Chapter 2

With Friends Like These

Jaune was launched across the sky

He didn't know what to expect when it came to Beacon's initiation. Despite his long time dream of becoming a Huntsman, he never really did any real research when it came to the institution as a whole. Back at the Frontier, if you had your Aura unlocked and handy with a blade, you're pretty much a Huntsman. Didn't mean you're an official one, but you're expected to do the things that Huntsman do; in other words: killing Grimm.

.Jaune found himself flying across the sky.

It wasn't until he reached the age of fifteen – two years ago give or take – that he realized that there's a lot that went in into being a Huntsman. You gotta graduate a special school, get your license, and be obligated to pretty much live like a vagrant and roaming Remnant offering your services. Now he knew why his dad didn't really miss the job; he's pretty much a Huntsman exclusively for their hometown now.

He would've screamed, but moving something's telling him it wouldn't be a good idea to open his mouth when he's moving at such a high speed across the air. He did, however, quickly devised a landing strategy. Looking down, he spot the tallest and closest treetop he could see, hoping that it would cushion his fall if not at least break it.

Closing his eyes, he felt his body drop as gravity began doing its work causing him to brace for impact. The trees, like he expected, broke his fall. As he fell, he ended up breaking twigs and branches on the way down. His armor took the major burnt of the impact, but none were serious enough to pierce his Aura.

"That…" he gasped, landing on the forest floor. "Let's never do that again…" he muttered to himself. He sensed multiple Auras flaring from across the area, even all the way back at the cliffs. Looks like people were already getting eliminated…

"Well, no use in staying here…" he wondered aloud, "better start mo-!"

He ducked avoiding a red spear that sailed past his head, embedding itself on the tree behind him. His whole body tensed, ready to spring at the slightest hint of danger. Eyes flashing red, he scanned the surroundings for any signs of life. Woodland critters. Birds. A person. Jaune's sword arm rested on the hilt of his family's ancestral sword, gripping it tightly. The bushes nearby rustled and he could feel someone approaching. At that moment, he was ready for a creature of darkness to leap from the bushes.

...except that didn't happen.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to try and hurt you, I was just-" Pyrrha came rushing out of the bush, eyes wide and complexion pale. She looked like she'd been caught red-handed committing a crime; wouldn't be wrong if he hadn't dodged that spear earlier.

The tournament champion flinched when Jaune rushed at her so fast she had no time to raise her shield, but instead of retaliating for nearly impaling him to a tree with a spear – her spear, she was returned with a metal covered finger pressed upon her lips. Her eyes snapped wide, staring into the twin red orbs glowing from within the cover of his hood.

Pyrrha's instincts were screaming at her to push him back; react. But she couldn't even muster the slightest bit of movement from the way those red eyes were staring at her. It's as if she'd been put under a spell that paralyzed her on the spot; entrapping her for him to strike. She willed for her Semblance to activate, but found no response.

"Shhh…" came the sound of his breath right next to her ear, tickling it, sending tingles down her spine. She had expected a blade to be sunk into her abdomen, but she the only thing she got was him saying, "I know, it's okay."

Slowly, he pulled himself away from her, casting the shadows of the trees over his figure. Pyrrha found herself able to slowly move again, noticing that the twin red orbs she saw earlier were gone. She heard the sound of something getting un-stuck from somewhere, looking at the source she saw that Jaune had pulled her weapon off from the tree with just one hand, a feat that even she's not sure she could pull off.

"I believe this is yours."

"T-Thank you," Pyrrha stuttered, taking her weapon from his hand. "Again, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to harm or hurt you, I thought you didn't have a landing strategy and I assumed you needed help." She had her head lowered as a sign of remorse.

"It's fine," Jaune said again. "And I appreciate the gesture, really."

Pyrrha couldn't help but turn red at the reminder.

"So you're my partner then," Jaune said, head tilting sideways. "Like the Headmaster said, 'the first person you laid your eyes upon will be your partner.'"

"Yes he did," Pyrrha said, more to herself rather than a response. "Partners. It's a pleasure to be your partner, Jaune."

"Likewise." Jaune returned the pleasantries with a quick nod of his own. Looking around, he then said, "so, our objective, do have any idea where we should go?"

Pyrrha hummed, biting her bottom lip. "The direction given was purposefully vague, only stipulating that it is located in an abandoned ruin at the end of the forest's path…"

"That's not very helpful is it," Jaune chuckled. "Our best guess is to just go where the others are going; there's a high chance to meet and team up with other candidates and travel as a group."

"That's a good idea," complemented Pyrrha, but she frowned, saying, "but wouldn't it be hard to bump into someone in a forest like this? Not to mention the Grimm roaming around."

"I got us covered on that front."

"Oh?"

"My Semblance," Jaune began as he and Pyrrha began moving along the path. "It gives me hyper-sensitive senses. Basically, I can hear very, very well. I'll know when we're about to bump into someone… or something."

Pyrrha blinked. "Is that how you were able to, um, dodge my spear?" she asked, hesitating a little to bring up the near-miss she had caused.

"Yup," Jaune answered. He could hear the sound of the spear piercing the air, making a whistling noise that would otherwise not be heard by people without paranormal hearing. What he's not telling her, however, was the fact that he could've easily taken the spear head on and it probably wouldn't even scratch his Aura.

But she didn't need to know that.

Yet.

Meanwhile, a certain pugilist found herself in a carousel of danger courtesy of multiple monstrous bears out to end her life. The bears were, of course, Grimm; Ursa to be more specific. Their large bodies and proportions made them dangerous, not to mention, some studies had shown that they're actually more aggressive than Beowolves.

"C'mon, come to mama!"

But they did not know the one known as Yang Xiao Long. If the Ursas hit hard, then Yang hit harder. With Ember Celica – her shotgun assisted combat gauntlets – brandished, she punched, kick, and swat every single Grimm that was up for a piece of her.

In a boxer's stance, she leaned, ducked, and twisted her way out of the Ursas' paws and biting jaws. She would occasionally sent in jabs and punches of her own to counter the initial strikes sent her way as a boxer typically would. She's not afraid to throw in kicks into her fight too.

"Get back!" The brawler shouted to the beasts that were beginning to surround her, spent shotgun shells ejecting from her gauntlets with every punch she threw. Wincing, she realized that she needed to create some space.

Stepping sideways, Yang avoided the snapping jaws of one particular Ursa. She lunged forward, right hand cocked backwards to deliver a devastating shotgun enhanced haymaker that blasted the Grimm into dust. It didn't end there, however. Kicking off a rather weak strike, she pinned an Ursa to the tree with her foot. With a scream, she began repeatedly delivering lightning fast punches upon the Ursa before kicking it further into the tree, felling it in the process.

"Alright, who's up for more?!"

Her eyes blazed red as her hair burned a brilliant gold. Taking a stance, she prepared herself as she saw several more Ursa appearing from the sidelines. "Ugh," Yang groaned, "this is going to take a while…"

An Ursa roared, and Yang prepared herself. The stocky beast reared up to launch itself at the blonde brawler, but a rain of bullets stopped it from ever leaving its spot. A different kind of shadow descended upon the scene, this time a lot more human in nature. Pistol caliber bullets weren't going to be enough to knock an Ursa dead, but it's more than enough to stun it from doing what it was about to do.

Yang watched as their newest addition moved, leaving literal after images of herself, engaging the Grimm with feline grace. Yang noted how easy this person was able to slip past every gaps and opening, even with only a small window of opportunity. Like a lethal ballerina, her twin pistol-blades danced and floated around the Grimm, the ribbons tied to the hilt giving them the illusion of being suspended in the air.

Not one to be outdone, Yang decided it was time to step back into the action. Releasing a short puff of breath, she gut kicked an Ursa twice her size causing it to buckle. She followed up with a raging uppercut, chaining it with a left jab that caved the creature's monstrous face in, before ending with a spinning roundhouse kick that sent it flying a good distance away from her. Her eyes scanned the area for more threat, landing on the perfect target.

"This one's mine!" She declared, before dashing off to engage her newest and final target.

The other girl, seeing this, rolled her eyes at the blonde. She watched as the brawler engaged the last Ursa in the vicinity, giving it no break as she pummeled the creature to death. If it wasn't a Grimm but a regular bear instead, she would've felt sorry for it.

"Phew…!" Yang slowly got up, dusting herself off Grimm essence as she regulated her breathing. "Thanks for the help, stranger," she thanked the other girl, "but I could've handled them just fine."

"I'm sure you could, but I need to give the examiners something worth scoring." The stoic girl said. "We're in the middle of initiation, in other words, we're graded." She reminded Yang.

Huffing, the blonde brawler murmured, "you're right." Her eyes returned to their normal lilac color, the golden glow that enveloped her also dissipated. "Well, I guess we're partners then? Unless you have another person in mind?"

The girl with amber eyes shook her head. "None at all."

"Great! Let's go grab what we're supposed to get, then."

"Hm."

Blake wondered if she should actually go along with the blond, effectively cementing their status as partners. From their earlier exchange, it seemed that the brawler did not seem to mind if she decided to have second thoughts and split up, acting as if they'd never met. But Blake doubted that the examiners would allow that.

Beacon probably had cameras or some sort of surveillance system set up all over the place to record them. If she bailed now, there's a high chance they would disqualify her and she, like many others currently ongoing the initiation, could not afford to be disqualified from the program.

Beacon was her second chance at doing good after leaving behind a very grave and dark past. It's also supposed to be her way of atonement. If she lose this chance, there might not be another chance in the future for her. Not to mention, the Fang did not take kindly to deserters…

"What's your name? Mine's Yang. Yang Xiao Long."

"I'm Blake. Blake Belladonna."

Blake decided. Putting away Gambol Shroud, she began walking to join the blond brawler. She figured it couldn't be that bad having a partner, and although she had never met Yang before, she's confident she couldn't do worse than her previous one.

"I have to say," Yang started, "you handled yourself pretty well back there."

Blake hummed. "You too."

"So, which Combat School did you go to?"

"I was… mentored," Blake answered, playing with technicalities.

"Huh. That's neat." Turning around, Yang was now walking backwards, saying, "how nice. My dad was very insistent we go to a combat school even though he's a full fledged Huntsman himself. He could've just mentored me and my sister."

Blake thought that's good to know. But Yang continued, saying, "but he is also a teacher at the combat school I went to, so I guess I was technically mentored by him, just… along with thirty other kids in the same class."

"Hm."

"You know, we had to make our own weapons at school. You made yours too?"

"Hm."

"My sister was the one who came up with the designs of these babies while I gave her the rough idea of what I wanted. She's a smart kid, but have a hard time making friends due to her awkwardness. Can you believe it, the other day, she crashed into this girl..."

It was at that moment when Blake began regretting her decision. She quickly learned that her partner was a talkative person, a personality type that clashed with her quiet nature.

Well, at least this way, the walk to the ruins wouldn't be boring…

Lie Ren considered himself to be a resourceful person.

Becoming an orphan at a young age, he had to be resourceful just so that he could live to see another day. If he had to be honest, his need to be resourceful mostly stemmed from the fact that he had his friend with him everywhere he goes. Now, that's not a stab at his childhood friend, but rather a chance for him to credit her for playing an important role in his life.

Without her, he couldn't imagine where he'd be right now; he's not even sure if he'd made it this far. They'd been through so much together that it's literally impossible for him to imagine a life without her. It sounded extreme, but it really did feel like that sometimes.

The Animan native steadied his breathing, feeling the ground around him vibrate as the tall grasses surrounding him shift and shake, as if something was moving through them. He noticed them a while ago, using his Semblance to mask his presence long enough to bypass initial detection. He could avoid fighting them, but ultimately decided that the Grimm were better off dealt with.

He looked like the picture of tranquility, standing still and motionless even with the knowledge of danger being so close. He recalled the words of one of the many masters he encountered in his journey with Nora: 'There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the sky.' He took this particular saying to heart as it reminded him the importance of patience and enforced the presence of opportunity in one's life.

A legless Grimm slithered along the forest's floor, flatting tall grasses in its wake.

A time to sow and a time to harvest. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to prepare…

...and a time to strike.

A King Taijitu lunged, with both of its jaws wide open, at the green themed boy. But since he had the time to prepare himself, he was ready for it. With grace and dexterity unique to himself, he twisted his body to avoid the black half of the serpentine Grimm from turning him into a human jigsaw puzzle. The black half hit the ground before instantly coming back up again to hit a leaping Ren with its snout.

Landing in a crouch, the Animan native raised his twin pistols – Storm Flower – and jumped while firing at the creature. He kicked the creature's snout in mid air, flipping before extending his hands to slash at its head with the blades of his twin automatic pistols. The serpentine Grimm slithered around Ren and snapped its jaws at him again, but the boy proved to be nimbler than the creature and drove his weapons unto its head, pausing to catch up his breathing.

In this brief moment of rest, the white half of the Grimm decided to surprise him by striking. Ren barely dodged the strike, dodging it and landing just in time to see it slithering quickly towards him. As it got closer, he ran towards it and leapt onto the head of the black half, sliding over its body and emptying the clips of his automatic pistols at the other head.

However, he did not expect for the white half to charge through the barrage of bullets and hit him with its head. The impact knocked him off the rhythm he'd built, as well as caused him to drop his weapons, and leaving him to fend off the Grimm with his bare hands. Both heads recovered, the Grimm pounced at the opportunity to get at him.

Ren, realizing that he only had seconds before the Grimm before him essentially reduce him to a casualty of Beacon's initiation, let his training kick in and his Aura to manifest. His arms glowed a pulsating pink color as they caught the colossal serpentine Grimm by the front fangs. He then summoned the strength to pull his muscles to work, yanking them from the monster's mouth, and causing it to flail away.

The monster attempted to bite him again, but Run spun to the side and stabbed a fang into its eye, rotating his free arm to deliver a final blow that drove the makeshift weapon into its skull, causing it to ripple, expand, and blow apart in a dark mess as its headless body fell over its other half. Wasting no time, Ren went to work on the other hand.

Utilizing the other fang, he did not wait for the remaining head to act. Instead he acted first this time, throwing the fang in the air, before doing a roundhouse kick that launched it like a kick-propelled bullet that embedded itself unto the remaining head, killing it in an instant. He watched as the kill was confirmed when the creature lost its corporeal form by fading away into dust, allowing him to finally lower his guard.

Picking up his fallen weapons, he stored them back inside his sleeves with the aid of a sliding mechanism. He was just about to walk away from the scene when the trees above him rustled, prompting him to brace for another engagement.

"Boo!"

The familiar face of a bubbly, pancake loving ginger girl popped out from the leaves, hanging upside down. The corner of Ren's lips tugged slightly, a near impossible thing to notice for others, but it could not be more evident to the girl.

"So," Ren began, his voice smooth and fond. "Did you find any sloths on your way here, Nora?" he asked the girl, arms crossed as he settled into a relaxed posture. The girl dropped down from her position, hanging upside down from the branches. She rustled off a few leaves from that had stuck to her person.

"I didn't," the girl answered, her voice cheery and peppy, a trait of her Ren had been exposed to for years now. "But I did see this guy wearing a brown hood who almost got skewered from this girl's spear! You should've seen him dodge the spear, Renny, it was so amazing! Almost as if he could sense it coming!"

Ren chuckled. "I'm sure it was, Nora." He said to the girl in a fond manner. His friend had a habit of exaggerating stories, but the snippet she'd told him was interesting to him because he could briefly recalled seeing a person wearing a hood among the other initiates.

"Let's go grab our relics, Renny! We can't let the others get to them, otherwise there won't be any left for us!"

Sighing, Ren followed after the girl, quietly activating his Semblance to hide them from any Grimm that may be nearby.

"I'm telling you, Weiss, we've been through here before!"

"And like I told you before, Ruby, we have not been through this path!"

"Why don't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?"

"That's because I know exactly where we're going!" The Heiress shouted from the front, having taken the lead for the past thirty minutes or so. "We're going to the… uh… forest temple, yes, that's it!"

Ruby recalled the phrase 'mixing as well as oil and water'. She remembered her uncle saying that phrase when he described his relationship with Atlesian Huntsmen and Huntresses in general. Now, Ruby may not entirely know the context behind why he said that, but if the past few half an hour had shown Ruby anything, it was that she and Weiss couldn't get along well; at all.

'I wished I'd bumped into Yang or Jaune instead…' The young girl thought privately, only to sigh outwardly instead.

They had unfortunately, Weiss's words not hers, became partners after accidentally seeing each other. Weiss considered ignoring the rules that had been put up by the Headmaster, but decided against it when she realized that Beacon probably had surveillance system put up everywhere to watch their every move.

"Oh don't give me that," Weiss barked at Ruby, her tone piercing. "You don't know where we are either!"

"Well, at least I'm not pretending like I know everything."

A pair of light blue eyes narrowed dangerously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ruby, failing to sense that a question was supposed to be rhetorical, answered instead. And not in a way that Weiss wanted her to. "It means that you're a big, stupid jerk and I hate you!"

Sighing to herself, Weiss had to pinch her forehead just so that she could stop a vein from protruding. "Just quit talking and keep moving."

Normally, Ruby would've been content to leave things at that. But combined the fact that she'd been wandering around aimlessly for the past half an hour, stuck with – in her opinion – was the grouchiest and meanest person she'd ever met, and had to deal with the constant Grimm or two that stumbled into their path along the way, it's safe to say that she's at her wits' ends.

"Just quit talking and keep moving," Ruby said, repeating Weiss's words but in a higher pitched and definitely mocking manner. It didn't end there. "Hurry up, watch where you're going, my heels are hurting." She added hand movements, becoming more animated in mimicking the other girl's behavior. "Why are you so bossy?" She finally asked, her voice returning to normal.

Spinning right on her heels, the expression on Weiss's face could freeze fire itself. "I'm not bossy!" Apparently, Ruby's not the only one who was at their wits' ends. "Don't say things like that!" she shouted at the younger girl.

"Stop treating me like a kid!"

"Then stop acting like a kid!"

"Well, stop acting like you're perfect!" Ruby exclaimed, hands raised in the air in exasperation.

Weiss took a firm step forward, leaning towards the girl as he glare got even sharper. "I'm. Not. Perfect!" Her words were emphasized and delivered with such ferocity that it rattled Ruby a little bit. "Not yet… but I know I'm still leagues ahead than you."

"You don't even know me…"

Again, Ruby was left wondering if she made the right choice to enter Beacon so early on. As much as she hated being constantly reminded that she's a kid, maybe having an extra year or two under her belt would give her a better mindset when it came to approaching… everything.

But, as the saying goes, no use crying over spilled milk; and Ruby Rose never spilled her milk, she drank them all until the last drop. Sighing, she just told herself that everything would turn out okay eventually. She'd already experienced one of the worse thing a student could ever experience yesterday, i.e the exploding luggage ordeal.

So, going by that logic, there's only good things in store for her from here onward, right? She hoped so...

'Well… at least we're not fighting an ancient dangerous Grimm or something ridiculous like that.'

Pyrrha clutched her weapon firmly in her arms as she followed after her partner. She found her gaze constantly landing at the boy's back, which eventually evolved to staring at him in a trance-like state.

They had been walking for a while now and they had yet to encounter a single person, but – at the same time – they had not encountered any Grimm either. The silence, if Pyrrha were to be honest, was beginning to feel unbearable to her. Being a socialite back at Mistral, she was used to people chatting her up and going to interviews, to the point where she considered it unbearable at times.

She still would appreciate it if she didn't have a camera shoved up her face or a camera crew quizzing her about her day, but the company she had at the moment made her think that maybe pointless conversation was necessary to jump-start a healthy partnership for the coming years.

"So, Jaune," Pyrrha began, to which the boy hummed in response. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from a backwater settlement called Ansel located in the Frontier somewhere in the west of Vale." He then continued, saying, "it's about a week's worth of traveling by land."

Pyrrha blinked. "A week's worth of traveling by land? How did you know?"

"How else," Pyrrha noticed him shrugging his shoulders. "I made the journey from my hometown to Vale myself."

"Wait, so you're telling me that you journeyed through Grimm infested wilderness for a week instead of using air transport to get to Vale?" The girl's voice was rife with shock and astonishment as her mind fully registered what Jaune had revealed to her.

"Yup."

"That sounds… dangerous."

"It was."

Suddenly, Jaune stopped. His sudden stillness prompted her to do the same.

Confused, the redhead asked, "Jaune, why are we stopping?" She wasn't expecting Jaune to suddenly stop, but since he's the one taking the lead she was compelled to do the same.

"I sensed something."

Something. Pyrrha did not miss the choice of word the boy had used. She began looking around, unable to find anything out of place other than the fact they're surrounded by greenery. This must be his supernatural senses he'd talked about.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I… think it's a Grimm," Jaune slowly said, and Pyrrha could feel the uncertainty in his voice. "But it's… different."

"How?"

Jaune pursed his lips. "I can't say," the boy's head moved, looking at different directions, as if he's seeing the things that Pyrrha could not see herself. He turned around to face her. "My gut is telling me it's dangerous and that we should make haste for the ruins, but I can't deny that I'm curious myself."

Morbid curiosity. Pyrrha had heard the term repeated every now and then from TV shows and movies; she even experienced it herself several times. Like watching a horror movie even though she knew she's weak to horror, seeing a public figure having a meltdown in public on a DustTube video when she knew that she could go through the same thing…

But she got the feeling that Jaune's sense of morbid curiosity was of a whole different breed entirely.

"Can you elaborate why are you curious," asked Pyrrha.

"I can sense living things; things with Aura," Jaune began. "From the people scattered throughout the forest, all the way to the birds in the air, and even the bugs that crawl on the ground." He gestured with a raised hand to further reinforce his point. "Even if one's Aura has yet to be awakened, I can still sense them because they were born with the gift from the very beginning."

He then grew quiet. Pyrrha felt a chill spreading all over her body, realizing his insinuation. "Above all of those things, I can also sense Grimm. Grimm, Pyrrha. Do you realize what I'm trying to say?"

"Y...Yes. Yes I do." The redhead murmured breathily, feeling lightheaded all of a sudden.

Beasts. Monsters of the night. Creatures without souls.

The Grimm was given many titles, but everything else remained consistent. They're a hostile force of entity that clashed against the Humans and Faunus of Remnant, with a penchant of attacking those with their Aura awakened. There's a reason why not everyone on Remnant wanted to have their Aura awakened, because the same light that would protect them from harm would act as a beacon that attracted the creatures of darkness everyone was so afraid of.

Decades, no, centuries of studies had been done about the Grimm and even then they had yet to fully comprehend what these creatures really were. They did not reproduce, they did not need sustenance, they did not produce waste matter, and they did not show any of the typical behaviors animals do aside from pure instinct. They did, however, actively seek out people to harm and not for the reasons mentioned above. They just… kill people for the sake of killing them. As if it's the only thing they were created to do.

Pyrrha had her own thoughts about the Grimm, most of them from her own personal experience. She may be a tournament fighter, but people weren't the only opponents she faced in the ring.

"What makes the one you're sensing now different than a normal Grimm?" the question left a little bit too quickly from her mouth to be considered calm. Pyrrha did not notice this herself, but her eyes were wide, like she's on full alert.

"Have you ever went fishing before, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

She did not answer him, using her silence as an answer instead.

"When you fish and something bites, what's the first thing you do? You pull the fishing rod, hoping the hook would latch on to the fish. If it's a small fish, you'll have an easy time reeling it in towards you. But if it's a big fish… then you'll have a harder time reeling it in and might even have to fight it."

At that moment, the forest grew quiet and this time, Pyrrha noticed it. The ambient sound she was subconsciously hearing before could no longer be heard, it was as if someone had turned the volume down to zero. Naturally, this made Pyrrha feel uneasy.

Opening her mouth, Pyrrha slowly said, "then… this one… it's a big 'fish'?"

Jaune nodded, slowly. "Big. So big that it's the one reeling me in."

Shivers went up Pyrrha's spine. At the same time, the ground rumbled, causing her to snap into a defensive stance. She noticed that her partner was not alarmed or whatsoever, still standing with his hood over head, leaving his face obscured by shadows and darkness. She wet her lips, feeling them drying. The rumbling grew stronger to the point where even the tree branches above them were being shaken.

She looked to Jaune wordlessly, observing him for any reaction. At that point, she didn't know whether to be worried for what's making the earth shake or for her partner who remained unfazed even when it's obvious something abnormal was happening around them.

"Here it comes,"

Jaune acted. He grabbed his partner at the collar of her cuirass, throwing her into the air with his hidden strength. One moment Pyrrha was on the ground, the next she knew she was in the air. WAY up high in the air.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!"

The ground she was standing on moments ago erupted outward followed by an ear splitting screech, the cause being a gigantic scorpion monster that had broken through the soil, throwing dirt and dust into the air.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune's shouting voice snapped the tournament champion from the initial shock of seeing the beast, "shoot it!"

He didn't have to say it twice. Flaring her spear, she switched it to its rifle form, her trigger finger doing its job of sending out Dust rounds at the threat below. With the height advantage she had at the moment, landing a hit on a large target like the Grimm below was an easy feat. Damaging it, on the other hand, was a different story altogether.

Landing on a tree branch, Pyrrha loaded another fresh magazine. "Its armor's too thick," she shouted to Jaune who landed on the tree next to her. "I can't hurt it!"

"Then leave it to me."

"Jaune?!"

The name barely left the redhead's mouth when she saw him dive feet first into danger. She was almost tempted to scream obscenities at him, regardless of how out of character that might be for her image, and jump down there herself to stop the boy from dying a quick and brutal death.

Did he not realize what that was? That's an ancient Grimm! She knew because she'd heard stories from Huntsmen and Huntresses back at Mistral about Grimm that were bigger, quicker, and deadlier overall. Jaune's earlier comment about his senses labeling the Deathstalker – the name of the Grimm down there – as dangerous despite never laying eyes on it corroborated Pyrrha's conclusion.

Thick bone white armor, and an abnormally large size even for a Deathstalker… what was something like this doing in Beacon?

She watched as her partner drew out his sword, a weapon that looked like it belonged more in a museum rather than an aspiring Huntsman's hands. He held it in one hand with the tip pointed towards the ground. Why wasn't he on guard? Why did he look so… unbothered? So full of openings, very weak footing, and no stance or whatsoever. It's almost as if he wanted to die.

Releasing a primal screech, the Deathstalker broke into a frenzied sprint as it crawled its creepy spiny legs across the forest floor towards the boy. Pyrrha reacted by firing her rifle at the speeding scorpion, watching helplessly as her bullets bounce off the thick armored plating that covered the Grimm. She watched as the crawling menace reared back its main weapon of choice, its stinger.

Eyes widening, she shouted, "JAUNE!" And watched as the stinger lunged for the hooded boy.

Dirt was kicked up, along with stones and dead, fallen leaves. Pyrrha quickly moved towards her partner's position, eager to make sure that the worse had not just happened. When the dust settled, she could only watch in shock as the image that that she's seeing was burned into her memory.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

If that's not agony, then she didn't know what is. Black ichor and yellowish plasma-like liquid gushed out from the cleanly cut wound where the appendage used to belong. The cause for dismemberment was a silvery blade that was in the hooded boy's hand. Knowing that although he'd dealt a significant amount of damage by getting rid of the Deathstalker's main weapon of choice, he moved on to the pincers.

Despite its pained state, the Deathstalker was still able to deliver fast-paced swipes and pinches, all of which the boy expertly dodge through instincts alone. Not once did he hesitate, his movements precise and perfect. For a rather large creature, it's very agile. He needed to hinder its movements, somehow.

"Pyrrha, go for its legs!"

"On it!"

Bullets did nothing to this monster, so it's about time she put good ol' fashioned elbow grease into the works. Her weapon, in its sword form, was portable enough for her to carry and manage while dealing a lot of damage to her intended target; the legs. While Jaune was busy distracting it, she dashed for the legs, her copper blade poised for the strike.

She cut through the first two legs with substantial effort; although not as hard as the main armor plating, the legs were still tough. The beast was racked with pain again and it was enough of a distraction for Jaune to capitalize on. The boy's sword glowed an unholy, black color, a feat that had Pyrrha's eyes widening. She watched him raise the sword above his chest, blade pointed towards the vile creature.

Then he moved, becoming nothing more than a blur to Pyrrha's eyes. The Deathstalker began losing appendages one by one. Legs, pincers, another segment of its tail… they fell to the ground as unimaginable pain racked the beast. She caught sight of the hooded boy briefly, her trained eyes nearly missing the sight of him wielding his vorpal blade like some sort of dancer.

He became a storm right before her very eyes, butchering the ancient Grimm with deadly precision.

Like a spring, he bounced off the ground, landing on top of the Deathstalker's back and mounting it. His hand raised, he had his sword pointed at a gap between the thick bone-like armor of the Deathstalker. Like a vengeful God, he struck.

"Die, you cur."

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAACCCCH!"

Fleshy and visceral noises were made as his blade sunk into the terrible creature. It let lose one last tormented, head splitting screech before eventually going slack. He jumped off the beast he'd just slain, landing on his knee, as the creature disintegrated behind him.

Pyrrha rushed after her partner, concern showing on her face. "Jaune! Are you okay?"

Pyrrha's question wasn't without reason. There's no way he pulled of what he did without straining himself. Whether it's a Semblance of physical prowess, pulling off the moves Jaune did to decimate the Deathstalker was nothing short of taxing.

"I'm fine," the boy reassured her raising an arm as he did so. "That thing wasn't like the Deathstalkers I've encountered before. Too big and too smart to be compared."

The girl felt inclined to agree. "It was, which is strange as to what it was doing here so near to Beacon. You thought the academy would've sent people to cull the more dangerous Grimm in the area…"

Jaune frowned, not that Pyrrha could see it. "It must've been in hiding."

"Pardon?"

"It came from the underground," Jaune pointed out, gesturing to the hole the creature burst out of. "It must have had a nest or, heavens forbid, a vast array of tunnels that allowed it travel to and from different parts of the forest. We're lucky we didn't enter the first cave we saw… otherwise who knows how many of these things are there."

The girl shivered as her mind conjured a less than desirable mental image of narrow spaces, darkness, and cave systems filled to the brim with giant scorpion Grimm.

"...some of the other candidates might not be as lucky, however…"

"Please, don't…"

"...sorry."

At this point, she just wanted to get the relics and pass initiation.

Does it feel like a cliffhanger to you guys? It does to me. So, sorry for ending it here, but the next chapter will be the continuation of Beacon's initiation. (that ryhmed!)

We get to see more about Jaune's powers/abilities in this chapter, but at the same time, we still know so little about him; a dilemma that Jaune himself is experiencing. So don't worry if you feel like you can't get a solid read on the characters, we'll figure them out together as the story progress.

As far as teams go, I think it's best to stick with canon. Something about the original eight seems charming to me even all the way back when the show was still new and fresh, not boring and stale like the state it's in now. But that doesn't mean they'll maintain their original dynamics, however. Who knows, maybe I'll change a few things here and there.

So, yeah, I guess that's it. See you all next time!