It wasn't long before Summer and her apprentice had finished their meal and began to leave the cafeteria, the Huntress dabbing her mouth with a handkerchief to remove some stained-on food on the corner of her mouth before tucking it back in the pouch on her belt. "Alright, Cinder. Let's get back to it then, shall we?" Summer asked.
"What's the plan, now?" Cinder asked in warranted return.
"Well, we should go over basic Aura manipulation again, give you some building blocks to further test your semblance." Summer thought aloud, calculating what else her pupil should know before going to another combat school like Beacon.
"You've seen how far I can take it." the ashen-haired teen shrugged. There's not much else to it."
"That's why we have this new technique called 'Practicing'." Summer joked while her student rolled her eyes. As they turned to head out a set of doors leading to the outside world, they were stopped by a wave of children coming inside; the younger students returning from recess. Once they had an opening, the two looked out to the now empty schoolyard to see a few teachers looking around in panic and worry, as if something important was lost. "Hey, is everything alright?"
"Oh! M-Miss Rose!" The closest one stuttered. "Umm..not exactly. It seems two of the children in that recess group wandered off, and there's no sight of them!"
"What? Which kids?"
Ruby and Yang stopped as they looked at what was in front of them. Instead of the school, the path they took lead to a beat-up old shed covered in dead leaves and overgrowth. Ivy crept up the walls and across the cracked and weathered windows, and weeds sprouted out from the crevices of the worn concrete around the structure. A sense of adventurous wonder overtook Yang as she noticed the door, or what was left of the rotted hunk of wood hanging by only one hinge, was ajar. She began to step towards it, moving to peak inside.
"Yang...is it safe to go in?" Ruby asked, looking around.
"Oh, come on, Rubes!" Yang encouraged. "It's only us out here. Besides, you got your big sister around to protect you."
With that much assurance being enough for a pre-schooler, the little brunette followed her half sister inside the shack, both girls looking around at its contents. No doubt it was formerly used by the school. Each wall was lined with shelves upon shelves of dust-covered boxes worn by the sands of time and the leaks in the roof, some marked with Signal Academy's logo. Another was covered in toolboxes and what appeared to be old sparring armor, the protective plastic chipped and dented and the padding scarred as if a rodent had chewed on it. What caught their eyes more was a desk off to the side with an old metal stool sat in front of it, completely covered in all sorts of old gadgets, tools, and more interestingly, weapons.
"Woah...Look at all this cool stuff!" Yang smiled in amazement as she ran over to it, picking up something that looked like a rusty-old ring. It was heavier than it looked as she picked it up, placing it over her hand like a bracelet.
"Is that jewlewy?" Ruby asked.
"I think so..." Yang shrugged as she flexed her forearm. "It's kinda heavy for a bracelet th-WOAH!"
She and her sister gasped as the piece of metal on her arm suddenly doubled in size, forming a sort of bracer over her arm. "Wo-hohoho!" Yang laughed. "This thing is cool!" she said as she punctuated it with a punch to the sky. The motion was followed by a sharp crack that made Ruby yelp in surprise and Yang nearly fall back from the kickback.
"What did it do?" Ruby asked in surprise, covering her ears in fear of the loud noise coming again.
Yang looked down at the smoking hole on the gauntlet she found. "I think it's part bracelet, part gun..." she thought aloud. "THIS IS SO COOL!" she then shouted.
"How can it be two weapons at once?" Ruby asked.
"Well, duh!" Yang chuckled. "All Huntsmen and Huntresses like Mom, Dad, and Uncle Qrow have them! They have weapons that turn into other weapons! This has to be an early version of one of them!"
"Wow, cool!" Ruby clapped as she walked over and climbed up the stool to look at what else they found. The two girls began to marvel in the treasure trove of neat things across the table from switchblades to collapsable weaponry before a loud thump from above them got their attention.
"Was that you?" Yang asked, her worry setting in as Ruby shook her head. Both girls looked up to the ceiling as they heard a loud series of cracks coming from above them. It wasn't long before the roof caved in completely in a loud crash, dust and leaves falling along with the chunk of roof that the two girls quickly got out of the way from.
"What was that?" Ruby asked, scared now.
Yang didn't even get to say a syllable before a growl in the disspating dust cloud caught the girls attention. Slowly stepping out of it was a tall black figure with beady red glowing eyes. It was covered in white bone-like spikes and a mask across its face of the same material. It flashed its fangs at the two young girls and let out a snarl before the two screamed and ran out the door, trying to shut it before running off. The flimsy old wood did nothing to stop it as it tore through the frame and after the girls, who were running as fast as their legs could carry them away from the Beowulf, screaming for help as they tried to get back to the school. The Beowulf roared too, attracting two more of its brethren to the chase.
"Somebody help us! Yang called.
"Mommy!" Ruby cried in unison as she tripped over a root sticking out of the ground. "Owie!"
"Ruby!" Yang gasped as she turned to get Ruby back to her feet, as the three Grimm bore down on them, the lead Beowulf stopping to howl in triumph as its pack of three began to pounce. The lead one didn't get far. Just before its claws reached the two sisters, it suddenly stopped in mid-lunge, hanging at an angle as if something was holding it from falling. Both the girls and the Grimm looked to its chest, seeing a gleaming crescent-shaped blade sticking through its chest, blood as black as oil dripping off the blade. It then was yanked backward towards the treeline until the other half of Waning Crescent severed its head from the body in one fluid slashing motion.
"Girls! Get back!" Summer ordered as Yang helped her sister up and away from the two remaining Grimm, which shrugged off chasing the smaller humans to focus on the one that killed their pack member. The second beta lunged again towards Summer only for her to disappear in a flurry of red and white petals. The only thing the Beowolf could look up to in its state of confusion was the arrow driving through its forehead as Cinder rushed forward in Summer's place.
The alphamale snarled again as it looked around for the first Huntress they saw, only getting its answer as a shadow began casting itself above it. It looked up just in time to block a strike from Summer. Judging how the plating was strong enough to withstand her strike, and then shove her off, she knew this one was experienced. She backed off, moving to whip her scythes at it from a distance, a flurry of slashes buffeting the creature of Grimm. Each cut chipped away until she felt her right chain grow taut, the blade jabbing into a crevice between the beast's shoulder and making it howl in agony. "Cinder, get ready!" Summer called as her apprentice nodded, splitting her bow in two to form its sword mode. With her deceptive strength, Summer tugged the chain as hard as she could to whip the Beowulf Cinder's way. It sailed towards her, leaving it open for the slash she needed to cleave it into perfect halves, both of which disintegrated moments after hitting the forest floor.
Once they knew the coast was clear, both daughters ran towards their mother, tears dripping from their face as Summer welcomed them in open arms, the two sobbing into each shoulder of the Huntress. "Mommy! It was so scawy!" Ruby bawled.
"Shh, girls. It's okay. Mommy's here..." Summer quietly cooed to them as they shared a group hug, save for Cinder as she retrieved one of her arrows from where the corpse of one of the Beowolves once sat. "Cinder, we're going to need to call it a day. Let's return to the academy."
"I understand, Miss Rose." Cinder nodded as the two sheathed their weapons on their respective holsters before beginning walking back to the academy, Summer holding Ruby in her left hand while taking Yang's hand in her right.
"Hey, Mom?" Yang asked.
"What is it, Yang?" Summer asked in response.
"I thought monsters like that didn't live in safe places like Patch." Yang thought aloud.
While Summer was confused about the same thought, she tried to give an answer to settle Yang's mind. "Sometimes there's a few that sneak through. That's why people like Cinder, your uncle and I are here: to get the ones that do and make sure no more show up."
"And Dad too?"
Summer did what she could to keep her features from forming a frown. Both she and Taiyang knew why he was more of a teacher and counselor at Signal more than the type of Huntsman who went out on missions. The answer was something Yang shouldn't learn until she was older. "Dad's been busy since he got his promotion, but yes." she nodded. "Let's just get you girls back."
"Do you have any idea how much danger they could've been in!?" Taiyang bellowed in the administration offices of Signal Academy. After the events of a half hour ago, an emergency meeting was called by Headmaster Auburn and the parents and relative of the Rose-Xiao Long sisters.
"Tai, calm the hell down." Qrow grumbled, rubbing his temples. "It's bad enough I deal with screaming kids and teenagers. I don't need my friend yelling now too."
"How can I be calm when my girls almost became Grimm chow?" Taiyang growled. "What's the point of having those sensors to detect Grimm in the woods if they didn't catch those ones?"
"Taiyang, these sensors are relatively new technology from Atlas." Auburn reasoned. "There are some that have made it through the perimeter before."
"But three Beowolves?" the blonde man growled, stepping forward before a palm holding him back by his chest from his wife stopped his advance on their boss's desk.
"Look, Tai, I know it's concerning too. You have no idea how much I was freaking out when I first heard them screaming, but let's focus on the fact that they're okay, alright?" Summer asked.
With a huff, Taiyang let out a long exhale. "Alright..." he nodded back, getting a peck on the cheek from Summer as thanks. "Where are they now, by the way?"
"Down at Nurse Ivy's office. Ruby skinned her knee while they were running." Summer explained.
"They can be excused for the rest of the day. They're probably still rattled from that ordeal." Auburn decided. "Summer, Taiyang, you two can leave as well. This is your family after all."
"Thanks, Jacob." Taiyang nodded as he and Summer left the office to pick up their daughters and return home, leaving the brown-jackeded headmaster and the dusty old crow to their own devices.
"He did bring up a good point there, Jake." Qrow muttered. "Now, a small Grimm's understandable, but those sensors should've picked up Grimm at least half a normal Beowolf's size."
"I know, Qrow." Auburn sighed. "I've already called for a recon team to scout the area, see if there's something up with them that may have missed those three."
The two inspected the piece of metal, quite obviously dug up and ripped to pieces by something that was definitely not human or weapon. "Quite the mess here, wouldn't you agree, Glynda?" the silver-haired Huntsman asked as he turned to the platinum blonde to his side, kneeling down to inspect the device for herself. She gave a simple nod to Ozpin as she picked up the largest piece, a black box that housed the actual sensing computer.
"I'm more concerned about what it means than the mess made." Glynda countered. "James designed these to be near indestructible so that Grimm that dig them up couldn't break them."
"You know, there's times I feel like Patty wouldn't enjoy you knowing that much about James." Ozpin joked, only for the sorceress to turn to him with an unamused expression on her face. "...You're right. Wrong place, wrong time." he sighed.
"How are you still that childish?" she asked.
"How are you not? We're not even thirty yet, you know." Ozpin shrugged. "Enjoy the youth while it lasts, I say!"
"Ozpin, we just spent three days at some of the most tedious negotiations I've ever had the displeasure to be a part of with little sleep. I'm not in the mood to joke around right now." Glynda growled.
"You're probably right..." Ozpin shrugged looking around at the trees. His eyes narrowed as he saw a single bird flying away from a dead tree above them. "Did you see that?" he asked.
Glynda looked up to the departing bird, being able to catch the red eyes of the black bird just before it left her hawk-like eyesight. "Even so, it's out of our range anyway." she sighed. "We should head back; let Auburn know about this."
As they left in the opposite direction back to Patch, the dwarf Nevermore flew the exact opposite of where civilization sat upon that island. Trees and small ponds below it turned into the rocky wasteland around the mountain in the center of the island. On a face that overlooked the sea to the south from a distance, the Nevermore landed on the shoulder of a lone man overlooking the scenery. The bird seemed to whisper something into his ear as he smirked at the 'words' it spoke.
"Good." October murmured. "The distraction is set." With that, two oozing black wings sprouted from his back and he took to the air towards the mainland.