Following Flawless Footsteps

Chapter 2 - Shine bright like a... CBLT?

An early start was all but compulsory for the students' first full day at Beacon, the PA system blaring into life almost as soon as the sun was up. The morning rays shone through the large windows of the hall, illuminating the multi-coloured sleeping figures, some already awake while others refused to get up.

Cobalt was an early riser by nature, but this was ridiculous even for him. He rolled over on his mat, his clothes still as they were from the night before, if a bit creased. He saw Terra still fast asleep, her dog ears flopped over her eyes and her hair covered most of the floor around her, while her cloak acted as a second blanket for her. Bailey was already sat up, awake, on the other side of Terra, but he seemed to be staring up at the ceiling with glazed over eyes, clearly deep in thought.

"Morning Bailey," Cobalt said loudly, loud enough to wake Terra up with a small jump and loud enough to break Bailey's staring contest with the ceiling.

"Ah… uh, mornin' Cobalt," Bailey replied nervously, as though he had forgotten everyone else was in the room with him, "hey Terra, s-sleep well?"

Terra just groaned and flopped her head back down onto her pillow, grumbling into it something about ripping the PA from the wall and shoving it somewhere unsuitable for young ears to hear. The boys shared a laugh as they poked her until she woke up, and they were the last people sat in the room, all the other little groups far more ready than they were. Not surprising, they didn't have six and a half feet of Faunus muscle to wake up.

Once they had shaken Terra awake, most of the other groups had already gone into and then left the locker room, save for a few mismatching shades of weirdoes ready to greet them. Cobalt saw about 10 people were still in the room, one of which he recognised from Signal, one of the few guys who didn't hate him, too. Gris Valliant was your typical ladies' man, handsome, charming and always ready to dash in to save someone in need. He was exactly as Cobalt had left him at the end of last year, wearing a sharp grey suit with matching trousers and his favourite trilby, grey of course. His pistol sword hung at his side, glinting in the early morning light, looking as intricate and glorious as any large-scale death machine could with the hilt of the sword holding an archaic looking pistol.

Walking up to him like an old friend, which wasn't totally untrue, Cobalt tapped him on his shoulder, causing Gris to turn around quickly in shock. His features softened as he saw the familiar blue fringe of the young Ravenscroft, a cocky smile gracing his face.

"Hey Fringey," Gris greeted him in their old manor.

"Nice to see you too, Hat boy," Cobalt retorted, "how've you been since Signal?"

"Not too bad, upgraded Malice's pistol, gave her a bigger magazine," proudly tapping his sword at his waist as he spoke, "and you? I see you made some friends." Gris had looked behind Cobalt while he had been speaking, noticing Bailey and Terra stood behind him near their lockers.

Cobalt turned back, Bailey giving a large wave while Terra was a bit more reserved. Looking back to Gris, Cobalt saw he had been staring at Terra, "See something you like?"

Snapping back to attention, all attempts to look subtle out of the window, Gris stumbled over his words for a few seconds before crisply replying, "She looks nice, care to introduce us?"

"Sure," Cobalt shrugged, "why not?"

They walked the short distance back to Cobalt's new friends, Gris trying to hide his wandering eyes from Terra. When they got to the others, Cobalt made the introductions, "Gris, these are Bailey and Terra," he said pointing to each of them in turn, "guys, this is Gris, a friend from Signal."

"Hey Gris, nice to meet ya," Bailey piped up from behind his open locker door.

"Hi, Bailey, nice to meet you too," Gris then switched his attention to Terra, "and what a pleasure it is to meet you, Terra. Not very often you meet such a… delightful Faunus."

Terra barely suppressed a giggle at Gris' over the top display, holding out her hand for a shake as opposed to speaking. Gris accepted, but like Bailey before him his composure was shattered by Terra's strong grip. "Not so delightful now, am I?" Terra joked through her own cocky smile, leaning in to whisper in Gris' ear.

Gris simply shook his head, his eyes tearing up and rendering his voice almost useless for a moment as he tended to his swelling hand. Terra let out a hearty chuckle, slapping Gris on the back for good measure as Bailey and Cobalt looked on with smiles on their faces, lightly shaking their heads as Gris walked back to his own locker.

When they had finished preparing, Cobalt, Bailey and Terra walked out of the locker room, feeling totally ready for any challenge Professors Nightshade and Nightshade had prepared for them. They saw a notice on the corridor opposite them, telling them to go to the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. It didn't say anything about the challenge itself, but Artemis had said he would explain when they got to him.

It didn't take too long to walk to the cliffs, since they could see others flying through the air every now and again. It was a bit unsettling, but they shrugged it off as all part of today's 'events'. Drawing closer, their line of sight was blocked by a thin row of trees, but after passing through they saw eight other people stood by some metal plates in the ground. There was Gris with four other girls their age, Gris seeming to be getting along with all of them, then the two Nightshades and a small child, around six years old, who was clung next to Artemis Nightshade. She was the spitting image of her father, only with her auntie's cold stare.

"Nice of you to join us, you three," Artemis announced as he saw Cobalt and the others approaching, "it seems we are ready to begin."

The eight gathered students took their places, Cobalt, Terra and Bailey at the far end of the pads away from the Professors. Gris was happily surrounded by the four girls, but was shook from his fantasies as Artemis raised his commanding voice above the low level of chat, "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives, students. Today, not only will you be forming your teams based on the outcomes of the trials before you, the same teams you will spend your entire time at Beacon with, but we shall be assessing your skills in combat and survival. No matter what happens to you in the forest, we shall not come to your assistance, so you must rely on teamwork to survive." There was a small break in his speech, allowing the students to glance between each other, sharing nervous expressions. Artemis spoke up again after he had regained all attention, "Not to put any additional pressure on you, but my daughter Viola will also be watching via the monitors, so try not to show yourself up in front of a six year old."

Viola just stood there, her black and purple dress looking far too sinister for such a young girl, but it somehow suited her and her black hair. Her stare focused on Cobalt for a bit too long for his liking, but he saw her expression soften as she looked away. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in as Luna Nightshade began to speak. "You will be launched into the Emerald forest via the platforms you are stood on," everyone looked down at their new best friends, "you will land using only your own stopping techniques, any way you can. Once you land, the first person who you meet eyes with will be your partner, and the first member of your future team. You will travel in pairs to the old ruins at the northern end of the forest, where you will retrieve and return one relic to us here."

"Sounds simple," Artemis spoke up again, "but be warned: this forest is dangerous and not all students survive this test. If you are in trouble, you are in trouble for real. Good luck."

Artemis pulled out his scroll from inside his suit and pulled up an imposing looking button, which he promptly pressed. As he did, the far right student was flung into the air, her pad slowly lowering itself back down to its original position. Then the next student did the same. And the next. Then the next and so on until only Cobalt was the only one left. He steeled himself against the inevitable rush of air, then it hit him like a brick wall.

Flying through the air, he saw the others landing at various points in the forests, most dropping unceremoniously through the thick canopy. All except one, a girl in a green skirt, shirt and jacket combo with hair to match. She was gracefully gliding down thanks to her parasol, which seemed to be strong enough to hold firm against the oncoming gusts. Slowly, she entered the trees and disappeared from view.

Soon enough, Cobalt approached the trees and readied himself. He pulled out his two staffs, readying Dusk's pistol function and Dawn's shotgun. As the first large tree approached, he shot Dusk's first shot towards it, making a hole large enough to jam Dawn into then fire the shotgun, launching him backwards towards a second tree, the process repeating between the two trees until Cobalt had almost reached the forest floor. As the floor approached, Cobalt took a deep breath and fired the rest of Dawn's dust supplies at the floor, slowing him considerably so he could land safely. It wasn't as graceful as he was hoping, but no one saw it.

Or so he thought. The green girl from earlier was stood behind a larger tree, peeking out at Cobalt's ungraceful decent and giggling to herself. The sound was unsettling in such a dark location, unnerving to Cobalt who whipped around to face the sound, but only seeing a flash of green hide behind a tree. Tentatively, he stepped forward, Dusk pointing towards the girl's position.

Like a game of cat and mouse, the pair circled the large tree without looking behind themselves. Cobalt soon stopped and turned around, and the girl thumped into the back of him, falling to the floor with a soft 'Oof!' sound. Seeing that she wasn't a threat, the young gentleman leaned a hand down to help her up.

"Th-thank you," she stuttered out, not expecting to be found so suddenly, "I… guess this makes us a team?"

Cobalt chuckled, then finished pulling the girl to her feet. He spoke softly, so as not to scare her too much, "I guess it does. I'm Cobalt, by the way. Cobalt Ravenscroft."

"Lily," she replied, "Lily Blossom." She had a very bubbly voice, a little too cheery considering their surroundings. Cobalt gave Lily's appearance the once over, since he would have to spend the next four years with her. As he saw from the air, she was dressed all in green, her short combat skirt looking even shorter and less defensive from here than before. Her hair was done in a long braid which trailed all the way down her back and to her thighs, where it swished like a tail. Her parasol was still up, which she held behind her right shoulder to protect her from any stray beams of light. But no matter how hard he looked, Cobalt couldn't see any weapon about Lily's body.

"So, Lily," Cobalt said a bit too forcefully, "I have my staffs, but I can't see your weapon. Where is it?"

Lily idly spun her parasol behind her, "You must have really bad eyesight," she joked, "try using both eyes." Again, she twirled her parasol and giggled as she did.

He still couldn't see any sign of a weapon, until he felt like a massive idiot, smacking himself in the face, "It's the parasol, isn't it?"

A very bubbly laugh escaped Lily's lips and she nodded her head eagerly, "Yep, took you long enough," she
drew out the last word for far too long in Cobalt's opinion, "I thought Hunters were meant to be observant." She shot Cobalt a sly wink and then poked him in the chest with the handle of her parasol.

"So, how is it a weapon?" Cobalt asked as he reloaded his staffs.

"I'll show you." She pulled the parasol in front of her, pointing it away from Cobalt before pushing the top half of the handle up towards the fabric, which began folding upwards into a sharp point. The parasol soon took the form of a sharp spear, about as long as one of Cobalt's staffs. He noticed that the ends and insides of each fan of the parasol had a fine metal coating on them, which came together at the tip of the spear and coated it. The 'pole' of the spear was sturdy from the metal coating, so it could be used as a staff if Lily needed it.

Before he could ask for a demonstration, a roar came from behind Cobalt, followed by three others shortly after. The pair turned to face whatever was approaching them, weapons drawn and ready to fight, Cobalt's trigger fingers twitching at the fought of fighting Grimm.

They weren't left waiting long, as four Ursa shot forward from the thick line of bushes, one towering over the three minor ones, clearly the alpha of the small group. Cobalt and Lily shared a quick look, nodding to each other before running up to face the closest two Ursa, the alpha staying back to watch the fight. Cobalt dashed to the right Ursa, with Lily taking the one on the left. As he approached his upright target, Cobalt jumped and landed in a sliding position, sliding through the Ursa's legs and hooking his poles around his ankles, toppling the Grimm behind him so he could shoot him in the back with Dawn's shotgun while keeping the other smaller Ursa behind him at bay with Dusk's pistol.

Lily had somehow leaped over the Ursa she was facing, jabbing her spear in its back as she did but pulling it out as she landed, causing a large spurt of blood to arc out of the creature's back. It landed on the ground next to her, but to her surprise, the Ursa stood up, if a bit shakily, and turned to face her. Since there was a lull in Cobalt's battle, he spared a look Lily's way, and what followed was one of the most graceful things he had ever seen. Like a cross between a ballerina and baton twirler, Lily pirouetted towards the Ursa while spinning her spear around her hands, slicing at the creatures face and simultaneously blocking any attempts at an attack. Feeling the creature weaken, Lily stopped spinning on her foot and jumped into the air. She aimed her spear down towards the Ursa's head and span in the air, her momentum turning her into a green tornado bearing down on the Grimm.

It was incredible to watch, but Cobalt had let himself get distracted and the alpha had taken the opportunity to close the gap between them and swipe with his powerful claws, too quickly for Cobalt to fully dodge. His face took most of the hit, blood now seeping through his blue-turned-red fringe as he fell to the floor. He propped himself up with his poles, noticing Lily now dealing with the other small Ursa with little difficulty. The alpha went to swipe again but Cobalt was ready this time, jumping out of the way with some help from his shotgun, only just clearing the Ursa's head and managing to shoot with Dusk, a small red hole appearing on the alpha's back. This only angered it, as it began to swing violently at Cobalt, who was dodging every attack by the skin of his teeth.

Lily had handled her second Ursa with little difficulty, a few scratches dotted around her jacket, but nothing she couldn't fix. She looked over to see a very tired looking Cobalt being backed towards a tree by the alpha, blood pouring from both fighters, painting a path from one of the other dead alphas. Lily rushed in to help Cobalt but only managed to get hit by a stray arm, hitting her back against the still form of one of the smaller Ursa. She decided that range was her ally, and, taking a strong grip on her spear, she threw it towards the back of the Ursa's head.

Cobalt saw Lily get hit backwards, but he still couldn't find an opening for an attack. He kept blocking, blocking and blocking some more, waiting for his chance. But then something unexpected happened. The Ursa fell forward with its arms suddenly going limp, giving Cobalt moments to jump out of the way and into a low branch of the tree he had been backed up towards. From above, he saw Lily looking over at the Ursa, and the spear embedded in its skull. Her spear. Her spear she had used to save Cobalt's life, and not for the last time.

"Thanks Lily," Cobalt shouted from his perch, jumping down next to the Ursa and taking the spear out of his skull, handing it back to Lily, "I guess I owe you one."

"I'll remember that," Lily said with a cheeky wink, "shall we find those ruins?"

"Let's."

Following the sounds of other people, it didn't take long for Cobalt and Lily to exit the forest and find a small clearing, in the centre of which were ruins. There were pedestals lining the side of the ruins, each seeming to hold a small orb, which Cobalt assumed were the relics Nightshade was on about. He could see Gris by one of the pedestals, a purple coated girl by his side, and in her hand was a small white orb.

"VIOLET!" Lily called, seemingly at the purple girl, "Over here!"

Gris and 'Violet' both turned around , Gris waving at Cobalt and 'Violet' waving at Lily, who decided to run towards the other girl and embrace her in a huge hug. Cobalt followed slowly, not feeling the need to hug Gris too badly, but the ruins did intrigue him.

As Cobalt approached, Lily made the introductions, "Cobalt Ravenscroft, meet my twin sister, Violet Blossom." Once she said it, it did seem rather obvious; the two were identical, colour-swapped copies of each other, Violet even wearing the same type of clothes as her twin, except they were all a light purple. She even matched her sister's parasol spear, again, light purple.

"Hi Cobalt, thanks for looking after my little sis for me," even her voice was the same as Lily's, both as bubbly as a freshly run bath.

"Actually," Cobalt began as he scratched the back of his head, "she… kinda saved my life. And I thought you were twins? How's she your 'little' sis?"

"Oh, we are," Lily said with a playfully sharp look to her sister, "but she just can't let go of the 30 seconds difference." The twins stuck their tongues out at each other, giggling as they did.

Gris cleared his throat loudly, snapping the girls back to attention, before he turned to speak to Cobalt, "What happened to your eye, bud? Didn't think red was your colour." Even though he was joking on the outside, Cobalt detected a hint of worry in his voice.

"Alpha Ursa, but Lily took care of it," Cobalt waved the fact away, Violet looking at her sister in amazement.

"Wow, sis, that's awesome!"

"I know I am," Lily chirped, both Blossoms sticking their tongues out at each other again.

Cobalt decided it was time to check out the relics on the pedestals, pulling Lily away from her double so she could look too. There were lots of empty pedestals, but some still held their relics, orbs of four colours, containing small symbols which Cobalt remembered represented the elements of earth, air, fire and water. Violet's orb must have been the air orb. There were two earth orbs, one water orb and one fire orb left on the pedestals.

"Shall we take an Earth one?" Cobalt asked Lily.

"Yeah, I guess," Lily shrugged, picking the closest one up and playing with it in her hands, "it's kind of heavy."

As they began to walk back towards Gris and Violet, a familiar figure burst through the tree line, "Hey Cobalt," it was Terra, who seemed to be a bit out of breath, "we found a new friend."

Bailey was flung out over the trees, screaming like a little girl as he flailed his arms about trying to find something to grab on to in mid-air. Following him was a Death Stalker, looking rather wounded but just as pissed off with Bailey and Terra. One claw was dragging along the floor, but he was still looking persistent in its hunt.

As Bailey came to land in the ruins, he picked up the second earth orb and stuffed it into his pocket, running back over to Terra to help with their 'problem'. The four others ran over, introducing themselves to Terra and Bailey as they joined them at the forest's edge, then vice versa.

"Lily."

"Violet."

"Gris."

"Bailey."

"Terra."

"Ok guys, we need to work as a team here," Cobalt acting as commander, "girls, take the claws while the guys and I keep the tail distracted."

"Right!" the others all called out at once, dashing forward like a long-time team.

Gris took shot first, firing his pistol sword at the base of the Death Stalker's tail while Bailey jumped up onto its back, running along and slashing with his knives as he went. Cobalt joined him just in time to block a swipe aimed at Bailey with his poles, throwing the tail away with all the strength he could muster.

"Cheers Cobalt," Bailey panted as he jumped onto the creature's tail, digging his knives into one of the gaps in the tail and switching the electric function on as high as it would go. It wasn't enough to severely harm the creature, but enough to send the tail into a frenzy. As it whipped around, Bailey was once again flung off and sent flying over the trees, thankfully taking his knives with him.

While this was happening, the Blossom twins were dancing there way along the Death Stalker's claws, jabbing into the joints as they went. Soon, the right claw was completely useless and only serving as a dead weight to throw around savagely. Terra had been holding off the left claw with her 'puppy', the sword just as powerful as the claw it was blocking. Terra even seemed to be enjoying herself as the twins jumped over her shoulders and onto the claw, jamming it open with their sturdy spears. Terra nodded at the twins in appreciation as she swung her sword around in a full circle before connecting with the base of the claw, cutting it clean off from the rest of the Death Stalker's body. The twins jumped down to grab their spears, but picking each other's up instead, tossing them to each other over the twitching claw.

Bailey once again ran back to the fight, throwing an electric knife into the base of the right claw just as it was about to hit Terra, who was still busy admiring her handiwork on the left claw. The swing was cut short as fresh pain shot through the creature's body, bucking Cobalt off of its back before he could fire a final shot into the base of its tail. Gris jumped up to meet Cobalt, catching him before either of them got anywhere near the floor.

"You didn't have to do that, Gris," Cobalt complained through a smile, "I had that all under control."

"Of course, Cobalt," Gris replied, dropping him just before they hit the floor, "whatever you say, bud."

Once they were all stood together and Bailey had retrieved his knife, Violet took charge, "Ready everyone?" There was a unanimous nod, "Then fire!"

All guns were fired at the same time, the two spears and knives both being thrown too, joined shortly after by Terra's double edged sword. They struck down the creature's face and back, finishing it for good. Their first day of training, and they had already killed a Death Stalker, one of the most deadly creatures of Grimm there were.

"Well, time to go see Nightshade," Lily chirped from behind the others, holding her earth orb high above her head and gazing into it deeply.

A few hours later, all first year students were gathered in the main hall on orders from Professor Ashensand. Following on from today's initiation exam, the teams would now be formed.

They had been sat there for about half an hour, most of the teams already formed and sat down together. Cobalt and the other five from earlier were sat down together, joined by the other girls from their test. One of the girls had unnaturally beautiful red hair which seemed to flow like the light of the sunset, down to her orange and red bodysuit which shaped her form like a supermodel. The other girl was less fortunate with her looks, a slightly shorter girl with thick grey hair but a very natural smile. Her clothes were ordinary, nothing much to say apart from how her grey trousers and her off-white blouse made her look mature beyond her years.

One by one, students were called to the stage and left as teams.

"Now, will the pairs of Violet Blossom and Gris Valliant, and Nelly Phant and Katie Solaris please join me on stage?" The four called students walked up, looking as nervous as all the others before them, "For your skill in today's trials, and for collecting the air relic, you shall be team VKNG, led by Violet Blossom."

Violet didn't register what had just been said, until a shout from her sister in the audience caught her attention, "WOO! Go Violet!" Violet blushed at this and mouthed a silent "Thank you" at both her sister and Professor Ashensand. Team VKNG bowed in front of the audience, then promptly left the stage.

"Now, will the pairs of Cobalt Ravenscroft and Lily Blossom, and Terra Harrows and Bailey Shweetz please join me on stage?" Like VKNG before them, the four of them walked towards the stage with nervous grace. As he stood on the stage, Cobalt looked out over the crowd, spotting Gris smirking with his team full of girls. He was drawn out of his mild envy by Ashensand speaking up again, "For your valiant courage and leadership skills, and for collecting the earth relic, you shall be team CBLT, led by Cobalt Ravenscroft."

It was a dream come true, like his father and mother before him, he had become a team leader. But, as his father told him long ago, "One day, you will have strength of your own, but a responsibility to those closest to you. You must know what you value more." Under his breath, Cobalt muttered to himself, "I know now father. I know."

Locolocko: So Cobalt, how's life been since we spoke last?

Cobalt: You should know, you wrote it.

Locolocko: Funny, everyone's a comedian.

Cobalt: Just get this over with, I'm sure the readers don't want to listen to you rant.

Locolocko: Fine, fine. Ok, so thanks to everyone who has taken time out of there day to read my fanfic, please let me know what you guys think. Special thanks to Aristotle, a good friend who has given me nothing but encouragement. If you don't know him, search for The Black Knight and you won't be disappointed.

Cobalt: Ok you, time to sign off, go write me something fun to do.