Shade's New Blood
Maron sat by herself on a comfortable seat within a traveling airbus. Including herself, there were forty other initiates hoping to earn entry into Shade Academy, and they were on one transport out of a small fleet. The passenger liner was filled with the chatter of other candidates, some making small talk, others already forming teams and discussing strategy, and a handful bragging about their prior training and future fame. A downside to initiation, she thought, but at least it took the attention off of her.
Shade's initiates had been given only three objectives: Survive, Locate, Extract. The desert, a golden trinket, and finding an airbus home respectively. A bit convoluted if you ask her, but Maron didn't ask, chalking it up instead to Shade's adamant belief in a 'survival of the fittest' philosophy. What didn't help was the lack of any real direction other than a set of coordinates, the signal to their scrolls were to be blocked to restrict outside help, and whatever other curveball Shade's instructors were willing to throw at them.
"Attention all initiates. Attention all initiates." Spoke a loud, masculine, older sounding voice over the intercom system that silenced the passengers' chatter, "Please head toward the rear most section of the airbus. I repeat, head toward the rear most section of the airbus. Those of you who are having second thoughts about joining Shade Academy may remain seated until the return journey home."
Grasping her staff which stood between her feet and rested on her shoulder, Maron used it to stand. She waited for just a moment, scanning the rest of the competition who were already disappearing into the airbus's cargo hold a couple at a time. The dull-blonde haired girl bought herself a few extra seconds, letting the others blindly follow instructions and 'test the waters' for her by fastening her weapon to her back before adjusting her light-brown corset and the collar of her white dress shirt. Once she was done making herself presentable, she was satisfied to find herself alone at the heart of the airbus, which then became her cue to follow the other initiates into the back cargo hold. She did a bit of research herself beforehand; she knew Shade's initiations tested for strength and durability, though she wasn't too sure on how far the academy would go.
Stepping down a set of steel stairs into the plain, crowded cargo hold, Maron kept herself at the very back, hugging the wall and stairs behind the eager crowd and waited with them for their next instructions. Only a few seconds later did the screeching of an alarm scream in their ear, flashing a rapidly blinking red warning light as the cargo-hold's doors grinded open. 'No...' Maron carefully thought, It wasn't the main doors, it was… the floor! Before she could even register it, she witnessed the unfortunate initiates at the very center immediately ejected out of the craft with the 'lucky few' stragglers clinging to the sides. However, they too eventually fell or jumped into the hole in the floor whether they choose to or not.
"Bit of a frown you got there!" A low, loud, but unmistakably feminine voice shouted to Maron who clung to the stairs for her life.
Turning to find the voice's owner, Maron found herself facing a fairly toned, fair-skinned girl with neat, ear-length, short, brown hair with one side tucked behind her ear. She donned only a short, sleeveless, bright red sports top, beige cargo shorts, and of course a pair of sand-colored combat boots. From the look of her arm curled around a railing, it would seem the girl also had the same idea. Curiously, she didn't seem to have a weapon on her. "This isn't the time to relax!" Maron shouted her reply with a hint of anxiety now. Checking back on the other initiates whose numbers had thinned down to the single digits. Both girls loosened their grasps, making sure to keep one hand firmly held onto a railing. They slowly stepped to the 'exit' once they were the last ones left. The chilling wind hit them hard when they peeked over the edge. Maron took a peek down below, spotting the countless of different strategies other initiates were using to cushion their fall, some with help from their semblances while others took the safer approach of gabbing a parachute. It was a good thing the airbus had plenty of spare parachutes dropped with the initiates, else Shade Academy would have nothing short of a PR nightmare on their hands. Still, some initiates had semblances good enough to stop themselves from leaving a small crater in the sand, even then there was still wild Grimm that might be in the area that were certainly interested in the sudden, tantalizing, panic of the initiates. Speaking of which, "How are you planning to-" Maron started, looking up to the other girl only to see her immediately spin around, slightly lift her right leg, and 'trip' off the edge with a flat smile on her face.
With the Airbus's floor before her slowly shutting, Maron cursed to herself and took a deep breath before she jumped off the ledge into a freefall. To her east, the shattered moon faithfully rose up once more for the night, apathetic to its wounds while in the west, the sun was sinking over Vacuo's western mountain range, casting colossal shadows across the kingdom's signature sandy dunes. The sky was dominated by a few twinkling stars emerging from their hibernation and poking holes in the dark, deep blue skies with their radiant light. An otherwise inspiring sight, but one that needed to be ignored for now. Maron twisted and turned, struggling for a bit until she finally rolled into the optimal position of her stomach being toward the ground. Her breath was short and ragged, desperate to keep up with her adrenaline fueled, racing heart that was ready to bust out of fear for her life. Now wasn't the time for that though. Closing her eyes, Maron did her best to ignore the howling wind in her ears, taking another deep breath to steady herself. A little bit further down and up ahead on her right was the other girl. Part of Maron wanted to help, but the rest of her simply told ignored it, stating that it wasn't her problem.
The sandy ground was getting closer. After grabbing her staff with her left hand and having it unlock from its current form, the staff snapped into a compound bow. All that was left was to open up the quiver at the back of her hip, glance down at the colorful fletching that made up the bouquet of Dust-tipped arrows, and pulled one with a green fletching with her slender white fingers. The arrowhead on this one was tipped a pale-green with Maron have nocked it into place. The sand drew dreadfully close, but Maron was ready. Pulling back her drawstring, she waited just long enough for the extra energy from her weapon to build up in power before releasing with quiet whisp that pierced through the rushing air.
Seconds later with dozens of meters still left in her descent, a powerful burst of air erupted from the ground where she shot and in but a second, her speed was all but stopped in its tracks. It slowed her down enough, but that didn't stop her from face planting into the sand. The newly Dust-made gust of wind had knocked her off her balance, but it was better result than the alternative. Maron kept low to the ground, waiting for the last grains of raining sand to finally settle before picking her head up to see that other girl again, this time standing over her.
"Some fall." She said, kneeling down and offering out a hand, "Can you stand?" She asked dully.
Maron ignored it, getting up herself with some grumbling, "Yeah, I'll be fine." She grumpily said as she started dusting herself off, straightening her short maroon skirt until the white stripe surrounding its hem could be seen again. Maron wiped off more sand on her legs, pulling up her black stockings back over her knee before cursing to herself at the feeling of grains of sand rub against her skin. Her black boots were ironically spared from the sandy menace, but that wasn't much cause to celebrate. She didn't have time for all of this, and it was nothing a bit of washing couldn't fix later. Right now, she had a mission to complete. "You certainly look a lot better than me." Maron muttered, checking and closing her quiver, picking up her bow, switching to its staff form, and holstering it snuggly on her back, "Especially for someone who took that fall with a smile."
"Ah, nothing to worry about, I've got my semblance to protect me. Toma, by the way." 'Toma' introduced with another outstretched hand for a handshake.
Maron hesitantly took Toma's hand, "Maron." She introduced herself, "Shouldn't you be on your way, looking for one of those golden trinkets?"
"Yeah," Toma chuckled, scratching the back of her head, "But I didn't see you get up so I thought I'd check on ya'."
"And your weapon? 'Lack of', I guess."
"Ah, just a personal thing." Toma answered.
Maron took out her scroll and checked its communication status. 'No Signal' it read as expected, but she still did have the coordinates of where she needed to go. "Well, I guess we part ways here. I have to go check out that rocky area over there." Maron said, pointed over the yam jagged stones sticking out of the sand.
"Oof, the old mine? Rough." Toma said, checking her own scroll, "Oh hey! I have to head there too. Joy..."
The girls looked at one another with probably a similar thought.
"Guess we're tagging along with each other." Toma said cheerfully, chuckling at the coincidence.
"Come on, I'm willing to bet others will get there before us, then we'll have a real problem." Maron stated, starting her walk with Toma right beside her.
Twenty, thirty, forty minutes, an hour of trudging through the desert with the night's air starting to cool the sands. There wasn't much small talk between Maron and Toma save for joking and poking fun at some of the other initiates they met and the unrelated conversation or two. The jagged rocks before them seemed to have grown into boulders and whatever rusted, broken machinery remained at the 'old mine' as Toma called it. The place looked empty, but both girls knew better than to blindly trust that idea without first investigating their surroundings.
The old mine was like a pit. Sand had crept in over the years, forming a smooth crater which ultimately led into a dark, open cave with an old metal sign outside it that was so rusted and worn that it was little more than scrap metal now. One could only tell its original purpose thanks to the few remaining splashes of chipped and cracked paint and whatever remained of a sideways 'M'. The girls looked at each other, sharing the same feeling of suspicion about the dark opening in the ground. They each checked their scrolls to confirm this was the right location and indeed it was.
"I'm willing to bet there are Grimm in there." Toma suggested.
"But 'what kind' and 'how many' is the question." Maron replied.
Toma sighed, "One way to find out." She said, stepping into the rim of the pit and letting herself slowly slide down the shallow incline of sand. Maron followed suit until both initiates stopped some distance away from the mine's entrance where an old rail line for mine carts was and a single cart all but broken down. The rails had seen better days, but they were in far better shape than most things left out in the desert, the same could be said about the cart, but it had outlived its usefulness by this point.
There was faint noise coming from the mouth of the mine. It was like that of hearing a yawn in the dead of night. Could someone have already beaten them to their objective? Maybe it was Grimm, but Grimm rarely such sounds outside of monstrous screams or if they were in pain.
"Do you hear that?" Toma asked Maron, turning her ear to the mine to try and catch the sound again. The girls carefully approached the entrance and tried listening for it again. Nothing. Wait. There it was again, this time with accompanying footsteps. They were getting... closer? In a flash, Maron and Toma were knocked to the ground by two individuals who raced passed them.
"Thanks for your help! We'll be sure to remember you!" Said a girl's voice in a high, playful voice yet with an obviously patronizing tone to it. Maron and Toma only got a glimpse at the backs of the two initiates. One was a male initiate with dark hair and sleeveless brown jacket while the girl who ran with him had dark-purple hair, and a thin-looking, blue jacket. That was the only thing Maron and Toma could catch a glimpse of before their attention was drawn to the mine's entrance where a third pair of footsteps and heavy panting could be heard.
Just as the two were getting up, a third person, another girl with raven hair tied up high in a pony-tail with a light-blue ribbon, emerged, tripping over her own feet before exiting the mine. Behind her, a black figure with bone-like plates and antlers emerged from the shadows and was charging straight at the new girl, antlers forward for a killing blow. From the ground, she drew her single-edged short sword and prepared herself for the worst; however, Toma had stepped in the way. She took the full force of the hit by grabbing the rabbit-like Grimm's antlers with her bare hands, her planted feet not budging an inch.
The third girl got up, slashing at the armored neck of the Grimm. Little by little she chipped away at the bone-like plating, until with one small yell, she gave one final slice that eventually beheaded the beast. The pair's small victory was short lived. Further in the mine, many more pairs of crimson eyes started to show. That was their signal to bail.
Maron had watched it all play out, not quite sure if it was worth helping out, but once she saw the eyes too and the figures of more Grimm, she acted quickly.
"Maron!" Toma shouted, pulling the third girl by the arm as they ran for the cave.
"I'm on it. I'm on it." She grumbled. She hated to waste her precious, Dust-tipped arrows for every problem that came up, not to mention they were fairly costly for her, but now was a reasonable cause to use another one. The arrow she pulled was tipped in a light blue color, and with a quick draw and release, the arrow hit the foot of the mine's entrance, sealing it up with a nice chunk of ice that also had the bonus of freezing a few unlucky Grimm. A little tired, Toma and the new girl then joined up with Maron and looked at the blockade of ice. "Well, there goes that trinket." Maron noted, putting away her bow.
"They... They took it." The third girl said between breaths. The exhausted sounding girl clothing was already matted and a little beaten from whatever fight she emerged from. Her outfit was a black, front-wrapping garment with small, curvy design details in a deep blue and a similarly colored sash around her waist keeping it together. Her short skirt was similar in color choice save the dirt—which also coated her long grey socks and dark shoes—and the blue flowery pattern on its right side. "We... better hurry." She panted, stepping forward out of Toma's grasp before falling to her knees and gloved hands.
"Hold on now, you're not in any position to go after them." Toma said, kneeling beside the girl.
"Forget about my 'condition'!" She snapped, "They have what we need! There was only one and without it-" Her exposed fingers curled into the sand as her head hung low. "Without it..." She trailed off.
With a slight crack behind them, Toma and Maron looked back at the icy barricade. "No sense in staying here then." Maron told the others, "That won't hold them for long." She looked back down to the girl, "You, get up. We're leaving with or without you."
"You aren't seriously going to leave her, are you?" Toma questioned, taken aback by the sudden change in moods.
"Would it matter?" Maron barked at her, "Our one ticket just ran off into the desert and there's a horde of Grimm just waiting to come out of that mine." Returning her now narrowed gaze to the new girl, Maron opened her mouth to say something else, but ultimately decided against it, choosing to start walking away instead.
Behind, Toma offered to help the girl up, but despite thanking her for the offer other girl waved it off in favor of pulling herself up. After clearing the faint hint of moisture from both sides of her light skinned cheeks, the girl recomposed herself and joined Toma in following Maron to wherever she was headed.
Another hour, more traveling. It was tiring, but not unbearable. At least it was night and the air wasn't blazing hot, though the cold wasn't something to cheer about either. There wasn't much talk from a frustrated Maron, but Toma and their new group companion, 'Shae', got along much better. Shae recounted how she ended up being manipulated into creating a distraction for the other two initiates who snatched the golden trinket and bailed. She wanted to wait for a fourth member, but got outvoted in the end, and to be fair, there was no certainty that there was going to be others coming to their location. What a fool she had been made out to be.
It wasn't until Toma piped up that pulled a response from Maron. "Do you even know where you're going? Shouldn't we be finding an extraction point or somethin'?" She asked the blonde.
"We still have time to find another trinket even if we have to blindly search." Maron answered, "There's bound to be people who don't make it to their coordinates and if we can find one such location then we'll be golden."
"Like the trinket." Toma joked in an attempt to lighten the mood, earning her an unamused glance from Maron, "Ok, ok. But how're you planning on finding them anyways, we don't even have a hint as to where they would be!"
"They wouldn't be tossed out randomly in the desert, that wouldn't be suitable for a challenge." Maron started her reasoning, "Which leaves only landmarks and other 'points of interest' like that mine we had to go to. That abandoned city we saw probably has a few and maybe an extraction point as well.
"Well in case you missed the active airbuses overhead, I'm starting to doubt there will be any to spare." Toma said.
"She's right though. For us to get into Shade, it's the best place we can start to look. Even if it turns up empty." Shae chimed in, clutching the hilt of her sheathed short sword just a little tighter from the reminder of their situation.
The trio climbed up a sandy hill, taking in their blue-hued surroundings while they caught their breath from all the walking. The nip in the air was enough kept them sharp and aware of whatever danger lurked under the shifting sands. In the furthest distance, they could just barely make out the twinkling lights of the city of Vacuo and at its center: Shade Academy. Under the moonlight, the city was a captivating sight, a testament to civilization's resilience. Surrounded by monsters and rivals, a land stripped barren by outsiders, yet here a great city stood testament, like a monument declaring to the desert, nay, to all of Remnant, that Vacuo and its people will continue to endure.
Breaking up the girls' little restful sightseeing was a distant shriek behind them. Looking back, they saw a King Taijitu burst up from the sand and start looking for the prey that had evaded its trap. "Someone's in trouble." Toma stated once she saw that it was chasing after a small figure, "Come on! I don't think that was a battle cry."
"Hold it! We should be focusing on getting one of those trinkets!" Maron countered, grabbing the other girl by the wrist.
"Forget the trinket. Someone needs help!" Toma pulled away, hearing more cries from the fleeing figures.
"In case you forgot, we're still on a time limit!" Maron tapped her wrist, "Those trinkets are our only ticket into Shade and I am not sacrificing the one chance I have for someone who can't handle themselves!" She threatened, continuing, "I'm going to those ruins, you can either come with me or you can try again next year."
"Fine. Go find your trinket. Turn your back on someone in need." Toma growled, narrowing mahogany gaze at Maron, "Some Huntress you'll be..." She grumbled the last part mostly to herself, already starting into a sprint toward the serpent Grimm in the distance.
Maron glanced to Shae, silently asking if she felt the same way. Shae's sapphire-blue eyes met Maron's ruby, then to Toma, then back before shaking her head, following behind Toma, and leaving a bitter Maron alone.
The blonde began her march forward through sandy wastes on her own. She didn't need them, hell, she proved that fact back at the mine. 'A test of individual strength', they said, 'You have to rely on yourself' they said, but it would seem that the professors and staff beating those words into the initiates' heads didn't always stick. Whatever, it wasn't her problem anyways.
After a few minutes of marching, through the cold air and coarse sands, Maron filled her head with mostly aimless thoughts to pass the time, but again and again Toma's words came back like a thorn. Bah, she didn't need this, what she needed was to figure out her plan once she got into Shade. Aside from the studying that is. Sparring matches were inevitable, and though she didn't have any enemies, she couldn't rule out being challenged to a fight by other students. She'd have to practice her close combat skills for sure. However, that brought up the issue of replenishing her stock of Dust arrows, they weren't cheap and she didn't have the resources nor skill to make them on her own. Now that she thought about it, what about her financial- Maron was ripped away from her thoughts. The was something in the sand a fair distance away from her. She almost mistook it for a Grimm, but it was too small and more akin to just a regular, flat-topped rock, but that wasn't what caught her eye. It was a sparkle. Maron kept still and kept an eye on the distant rock. Nothing. Still suspicious, she took a step backward. There it was again, but gone just in a flash. The girl shifted herself between both positions until finally she had it! It was the reflection of the moonlight off something shiny on the rock. It... It couldn't be, could it?
Maron stepped closer before stopping herself. Every step closer brought the golden object clearer into view. She couldn't believe it. There a trinket was, her ticket into Shade, just sitting right there for the taking! Maron's legs suddenly came to a halt, this wasn't right. Her gut told her this was a trap. It just had to be! Why would a single trinket be left out here without anyone else taking it? Maybe, like she just found out, it was simply hard to notice and went undetected. Despite the hundred if not more initiates taking part in the initiation, there it was, hidden in plain sight. Not impossible, but that answer felt too... convenient. Too good to be true. But even if she assumed this was a trap, the real question was 'why'? Why would someone not just take it and leave?
'Go find your trinket', Toma's voice echoed to her. Yeah, well? Here it was! Here it was... Every step Maron took felt just a little heavier than the last. She cursed repeatedly to and at herself. Her key into Shade was right there, almost literally within her reach! But, old, unpleasant memories started to resurface, returning from whatever depths of her mind she buried them in long ago. Her mind, stubborn and driven to accomplish her mission, to finally have the chance to do great things, told her to just take it. It was her only chance and she knew it yet, it wouldn't make her any better from those back then, would it? Even so, her heart refused to allow her to even touch that trinket. Maron squinted up at the broken moon, almost willing to ask if it had the answers she sought, but alas, it was deaf to her plea. She already knew what she had to do, but doing it would be painful. So, with a single, light sob and violent kick into the sand, she sighed in defeat, grabbed her staff-turned-bow, and turned back around; unknowingly leaving the view of pleased observer...
It wasn't long before Maron found herself climbing the same sandy hill she left the others on. As her luck would have it, the fight was still going on with Toma and Shae, whom she could just partially make out, struggling against the two heads while simultaneously defending a third figure. The others looked to be at the end of their rope, barely fending off each snap of the serpent's jaws. Maron wouldn't make it on foot even if she had the extra speed, but there was something she could do.
With her compound bow raised in one hand, Maron planted her feet and grabbed one of her more plentiful 'standard' arrows and drew back. She shut her eyes, steadied her breath, and concentrated on her target and its surroundings: The King Taijitu and the prey it sought to kill. Once locked onto her intended target, Maron's eyes shot open with her semblance now in place, her sight was crystal clear while her mind raced with every conceivable action those in front of her could take. She could 'see' everything she needed to know right down to the exact position the other girls' feet would end up even if they were a few steps behind and hadn't made it there yet. Maron accounted for distance, for the speed of both the Grimm and her weapon, for the very wind that dared to pick up around her, for the position of her companions, her enemy, and only then did she release.
Like a shooting star, her arrow cut through the air with the boosted power from her bow. The Grimm's black-scaled half dashed its head forward to snap at Toma, but just before it could reach her, the arrow pierced the beast's crimson right eye. The snake howled in agony, its white counter-part abandoning its attack on Shae to protect its sibling from the sudden entrance of a third foe. Toma jumped out of the way of an enraged white-half of the King Taijitu while Shae raced along its side, slashing her sword across it's scaley, armored body one cut after another with moderate success. The white's head was quick to turn around and was close to biting Shae, but powerful stomp on its lower jaw and a punch into the roof of its mouth from Toma stopped its tracks. This gave Shae the opportunity to pull a trigger on her sword, lighting up its blade with the faint crackling of electricity before she rammed its point through the Grimm's eye. Half the battle was over.
Meanwhile, Maron let loose another trio of arrows one after the other, each lodging themselves painfully into the scales of the surviving half of the serpent. She dropped to her knees, sliding under the wounded creature's head as it tried to counter. Maron was quick to jump back to her feet and use the body of the Grimm's fallen half to climb onto its back. Barely able to keep her balance from the monster that tried to Shake her off, Maron yanked an arrow from the Grimm's body to use once more. She planted her foot on the snake's head, and without a second more of hesitation, shot through its thick skull with her acquired arrow, finally bringing the Grimm's hunt to an end. The Grimm collapsed into the sand with Maron stumbling off it as it did so, she lost her footing but managed to land even if it wasn't the cleanest, but at least she was still on two feet.
Even after their battle, the two parties weren't really on speaking terms. Maron recovered her arrows and met back up with the other two girls with a thick air of cold silence between them. They weren't getting anywhere, so Maron started first, "Look, I'm-"
"What? Failed to find your precious 'trinket' and now you're looking to find a 'thanks'?" Toma cut her off, arms crossed and her face turned away with disgust.
That really ticked Maron off. "I came back to help and apologize, but you know what? Maybe I should have just left and never returned! And as a matter of fact, I did find one!" Maron returned.
"Coming back to rub it in our face then? How low can you get?"
"Maybe you should be a bit more grateful that I even bothered. This is the second time I saved your-"
"Girls!" Shae interrupted, getting between Maron and Toma and shoving them apart, "We have another matter to attend to." She said, turning back to a fourth girl who was sitting upright with arms curled around her knees. The aforementioned girl still trembled in fright; her light blue eyes still horrified at the now dead beast that now lay before her. There were a few bruises and a cut or two marking her light skin, but otherwise she was oddly fine despite that fact. How she managed to get them in the first place considering her fleeing in terror was another mystery. "Hey, you alive?" Shae asked the girl.
From her grey, shoulder-length mess of hair came a pair of grey wolf ears perked up from their flattened position at their owner being called. As if waking up from a dream, the girl, who the others could see now was a faunus, looked between the three girls standing over her with a mix of confusion and fear in her eyes. She patted her grey, sleeveless jacket, checked her belt's two pouches on her back hip and one on her left in a frantic search, but finally started settling down when her hand felt the chain-like whip with a mace head at its end safely coiled in its holster on the right of her hip. She got up, hastily brushing off the sand and wrinkles from her tight grey shorts and slightly bowed her head with hands clasped together below her, "T-T-Thank you! T-Thank you!" She rapidly stuttered in a high, quivering voice. She was quick to back away, "I-I-I better- I better get going." She stammered once more, almost as if she was expected yet another attack to come at any moment, "T-Thank you again!" Just as she started walking away, she immediately tripped over her own feet, planting face-first into the sand with one foot in the air for a long second before coming back down. The other three looked over the girl with looks of curious disbelief and slight concern, thinking to themselves, 'How did this girl make it this far'?
Toma let out a sigh as she walked over to forcefully pull the faunus girl up to her feet, only receiving a jump-scared yelp as thanks. "Hey, no need to leave so soon." The brunette said, "Still pretty dangerous out here."
"I-I don't have a-anything to g-give you!" The faunus girl stuttered again.
"'Give'?" Toma repeated, "What- No! No, I'm not asking for anything!"
"Look at that, you're scaring her." Maron snickered.
"Shut it." Toma retorted. "How about you breathe for a second and calm down? We're here to help you." She said, half glancing back at Maron who returned the hostile look with her own. Toma sat the girl back down and gave her space as she struggled to—but eventually caught—her breath. "Why don't we start with something easy, like your name? I'm Toma."
"M-My name? My name..." The wolf-eared girl paused, "It's Trya... Trya." She repeated, "The initiation isn't over, is it?"
Maron was the one to answer this time, "No, we still have about two hours before the test ends and the professors decide to do an emergency pickup." She said, crossing her arms under her chest and shifting her weight to one leg, "And I don't need to remind: If we don't succeed in our challenge, we'll be booted from Shade's candidate roster."
"B-But we c-can still make it, r-right?" Trya asked, her breath racing with anxiety again.
"Yeah, we can all make it." Toma reassured, "Maron, you said you found a trinket already?" She questioned.
Acknowledging their issue, Maron dropped her little quarrel with the other girl and answered, "Yes, it's a fair walk from the hill we split up on, but I couldn't get it myself." She half-lied. Regardless of wanting to admit her reasons or not, Maron didn't have the trinket on her, meaning their only option was to go back and find it again.
"Guess you did need help." Toma whispered under her breath.
"What was that?" Maron asked, barely making out the girl's words but wanting to be sure they were still on the same page.
"I said that we'd better get moving, every minute here is a minute we don't have to spare." Toma finished, picking Trya up again and straightening her open jacket to see the light-blue t-shirt underneath, "Want to come with us? Shade's initiation isn't over yet and at this rate we'll either all barely scrape by or fail together."
"I-I don't have much of a choice..." Tyra said somberly, gripping her left arm as she glanced to the sand.
"Close enough," Toma patted the girl's shoulders, "Now come on. Maron, lead the way!" The blonde nodded, breaking into a quick jog but making sure the others were behind her this time.
The four charged back the way they came, but now with a reluctant fourth in tow. The cool air gently blew past the girls as they reached the first hill together. Like before, Shade and the city of Vacuo could be seen in the far distance, but they weren't here to admire its view this time. Instead, they charged forward behind a leading Maron to the very spot she had found their golden prize. "It's just over this last hill in a flat clearing." Maron said as they crossed it, "It's hard to see at first glance, but it's sitting on-" She froze as her eyes widened in horror. This was the spot: A single, flat-topped rock in the middle of a flat clearing, but there was no trinket to see this time. Resting cozily in a ball on the rock, in place of the golden trinket they sought, was a single, fennec-like Grimm whose large ears and head perked up at the sound of the four waking it from its nap. Its jet-black body had not a single boney plate save for on its paws and the lower half of its front legs. A Vulzera. Sure, it may barely reach up to the average person's knee in size, but where there was one, there were possibly dozens- if not hundreds- more.
Maron carefully drew her bow with the others readying their weapons and guard save Trya who also froze in terror. Slowly, Maron grabbed an arrow and drew back on her drawstring, but then a subtle sound metallic clanking from behind them hit their ears. A gentle hand pushed Maron's bow down as the Grimm took the opportunity to flee into the desert.
It was a young woman, not much older than them judging by her light, youthful skin, "Leave it. They remember such encounters." She said in a rich and mature sounding voice. The new woman wore dark attire, a simple, dark-grey tank top and black shorts with long, matching socks and black boots. Unlike the girls this woman was covered in plenty of leather armor. Bracers, gloves, shin guards, and a short skirt made of spaced-out strips of leather over her shorts, finally there was the addition of a well-worn, short jacket tied around her waist and hanging on the right side of her hip. She was dressed for battle, but the four initiates weren't sure for who or what, and that was what worried them the most. Just like her outfit, the new arrival had black hair had faint hints of white tipped ends and was tied in a thick, messy pony tail. However, when she turned to face the girls, her eyes were a striking, bright orange. Her gaze alone was enough to intimidate the girls. The threatening looking woman, planted her sheathed ninjato into the sand, the metallic clinking finally making its appearance in the form of a set of four golden trinkets hanging on her hip. A shocking sight for the four initiates...
"You uh... an initiate?" Maron asked, giving herself a little more distance from the new girl, "You don't need four of them you know."
"I am not an initiate, no." She answered. Her fiery eyes following Maron's gaze which landed on her four golden trophies, "But I can see that you are. You initiates seem to need these little things." She said, running her finger through the trinkets.
"Yeah. I don't think you'd be too kind as to lend them to us, would you?" Toma asked.
"No."
"That's fine, but we need them to get to where we're going." Shae replied, already preparing herself for another fight, "I hope you don't mind." She said, the other girls looking to her, not exactly prepared for something of this caliber.
The woman returned her weapon's scabbard to her hip, slowly drawing out the blade with her right hand, "A dozen have already tried and all have failed." She said, her cold, emotionless expression left unchanged.
It happened in a flash, the woman had made the first move and in what felt like an instant, she was in Shae's face. Toma had just barely pulled Shae out of harm's way as the blade slashed through the ground with a powerful wave following its wake. Sand rained down as the girls were in awe and tense from the powerful display.
"You idiot!" Toma yelled at Shae, "Think Shae! If she's not an initiate, how else would she have gotten those trinkets?" She finished. It clicked for Shae, and it was only then did she realize her mistake.
The assailant straightened her back, taking her time to search for her target. Once she had Shae locked on, she charged again, this time going for an overhead slash with her ninjato, but a sudden block from Maron's staff kept it from connecting. The blonde pushed forward, keeping their new foe back peddling for a time with her own flurry of blunt strikes. However, the woman sheathed her sword back in its scabbard, expertly dodging Maron's jabs and strikes before grabbing her by the hair and slamming her knee into the younger girl's stomach.
Maron was tossed behind her, but Toma and Shae were quick to take her place in the fight. They were messy, uncoordinated, easy to send their respective attacks into one another. Toma was staggered off to the side as Shae received a powerful heel into her chest, sending her flying past a frightened Tyra who just barely dodged her incoming companion. Toma recovered, using her semblance to good use in keeping her footing and negating her opponent's overwhelming strength. Unfortunately, the woman was quick to pick up on Toma's skill and changed tactics, keeping distance while gradually slashing away at Toma's defenses. She shifted just a bit to her left, and from behind, Maron's jab with her staff had missed, hitting Toma's face instead of its intended target. Maron's shin was kicked from under her and she fell, Toma, still shaking off Maron's hit, recovered just in time to feel a round house hit her side and send her crashing into the sandy hill next to them.
A recuperated Shae returned to the battle, now a little furious. Aided by Maron, the two did their best to overwhelm this new enemy, but found themselves more on the defensive with the woman being much faster than either of the imitates, especially when she started using her scabbard as a kind of 'second blade'. Shae was shoved back to the ground leaving Maron to receive a jab to her stomach again by the scabbard before being struck in the cheek with the ninjato's blunt hilt. The hostile woman returned to a fallen Shae, stomping her foot on the middle of girl's chest as she tried to get back up. A second later, her orange gaze was set on Tyra who trembled at the sudden realization that she was the only one left standing.
Tyra was quick to back away from the woman who approached her. Out of pity or some other excuse, the assailant sought to make Tyra's defeat quick and easy. The faunus girl tripped over herself and fell to her back, unintentionally evading a horizontal slash. She was hit with the other woman's scabbard, once, twice, three times, but finally came a finishing boot, but it was blocked by a guard Tyra had finally put up. For a brief moment there was a shoving match, but to the surprise of the woman, it would be the initiate who ended up with the upper hand. She was given a powerful shove that sent her back, forcing her to catch herself with her hands to the ground before throwing her rest of her weight over and behind her in a back handspring, landing her feet back onto the ground. Tyra rose up, her new, bright yellow eyes now in a contest with the woman's orange. The faunus undid her holster's button on her side and grabbed her whip by its handle while her opponent prepared for a real fight.
Maron weakly rubbed her cheek. Her body ached and yearned for more rest, but she couldn't afford it. She slowly forced herself to rise, first with one knee still in the sand, then on both feet in a trembling stance with her staff as support. The blonde painfully pushed herself to reunite with Toma and Shae, the latter of whom was in a worse condition seeing as Toma was crouched over her. Maron fell beside Toma with little strength left in her. Toma was still trying to help Shae recover, but Maron was stunned at a different sight not far in front of her. Tyra and the hostile stranger were in a deadly dance of chain and blade, but what was more amazing was the sight of Tyra seemingly able to not only hold her own, but to even go toe-to-toe with her foe.
"-are you listening?" Toma's voice suddenly broke Maron out of her trance. She responded with a half-present 'yeah, yeah' but the blonde's red gaze was firmly fixed somewhere else. Toma followed Maron's eyes to eventually spot the glorious fight going on, immediately being dumbfounded by how expertly Tyra fought.
"Who the hell is this girl? You said you rescued her?" Maron questioned. Before the brunette could answer, Shae groaned awake, sitting herself up and shaking off the dizziness she felt. The three could only watch, but it was Maron who eventually pulled herself together. "Toma, Shae, can you still fight?" She asked. Both nodded, Shae in particular having to push through her visible exhaustion, "Good, 'cause we won't get another chance like this." Maron finished, pieces of a plan being put together in her head.
Tyra's whip weaved through the air, the mace at its end scoring a few hits while other times it simply missed or was blocked, going so far as to use even the chain itself as a weapon and tool. She tightened the chain's slack between her hands, blocking an incoming swing and being forced into a shoving match with the swordswoman. They got into a kicking match, dodging attacking, and blocking one another's legs until the woman heard the faintest of steps of someone else trying to strike at her back. She took her attention off of Tyra, quickly spinning to her left to slash at whoever approached from behind, but her sword was cut short by Shae's short sword. A second later, she felt a chain wrap around her left wrist, yanking back her arm, leaving her wide open for an attack.
Toma dashed from the woman's left, changing plans after seeing Tyra take up her roll. She reeled back her arm for a powerful punch, but the woman looked undeterred. She dropped her sword from, grabbing Shae's shoulder with her now free hand and driving a knee into her stomach. The woman also dropped her scabbard twisting her hips and wrist to grab the chain-like whip and violently pull its owner forward. Toma was close and ready to throw her punch, but she couldn't stop herself. She could do little other than watch a shocked Tyra come between her fist and her intended target, sending the faunus girl straight into the sand. Struck with disbelief, Toma could do nothing as the woman threw two punches of her own to Toma's face, sweep her legs, and hammer down an elbow into her back. All that was left now was a missing Maron. The archer appeared behind the woman, striking at her in a rapid flurry with her staff. It wasn't much, but it stunned her just enough for Maron to make the switch to her bow and draw an arrow, any arrow, hopefully a Dust arrow, to deliver a decisive blow.
Maron had luckily grabbed a red, Dust-tipped arrow, readied it, drew her drawstring back, and just about took aim. She was so close, yet to her horror, the woman had gotten to her first. A deft hand stole and disarmed the arrow while another painfully grabbed Maron's face, driving her into the ground with a forceful throw...
The woman let out a tired sigh as she overlooked Maron. The fallen initiate was exhausted, her reserves of energy were burned up, she was at the mercy of the dark-haired woman above her, and she didn't have high hopes for whatever was next. She reached out in a pathetic attempt to continue on, but her hand was swatted aside, "Still have some fire in you?" She asked, "Good. Such passion will serve you well." She finished. She said something else, but Maron couldn't quite make out the words once her head fell back and her eyes finally grew heavy...
- - o - -
Maron's awoke with a frightened expression and gasp, she quickly sat up and scanned her surroundings but found nothing save for the other three initiates who each were barely getting up from their slumber. Though thankful just to be alive, her thoughts reminded her of her quest and it pained her to realize that by now, the girls' only chance into Shade Academy had just been yanked away. She squeezed her hands in a mixture of frustration and dejection, but felt small prick in her left hand. She brought the hand in front of her, and when she uncurled her fingers, her eyes widened at sight of the prize she sought: One golden trinket, designed like that of a crescent moon including a few of its broken pieces on its base.
Toma had called out to Maron, showing her dark-haired own trinket with a with a bit of confusion and little excitement. The other girls more or less had the same reaction; Shae was unable to take her eyes off hers with an expression of disbelief while Tyra clasped hers in both hands as if she would lose it otherwise. "Oh yeah, Tyra what was that earlier?"
Tyra was silent, fixed on her own golden reward and lost in her own trance.
"Tyra?" Toma called again.
Her ears perked up, alerting her to Toma, "What? Oh, s-sorry. I was just... just... remembering a dream."
"Oh. Well, uh, where did you learn to fight like that?" Toma changed back subjects, reading the somber tone in the faunus girl's voice.
"Fight like what?" The wolf-eared girl answered.
Their conversation was cut off by the sound of engines. There was an airbus hovering above them, slowly making its landing. The rear cargo bay door opened up to a dark-haired older, greying looking woman in professional attire, one of Shade's professors, walked alone onto the extended platform with an air of confidence and authority around her. The girls instinctively approached the craft, they'd be happy just to get out of the desert, but now they had something to show for it. "Well, girls, Shade's initiation has reached its conclusion. I'm afraid you will have to try your strength during next year's initiation unless... you have something to prove your worth to the academy." She informed.
Each of the girls gave her their 'proof', lips zipped tight about the specifics on how they got them, but they did try to mention being forced into a fight with another person, but before they could give any more details, they were shushed by the professor.
"'A fight', you say?" She gave a hearty chuckle, "Well, to be frank, it was never specified how an initiate achieved their objective, but it is no matter." She said, looking through her scroll and pocketing the girls' trinkets, "I believe you are among the last to successfully complete initiation. Well then, I welcome you hmm..." She paused, identifying the girls via their profiles and records before trying to come up with a name, "...hmm, Team 'Amethyst', to Shade Academy." She greeted, sharing to their scrolls their newly created team information, 'Team MTST' being the new title on their academy profiles. "Congratulations, 'Team Amethyst', and welcome to Shade Academy." She finally said with a light clap.
Exhausted, sore, and in a desperate need for a rest, Team MTST followed the professor aboard the airbus and eagerly collapsed into a free row of four seats. The simple comfort of a cushion was more than welcome, especially after the night they had. Many questions still lingered in their minds, but without the faintest clues to guide them to their answers, such questions would have to be deferred. For now, working through Shade Academy would be their next goal. The girls would push through and overcome all of Shade's trials whatever they may be: brutal combat training, harsh punishments, intensive studies, and/or whatever else Shade's instructors felt obligated to throw at the students. However, tonight they had earned their rest. Tomorrow, they could officially call themselves 'Students of Shade Academy'. Tomorrow, their real test would begin.
A. Note: Wanted to give it a shot. Thanks for taking a look!
Edit: Changed the summary.
As always, enjoy!
~Firetoast312