AN: So... I think I'm going to give up on consistent posting. I just can't seem to keep up with it, and things keep popping up no matter what I do. It's getting really annoying. Oh well, I guess that's just life. Now, I have a couple of people to thank for follows, favorites, etc. Bear with me for a moment. Thaks to Delayedmovie, Fat Future Cat, lord of something, SuperKitty4789, and Toy711 for following. Thanks to SuperKitty4789 and Strahata17 for favoriting. Also, reviews.
Delayedmovie: I'm glad you're liking the story. I hope you like this most recent chapter and keep loving these posts. Hopefully, I can post more consistently so you don't have to wait so long.
Gabrion: You probably forgot about because I don't post often enough. I really do need to fix it. But never fear, Chapter six is already written and prepped to be typed. (I write my chapters out on paper before I type them so I can do some editing as I type to figure out if I like how something is phrased or if a scene works or not).
JuniorBLD: Thanks for checking in Junior. Glad you appreciate the jokes and fights scenes. I also loved writing that scene where he stood up against Cardin. It was fun to write reactions to that as well. Glad you loved it.
Anonymous(Guest): Typos are bound to happen. I'm human, and I can't catch all of them. I do try though, so I'm glad you loved it.
Phew. Now, onto what you came for. RIDE ONTO THE CHAPTER!
Falling in a Forest
Bryce had a lot of trouble finding his next class with Dr. Oobleck, especially since his fight with Pyrrha had damaged his scroll, and was currently being repaired by one of the techies Ozpin apparently had on campus. This of course led to him getting to class ten minutes late. As he walked through the doors, a man in a dress shirt with green hair and glasses appeared in front of him.
"Mr. Anderson, I assume," the man said quickly.
"Mother of all creation, where did you come from!" Bryce jumped, startled at the man's sudden appearance. Even Alpha was mildly shocked at how fast the man had appeared.
"Mr. Anderson, can you please explain why you are late to class?"
"I was talking to Professor Ozpin, and couldn't find the class due to my broken scroll."
"Is this talk with Ozpin something I need to be notified about," Dr. Oobleck questioned, leering over his glasses. From somewhere else in the classroom, Bryce heard Cardin snort.
"He probably got in trouble for what he did at lunch."
Bryce gave a quick smirk at Cardin, signifying he felt no regret for his actions, before looking back to the professor.
"Nothing big, he just wanted to finalize somethings for my stay at Beacon. Other than that, not much really."
Cardin growled at hearing the guy who'd beat him in front of everyone at Beacon basically got a pass from the headmaster. Dr. Oobleck nodded, giving a quick glance in Cardin's direction, then spoke.
"Very well, please take a seat so I can continue on with the lesson." Bryce nodded and sat down next to Blake, who nodded slightly to acknowledge his presence, before looking back to the professor as he continued his lesson.
"Now, as I was saying before Mr. Anderson's arrival interrupted me, what advantage was it the faunus forces had over General Laguna's army in the battle of Fort Castle."
As Dr Oobleck looked around, Cardin flicked a paper football into the back of Jaune's head, causing him to let out an annoyed 'hey.' Before he could turn and say anything to Cardin, Dr. Oobleck appeared right in his face.
"Mr. Arc, glad to finally see you contributing to class!"
To say Jaune was surprised with the professor's sudden appearance in front of him would be an understatement. Jaune nearly fell over in shock, causing him to stumble over his words.
"T-the advantage," Jaune started, fumbling for more as he desperately tried to think of the answer, "the a-advantage th-the faunus had," Jaune noticed Pyrrha motioning to her eyes, "over that guy's stuff…" Pyrrha held her hands around her eyes, trying to make it look as if she was looking through somewhere dark. Jaune's eyes widened as he understood and blurted out the answer.
"Binoculars!" Or what he took as the answer.
Jaune's answer caused everyone to begin laughing, with the exception of Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake. Cardin specifically was laughing harder than anyone else. Dr. Oobleck took notice of this and looked up to the leader of team CRDL.
"Very funny Mr. Arc. Cardin, perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on the subject?"
Cardin kicked his feet up on his desk and smiled. "Well, I know it's lots easier to train an animal than a soldier." Bryce growled quietly at Cardin's comment. He really was starting to hate the cocky bully more than he already had. You'd think getting his butt handed to him would take him down a notch.
"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you Cardin," Pyrrha deadpanned, looking directly at Cardin.
"What, you got a problem?" Cardin sneered.
"No, I have the answer," Pyrrha looked towards Dr. Oobleck as she spoke, "It's night vision. Many faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark." Blake brightened and continued Pyrrha's answer with further detail.
"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to attack the faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched and the general was captured," Blake looked over to Cardin as she finished her thought with a smirk on her face, "Perhaps if he'd paid more attention in class, he wouldn't be known as such a failure."
Cardin rose from his seat in anger as the class 'oohed' at the burn. Before he could do anything though, Dr. Oobleck stopped him.
"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat." Bryce was still snickering at Blake's comment and offered the girl a high five under the table, which she gracefully accepted with a smile. Jaune was laughing a bit more loudly, holding his gut laughing as the rest of the class was quiet. Dr. Oobleck appeared in front of Jaune again, and continued talking to Cardin, but looked at Jaune.
"You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for some additional readings."
Jaune slumped, before Doctor Oobleck continued. Once class ended, as Bryce packed up his things, Doctor Oobleck called out to him.
"Mr. Anderson, it would be beneficial to you to get the notes you missed from one of your classmates." Bryce nodded, and walked out with team RWBY as they gathered up before heading back to their dorm.
"So," Weiss started, glancing at Bryce, "what did Ozpin punish you with for your actions."
Bryce smiled as he answered. "Absolutely nothing."
Weiss' jaw dropped, while the others laughed. "How is that possible! Even if you were protecting another student, you should've at least gotten in a little trouble for your actions."
"Yeah, well, I'm a special circumstance. Plus, Cardin's pride is the only thing that took any real damage." Bryce smirked, as Weiss huffed.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Yang grinned as she punched his shoulder. Bryce smiled back.
"That's not all, he also told me that next time I go to deal with something like that, I should use the gun first."
Everyone went quiet, looking at Bryce in shock, his grinning face telling them all they needed to know. Finally, Ruby squealed.
"Really?"
"Really."
Ruby jumped up and did a little dance. "Yay, I get to see it more often."
Bryce looked at Ruby weirdly before speaking. "You really need to make more friends, it's starting to affect you."
"What, no I don't. I'm perfectly healthy."
Blake sighed, as she joined the conversation, glancing at Ruby from over her book. "Ruby, you just got excited about seeing a deadly weapon being pointed at people and used to harm them."
"Yeah, and?" Everyone else sighed as Ruby stared at them innocently.
"Nevermind, just forget it," Yang groaned, wondering what she was going to do with her weapon obsessed sister.
"So, do you wanna hang out right now?" Ruby asked hopefully. Bryce just shook his head.
"Sorry, I've got a lot I've got to catch up on. Thanks to me entering the year even a day late, I have more homework than you guys, and I'd rather not leave it undone any longer than I have to. Plus, I have a lot to learn about the area, as I didn't really grow up with this stuff."
"Oh," Ruby pouted slightly, before perking up again, "Wait, why don't you study with us?"
Bryce smiled, "Sorry, I'd rather do this on my own. But I promise to hang out as much as you want when I get done."
Ruby puffed her cheeks out sadly. "Promise," she said, sticking out her pinky. Bryce sighed internally, as she was reminding her so much of his sisters.
"Promise," Bryce agreed, gripping her pinky with his own.
As Bryce walked away from them as they walked into their own dorm, Alpha spoke to him.
"You didn't have to lie to them."
Bryce winced at the comment. 'I didn't lie to them, I am going to be studying, just not the material they're thinking about.'
"I know that, but it wouldn't hurt to say you're studying personal subjects."
Bryce sighed as he pulled out his scroll. 'Just enter the scroll, and do what you need to. We need to see if there's any known research that could help us get home before my Omni-energy replenishes. It's replenishing a lot slower than usual.'
"That might be due to the fact that we don't have such a strong connection. If we were back home, your creation-energy and destruction-energy would've taken four hours to replenish. Because it took twelve hours, we can safely say it takes at least three times the amount of time to regenerate, plus, we've never had to use so much at once. That could add to how long it's taking."
'That's true," Bryce acknowledged. He sat on his bed as he looked at the scroll. Alpha simply manifested himself, revealing himself to be a glowing blue avatar in a suit. He grabbed the scroll, and simply held it. Bryce watched as Alpha began hacking through all the defenses each government had to access their top secret research. As Alpha sifted through the information to find anything important for Bryce to look over, Bryce opened to window and sat on his window ledge. That was when he heard Jaune shout.
"I got some hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied!"
Bryce's attention went from his thoughts, to the conversation occurring just up above him. Bryce heard Pyrrha gasped, obviously meaning she was there too.
"What? But… why?"
Jaune sounded frustrated as he continued "Cause this is all I've wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."
Bryce heard the shuffling of feet, as he could only assume Pyrrha was approaching Jaune
Jaune almost roared, which made Bryce flinch. "I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"
"Jaune, I-" Jaune didn't let her finish.
"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand?! If I can't do this on my own… then what good am I?"
There was silence for a second, and more shuffling.
"Just… leave me alone. Okay?"
Bryce was silent as Pyrrha walked away. He was half-tempted to go up there himself and see if he could help, but he had the sinking feeling he'd only make things worse than they already were. But ten seconds later, he regretted his decision. There was laughter, and it sounded a lot like Cardin.
"Oh, Jaune…"
Jaune was obviously just as shocked to hear, or rather see in Jaune's case, Cardin as Bryce, if his reaction was anything to go off of. "Cardin."
Bryce only listened in shocked silence as he heard Cardin continue on and blackmail Jaune into doing his dirty work for him. He couldn't intervene this time. Doing that would only cause more problems for Jaune, as well as make him feel even more useless, which would just ruin his confidence even more. Bryce clenched his fist in anger.
"Dang it, Jaune," Bryce mumbled to himself as he retreated into his dorm.
"You know you can't do anything about it," Alpha commented. Bryce just sighed and nodded.
"Do you have anything for me?" Bryce asked, trying to get his mind off the topic.
"Sadly, no. It seems while they are advanced in their own right, they've never had the desire to travel dimensions. Probably due to the grimm infestation that no doubt is causing them to focus on weaponry and dust manipulation rather than other advances, such as space travel or dimensional travel."
'Huh…" Bryce sighed, flopping onto the bed. "This day really isn't turning out to be a good day." Bryce looked out the window to the setting sun and the shattered moon.
"I really hope tomorrow turns out to be better.
…
For the next week leading up to the trip to Forever Fall that Professor Peach announced, Jaune hung out with Cardin, though it was obvious to everyone it wasn't very willing, even though they didn't know the reasons why, unlike Bryce. They would ask Jaune and he'd say they were just getting along better and Cardin was being a real friend, but they all knew that was lie. And Bryce hated that he had to lie the others about having no idea why Jaune was acting like this.
Bryce hadn't known Jaune for long, but he knew he was kind, a good friend, and a smart guy. Maybe not socially, and he struggled a bit in history, but whatever shortcoming he had disappeared behind his genius in battle. He was a natural leader in a fight, and understood many basic rules of team fighting and strategies that many people took years to grasp. And Bryce respected Jaune for that intelligence. But it all meant moot if Jaune was going to let himself be bullied like this and taken advantage of.
Bryce sighed as they boarded the bullhead that would take the class to the forest of Forever Fall. As they flew over their destination, Bryce admired the red leaved forest in all it's beauty. It helped him take his mind off all the drama that was occurring, if just for five minutes. Once the bullheads touched down and the students got off the vehicle and began navigating the forest. As the class walked through the foliage, Glynda Goodwitch explained why they were here.
"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we're not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from deep inside the forest. And I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."
As Bryce watched from the back, Jaune bumped into Cardin, who glared at him menacingly. Jaune whistled innocently as he held a box in his hands with the jars to collect samples on top of the box. Bryce sighed as he turned back to Ms. Goodwitch.
"Each team will have to collect four jars, one for each person. But be careful, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun."
Bryce watched as Jaune tried to sneak off away from Cardin, only for Cardin to smile, and grab Jaune's hood.
"Come on buddy, let's go." Before Cardin dragged Jaune off, he looked at Pyrrha, who was looking at him sadly, as if waiting for him to come along with the rest of their team. Jaune sighed as followed Cardin. Pyrrha looked down trodden as Jaune walked off, head falling and a sad sound came from her lips. She jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll look out for him," Bryce said, motioning to Jaune, "You go with your team."
Pyrrha smiled and nodded. "Thank you."
From Bryce's position in the bushes where team CRDL was camping out, he watched as Jaune fell to the floor after putting down the jars he'd just collected. The team turned to look at him as Cardin smiled.
"Hey, great work," he commented, a sadistic smile on his face, "now that wasn't too hard, was it?"
"I think I'm allergic to this stuff," Jaune whined nasally, as his eyes spun around, pupils dilated. He really didn't look good, and Bryce wanted to intervene, but knew doing so know could only cause problems down the road.
Totally ignoring Jaune's plight, Cardin continued on. "Great great great, so Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect seven jars of tree sap, when there's only five of us.'"
Looking up to Cardin from his position on the ground, Jaune replied, "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."
Sitting up, Jaune looked at Cardin as he began to explain. "Well, come with me, and you'll find out." Jaune groaned as he walked with Cardin. Bryce followed as silently as he could from the pushes. They walked for a minute before they reached a small cliff face. As Jaune and Bryce looked over the cliff face, they could see teams RWBY and the rest of team JNPR collecting tree sap. Specifically, the closest being Pyrrha. Jaune looked to Cardin nervously as he asked, "Cardin, what's going on?"
Cardin's eyes narrowed. "Payback."
Jaune's glanced over to Pyrrha and muttered her name, questioningly. Cardin only grimaced at hearing her name. "What do you-"
"That's the girl," Cardin growled as he slammed his fist into the ground. "Red hair, know-it-all, thinks she's so smart. Alright boys," Cardin smiled as he pulled a box from behind him. Bryce's heart skipped a beat as he heard buzzing. He didn't like where this was going. "Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire swarm of Rapier wasps. Now, we're gonna put 'em to work."
Russell smiled, and slapped Jaune on the back in a celebratory manner. Jaune just paled as he began to realize where this was going.
"Now," Cardin sneered as he looked from the box to Pyrrha, who was crouched down by a tree, "According to one of the essays he wrote for me last week, these things love sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach her, a thing or two." Cardin pulled Jaune up from the ground and shoved a Jar of sap into his gut. "And you're gonna do it."
"Do what?" Jaune asked innocently, looking up at Cardin nervously.
"Hit her with that sap," Cardin smirked. "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon." Cardin smiled as he thought he had Jaune cornered. Bryce wanted to do nothing but beat the absolute crap out of the bully, but he knew that wouldn't do anything to save Jaune. That'd just cause Cardin to rat to Goodwitch and get Jaune kicked out of Beacon. Something Jaune had obviously wanted for so long, and was willing to work hard for.
Jaune looked down at the jar of sap and shifted it in his hands, before looking to Cardin and his team. Jaune readied to throw it and Bryce's heart nearly dropped.
'No…' Bryce thought, 'Don't stoop to his level Jaune. Don't do it, don't-"
"No." Jaunes voice was no longer scared or anxious. The pure conviction behind them caused all who heard it to falter for a brief second. Cardin glared at Jaune.
"What did you say?" Cardin leaned forward, daring Jaune to say it again. And then, Jaune dared.
"I said," Jaune turned quickly and threw the jar at Cardin, "NO!" Jaune flinched as he realized the repercussions of what he'd done. Cardin laughed slowly, before looking at Jaune eerily.
"Ah ha ha, you've done it now."
What proceeded next was violent. Cardin punched Jaune, and began monologuing. Bryce didn't pay it much attention as he was currently moving to intercept and intervene. Jaune had shown what he believed in, and what he held most important. Now, Bryce wanted to stop this before it got ugly. But before Bryce reached team CRDL and Jaune, a huge roar emanated from close to the five figures. Turning, they saw an Ursa Major come charging out of the woods. It roared before focusing on Cardin, noticing and smelling the potent sap smeared across his breastplate. Russel, Dove, and Sky ran off, one of them screaming something about it being a big Ursa, leaving Jaune laying on the ground, and Cardin standing in front of the giant Grimm.
Before Cardin could move, he was hit aside by the large monster. The Ursa glared at Jaune before moving to go after Cardin. As Cardin crawled back, not having time or room to get up with the approaching beast, he reached for his mace, only for it to be knocked aside once he pulled it up. The mace landed at Jaune's feet, who only stared helplessly at the situation. Bryce went to join the fight, only for Alpha to stop him.
"This may be the experience we were looking for to get Cardin of Jaune's back, as well as instill some confidence in him. Leave it be." Bryce heeded Alpha's words, and stayed hidden in the trees.
Cardin turned to run, only for the Ursa to leap in front of the fleeing boy, and with a claw swipe, knock him to the ground. It roared at the fallen boy, before swinging again. The attack was stopped by Jaune's shield. As Jaune pushed back the attack, he struck with his own weapon. The ursa fell back a bit, only to recover and continue the attack.
Jaune was knocked around, his shield keeping him from taking large amounts of damage. Jaune let loose a battle cry as he and the Ursa ran at each other, each aiming for the finishing blow. In that swing, Bryce felt something stir, and spread through Jaune. He saw it flow from his soul to his legs and arms, strengthen them, bolster them to new levels previously impossible for the young man. And he knew exactly what it was.
"Creation energy," Bryce gasped, as he recognized the inherently white power source. The idea was ground breaking. This was a new discovery as far as Bryce knew. None of the dimensions had ever been discovered to have naturally occurring creation or destruction energy, let alone someone who could naturally wield its power. This not only changed everything for Septonians, but for humanity here on Remnant. The scope of his power, while normal in his world, was Remnant-shattering here. If someone could wield it naturally, even host it here on Remnant, it created a new spark of hope for them. It meant so much for them if they could have such a devastating power on their side.
Lost in his own thoughts, Bryce didn't even notice Pyrrha walk up to him, and put a hand on his shoulder. Coming out of his thoughts, he looked to the red-haired girl, who was smiling at him in appreciation.
"I thank you for watching over him. It honestly helped me knowing someone strong would be there for him if anything went wrong." Pyrrha's thanks helped Bryce focus on the world again, which was definitely needed seeing how his mind was swimming in ideas and possibilities.
"Your welcome. I was glad to help him out. I hated seeing him get pushed around like that and felt like I had to do something." Bryce waved off the praise, small as it was. He did what he'd normally do in this situation. That didn't require thanks of any kind.
Pyrrha just shook her head. "It still means a lot to me that you would do this for both me and him. And for that, I thank you."
Bryce smiled. "I hope everything works out." Bryce's face grew serious as he thought about his recent discovery. "But, I have news. Important news."
Pyrrha's face became concerned. "Is it bad? What's wrong?"
"Nothing bad, but definitely serious. I'll tell both you and Jaune later, after we get back from the mission." Pyrrha accepted this, and waved as she walked back over to Jaune, who was looking more pathetic than he ever had before with an apologetic look displayed across his face.
Bryce relaxed for a brief moment. He'd have inform Ozpin about Jaune, as well as Jaune and Pyrrha. Probably teach him how to use his latent powers, but that was all good things. Finally, things in Remnant could turn around for the better.
"Bryce, get out of your optimistical thoughts, we have trouble," Alpha's voice surprised Bryce. Bryce looked around to see if anyone else was nearby, before he began to talk in depth with his A.I. companion.
"What's going on Alpha," Bryce whispered, looking back to the group as Ms. Goodwitch came into view, followed by the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR that hadn't been present for the fight.
"In all we've learned about Grimm, Their bodies dissipate after they're killed, do you remember that?"
"Yeah, I know that. So what's-"
"Look to the Ursa Jaune killed." Bryce felt a chill run up his spine as he looked. Bryce looked to the ground were the Ursa had fallen. Its body had mostly disappeared, but there on the ground, staring at him, sat its head. And its eyes were glowing bright blood red.
…
Salem had never been one to feel nervous. Throughout her long life, she'd been accustomed to being the one with power, never threatened by other beings that lived on the world of Remnant, even Ozpin. But after Cinder had reported a new piece that was unknown now in play, she'd felt the need to investigate.
Thanks to Cinder's information, Salem had discovered the new piece was now a first year at Beacon, and was joining everyone on their trip to the forest of Forever Fall. It'd been easy enough to manipulate the Ursa Major to attack the students through her seer.
Salem had originally thought the blond Arc boy had been the new piece Cinder had mentioned. He had power, that was sure, and he was indeed interesting, but with the worry that Cinder had made about this new piece, she doubted it. And her suspicions when she spotted him, hidden in the trees. And once she had, her black heart had stopped, and her already white skin paled even more, ever so slightly.
She recognized the power that laid within him. She knew it all too well. It was the power of those who had exiled her for tampering in the powers of monsters. In wanting the strength of those who hurt them. The power of monsters that had wrecked the universe as they knew it. The power of a Septonian, just. Like. Her. Only he was much younger and held an even newer power within him.
Salem knew how much of a threat he stood if left alone. He was young and unrefined, but those were always the most dangerous ones. The ones that could sharpen instantly in a hard moment to turn into a deadly blade you hadn't known had been there. And she couldn't allow him to risk everything she'd built up to for hundreds of years.
"Tyrian," Salem kept the anxiety out of her voice as she smiled and motioned for the sitting scorpion Faunus. He walked over and grinned. He quickly brushed off some Grimm remains his white clothing, and brushed back his black hair to allow him to look at her properly, with the proper respect that needed to be shown to a goddess.
"Yes, my liege," Tyrian's insane smile would've scared many other lesser people. Salem was not one of them.
"Go take the hordes and take the silver-eyed girl. It would also be beneficial if you could take care of our new… guest." Salem said, showing Tyrian a picture of the boy through the seer.
Tyrian's smile grew more maniacal. "Of course, goddess." As Tyrian moved to carry out her orders, he began laughing crazily, showing his insane excitement to carry out the task. Once he was gone, Salem's smile fell. She ran a hand through her white hair and narrowed her red eyes as she saw the young man staring directly into the eyes of the dead Ursa Major. Apparently, he had caught on. She watched him pull out a large pistol, and point it at the decapitated head. There was a loud bang, and her connection to the beheaded Grimm was cut.
Salem stared off into the lands she'd controlled for so long. She watched as Grimm rose from the pools of black miasma she'd created so long ago. She'd worked too hard for this, for far too long. She wouldn't, no, couldn't allow some young, Septonian upstart to ruin everything. And that was something that was absolutely unforgivable. She'd use everything in her power to stop him before that happened.
…
Bryce looked around worriedly as he approached Ms. Goodwitch, who was conversing with his eight friends. Ms. Goodwitch turned to say something to him but stopped when she saw his face.
"Mr. Anderson, what seems to be the problem?" Ms. Goodwitch asked, crossing her arms as she looked at the approaching boy.
"I need to talk to you. In private," Once Ms. Goodwitch shot him a questioning look, he explained a bit more, "It has to do with my 'stay' here at Beacon."
Ms. Goodwitch understood instantly, and quickly dismissed the two teams, much to Ruby and Nora's dismay. Bryce waited to continue till he was sure they were out of earshot. "Someone was watching me through the Grimm Jaune killed."
"What?" Ms. Goodwitch's face fell as she heard this.
"After Jaune killed that Ursa, the head didn't dematerialize. Its eyes were still glowing red as if it were alive, and it was looking directly at me, even though it originally hadn't been. Someone or something was watching me."
"Salem," Ms. Goodwitch cursed and gripped her riding crop tighter. Bryce felt confused as to who this Salem person was, but it certainly wasn't good.
"Who-?"
"Someone Ozpin was hoping you wouldn't have to worry about for some time. It seems his hopes-our hopes- were for not."
Before Bryce could press for information, Alpha shouted a warning, through the newly built speaker Alpha had suggested he build for Goodwitch and Ozpin's benefit.
"Bryce, huge Grimm incoming, south east."
Bryce drew Alpha and turned towards the called out direction as the ground began to shake, causing all other conversations to stop. The sound of crashing trees scared multiple students.
"Ms. Goodwitch, it would be beneficial for you to take all the students out of here. Bryce and I can handle this."
"And you would be?" Goodwitch questioned, raising her riding crop for a fight.
"Introductions later, get them out of here. They can't handle a fight like this."
Before Bryce or Goodwitch could question what he meant, a horde of Grimm, Ursai, Beowulves, Nevermores, Griffons, and dozens of Goliaths came charging out of the treeline. Many students screamed and began booking it to the bullheads. Bryce lifted Alpha to cut through a couple charging Beowulves. Ms. Goodwitch shot large icicles at a group of Ursa that were ready to attack some of the weaker students.
"Are you sure you can cover us," Ms. Goodwitch asked, as she and Bryce continued their assault.
"Ms. Goodwitch, if you get the rest of the students out of here, I can promise that Alpha and I can take care of the rest of the Grimm," Bryce affirmed, putting all his aura enhanced strength into a powerful swing, releasing some destruction energy behind it to create a glowing white arc of energy that cut through nearly a hundred Grimm. Ms. Goodwitch nodded, as she understood what he was saying. 'As soon as they're gone, I can let loose. Get them to safety.'
"All students follow me. We're heading back to the bullhead now!" Ms. Goodwitch shouted as she dropped some larger Alpha Beowulves with a wave of fire. Ms. Goodwitch gave one last look to Bryce before leading the students safely to the direction of the airships they had arrived on.
Once all the students were all gone, Bryce smiled. "Now, then," Bryce reformed his power from aura back to its normal state. Bryce felt any tension in his muscles leave him as the comforting feeling of Creation, Destruction, and the small remnants of his Omni energy flowed through him. His power back to normal, Bryce obliterated an entire horde of Ursai and Beowulves with a wave of plasma, "Let's begin the real party."
…
In a distant place, two ancient beings of power stirred from their slumber. Something in their creation was wrong. The world they created had become unbalanced. And that was something absolutely unforgivable.