Transcript 1: Run
The days were already beginning to fly by at Beacon academy, and suddenly the students found themselves at the end of the second week of the semester, with the weekend just around the corner.
The first years were studying hard in class – with a few exceptions – and team CFVY still dominated the combat arena. Coco and Yatsuhashi hadn't even looked like losing a fight, while Velvet's perfect record had fallen victim to a horrible sequence of unlucky timing in her last bout. Her humble-looking camera pack, Anesidora, was unexpectedly and unquestionably the most impressive weapon of this year. But perhaps most impressive of all was the fact that Fox, despite his blindness, won the majority of his fights quite convincingly. His long, orange tonfas wreaked havoc on anybody they made contact with, and were very good at hooking around shields and disarming opponents, much to the dismay of the recently returned Jewel Blackmore.
Jasper was forced to sit out not one, but two matches as she recovered, but with his more careful approach he used against Jewel before he had lost his cool, he performed well in his return matches. His singular loss had come against Yatsuhashi, whose giant frame and sword handed out a bludgeoning that made Jewel's shield seem like a slap on the face in comparison.
The teams had learned that their academics also counted heavily towards their totals, but were mostly handed out towards the end of semester during exams and longer assignments. The expedition to the forest of Forever Fall and the attached assignment on sap had been the sole academic marks awarded thus far.
But classwork was over for the week, and instead, the first years' today were all scheduled to meet at the foot of the cliffs, a few hundred metres from where their initiation took place. Today was the first stealth and security excursion, overseen by Professor Ann Greene.
Gale was the first of Team JNGL to awake that morning. She dropped her feet over the side of the bed and stretched her arms and back with a satisfied grunt. No more lectures, thought Gale. Today was going to be an exciting experience, and she was sure she would enjoy every minute of it.
She looked around at the other sleeping beauties, and the cogs in the mischievous part of her brain began to turn. What was stopping her from enjoying herself now? A bit of fun never hurt anyone.
Carefully, and lightly as possible, Gale began to move across the room towards a sleeping mass of blonde hair poking out from above its sheets. This sneaking about was good enough training in itself, she grinned internally. Gale reached out her arm and lifted a coiled Draw from off the weapons shelf next to Quarter, and slowly placed it under Nero's bed. She looped the tip around one bed leg to stabilise it, then slowly straightened the coils, activating the embedded gravity dust. She quickly arranged the whip into a long zigzag so it would support the bed, and watched with delight as the frame gave a soft creak and lifted into the air. She let it rise about five feet off the ground, then partially recoiled the whip, stopping the bed's ascent. Gale snuck back towards her own bed and climbed in, making it seem like nothing suspicious had ever happened, and watched through half-closed eyes to see the results of her handiwork.
She didn't have to wait long. Whether by fate or by rousing from the launch of the bed, less than five minutes had passed when Nero began to move. A bleary-eyed boy with little awareness of his current surroundings stood no chance against Gale's machinations, and he automatically rolled to the side of the mattress and sat up.
The bed wobbled a little, then as his weight shifted away from the centre of the whip, Nero was tipped directly onto the floor below with a satisfying "OOF!". The bed, already at an angle, teetered dangerously, then slid off the whip sideways and landed with a resounding crash just a few inches from the already shocked Nero. The noise pierced Lina's dreams, and she sprang out of bed with a shrill yell of terror, and Jasper whipped a startled head up from off his pillow.
They looked around the room for signs of danger, and their eyes simultaneously fell upon a heaving bundle of blankets. Gale probably should have acted surprised as well to divert suspicion, but it was physically impossible when something this amusing had occurred. She couldn't speak, no, couldn't breathe she was laughing so hard, and it was a full twenty seconds before she let in a gasp and could again interact with the outside world.
"GALE!" hollered Lina. "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WOULD PULL SOMETHING LIKE THIS. WHAT HAS IT BEEN, FOUR DAYS? JUST WHEN I WAS BEGINNING TO THINK YOU WERE CURED FROM THESE WRETCHED TRICKS!"
"Never!" called Gale as she raced out the door in her nightie, followed in hot pursuit by Lina, who pulled black orbs of aura from her torso and flung them wildly at her fleeing teammate. Several other students in the dorms poked their heads around their doors to see what all the commotion was about, and stared at the rapidly disappearing pair as the threats and dreadful language faded into the distance.
"Well that was an eventful start to the day," commented Jasper, studying the upturned bed.
"I agree," said Nero, rubbing his shoulder. "So much for a quiet day of stealth and security."
Jasper exhaled forcefully, a smile spreading across his lips. "I suppose now's a good a time as any to start getting ready."
"We'll probably have to get my whip down first", said Nero, pointing at the purple glow coming from the ceiling.
"Yeah," agreed Jasper.
Transcript 2: Hide
At a quarter to eight that morning, all 40 first-years were assembled just near the edge of the Emerald Forest, just within sight of the initiation area. Professor Greene strutted up and down the line and addressed the students in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Now class, as we have discussed these last two weeks, there are many situations in which it is best to remain unseen and unidentified, whether gathering information on a person or an area, or tracking or avoiding people or Grimm. In both situations, it is vital to keep a cool head and remain calm. It's not just Grimm that can pick up on these things, people are more strongly affected by others emotions and body language than they realise. It is no coincidence that even many untrained people know the feeling of being watched, for instance. We however, take that to the next level and develop your abilities in this area."
She turned and pointed towards the forest. "Which is why today we will be focusing on detecting Grimm using means other than our normal senses. Our huntsmen have cleared out the more dangerous Grimm in the immediate area, but there will be a few stragglers like beowolves. Your task will be to each travel through this protruding section of the forest, sensing and avoiding Grimm, without your weapons. You will also be blindfolded."
A titter ran through the cohort as they realised the significance of her words. They were being thrown in the deep end today and being told to swim, or rather walk in this case. They would have to get it almost perfect.
"Your progress will be monitored and graded, however please note if we are required to assist should you run into any trouble, there will be heavy penalties."
Fox volunteered to go first, and was required to hand over the earpiece he wore which helped him "see", which he called Ada. Even so, he was accustomed to this sort of thing, and breezed through the hundred metres of forest with barely a hitch, swerving to avoid first a pair of Grimm owls and then a lone boarbatusk. He circled back and stopped in front of the line.
"Can you take my blindfold off please?" he asked a bewildered Ember Swanfeather.
"Umm, you… don't have one on?" she responded faintly. Fox put his hands on his head in feigned surprise.
"Oh NO," he whimpered dramatically. "This is terrible! I can't see a thing!" Then a grin burst through, and he slapped Ember on the back and laughed heartily as he re-joined the line.
A surprisingly large number of the students were able to avoid Grimm when they sensed them nearby, but not many were able to avoid them completely. Many were nervous of running into things, or like Lina, were annoyed when they did, with the negative emotions attracting more and more Grimm which made them impossible to get past without being noticed. Gale's happy attitude worked wonders, as did Yatsuhashi's meditative training, and they were the only two other than Fox to record a flawless score. The other successful students had either had to backtrack or take large detours to avoid new Grimm, and about two-thirds of the students were noticed before they reached the end and had to be bailed out. Nero made it through, but Jasper was caught twenty metres short, and Lina just forty metres in.
Furious at being trumped again by Coco, who made it seventy of the hundred metres, Lina walked over to the changing room at the cliff face to get a headstart on the second half of the day's activities.
Only there was no room to be found.
That's odd, she thought as she rounded the cut-out in the cliff face which marked the site of each year's camouflage activity. There was no wooden shack, no curtains and no starting line. Lina walked closer.
Splinters. Bits of cloth. Trampled ground. Claw marks. And… feathers?
She drew Autobeat and transformed it to its gun form. This didn't make any sense. From the imprints on the ground it had to be Grimm, but this was definitely no beowolf, creep, or ursa. Everything else had been cleared out this morning, yet all the signs pointed to something large. Lina turned around, all grudges long forgotten, and started back towards the group of students to warn Professor Peach.
And spotted an enormous herd of griffon staring at her from a ledge in the cliff face.
Lina gasped, and hurled herself backwards. They were hidden from view until she was directly inside the cut-out, and she cursed herself for not checking before boxing herself into a dead end like this. She snapped open a fire dust cartridge and jammed it into her weapon, blasting a powerful wave of ammo towards the creatures as they spread their wings and dived towards her. It deterred some of the smaller ones, but many swept on, spreading their talons and letting out a guttural roar. Lina screamed.
"Did you hear that?" exclaimed Terra Bluefoot, her wavy green hair twitching as she turned her head towards the sound. "Someone's in trouble over near the changerooms!"
Professor Greene's finely trained senses had picked the sounds up too, and she snapped her notebook shut as the last few students emerged from the forest. "Griffon. Come on students, hurry! There may be more around."
The remaining 39 students sped towards the cliff with the professor who quickly punched a message for backup into her scroll, and the rapid clap of Lina's gunfire drew closer. Suddenly, Lina burst out of the opening, and rolled to avoid two large beaks which clacked shut where she had been a moment before. The students drew their vast array of weapons and opened fire on the beasts. Coco Adel, Ally Teal and Lemmy Braithwaite focused their heavy artillery on the two in front, bringing them down, and the students with close combat weaponry jumped in to finish them off. Heather Thorn tangled another one with the plant dust vines from her machete, sending it sailing into the rocks and Yatsuhashi impaled the creature with Fulcrum as it fell to the ground.
Six more of the beasts appeared from out of the gap, then another three as the horrified students began to be pushed back. Professor Greene continued to hand out deadly blows, but there were simply too many for a lone huntress and a group of inexperienced first years to deal with. A decapitated head landed squarely on Hunter Anstone, knocking him down, and Ember Swanfeather was sent flying by a blow from a griffon's talons. They had defeated nearly a dozen of the beasts but many students' aura was running low and there were still twice or three times that many remaining.
Then four military airships flew over the cliff and turned their massive gun barrels and missile launchers toward the battle, and let loose. Grimm ash filled the air as the griffon horde disintegrated under the concentrated fire. Several dodged the initial attack and went straight for the airships, but were quickly mopped up by Professor Greene and the relieved students. The pilots landed, and Professor Greene motioned for the students to leave as she walked towards the airships.
"Remaining activities are cancelled for today, students. Many of you received hard knocks during this encounter and will need to rest up and recuperate for next week's classes. I have a report to file and need to discuss this with the pilots and the headmaster."
Nero and Gale hurried over to a shaken Lina, who looked like she had stared death in the face. "Are you alright?" asked Gale, lending a hand to help her up.
"Yeah," mouthed Lina, a distinct quiver in her voice. "I... I think."
Gale's eyes dropped. "I'm sorry for this morning. It seems silly now, considering how serious this could have turned out and how scary it was. Startling you for no reason seems a bit awful for me now.
"Oh, it wasn't any real harm, even if I did lose it a bit this morning" countered Lina. "Just maybe… moderate it a bit."
"Right" said Gale. "We should probably help the others and get back to Beacon, I suppose."
A balmed and bandaged group of students trickled out into the main hall a few hours later, to see the first set of fortnightly results for the teams. Team CFVY would be at the top, everyone knew, but the rest was a lot less predictable. Jasper thought Team JNGL had fared okay despite his lost matches, considering Gale and Nero's fantastic performance in the Emerald Forest earlier today. Maizy Storm, leader of Team MAJE, was similarly praying Jewel's injury and loss of condition hadn't affected them too much. India Walnut of Team LIHT wondered if there was any food set out for them in the hall.
Then the leaderboard flashed up on blue screens around the edge of the hall and a collective gasp of surprise went around the room.
Most Valuable Team, Semester 1 Week 2.
1. CFVY – 692 points
2. CURI – 521 points
3. TOPZ – 488 points
4. JNGL – 474 points
5. LIHT – 453 points
6. AKKH – 452 points
7. DLPN – 439 points
8. MAJE – 406 points
9. SYLC – 398 points
10. BTTR – 390 points
They had expected a Team CFVY lead, but nobody had foreseen such dominance in the numbers in front of them. Some students refreshed their screens, as if not believing what was before their eyes.
That's higher than Team STRQ, isn't it?" queried a wide-eyed Lina. "And we only had half of the stealth practical!"
"I believe that's twelve points higher than what STRQ scored in their first two weeks" replied Nero. "Nobody's even come close to them in twenty-five years!"
"Well, records are made to be broken" replied Jasper. "Looks like we might see some more of that over the next ten months."
"I don't like it, Glynda."
Professor Ozpin picked up his coffee mug and paced around the room once more. "There can't have been such a big mistake."
"Griffons are flying creatures, Ozpin, they probably moved in there after clearing the area this morning"
"And that's just what I don't like. I trust that Port and Oobleck did their jobs properly, but we have never seen a flock anywhere near that size before, and they don't even usually venture near this part of the continent."
Glynda Goodwitch lowered her glasses. "Are you suggesting…"
The coffee mug slammed down on the desk, the brown liquid threatening to spill over the sides.
"Of course I am! Somehow, those Grimm were lured into there, by something, or someone. Maybe even the same people that attacked Amber."
"But is that possible?"
"We don't know what is possible anymore. Someone was able to steal part of Amber's maiden powers, that has never been done before, somehow a group of nearly fifty griffons was just sitting, waiting for the students in a previously cleared area. That could have ended very differently had those military airships been on the other side of Vale. It looks planned."
Ozpin sat down and put his head in his hands. "Something is coming. Something has been set in motion. And it all points to… to her."
Glynda gave a long sigh and looked out the window of Ozpin's office near the top of Beacon Tower.
"Amber's in a stable condition, Ozpin. If we keep her out of reach, they won't be able to do anything."
"For now. But will she remain that way? And what will happen to her power if she doesn't? There are too many questions, Glynda. We have to hide the relic. But that leaves us with the most important question of all.'
Glynda Goodwitch leaned forward. "What question?" Ozpin sat back down in his chair, a deadly serious air falling over his face.
"Can a half-maiden open the vault?"