Laying on his back, Shiruba had one thought running through his mind. "…Shiiiittt!" Laying on his back, he was staring into a pair of pale blue eyes. Looking up at his rescuer, Shiruba pondered the two possibilities there were. Either he was just saved by another student, and having looked them in the eyes, ruined his chances for being partners with his sister...or he had just met something much, much worse than a beowolf. Shiruba couldn't decide which of the two options was worse.

Rolling over, Shiruba struggled to his feet using Tsukiakari for support. Still tired from using his semblance, and the fight with the beowolves, Shiruba wasn't confident in his abilities to escape what creature was before him. Slapping a fresh clip into Tsukiakari, he prepared to flee from whatever was lurking in the bushes, when a girl stepped out of the bushes rather than a monster. Shiruba recognized the grappling hook at one end of the girls' weapon as the one that had saved his life moments before. The rest of the weapon seemed to be a large scythe, though it didn't seem capable of changing forms like his Tsukiakari.

As the girl walked towards him, Shiruba took stock of her appearance. A little shorter than he was, Shiruba was surprised to see a pair of black, leathery bat ears upon her head. Wearing a black, gothic styled dress cut above her knees with a pair of combat boots, the only armor she seemed to be wearing was what looked like it was part of a knight's set of armor, covering her left arm much like his sister's armor. The newcomer's armor, however, only traveled about halfway up her bicep rather than all the way up her arm. In sharp contrast to her ears, her white hair was tied into pony-tails on either side of her head, going down the entire length of her back.

Standing before Shiruba, she looked at him, seemingly curious but at the same time very cautious. Sighing, Shiruba scratched the back of one of his fox ears as he debated what to say to the girl. Her eyes getting round, she seemed to have just realized that Shiruba, like her, was a faunus. Feeling a bit less worn out than he did before, Shiruba stood up straight and decided to be the first to speak.

"Thanks for the help back there, another minute and I'd have been in that guy's stomach" Shiruba quietly said to her. "I'm Shiruba, Shiruba Fokkusu."

Looking at him for a minute, the girl responded "Hikari Gurē." As she said this, she hefted the large scythe onto her shoulder, holding onto it with one hand.

Impressed, Shiruba decided to take his chances with this girl. "Well, Hikari, it seems we are now partners." Shiruba said as he held out his hand.

Gripping her scythe tightly, the girl reached out tentatively and grasped Shiruba's hand, shaking it firmly. Shiruba was surprised at just how firm her hand was. "Just goes to show, never judge a book by its cover." he thought to himself.

.Looking up at him, Hikari addressed him. "I hope we can work well together, Shiruba" she quietly said. Having said this, she took a step back, and Shiruba watched as the grappling hook at the end of her scythe folded up, and reeled back into a cavity, causing the scythe to have a regular end. "I would never have noticed that, if had hadn't seen the hook beforehand." Shiruba thought to himself.

Turning towards the direction of the ruins, Shiruba began to walk, using Tsukiakari to support him, as he still wasn't back up to full strength. "What was that?" he heard behind him. Assuming they were about to be attacked again, he froze, changing Tsukiakari back into rifle form, when he felt Hikari's hand on his shoulder. "No, I mean before. During the fight with the beowolves, when you were about to get hit in the back, you just disappeared. What was that?" she questioned him.

Returning Tsukiakari to cane form, he turned toward her. "That," he responded, "was my semblance. I call it "Phase-Jump". It allows me to cover a short distance in an instant, handy for me to avoid most attacks. Without it, that beowolf would probably have torn my back to shreds."

Still curious, she continued on. "Why didn't you use that when the last one attacked you, then?" she asked, as they both turned and continued towards the ruins.

"Though, phase-jump is useful, it is very costly, using up most of the energy I have at any one point. As of now, I can only use it once without having to rest afterward. It's not very practical to use in real combat yet, but I have my hopes." Shiruba answered her. "What about you? That's the most peculiar scythe I have ever seen, and I've seen some crazy weapons in my time." he asked.

Lifting her weapon up, she showed the scythe to him. "This is Alkamra. Made of a strong but light alloy, it's easier for me to use this than many other weapons" she explained. "Though lacking in ranged capabilities, the grappling hook that you saw earlier gives me a way to balance the playing field." Pressing a button on the lower half of the scythe, a section at the end of the scythe opened up, and the grappling hook extended out. Holding it up for Shiruba to see, Hikari cautiously took a step forward.

Examining the hook, Shiruba whistled quietly. "I sure wouldn't want to be caught by that. The hook looks almost as sharp as the scythe blade."

Pressing the button to retract the hook, Hikari motioned towards Shiruba's cane. "What about that cane?" she asked. "From what I've seen, its alternate form is a small rifle, right?"

Shiruba nodded and held up the cane. "This is Tsukiakari. As you've seen, it's also a gun, a PDR to be precise." Changing his weapon to rifle form, Shiruba showed her the weapon. "The subsonic rounds let me use a suppressor, but lack in up front killing power."

Nodding as the two continued on their way, Hikari responded, "That would make sense as to why you were using so many shots on the beowolves. I was wondering why they seemed to be walking through most of your hits."

Hearing a roar off to the side, the two immediately gripped their weapons, ready to be attacked by another Grimm. Shiruba turned to look at Hikari. "I'll move up first, and let you know if it's safe. I can get pretty close without getting caught."

Ignoring him, Hikari pointed the lower end of her scythe off in the distance, and launched her grappling hook. A moment later, she shot away, leaving Shiruba behind as she rocketed toward the direction the roar came from. Cursing, Shiruba changed Tsukiakari to rifle form and chased after her.

A few minutes later, Shiruba caught sight of Hikari sitting up in a tree, watching something in the distance. Using Tsukiakari in it's cane form, Shiruba scaled his way up the tree to join her. "What the hell was that?" He exclaimed as he sat next to her. "Why the hell didn't you at least wait for me?"

Not bothering to look at him, Hikari answered "You were too slow. Anyways, look over there. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Hikari pointed off into the distance.

"Well...fuck," Shiruba thought to himself, "so much for getting along with my new partner." He would have so much rather teamed up with Mori. Looking in the direction Hikari indicated, Shiruba was shocked to see some of the other students. This however, was not the cause of his shock. What he wasn't expecting was for the students to be fighting a deathstalker. As if that wasn't enough, the largest nevermore Shiruba had ever seen was flying around, seemingly harassing the group.

"We need to go help them, there's no way they can fight those things off themselves." Hikari announced as she prepared to leap from the tree. Before she could however, Shiruba grabbed her arm tightly.

"What are you doing? We have to go help them!" Hikari exclaimed.

Shaking his head, Shiruba said "They seem to be handling it well enough on their own. Besides, you should have noticed those aren't the only Grimm in the area either. From what I can hear, there seems to be a large pack of Grimm heading this direction, most likely they heard the sounds of the fighting over here. Those guys will be much worse off if a pack of beowolves were to appear. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few ursa with the pack. If you really insist on helping them, we should head off the reinforcements."

Glaring at him, Hikari sighed. "Fine, we'll do it your way. What do you suggest we do?"

"We go over there, and we kick some ass!" answered Shiruba confidently.

Staring at Shiruba for a good few seconds, Hikari cracked a smile, soon followed by full on laughter. After the laughter subsided, Hikari brushed away tears from laughing so hard, she said "Now that's a plan I can get behind! Nice and simple!" Gripping her scythe, Hikari prepared to leap out of the tree once again. "This time, try to keep up!" she said as she let herself fall from the tree, launching her hook off into the distance, and sped off once again.

Leaping from the tree, Shiruba put his skills to use, leaping from tree to tree, sometimes swinging from a branch with his cane. As he continued on his way, he began to wonder. "Just what am I doing?" he thought to himself. "How in the hell am I talking to her normally and casually?" Shiruba never really trusted people, and for good reason. He knew that when in combat, he was able to address others normally. However, back there, he had been talking to Hikari like he would to Mori. Well, maybe not that casually, but much more so than he normally could with people. "What was it about her?" he wondered. What normally made him wary of others, he found to not be a problem with Hikari. "Maybe it's because we are partners I feel I am able to trust her so much."

Hearing Hikari let loose a war cry up ahead, Shiruba assumed she had found the pack of Grimm. "Oh well," he thought to himself, "I'll figure it out some other time." With that, Shiruba launched himself through the trees and into the clearing ahead.

~End Chapter 3

A/N- Well guys, what do you think of Hikari? Betcha never heard of a bat-faunus before! Props to my friend, who shall be known simply as N, for coming up with her. Lemme know what you guys think! It really means a lot to hear from those of you guys who read my story, and I'd love to hear your thoughts, guys!

Chapter Four is in the works, so don't worry, it should be out before too long! Happy reading!

~Tyler