Pyrrha's mind was abuzz; Jaune's launch pad had flung him into the heart of the forest, and unfortunately hers hadn't been angled in the same direction. By her estimates, they were probably close to two clicks apart. To make matters worse, she'd be partnered with the first person she saw, so she'd have to be smart if she wanted to be Jaune's partner. Well, it's not as though she became a champion by being stupid, so this would be simple enough to manage. Simple, but not easy.
She kept to the undergrowth; moving out in the open maximized the risk of being partnered with someone else, and moving through the treetops was pointlessly dangerous and exhausting. Perhaps the greatest obstacle she faced was the simple fact that she most likely had at least a few other students actively seeking her out; after all, she reflected as she crept through the bushes, there were a lot of people eager to partner up with the Invincible Girl.
But not Jaune; he didn't seem to care that she was famous, didn't even know who she was. The idea of being just another girl was… nice. A normal friendship, no drama, no strings attached; just two people who enjoyed each other's company. She ducked behind a tree upon hearing footsteps; a boy in armour, heavily built and making more noise than a bullhead making an emergency landing.
As she moved around the boy, she wondered if she was being fair to Jaune; she was putting a lot on a boy she'd only just met. It felt, in all honesty, uncomfortably close to the behaviour of her fans. But wasn't she allowed to be selfish, just this once? Besides, it wasn't as if she wanted to befriend him just because he didn't know who she was; she felt like she'd seen something in him, something kind and gentle…
"Die! Die!" The Beowolf's arm came free from its body on the second swing, so Jaune moved on to its head. He had to admit, this was kind of fun; the Grimm were vicious, but one at a time, they weren't really all that bad. As long as he dodged their first attack, it was easy enough to land a hit on them, clumsy as his own strikes were.
"Haha! Die!" Plus of course, it was just nice to be on the other end of the beatings. He was onto his third Beowolf, and he wouldn't mind a few more stragglers. "What was that?!" His head snapped up at a faint rustling sound in the distance, growing closer. "Hello?" As the sound grew louder, he realized that it wasn't a faint sound at all, but rather a loud one very far away.
"Oh no…" Sure enough, just a moment later an Ursa burst through the trees, with two more trailing behind. "Of course," Jaune sighed, adjusting his grip as the largest of the Grimm closed in.
The Ursa was slower than the Beowolves had been; it was no real challenge to dodge its first strike and respond with one of his own, scoring a long, shallow wound across its side. He dodged another swing at head height and slashed at the Grimm's paw before the other two closed in.
The next couple of minutes were just an indistinct blur of motion and noise; the grimm tried to kill him while he did his best to stay alive, focusing on avoiding their claws and fangs while occasionally lashing out with his own rather clumsy blows. Before long, all three beasts had an assortment of minor wounds, but Jaune just couldn't seem to do any serious damage; his attacks were too weak, too clumsy and inexperienced. Is running all you're good for?Pathetic boy! You're an embarrassment to your family, you damned weakling! This is for your own good, boy; it's the only way you'll ever learn…
"RRAAAARRGH!" Screaming wordlessly, Jaune surged forwards, his sword in a two-handed grip. He severed several claws from the nearest Ursa with a wide, sweeping blow before sighting along the blade of his sword and lunging. The tip of Crocea Mors slipped between the Ursa's jaws as it roared, plunging deep into the back of the beast's throat and bursting out the back of its neck.
"One down, two to…" The sword was stuck. "Shit." He just barely managed to get his shield up in time as the second Ursa swung at him, sending him flying backwards, landing in a heap at the feet of the final Ursa. Still dizzy from the previous blow, Jaune was only able to cower behind his shield, gritting his teeth as the Ursa hammered its claws against it. After deflecting two more blows, a third caught the edge of his shield and sent it flying clear out of his hands, sliding across the forest floor.
"No," Jaune whimpered, desperately scrambling away from the Ursa's bite. He managed to get to his feet and start running just in time to be bowled forward by its next swipe. Rolling to avoid the next blow, he was left helpless as the Ursa bit into his shoulder; if he hadn't had his Aura unlocked, he had no doubt that he'd be missing an arm. Before he could even think, the other Ursa bit onto his free arm, leaving him completely helpless. He kicked frantically, his feet bouncing off the hides of the attacking Grimm, but they paid his feeble blows no notice, far too intent on mauling him. After a few moments more, he felt a terrible, pulling crunch, followed by a searing pain in his shoulder; it was definitely dislocated. Sorry mom…
*BANG!* The Ursa biting his shoulder suddenly jerked and went limp, ichor pouring from an open wound in its neck. Suddenly able to move more freely, Jaune moved his newly freed arm to reach for the Ursa pulling at his dislocated arm, plunging his thumb into its eye. The Grimm reared back, roaring in pain, just in time for a spear to fly into its other eye. In an instant, there was a red-haired girl upon the Ursa, ripping her spear free and jamming it into the beast's neck.
"Are you okay?" She held her hand out towards him. "Can you stand?"
"You… you saved my life." After a moment of staring blankly, he grabbed her hand and pulled himself to his feet. "Your name was Pyrrha, right?"
"You're the first person who's had to ask," Pyrrha giggled.
"Oh, uh, sorry about that," Jaune muttered, blushing faintly.
"No need to apologize," Pyrrha said, a small grin on her face. "It's a nice change of pace." Suddenly, her smile was replaced by a look of concern. "Oh no, your arm!"
"Right," Jaune groaned, grabbing his dislocated left arm by the wrist and holding it towards Pyrrha. "Could you give my arm a tug? Nice and hard, if you don't mind."
"Okay…" Pyrrha grabbed his wrist and pulled back sharply. A loud crack, almost like a gunshot, rang out as Jaune's shoulder popped back into place.
"Thanks," Jaune said, rolling his shoulder. "I could've popped it back in myself, but it's better to get help with it."
"Doesn't that hurt?"
"Like crazy," Jaune replied. "But it hurts a lot more when I do it myself." He smiled shyly. "And I'd be hurting a lot more if you hadn't shown up. I owe you one, Partner."
Pyrrha smiled back at him. "It was my pleasure, partner." With that, she extended her hand.
After a moment, Jaune shook her hand. "Seriously though, thank you for bailing me out there. So," He looked around. "Any idea where we're supposed to be going?"
Blake was not enjoying her day. She'd been launched off a cliff, nearly lost her bow, and her hair was full of twigs and leaves.
"Hurry up or I'll leave you behind!" And of course, there was her new partner; Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, daughter of the man who was arguably the face of anti-faunus racism. It was like a sick, twisted joke. Look on the positive side; she's better than Adam. At the thought of Adam, Blake's stomach plunged once more, before, amazingly, she found herself having an idea.
"Nope, still can't find it," Blake said, looking over her arms.
"Can't find what?" Weiss demanded impatiently.
"The SDC logo," Blake replied casually. "But I must have one, seeing as how you're treating me like your property."
"How dare you, I was just-"
"Tell you what," Blake said, interrupting Weiss. "I'll let my Aura down and you can try carving it into my back, okay?"
"What- you- Argh!" Weiss stomped her foot petulantly. "I can't believe you're actually childish enough to treat me like this just because I come from money."
"And where did that money come from again? Face it," Blake looked Weiss dead in the eye. "If there was any justice in this world, your father would be in prison."
"I… agree with you," Weiss said after a moment. "My father is a terrible person, and the Schnee Dust Corporation has done awful things with him in charge. But I'm not my father."
"Okay," Blake sighed. "I'll stop. For now. But you'd better not turn out like your father."
"Don't worry, I won't. Now will you please hurry up?"
"Fine," Blake muttered, smirking to herself. "I'll hurry up. What's the rush, anyway?"
"We're getting sorted into teams of four," Weiss said by way of explanation. "I need to find Pyrrha as soon as possible so we can be on the same team."
"Coming across like a stalker here," Blake noted. "Is there a reason you're so obsessed with being on her team?"
"The Strongest new student on a team with the smartest new student?" Weiss smirked. "We'll be unstoppable."
"The smartest student?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "Careful you don't get overconfident."
"Please," Weiss scoffed. "When you're as smart as I am, there's no such thing as overconfident."
"Sure," Blake snorted, a faint grin appearing on her face. "Keep telling yourself that."
"Do you think the sign is accurate?" Jaune asked, his sword drawn as he stared into the darkness of the cave mouth.
"I'm not sure," Pyrrha replied. "I can't imagine anyone would go to the trouble of marking the cave out if it weren't dangerous, but it doesn't really make sense."
"Yeah, I get what you mean," Jaune nodded. "How would a grimm that size even fit through the cave entrance?"
"Maybe it entered the cave, and then it grew?" Even as she said it, Pyrrha had trouble believing it.
"Do grimm grow that fast?"
"Probably not," Pyrrha sighed. "I don't know, maybe there was a cave-in or something?"
"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "That's probably it."
"Can we please just go?" Pyrrha asked, her shoulders sagging.
"Sure, let's get-' Wait a minute!" Jaune spun on his heel, his sword clearing its scabbard.
"What's wrong?" Pyrrha fell into a fighting stance, just in time to see Weiss walk into the clearing, arguing with a black-haired girl.
"...telling you, I know what I'm doing," Weiss insisted as she turned to face forward, jumping slightly as she saw Jaune and Pyrrha. "Ah! Excellent, I was hoping to run into you, Pyrrha."
"Hello Weiss," Pyrrha said, smiling politely. "And who's your new friend?"
"Blake," the black-haired girl said by way of introduction. "And you're Pyrrha Nikos, but who's he?"
"Jaune," He said, waving casually. "Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise," Blake replied. "So, is there a reason you two are standing around in front of a cave?"
"Trying to make sense of this sign," Jaune said, gesturing towards the cave. "It says there's a big grimm in there, but we can't see how it'd get in there."
Blake shrugged, "Cave-in?"
"That's what Pyrrha said," Jaune nodded, turning to face his partner. "Looks like your theory's the winner."
"It seems reckless to just leave it there," Pyrrha said, looking nervously at the cave.
"You're right," Weiss nodded, stepping forward. "It would be reckless." With that, she flicked her sword toward the cave, sending a ball of fire hurtling into the cavern. After a moment, a hideous screech echoed out from the depths of the cave, followed by a loud rumbling.
"Whatever's in there, it's heading this way," Jaune murmured uneasily.
"I know," Weiss smirked, pointing her sword toward the ground. "Just wait." Moments later, a colossal Deathstalker came racing toward them, its carapace aflame. Just before it reached them, Weiss' rapier plunged into the ground, and a strange glowing symbol appeared beneath the Deathstalker. For a few tense seconds, the hulking Grimm scrabbled and skittered in place, its legs digging into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust, before suddenly losing its footing and being flung back into the cave, shrieking all the while. After a moment, its echoing shrieks ended, punctuated by a series of loud crashes and thumps. "And that was a cave-in."
"You hear that Pyrrha?" Jaune chuckled. "You're definitely right now."
"Well, with that out of the way, we should probably head out," Blake said. "We've still got a way to go."
"Agreed," Weiss nodded. "We need to get mov-" A scream of anger cut through the air, and the group quickly turned to see a girl hanging by a bright red cloak from a Nevermore's beak, hacking at its face with a scythe.
"Shit," Jaune hissed. "That's Ruby!"
"Great," Weiss sighed. "Well, the first thing we need to do is come up with a plan to- and you've already run off. Perfect."
As it turns out, Nevermores don't fare very well when outnumbered eight to one by trainee huntsmen and huntresses. It was already on fire, with one eye shot right out and deep gashes in its chest.
"Huh," Jaune muttered, his head cocked to one side. "I kind of expected this to be a little harder."
"It would be if there weren't so many of us," Pyrrha explained helpfully. "If one of us tried to fight this thing on our own, we could very easily die."
"Fair enough," Jaune shrugged, beating his sword and shield together to distract the Nevermore. After a moment, he got its attention, and quickly ducked behind his shield as a barrage of huge feathers flew towards him. "Shit!" He hissed, the force of the javelin-sized quills throwing him onto his back as they struck his shield, one streaking past it and piercing through his hoodie, pinning him to the ground. Now, Jaune was pretty clearly the least serious threat to the Nevermore, but a grimm is a grimm, and presented with such an easy target, it fell into a dive.
"I've got you!" Pyrrha lept in front of him, hurling her spear at the Nevermore and striking it in its wing. The Grimm shrieked in pain, listing hard to the left. Pyrrha turned and wrenched the quill pinning him free as the grimm crashed to the ground not far from them, its uninjured wing splayed out with its tip not three feet from them.
Jaune looked from the Nevermore's wing to his sword and back before shrugging. "Eh, worked well enough for it, why not?" With that, he drove his sword into its wing, pushing down with all his weight until he felt Crocea Mors' blade burst through its flesh and into the ground below. "Can't hurt to be sure," Jaune muttered, using his shield as a hammer to drive his sword even deeper into the ground, only stopping when the crossguard touched its wing. "Let's see you fly away now," Jaune chuckled, a savage grin splitting his features. "Okay, I've got it pinned; someone finish it off!"
Before Jaune could even finish his sentence, an orange-haired girl leapt forward swinging her massive hammer in an overhead strike. "Hi! I'm Nora," she said, extending her hand.
"... Hi, I'm Jaune," Jaune replied, taking her hand after a moment. "Nice swing by the way," he noted, gesturing towards the shattered mess that used to be the Nevermore's head.
"Thanks! You set it up for me pretty well; nice job pinning it there."
"Watch out," The black-haired boy with Nora chuckled. "Now you've helped her kill grimm, she's friends with you whether you like it or not." He stepped forward, hand extended. "I'm Ren."
"NIce to meet you Ren," Jaune said, shaking his hand.
"So, what now?" Blake asked.
"Now?" Jaune grinned, and for a moment, it looked more real than any smile he'd had for years. "We're in Beacon."
Well, that's chapter 2. Sorry for the delay, University, pandemic and other crap meant I had trouble finding time to write. Now, this is a little embarrassing, but I could use some help coming up with a team name. Jaune's team in this will be Pyrrha, Wiess, Blake and Jaune, with either Pyrrha or Wiess as the leader. But I can't come up with any good acronyms. The best I can think up is Team PAWB (Parable), and that's honestly pretty lame. Any suggestions are appreciated, there are no stupid answers. Except for slurs. Or overtly sexual terms, I guess. That'd be a weird thing for Ozpin to use as a team name.
