Author's Note: Okay, so after some consideration, I decided that it made the most sense to finish Corolla's initiation first before anything else, so here we are, but rest assure, to make up for this fact, the next two chapters will be back before RWBY & JNPR's graduation in order to balance things out. In the long run, I've got a vague idea for approximately twenty chapters, but as for exactly how long the story will be, I'm going to play it a little by ear. This chapter on the other hand, turned out a lot longer than I thought that it was going to, and may possibly be the longest one of the series simply because I just kept going while writing it as I tried to make a good stopping point. Hopefully it worked out okay, but you'll have to be the judge. As always, I hope that you enjoy, and I appreciate any feedback you care to leave, so for now, I'll leave you to it.
Corolla Mädchen the Beacon Initiate
"So uh… Piper…" Corolla began as she and her newfound partner proceeded through the woods toward their goal, "Do you make a habit of playing the flute in a forest packed full of bloodthirsty monsters?" It was meant to be a joke. Sort of.
Piper wasn't laughing – although she did not seem particularly angered either, "It helps me focus," was all the response Corolla got.
"Okay, I can respect that…" Corolla shrugged, pushing aside a branch as she passed, "I take it music's a hobby of yours then?"
"After a fashion,"
"Cool… I like flowers…" Corolla offered, trying to make conversation. Unfortunately, Miss Hamelin didn't bite. Not really the conversational type I guess… Corolla thought, resigning herself to a quiet partnership already, You really should have expected this though; you been spoiled hanging out with Rhiannon all through Signal… I mean, just because you like to talk to your flowers doesn't mean everyone else is a motor-mouth… Corolla sighed, "Well then… next stop, Forest Temple… I guess…"
"So it is,"
Now she talks!? Corolla's eyebrow twitched, No, no Corolla, she's right; eyes on the prize…
Indeed, it seemed that Piper Hamelin was not the most social of comrades, a fact which made the trek through almost half a mile of particularly dense forest beside her a rather awkward experience. Corolla had chosen this particular stretch of woods between the clearing in which they'd met and their destination so as to minimize the potential for Grimm encounters and hopefully thereby shorten their trip, but while they had yet to see hide or pelt of so much as a single Grim since, Corolla had underestimated the difficulty of navigating the terrain. They were making plenty of progress, certainly, but Corolla had hoped to have had their relic by now and been on their merry way back.
Corolla flinched as a small branch whipped back in her face, Crap! That stings…. She shot a glance over her shoulder at Piper, who appeared unmoved, Partner or not, I may as well be alone anyway… Except that at least when I'm actually alone there's no one to see those little screw-ups…
"Wait," Piper suddenly spoke from behind her, pointing ahead, "The forest thins out ahead,"
At first Corolla shot her partner a perplexed look, but then realization dawned on her as she looked ahead carefully. The way ahead was indeed much less densely packed with trees, but it hadn't grown that way – the crushed stumps and leveled saplings were proof enough of that. Some of the leveled trees and brambles looked like they were starting to rot, but others were quite fresh with leaves still green on the fallen branches. Noting these abnormalities in particular, Corolla tapped her Semblance and began sifting through the recent history of her immediate surroundings, her expression forming a hard line when she reached about twelve hours previously and saw something rather large slither past, not a dozen feet ahead of them.
"Okay, we've got a problem; this is a King Taijus territory…"
"Then we kill it," Piper responded matter-of-factly.
Corolla shot her a quizzical look, "Or we could sneak around it to avoid unnecessary risks…"
Hamelin was unmoved, "To do so would leave a dangerous foe at our back," the words were reasonable enough, but the way she said it… "Unless you would rather not get your hands dirty?"
"Kinda ironic coming from you," Corolla shot back whilst looking for the narrowest patch of open ground to cross before re-entering the thick of the forest, "Seeing as you had those Beowolves slaughter each other… How did you do that anyway?"
"Ends and means, Miss Mädchen; the result is what matters. You ought not concern yourself,"
Somehow that doesn't make me feel better… Corolla sighed, "Alright fine, we'll compromise: we sneak through the woods and kill it if we see it. Sound good?"
"Very well," Piper accepted as Corolla waved for her to follow towards the best place to cross the open ground.
Right, common ground…. It's like we're a team already… Corolla thought somewhat sarcastically, But at least it's something…
Corolla glanced to the left and the right as she reached the tree line, and seeing nothing, motioned for Piper to cross. While she did indeed cross as signaled, Piper Hamelin apparently had a very different idea about sneaking through the woods than did Corolla; Corolla had in mind to dash quickly across the expanse and get back to cover on the other side as quickly as possible, whereas Piper calmly stepped from the trees on there one side and crossing in a brisk stride rather than a run. Corolla's eyebrow twitched, Well so much for quick… Once Piper was across, Corolla darted across as planned, and the two of them slipped back into the woods. Unfortunately it seemed that Piper's approach was the smarter choice after all, as upon reaching the opposite tree line Corolla's foot struck a downed tree branch, resulting in a very loud snap, promptly succeeded by a loud, guttural hiss.
"Crap…"
"It seems that we are to do this my way after all," Corolla could practically hear the smug smirk on the taller girls face.
"Shut up…" Corolla grumbled, "It would have worked…"
"Perhaps," Piper allowed, drawing her sword nice and slow, "Had you been more cautious maybe; always better to be deliberate than hasty,"
"Hey! I am not hasty!"
Piper gestured behind Corolla with her free hand, "I'd wager that King Taiju begs to differ,"
Corolla blinked, then looked over her shoulder, "Huh… you uh… you don't say…" As the white head of the monster reared up to strike, Corolla bolded further into the woods to avoid the incoming strike, "Get into the trees! We can outmaneuver it in the confined space!"
With a silent nod, Piper followed Corolla's lead, and the two of them moved back into the thick of the woods. In mere moments though, the hissing two-headed beast was in pursuit, weaving it's way through the broader gaps in the trees and knocking the smaller ones down wholesale in its wake. The thing's a lot faster than I was expecting…
"Hey piper?" Corolla called as she ran ducking under branches and weaving around trees, "Any chance you could play that flute and make it go crazy like those Beowolves? Like, I don't know, have one head eat the other or something!?"
"Yes," the Raven-haired girl answered, more calmly than one might think possible for one running through a dense forest from a monstrous serpent out for one's blood, "but not yet,"
"What do you mean 'not yet'!?" Corolla shouted back exasperatedly.
"I mean precisely what I said, Miss Mädchen," Piper shot back tersely.
Okay then… Corolla fumed, So option one: keep running until creepy flute girl decides she's 'ready.' Option two… Corolla pulled the first few inches of Löwenzahn's longer half a few inches free of its sheath and veered off to double back, Take advantage of your smaller size to attack…
As she doubled back, Corolla gave the monster's leading head a wide berth, waiting until the head had passed before she darted back between the trees to make a pass at its slithering abdomen. It was a big one, with a girth approaching four feet and nearly a hundred feet long, and given that size, it was also rather fast; the serpent's black half – presently leading – had nearly passed her position already. Wasting no further time on idle observation, Corolla closed the space between herself and the writhing mass of scales and muscle, lunging over its serpentine form and drawing her sword midair, cutting a deep gash in the beast's body just a yard or so past where the white half began. The monstrosity lurched to a stop as the white section reared up and bellowed in agony. Her first instinct was to bolt when the tailing half of the beast thrashed, leveling dozens of trees in an attempt to crush it's assailant, but reason dictated that the safest place to be – for the moment at least – was where the two halves joined and neither was in full control, so rather than run, she made for the juncture of the two halves of the snake, sword at the ready. Reaching her destination, she swung her blade in a broad upward arc, hewing into the great serpent's flesh as she did so. Needless to say, both ends of the monster took exception to that.
"Hey uh, Piper!?" Corolla shouted as the two heads both reared up to strike at her, "A little help?" What she got in answer was the howls of Beowolves nearby; the Taiju's bellowing had drawn their attention, "Great… she's probably busy…"
As if to punctuate the assumption, the notes of Piper's flute began to emanate from nearby as the two heads of the King Taiju raced down to claim their prey, but Corolla hadn't the time to ponder how exactly playing a flute benefited Piper in a combat scenario. Indeed much more pressing on her mind was the matter of timing, as she managed to dive into a roll and out of the way of either tremendous Grimm head as they both impacted the ground where she'd been standing. Seeing an opportunity, she rushed the black head as it reeled from the effects of the failed impact, jumped, and plunged her sword into the back of the beast's skull. Unfortunately the beast's black half did not suddenly fall limp as intended.
Dammit! Missed the spinal column! Before she could make another attempt though, the archer was force to choose between abandoning her weapon or holding on for dear life as the creature began to flail. She chose the latter option, clinging desperately to the hilt of her sword as the Taiju reared up and slammed itself back down over and over again, and then began to race through the woods heedlessly knocking down trees in an attempt to scrape her off on one of the branches, Think Corolla! This probably looks bad but there's got to be some way to turn this around! Probably…
As she ducked a low-hanging bough racing by her, Corolla noted that, in its efforts to dislodge her, the monster was hastening in the general direction of the forest temple, which in turn gave her an idea. Letting go of the hilt of her embedded sword with her left hand only, Corolla drew her shorter blade and promptly used it to stab the black head through its left eye. Then, after a very careful swap of hands, she did the same with the right eye, in effect blinding the serpent's leading half.
Okay, so now for the risky part…
Glancing upward, she could see the broad clearing in which the 'forest temple' dominated about a hundred yards off on the left. After a brief pause to pray that this would work, Corolla drove the short blade into the right side of the Serpent's face, eliciting another bellowing roar and a bucking jerk that nearly threw her from her slippery seat at the back of its skull. Corolla managed to hold on though, and her fortitude was rewarded when the beast veered left as intended, and she removed the smaller weapon from its flesh when it faced exactly where she wanted it to go. This much achieve, she couldn't help reveling in the sheer absurdity of it all; the sort of thing was something she would've thought Rhiannon might try, but Corolla? Much too sensible for that sort of nonsense – at least that was how she thought of herself until now – but once she got past the angry hissing, occasional extraneous little tree branches smacking her in the face, and the very rational fear for life and limb, she couldn't really deny that, on some fundamental level, she was having fun.
"Oh hell yes!" she cheered as she rapidly approached her destination, "Hey Piper! If you can hear me, feel free to hitch a ride!"
Corolla received no response to her invitation though – not that she'd been expecting one- even assuming that Piper had heard her in the first place, what with her emphasis on 'not being hasty' riding on a King Taiju's back probably wasn't her thing… and viscerally awesome though it was, Corolla was also forced to admit that after about two minutes of it she was starting to feel nauseous… Fortunately enough, her opportunity to dismount her rampaging steed was rapidly approaching as the edge of the forest rushed up to meet her, only to present her with a whole new problem. Between Corolla and the forest temple a stone's throw away – stood quite possibly the biggest girl she'd ever seen rearing up to swing what was definitely the biggest sword she'd ever seen, and standing straight in their path.
Way to crash into hello!
All at once, Corolla pulled her long blade free of the beast and dove off into the grass to her right connecting the blades mid-air and rolling into a kneeling positon as she drew an arrow – not paying particular attention to the variety at the present – to draw and take aim at the serpent now barreling down on her fellow student. It seemed that her assistance was not required however, as in one motion the giant of a girl stepped to the side, swinging her Zweihander to catch in the Serpent's gaping maw. The beast's sheer momentum carried it onward regardless, sealing its own fate; its bulk split down the middle by the huge blade down several yards of the serpent before it finally lurched to a stop.
"Holy crap…" Corolla gaped at the display, bow still drawn; the mountain of a huntress to bee was still standing in place, calmly pulling her huge weapon free and casually swinging it to flick off the blood. Corolla's awe did not distract her when the White head reared itself and bellowed its rage. Without a second thought, she adjusted her aim and loosed the arrow, allowing herself a satisfied half smile as the projectile impacted and spawned a thick casing of ice around the monster's jaw, "Direct hit…" A further sound caught Corolla's attention amidst all the chaos though, as the telltale rushing noise, followed by the clank of a new slug being chambered sounded opposite the black heap of dead Grimm and a heavy round punched through the underside of the white head's skull, "Rhiannon!"
As the white head came thundering to the ground, disorientated but not quite dead, Rhiannon MacCoul did indeed vault atop the sprawled mass of the dying Grimm, running full tilt for the white head and spinning up the drill end of her spear so as to drive it through the base of the monster's skull upon arrival. This done, the cheerful redhead wiped a little sweat from her brow and turned Corolla's way, "Aye! I thought I 'eard ye over there!" She slid down the dead serpent's side, sparing a glance over to the towering swordswoman off to her left, "Looks like ye've already met Sleepyhead too!"
Corolla cocked her head as she got to her feet, looking back to the huge sword-wielder – presently bracing against the cross-guard of her Zweihander with the last few inches of the blade embedded in the ground, "Sleepyhead? Is she your partner?"
"Aye! 'At she is," Rhiannon gave her new partner a fond punch on the shoulder, "'Er name's Siggy… er… Shiny-whatever…?"
The massive girl yawned, her eyes fluttering open – Corolla had only then noticed that they had been closed, "My name is…." Another yawn, "Sieglinde Schönheitschlafen…" and her eyes fluttered shut again.
"Eh, like I said; Shiny-somethin'-er-other…" Rhiannon waved dismissively, "And ain't she a big'n?"
Corolla liked to think she was of about average height – maybe a little on the short side – but Sieglinde Schönheitschlafen towered over her. She had to be six feet easy, with pale green eyes – at least that's what Corolla thought she saw in the brief moment that they were open - and long blonde hair a few shades lighter than Corolla's own. Her attire was generally simple in nature – tunic, trousers, and boots – all in a lightish shade of purple. On top of the rather simple ensemble was another matter, for the mountainous girl didn't exactly pack light in the armor department. Heavy steel bracers, grieves, shoulder guards, and what looked to be a rather heavy breastplate were all in evidence, as well as a series of vaguely grenade-shaped devices hanging from a belt about her back.
"Um… nice to meet you?" Corolla offered a hand to shake, and received only a drowsy affirmative grunt in response. Perhaps Corolla was imagining it, but the giant of a girl sounded rather mousy for her sheer size, "I'm Corolla… I'm a friend of Rhiannon's…"
"Mhm…'
Corolla shot Rhiannon a raised eyebrow, "You sure this is the same girl who just split a King Taiju in half?"
"Aye," Rhiannon cracked a broad smile, "But she was asleepin' at the time…"
Corolla blinked, "What?"
"Gotta be 'er Semblance er somethin," Rhiannon conjectured, "She's kinda a scaredy cat with er wits about her… but damn can she fight in 'er sleep! I mean, I know I always joke 'bout that sorta thing, but she's the real deal!"
Corolla blinked again, "Yeah… I'd say that's uh… that's pretty evident..." Corolla chuckled, "I wish I could fight in my sleep…"
"Only way she can is the way it seems," Rhiannon added, "Too scared elsewise…" Rhiannon scratched the back of her head briefly before asking, "So… ye got a partner yet? Or ye make yer way ere by yer lonesome?"
"She does,"
Corolla jumped at the sudden sound of Piper Hamelin's voice from just over her shoulder, "Gah! Piper! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"You'd be dead had I meant you harm, Miss Mädchen," the raven-haired girl stated matter-of-factly before moving on into a slight bow to Rhiannon, "I am Piper Hamelin, and what am I to call you?"
It was the spear maiden's turn to shoot the archer a raised eyebrow, "She always this icy?"
Corolla just shrugged with a defeated expression.
Glancing back the newcomer's way, Rhiannon finally answered, "Eh, m'name's Rhiannon; this here's Siggy,"
Piper cast the huge, barely –if at all – conscious swordswoman an appraising look, "I see…"
"Well, now that that's out of the way..." Corolla interjected, somewhat inexplicably nervous, "I'd say that we all have artifacts to retrieve – unless you two got yours already?"
"Nah, we just got ere fore ye did – and then a bloody King Taiju comes barrelin' outta the woods – Gotta say Corolla, I didn't think that was yer style,"
"It isn't…" Corolla called over as she went to retrieve the arrow embedded in the white head of the serpent which had fell to earth a few yards away, "Just had to uh…" She grunted as she yanked the shaft free of the scale it had punctured, "To check Grimm rodeo off my bucket list…"
"Ah, ye should'a gone fer a Borbatusk; probably easier,"
"I'll remember that next time…" Corolla responded dryly as she returned and the four of them proceeded for the ruins just ahead.
As they entered the remains of what had probably once been a far more imposing structure, the four huntresses-to-be were presented with a space around whose edges could be seen dozens of pedestals, some empty and signaling that they were not the first to arrive, but more as yet held what appeared to be playing cards. There wasn't much else to be said of the supposed 'temple' all told; a ring of stone pillars supporting overhead slabs of granite forming a circle about the premises, and a few extraneous and partially crumbled heaps of stone worn down with age. For a moment, Corolla was tempted to use her Semblance to look back as far as she could to maybe, just maybe, see what the place had looked like in its hay day, but she dismissed the thought out of hand when she considered that looking further than a week backward was extremely taxing – let alone God-only-knows how many years since the temple had fallen into disrepair. All of those musings came to an end however, when Corolla heard Dust discharges off in the distance.
"Sounds like we're about to have company," Corolla remarked as she looked for the best way to get on top of the structure before settling on a broken column to her left, "Piper, grab a card; I'm gonna go see who's coming and what they've got tailing them,"
Without waiting for a response, Corolla made for the column, and jumping on top of that she then used the extra height to allow herself to leap to the stone slab above, as it was the best vantage point in the area. Once there, she scanned the surrounding area until her eyes snapped in the direction from which came the sounds of yet more howling Beowolves. Less than two hundred yards south of their position she could see red-orange and blue Dust discharges in another nearby glade, and her attention snapped to the sources: two of their fellow initiates, locked in combat with not Beowolves, but rather a pair of Ursa Major. Corolla recognized the pair from what little meeting and greeting she'd attempted the previous night – they were apparently from Vacuo and their names were Ami Terasu and Tsuki Yomikawa if memory served – but what mattered more at the moment was that, even if they could handle the two gargantuan Ursai with which they were presently faced, they were about to be mobbed.
"Hey!" Corolla shouted down to her own companions below, "We've got too other students due south who need a hand with some really big Ursai, and Beowolves incoming – lots, by the sound of it – any ideas?"
"Aye!" Rhiannon cheered, fingering the trigger for the gauss rifle built into the shaft of her spear, "I say we-,"
"Leave them,"
"What?" Corolla and Rhiannon both turn to stare in disbelief at the completely straight-faced Piper Hamelin as she collected one of the playing cards from the pedestal nearest her, and then collected the next to hand to Rhiannon.
"Our objective is met; we should return,"
Corolla drew her weapons and linked them at the hilts for her bow, "Okay, any plans that don't involve leaving our classmates to die? They could be our teammates Piper! Leaving them to their fate is out of the question!"
"…Huh? Wo's getting left to…" Sieglinde finally spoke up again, no longer quite entirely dead on her feet, "What's going on…?"
"No one is getting left," Corolla stated defiantly, her eyes locked with Piper's below, "We didn't come here so we could learn to leave people to die,"
Piper returned Corolla's judgmental glare with an unimpressed look of her own, "Very well Miss Mädchen, then draw one of your arrows and fire skyward; do make sure to make a spectacle of its detonation though,"
Corolla blinked, "What? But shouldn't I try to, I don't know, kill the Grimm attacking them-?"
"Then they will be just as dead by a different set of claws," Piper flatly rejected, coming up to level ground with Corolla to survey the situation for herself, "Just as I said, and they might have a chance,"
Corolla groaned, not much liking the idea of following Piper's lead given what her first choice had been, but nonetheless drew a fire arrow and obeyed. Pouring enough Aura into the crystal to fully expend it as she loosed the shaft almost straight up, Corolla delayed the actual detonation until it was a solid hundred feet overhead, at which point the nigh-invisible projectile erupted in a bright and loud conflagration most likely audible for miles. How's that for a 'spectacle?'
"Good," Piper nodded, although she did not sound overly impressed, "Now things are about to get… messy…" she looked down to Rhiannon and Sieglinde, still on ground level, "Brace yourselves,"
"Eh-?"
Rhiannon's question was suddenly cut off by the nightmarish sound of hundreds of Beowolves howling in unison, emanating from all directions. Perhaps it was Corolla's imagination, but the forest seemed to shake at the sound, but as she spared another look toward the clearing in which she'd seen the Ursai and her fellow initiates, she noted with some relief that, while the Ursai were still looking up at the fading explosion in the sky, Terasu and Yomikawa were nowhere to be seen, Looks like they got the hint… That's a relief… then more Grimm calls, Well except for that…
"Nice 'plan' Piper, we're about to be mobbed now ourselves…"
"You wanted to rescue them Miss Mädchen," Piper responded evenly, "None of us could have reached them in time, thus, this is the price of your little rescue; I suggest you make ready,"
Unbelievable! She just proposed leaving other people to die, and now we're about to be in the middle of a freaking horde, and she's still all stone cold about it? Is her heart made of granite or something? Casting her reservations aside for the moment, Corolla drew another arrow to place in the ready position, "You heard her Rhiannon; we're about to have company!"
"Aye, but er…"
Corolla glanced down to be met with a sight that almost made her laugh, even despite the circumstances – Sieglinde, who stood a full six inches taller than Rhiannon, appeared to be attempting to hide behind her, "Uh… Sieglinde…"
"Told ye she was a scaredy cat…" Rhiannon shrugged.
"Th-that just… i-it sounds l-like a lot of… a lot of…" the mousy giant stammered out.
"Oh certainly," It was Piper who responded in her same cold an level tone, "probably hundreds of Beowolves – not to mention at least two Ursai Major,"
Sieglinde began to hyperventilate of all things, "R-really?"
"Oh yes; we probably won't survive,"
"W-we… won't-?" And like that the huge girl's body went slack and she fell backward, to just barely be caught by a startled Rhiannon.
"Eh! The hell was that for?" she accused.
"You did say that she could only fight in her sleep, correct?" Piper shot back.
"Well… ya, but-,"
"She is now asleep, is she not?"
"Poor lass fainted-!"
"Psychosomatic stress-induced narcolepsy," Hamelin corrected, "It is the only explanation for her having made it here in one piece, assuming what you say about her both being a coward and fighting in her sleep,"
"Well… when ye put it like that-," Rhiannon was cut off as Sieglinde's muscles tensed and she stood herself back up, looking now for all the world to be awake, save that her eyes were heavily lidded – barely open at all really, "Bloody hell… it worked…"
Piper nodded, "Now, if you wouldn't mind, guide Miss Schönheitschlafen about front and prepare yourselves; we're about to be hit," She turned to Corolla, "Are you ready?" Corolla could hear the unspoken corollary to the question as plain as if it had actually been voiced, because what happens next is on you.
Corolla nodded, activating her Semblance to look thirty seconds forward and surveying the area below afresh, "Yes, Piper," She gestured south by southwest as she saw the figures of Ami and Tsuki emerge from the trees, "Our peers will make it here in less than a minute…" She accelerated her view until the first Grimm broke into view behind them, "Followed by an advance party from a pursuing pack of Beowolves about fifteen seconds later…" she looked a bit further forward in the same direction until she saw trees being knocked down as the lumbering Ursai Major could be seen approaching as well, "After that we have less than a minute before those Ursai are gonna be a problem, plus, God only knows how many Beowolves will have showed up…" She turned to face Piper again, "How many of them can you um… mind control like you did earlier?"
It was weird to watch Piper respond to the question, as Corolla hadn't yet deactivated her Semblance, and was seeing Piper raising her flute to her lips, even as she was hearing her dismissive and frustratingly condescending answer, "Mind control? Don't be ridiculous; just a little suggestion. As for how many… not enough, so do be ready with that bow,"
Corolla groaned, but nonetheless raised her bow to take aim where the first Beowolves would emerge, deactivating her Semblance in time to see, as predicted, Ami Terasu and Tsuki Yomikawa come running into the open, Right there then… She drew a fire arrow, waiting to time it just right, Distance, about thirty-five yards… so time to target at full draw would be… shy of two seconds… She activated her Semblance again, tuning it three seconds forward, and drew back her aura-bowstring. At the sight of the first Beowolf, she counted off one second, exhaled, and released. Blinking her vision back to the present, she watched her arrow impact its target full in the shoulder and then explode, taking the three other Grimm in close proximity with it. Good shooting Corolla; keep it up…
The most immediate threat dealt with, Corolla looked down to greet the latest human arrivals, "Hi there! Ami and Tsuki, right?"
The taller of the two – Ami – nodded and answered between deep breaths, "Yeah… Corolla, right?"
"That's m'name," Corolla nodded, doing a humorous little salute just to spite the circumstances, "Why don't you two grab your card and get back out here to back us up; things are about to get hairy…"
"No argument here,"
At the sound of another roar – signaling the two Ursai Major barreling through the woods – the brief conversation broke and Corolla re-strung her bow with a frost arrow this time. As she drew this one though, the dam broke, and out from the forest in nearly every direction poured Beowolves and the occasional minor Ursa, "I… think we might be in trouble…"
While she remained certain that helping her peers out had been the right decision, Corolla couldn't help but wonder if the fireworks display that Piper had suggested had been the best idea after all, but what was done was done, and she didn't have a better idea, so she loosed the arrow at the nearest cluster of black pelt and bone masks whilst Piper raised her flute to play in real time now. As the first notes drifted out on the breeze, Corolla recognized the tune as that eerily depressing piece that Piper had favored earlier, and like before, nearby Grimm began to fall upon each other like squabbling children. Just… more blood…
As she reached over her shoulder to take another arrow, Corolla called down to Ami again, who was presently inside the temple area, "So… what kinda ordinance do you have with you?"
Having selected their card, Ami produced a three-segmented staff with a curved blade on either end, and Tsuki hastened to join Piper and Corolla on their elevated position, what appeared to be a bull-pup assault rifle with a downward pointing blade below the muzzle held at the ready, "Purified burn Dust," Ami answered for herself before gesturing up to her partner, "Tsuki favors frost rounds, but both of us can handle melee combat if it comes to that,"
Corolla tried very hard not to notice the way Piper rolled her eyes as she played, "Trust me; it will. Those two huge Ursai followed you,"
Ami fixed the segments of her staff into one contiguous shaft, "So they have… Two of them at once was just a bit much…"
"Oy! Less yackin' more shootin'!" Rhiannon shouted back to them as she revved up the drill on the head of her spear, "'Cause now we got Two big Ursai and a horde o' angry pups!"
"Right," Corolla nodded, drawing back another arrow, "Tsuki, you and I provide covering fire, Piper, keep at… whatever it is you're doing…" Corolla winced as she saw one Beowolf tear another's head off, that's just not natural… "Ami, Rhiannon and Sieglinde-," she winced again as Sieglinde – whom Corolla still wasn't sure she believed to be fighting in her sleep – hewed down three Beowolves in one swing, "Just… keep it up…" And that goes double for you Corolla; make every shot count and go for the full yield on the detonations. You can always make more arrows…
Corolla's next arrow detonated amidst a group bearing down on Rhiannon, scattering the pack and earning her a little breathing room. The next shot connected with the lead Beowolf in a pack flanking Sieglinde from the right. Tsuki, though apparently not much of a talker, had taken to one knee and was primarily covering Ami with burst after burst of freezing Dust rounds as her partner below prepared slower, if also considerably more powerful barrages of Burn Dust, so Corolla decided to focus on covering Sieglinde and Rhiannon, leaving alone the writhing mass of Grimm to the far left which gradually extinguished itself at Piper's behest. In fairness though, they didn't seem to need all that much help until the two Ursai Major smashed their way out of the forest roaring and slashing.
Rhiannon let loose another heavy slug from her gauss rifle, splattering several Beowolves before taking the nearest monster-Ursa in the knee, but while she reloaded, she'd be vulnerable, so Corolla's next target was the minor Ursa approaching from Rhiannon's left. The beast promptly exploded when stuck by the fire arrow, and Corolla had drawn another before the flames had gone out, this time aiming for the wounded Ursa Major, letting the Dust-tipped missile fly, and freezing the monster's snarling head. Nonetheless the beast continued to thrash madly – that is, until the sleepy giant intervened, catching Corolla's eye.
The drowsy colossus of a young woman first cleared her immediate surroundings by taking a heavy step forward and swinging her tremendous blade in a broad lateral arc, a plume of fire spewing from the weapon as she did so. What Grimm weren't hewn down were incinerated within a five yard radius, but what really impressed Corolla came next. Sieglinde flipped the blade back, balancing the edge on the armor plates on her shoulder, then took one of the vaguely grenade-shaped devices from her back and fitted it to the Zweihander's pommel before squeezing what Corolla could just make out as a trigger on the cross-guard. With a discharge of smoke from her blade the same way the Dust had gone previously, the grenade ignited, racing away to impact the Ursa Major's frozen head and shattering it utterly, causing it to finally fall limp.
"Damn…"
Even Rhiannon paused for a moment to gape at her partner's feet, even whilst the sleeping berserker simply moved into the next devastating swing with no acknowledgement of her own feat as though on auto-pilot before cracking an ear-to-ear grin and shouting, "Bloody awesome but I'll do ye one better!"
Corolla couldn't resist the urge to Facepalm; maybe it stemmed from Rhiannon's being the elder sister to fifteen brothers, but the girl did not like to be shown up. Rhiannon charged through the disoriented cluster of Beowolves between her and the other Ursa Major, leading with the drill end of her spear to make giblets of anything that got in her way until she reached the towering beast. It made a swipe at her, she dove under its arm, nicking it with the end of her spear as she went before shutting the drill off and using her spear to vault onto the beast's spiny back. She grabbed hold of the spikes with her free hand for stability as she worked her way to the thrashing monster's shoulders. Once there, she positioned the butt of her spear – which also housed the muzzle of her gauss rifle – at the base of the monster's skull and fired. The beast let out a wretched gurgling as its knees buckled, and as it collapsed, a laughing Rhiannon rolled down from its horribly mangled head and back into the fray, her pride officially satisfied.
Show off… Corolla thought good-naturedly as she loosed another arrow, Although it was pretty awesome… Wait… why is that snarling so- CRAP!
Corolla ducked just barely in time to avoid being tackled from behind by a Beowolf lunging up from one of the broken columns below. Fortunately that particular slavering brut tumbled right back over the ledge and down to the ground, but it wasn't the only one of its kind to have the same idea. Seeing nearly a dozen of the things prowling about below in the temple area, Corolla made the snap decision to separate her bow back into sword form and dash over to where the next beast was trying to clamber up to their level. A quick slash from each blade swiftly put a stop to that, but a more dedicated examination showed that they were about to be in trouble; on the other side of the ring of stone pylons that comprised the forest temple Beowolves were mounting the structure unimpeded, and no one of the gaps between the stones was too broad for them to leap across.
Calm down Corolla; they're just Beowolves… They just want to disembowel you is all… She bit her lip as she thought, Okay, Piper's busy with that creepy tune of hers and… She glanced back over to the area on which Piper was apparently dealing with, and found that it was indeed still a Grimm-on-Grimm bloodbath with several dozen of the creatures – whether Piper was influencing all of them or just a portion Corolla didn't know, So we'll just have to leave Piper to it, nice as it would be to have another sword in the mix… Tsuki's covering Ami and Rhiannon and Sieglinde have their hands full… looks like this is all you…
Without further pause for thought, Corolla ran the perimeter for the raised ring of stone until she reached the place where the Beowolves were mounting the structure. Skidding to a halt at the end, she slashed again with both blades, cutting both Beowolves presently attempting to climb down so that they fell and lay motionless upon the ground. Her presence above incited the throng below to greater aggression though, and soon they were climbing over each other and their own dead trying to swat at her, springing up to gain purchase on the ancient stone, only to be cut down from their grasping perches or hacked out of the air. Unfortunately Corolla's success meant the stack of Grimm corpses below got higher, and more of them managed to clamber atop the macabre heap to make attempts of their own. What was more, out of the corner of her eye Corolla saw yet more Beowolves massing by the other side near the others. In a brief moment of respite on her side, Corolla reached for another fire arrow in her quiver, used her aura to activate the Dust crystal, and threw the deadly projectile like a small javelin at the beasts gathering on the opposite side. The shaft didn't strike its target very hard, but the subsequent detonation did its job, scattering the Grimm.
"Rhiannon! You need to cover Ami! Tsuki, can you cover Piper please? I'm kinda-," She broke off to drive her blade between the ribs of a Beowolf that had managed to leap and land on its feet beside her, "I'm kinda tied up here!"
Without a word, the gunner across the way nodded and did as instructed, activating a mechanism in her weapon that caused the stock to detach but for the length of chain that connected it to the rest of the weapon, which compressed around the barrel to streamline it and allow for use as a grip. The result was a rather impressive chain-sickle which she swung at the end of said chain to decapitate the nearest Grimm below Piper and herself, and then swung again to divest another of its right arm and send it sprawling. Seeing that Piper was in good hands, Corolla set aside the bitter irony that they would have left Tsuki in the forest had Piper had her way and reconnected her swords so she had a free hand to reach back and take quick stock of what arrows she had left, never taking her eyes off the throng below.
Let's see… feels like… half a dozen fire… nine ice… all the lightning… She pulled one of the fire arrows and threw it down into the Grimm below her to much the same effect as before, Make that five fire… But it looked like it was going to be enough; there were still a lot of Beowolves in the area, but they had stopped coming, and the sheer size of the horde was gradually diminishing. We've got this.
Corolla drew two of her remaining fire arrows at ones to fire into and level the remnants of the pack snapping at her feet, then pulled a lightning to thin the group swiping at Piper and Tsuki. Now switching to ice, she loosed shaft after shaft into the most densely packed groups of Grimm left so as to freeze two and three at a time rather than one even as Rhiannon's lance and Sieglinde's greatsword mowed them down by threes and fours with blade, drill, rifle, and Dust. As the mass thinned, Piper finally lowered her flute, a smug smirk on her lips as the last seven or so Beowolves standing from the mass of carnage she'd somehow wrought charged headlong into the blades of Ami's two-sided Naginata.
"It seems I was wrong, Miss Mädchen," Piper admitted, an unsettling smile faintly in evidence on her lips, "Perhaps aiding them was not such a bad idea,"
Corolla sheathed her weapons and let her arms falls slack as Sieglinde hewed down the last of the Beowolves with one final swing, "And you thought we should leave them," she laughed, maybe just a little bit bitterly as she made a sweeping gesture with her arm, "We would have missed… missed all the fun…"
Piper sheathed her unbloodied cutlass as Tsuki Yomikawa re-collapsed her chain-sickle into rifle form, "So we would have…"
I can't tell if she doesn't give a crap or if she's honestly changed her mind… Corolla shot her a searching look from across the way, but found nothing to determine one way or the other, "Well… at least that mess is over; best we made it back-,"
"Eh! Can a lass get a hand o'er here!?" Rhiannon interrupted as she shouted over. Corolla nearly cracked up as she saw Rhiannon struggling to hold Sieglinde up, she having apparently collapsed into a less… combat effective state of slumber with the hostilities concluded, "Siggy 'ere's kinda heavy!"
Weiss Schnee the Apprehensive
"Corolla Mädchen, Piper Hamelin, Rhiannon MacCoul, and Sieglinde Schönheitschlafen; you have retrieved the King and Queen of Diamonds, and shall henceforth work together as team CPRS, led by… Corolla Mädchen," Was the first and only part of the post-initiation assembly to which Weiss Schnee paid any attention. She was much too busy looking over the transcripts of Corolla's teammates to care. There would be plenty of time to memorize the other students' names and teams later, but having a personal stock in this one had a way of consuming her attention.
Rhiannon MacCoul is already her best friend, so we shouldn't have problems there… Schönheitschlafen is from Atlas… decent academics and a good battlefield record, although that narcolepsy business worries me… Weiss shook her head still not wholly sure that she believed it. Nevertheless, she moved on to the last member, and Corolla's actual partner: Piper Hamelin…
As she scanned the girl's transcript though, the Schnee heiress's brow furrowed. That field record… excellent… hell, if I didn't know better I'd say it was forged but… that's some Semblance she's got I suppose… Still that doesn't explain… Piper Hamelin's field record was in fact one of the best she'd ever seen, but curiously, the entry concerning Hamelin's sparring and tournament-style record claimed that she had either lost or forfeited every match she'd ever fought, a fact which, bizarre as it was, lent some credibility to her field record, If she was going to fake a transcript, you'd think she'd be more balanced about it…
"Miss Schnee…" It was Ozpin, addressing her privately; the students had all begun to file from the auditorium already, "I appreciate your work ethic, but I'd say we've all done enough for one day; the students' transcripts can wait,"
Weiss sighed, closing her scroll, "Alright sir…"
He nodded approvingly, "Now if memory serves, I do believe that you go for drinks with Mr. and Mrs. Arc every year after initiation; I for one see no reason why this year should be any different,"
"Sir…"
The aging Headmaster held up a hand for silence, "I've been at this a long time, Miss Schnee, and I didn't get here in the first place by being daft; Miss Mädchen will do just fine, so relax, Angela Snow..."
Weiss massaged her temples to alleviate the onset of a headache, "Alright, alright, I'll do it, just… I don't know… I suppose I could do to relax more…"
Ozpin nodded, cracking a wry smile as he took a sip of his coffee, "And that, Miss Schnee, is what the drinks are for; have an extra one for me, hmm?"
Weiss couldn't help a chuckle, "Right. Here's to another… interesting year?"
"The best kind," Ozpin replied, raising his mug to it as he too took his leave of the auditorium, leaving Weiss now alone in the vast space, remembering her own time on that stage over a decade ago.
Somehow though, she could never escape the feeling that her initiation – Team RWBY, that business with Cinder Fall and the White Fang, all of it – hadn't been years ago, but rather just yesterday. Weiss had never been much for nostalgia though, not before Beacon anyway, but it seemed that all her good memories – well, most of them – came after coming here. She reflected that they'd all been through a lot, and when all was said and done, Teams RWBY and JNPR had for the most part gone their separate ways. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss herself all took positions at Beacon, it was true, but the three of them didn't see much of the others very often. Ruby had her little cottage in that quiet little hamlet in northern Vale, living out her dream of being a huntress like she'd always wanted, and Ren and Nora spent most of their time in the field as well – it was a good thing he loved her, because the poor guy had to marry her too; he really hadn't much choice in the matter when you got right down to it. Blake had dabbled in Faunus advocacy for a while after graduating, but Weiss herself was in a better position to effect the sort of changes Blake wanted after taking up her position in the Company on top of teaching – within Vale at least – and so the two had collaborated on a number of issues, but still saw each other rarely in a personal capacity, save at Team RWBY's monthly 'reunions.' Finally, Yang was, well... Yang… Last Weiss had heard, Yang had bought out some club in what used to be a seedy part of Vale – 'Cause Huntresses need a good party now and then too" – was the line she'd used when Weiss had questioned her on the subject, eyebrow raised. Well, Weiss Schnee wasn't much for parties, but the sentiment held true enough at least – Weiss just preferred a little vodka now and again.
She let out another sigh, "He's right. She'll be fine…"
Author's Note: Okay, so before we conclude I just want to mention a few things, namely, Corolla and Rhiannon's weapons. Any of you who may be familiar to one of my other stories, 'The Diary of Glynda Goodwitch,' a much more... flamboyant exercise to say the least, may have notices that Corolla and Rhiannon's weapons bear remarkable similarity to what I've come up with for Summer Rose and Emmy Valkyrie respectively; this is because these concepts were originally intended for this story, but at the time that i wrote them into the Diary, I wasn't sure if I'd ever get around to writing this. I think that's all for now though, but if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to shoot me a PM or just leave it in a review.