AN:Hey guys it's me and I'm back and ready for some action and decent storytelling YEA. But I'm sorry for the long ass wait for those of you who have Been (although at this point that number is few) I still plan to put out fresh content in this fic and hopefully will improve my grammar and proofreading skills a bit while I'm at it "sorry Kane."

i haven't been active lately because most of you know it was recently Christmas yay go Christmas but I didn't have the time to get much done so I apologize once again for the delay. So I'll stop now and let you enjoy this fresh new juicy piece of original content! By yours truly.

Jaune's POV:

Jaune had no idea what he was doing or what he was supposed to do. All he could do was scream and flail as he flew through the air. He had no idea how far he had been thrown or how long he had been falling but he did know that landing would hurt a lot. He had not noticed that he was as close to the ground as he was, for he out of fear had clenched his eyes closed as he fell the wind whipping his blonde hair as he fell. He had felt the not so gentle touch of tree branches against his face and body smacking and scrapping him as he descended.

The wind was suddenly knocked out of him as he finally hit the ground. "Why did he sign up for this, this was a bad idea from the second he boarded that cramped and uncomfortable airship full of strangers and tourists." He sighed from the thought, for now there was no turning back. His only course of action was to find his partner and not die. He clenched his teeth as he tried to rise but was met with a sharp pain in his back. Did he break something? He put his hand behind himself and heaved only to be met with more pain. "Yep something was definitely broken." He gritted his teeth and heaved until he was on his knees. He noticed the familiar weight of his shield and sword and glanced at them, they were seemingly undamaged.

He did it, he had successfully landed in the emerald forest without killing himself...yet and on top of that he hadn't lost his weapons yet either. "It's a start." He chuckled to himself as he slowly where he's expected there to be grass and foliage he only found black matted fur. His eyes widened at the sudden realization of what he was standing on. All too conveniently fate had put him in the most dangerous place to land possible, he had landed dead center in a pack of Beowolves or more conveniently on them.

He looked at the hand that he leaned on where and found it crimson covered in the Beowolf's blood. He had landed on the Grimm's back and effectively shattered its spine, killing it instantly. Its legs were splayed out to its sides and bones were sticking out from its front right leg and its back where Jaune's hand had been.

Jaune staggered to his feet wincing as the sharp pain in his back flared, he deployed his shield and wrenched his sword from its scabbard.

Only now did he notice the glowing red eyes and shaded forms of the grim circling him. "How had I not noticed them, were they there before?" Staggering back three paces as he took in the sight, he was a solitary island in an ocean of black. He gulped as a blood curdling howl cut through the air.

He nearly pissed his pants when he heard it but he got his bladder in check and tightened his grip on his sword. Another howl sounded through the grim and this time three Beowolves charged him. One went straight for him and the other two covered its flanks. Jaune leveled his shield and prepared for the impact. But instead of ram him the lead Beowolf stood on its hind legs and grabbed him. He struggled in the Grimm's grip but found he couldn't move.

The Grimm roared into his face spraying spit all over him. Jaune grimaced at the pungent odor that was the Beowolves breath. He struggled more and was only met with claws digging into his flesh. He let out a cry of anguish as he even more frantically but only managed to drive the claws deeper into his skin. The grim lowered its head to his presumably to consume him. He screamed as the claws dug into his flesh further.

Jaune closed his eyes and looked away preparing himself for the end.

But it never came he felt no Jaws clamp around his head and the claws stopped progressing into him. No further pain ensued not to say he wasn't hurting like hell. He risked opening his eyes; he was confused at the sight he saw. The Beowolf had no head; he saw a faint trail of smoke in the air and followed it to his left only to find the Grimm's head nailed a tree by a red and gold spear. He was confused beyond belief but was elated he was alive. Then the headless Grimm teetered to its right and started to fall "No no no no-" he repeated as he was dragged down with the corpse to the ground. They landed with an audible thump. Pain shoot through his body as he hit the ground. But he grit his teeth suppressing a scream but a grunt escaped his lips.

He struggled to break free of the Beowolf's iron grip that even in death it still retained. He struggled some more but still couldn't break free. Jaune struggled until he heard the telltale sound of a gunshot. He ceased his struggling to find the source of the discharge. A body fell in front of him and was followed by another howl that was cut short and followed the cringetastic sound of a blade rending flesh as another body hit the ground. Three more gunshots sounded and the only sound that could be heard was the wind rustling the leaves. A minute later he heard boots crunching leaves and a shadow fell upon him, he looked up and saw the smiling face of a crimson haired huntress.

She cut the Beowolf's arm and the muscles retracted painfully pulling the claws from Jaune's sides, he grunted from the pain and a few tears trickled down his face. She pulled him to his feet and examined him. She first looked at his face and smiled a warm smile, she wiped a tear away from his cheek

She felt something warm on her left hand a found it coated with his blood. Jaune felt faint and he was getting paler by the second, the world was turning into a gray tunnel as he fell to the ground. She frantically tried to find out why his aura had not kicked in and stopped the bleeding already, she touched him and felt no aura resist her hand and knew what she needed to do. She placed a hand in his chest and closed chanted words inaudible to him, her eyes rolled into her head leaving only the whites of her eyes. Jaune suddenly began glowing with power the world returned to him and he found he could move.

He put a hand to his sides and found that the gashes were no more and he no longer felt any pain in his back fell to her knees short for breath.

"Hey a-are you okay Pyr- he was silenced by her using her finger to signaling she needed a moment. Jaune shut his mouth and impatiently waited for her to reply. About a minute passed until she did.

"It's not me y-you should be worried...about." She panted

"Ok than if we aren't worried about you why am I not bleeding to death and why you are suddenly gasping for air. He really wanted to take another moment to answer still out of breath. He said flexing his hands.

"I...unlocked your...aura." She still could only manage a few words before she went back to panting.

Jaune looked puzzled.

"My what?" He inquired. Pyrrha now stood up and gleamed happily seemingly healed.

"I unlocked your aura."

"Yea I got that, what is it?" Jaune asked getting frustrated at the repeated answer.

She looked at him with a slight frown on her face.

"Your aura is the physical manifestation of your soul, it binds us to everything around us, the plants, the animals, and since yours was unlocked it flooded uncontrollably with no filter which healed you extremely fast but you will feel light headed at some point."

"Oh...well that's great to know", "How about the Grimm?" He asked.

"No the creatures we fight lack a soul they are the manifestation of anonymity they are creatures of Grimm. They are the darkness we are the light."

"Right that's why we fight them." He stated with a little question in his tone.

"It's not about why we fight them it's about knowing."

"So what does aura do?"

"Aura can be propelled outwards as a force to stop harm." Pyrrha smirked as she replied.

"IT'S LIKE A FORCEFIELD." He bluntly shouted.

"I guess you could look at it that way." She stated as she got up and shrugged as she turned around. She casually started walking into the forest. She turned and looked at him waiting for something. Several seconds passed until it clicked in his head. He got up and ran to her side.

OC TEAM POV:

Gwyn straightened himself out as he flew towards the forest floor. He activated his twin blade and waited until he was about to crash into a tree to thrust it into its trunk and slide down onto the ground. A sudden boom turned his attention to the sky and he got a glimpse of a yellow blur and the faint sound of someone cheering over the tree line.

"Ok that...is awesome." he remarked through his helmet. He took the moment of respite he was given to check his equipment over. He first inspected his weapon. The form changing blue-silver tinted twin blade had no scratches to note, he changed it from its melee form to its assault rifle form and to its bow form. Satisfied it was in working order he went to his armor. His armor the same color as his weapon completely covered his body from head to toe if he put his helmet on. He toke his helmet off and put it onto the magnetic clip on his hip. He looked himself over and noticed nothing apart from some dirt. Happy with his equipment he put his helmet back on and he thought of his next move.

"I need to find a teammate." He thought to himself. He picked a direction and started to walk. Suddenly he heard ruffling in the foliage behind him, he quickly turned and deployed his blade. He stood ready for a Grimm to appear any second. The rustling continued, his grip on his blade getting tighter. He was about to go check the noise when a girl suddenly shot through the bushes and ran towards him.

He relaxed his stance at the sight. "Oh thank god another person." He stated out loud. He offered his hand to shake and remembered he had his helmet on still and he thought it wasn't polite to keep it on during a conversation. He reached to remove it and was stopped when the girl shouted at him.

"GET TO THE TREE GET TO THE TREE!" She shouted frantically as she ran past him to a four story tall tree behind him. He wondered what the matter was and looked where she came from, his eyes widened. A King Taijjitu followed by several Ursa and Beowolves came from the forest towards him. He decided it was a wise idea to take the girls advice and climb the tree. He turned on his heel and sprinted towards the tree. The girl was already a few branches high and extended a hand to him. He ran as fast as his feet could take him but the Grimm were gaining fast.

"HURRY!" She shouted

Gwyn touched something on his arm and he disappeared from sight. The Grimm stopped dead in their tracks, they rose their snouts to the air trying to sniff him out.

The girl searched left and right mesmerized at what she had just seen her mouth agape and her hand still outstretched. After several seconds he suddenly reappeared at the base of the tree. The Grimm took notice of this and restarted their charge. He grabbed onto the girls outstretched hand startling her but she still managed to help him up just in time for a Beowolf to smash into the tree making the girl nearly lose her grip as the tree shook.

Together they climbed the tree two stories up until they were week out of the Grimm's reach. Gwyn was panting his heart pounding in his ears, he sprawled out on one of the tree's mighty branches still panting. He took of his helmet and laid down next to him wiping sweat from his brow.

"Whew that was intense huh." He said pumping a fist into air the, girl just sat against the tree trunk still bewildered at what she had just seen. About a minute passed until she finally spoke up.

"That trick you did back there...how'd you do it?" She questioned him her arms crossed against her chest.

"Huh?" He lazily spouted "What trick?" He asked furrowing his brow. She rolled her eyes and played with something, bouncing it in her hand.

"You disappeared for a minute...how'd you do that." She tried to keep the wonder from her voice but failed. He sat up cross-legged with his hands in his lap. He had not gotten a good look at her when they first met but now that he has a spare second he looked her over. She was about 5"10 and had on a belted tunic of brown and green tinted leather with a strap across her chest. She had short chestnut hair tied into a neat bun and interesting enough pink eyes. She also had what looked like two knives belted on her sides.

He waited a moment before he spoke.

"Not many people have pink eyes." He stated as he pulled a stick from the tree branch. She was caught off guard at his statement but decided kept her composure and answered.

"Well if you must know they are lightish red and it's a family trait, my mother and my siblings all have them."

Gwyn chuckled

"Lightish red is pink and I think they look nice." A smirk grew on his face

"Is that sarcasm I hear?"

"No no I genuinely, think they look good no sarcasm here." He suddenly got defensive "And to answer your previous question, its new Atlas tech. It uses polymers and micro filaments in my armor to mimic the environment around me, it only works to a certain extent though. I can't use it for very long but it gets the job done." He stated as he experimentally swung the stick he had picked up like a sword.

"Really that's AWESOME!" Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth startling herself with the sudden outburst. "Sorry I just really like Atlas tech." She whispered her cheeks grew a shade redder as she looked down the ground suddenly very interesting.

"It's alright to like it just don't get obsessed is all I'll say to you, and I better not catch you starring." He remarked. Her cheeks got even redder and the ground became fascinating.

"Now if I do recall I never got your name."

"Oh m-my name, its Riley, Riley Coheart." She smiled offering him her hand happy to change the subject. He stood up and shook her hand.

"Gwyn Briar at your service." He took a step back and bowed. Riley's eyes widened

"Wait wait wait your GWYN BRIAR! The Gwyn briar the heir to the briar company and two time winner of the Atlas regional tournament?" She beamed her excitement becoming uncontainable.

"Three times." He grumbled." And yes that's me Gwyn briar heir to my parent's lovely company which I care so much about." He said sarcasm in his voice. She tilted her head as she looked at him.

"Aren't you happy that you have a rich family and something to fall back on?" She asked with a slight snicker in her voice.

"No no it's not that I'm not grateful and happy that I have such a wonderful opportunity it's just...look I'll tell you the whole story when we get out of this alive. Deal?" She tip her head into her hand and thought the offer over.

"Deal."

Ok Now that the formalities are over might we discuss how we are going to deal with that?" He pointed down at the Grimm clawing at the base of the tree. They both sat in silent contemplation waiting for the other to come up with a plan. Finally Riley grew restless.

"I got nothing, but we can't just sit here and wait to starve."

"Yeah yeah I know that but I just can't think of anything. He turned away from her, scratching his head, that's when the quiver on his back jingled as their arrows he carried knocked against each other.

"Ahha, That's it!" He exclaimed turning around snapping his fingers only slightly startling his teammate. Riley furrowed her brow her face with a questionable expression on it.

"What's it?" She questioned putting one hand in her hip and the other pointing at him. He looked at her as though the answer was obvious.

"What it is, is this." He pulled an orange tinted arrow from his quiver. "This little sucker right here is an arrow equipped with an explosive tip equivalent to four grenades." He stated with pride. "And since our friends down there hate humans so much they will attack anything manmade." He paused and looked at his partner to make sure she was still paying attention then back to the arrow in his hands.

"Sooo if they hear this than they will have to run over to check it out only to find." He paused for dramatic affect. "It was only a diversion." Riley's confused expression turned to one of realization.

"And that's when we make our escape to find the relic!" She beamed excitedly. "I can't believe I didn't think of that." She face palmed due to her own stupidity.

"Now you're getting it, so while I get to the top of the tree you will be waiting near the bottom for the signal and me so that we can make a run for it together."

"Sounds like a plan to me." She gave him a curt salute and jumped off the branch.

"Hey! I didn't... say...go, I didn't even tell you what the signal was." He sighed heavily as he started to climb higher into the tree.

Gwyn stared into the distance with eyes ablaze with wonder. The emerald forest was beautiful and gave him momentary peace. He could gaze unto the forest all day if he was able,but alas that day was not today and he was here to fight whitch he wasent against. The forest itself was appealing,all of the trees were green and healthy and many were tall but some like the one he was in were as tall as skyscrapers. He would spend more time here if it weren't for the Grimm. He took one more gaze at the treeline and readied his bow. He chose a position that would draw the Grimm away from their current position. He gazed to the North of their extraction point and looked toward the ruins they needed to find in the south by a ravine next to a cliff not a kilometer away from took an arrow from his quiver. He knocked the arrow and drew the string all the way to his right cheek. He took a deep breath and released the arrow which fired with a satisfying thrum.

Gwyn wasted no time, he Stowed his weapon on his hip and jumped off of the branch. And fell towards the forest floor. He could barely make out the shape of his partner near the bottom. Gwyn fell for about three seconds until an explosion could be heard in the distance. He fell for about five more seconds and deployed his weapon when he was two story's above the ground. He stabbed his blade into the bark of the tree and slid down the remainder of the way.

Riley saw her partner decending and heard the explosion. She looked toward the ground to see the Grimm at the base of the tree were running toward the explosion.

"It worked." She said to no one in particular. Her partner was two one story above her now and she got ready to jump with him. She counted in her head." one..two...three."She jumped off of her branch as her partner shot past her and she fell with him.

Gwyn was ten feet from the ground when he pushed against the tree and went into the air did a backflip and landed in a crouch. Riley was not far behind him and landed into a roll and shoot to her feet beside him.

"Did you see the ruins?"

"Yep theirrr..." he paused as he turned the other direction. "That way." He jutted a finger in the direction they need to go.

"Alright let's get a move on those relics won't collect themselves." She chirped Gwyn nodded in affirmation and they both took off into the forest. A black and white form slithered after them soon after they started their sprint.

Yang punched the nearest beowolf in the face shattering its jaw and sending it spiraling to her left. She backsteped to avoid a slash from an ursa and ducked to avoid another blow that would have cut her head off. She dodged to the left to avoid another strike and then she atacked. Her fists were a flurry of fire and death. She punched the ursa in the stomach sending it reeling. She then sent a hailstorm of punches to its face and the last sending it flying into a beowolf that had snuck up behind her partner.

Yang rushed over to help her partner out with a particularly troublesome pair of beowolfs. The raven haired girl that she had joined firces with when she landed jumped into the air and used her shadow clone to gain some extra height. She transformed her blade into its gun form and threw it at the beowolf to her left impaleimg it in its head and used her strength to pull herself with the teather atached to her blade and launched at the beowolf to her right. She shot towards the ground and brought her blades sheath to bear. The beowolf howled its challenge and stood on its hind legs posed to atack the black bulled flying towards it. The Grimm slashed with its claws when Blake came close enough but its hand was blown off by a hail of buckshot. It howled in pain but was silenced by Blake citing its head off. She landed in a crouch behind the Grimm and got up deliberately slow. She stood there for a second as the beheaded Grimm tottered and fell with a thud.

Yang put one hand on her hip and the other held limp at her side gently swaying back and forth.

"Well,that was a thing." Blake rolled her eyes as she pulled her sword from the dissipateing corps of the first beowolf. She hoped she dident make horrible puns often.

" Do you do that often?" Yang looked confused

"Do what often?"

"Make terrible puns"Blake grinned broadly

"You'l just have to wait and find out." She winked at her anoyed partner.

"You think this is it?" Yang asked nodding her head in the direction of the ruined buildings they had come across. Blake shrugged.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and find out." She said immitateing Yang."ooohh she's sassy to, I can realy choose huh." she thaught to herself with a smile. She started walking into the ruined town with her partner.

The town itself was nothing to gawk at but she had to admit it was pretty cool. There were five buildings in total. Four arranged at each corner of the area and one large open circular structure in the center held up by stone columns. Half of the domed roof had collapsed showing that the building was in fact very old as it also was decaying and was being consumed by nature with vines growing up the pillars. By the side of the ruin that haddent collapsed there sat pedestals arranged in a cemicircle. On some of the pedestals there were chess pieces.

Yang walked over to one of the pedestals and intently looked at a piece that looked like a horses head.

"Looks like we weren't the first ones here." Blake said looking over some empty pedestals.

"How about a cute little pony!" Yang exclaimed happily takeing the horse and raising it in the air for Blake to see.

"Shure why not." Blake said with a grin from her partners unbridaled enthusiasm.

"So should we wait here or- Blake dident get to finish her sentence as a loud boom shook the forest and black smoke could be seen over the horizon.

"Should we go and check tha- Yang dident get to finish her sentence either as loud wooping could be heard followed by several explosions. Suddenly something popped out of the treeline followed by a cloud of pink smoke. Yang raised her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun.

"Is... Is that a girl flying on a hammer?" She questioned. Blake cupped her eyes around her eyes and looked skyward.

"Yea I think...it is,and she is coming right towards us YANG MOVE!" Blake shoved yang out of the way and hit the deck. The girl flew over their heads and smashed into the pile of rubble where the building collapsed sending depris everywhere and a cloud of dust. Particles of rock fell off of the stone ceiling and the pillars shook on their foundations threatening to fall but stayed up somehow.

after a few seconds the dust cleared and they both poked their heads up.

"Yyyyeeeaaaa that was AWESOME let's do it again!" She raised her hammer high into the air.

"Nora?" Yang asked with a baffled expression on her face.

"Oh hey Yang how's it going!" She waved happily

" Oh I'm fine despite you trying to kill us!l

"hey you ducked your fine besides I dident know you were there."

"Wait Yang you know her?"

"Yea we talked briefly yesterday when me and my sister went to the cafeteria. Also Nora where's your partner?" Nora couldent hear her as she chess pieces were much more interesting than what she had to say. She picked up a piece that looked like a castle turret and looked at it in wonder. She then raised it high into the air and started dancing.

"I'm queen of the castle I'm queen of the castle." She chanted as she danced in a circle like a ballerina with the relic. Yang cupped her hands around her mouth.

"NORA!" A male voice sounded. Yang looked confused for a moment but then recognized the voice to be Nora's partner in crime. The boy was panting and had one hand on his knee as he leaned against a stone pillar.

"Please,don't ever do that again." He pleaded

"oh hi Ren." Yang waved to the boy. He just gave her a small solute in return. The four had selected their pieces and were ready to head to extraction but decided to wait a little longer to see if other students showed up. They took the time to explore what was left of the ruins. They were nothing special Yang but she couldent help but feel like this place had some kind of important to them, like they was something more to them than met the eye. The grey buildings were circular with domed roves ending in points at the top and all of them had the walll faceing the middle structure gone and had pathways leading to it. In addition to the pathways they had no windows or door just a wall was missing but not destroyed and in the center was a picture of something. One had a leaf another had a snowflake one had a flower and the last one had a sun on the floor dead center of the room.

Yang crouched down next to the picture of the sun and ran a finger over it collecting no dust or dirt.

"Wierd I sent it." Blake said as she to crouched next to her partner.

"Yea it is, each building is spotless and undamaged even though they are probably like a thousand years old. Hey did you notice that in this one it's warmer in here and colder in the one with the snowflake?"

"Yea I did that also puzzles me, this was probably a place for worship and the building itself is probably infused with dust." That sounded like sound logic to Yang and she dident realy think that much of it because she wasent required to buy Blake shure cared, and apparently so did Ren because he was lookeing at every inch of the place looking for...something.

"Ren what do you think?" He dident stop his searching but answered her question.

I think it's fair to say that Blake is probably right and I did find dust in each of the buildings foundations."

"Well I think it would be cool to play nights and castles in this place." Nora suddenly jutted in. Everyine in the room scowled at her. "What it was mjust an idea." She pouted. Nora began to grow restless not haveing something to do.

"Hey guys can we go now I don't think anyone's comi-" she stoped as she heard footfalls outside of the building. They all stoped and became silent. They waited until it could be heard again and they drew their weapons silently.

Yang cocked Ember Celica and Blake to had her Gambol Shroud ready. Ren and Nora were ready to spring into action. They all pressed against the wall with Ren in the lead. He put up three fingers. He slowly counted down and the other three got ready. His fingers got to two and Blake switched Gambol shroud to its gun form and Yang just had her fists up. He reached one and then balled his fist. The four sprang into action. Ren jumped out first followed by Yang and Nora with Blake behing them.

Yang and Nora screamed in unison loudly.

"Ahhhhhhhhh."

Yang stopped as a knife sailed past her head missing her by inches. She stood there in shock momentarily before she comprehended what had just happened, All their eyes fell upon a tan-skinned boy along with a very startled black giantess who held in her hands a giant battle axe. Nora Ren and Blake all lowered their weapons in unison,but didn't stow them. Yang however still had her fists up in a fighting stance.

"What the hell was that!" Yang cried pointing to where the knife that the boy had thrown now stuck out from the wall behind her.

The boy relaxed his stance but was still ready to move as the blonde girl in front of him still looked ready for a brawl." I don't know why did you decide to startle the shit out of me, you don't know who we were or how we would react." He shot back mockingly. Yang was furious

"Thats exactly why we decided to sneak atack you, for all we knew you could have been a beowolf or an ursa so don't talk to us about not saying anything." Blake buted in defending her partner.

"Oh yea definitely a good choice." Yang thaught.

"Well you dident have to come out in full force,I mean at least one of you knows how to be quiet and you look like you can be sneaky when you want to." He smiled a devilish grin. Blakes calm atmosphere quickly faded into anger.

"what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means my little shadow that-

"Enaugh!" The giantess burst out slamming the handle of her battle axe into the ground causing a few rocks to tumble down from the pile of ruble Nora had created."I've heard enough of this senseless bickering we have a mission and I to complete and damnit it will be completed. Everyone became silent despite how mad or entertained they were. They all awaited patiently as to see what she would do next. Even Nora was scared into silence by the assertive presence before her...and she wasent scared of anything or so she said.

"Finally someone is starting to talk sense around here." Ren stated

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yang and Blake scolded in unison. Ren clamed up not shure what to do with the newly kindled fire in front of him.

"I uh um." He backed up with his hands raised in a defensive gesture.

Just as The two girls were ready to assault the boy a defending act each could be heard overhead.

"If you three are done I think we have company, so pull yiurselves together and get ready for a fight!" The giantess once again asserted her presence. No one questioned her order and they all brought their weapons to bear.

Alright well there you guys have it Sequestered Thorns chapter 3. I apologize again for the long wait but I got caught up with the holidays and back to school and such. I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday and that you will continue to anticipate the next chapter goodnight see you later.