As Pyrrha was sent flying through the air, her internal computer display tracked the multitude of variables one needed to track in order to avoid becoming the human equivalent of a bowl of chunky salsa on impact with the ground. As her CORTECHS display charted a route to an acceptable landing site, Pyrrha focused her personal shield forward to soften the blow, and brought up her physical shield, smashing through several trees before coming to a stop on a branch. Casting her view out over the forest, she quickly locked onto Jaune, flailing end over end through the air. Quickly overriding the locks on her targeting system for friendly fire, she took aim, and launched her metashift javelin out over the forest, pinning him to a tree with mechanical accuracy. As the distant call of "Thank you!" was answered by a sheepish "I'm sorry." from Pyrrha, she drew her sidearm, the dark camo of the Thowan-89 glinting in the sunlight, and set off to retrieve her weapon, and her partner.
Jaune couldn't help but be embarrassed at his situation. And who could blame him? After all, he had managed to get into one of the most prestigious hunter schools on Remnant (Even if he had faked his credentials), had caught the attention of someone who was apparently one of the most powerful huntsmen in training in the world, and now here he was, pinned to a tree, and as if his life couldn't get any worse, there was a Beowulf staring up at him from the ground. He should probably be scared about that last bit, but honestly he couldn't summon up anything more than embarrassment. Some Huntsman he would make, if he couldn't even kill one beowulf. As he sat there ruminating on the nature of his misfortune, he was knocked out of his thoughts by a loud, humming zap, and a bright blue flash. The grimm below him yelped, and then was suddenly missing an arm. Before it could even finish it's fall to the ground, a second flash removed it's head. Pyrrha stepped out of the bushes, holding a strange looking handgun, scanning for any more targets. Seeing none, she looked up, smiling, at the boy in the tree. "Do you have any spots left on your team?" Jaune found himself smiling right back down at her. "Very funny."
As jaune and Pyrrha ventured further into the forest, the distant sounds of combat became audible over the soft sounds of rustling leaves and wildlife. Jaune started and turned to look in the direction of the noise. "Did you hear that?" Pyrrha turned back to him, noticing his disturbed state. "Gunfire. It appears that some of our comrades have encountered the enemy." As they continued on, Pyrrha bent a branch back to allow her to pass beneath it. Releasing the limb, it immediately snapped back, scratching Jaune over the face, and knocking him to the ground. Pyrrha glanced back, then turned around, embarrassed when she saw what had happened. "Jaune, I'm sorry." "No problem, just a scratch" came the reply. As Pyrrha examined the small wound, something dawned on her. "Wait, did you come out here without any sort of protection?" "No!" Jaune immediately replied, indignant. "I have my sword! And armor, and you! That's plenty of protection… right?" Pyrrha was unconvinced. She knew that the people of Remnant had some kind of "Aura" that they used to protect themselves, but that technology (If it was indeed technology) was far from understood by those stationside. But she couldn't bring this up without risking her own lack of Aura being exposed, and she couldn't leave him defenseless… Making a decision then, Pyrrha deactivated her personal shields, and taking one of the secondary generators, had Jaune turn around. She affixed the small shield coil to the back of his belt, and activated it. A bright blue field enveloped her fellow huntsman for a moment, before fading into invisibility. Jaune started at the flash, quickly turning to confront Pyrrha. "What was that?" Knowing she couldn't explain, and wouldn't even have time to if she could, Pyrrha did her best to wave him off. "I'll explain later. Just know that, for now, it'll keep you safe from attack. Or, you know… branches to the face." Jaune chuckled at that, but still looked apprehensive as she turned away to continue.
After traveling deeper into the forest, the pair of initiates came upon a cave in a hill, painted with blood red pictures of stick figures fighting a giant scorpion. "Think this is it?" Jaune asked. One hastily made torch later (Pyrrha couldn't believe she had forgotten to bring a flashlight) the two had begun their impromptu spelunking expedition, finding nothing."I'm not sure this is it" Pyrrha noted. Jaune sighed, and continued to forge ahead. "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for like, five more feet?" immediately after finishing his sentence, Jaune tripped, dropping the torch in a puddle, plunging them into darkness. Pyrrha suddenly realized something was off. "Do you feel that?" "You mean soul crushing regret?" Pyrrha would have chuckled, if not for how tense she was suddenly feeling. "No, it's.. Warm."
Against her better judgement, Pyrrha continued to follow Jaune into the cave. Turning a corner, the two come face to face with a large glowing object floating in the middle of the tunnel. Jaune's face immediately lit up to match the object. "That's the relic!" As he reached out to grab it and it moved away however, Pyrrha became apprehensive. As Jaune finally managed to get a hold on the "relic", Pyrrha simultaneously got a hold on what was bothering her, as her CORTECHS highlighted a giant silhouette coming into focus as *Enemy Contact*. "Jaune…"
Pyrrha burst from the cave, with the giant scorpion hot on her heels. Jaune, swinging from the giant creature's stinger, began calling down that "It's not the relic Pyrrha, Do something!" Thinking about what she should do, Pyrrha quickly called to Jaune "Whatever you do, don't let…" The scorpion reared its stinger back, and catapulted Jaune off into the distance. Her internal computers told her that the shield she had given him would protect him from the fall, but he would certainly be feeling sore once all this was over. Looking up at the creature that she had been left to face alone, Pyrrha came to the conclusion that discretion was the greater part of valor, and made off in the direction that Jaune had been flung, with the creature hot on her heels.
As Jaune careened through the air, he couldn't help but think back through what exactly had brought him into this mess. Did he want to be a hero to protect the innocent? To win fame and glory? To make his family proud of him? It was surprisingly hard to remember what his goal was while hurtling towards the ground, and almost certain doom, when… Wham! A rib-shaking impact, and a flare of blue light, and suddenly he was hanging from a tree, looking down at Ruby, dazed on the branch beneath him. As she began to come to, she started looking around. "Ugh… what happened?" "Hi ruby…"
As Pyrrha sprinted through the forest, the monster still giving her no space or time to regroup and fight, Hearing the sounds of explosions, shouting, and somewhat crazed laughter up ahead, she increased her speed, and burst out of the trees, narrowly dodging an attack from the beast's oversized claws. Still sprinting, she watched as Jaune launched himself out of a tree to catch Weiss, only for them both to fall, Weiss landing on top of jaune accompanied by the flash and crackle of an activated shield system. Her momentary loss of concentration led to her getting smacked by the claw's next pass, landing her in front of the temple, face first. As the giant bird that had dropped Weiss went on the attack, there was nothing she could do but try to recover from the ringing in her head left by the impact and lightshow. As the others finished their emotional moment, and Pyrrha found herself back on her feet, Jaune pointed out their most immediate concern. "Guys, that thing's circling back. What are we going to do?" Weiss immediately spoke up. "Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." "She's right," Ruby responded. Our mission is to retrieve an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things." Jaune nodded. "Run and live, That is an idea I can get behind.
As the group of eight students approached the base of Beacon Cliffs, the giant bird flew over them, purchasing on a ruined tower, and blocking their path forward. As they took cover from the bird, the scorpion burst out of the trees behind them prompting the group into a fresh run. As Nora and Ren engaged the giant scorpion, and the others made it to the bridge, Pyrrha turned back to cover her retreating allies, drawing her rifle. While she wasn't in possession of any Dust rounds, she had been equipped with the station's closest equivalent, and the flash and crack of Hephaestus Weapons Tech Bullet Burster rounds impacting their targets filled the grimm's vision. As the party rushed to clear the bridge to the final ascent, an attack from the Grimm raven collapsed the structure down the middle, trapping Pyrrha with Ren and Blake on the opposite side of the canyon. After bridging the gap with some explosive help from Nora, Jaune moved to help the others engage the Scorpion. Noticing how Ren's attacks had weakened the stinger, Jaune quickly directed Pyrrha to drop the stinger on the Grimm, with Nora's grand hammer dealing the final blow. Preparing to rejoin their comrades, the four huntsmen watched as the cooperation between Weiss and Ruby relieved the bird of its head. Relieved, Pyrrha smiled back at her comrades She had passed initiation, infiltrated beacon, gotten some new and interesting friends, and hadn't died. She would definitely consider that a win.
Author's note: And new chapter! As always, criticism is appreciated. And, before you point it out, I do know that the scorpion and bird are a deathstalker and a nevermore, but Pyrrha doesn't, so I elected to reflect that in my writing. That said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter