GRYD Season 02 Chapter 02 - Tracking Threats

Daytime at Beacon Academy. In a classroom, the various students awaited their professor. In the room was Team GRYD, MEAL, PRME, and more. The doors to the classroom soon suddenly flew open, and Professor Lochen Target walked in.

"Morning class," he said, though with an odd tone

"Morning Professor," the class answered back

"Sorry for being late, but hey, who said the students could only use that excuse?"

He gave a raucous laugh, some of the other students joined in, while others just smiled and shook their heads at their childlike teacher. Macro though focused on Lochen himself, and noticed that his limp was particularly bad today. He began to ponder why this was when Lochen span around and clapped his hands together to get their attention.

"Pop quiz, class. What attracts Grimm?"

"Negativity." said Yasmine without a moments ' pause, "Any kind of strong negative emotion can be a lure to Grimm."

"Precisely." said Lochen with a wry smile, "Unfortunately for us, the last few weeks have been full of negativity in the surrounding areas. In a way, all of Vale has been under a very negative wave."

With a grunt, he made his way to the blackboard, then put up a map of Vale, it was very detailed.

"I uh...borrowed this from Professor Tod, think she'll mind?"

He gave a smile to the class, indicating that he didn't ask to "borrow" it, much of the class laughed at this.

"I didn't think so either. Anyway, ever since the Grimm attack on Vale, various Huntsman and Huntresses have been working around the clock to try and beat back any large enough groups of Grimm that could cause trouble. We've even called in...less reputable people to help, but you didn't hear that from me."

Glyph and Macro gave each other worried looks, wondering just how back things were.

"Regardless, things aren't well in Vale, and a call for help has gone out, and Headmaster Night, with my endorsement, has decided to lend aid."

"We're going into the field?" asked Primrose, a somewhat eager expression on her face.

"Yes, Ms. Madonna, you are. We've been getting reports of recent uprisings of Grimm groups, you are going to be dispatched to find them and take them out before they reach their targets."

This got Macro's attention ,"Targets?"

"Yes, unfortunately, the groups of Grimm are drawing close to populated areas. Mainly small villages and towns who don't have a Huntsman or Huntress to help. Night considers this a priority to help them above all others. I agree."

Lochen stepped back in front of his desk, looking at the entire classroom, "I know some of you have fought Grimm in the field on previous missions or class assignments, or...other things. But this is different. Most of you haven't had a mission to take out Grimm, usually because it's considered too dangerous for students. We don't have the luxury to hold you back now. However, that doesn't mean you're going alone. You're going in teams of two. This will give you more of an advantage against a potential numbers game. Do not separate from your groups for any reason. We're sending eight of you out for each mission, we expect all eight to return."

The class went silent at this, Lochen was rarely this serious, so they knew that this mission was the real deal. Lochen sensed this and nodded in appreciation, "Glad you're taking this seriously. Now I made a list of who's with who. I'll be giving it to you shortly. In the meantime, head back to your rooms and prepare, you'll be leaving in a few hours. Class dismissed."

He stared at them for a while, when no one moved he gave them a gesture to move out, and they all did so. The students waited until they were outside of earshot of him before talking with one another. GRYD and MEAL though knew better, and silently went to their rooms, only sharing glances as they did.

The students slowly prepared for their mission, making sure they had their weapons in pristine condition, and had both Dust and medicine in case something went wrong. A while after class ended, all the students cells went off. They each checked it out, and on their screens were the pairings list.

In the room of Team GRYD, the four were talking amongst themselves when an odd knock came from the doorway.

"Come in, Macro." said Glyph without hesitation.

The door opened, and sure enough, Macro led MEAL inside. Reyson looked at Glyph with curiosity, "That you two's secret code knock?"

"Something like that."

"Benefits of a military lifestyle," added Macro with a smirk, "you find mundane things to put codes in."

Reyson became disturbed by this, "Remind me never to invite you to my birthday party. Last thing I need is a secret message in a cake."

"I've done that before actually. I used the icing and-"

"Stop. I'm begging you."

"Focus." said Glyph strongly.

"Yeah Macro, come on man."

A glare from Glyph shut Reyson down, making many of the others laugh, including Macro, who eventually regained his natural composure, "You got the list, right?"

"Yes." said Yasmine, who was next to Leilani, "we're together for this mission."

"Seems only natural," noted Leilani with a small shrug, "I mean, we've proven we work well together. Why not keep us together for something like this?"

"Valid point," admitted Diana, "but I'm more worried about the fact that these attacks are only now being brought to our attention. Especially since we're kind of the cause of it, in a roundabout way."

"If you define 'saving Vale from destruction' as roundabout...then sure!" exclaimed Aaron in his pompous tone, Erin giggled at this.

"I'm serious you two! Did anyone hear about these attacks?"

Most of them shook their heads, only Glyph and Macro didn't, but only Macro spoke up, "I knew."

This made everyone snap their heads to him, Reyson got angry at this reveal, "When?"

"The call I had the other day? It was my father, he told me about the attacks. He said they were happening all over Remnant though, didn't mention how bad it was for Vale."

"Why didn't you tell us this?"

"What would we have done? Go after them? Like that would've done anything other than cause more problems."

"It's better than-"

"Enough!" interjected Glyph with a cold stare at Reyson, "Macro's right. It wouldn't have mattered. We're eight kids, we couldn't have gone all over Vale, let alone Remnant to save people. Let's focus on this mission. Understood?"

"Understood." many said in unison, others simply nodded, Reyson gave a noncommittal wave to show he wouldn't object.

"Good. Macro, sit rep."

Macro pulled out his phone and pressed a few buttons, and a projection of a map came up, they all came closer to observe it, "The leaders of the teams got details on their missions. Location, possible Grimm expectancy, etc."

"Where are we going?" asked Erin as she looked at the map.

"Ironically, not too far from where we went on our support mission a while back."

Leilani became visibly worried at this, "Is Chechon ok?"

"Also ironic, they weren't touched by the attacks. There were a couple Huntsman there to defend them, and they killed the Grimm before they could reach the homes. However, they were recalled to help out with potentially more destructive attacks, which leaves the village now open to attack. No doubt my teams familiarity with the village and the immediate area is why we were selected."

"How far from the village did you travel?" wondered Glyph.

"Not far, most of the materials we needed were already in the village, but we did need to go into the forest for certain other things. There are paths that we'll take to the potential Grimm hotspots. Our job is to go in, rout the Grimm, stay the night to ensure no retaliation, a final recon in the morning, then come back."

Yasmine looked at the map intently, "Grimm aren't prone to stay in areas like that for very long, we might not find their 'nest' in the remaining hours of the day we have."

"Our mission is to take out the Grimm, no matter the time limit. We have permission to stay an extra day or two if necessary. If by that time we haven't found anything, then we have orders to return and report that the info was bad. Any questions?"

Diana raised her hand, Macro pointed to her to signal she could speak, "Yeah, you've been to this area so...do you think my dress will blend in with the area?"

Macro, Glyph, and Yasmine all rolled their eyes at the question, while the others all laughed.

"Any RELEVANT questions?"

"I do." said Reyson, to which many skeptical looks followed, "No, seriously, I do!"

"Ok, I'll bite, what's your question?"

"You said you had info on potential Grimm expectancy, how many should we expect?"

Macro looked at Glyph, both with an impressed look as the question was very sound, "Good question, the typing is uncertain, but, we should expect 10-20, if not more."

"More than enough to wipe out that village." noted Glyph grimly.

"Indeed. If nothing else, let's get moving, our ride will be here soon."

With a nod of acknowledgment they all left the room. As they wandered the hallways to head to the airship, they ran into the other groups of students, many of whom were talking to one another, also planning their missions. Once outside, both GRYD and MEAL waited for their airship to arrive.

As Glyph waited, he felt a tug on his overcoat, he turned to see Elenor looking at him with uncertainty, "Elenor? What's wrong?"

She laughed nervously, "Where to start?"

"Is it about the mission? Who's your companion team?"

"DFND."

"They're good, stay close to them."

"I will...thanks..."

She nervously looked over her shoulder, Glyph followed her sightline and saw she was looking at the other members of PRME, who were talking amongst one another. Glyph got even more confused about this, "Elenor? What's going on?"

"Look, it's hard to explain here, when the mission is over, we need to talk, please?"

"Of course. Just tell me when."

"Thanks. I got to go, uh, good luck with your mission."

"You too."

With another nervous smile she darted off, even going an indirect route to make sure that PRME didn't see that she was coming from where Glyph was. As he saw this, he got apprehensive.

Macro saw this exchange, and approached Glyph with a look of curiosity and confusion, "What did Elenor want?"

"Something's going on with PRME."

"Hmm, we'll add it to the list of things to worry about. Come on, our rides here."

Sure enough, an airship descended nearby, GRYD and MEAL boarded it, then once secured inside, they took off.

From the Headmasters office, Night and Lochen watched anxiously as the airships arrived and took off. Lochen in particular seemed stressed about the situation, "I know this isn't my style, but, I'm worried about them. I don't like that we're sending them out."

"Beacon isn't just a name, Lochen, you know that. It's meant to be a symbol of hope. If there were any other options, I wouldn't have allowed this. But the attack has made all other options impossible. Besides, they need to know what these missions are like. I wish we had had this chance when we were in their shoes." said Night somberly

"Yeah...you're right about that."

They continued to watch as the students left, each wondering if they were really doing the right thing.

Sometime later, the airship touched down in a clearing of a heavily forested area. Though some houses and buildings could be seen through the trees themselves. MEAL smiled as they began to saw the village, while GRYD looked around curiously.

"Interesting place." noted Glyph.

Yasmine nodded in agreement, "Tactically speaking, this is a good place to build a home. Plenty of protection, and barring a large amount of bandits or Grimm, easy to defend."

"So far." added Macro with both a smile and a worried look, "But luck runs out, we're here to make sure that doesn't happen soon. I recommend we go to the village in and check in with the elder. Should be the same guy my team met on our previous mission. Let's see if he has any new info for us. Any objections?"

He turned to Glyph first, who shook his head. Macro looked then slowly turned to the others, who also raised no objections. Macro smiled at the consensus, "Good, move out."

Macro took point and led them down a path. Soon, people started to appear, and all reacted differently to their arrival. Some were happy, others were worried. Eventually, and older man approached them, and upon seeing Macro and the other members of MEAL held out his arms in joy, "Ah! Our saviors have returned!"

Aaron seemed to really enjoy the praise, "We're happy to have returned! We-"

Erin slapped her hand over his mouth to stop him, "...are just students who helped you, we're not saviors."

She gave Aaron a look, and he toned down his posturing, "Right, we're...just here to help again."

The elder laughed at the two, "Maybe, but if you save us from the Grimm that may be lurking out there, that would make you saviors, to us anyway."

Macro stepped forward, "Do you have any leads on where they might be? Any new information could be extremely helpful."

"We might, allow us a moment to get our map."

The elder departed with some others to get the map. The members of GRYD and MEAL talked amongst each other or with nearby villagers to see what needed to be done. The sound of fast footsteps soon filled the air.

"Ms. Leilani!" shouted several young voices

Leilani turned to see a school of kids approaching her, she recognized them instantly as the ones she helped the last time she was here, "Hey everyone! You all doing alright?"

"Yep!" said one of the boys, "You want to see our clubhouse? We expanded it a bit since you were last here!"

"Really? Cool! Yasmine, come with us, you need to see this!"

Yasmine seemed oddly pleased by the request, "Sure, why not?"

The kids brought the two to where the clubhouse was, but both were shocked at what they saw. For the clubhouse was now triple the size it was last time. Though the outside style still matched the color scheme that Leilani had done before.

"You did all this Leilani?"

"Uh...about one-third." she replied, "Guys, this is incredible! You did all this yourselves?"

"We had some help from our parents," admitted one girl, "but after what you did for us Leilani we couldn't help but want to make it even cooler!"

"Well, you certainly succeeded there! Can we see inside? I want to see what you did with the place."

The kids whisked Yasmine and Leilani inside. From afar, Macro and Glyph watched this with smiles on their faces. Macro nudged Glyph, "Thanks for the advice."

"I didn't offer much." said Glyph with a shrug

"You did more than you think, you always do."

"All I said was start small, I didn't think about children."

"Maybe, but you were the spark. Between you and Professor Tod, you brought Leilani out of her shell a lot."

Glyph gave him a serious, "Don't discount what you did. I'm her friend. You're her partner. This wouldn't have happened without you."

"Thanks man. Oh, here comes the elder."

The elder approached them, and held out a map, "Sorry for the delay, but there are three areas we think the Grimm may be hiding. They've never been this close to our village, so we can't say for certain. But people have noticed movement near these areas while they were doing supply runs."

Macro surveyed the map, looking for clues to help with the assessment of the plan, "It's hard to say which to go to first. One's near water, that could be enticing to them, as they could hunt prey there. This one has cover...the other is an open area...not sure."

"What's your gut say?" asked Reyson, "That's what works for me."

"Isn't that also what gets you in trouble?" wondered Diana

"No, that's my bloodlust. Totally different."

"Right..."

Glyph cleared his throat to silence them, "He's right about one thing, trust your gut."

Macro nodded, and examined the map again, then pointed to one spot, "We'll start here. It's the closest, and should it not work out, it'll be easy to get back before it gets too dark. If there is a large group out there, I'd rather not face it in the dark."

"Agreed. Too big a risk."

The elder nodded and folded up the map, "We do appreciate this. It's a big burden off our minds."

Reyson laughed in his usual way, "Say that once we're done."

This time it was Macro who shut Reyson down, but he recovered quickly, "We'll take care of it. But, in case something goes wrong, have patrols be ready. I don't want any strays getting loose while we're dealing with whatever is out there."

"We'll get right on it."

"Good, alright, let's grab Yasmine and Leilani and get going."

With a gesture, they all started to move to an open part of the village, they met up with Leilani and Yasmine, who said goodbye to the kids before rejoining them. Once together, they went down an open path, and went into the forest.

Macro took lead, the others followed close behind, weapons all out and ready to fire at a moments notice. Reyson was itching for a fight, but his focus soon went to Macro, who was methodically looking around the forest. In fact, he did the exact same moments over and over again. He watched this for a while, getting more and more perplexed with every rotation.

"What is he doing?" he asked softly.

"Tracking," answered Glyph.

"Tracking what?"

"What do you think?"

"...oh! You mean like looking for signs of Grimm?"

"Yes. It helps determine where they've been, and possibly where they're going."

"So...he's being a dog?"

A sound of disgust got their attention, the two turned around to see Yasmine looking at Reyson with serious disdain, Leilani laughed at this though.

Reyson however wasn't amused, "Want to say something?"

"Yeah, I do," she replied, venom still in her eyes, "Tracking is something that many people do. Something many SMART people do, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised you don't know anything about it."

Before Reyson even had a chance to make a move, Glyph grabbed his arm and reared him forward, "Focus. Now."

Reyson shrugged, "Fine by me. But tell me this, what is he looking for?"

"That." answered Macro, pointing to a nearby tree.

The others stopped and looked at it, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, making many of them confused, including The Lovers. Erin looked at the tree for a while before asking, "What are we looking at?"

"Look at the branch. Second one up."

They adjusted their views to see it, and sure enough, there were unnatural claw marks on the branch. Upon seeing this, many of them became impressed. Diana in particular nodded in appreciation of this, "Wow, that's impressive. I didn't even look that high up."

"You're not trained to, I am. Yasmine? Could you use your eyes to see if you can tell what made those marks?"

Yasmine stepped forward and turned on her Semblance, "They're deep, I only see three marks but I think that these were just the ones that hit. Judging on depth and look I'd say-"

"Beowulf." interjected Reyson.

They all turned to him, who just smiled an shrugged, "What? I know my Grimm. Once she said more than three fingers I figured Beowulf. A hunter has to know his prey, right?"

He smiled evilly at Yasmine knowing it would tick her off, and it did. But Macro whistled to get their attention, "Come on, we got bigger issues here. Judging by the marks, I'd say they were made hours ago, if not longer. I say it went this way, so let's go."

With a motion they all followed, and the search continued. As they searched for the Grimm pack, Macro found more and more clues proving that something was moving through the trees, but with each clue came more confusion. An hour or so passed, and still no sign of Grimm.

Finding a clearing, the teams decided to take a break. Yasmine to the chance to use her drones to get a better location on where they were. The others sat down and rested their legs, for they were tired from walking for so long.

The drone came down and relayed the information to Yasmine, who seemed content with the input, "We're about 4 miles from the village."

"That's it?" asked Aaron, "Seems like we walked farther than that."

"We did, but we didn't walk in a straight line, we zigzagged as we followed the trail of the Grimm. Thus, we're only four miles from the village."

"Makes sense."

Reyson though wasn't happy at all, "What doesn't make sense is this 'trail' we're following, how have we seen any Grimm yet?"

He looked to Macro, who was stone-faced as he looked back, "Hard to say. Could be moving around just like us, the trail is there, but that doesn't mean it's fully fresh. Yasmine, how long until sunset?"

She mulled it over, "About two and a half hours."

"Set a timer, when two hours hits, we'll start heading back to the village."

"On it."

"We'll rest another 10 minutes, then leave, ok?"

They all nodded, and went about their ways, Macro went to one part of the clearing and looked out into the trees. Glyph saw this and went over to him, "What's going on?"

"I'm not liking what I'm seeing on this trail." he replied grimly

"You think?"

"I'm serious. I'm a good tracker, I know the signs, we are following Grimm, no doubt. But not a pack, not here."

"Why don't we go back then?"

"Cause even two Grimm can cause problems. Besides, if I'm wrong? We screwed the village, I won't have that."

"We'll get them. Just keep doing what you do best, lead."

He gave Macro a reassuring smile, Macro sighed and nodded, "Thanks. I needed that."

"I know."

"Ha, ha. Come on, let's get ready to go."

A few minutes passed and they went back on the hunt. Their rest was rewarded though, for with fresh eyes and confidence Macro not only picked up the trail again, but was finding fresher signs. They sped up to try and get to them. The pursuit lasted a while, when suddenly Macro held out a fist to stop them. He closed his eyes, and felt the ground, blocking out the world around him so he could get a clearer picture. Most of the others weren't sure what was going on, and tried to ask him something, but Glyph stopped it from happening.

Sounds filled Macro's ears, and soon he heard what he wanted and smiled, "Reyson? Ready to fight?"

Reyson raised his swords up, "You know it."

"Form your canons, and then blast them...there."

He pointed to a section of trees nearby, and Reyson opened fire on them. The trees disintegrated, and though nothing was behind them, that didn't take the smile off Macro's face. He simply stood up and put his E-Tool into gun mode, "Wait for it."

As if on cue, a trio of Beowulfs appeared in the new clearing, and upon seeing MEAL and GRYD attacked. The teams immediately went to work, pairing up and attacking them. While they did, another duo of Beowulf's showed up. Macro signaled Reyson to back him up, and the two teamed up to take them down.

They were soon dispatched, and Reyson howled with joy, "Now that's what I'm talking about! Thanks for the appetizer, Macro, now, where's the main-"

A roar filled the air just behind them, both Macro and Reyson looked to where it was coming from, but they were too late, a large tree trunk was flung at them. While Macro barely dodged, Reyson got clocked and was flung backwards, the tree pinned Reyson to the ground.

Macro whistled for the others to help, and some made an effort to do so, but as they did, two Beringel's appeared. One near Macro, the other near the rest. While the rest teamed up to fight their Beringel, Macro was alone.

As the Grimm drew closer, Macro weighed all the options in his mind, until finally he got angry and threw down his E-Tool, "Screw it."

He charged the Beringel, who returned the gesture, but Macro started glowing, and slowly began to grow, until he was much taller than the Grimm. Macro grabbed the beast and slammed it into the ground. Then began pummeling it with his now massive fists. The last one making it completely vaporize upon impact. Quickly, Macro reached over and pulled the tree trunk off of Reyson, then shrunk back down.

Now regular size, Macro went to check on Reyson, but Macro himself wasn't so well. He was breathing heavily, and blood began pouring from his nose. Eventually he collapsed right next to Reyson.

The others finished their Grimm and raced to the others, Glyph checked their vitals, "They're alive, but we need to get back to the village. Now."

"Can you teleport us that far?" asked Yasmine

He shook his head, "Too far, even if I did it individually. We can't risk it. Could be more Grimm. I'll get Macro. Lovers, take Reyson. Let's go."

With some effort, he lifted Macro up and into his arms, the Lovers worked together to get Reyson up and into a position where they could walk with him. The others surround them to ensure they weren't caught off guard by other Grimm.

They raced as quickly as they dared back to the village. Glyph kept checking on Macro, and asked The Lovers to do the same for Reyson. Both were fine, but every passing minute made them more tense. Eventually, they made it back to the village. The villagers were taken aback when they came back in the condition they were in. The elder heard the commotion and approached.

"What happened?" he asked seeing the state of Reyson and Macro

"We were ambushed," noted Glyph quickly, "do you have medicine? We need it."

"Of course, we'll guide you to the doctor's house."

The elder motioned for some others to come in and help, and they took both Reyson and Macro and led them down a ways to a house out of sight. Some of GRYD and MEAL made to follow, but Glyph held them back with an outstretched hand.

He looked at them intently, "Let them do what they need to."

Though hesitant, they all agreed, and stood there in silence.

Hours passed, night fell, and no word had come about the condition of Reyson and Macro. The others sat around a fire, still taken aback that two of their members had gone down. Some were eating, others just sat and gazed at the fire. But a look of confusion was on the face of Aaron.

He turned to Glyph, "Since when Macro do that?"

Glyph laughed in an interesting way, "A long time."

"What's so funny?" asked Erin, curious about Glyph's response.

"You all seriously are just asking now about Macro's Semblance? You never thought about it before? Why he never used it before? Ever? Despite all we've been through?"

He looked at them all one by one, and was met with a series of different reactions. Content, he nodded and went back to his meal. But some of them weren't content at all, and again faced him.

One of them was Leilani, "I just want to know why it hurt him. He's my partner, he never told me his Semblance, and I didn't ask. Now I am. Please Glyph."

Glyph turned to Leilani, and saw her pleading eyes. With a sigh he relented and put down his food, "Macro's Semblance is size manipulation. Obviously. What you don't know, was that it appeared at birth."

"For real?" wondered Diana in disbelief

"For real."

"How does that work?"

"I discovered my Semblance at a very young age. My father didn't though until he was nearly out of school. Why did I get it sooner than him? Who's to say there is a set time we have to discover it?"

Yasmine nudged Leilani, "I got mine years before Leilani."

Leilani nudged her back, "Yeah, and she never lets me forget it."

"Point is," reasserted Glyph, "when Macro was born, he was undersized, the doctor thought he wouldn't live. Apparently, his mother cried, her tears hit Macro, and...he glowed...and grew."

"You're making this up." said Diana not buying it.

"There's video proof, he showed it to me."

"Holy crap."

"It was a one time thing. Macro's Semblance didn't happen again for a long time after that. Once he rediscovered it, he and his father tried to carefully push the limits. And it worked. He could grow, and then shrink back with no issues. But then he pushed it too far."

"How?" asked Aaron still confused

"Our bodies have limits. Aura or no Aura, they have limits. He broke them, and they broke him back. He grew too big one day, just trying to have fun. His body couldn't take it, he almost died."

Erin gasped, "Oh my gosh."

"Since then, he rarely used his Semblance. And yes, I know that sounds familiar, but the difference is huge. If he misuses his Semblance, he dies. Like today. So...like...like the soldier he is, he refined his other skills. The results speak for themselves."

The others went into their own thoughts after this reveal, all except for Erin, who didn't take her eyes off of Glyph, her eyes scanning him for an answer he was hiding. Before she could try and follow-up on it, Glyph stood back up.

"It's getting late, the Elder offered us a spare house for the night. Let's rest up. Tomorrow we need to complete the mission."

"Seriously?" asked Diana in disbelief , "That's what you're thinking about?"

"Yeah, because that's what Macro would say if the roles were reversed. He'll back on his feet in the morning, and the first thing he'll talk about is the mission. Let's be ready for that."

With a shrug, he turned and walked away.

The morning came, and in the doctors house, Macro was still healing. Suddenly though his eyes flipped open, and he immediately sprang upright. He looked around for any sign of what was going on. Memories flashed through his mind of the last things he remembered, and he started checking himself for injuries, including his nose for bleeding. When he felt he was alright he tried to stand up.

To his surprise, he felt no weakness as he stood, in fact, he felt perfectly well, "Hmm, guess someone took care of me."

The door opened, which put Macro on edge, until he saw it was Glyph, relief came to both of them as they saw the other, and they clasped hands like brothers.

"Man, am I glad to see you."

"Likewise." Glyph said with a smile, "How do you feel?"

"Pretty good actually, I'm guessing this is a doctor's hut?"

"Yep."

"How bad was it?"

"Pretty bad."

"Shoot." Macro sighed heavily and diverted his gaze and looked around the room, "I thought because I hadn't used it in years that my body might better prepared for it, guess not. I had to do something, Reyson was... Reyson! Where is he?"

"He's fine, he woke up late last night. He's got some bruises, but his Aura took most of the damage. He's angry as all get out that a Grimm ambushed him, but he's fine."

"Good...good..."

Though relieved, Macro still seemed down, Glyph noticed this, "You did the right thing, Macro."

"I know. But I can hear my dad saying 'you should've thought this through more'."

"Maybe, but what did he say about hindsight?"

"It's useless, and destructive. Thanks."

"No problem. So...ready to get back at it?"

Macro turned to see Glyph toss him his E-Tool, he went through a quick weapons check, then locked it in its shovel form with a smile, "Move out."

"Yes sir." said Glyph with a smile and salute.

With a smile of his own, Macro saluted Glyph, and led the way outside. The village was actually quite busy for it being so early morning. Macro saw the others huddled near a house, and moved towards them. As they saw him they rushed over and greeted him.

Leilani got the most personal, giving him a hug to show she was glad he was ok, "I'm glad you're ok."

"Thanks Leilani, appreciate it."

"Good, cause now I'm about to say something very unlike me. Don't ever do that again!"

With great speed and strength she punched him in the shoulder, taking all of them aback, "Ok, I won't."

"That's hot." joked Reyson, which made them all laugh for a bit, even Macro. Reyson then stepped forward, "Seriously though, thanks for the save yesterday. Glad you're alright."

"No problem, but don't expect that save again, I don't want Leilani to punch me again."

They again laughed, all were happy to be together again. Yasmine was the first to get back to a more serious tone, "So, what now?"

Macro got back his smile, but a more serious and professional one, "What now? We finish the mission."

"Told you." said Glyph with a look to Diana

She wasn't amused and gave him a mocking look, "To be fair, partner, it wasn't the first thing he said."

"Fair enough."

"If you two are done," said Macro getting their attention, "we need to get moving. Despite what happened, the mission isn't done. We were told ten to twenty Grimm, there was only seven. What's more, based on the fact that you all are ok, I would guess that no other Grimm attacked you after me and Reyson were out? Nor during the night?"

"No," acknowledged Erin

Aaron strummed his chin in thought "It was...unusual...given the negativity in the air."

Macro pointed to Aaron at this, "Exactly, which meant that despite the negativity, the Grimm weren't in the area to respond. But, we can't risk that they aren't closer now. The two other areas we need to search are in the opposite direction of where we went yesterday. Stick together, no more incidents like yesterday."

"That goes double for you two," said Yasmine with a point to Macro and Reyson

"No promises," replied Reyson with his typical evil grin

"Move out." ordered Macro with a wave of his hand.

With that, they made for the other side of the village, and after telling the elder they were going to finish the mission, went into the forest to hunt the Grimm once more.

For a while, they had no indication that Grimm were in the area. Macro continually surveyed the area for any marks or clues. This time though, Yasmine used her Semblance to help out with it, scanning for any and all clues as to where the Grimm might be.

After some time and searching, Yasmine got a glimpse of something and tapped Macro on the shoulder, "That way, I see something."

"Form up!" shouted Macro to the others as Yasmine went in front to guide them.

She led them to a side path in the forest, as they went down it, marks began to appear on the trees and in the ground, but Yasmine didn't stop for them. Instead, she kept going until reached an intersection that was full of partially destroyed trees, bushes, and nearly uprooted earth.

"Whoa," said Diana slightly unsettled at the sight.

Reyson stepped forward to take it all in, "Yeah, I'm with you Red, there's at least...four different types of Grimm marks here."

They all looked at Reyson in shock at his preciseness. He became insulted.

"Seriously? I know my Grimm! I'm not a total idiot, get over it!"

"That'll take some time," Yasmine mocked before returning her attention to the area, she turned to Macro, "Is he right?"

Macro's face went very somber, "Yeah, and that's got me worried."

"Hey!" cried out Reyson even more insulted.

"I meant the fact that there are four types of Grimm nearby. I recognize the tracks and markings, two of them are very big, even more reason to be worried."

Glyph put a hand on Macro's shoulder, and gave him a reassuring look, "We'll deal with whatever comes. What's our play?"

"You're right. Ok, I'm tempted to split up, but let's not, as I don't want us to be caught off guard should one group run into the entire mass of Grimm."

"That would be bad," said Aaron emphatically

"Very." Erin added

"Exactly," said Macro with a nod, "so, we stick together still. But from now on, weapons at the ready, like combat ready. We could be attacked at any minute."

"Any suggestions?" asked Leilani pointing to her bandoleer

"Strongest stuff Leilani, I think we'll need it."

With that, they began walking again. Leilani stuck close to Yasmine as she modified her claws. Once done, she extended them, elements and Dust mixed together to make them even more intimidating. She gave a nod to her sister that she was ready for battle, and Yasmine smiled back.

Silence filled the forest, only their footsteps and the rustling of the trees and bushes could be heard at certain times.

Suddenly, Yasmine's eyes flashed, and she readied her lance and drones, "Grimm! Incoming!"

They all got ready, and sure enough, seconds later a group of five Boarbatusks emerged from the forest, and immediately charged at them.

Some of the team had to dodge, while others immediately opened fire on them. The Grimm were deterred because of it.

Macro reloaded and aimed again at the Boarbatusks, "Get their bellies exposed, then get your-"

A crash behind him stopped him, and two Ursa appeared and made for Macro, before they could reach him though, Reyson lunged and knocked him out of the way. Both fell to the ground safe from the Ursa. Seeing their teammates down, the Lovers distracted the Ursa with bolts from their weapons.

Noticing the moments reprieve, Reyson helped Macro up and said bluntly, "We're even."

Macro scoffed, "Didn't realize you didn't like to owe anyone."

"Never have before, why start now?"

"Point taken. Shall we?"

"Heck yeah."

Weapons loaded they rejoined the fight. Glyph, Macro, and Reyson took on the Ursa while the Lovers, Diana, Yasmine and Leilani took on the Boarbatusks.

The Lovers used the weapons to restrict the Boarbatusks movements, while Diana and Yasmine used their weapons to trip up the Grimm and expose their weak spot, to which Leilani finished them off with a stab of her claws.

Meanwhile, the guys worked in tandem to beat up the Ursa. Glyph teleported around them and blasted the two with his Escrima, which made them distracted so that Reyson and Macro could carve into them with their weapons.

Reyson plunged his Khopeshs into one Ursa, then with a roar ripped them out so its body was dissected. Macro meanwhile jumped into the air and slashed at the Ursa with the blade end of his E-Tool, literally slicing it in half.

With them gone, Reyson turned to Glyph, "Who had the better kill?"

Glyph thought about it, then pointed to Macro, and made a sound effect resembling the slicing of the Grimm via the E-tool.

"Darn it, need to work on my style points."

He stomped away angrily. While Glyph and Macro looked at the other and shook their heads in disbelief.

Grimm all dead, they came back together, Glyph looked at the others who didn't battle the Ursa, "You all good?"

"No worries, partner." said Diana with a smile, "We were like a well oiled machine."

"Or...a team." corrected Yasmine

"Whatever trips your trigger."

Yasmine made to bite back, but Leilani stopped her, "Point is...we're fine Glyph, thanks for asking."

She smiled at Glyph, who smiled back, which made Diana step forward to break up the moment, "Ok, so, I counted seven Grimm there, add those to the seven we fought yesterday and that makes fourteen. That's between ten and twenty so...are we done?"

Macro sighed, "No. Because..."

He stopped and looked at Leilani, whose ears perked up suddenly, "Uh oh."

"What is it?"

"I hear...hissing..."

They all went into combat mode, and no sooner did they do so than the trees next to them exploded from and impact, and a giant white snake head lunged out at them.

"King Taijitu!" called out Glyph as he dodged

"Where's the other head?" cried out Macro as he recovered from the initial strike

Reyson transformed one of his swords into its gun form, then used his free hand to trace out the King Taijitu. His finger ended up in the trees, and he fired a couple volleys into it. Sure enough, the black head of the Grimm popped up into the air.

"There." Reyson said with a laugh, then he went back to his dual sword style, "this will be easy!"

The moment he said that though the earth shook near him, he quickly turned around and his eyes went wide as another massive Grimm burst out of the trees near him.

"A Deathstalker? Are you kidding me?"

"You had to say this would be easy, didn't you?" asked Diana mockingly while dodging attacks

"Oh shut up, Red!"

Reyson reformed his arm canons and started blasting away at the scorpion Grimm, Glyph teleported in and assisted him with his shotgun. The combined blasted stunned the Deathstalker, but wasn't doing much damage.

"Shouldn't this be working?"

"We need to get closer, hold on," said Glyph before teleporting him and Reyson away

They reappeared on the Grimm itself, and then started blasting again. The armor of the Deathstalker began to fracture and the Grimm roared in pain. But it also became virulent in its attempts to strike at them. It became so agitated that it began spinning in place, forcing Glyph to teleport them off.

Meanwhile, the other six were working together to fight off the King Taijitu. But with the two head of the Grimm striking simultaneously at them, it became difficult to line up impactful shots.

"Any ideas Yasmine?" asked Erin after a failed strike on one of the heads

Yasmine looked frustrated, her Semblance wasn't giving her any help, "This one isn't making it easy! It seems fine doing random things!"

Macro lit up the black snake head with his machine gun, "Then go basic! What would work?"

"...separate the heads from one another! Figuratively speaking that is."

"Great! Lovers, with me! Diana, Yasmine, Leilani, divert the other head your way. Move!"

Now in groups of three, they combined their attacks to divert the gaze of each head of the King Taijitu. Eventually, they worked themselves back so far that the heads were a good distance apart from each other. In fact, at one point, the two heads actually lunged at the trios, but each one was stopped as the room they had to move wasn't enough.

"Now!" commanded Macro and the teams pressed their attack.

Aaron used his crossbow bolts to continue the distraction on the black snake head. Meanwhile Macro and Erin reformed their weapons into blades. Macro used his Semblance to grow a little and helped Erin up onto the snake head. He then joined her and the two slashed at the Grimm, doing serious damage.

The white snake head noticed this, and tried to help. But Leilani rushed forward, "No you don't!"

She jumped into the air and then slammed the white snake into the ground with great force. Seeing the opening, Yasmine and Diana joined in on the strike. Yasmine used her drones to attack from all angles, while Diana used her Semblance to summon her projections to help out in the attack.

Combined, the attacks really started to do damage, and eventually, they overwhelmed the King Taijitu, killing it.

With the Deathstalker, Reyson and Glyph were having a bit more trouble. The scorpion moved quickly as to not let them gain a moment to breathe. It continually struck out with its tail or its pincers.

"This is getting old!" roared Reyson as he continually dodged the strikes, "Any ideas fearless leader?"

"Yeah, get its attention, make it attack you with the stinger." answered Glyph with a small smile

"And?"

"Trust me."

Glyph disappeared, leaving Reyson alone, even for Reyson, he was shocked at this, "Son of a-"

Before he could finish the Deathstalker struck at him. Again Reyson dodged, but afterwards through down his swords and walked right up to the Deathstalker.

"Hey, ugly! Why don't you just die? Is it really so hard for you? I know you Grimm are supposed to be stupid, but seriously, just die!"

The Deathstalker snapped its pincers menacingly, Reyson feigned fear, "Oh, pincers! I'm so scared! That won't work on me idiot! Your tail though? I don't know...give me your best shot! COME ON!"

The Grimm reared back its tail and lunged it at Reyson, who didn't flinch. Glyph reappeared above the tail as it made its way to him, and with shotgun in hand blasted it. The impact forced the tail to go into the Deathstalkers head, killing it instantly.

When it vanished, Glyph reappeared and patted Reyson on the shoulder, "Nice job."

Reyson shook his head in disbelief, "Dude, you lucky that worked."

"Yep."

He walked away, Reyson tried to figure out the intent of his comment, "Wait, did you not think it would work? Glyph? Hello! Gosh dang it."

Now together, they took stock of the situation. Macro surveyed everyone, "Everyone good?"

"More or less," said Reyson with a distasteful look at Glyph, who smiled at Macro afterward

"Good enough."

"So, that's sixteen." noted Diana with a quick count of her fingers, "Do we think that's all?"

"Honestly? Yes. But let's do a quick survey just to make sure. Move out."

With a nod from each of them they continued to move around the forest area.

A few hours later, they re-entered the village. Macro went towards the Elder, "Elder! We're done. We fought quite a few Grimm today, but we think we got them all out of your immediate area."

This brought great relief to the Elder, "Ah! Bless you, all of you. That will bring much joy to us knowing we're safe. And hopefully some Huntsman and Huntresses will be back nearby should something happen. After all, we can't keep calling on you all!"

They all laughed and Macro nodded, "Yeah, we do need to get back soon."

"Of course! But first, you must eat! Besides, your wouldn't be here for an hour or so, why not rest first?"

Macro turned to the others, who all signaled in their own way that they were fine with it, "Well, they did say stay the night after we were done. So, I can wait until morning to make the call."

"Excellent! Let us feast!"

Work got underway, and soon everyone was eating a fine meal. GRYD and MEAL talked amongst one another, now fully free of their mission, they let their positive energy flow out of them as they enjoyed each others' company.

At one point, Macro got up and went to get some more food. As he did though someone came up behind him, it was Erin.

"Mind if I ask you something?" she queried with a smile

"You just did." he joked

"Ha, ha. Come on, please?"

"Sure Erin, what is it?"

"Well...Glyph told us about why you don't use your Semblance much."

"Ah, crap. Did he tell you about my mother crying and making me bigger?"

"Yeah...did that seriously happen?"

"Yep, dad was taping the whole thing. Good thing too, else no one would believe me."

"Fair enough. Anyway, one thing he said kind...kind of...well, resonated with me."

This got Macro curious, "Oh? What's that?"

Erin got nervous but went through with her though, "Well, he said, 'like the soldier he is", but the way he said it made me feel like he was hiding something. Like...you don't want to be a soldier?"

The two looked at each other, Macro with a blank expression, Erin with an uneasy one. Macro put down his plate of food and motioned for her to follow him. She did so, and they went by a tree with no one nearby.

"Here's the deal. When I grew up, I saw my father as the coolest person on Remnant. He was strong, confident, looked intimidating to his foes, and almost always knew what to do. He never asked me to be a soldier, but I knew I wanted to be one. I wanted to be like him. So I did everything I could to be like him. I trained to be a soldier, modeled my look after him, even went to Signal and Beacon just like he did."

"And...?" asked hesitantly

"One day, I heard some people talking about what they would be if they lived in a world without Grimm. Where Huntsman and Huntresses weren't needed. I laughed it off, we would never be there. But then, I dared to imagine what I would be...and I couldn't think of anything."

Erin was surprised by this admission, and even Macro nodded at what she meant by it, "Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. Now to be fair, even in a world without Grimm there are needs for soldiers. But I put that thought away and started to ask myself...'Who is Macro Camof when he's not a soldier?', and I couldn't answer. Sure, I mean, I'm a friend, a student, but those are all non-personal things. I don't know who I am, because I modeled everything I am after my father. That's...scary to me."

"I'm so sorry Macro."

"Don't be, it's my fault. It's ironic really. You know who you want to be, but your parents are trying to stop you. My father wants me to be happy, and wouldn't push me to do anything, yet I want to be exactly like him. More-or-less anyway."

The two laughed, and Erin made a big smile, "Couple of opposites here."

"In a way. Regardless, that's what he meant. I had a...I guess identity crisis, and Glyph helped me through it. He knows I don't mind being a soldier, but I don't know what else I could be. He teases that it's my "destiny" to be a soldier, because that's how I saw it. He got me to a point where I could live with the not knowing."

"How did he do that?"

"Because he said he didn't know what he was to be for most of his young life. He was told to be a Huntsman, and he did it. In a way, he barely knows who he is either. But he doesn't let it weigh him down."

"Hmm...I had no idea. I guess we're all looking for who we are in a way."

"In a way. Reyson is looking for what is aside from being a Heron. You're looking for who you are outside of your families traditions. Diana is looking for the way to be the best dancer and Huntress ever. Yasmine and Leilani are looking to be more than the Faunus the world sees them as, and Glyph is looking to be the person who can look himself in the mirror and smile."

"And you want to look for who you are when the soldier isn't there." added Erin.

Macro tapped his nose and smiled, "Right."

"...oh! What about Aaron?"

"Uh..." started Macro, who turned to where the others are, Erin joined him in that look, at the nearby campfire, Aaron was vividly and animatedly telling a story, "...I think he knows who he is."

"Fair enough." she said with a laugh

"I would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone this Erin. I don't mind you know, as you know the struggle I'm going through, the others might not."

"Ok."

"Good. Now come on! Let's enjoy the night. Who knows what tomorrow will bring."

With another smile and a nod, the two went back to the campfire and joined their friends once again.