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Jaune hummed good naturedly as he walked through the forest. It was a nice day, the sun was warm, the breeze was cool, and the sky was vaguely green. If this was all there was to it then initiation was going to be a literal cakewalk. The hardest part had honestly just been getting to the forest itself, though the nice girl with the long ponytail had helped with that. After that it was a simple matter to take his pocket knife to his hoodie and cut himself loose, 'your sacrifice will be remembered, Pumpkin Pete limited edition hoodie!'
He still really didn't get what his parents were so worried about. So far this huntsman thing hadn't been bad at all! Really, his dad had made it sound like everything was a hundred percent running, screaming, blood, fighting, and pain all the time. So far he'd experienced more actual danger camping in Anima with his dad, and back then he hadn't even had armor or Crocea Mors with him. Granted the armor didn't really fit great and he didn't really know how to use a sword….. but the shield was easy! Just keep it between himself and whatever was trying to hurt him and he was solid, and he should be able to figure out the sword thing easily enough, swish-swish, stab-stab, call it a day right? It wasn't exactly piloting a bullhead. For now he needed to focus on finding the ruins and pray the artifacts weren't color coded. After that if he waited long enough he was sure to find a partner and it would all be smooth sailing from there.
Of course all things being equal and Jaune Arc being Jaune Arc the earth under his feet chose that exact moment to explode.
/The Next Step\\
Ruby Rose was having the time of her life! No worried overbearing sister! No well meaning but overprotective Father. Just Ruby, the forest, and doing what she did best, running around being an awesome buttkicking huntress. Now she just needed to find a partner for initiation. Maybe Blake? All cool and mysterious…. Ruby wasn't sure what type of faunus she was or why she was hiding it but that was cool too. Maybe Jaune? He had seemed really nice in kinda a dorky way. Cool shades though.
Really almost anyone would be cool, a school assigned bestie to take out the awkward part of trying to make new friends instead they'd just have to be her friend! She just needed to make sure she avoided-
Pungent highclass perfume and the scent of tomatoes...
There was the crabby girl from yesterday. That was a definite nope on the partner list.
Ruby veered left and with a burst of her semblance neatly avoided the pale girl. Honestly healing was great. The extra weapons were great as long as Dad and Yang didn't catch her using them to cut food or as a back scratcher. The best part though had to be the hearing and smell. Like yeah every now and then she caught a whiff of something gross and it was REALLY bad, but she could tell who was coming and where they were coming from way before they ever got to her. No awkward conversations if she could perfectly avoid them and nothing ever got lost! She could just go to the last place she left it and follow the trail! Most convenient thing ever.
Speaking of conveniences Ruby made to hook a right when the telltale scent of sunflowers hit her nostrils. 'Sorry Yang,' the redheaded reaper mentally apologized. 'I just want a little more room to gro- wait.'
That wasn't Yang. It was sunflowers yes but rather than the under layer of lilac she caught salt cedar and something indescribable. Something familiar, 'Jaune?' Well that would work! Ruby moved back onto her collision course with her newfound bestie before horror hastened her step as the sound of a scream and the scent of fresh blood overpowered the natural smell of her friend and as she entered the thicket the sound was coming from, Ruby Rose caught a flash of golden light.
/The Next Step\\
Jaune spat blood as he got back up and an errant part of his mind hoped that wasn't actually a wiggly tooth he felt against his tongue. The rest of himself was focused on the group of beasts in front of him. Six bipedal Grimm had leapt up from beneath the ground, burrowers, reptilian in appearance, it was creepers. That was ok. He could handle this. He had to handle this, this was what a huntsman did.
So gritting his teeth the young Arc drew his sword and charged the beasts. Leading with his shield Jaune slammed into the first of the beasts and from behind the metal barrier he reached forward stabbing wildly, desperately, doing his level best to gain purchase and stab into the beast. But it was pointless. Just as he pushed forward with strength born of desperation and the gunmetal taste of adrenaline filling his mouth Jaune stabbed forward with everything he had. He did indeed feel the monster's flesh give to his blade. Just as he felt his own give to the claws of another beast as a streak of white hot pain tore through his lower back just beneath his breastplate.
A scream tore through his lips in a mix of shock and pain. Jaune lunged forward reflexively to escape the pain and found himself surrounded on all sides as one of the beasts perched itself on his chest, jaws snapping just in front of his face. "Git. Down." Jaune bit out angrily as he reached up toward the glasses perched on his nose before tilting them up towards his forehead and revealing his eyes to the world.
The creeper on top of Jaune was blasted upwards and away before dissolving a flash of topaz and black as twin golden yellow beams of pure concussive force erupted from the young man's eyes. Pulling the yellow sapphire shades back down, Jaune twisted his neck and took aim. A blur of black and yet more gold, three of the creepers, grouped next to his right. A tilt of his glasses and a turn of his head, a flash of sunlight yellow light, and the monsters were reduced to so much dissolving smoke. Along with the trees for about a forty yard cone from the scything blast. Oops?
Careful shots killed creeper after creeper, each destroyed with a simple look as his eyes searched for the trademark black of the monsters. His blood roared in his ears as his heartbeat thundered. Adrenaline and concentration on the task at hand dulled the pain of his wounds as he hunted down the monsters that went bump in the night.
It was honestly exhilarating in a way, no one nearby to hurt as he stood alone against the monsters, and if a tree or two got knocked down in the process it was fine! Jaune felt a small smile pull at his face as he scanned for the movement of black shapes in his sallow world. This was it! A way he could use his eyes to help people without putting them in danger. It was like half his reason for becoming a huntsman and he was doing it!
"AIIIEEEEEE!"
Jaune felt his stomach drop down to rest somewhere beneath his feet and squeezed his eyes as tightly shut as he could as he heard the unmistakable sound of a human scream over the destruction of the forest. His last blast, oh dust and dreams NO.
Slamming his glasses back on Jaune ran towards the sound of the scream, ignoring the searing pain in his back. He came across the mostly still, black and red form of his newest friend as her right leg apparently had three new joints below the knee.
'Oh please nonononononoooo,' the word repeated in Jaune's mind like a mantra as he took in exactly where the scream came from. The crater girl from the day before, Ruby Rose. Her body lay ragdolled against a tree and Jaune could only assume she had been thrown backwards from the blast.
Rushing forward the red eyed youth dropped to his knees and cradled the smaller girl. Jaune did his best to recall half remembered notes and lessons on emergency first aid as he began to look over her, her leg was destroyed, she wasn't moving, and with mounting horror Jaune realized that his arm was growing wet where the back of her head lay. He- he had to do something, ANYTHING! What could he do?
"Ruby I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. Please be ok, HELP! ANYONE!? HELP US!" Jaune screamed out into the forest as he prayed for a response from whoever or whatever was listening. This wasn't supposed to be how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to be alone with no one nearby til he reached the ruins. That was the PLAN. No one was gonna get hurt if he screwed up or needed to use his eyes. Ruby wasn't supposed to be coming towards him; she was supposed to be looking for the ruins!
"Ruby, come on talk to me! Please!" Jaune begged as he cradled the smaller girl and desperately fumbled for his scroll.
"Ge... f…" Oh thank the Shallow Sea she was talking!
"What was that Ruby? What d'you need? What can I get for you?" Jaune asked, rapid fire. He was babbling, he knew he was babbling because he always babbled when he was panicking or nervous so he really needed to calm down and stop panicking or he'd keep babbling and that would be really annoying so he needed to stop panicking so he could stop babbling.
"I said get off," the red head wheezed quietly from below the gangly blonde. "I can't breathe."
"Oh! Uh, sorry," Jaune stammered, he knew he was stammering, wait was stammering a word? Aaaaaand Ruby was standing up and walking…. What.
"Ruby?"
"Yeah Jaune?" The red head responded nonchalantly as she stretched like she was trying to work out a stiffness in her leg.
"How are you walking right now?" Jaune asked dumbfounded as he stared at the petite girl from his place on the ground.
"Hehehe, well ya know… I just kinda put one foot in front of the other right?" The girl giggled as she went to offer a hand up to Jaune this time. Obviously trying to avoid the goliath in the room.
Jaune however, wasn't having it. "This ain't funny Ruby! I hurt you! Badly! What's going on? We need to get you to a doctor you shouldn't even be- aughhhhh!" Jaune pulled forward and fell to the side as he felt the freely bleeding slashes on his back make their presence known once more and they were none too happy with him ignoring them.
"Oh snickerdoodles! Jaune!" The Arc heard as he faceplanted back in the dirt and tried not to scream.
/The Next Step\\
Glynda had a well earned reputation. Strong. Stalwart. Unflappable. A fierce huntress and even fiercer deputy headmistress to Beacon Academy. The kind of woman who could be faced with a hundred goliaths and come out the other end without her hair even out of place. Glynda Goodwitch was a woman who was almost impossible to catch flatfooted.
Which was why Ozpin was enjoying the current gobsmacked look on her face so much.
"Is everything alright Glynda?" The emerald wizard asked as he hid his smile behind his coffee mug and sipped his hot chocolate. Truly if there was any sign of the excellence of remnans as a species it was their ingenuity with food stuffs. He had had raw cacao beans before when desperate. How that bitter bean had been converted into this delicious sweet drink was beyond him.
"What? How? Ozpin, Arc's semblance tore through the Rose girl's aura like it was tissue paper. I saw it happen! How is she back up? Even more than that, what kind of semblance does something like THAT?!" The experienced huntress exclaimed as she waved a hand out towards the spot in the forest where they had both just seen lines of golden light fire into the air.
"Now Glynda," Ozpin opened with a calm, reasonable tone. "Whoever said that was Mr. Arc's semblance?" Before proceeding to be the most insufferable jackass he possibly could. Truly, it was the little things that made life liveable after a few hundred millennia.
/The Next Step\\
It is through our legacies that we achieve immortality.
Each another thread in a grand tapestry of stories going back to the dawn of time.
Endless in life and unfettered by death.
I release your soul, so your legend may take form.
Jaune hissed as he felt something inside him metaphorically burst before a sensation he could only describe as both comfortingly cool and warm at the same time flowed through and over him as the burning pain in his back began to subside before fading completely.
"Holy snap, how much aura do you have? You heal almost as fast as I do!" Jaune groaned as he moved to pick himself up, expecting soreness and the aches of the previous combat to meet him. Instead he was greeted with a lightness he had never experienced before. Like someone had turned down gravity a little bit almost. The chest plate and pauldrons he wore had gone from a heavy, if necessary, weight on his upper body to feeling about as heavy as his hoodie.
"Well crap," Jaune muttered, amazed, as he quickly hopped from one foot to the other. "Is this how huntsmen feel all the time? Shallow Sea! Why doesn't everyone get their auras unlocked!?" Was this what drugs were like!?
"It's… really not that simple." Jaune turned toward his victim/savior to find her trying to salvage the mangled remains of her boot and Jaune felt the familiar sharp taste of guilt pour into him. The elation of having that wellspring of power in him unlocked was washed out when faced once again with the results of his irresponsibility and negligence.
"I… I'm sorry" The red eyed young man said as he rubbed his arm awkwardly, not willing to look the younger huntress in the eye. "Are you sure you're ok? I can forfeit orientation to get you checked on…"
"Huh? Wha-? No!" Jaune finally picked his head up to look at the other girl and had to stop everything to process what exactly he was seeing for a moment. She had… a blade coming out of her hand? Well, more her wrist? It was fairly wide and curved along the outside edge of her hand, ending about half a foot past her outstretched pinky, the offwhite coloring marked it as bone. And she was holding up a finger in the fairly universal sign of 'please wait one second' as she glowered down at her boot. Huh.
Jaune watched as she used it to quickly cut through the tangled laces on her boot before it slowly slid back into her arm. Okay. Okay! That was a thing! He could work with this. This wasn't even the weirdest thing he'd seen a person able to do this week. Hell Verde could literally rip her skin off to turn into a completely different material. This was nowhere near the top of his craydar…. Wait.
"You… you're like me? Like my sisters? You're… different?" Jaune asked in no small amount of wonder. He had never met anyone that was different before outside of his family.
"Mhmm! My dad says I'm special!" Jaune couldn't help a reflexive blush as the red hooded huntress threw a megawatt grin his direction before going back to trying to pry the boot off her foot.
"Umm, you need a hand with that?" The gangly teen offered even as she waved him off.
"I'm good, I just didn't want to have to do this. Gonna be impossible to salvage them anyway." And with a small grunt another two short wide blades popped out from the heel of her boot almost like a set of spurs. It split the tough leather of the boot cleanly and apparently gave her the needed room to pull her foot out as she slid the blades back in and pulled the article of clothing off with a sigh of relief. Jaune watched in surprise and a bit of awe as the very obviously broken toes of the girl slowly righted themselves as soon as they were free leaving her wiggling them in obvious glee.
This… ok this was a lot. He needed to talk to her. She was his partner now. And she was different too. She had knives that came out of her body? There were so many important questions to ask! How many others were there!? Had she met any besides him!? "DO THEY HURT WHEN THEY COME OUT!?" Oh damn you to the very edge of the Shattered Shores mouth.
"Eep!" The reaper flinched at the sudden shout and just cursed himself again as she drew awkwardly back into her cloak. "Uhhh a little?" She answered awkwardly, "But they're pretty sharp and I heal really fast so it's not too bad. Almost like pulling a hair out. I'm pretty used to it."
"Heal from your aura, right?" The arc ascertained. It felt like he was starting to get a handle on the situation finally.
"Oh! Snrk, no I don't need any aura for that." his partner giggle-snorted. "I can heal really fast on my own! The aura can definitely help a lot but I mostly use it to increase strength and durability. I don't really need it for healing." Ok. Scratch that. He had absolutely no handle on the situation.
"You have more than one power!?"
"Pfffft…" Jaune could tell the smaller girl was trying to hold in her laugh. He could also tell she was failing. "Yes Jaune, I have more than one. C'mon, let's walk and talk." And with that the two left the clearing and made their way to the goal as they made their way toward the goal.
Of course neither of them noticed when another blonde and redhead ran into the clearing a moment after.
/The Next Step\\
Ren backflipped off of the limb he had been perched on as he darted away from the king taijitu he was faced with. Already he could see the white half of the beast dart towards him, mouth open to swallow the youth whole. Reaching out on reflex he wrapped his tail around a nearby limb, pulling himself away as he fired into the open maw of the beast before letting himself drop with a grimace.
The wind dust bullets might as well have been spitballs for all the efficacy they actually had against the monster and his blades were unable to get deep enough into the creature's side to score a blow that meant anything. 'Noooo Nora. I don't need a sword. I like my knives just fine and stormflower works great for me. Why would I ever need a bigger or heavier weapon?' Ren swallowed a curse and, while throwing himself up to an even higher perch to make some distance, sent out a silent prayer of thanks that the girl in question wasn't there to see it. He'd never hear the end of it.
The respite of his highground was short lived though as with a crunch Ren felt the tree he was perched on begin to topple. The cause of this issue was made readily apparent when the gunslinger looked down to see the giant serpent wrapped around the base of the tree and using its considerable mass to topple it. 'Oh you son of a bitch.'
For a brief fraction of second, a period of time so short you could be forgiven for refusing to believe it ever even happened, everything around him was a dull orange glow, smoke, and oppressive heat and faster than a blink it was gone. Ren was back, perched directly on the back of the pale serpent's neck. Channeling aura to his limbs he mustered all his strength and slammed the dagger blades of both his pistols as deeply as he could and pulled back, tearing deep gouges in the pale flesh of the beast, the black ichor that passed for it's blood flowing freely. Feeling the creature tense Ren tightened his grip on the daggers and placed his feet firmly on the beast's back. This was going to be the hard part.
Ren had been to rodeos before. Even before coming to Sanus the event had spread to Anima as well. A much needed source of entertainment for the dreary and often dangerous way of living that was life beyond the kingdoms, it also gave extra value to necessary skills such as managing herds and horsemanship. Along with combat tournaments, rodeos were probably one of the most common sources of live sports entertainment on Remnant. That being said, he had never competed before. But if you were to ask him after this moment he'd probably guess that what was about to happen was a pretty solid qualifier for any bull riding events.
The king taijitu thrashed wildly as it tried to dislodge the stubborn huntsman and the stubborn huntsman held on for dear life. Teeth gritted to keep from biting through his tongue Ren bit out another curse as he adjusted the angle of the blades inside the serpent to better secure himself to it. He had to time this just right. Aura began to surge towards his hands, taking away from his defense as he did his best to scan his surroundings while being pulled every which way. Where was it? Where was it he needed it to hurry up and- Perfect.
The dark head of the serpent was rearing back to bite the huntsman off its lighter half. The light head was twisting, making things as easy for its counterpart as it could. Ren furiously redoubled his efforts pouring every bit of aura he could reasonably spare into his hands. The black serpent's jaws opened wide and it was nearly upon him. Acting quickly Ren stowed stormflower back in the sleeves of his shirt before slamming his hand back down in the beast's back willing himself to stick to it. And then the serpent's mouth was over and around him.
Sharp fangs slid into flesh and there was a scream of pain. The king taijtu flipped and struggled as it tried to separate itself from where the black head had bit deeply into the spine of the white half. Immediately after, with a "bamf" of displaced air and a puff of acrid sulfuric smoke Ren reappeared above the two headed serpent. Hand crackling with faint pink sparks the color of his aura, his very soul, as he descended on the black head palm first before launching himself through space and time once again to reappear at the edge of the clearing watching his foe warily.
The strike had taken nearly everything he had and the king taijitu was still and unmoving. Like a statue almost. Honestly it was a little strange, Grimm and aura are diametrically opposed, usually when a creature of Grimm takes a full force aura strike it -BOOM-! Ah. There it was. Perfect now just to find Nora so they could partner up and he was ready to dominate this orientation. The thought of failing at something he had dedicated so much of his life to never once entering his mind.
"Skkraaahh!"
"Skkraaahh!"
"Shaken from his thoughts Ren turned towards where the sound had come from. "I still don't think that's what sloths sound like Nora." The gunslinger said as he redeployed and reloaded his weapons.
In response a vibrant shock of carrot orange hair attached to his lifelong companion dropped down out of the thick canopy of the tree. "I think I did an ok job," pouted Nora Valkyrie before it quickly shifted to a teasing, almost salacious, grin. "How's it hanging hot stuff? You haven't happened to see a man with three fingers, three toes, and some hair on his chest have you?"
A quick application of his semblance allowed Ren to fight away the blush that was fighting its way up his neck and across his cheeks and cursed the fact that she could actually see when he blushed now and was enjoying it far too much before speaking. "Very funny Nora, I'm still not used to whatever the headmaster did to make me look normal."
"Honestly it's not bad," the pink berserker reassured him as she reached out a hand to gently tap him on the nose. "I think I like you better the other way but it's not bad at all Renny."
"Thank you Nora."
"Anytime Renny! Now come on! We've got some ruins to find!" She cheered as she let herself drop out of the tree and began her march into the forest with Ren falling into step close behind her drifting off into a comfortable silence as Nora talked enough for the both of them.
"By the way Renny, I know what you said before but I really do think that fight would have gone better if you had something bigger to fight with. At least carry a few grenades with you or something."
"Oh god dammit."
"Language!"
/The Next Step\\
"Ozpin, did that young man have a tail?"
"Plenty of our students have tails Glynda. I expected better of you."
"Not ones that pop out of nowhere and are spade tipped Ozpin!"
"Oh? Is there something wrong with spades?"
/The Next Step\\
"I appreciate the concern Nora, but I really am fine with just stormflower."
Nora let loose with a loud groan of exasperation as she threw her hands up in defiance. She loved Ren to death but he could be surprisingly stubborn about the weirdest things. She changed the song he used for his alarm on his scroll once and he had never let her touch it since. Excuse her for preferring something upbeat to angry bearded men screaming about… ok actually the military history songs from Bootstraps were actually pretty good but that wasn't the point!
"I"m just saying Renny, something a bit bigger would be handy for big enemies like that one and you don't have to burn so much aura on them either." The orange haired berserker finished, lacing her fingers behind her head as she walked ahead of her oldest friend. He could be so silly about the simplest things. Heck she had even offered to build the new weapon for him before. Nora knew he liked knives but it had hit the point that he was probably even more dangerous without his weapons than with at this point. Maybe if she could at least get him to use different dust types for ammunition? Wind was cheap but it didn't really hit that hard unless you were using a lot of it.
"Nora." She heard Ren say from behind her with a clear tone of warning.
"Fine, fine, I'll leave it alo-'' wait. There it was, at the corner of her senses. Anger and hate and disgust and bloodthirst and one thousand vile curses against humanity coming towards her. There were Grimm incoming. She saw them barely a second after she felt them, porcine monstrosities in an exaggerated mockery of life, boarbatusks. Pulling up behind them was something she had only seen in picture books. Bigger, meaner, older, a razortusk. That thing had to be at least fifty years old. Oooooh a challenge then.
Feeling a smile pull across her face Nora stepped forward, trusting that Ren was pulling behind to conserve his own depleted aura. Nora wasn't sure what it was but something was special about combat for her. She knew what people liked to say, she was excitable and easily distracted not stupid, they said she had nothing between the ears, that she was a burden on Renny, bimbo, idiot, child. She had heard them all. And maybe they were even a little true. But during combat? Nora SHINED.
The noise and distractions of life and her mind fell away. Everything became sharp and focused even as her blood thundered in her ears and her grip on Magnhild twitched. To the outside observer though Nora's expression, and her smile by extension, would be surprisingly gentle, even serene. Or at least that's what other people had told her. But in this empty forest with no one but Renny nearby it wasn't just regular fighting. Nora could let her light shine.
It bubbled up from beneath her skin and spread out from her in a cloud. The thing that made her different in the same way that Renny was different. A power that came from her body rather than her soul. A thousand, thousand tiny motes of light in every color imaginable spread out around her in a gentle cloud. They moved lazily through the air like a starry sky brought to earth or rainbow colored fireflies dancing at night. Then the Grimm hit.
Three hit at once and carved into the mass of lights between them and the young huntress. Then with a crack the lights detonated and the monstrous pigs were blasted apart into black mist. Her gift. Her difference. Her lights. Her fireworks. A gift that she could use for celebration and combat alike. A power that was so very Nora in and of itself. She gripped her hammer and began to move. Rushing forward into this battlefield made so very perfectly for her. The lights swirled around her and moved with her, battering at the monsters bursting with bright flashes and loud cracks.. Individually lacking in power but quantity had a quality all its own and, just like that one nerd game Ren liked, Nora had a definite appreciation for more dakka.
The berserker lashed out with her hammer and the already softened up monster burst apart into black smoke. Throwing out her left hand she let loose with a burst of flickering lights that poured outward like a shotgun blast, tearing it into wet chunks that soon began to dissipate. On this went as Nora settled into the heavy rhythm of combat. A powerful overhead swing to crush the skull of one beast, a spray of lights thrown out in a wide arc to keep his two friends at bay. On and on it continued as Nora killed beast after beast returning them to ether until she felt her feet leave the ground as a boar that stood seven feet tall at the shoulder charged her, knocking her back first into a tree and through it, her aura eating the blow while she was tried her best to control her wild tumble.
Nora landed hard, her hand and hammer digging furroughs into the dirt as she looked up at the truck that just hit her. It was the elder boarbatusk, the razortusk. Heavier armor plating along its back than even the typical specimens of its species. Serrated blades that inspired its name ran along the spines on the beast's back and the forward edge of its tusks. Nora had heard stories of these monsters tearing straight through buildings before. Unfortunately for the monster though, Nora Valkyrie was a heck of a lot tougher than a brick wall.
The Grimm eyed the tiny berserker as it pawed the ground before pitching itself forward into the rolling spin typical of its species, tearing through the grass and dirt as it sped towards the valkyrie like a demonic buzzsaw. But, fortunately for Nora, the fireworks weren't her only gift, and she wasn't above setting herself up for success. Electricity crackled across Magnhild's shaft and into Nora's body as she flipped a switch on the grip of the warhammer. The now familiar pain and burn of the shock was quickly overridden by a surge of strength and power as her semblance, the power from her soul, ate the lightning and used it as fuel to increase her might.
The monster rushed Nora.
Nora swung forward with all of her lightning derived might.
The two met with a thunderous crash, and for a moment neither moved. The monster pushed against the tiny huntress. The tiny huntress strained against it with superhuman strength. The two tied with each other. Both unstoppable in their momentum, almost like forces of nature in this moment more than actual beings as neither was able to force the other back.
Then the valkyrie put her back into it.
Gritting her teeth, Nora Valkyrie strained against the monster, swinging through the beast, stunning it and throwing it skyward exposing its unarmored underbelly. Lights coalesced into the palm of her hand but this was no wild spray or shotgun blast. The lights spun and swarmed and chased each other in the palm of her hand until she was left with a dense ball of swirling lights roughly the size of her fist. She gripped the ball of light shining in every color of the rainbow. And though it weighed nothing and seemed to have no mass, she felt resistance as she reared back with it before releasing in a pitch that sent it rocketing straight into the center mass of the razortusk.
The ball made contact with the monster, burning and digging into its flesh as it tried to tear through. And then, with a small mental command from Nora, the ball burst and so did the Grimm. Lights cut through the ensuing black smoke, firing off in every direction in a brilliant display of colors and sounds as the self satisfied valkyrie took a moment to appreciate her work. A moment that was promptly ruined when she felt a hand land on her unexpectedly, causing her to jump.
"Don't DO that!" Nora shrieked at her partner, as she whirled around on him. He might not actually be laughing or smiling where other people could tell but she knew better. The butthead snuck up on her and did things like that way too often for it not to be intentional.
"Do what?" Ren asked simply, and Nora bit back a growl. She loved this boy, she really did. Ok, she didn't really know if it was love-love or if it was love or if it was LOVE-love but… where was she? Oh, yeah, he was being a jackbutt again. That was ok. That was fine. She'd get hers. He couldn't rely on his black and pink fur anymore to hide it and the boy could blush a brighter red than fire dust. Wait…
"Ren," Nora began, voice grave. "Do you hear that?"
The verdant gunslinger nodded, expression grave. Someone was screaming.
The two began to run.
/The Next Step\\
Ruby Rose's plan for the day:
Step one: Be awesome. Accomplished.
Step two: Find a cool partner to be her friend? Double check, not only did she know from the previous day that he was cool, Jaune was also the same kind of special as her.
Step Three: Find the ruins and complete initiation?
"THOSE WERE NOT THE RUINS!"
"I NOTICED JAUNE! SHUT UP AND RUN!"
Well… it was a work in progress Ruby mused as she ran with, not everything she had. She didn't want to use her semblance and leave Jaune behind after all, but almost everything she had. The cave hadn't seemed like a bad idea at first. Jaune had pointed it out as a possible hint to the ruins or a shortcut and she had noticed the drawn warnings of a massive Grimm trapped inside but Ruby had been certain that was just to fake people out from the true prize. They had both been wrong.
Now there was a massive deathstalker chasing them and not even Jaune's beams were putting this thing down, even if they pushed it back a bit and gave the two huntsmen hopefuls some room. Still though, Ruby needed something to make the difference. Bullspit aura reserves or not Jaune would eventually start getting tired and not even she could run forever. They would need to do something soon, she just needed something to change the situation. Something else to work with beside an obviously untrained if powerful partner.
A smell like vanilla, ozone, and something once again different but familiar filled Ruby's nostrils and a sound not unlike a thunderclap rang in her ears. A sound between a roar and a squeal prompted her to look back to see the giant scorpion grimm stunned and knocked onto its back as an orange haired girl wielding a war hammer stood on its belly cradling her shoulder. Slightly singed and breathing hard nevertheless Ruby watched, only a little dumbfounded, as the girl flashed a triumphant smile and jumped off of the now struggling beast and moved towards them.
"Come quickly, it won't be down for long." Ruby most certainly did not eep or jump at the sudden voice just behind her or the smell of sulfur and something flowery. Nor did she retreat within her cloak. That would be for someone who was not a buttkicking huntress. Instead she simply turned around to face the person addressing and the red on her cheeks was from how much time she had just spent running. The voice belonged to a pretty, young Mistrali man in green with long black and pink hair. He had one hand laid down on Jaune's shoulder and the other stretched out obviously for Ruby to take.
Cautiously the red reaper took his hand in hers and felt her stomach tie itself into a thousand knots before reality decided to take the alexandrian method towards untying it as she was suddenly somewhere that was not here. But it wasn't there either. It was someplace else. A split second that she would miss if she blinked and would have been none the wiser as choking sulfurous smoke filled her nose and airways. A dull red glow surrounded everything and suddenly they were back in proper reality. But not before Ruby heard it. So low you could be forgiven for thinking it hadn't happened at all. Dull chittering laughter in a tone that she could only describe as cruel.
"BLARGHHH" Ruby flinched as an entirely different acrid smell assaulted her nose while she was very quickly reminded that her new partner had his own issues with motion sickness and she had nearly tossed cookies from the trip herself. Turning the red reaper rubbed the young Arc's back as she scanned their surroundings. They were seated in a branch halfway up a tree and to her left she could get a clear view of the clearing they had just been running through and the carrot top running from the beast as it worked at getting back up. A bamf of displaced air and the stench of sulfurous smoke later and Ruby watched as the Mistrali boy appeared directly in front of the girl, lifting her in a bridal carry before disappearing in a puff of black smoke and that same movement of air and release of stinking smoke signaled his return.
"Thanks for the save," Ruby greeted as the two settled on their own tree limb.
"Pffft, it was no problem!" The orange haired girl waved her off as she preened, apparently ignoring the way she was kinda singed at the edges.
"It's not like we could sit here and do nothing when we heard the screaming. We're here to become huntsmen right?" Finished the Mistrali boy with the pink eyes.
"Right," Ruby nodded as she felt a warm smile work it's way across her face. This was the entire reason she wanted to be a huntress. Saving people, hunting things, that's what it meant to be a huntress. No matter what other reasons or justifications a person may have, that would always be the core of the calling.
The angry roar of the death stalker as it righted itself and began hunting their group was a sobering reminder for Ruby of the second half of the huntsman's motto in particular. "If we don't kill that thing it's going to hurt someone else who isn't expecting it. It's been sealed inside that cave we found it in long enough that the cave itself actually looked naturally occurring inside and out. I don't want to imagine how hungry it is now."
"Well yeah but none of us are exactly running on full right now and vomit boy's laser eyes weren't exactly putting it down," the carrot top reasoned as she rubbed her shoulder.
"I *uurp* I might have an idea for that." Jaune responded as he wiped the sick from his mouth. And as Ruby leaned in to listen to her partner's plan she couldn't help the now slightly vicious smile that pulled on the edges of her mouth. This could work.
/The Next Step\
"Well they're alive at the very least," Glynda reasoned as she took in the escape of the unique students Ozpin had taken an interest in. "Should I have Port and Greene get in position to kill or capture the deathstalker?"
"Give them a moment Glynda. I want to see if they can surprise us."
/The Next Step\
'Oh what the shit.' Ren mentally grimaced as he ran, making short jumps from point to point keeping just ahead of the monstrous scorpion.
"Your part of the plan," the blonde boy had explained, "is to hold its attention and kite it back to that clearing to give us room."
His part in the plan was to act as bait for the beast basically. Keeping just close enough to keep it interested as he used his enhanced flexibility and acrobatics to flip and dodge between the beast's claws as he ran. A task that Ren mentally made his opinion of very clear as he ran for his life.
'Gonna die, gonna die, gonna Goddamn die!" Why had he agreed to this plan!? His aura was still low. He had to hold the monster's attention solo. And it was on him to get it into position- oh shit that was a claw!
Acting quickly Ren leaned as far back as his incredibly flexible back would allow, kicking his feet up into a flip for the follow through and letting the adhesive properties of his feet stick him to the hard white bone plating of the death stalker's claw before righting himself and leaping straight upwards and releasing a staccato spray of bullets from stormflower, peppering the beast's faceplate and eyes. The gunslinger fought down a small smirk at the monster's rage filled roar and let himself fall back into the embrace of his power as the scorpion redoubled its efforts to catch hold of him and rend him limb from limb.
He was almost where he needed to be. The next phase would be starting soon and he would need to move on to getting the others in position. From the moment the Ruby girl had completed her part they had maybe a minute at most to complete everything else. 'Luckily,' Ren thought as he bamfed through a downward stab of the scorpion's tail, 'I can move at the speed of thought.'
Ren's train of thought was cut off though, by the sight of his relief hitting like a red and black comet made of rose petals, slamming into the death stalker's tail and pinning it down as the beast pulled to a sharp stop. Well that would work. It was time to go play taxi. With a quick nod the gunslinger silently wished the girl good luck before disappearing once more in a puff of sulfurous smoke.
/The Next Step\
"Your job is to hold it in place as long as you can. Do you think you can manage?"
Ruby wanted to scream. She had said yes. Of course she had what else was she supposed to do in this situation? She was the one who insisted they figure out a way to kill the beast and Jaune's plan wasn't bad at all. She just hadn't accounted for just how much being torn at the seams would hurt.
She had felt pain before of course, who hadn't? But it was always over almost instantly and this was something far more intense as she felt every joint in her body trying to separate as she struggled against the strength of the giant grimm. Crescent Rose was hooked around the monster's tail, partially folded in on itself after Ruby flipped the switch to put it back in storage mode to lock in place around the monster's tail. Ruby herself was faced away from the grimm her spurs unsheathed and dug into the earth pinning herself into place.
As her sweaty palmed grip on her scythe's handle began to slip, Ruby did something in desperation Yang and her Dad could never be allowed to find out about. Extending the spiked tip on the haft of her scythe the red reaper stabbed it through her thigh and adjusted her grip further up the weapon, locking herself in place as best she could.
'Heh, Yang always said to lift with my entire body,' that last coherent idle thought was all that Ruby was capable of though as she lost herself to the hurt.
Every muscle in her body screamed in protest, threatening to tear through the middle even as her gift knitted flesh, blood, and bone back into each other doing its best to keep Ruby hale and hearty. The sound of a whoop from above resounding over the sound of her own pulse roaring in her ears let Ruby know the next part of the plan was in motion. She only had to hold out for a few seconds longer.
It would feel like an eternity.
/The Next Step\
Jaune was nervous. More nervous and worried than he had ever been really. This was his plan and if he got it wrong not just himself but everyone else he had met here today would die. Ruby would die. Nora would die. Ren would… ok actually he was the only one who would and could probably escape mostly unscathed and Ruby was apparently borderline immortal but that really wasn't the point.
The point was these experienced huntsmen listened to a VERY simple plan that he had come up with thanks to videogames and strategy games and he was an untrained kid apparently very much out of his depth. Dadgummit what the hell made them think that was a good idea? What possessed him to open his stupid mouth!?
The plan itself wasn't terrible. Ren, the boy in green, would draw aggro and kite the monster back to where they needed it to be in the clearing. An open space with plenty of room and little space for collateral damage.
Ruby would tank the beast. Pinning it in place so they could kill it. It was simultaneously a simple job and very definitely the most dangerous one out of the lot and powers or not Ruby was in very real danger. Jaune whispered a quiet prayer for his new friend's safety before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Ren was back from dropping Nora where she needed to be.
Every part of the plan was important but it was all pointless if the orange haired girl couldn't follow through on her place in it. None of them had anything strong enough to pierce the monster's shell and, novel experience it was, not even his eye beams could put it down permanently. On the outside that is. Jaune was willing to bet that if he could send a fullpower blast strand down this thing's gullet he could do some real bad damage to it internally at the very least.
Of course this relied on him being directly in front of this thing's face and its mouth being open at the right time. Nora's job was to make sure that it was. Violently.
And though the girl had been excited at her duty it was plainly obvious that whatever she had done to stagger the monster earlier had left her drained. At the very least though if the plan went to pot he would die first before everyone else.
"It's time to go," Ren reminded him as Jaune felt a grip on his shoulder that did not match the number of fingers he saw when actually looking at the slightly older boy's hands.
"Do you think she can do it?" Jaune asked as he watched the battlefield, not elaborating on the who in question.
"Of course she can, it's Nora." Ren answered simply, as if the answer was obvious. And in that case maybe it was.
Moving quickly Jaune squeezed his eyes shut tightly before removing his glasses. Leaning back into the grip of the Mistrali boy. "Make sure you aim me correctly."
And with that they were gone.
/The Next Step\
Nora exalted in the feeling of the air rushing across her face and through her hair as she rocketed downwards towards the scorpion grimm. Ren had dropped her directly over where the other red head, Ruby she had said her name was, was pinning the beast there and apparently the girl either had the weirdest semblance ever, was part faunus, or was the same kind of different as her and Ren as spikes of bone sliced through her skin and into the ground. But those were questions for later.
Nora's job was simple. Hit the death stalker in the back as hard as she possibly could and if she couldn't properly damage it, at least get it to open its mouth. Now Nora didn't have much left in the way of lightning dust or even excess aura to really get the bang she wanted for this on that front but there were always other options as for the first time in front of people other than Ren, Nora let her light shine.
The roar of wind in her ears faded away to silence. The roars of the beast and high pitched snarls of pain and exertion from Ruby were forgotten before they could even register as Nora felt a thousand pinpricks of light and energy in the air and gathered them into her palm. A hundred brilliants shades gathering and swirling around each other as she pulled them into concentrated existence before her. The ball grew to the size of the baseball she had used against razortusk and quickly surpassed it. On and on she spun the light and heat and energy into something more tangible until she was left with a sphere roughly the size of her head. And with a smirk the brilliant berserker let loose.
Straight down she threw her bomb, flying directly behind it as she gripped magnhild in two hands and chambered her swing. Her back arched backwards. Her arms pulled behind her head, weapon in hand. Her feet and legs pulled behind her back and head as the tension continued to build. Her entire body was coiled and tense like the spring of a massive deadly mousetrap.
Five seconds until she hit and she could feel the adrenaline flood her body again at her impending act making her feel truly once more.
Four seconds left and she could feel the manic grin force its way back onto her face as Nora welcomed it like an old friend.
Three seconds left and Nora heard the telltale bamf sound of Ren's difference as he got the last piece into position.
Two seconds left and Nora could hear the beast scream as the ball of concentrated energy slammed into the middle of its back.
At the very last second Nora uncoiled and every single bit of tense energy and strength she had been storing was unleashed as she swung downwards onto the orb of light with every single ounce of strength she had.
Normally she never experienced any kind of recoil from her lights when she used them as they typically flowed around her and through her. Normally she didn't make them roughly the size of a basketball before playing whack-a-creep with them. The resulting detonation sent Nora flying back up and away from the massive grimm but even as she tried to regain control of her spin in the air Nora couldn't help the way her grin turned into more of a smirk as she caught a glimpse of the beast. Its back was scorched and armor cracked. And more importantly its mouth was wide open as it screeched in pain and Renny had vomit boy pointed face first into the beast's maw.
A flash of golden light like the rays of the sun filled the clearing for a moment and suddenly everything from the mouth down on the deathstalker was missing as the light blasted straight through the beast. 'Heh, not bad Jaune-Jaune.'
/The Next Step\
It was done. The plan had thankfully gone off without a hitch and they had killed the grimm. And thanks to emptying his stomach up on the tree he hadn't thrown up again when they landed in front of the monster. That was even better!
"Is everyone alright?" Jaune called out as he safely opened his eyes, once again behind their gilded prison.
"Ooooo let's do that again!" Chirped the petite carrot top from Jaune's right as she ran back up to them.
"Please no…." Jaune turned at the pitiful sound to see Ruby lying on her back and groaning piteously. Stepping forward Jaune reached out and offered the small girl a hand up.
"Not bad for an untrained vomit boy eh, crater face?" Jaune quipped with what he hoped was an easy going smile as he lifted his silver eyed partner to her feet. The relief that flooded Jaune's body was palpable as Ruby returned the smile before lightly slugging him in the shoulder.
"Not bad at all."
/The Next Step\
Glynda was well beyond the point of denying being frazzled as she finished watching what had occurred in the forest clearing.
"Ozpin….." The normally stern and no nonsense disciplinarian slowly opened. "What ARE they?"
"They're the same as every other student I've ever had the honor of walking through the doors of Beacon, Glynda." The emerald headmaster responded quietly as he took a sip from his hot chocolate. And Glynda did her best not to throttle the man and his enigmatic and dramatic nature before he could continue.
"They're the future."
/The Next Step\
Evolution. The process by which we grow and adapt to ensure our own survival. A process which I have had the honor to be able to experience and catalog over my multitude of lifetimes. Occurring through a combination of conscious responses to our environment and the process of mutation. Normally this process occurs over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, but every so often, evolution leaps forward.
-an excerpt from "Mutation: The Physical Semblance" by the wizard Ozma and penned by his current vessel Oscar Pine the Magus.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Not much to say this time, hope y'all enjoyed! Between Shots and Songs updates next week!
This is one of a couple story first chapters I'm gonna toss out and we'll see what sticks lol.