"So Kallo, you uh, really like getting up close and personal, huh?" Kallo looked over her shoulder at her peer who wasn't too far behind her. The small girl's eyes were glued to the drawn back bladed gauntlet on her right hand. After they'd met neither of them had said too much, since Kallo didn't want to scare the girl off, and Seki definitely wasn't one to start a conversation. But even for her that uncomfortable silence must have grown awkward.
"Yeah, the Grimm usually have the physical advantage in a fight so I thought if I take away the one thing they're actually good at, I'd almost always come out on top." She finished her words by lifting up her arm and squeezing her fist around the handle in her hand, snapping the blades forward over her knuckles. Originally they always just sat there over them, but one of the professors at Signal thought it would do her more good if she could retract them onto her forearms. That gave her easier use of her hands so that she wouldn't be left in compromised situations when she needed them. Also, when on a team being able to lend a hand should prove useful.
"Wow, that's actually… really cool." Seki moved closer to Kallo to get a better look at the blades that were still at the ready for whatever might come their way. And Kallo was happy that her new teammate was actually walking next to her and not behind her anymore. Even if the reason was just to get a closer look at her weapons and wasn't something that she necessarily did intentionally. They could definitely use this time to get to know one another or at the very least start to learn how to work together.
"I think so too! I'm glad you confirmed that for me." Smiling, she finally loosened her grip on the handle which allowed the blades to slide back into rest on her forearms. The action caused Seki to step to the side which did put a little more distance between them again, but that was alright. Now the question would be what it was that Seki had to offer to the team. From the looks of it she didn't appear to have any weapons, but then again that poncho of hers could be hiding quite a bit. "You got your own weapon, right?"
"Oh yeah, of course!" She reached up behind her back under her poncho and pulled out, to Kallo's surprise, a pair of long barreled pistols that looked like they were custom made for smaller hands. Along with the guns she had to imagine that there was some ammo kept away in that poncho somewhere. "I know I don't look the part, but I'm actually a really good shot."
"Really?" A bit of a smirk crept its way onto Kallo's lips as she looked at the pistols and then back at the girl who wielded them. She was likely telling the truth, but just to be sure, there wouldn't be much of an issue with showing this aim to her new teammate, right?
"Umm, yeah. Why?" She held her pistols down by her side, her shoulders slumped down now. Had she already lost all of her confidence the moment Kallo had questioned her? Maybe she needed to be more direct with her new little friend. Good thing that she was the queen of being overly direct.
"Well, show me then." Kallo pointed out a lone leaf that was out on a branch a good distance away from them. It was small and probably too far from them for those pistols to have any real aim, but Seki was training to be a huntress so doing things that seemed otherworldly was going to become the norm.
To Kallo's surprise though, Seki stepped up past her and held up one of her guns. The air around them seemed to thin out as she waited for the girl to actually shoot the leaf to pieces. Or… she was going to try and do that anyway. From this distance with something like a pistol? She imagined that even the best marksmen would struggle with something like this.
Boom! Kallo's eyes darted to the leaf once she heard the bullet leave the weapon. Remarkably the leaf was… still intact. But it wasn't attached to the tree anymore. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Seki spin around down to a knee and lift up the other pistol before firing another shot. This time, while the leaf floated down through the air, the bullet somehow hit its target and reduced it to nothing but shreds of green.
"That's badass!" Kallo looked over at Seki, both fists raised, the blades snapping into place on both wrists while cheered for the performance. This girl had a whole lot to offer the team, Kallo had been stupid to think that she had made it through Signal that entire time without picking up any talent at all.
"Watch this." Seki really looked dead serious with that stern look on her face as she brought the two pistols together, and a whole set of mechanisms started going off. The two guns attached to each other and together morphed into what looked like one long gun. "This is my long rifle, and with it…"
She placed the butt of the gun on her shoulder and took aim down the sights, Kallo's eyes going back to the area in front of them,trying to predict whatever it was Seki was about to do. She had to assume that in this form the range and damage of that thing would have to increase quite a bit. And BOOM! Another bullet left the chamber, and this time she hit a bullseye right away! What looked like a bird dropped out of the air in the distance. "Poor bird… but damn what a hit!"
"My aim is what got me into Beacon, or at least… that's what my professor told me." Kallo was surprised at how fast her partner had gone from a total badass back to being her shy self, her guns already taken apart and stashed away in her poncho. But now she knew this girl had a ton of potential. She just needed someone like the Ram to bring it out of her. It might take some time, but she was sure she could get the most out of her.
"Well hey, with your range and my brutal way of getting up close and personal the rest of this initiation is gonna be a breeze!" Kallo just noticed that the blades on her wrists were locked into place since she had kept her fists squeezed. It has become a habit for her these days. So she let her hands relax and the blades themselves got to kick back and take it easy.
"I'm sure that's true, just look at how fast you took out that Beowolf." Seki looked back in the direction they had come from, doubt about how much she really had to offer to this team clear on her face.
"You say that like you can't take one down quick." She wanted to find a way to get past this doubt that Seki had, but she wasn't quite sure how. Though, as she searched for a way, she noticed that an Ursa was approaching them from her side. It had been sneaky to get within about fifty feet without either of them noticing it at all. Both of them were too caught up in Seki's display to have seen the dark creature moving between the trees.
"Ka-Kallo!"
"I'm on it!" Kallo was already rushing at the beast with her weapons drawn before Seki shouted out. One thing that was smart to do with these slower grimm was to get the jump on them and not give them the opportunity to attack. Her eyes darted back and forth before locating a nearby tree, running right at it, jumping at the bark and using her momentum to leap back at the Ursa. However this was the moment that she realized an opportunity that presented itself here.
So instead of crushing its head with a hard strike, she instead swung her fist into one of its shoulders. Tearing right through it and crashing one of its large arms down onto the dirt below Kallo landed on her feet in front of it. "Seki! Take the shot and kill it! Right in the eye!"
In its weakened state that should be all it was going to take, but the Ursa wasn't going to just lie down and die, so it swung its remaining paw down on her. Kallo caught it though with a hard upward strike from her blades, trapping its paw in them. "Seki! Now!"
"I'm- I'm on it!"
Just in case she missed or the shot by itself wouldn't be enough to end the monster, Kallo decided to have at it. As she was thrashing at its stomach and chest with the blades on her other hand over and over again, the beast roared out. That made it its last sounds as a bullet went right through its eye, almost toppling the Ursa over on her as she had to step back, pulling her blades back and looking at Seki, who was on a knee with her rifle in hand. "That was awesome Seki! We're going to be a great team!"
"Thanks! I think so too!" She was already disconnecting her rifle as she ran over to Kallo, looking for any damage on her teammate after they'd dealt with this grimm.
Okinaka stomped down on the middle of her staff, both ends extending and bearing down on the heads of two more Beowolves that had gotten in her way. The heavy thud of their heads on the ground below was what would finish them off, their body's breaking down into smoke while she rolled to her feet. Brushing off her kimono before getting her staff off the ground and collapsing the sides so she could store it away on her back, the blonde looked happy to have finished off even more of these beasts so she could get back on the road towards her goal.
Seeing and fighting all of these grimm reminded her of some of her training with her parents and at Sanctum too. They were always trying to make sure that she would be prepared every time that she would come face to face with one of those monsters. It was one thing to be a strong and skilled prodigy, but it was a whole other thing to be ready to stare down the pure evil that was the Grimm. That was why she always put extra work into everything that ever dealt with them, since they would in fact be her most common enemy.
And for now she was thrilled by the fact that these monsters were nothing to her, nothing more than playthings really. It was almost like they were those big, scary businessmen who went to that sexy mistress on the side, showing themselves to be nothing but the little boys they had never grown out of. She couldn't help but laugh as she made such a ridiculous comparison, but in a way it made sense to her. Though… that would likely be something that she would keep to herself either way.
This was actually becoming a common occurrence in her life, things coming easy to her. Whether it was having to fight a Grimm or using all of the possible functions of her weapons, she just always seemed to figure it out. Her semblance had been easy for her to get down too, at least once she was able to figure out exactly how it worked. Maybe it was the support of her family that made things so easy for her or maybe she really was just this talented. It was hard to say.
Well, now that she was at Beacon she was going to have all of the opportunities she would ever need to figure that out. She snapped her fingers and stopped walking as that realization finally came to her. Besides just wanting to become a huntress and help people, that was going to be what motivated her from this day forward. She had to find out if her talent was more than her parents always constantly looking over her! She was gonna show the world that she truly was the hottest shit on her own.
Speaking of doing what she was doing alone, she should really make sure that she's still headed in the right direction. Reaching behind her she removed one of the knives from its place and threw it up into the air, teleporting way up past the trees to take a look around. From what she could tell it looked like there was an abandoned temple not too far from where she was. She just needed to adjust her path a little to the left and she'd be there in no time.
So she looked down at the ground below and tucked her knife away, pulling her bo staff back out. Catching one of the thicker branches on her way back down, she flipped herself backwards once before landing on her feet. It was a fine landing, such was her own assessment as she put the staff back away on her back, squaring her shoulders in the direction of the temple before sliding one boot back and taking off.
There wasn't much reason to waste energy in an all out sprint like this, but she couldn't exactly help herself. To this point she had encountered more Grimm than she expected and even so she didn't have a scratch on her. On top of that the landing from the platform had gone so well too, so she could afford to have some fun. Leaping over some bushes that were in her way, she hit the ground and did a barrel roll up to her feet… she had made it.
The temple and the… the "relics" that were nothing more than chess pieces looked pretty much untouched. She should have guessed that nobody was going to beat her here, not many others were going to move through the forest as easily. But now she was left wondering when on Remnant she was going to finally get a teammate. That would come though, right? She shouldn't focus on that for the time being.
Okinaka could officially check off the first sign that she was in fact talented without her parents' guidance. Being the first to get here, or at least she was nearly certain she was, told her just that. And to think there were most likely other students to this point who were avoiding the Grimm at all costs too. She had been quick and efficient enough when disposing of the Creatures to not let encounters slow her down while having a larger task at hand.
That was going to help her out in the long run when it came to being a huntress who was good at her work. So with that in mind there was definitely some pep in her step as she made her way up to the temple and the pieces that were waiting there for her. She was going to have her pick of the lot too, and there was a piece of all kinds too. Okinaka came to a stop once she reached the middle of the little platform, looking at all of the pieces.
Half of them were this… gold like color and the other half were black. Was it possible that there was some kind of test that came with picking the color for oneself? If you chose black there could be some immediate worry if your intentions were always going to be good, but at the same time one could argue that if you balance out both the yin and yang in your life that you were better for it. Then if you chose gold, you could be seen as someone who valued materials above others… or it could be a sign that you wanted to pursue something great in life… that was respectable right?
Then there was a whole other layer to this when you considered the fact that there were all different kinds of chess pieces too. The rook didn't really seem to be something that would be her kind of piece, one that symbolized defense and only ever moved forward, back, left, or right. There was the bishop too, but wasn't it even more limited in how it moved when it was on the board? She didn't want to be known for being limited at all… though she probably needed to look at this as more than just chess pieces on a board game.
Like… the knight, even though it might have been one of the more limited pieces in the game of chess it had such a great name. Sure, knights were never as fantastical as they were made out to be in your childhood, but that wasn't the point. When someone was titled knight there was something so prestigious about that. And if she did pick up a piece that was a knight she had the opportunity to change the perception of them.
With all of that said, should she just go ahead and pick one of them up? It wouldn't be any more difficult than just walking over and taking a piece in her hand. Then she could move on to getting back to the top of the cliff, maybe even in record time if she got a move on with it. So what was it, outside of her thoughts, that kept her standing there and waiting.
Her eyes moved from the pieces around her to the forest that she had finally gotten out of. That had to have been what was keeping her standing there in the middle of it all without doing much else. She was waiting for someone to finally emerge out of the forest all on their own just like she had. A teammate… she was going to need one if she was going to pass this initiation with flying colors… So who would it be?
Kuroku was certain that the abandoned temple was near, probably just another five minutes from where she was now. However on her way from her position to where she needed to be was a bit of an obstacle. Four ursa were just camping out ahead of her, lined up as if they were waiting for a student. Maybe they already got their hands on one that wasn't prepared to take on four of these monsters at once… the thought made her sick.
Pulling her sword free from her scabbard, she rushed forward at the ursa that was closest to her. Not giving it a moment to respond, she made a clean cut right through its meaty gullet. That one was down for the count, but now the others were onto her. Good, she liked her foes to know she was coming for them. Another was down for the count after she dodged a swipe from one of its paws and cut right down and across its neck and chest.
Only two left, and her next approach would involve running up a nearby tree to avoid another swipe from the next ursa's paw. Leaping off, she used that momentum to take the head clean off of the second to last monster. Now only one remained and it made its way right for her, presenting an easy target. Holding her sword up in front she waited for the ursa to charge her before she lunged forward and plunged the blade deep into one of its large red eyes.
The momentum of the beast nullified and she was able to pull her sword free from its decaying body. In fact they were all decaying up into their own clouds of smoke as she spun her blade around and slid it back into its scabbard, a click being all that filled the air while she resumed her walk to the temple. Her destination really should be right past this line of trees.
So as she walked out into the open she wasn't surprised to see the abandoned temple, having finally gotten to where she needed to be. This wasn't the kind of place that she'd be writing about to her sensei, all ugly and well… abandoned. There were the chess pieces that were being called relics though, and there was another student here so this had to be the right place. Making sure that her hair was still tucked behind her shoulders she began her walk over to it.
It was oddly quiet compared to the forest that she had just gotten out of. There didn't appear to be any Grimm in sight and she was surprised that there weren't any students outside of this one girl. Then again, she was likely more efficient than most of the other students. And now that she thought about it she hadn't seen any other students all the way up to this point of her journey… which meant that-.
"If you're alone that must mean that we're teammates, right?"
Kuroku stopped in her tracks now that she was finally on the platform of this temple, if one could call this a platform. Her eyes scanned this girl from head to toe so that she could get a good idea of what she was dealing with here. This girl looked far too kind to be a teammate of hers, but if she really got here ahead of so many others she couldn't have been too bad. Things could be worse, she could be left with someone who was clearly in over their head… like that boy who filled the air of that airship with vomit.
"Apparently so." Taking her gaze away from this girl though, she moved over to the black chess pieces that were all still here. Either these got replenished after students took them or they really were the first ones here. Regardless she just reached out and took the black rook right off of one of the concrete stands. Looking it over, she was content with this choice.
"I'm Okinaka Chiki. I'm from Argus and attended Sanctum Academy. What about you?" This girl had introduced herself before Kuroku even had an opportunity to face her. A smile on her face and… she had a gold rook in her hand that matched the black one she had. Did she… really wait for someone else to show up before grabbing one of these? It was just a part of this simple initiation, not something that actually meant something.
"Kuroku Pongas, and I didn't train at an academy. But I'm from Mistral." Now that she got a closer look at this girl there was something about her that seemed familiar. The two of them hadn't met before, that much she was sure of but there was something about her. Maybe she saw her during one of her trips into Mistral with her sensei…. That sounded right to her.
"That's a nice sword you got there, you must be well trained with it." What an observation that was, given the samurai armor that Kuorku wore. But regardless she still switched the rook into her other hand and removed the blade from its scabbard. Twirling it around casually as she had learned how to use it almost like an extension of her own arm. Her sensei had taught her well.
"What about you? That stick popping over your shoulder, your weapon?"
"Oh this? It's actually my bo staff." Okinaka looked as if she had been distracted by the sword in front of her, but she tucked that rook away on her hip and pulled the staff off of her back, spinning it around amongst her hands and fingers, even moving it around her back as well. That was all it took for Kuroku to remember exactly who this was standing in front of her. A bit of a chuckle left her.
"Wait… I remember you now. You're that girl Pyrrha Nikos bodied in the finals a couple years ago." The girl's face shot forward and she nearly dropped her staff once Kuroku pointed this out. Mustn't have been something that she liked to reminisce on, which she couldn't blame her for.
"Yeah, yeah that was me. Lots changed in two years." Enough for her to not be easy to recognize between back then and now. Though that very well could have been intentional after what happened to her.
"So you wouldn't lose as fast this time?" This time Okinaka shot her more of a glare, she didn't look at all like the nice girl from just minutes ago. And to be honest, she would be fine with that… but she didn't need her new teammate hating her right off the bat. "I'm just joking with you. At least you had the guts to enter and face her."
"Yeah well, chances are I'll get to show you that this time if I got to fight her or anyone else that I'm one formidable opponent." The words that left her mouth could have sounded a little more intimidating than they did but overall not too bad. Okinaka had the kind of spunk that Kuroku could be a fan of. So now that the two of them were going to be working together for the next four years she could be more at ease. To get things started she left a soft punch on her shoulder and tucked away her own black rook.
"You'll get your chances, I'm sure. Even now there's plenty of grimm between us and that cliff." Her mind had already gotten back to the task at hand, and the good news was she did save two more rounds of her semblance to this point. So if there was anything too intimidating ahead of them she'd have the firepower to take it down.
"Hey Kallo, what did you think of Professor Xiao Long, back at Signal?" Seki and Kallo had made it quite a bit further into the Emerald Forest by now, probably being just a little ways from the abandoned temple. They had killed a few more grimm along the way but it really wasn't something that was all that notable.
"Professor Xiao Long? I remember him really taking his time with his lessons." The small girl smiled at the thought of that because that assessment was definitely spot on. Their former teacher never let a student go without understanding exactly what each of his lessons were supposed to mean. "Why do you ask?"
"Well I always enjoyed his classes, it was the only time I actually felt like I could make this whole huntress thing work." Before she got to him she was sure that she was going to get sent home in no time. Almost always ranking towards the bottom in any class that involved more than pencil and paper when the goal was becoming a warrior felt like a surefire way for that to happen.
"Really? I think you can tell I enjoy the fast lane, but that's cool that he meant something to you." Kallo leaped down from a bit of a drop off down onto the ground below and Seki followed after her. Her landing not being quite as graceful but with her smaller frame she had expected that.
"Yeah, you seem like more of the Professor Branwen type." Immediately after saying that she wasn't so sure that she should have. He was a cool professor but being compared to him at all might not be something someone would like.
"Whenever he wasn't just gone or so drunk that no one could really follow his lessons he was pretty great." That was true, amongst all of the professors at Signal he was always the one that seemed to be gone all the time. And the comment about him being drunk wasn't something that anyone could combat, a deaf bat would have been able to confirm that much. "Which altogether wasn't very often."
The two of them shared a laugh, Seki happy to have not just a teammate but a friend. All those years ago back at Signal she really shouldn't have run from this girl. They could have been great friends, that much she was sure about. But just like back then she had to wonder how one sided this was… how much did she have to offer here?
A low growl pulled her from her thoughts though, as both of them turned around and laid their eyes on another grimm. This time it was a Beowolf… but only this one was bigger, it must have been an alpha that was staring the two of them down. It had more armor than most of the others and that also likely meant a whole lot more power. She couldn't help but feel like they would be okay since Kallo was here… but still… this thing was definitely scarier than the others.
"Seki, I want you to run. Okay?" Her eyes shot to her taller friend who had a much more serious look on her face than normal. And with that she took notice of the face that her blades were in attack mode with both of her fists clenched.
"Okay… I know you can take him." She didn't want to somehow fail Kallo at the one thing that she was asked to do so she pivoted on a foot and ran. Her whole spirit sinking down into her gut as she did… maybe this was the answer she was looking for.
Looking back over her shoulder she saw the Beowolf charging forward but Kallo intercepted its path and had her fists ready. Stabbing its paw that it had tried to use to swipe at her, she used that to pull it over her shoulder, slamming the grimm on its back before she went all out on its downed body. She could hardly keep up with the movement of her strikes as she tore that grimm apart… wow.
"You did it!.. And so fast too!" Seki ran back over as the Beowolf was clearly down for the count. Kallo standing back up and letting her blades go back onto her arms into their resting mode. Man, for her to just take down a creature like that… where did she get the strength and the courage to do it? One day she could only hope to be as strong as Kallo.
"Well to be honest, I knew you running away would distract it. So that made the kill easier than it would have been. Sorry, but I wouldn't have ever let it get to you."
"I know you wouldn't have, you're already huntress material Kallo." Even if she was disappointed in herself she couldn't help but admire Kallo for how incredible she could be sometimes. Maybe they were all supposed to be at this point with their training but still, she just carried herself in such a way.
"As are you, Seki. Let's get moving." Well, that was debatable but she did agree to the idea of getting moving.
Though… as the two of them moved forward like this she couldn't help but let that line stay on her mind. Surely she was just being nice and courteous when she said that to her, keeping Seki's spirits up. She knew the truth about the situation, that at the end of the day she was better as a citizen decoy than she was as another defender of this world. It was true that she was a good shot with her guns but that didn't mean much, anyone could be trained to use them in the same way.
"I'll beat you there." Kallo had bumped into Seki before taking off in a full sprint moving forward. The speed this woman had wasn't something that she was certain anyone had the ability of keeping up with.
"You cheated!" But screw it, she'd give it a go and chase her with her own sprint. One that was nowhere near as fast as her friends but she was at least able to keep Kallo in her sights, so she'd be content with that.
Though Seki was definitely out of breath, her hands on her knees as she finally caught up to her much faster friend. Panting while she stood up tall and got a look ahead of them. There it was, somehow she had made it to the temple and there were the pieces that the two of them were going to need. Honestly when this whole thing started she was of the belief that getting this far wasn't something she would even get close to.
"Looks like someone beat us here." Kallo spoke up, she was already moving in on the temple and Seki wasn't far behind her. She was right, too. Two pieces were already missing from the lot of what was available but at least it didn't look like everyone had beat them to the punch. And she owed getting here in such a fast time to the one who was far more capable… but damnit she needed to stop that… that was why she wasn't able to offer anything back there when the Beowolf appeared.
Walking up to the pieces she took a quick look at the gold pieces before swiping the knight piece. Looking it over before moving her eyes to her friend who had already taken the black knight piece. "We match!"
"We do indeed. We're an impressive team." From how much Kallo said that and reassured Seki she almost believed those words. And she would, she would be able to believe those words once she put in the time and training and worked her ass off.
"Thank you, Kallo." She gave her friend a side hug with one arm before quickly retreating back to her own space. Smiling up at her friend who she was happy to see smiling back at her. As long as she had this friendship by her side she would have the motivation she needed to get better. From now on she would put her best foot forward and make sure that she never let her down.
