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Requested by:
Scrublord Yoda
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After a few more minutes of semi-quiet walking through the Academy's grounds, they were led to the landing pads that most of the students had arrived on the day prior. Dozens of the smaller Bullheads, ones that could fit four or five people in the back comfortably, awaited them with gently thrumming engines. At each one's open door stood a teacher, armed and equipped as they preferred and watching the oncoming student hopefuls pensively.
"Now then, here we are." The headmaster said as they stepped just onto the platform, the students instinctively spreading out in front of him. "Initiation at Beacon is not a uniform experience. The tests change every year, so that students can never truly anticipate what is coming. Some years, we have you escort a professor, or a droid, from place to place. Others, you are to exterminate Grimm en mass. Last year, we had the students seek out ruins and collect 'relics' left there for them."
"This year we have opted for… Something of a combination of the three." The headmistress stepped forward to say, "At great difficulty and risk, many high tier, old Grimm have been procured and scattered throughout a certain place for your test. They are trapped within a large basin and the forest that has grown in it."
"With professors and Hunters to escort you, you are to hunt down your designated Grimm and slay it." Ozpin took over, the duo seamlessly handing the proverbial podium back and forth like a well oiled machine, "Please be aware that unless you are about to very obviously die, they will not help you, or combat Grimm in any way aside from to defend themselves. You may also notify them that you yield, in which case they will intervene and a transport will come to save you."
That had many in the crowd murmuring amongst themselves for obvious reasons.
"Yielding is not an immediate failure." The headmistress rushed to add, amid the murmurs and whispers of the initiate body. "Why you yield will be determined in an interview after the fact. If your reasons were wise, you may be admitted in spite of your failure. So no matter what may, do not callously throw your, or someone else's, life away for some illusory glory or the idea of a better grade."
"Now then." Ozpin smiled as the murmuring began to die out, "Please, choose those you trust and select a transport behind me. You may choose up to five people, and no less than three. Details will be given to you of what you will be Hunting as you travel. Best of luck to you all."
"Well, it's convenient you already have a few picked out, then…"
"Fortune favors the honorable." Pyrrha offered with a shrug when he leant a voice to Mort's words. Smiling, she looked between the three of them and bowed her head solemnly, "I do swear that I shall return each of you home from battle, by my shield or upon it."
"I, uh, think I have a preference." Nora offered nervously, looking the other woman up and down and then offered a hand, "Nice to meetcha! I'm Nora Valkyrie! I like to be strong, hit stuff, and eat pancakes!"
"Um…"
"I'm Lie Ren." Ren added with a chuckled, pushing the other girl's hand down and paying the arena champion a curt, respectful nod. "A pleasure, Red Shield Nikos."
"Red…?" He murmured, turning a confused look on her very bronze shield in confusion. "It's not red, though."
"Jaune, you absolute tit…"
"Not right now it is not..." Pyrrha murmured, turning away with a small sigh and then turning back to offer her fist to the two of them. Hesitantly, they rapped their knuckles against hers and she smiled, "Well met, Brothers and Sister. Please, though, do call me Pyrrha whilst we stand shoulder to shoulder against the vile, dark horde."
"As you like."
"Okey dokey, P-Money!" Nora crowed, throwing an arm around the woman and grinning as she was tugged down, leaning over so the shorter woman could hold her. Holding her hand out like a frame, she slid it along in front of her like a landlord surveying new territory and grinned, "You and me, P-Money! You and me and a horde of Grimm, all running away, but too slow to escape my hammer and your pokey stick!"
"Pokey-" Pyrrha blinked from behind her helmet, "Oh, you mean my spear?"
"Yep!" She smiled, "Big ol' poker! Say, how many Grimm you think you can stick on that thing at once?"
"I-I do not know, I fear." Pyrrha stammered, flushing bright as Nora brought her head further down on her shoulder, nearing her chest. Looking to him she stammered out quickly, "I-I, um, believe that we ought to get going. Am I not right, Lord Arc?"
"Jaune, not Lord Arc." Jaune nodded, looking over the Hunters beyond the milling Initiates who were searching out their team. "But you're right, Pyrrha. We should get going so we can get home."
At his words Nora released the gladiator, who stood and straightened her helmet anxiously before leading them through the crowd. Without knowing anything about any of the people waiting beside the Bullheads, Pyrrha seemed to just pick out the closest and head towards it. And being frank, Jaune didn't have any other, better, ideas on which Bullhead to pick out to take them where they were headed.
So, he just followed her lead quietly, his armored hand resting on Mort's jeweled pommel comfortably.
The Hunter they found was an older man, with a long beard tied into a dozen braids that draped down his broad chest haphazardly. His face was hidden under the brim of a wide, drooping hat that had very clearly seen years of wear, covered in black and red patches. His long coat and pants were much the same, originally made of the same khaki sort of material and later patched by cloth and leather patchwork materials of a wide variety of colors and sizes. He didn't wear a shirt, though, exposing dark skin that was in the same shape as his clothes, covered in scars and corded muscles.
Weirdly, he didn't carry a weapon that Jaune could see, instead toting along what looked like bags of… Sand, strapped to his hips and thighs?
Strange, but then, Jaune had a magic sword, so maybe he should keep from judging other's life choices.
"Y'all are ridin' with me, then?" He asked as they approached, pushing off the hull he was leaning against and folding his arms. When they nodded, he tutted, looking each of them up and down a few times before sighing tiredly. "All that armor… Well, least you look like you can take a few hits."
"We can, yeah." Jaune smiled, stepping forward and paying the old man another noble salute, hand on the pommel of his sword. "I am Lord Jaune of House Arc at Ans-"
"Like I care 'bout any o' that." The old man grunted, turning and climbing into the Bullhead with a weary grunt and an agitated grumble. Turning confused looks on each other, he and his newly formed team shuffled forward, clambering in after him. Jaune was the last, and turned to catch a Scroll when the man threw it at him, "Names Brass. Target info is in the Scroll, look it over yourselves."
"He's quite rude…" Pyrrha murmured as they settled in on the other end of the shuttle, crowding around the Scroll.
"He can hear, too, ya shit." The old Hunter grunted, propping his feet up on the door as it slid closed and the craft lifted up and away. "Gladiators 'n kids don't get handed respect. You kill some motherfuckin' Grimm, and I mean real ones like we're out after today, and maybe I'll care 'bout your names."
"You could still stand to-"
"Leave it." He cut in before Pyrrha could say anything more, smiling when she rounded on him, instead, and explaining, "Old salt licks like him aren't going to listen to what you say. They only care about what you show them. That's the easiest way to get any respect out of them."
"Nailed it in one!" The old bastard laughed, "Heh. Maybe you're not another o' these daft little tits after all, eh, Arc? Hell, you might not get yourself killed, even! Makes my job easier."
"Your job is to keep us from getting ourselves killed, then?"
"More or less, aye." He shrugged, looking at Jaune from under the brim of his drooping hat. "Y'all do somethin' that oughta be obviously stupid and I won't do anything about it. But if you run into something you don't understand, like, I dunno, which end of a Boarbatusk is the dangerous one, I'll step in to explain."
"Gee, thanks." Mort murmured, "He's just a peach… I wanna squash him."
"I haven't died yet, and I spent time out on the frontier hunting Grimm and… Staying alive." Jaune argued quickly, earning what he at least half-suspected was a kind of respectful grunt. Gesturing to each of the other three in turn, he grunted quickly, "Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos. In case you need to stop us from 'getting ourselves killed'."
"Tch." The man sighed and shrugged, "Whatever. Look over the damn job."
Jaune didn't say anything, instead flicking open the Scroll and tapping the screen to turn it on. After a moment, it flickered to life, and he sighed, "Perfect. Just-Just perfect."
"A Deathstalker?" Pyrrha read, leading on his shoulder to look at the description of the Grimm, and its general location along the cliffs of the basin they were headed to. Worried, she looked to him and said, "Deathstalkers are high class, armored Grimm… My spear will have difficulty punching through."
"So will my shots." Ren added, "But Nora's hammer and explosives should be able to help."
"I can cut through the thinner armor on the joints, too." Jaune added, not including the bit about Mort's magic super-heating the sword to let him do it. "Pyrrha, do you think you can hold it from the front while the rest of us weaken it?"
"I do not know, but I can try at least." The Mistralian said, easing back in her seat and turning an eye on her shield. "Once upon a bloody night, this shield took the shock of a Berengel blow. I suppose a Deathstalker's ought be… At least comparable to a Berengel's. At least close enough to gauge my readiness for it."
"If not, back down." Jaune ordered quietly, adding when she flinched, "We can't beat it without you, so if you can't take it, we'll come up with something else."
That stymied the argument he saw building on the woman's face and in her shoulders. As they drooped, Pyrrha nodded, "Very well. I will not retreat, but… A tactical withdrawal is perfectly acceptable. So long as I am not called to retreat outright."
"Because of…?" Jaune shrugged, paying the woman a look, "Why not? Sometimes retreating is the best thing to do, so you can come back and win later."
"I-I, well…" Pyrrha grimaced, "It is… Difficult to explain, so abruptly."
"Mistralian Warrior Tier honor." Ren offered quickly when Pyrrha couldn't answer properly on her own. As she relaxed, he went on quietly, "Mistralian Warriors don't believe that it is honorable to retreat from combat, even if it is one-sided."
"You gotta couch it right." Nor added, reclining in her seat and adding flippantly, "Phrase it right or they'll just stay and get eaten. S'just how they work, the sillies."
"You're both aware I am right here, yes?" Pyrrha sighed bemusedly, shaking her head and admitting begrudgingly, "They are… Right, though. After a fashion, at least, even if they miss the most important point. I will not retreat from a fight unless it is to safeguard my allies."
"Then retreat so we can work together and keep everyone alive." He shrugged unsurely. Her sense of honor wasn't quite the same as his, then, and he was sure it would be troublesome… But he'd just have to cope with it, somehow. "Anyway, Nora, I want you and Ren to support Pyrrha and I. We'll try and hold it and cripple it, and if we can, Nora can deliver the killing blow."
"You mean I get to hit it really hard with my big 'ole hammer?" Nora beamed, bouncing in her seat when Jaune nodded amusedly. "Awwwwwesome! Magnhild will be perfect for that! I made it just for killing big, fur bastards, after all!"
"Yeah." Ren murmured, seeming to grow suddenly forlorn as he leaned back in his seat. "We did."
"Yeah…" Nora murmured, suddenly sobering and sombering, like she was feeding off Ren's emotions, somehow. Patting the weapon, she smiled thinly and pushed on, "A-Anyway, I'll boop it good. Just gimme the signal when ya want me, Jauney. I'll swing on by and show you who's best girl 'round these parts!"
"Excuse here!" Mort cut in suddenly, vibrating in his palm. "Ruby is best girl, clearly! How dare she be so presumpt- Ow! Don't thump my gem, Jaune!"
"So, we have a plan then." Jaune murmured, ignoring the antsy, rambling sword spirit and smiling thinly. "Pyrrha will pin it down, I'll try and make an opening, and Ren will support Nora when she comes in to put it down."
"A good plan." Pyrrha murmured, nodding firmly, "I shall see it done."
"Saaaame!" Nora crowed eagerly, "I mean, I can't not boop a big bastard when I get a chance to, ya know?"
"Bout damn time." Brass grunted as the shuttle angled down and he sat up, rolling his neck until it popped. "We're 'bout to land, too. So y'all get ready to start Hunting, now. And one thing ya forgot about Deathstalkers, that I'll let ya know, since I'm a good, proper, upstandin' Hunter."
Right, because he just screamed 'upstanding'... Still, Jaune asked, "And that is, Sir?"
"Deathstalkers are ambush hunters." He grunted simply, laying a hand on one of his pouches of sand as the door slid open, letting in a warm breeze and the sound of chirping birds. "So while you're trackin' it down, it's probably waitin' for you to wander by. You waltz on up unawares, and you'll have it on top o' ya before you can react."
"If you are trying to frighten us, you may save your breath." Pyrrha grunted, rising like she'd been challenged. "I fear no Grimm."
"Yeah, figured you'd say that, Nikos. You Mistralians always tend to be all 'bout that bluster and bravade." Brass sighed, headed for the door and adding over a shoulder, "That'll get ya eaten, too. Just like every other goddamn Mistrali Hunter I've met that acts like that."
"Why you absolute dast-"
"Thanks for the tip." Jaune said, smiling as he rose, a hand on the rim of her shield stopping her from stepping up to the man. Smiling, he gave her a look and suggested, " I get how you feel, but lemme just ask you something .Would it be better to beat down your superior, or prove him wrong, Pyrrha?"
"...Let us kill the beast, then." She growled, yanking free of his grip and slipping out the other door, opposite the man that had offended her. He followed her and, as he stepped out, she seemed to have calmed. Looking around at the forest she took a deep breath and sighed contentedly, "Ah, I do so love the forest… The sounds, the smells, and the fresh air do wonders for a warrior's body."
"Yeah, I get the feeling… And it's beautiful out, too." Jaune smiled as Ren and Nora stepped out to either side of them. Taking a deep breath while the Bullhead lifted up and away, he sighed and said, firmly, "Now let's go. We have a Grimm to kill."
"Actually…" Brass grunted as the bushes on the other end of the clearing they'd landed in began to rustle. "Looks like you got a warm-up ahead of you first, brats."
As the three Beowolves pushed through the shrubbery, Pyrrha stepped forward and grunted, her spear sailing across the clearing and slamming down into the lead Grimm's head. The beast snorted as its skull was crushed down, into the ground, by the heavy spear and its powerful throw. The second bucked as rounds slammed into it, courtesy of Ren's outstretched guns, until a grenade slammed home and blasted it, its partner, and the poor, innocent bush into nothingness.
"Well that was anticlimactic." Brass grumbled, waving for them to lead the way when they turned to him. "Go on, then. Get 'er done."
Rolling his eyes Jaune turned to survey the cliff and check it against the map. It didn't take long to find their clearing, and using it as a landmark, he turned to lead them into the forest along the cliff's bottom. At least this way, they knew the Deathstalker could only really come from one direction, after all.
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Steelrain :
I know what you mean about Pyrrha, yeah. As for teams… Kinda~
Codfix :
Which she? XD
Ravell Aqim :
A note, here, in that Jaune did in fact kind of steal much of his equipment. Very strictly speaking, for instance, the horse he was given wasn't something the giver could give out that way. Weiss could have stolen Myrtenaster, or similar, to do what Jaune was arguing she ought to have.
Also, define 'durable'. Because he won't be made of glass, but compared to say, Pyrrha there, he's not a defense oriented fighter.
#ArkosForever
Hirshja :
Yeah, though the overarching argument between these two will be more nuanced, Jaune was in this moment in the wrong. Flawed characters are good!