Her first thought? It went something like "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Her second thought?
"SHIT FUCK HOLY HELL WHAT THE FUCK"
Those were the amnesiac huntress's only thoughts while she was flying through the air at Mach speed. Finally, she hit the arch of her short flight and began to fall downwards. Unfortunately, the only thing waiting for her was the cold, hard ground.
After she got over her initial panic, Ash spread her arms and legs out to slow her descent as best as she could. Now, instead of plummeting towards the ground, she fell at a slightly more comfortably rate.
'Okay, okay, she thought to herself. Think! There's got to be an effective way to land. Ozpin wouldn't have just launched us like that unless he knew each student would have a way to safely land.'
To her right, a familiar blond rocketed past her via her golden gauntlets propelling her forward with every explosive round she fired.
'Well, great,' Ash watched Yang soar past.
She didn't have much longer to think of a solution—the ground was coming up fast.
"Damn it, damn it!" she cursed herself. She fell through the thick leaves at the tops of the trees. Luckily, she didn't hit any large branches. But as soon as she saw one below her that could support her weight, the huntress stuck her arms out and grabbed it. She spun twice around it like a gymnast from the sheer momentum she carried, then she let go and launched herself forward. Her aura protected her hands from being skinned by the bark, and it absorbed most of her momentum so that her wrists weren't broken on impact.
She fell through several dozen branches before finally landing on the lowest bough of a particularly large tree.
Ash's chest heaved from the ordeal she'd just been through. She squatted on the thick branch and gazed at the ground below her. She couldn't believe she was alive! Easily a three-hundred-foot fall, and she didn't have a scratch on her!
She inspected her palms, bringing them in front of her face. Not even her gloves were damaged! Ash grinned, balling her fists before leaping from the branch and to the ground. She felt great!
The huntress took in her surroundings and began walking in the general direction of the ruins.
Okay, she thought. First person I make eye contact with is my partner. I just have to make sure they're a good one.
She went over ways that she could make sure she didn't partner up with someone she didn't like. So far, the best plan was to make sure she saw other people before they saw her, and hopefully hide so she could check them out.
Unfortunately, she was about to meet something else.
Just as she weaved around a tree, she came face to face with a wall of black fur and walked straight into it by mistake. Stumbling back, her eyes slowly looked upwards as she took in the sheer size of the creature. With a low growl, the Ursa turned around to look at her.
The beast's glowing red eyes drew her attention. They looked angry… and hungry.
"Aw man, does this mean you're my partner?" the amnesiac complained.
The Ursa roared and swiped its large paw at the white-haired girl. She ducked under the attack and evaded to the left, coming up fast while she drew her sword. Barely managing to deflect the next attack with her blade, Ash stepped inside of the Ursa's range and swung her sword. She left a wide gash on the beast's side, but that only seemed to make it angrier.
Uh-oh
Ash jumped straight up in the air to avoid its paw, much higher than she intended to, and landed right on the Ursa's head. The Grimm stood straight up and tried to grab at the huntress, but she made the smart move and jumped off while she could. Ash landed on a tree branch several feet above the Ursa's head, watching the creature curiously.
"So, this is an Ursa? Pretty big and strong, but not that smart," she smirked while she watched the Grimm turn in circles, searching for her. "Well," she gripped her sword tighter. "This seems like a good opportunity to see if I remember anything about fighting…"
With a deep breath, she leapt down to the ground below, landing behind the large Ursa.
Ash watched the Grimm for a few more seconds before bringing two fingers to her mouth and letting out a sharp, ear piercing whistle. The Ursa swung around and looked down at her, its sharp teeth bared.
Without wasting a breath, the huntress rolled to the left and brought her sword up in a deadly arc, swiping across the Ursa's leg. Letting out a sharp roar, the Grimm swiped its paws at her, trying to rid itself of this new pest.
Ash barely managed to avoid the attack by instinctively jumping backwards. What she wasn't expecting to do was perform a backflip. She landed on even footing, momentarily stunned by her own acrobatics. The Ursa roared, reminding her that she was in a fight.
The amnesiac swung her sword and pointed it at the beast. There's no way this is going to work, she thought. Then she thrusted the sword forward and kicked off the ground, flying towards the Grimm almost instantly. She kept perfect form while in the attack, a determined glint in her eyes. Her sword plunged into the Ursa's chest, and she yanked it out and jumped back a few feet and raised her weapon in case it tried to attack.
Fortunately, the wound seemed to do the trick. The light faded from its eyes, black blood gushed from the injury in its chest, and the Ursa fell backwards. Its heavy body thudded against the grass and began to dissipate into pure darkness.
Relaxing, Ash inspected the blood left on her sword and flicked it towards the ground. "So, that was a thing," she sheathed the weapon and dusted off her clothes. "Now, about that relic…"
. . .
"Hmm," Professor Ozpin said while he watched the live feed on his tablet. He saw Ash thrust her weapon and impale the Ursa she was facing. "She has potential," he murmured. "Skilled, but unsure of what she's doing."
"It's rather understandable, given the situation," Glynda Goodwitch said from beside him.
"I agree, but will her amnesia affect her ability to collect a relic?"
"That remains to be seen," Goodwitch said, then clicked onto a different feed. She saw the young Ruby Rose sprinting through the forest, then Yang meeting up with another young woman, Blake Belladonna.
"Hmm…" Ozpin watched his tablet. Pyrrha Nikos saved Jaune Arc from being stuck in a tree, Nora Valkyrie joined up with Lie Ren after he defeated a couple of King Taijitu Grimm.
Then he saw Cerulean Mist come face to face with a young man wearing yellow.
"Take another look at 'Ashley's' feed," Goodwitch said. Ozpin tapped on the screen until he saw the young woman venturing into an area of the forest that he knew to be unsafe.
"She's just a magnet for danger, isn't she?" he took a sip from his coffee mug.
. . .
Ash wandered through the Emerald Forest, hoping she was still going in the right direction. The huntress kept an eye on her surroundings to make sure no more surprise Ursa or other Grimm ambushed her. However, she should have been looking up.
After another few minutes of walking, the amnesiac let out a sigh and checked her scroll. There should have been a compass built in somewhere on the device.
Before she could even unlock the scroll, she noticed something on the screen: a reflection. She looked closer, her eyes widening. A gigantic creature was watching her from above, its several red eyes boring into the back of her head.
"That's not good," she murmured, then saw something large and fast heading straight for her. She immediately rolled to the right just in time to avoid the enormous appendage heading straight for her.
When she was back on her feet, the amnesiac got a good look at her assailant. Partly because it landed directly in front of her with enough force to make her lose her balance.
The huge Grimm screeched, its gross mouth foaming and sharp pincers slicing the air apart. It freed its glowing stinger from the ground and raised it to attack again.
A Deathstalker.
'Great,' the amnesiac immediately drew her weapon. 'Just great.'
The large Grimm sent its tail at her, seeking to impale her with its highly poisonous stinger.
"Whoa, ugly!" she exclaimed. Fortunately, Ash was fast enough to avoid it. Before the Deathstalker could withdraw its tail, she gave it a good swipe with her sword. The Grimm shrieked and glared at her, its eyes full of hate.
"That's my signal to get the hell out of here," she sheathed her weapon. The Deathstalker screeched and snapped its pincers. "Yep!" she turned and sprinted away from the Grimm.
She hoped that the Deathstalker would just let her go, but of course, no such luck. Its heavy legs pounded the ground chasing after her.
Ash hoped she at least looked calm and collected, because on the inside she was freaking out. How was she going to get rid of this Grimm? She couldn't kill it on her own, and as far as she knew, there was no one else near her. Her best bet was to lose it in the forest, but there's no way she could outrun it with how easily it was keeping up with her. Unless…
The huntress searched for a low tree branch that she could use. Finally spotting one, she leaped as high as she could and just barely managed to grab it and pull herself up. She silently thanked the Brothers that she was blessed with considerable upper body strength.
She still needed to get higher—the Deathstalker's tail could easily reach her. So, she got started climbing. Ash jumped from branch to branch, ascending the tree until she was fifty feet above the Grimm.
"There," she gazed down at the scorpion. It was snapping its pincers angrily and swinging its tail about, clearly pissed that its prey escaped it. "Not so tough now, are you?" she called down. The Deathstalker screeched, and Ash couldn't help but grin.
Then the entire tree shook violently, and she looked down to see the Deathstalker slamming its entire body into it.
"Uh-oh," Ash's eyes widened, and she immediately jumped to the tree adjacent to her. The Grimm kept slamming into the tree, apparently not having seen that Ash was no longer there. Smirking to herself, she kept moving, leaping from tree to tree towards her destination.
A thought occurred to her—when she first saw it, how the hell had that Deathstalker gotten so high in the trees?
Then something slammed into her side, and the amnesiac was thrown towards the ground even faster than the metal plate had launched her off the cliff.
. . .
Ruby Rose was having a downright awful time. She couldn't find her sister, she was launched into the forest like a cannonball, and now all she could do was hope that Yang found her before a Grimm, or worse—someone else, did.
She'd already run into several Beowolves, but nothing she couldn't handle. Ruby cut them down with her beloved Crescent Rose and kept moving.
She panicked at the thought of being partnered with someone she didn't know. With this in mind, she used her semblance to speed through the forest faster than any normal human could travel.
"Gotta find Yang!" her high-pitched voice squeaked.
. . .
Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, was not having a good time in the forest. Landing in the forest was easy enough, thanks to her semblance. The only person she wanted to find was Pyrrha Nikos, the most powerful student at Beacon now.
Then someone slammed into her, sending the heiress sprawling on the grass.
"What the he-?" she winced, rubbing her head. Then she saw who'd run into her. "Oh, you've got to be—"
"—Kidding me," Ruby finished.
"You?! Seriously? Out of everyone in this forest, you're the one I run into? Great, just great," Weiss groaned.
"Hey, I don't like this either, Princess! The least you could do is be nice about it!" Ruby told her.
"Why would I? Do you even know how much I despise this? I wanted Pyrrha! Not some amateur kid who thinks she's a hotshot!"
"…You're mean," Ruby crossed her arms.
Then someone high above the trees soared by, yelling at the top of their lungs.
"What now?" Weiss rolled her eyes, but it was too late to see who'd been screaming.
"We have to help!" Ruby told her.
"They're fine," the heiress said.
"I thought you were here to be a huntress," Ruby said pointedly. After a brief stare down, Weiss relented.
"Fine."
Ruby grinned. "And I know just how to get there in time."
. . .
Ash barely had time to react when the flying Grimm got its claws on her. She was jumping through the trees, and the next thing she knew, something big grabbed her and flew into the sky. She couldn't even get a good look at the thing—all she knew was that it was big, had black fur, and had giant claws wrapped around her waist.
She tried to draw her sword, but the large paws had it pinned to her back with an iron grip. Therefore, her only hope was to somehow pry the claws off of her.
Her hair whipped in the wind as she looked around, trying to see how high she was. She didn't like what she saw.
Ash pried at the paws holding her. When they wouldn't budge, she slammed her fist into them.
That got a reaction.
A large, horned head bent down to look at her, its armored face watching her.
A Sphinx, she thought. She remembered last night, when she was learning about various Grimm. The Sphinx was almost as dangerous as a Deathstalker, thanks to its large size, wings, and powerful body.
What was up with her and running into strong Grimm?
"Let go of me, you ugly bastard!" she slammed her fist into its leg. The Grimm roared in her face, making her clamp her hands over her ears. When it roared again, it kinda annoyed her.
"Shut up!" she punched it in the face. The Sphinx blinked at her, then tightened its grip on her waist. Her aura protected her, but she could still feel the pressure on her body. She had to do something fast.
Taking a deep breath, she wrapped one hand around her sword's hilt while balling her other hand into a fist. She brought her hand down as hard as she could onto the Grimm's paw, and something crunched.
The Sphinx screeched and loosened its grip on her just enough to yank her sword free. Without wasting a breath, she plunged it into the Grimm's leg, and it dropped her.
Sadly, her joy was short-lived. The huntress realized that she didn't account for how high the Grimm had taken her. She screamed while she plunged to the ground.
'Great!' She thought. 'Feels like déjà vu!'
Once again, she spread her arms and legs to slow her descent. Ash wanted to punch something. This was the second time she was falling from a lethal height. She hoped this wasn't going to become a regular occurrence.
A lightbulb flipped on in her head. From this height, she could likely see the ruins, and how close she was to them. Turning her head back and forth frantically. The amnesiac found a high-rising cliff, an abyss between the taller cliff and the forest, and the distant cliff that she was launched from. She couldn't find it! How hard was it to find some old ruins?
Then, she realized. Slowly, she looked straight down. Yep, there it was. A sore thumb in the middle of a large clearing, with the forest a few hundred yards away from it. A stone bridge spanned across the abyss she'd seen. Broken columns stood in a circle, but that area looked less damaged than the rest of the ruins, so she guessed that was her destination.
As she got closer to the ground, she saw several figures standing side by side. She could see Yang's golden hair already, but she didn't recognize the others at first.
She was a hundred feet above the ground. Seventy-five. Fifty.
"Incomiiiinnnggg!" she shouted, desperately searching for something to stop her fall. Unfortunately, it was just flat ground below her.
"Watch out!" a high-pitched voice screamed came from her left, and Ash looked just in time to see a red and black blur heading straight for her.
"Oh, shi—" she said just before the blur slammed into her. Ash was sent sideways along with the red and black object, then she hit the ground and was sent into a roll. The amnesiac and tumbled end over end until she landed on her back with a strange weight on her. It wasn't heavy, but something was digging into her ribs uncomfortably.
When her head stopped spinning, Ash sat up on her elbows and dizzily inspected her surroundings. "Ow…" she groaned. The amnesiac looked down to see that it was none other than Ruby Rose that had slammed into her. She was laying sideways across her stomach, and Ash considered pushing her off.
The younger girl stirred and looked up at the amnesiac. "Ash!" she exclaimed. "Where'd you come from?"
"Just dropping in, I guess," she groaned. "You mind getting off?"
"Oh! Sorry!" she jumped to her feet.
"You guys okay?" a boy's voice said from beside them. They looked up to see that blond boy from the locker room. He looked worried, but Ash wasn't sure why. It's not like they were hurt.
"Uh, yeah," the amnesiac replied, then got to her feet since Ruby had finally gotten off of her.
A loud cawing noise made Ash turn her head. Above the ruins, a giant bird Grimm circled the area.
"A Nevermore?" the amnesiac said.
"We better get back to the others," the blond guy said as a shield unfolded on his arm and he unsheathed the sword from his hip.
"Good idea," Ruby pulled her collapsed weapon from behind her waist. The red metal unfolded until the shorter girl held a giant scythe in her hands.
In no time at all, the three of them rejoined the rest of their fellow students. The only ones Ash knew were Yang and Cerulean, but Ruby seemed to know more.
"Great, everyone's here!" Yang clasped her hands together. "Now we can all die together!"
"What makes you say that?" Ash asked.
The Nevermore screeched. Then they heard gunfire, and the students turned to see a red-haired girl running out of the forest with a Deathstalker close behind her. Then another roar came from above them. Ash looked up, and she could feel the Sphinx Grimm glaring right at her.
"Oh," she said.
Ruby tackled her sister with a hug, squealing happily. The blond boy said something to a girl with long white hair and icy blue eyes, but she ignored him and went to talk to a girl with black hair, amber eyes, and a black bow atop her head. The girl with a bow didn't look to excited about it.
"Hey, stranger," Cerulean waved at her. Beside her was a boy in yellow clothes and electric blue hair.
"Where were you at when I was getting tossed around by every Grimm in the forest?" Ash grinned and gave her a fist bump.
"I was busy keeping this idiot out of trouble," she gestured to the yellow guy.
"Right, I was the one who needed help," the guy rolled his eyes, a smirk on his face.
"Ahh, making more friends already? Now I'm the one being replaced," Ash joked.
"Nah, I'd never do that," Cerulean laughed. "This is my new partner."
"Guys?" Ruby said, and the three of them turned to look at her. She gestured to the red-haired girl fending off the Deathstalker. "We should probably get a move on?"
"You're right," Ash agreed. "I still need to get my relic."
"Uh, about that," a bubbly girl with orange hair and pink and white clothes said. She held up a chess piece. "We got the last one."
"The last one? Like, there's not any others? No more remaining?" Ash asked, dumbfounded.
"I believe that's what 'the last one' means," the girl replied.
"Great!" Ash said, turning away from her. "Now what the hell do I do?"
"We'll figure that out later, Snowball," Yang told her. Ash raised her eyebrows at her. "First, we need to get the heck out of here. Then we figure out what to do about you."
"First of all, what makes you think you're responsible for me? Second, what did you call me?" Ash asked. She was more curious than offended.
"Yeah, I mean if anyone's a Snowball it's Weiss here," Ruby hooked a thumb at the other white-haired girl.
"Hey!" the 'Weiss' girl said indignantly.
"Eh, more like an Ice Queen by the looks of her—that's not the point!" Ash said. The amnesiac remembered back to when she was with Qrow. He'd said that he had two nieces who were going to Beacon. And it just so happened that Yang and Ruby were sisters, and Yang just so happened to call her the same annoying nickname that Qrow called her.
The Nevermore landed on the opposite end of the bridge, spread its wings, and let out a loud screech. The Sphinx roared and landed on a large pillar near the Nevermore. Finally, the red-haired girl decided she didn't want to deal with the Deathstalker anymore and joined the rest of the students.
"Nice of you to join us, Pyrrha," Yang said.
"Yeah, well, look at what I was dealing with," she pointed her lance at the Deathstalker. "Hello, everyone!" she said cheerfully to the other students.
"Are we getting out of here, or we going to keep standing around?" Cerulean asked.
"We're going, we're going," Ash said with exaggerated annoyance.
"Okay, what's the plan?" the girl with the bow asked.
"We split up," Ruby said. "We get on the bridge, half of us fight the Nevermore and Sphinx, the other half fight the Deathstalker."
"You sure that's the best idea? We'll be exposed and vulnerable on the bridge. I don't know about you, but I'm not too confident in that bridge's durability," the blond guy said.
"Whatever we do, we better do it fast!" Ash said. The Deathstalker was closing in, snapping its pincers angrily. "Okay, smart guy, what do we do?"
After a brief moment of him assessing the situation, he met Ruby's eyes. Together, they said, "Bridge."
"Okay, then," Ash shrugged. "We better go. That big scorpion doesn't look happy."
SCREEEEEEEEE
"See?" Ash pointed. "Told you."
"Is this girl serious?" Weiss asked.
"About as serious as that skirt you got on."
"Who the hell—"
"Alright!" the black-haired girl said. "Let's go!"
And with that, all of them took off over the bridge. Ruby and Yang fired their weapons in the direction of the Nevermore and Sphinx. Weiss and the black-haired girl readied their weapons, following closely behind the sisters.
"Jaune!" Ruby shouted.
"Right!" Jaune turned and raised his shield. "Pyrrha, lock shields! Nora, get Ren over there, then go help him!"
A guy with black hair, green clothes, and pink eyes grabbed onto the orange-haired girl's massive hammer, then the girl grinned and launched him towards the Deathstalker.
"Whee!" Nora leaped towards the Grimm.
"Ash, focus on the Sphinx!" Ruby called.
"Uh, I can't do that from back here!" the huntress hooked a thumb at the sword on her back.
"Blake, give her a lift!"
"Who?!" the amnesiac exclaimed.
"Just grab this!" the black-haired girl threw her weapon at Ash. She instinctively caught it. Upon closer inspection, the weapon was a black pistol with a blade and a black ribbon attached to it. Suddenly, the white-haired girl was pulled away. Blake yanked the ribbon and launched her towards the Sphinx.
After getting over her initial surprise, Ash grinned while her hair whipped in the wind. "WOO-HOO!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, then let go of the ribbon. Ash drew her sword mid-flight and got ready to swing.
The Sphinx reared up when Ash got a little too close for comfort. She slashed across its belly and made the beast fall backwards off the pillar. The huntress hoped that would be all it took to kill the thing, but of course, it wasn't. The Sphinx spread its large wings and floated in the air.
Ash crashed into the pillar that the Sphinx was just on, barely managing to catch the edge and crawl on top of it. The Sphinx regarded her with its glowing eyes and let out a mighty roar. The amnesiac raised her sword, but there wasn't much she could do while the Grimm was in the air—she'd have to clip its wings.
"Ruby! Get this thing to land!" Ash shouted over her shoulder.
"Uh, we got our own issues over here!" the cloaked girl called back. The Nevermore was flying high and shooting gigantic feathers at the students.
"I gotcha!" Cerulean shouted. She pulled out her own weapon—the narrow blue cylinder expanded until it was a long, three-tipped spear. A trident.
Cerulean threw the trident with expert aim, its three tips plunging into the Sphinx's chest. The Grimm roared in pain and dropped several feet before catching itself in midair. The trident suddenly pulled free of the beast's chest and returned to Cerulean's hand.
Ash looked around her and decided that it wasn't the best idea to stay on the pillar. She turned and leaped back to the bridge, stumbling as she landed.
"That worked well, didn't it?" Yang said.
"Ah, shut it," Ash held her sword at her side. "Didn't see you helping."
"Look out!" the blond said, then shoved Ash out of the way just in time for a giant feather to impale in the ground between them. Yang thrusted her arms forward and her gauntlets sent a pair of bright projectiles towards the Nevermore. They hit the Grimm in the side and exploded, causing it to screech in response.
"Weiss!" Ruby shouted, and the white-haired girl shot a volley of red Dust energy at the Nevermore.
"There's not much I can do against these guys," Ash thought aloud.
"Go help the others, then," Yang nodded towards the Deathstalker. "We can handle these jokers."
"Getting rid of me already?" Ash asked, spinning her sword in her hand.
"Just get outta here," Yang grinned.
"Fine, your funeral," Ash sprinted towards the Deathstalker, her sword at the ready. Cerulean appeared at her side, a grin on her face while she carried her trident beside her. "I got big ugly," she told the blue-haired girl. "You keep helping them with those two," Ash looked over her shoulder at the Sphinx and Nevermore. "They probably need the help."
With a nod, the girl returned to Ruby to help fight the bigger threat of the fight. Ash stopped beside Jaune and Pyrrha, who were coordinating their attacks as if they'd fought together for years. Nora and that Ren guy were doing a pretty good job of fending it off. Nora's hammer kept it at bay while Ren kept it distracted with his dual pistols.
"Anything I can do?" she asked, her eyes on the Deathstalker.
"I'm not sure," Jaune replied. "What can you do?"
"Well, I've got this sword," she held her weapon aloft.
Jaune thought for a second. "When we get the opportunity, we'll attack."
Then something crashed into the bridge and destroyed part of the walkway, creating a wide gap between the Deathstalker and the students. Unfortunately, the side that Ash and the others were on began to crumble.
"We have to get out of here!" Pyrrha shouted. Then she, Ash, and Ren leaped over the gap and landed in front of the Deathstalker. Jaune and Nora were still behind on the crumbling section of bridge. Nora suddenly brought her hammer down on her end of the section and launched Jaune over to the Deathstalker, and he caught himself by grabbing its glowing stinger. Nora pulled a trigger on her hammer's shaft and an explosion rocketed her towards the Grimm. She slammed her weapon onto its exoskeleton and its armor visibly cracked under the impact.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune screamed while the stinger flung him around.
"Use your shield!" Ash told the redhead. Immediately, she threw her shield in an arc and the circular piece of metal sliced the Deathstalker's tail at the base, effectively severing the stinger. Jaune fell from the Grimm and landed in a roll, coming up fast.
When Ash saw stinger falling directly above the Deathstalker, a plan formed in her head. She sprinted towards the Grimm avoiding its pincers that tried to grab her. When she passed Jaune, she yanked his shield out of his hands and jumped into the air.
"Hey!" Jaune exclaimed, then he saw what she planned to do.
Just before the stinger would've landed on the Deathstalker, the amnesiac used Jaune's shield like a hammer and slammed the stinger into its already cracked armor. The tip of the stinger impaled the large Grimm, then it let out a pained shriek while Ash jumped back and landed in front of it.
"Nora, nail it in!" Jaune ordered.
"Give me a lift?" she asked, and Pyrrha braced herself and raised her shield. The orange-haired girl jumped onto the golden shield, and Pyrrha launched her into the sky.
Ash could hear Nora giggle while she reached the arc of her jump, then she clicked the button on her hammer's shaft and rapidly spun towards the ground.
Nora slammed her hammer into the base of the stinger and fully impaled it in the Deathstalker's exoskeleton, sending a shockwave from the sheer force of the impact. The Grimm let out its death screech while the red glow slowly faded from its eyes, and the large enemy began to smoke and dissipate into darkness.
"Now that that's taken care of," Ash sheathed her sword with a sigh.
"Good thinking with the shield," Jaune complimented.
"Oh, right," she tossed his shield back to him, and Jaune barely managed to catch it.
"What do we do about that?" Nora pointed at the others fighting the Nevermore and Sphinx.
"What do you think?" Ren said.
"I say we finish this party and get out of here," Ash said.
"Couldn't agree more," Nora grinned. Then they jumped to the other side of the bridge.
. . .
Blake used her Gambol Shroud to launch her new partner into the sky and directly in front of the Nevermore. Yang landed just inside its beak and held it open with her feet and one hand, then fired Ember Celica into its maw.
"I hope you're hungry!" she grunted, firing an explosive shot with every word.
The Nevermore roared and crashed through a giant pillar, sending Yang sailing back to the bridge. She landed hard on her shoulder and rolled for several feet until she came to a stop at Ash's feet.
"Having fun being a showoff?" the amnesiac helped her to her feet.
"Obviously," Yang dusted herself off. "Finished with the Deathstalker? Good, these things are pissing me off."
"Then let's get rid of them!" Nora grinned, hefting her hammer.
"Don't fall behind, Blondie!" Ash smiled before running towards the other end of the bridge.
From what she could see, Ruby had a plan. She was standing on her upside-down scythe while Weiss held her in place with some sort of glyph in the shape of a snowflake. Blake held one end of her weapon while Cerulean held the other, and they were in place on either side of Ruby. Ash's eyes traveled down the ribbon, until she saw that they were preparing to launch Ruby into the air with the combination of Blake's ribbon and Weiss's glyph.
The amnesiac stopped when she saw Weiss's glyph turn white, and Ruby was launched towards the Nevermore that had landed at the base of the cliff. Ruby's scythe caught the beast in the neck, and Ruby began to run up the cliffside via her semblance and Weiss's glyphs leading upwards. She carried the Nevermore halfway up when the Sphinx Grimm crashed into the cliffside and made Ruby lose her footing.
She began to fall, and the Nevermore was free to get away.
"Ruby!" Yang screamed.
Thankfully, the younger girl was able to propel herself away from the cliff with the recoil of Crescent Rose.
"Come on!" Yang said, and they followed the blond girl across the bridge. Weiss, Blake and Cerulean joined them, and Cerulean's new partner appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Where has he been this whole time? Ruby landed in front of them, panting hard and holding Crescent Rose at the ready.
Yang went to make sure that her sister was okay while everyone else formed a defensive circle around them.
"Ruby, you think you can do that again?" Ash asked.
The younger girl gave her a wide-eyed look as if Ash was crazy for asking. "Maybe? The Nevermore would have to be still for long enough."
"Gotcha," the amnesiac smiled as a plan formed in her head. "Cerulean and, uh, her partner, I want you two to help Pyrrha clip that thing's wings. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, I want you to get set up to launch Ruby at the Nevermore again. Jaune, coordinate their attacks. Ren and Nora, would you mind helping me take deal with that Sphinx? It seems to have it out for me."
"Can do!" Nora saluted. Ren simply readied his pistols.
"Hold on, who made you leader?" Cerulean's partner asked.
"You got any better ideas?" she asked the yellow-clothed guy. When he didn't respond, she pointed at the Grimm. "I figured. Now, get to it!"
They sprung into action. Ruby and her assigned team got into position to shoot Ruby into the air again. Cerulean, her partner, and Pyrrha fired their respective weapons to get the Nevermore's attention while Jaune stood back and kept an eye on everything.
"Ren, get that thing's attention," Ash said, and the black-haired boy fired a volley of bullets at the mean-looking Grimm. It roared in their direction and tucked its wings into a dive. The Sphinx soared under the bridge and appeared on the other side, and Ren aimed his pistols.
"Nora, think you can hit that thing?" Ash asked. The orange-haired girl grinned and transformed her hammer into a rotary grenade launcher. Nora fired three quick rounds and they hit the Grimm in the chest, exploding into pink smoke.
"Okay," Ash drew her sword and gripped it with one hand. "Ren, keep up the fire—aim for the eyes, if you can. Nora, when the Grimm is open, I want you to launch me at it with your hammer."
"What if I miss?" Nora asked.
Ash hadn't considered that. She hesitated, "Then that would be very bad for my health."
"Got it, don't miss," she nodded. Ren fired at the Sphinx once more and hit it in the face. It roared at them and looked like it was about to dive bomb.
"What do we do after you're on it?" Ren asked.
"Keep shooting. And I hope you knew this already, but please don't hit me."
"Got it," he nodded.
"Get ready!" the amnesiac hefted her sword. The Grimm dove at the bridge, and they narrowly avoided its attack. Part of the bridge crumbled away, but Ash took the opportunity to slash her sword across its side. The Grimm roared and glared at her as it passed. It was flying away to swing around and make another pass when Ash leapt into action.
"Nora, now!" she shouted. Nora transformed her weapon back into a hammer, and Ash grabbed on. The orange-haired girl swung her hammer, and Ash was immediately flung away.
Wind whipped through her hair and a grin appeared on her face.
"WOO-HOO!" she screamed and spread her arms out.
"Is she going to scream that every time she's launched through the air?" Ren asked. Nora shrugged in response.
Ash was directly above the Sphinx now. Gripping her sword tighter, she reached out and grabbed the Grimm's back fur with one hand. The huntress immediately thrust her sword, sinking it to its hilt in the Grimm's back.
The Sphinx screeched as the blade entered its body, and it threw its body to the side. The force was almost enough to throw Ash of its back, but she held on.
She looked to the side and managed to catch a glimpse of the Nevermore crashing to the ground with a loud screech. Then her attention was brought back to more pressing matters.
Ash pulled her sword out, then stabbed the Grimm again. She was surprised it was still in the air. The huntress crawled up its back as best as she could to see where she was in relation to the bridge, and when she made it to its neck, the amnesiac grinned. The dumb monster was still trying to dive bomb.
She pulled her sword free again and pressed the tip against the base of the Sphinx's neck. At the last possible second, she shoved her sword into the Grimm, and its eyes went dark.
Its body crashed into the bridge and tumbled over. Ash immediately yanked her sword out and ran to the back of the Sphinx's body while it was falling off the bridge, then jumped. Her torso slammed into the side of the bridge and her fingers desperately searched for anything to grab onto.
"Oh shit, oh shit!" she cursed. Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her up. When she was on solid ground—well, as solid as this crumbling bridge could provide, she saw that it was Nora who helped her up. The orange-haired girl had pulled her to her feet with ease, and it made Ash wonder just how strong this girl was.
"That was incredible!" she said.
Ash was bent over with her hands on her knees, her chest heaving. "Now, that… that was fun," she grinned.
The huntress heard gunshots from Crescent Rose and she looked up to see Ruby running up the cliff once more.
"Oh, good," Ash panted. "The plan worked."
"Not bad, hero," Nora grinned and patted her on the back, effectively knocking the amnesiac to the ground.
"Ow…"
"Sorry!" she pulled her to her feet.
Ruby reached the top of the cliff and yanked on her scythe while simultaneously pulling the trigger. With a sickening slicing sound, she decapitated the Nevermore and landed at the top of the cliff. Crescent Rose rested along her shoulders, and the younger girl grinned down at her friends below.
. . .
Hours later, they were finally back at Beacon, and were sitting in the auditorium once more. Professor Ozpin walked onto the stage, a tablet in his hand.
It was time to assign teams.
Except Ash was worried about something.
There wasn't a relic for her to collect, and during her entire time in the Emerald Forest, she never made eye contact with anyone who wasn't already paired up with someone. She had two goals, and she accomplished neither of them.
She was scared she'd get kicked out of the school because of it.
What if Ozpin just decides she's not worth the trouble to keep around? Is he disappointed that she didn't complete the assignment? What if they just throw her on the streets, with nothing but her amnesia?
Cerulean's new team had just walked down and took their seats in the audience. Turns out, the blue-haired girl would be leading a team called Team CSHL (pronounced "seashell") and the members consisted of her partner, Meallan Sunrisen, a dark-skinned boy by the name of Antonio La Salle, and a darker-skinned girl named Harlequin Azure.
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked.
Ash looked at the younger girl, as if coming out of a daze. She and the other new students were lined up in front of the stage, waiting to get called up. She wasn't sure what she was doing there, since she didn't have a partner nor collect a relic chess piece.
"Yeah," she finally responded. "Just thinking."
"Don't worry about it! Ozpin will figure out something!" Nora bumped her shoulder.
Before Ash could respond, the headmaster began calling out the next team formation.
"Russel Thrust. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team CRDL (Cardinal), led by Cardin Winchester," Ozpin announced. Then Glynda waved for Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren to come up, and the hurried on-stage and stood side by side.
"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. You four retrieved the white rook pieces, and from this day forward, you'll be known as Team JNPR (juniper). Led by… Jaune Arc!" Ozpin announced with a smirk.
"H-huh? Led by…?" Jaune asked, shocked. But Ash wasn't surprised—she'd seen how he commanded his friends on the battlefield like a natural leader.
"Congratulations, young man," Ozpin said with an amused expression. "If you all would, please don't exit the stage quite yet."
"Huh?" JNPR said in unison.
"And now," Ozpin continued. "Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (ruby). Led by Ruby Rose!"
Weiss blinked in surprise while Ruby looked rather shocked. Immediately, Yang threw her arms around her younger sister and laughed. JNPR patted Ruby on the back with
"Finally," Ozpin announced, "Miss Ashley Amethyst, if you would please come onto the stage."
Cautiously, Ash stepped onto the stage and stood between teams RWBY and JNPR. Her heart pounded against her chest. She could feel every pair of eyes in the crowd on her during the awkward silence. The audience murmured to each other with curiosity.
"Miss Amethyst," Ozpin finally said. "You failed to collect a relic, and to find a partner during the trial."
Ash stared at the floor, clenching and unclenching her fists.
"But that is not your fault."
"Huh?" she raised her head.
"You did not collect a relic, because there was not any left to collect. You did not find a partner because there was no one for you to pair with. Due to an uneven number of students, we were forced to make a decision. That decision was to make you act as a fifth team member rather than put you on a team with less than four members," Ozpin said, giving her a quick wink that only she would see.
"What?" she exclaimed.
Ozpin smirked. "You will act as fifth member for Team RWBY and Team JNPR. You will have all the responsibilities of the average team member, but for two teams. Do you think you can handle that?"
"Uh… yes?" Ash said.
"Good!" the headmaster said loudly, and Ash flinched.
The audience erupted with applause and cheer. Ash looked around, completely lost as to why she was being applauded.
"Yay, more friends!" Ruby cheered.
"Welcome to the team, I guess?" Jaune gave an unsure smile.
"Uh…" Ash glanced between the two teams.
Professor Ozpin sighed, scratching his chin with two fingers. "This is shaping up to be a very interesting year…"
. . .
Roman Torchwick lit the cigar in his mouth with his symbolized flip lighter and inhaled deeply. Blowing the smoke out of his nostrils with a heavy sigh, a man in a gray mask appeared behind him. Roman pulled several multicolored cards out of his jacket pocket and handed them to the White Fang member.
The bowler hat wearing criminal turned around and took another puff from his cigar. A black crate was sitting on a trolley beside the Faunus, and Roman pulled the cigar from his mouth.
"Open it," he said.
The White Fang member pried the lid off with a crowbar, and Roman grinned when he saw the crate's contents. Dust crystals of every color on the rainbow. The master thief picked up a crystal and inspected it close to his face. Then he sighed.
"We're gonna need more men…"
Another realization I made during this chapter is how similar Cerulean is to Neptune. And then that her being partnered with Meallan was vaguely similar to Sun and Neptune. Hell, even Meallan "Sunrisen" and "Sun" Wukong have similar names. Honestly I came up with Meallan in like, not even five minutes. I Googled "shades of yellow" and that's where he came from. Their other teammates were created in even less time. Needless to say, I don't have many RWBY OC's, so I'm kinda winging it here.