"Twenty-six! Twenty-six! We lost ONE battle and we get knocked down to twenty-six!" Amethyst gem the leader of Team ACCE was venting her frustration to her best friend Amber Rose. The reason she was so angry was because recently her team had risen in Beacons ranking system to number fifteen in the whole school, only to lose a mock battle to a third-year team and their ranking reduced to number twenty-six.
Amber was currently walking around their joint kitchen gathering ingredients to make herself some tea. "Well beating higher ranking teams gets you more points but losing to them loses you more points as well." She said turning on the electric kettle. "That's why you have to be careful who you challenge." She reached up to a cabinet and pulled down a case of vanilla tea.
"Oh, really aren't you the one who challenged someone in the top ten a few weeks ago." Amy said putting her hands on her hips.
Putting the box back and grabbing the box containing an apple-cinnamon flavor Amber continued the conversation, "Well he pissed me off, and I didn't care about the rankings back then." Amber then grabbed the sugar jar and a bottle of honey from the cabinet.
"We worked so hard only for one tiny mistake to completely undo it." She sounded so defeated. Amber grabbed a mug from a shelf as the sound of steam escaping the kettle filled the room. She wasted no time filling her mug with the hot water and placing the teabag in stirring the contents around with a spoon.
"Are you even listening?" Amy asked the duel-haired girl who seemed more interested in her tea then her.
"Yeah, your upset that you worked your way up to fifteen only to lose one battle and get bumped down to twenty-six." Amber explained not looking back. "You can't beat yourself up over this one battle all you can do is learn what you did wrong and work your way back up. A first-year team making it past rank forty is considered a great achievement and you made it to fifteen." Amber turned around and smiled at her friend, "So stop making a big deal out of one little fight and start preparing for your next big fight."
Amy smiled at Amber's advice, "Thanks. I needed to hear that. Why are you making tea in the first place?"
"Well, I like tea, and Mia has some card game she thinks could be a team bonding experience." Amber explained.
"Mia came up with this?" Amy asked a little worried. They had only been in Beacon for two months but in the time, Mia has had several ideas for team bonding experiences, most of which ended with a crater and a talking down from Mrs. Belladonna.
"It's a card game Amy and I don't think Mia can fit a firework into a deck of cards." Amber reassured blowing on her tea and walking out of the kitchen for her dorm.
"You don't know that yet." Amy called out as Amber left the kitchen.
When Amber walked through the door leading to the dorms main room, she saw her team in the center of the room sitting at a table they got a few days ago. They can't keep eating on their beds after all. They were all wearing their causal clothes and had something to drink next to them. Rod had a mug of cheap black coffee at his side, Bella had a bottle of some fruit blend, and Mia was drinking a well-known sports drink.
"So, what is this game again?" Amber asked sitting down at her seat.
"Its simple you draw a card from the deck and say how that card relates to your life and if not then pass it off to your left and they answer, but you can also have the other players try and guess how the card relates, and if they're right then they have to say if the card relates to them as well. The game ends if we finish the deck or no one can answer, or you know if we just don't want to play anymore."
"I'm partial to that ending. Sure, we can't just skip to it now?" Rod asked wanting to get away from what he believed to be a waste of time.
Amber let out a sarcastic laugh, "Nice try Rod we held a vote and you lost, as normal, so you're playing the damn game." She informed him.
Rod let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair, "Fine let's get this over with quickly. Who goes first? He asked.
"Youngest first." Bella spoke up.
"Well then I guess that's me." Amber said leaning forward grabbing the top card, reading it aloud, "Where was I born and/or raised." Amber looked confused, "I kinda thought these would be harder to answer."
"It's a card where we have to guess." Mia explained.
"Oh. Well then guess where was I born, shouldn't be that hard I've mentioned it several times."
Bella was the first to speak up, "You were born in Atlas. I remember because I was too."
"You were born in Atlas? You never mentioned that. We must have gone to Kronos academy together if we both ended up here." Amber pried for more information to see if they had another similarity.
"Oh no, I never went to a hunters academy I'm mostly self-thought, my aunt was a huntress, so she put in a recommendation for me to the headmaster." The blue girl explained.
"That's why you didn't have a weapon when you started." Amber realized earing a nod from Bella in the prosses.
"Okay my turn!" Mia blurted out grabbing a card. She had to explain that her parents where famous actors which she seemed a little embarrassed about. It then came to light that Bella was the daughter of a famous pop-singer and composer. Amber was of course the second heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and the daughter to the world's greatest huntress Ruby Rose, but she had no interest in the company instead her goal was to replace her mom in the number one spot in the hunters' rankings.
"What about you Rod who were your parents?" Bella asked.
"That's not how the game is played." He protested.
"Oh, come on, we didn't have to talk about our parents so you could at least talk about yours." Amber stated.
Rod let out a heavy sigh again, 'No way out of this' he thought to himself, "My father was a hunter, and my mom was…well I don't know what she was. She was quite but loving and spoke more with her actions then her words." The rest of the team was silently listening to his story, "One day when I was a kid a large grimm attacked the village I grew up in and my father died trying to protect us. My mom left me in the woods and went back to try and find my dad. That's the last I ever saw of either of them." He wasn't looking at anyone in the room preferring to look into his coffee mug, when he did you up he saw that his story had a different impact on every one present.
Mia looked like she was about to cry, Bella was in shock, and Amber was…smiling. "What's with the smile Rose?" Rod asked furious that she was smiling at the last time he ever saw his parents.
She took her mug and took a sip before looking back at her partner, "They sounded like lovely people."
"What?" he said confused.
"Your parents. They sounded like nice people, your dad went out to protect you even at the cost of his own life and your mom made sure that you were safe before going back to help your dad." She explained.
Rod was still processing what she just said, eventually giving a rare smile, "Thanks Amber."
Amber nearly chocked on her tea, "Did you just call me 'Amber'!?"
"Don't read into it."
The team laughed in unison at the short yet touching exchange. They went on playing for the better part of an hour finding out some new things about each other, Bella enjoyed classical music, Mia's personal hero was Amber's aunt Yang, Rod hated strawberry ice cream, that one was rather random in Amber's opinion. The last card drawn was by Amber it read 'Do you know any one LGBTQ?'
Amber snorted after reading it aloud sticking her hand in the air, "Guilty" She joked.
"Wait your Bisexual?" Bella asked.
"No, I'm a Lesbian." She clarified.
Mia shot up out of her seat, "WAIT YOUR GAY!" She shouted.
"Its not like I've been hiding it." Amber countered, "I told you that I wanted to ask a girl out a few days ago."
Mia then sat back down embarrassed, "I wasn't really paying attention then."
There was then a knock at their kitchen door and Amy followed by Crystal walked through. "What's with the yelling?" Amy asked surprised a fire hadn't broken out.
"Its nothing Amy." Amber reassured but was cut off by Mia once again.
"Amber's gay. Can you believe that?" She shouted still not believing her.
Amy's face went bright red, and she looked the other leader in the eyes, "R-really?"
Amber nodded not caring about Mia's shouting. "O-oh w-well as long as everyone is alright." The duo then closed the door and left.
"What was that about?" Rod asked.
"Do you think Amy likes you Amber?" Bella proposed leaning forward.
"Maybe." She returned.
Rod seeing where this conversation was headed got up and grab his now empty mug and left.
"I could have sworn you were straight though." Mia said sitting back down.
"Why?" Amber asked a little offended.
"Well, the other week you came back practically draped around some guy." The red knight explained.
Amber gaged at what she just said, "Gods no I worked myself to hard and he was just being nice, trust me if had a choice then I would never had wanted his help."
Rod then returned empty handed, "You three done with this conversation?"
"Think so." Amber said as she got up.
The team quickly wrapped up the game and started their nightly rituals of showers and changing. They woke up the next day and started getting ready for their long day of classes. First up on today's schedule; Grimm Studies.
They took their seats near the front and waited for the class to start. A part of keeping their place in Beacons ranking system was heavily dependent on their grades so they were paying close attention to their professor's lessons.
He was a young lean man in his twenties with the beginnings of a mustache visible on his face. He wore a brown suit and black tie and walked around with a pointer and would occasionally slam it down on his desk to regain the attention of his students. As it turned out his father taught at Beacon as well, even teaching Amber's parents. His name was Professor Henry Port.
He was pacing around the room eyeing each student present making sure they were paying attention. Feeling satisfied he spoke up in a loud voice, "I was going to be giving you a lecture of the most effective way to kill a Nevermore Grimm, but the headmaster has given me a new lesson to give you all."
Intrigue sparked across the room with teammates turning to each other coming up with theories as to what the headmaster deemed so important to replace an entire lesson.
Port clicked a button on his laptop bringing the electronic board to life with a display of the common Beowolf grimm. Confusion set over the room, they all knew how to effectively kill a Beowolf and most of them already had experience in dispatching the wolf like monsters.
"I'm sure you all know what this is." He said pointing at the large screen. All the students nodded. "The Beowolf is one of the most common grimm in the world and is known for joining together with it6s kind in packs lead by an older Alpha." He then clicked another button, and a picture of a Beowolf Alpha replaced the old one. "But recently a discovery was made that was kept secret from the public." Once again intrigue came over the room.
With one last press of the button the Alpha left the screen to be replaced by a nearly four meter (13 feet) tall, pure white wolf like creature surrounded by Beowolf Alphas. Shock and horror set over the room at the sight of the monster among monsters that appeared on the screen.
The professor spoke up, "This is a new classification of Grimm know as an Omega Grimm. They are identified by their enormous stature and that their entire bodies are covered in armor. There have been several Grimm that fit into this classification spotted from all over the world." He then clicked the button again changing the slide to show several species of Grimm covered head to toe in boney plates. The Grimm on screen ranged from wasp like Lancers to mammoth like Goliath.
"All of the Grimm to share this mutation have similar patterns in behavior, they all try to subjugate other Alphas of its species and force them into its pack. They will also attempt this behavior on minors of any species." He further explained. Everyone in the room couldn't even take notes they were so shocked. The oldest Grimm ever discovered was nearly six-hundred years old and dwarfed the omegas but didn't' come close to the amount of armor.
They couldn't stay in their thoughts for long as their teacher kept talking, "Recently an Omega Beowolf infiltrated the Emerald Forest and with a small pack was able to kill four examinees before the school's headmaster was notified." Team AMBR turned to each other with shocked looks on their faces.
"You don't think…?" Mia whispered.
"The Grimm was killed by a dust grenade placed in it's oral cavity." Port further went on.
"Yeah, it was the one that I killed." Amber whispered in disbelief. Behind them, farther up they could hear another team talking amongst themselves.
"Who the hell would be dumb enough to put a grenade inside a Grimm's mouth?" The leader said.
"You would be an idiot if you did that for a normal Grimm, you would have to be suicidal to do that with a Grimm like that." Another member responded.
The class went on with Port trying to explain that it was best to avoid Omega Grimm at all costs, but if they did end up having to fight one the best course of action would be to daze the Grimm and run away. The other option was to keep hitting it with explosives until it fell.
They all left a little out of it, it was a lot of information to process. A new mutation of Grimm, one so dangerous that the military was called to dispose of the titans whenever they were spotted.
Team AMBR was just leaving and about to head to their next class when Beacon's combat instructor, and Amber's aunt, Blake Belladonna stopped them. "Team AMBR. The headmaster would like to speak with you."
Not knowing how to respond they looked at each other and followed the black cat faunas. Upon entering Oscar's office, they saw a tall women standing next to his desk. She was wearing a black beret and sunglasses indoors. She also had a brown sweater with a bulletproof vest on top decorated with a bandolier of bullets around her shoulder. She wore simple black pants with dark brown knee-high combat boots.
The women walked over to the team and stood in front of them lowering her sunglasses revealing dark brown eyes. "So, these are my recruits." She said almost joking.
"Coco I would like to introduce you to Team AMBR lead by Amber Rose." Blake spoke up motioning over to Amber.
"So, your Ruby's kid huh?" The women apparently named Coco questioned lean over to look Amber in the eyes. "Well, you have her eyes at least." She finally said.
"Uh, thank you?" Amber thanked a little weirded out.
She stepped back and turned towards the school's headmaster, "You know Oz. When I asked for a team, I was expecting you to give me the number one team." She said a little annoyed.
"Well Ms. Adel the current team ranked number one Is in the fourth year and will be leaving at the end of this year, and having to get a new team used to your style of missions would set you back quite far wouldn't it?" He said raising an eyebrow at Coco.
"A little but that's not the point. Who are these guys anyway? Sure, they got Ruby's kid leading them, but do they have anything else going for them?" She was rather critical of Oscars decision and worst of all, she pissed Amber off.
"HEY! I am not just my mom's daughter!" She blurted out being cut off by the tall women.
"Well, a little touchy, are we? Look I'm just trying to understand why Oscar picked you guys over a better team." She said jokingly putting her hand on her hip.
"They have shown extreme prowess in battle with Amber being the one to kill the Omega Beowolf that found its way into our forest." Oscar but in from behind his desk. Coco stayed silent listening to the man. "They are also the first first-year team to make it past rank fifty, currently sitting in rank twelve." He added.
"Hm, not bad and with you guys being in the first year I have a lot more time to take you on missions." Coco mumbled to herself.
"Okay will someone please tell us what the hell is going on here?" Amber yelled wanting an answer.
"Oh, right I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Commander Coco Adel of the special forces." She explained, "And I have been going around to the four academies to find potential recruits."
"Special forces?" Rod stepped forward, "That's not a thing."
"Well, I'm assuming you just got out of Grimm studies?" Coco asked earning a nod from the team, "Well then you were just informed about the dangers of the Omega Grimm. The special forces were formed shortly after it was identified as a mutation in Grimm and its our job to kill them before they can cause more damage." She explained.
"So then why are you recruiting students?" Bella spoke up.
"Well, most of the SF is composed of soldiers and not to shame them but, one hunter is a thousand times more helpful then a hundred soldiers." She explained. "unfortunately, most hunters don't want to join a force that they believe to be a death sentence, so my superiors thought a good way around that would be to train hunters into the forces by taking the best teams from the academies on missions."
"I fought them pretty hard on that decision, but…" Coco paused to collect her thoughts for a second, "but recently a new mutation was discovered, and I didn't have a choice." She let out a heavy sigh.
"A new mutation?" Mia wondered out loud.
Oscar turned his laptop around to show the team what he had pulled up. With a quick press of the spacebar a video started to play. The video was of a large Omega Ursa fighting a strange Beowolf. It looked like a small Omega but was covered in grey armor with vents sprouting out of its back and limbs spewing a heavy dark red fog from them. The grey wolf and white bear were locked in an intense battle with the large bear tearing off the wolfs armor and landing deep gashes, and for every cut the Ursa landed the Beowolf would become more aggressive sending more red fog into the air. As the video went on it was clear that the fog was somehow sapping the energy from the large bear causing it to become more sluggish and unable to block the blood thirsty wolf from landing blow after blow. After what seemed like an eternity the Omega Ursa fell disintegrating into black dust, and the red and grey Beowolf howling at the shattered moon turned to leave only to fall itself turning into the fog that spewed from its body.
Blake walking over to turn the video turned to face the team seeing their faces of shock and terror. "That video was taken a month ago just outside of Atlas, the Special Forces have given it the nick name 'The Red Wolf' and the mutation has only been seen in one other Grimm in the countryside outside of Mistral. The mutation has been classified as the 'Smoke' Mutation." She sounded professional but a shakiness in her voice could barely be detected. "The special Forces have dedicated themselves to discovering if anymore Grimm mutations exist and to understanding them." She explained.
"We've done a good job understanding the Omega Grimm, but so far all we know about the Smoke Grim is that they will attack anything that's alive including Omegas of it's species and we speculate that they will attack Grimm with the same mutation, and that the smoke that emits from its vents is extremely poisonous being able to kill a man seconds after breathing it in, the more aura you have the longer it seems people can fight it off but they end up the same." Coco added reading a report off her scroll dropping the professional tone it was written in.
"A-and…. you want us to help you fight them." Amber stammered out.
"In a nutshell, yeah. You have the experience, and we won't be taking you on missions we deem to dangerous, so you don't have to worry about getting killed out there." Coco explained. "But ultimately this decision is yours to make, so if you say no then I will respect that." She added.
"W-we need s-some time to think t-this over." Amber said knowing that her teammates were thinking the same thing.
"Of course, take all the time you need." Oscar said.
The teenagers got up and made their way into the elevator. "So…what's everyone immediate response." Rod asked as the doors closed.
"I-I don't know." Mia chocked out.
"I-it's a big decision." Bella said quietly.
"What about you Rose." Rod asked.
"I think we should take some time to individually think this over and meet back up in the dorm so we can go over this as a team." Amber stated.
"Good idea"
"Yeah."
"See you girls later then."
The team went their sperate ways to contemplate over the offer. Amber eventually found herself at Beacon Cliff overlooking the Emerald Forrest. This was where Oscar launched his students into the forest to claim a relic and where Amber killed the Omega Beowolf.
She sat down hugging her knees to her chest letting her thoughts run wild. She was trying to weigh the pros and cons of what was being offered. Pros: she could really help the world by destroying and researching the mutated Grimm. Cons: she might die a horrible death in the process. She was pulled out of her thoughts by a tap on the shoulder.
Looking up her eyes met with the brilliant silver of her older sister Summer Schnee. "Are you okay you look upset?" She said with a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah, I'm just a little lost in thought." Amber spoke quietly.
"Well then what's got you up in your own head?" Summer asked sitting down next to her little sister.
Amber not holding anything back said what was on her mind, "My team was called into the headmaster's office to meet this lady named Coco Adel who works for the special forces against Omega Grimm, and she offered us a spot as recruits."
"Wh-what?" Summer breathed out shocked.
"Yeah, that's kinda how I feel right about now. The others are off on their own trying to come to their own decision." The duel-haired sister explained.
"A-and what are you thinking you're going to do?" Summer asked worried about what Amber was going to answer.
"Honestly. I'm thinking I'm going to accept the offer." She answered with a shaky voice.
The snow-haired sister jumped up pulling her little sister with her grabbing her by her shoulders. "Amber are you crazy you could die out there and- "Summer's plea was cut off by Amber.
"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!" She shouted at the top of her lung her voice filled with anger, "I WANT TO MAKE A DIFERANCE IN THIS WORLD SUMMER! I DON'T WANT TO DIE HAVING NOT ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING AND THIS MIGHT BE MY CHANCE!" She continued to shout her volume lowering.
Summer in shock at her sister's sudden outburst backed off putting her hands in a surrender. She paused taking in what Amber had said. After a few minutes she let out a heavy sigh looking her sister in her gunmetal silver eyes, "You are so stubborn it drives me crazy you know that." She said letting a small smile creep on her face.
"You're…You're okay with me joining the Special Forces?" Amber questioned.
"Of course, I'm not, but I know no one can change your mind so what's the point in trying." She said very annoyed. "But can you at least promise me one thing?"
"What's that?" Amber said looking over shoulder at something that caught her eye.
"You stay safe."
"No! THAT!" She said pointing out towards the forest where a large cloud of smoke was rising from the horizon.
"A forest fire? But what started it?" Summer speculated.
Amber jumped onto on of the nearby launch pads turning towards her sister, "I'll let you know when I find out!" She yelled back as the pad activated sending her flying into the burring forest.
Summer was dumbfounded. Snapping out of it she pulled out her scroll pulling up the school's announcement app and called in the emergency.
Amber landed jus tout side of where the fire was burning, standing up she raised her hood and took a step forward readying herself to enter the blaze when a large fireball came out of the inferno on a direct course for the young reaper.
Teleporting above into the trees Amber got a better look behind the wall of fire locking eyes with the source of the fire. A mutated Ursa Major.
The bear like Grimm looked normal in its coloring but had two large bird like wings sprouting out of its back and large vents covering its armor sending fire in all directions. The Grimm charged forward into the unburned forest using its vents and wings to spread the blaze.
"What the hell?" Amber managed to get out as she noticed the tree, she was standing in was starting to burn as well. She jumped down onto the ground using her semblance to make the fall instant. She quickly pulled out her scroll and entered the launch code for her hunter's gear.
The winged bear turned to face the girl, and wit ha mighty roar sent another fire ball straight at the girl. Amber acrobatically dodging the fire ball spotted her gear mid flight and was about to land just outside of edge of the blaze.
Amber started running to where her gear was supposed to land was cut off by the enormous bear swinging its paws down at her. With another acrobatic dodge She landed to the side of the Grimm which using its large wings jumped in the air.
"IT CAN FLY!" Amber yelled as the locker containing her gear landed.
The Grimm went for a swooping strike using its vents to increase its speed. Amber dove over the Grimm's attack reaching out with her hand towards her weapon trying to teleport towards where it was located when the collapsed scythe vanished from the locker appearing in Amber's hand.
Not taking the time to question what just happened Amber activated the weapon unfolding into its scythe form. With a spin she was able to cut the mutated Grimm's wings off grounding it. The beast roared in pain more fire erupting from its vents.
Amber landed safely and put her weapon in its gun form sending a hail of armor piercing bullets in the monster's direction. After emptying her mag, the sounds of the burring forest filled the air. Taking a closer look at the winged infernal bear she saw its body burring away into ash. Amber took a picture of the burring body for proof and turned to leave the forest and help in extinguishing the inferno. Only making it a few steps before the smoke filling her lugs became too much, she dropped to her knees the world becoming dark.
"Sorry Emerald." She wheezed out through coughs, the world going dark.
She woke up In a hospital bed with bandages wrapped around her arms and legs. Grabbing her head as she sat up, she saw her Team sitting in chairs next to her bed fast asleep.
"HEY!" She shouted waking them all up. "What happened?" She asked tilting her head.
Rod was busy cursing under his breath to answer and Mia was too angry at Amber to respond, so it fell on Bella to explain. "They found you passed out in the woods and brought you here, but that isn't the important part they found- "
"Well, well, well look who's up." Coco said entering the room.
"Ms. Adel?" Amber questioned.
"Commander." She corrected. "But that's not important." She sat down on Amber's bed and leaned over to her lowering her sunglasses, "So kid. Did you get a picture of the Grimm that did this?" She asked hopefully.
"How do you know a Grimm did this?" Amber asked.
"We found a body of a Grimm turning into fire instead of dust, meaning a new mutation caused the fire." She explained.
"Jumping to conclusions aren't you." Rod broke in.
"Actually, she right." Amber said reaching for her scroll. She pulled up the image of the large Ursa Major. "It had wings growing out of its back and vents in the armor the emitted fire." She explained.
"Well, that's troubling." The Commander mumbled. "I will let my guys know about this, but right now I need an answer on weather or not you guys will be joining the forces. You will still get to go to classes, and it shouldn't effect your personal lives to much." She tried to convince them.
"Well, I can't speak for my team but I'm all for it." Amber confirmed with her trademark confident smile.
"I want too as well. I always wanted to be a great huntress, and this is my chance." Mia spoke up with her own excited smile.
"I feel like it's the best way for us to make a difference in this world, so I want to join as well." Bella said shyly.
"We're all gonna die someday so I at least want to go out in a blaze of glory." Rod said jokingly.
Coco smiled getting up from Amber's bed. "Well, that's great." She cleared her throat and looked at the four teammates, "Team AMBR welcome to the Special Forces, from now on I will oversee your missions. You can call me Commander Adel." She stated formally. "Your first mission will be after winter break in two weeks' time." She finished her little announcement with a two-finger salute and left the room.
"Well, this is going to be an adventure." Amber joked to herself.
Next Chapter; Visit to Patch