Chapter 4
As the trio took a moment to reload and reassess their surroundings, a camo clad blonde burst into the clearing before slowing to a halt, hands dropping to his knees as he caught his breath, regarding his curious audience with a frown.
"... Did I miss the action?" he half laughed in embarrassment.
On cue, Baz pivoted on the spot, reaching forth and snatching Carmine by the shoulder and pulling him back as a massive snake head crashed through the canopy, aimed straight for his companion.
"Oh yeah," Cerise remarked, much more calm now that she was armed. "That was a thing."
Bringing Hawthorne's barrel to bear, she and Baz once more opened fire in unison, causing the massive grimm to flinch back, hissing furiously.
Carmine leveled Cloudburst, steeling himself and charging the monstrosity, only to falter as the newcomer shouted something that drew his attention to a second monstrous snake head came arcing around towards him.
A crack rang out and it flinched back briefly, a sniper round ricocheting off its skull. But Carmine's brief hesitation was all it took for the black head to lash out, ignoring the withering volley of gunfire in favor of devouring the closest potential victim.
Surprised, Carmine only barely managed to block the lunging fangs with the flat of his weapon, but the force of the blow took him off his feet, and the taijitu slammed him viciously into tree bark, cracking and splintering the unfortunate obstacle and taking a chunk out of Carmine's aura as he grunted in pain.
He was vaguely aware of his companions shouts and the hissing and flailing of the other head, more concerned with the imminent threat of the bared fangs before him as the black head coiled back once more, preparing to finish him off.
Not keen on taking another hint like that, Carmine pulled himself free of the indented bark, splinters crumbling away as he stood ready, intending on attempting a counter attack.
Not far to his left, Lincoln grit his teeth, swiveling from one head to the other trying to decide which was the better target, before settling on the black head since Carmine was facing it alone. Leveling SharpShooter in a crouch and putting an eye to the scope, he lined up a shot on its head, but was interrupted by a blur whipping by and momentarily obscuring his line of sight.
His mouth dropped open in disbelief and elation as Reed Topaz bolted by at an alarming pace, leaping into the air and dropping like a comet on the black head, cracking his tonfas into it one after the other, firing each time point blank, before latching on to the reeling head, refusing to let go as it furiously flailed back and forth.
A sharp swing upwards threw Reed loose into the air, but he instantly spun midair, reloading both tonfas in sequence before firing them off several times each before the tormented taijitu could follow up.
Baz yelled out a warning as the white head disengaged from its opponents in favor of flanking the falling satyr, but even as the head towards his falling form Reed was able to fire off a tonfa, twisting and turning midair gracefully, avoiding the attack by a hair's breadth, before doing the same for the second head, kicking off it's neck to propel himself further out of reach.
Not once was he touched before he hit the ground, whereupon the taijitu made a fatal mistake.
Too eager to catch its prey before it could escape on foot, the black head slammed headfirst into the ground, narrowly missing again as Reed kicked off the ground and flipped over and above its vulnerable head.
One leg raised as high as it would go, he brought it down in a wicked axe-kick, aura charged to hell if the explosive force was any indication, the hapless grimm's skull caving in like a tin can struck by a sledgehammer.
Flipping back and landing on solid earth before the head had even fallen still, laying flattened in the dirt, Reed trained his threatening gaze on the surviving head, which now seemed torn between avenging its other half or dragging the dead weight away in a hurry to live another day.
Unfortunately for the grimm, its instinct to kill was still more than enough to overpower its instinct to survive. If it had fled, it might have lived for another few seconds at least.
With only one target to focus on, the grimm was promptly engulfed in a devastating storm of gunfire, the rapid fire rounds of Riptide and Hawthorne joined promptly by the staccato of sniper and shotgun fire.
Rather than joining in on this tactic, Carmine had opted for a different approach, planting a foot forward and tapping into his semblance, drawing on as much power as he dared, Cloudburst flickering an ominous red.
Taking a deep breath, Carmine took a run up, leaping into the air towards his target.
For a moment the gunfire fell silent as the shooters cut off their assault, watching the red head descending upon the grimm, its head turning in surprise a moment too late before he swung.
Cloudburst trailed a deadly arc of seething red through the air, severing the white head from its neck in a flash of crimson, the force of the blow causing a squall of air to sweep over the other hunters, flattening grass and kicking up dust.
Landing with in a crouch with Cloudburst over his shoulder, Carmine exhaled and calmly stood up straight as the taijitu's torso crumpled down behind him, its head laying several yards away wreathed in dissolving puffs of black smoke.
Taking only a moment to regard the redhead with respect, Lincoln shouldered his weapon and jogged over to Reed, who had slipped his tonfas back into their belt holsters the moment Carmine had struck the killing blow.
Before the faunus could react, Lincoln pulled him into a hug.
"You came back!" He exclaimed excitedly.
Reed stood rigid, totally taken aback, and it took a moment for Lincoln to notice his reaction and pull away, smiling sheepishly.
"Sorry, not a hugger I take it?"
The faunus took a moment to recompose himself before responding.
"I didn't leave." Reed said, frowning.
"... Huh?" Lincoln blinked in confusion.
"I said I didn't leave." Reed groused. "You did."
"... Oh. ...OH. Crap. I did, didn't I?" He rubbed his head awkwardly.
"... You're right. You weren't really talking much, and I didn't even wait for you to respond, I just sort of ran off on you without talking it out..."
Red faced, Lincoln clasped his hands together, bowing slightly forward. "Sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. We're partners after all. Right?" He sounded a little uncertain about that last part, but Reed merely nodded, choosing to remain silent rather than voicing any further concern. Instead he appeared to be deep in thought, which Lincoln took to mean that they were likely at the very least on good terms for now.
"I hate to interrupt this... whatever this is," Cerise gestured grandly, striding over to the pair with her weapon now slung across her back, "but if you two are paired off too then I still have to find some poor sod to be MY partner. Not to mention finding the damn relics, and it's not like we have the first clue where to look for those either."
Pausing briefly and standing a little straighter as if remembering her manners, Cerise took a moment to flare her semblance a little, focusing on drying off her damp clothes before turning to Baz and Carmine in turn, thanking them profusely for helping her out of that awful situation.
"Let's face it, I'd be dead meat if you two didn't find me when you did. Here I am, trying to be something as bad-ass as a huntress and instead I end up being the damsel in distress again. It'd be funny if it weren't so damn depressing."
Choosing not to ask what she meant be 'again' nor acknowledging her somewhat crude manner of speech, which to be fair could be more to do with her being still shaken from her ordeal, Carmine cut in to reassure her before Baz could say something that might further aggravate her wounded ego.
"That's not really being fair," he reasoned, "You were just unlucky is all. It could have happened to anyone! Hell, I don't know how long I'd have lasted without Cloudburst if I were in your position..." Carmine trailed off. That was a bit of a bald faced lie, if he were being honest.
He knew perfectly well what would likely happen, and it left a bad taste in his mouth.
"He's right," Lincoln chimed in, "you've done well for yourself. It's not like hunters typically operate in teams for the fun of it you know!"
Cerise only nodded, her reddened face clearly indicating that the reassurance was doing little to alleviate her sense of shame.
"Right... well at any rate, thank you for your help. All of you. Now if you'll excuse me, I've a relic to find if I want to have any chance of passing this test."
"Ah, about that." Carmine grinned, gesturing for Cerise to wait a moment, before pulling the chess piece from a pocket and holding it aloft in the palm of his hand for all to see.
"... Why do you have a chess piece with you? You do remember this is a test, right?" Lincoln asked
"That's not-" Carmine protested, but Baz promptly cut him off.
"It's the relic." Baz deadpanned. "Yes, really." He raised a brow at all the disbelieving stares.
"It seems someone is fond of their symbolism."
"Wait, so you know where they are...?" Cerise asked excitedly, eyes gleaming with restored hope.
"Yep!" Carmine affirmed. "We can show you the way if you like. All of you." He addressed this Lincoln and Reed as well.
"Well, it may be a test, but it's not like co-operation is against the rules after all." Lincoln smirked.
"All right!" Cerise pumped a fist in the air. "This is gonna be dead easy after all!"
"Ah, I didn't catch your names by the way." Carmine ventured.
After a round of introductions, the group of five followed Baz's lead back to the temple, where Lincoln promptly snatched up the remaining knight piece before Cerise claimed the white rook, a little disappointed that they hadn't run into any other potential partners on the way.
Carmine noticed absently that one of the bishop pieces was missing. Someone must have been here while they were busy, but it was kind of surprising. They hadn't been gone for very long at all.
"You guys can probably head back," Cerise offered. "I'm probably alright on my own for now, and this seems like a good place to wait for someone to pair with, rather than scouring the whole forest I mean."
Carmine was reluctant to abandon her on her own, but Lincoln took her at her word, saluting cheerfully and leading a bemused Reed back towards the treeline.
Waving goodbye to their temporary ally, Carmine caught up with Baz, noticing the odd look on his face.
"What's up? Is there something wrong?" He pressed.
"... There's nothing." He replied.
"Oh. Ok then." Carmine let it go, halting only when Baz held a hand out to stop him.
"No, I mean there's *nothing*."
"...Come again?" Carmine asked in bewilderment.
Sighing, Baz turned to face him.
"On our way here I've been using my semblance to avoid as many grimm as possible."
Carmine blinked owlishly, before pointing a finger at Baz and spluttering unintelligibly.
"That was YOUR DOING?! That's why that trek was so awkward?!"
"Yes, that was my doing.
... Awkward?" Baz asked quizzically, but Carmine waved it off.
"Never mind that, what exactly are you saying? What exactly do you mean by 'nothing?'"
Baz was silent for a moment as though considering his words before replying.
"When we first landed in these woods, the grimm population was surprisingly dense. Goodwitch mentioned that their current level is the highest it has been for some time, but with no context for that statement I was unsure of just how many of them to expect.
If I had not avoided combat in the manner that I did, we would have been fighting near constantly just to get this far."
Carmine blanched, but Baz pressed on.
"Having said that, my real concern is that while there were so many here before... there now appear to be none at all in our immediate vicinity."
"None?" Carmine shrugged, "that's lucky I guess. Why is that a problem."
"You don't understand." Baz insisted. "You are thinking of only as far as you can see. My semblance is capable of detecting a much wider field of view."
Carmine tilted his head slightly. "So you can see real far you mean. How far do you-"
"Two kilometers." Baz interrupted.
Carmine stared.
"Two... two Kilometers? How-?"
"There are no grim within two miles of us, give or take a hundred meters. Not unless they're deliberately hiding, and very few tend to do that unless they're actively stalking someone."
"Hold up, are you saying there's no other students even that far away from here either?" Carmine held his head in frustration, acutely aware of Cerise waiting patiently behind them for a partner that may never be coming."
"No," Baz denied, "that's not what I said. Let me clarify. The further afield I'm trying to discern, the more information I have to sift through as the area gets wider and wider. To keep from overwhelming my head with useless details I tend to filter out any unnecessary data."
Carmine must not have looked like he understood any of that at all, because Baz scowled and rephrased.
"I was only looking for grimm." He stated.
"Oh, okay. Could you look for students next?" Carmine asked excitedly.
"Hold up," Baz held a palm up, quelling Carmine's excitement. "You're missing the bigger picture here. If there aren't any grimm around then the students will have little trouble making their way here, even if it takes a while to find it. The real problem is the grimm."
"I don't understand what you're getting at," Carmine sighed, "surely fewer grimm can only be a good thing, right?"
Baz shook his head slowly. "No. The issue is *why*. There are very few reasons that grimm might evacuate an area en mass in this manner, and if they were merely being killed off I think I'd have noticed something by now. It almost seems as though as we were heading back here they must have begun to retreat in a radial manner away from..." Paling further, were that possible, Baz blinked his eyes once, opening both with a pale blue glow as he started frantically scanning the forest beyond the temple. Then he cursed.
"We need to get Cerise, and we need to get out of here. Now." He began running back towards the puzzled girl, who was watching their altercation from where she leaned against a pedestal picking dirt out of her sleeves.
"Baz, what are you talking about?" Carmine chased after his frantic partner. "What's going on?"
"They weren't amassing here Carmine. They were FLEEING. Mindless beasts in more concentrated numbers in a wide radius around something bigger, something they instinctively avoid. And for whatever reason, it's heading this way now." Baz elaborated, speaking louder on purpose once they were within earshot of Cerise again.
"What's that?" Cerise questioned.
"There's a grimm coming this way," Baz warned, "and it's big. Too big. The other grimm are avoid it instinctively, but grimm on this scale don't typically move very quickly. Something has this one all riled up, and its smaller brethren have all wisely got the hell out of the way."
Cerise looked skeptical for a moment, unsure whether to take him seriously or not.
"We need to do the same, and fast," he insisted. "We can't fight this."
Abruptly, Carmine staggered, nearly falling flat on his back. His balance had somehow been thrown off... no, the ground was shaking?
It only lasted for a moment, but a quick glance revealed the other two hadn't fared any better, with Baz clutching a pedestal and Cerise having steadied herself with Hawthorne.
Carmine's blood ran cold as the severity of the situation sank in.
"He's right." Turning to Cerise, he decided to trust his partner. "We should fall back for now and let the teachers handle this if it gets any closer. The test can wait."
In the distance, he could make out trees flexing unnaturally aside and sending birds flocking into the sky, as though something tremendous was forcing its way through the forest.
"There's no time," Baz insisted. "It's moving too fast. We need to run right now."
Nodding, Carmine and Cerise followed closely behind as the trio fled directly away from the approaching disaster.
Back on the cliffs, Ozpin had noticed the commotion. He had been too preoccupied with observing the remaining exploring students to immediately take note of the strange behavior of the forest's grimm populace, only growing suspicious when he realized that there were suddenly so few clashing with the examinees, and that the few that he could locate were rather hurriedly moving in the same direction.
By the time he noticed the disturbance in the distance, distracting him away from his camera feeds to stare off at the horizon in concern, a message popped up on his scroll.
Hearing the same alert from Glynda's scroll near simultaneously, there was a moment of silence while they both read the same message.
"An amber alert...? Now?" She muttered, before staring in the direction Ozpin had been looking warily. "How could something like that even be here?"
The huntress whirled on Ozpin. "We need to cancel the test and retrieve the students, immediately." She insisted.
Ozpin didn't respond, staring contemplatively back at the camera feed, eyeing a few students in particular.
"Professor..." Glynda pushed.
"Not yet." Ozpin shook his head. "Have the staff prepare the bullheads for extraction. But don't cancel the test yet."
"You can't be serious." Glynda breathed in disbelief. "Oz, this is way beyond them. All of them. They'll die for nothing."
Ozpin merely stared into the distance once more.
"You might be right." He stood up, gripping his cane tightly in both hands in anticipation. "That's why we're going too. Let's go."
