Braden awoke on a small plateau, near a forest. "Ugh... what was that, Mi-" Suddenly he realized what happened and pulled his earpiece on. "Mike, what did you say you switched around?!"

At first, only static replied. But then, a faint voice murmured, "Swi... Coor... Where... Pack?"

"What?"

The voice became clearer. "I said, I switched your X and Y coordinates! You're in a completely different place from where you wanted to be! Where's the META pack? Get it and come back to base!"

"Oh! Right! That thing!" Braden looked around, just now realizing that he was on the edge of a plateau. He looked down and saw the wrecked remains of a piece of machinery below. "Uh, Mike?"

"Oh, don't tell me. It's broken. Well, I'll have to build a new one and return you manually, but until then-"

"Mike, you mind if I stay here for a while? I think this place may be worth exploring."

"WHAT?! Are you insane?!"

"Slightly. Also, I've got my gauntlets. I should be fine."

"Alright, fine. But I am definitely building a new META pack, and the moment you tell me to bring you home, I will. Contact me through the earpiece."

"Gotcha." Braden took the earpiece out and looked around at the serene forest. Suddenly, he saw a blur of motion, and it did NOT look like something Braden should have wanted to get close to.

Which, of course, made him want to get closer to it.

Braden jumped down, noting the location of the ruined META pack, and stalked closer to whatever the blur was. He ran into the forest, chasing what appeared to be... a wolf?

The wolf was fast- REALLY fast- but Braden was gaining, especially with Extremespeed waves coming from his gauntlets. Suddenly, the two made it into a clearing.

And Braden did NOT like what he saw there.

"What the... HOLY CRAP! GIANT BIRD!" Braden ducked as the bird swooped toward him. He tucked and rolled, coming up with a Barrier in one gauntlet, which the wolf promptly slammed into.

With the other hand, Braden used Night Slash to parry the wolf's front claws, its back claws scrambling for purchase on the Barrier but finding none. With one sweep of his fist, Braden sliced the wolf's head off, then turned to the bird.

The giant bird had made a 180 and swooped down again. Braden spun, narrowly missing the bird's claws, and drove his Night Slash blade into the bird's wing, cutting through it as it flailed to get away. He then set his Barrier gauntlet to Ice Beam and froze the bird into a block of ice.

Braden turned off both Beldo Gauntlets and stood there, huffing, invigorated, wanting to do that AGAIN. Suddenly, a voice called out to him. "That was unbelievable!"

Braden turned- and almost stopped respiratory function. A gorgeous blonde girl stood not too far away. She clapped her hands and smiled at Braden. "You showed those guys!" She walked forward and stuck out a hand. "I'm Yang. You must be new around here. Generally, you don't freeze a Grimm, you just kill it."

Braden blushed and shook Yang's hand. "Guess I didn't get the handbook. Name's Braden."

"Well, Braden, like I said, you did incredibly well." Yang folded her arms. "Come to think of it..."

Yang didn't appear to notice the giant shadow rising up behind her.