"FUCK!"
I slammed into a tree as I fell out of the sky to the ground below, hard enough to probably take out a good amount of my Aura.
"SHIT!"
I then proceeded to hit every tree branch humanly possible on the way down. And I mean every one of them as the wind was knocked out of me. I couldn't tell how high up I was, or if I was even close to the ground when I suddenly stopped falling.
I was stunned and my vision was blurred; as the world started to come back to me I realized that I was upside down, suspended about five and a half feet from the ground. I then looked in the direction of my feet and saw that my right leg was stuck between two branches.
"Oh for fucks sake..." I said in complete frustration. I swung myself up and grabbed a hold of my trapped leg. I then proceeded to shake my leg out to no avail. I then tried to break part of the branch, but it was too thick for me to break.
"God-fucking-DAMMIT!" I yell angrily. "Oh you don't need to know anything Ash, you will be perfectly fine at initiation. I can help you and your best friend and house you at my combat school. But I can only do that after I THROW YOU INTO THE FUCKING AIR WITHOUT ANY WARNING INTO A FOREST INFESTED WITH FUCKING GRIMM!"
I felt as though my imitations of Summer and Ozpin were spot on. I was angry that they forgot to mention that I would be launched into a forest that had as much things in it that could kill you as Australia did.
Ok that was a lie. Australia has three times as many things that could kill you.
I then heard some rustling coming from a few bushes near me and I froze. I was in the middle of a forest full of some very hungry Grimm, and I was sure that I landed nowhere near anyone. There was no way that I was going to be able to fight off a Grimm while hanging upside down from a tree. I was hoping that it was just another student who enjoyed to scare the living daylights out of people. I heard the rustling again. This time it was closer, and I could see the bushes moving.
And then something came out of the bush, and a sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I saw a girl with blue hair and wolf ears come out of the bushes. The girl let out a giggle at what she saw.
"I knew I recognized that voice." She said.
It was Nila, and man was I happy to see her.
"For a second there I thought you were a hungry Grimm." I said to her, still hanging from the tree.
She walked over to me with a clear smirk on her face, probably because of my current situation. She looked up at my feet and then back down at me.
"You didn't have a landing strategy, did you?" She asked while she crossed her arms.
"You could say that..." I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. I then remembered the situation I was in. "Is there anyway you could help me down?"
"No, I don't," She replied, shaking her head, "What about that white fire thingy I saw you messing with in the lockers?"
I was about to ask her what she was talking about, but I realized what she meant. She was talking about Janus, which was still on my belt...
And able to slice through a tree branch...
Aren't I an idiot, I thought to myself.
I reached for Janus, unclipped him from my belt and ignited the blade. I then look at Nila, who was rightfully face palming.
"We speak of this to no one," I told her, "Oh and you might want to back up a bit."
She backed up a few feet and I swung myself up and grabbed a hold of the branch. I then raised Janus to the branch and sliced through it. The part of the branch I sliced off fell to the ground and my foot was finally freed. I then let go of the other part of the branch and landed on my feet. I deactivated Janus and clipped him back to my belt.
"So where do we go now?" Nila asked, looking around. Where were we supposed to go? Did Ozpin expect us to walk around the forest until we found what we were looking for? Maybe we were going to get a hint or something. I could take a guess as to where we were suppose to go, and maybe we could find some other students in the process. Or we could get lost and die in a forest full of Grimm.
Unfortunately it was a risk we had to take.
"Well, which way were you heading?" I asked Nila.
"When I was in the air I saw a clearing and what looked like some ruins over that way, so I started walking to it" She pointed to her left as she spoke, "But when I heard you I changed my direction and came over here."
Whatever those ruins were could have been what we were looking for, so we had to go there before anything else.
"Alright, lead the way." I replied. She nodded and we walked off in the direction of the ruins. Inside I hoped that we wouldn't encounter much Grimm, or any for that matter, but I knew that we would encounter at least one. It was just a matter of time before we came across one.
We had been walking for about fifteen minutes and we had already heard a few gunshots and explosions. Nila and I assumed that the other students had also encountered the Grimm. I started to get concerned about Azura. Was she ok? There was no real way for me to know other than finding her. I knew she could handle herself, but there is no way to stop that feeling of concern for you get when a friend or family member is separated from you in a situation like this.
"We should be coming up on it soon." Nila told me as she stepped over a tree root.
We had yet to encounter any Grimm, and that was a good and bad thing. It was good because we weren't in any more danger yet, but it was bad because we could encounter the Grimm at any moment.
I didn't know anything about Nila, and she sure as hell didn't know anything about me, so I decided to try and learn some more about her until we made it to the ruins.
"So what made you want to become a Huntress?" I asked her
"My mother was a Huntress," She replied, "You?"
"I wanted to help people. Protect those who can't fight for themselves."
That was semi-true. It was part of the reason I had wanted to join the military, the other part being my father. The main reason I joined Beacon was because me and Azura didn't really have a choice. Either we helped Ozpin and he helped us, or we said no and be out on our own in some place we didn't know anything about. But as those three months went on I realized that I could help people here like the way I wanted back on Earth.
"Stop!"
Nila suddenly stopped and extended her arm as if to stop me from moving if I weren't paying attention.
"What is it?" I asked, looking around for whatever put Nila on alert. Then I saw a bush move in front of us.
Nila unsheathed her tomahawk and knife, and I unclipped Janus from my belt and activated him. The bush moved again and I raised Janus, ready to fight whatever was about to come out of that bush. And it came out of the bush...
And by it I mean a small rabbit.
I lowered and deactivated my weapon and shot Nila a disappointing look. Said Faunus was looking around confused.
"Stay calm," I said, "It can probably smell fear."
She then shook her head and looked at me.
"Nonono, I heard a growl."
I quickly looked around at everything in front of me and saw nothing but bushes and trees.
"Look I don't see anything. We should probably get moving." I told her. She turned around to look at me with a look of frustration on her face. However, just as she looked at me her eyes widened in fear.
"GET DOWN!"
She quickly pushed me away from where I was standing. At first I wondered why she pushed me back, but I got my answer when saw something black with white claws passed my head by a few inches as I stumbled back. As Nila ducked to avoid it I realized it was an arm of a Grimm.
I stopped myself from stumbling backwards as I took in the monster. Bone-like spikes protruded from it's back. It's sharp white claws on its paws looked deadly as they gleamed in the afternoon sun. It was the an average sized Beowolf. I raised my hand at it and telekinetically pushed it into a tree about thirty feet away. As it hit the tree I realized there was seven more Beowolves behind us, one of which was larger than the others. I reignited Janus and prepared to attack the Grimm.
"Save your energy," Nila said, walking in front of me, "I've got this."
She faced the Grimm, her weapons holstered, clasped her hands together and bowed her head.
"Nila I don't think now's the time to be meditating!" I angrily yelled at the girl. She did not move or look at me, she continued to 'meditate'. The Beowolves started moving closer to us, making me more concerned for our safety.
"Nila!" I yelled again. She didn't respond and the Beowolves were getting closer, so I decided to fight the Grimm. But before I could do anything something something caught my attention from the corner of my eye.
Looking to my right I observed what appeared to be a wolf with a light blue aura around it. Another two on my left caught my attention. I looked back at Nila and noticed that her hair was glowing a light blue similar to that of the wolves' aura. The wolves growled at the Beowolves, exposing their teeth. The Grimm stopped, the largest one growling at us. Nila's wolves charged at the lead Beowolf, which also charged at us. Two of the wolves lunged at the Beowolf, one jumping onto its neck, another onto one of its legs. The third stopped after running past the Beowolf and began growling at the other Beowolves. The Beowolf leader fell on it's back as the attacking wolves mauled the Grimm to death. The Beowolf eventually stopped struggling and began to dissolve, with the two wolves joining the other in growling at the rest of the Beowolf pack.
The remaining Beowolves ran away, fearing they would die the same as their pack leader. As they did something to our right caught my attention. At first I thought it was another one of the blue wolves, but then I realized it was the other Beowolf from earlier. It was running at Nila and she had no idea it was coming for her. I ran over to Nila and pushed her out of the way of the oncoming Beowolf. I gripped Janus with both hands tightly as the Grimm approached, ready to fight and kill it. Standing with my dominant right foot back and my weapon at my side, I waited for the Beowolf to get close before attacking it.
When it got close it swung its right claw at me. I ducked down, avoiding the Beowolf's strike and swung Janus at it's torso, cutting it in half and killing it instantly. The two halves of the monster tumbled to the ground and began to dissolve away.
Before I could do anything I heard a low growl behind me, a growl that I recognized. It wasn't a growl from a Beowolf, it was something worse. I turned around and saw the source of the growl.
It was an Ursa Major.
I just stood there, unable to move. It was as if I were frozen where I stood. My hands started shaking uncontrollably and my heart began pounding in my chest.
The creature swung it's paw down towards me. I tried to dodge it but it still hit me, and I was thrown into a nearby tree, which knocked the wind out of me, and fell to the ground.
The Ursa started running towards me and I still couldn't move.
I tried to get up again, but when I tried I felt an agonizing pain in my side, and I also felt something wet slide down my body. I assumed the worst as I placed my right hand on the site of the pain, feeling something warm and wet. I looked and my hand, and saw it covered in blood.
It was getting closer to me and my body refused to move. Just as the Ursa lunged at me I was tackled to the ground by Nila, the Ursa missing me entirely. I accidentally deactivated Janus as we hit the ground, probably for the best so I didn't cut us in half.
"Are you fucking crazy!?" Nila yelled at me, "You could have gotten yourself killed!"
She got up to her feet and clasped her hands together, her hair glowing light blue again. Six wolves appeared beside her and ran towards the Ursa Major. Said Grimm stood on it's hind legs and swatted one of the wolves as it lunged at its opponent. The other wolves, however, were successful and jumped onto the Grimm, clawing and biting the creature. While they did keep it from attacking us, the wolf pack did nothing to harm it. Then I realized I had an opportunity to take down the Grimm.
I quickly jumped to my feet and ran at the Ursa Major, reactivating Janus as I did. It took notice of me and swung one of it's at me just as I was within a few feet of it. I quickly slid on my knees to avoid the strike from the Ursa. I swung Janus at the Ursa's leg as I slid past it, cutting it off and making it stumble to the ground. after getting back on my feet I threw Janus at the Ursa's neck and decapitating it. The lifeless Ursa fell to the ground as I called Janus back to my hand with my semblance.
One by one Nila's wolves began to fade away and I deactivated my weapon. I looked at Nila, her hair dimming. I also noticed her eyes were glowing as well, but like her hair her eyes dimmed as well. She also had a look of worry on her face. Then I remembered what had happened. I looked down at the dead Ursa Major, trying to figure out what had happened.
Why did I freeze up when I saw the Ursa? I thought to myself. Why did I remember what happened that night?
"Hey are you alright?" I failed to see Nila walk up to me. She still had the same look of worry on her face.
"Yeah I'm fine," I replied. I then remembered what we were suppose to be doing. "Come on, we have to find those ruins."
We began walking off in the direction we were going before. I couldn't get what had happened off my mind, but I had to ignore it and concentrate on finding the ruins so me and Nila could get out of here, possibly finding some people in the process.