Chapter 2 – Collective Thinking

As the students made their way in to the school, they we instructed to convene within a large auditorium where they all met the school's headmaster, Professor Ozpin who made a...brief speech in regards to their future time at Beacon. The students were then lead in to another hall where they would later spend the night. Ruby had met back up with the blonde woman she had arrived with that morning and together they prepared for the night.

"So Ruby, make any friends yet?" The blonde asked after the two had changed in the their sleepwear and returned to the hall.

"Kinda, not really...I, more or less, uhh...blew up...literally. I also got shot at a bunch...so yea...not going well." The silver-eyed girl responded.

"Couldn't have been that catastrophic Rubes." The taller woman chuckled. As they walked along, Ruby had again become unaware of her surroundings and, yet again, accidentally stumbled in to Weiss. She was in a long gray-blue nightgown and had let her hair out of it's pony tail.

"You again?!" Both girls shouted simultaneously. Ruby then cowered behind the taller blonde to avoid Weiss.

"I'm guessing you two know each other?" The blonde asked Weiss.

"She caused an explosion that could have killed us!" Weiss snapped.

"Oh my god, you really exploded." The blonde spoke under her breath. "Well I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's sister. Nice to meet you." She presented her hand to Weiss in greeting to which the heiress scoffed at and walked away. Yang placed her hand on the back of her head and awkwardly chuckled.

"I told you I'm no good at making friends!" Ruby cried. "Can I please just hang out with you?" Yang realized her sister was going to need all the help she could get and agreed. A familiar black figure had then walked in to the same room and proceeded through the room. This mass had caught Yang's attention.

"Hey, who's that? Think they're one of the teachers?" Yang was completely unaffected by the figures intimidating presence as other students moved out of it's way and averted their eyes. A group of larger, stronger looking male students watched on and gave the person harsh glares, silently challenging them. Their gaze was met by the dominating stare of the figure, and the group of boys backed down.

"Wait." Ruby said, recognizing the figure. "That's Bradly, I met him outside too. He's really cool! He shot a bunch of bullets at me but shot them out of the sky!" Bradly had made his way up to the two girls by then, spurs chiming as he walked. Yang's expression had become more stern after finding out that this man had put her sister in danger and as the two met, face to face, tension filled the room. The chatter of the other students died off as more and more became aware of the stand off and watched on curiously. Yang looked up at Bradly and their eyes clashed with one another once they met.

"So..." Yang spoke with a serious tone. "I hear you shot at my sister."

"He also...shot at Weiss, she nearly passed out. He didn't hit either of us though! I'm ok! He's really cool, he showed my his guns too. He's actually nice! Please don't fight him." Ruby had jumped in, trying to calm her angered sibling. Yang had held her ground, sizing up the larger man, maintaining her stance. Bradly simply stood motionless, returning Yang's glare awaiting what would happen next. Some students held their breath as the tension could blow out the walls of the room they were in. Then, suddenly, Yang snapped in to a friendly greeting.

"Well any friend of Ruby's is a friend of mine. I'm Yang, Ruby's sister. Nice to meet ya!" The blonde smiled, surprising everyone in the room except Bradly.

"Likewise, ma'am." Bradly responded, nodding in acknowledgment. He turned his attention to Ruby. "Hello again Ruby."

"Oh, hi!" Ruby squeaked, being caught off guard. Bradly then continued passed the girls as the tension in the room dissipated and chatter once again quietly resumed. He passed Weiss, who hadn't been far from the other girls. Bradly shot an intimidating glare at her which met Weiss's sight.

"Heiress." He smirked, sending his menacing vibe at her. Weiss froze, Bradly's eyes had penetrated her mind again as she relived the fear she felt that morning. Her knees became weak and buckled under her weight. She collapsed on to her make-shift bed, barely conscious. Yang and Ruby laughed at the white-haired girls failure to keep composed as Bradly continued off to a secluded, empty corner of the room where he dropped his rucksack and sat against the wall. Ruby and Yang had made their way back to their sleeping arrangements and began to settle in for the night as Ruby told Yang of Bradly's shooting skills she witnessed.

The next morning after breakfast, the students donned their combat outfits and retrieved their weapons from their lockers. They each made their way to a cliff-side, where Ozpin and a tall blonde teacher, known as Glynda Goodwitch, waited. Glynda had been the faculty member responsible for directing the students to the hall the previous night and gave them a brief introductory on their specialized rocket lockers that they could summon to their location at any time via their personal communication devices known as scrolls. Bradly had hidden the fact that he didn't own a scroll unlike all the other students, so he kept his revolvers hidden under his long-coat at all times.

When the students reached the cliff-side, Ozpin and Glynda had instructed them that this exercise was to determine a partner for each student. Their partner would be the first person they made eye contact with once landing and their objective was to retrieve a relic from within a ruin. A tall scraggly blonde boy nervously began questioning Ozpin and Glynda about how they were expected to land once being launched off the cliff as other students began taking flight. After pleading with the teachers for a moment, the boy was sent in to the air, with Weiss, Yang, Ruby and Bradly following behind. Yang used her gauntlet-like firearms to propel herself through the air, slowing her decent through the tree tops and rolling upon finding the ground. Ruby used the over-sized rifle/scythe combination and the recoil it's high-caliber rounds generated to slow her decent. Then used it's blade to hook on the tree trunks and spun to the ground. Bradly's long-coat acted like a wing suit and allowed him to glide a longer distance to which he aimed himself at a large tree. He aimed his pistols part way up the tree's base and began unleashing a barrage of bullets at it. The bullets blew pieces out of the tree's trunk until it fell in the same direction as Bradly's as he fell. He then spun his body around to fly feet first at the now downed tree and as his boots met the side of the tree, his spurs began to dig through the tree's bark slowing him as he traveled down the tree bringing him to a manageable speed once reaching the ground. He slid to a halt and swiftly reloaded his guns.

Yang had heard the crash of the falling tree near by and began worrying about her sister, so she hurried towards the noise calling out for Ruby. As Yang rushed to find her sister, she burst through some thick underbrush in to a small clearing made by the large toppled tree only to come face to face with the barrel of Bradly's pistol. He had heard the noise of Yang rushing through the bush and readied himself for a fight. Both students paused momentarily to assess the situation, before lowering their weapons relaxing. Bradly twirled his pistols on his trigger fingers as he holstered them.

"Hello again ma'am." Fancy finding you out here." Bradly spoke in a more friendly tone than the day before.

"Likewise. I guess that makes us partners" Yang chuckled. Remembering her intentions, she quickly changed the subject. "We need to find Ruby and make sure she's ok." Bradly nodded in agreement.

"There's only one thing stopping us ma'am." Bradly motioned toward the other side of the clearing where six Ursa had made their way to after hearing the crash and the commotion of the two students. Bradly and Yang looked back at each other and smirked as they both lunged toward the beasts.

Meanwhile, Ruby had ended up meeting with a familiar and not overly friendly white-haired heiress. The two argued for a while and Weiss had decided to abandon Ruby and move on however, Ruby instinctively followed. They argued more and more until they came upon a small pack of beowolves. The two girls engaged the monsters but without the will to work together, they became a danger to one another which caused Weiss to start part of the forest on fire with her weapon. She wielded an elegant rapier with a revolver like chamber in it's hilt to which dust was stored which could be released to give her weapon's blade elemental enhancements. After the beowolves were dispatched and an argument about getting in each others way, the two set off in to the forest, hopefully lost.

Yang and Bradly had found their way to a large clearing to which they located an ancient ruin. Within, they found black and gold colored chess pieces.

"These must by the relics Ozpin was talking about." Yang declared as she picked up a "Knight" piece. Just as she obtains the relic, a loud scream and powerful rumble explodes over the clearing. The blonde nervous boy from the launch pad was clinging to the tail of a deathstalker, a large and heavily armored grim that resembles a scorpion. The boy clung to the deathstalkers tail for dear life while a tall red-haired girl clad in brass armor attempted to fight the armored grim. A screech from above rang out over the clearing as a nevermore, a large bird-like grim flew overhead. Mounted atop the flying beast was Ruby and Weiss, somehow they managed to climb on it it and ride it to find everyone else. Ruby decided to jump from it while Weiss protested, not realizing that Ruby had already left. As Ruby fell to the ground to meet up with the other students, Weiss had begun to lose her grip on the bird's feathers and soon fell. As she fell, Bradly had reacted and sprinted at the heiress, lunging and catching her before striking the ground.

"My hero." Weiss joked once she gained her composure as the two got up from the ground. Yang had become angered from the commotion and activated her semblance which felt like an explosion. Her hair seemed to ignite in to burning flames and her eyes turned a vivid shade of red. She joined the rest of the students as another pair had entered the clearing, one, a gleeful orange haired girl dressed in a white shirt and pink skirt riding atop an ursa, followed by her partner, a slim man with longer black hair, a green classic Asian-styled top, with cream colored pants. Once the pair reached the clearing, the ursa dropped dead, as the girl hopped off. The blonde man and red haired girl seemed to know the new addition to the group as they exchanged waves of their hands when they noticed one another. Ruby charged the deathstalker alone, however, her attacks were ineffective against it's strong armor. The deathstalker motions to counter-attack Ruby by thrust it's stinger at the young girl. Yang began to run at her sister, unable to reach her, when suddenly Weiss shot passed the blonde with blinding speed and using ice dust, she freezes the deathstalker's tail in place, saving Ruby. They reconvened with the other six students and, together, decided that the best plan of action would be to seize the remaining artifacts and flee the valley.

The eight students were chased relentlessly in to the ruins by the massive creatures. As they fled, they ran across a bridge over a deep ravine, and once the deathstalker caught up, it prevented them from returning to solid ground. The nevermore swooped down from the sky and bashed in to the bridge ahead of the leading students trapping them one the stone walkway. The situation began to look bleak as the trailing students struggled to keep the deathstalker at bay. The blonde man had realized this and shouted at the orange-haired girl to help. She transformed her weapon, which was a compact grenade launcher, in to a large hammer to which she placed the head of on the ground, stepped on to it and fired it's launching mechanism which sent her flying towards the preoccupied deathstalker. She swung her hammer as she reached it's head and slammed it in to the ground then jumped out of stinging range. Ruby, Weiss, Bradly, and Yang all began devising a plan to deal with the nevermore as the other students battled the deathstalker. The blonde and redhead ran at the monster's pincers forcing them apart while the man in green climbed it's body and grabbed hold of the stinger. He began firing his weapons, green pistols with curved blades covering the grips, at the base of the stinger which caused the deathstalker to writhe in pain. It swung it's massive tail about, throwing the man off and in to a wall. The blonde noticed the deathstalker's stinger had loosened off of the tail and swung aboutand he mentioned to the armor-clad girl to sever the remaining amount. Once the girl sliced off the stinger, it fell on to the beast's head, impaling it. The blonde then instructed the other girl to strike the singer with her hammer, forcing it deep in to the monster's cranium, finally killing it.

Yang shot a number of rounds at the flying grim, securing it's attention on her. When the bird flew down in attempt to bit her with it's beak, Yang had halted it's closure and began feeding shots down the throat of the beast injuring it greatly. She then lost her grip as the bird shook her free, she landed on a nearby tower and began providing cover fire for the other three.

"Any ideas on how to take it down?" Weiss asked Ruby. Unsure of how to defeat such a large creature.

"Just one, and it's crazy." The younger girl responded with determination driving her. Along side her weapon, Weiss was also able to use magic. She forms what are called glyphs which can vary in their uses. Ruby's plan consisted of Weiss forming a glyph to hold a large stone to which Ruby mounted. Bradly was to fire as many bullets in to the bottom of the stone as possible which would also get trapped in the glyph but retain their kinetic energy. Once finished, Weiss was to release the glyph causing all the bullets to continue their path in to the stone all at once, launching it forward like a canon at the nevermore with Ruby riding along.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked Weiss as the angle to which Ruby would be sent depended on Weiss's magic glyph. Weiss scoffed at the question, believing it to be sarcasm.

"Well can you?" Ruby repeated, thoroughly unsure if Weiss was capable.

"Of course!" Weiss snapped back, offended at Ruby questioning her capabilities.

"Alright Bradly, let it rip." Ruby commanded as Bradly nodded accepting her word. Bradly let out a long breath focusing his concentration. He hovered his hands above his holstered weapons preparing to unleash a hell-storm of lead. Like a flash of lightning, Bradly unleashed his barrage of ammunition at the base of the stone, spinning his pistols about while moving his hands in multiple directions to control the force of the recoil. As he expended the rounds of his pistols, in the same swift motion, he unlocked the revolving chamber from the guns, cleared the spent shells, slid a fast loading capsule from within his jacket sleeves and reloaded the pistols while continuing his assault. This magnificent juggle of weapons and ammunition continued until Bradly's arms grew too tired to continue even though it only lasted about six seconds. Standing nearby, Weiss had watched Bradly's impressive demonstration of coordination and could head the faint sound of his voice as he quietly called out the odd bullet count. Weiss had begun to lose concentration as she was mesmerized by his dance, and her glyph had become unstable.

"Weiss, concentrate!" Ruby barked as she felt the stone shift slightly from the weakening magic. Weiss snapped back to the task at hand, embarrassed to find herself admiring the man beside her. Bradly had noticed and shot a glance and smirk Weiss's way. Bradly couldn't stand the pain in his tired arms any longer and emptied his guns a final time.

"...one hundred twenty. That's all I've got, now or never." Bradly proclaimed, speaking his final bullet count only to further impress the heiress.

"Fire!" Ruby shouted as Weiss ended her spell. The mass of lead below the stone shot forward in a large group like a canon ball sending the young girl and the stone rocketing toward the flying grim. As she flew, Ruby fired her weapon backwards, increasing her velocity until she met the bird. She caught the nevermore's neck in the blade of her Crescent Rose dragging the monster with her as she flew through the air. Ruby then planted her feet on the wall of the cliff she had Weiss aim at as the forces from her flight pinned her against it momentarily. Weiss then placed a number of other glyphs on the wall at Ruby's feet leading up to it's summit. Ruby was able to run up the wall, dragging the large bird in the stone behind her as she gained speed. Finally with the final shot ringing out from her rifle's barrel, Ruby exploded over the crest of the stone mound slicing her blade through the bird's neck, then landing at top the cliffs edge overlooking the battlefield at the students witnessing her strength.