"Right... Well Blake it's nice to meet you, officially that is." Ruby answered with a straight face, well one that didn't give away her true feelings on the events currently happening. She had noticed the position they were in with Blake on top of her still. Trying to not release the poker face while speaking to the raven-haired girl still straddling her. "So..." She awkwardly began. "What is this you need help with? Though I am glad, I doubt that whatever it is that you need help with is test-related. You seem to not be in the best shape." Ruby finished making a point about the awareness of Blake's injuries.
Blake for her part blinked at the girl beneath her before offering a retort. "Yes and no. Remember the second part of this test?"
Ozpin's words seem to ring in Ruby's head as to what the second part of what he called a placement test was. "After you partnered up with someone There are ruins inside the forest that you will be sent to that will hold two chest pieces. We have enough ruins to have a single piece for each pair. You have three days to complete this task, though this is a timed event feel free to take your time. Some of these places might hold some surprises that will require you to take some time and think..."
The red highlighted teen eyes grew lifeless as she looked into the other girl's eyes, her mind possibly putting two and two together. "It's a Grimm isn't it?" A shake of the head from Blake, the fact that the bow on her head drooped at the question, threw Ruby off, though her poker face remained steady. "A big one?" This time nodding twice in response. Letting out a small sigh Ruby came up with scenarios in her head but she was not able to come up with a single solution, she lacked the necessary information, then it occurred to her... Blake was still on top of her staring at her. All of her mental faculties failed her and her speech devolved into a stuttering mess. "I-I-I... Don't... W-w-we should scout out this G-g-Grimm." Her breath became labored, 'Sis help me!' she screamed in her head as a blush began to form. Not being able to take it anymore she made a simple request of Blake. "Uhhh... D-d-do you mind g-g-getting off of me."
Blinking a couple of times Blake finally took note of their current state she quickly apologized to the girl getting off her, finding the younger teen's now rose-tinted face amusing, comparing. She then gave Ruby an outstretched hand to help her up. "So... I am guessing that the scouting is not necessary, Rose." Blake announced, pointing out her injuries. "I'm pretty sure I got that one covered."
Looking her over, noticing her disheveled appearance, the black vest she always wore was undone and torn in multiple places, her wounds did not stop at her head as her fair skin featured bruises along what was exposed. In her examination Ruby found herself pausing several times, after wincing at some of the bruises sometimes stopping to be keenly aware of certain areas. "Right, so what was it like." She said taking the hand of Blake, being helped up in the process. Blake began retelling the confrontation with the creature. From what she was able to decipher from the older teen was a general description of the Grimm, a large sabretooth bear-like creature with two skeletal plates one that covered the top half and one that ran along the back segmented by three spikes that ran along the spine. Their topic of conversation switched to that of terrain, that being some sort of ruin, most likely a palace suspended on a stone bridge in the middle of a ravine a less than a mile from here, then at last each other's Semblance. The two quickly formulated a plan of attack, neither one wanting to stay in the forest longer than needed, both remembering that this palace might hold the item they were tasked with finding.
Ruby walked to the large cedar she was resting on retrieving the scythe that she had affectionately named 'Crescent Rose' upon creation. With the weapon was a small pack that she then opened while turning to Blake and getting her attention before speaking. "Before we go... You are hurt, let me look at those, I would not want your wounds to get infected." She proclaimed before sitting, kneeling, and petting the ground beside her, producing a medkit from it. "Sit."
"Right... Thank you." A little taken by the worried but nonchalant tone in her junior in age's speech, she blinked a couple of times, not moving at first. The motion was repeated and this time Ruby's voice was a bit colder, which left no more room for hesitation as the command was followed when commended again.
"Sit."
After a short while of awkward silence and Ruby dressing Blake's wounds, the pair was on their way. They followed a path retracing Blake's footsteps until they came to a clearing of the bridge as well as the stone structure in the middle of it. From the description given Ruby had her imagination run wild, despite her better judgment. The structures had the telltale signs of disrepair, patches of missing white stone here, overgrown foliage where it would allow, and a general uneasiness that looking at these structures gave her a chill down its spine. The fantasy setting was not her first choice of a battleground, not that there was any room for complaining. Turning her head to Blake from what could be considered ruins she spoke. "Time for round 2 eh?" She asked in a half-joking tone.
Staring at the bridge with a soft frown Blake answered with her discontent at the situation clear on display. "I can't believe you, I can't believe I agreed to this, Rose..."
Ruby however was barely paying attention, mumbling to herself as an attachment appearing to be some sort of rifle was taken from a hook on her back and fixed onto the handle of Crescent Rose, the scythe taking more of the appearance of a sniper. Finishing the deed with a scope from her pack she retorted. "I am the only one of us that can fight long-range for extended periods, and you have experience fighting this Grimm and I don't." Ruby gained a fox-like grin as she spoke. "You don't have to worry... I have your back Blake, we are partners now, remember." She hoped that avoiding the white-haired Schnee girl was the right, as well as the choice of seeking her current partner out was the right decision, though that's not what happened in the end. "I won't let anything happen to you if I can help it. With my Semblance, I will be right next to you before you know it." She finished planting Crescent Rose's blade into the ground in front of her while at the same time pointing the barrel of the rifle at the bridge. "Whenever you are ready I will ring the bell."
Blake pinched the bridge of her nose sighing in the process. Unsheathing her black sword she turned to Ruby one more time. "No choice in this, do I?" She questioned her partner, a stern nod came from Ruby. "Then, you better cover me, like your life depends on it, Rose." Any confidence in her apparent covering fire was almost completely dashed as the teen two years her junior grinned, one open eye firmly looking through the lens of her scope. Though Ruby's calmness was a bit unsettling, she did not let that get in the way of the task at hand, taking off in a dead sprint towards the stone bridge. 'Five... Four... Three... Two...' A countdown began in her head. When it reached 'one' a gunshot could be heard from behind her as she felt something wheeze past her and then a short distance away a hole was blown by an explosion on the bridge. Using her Semblance a clone of herself was created pushing her across the missing part of the structure landing on the other side.
"GOOD LUCK, BLAKE." A shout from Ruby echoed, as the girl dislodged Crescent Rose from the dirt and began running towards the treeline. When Ruby disappears into the wooded area an earth-shattering roar could be heard, in that moment the creature that had fought with Blake made its presence known.
The bear-like Grimm stalked forward, closing the distance between itself and Blake. Not wanting to make any unnecessary moves she stood as still as possible in fear, not that she did not trust Ruby but in all honesty, it was the opposite. Ruby's earnest nature and what she heard of the story to the reason for her early admission to Beacon contribute to her trusting the young teen with this plan. Some recognition sparked in the Grimm as it drew closer slowly pacing forward coming from the direction of the ruins. The bear was fifty feet from its target when another gunshot rang out, a bullet ricocheting off the bear's head causing it to jerk in response. Now enraged, the bear began charging towards Blake again, Blake herself planted in the same spot near the wide gap in the bridge behind her. The Grimm was now thirty feet away, Blake held up her right arm with its hand clenched around her sword as a signal, and yet again another shot rang out and one more the target was the plate of bone on the head with the shot connecting once more. Much to Blake's surprise the creature was staggered despite being on all fours, obviously affected by the second shot cracking its natural armor. Deciding this was the best time to act on the disorientated Grimm she charged forward.
Covering the distance Blake slashed at the front legs of the beast leaving deep enough wounds that the bear reeled back now only standing on its hind legs. Taking this opportunity Blake creates another clone launching her skyward and leaving a distraction for the bear. The bear seeing the clone and not the original swung its now healed paw at it only to connect with the air as the clone dissipated as the large paw made contact. The real girl was positioned right on top of it, using the momentum created by the combination of her clone and gravity she delivered a swift ax kick to the sabretooth causing the Grimm even more distress. The large creature let out a low growl as in the process of recovery Blake was sprinting away from it, something the creature would not abide by, Therefore following suit behind her, but it did not account for one thing, that its prey had taken out a portion of the bridge before their second encounter. In a rage, it watched as the girl created another clone to cover the gap the early explosion had made.
Not giving in, the creature let out another row backing up slowly before sprinting and hopping over the gap in the bridge. Seeing that Blake was not stopping the bear closed the distance when another bang rang out, but this time however the sound did not come from its front but from the right side, the bullet blinding the creature in that eye. The bear looked at Blake with its good eye as she made landfall. The creature now enraged doubled its pursuit, closing the distance between the two in no time.
Blake, half not aware of the bear's increased speed, barely dodged the claws aimed at the back of the head, the only victim being the bow tied in her hair. That in itself presented a problem, the fabric that created said bow was now lying on the ground in front of her. She dropped to her knees desperate to cover the top of her head with her hands dropping her weapon in the process, but the damage was done, in that split, second cat ears were visible on her head. She did not hear the quick succession of three shots being fired and a soft whooshing sound and the clash of metal on bone and the roars from the bear that accompanied it. A few moments passed then she heard a soft distorted voice speak to her, she barely recognized the voice of Ruby speaking to her. "Blake? Blake?... Are you ok?"
The cat ears drooped at her question, mostly due to not wanting to answer it. Blake noticed they were now in a tree, and her now even more exhausted companion was out of breath and her face was filled with worry as Ruby held onto her in a half hug and had both their weapons, her Crescent rose with the blade of the scythe broken in half in the opposite arm and her sword in its sheath hanging loosely from her back. Blake remained steadfast in her silence.