STAGE 02: Black King
Lelouch couldn't suppress the urge to scream in terror as he reached the apex of his flight and began plummeting to the ground. His mind raced wildly as the forest seemed to rush up to meet him- how was he going to land safely? He could hear gunfire behind him, students using recoil to slow their descent, but Lelouch's staff didn't have a gun component. All he had was the Dust-
-And just like that, a plan was formulated. Lelouch pointed his staff down, loading up the chamber filled with Wind Dust. He twirled the now-glowing staff in small, quick circles, and a narrow cyclone formed under him. He gave the staff a twirl, and the wind began to pull him straight downwards. As he got closer to the ground, he used some more Wind Dust to propel himself forward with a blast of air, negating the downward momentum. He nearly fell over when his feet hit the ground, but he managed to keep his balance by using the staff to prop himself up. Lelouch took a moment to recover, and also to feel a bit of pride for pulling the landing off- five months ago, that would have killed him.
A snarl came from the thick bushes and brambles behind him. Lelouch turned on his heel to see a Boarbatusk rolling at him. This was it- his first fight against a Grimm. He stuck his quarterstaff out to block his feet from the Grimm's attack. The Grimm smacked against the staff, which prompted Lelouch to sweep the weapon upwards, knocking it away from him. Lelouch didn't wait for the Boarbatusk to get back up, charging while activating the Dust. With a wide sweep of the staff, a gust of air knocked the Boarbatusk even further away. The Boarbatusk slammed against a tree trunk and snarled before getting back up on its feet. It rolled up once more and sped towards Lelouch- who smirked. He switched to Earth Dust and slammed the bottom of his staff against the ground. A wall of packed soil and rock sprung up right in front of Lelouch- and before the Boarbatusk could swerve out of the way, it collided with the newly-formed obstacle. The wall was more soil than rock, so the Boarbatusk found itself with its head stuck in the wall. Lelouch's smirk widened as he touched the bottom of the staff to the side of the wall and switched to Fire Dust. The Boarbatusk squealed in pain as Lelouch began to heat the wall up, hardening the wall into something akin to terracotta or adobe with the Grimm's head still in it.
Lelouch heard clapping behind him. He turned to see Moss standing off to the side. "Nice trick with the wall." said Moss. "You got a partner yet?" Lelouch shook his head, and Moss chuckled. "Well, ya got one now." he said. Lelouch thought this would be to his benefit- while he was able to handle Grimm, it was definitely in his advantage to have a physically stronger partner such as Moss to make up for the sheer strength that Lelouch lacked. "C'mon, let's get a move on." said Moss. Lelouch stowed his staff and followed behind Moss.
Lelouch and Moss trekked through the forest. They didn't find Grimm for a while, but could hear shouting and the sounds of combat off in the distance. They found themselves in a clearing that featured a ruined shrine. There were pedestals around the shrine, with the artifacts that Ozpin tasked the students with finding. They all looked like chess pieces, some black, some gold. "Think it matters what one we pick?" asks Moss, looking Lelouch. Lelouch shrugged in reply. He walked over to one of the unclaimed pieces- a black King piece. Lelouch immediately grabbed it- he felt a symbolic connection with the Black King- in chess, he always played the black pieces when he could so he could see how his opponent would open, and thus get an idea of how they thought. And Lelouch always aggressively used his king to shock and surprise his opponents...
If the king does not lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow? thought Lelouch. It was one of his favorite things to say, as it succinctly summarized his views on leadership. "Well, we got what we came for, let's go." said Lelouch, slipping the chess piece into his pocket. They headed towards the cliffs when they heard the sound of a roaring Grimm and two girls shouting. Moss and Lelouch looked at each other before running in their direction. They breached a cluster of trees to find two students fighting a massive Beowolf- much larger than the typical Beowolf, and its body was covered with bony protruding spikes.
One of the girls had cropped red hair and was wearing a dark red leather jacket with a black blouse beneath. She had a few plates of dark gray armor strapped over the jacket to her shoulders and elbows. and wielding a large single-headed battle-ax, which seemed to have some sort of handle on the side of the blade. The blade itself seemed abnormally thick to Lelouch as he watched the fight.
The other girl had long, platinum-blonde hair that was almost white in the sunlight. She wore a simple white dress, fingerless leather gloves, and a white lily hair piece. She wielded a flanged mace with a spike at the tip. As she fought the Beowolf, she flipped the mace and held it backwards, the mace head facing away from the Grimm. The mace bent near the head, a trigger mechanism extending from the shaft. The girl in the white pulled the trigger, and a shotgun blast echoed through the forest as pellets sprayed against the Grimm.
Lelouch heard Moss take off, longsword held over his head as he yelled to draw the Beowolf's attention. The blade cleaved downward, nicking the side of the Beowolf's neck. It snarled furiously, taking a vicious swipe at Moss. There was the sound of claws clanging against armor as Moss was sent hurtling through the air from the force of the blow. The swordsman landed about four feet from where he had been standing. Lelouch grimaced as he watched his new partner get up from the blow before switching to Lightning Dust.
The staff crackled with electricity, the air smelling of ozone as Lelouch aimed the staff at the Grimm. Then, he unleashed a torrent of lightning, a brilliant bolt striking the Grimm squarely in between the ribs. The Beowolf howled as it twitched and convulsed uncontrollably as lightning arced from the tip of Lelouch's staff. A smirk formed on Lelouch's face-
-and quickly faded when the lightning coming from his staff sputtered out of existence. Lelouch felt a twinge of horror- he'd burned through his entire reserve of Lightning Dust with that attack. Worse still, the Beowolf was still alive. Chest still smoldering, it roared as its baleful gaze fell upon Lelouch. It began to charge at the young Dust user, but was interrupted by the girl in red, who swung her axe into the Beowolf's stomach with a furious scream. The Beowolf staggered back, giving the girl time to grab the head of her ax by the handle on its side. The head detached, revealing ammo stored inside of it like a drum magazine. The bottom of the ax head slotted into the handle of the ax, which shifted to form the body of a machine gun. Just as the Beowolf got its balance back, the girl opened fire, bullets ripping into the Grimm's flesh and making its body twitch and flail like a rag doll being shaken. As the gunfire came to an end, the Grimm fell on its face, lifeless.
The girl panted, detaching the drum and putting her weapon back into its battle-ax form. She then glared at Lelouch and Moss. "We didn't ask for your help!" she said angrily.
"We were in the area." Moss said nonchalantly. The girl in the white dress walked up to the other girl. "Robin, don't get so upset..." she said gently, putting a hand on the axe wielder's shoulder pad. The girl in red- Robin- shook her head. "I had it under control, Gwenn." she said. Gwenn sighed, walking past Robin to meet Moss and Lelouch. "I'm sorry about Robin, she gets a bit...temperamental." she said with a small, apologetic smile. "I'm Gwenn."
"Nice to meet you, Gwenn." said Moss, sheathing his sword. "I'm Moss, and this is my partner Lelouch."
"Hello." Lelouch said politely. Gwenn smiled at the two. "You guys got your relics, too? We were just getting ready to head towards the cliff."
"We'll be fine on our own, Gwenn." Robin said insistently. "It wouldn't hurt to have back up," countered Gwenn. Robin sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Fine," she said with no small amount of reluctance. "But they better not get in my way."
"Really feeling the love here." snarked Moss.
The four students continued through the forest. The walk was fairly quiet- they didn't encounter any Grimm for awhile. However, the tranquility was shattered when Gwenn suddenly stopped. She turned and went wide-eyed.
"Duck!"
Robin was the first to hit the ground, with Moss and Lelouch following her example. The next thing they heard was a 'whoosh' followed by crashing as a Death Stalker's body went hurtling through trees, knocking them over. The four students cautiously poked their heads up from their lying positions to look at the direction from which the flying Grimm corpse came. On the other side of multiple knocked-over trees was a sheepish looking girl with ginger hair holding a large hammer and giving them a sheepish grin. "Sorry~!" she sang out before giggling. Gwenn stood, dusting herself off. "It's alright, we're all okay!" she called back. She walked towards the girl with the hammer, with Robin grumbling behind her.
