In a different part of the forest, Lapis was searching for Blake when he came across an astonishing sight. A shark Faunus girl with black hair was glaring at an Ursa, a Grimm that resembled a bear, and it was snarling at her but not attacking her. It soon growled and walked away.
Lapis smirked as he walked to the girl. "Quite an impressive sight. You must be a fierce fighter to get an Ursa to not attack you."
She turned to him and immediately became ecstatic. "My name is Onyx! It's such an honor to meet you, Lapis! I can call you that, right? Or do you prefer Mr. Lazuli? Oh Gods, I'm rambling! I'm so sorry!"
Lapis just chuckled. "You're okay, Onyx. And yes, you can call me by my first name." He assured her.
She nodded and slowly calmed herself down. "Okay...I really am honored to meet you. You're my inspiration to become a Huntress."
Lapis smirked. "Well, you'll be a fierce one if a dangerous Grimm won't attack you. Come on. Let's find that temple."
She nodded then they went north, only to come across Jaune and Pyrrha shortly afterwards.
Yang was walking around, looking for a partner when she heard a rustling nearby. when she investigated, she was attacked by two Ursai. She soon smirked. "You two couldn't hit the broad side of a..." She didn't finish her sentence as she saw a strand of her hair hit the ground. Her lilac eyes turned red as she unleashed a flurry of attacks on one of the monsters, a trail of fire following it as she sent it flying away from her.
Before she and the second one could fight, it fell to the ground and Yang saw it was Blake who took it down.
"I could've taken him." Yang smirked softly. "Thanks, though, Blake."
"No problem. Shall we?"
The blonde nodded then the two headed for the temple.
A red haired girl with a cheetah tail and tattoos of cheetah spots on her face and forearms was running through the forest when she saw a girl with magenta and cyan hair black feathered wings fighting against a Creep, a Grimm with two legs, a face with four eye sockets, and a tail. She pulled out her spear and changed it to a longbow and fired an arrow at the monster. It roared in pain when the arrow hit its leg. The winged girl spun her dual bladed naginata at the beast, slashing it several times before it fell to its side dead.
She then turned to the redhead and placed a hand in front of her chin before moving the hand forward. "Thank you." She said.
The redhead nodded then typed in her Scroll and showed it to the girl. "You're welcome. My name's Ember." The message said.
"Nice to meet you, Ember. My name's Magenta." The winged girl, now known as Magenta, said/signed.
Ember smiled and nodded then the two headed north.
Weiss held Myrtenaster in front of her before the rotating chamber spin to the fire Dust cartridge she had then she lunged forward...only for Ruby to come back into view and strike at the Beowolf Weiss was going to strike at. She swung the rapier to the left, setting a tree ablaze. The Grimm knocked Ruby into Weiss, the former of the two girls glaring at the latter.
"Watch it!" She snarled.
"You could've died because you attacked out of turn!" Weiss said.
"It'll take more than that."
The largest of the monsters howled then Ruby ejected the clip in her scythe and put a new one in then prepared to fight but Weiss grabbed her arm and the two fled while the pack howled.
Once far enough away, Ruby glared at Weiss. "That was supposed to be easy!"
"I wouldn't have set the forest on fire if you used the slightest amount of caution in your strike placement!"
"Oh, so it's my fault! Well, sorry that you need me to help in a fight! I'm better off alone!"
"Then you're the strongest child to sneak your way into this school. Well done!"
"Ugh! You are absolutely impossible and an embarrassment to the title of Huntress!"
That nearly sent Weiss over the edge as she trained her rapier on Ruby, who held her scythe up. Both were so enraged and frustrated with each other that they didn't see a large black feather land next to them.
Jaune, Pyrrha, Lapis, and Onyx walked through the forest when they heard shots being fired.
"What was that?" Jaune asked.
"Gunfire." Onyx replied.
"That means that some of our classmates have engaged the enemy." Pyrrha said.
"Sounds like some of them aren't following Onyx's lead." Lapis said as he moved a branch out of their path then let the girls go past first.
"Here, I got it." Jaune said.
Lapis nodded then went ahead but Jaune got hit in the face by the branch.
"Jaune! You okay, man?" Lapis asked as he extended a hand.
"Yeah. Just a scratch." The blonde replied as he accepted Lapis' hand.
"Didn't you activate your Aura?" Onyx asked.
"Huh?"
"Jaune...do you know what Aura is?" Pyrrha asked.
"Of course I do! Do you three know?"
"It's the manifestation of our souls. It both bears our burdens and shields our hearts." Lapis explained. "Have you ever felt watched when you thought no one was there?"
"Yeah..."
"That's your Aura." Pyrrha said. "And with practice, it can be our shield. Everyone, even animals, has an Aura."
"Do monsters?"
"No. They lack a soul. They're Creatures of Grimm. Anonymity given life and form. They're darkness and we're light." Onyx said.
"And that's why we fight them."
"Partially, but it's not all about why, but also knowing. We manifest our Aura by understanding both light and dark. Everyone has some of both. But you can deflect harm by beating your soul as an outward force. Our tools and equipment are all conduits for Aura. So you project yourself and your soul while in combat." Lapis explained.
"So it's like a force field!" Jaune realized.
"If you wanna look at it like that, then yes." Lapis chuckled.
While the three experienced fighters were explaining Aura to Jaune, Ren was fighting a King Taijitu, a large snake like Grimm with a head on each end, one black and the other white and even used his Aura to stop the beast from swallowing him after being disarmed. He then defanged the giant snake and stabbed it in the eye with one, and the force of pushing the fang into its head, caused it to explode before he killed the other half of the snake.
"Now, close your eyes and concentrate." Pyrrha instructed and Jaune did so.
A red glow soon surrounded Pyrrha as a white glow enveloped Jaune. Seconds later, Pyrrha doubled over, a little exhausted.
"Pyrrha?" Jaune said.
"It's okay. She used her Aura to unlock yours." Onyx said.
"But the energy that protects you now is your own, Jaune." Lapis said as the cut in Jaune's cheek healed.
"And you have a lot of it." Pyrrha said.
"It'll take a lot of concentration at first, but in time you'll be able to activate and deactivate your Aura as if it's second nature. Then you can focus on your Semblance." Lapis said.
"My...Semblance?" Jaune asked.
Onyx nodded. "Think of your Semblance as a special power you have. For example, my Semblance is called Siren Song. Any who listen to the vocalizations I make when I sing becomes entranced and will follow any command I give them while singing."becomes
"Sounds similar to my own Semblance. Only difference is my eyes change through the colors of the rainbow." Lapis said then looked at Jaune and Pyrrha. "I think there may be a cave nearby. I'm not sure if it's a shortcut or something else, but a couple of us should investigate."
"Jaune and I can check it out." Pyrrha said.
"Okay. Either way, we'll see you guys somewhere down the line." Onyx said then she and Lapis headed onward.
After finishing up his fight, Ren soon heard a noise and looked up to see his childhood friend, Nora Valkyrie, hanging upside down.
"I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like, Nora." He said.
She simply tapped his nose. "Boop." She said.
That's chapter seven
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