"Think that's the place?" Vincent asked Teresa as they approached what they could only assume to be the abandoned temple.
"Must be." Teresa responded, "We haven't seen any other man made structures in this forest." Said structure was a number of stone pillars arranged in a semicircle around a stone platform in the middle of a large clearing. As the two teammates approached the temple, two other initiates were just exiting the temple.
"Well looks like we aren't the first ones here." Vincent commented as the other two came closer. One was a large boy with lightly tanned skin, wearing a green robe with some armor over his left arm and brown pants. A sword that was larger than Vincent was strapped to his back.
The girl next to him was about a foot shorter, but walked with an easy confidence. It was clear to Vincent by how she walked at the front, that in their team the big guy deferred to her. She wore a black and brown long sleeved shirt, a dark brown scarf and beret, aviator sunglasses and black pants. An old shield was strapped to her back, and in her hand was a large purse with a strap that seemed to double as a bandolier. Vincent could only assume that she kept her weapon inside the purse.
'Although why she wouldn't just leave the purse and carry the weapon into a combat zone is just beyond me. Women.'
"Hey Coco." Teresa called out as she moved ahead of Vincent to meet them. "How's your day been?"
The girl, Coco, smiled, "Smooth sailing since we landed. Right Yatsuhashi?"
"We haven't seen a single grimm the whole time we've been here." Yatsuhashi replied, "How have you two fared?"
"Ran into some ursae on the way here, but nothing we couldn't handle." Vincent stated before introducing himself.
"Yatsuhashi Daichi. Honored to meet you." Yatsuhashi said shaking his hand.
"I'm Coco Adel," the girl said while lowering her shades to get a better look, "Love your outfit. Burgundy is definitely your color."
"Thanks" Vincent said while glancing down at his vest. "So did you guys get your relic?"
"Yep." Coco turned to give them a better look at the shield on her back. "You guys should go grab yours. We can head back together."
"You sure?" Teresa asked, "We don't want to hold you up."
"There is safety in numbers." Yatsuhashi replied.
"We'll be right back then." Vincent said as they entered the temple. Around them were several old, rusted weapons, and bits of armor on pedestals.
"So how do you know Coco?" Vincent asked as he and Teresa started looking at the various weapons.
"We just met last night. This guy named Yuri and I were looking for potential partners. Turns out she's from Atlas like me and we kinda hit it off. Then Yuri and Yatsuhashi got into a big arm wrestling match." Teresa replied as they came to stop at an old sword. "How about this one?" Teresa asked, lifting the blade up with both hands. Vincent examined the blade closely, before the weapon on the pedestal next to it caught his eye. A worn, splintery crossbow with a broken string. Gingerly he picked it up and braced it against his shoulder like he was aiming it. He smiled as he looked to Teresa who raised an eyebrow at his choice.
"Crossbows are to Helsings, what whips are to Belmontes." he explained as he looped the strap over his shoulder. Teresa chuckled as she replaced the rusted blade. Her hand drifted to the whip on her belt and affectionately patted the handle of Nebula.
"So where's yours then?" she asked as they turned to leave the temple. "You the odd one out?"
"Heh, you sound like my mother." Vincent laughed, "She and my sister damn near shot me with theirs when I showed off Flare for the first time."
"When I said I wanted to shoot something, I was hoping for something that wasn't flipping bulletproof!" Roland shouted as he held tightly to Yuri while the faunus bulldozed his way through the forest. Despite Roland's shots causing minimal damage to the pursuing beringel. The gunslinger kept firing at the beast, pausing only to either reload or switch guns. It was during one of his reloads that Roland noticed that Yuri seemed to be slowing down.
"Whoa, whoa there buddy. Please tell me you're not getting tired." Roland pleaded as he looked back to see the beringel was closing the gap.
"No... there's a group... up ahead." Yuri panted, "We will fight the beast together."
"Right, well first we gotta get there." Roland muttered as he turned to fire at the grimm once more.
Outside the temple, Coco and Yatsuhashi waited for Vincent and Teresa to pick their relic. After a few minutes the two of them emerged from the temple, a splintery, old, crossbow hanging at Vincent's side.
"You picked that old thing?" Coco asked, tilting her sunglasses to examine it.
Vincent glanced at the old stick flinger before he shrugged, "Sentimental reasons." Coco shrugged as she pushed her glasses back up and hefted her bag. She walked over to Teresa. The Belmonte was staring at some trees off in the distance.
"Something up Terri?" she asked.
"Do you hear something?" Teresa asked, tilting her head to the side slightly. Coco strained her ears trying to pick up whatever Teresa was hearing.
bang. Bang. BAng! BANg! BANG!
"Something's coming!" Coco shouted to the two boys, who were by their sides immediately. Yatsuhashi and Vincent had both drawn their swords. Teresa had uncoiled her whip, and Coco rested her hand on her bag. The four of them turned to the direction the gunshots were coming from. Before long someone emerged from the forest, running straight towards them.
"That's Yuri." Teresa stated, just as a large gorilla like grimm burst from the trees behind them.
"That's a beringel." Vincent stated as his other hand seized the handle of his triple barreled shotgun. The four of them were about to go to Yuri's aid when a low rumble diverted their attention in the opposite direction. Confused the four of them turned to see a rabbit faunus dressed in brown sprint from the forest. A dark skinned boy in orange was close behind her.
"Velvet?" Coco wondered, remembering the shy rabbit faunus she'd met yesterday. A few seconds after them came an entire horde of grimm.
"That's a lot of grimm." Yatsuhashi commented. Coco whistled as she recognized boarbatusks, beowolves, ursae, and nevermores in the horde.
"So which would you prefer?" Vincent asked her. Coco turned to Vincent as he gestured to the large beringel. The beast was currently trying its damndest to crush Yuri and his teammate. "Size or quantity?" He then pointed at the horde of grimm still chasing the other two students.
Coco patted her bag and smiled, "Yatsuhashi and I can handle the group. You and Terri go help her friend."
Vincent chuckled, "Sure you can take that many with that purse of yours?"
Coco's initial response was to simply smile as her bag unfolded itself into a massive minigun. Upon seeing Vincent's jaw drop open, she laughed, "I'm pretty sure I can handle it." she said with a wink.
Confidently, Coco and Yatsuhashi approached the oncoming horde. Velvet and her teammate rushed past. Now that they were safely out of the way Coco pulled the trigger of her weapon. A storm of bullets was unleashed, ripping through several of the pursuing grimm. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Yatsuhashi cleave through several grimm to her left. On her right she saw Velvet's teammate turn to fight off the beasts that tried to attack her from that direction. She wondered where Velvet was when the faunus walked up next to her. Coco raised an eyebrow when she saw a hardlight copy of her own minigun firing into the horde as well. With Coco and Velvet mowing down the grimm in the center. Yatsuhashi guarding their left, and Velvet's teammate their right. Coco was sure they'd finish in no time.
Yuri grunted as he barely held back the beringel's punch. Before the grimm could pull its fist back Yuri latched onto its wrist and dug his feet into the ground. As he did so, Roland slid underneath Yuri's legs and fired his pistols right at the grimm's face.
The shots seemed to actually hurt the beast. Actually causing it to flinch from the impacts instead of flat out ignoring them. Yuri felt the beringel's muscles tighten in his grip. The faunus braced himself, trusting his aura to keep him rooted as the beringel tried to pull away from him.
Once he felt the tug on the grimm's arm, Yuri simply let go and the beast stumbled backwards. The beringel recovered faster than Yuri had anticipated however. With a savage roar the beast attacked with a savage punch.
Yuri threw up his arms to defend himself against a blow that never landed. Right before the beringel's punch made contact, a portal opened up between them. The beringel fell right through the portal with surprised yowl . The grimm appeared and instant later, behind Yuri, its' fist deep in the ground.
Another portal opened up above the gorilla monster and a figure in red and burgundy dropped out of it. The stranger landed on the beast's shoulder and shot it right in the head with a triple barreled shotgun.
The grimm roared in anger as its head jerked away from the impact. Other than some superficial surface damage, it seemed that anger was the only result the blast had.
"How are you doing Yuri?" Yuri turned to see Teresa standing right next to him, her whip uncoiled at her feet. She looked up and smiled at him.
Yuri smiled back, "A little tired from carrying him across the forest." he said gesturing to Roland as he came up beside them. The three of them watched as the boy in red leapt off the beringel to avoid being crushed against its' shoulder.
"Looking good, Vincent." Roland said as he landed in front of them.
"That's a tough monkey." Vincent breathed as he reloaded his shotgun. The beringel turned to glare at them, seeming to weigh its options for attack.
"Technically, it's an ape." Teresa pointed out.
"Monkey, ape, who cares? Anyone have any ideas for taking the damned thing out?" Roland asked as the beringel started to circle around them.
"I have the beginnings of one." Vincent replied, "Roland, you and I will distract the beringel. Make sure you keep light on your feet so that thing can't crush you. Terri, use your portals to make sure we don't get hit in case we slip up. Yuri, was it? You're the strongest out of us. When you see an opportunity, I want you to hit that thing as hard as you can."
"You came up with that plan awfully fast." Yuri commented as the beringel got tired of waiting and charged forward. Vincent smiled as he started moving forward with Roland.
"Sometimes you have to slow it down a bit."
Velvet sighed with relief as she and Coco mowed down the last group of grimm. Between the four of them, they had made rather quick work of the horde. As one, they turned to see Vincent's group facing off against a large gorilla like grimm. Vincent and a boy dressed like a cowboy were dancing around the beringel. Vincent slashed at the grimm's tough hide, while the cowboy fired his pistols. Neither of them seemed to be doing any damage to the grimm, but they were keeping it occupied.
That was when the largest person Velvet had ever seen slammed into the beringel. To her surprise the beast was knocked off balance. The beringel turned to counter attack the large man as a portal opened up above it. The cowboy dropped through the portal, onto its shoulders.
Before he could fire at its head however it reached up and grabbed the cowboy. It threw the gunslinger at a tree but before he slammed into it a portal opened up ahead of him. The cowboy simply flew through the portal. He skid across the ground for a few meters until he rolled to his feet and rejoined the action.
"We should help them out." Velvet said as she created a hard light copy of Yatsuashi's sword. She was about to join the fray when Coco placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Something tells me they can handle this themselves." Coco said with a smile. "Besides look at them. They're having fun."
Velvet turned to look again and sure enough a wide grin was plastered on each of their faces. Smiling herself Velvet let the hard light weapon fade. Seeing the opportunity in front of her, she took out her camera and started snapping pictures.
Vincent leapt away from the beringel's grasping hand and slashed at it with Daylight. Again, the blade failed to pierce the Beringel's thick skin. Yuri tackled the grimm before it could press on. The plan wasn't working. He and Roland were doing a fine job distracting it, and Yuri was actually hurting the beast. But none of them were doing enough damage to actually put the beast down. None of them could build enough force to break the damn thing's skin.
'Force. That's it!'
"Yuri!" he called out, "I need you to hold it in place!" Yuri grunted in response as he locked arms with the beringel. A faint gray aura glowed around Yuri as the grimm tried to overpower him. Surprisingly the beringel was unable to move him.
"Roland take out its knees!" Vincent called, tossing Flare over to him. Roland caught the shotgun and nodded. Rushing behind the beringel, Roland fired Flare at the backs of the beasts knees. The beast's hide was weaker there. The beast roared in pain as it fell onto its back.
"Terri, drop me off as high as you can above it."
"You sure?" the girl asked, a raised eyebrow speaking volumes to her doubt of this particular plan.
"Yeah." Vincent said. "It should be no worse than the drop we took to get here."
Teresa nodded as she opened two portals. At the same time, Vincent heard her mumble how there wasn't an angry bergingel waiting for them at the bottom of that drop. One appeared a hundred feet above the downed beringel. The other opened right below Vincent. Vincent let his semblance take hold as he fell through, slowing his perception of time to a crawl.
With the increase in reaction time, he calculated the angle he would need to survive this crazy stunt of his. He only had to slightly alter his angle of descent. Vincent stabbed Daylight down as he got closer to the beringel on the ground.
This time the point of his blade pierced the beast's chest with relative ease. After all, force was mass times acceleration.
The blade buried itself halfway up its length in the grimm's body. Vincent landed on the beast's body, his aura absorbing most of the impact. With a groan, Vincent rolled off the beringel. His legs were about to give out when he felt one of the others sling his arm across their shoulders.
"I got ya boss." Roland laughed, adjusting his grip on Vincent's arm.
"Remind me... to never... do that again." Vincent breathed as the others all ran over.
Teresa stood proud and at attention as she and her teammates waited for Ozpin to call them up to the stage. To her left stood Roland and Yuri, to her right Vincent with a bandage wrapped around his ankle. Up on the stage Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch were announcing the new teams.
"Coco Adel, Velvet Scarlatina, Yatsuhashi Daichi, and Fox Alistair." Ozpin announced as the students in question climbed the steps. "For collecting the sword and shield you are now, Team CFVY, led by Coco Adel. I wish you the best during your time here." The newly minted Team CFVY stepped down from the stage as Teresa and her team started up the steps. Teresa couldn't help but smile at Roland's response when asked why he chose crossbow bolts.
"How could I say no to the world's first bullets?" Roland said with a toothy grin.
"And finally, Vincent Helsing, Teresa Belmonte, Roland Harker, and Yuri Hawthorne. For collecting the crossbow and bolts you are now, Team VTRY, led by Vincent Helsing."
Teresa expected to be upset over not being the leader of the team. She found it rather strange that she seemed at peace with Vincent's appointment. She watched as Roland shook her leader by his shoulder. At the same time, Yuri clapped his colossal hand across his back, almost knocking the poor guy on his face. She followed as he, with his head held high, limped off the podium and stood by Team CFVY. She smiled as she remembered him taking command during the battle with the beringel. His quick assessment of the strengths of his team before assigning them their roles. How he'd worked out how to defeat the beringel and opted to do it himself, in spite of the danger.
As it turned out Yuri was wrong. Vincent wouldn't make an excellent teammate. He'd make an excellent leader.
A/N: Well there we have it. Teams CFVY and VTRY are officially formed... Next come their greatest challenge yet, classes! Hoped you all enjoyed and as always reviews are welcome. Thank you for your time.