind began to work through the possibilities regarding the current situation but the only logical one she could put any faith behind was that Lonán used to own Rana's weapons for some reason. Perhaps they had met in the past and they were a hand-me-down? Amber wasn't sure but Lonán sighed as well, seemingly dropping the subject.

"Well, it's not like it needs to happen right away." He said. "I can wait."

The air was still uneasy as the others let it slide for now and Amber wondered if Lonán literally didn't realise the awkwardness of the question he'd just asked.

"Sh-Shall we check out the relics?" Rana asked and the group of four left the bad air behind in order to move forwards.

The semi-circular ruins didn't make much sense to Amber as she climbed the few, crumbling, stone steps. Ozpin had said that the structure was "abandoned", but surely if the old cultures were to build lasting monuments like these, they would defend them much more proudly? A few weeds and a couple of monsters here and there shouldn't have been anything to leave the site for. The old cultures would have had to have survived somehow, since their current generation was here.

"Hey motor-mouth." Lonán called and Amber figured that she had better pay him some attention before Griselda beat his brains out. Glancing over at her best friend revealed that she was indeed fuming about the derogatory term. "Which relic do you want to go for?"

"We'll take the gold Queen." Amber wrote down and Lonán usefully picked the corresponding piece up.

"Then I guess, tha' leaves us with the King." Griselda guessed. "Ye good with tha' Rana?"

"Th-That was my choice too." Rana said as she too picked up their golden chess piece. "I g-guess all that's left is t-to head back to the cliff."

The group agreed but something in the bushes had caught Amber's watchful eye. She snapped her fingers and the sound registered clearly in Griselda's ears and she readied her dual-handed axe as she turned to Amber.

"Where ye lookin' Ami?" She asked with a suddenly stern face. While keeping a very close eye on the bushes Amber stepped up to Griselda's side and pointed in to the darkness beyond the tree line with a single finger and almost as if on cue, a pair of red eyes in the undergrowth began to glow. But to Amber's frustration, those eyes were soon followed by many others. The two best friends watched as the perimeter of their open area suddenly lit up with the mindless glowing of the eyes of at least a dozen Grimm though they made no move forwards.

"We're s-surrounded." Rana said shakily but she still readied a definitive boxing stance. "Do w-we fight our way out?"

"We'll have to." Lonán said as he unclipped the black case he'd been carrying since he had met Amber and took out something that looked suspiciously like a violin and pressed one end under his chin. "You guys ready?"

The four members of their makeshift team stood back to back and kept their sharp eyes on the eyes that had decided to step forwards a few paces out of curiosity and revealed themselves to be Beowolves.

Amber unwound her bullwhip and routinely cracked it on the floor making Rana jump and almost instantly triggered the Beowolves to surge forwards, thirsting for blood. But they wouldn't get so far very quickly as the team broke in to action.

Rana smashed a couple of buttons on the knees of her greaves and out shot two long steel cables straight in to the floor through the ranks of the Beowolves. She jumped in to the air and with a second click of a button she was pulled straight in to combat where her boxing stance loosened and she had already battered the brains out of at least five of them before she had even reached the ground again.

At Rana's back had been Griselda and as soon as the tribal girl had felt her partner disappear, she too set off in to the waves of enemies. She flipped her dual-handled axe around and pressed a button on the side that deployed a stock from the top of the handles and as soon as the weapon was prepared against her shoulder, she began letting shells fly through the air and blow limbs clean off the bodies of the hostile Grimm. But once they got close enough to her she swapped the shotgun back to its axe mode and went to town.

Lonán and Amber stayed back in the clear area picking off enemies that got too close to the two forward brawlers. By pulling a trigger on her gauntlet she could launch one of the encased ball bearings in to the air weakly and then proceed to accurately grab it with her whip and fling it out towards an enemy with a crack. This instantly increased the speed of the balls from a child's toss to smashing through the sound barrier in an instant. The effect produced a bang from the whip cracking but also a rough, almost screaming whistle from the ball bearings themselves.

Lonán's weapon on the other hand, even though it was placed to his neck as though he was ready to play it, was just as deadly once he pulled the trigger. The unique shape of the instrument allowed it to double up as a machine gun as well and he accurately scored headshot after headshot even if he wasn't looking straight down the gun's sights.

The four of them quickly cut through the ranks until just a single, unusually large and armoured Beowolf was left. Lonán confidently announced that he wanted to kill it himself. No one stopped him as the girls recollected themselves behind him.

The Alpha Beowolf growled as Lonán approached calmly and once he invaded its personal space it lunged with its powerful, hind legs. It was clear how much faster and stronger the Alpha version was from its more common brothers and as it brought its large, clawed hands down to Lonán, Amber had to admit that she was worried a bit but it turned out to be for nought. Lonán easily ducked underneath the slash and with a single motion, the violin bow he carried folded in half and as he carved the bow through the air, the super-tight strings made short work of the Beowolf's arms. Now, its only weapons were its teeth and from Lonán's even more relaxed posture, he didn't consider them a threat.

Lonán even put his palm to its forehead in a soothing gesture but Amber could feel the pulse of Aura in the air and it was quickly followed by a blinding flash as Lonán channelled electricity through the beast's skull and put it out of its misery. That must've been Lonán's Semblance; electrokinesis perhaps?

Never the less, the threat had been neutralised and the forest was quiet once again, only the sounds of the leaves and branches swaying around in the wind disturbed it. Lonán came back over to the girls, resetting his bow and siding his violin/machine gun back in to its case.

The four teenagers shared a look between them that lasted for a while before it was interrupted by Griselda beginning to laugh.

"Sorry, sorry." She said as she attempted to keep her giggling under control. "Bu' if this kind of thing 'appens every day, I'm gonna 'ave such a good time 'ere."

The remaining three in the group shared another glance between them before they too join in with the laughter. Lonán had a stronger laugh with him being a boy and Rana's was surprisingly much daintier than Amber had suspected. Amber's own laugh was obviously silent, but since her hand was pressing in to her mask, it was clear that she was struggling to keep her composure.

Once the group settled down, Rana suggested that they head back to the cliffs now that they had their relics and the group agreed that the longer they spent in the forest, the more likely they were to get attacked by more creatures of Grimm.

Amber naturally latched herself to Griselda's company on their way back at the front of their group. Lonán stayed behind them matching their pace so he didn't lose out to Griselda's long strides. He seemed perfectly content to watch the scenery pass by. Rana on the other hand, dawdled at the back watching her feet. Amber caught that she looked away instantly as their eyes met and she was insistent on wringing her hands together but Amber doubted it was because of the cold breeze.

Luckily Lonán caught her behaviour as well and confronted her about it. Amber would have liked to have listened in but her train of thought was completely thrown off as she felt something stroke her groin slowly but when she looked down there was nothing there. She looked around a bit but the only thing close enough to touch her was Griselda. She drew her whiteboard.

"Did you just cop a feel of my thigh?"

"Wha'?" Griselda asked, clearly caught off guard by the accusation. "Even I need the righ' mood, Amber."

Amber wasn't believing her for a second, she sounded relatively genuine but the grin on her face that she was trying to conceal was giving her doubts.

"Then who was groping me?"

"I'm tellin' ye, I didn' do a thing." Griselda insisted. "Are ye sure ye jus' weren' imaginin' i'?

Amber was going to argue and had already prepared her whiteboard but they were knocked straight from her hand when she and Griselda were tackled from behind by Rana. Amber was instantly pissed and was already grabbing for her whip as she bounced across the floor, but the motive for the shove was already making itself known as the huge, black, scaly head of a King Taijitu came crashing down exactly where the two best friends had been. Griselda shouted her thanks to Rana as she quickly turned and rushed the King Taijitu's black head without even drawing her axe.

Once Griselda came within a couple of steps of the head, her body began to glow a minty, green shade as she activated her Semblance and threw the first of her punches in to the side of the black head. There was a visible difference in Griselda's whole attitude as her Aura fuelled punches hit the black head so hard that it shot back and smashed through a couple of trees. She moved over to the head again in a series of dashes that bounced from tree to tree leaving splintered imprints of her feet when she kicked off. She continued to juggle punches within the tight confines of the forest.

Similarly, Rana had advanced upon the white head by herself equally fast, using her grappling cables from her knees and using the shield that sprang from her left gauntlet to skip across the uneven ground. This allowed her right gauntlet that now had a blade protruding from her forearm out over her fist to make fast and clean slices along the body of the white half of the King Taijitu. Rana too used the trees to whip herself around and gain momentum as she repositioned her grappling cables quickly.

Amber had trouble deciding which of the two dark-skinned girls was moving faster but they both quickly brought down the head they were focusing on and the King Taijitu's body crackled as it faded away, proving that the two had both done their jobs as Huntresses-in-training.

The brawlers made their way back over to their long ranged team mates but were stopped by a sudden, violent rumbling underneath their feet. Lonán seemed to make more noise and definitely looked to be moving most vigorously for a few moments but then it died down again and he turned to Amber with a panicked expression.

"Amber it's heading your way." He called. "Get out of there!"

Purely upon instinct, Amber dived and rolled just in time for another two heads of a second King Taijitu to appear. For a second Amber thought that she might lose her leg before she went in to the roll when a fang brushed her boot but she was lucky enough to get out of it unscathed. However she was still in the firing zone, she ran away from the large, white head that was rearing to strike again and as it made a second lunge Amber flung her whip out to a nearby branch and just like when she was landing, used her momentum to ascend in to the canopy.

The black head however, had its thoughts elsewhere as its glowing, red eyes narrowed in on Lonán and its tongue flicked out in anticipation. It attempted to slither over to him but he managed to back out of its range and prevent it from coming any further while the white head was still preoccupied with Amber in the tree.

"Grizzly!" Rana called over to the girl as she ran to join the battle. "Help me distract it. This one's Lonán's and Amber's."

"Aye." Griselda happily agreed as she cracked her knuckles. "I go' yer back."

Rana used her sliding technique once again to shoot past the head of the snake threatening Lonán and open up a long but shallow cut across its belly to get its attention. Griselda, on the other hand, had bounded right over to the white head and with a Semblance powered leap, she landed a clean, axe kick on the top of its head slamming it straight in to the ground. The action gave enough time for Griselda to retreat to a safe distance before the white half gained its bearings again and turned on the dark-skinned girl, leaving Amber alone for the time being.

"Need any help there, Rapunzel?" A voice came from right next to Amber in tree and she nearly fell out of it, she jumped that hard, but she was held steady by Lonán who had instinctively clamped on to her arm. "Listen, I think we can take this thing down if we work together."

Amber was still trying to regulate her breathing from almost toppling out of a tree but she was managing to follow Lonán so far. Her eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Your Semblance." Lonán said. "It's some kind of sound based power right? If you can boost the sound of my Devil's Trill with your Semblance, I'll be able to use the enhanced vibrations in the air and use the static electricity to my advantage."

Amber didn't really understand how it would work. She was perfectly content to let the two on the ground handle this one too, but she gathered that the teachers were most likely watching their current scuffle and if she didn't use her initiative, it could affect her overall chances of success in the initiation.

Amber eventually agreed to Lonán's plan and as he brought his weapon up to his chin, he flicked a switch on the side that seemed to change something on the inside as all Amber heard were a few audible clicks and whirs as the internals of the weapon changed. Amber steadied herself on the branch of the tree with one hand while she used her other to latch on to Lonán's broad shoulder.

As Lonán began to play a fast and jolting tune, Amber could feel him feeding Aura in to the weapon and a tingling sensation was returned as an electrical charge started up thanks to his Semblance. Amber had to concentrate in order to tune in on his Aura as it wasn't a constant flow like her own, it came in sudden, but accurate bursts that she soon got the rhythm of and began to mould her own Semblance in to it.

Amber's eyes glowed with power as the steady flow she kept up slowly increased and the charge from Lonán's weapon began to take physical form in the shape of a ball floating in midair, just out of their reach.

It looked as though the King Taijitu was getting its own rough treatment from powerful Auras as the two sun-kissed girls on the ground darted about and comfortably kept the huge snake's attention. But it didn't last for long as it seemed to taste something in the air that tasted suspiciously like Amber's powerful Aura. The girls saw that they seemed to be losing their new friend in favour of a more exciting crowd, but they weren't about to give up so easily. Rana came in for another wide, arced slide but Griselda was much faster as she made a beeline for the white half as she began to panic. But unfortunately, that single moment of compassion for her best friend was all the King Taijitu needed in order to sneak a powerful blow with its tail in to her stomach and send her rocketing out in to another part of the forest.

Amber too almost lost it as there was a sudden pulse in the flow of Amber's Aura as the feel of it running through Lonán's arm hurt. It stopped being warm and tranquil and was almost instantly replaced with a burning anger that almost forced Lonán to drop out of the tree in order to get away from the pain. But as Amber heard Rana announce that she would see to Griselda and leave the twin-headed snake to them, the pressure in Lonán's shoulder lessened until it was bearable.

"You ready, Amber?" He asked but he didn't dare take his eyes of the red ones now fixated on the two. "On my signal, I need you to launch this ball straight in to its head."

But Amber didn't wait. She watched the black head rear back behind the white one and was so close to making a move but once Amber took her hand from Lonán's shoulder, the power supply stopped and so did the King Taijitu. Her partner and her enemy were both as confused as each other as to why Amber had stopped their offensive manoeuvre but once Amber shakily pulled her mask down and off her face. He knew.

This was what Amber was truly capable of as he watched her Aura seep from her mouth and lick at her face like flames. It was happening again at quite possibly the worst time and Amber knew there was no stopping it this time. The hair on Lonán's body stood on end as Amber took a single, deep breath but it didn't last for long as she exhaled and the dam holding back her Aura broke.

There was no other way to describe what came forth from her lips as anything other than a laser beam. Her Semblance naturally mixed in with the monstrous power producing a sound that couldn't fail to bring a cold sweat to any man's neck. It was like every Beowolf on the planet had decided to raise its head and howl for all it was worth and the force of it created a low rumbling, almost like Amber was growling at the forced stream of energy from deep within her body.

The beam had shot through the air and unsurprisingly vaporised both heads of the King Taijitu and ploughed in to the ground at the other side in the blink of an eye. The stream lasted for a few seconds until it slowly got thinner and thinner until there was nothing left. The King Taijitu faded away slowly leaving behind its armour beside the now molten patch of land that Amber's Aura had annihilated.

Lonán couldn't process it. His mind had grinded to a complete halt so when Amber's weak body slid from her perch on the tree branch as her consciousness faded, he couldn't even move a hand to stop her. But luckily he didn't need to as Griselda came dashing out of the tree line with Rana in tow, just in time for her to make a dive and catch Amber before she hit the ground.

"Damn, Ami." Griselda said with a chuckle. "Ye couldn' wai' for me before ye star'ed all the fun?"