Author's Note: So something needs to be cleared up. So I made the comment last time that I "hated" the previous chapter and I still do stand by that notion. I hate doing introductions so much, which is sort of counterproductive to the story I'm writing right now so...yeah. I'm not trying to sound cocky when I say this, but I've never been not confident in my writing, I know I'm a damn decent writer. It's just that what I'm writing isn't all that fun for me right now.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Chapter 2: Just Like Basic Training

Beowulf- One of the most common types of Grimm Species in Remnant, it can be seen on every continent on the planet. Typically travelling in packs, they are fast and will rarely attack one at a time. What little intelligence they have is used for a swarming and rarely fight alone. One of the earliest grimm discovered, it is best to attack its hind legs which have little to no armor. While they are strong, the back feet are its main source of propulsion. The front arms are more appropriate for lunging and not movement. They are weak enough for a single soldier to overcome, and whole packs can be removed by a single platoon of soldiers; which is the most recommended.

Army of Vale Grimm Field Guide, Page 12 Basic Grimm Combat Para-6

Mono thrashed past the foliage in her way, ignoring the oncoming insects or occasional leaf smacking her forehead. Her hair whipping past, the items on her belt recoling as they hit her hips. Not normally one to act of instinct but when in an forest filled with monsters, somethings cannot be ignored. She hadn't even looked back since hearing the explosion. What was the king thinking? Perhaps all the Vacuo sun in the end of the war got to his head. Having his head servant blow up the side of a cliff, what idiocy.

Through the thick treeline she realized that she couldn't make out the light she was supposed to be paying attention to. Cursing she finally came to a halt and stopped to take in her surroundings. It was a lot of trees, naturally, decaying stumps and living ones. Odd tears in the ground, perhaps tracks from a vehicle. They looked recent enough, maybe at most a few hours, curious if they had the king's men had just been through here. Mono had to rip herself from examining the tracks on the ground, that was not the objective, what she needed was a better view. She needed to find the green light and get out of here, preferably now than when night arrived. From what little the force had mention of the forest, they always said it was too dangerous for just a cop when night fell.

There was a reason the army of Vale decided to stop using the forest for training grounds.

Finding any hill, any mound, she even thought about climbing the trees to get a better view. The density of the trees was just too much, if this were a more tropical area she could easily have considered this a rainforest like in Mistral or perhaps in the forests near the border of Vacuo and Vale. Through some finagling and jerry-rigging she was able to find a way to pear through a crack of the woods. She was hanging upside down from a branch about fifteen feet up, but it worked nonetheless. She reached back onto her belt, her position made it a bit difficult since all her items were moving about and her upside down coat limited her movement ever so slightly. From her hip she pulled out a small pair of binoculars and adjusted them accordingly. As she expected, straight ahead was the green light. It was closer than she imagined, almost too close. Was this really supposed to take half a day?

The sound of bark snapping caught her attention as the integrity of the branch was not as top notch as she first thought. Coming down with a massive crack sound, the ground came increasingly fast with little time to react. The dirt and her face collided hard, she thanked the gods that her aura was active. The situation alone put her senses and aura on a hair trigger. Not many of cops had aura, or civilians for that matter, you really only got it when you got into a life or death situation. Most civilians get it in a life threatening situation like in a train crash or more recently during the war a bullet wound you could survive. Being on the force she had outlived many things that could have killed her. Falling from a branch though was a new one she'd have to put on the list.

A ping went off in her head and she went stone cold.

A ringing in her mind as she ceased any useless thought, then another and then more followed. It was silent besides that, no footsteps, nothing to make her think someone was watching, nothing to make her think she was among friends.

Just silence.

Cautiously, slowly, she reached down to her hi and pulled out a nine millimeter pistol, simple, robust, standard to all the police in Vale. Nothing as fancy as say a a gun handed out by the military, but a bullet is hard to walk away from any gun. In all her experience at the station Mono had never dealt much with them, if at all, that wasn't her job. But she knew the signs well enough to be wary of them.

She could see the first eyes in the bush, blood red, thirsty for carnage, and hungry for young fearful human flesh. She could hear the labored breath, they were holding back, but could barely contain themselves through it all. She took a breath and aimed down her sights, lining them up between a pair of red eyes…

*CRACK*

Time Left: 10 Hours, 43 Minutes

-X-

Nevermore- One of the only examples of a bird like grimm, their growth and aging process is much faster than the Beowulf or Ursa, but with less distinction. The only difference is an age dimorphism, the older one is the larger they become. Young Nevermore can appear to be the size of crows, but the older ones can be as long as some village squares. Despite being large in size and swift in speed, they are surprisingly brittle, like their avian counterparts, the only explanation must because of a hollow bone structure. What is for certain is that Nevermore mirror the habits of birds such as crows and vultures, they are scavengers of the battlefield. Multiple reports witness after a battle the Nevermore are the first to arrive to 'clean up' of the deceased making reclaiming bodies another battle in itself. The important thing to do when a Nevermore is chasing you, or your cargo, is to have some obstruction between you and it. Preferably in a forest line or cave system, while they hunger like the grimm their attention is lacking if presented with an easier target. If you are being chased by one in a flat plain or barren landscape, pray to the gods your aim is true.

Military Mantle Book of Grimm Combat, Page 54

"Keep running, that thing still sees us!"

"That 'thing'?! I believe there are multiple things chasing us!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I was too busy trying to not become a worm for our friendly avian creature currently stalking us, to notice multiples of them."

"So why don't we stand and fight?! We have the advantage of the tree lines."

Oro stopped on his heels, heaved a few breaths that sounded more like exaggerated sighs. "Because, that thing," Oro pointed to the black object passing through holes in the tree lines, "is something I do not want to mess with Lynae."

Lynae, as usual, half scowled at him. Her electric blue eyes judging him all the way to court. He had found she does that often. He was seriously regretting bumping into her back in Vale, when he did he spilled her drink, an expensive drink as she informed him multiple times. Why a drink like coffee should cost as much as she was making it out to be once again puzzled Oro.

A snap of from a pair of fingers snapped Oro from his thoughts, "Are you even listening to me?" Lynae let her hands fall to her hips, perhaps one of the few things Oro could compliment about her. Well, that and her pleasingly, almost caramel colored skin. It was a nice contrast from her striking, and easily discernible blue hair. Light blue from the roots and then dark blue highlights. When the bombs went off, finding her had been really easy. In actuality, it had been her who found him, something about not wanting to deal with idiots she didn't know.

So that meant she went with the idiot she did know.

"Sorry, sorry, I got lost in thought," he said with a chuckle.

"Again?" A very agitated sigh came out of Lynae, she scratched the side of her head, which had been buzzed, the length of her hair falling onto the other side of her head like she preferred it to be. Massaging her forehead, around her faunus features that were two horns, she rolled her eyes, "How often do you do that?"

"Really depends, sometimes I like doing it, sometimes I don't, this one time actually I was travelling through a Vacuo Dust mine when I…"

What he was saying was eventually lost on Lynae, despite the fact Oro seemed like a genuine and earnest individual, he talked a little too much. She didn't particularly care for his non-stop chatter. The only thing it did accomplish was fill the long walk through the trees with a little bit of noise. Passing through the foliage she was to pick off small amounts of leaves that got caught on her golden colored pauldrons that kept the shoulders of her dark blue jacket pristine and unfolded. Beneath her jacket was a light blue top with golden lining. She was surprised Oro wasn't off put by the scar on her head, however he was perplexed by the spikes running down the side of her black and blue pant legs.

"What is the goal of those things? Do the militaries of the kingdoms attempt to knee cap and body who comes close to them?"

An odd character he was, that much she could pinpoint about him. He didn't say much about where he was from, just from outside the kingdoms and walked everywhere. She knew there were nomads and people who didn't want to live in the kingdoms, but he seemed to be the extreme.

For the upteenth time she noted the large black shadow of the Nevermore that had been following them, passing through the holes in the tree lines. It still the two were there, and was waiting, circling.

"Hey, Oro," she said through his chatter in a demanding way the made him stop.

"Yes?"

"That Nevermore is still circling above us."

The lizard faunus, the male one, ran his hands over his face and sighed, the rest of his bodily movements obstructed by his tattered cloak. "This again," he said somewhat silently, but not enough, "listen, as long as we stay within the treelines and stay obstructed we will be safe."

"And what if we have to get out of the treeline?"

"Then we will cross that bridge when we come to it, and I sincerely doubt we will have to leave the treelines."

"What makes you say that?"

"This place is well forested, from what I was told the city of Vale was surrounded by thick forests."

"Forests can end you know?"

"As mighty as a kingdom might be, I doubt they would be able to extend this far, especially since that war was going on," he paused. "Where you from anyway? I never asked."

"Vacuo."

"That's it? Just 'Vacuo'."

"Yeah, I lived in the Kingdom of Vacuo, isn't that all you need to know?"

"I suppose, if you want to be boring," Oro didn't bother but he could feel Lyne grimace of utter disappointment.

"Well then if you want to be so bold, tell me about yourself, where you from?"

He mulled over his answer, with him walking in front of her she could see his head bobbing to the side. "Oh, I'm from all over the place."

"Well then how about your name?"

"I already told you my name, I'm Oro."

"Not your full name."

"My full name?"

"My name is Lynae Kyanos, your told me just 'Oro'. What about your last name?"

"My last name?" His increasing perplexing look was starting to agitate the female faunus, who had to take a deep breath as they kept walking.

"Like your surname, the last name of your dad."

"I never knew, what you people would call, 'my father'."

"You people? What's that supposed to mean?" She had to remind herself that Oro, at least so far, hadn't been like some of the humans in the kingdom.

"I don't like disclosing matters of my past, but I will tell you that my concept of 'families' and 'belonging' are very archaic to that of the modern day kingdoms. To make a long story short, I never had a father, I never will, and I never want to."

His forwardness and stern tone caught her off guard, he almost seemed upset by her question. He fully stopped and turned to look her in the eyes, a simmered anger behind his ruby red eyes. He turned back around and with a quieter, sterner response said, "Now let's hurry, it's not that long of a walk. We could be there by midnight if we cut across the treelines."

"You mean you want to go into the clearing where the Nevermore could see us," Lynae pointed up and almost as if on cue came the screech of the all black feathered bird above.

Following the shadows with his eyes Oro moved over to the end of the treeline and pushed some of the vegetation aside. A slightly weathered stone temple lay on the other side of the large clearing.

"If we can make it to there, we can be safe, rest for an hour and then be there by the night."

"You think we can make it?"

"I know I can make it, I don't know about you though."

With an amused huff, Lynae slammed her two fists together, "Trust me, I'm good."

And then she lost Oro again, as he tried mocking her motions with her hands, utterly lost, "What is the meaning of this? What does this-I don't understand."

Lynae let out a sigh full of suffering and regret as she ripped the leaves in front of her to the side and made a break for it.

"Well I'm sorry," Oro said to himself with the roll of his eyes and soon following after her. "Let's hope we can catch a break."

Time Left: 10 Hours, 12 Minutes

-X-

Perhaps the strongest grimm for its size is the Ursa, aptly named after its normal animal counterpart, this massive creature is as tall as most humans when on all fours. On two legs its height reaches to approximately seven feet tall. They are able to shrug off many attacks before they fall, their hide is incredibly thick and most older Ursa have been recorded to have bone plating. With admirable strength they can overturn automobiles and smash through barricades that smaller grimm such as a Beowulf, Creep, or Boarbatusk might have issues with. Usually in smaller pack of less than a dozen, and if the theories prove to be true, they appear to have lower intelligence than most grimm. They can be easily trapped and they usually resort to a head on attack rather than a scavenger type grimm would. The easiest way to kill them is to go for the side or the belly to remove them from the battlefield.

Grimm Operations of the Army of Mistral

"I count...two, no three in the clearing, they're together, getting a shot is going to be difficult."

"I can make it."

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

"Nice shot," Akihiro said peering his eyes through a scope given to him by the man from Mantle beside him. Common sniper protocol to have a spotter to concur with. The bodies of the grimm dissipating like a pill in water.

"Thank you," Carbine slammed the chamber back popping out the spent shell. The golden metal falling unceremoniously to the ground with all the others. In total, about twelve. "We should head out, no doubt the rest of the grimm would have heard that."

"Yeah, the less time we have to spend in here the better, bad things happen at night in the forest," Akihiro offered back the scope which Carbine took.

"I don't think we can avoid it, they put us up there at twilight, we'll have to find shelter soon."

"Out here?" Akihiro swiveled around at the trees.

Pressing forward Carbine hoisted his rifle back over his shoulder and managed to get a vantage point on a mossy rock. Peering through his eyeglass he could barely make out the light, the beacon on the other side of the forest.

"How appropo."

"It'll take us several hours to make it there, if we walk all night we could make it, but I don't think either of us are well suited for nighttime jungle exploration."

"You know, many faunus have night vision."

"And do you have night vision grizzly-boy?" Carbine waited for a response but got silence, "That's what I thought."

"Just because I don't doesn't mean someone else might, if we can find anybody then we could be in luck."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we lose everybody after that mad monkey of a servant blew us off the side of the cliff."

"You were the one who made me sprint off said cliff, you are the reason we got separated from the group."

"I didn't want to buried."

"And the ones we left behind?"

Carbine stopped, his shoulders rising with a sigh. "Do you want to know what they taught me back at the academy?"

"Humor me."

"Those who get left behind have to pick up their pieces and catch up with the rest."

"Well that's morbid."

"Yeah...I never liked it either, but when you hear something enough you start thinking that way. Can't tell you how many times I've nearly had a panic attack now that I'm in Vale. There are some things I'll never be able to get over."

"Like?"

Carbine turned around to face Akihiro, a corner of his lips tugging into a scowl, "Why do you want to know so much about me? Can't we just leave it at that?"

"I may not have night vision, but I have a good sense of smell," when he was met with visible confusion by the man from Mantle he smiled. "My uncle always had a saying, 'You can tell where a person's been by smelling the wind in their boots'. Do you want to know what I smell from you Jeremiah."

"Don't call me by my first name, ever, but sure, tell me whatever you think I 'smell' like."

"I smell nothing."

There was a pause.

"Nothing?" Carbine asked.

"Nope" Akihiro shook his head, "I smell nothing from you."

"Well then what was all that wisdom about knowing where I've been."

"I honestly don't know much about Mantle, we were only ever told stories and I imagine some of those were grandiose. I heard Mantle was a dreary place, it was always cold, never knew a summer's day like Vacuo. I heard that the grey sky didn't just stick to the sky but the streets and the people. And we all know what Mantle did to paintings, to songs, and even books. That's why I smell nothing from you. Everything about you gives the idea of nothing discernable, a face in the crowd."

There was a small tense silence between the two, a stern yet stoic face from Carbine. "You know we are for the most part, all alone out here," Carbine said, looking to the darkening sky.

"I guess."

"So it would be a shame if I discharged my weapon while doing a routine maintenance check with you around."

"You're saying you'd shoot me?"

"I'd make sure it'd look like an accident."

"Let me apologize then, I appeared to step on a sore subject."

"Damn right you did," agitated eyes turned around to the path ahead, but for the life of him Akihiro swore he saw a hint of red in Carbine's eyes, "And Akihiro?"

"Yes?"

"Next time you blame me for what my predecessors did, next time you say anything like that, I'll be invoking Article 6."

"And what is Article 6?"

Carbine didn't answer he grunted and said, "If you're smart, you'll never have to find out."

Time Left: 8 Hours, 34 Minutes.

-X-

If you see a Deathstalker, just run.

Vacuo Merchant Survival Guide.

If you were to look overhead the entirety of the Emerald Forest you would find it quiet peaceful despite small bursts of gunfire. One could say it was like the early days of the war when it was being used as a training ground for the soldiers. Nothing was being disturbed, except for one area, the trees rustled and some were ripped from their place. Stomps could be heard and the sound of bark groaning as it was snapped was indistinguishable. Peering through the holes in the treeline one can see little flecks of people, followed by a large black and white mass.

"Why didn't I stay in Vacuo? What possessed me to come here again?"

"Oh, that's right, I needed money."

Ilios ducked under a wide swipe taking out a nearby tree, the crash echoing in the nearby distance. As he dashed across the hardened dirt ground, his hand gripped the hilt of his scimitar so it didn't stab him in the knee. His aura was getting shot from the blowback of bark and having to slide roughly into stones and hitting trees.

Or sometimes having the trees hit him.

Having a scarf wrapped around his hood was not the smartest idea in retrospect. Not when you have a fully grown Deathstalker running after you with its clipping claws that click unsettlingly. Stupid cave, if he ever went back to there he would make a warning for future people. They would know better then. But now, during the present moment he took a hard left to throw it off course, but with all its legs, it wasn't fooled. It must have been old, some people thought grimm got smarter as they got older, a theory from the academics in Mistral. Unproven but that would make as to right about now, it was following him perfectly. And things would only get worse as the night scared away the sun. There was only a small time until the sun retreated for the day, maybe less than a few hours.

He had to lose this Deathstalker.

Now.

He sprinted forward, used to running long distances he was, but even he was getting tired of this. He apparently drew the short straw on grimm, as numerous as they were, there just had to be just one Deathstalker and it had to be chasing him.

*CRACK**CRACK**CRACK*

The sound pierced his ears, distinctive, telling, a signal. Gunfire.

He headed straight for it, keeping alive the hope that greater numbers would help him against this overgrown arachnid. The image in his head didn't look too far away, but far enough that he needed to keep going. Weaving in and out of the trees once more, the drt pierced by the sharp tipped legs of the grimm, its screeching either a sign of its anger or weariness.

He was so close now he could practically see them, and hear them. Along with some unwanted guest. Taking the final turn he pulled out his scimitar and on his roll in he sliced the ankle of a Beowulf off and slammed the blade back into its stomach. The feeling of plunging into flesh turned into resistance into lightweight as the grimm began to dissolve from the opening of the wound. When he stood up he saw two females, both humans, one smaller holding a pistol and the other much taller holding a massive sword that looked like it derived from Mistral. Around them were Beowulfs and Ilios shrugged.

"Well, I've worked with less, so this will have to do."

-X-

Mono had very little clue as to what this person just meant, she barely sensed him coming in until he was right on top of her and Amid. But he sliced up a grimm, so he was immediately seen as an ally, at least for now. He was dressed in baggy brown pants that had a fair bit of dirt and have seen action. An orange shirt sort of complimented his tan skin, that and his golden hair. He wore a long orange cloak that reached to his ankles, around the neck was a scarlet scarf that differed greatly from the rest of the outfit. The man's orange eyes piercing through his persona.

What was the most interesting about him though was the chitinous plates and bits of carapace that dotted his body. Colored a different shade of brown were hard carapace plates on his face, poking out would be a better descriptor. Despite his arms being covered by the hood, Mono imagined they were present there as well.

"An insect faunus." Was what she deduced, quite possible the rarest among them all, she could have counted the number of times she'd seen them. One, and it was right now.

From behind the man though came a horrific screech as trees and dirt were shoved and blown away as the large white claws of a Deathstalker came in right after Ilios.

"Great, Beowulfs and a Deathstalker, should have never left the station."

Ilios ran in to join them as a they formed a small circle with larger ones turning around. Most of it was the wolves, but there was the giant scorpion to worry about, that would be the issue. When Deathstalkers came, at least during the war, a lot of people died to take them down. Mono brought up her gun to the side of her face and took a breath and-

*CRACK**CRACK**CRACK**CRACK*

Four shots went off, they came from behind her, she could feel the wind of one of them whip right by her face. She froze when it did, nothing could ever prepare you for the feeling of near death. However when everything came back to her, she noticed three Beowulfs falling to the ground, pieces of their skulls missing and a hole in the mouth of one. Then a scream, one of true pain came from the Deathstalker as it thrashed wildly, taking trees and other grimm with it. Rustling could be heard, as the three of them turned to see a large man holding a heavy metal slab, that was the best Mono could make of it, and swipe it across the body of a charging Beowulf. The crack and lurching of the black furry body was almost sickening. Following the large man, who Mono realized was also a bear faunus, came a much thinner person holding a rifle with stark white hair. She had seen rifles like that very few times, they were from Mantle.

Interesting.

"I am very sorry for barging in so rudely, but," the faunus said, leaning on his cross, "would you like some help? My name is Akihiro Cedar and this is Carbine. He's a bit touchy, so just call him Carbine."

The man who brought the Deathstalker smiled, "Name's Ilios Sand, glad to have you." Akihiro and Carbine joined them and turned around in a circle. "Any ideas about how to get through this?"

"Keep the Deathstalker at ranger," came the low voice of Carbine, he pulled back the hammer of his rifle releasing a spent shell casing which fell to the floor. "The only weak spots are to take out its eyes and legs. I already took one eye, but it will be on better guard for the next. If it was just the Deathstalker we'd be fine, but we have the wolves to worry about too."

The other female of the group, Amid, who had been silent since helping Mono out nodded, "I can take them out, if we dispatch the Beowulfs we can form up and take it from all sides."

"Perhaps," Ilios said, reaching back and pulling out a small crossbow along with his sword, "but that might take time."

"And we don't exactly have much time," Akihiro added.

A beowulf which had been slashing at the ground in anticipation finally lost control and lept at the group. After that, the mass of grimm followed suit.

In one motion Akihiro and Amid lept forward, sword and cross raised. Mono and Ilios turned to the side, a bolt from the crossbow and the flash of her pistol going off. Carbine jumped straight back and pulled his rifle up to his left eye, took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. All the while the sun dipped beneath the treeline.

Night had fallen in the Emerald Forest

Time Left: 6 Hours, 46 Minutes

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

So probably the number one thing that needs to be mentioned is that, no, I did not miss or skip any writing and no, you did not miss something, I purposefully left out Amid's intro/meeting with Mono. Two reasons, I can only do the same thing a few times in a chapter, plus I would like to keep her more mysterious. Ilios wasn't originally going to be mentioned in this chapter, but I needed a connecting point. So obviously the big question some of you might have is about character. If you did not hear anything back from me, or I did not tell you that you were "Accepted" then I am sorry but your character did not make it. The reason why I did not personally tell you was because I had many, I could have closed submissions within a day in actuality. So I am sorry about dealing with this matter so impersonally because I know some of you poured your time into making those characters. I know how you feel. You also probably figured it out by looking at my profile for the past two weeks and saw your character wasn't up there.