As the man charged, Ruby was ready to defend herself. However, he was running in her direction, she noticed he was not looking at her. He was looking… behind her? Just as she turned around she saw a King Taijitu behind her, ready to strike. The man returned his weapon to flail mode and swung at the Grimm. The serpent's head was knocked back, though it was still attached and the Grimm was still able to fight. With more jumps and swings, the King Taijitu was not faring well. Sensing a good opportunity, Ruby jumped into the fray, attacking the Grimm's other head. With a few swings and shots, she was feeling very confident. The man once more switched to boxing glove and whip mode (G+W). As with his fight with Yang, he forced the spikes to retract and shot Dust at the beast.
"Move aside, girl!" the man said again, more determined than before.
Ruby would not have listened to this man if there hadn't been a powerful and angry Grimm right behind her; this man outfought all three of her teammates so she decided it was in her best interest to listen. The man jumped backwards and swung his whip. It created a large arc of energy which hit the King Taijitu right in the middle of the body, slicing it in two. The Grimm was defeated. The man once more returned his weapon to its flail mode and put it away. He walked towards Ruby.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Ruby took a step back. "Why did you save me?" she asked.
"I had no desire to hurt you or your teammates," he said, his eyes closed and his head facing the ground. "I don't like hurting people but sometimes it is the only way. This forest is dangerous. Bring your teammates here. I will help them with their wounds. They will need it before you all leave."
"We're not leaving this forest," Ruby replied more rudely than she intended. "We are on a mission."
The man just looked at her, sighed, shook his head, and said "This is no place for people like you."
Ruby was outraged. "Just because we are girls doesn't mean…"
"Don't be a fool!" the man said incredulously. "Nobody thinks women cannot Hunt the way men do. But you are young. Probably second or third year at your academy. Strong, but definitely not skilled enough to come here. But you… you are younger than your teammates."
"How did you know all that?" Ruby asked.
"I'm just clever that way," he said with a hint of a smile.
The man's reply amused Ruby. He was strong and smart, though rather snarky. "Well, we've been told there was a small Grimm population here that attacked a settlement. We are trying to find survivors."
"You won't find any," the man replied, his voice stern and determined. "If I'm right about what lurks here, and I am very often right, you should be grateful that you are still alive. Bring your teammates here, I won't hurt them."
Ruby looked into the man's eyes. She wasn't the best at reading people but she had a feeling he was telling the truth. "Okay," she nodded. "Be back in a moment."
As Ruby ran to get her teammates, she was still very concerned. This man kept talking about some impending danger. The Grimm population so far was very easy to handle. She could have taken on that King Taijitu herself with no problem. As she ran back to the clearing, half carrying Blake and Weiss, she saw the man kneeling by Iris' dead body.
"What are you doing?" Ruby asked, almost dropping her teammates.
"Looking for signs," he said. "Based on the wounds this woman has, I am right about what is hiding here. This is not good."
"You said you can help my teammates. So help them."
The man just nodded and walked over. He took several bandages and ointments from his pockets. He applied the ointments liberally on Blake, Yang, and Weiss' wounds, bandaging them carefully. The girls were all conscious when the man helped them out but didn't have any power to fight back.
"It's ok," Ruby told her teammates in a low and comforting voice. "He isn't going to hurt you. He saved me from a Grimm before I brought you back here."
When the man finished bandaging the girls and helped them sit up, he turned around and looked at the surrounding woods. From that moment, the girls were at least willing to trust the man. He at least repaired as much as he did damage and he saved the team leader
"What's your name?" Yang croaked.
The man waited a moment. "You can call me Strat. And you are…."
Ruby took out Crescent Rose, showing off its impressive blade. "I'm Ruby. This is my weapon, Crecent Rose."
"Blake."
"I'm Yang. How did you…"
Weiss smacked Yang on her side. Yang and Weiss both winced. They were still not in good enough shape to reprimand each other. "I'm…" Weiss started, but she was interrupted by Strat.
"Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee Dust Company," he said in a monotone. "Yeah, you are not exactly a nameless person."
"Well what kind of name is 'Strat'?" Weiss asked sarcastically.
"The name of the guy who knocked you down with zero effort," he replied without missing a beat. "Now don't overexert yourself. You still need to rest before you leave."
"We're not leaving," Blake said.
"Ruby told me that you are on a mission to find survivors of the attack on the small nearby settlement," Strat explained to everyone, shaking his head. "But you are wasting your time. You won't find any."
"Iris told us to look," Ruby said, pointing to Iris' dead body. "We are not giving up."
Yang was quick to change the subject. "How did you do all of that stuff, Strat?"
"Do what?" he asked as he took a seat. His posture was unusual. His right leg was positioned as though he would sit cross-legged but his left leg was positioned in a similar fashion facing the same direction so his left knee was in contact with his right foot. His back was a hunched and he kept moving his arms, looking for a comfortable position for them.
"You were ready for every move I was making," Yang explained, impatient. "Almost, anyway. And my semblance makes me stronger as I get hurt. You have something special."
"I don't think you need to know this now," he said.
"Where are you from?" Weiss asked.
"Mistral."
Ruby's eyes got wider. "Oh? Do you know Sun Wukong? Neptune Vasilias? Pyrrha Nikos?"
Strat sat up straight. "Did you say you know Pyrrha Nikos?" he asked, almost violently.
"Um, yeah." Yang replied a bit surprised. "She goes to Beacon with us."
Strat's eyes widened. Team RWBY looked at each other with curiosity in their eyes. They realized this might be an opening. Strat did not put an impression of himself being very open to sharing information.
"THE Pyrrha Nikos?" Strat asked again, as though he was sure he heard wrong. "The red haired 4 time consecutive winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament with the golden bronze armor and polarity semblance?"
Yang looked at her teammates. "I'll take it you knew her. You are obviously a few years older than her though. I don't suppose you knew her through Shrine prep? I think she mentioned being there before coming to Beacon."
Strat was angry with his reply, but he looked like he was forcing himself to calm down. "No, I don't know her through that."
"Then how do you know her?" Blake asked.
"It doesn't concern you," he said.
Team RWBY looked dejected. There was something that Strat wanted from Beacon, but they still could not figure out what it was.
"Oookaaay..." Ruby said after a short silence. "So then where did you learn to fight? And your weapon is just awesome! What's it called?"
"Huh?" Strat was taken aback by the question. Ruby guessed that he hasn't talked about those things for a long time and that he was compelled to answer. "Oh. Delirium Vortex. And I graduated from Oasis Academy about a year and a half ago. Great academy but full of people with false ideas about the world."
"Where's your team?" Blake asked. "I thought Huntsmen and Huntresses in Mistral tend to stay together after graduating."
"They…" Strat started, and then stopped. He didn't want to give that sort of information, not just yet. The memories associated with the answer were very painful. "They are not my team. Not anymore. They understood when I explained it to them. Well, they didn't really understand but they respected it."
"Well, I still want to know," Yang replied with an in-your-face attitude. "But it is getting a little late. We should get some rest. You want to join us? It'll make things easier for us. You can get some rest. You look tired."
Strat just nodded.
"We have a long day tomorrow," Weiss said. "We have a lot of ground to cover and I need my beauty sleep." Weiss saw a frustrated look on Strat's face. He didn't have to say anything for her to understand what he was thinking. "I know you said there won't be any survivors," Weiss said. Her voice was surprisingly comforting. She then straightened her back and returned to her usual tone. "But we have to look anyway. And even if we don't find anyone we can at least take out the Grimm."
Strat just looked sad. "I wish it were that simple. It won't be. But for now, we should get some rest."
