Line Break
Jade P.O.V
Following the Headmasters speech the initiation itself was announced… it was odd 'Not quite what id expected from the stories older hunters had told on the road.' She thought to herself, looking around the cavern she was in and at the other people who had been put in her group. A lot of the colourful initiates she was surrounded by she couldn't recognise, some she did however, other apprentices who had taken up guarding roles during construction. Besides a few nods however she had no shared conversations with any of them, making it impossible to talk to anyone and alleviate some boredom… 'Damn I'm turning into my sister.' She thought whilst shaking her head with a slight smile, deciding to continue on and keep her eyes put for Grimm.
What she did not expect for was someone to quietly join her in stride, though out of the corner of her eye she could tell who it was by the flash of green hair, "I'd like to apologise for what happened earlier with… him" the last part of the sentence was said with a certain amount of heat to it, indicating a deep feeling of resentment for the boy in question. Taking a moment to think about a response, Jade decides probing this problem seems a good course of action "Aww don't worry about it Barty. No harm no foul." She responds, giving a gentle pat to the taller boys shoulder. The greenett seems surprised for a second before inquiring "Barty?"
"Yeah ya know, it's a lot easier to communicate with people in combat when you haven't got to say the full name, call me Jay while were down here too." Came the simple reply, earning a wide eyed look from the boy before he settled into a grateful smile "Thank you…Jay" a peaceful silence was had between the two for a few moments before Jade decided to continue the conversation to keep the quiet boy going "So what do you think about this initiation hu? Not quite what I was expecting from a combat school."
"Indeed, from what I heard about other institutions and their initiations this does seem odd." Replied Bart, seemingly interested in the new topic.
The initiation itself was a rather simple thing really. All the students-to-be were split into four groups of eight and these groups would be sent into the tunnel complexes under the city, two entering from the west and two from the east. Their mission was to locate a minable dust vein, mark the area and obtain a sample for purity testing, all with three hours on the clock. They were told that they had to find one vein per group, however sticking close together was not a requirement. Because of this some initiates had moved away from the main body, scouting ahead being the excuse, but it was pretty obvious they were just looking for Grimm to fight. Weirdly the creatures of darkness hadn't even been mentioned during the brief.
"Well whatever the case, we should do our best to find a usable vein soon, we've been walking for around 30 minutes and if we shouldn't plan to go too far if we want enough time to return." Bart intoned while flashing his P.A.D, the block like device given to students to monitor things like Aura and vitals. Jade was briefly taken back by the boys detail orientated ethic, before flashing a grin, giving a wink and saying "Let's get a shift on then ay."
Lucas P.O.V
'The idea behind this exercise is sound; prepare students for the kind of work that will be required in the future here at Watchtower… However the lack of unity is disturbing.' Came the thoughts of the resident lion as he observed the students around him, unlike his acquaintance (Friend?) he realized his group had none of the apprentices that had been seen on the wall, just students. Meaning this group contained people who had likely experienced having to out against each other just to be recognised while in school, and that was glaringly obvious by the arguments and lone wolf attitudes happening around him. 'I should step in soon; too much arguing will likely attract Grimm to us. At the very least it means their driven.' He lamented, content to step in before a certain pointy hatted individual came to stand with him away from the rest of the arguing.
"Ah hello, Lucas was it?" Glynda inquired, awaiting a response. A simple nod later and she continues "Great, I would, eh, just like to apologise about that buffoon's behaviour earlier. It was far out of line." She intones sadly but genuinely, serious in her apology but with an odd mix of meekness and attempting to word it eloquently. 'Hmm, certainly odd but I can address that later, it was kind of her to apologise again after all.'
"As I said earlier Glynda, it's quite alright. If I hadn't learnt to deal with a simple racist by now, I would not have gotten anywhere." Comes a simple but sincere reply, the words seem to relax the girl a fair amount, with the way her shoulders slump and her grip on her staff loosens. "I am glad to hear it, I would hate for a potential friendship to soured but such an encounter." She says with a small and hopeful smile, almost asking if such thing was still possible. "I agree." Again simple and direct, however it succeeds in brightening the smile the girl wore.
"Excellent. I meant to inquire, since you carry a staff similar to my own, I can only imagine that you are also a dust mage, so why is it you see the need to carry a pistol and a sword too?" She asks, indicating to his left hip; where a holster for a black and yellow revolver sits around thigh level, extending around 7 inches from grip to tip and a beautiful golden hit of a sword, with a small area of the seemingly integral bulged crossguard sat, with etching of a sun faintly glowing a golden yellow in colour. The rest of the blade was covered by the crimson half cape which ran connected to his larger left pauldron diagonally down his back. Smiling faintly at the question the lions hand falls in the grip of the gun, thinking fondly of the gift the other guards pitched on for as a send-off present, "One can never be too careful Glynda." The reply only drew a cute pout from the girl, who went to respond before being drawn into the argument occurring in their group.
"Yo Goodwitch, you got the best score in dust stuff in our last exams, how do we find the shit?" One of the non-descript background characters inquired as the rest turned to regard the girl. Taking being the centre of attention in stride, said girl thought for a moment before addressing them "Well studies show that it matters little about the depth for at which you look for dust; however the type will vary depending on where you go. More ice in Atlas, more lightning in Minstrel. Considering the surrounding mountains my guess would be that Fire will be our most abundant source of dust here. Does anyone have any abilities or equipment suited to tracking temperatures?" by the end of her spiel, many were looking at her in amazement and some were just lost.
'Hmm, she really does know her dust, guess the excitement about Uncle Leo was for a reason then' thought the lion, before stepping forward to give his own support to the cause. "I am able to pick up subtle light changes in the dark with my eye, since fire dust glows ambient I will take to the front and keep a lookout." This caused some eyes to shift his was followed by nods all round and a relived look from the girl next to him, who was starting to become overwhelmed by the looks she was getting. "I should be able to help too. My semblance allows me to push some aura into things and map it out in my head." Came a voice from ahead, one of the lone wolves that had been listening in. Following this more agreements where made about positions before all moved off in a direction that the scanner had said there was an unusual formation in the earth.
Lucas had taken the front with the other boy, Glynda following close behind with most of the others and some stragglers at the back, wanting to do their own thing but realizing this plan was the best they had. "I'm Shirou by the way, pleasure." The boy offered to the large lion. Looking at him properly shows a middling heighted individual with medium length red hair streaked with white at the sides, black and silver segmented armour made for speed, shoulders and back covered by a red cloth jacket. In his hands he carried a large bow, had what seemed like a quiver across his back and a short sword strapped to each thigh. "Lucas" came the short but not sharp reply from the lion, keeping his eyes forward on the lookout for a dust vein. The other boy simply nodded, content with the introduction and not seemingly offended.
The march continued for a bit, stopping occasionally for the bowman to re-scan the surroundings and to deal with any errant Grimm. Things were going relatively smoothly… until they weren't that is.
It happened suddenly and without warning, as all fun things normally do, Shirou had just put his hand to the ground to map the area before he threw himself backward suddenly. Such a violent reaction caused Lucas to do the same just as the ground erupted upwards, several Centinel (centipede like Grimm) springing to the ready in front of the group. Now this would hardly have been much of an issue, they were relatively low level Grimm after all. However the reaction of some of the group to suddenness of the attack causing some panic to set in, weapons and dust attacks being randomly fired all around. Before anyone could really react to what was happening the ceiling began to crumble around them, causing even more panic, some even fleeing in fright now.
'Shit, this went bad and fast.' Came the lion's thoughts, looking around and acting fast as possible, he reached for a disorientated Glynda and pulled her towards himself and onto the closer side of the collapse. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Shirou having a similar idea and pulling another girl, one clad in silver and red etched armour, adorned with a wicked horned helm there way.
Barely getting a moment to adjust to their new positions, the temporary team turn to meet their opponents together. There was a pause, until everyone seemed to move at once. Like lightning Shirou had drawn back his bow and a pale blue arrow had formed on the string, releasing it with the sound of a rock cracking it exploded towards the Grimm, severing two of them in half before embedding into the cavern wall. The unnamed armoured girl sprung forth, hefting a large bastard sword and cutting into another creature.
Glynda had recovered from her initial shock at the situation and pointed out her staff, creating a glyph at its tip and letting a blast of icicles shoot from its tip into another Grimm. Next to her Lucas had drawn his sidearm and taken fired two shots at the closet Grimm while levelling his staff and another and channelling a burst of aura to the tip causing a bolt of lightning to shoot forth and take out another Grimm.
The battle itself did not last much longer, the re-organised group being more than enough to handle the enemy, however the damaged had already been done. Half the group was split and the known exit was closed to them. After ensuring the area was clear they made a small huddle together, cautiously on the lookout, Shirou rechecking the ground every few seconds.
"Right, unfortunately the collapse is quite wide, tunnelling back will probably end with more of it falling through, I suggest we make our way forwards and try to find one of the linked tunnels, keeping out eye out for our objectives as we go. I myself rely on dust magic and battlefield control; I feel I should stay at the centre of the formation." Glynda took easy control of the situation, posing out a logical view on the subject. "I agree, we may be able to find one of the other groups as well. I am able to cover medium and close ranges but my preference lies in fighting up close, I'll cover our front." The lion intoned whilst keeping his feline eye focused on the tunnel ahead. "Right well, I'm in sure, not like there's any other options after all. Long range is my speciality to I'll stay at the back, I'm alright at close quarters too so I can cover us in a pinch." Shirou added his thoughts to the group, the members turning to its last member who was lazily resting her large sword on her shoulder. After a few moments of silence she spoke, "Eh as long as we get to kill some shit on the way I could hardly care, names Mordred by the way, can call me Mo while where here. I can throw out good damage up close but I'm pretty agile too, I'll be the middle between front and back." The voice behind the helm came out raspy but also fairly high pitched.
"Right then, shall we get going then?" a simple question from Glynda had them moving. Lucas had paused for a second to reguard her closer before nodding and reaching behind his back and under his cape, only to produce an old Minstrel style help with short yellow and red bristles on top, placing it over his head and moving forward to take the lead, the temporary team falling in line in the agreed positions.
Jade P.O.V
The Grimm had come towards the group steadily until their numbers had begun to overwhelm them, some of the more inexperienced members had become more afraid and well…. You can guess what happened.
As of now, there were only four initiates left standing their ground.
As they began to co-ordinate their defence things seemed to slot into place for them. The other girl was a skilled caster and had managed to cause an uplift of rock on either side of cavern, creating a funnelling point which the Creeps were being forced to move into to get at the students. One of the boys, a hulking figure with parted dirty blond hair; clad in white tunic, leather vest with plates of armour dotting his upper body, blue combat pants and a pair of bear ears on top of his head was currently standing in the middle of the choke point, swinging a sword that looked akin to a long metal club with reckless abandon and even reaching out to strike Grimm with his steel covered fists while laughing like he was having the time of his life.
A little way behind him was Jade firing her dust revolver, Vaulcan, over the boys shoulder with PowderKeg, her shotgun/spear/sword hybrid, held in her hand with the blade in position to use the gun and the haft unexpanded to allow for more control in the tight space. To her left was Bart, similarly with his sidearm pointed over the shoulder of the boy and taking aimed shots at any blind spots. Between the two was the smaller caster responsible for the impromptu defences, her staff gripped in one hand with an appearance of a shining in on the end carved out of a large, depleted white dust crystal at the centre and smaller crystals of various types around it looking like sun rays. Her other hand has lower, gripping a long dagger that was sheathed at her waist. Her stature was small, the pink hair and wings coming out of her back and laying along her arms drawing the eye, a white toga and skirt being the grand total of her clothing.
Curiously Jade watches as the girl's aura flows down her staff, into the central crystal and then branching off to the red fire dust crystal on the array, seemingly drawing the power back into the main crystal. The colour and power seemed to build for a few seconds before she shouts out a "Down!" to the boy in the front. He drops like a stone and over his head comes a wave of fire that reduces the Grimm left before them to ash. There's a brief silence before the boy in front stands, takes stock of the damages and simply says "Cool" before walking into the opening, the rest of them following.
"So" Jade begins, taking control "Way I see it, we got two options here. High tail it back, explain what happened with the group and pry we get another shot at this. Or continue on, hope we run into the other group and see if we can finish this test." She looked around the band of misfits, getting some slow nods. "I can hardly talk for anyone else, but I didn't come all the way here to just give up when things got hard, I'm with you." Replied a cautious but confidant Bart.
"HAHA! I like the way you think lass, I'll follow your lead. Names Beowulf by the way, yeah I know, like the Grimm. I overheard you two talking earlier, Bart and Jay right? Call me Beo then." Came a rambuncous reply from the larger male, scarred face grinning like a madman. All eyes tuned to the smallest member for a confirmation, all receiving an impossibly wide smile in turn "Sure, sounds like a lotta fun. I'm Circe, just call me Ce." She ends this with a giggle, indicating a bubbly kind of personality. With everyone nodding in agreement, Jade takes to the centre again "So same setup that we just had? Seemed to work just fine" this again got some nods and the newly formed group made their way onwards.
Several Grimm encounters later they found themselves coming to a wider area, the tunnels seeming to open up before them until it became a larger open space. They enter cautiously, unaware of what they may find. After several moments however nothing seems to jump out at them. The new group take a moment to breathe and relax until… "There seem to be others up ahead." A voice said from one of the tunnels to the left, all attention turns to it, as if anticipating some grand reveal.
Lucas P.O.V
We hadn't been traveling all that long until Shirou mentioned he could feel a large open space as well as others ahead. We moved cautiously into the area just in Jade and Bartholomew from earlier as well as two people I didn't recognise. Upon seeing one another the two friends exclaimed "Bartholomew!" "Glynda!" as they ran to embrace one another, check the other for injuries and swap experiences. Following this example I move to stand with Jade "It's good to see you well" I say to her with a friendly nod, she doesn't reply for a few seconds before grinning and pulling me into a quick one armed side hug for a few seconds saying "You too Goldie." This throws me off for a second before awkwardly patting her back.
We turn to regard the rest of the group, the others seeming to mix well together, all seeming to introduce themselves. We join them and get acquainted for a few minutes, getting up to speed of the situations. "Right, so we form a group of us eight and see about them dust veins then? We've got a formation pretty down, Lu and Beo up front as tanks, Me and Mo as the next line damage dealers, Glyn and Ce as our controllers with Shir and Bart as our rear guard. Any dramas with that?" Jade finished her game plan, looking around at the people assembled getting a round of nods from all present, seeming content to get it done.
GROUP P.O.V
"Wait" all eyes turned to the Lion faunas, who had taken a knee and placed his right hand on the floor, closing his eyes and focusing on his other sense, "Something's coming, big, Shir?" He inquired to the bowman, who too kneels and places both hands to the floor, palms seeming to glow a faint blue for a second, before he snaps to his feet, bow in hand "There, it's tunnelling in!" the words are urgent as he moves to face the far side of the open cavern we were currently in, bow drawn and aura arrow primed in an instant.
The silence that followed was deafening, everyone moving into better positions, trying not to get in one another's way. For a moment it seemed like a false alert….. CRACK… And then the wall exploded inwards, chattering of mandibles and clattering of pointed, bony appendages on the floor was hear, before the hulking form a Death Stalker lumbered into the area, zeroing in on the group. From around it many tiny look alike creatures seem to flood into the area, covering it in a sea of darkness. The next few second were full of several different reactions, two people freaking the fuck out (see Glynda and Bart), one case of manic laughter followed by a second albeit in false confidence (see Beowulf followed by Mordred.) Three people whizzing through strategies on the fly (Lucas, Jade and Shirou) and a somewhat fearful back step (Circe).
"GLYN, CE! We need some flames NOW!" Lucas bellowed, acting on the fly, moving to the front of the group, debating his next move, settling on passing his staff into his left hand and drawing his sword for the first time, its unique light dust flashing brightly in his hands. Snapping out of her fearful reprieve, Ce nodded sharply and focused on her fire dust before igniting the area in front of them and burning many of the smaller scorpions to ash. As this was happening the larger bear had stepped next to the lion and was swinging with reckless abandonment. From his original position, Shirou was releasing arrows as fast as they formed keeping the larger form of the Death Stalker at bay for the moment. Jade had moved quickly to the fearful duo currently at the centre of the group and was shaking them back to the moment.
"Common you two, we need all hands on deck here, Glynda we need some defences here, see what you can do. Barty stick close to the casters and get anything that gets close!" The duo hesitated for a second, before their resolve hardened and they moved to task. Nodding Jade turned toward the last member, who seemed to have paused "MO! Me and you will cover those twos back!" The effect seemed positive as the armoured girl seemed to come back to the moment, frantically nodding and hefting her sword up. The two girls joined the front holders, weapons at the ready. Jade had PowderKeg out and in sword/shot configuration in her right hand with Vulcan in her left, taking pots shots at the largest Death Stalker and sweeping at the tiny stalkers. Mo was sweeping her sword on the other flank keeping the waves away.
Shirou was observing the situation from the back, firing off some mid powered arrows at the elder stalker just to keep it at bay. Everything was going well all things considered, that was until he caught something out the corner of his eye. That blond caster was focusing on something before her staff took on a brownish hue, 'SHIT' he summized "WAIT, THE GROUNDS HOLLOW!" he screamed, trying to reach out to stop her but it was too late, she had already struck the ground, probably hoping to raise some earthen defences.
For half a second everything stilled before the ground began to shake violently, fissures growing all around. Looks where shared between the group before all leapt towards the central point of the quake, which now sported a horrified looking witch. Gathering together was the best way to fall together after all, the larger member's grabbed hold of the smaller ones, Luke grabbed Glynda and Beowulf got Circe. As the floor fell in there were some screams but nothing too bad as everyone was mostly prepared for the drop. The fall itself was relatively short, maybe 30ft, everyone's aura making a good cushion.
Upon landing everyone fanned out in the formation, taking stock of the situation, it seemed only our portion of the floor had fallen so we were alone for the moment. "We won't be alone for long, Shir what's this floor looking like? Any more issues underneath us?" Lucas was quick to ask the bowman, who had dropped to a knee again to search the surrounding area. After a moment he stood again, "No were good, this floors stable from what I can tell. From what I felt upstairs though, it will likely collapse soon, especially if the Stalker jumps to dislodge it."
While the redhead was speaking, the horned knight of the group had spotted something faintly glowing in the darkness and was slowly making her way towards it, followed closely by the resident witch. As they made their there the excitement grew between them, the knight turned to look back at the group "Hey guys, think we found ourselves some dust!" she shouted excitedly. What she couldn't see however was the large shadow rising up behind her, until she saw Glynda's horrified expression and felt some hot air being blown on her back.
Turning slowly the knight came face to face with the lizard like bone plated face, blood red eyes staring into her soul. She knew what this creature was, she had read about it once in history book, a rare species of Grimm that was supposed to have faded from existence years ago. As it rose to its full height, she trailed down its body, observing a long neck transitioning into a bulging lower body, two thick and plated legs ending in claws and a pair of arm/wings similar to a Nevermore, only bare of feathers. This was a Drake, similar to a Nevermore in most ways, usually the size was the same as the giant variation, and more lizard like, reminiscent to Dragons of old from story books. What made them particularly unique was the dust incorporated into their bodies, usually from their penchant for sleeping for long period of times in caves containing dust veins.
None of this information that her brain was delivering was having much effect on the girl, she was, after all, face to face with a FUCKING Dragon, the first person in fact for around 100 years. And as such she reacted that way, falling on her ass and screaming "dr-dr-dr-DRAGONN!" Was all she really managed to get out in her frightend state, pushing herself way from it as fast as she could. As if responding to the provocation, the Drake struck forth with one of the clawed wing joints at the girl. Lucky for her, she wasn't alone, as a purple glowing staff came down in front of her, spawning a powerful gravity-shield glyph at their front. "It won't hold, COMMON!" screamed the witch, somewhere between frantic and afraid. She was correct after all, two strikes later and the glyph was shattered, the Grimm seeing this reared back its head as red crystals around its body began to glow, a bulging appearing to make its way up the length of its throat.
Knowing the processes of dust quite intimately, Glynda knew what was about to happen, the red glow and bulging obvious signs, however she couldn't find the strength to move out of the way, some part of her brain saying it's because of the girl she was trying to save but she knew the truth. She was afraid, afraid that no matter what happened next she'd be dead and there was absolutely nothing she could show for it, 'Father… I'm sorry, I just wanted to make you as interested in my life as you were to your research.' A small tear made its way down her cheek as she resigned herself to her fate, shutting her eyes and bracing for the heated end.
-ROAR-FWOOSH- The sound of the fire streaming forward was deafening and the heat blistering… and the death part was taking far longer that she thought it would. She could feel the heat certainly, but not as intensely as she thought she might. Cracking open one eye to see what was occurring, it left her in shock, 'what the…' there was an almost bubble like divide around her and Mo, as if something had seemingly split the fire around them, and upon looking forward, she realized that's exactly what had happened.
Standing before the two girls, sword in his right hand and cape billowing in the draft created by the fire was Lucas Lionheart. Looking slightly past him she could see his left hand, no longer holding the staff that was now attached to his back, but instead wielding a much larger and longer than normal kite shield. From what she could see of it, it looked to stretch from his brow to his hips, and was far bulkier on the top half as compared to a thinner bottom half. At the moment it seemed to be radiating some kind of fierce golden light which was holding the fires at bay.
'Oh' she thought 'He… But… How? WHY?' her thoughts were going a mile a minute. And probably would have continued if it wasn't for and almighty bang of a very high calibre gun being fired, followed by the crack of a bow string, the pops and booms of smaller calibre firearms and the sound of ice whistling through the air. All these projectiles seemed to land at once, pushing the almighty beast back several steps, with the largest round seeming to tear up the left side of the beast face. In an instant the group was around one another.
Lucas stepping forward and planting his shield to become the wall, Beo and Shirou flanking him, weapons smoking and ready, Jade and Bart had moved quickly to Glynda and Mordred getting them to their feet and checking for injuries "Are you two alright? Anything broken?" The concern from them both was almost palpable, getting them standing and prodding them, giving them the once over, Circe who had been behind them moved to return Glynda's staff to her with a smile and a nod.
Looking about her comrades, Glynda felt her resolve return tenfold, these people cared about her and they would fight with her and together, they would win. 'So this is what it's like' she smiled to herself 'to feel like you belong.'