What's my ballistic coefficient again? Lazu thought as he passed the apex of his trajectory and began the rapid descent towards the trees. Well, if this plan fails, I've always got plenty of Aura to spare. But let's stick to Plan A, shall we? he extended his arms, like someone using a wingsuit. Instantly, his robes billowed like a parachute, and he discovered that he had a degree of control, as well as a reduction in speed. Excellent, he thought, this plan may work after all.
"Sil, it's okay. You're not falling, you're flying," Sil said, "flying over the forest surrounding Haven academy. Man, Laz wasn't kidding when he said today would be a big day! Okay, gotta figure out how to slow down so I don't break my face. Armageddon, don't fail me now." Would it be that big of a loss if I did break my face?
"YeeeeeeeeeeeHAAAAAW!" Tanya shouted as she was flung into the air via catapult, "propelled cliff-diving! Now that's more my...speed." I think my punning could use a bit of work, that was lame. She climbed rapidly to several hundred feet above the forest striking a heroic pose, her hat and vest whipping in the wind. She pulled out Judge and Jury and fired several rounds from each shotgun to propel herself higher, spinning them to reload. Ahead of her were Lazu and Sil, the former's tail pinned straight back, beginning his descent and the latter reaching the apex of flight. How do I get down? Same way I got up!
Focus. Fear gets you nowhere, Taya told herself as she watched her new friends and her sister fly away, yes, you are afraid of heights. But, you are more than capable of saving yourself. Be brave. She suddenly felt the acceleration of the catapult under her and had officially begun her initiation. Looking back, she saw Professor Lionheart and all the other first-years rapidly shrinking. Looking down - oh gods, why did you do that? she mentally scolded herself - she felt her stomach churn. "Eyes forward," she reminded herself out loud.
Time for my feline reflexes to really shine. Lazu took a deep breath, then reached for the nearest tree branch and slipped off before he could do anything useful. Not to worry, plenty more branches on this tree. He grabbed for the next one, and used it to successfully propel himself forward at a reduced velocity. He continued this pattern, until he came to rest on a particularly large branch. The sound of a large-caliber machine gun being fired came to Lazu through the trees. He smirked. Naturally that's how Sil gets himself down. While looking around, Lazu noticed no obvious indications of Grimm. However, something he did observe were two leather boots coming down quickly. Lazu did some quick calculations, then leaped. As he expected, Tanya literally fell right into his arms, and he carried them both to a bumpy, but not wholly unpleasant, landing.
"Nice catch, partner." Tanya said.
"I couldn't let you fall," Lazu said. Her comment about partners was more than just a saying. They would now be partners for the entire time they were at Haven. And frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Oh I'm so excited!
"What a gentleman," Tanya said, dusting herself off, the usual hint of sarcasm normally associated with that phrase absent. Tanya, hold yourself together. He's a friend and partner. Nothing more. the logical part of her brain told her. But he could be! the impulsive part commented.
"My pleasure," Lazu said, bowing in a showy manner. He pulled Major off his back, converting it to the rifle and pulling the bolt straight back to the open position and loading a magazine of cartridges. "Which way?" he asked. Tanya looked around, then pointed into the forest.
"That way," she said. The echo of machine gun fire came to them again, accompanied by a single loud bang. "Sil," she said, "also sounds like he found Taya." Lazu nodded. "No point standing around here. Let's get moving." She led the way through the forest, moving as quietly as possible, weapons sweeping the forest around them. Lazu trained his sharper hearing on the forest around them, occasionally sweeping around with Major. Tanya held up a hand to stop. Ahead of them in a clearing were Sil and Taya, as expected, standing back-to-back, weapons levelled at any Grimm. Lazu and Tanya crept forward. Lazu broke a twig, and suddenly the two were staring down the barrels of two potent weapons.
"Who's there?" Sil shouted.
"Easy, friend, it's Tanya and myself," Lazu said as the duo exited the treeline, lowering Major. Armageddon and Revolutionary lowered, their users relieved.
"Glad you're here. We've kinda got our choice of the relics," Sil said, "if they can be called that."
"What are they?" Tanya asked, spinning and holstering her shotguns
"Playing cards. Spades and hearts," Sil answered. The four walked up to the ruins where the "relics" were placed. Lazu looked over the cards, then picked one up.
"Sil, I found my card," he said, holding up the Ace of Spades for his friend to see. Sil laughed.
"No, that's my card. Here's yours," Sil said, holding up a joker. The four of them laughed. One of the reasons I love you Lazu thought. "In all seriousness, which one should we take?"
"I'm game for the Ace," Tanya said.
"As am I," Taya said.
"Laz?" Sil asked. Lazu grabbed his Ace of Spades. "That settles it. Now all we gotta do is fight our way back through...a lot of Grimm-infested forest."
"Ain't nothing to it but to do it," Tanya said, unholstering her shotguns. Lazu closed the bolt of his rifle.
"Let's get moving," he said.
"Do not worry, I am combat ready," Taya said, attaching the wicked bayonet onto Revolutionary and saluting. The four moved through the forest, quickly and cautiously, Lazu using his heightened faunus senses to keep a lookout. They had made it halfway back to the assembly area, when a large shadow appeared over them. Uh oh they all thought.
"Nevermore!" Sil shouted. They all skidded to a halt to face the massive bird-like Grimm. Lazu and Sil were grinning in spite of themselves. "Catapult?" Sil asked. Lazu nodded, switching Major to the sword form. He backed up from Sil, who cupped his hands like a stirrup. Lazu took a running start, and used Sil's boost to fly up to the Nevermore. He slashed at the Grimm, but his sword only caught the bony mask and bounced off. He tried to grab onto the Grimm and haul himself up but missed and began falling. The Nevermore screeched, and spread its wings wide. Not good Lazu thought.
"Down!" Sil shouted back on the ground. The three Huntsmen ducked as the Grimm's feathers came tearing down. "Two can play at that game." Sil raised Armageddon. As Lazu looked down, he saw a silver flash of aura around Sil, then it encapsulated his weapon. An unbroken stream of bullets suddenly pattered the Nevermore, which only annoyed the Grimm. A plume of smoke rose from the muzzle of Armageddon, and Sil fell to one knee.
"So that's what you can do," Tanya said. She looked up just in time to catch the falling Lazu. "Thought I'd return the favor," she said, before setting him on his feet. Out of the trees came yet more Grimm. Three Beowolves, two Ursa Majors, and five Ursai.
"Oh boy," Sil said.
"I've got a plan," Lazu said, switching Major back to a bass, "lend me your ears."
"Uhh, Laz, not sure if you've noticed, but this ain't the time for-" Sil was cut off by Lazu first strumming the strings, then launching into a progressively faster and more technical solo. As he played, Tanya and Taya looked at each other and grinned, and Sil felt like he was invincible. Once more Sil activated his semblance, and sprayed the ground-based Grimm with what seemed like one solid wall of bullets. He dropped the Beowolves and three of the Ursai in the first salvo, but Armageddon needed to cool down, otherwise the barrel would melt off.
Meanwhile, Lazu and the twins had geared up for melee combat with the remaining Grimm down on terra firma. The Nevermore will have to wait, Lazu thought. The trio were circling one of the Ursai, waiting for it to make a move they could capitalize on. It did, growling before charging at Tanya who barely ducked out of the way and turned around to shoot the Grimm in the back, Judge and Jury blurs of constant motion. The Grimm roared and turned to charge again, and as it did Lazu charged at it, raising his sword and sliding at the last minute, slicing the Grimm open all the way down its length. The two halves landed and disintegrated.
After letting his weapon cool off, Sil raised it again and took aim once more at the Nevermore, as the Grimm did the same to him. Sil, however, was faster on the trigger, pelting the Grimm with a thick hail of bullets. The Nevermore covered itself, then swooped down at Sil and impacted. As it did, Sil grabbed on and used the kinetic energy to pull himself onto the neck of the Nevermore.
"Bye bye, birdie!" Sil shouted, before sawing the head off the Grimm with another burst from Armageddon. The Nevermore began to disintegrate, but Sil had just enough time to glide what remained back down. Rolling to a stop, Sil had just enough time to roll out of the way of an Ursa Major's claws, then put his weapon between it and himself. "Little help here?"
Taya, however, wasn't so lucky. The other Ursa Major swiped across her face, leaving three deep, bleeding marks. She shot the offending Grimm in the face, before stabbing repeatedly with the bayonet into its soft underbelly. She backflipped away to reload, then baited the Grimm into leaping at her. When it did, she shot it in the underside, and it faded from existence. She activated her arua to stop the bleeding, but collapsed from exhaustion.
Tanya, seeing what happened to Taya, flew into a rage. Time slowed down, and she was able to land more precise shots on the remaining Ursa Major. When time resumed normal speed, she clicked Judge and Jury together into Executioner.
"C'mere, ugly!" she shouted, letting the rougher accent she'd picked up in Matle slip, "make my day!" the Grimm did as she asked, charging. Tanya leaped over the charging Grimm, flipping before plunging her sabre up to her hand in its back. The Grimm went limp under her. Sil stood up, dusting himself off.
"Thanks," he said, before hefting Armageddon to help Lazu, who was circling the Grimm with Major ready as a rifle. The Grimm charged, and Lazu flipped over it, landing clear of the Ursa and turning to face it. The Ursa turned again to face Lazu and charged, but this time Lazu ducked under the Grimm, putting two shots into it. The Ursa roared with pain, and charged once more. Lazu rolled to the left, putting more rounds into the softer areas of the Grimm. Sil levelled his weapon, and hosed the Ursa down in one final stream of hot metal. Lazu finally let go of his semblance.
"Well. That was a thing," Tanya said, helping Taya up.
"Let's not delay," Lazu said, dusting himself off.
"Sun Wukong, Scarlet David, Sage Ayana, and Neptune Vasilias. You four collected the Ace of Clubs, and together, you will form Team SSSN, led by Sun Wukong," Headmaster Lionheart announced. Everyone had returned, and now it was time to assemble teams. Based on the previous evidence, Lazu had concluded that Sil, the twins, and himself would all be a team together. "And lastly, Tanya Cooper, Sil Argentius, Taya Cooper, and Lazu Aoi. You four collected the Ace of Spades, and together you will form Team TSTL, led by Lazu Aoi." That last part came as a shock to Lazu, who pointed at himself with a confused look on his face. He was immediately grappled into a bear-hug by Sil. The new teams dispersed to their newly assigned rooms.
"Wow. Nice digs," Tanya said.
"This is the nicest of the Huntsmen Academies," Taya said, "considering we get individual rooms, it is to be expected." They were standing in the large common area of their room, with four doors leading off of it.
"Hey! Uniforms!" Sil said, "I'm gonna go get snazzy." He disappeared into one of the rooms, and reappeared shortly, dressed in the black and white uniform of Haven Academy.
"Wow. You sure clean up," Tanya said.
"He cleans up very well," Lazu said. The other three donned their uniforms, and reconvened in the central space. Taya looked embarrassed.
"What's up, sis?" Tanya asked.
"Oh, the skirt is just...much shorter than what I am used to," Taya said, "that is all." The skirt in question only went to about mid thigh, whereas the dress she normally wore was down to her ankles.
"Well, you look lovely. Everyone does, actually," Sil said. Lazu blushed, and Tanya raised her eyebrows.
"Flirting with my sister already?" Tanya asked, "gotta be a new record from meeting to flirting." At that, everyone lost it, which relieved much of the tension in the room.
"This," Lazu said, "this is going to be a fantastic adventure."