Chapter 3

Bron went over his contingency plan. He didn't like forests; he always wanted to be able to see everything. Spent too much time in the desert, he figured. Ozpin had never said anything about a forest. Yet, through their earlier correspondence, he had learned to expect the unexpected when it came to Ozpin.

What he had expected was a challenge, but this? Find this object in a big area, things will be hunting you down at every moment, you have 3 days. Sounded exactly like his days as a bounty hunter. It was going to be a cakewalk.

The bushes to the right of him rustled, and, out of the corner of his eye, Bron could see the glowing red eyes of a Grimm. A low growl could be heard as the beowolf tried its best at stealth, stalking its prey. Bron swiftly drew Eta and put a bullet directly between its eyes, without hesitation and not 1cm off center. The beowolf was dead before it even knew it had been detected.

Now where was I? Oh yes, the back-up plan. As much as Bron hated the forest he needed a way to at least escape in the event that the initiation wasn't completed. From what he saw when he was launched—what was that about anyway?—the forest seemed to stretch into various parts of the continent. Finding an escape route to the city or at least to some sort of settlement would prove difficult seeing as Bron was more suited to a—well—more open environment.

Damn he hated the forest.

Bron walked through the brush into a small clearing, coming face to face with a few large Grimm.

Now let's run by the list:

-One large looking Ursa? Check.

-Two mean looking Beowolves? Double Check.

-One handsome Hero, with dashing good looks, and a two shiny pistols? Better believe that's a Check.

We got the makings of a rumble.

"You boys wouldn't have happened to have seen a nice lookin' artifact round these parts, would ya?" Bron quite politely asked the tall, shadowy, creatures. They stared intensely at his belt, which held a nice looking hunk of rock with a glowing purple crystal. "Nah, nah, fellas, see I already have this one! I guess I can find this on my own then, thanks. Now, no need to get up, I'll just leave you gentlemen to it." The ursa roared. "Alright, ladies! No need to fuss about it!"

They charged.

Bron noticed the ursa was up front, so, needing the extra fire power, he reached behind his back to pull out Lambda instead of his pistols. The sawn-off fired quickly into the oncoming Grimm and blew half its head on to the rest of the approaching enemies. Bron reached for Iota and rolled to the left as the beowolf took a swing. A bullet pierced its temple, and it crumpled with a 4 inch-wide hole on the other side of its head.

Switching Lambda to mace-mode in one hand, he used Iota to blow the knee off the other storming beowolf. With Mace-Lambda firmly in hand, Bron side-stepped and liberated the crippled Grimm of its head.

The crystal faded to a dull violet as Bron looked around and saw no Grimm left in the area.

He really hated these forests.

Bron checked his surroundings. Despite the mess of Grimm now stacked to his left, the clearing he was in made a nice camp spot. And the clearing was in a big dip in the forest, so, despite lack of vision due to the trees and hillside, it was less likely to be noticed by passing Grimm.

Well, besides the stupid glowing fossil thing on his hip. Whatever, he thought, I'm just complaining. The sun had dipped below the tree line and now bathed the treetops with a nice orange glow. This is where he'd setup camp for the night.

Night was upon the forest and the blackness of it seemed to suffocate Bron. He loved seeing the stars and the moon at night, but when he looked up, all he saw was a canopy of the dark treetops high above that now blocked his view. The same could be said for his surroundings; nought but darkness encircled his small camp. Bron was used to seeing anything for miles, even in the darkness of the night.

Man, he really hated this forest.

The small fire he had lit made a small, flickering border around his camp. He knew it was risky, but it was his only method of keeping warm during the cold desert nights. Besides, he wasn't necessarily worried about the Grimm anymore. A small piece of cloth from a special shroud he'd taken from a dead bounty seemed to be enough to dampen the effects of the Grimm artifact. So he could rest easy.

But—like he said—it wasn't Grimm he was worried about.

Bron had suspected he wasn't alone, and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw what appeared to be a giant spinning blade go flying above the treetops when he was setting up camp. There were others in this forest, also probably trying to get the artifact.

Things had gotten a bit more interesting.

Unfortunately that meant little sleep was to be had, as the consequence of a fire was to stay up to make sure no one else saw it. But sleep slowly crept up on Bron anyway; his eyes started droop and he stifled a yawn. He shook his head. I must stay awake! He ordered himself. Who knows what else is out there?

As if in answer to his question, the smallest hint of a creak was made north-west of where Bron sat. His eyes, adjusted to the light as they were, saw only a small glint of the firelight off metal from somewhere in the trees. But that was enough. Bron reached for his pistol.