As Cobalt hurtled through the air, his mind remained calm as he focused on the ground below, looking for the tools that would help him land safely.
There.
A large boulder was thankfully right in his path. All he'd need to do would be to build upon it. He reached out with his Semblance, grabbing more rocks with his mind and stacking them upon the larger one, hoping he'd build a tall enough pile in time. He tucked his legs in as he neared his makeshift tower.
He landed with a thud and the rocks immediately slipped out from under his feet. Trying not to panic, he flailed around in attempt to get a solid foothold, to no avail. He crashed flat onto the ground, crushing the grass beneath him.
Disgruntled, he lay there for a moment. Okay, so making a tower out of rocks to land on had not been one of his best ideas. On the bright side, nobody had seen his utter failure of a landing strategy.
He struggled to his feet and brushed the grass and dirt off his outfit, frowning at the stains left behind.
"Man…mom's gonna kill me." He'd have to remember to wash it before calling her tonight.
He surveyed his landscape. Yep, this sure was a forest. Lots of grass, trees, bushes. Also, the ruined pile of rocks next to him. No other people that he could see though and thankfully, no Grimm. Turning around, he could vaguely see the cliff through the trees. Great, so he'd just head in the opposite direction and hopefully find the temple. With any luck, he'd find Luna too.
He headed off, calling his friend's name.
"Luna? Luuuuna?" He peeked around every tree. "Were you lucky enough to fall near me or am I gonna have to search this whole forest for you?"
He angled his ears to listen for anyone approaching. He caught the faintest sounds of gunfire in the distance, but otherwise, nothing.
"Damn," He muttered. "How big is this forest?"
As he kept going, he noticed that the ground nearby stopped short. Curious, he wandered over and peered over the edge to see what he assumed must have been the abandoned temple he was supposed to find. In the middle of the rubble, pillars rose in a circle, each with a different coin placed upon them. The relics, probably.
Cobalt's ears dropped. "Are you kidding me? Before I've even found a partner?" With a heavy sigh, he turned around again and headed back into the trees.
Before he'd gone to far, he stopped again as he picked up the sound of a cracking twig. Bracing himself in case it was a Creature of Grimm, he crept around in source of the source.
Rounding a tree, he pulled out his rock-dagger, Stoneheart, only to pull back when he was greeted, not by a Grimm, but an annoyed-looking girl, who fell back at his sudden presence.
"Oh!" He tucked Stoneheart back into his belt. "Sorry, I thought you might've been a Grimm." He reached out a hand to help her up. "I'm Cobalt."
The girl glanced at his hand before getting up on her own. "Lily." She replied bluntly.
Cobalt pulled his hand back awkwardly. "Right. Well, uh…I guess we're partners now?"
Lily shrugged and pulled her green hood over her head. "I guess."
Cobalt stared at her for a moment; unable to shake the feeling that she looked familiar. Surely he'd never met her before?
"So, are we going to find this temple, or what?" Lily asked, interrupting Cobalt's thought.
"Oh, yeah, it's just back that" Cobalt stopped as he caught something at the edge of his hearing and froze as he recognized the unmistakeable growl of a Beowolf.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked, looking more annoyed than ever.
"Someone needs help." Cobalt told her urgently, picking up two different shouts. "Come on!" Without waiting for a reply, he rushed in the direction of the noise, surprised when Lily actually did follow him. At least she didn't seem to be the type to abandon others in need, even if she was a little grumpy.
As the growls got louder, Cobalt whisked up a boulder with his Semblance as he ran. The moment the best came into view, he hauled it with as much force as he could. It slammed into one of the Beowolf, shoving it back several metres before it dissolved into smoke. Lily dove for the second one, but one of the students being attacked had beaten her to it, swinging a spiked hammer right into its head.
"Cobalt!"
A familiar voice caught his attention and he realized that the other student was none other than Luna.
She darted forward and wrapped him in a hug before drawing back suddenly and glaring at him.
"You abandoned me!" She huffed jokingly.
Cobalt chuckled. "Sorry. I couldn't find you."
"Well, good thing you found us when you did!" The other girl chirped, looking completely unaffected by the fact she'd been in danger less than a minute ago. "I'm Astra, by the way! I like your name! And I'm totally not just saying that because I know someone else named that."
"She's my partner," Lily explained. She turned to the girl. "Thanks, by the way. For doing what you did when I was cornered."
Was that a slight blush Cobalt saw on his friend's face? Interesting…
Astra waved a hand. "Ah, no problem. I'm always wanted to jump on a Grimm's back."
Cobalt raised his eyebrows. "Impressive." He commented. "I'm Cobalt," He turned to Lily, who stood silently beside him, her hood almost pulled over her eyes. "And this is my partner, Lily."
"Hi," Luna smiled shyly at Lily. "I'm-"
"I know who you are." Lily said shortly, cutting Luna off. Luna backed off, wrapping her tail around her leg. She looked upset, but her expression changed to one of curiosity as she peered closer at Lily and Cobalt wondered if she'd used her Semblance. Was there a deeper reason for Lily's coldness?
"Aaaalllrighty then!" Astra clapped her hands together, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Now that we've got backup, let's go find that temple!"
Cobalt cleared his throat. "I think I actually found it earlier." He turned around. "It's just back there."
"Ooh, neat!" Astra bounded past him. "Let's go do this!" Shrugging, Cobalt followed her, Luna at his side. Lily trailed silently behind him, her eyes glued to the ground.
Cobalt's curiosity got the better of him. "Do you know what her deal is?" He whispered to Luna.
"I don't know who she is, if that's what you're asking." She shot an uncomfortable glance back at Lily. "But she feels…guilt. And determination. Like she's got something to prove." Her eyes softened. "I don't know for sure, but I sensed something else too, deeper down. A kind of sadness, but not exactly sadness. I don't really know how to describe what I picked up."
Cobalt suddenly felt sorry for his partner. So, the grumpy annoyance was a cover then. But surely everyone here was trying to prove themselves in some way, so why the attitude? And what about her coldness to Luna? Cobalt resolved to figure her out by the end of this term.
Deep in thought, he hadn't noticed that Astra had stopped until he walked into her.
"Sorry" He started, but Astra held out an arm to hush him.
"I think I hear…" The girl didn't get to finish before three massive Grimm burst from the undergrowth. Not Beowolves this time, but three Ursa Major, all of them heavily-armoured and looking like they could deal lethal damage.
The four teens drew their weapons instantly as the Grimm charged right for them. Cobalt leaped out of the way, brandishing Stoneheart as Lily jumped right into the fight, shooting at one of the Ursa with bladed shotguns. Astra swung at another with her hammer, but the blow seemed to do nothing more than anger it. Cobalt leapt in to help, plunging Stoneheart into the beast's hide as it roared with enough force to shake the ground.
Luna stood to the side, wielding Striking Shadow but not making any move to attack. Instead, she was watching the other two, her eyes darting back and forth, until one of the Ursa charged for her and she dove out of the way.
"These things are impenetrable!" Astra complained. Se brought her hammer down on the head of the one she was fighting, but was thrown off, landing on the ground with a thud.
Another one threw Luna from its back as she tried to impale it with her spear, only for it to throw her off. She landed on her feet, skidding in the dust beside Cobalt.
"We need more momentum to deal a proper blow," She puffed. She separated Striking Shadow into its two parts.
Cobalt glanced at the spear, his eyes on the buttons that he knew activated the gravity dust imbedded in both sections. 'Something tells me you've got an idea."
Luna shoved one end of Striking Shadow into his hands. "Yep. And I really hope it works." She dove back into the fight, dodging deadly claws and teeth.
"Astra! Lily!" She called as she slashed at one of the Ursa. "I need you two to line them up!"
Astra's head popped out from behind the Ursa she was focused on. "How're we supposed to do that?"
"However, you can!" Luna shot back. "Just trust me!"
"Alrighty, partner!" To Cobalt's amusement, she slammed her whole body into the Grimm, yelling; "Move, beast!"
"Cobalt!" Lily called. "Get to the opposite of me! You know what to do, right?"
With a nod, Cobalt darted behind the Grimm and stood his ground, Stoneheart in one hand and half of Striking Shadow in the other, aiming the pointed end towards the fray.
From one side, Lily shot at the Ursa, occasionally diving in to slash at them with the blades of her weapon before leaping back and shooting again. One the other side, Astra was wildly swinging at the beasts, forcing them away from her. Slowly, all three Ursa were falling into a line.
"Cobalt, now!"
At Luna's yell and the tug on his end of Striking Shadow, Cobalt released his grip on the weapon. Instead of dropping to the ground, the spear sailed through the air, picking up speed until it pierced through all three Ursa, leaving visible holes as the Grimm fell with loud shrieks and turned to smoke.
At the other end of the line, Luna angled the other end of Striking Shadow to catch the first half as it perfectly slotted into place. Staring at the smoke of the Grimm as it drifted away, she looked badass, her hair having fallen out of its ponytail to blow in the wind. Cobalt felt a fierce glow of pride towards her, glad she'd been able to show her skill.
The silence that fell was quickly broken by Astra, who let out a yell of victory.
"That was so cool!" She exclaimed. "We really just won a fight against three Ursa Major!" She turned to Luna, her green eyes wide with awe. "You really are as good as your parents, huh?"
This time, Luna's blush was definite, her whole face turning red at her partner's compliment. "I mean, it was a team effort…" She trailed off, clearly unable to resist a grin.
Cobalt looked at Lily as she tucked her weapons into her pockets. She was staring at Luna with narrowed eyes and Cobalt was all the more confused by her. She really wasn't happy, even after winning a fight like that?
What was her deal?
