Not too far from Ruby and her new partner Weiss, Pyrrha smiled as she walked through the Emerald Forest with her partner, one Jaune Arc.
Using her Semblance on his swords had worked just like she thought it would. He had been drawn towards her after he had been launched, nearly crashed into her if she hadn't known he was coming and been able to dodge him, grab him instead from her perch on a tall tree. Their eyes had met, his wide in surprise and hers the same because she had been ready to act as such. He had thanked her for the save once they had their feet on the ground, had asked if they could spare a few minutes while he examined the swords on his back one after another. He had come away with more questions than answers from the look of outright confusion on his face by the end of it.
He likely thought the Dust in one of them had caused his abrupt change in trajectory, the color telling Pyrrha he used Gravity Dust in all of the swords he carried. She was fine with him believing in such a thing for now. This would all be a funny story she could share with him later.
After Beacon.
"It's just still so weird, that kind of thing never happened before and I've taken some hard hits. It just doesn't make sense that the Dust triggers from something like…well whatever made it happen. I could have knocked us both out that tree if you didn't notice me when you did." Jaune had one of the swords of Multos Armis resting on his shoulder as they walked, the oversized two-handed blade that seemed to be his main weapon to Pyrrha. It had been the one sword he had kept out while he put the others away once more.
"Well, things like Beacon's Initiation are strange, right? I'm sure it was just the Dust in your weapon reacting to the Dust in someone else's while you were in the air. With all the Dust everyone here uses, something as rare as that is bound to happen. Most of it comes from the SDC after all, there's bound to be batches from the same deposit in different weapons." She wasn't sure if anything she had just said was anywhere near correct when it came to the interaction between vast quantities of processed Dust but had figured she didn't have much to risk. The longer she spoke with Jaune as they walked, the more she came to a simple realization.
He had admitted to being home schooled for the most part.
He had admitted to having a scattered attendance at best to combat school.
He had admitted to this being the first time he had been this far from his home and his family.
He wasn't an idiot but she could see the reason why he hadn't recognized her in the slightest. He was likely from a settlement far removed from any of the four major cities in the Kingdoms. He had been trained to fight, had committed himself to years of training like the rest of them, but not much beyond that.
Many would have called him gullible and naïve, a meathead who only knew how to swing a sword around.
Pyrrha found him charming. He was honest above all else, wore his heart on his sleeve.
He was a refreshing breath of fresh air after her morning with Weiss, the many mornings and nights she had spent with people who acted just like Weiss or worse. The ones who saw her as nothing at all but her fame, only saw how they could use it through her.
"I guess you're right." The two were making good time as they continued on towards the ruins Ozpin had directed them towards before he had launched them through the air. His blue eyes focused on Pyrrha. "What do you think the relics will be?"
She was surprised at the sudden question.
"I don't know. I would have to guess it would be something meaningful. Maybe something that reflects Beacon's history?" Pyrrha gave her honest answer. She actually hadn't considered what exactly they could be after, she had been more focused on getting Jaune to be her partner than anything else.
"I hope it's not something big." Jaune continued on. "But a golden ax would be cool."
"A golden ax?" Pyrrha couldn't help the smile that came to her face as Jaune was talking. "Why would the relic we're after be something like that Jaune?"
"You know." With his free hand he made a chopping motion. At her raised eyebrow he continued on. "I can't be the only one thinking these things have to be about Vale. You saw what was on those platforms we were told to stand on. The Vale crest was on it. Beacon is in Vale. Vale has axes on the crest. Boom. Golden axes. Every team has to get there and bring one back."
"We're likely not after axes but I'm sure it's something just as good Jaune." Pyrrha found it freeing to laugh as Jaune tried to make his point.
"Hey, I think golden axes would be cool to carry. Its symbolic too." Jaune rose an eyebrow, looked towards the sky. "At least I think it is."
Away from the two students, Headmaster Ozpin looked up from his Scroll in thought at such an idea.
"Glynda, please make a note of Mr. Arc's suggestion." Goodwitch did so with a shake of her head and a small smile.
"Have you ever considered not changing the relics every year Ozpin? You wouldn't have to take ideas from students all the time if you did." She focused back on the feeds on her Scroll as she spoke. She began to cycle through them again, most of the new partners working well enough together. Some were having greater difficulty than others but it was all to be expected.
"Now you know I can't do that Glynda. We have to keep our students on their toes after all." Ozpin took another sip of his coffee. "And some of their suggestions are too hilarious not to use at least once."
Back with Nikos and Arc, the two continued on their way and stepped into a clearing in the forest. One that was currently playing host to a party of a half dozen Ursa. One of the now staring pack was even an Ursa Major judging from the much greater bone white armor spread across its body.
Silence persisted for only a moment before the creatures of darkness roared out as one, charged the two students.
Jaune and Pyrrha didn't bother sharing a look, speaking a word.
There was no question on what to do here.
They attacked the enemy of life with battle cries of their own.
"OH! Someone's having fun out there!" On the back of a defeated Ursa still dissolving away, a girl with orange hair grinned as she held a hand up to her ear, could hear the battle cries of her fellow students as they engaged the Grimm. She lifted her hammer, that was also sometimes a grenade launcher, skyward. "YEAH! RIP 'EM APART!"
"Nora…could you…not do that?" A black haired boy panted with his hands on his knees next to where she stood on top of her defeated foe. "I think you just told every Grimm in the forest where we are."
"Let 'em come all they want Ren!" The now named Nora threw her head back and laughed. "I want them to come! We're riding to those ruins in style or not at all!"
Ren merely dropped to his back on the ground. He seemed to know when to admit defeat.
"Whatever you say Nora." He kept his hands on a pair of bayonetted machine pistols as he rested but, beyond that, he was content to let her do as she wished.
The roars of Grimm as they charged out of the forest were only met by her laughter and the fury of her pink heart emblazoned grenades.
"COME TO MAMA!" Nora seemed finished with her impromptu one-woman salvo as her weapon, Magnhild, shifted in her hands once more from a grenade launcher into a hammer.
She leaped and slammed her hammer down on the first Grimm with a wide smile. It was promptly the center of a new crater in the Emerald Forest and went limp long before Nora pulled her hammer away.
"Who gets to be my horse?" She moved faster than the lunging Beowolf could manage, turning and slamming it into the ground next by the head.
More Grimm arrived but were now peppered by bursts from the green pistols, StormFlower, held in each of Ren's hands. He moved to cover Nora as she took on the larger Grimm, the ones that needed her to wind up her swing before smashing them into the ground with all her might. Any Grimm that tried to interrupt her found itself riddled by bullets, those drawing too close to Ren learning the blades at the end of the barrels of each were more than sufficient of ending them in his capable hands.
"Remember Ren! We need to keep the biggest one to ride!" Nora shouted out that helpful tip as she shifted Magnhild to grenade launcher form once more after smashing another attacking Grimm into the ground. "But only that one!" She let loose another salvo of grenades.
Ren only shook his head with a small smile as he covered the gaps she left in her explosions with quick bursts from StormFlower while the two moved back to back. A brief moment was all he needed to eject the empty magazines from StormFlower and load a fresh set from his sleeves while Nora waited before reloading Magnhild with a fresh set of grenades.
"I'll be sure to remember that Nora." The Grimm continued to charge and the two continued to gun them down, cut them to shreds, blow them to bits, smash them into the ground, or some combination of the four.
Away from Nora, Ren, and the hammer wielder's pursuit for a worthy steed, one Yang Xiao-Long kept an eye on her partner as they walked through the Emerald Forest and towards the ruins Headmaster Ozpin had been talking about. She vaguely recognized Blake from Ruby pointing her out last night for calling out the crabby girl at ground zero of her sneezing explosion.
Beyond that, she didn't have anything to go off of for the girl who would be her partner for the next four years they were at Beacon.
Maybe she could guess that her new partner liked the colors black and white? Those two seem to be the only colors she liked wearing at least.
"So…you read books right?" Yang figured she could start getting to know her now, spun on her heel to walk backwards for a few steps to stare at her new partner, get a head start on reading her face, learning her tells, and anything else she would need to properly embarrass her. "Anything good lately?"
"We can play the get to know you game later." The one thing Yang could tell was that Blake was more than a little standoffish. She sped up to walk past Yang. "For now, let's just focus on getting one of the relics the Headmaster told us about."
Yang thought about arguing with her over not answering her question but decided against it. She had four years to crack Blake's shell wide open and see what was inside. She could be patient. At least for now. Once they were out of this forest she was probably taking the gloves out and dragging some life into her partner one way or another.
She just seemed so dour and serious about nothing. What did she even have to worry about at a place like Beacon? Grades?
"I can agree with that." Yang laced her fingers together behind her head, took to humming a song to fill the empty air between the two since conversation wouldn't. She could talk for the both of them but that was no fun. Besides, maybe she could get a taste for her partner's taste in music this way.
Although it seemed Blake was rather determined to ignore whatever she was doing, her focus entirely on the ruins both could see through the thinning tree line. Just past a clearing, over a bridge, and they would be there.
"…You're starting up a fight that you just can't finish…Watch the little hearts while they scrape you off the floor…" Yang hummed the melody she could remember when she couldn't remember the lyrics.
She noticed Blake's jaw tighten and could swear she just saw the bow on her head shift around.
'I'm seeing things.' She focused back on the bridge ahead, the clearing they had stepped into empty of any Grimm. After two had made the mistake of giving her a haircut, neither her or Blake had seen a creature of darkness. She had been tempted to actually deactivate Ember Celica for the moment but had thought better of it.
If they ended up getting attacked suddenly, she would rather not have to spend time deploying them. Sure, she could cave a Grimm's face in without them but that would be a waste. Nowhere near as cool as caving one's face in with Ember Celica.
'I wonder how Ruby is doing out here.' Yang reined in her big sister instincts for now, would let Ruby work out whatever issues she ran into during Initiation on her own. 'I hope she got partnered up with Jaune. He didn't seem too bad yesterday and they can probably nerd out over weapons. Or she can at least nerd out over his, bug him to let her tinker with it.' She smiled at the image of Ruby hanging off of Jaune's back, telling him all the ideas she had for his weapons. 'Yeah, he would be a good partner for her.'
'Helps that he's got that country boy air around him too. Yeah, Ruby and him would get along great if they were partners.' She spared a glance up to the treetops. 'Should I have thrown her at him?' She could've, had considered doing it when she heard how they were expected to pair during the test. Use a few shells from Ember Celica to throw herself back through the air to Ruby and throw her sister like a baseball to her fellow blond. 'Well, no use crying over spilled milk.'
The opportunity was long gone after all. She would keep an eye on Ruby at Beacon, especially if they ended up on different teams, but there wasn't much else she could do.
'Hopefully whoever she ended up paired up with is good for her. I just hope she didn't get stuck with Little Miss Crabby.'
Yang could just imagine the instant disaster that would be. She hoped Ruby wasn't that unlucky.
"Someone's above us." Blake pointed up to a speck in the sky, Yang recognizing a Nevermore even if it was so far away.
It helped that the Grimm was truly a massive one, the blond not being surprised if it was as big as, if not bigger than, the airship that had brought them to Beacon yesterday.
'Well, think of the crabby and she appears.' She could catch a glimpse of Little Miss Crabby thanks to just how bright her all white outfit made her, could see how well she stuck out where she was in the claws of the Nevermore.
"Someone's unlucky." She spared her partner a look. "If my sister was here we could try and save her but…I don't have a sniper rifle." She presented Ember Celica on her arms for evaluation. "What about you?"
"We could make a very big slingshot. Mind being the ammo?" Blake's deadpan joke made Yang snort. She knew her weapon from their brief fight with a handful of Grimm but the picture that painted was too funny.
"Come on." Yang started to jog towards the ruins. "We'll grab a relic and save her when that thing comes down to try and eat us."
"Sure." Blake was focused on the Nevermore, a small smile on her face and her bow twitched again. "I'm sure Weiss will be fine for a little while longer." She followed after her partner.
High above their heads, Ruby desperately hung on to Crescent Rose, the scythe embedded in the back of the flying Grimm. She could still hear Weiss screaming down where she was held in the claws.
"YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER IMBECILE!"
"I'M SORRY!" Ruby struggled to call down to her over the high winds.
"SORRY? YOU'RE SORRY! YOU GOT US INTO THIS MESS YOU MORON!"
Weiss was still unable to reach Myrtenaster, her failed lunge at the monster when it was still on the ground had left her weapon embedded somewhere between its wing and its white covered head. Ruby trying, and failing to the Schnee, to help had made her accidentally trigger the chamber of Ice Dust and freeze her weapon in place. The Grimm had promptly flapped its wings to get high into the air and snatch her out of the air when she had lost her grip on her frozen weapon. Ruby had only narrowly managed to hitch a ride on its back from her running leap from the frozen tree she had finally gotten herself out of.
"I'LL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT! I PROMISE!"
"YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH YOU MORON! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'M G-"
The Nevermore's latest screech drowned out whatever Weiss was yelling about down below. It flapped its wings before it angled itself down and began a rapid descent to the forest below, Ruby using one arm to shield her eyes from the painful winds while Weiss screamed something else at her. She couldn't hear anything courtesy of the wind now roaring around her ears.
'I can fix this. I can fix this.' She needed to reach Crescent Rose's trigger, fire and hope the recoil would either rip the Grimm in half or pull her weapon free. 'If I fire enough I can get free and I can get Weiss after that. I can get us down. I can take this thing down on the ground. I can do this. I can do this. One shot first.'
She gave up on shielding her face, hoped Aura would help as the heavy winds immediately made her eyes water. She didn't exactly need to see Crescent Rose to know where the trigger was but she needed two hands at least, needed one hand occupied to keep her hold on the weapon.
'One shot. One shot.'
She closed her eyes and looked away, touch helping her find her way down her weapon.
"WEISS! GET READY!"
"FOR WHAT YOU D-"
'One shot.'
The loud report of Crescent Rose as she fired it left whatever Weiss said inaudible. That and the renewed screeching of the Nevermore as it plummeted out of the skies.
Although it didn't drown out her screams to her own ears. The Nevermore was out of control as it fell to the ground, it taking all she had to even keep hold of Crescent Rose. She was slipping even then, desperately held on with both hands to no avail.
She had to fire another round. That would fix this. She could get control with another shot. Crescent Rose was almost free.
She could still fix this.
She had to fix this.
The noise was faint but she recognized it immediately. Countless days of practice and sparring, she had heard the same noise over and over and over again.
It belonged to only one gun.
"Ruby!" Yang immediately stopped on the bridge, Blake looking to her in confusion as red eyes were focused on the Grimm now spiraling out of the skies. She caught sight of the red blur on it and her Semblance rocked the bridge when it activated. Ember Celica's shells punched chunks of stone out of the bridge, destabilized it enough that Blake threw Gambol Shroud to the other end to avoid a painful drop.
She ignored everything as she powered herself through the air and to the Grimm that had her sister screaming as she was thrown off of it. Crescent Rose went spinning out of her hand, one last shot at the worst possible time sending her weapon crashing into the clearing far down below.
She turned around to fire off another round of shells from Ember Celica, turned back around in time to catch Ruby in a tight hug and roll so her back slammed into the forest instead of her sister. Her Aura took a hit but she would be fine. A glance to Ruby showed she would be fine too, currently tucked into a ball in Yang's arms.
Red eyes were replaced by lilac with a blink.
Yang let the panic that had gripped her fade.
She patted Ruby on the back.
"You good little sis?"
She earned a shaky exhale from Ruby but she squeezed her hand. Her sister still had her eyes closed, her head tucked down like Yang had shown her.
The ground shook as the massive Nevermore crashed down somewhere in the clearing, another screech leaving it as it struggled to rise from a crumbled heap on the ground. Crescent Rose had torn itself down the Grimm's back, would have succeeded in ripping it in half likely if it going into a spiral hadn't thrown Ruby around so much.
Yellow eyes behind a white mask focused on where Ruby had crashed, the creature letting out another screech as the claws on each wing worked to drag it towards the trees. Between each, the Nevermore swung its wings towards the trees Ruby and Yang had crashed into, unleashed a hail of deadly feathers on them again and again.
More than one tree simply fell from the sudden onslaught, crashed to the ground and perhaps even burying the two prospective students.
"That's a rather peculiar ability." Ozpin was rather calm as his prospective students faced a powerful foe, the Nevermore undoubtedly several hundred years old from its size alone. "Observe. Not only are the feathers being launched by the force of the swing but by a type of internal combustion taking place within the quill as well. Fascinating."
"That Grimm wasn't reported by any of our surveyors or picked up on any of the cameras. The Emerald Forest couldn't contain a Grimm that large without us knowing about it." Goodwitch looked to the ongoing battle in growing concern.
"It likely arrived sometime during the night, unable to deny itself the draw coming from our new students. All of their anxieties and fears over what would happen today." Ozpin took another drink from his mug. "We should treat this as a learning opportunity for all of the students involved. If nothing else, it'll be a field test of their ability to work with their new partners. It would be wrong for us to interfere unless it proves problematic for the rest of the students partaking in the Initiation as well." Behind his spectacles, his eyes focused on the feed projected on his Scroll. "Let's see what they can do under pressure."
Through the tree line, two more pairs broke through and into the clearing. On one side was Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc, drawn by the impact of the Nevermore.
On the other side, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren ignored the Nevermore entirely, continued their sprint over the clearing and towards the cracked bridge leading to the ruins and the relics.
"Don't worry! Once we get to the bridge, everything's going to come together!" Nora reached behind her for Magnhild. "Trust me!"
"How exactly do you know that?" Ren kept pace with her, shot a glance over his shoulder.
The massive Deathstalker that had been chasing them since Nora had brought a cave down on it plowed through the trees in its way, broke through the forest and into the clearing.
"Ozpin, the Deathstalker is there now too. That's the same Grimm we considered sending one of the Second Year teams to kill. The mission was deemed too dangerous." Goodwitch spared him a glance, managed to tear her eyes from the worrying feed on display.
"And more students have arrived with it as well. Eight prospective Huntsmen, a number of rather exceptional combatants among them, versus two rather old Grimm sounds more than fair." Ozpin continued to drink from his mug. He was still unconcerned with the possibility of his new students meeting their end before they had even had their first class.
From his stance alone, he was firm in standing by his non-interference policy for Initiation. The students would need to either handle the Grimm attacking them or think of something else. A Huntsman knowing when to retreat from a battle was nearly as valuable as any combat ability or Semblance.
"Why did you have to take its stinger!" Jagged chunks of flesh and the remains of cracked armor were the only sign that the monster pursuing the two had once had a scorpion tail tipped by a stinger, the length of such a thing heavily reduced by around a fourth of what it once when it was whole.
"It just looked so shiny Ren! And make sure you don't lose it!"
Over Ren's shoulder and partially wrapped in his arm, said golden stinger of the maimed Grimm was held in place. He used his free hand to wield one of his paired guns StormFlower, his shots bouncing off the white carapace covering the Grimm as it continued its tireless pursuit of the two students.
'The things I do for Nora.'
Jaune and Pyrrha spared a glance to the pair running from the stinger-less Deathstalker before both focused on the Nevermore that was nearly directly in front of them, still clawing its way across the ground and swinging its wings to unleash steel feathers into the trees in front of it with a concerning focus.
"That thing looks like it's coming for us." Pyrrha readied Milo and Akouo in her hands, spared a glance to Jaune. "What do you want to do?"
"Ruins are just over the bridge." He nodded towards them. "We can take this thing down and pick up a relic afterwards."
"Then that's our game plan." Pyrrha threw Akouo with deadly accuracy, the shield embedding itself on the side of the Nevermore's neck. Jaune charged forward with his two handed sword shifted to only one gloved hand, reached behind him for the largest blade currently on his back.
It was closer to a thick and heavy sheet of metal folded to give an edge on one side than being a normal sword. The other side was open to reveal it was partially hollow, half of the blade it seemed was empty. A long blue and gold hilt built to be held in two hands was enclosed by the metal as it wrapped around it.
"Eyes on me birdbrain!" Jaune drew the new blade of Multos Armis from over his shoulder and done, released a bright yellow wave of Aura towards the Grimm.
'That attack had to take a lot of Aura.' Pyrrha had shifted Milo to its rifle mode, peppered the Grimm with shots between the armor, the eyes, to no avail with how erratic it was moving. Her focus was primarily for her partner as she saw him take on the large Grimm. 'How much does he have left?'
He had taken more than one heavy strike from the Ursa they had already encountered, the Ursa Major had even slammed him into a tree hard enough to crack the trunk before she put it down. His Aura had to be nowhere near full.
"Don't waste your Aura!" Pyrrha caught her shield on her arm as she called it back to her, lifted Milo up to open fire on the Grimm and gain its attention even if the rounds from her rifle didn't do much damage. "I can handle range."
"Don't worry!" Jaune struck through the air with his two-handed sword, unleashed another bright yellow wave of Aura. "I've nowhere near done yet." He swung up with the large sword in his other hand and unleashed another wave. "I can do this all day!"
Pyrrha gave him one last look before she used her shield to knock away one of the many feathers of the Nevermore's latest barrage sent towards her and Jaune.
Jaune made no such effort, his Aura shining bright around him as he pushed through the attack. Bright flashes of yellow light followed the impact from each feather but he, amazingly, didn't get thrown off his feet.
"What are you doing?" Pyrrha moved herself out of the Nevermore's line of fire, raced to the side. She caught sight of white and red.
"I'm hitting this thing!" Jaune swung down with both swords, a much larger joined wave of Aura slamming into the Nevermore once more and throwing it off the ground. Hurried flaps of its wings succeeded in not letting it fall on its back but Jaune had earned its full attention as it landed with a crash. It let out a screech as it fell down on tis claws and talons in front of him. "Let's take it down!"
Pyrrha threw her shield once more, dragged Weiss over the ground on top of it.
A glance to the girl showed she was unconscious from the impact but her Aura, however little was left, had saved her from any other damage.
'This thing landed right on top of her.' She collected her shield and both her weapons moved themselves to her back as she picked up Weiss with both hands. A glance to Jaune and he was in front of her, must've caught a glimpse of her shield carrying Weiss and moved in front of her.
Minus his head-on approach to fighting, the two worked well together.
"Bridge or trees?" Jaune gave her the choice.
"Trees." Worrying about the Nevermore's feathers would make the bridge impossible for now.
She turned and ran into the tree line already heavily marked by the Nevermore's barrage of feathers, many trunks having at least a few feathers puncturing them, and Jaune was right behind her. The Nevermore didn't pursue, only lifted itself back up on its talons to swing its wing at them.
Jaune turned and swung the sword in his off hand and a wall of yellow Aura threw itself towards the Nevermore. He didn't stay and see if his attack hit, had been focused only on canceling out the feathers, and joined Pyrrha as she dashed into the trees and hid behind a sturdy enough looking one.
The screech of the Nevermore followed after them, more feathers striking the trees but nothing else.
"That thing is big." Jaune was understating things. "I've never seen one that big before." He risked a glance around the wide tree trunk they had ran behind. The Nevermore was moving over the ground but not towards them. "And it's not coming for us."
Pyrrha nodded along as she set Weiss against the tree trunk.
"Is she hurt?" Jaune returned both his swords to their place on his back.
"Her Aura is low. The Nevermore had to land right on top of her." The Schnee was lucky Pyrrha had noticed her when Jaune's reckless attack had forced the Nevermore to rear up like a monstrous winged horse. "Do we call someone? Headmaster Ozpin said the faculty wouldn't interfere but sh-"
Jaune laid a glowing hand on Weiss's shoulder.
"Give me a few minutes. My Semblance lets me amplify Aura." He brought up his other hand and closed his eyes.
'That explains how he's still standing.' Pyrrha took note of the glow around his hands, likely the sign of the blond using his Semblance. 'He's been amplifying his Aura ever since we started fighting.' She glanced back at the Nevermore. It was still dragging itself over the ground towards a set of trees already skewered by feathers. 'Someone is over there.'
The Grimm was holding a grudge on whoever had brought it out of the sky.
'It wasn't Weiss. But she's part of this if that's her weapon frozen in the Nevermore.' Green eyes searched the clearing for anything else. 'A weapon.' She spotted a red and black scythe lodged in the ground between the Nevermore and the stone bridge that was in the process of collapsing.
Probably due to the Deathstalker three students were fighting on top of it.