Hello readers and welcome back to chapter 9 I hope you will enjoy it, thank you for reading.
Chapter 9 Black dust
Then next morning arrived at beacon, the girls were all waking up doing their various stretches, when emerald began to sniff, "what's this is I feeling" neo turned to emerald with a confused face "don't you sense it neo" emerald grinned then turns to cinder and salem "all the sexual tension is gone", both the girls went scarlet, in there minds they were going "there is no way emerald could of known". They both looked opposite ways avoiding each-others eye contact, emerald grinned "all I needed to see".
Neo's eyes sparkled with the realisation then turned to kiss emerald, but was stopped by emeralds finger on her lips "wo, wo settle petal we ain't there yet", neo pulled away and pouted, emerald's heart skipped a beat looking at neo's pout, she coughed to cover it up "anyway in all honesty are you two a thing, I'm not saying it as a joke", salem and cinder took each other's hand, they both nodded in unions "yes" they both replied, emeralds grin shifted to a smile "that's good" then the grin returned "just remember to put a sock on the door if your planning on storming each other's castle" emerald winked, both girls went crimson.
An hour later
The girls were enjoying their breakfasts when all four got a notification on their scrolls, it read "students your regularly scheduled classes are suspended today, professor Wiess will be taking you on a field trip, bring your combat gear, signed Professor Ozpin" the four girls were surprised by this. "I wonder where we're going" salem spoke first. "I don't know, but it must be related to semblance training" cinder replied "I wonder if I can get another shot at professor B…" emerald grinned Neo raised her scroll "whatever it is let's do our best" the girls nodded in response "well then" salem stood up "let's go get our gear team" the girls agreed and headed for their lockers.
They arrived at the semblance training room with rest of the class, once again Weiss wasn't there, in the few moments the students had before the professor would arrive, miltia walked over to cinder "hey you, what was the deal with you yesterday, conceding like that, cinder looked at her feet "I'm sorry about that" miltia shook her head "I don't want an apology, I want a rematch" cinder looked confused "why" miltia scoffed "because things were just getting good" she let out a small smile "besides I could feel you were better than that" she then moved up to cinder and whispered in her ear "I liked it" cinder blushed, miltia returned to her twin giving cinder a wink.
Not long after Weiss arrived, she gave the class a look over before giving them a smile "hello class as most of you are aware, we are going on a field trip today any obvious questions" cinder raised her had "where are we going professor?" Weiss kept her small smile "to answer that, first answer me this what was humanities first real weapon against the grim", "dust" salem interrupted Weiss nodded "correct, so to answer your question miss fall, we are going to the dust forest to collect dust samples" cinder looked confused "what does that have to do with semblance training miss", "the reason is that some kinds of dust can be used to modify, manipulate or change the very nature of your semblance, for instance say you used water dust with your fire what would happen?" cinder puzzled "I'm not sure" Weiss chuckled "you get steam and with the water dust as an amplifier you could manipulate the steam just like your fire and change its very essence". The whole class was stunned with this knew found knowledge.
Wiess turned around and started walking to the door "come on class the shuttle will be here in an hour" everyone nodded and followed Wiess.
The shuttle ride only took half an hour to arrive at the destination. When the class left the aircraft, they were met with very large forest but within there was several spots of different colours randomly dotted everywhere. Wiess turned to the class "right everyone, welcome to the dust forest, most of the dust we use today comes from here, you'll be split into your teams and given a specific coordinate to look for dust, once you acquire several samples return here, any questions" one student raised their hand "so does that mean you wont be coming with us?" Weiss nodded "correct, I want to observe how you students handle yourselves in a situation where you have to rely solely on yourself and your teammates it'll help me greatly in learning how you use your semblances in real situations".
Another student raised their hand "what do you mean by 'real situations'" a small grin grew on Wiess's face "isn't it obvious, the grim reside in this forest" there was a couple of small gasps from the class "you will be fine, in the worst case scenario I will protect you, I cant have my students dying on me" that reassured the class a little, Weiss made a quick glance at salem before walking over to her "you four will be searching the cave at these coordinates there is said to be black dust in there".
Salem gave the professor a confused look "what is black dust professor" Weiss replied "black dust is a newly discovered type of dust, we are not entirely sure what it does, but we want to study it" salem nodded in acknowledgement "why are you sending us" Weiss chuckled "professor Ozpin thinks highly of you four and this would be a good test for you four"
Wiess held her scroll up to Salem's and transferred the coordinates" salem nodded "alright professor" and with that salem turned to her team "lets get going shall we" they all nodded, then the four bolted into the forest, as they turned there backs to leave the grin on Wiess's face widened.
The girls were running through the forest not so fast that it would tire they ran in a four-point diamond position with salem in the front, emerald and cinder on the sides and neo at the back. "the professor seemes rather whimsical today" emerald broke the silence "maybe she's just enthusiastic about our training" cinder responded "perhaps, so salem how much further" emerald directed, salem didn't turn her head "I think we're pretty close" just as salem finished they broke through into a clearing with the cave on the other side.
They approached the cave all four had their weapons out all on high alert. Once they entered the mouth of the cave, they could see that it was a fairly large cave with stalagmites on the roof, the cave itself had two openings to the left and right. Th four girls looked into the cave "well we're here, which way should we go" cinder inquired, salem moved closer to the left hand tunnel "hey cin, could you set me on fire" cinder blinked twice "excuse me, could you repeat that" salem looked back at her "what I meant was could you throw a ball of fire at me" cinder blinked again "why?" salem smiled "so I can catch it with my TK (telekinesis) that way we have a source of light and you don't use up aura" cinder tilted her head with an eyebrow raised "are you sure about this, what about your aura", "yes I'm sure, your fireball wont be heavy enough to drain me at all" cinder nodded wearily "ok if you insist, guys move away from salem and get behind me" emerald and neo nodded "your one crazy girl salem" emerald remarked as she walked behind cinder. Salem backed up about thirty feet then took a stance while cinder pointed her palm at her with a concerned look "you ready" salem nodded, cinder's hand suddenly caught fire, she cupped the fire in her other hand, moulding it into a small ball before launching it at salem.
Salem watched this ball come at her with her hands extended she just managed to catch it before it collided with her head, it had stopped mere inches from her face, the heat made salem sweat, she then relaxed moving the ball away from her face. There was a moment of silence in the cave as everyone just watched the suspended orb of fire, salem grinned "see, what did I tell you" cinder gave her a smile "show off" they both laughed.
Just then the cave began to rumble furiously making all the girls lose their balance, it got so bad the cave started to collapse, large stalagmites started falling from the roof "salem!" cinder shouted salem was just about to respond when the left side cave where she was collapsed entirely, trapping salem on the other side. Luckily salem managed to maintain her semblance so the ball of fire was fine, but she was now trapped.
Cinder rushed over to the collapsed side "salem! Are you alright!?", salem coughed "yeah I'm fine but it looks like I'm stuck here, you guys take the other path, I'll continue down this one, hopefully they connect somewhere" there was tears in cinder's eyes "I understand, just be careful" salem let out a small chuckle "aint I always" and with that she started walking down the tunnel.
Salem's pov
The tunnel was about ten feet wide thankfully the light from the orb made it easy to navigate, she continued until she came to an open cavern and in the middle salem saw see something odd, it was a pool of black liquid. Salem approached it cautiously, she stared into it, it was like black oil but it didn't have the rainbow like colour when the light of the orb hit it, while she was fixating on the black substance the cave shook violently knocking salem off balance, she hit the ground with a thud but also a splash "oh shit".
Her eyes widened when she seen her forearm in the pool, she pulled it out it was caked in this black essence, she tried to rub it off but when she touched it, it had already dried like a cast, she could still move her fingers.
"This must be the black dust that the professor wanted" she thought to herself, a roar boomed from the other side of the cavern, salem snapped her head to see a beowolf but this one was different for starters it was larger than normal but what was especially different its usual red armour plates were a muddy brown. It pointed its claw at salem and a rock suddenly shot towards salem, she dodged it "what th-" before she could finish it threw another one, she dodged that one as well "oh right that's it" she grabbed her weapon and ran up to the beowolf at a blinding at speed then slashed down the middle, even though the hit was true there was no damage, the beowolf swung with its arm, knocking salem back "that's not possible this bastards got an aura"
the beowolf roared at her in response, they both ran at each other in the middle, salem went for a horizontal slash but the grim blocked it then went to slash her, she bent her back to avoid it and used the momentum to do a backflip kick to the grims jaw stunning it, she came out of the flip she delivered an aura punch to its chest, not realising she hit it with her black dusted arm, the force threw the beowolf soaring crashing into the back wall. Salem raised her coated arm "well that was something". The grim pulled itself off the wall, shaking its head before staring daggers at salem, salem readied herself as the beowolf went to charge again it suddenly stopped before dropping dead, standing behind it was emerald who turned to salem "sup".
The others (after the collapse)
"aint I always" Salem's voice travelled through the rocks, cinder nodded then turned to the other two "alright let's get going" emerald looked concerned "you sure we wouldn't be getting the professor" cinder's expression changed to serious "no we're going to rescue salem ourselves, I will burn down everything down to the ground if we don't find her" emerald felt a chill run down her spin "whatever you say cinder, you in neo" neo nodded furiously cinder's face went back to normal "good lets go" and with they headed down the right tunnel.
After a short walk they reached a cavern and inside was a large black ball with red spikes on it "what do you think that is" emerald noted, cinder shook her head "irrelevant" she took one step in and the large mound shifted before four large limbs emerged from it, it turned to face the group, it was a huge ursa, it had black fur with red armour plates running up its front arms, across the front of its body and red spikey spins running down its back. It roared with so much force it rocked the cave violently, causing the girls to stumble nearly causing the girls to fall over, they collected themselves emerald turned to cinder "that's is not irrelevant!" cinder's expression changed to annoyed "tch fine, neo stay back provide fire support, emerald find a weak spot I'll take it head on" neo took a step back and lined her rifle with the grims head, emerald grinned "whatever lets go save a princess" she locked in her blades, cinder smiled "thank you" she then turned to the grim and approached it.
Cinder unhooked her whip, letting it trail as she walks forward. The grim started running at cinder and swung with its right fist, she dodged to the right also just missing the attack but whip her wrapped around its arm, she pressed the button on the whip and the blades extended out gripping it to the arm with a pull it ripped through the arm severing it entirely . The roared in pain, neo shot three shots at its head while emerald was blinking all over its back, stabbing it repeatedly as she moved while she was doing this, she noticed an entrance behind the grim, she blinked behind cinder "there is an opening past the grim" cinder nodded "you go me and neo will finish it off" emerald nodded, she turned to neo who just had her thumbs up. Emerald blinked up to the grims head gave it wink then vanished past it. Emerald turned to see cinders arms on fire she took it as a sign to run and she did.
While emerald was running, she could hear fighting through a wall then suddenly a oddly coloured beowolf came slamming through the wall, emerald was slightly shaken by this but noticed it getting back up heading back to where it was, emerald smirked, she blinked behind it and stabbed it through the back, it collapsed to the ground to reveal salem on the other side "sup"
Salem just watched emerald stepping over the now disintegrating beowolf she subconsciously waved with her black arm, emerald was confused "hey salem what's up with your arm" salem looked at her arm before rubbing the back of her head with it "I found the black dust" her face turned serious "though I found something much worse" emerald was puzzled "what do you mean" salem looked into emeralds eyes "I'm convinced that beowolf had an aura" emeralds eyes went wide with shock "you're kidding right, I mean that's not possible grim don't have souls for an aura", "I know emerald, but I swear that grim had a semblance, it threw rocks at me without touching it, it was also a different colour I don't know for sure but we should get out of her-" she paused when she saw cinder emerge from the hole with a teary smile. They both exchanged a warm hug.
After a minute the girls were all together, salem told the cinder and neo what happened, neither could believe it "so that's how your arm is like that" salem nodded "yeah, lets get the sample and get out of here" the girls nodded salem moved to the pool of black dust she plunged her already coated arm in and scooped it in a jar "you sure its safe" salem smiled "I have no idea but its already on me so what's the harm" cinder didn't share salem's thought but as long as she appeared fine she let it go.
After they left the cave and made their way to the landing area, where Weiss was standing with the students, they emerged from the trees, Weiss immediately turned around and approached the girls "ah girls you've returned, were you successful?" salem held up the jar with her black arm "yes professor" Wiess's eyes widened when she saw the arm "oh my salem are you alright" salem nodded "yes professor, I got it on me but I feel fine, in fact…" she paused and punched a tree causing it to shatter and collapse "I feel great", Weiss couldn't hide her smile "I see that's impressive, well done salem and the rest of you, you did not disappoint" she took the black dust sample, then turned to the rest of the students "all right students back on the shuttle, we're heading back now".
Back in beacon
The girls just arrived in beacon when salem felt a twinge in her coated arm, she turned to the girls "I'm going to head to professor Ozpin's office and let him know what happened" emerald and neo nodded, cinder ask to come with her but salem declined then headed to the office.
Salem knocked on Ozpin's door which was met with "come in", salem opened the door and walked in with her arms behind her back. Ozpin was sitting at his desk typing away, he looked up and closed his computer "ah miss Velaros I see you've returned from your trip, how was it?" salem walked over "yes professor there is something i need to show you" ozpin raised an eyebrow "oh and what might that be?" salem then showed him her arm, there was a immediate look of concern, he got up from his chair and moved up to salem staring at her arm "may I?" he held out his hand near salem's arm, salem nodded, he gently grabbed her arm also running his finger along the length with his other hand, he looked up at salem "does it hurt" salem shook her arm "no sir, am I ok" Ozpin let go "honestly I'm not sure this is the first time I've seen black dust in contact with an individual".
There was a look of concern on salem now "also that's not the only bad news I've got" ozpin adjusted his glasses "go on" salem looked straight at ozpin "I fought a grim with an aura" ozpin dropped his coffee mug, "what do mean it had an aura?" salem was surprised by ozpin's reaction "well after I got coated a brown armoured beowolf attacked me, at first it somehow manged to lift rocks without touching it and throw them at me, also when I hit it there was no damage, it felt like sparring practice" ozpin took a moment to process "so let me get this straight not only are you telling me that you fought a grim with an aura but it had a semblance too" salem nodded "yes" ozpin's face returned to normal "well that is troubling, thank you for telling me salem, also please return to me if your arm gets worse" sure thing professor, with that she left his office and returned to her team.
Ozpin looked out his window "it looks like the world is changing again".
That's the end of chapter 9 I hope liked it, this one I found harder to write, so I apologise if it isn't great. Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next chapter