Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.
Chapter 4: Initiation- Part 2
Family is the most important thing there is, and I will do anything for them.
That thought was at the forefront of Weiss's mind as she soared through the air, the wind whipping through her hair. Below her, the green canopy of the Emerald Forest spread out before her in all directions. She would be getting better acquainted with the forest in a few moments as her airborne momentum began to slow.
Of all the methods of testing applicants, launching them into the Grimm-infested Emerald Forest was not the one she expected. She could understand that it was all about seeing how well they could deal with unexpected situations and complete an objective in a hostile environment.
Her problem with the whole thing was on how teammates were to be selected. Seriously, first person you make eye-contact is your partner for the next four years? What asinine policy was that? Only a complete fool would leave something as important as this up to fate.
The three Xiao Long Sisters had shared a look when that piece of information was given and they had the exact same thought.
One of us has to be partners with Ruby at all costs!
They would not let their little sister be stuck with a total stranger for the next four years. Who but them knew how to make cookies with the exactly right amount of chocolate chips that she liked? Who else would make sure that she washed behind her ears and went to bed at a reasonable time? One of these random wannabe heroes? Not a chance.
As Weiss's altitude began to drop, she angled her body and got ready to employ her personal landing strategy.
She activated her Semblance and a small black glyph appeared just under her feet. Just as she broke through the top of the forest, she focused on the trunk of a nearby tree. Another, larger glyph appeared on the tree and Weiss's trajectory changed towards it.
While the Schnee Family liked to claim that they had the only glyph-type Semblances in the world, that was far from the case. Other kinds of glyph Semblances did exist, they just were quite rare and all had different abilities. What the Schnees could do, she had no idea; they liked to talk up their Semblance and how it could be inherited but got tight-lipped on exact details. All that Weiss and the general public knew was that it was apparently very powerful and utilized white coloured glyphs.
Weiss's black glyphs were comparatively simple; they could pull things towards them. With energy and effort, she could adjust the size and force of it, increasing the range of it's pull. But that would cause everything in front of the glyph to be pulled in haphazardly, which was far too imprecise for Weiss's liking.
With training and experimentation, she had discovered that she could link two glyphs together. This would accomplish little by itself, but if one of the glyphs was smaller then the other and attached to an object, that object would be drawn specifically to the larger glyph without fail. Nothing else would be affected, only the object with the glyph on it.
With the small glyph, the Target, attached to the bottom of her feet, Weiss was guided towards the tree with the large glyph, the Anchor. When the two glyphs met, Weiss was firmly attached to the side of the giant tree. She would only remain like that for a few seconds; the glyphs could only hold together for a short time unless she put some Gravity Dust into them.
Those few seconds were all she needed for now. Angling downward, Weiss jumped off the tree and headed for its neighbor, canceling the Anchor glyph behind her and re-summoning it on the other tree trunk. She proceeded to jump between the two trees, zigzagging downwards in a controlled descent.
She hit the ground hard, but nowhere near as much if she had simply fallen normally. She took the impact perfectly, going into a roll before standing back up on her feet.
"…Nailed it" she said softly to herself. She brushed her coat off a bit before pulling out a compact mirror. She checked that her face wasn't dirty or that her hair was out of place; even in a combat situation one should always look their best. Once she was satisfied that everything was good, she put the compact away, closed her eyes and reached out with her Aura.
Six years ago, Yang had taken her sisters to an abandoned building on the far side of Patch, on a fool's errand of finding her birth mother. It was stupid, but the loss of Summer was still fresh and they fooled themselves into believing that it might go away if Yang's mother could be found.
They found the Grimm instead and as the beasts leapt forward to devour them, something special happened. Blake and Weiss's Auras, which they had very little control over, flared into life at the same time that both Yang and Ruby's unlocked due to the danger. For a brief moment as they huddled together, their Auras melded together and became as one. It lasted for only a second; their uncle Qrow appeared and cut the Grimm down, but ever since the girls had a very unique connection.
If Weiss concentrated, she could sense her sisters even if they were far away. In her mind's eye, it was like there were three burning flames, each representing the soul of one of her siblings. If they were in the same room as her, the flame would be coloured; allowing her to tell exactly where each of her sisters were and which was which. But at this distance, they were vague, bluish-white spot on a wall of black.
Concentrating, Weiss could tell that two of her sisters were south of her position and were fairly close to each other. The other was in the opposite direction and she was all alone. Weiss set out north, towards the single flame. If Ruby was one of the two to the south, she could trust that either Blake or Yang would find her and be her partner. If Ruby was the one that was by herself, then it was up to Weiss to get to her before anyone else.
Weiss clenched her fists she thought of someone else being Ruby's partner. It would be the worst-case scenario if it was that arch-pervert Jaune. If he was Ruby's partner, then that meant he would be in the same dorm as her, sharing the same space as her.
"What if…" Weiss thought as her imagination began to run wild again. "to force partners to bond, they make them share the same bed? GAHHHHHH!" Such a notion was completely ludicrous, but her worry for Ruby once again overruled her common sense.
"If that blonde bastard even thinks of touching her I'll…" From Weiss's mouth came a full litany of curses and threats, so dark and foul that even the creatures of Grimm would have backed away from her. This was because that, while Weiss may have the voice of an angel, she also had the mouth of a sailor.
Her parents had been absolutely shocked when she dropped her first F-bomb at the tender age of eight. They had given her uncle Qrow both a verbal and physical beatdown for being such a bad influence despite all his pleas of innocence.
It wasn't Qrow's or any other adult's fault that she had discovered swear words. They just came to her, from the back of her mind. It was almost like she was remembering the dream of a memory, of someone saying those words to another person. She couldn't fully describe it and thus never told her parents about.
She tried her best to not speak like that around her family, she wanted to be the graceful and elegant one, but sometimes it just spilled out. This was mostly when she got angry; more then one person had been left stunned after she unleashed a profanity-filled tirade in a moment of rage.
So, with the curses flying from her mouth, Weiss took off in a run towards where she Sensed her sister to be.
Yang walked eastward through the forest, hands behind her head. After completely nailing her landing, she had been walking for what seemed like forever. She had used her Sense to see that one of her sisters was in this general direction, but she hadn't seen hide or hair of anyone.
"Helllooooo. Ruby…Weiss…. Blake. Anyone there? Getting bored here…" Silence was the only answer Yang got. Before she could reiterate herself in a louder voice, the sound of a twig snapping drew her attention to some nearby bushes.
"Ruby, is that you?" Yang ran up to the bushes, pushing them aside to see what was behind them. "Nope" was all she said as she got a good look at what was there.
Backflipping, Yang dodged a swipe from the Ursa's claws. She landed in the middle of a small clearing and got into a fighting stance, extending Ember Cilica. The large bear Grimm crashed through the undergrowth after her. It was soon joined by another Ursa and so Yang was left facing two Grimm.
Yang frowned slightly; this was it? Only two measly Grimm was hardly a challenge for her; certainly not what she expected as the test to get in Beacon. She had thought that it would be a whole horde of them at least.
Whatever. She would wipe the floor with these teddy bears and get back to locating her sisters. With a feral grin that match those of her opponents, Yang launched herself at the Ursai.
The beasts of darkness seemed caught off guard by this and Yang was able to get a solid hit on one, sending it tumbling away. Its partner responded with a wide slash of its claws, which Yang easily ducked under. A swift uppercut staggered the Ursa back and series of shotgun-filled punches had it on the backfoot. Yang was about to go for a finishing blow when the crack of a gun filled the air. It hadn't come from her shotguns, so she whirled around to see.
She saw that the first Ursa had gotten back onto it's feet far faster then she thought and had tried to attack her while her back was turned. Instead, the beast was staring dumbly at the bullet hole in it's arm, which had prevented it from following through with its attack.
The Grimm didn't ponder where the bullet hole came from for long, as a gun-sickle attached to a long black cloth shot out from beyond the clearing and impaled its blade into the Grimm's temple. The red glow of its eyes went out and it fell to the ground before beginning to dissolved.
Yang let out a little huff at all this before jumping high into the air and backflipping. The second Ursa, who had attempted the same plan as its fellow Grimm, struck only air as Yang flipped in the air and landed on its shoulders. Yang unleashed a barrage of shotgun-blasts point-blank into the top of Ursa's head before landing a final punch that shattered the Grimm's skull completely.
Yang jumped off the collapsing bear and casually walked to the centre of the clearing, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder.
"I had that completely under control, you know" she said out loud. She was met with only silence for a moment before the rustle of leaves drew her attention to the side.
Blake stepped out of the foliage, her weapon in her hands. Making the leaves rustle was entirely for Yang's benefit; she could move through it completely silent if she wished. She twirled her gun-sickle around a few times before turning it back into a sword and re-sheathing it on her back.
"Yeah' she answered with a smirk on her face, "but you would have been short a strand or two of hair if I hadn't stepped in" Yang's reflexes were great and Blake had no illusions that Yang would have dodged the first surprise attack as easily as she did the second. However, Blake realized in that split second that her sister's lion mane of hair would become a casualty and so intervened to save it and thus the entire forest from being destroyed in Yang's rage.
"Anyway, we should be goin- "Blake was cut off as Yang rushed forward and wrapped her in hug.
"Thank you, Thank you! Oh, you are just wonderful" Yang's hug was as bone-crushing as ever and Blake struggled to breathe. She tapped Yang's arm repeatably, asking her to let go.
"It's the best, you know" Yang said, ignoring Blake's silent pleas, "when you most precious treasure is saved by your other most precious treasure."
Drawing on her knowledge of escape artistry, Blake breathed in deeply, contracting her body slightly and giving her enough leeway to slip out of Yang's grip. She backed away a few steps, coughing as she took several deep breathes; Yang's affections were damn near-lethal.
"How about instead of hugging me to death, we go about find those other two 'most precious treasures' of yours?"
Yang tiled her head slightly. "But…my designer brand shampoo is in my bag at Beacon and Bumblebee is still at the house on Patch…"
Blake's cat ears flattened while her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together into an adorable pout. Yang's couldn't keep up the charade is the face of such cuteness.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. So, what's your take on where Weiss and Ruby are?" Blake's face straightened out at Yang's question and she turned northwards.
"They're both north of us and are close to each other. It would take too much time to get to them from here. Our best bet is to head east towards the Temple and meet with them there" Blake was the best at tracking and also the best at using the Sense. She could get the most accurate measure of how far away the others were and where they were in relation to the local area.
It also made playing hide-and-seek impossible when she was it; almost as much as her Semblance made playing tag a pain.
Yang nodded at her sister's suggestion. She started walking until she remembered something and turned to Blake. "Hey…how did your landing go?"
Blake looked at her sister for a second before giving a big smile and a thumb's up. "Nailed it, obviously".
Yang smiled back and the two set out for the Forest Temple, where the next part of the Initiation and hopefully their sisters, would be waiting for them.
Ruby ran through the forest, calling her sisters' names. After totally nailing her landing, she took off in the direction she thought they were suppose to be heading. She hadn't seen either Grimm or another person in what had felt like ages. If only she had some way to tell where her sisters where…
Ruby skidded to a halt and almost slapped herself. She could just use her Sense to find her sisters. She closed her eyes and slowly turned in a circle, reaching out with her senses and her mind. She soon saw that one of her sisters was close, very close. It looked like a white flame was moving…directly at her?
Ruby opened her eyes just in time for a white streak to collide with her, knocking her to the ground. When she regained her senses, she discovered she was gazing at a very familiar pair of pale blue eyes.
"WEISS!"
"RUBY!"
The sisters embraced and Weiss quickly got off of Ruby, pulling her to her feet and quickly checking to see if she was hurt.
"I'm fine, I'm fine" Ruby assured her sister, "It just great to see you; I was beginning to think I wasn't going to find anyone out here."
"But of course, I would come to find you. I'll never let anything bad happen- "Weiss suddenly cut herself off, turning her head to the side. Ruby didn't know what she was doing; it was like she was listening to something. Ruby herself could only hear the gentle rustling of the leavings in the wind, the chirping of some birds and…wait…there was something else. It almost sounded like…
Weiss suddenly grabbed Ruby and turned her around. She took the headphones resting around her neck and placed them firm over her ears. She placed her hands on her younger sisters back and forcibly marched her forward.
"No time to idle around. We need to hurry up and complete this test. Yes sir, no time at all to hang around here." Ruby simply let her sister do what she wanted; they were always doing something like this. It was probably nothing she had to worry about.
In the distance, Jaune Arc was flailing about as he tried desperately to free himself. Twice now he had found himself stuck to something by a spear through his hoodie. He was beginning to wonder if this was all a sign or something.
"Help! Someone, help me" he called out. He had heard a noise just beyond the trees and though it might be other people. He continued to shout, hoping that they could came and help him down before some Grimm arrived.
With her headphones on, Ruby wasn't able to hear Jaune's pleas. Weiss could and she continued to march Ruby away from him, a truly wicked smile on her face.
Jaune Arc was, in her mind, getting exactly what he deserved.
For the next 20 minutes, Weiss literally pushed Ruby onward, staying behind her so as to not deviated from the course. At first her hands were firmly placed on Ruby's back; this slowly shifted to a more gently grip on her shoulders before wrapping her arms around Ruby and leaning into her, her head pressed against the back of her neck. This change in posture was due to a certain line of thought passing through her mind.
"I'm partners with Ruby…. I"M PARTNERS WITH RUBY!"
This was the absolute best day ever. They were going to be together for the next four years; they could do so many fun things, like painting their nails, trying on cute clothes and discussing trends in the global economy. Maybe Beacon, to force teammates to bond, would make them share a bed; that would be absolutely fantastic.
All of the activities Weiss was thinking about, economics and bed-sharing included, were things that she did on a regular basis with Ruby already. But every day with Ruby was a treasure, so being able to continue that at Beacon filled her with joy.
Less joyful was Ruby. "Weiss, can you let go of me now?" The only response from the white-haired girl was the sound of cooing, giggles and the occasional mad cackle as Weiss was completely absorbed in planning out how they were going to be the best partners ever.
Weiss had just gotten to the point of planning out how they could wear matching T-shirts when she suddenly lost her balance. Opening her eyes, she noticed that instead of holding her baby sister, there was only empty air between her arms; empty except for a small cloud of falling rose petals.
"RUBY! Get back here!" Weiss shouted and stomped after the trail of petals. It led her to a large clearing. She looked around but saw no immediate sign of her sister.
"You can run" she said aloud, slowly walking to the centre of the clearing, "You can hide. But you can't escape my LOVE!" Seriously, didn't Ruby know by now how important cuddling with her was, how it help to focus her mind? This could be vital for her passing the Initiation and she just had to dash off; sometimes Ruby just couldn't see the bigger picture.
Weiss stopped dead in her tracks as she sensed something was off. A series of low growls hummed through the air and several pairs of glowing red eyes appeared in the underbrush. In short order, an entire pack of Beowolves emerged, surrounding Weiss on all sides.
The white-haired Huntress wasn't the least be worried about this. She calmly drew her weapon, straightened her back, step one foot forward (but not too far forward) and got ready to fight them.
The Grimm obliged and two of them, one in front of Wiess and the another directly behind, charged towards her. Weiss tensed and prepared to attack before tilting her head slightly, as if listening to something.
Just before the Grimm reach her, Weiss quickly pivoted around, her rapier pointed forward in her right hand while her left was outstretched to the side. Her action impaled one of the Grimm right in the chest, killing it, while seemingly leaving her exposed to it's comrade.
Just as the Beowolf was about to slash at Weiss's back, a bright red steak shot from the top of a treeline and decapitate the Grimm. The speeding mass of red was revealed to be Ruby, weapon in hand as she deactivated her Semblance and landed close to Weiss. She reached out her hand and latched onto Weiss's outstretched one.
Weiss pivoted again, using Ruby's momentum to swing both of them around to face two more charging Grimm. Weiss's sword took the head off of one and Ruby fired her rifle point-blank at the other. As the two sisters stopped their shared spin and stood back to back, they were surrounded by four dead Grimm and over two dozen living ones, all ready to fight.
Weiss spared a brief glance backwards at Ruby. She hadn't received any sort of communication with her; she had simply had a strong feeling that she should take those certain actions. Doubtless Ruby had done the same, acting on instinct and the result was clear. All four sisters shared this wordless bond, the result of years training, sparring and simply being together. They could often fight as a team with an incredible degree of coordination that left the Signal instructors baffled.
The entire pack charged now and the sisters got to work. They moved like a small whirlwind of death, constantly moving, spinning and twisting around each other. Weiss would duck and let Ruby do a wide sweep with longer weapon while she stabbed between Ruby's legs at a Grimm's foot. The rapid motion confused the Grimm, as the girl they were targeting would suddenly move and the other would hit them. It was almost like the two were dancing with each other and soon another ten Grimm lay dead on the forest floor.
The remaining Grimm backed off and began to attack more cautiously. They began attacking in pairs, keeping their distance and retreating quickly. The pace of fighting decreased and the sisters slowed their movements, facing the Grimm side-by-side.
Weiss, eager to be done with this and still miffed at having her cuddling of Ruby cut short, spun the Dust-revolver on her rapier. She selected the Burn Dust and activated it, coating her blade in fire. A downward stab sent stream of fire forward into the pack of Beowolves, incinerating three of them instantly. The remaining Grimm backed away from the flames and beat a hasty retreat, fleeing back into the forest.
"AHA" Weiss shouted out, "Take that you gutless motherfu- "she stopped in mid-curse, looking at Ruby. She coughed into her fist before resuming. "Begone, you yellow-bellied rapscallions."
Ruby didn't say anything, simply pointing one finger forward. Weiss followed it and saw that the fire she had created was continuing to grow at a rapid pace, spreading to the nearby trees and bushes.
"That's right…wood burns…" Weiss's voice was calm and steady. The two sisters looked at each other, the same though coming their minds.
"CHEESE IT!" With the Xiao Long family's cry of retreat, the two took off in the opposite direction of inferno. This was not to first time they had set fire to a forest and they didn't want to stick around.
After several minutes of hard running, the girls reach a grassy hill where they stopped to catch their breaths. The fire was only a column of smoke is the distance, so they were safe for the moment.
"Since when has wood been flammable?" Weiss said angrily as she gasped in air. Ruby could only look at her sister and sigh.
Weiss, like all of them, had been taught to be humble and sincere, to always own up to her mistakes; and Weiss would do so for any and all honest mistakes she made. However, Weiss was also very prideful and had a much harder time admitting to 'stupid' mistakes. Despite her great intelligence, Weiss was just as likely to have those errors in judgement as anyone else, but she would instead try and place the blame on something else.
Hence why the girl who constantly got perfect scores on all her tests was questioning why trees were flammable all of a sudden.
Weiss stepped up to Ruby and grasped her shoulders. "If any one asks what happened…"
"It wasn't our fault" Ruby answered. "It was a group of young and irresponsible Grimm playing with matches without adult supervision. We are completely innocent in this particular affair."
Weiss patted her head. "Good girl" As much as honesty was a virtue for their family, they were still young and thus had much experience coming up with excuses for damaged and destroyed property.
"Alright! Time to get back on track". With this proclamation, Weiss boldly set out in a confident stride.
"Weiss?' Ruby spoke up, "The temple is to the east, you know, the other way".
Weiss halted in mid-step. "Ummm, of course. Yes…the temple is this way… definitely". She set out in another direction which, while closer then before, was still not heading east.
Ruby simply shook her head and sighed again. Even with all her smarts, Weiss was hopeless when it came to directions. She could follow her Sense well enough, but other situations required her to have both a map and GPS to prevent her getting lost and sidetracked.
Ruby spotted something on the ground and knelt to pick it up. Gears began to turn in her head as she saw this as a way to make up for lost time and get to the temple quickly.
"Hey Weiss!" The white-haired girl turned to see Ruby holding a large black feather in her hand.
"I have a great idea"
Pyrrha Nikos had been trained to never show even a trace of fear. Whether it was in a spar, in the finals of the Mistral Regionals or against the Grimm, fear was not allowed to be present. So, when she placed her hands over her mouth as her face adopted an expression of pure shock and horror, it was not due for fear for herself; rather for someone else.
"Y-you don't have an Aura?" she asked Jaune, her voice shaking. As the blonde boy shook his head no, the Champion of Mistral was overwhelmed with an intense feeling of self-loathing.
She had felt terrible for what she had done to Jaune in the locker room. She raked her brain on how she could make it up to him, after he was simply being friendly to her, but couldn't think of anything before the Initiation began.
When she saw him falling from the sky, clearly having trouble with his landing strategy, she quickly decided to help him. Being so far away, her best option was to throw her spear to catch and pin him to a tree before he hit the ground. It was more then a little strange, and perhaps insulting, to save Jaune in the exact same manner she attacked him early and she shouted out a loud apology as her spear struck home.
She rushed towards the Jaune's location as fast as she could, praying that she got there before the Grimm did. She was relieved beyond words to find him safe and sound, though struggling vainly to free himself.
She was relieved again when, after helping him down, he made it clear that he had no hard feelings over what happened earlier and was more then happy for the save. It took her several moments to realize that, as he was the first person she had made eye contact with since landing, Jaune was now her partner.
Thinking about it, that was a good thing. Jaune seemed like a very nice and friendly person and best of all, didn't know who she was. She had been afraid that she would end up on a team of fawning fans, people who were only friendly because of her fame.
With Jaune, that didn't appear to be the case. If she could keep her past a secret for a while longer, she might have a chance at making real friends.
The fact that he was pretty easy on the eyes was a nice addition as well.
Things were actually looking up for Pyrrha as they set out. That changed when she accidentally hit Jaune in the face with a tree branch. Noticing that he didn't activate his Aura had led her to question if he knew about Aura, with him answering no.
This meant that Pyrrha had thrown her spear and nearly impaled a boy who had no Aura to protect him. Twice! What if her aim had been just a little off? She could have stabbed him right through the shoulder; hell, she could have hit him in the chest and killed him!
"Stupid, stupid Pyrrha." This and other harsh opinions of herself whirled in the red-head's mind. Why was it always like this? When Ruby had collided with her in the locker room, she had been a hair's breadth away from clocking the girl right in the jaw; she probably would have broken it. Only the fact that she had groped her, which was something Pyrrha had no experience with and thus was shocked still by, saved her. If not, Pyrrha could have attacked a poor innocent girl by sheer reflex, prompting her sisters to retaliated and getting all of them kicked out of the Initiation.
She had almost ruined everything for several people; all because of who and what she was. It wasn't supposed to be like this, her destiny was to be…
"Pyrrha, are you okay?"
Jaune's question prompted Pyrrha to come back to the present. Her paling face and horrified expression was more then a little worrying and he was wondering if he had said something wrong. Pyrrha moved her hands to her sides and took several deep breathes, thinking about how she could make this right.
If the issue was that Jaune didn't have his Aura unlocked, then she could do it for him. That meant she would have to…touch him. Pyrrha gathered her resolved; she absolutely had to do this, to make things right.
She explained briefly what Aura was, that it was like a forcefield, and that she could help unlock his. She instructed him to stand still and to close his eyes. Reaching out, she very gently rested one hand on his chest plate before touching his face with the very tips of her gloved fingers. This minimal contact was the most she could do to hold back her natural impulse to turn this physical interaction into something violent.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."
She exhaled deeply as she finished reciting this ancient incantation. It wasn't necessary at all to unlock Jaune's Aura, but it did help focus her Aura in the specific way needed to touch another's. In many ways, this was a more intimate act then touching someone face and yet she was more comfortable with this.
As she fed her Aura into Jaune, reaching and unlocking his own potential, the last words of the incantation echoed in her mind. She vowed that she would protect Jaune from any and all things that would harm him. Her destiny was to be a great protector of humanity, so this was the least she could do for him.
"Ruby, this was a terrible idea!" Weiss shouted as loudly as she could, which was made difficult by the wind whipping around her.
"It's fine, stop worrying" Ruby's answer did little to reassure Weiss.
"I am so far beyond worrying" Weiss's voice was laced with sarcasm, enough that most anyone wouldn't mistake exactly what she was saying. That didn't include Ruby, who looked at her sister with a confused look.
"In a bad way Ruby!" Weiss said just before Ruby could ask if it was in a good way, "In a very bad way!"
Seriously, how did Ruby convince her that hitching a ride on a giant Nevermore was even a remotely good idea in the first place. She still wasn't even completely sure how they even got on this beast and yet now they were speeding through the air, hanging on for dear life.
"Is this thing even going the right way?" With the wind blowing, it was hard to even keep their eyes open and it was impossible to see what was below; they could have passed the temple and not even noticed.
"Of course, …I think" Ruby's answer did not inspire any confident with this course of action at all. It was this kind utter lack of planning or preparation that could make Weiss absolutely furious.
As previously established, Weiss was just as likely to make stupid mistakes as anyone else, especially when she was riled up. Thus, she stood up straight on the moving Nevermore and was about to walk over to Ruby and give her a proper lecture on not leaping into to things without thinking them through.
Normally, this act of irony would have resulted in Weiss falling back from the wind, tumbling down the Nevermore's back before grabbing on again. Unfortunately for Weiss, Ruby had decided to check if they were indeed going the right way and had brandished her weapon, aiming at the Grimm's wing tip.
Pulling the trigger, she hit the wing and caused the Nevermore to turn almost vertically, revealing the forest under them. Ruby observation of the ground below was quickly cut off by the sound of Weiss screaming. As she was standing up and not holding on, the sudden turn sent her flying into the air.
Ruby looked at the soaring white figure for a moment before springing into action. "Wait for me Weiss!" She jumped off the Nevermore's back, using her rifle to give her momentum to catch up with her sister.
The avian Grimm was not happy at being used as a springboard and quickly set out to follow these human pests.
Blake focused as much as possible, her eyes closed as she reached out with her Sense. She could feel that Ruby and Weiss were close, and were getting closer, but she couldn't see them at all in her mind's eye. It was like they just up and disappeared but were still nearby.
Opening her eyes, she was greeting by a large golden chess piece being held in front of her face.
"How bout a cute little pony?" Yang asked as she held the knight piece.
Blake smirked a little; her sister's good cheer was just infectious. "Sure, sure" she answered.
They had reached the temple ruins a while ago, finding that several large chess pieces had been arranged in a semi-circle on pedestals. Seeing that Weiss or Ruby weren't there, they decide to wait for them, Yang taking the time to decide which relic they would take while Blake tried again to Sense her sisters.
"Don't worry so much" Yang placed her hand on Blake's shoulder. "They'll be perfectly fine"
Blake smiled at Yang's reassurances. "I know…it's just-"
Suddenly a loud crash came from just beyond the tree line. The girls tensed and got ready to fight as a large Ursa broke through the foliage and stomped its way towards them. Suddenly, it veered off to the side and Blake and Yang saw that someone was riding on the Grimm's back.
It was Nora, hanging onto the Ursa's back and whooping in joy as she swung a large hammer over her head. The Grimm was less thrilled and stumbled around, trying to shake her off.
Yang and Blake looked on at this scene, barely noticing Ren emerge from the treeline and set off after Nora, breathing heavily. The two adopted a thinking pose, hand under their chins as they examined Nora's riding.
Riding on a Grimm was dangerous and irresponsible to the extreme; that consequently made it look really fun to do. The two sisters shared a look and already started planning on when they could try this out for themselves.
Seemingly by accident, Nora's hammer hit the Ursa on the back of it's head, knocking it down for good.
"Awwww…I broke it" Nora lamented as she hopped off the dead bear, Ren finally catching up to her. She looked over, noticing Yang and Blake and waved at them.
Before they could response, a girlish scream filled the air as a figure suddenly flew through the air overhead. It headed straight for a tall tree that was in the middle of the large clearing in front of the ruins. The moment it impacted the tree, a bright flash of white briefly blinded everyone present and it took a second for them to see what happened.
The top portion of the tree had been blown off and was laying several feet away on the ground. The screaming figure, now silent, was laying on the ground some distance away, having apparently bounced backwards after hitting the tree.
Blake narrowed her eyes as she looked at the still figure. "That's…that's Jaune!"
Yang looked at her sister before looking across the field, straining her eyes to see what Blake could see. Yeah…that was Jaune, blonde hair and white armour. He wasn't moving at all and both hope and joy began to swell within her.
With a loud groan, Jaune started to sit up and quickly dash those hopes.
"Damn it! He's still alive." Yang growled angrily.
Blake mimicked her. "It's almost like he's a cockroach or something"
Blake's cat ears twitch as she faintly heard another sound coming from above. Her mind hadn't fully processed what it was before she started moving, tapping Yang on the shoulder. Without needing to ask, Yang followed Blake's lead, knowing that it was important.
As the sound became clearer, the two looked up and saw two falling figure, one white and another red. They both picked up their pace.
Jaune groggily stood up, his head spinning. He wasn't too sure what had happened; first there was a cave and they there was the relic that wasn't a relic and then he was flying through the air for what seemed like forever.
He didn't get much time to collect himself before Blake jumped onto his shoulders and used him as a launch pad to leap high into the air. Yang followed right behind, but used his head instead, slamming him back to the ground.
Blake drew her sword and shifted into it's kusarigama mode, throwing backwards at Yang. The blonde caught it daftly and held on tight as Blake started spinning her in mid-air. She let go right as she was lined up with the Weiss, flying through the air at high-speed that was boosted with shots from her gauntlets. Blake spun herself around and used her Semblance, shifting her body around by summoning shadow clones and aligned herself with Ruby's descent.
Weiss's screams were cut short as Yang caught her in mid-fall. She didn't fully realize what was happening but her body immediately latch on to her, knowing that she was in safe hands. They hit the ground hard, with Yang using her Aura to take the impact with her feet, creating a sizable crater beneath her.
Weiss opened her eyes and looked around, seeing that she was no longer falling. Looking up, she was greeting by her big sister's bright eyes and even brighter smile.
"Just dropping in?" Yang's light tone belayed the serious situation they just avoid. Hearing her voice and being held in her arms bridal style, Weiss's rapidly beating heart began to slow down. It might be strange that the girl who was most often described as a 'blazing fire' was so effective at calming others, but for Weiss it was just natural that Yang could do that. With her big sister around, she would always be safe.
"My hero…" Weiss's words were dripping with sarcasm; being saved from falling to death wasn't any reason to lose her composure and start gushing. Still, she did deserve some kind of rewards, so she grabbed Yang's shoulder, lifted herself up a bit and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Yang's smile widened further as she helped Weiss onto her feet. After giving her a quick once over to make sure she wasn't hurt, they two hustled over to where Blake and Ruby had landed.
As Ruby had jumped off of her own volition, she was in complete control of her fall. While she could have nailed her own landing, she had decided to let Blake catch when she saw her below. They landed softer then Yang, Blake being more practiced at falling from heights and so rolled with it, holding Ruby protectively before standing up again.
Ruby started to regret her decision to let herself be caught, as Blake immediately started fussing over her, barely letting get back on her feet. The fussing only increased when Yang and Weiss reach them.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Oh, you… insufferable little brat…why did you do something that reckless?" Anger and worry mixed together as Weiss checked Ruby over, though there was not hard bite to her words.
"I was only following you..." Ruby countered.
Before Weiss could come up with a retort that didn't make her look like a fool, Blake's ears started twitching again. The Sisters had learned to take that as a sign that something was coming their way.
"What now?' Yang groaned. She had been bored not too long ago, but this was starting to get too crazy.
The sound of snapping wood and uplifted trees was faintly audible, like something big was moving through the forest towards them. The Sisters all got their weapons out, with Nora and Ren quickly joining them.
They were surprised when it was Pyrrha who emerged from the treeline, running as fast as possible. She dived forward and slid across the ground for the last part, coming to a stop right in front of the group.
"Pyrrha! Are you okay?" Ruby asked, kneeling down to check on her.
Pyrrha didn't answer, her mind focused on something else entirely.
"Stupid, stupid, useless Pyrrha! You vowed to protect Jaune and what happened only a short while later? You let him get attacked by a Deathstalker! How can you be destined to protect the world if you can't protect your own partner!" The voice in her mind was harsh and unrelenting, driving home her failure.
She looked up and saw Jaune laying on the ground a short distance away. She quickly scrambled over to him, almost knocking the others down. She reached Jaune side and saw that he wasn't moving.
She closed her eyes and mouthed a pray of her fallen comrade. She had been told, over and over, that she as meant to be a great warrior, a protector of humanity. But she had failed to help one person when they needed her the most.
With tears forming in the corners of her eyes, her rest a hand on Jaune's…still very warm body…that was moving….
Pyrrha's eyes snapped open as Jaune let out a low groan, one hand grabbing her shoulder as he tried to sit up. Her tears continued to flow, though there was joy and happiness in them now.
Unfortunately, Pyrrha's body was a bit disconnected from her mind and responded to Jaune grabbing her shoulder for support by clocking him right in the jaw with her fist. Jaune's head slammed back onto the ground, stunning him again.
The group looked on as Pyrrha apologized profusely to Jaune.
"Well…" Nora spoke up, "she's a bit quirky, isn't she?"
The only response she got was a long sigh from Ren. Before anyone could say or do anything else, a loud crash drew their attention back to the forest.
Several trees had been knocked down and a large Deathstalker was climbing over them, snapping its claw's menacingly at the group of Beacon hopefuls.
The group looked at the imposing Grimm before slowly turning their heads to look at Pyrrha. The red-head, who had turned away from Jaune at the sound of the large Grimm crashing in, met the stares of the others.
"Ummm…there's a Deathstalker chasing me…watch out" she said sheepishly, her hand rubbing the back of her head.
"Thanks for the heads up…" Yang replied in a deadpan voice before she and the other turned back, weapons at the weapon.
The Deathstalker advanced slowly, its claws and stinger posed to rip apart its human foes.
"Not today, buster!" Nora hefted her weapon and fired a trio of grenades at the Deathstalker. The projectiles hit the Grimm square on, but as the pink smoke cleared, it showed that they didn't even scratch the large scorpion.
"What?! No fair" Nora whined. When she fired her grenade launcher, her target was supposed to blow up. Any thing less was just cheating in her mind.
Ruby readied her scythe, ready to dash forward and hit the ugly bug in the face when she noted that Weiss was simply standing there, looking at Nora. More specially, she was staring at her weapon, a wicked grin slowly forming on her face as a mad gleam appeared in her eyes.
Ruby and her sisters had seen that look many times before and quickly took a big step backward.
Quick as lightning, Weiss snatched Magnhild from Nora's grasp. Before she could protest, Weiss ejected one of the grenades still in the chamber and handed the launcher back. Both Ren and Nora looked on with confusion as Weiss swiftly dismantled part of the grenade, exposing the explosive Dust-mixture. Weiss gave the Dust a quick sniff before dipping a finger into the compound and licking it off. She smacked her lips a few times, nodding appreciatively before getting to work.
Pulling on her goggles, she began pulling out various vials of Dust from the confines of her coat. Her hands moved faster then the eye could follow, pulling out and then putting back the vials as she was done. She passed the grenade between her hands multiple times and yet never upset the delicate mixture within. She pulled out a mixing tool and quickly mixed the Dust together to her satisfaction before sealing the grenade back up again.
"Here, try this" Weiss held the grenade out to Nora, a wide gleeful smile on her face.
Nora, rather timidly, took the grenade and loaded into her weapon. The Deathstalker, which had been moving forward cautiously, was almost within striking distance when Nora pointed Magnhild at it and fired.
The actual explosion was quite small, only a small puff of multi-colored smoke. What was much more impressive was the massive shockwave that hit the Deathstalker, slamming it backwards into the forest, crushing several trees under it's body.
Ren, Nora and Pyrrha looked on with mouths wide open. Weiss's sisters simply nodded; this was expected of their sister when she got that look in her eye. They were just thankful they none of them had been blown up in the process this time.
"YES!" Weiss shouted loudly. "Adding the Wind Dust to the mixture greatly increased the kinetic force of the impact by over Five-hundred and seventy percent"
"More like Five-hundred and forty-five percent, I'd say" Nora said, closing her mouth and placing her hand under her chin in a thoughtful pose. "You used a dash of Lighting Dust to act as conduit between the Wind and Burn Dust, right?"
"Yeah, plus a smidge of Gravity Dust to stabilize the whole thing."
"Could more Wind Dust be added to increase of force of the blast?"
"No. Decreasing the Burn Dust content too much will simply create a large burst of wind instead of a controlled kinetic strike. Increasing both Burn and Wind Dust too much will cause whole thing to destabilize"
"Could a two-stage process be used? Separate chambers for Wind and Burn with an intermediary section for the Lightening and Gravity?"
"It would require a complete redesign of the grenade, but that is a very interesting idea. I can come up with some plans to-"
Weiss cut herself off, going silence as she took her goggles off and slowly turned to face Nora. The pink bomber did the same and the two stared at each other for a long moment.
Weiss stuck out her hand. "I'm Weiss Xiao Long". They had already been introduced last night by Ruby, but this moment just seemed to call for a more formal introduction.
"Nora Valkyrie." Nora shook Weiss's hand, a big smile on her face.
"I think we're going to be great friends" Weiss said, matching Nora's smile
"I think so too"
Close by, a cold chill run down Ren's spine. Nora's experiments with explosive were bad enough, but now that she had friend to share in that with…
A loud, screech could be heard in the distance and as they group looked up, the shape of an approaching Nevermore could be seen.
"Looks like didn't like us hitching a ride" Ruby muttered under her breathe, before speaking up. "Let's get moving! All we need is the relic; there's no point in fighting these monsters. Ren, help Jaune to his feet."
The others followed Ruby's commands without question. Ren ran over to Jaune, hauling him to his feet and moving him forward while Pyrrha fretted nearby. Nora and Ruby ran to the ruins and quickly grabbed their relics. Nora grabbed two gold rook pieces and tossed one over to Pyrrha, who caught it effortless despite focusing entirely on Jaune's condition.
Ruby jumped onto a nearby rock and survey the others following. Yang, Blake and Weiss stopped for a moment, looking at Ruby. The emotions swelled in their chests as they saw their baby sister standing tall and strong, like a true leader. A long sigh escaped the lips of the three.
"What is it?" Ren asked as he caught up to them, struggling slightly with his load.
"…Nothing…" was their response.
The group moved as fast as possible, with Jaune recovering enough that he could run with Ren's support, though he was still mostly out of it. They came across as second set of ruins with a bridge crossing a large canyon. Before they could reach it, the Deathstalker returned, having recovered from it's explosive-induced tumble and looking for revenge. The Nevermore flew overheard, briefly blocking out the sun as it too readied to attack.
"Get Jaune across the bridge! We'll hold them off." Ruby hefted her scythe as she gave the orders, her sisters moving to stand beside her. Nora moved across the bridge with Jaune supported by Ren following with Pyrrha bringing up the rear.
Before Ruby and her sisters could cross, the Nevermore swoop down and rammed into the stone bridge, destroying it and stranding Ruby's group with the Deathstalker. The Nevermore flew back up and unleashed a barrage of razor-sharp feathers, forcing Jaune's group to seek cover in the ruins.
Ruby quickly took in the situation; two large Grimm had just separated the two groups from each other. Divide and conquer was a strategy that the Grimm were surprisingly good at utilizing. They needed to deal with these guys fast before more Grimm arrived and overwhelmed them.
'Hit it with everything you got!" The Sisters unleash a barrage of bullets at the charging Deathstalker, all of which bounced off it's thick carapace. They were forced to scatter as the beast drew close, it's stinger gouging the ground where they had previously been standing.
It quickly wheeled around and swung its claw at Ruby. She quickly raised her scythe to block it but was still pushed back some ways, stumbling to regain her footing. Weiss let out a deep growl and ran forward, leaping onto the Deathstalker's back.
"Don't you dare touch my baby sister!" she shouted as she repeatedly stabbed her blade ineffectually against its armour plating. "You damn, worthless son of a-"
Weiss was cut off as the Deathstalker used its tail to knock her off, sending her flying. Yang, Blake and Ruby cried out, but were unable to run to her aid as the Deathstalker proceeded to attack again.
Weiss landed on her back, sliding across the ground for a few feet before coming to a stop. She lay still for a moment; her Aura had taken the brunt impact and thus she was largely unhurt. If anything of hers had been damage, it was most likely her pride. She had made an amateur's mistake, rushing in and not being aware of her surroundings. When she saw Ruby in danger, she just saw red and she knew that wouldn't be helping anyone. She needed to be better then that.
Weiss took a deep breathe. "Okay…before I was just a little angry." She hit a switch in Myrtenaster's hilt before tossing the weapon high into the air. The sword began to shift its form, the grip extending while the hilt-guard widened. The blade itself widened at its base, becoming conical in shape.
Weiss flipped herself back onto her feet and caught the newly-formed lance deftly, spinning it around a few times.
"But now I'm just fucking pissed off!"
She hefted her lance like a spear and activated the Burn Dust in the hilt. The fiery substance quickly spread across the lance-head, which had begun to spin to enhance the Dust's effects. In moments, Weiss had a spinning cone of fire on her weapon and she was ready to use it.
A small black glyph appeared at the tip of the lance and, focusing, Weiss created a larger one on the Deathstalker's back. Creating a glyph on something she couldn't directly see was difficult but having been stabbing at that particular back only a couple of moments ago, she had a clear image of it in her mind.
With the connection between the Target and Anchor secure, Weiss threw the lance as hard as she could into the air. Her linked glyphs made aiming unnecessary as the lance flew through the air and hit the Deathstalker spot on. The drill dug into the armour, piecing it and injecting fire into the space between the Deathstalker's carapace and main body.
The scorpion Grimm screamed in agony as it's armour cracked under the intense heat. It managed to knock the lance away before it was fully cooked and roared in pure rage at the Sisters.
Weiss used her glyphs to have her lance return to her hand and took position close to Ruby. She had wounded the Deathstalker but had used up all the Burn Dust currently held in her weapon. Myrtenaster's Grand Lance mode greatly increased her reach and attack power but it drained her Dust reserves almost instantly. She could refill it given some time, but the half-broiled bug wasn't going to give her that or let her try something like that again.
As the Deathstalker turned to face Weiss, Yang dash forward, firing her shots as she closed the distance. Before she could get close enough to punch it, the Grimm whirled around lightening fast and sent Yang flying back with it's full weight.
Right over the canyon.
"BUMBLEBEE!" Ruby cried as she saw her sister about to sail over the chasm. Blake response instantly, throwing her pistol towards Yang, who caught it just before she started to fall downwards.
Slamming her feet down and straining her muscles, Blake pulled Yang back; swinging her around to strike the Deathstalker from the side. It managed to see the attack coming and retreated backwards several paces, causing Yang's punch to only glace off of it.
Blake began to move forward, but it was slow; she could only shuffle a bit with each rotation. Ruby saw that, despite its wounds, the Deathstalker was capable of dodging Blake and Yang's team-attack unless they could stop it in its tracks.
"Ice Flower" Ruby said, looking at Weiss while deploying her scythe. Her sister just gave her a look in return.
"Wasn't it called White Rose?"
"I changed my mind"
"Again?"
"Just do it!" Ruby rammed her scythe blade into the ground, using it as a platform to aim her rifle. With a shrug, Weiss turned her Dust cylinders to Ice and pointed the tip of her lance right beside Ruby's gun barrel.
A black glyph appeared in from her Crescent Rose, quickly turning light blue as Weiss added Ice Dust to it. A copy of the glyph appeared on the Deathstalker's flank and, with the connection secure, Ruby opened fired.
Weiss's Dust infused glyphs added more elemental power then normal Dust rounds, so when her shots followed the gravitational tunnel and hit the Deathstalker, half of it's body was frozen instantly.
Unable to move, it was an easy target for Blake and Yang's Bumblebee attack, Yang using her Semblance to strike a massive, fiery blow. The Deathstalker's carapace exploded into pieces and it was pulled along with Yang as Blake continued to swing before it was pushed off of the edge and into the canyon below.
Blake swung Yang back around before letting her go. She and the rest of them were fairly winded, but more then ready to continue the fight against the Nevermore. As the four regrouped to catch their breath and plan a way across the chasm, a huge shockwave knocked them right off their feet.
Looking across the canyon, they saw that the Nevermore had crashed into the ruined building, it's body twitching. The others had defeated the Grimm, but it wasn't clear how.
The Sisters took off, taking a running leap over the chasm, confused and worried over the fate of the others.
A short time earlier
The first thing Jaune was fully aware of as complete consciousness came back to him was the terrible headache he had. It was as if someone had used his head as a trampoline. The second was the sound of gunfire, explosions and a high-pitched screeching.
Opening his eyes and looking around, he saw that he was in a mostly intact stone building. At the doorway of the building was Nora, firing into the air outside and ducking back in when she was out of ammo.
"Too bad Weiss didn't cook up a second one of those special grenades for me" she muttered loudly to her as she reloaded her weapon. She looked over and saw that Jaune was fully awake and trying to sit up.
"Hey! Glad to see you're up and at it" her greet was loud and cheerful, almost like there wasn't a ferocious fight going on outside. She walked towards Jaune and reach out a hand, smiling brightly.
With his vision still swimming a little, the image of Nora standing before him, the light from the doorway shining behind her and illumining her silhouette, took his breath away.
He took her offered hand after a few moment and got unsteady to his feet
"Ren carried you in here after that bird-brain starting shooting up the place. Asked me to watch over you while giving some covering fire. I'm pretty good when it comes to jumping up high, but I'm not so good at the whole 'ninja-style' of jumping around. Your quirky partner is out there too and is doing pretty well but nothing we throw at it is having any effect. Got any suggestions?"
Nora left go of Jaune's hand and stepped back a bit, letting him breathe. He flexed his hand a little; Nora's squeezing it had actually help bring feeling back to it. Despite how fast she talked, his clearing mind was able to take in everything she had said. He walked towards the doorway and peeked out.
The giant Nevermore was circling the main tower structure, shooting feathers and sending out powerful gusts of wind. Both Ren and Pyrrha was jumping between structures, maintaining almost a constant barrage of gunfire on it. Unfortunately, the Nevermore was keeping its distance and the shots weren't having any effect.
"If only I could hit him with my hammer" Nora said, moving up behind Jaune, "Then I could put that bad birdie down for the count."
Jaune took in everything, his mind racing. He glanced over at the cliff face, which towered nearby, and looked back at Nora.
"Nora…you said you can jump really high?" Nora nodded. "Do you think you can get to the top of the cliff?"
Nora looked out the doorway and towards said cliff. "It would take a minute, and use up most of my remaining grenades, but yeah, sure."
"Great. Head up there now. When you see the Nevermore stop flying around, hit it with everything you have."
Nora stared at him for a moment before nodding, dashing out of the building and heading towards the cliff face. Jaune took a deep, collecting himself, run out as well.
Normally, Jaune would be far more hesitant about rushing to face a giant flying monster who wanted to kill him, but all those blows to his head had dampened his inhibitions a bit. What he was mostly feeling right now was pure anger; directed squarely at the creatures of Grimm.
Jaune felt like someone had used his head as a punching bag and he wanted payback. Being that they were in a Grimm-infested forest, it seemed pretty obvious that it was those soulless creatures that were responsible for his massive headache. He was going to get even by any means necessary.
Those means involved Nora, Ren and Pyrrha. Seeing that Nora was making her way to the cliff, firing grenades to help her jump, he dashed towards the main fight.
Pyrrha saw Jaune running as she stopped to reload. "Jaune!" she cried out, alerting Ren to his appearance as well.
"Don't aim for it's body!" the blonde cried out, "Go for its wings; force him to the ground."
The two looked at him, not sure of what to do, but decided to follow his plan as the Nevermore came around for another attack; nothing they were doing was working anyway.
Ren and Pyrrha jumped to the sides while Jaune took position just below the main tower, standing completely in the open. The Nevermore saw this and unleashed a barrage of feathers at him.
Pyrrha cried out and almost turned to run back but stopped in her tracks when she saw the aftermath.
Jaune was perfectly fine; he had deployed his shield and blocked all the shots that would have hit him. He was surrounded by the Grimm's black feathers but was completely unhurt. As he lowered his shield, Pyrrha saw his blue eyes were blazing, as if challenging the Nevermore.
The large raven seemed to accept and swooped down low, intending to rip Jaune apart with its claws.
As it flew down, Ren and Pyrrha struck. Ren threw Stormflower, the two guns spinning like boomerangs in the air, and the sickle blades slash right were its left wing met the body. On the other side, Pyrrha threw her shield and followed up with several shots from her rifle. All of them hit on target, where the wing met the body on the right side.
While not seriously hurting the Nevermore, these attacks did upset its balance and cause to briefly lose control of it's descent, crashing into the middle-section of tower, right above Jaune.
The blonde boy grinned widely and prepared to get some distance before Nora made her move. He hit a snag, literally, as one of the black feathers had gone through one of his pant legs. It missed his leg, but it did pin him to the ground.
"Damn it!" he growled as he started to pull at it as best he could while still holding onto his sword and shield.
High above the battlefield, Nora pulled herself up to the top of the cliff. Using the last of her ammunition, she had managed to jump up most the cliff in a single leap, crawling up the rest of it in short order. She took a second to catch her breathe before looking down below.
The Nevermore was stuck halfway into the tower, thrashing around as it tried to free itself. It wasn't flying around anymore, so this must be the time Jaune told her to attack. She stepped up to the edge and deployed Magnhild in its hammer form.
Nora hesitated, which was very unusual for her. Jaune had told her to hit it with everything she had, but did that mean absolutely everything? Should she risk it? This Initiation was important, for her and Ren and Jaune and the others; she had to use all her strength to help them succeed.
Nora raised her right arm and looked at the bracelet around her wrist. An intense internal debate raged within before she decided that one, just one, would be enough.
Placing her hammer down for a moment, she used her left hand to press several small, hidden buttons along the bracelet in the specific order needed to unlock it. She winced as she slowly removed it, the two sharp spikes piercing her skin coming out completely clean and bloodless. She had to force her Aura to not heal the two holes, as she was going to put it right back on again.
Nora closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let the power flow through her.
She gasped as the energy surged within her, her knees buckling as she began to sweat. Her Semblance let her channel electricity directly to her muscles, including the electricity her body produced naturally. Officially, this let her lift over 5 times her own body weight and overall be much stronger then her small stature would indicate.
The truth was that those feats of strength were only the tip of the iceberg, a small fraction of her true power. With one of her Limiters off, the electricity she could produce, and thus the strength she could wield, increased exponentially.
Nora was panting, her face flushed red. She always believed that she was ready for this, but it always surprised her; her power and her potential. And this was only a part of it; if she took of her other bracelet and her choker, if she unleashed her full, unchecked power, she could wipe out everything down there. Nothing could hold her back, nothing could stop her if she just let-
A loud rumble of thunder in the distance snapped Nora out of it. Shaking, she turned her head and saw a large, dark cloud marring the otherwise perfect sky. The forecast predicted a completely clear day, without even a chance of thundershowers.
"…No" Nora said to herself, grabbing her hammer and turning back to look down below. The Nevermore had largely freed itself from the tower, having turned and perched in the hole it had made. It spread it's wing and was about to take off again.
"I am not a monster" Pink sparks leapt from her as she poured power into her arms and legs. Her heft her weapon and glared down at the Nevermore.
"I kill monsters…"
With that Nora leapt off the cliff, spinning around vertically to give her attack more momentum. It almost looked like a pink comet was shooting down from the heavens, crashing right into the Nevermore.
Nora's strike created a huge shockwave that knocked everyone nearby to the ground and caused her to bounce back up some ways. The Nevermore, who never saw it coming, was smash into the ground, taking part of the tower with it.
As the dust cleared, the applicants got back to their feet and converged around the Nevermore. Ruby and her sisters jumped the chasm and greeted the others.
"Man, that was awesome" Ruby said. "I can't believe you guys were able to just knock right out of the sky like that. By the way, where's Jaune?"
Ren, Pyrrha and Nora looked around and at each other. With everything happening so far, none of them had been able to keep track of him after the Nevermore rammed into the tower. With slow realization, they turned to look at the dead Grimm.
"No…" Nora thought, the horror rising within her. "Not again. Not again. Not again." She was almost of the verge of a full mental breakdown when the Nevermore started to more again.
By sheer instinct, everyone jumped back and readied their weapons. This proved unnecessary as Jaune crawled out from underneath the Grimm's head.
By sheer luck, Jaune had managed to pulled the feather out of his pants the exact moment Nora hit the Nevermore. His arms had been pulled upward by the effort of trying to free himself, resulting in both his sword and shield being above his head when the Grimm came crashing down on him. He was positioned just under its large head, so he didn't have its entire weight on top of him, so his Aura was able to save him, though the white flashes surrounding him showed that it had taken everything he had left.
"That…that was not pleasant" he wheezed as he extracted himself from under the feathery body. He looked down at his hands, seeing that he had his shield but not his sword.
"Any of you seen my sword?" he asked to the group, who were only staring at him. Before he could ask what was wrong, the Nevermore began to dissolve and a clanging sound drew Jaune's attention to towards it. His sword was on the ground now, having been lodged into the Nevermore's head and was its ultimate cause of death. Jaune simply shrugged, picking the blade up and sheathing it.
"That was…AMAZING!" Ruby shouted, "Putting yourself at risk to get into the perfect spot to land the killing blow, that just the coolest, right?" Ruby turned towards her sisters, who had their arms folded and were giving Jaune a hard glare.
What he did was reckless, dangerous and…pretty cool. They had to share Ruby's opinion on that. It pained them a bit to admit it, but it looked like Jaune did have some measure of skill and bravery, and thus deserved a spot at Beacon.
They were still going to keep a damn close eye on him; to make sure he didn't even think about trying anything with Ruby.
Ren let out a sigh of relief at seeing Jaune was okay. Pyrrha was holding back tears and would have run up and hugged him, if her aversion to physical contact hadn't gotten in the way.
Nora had no qualms about embracing people. "Oh, Jaune! You're okay!" She ran up and hugged Jaune's arm. "That was incredible! You're absolutely amazing and brave and lucky and-"
A loud snapping sound cut Nora off. Everyone looked towards the source of the noise and saw that Jaune's right arm, the one held by Nora, was now bent at unnatural angle. She let go of said arm and belatedly realized that she still had her Limiter off.
"Sorry…" she said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. Jaune didn't reply, simply looking at his now twisted arm. The shock of this and everything else had numb him to the pain, though that would wear off soon enough. When it did, it was going to hurt like hell.
Back at the exam start point, Headmaster Ozpin looked at this scene on his scroll. The two group's defeat of such large Grimm was quite a feat for such young warriors, but not entirely unexpected for these particular teenagers.
The daughters' of Taiyang Xiao Long, trained by both their father and Qrow Branwen, had proven their skills beyond any doubt. Led by Summer Rose's daughter, the four had shown an incredible level of teamwork. Letting Ruby in early had been a wise decision indeed.
There was Pyrrha Nikos, the great Champion of Mistral, whose fighting prowess wasn't exaggerated, though her social skills needed some work. Her life had been difficult in a way most people didn't understand, but he hoped that being away from Mistral and her family would help her.
Lie Ren was the survivor of the Kuroyuri's destruction by a mysterious Grimm and who lost everything he had. The boy had risen up, graduated at the top of his class and had applied to Beacon with several recommendation from his teachers. His calm and reserved personality would help balance any group he was in and keep them on task, though Ozpin suspected that the scars of his past hadn't fully healed yet. Both his medical and psych elevations told as much, and while Ozpin and the rest of the staff wouldn't bring it up. he hoped Ren could find a balance that led to acceptance and happiness.
Nora Valyrie was a very interesting case and he had been keeping tabs on her even since Professor Lionheart brought her to his attention, after she and Ren were found in the ruins of Kuroyuri. He had taken no small effort to ensure that those two were relocated to Vale as soon as possible and encouraged to apply to both a local Combat School and to Beacon itself.
The Girl Beloved by the Storm, a fairy tale older then the Four Maidens, come to life. Her powers were incredibly destructive, as her past actions showed, but if she could control them, they could be a massive boon in this conflict.
And finally, Jaune Arc, the boy with false transcript and little to no combat training. He should have failed this test outright, and yet he had managed to partner with perhaps the strongest applicant and survive attacks by the Grimm. He had rallied his group into enacting a very daring plan and pulled them through to victory. The boy had guts, a talent for planning and a good dose of luck, broken arm and multiple head wounds notwithstanding.
All-in-all, it was shaping up to be a very interesting year indeed.
That's it for this chapter.
Support for Pollination has been pretty overwhelming in the reviews, so I'll be going with that moving forward. This leaves things a bit open with JNPR. A major part of the story that I could only show off now is that the members of JNPR do have some differences compared to canon. As JNPR is going to be a significant part of this story, I wanted to give them some unique aspects a well.
Pyrrha has a lot of issue from her childhood, being forced to become an expert fighter and have her destiny about being a hero forced on her. She is still a kind and caring person but has a bad reaction to physical contact. Time will tell if she can overcome this at Beacon.
Nora has quite the power boost here; she is my favorite character and even though I have another story focused on her, I still wanted her to get a lot of attention. She has quite the dark past involving her Semblance and has to wear those Limiters to prevent it going out of control. We'll be being going into more details later in the story, but it safe say it cast a dark shadow over Nora and Ren's relationship. They have a strong emotional connection, but also some serious emotional baggage to deal with.
Jaune's mostly the same as canon; I have a few ideas going forward, but no radical changes as of yet. His Aura has a bit of an offensive edge to it now, sending out a blast of energy when impacted. I took inspiration from the scene where Cardin punched Jaune and hurt his hand after a white flash. It gives Jaune a bit of a surprise when he is attacked some of the time but won't make him super powerful or anything. This is not his Semblance or anything, just a unique aspect to how his own Aura works.
I have a plan about how to proceed with JNPR's pairings, but like Pollination, it going to be a fairly slow burn. I will reiterate once again that JNPR will be an important part of this work, as the main group of friends and allies to RWBY. This means that some time will be dedicated to JNPR's struggles and character growth. The main focus of the whole story will be on RWBY, so don't worry about JNPR taking over or anything.
I noticed while writing that I've spent a lot more time on Weiss then the other girls. This wasn't intentional, it just that writing version of her proved to be quite fun. Blake on the other hand hasn't gotten much attention, and while I dislike how much of the show focuses on her, I will endeavor to balance things out a bit.
I have put a lot of thought into how no one immediately knew Weiss was a member of the Schnee family and will go into more details within the next few chapters. For the moment, in this setting, Weiss's physical traits are common enough in Atlas that she isn't immediately seen as a Schnee. In the show, there is a bit of an inconsistency over which colour glyphs do what and if Dust is being used with them. For this story, I've decided that white glyphs push objects while black glyphs pull them. Thanks to a bit of a mental block, Weiss can only use black glyphs and thus believes that, while similar, her Semblance is different from the Schnee Family. I'm also going with that Qrow only met Winter a few years before the present day and thus Weiss was fully part of the family by the time he could have reasonably begun to suspect something. How much Qrow knows and suspects will be brought up later.
I only belatedly realized that after the second chapter that Weiss and Blake should probably have different weapons then in canon. Their different upbringing and having Ruby around would probably lead them to having at least something different. I decided to have Weiss's weapon transform into a lance but I couldn't think of anything really for Blake, so it's the same as canon. I'll take any ideas and suggestions over upgrades and redesigns for Blake and JNPR's weapons as the story goes on, so get creative.
That's all for now. Please leave a review or PM me to leave any thought or suggestions you have and I'll see you next time.
EDIT: One day up and got a bunch of people clamoring for RWBYxJNPR now. Seem when I start to go one direction, the other side speaks up. I've set up a poll on my progile, so cast a vote there. It's no guarantee on the what will happen, I just want some numbers on who's for what. I would also appreciate not only commenting on what pairing you would like, but also on the rest of the story so far, so I know if I'm doing okay on that front. Thanks again.