The two scarlet warrioresses moved through the foliage swiftly, their near-identical emerald eyes sweeping the Emerald forest for enemies. They unconsciously adapted to each other's movement. Carolina was alerted to this fact when she heard snarling and rustling from her left. Before she could react, Pyrrha called out to her. She pivoted and trained her weapon in that direction, noticing Pyrrha's defensive stance. Three Beowolves launched themselves out of the bushes. The first one was thrown back after receiving a high caliber pistol round between the eyes.
"There's one more! An Ursa Minor!
Carolina shot the rightmost Beowulf in the chest, knocking it sideways. Meanwhile, Pyrrha had leaped up and smashed her armored kneecap into the final Beowolf's chin before bashing its head with her shield. The Grimm was thrown directly into Carolina's line of fire and was dropped like an overcooked microwave snack. Both women directed their attention to the large form of the Ursa Minor charging through the underbrush on all fours. Neither paid any attention to the second Beowulf as the freelancer shot it in the head without looking.
Pyrrha hurled her shield low so that it impacted on the bear-like Grimm's arms, forcing it to dive headfirst into the dirt. As Akouo bounced back, Carolina jumped and flipped over the spinning shield and stomped onto the Ursa's head. She crouched and tensed, waiting for the Grimm to force itself up. When the freelancer used the upward momentum to dive forward and roll past the Ursa, Pyrrha launched a powerful upwards kick to the chin, snapping its upper body into the air. Carolina spun and swept out the Ursa's legs. The momentum from Pyrrha's kick sent the large Grimm over Carolina's low form. As it thudded into the ground, Carolina rose and emptied three rounds into its skull.
The freelancer turned to scan their surroundings, only to see Pyrrha doing the same. Both confirmed that the area was secure and continued onwards.
As they ran, Pyrrha felt like she needed to talk about their cohesion. "Well, we're rather synchronized."
Carolina nodded. "Yeah. You're pretty experienced, the way you checked our surroundings and noted that big bear thing."
Pyrrha flushed and smiled at the praise. "I'm just trying to help."
Carolina wondered where their burst of cohesion had come from. The only time she'd been able to synchronize her fighting with others had been with the other freelancers. And that had only come after years of combat next to them, and still, she couldn't really work that well with certain members like C.T. or Tex. Somehow, with Pyrrha, she'd been able to feel that level of comfort and trust in a teammate even though they'd only met that morning.
Pyrrha had to keep herself from grinning excitedly. Fighting with a partner and being able to understand them was extremely enjoyable for a duelist like her. Some part of her regretted turning down her doppelganger's offer to be partners. If she'd known how good it felt to fight next to Carolina, Pyrrha would have had a lot more difficulty turning down the offer. She hoped she'd get more opportunities to team up with her twin in the future.
While both redheads savored the sweet nectar that is good, constructive teamwork, the reality wasn't as incredible as they both thought it was. Carolina wasn't able to work with the freelancers on the lower end of the spectrum because she didn't put them in her eyes as equals, partly because of her competitive attitude and partly because she could outpace them. Agents like Tex or even South Dakota were bad matches for her because of personal problems between them. Carolina was a very adaptive fighter, and could easily mesh with combatants of similar skill. Pyrrha definitely qualified, and Carolina had a good impression of the girl. As a result, Carolina was able to pull off the sort of teamwork she'd only experienced with her team of elite freelancers of North Dakota, York, and Wash.
Despite Pyrrha's ability in dueling, she was a very cooperative person at heart. Even though she hadn't had much experience fighting in a group, she had talent in understanding and predicting the other person's actions. The situation also required her fighting style to be supportive, given that she only had a shield. In order to help rather than harm, Pyrrha frontlined, using her shield as cover for Carolina's range, directing Grimm into her line of fire while leaving it unobstructed, and using her superior knowledge of the Grimm to shotcall. Because of her nature and willingness to play support, she simply took the best role for the two to succeed.
In the end, both fighters were similar. Neither had any particularly devastating finishing moves or power. Both were agile fighters who could target weak points and take advantage of opportunities. What made them top-tier was their ability to create opportunity when none occurred naturally. This improved their cohesion as they could predict each other's movements. In this situation, their personalities were also emphasized. Carolina was more aggressive and had the more dangerous weapon. Pyrrha was more defensive and held the similar fighting style, experience, and personalities led to their incredible teamwork.
They only encountered one more pocket of Grimm before they reached Jaune. Both felt as if they could run ahead together and fight anything they came across. Despite their nature, both were a bit disappointed that no more Grimm came at them. Either way, they retrieved Pyrrha's spear and rescued Jaune Arc from the tree, officially partnering Pyrrha and Jaune.
Jaune shuffled awkwardly. "So… Where do we go?"
Pyrrha looked to Carolina instinctively.
The freelancer pointed decisively in a 9:30 direction. "There's a structure over there that might hold the relics."
Jaune blinked. He pointed at Pyrrha, then at Carolina in confusion. "Uh… Who said that?"
Carolina pointed to herself as Pyrrha gestured to the freelancer.
"Why do you guys sound the same?"
Both females shrugged.
"Ok. Cool."
Pyrrha glanced at her clone. "How do you know where the relics are?"
Carolina shook her head. "I don't. I just saw a stone structure in that direction. Since the rest of the area is just forest, I think we should check there first."
"I didn't see anything," Jaune said.
"Neither did I," Pyrrha added, wondering how her new friend knew about their potential destination. Friend? Hopefully, they would be friends.
Carolina shrugged. "I saw it when I got launched."
Jaune nodded while Pyrrha gave an appreciative "oh". Jaune and Carolina both looked at her, prompting her to explain.
"Using your situation to gain an understanding of your surroundings. Wow, could you help me with my situational awareness?"
Carolina smiled happily under her helmet. "To be honest, I don't think I can really teach you anything. You're already really good."
Jaune backed off, feeling excluded from the conversation. He was really glad that Pyrrha wasn't wearing a helmet like the other woman whose name he still hadn't gotten yet. If he couldn't see the celebrity's mouth move, he wouldn't know which woman was talking.
Carolina smiled as she felt the connection between her and Pyrrha deepen. She couldn't brush off a feeling of unease, however. Something about Jaune Arc rattled her, but she couldn't really place it. Maybe it was his low skill-level and the fact that Pyrrha would need to drag him around in the future? Why did he sound familiar?
Wash led the Blood Gulch crew in the direction Carolina and Pyrrha had sprinted off to. Carolina had directed him to where she believed the relics were held before she left. Now it was his job to ensure that everyone got there in one piece.
He ran his eyes over the motley crew he was leading. Some were arguing loudly, swearing and cursing each other, the environment, and literally everything in general. Some spoke nonsense and confused anyone they attempted to talk to. There was no formation, just a loose gaggle of armed idiots.
It was a far cry from the elite soldiers Wash used to work with. They would cover each others' backs and stay silent. They would use hand signals and coordinate to maximize their situational awareness.
The multicolored troopers were as coordinated as their colors were unified. But Wash knew from personal experience, that the moment any sort of enemy appeared, they would somehow survive without injury and continue on as nothing had happened.
For example, seven Beowolves and three Ursa Minors charged them. With a lot of screaming and yelling, they were all blown to bits or shredded within seconds. The cacophony of noise made by the Blood Gulch crew was louder than the bullets and rockets they used and lasted a lot longer.
Wash was less concerned about everyone making it to their destination than he was about staying sane.
For the love of god and everything holy, please let us be there soon.
To say that Jaune was intimidated would be an understatement.
Despite his supposedly indifferent attitude back in the locker room when Weiss revealed Pyrrha's celebrity status, he was very impressed. Now she was his partner, even though he'd never believed she would actually end up on his team since she seemed nice and looked like she could take a joke. Not only was such a skilled celebrity his partner for the next four years, someone who sounded exactly like her and was probably just as adept at combat.
Sandwiched between the two, he felt that familiar feeling of being an anchor. Any time he practiced with his sisters or fought in a group at his previous combat school, he always had to be carried through.
He wasn't an idiot. He knew a good fighter when he saw one since his family had such close contact with top-tier huntsmen and huntresses. Pyrrha and Carolina both acted like warriors, taking in their surroundings with casual ease and dispatching any enemies without any difficulty.
As for Jaune...
He was kind of just there.
Not fighting. Not talking. Not helping. And he hated that.
Pyrrha took point, since she had the most defense. Carolina was best suited for range and stayed slightly back. They'd made the arrangement without talking. Jaune walked in the middle of them and had his shield ready, but was clearly uncomfortable and didn't know what to do. Pyrrha stepped forward and brushed a tree branch aside. Jaune was looking in a different direction and was nearly whacked in the face by the offending wooden branch. He'd managed to block it with his shield, but it had shattered and grazed his face.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha turned around hurriedly.
"He's alright." Carolina pre-emptively stopped the inevitable flood of apologies from Pyrrha.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Jaune groaned slightly.
"Are you sure?" Pyrrha stepped forward.
"Yeah, small graze. Nothing major-eh-uh what are you doing."
Pyrrha reached out gently and pulled out the wooden splinter from the blonde's cheek. Jaune's eyes widened in horror.
"Are you sure?" Pyrrha repeated.
"Yea-yeah." Jaune squeaked, thinking about how close that was to lodging itself in his eye.
"Why didn't your aura protect you?"
Carolina and Jaune both looked at Pyrrha in confusion.
"Sorry what?" Jaune asked.
"Your aura."
"Gesundheit."
Carolina stepped forward. "Aura? What's aura?"
Pyrrha blinked in surprise. She knew that aura was only explained and talked about in the later years of combat school, but still, a huntsman or huntress at Beacon's initiation not knowing what about aura was already rare. Not to mention two.
"Aura is the manifestation of our souls. It's our sixth sense, warning us of danger and protecting us from harm."
Jaune blinked in understanding. "So it's like a forcefield."
"Somewhat."
Carolina considered Pyrrha's statement. Huntsmen/huntresses had some sort of energy that protected them from harm. She knew about the Spartan program's energy shielding and had always wished for that sort of system to be built into her armor. Apparently, these people had a biological energy shield.
"Jaune, do you… not have your aura unlocked?" Pyrrha felt as if she knew the answer.
"Probably not." Jaune had the grace not to pointlessly lie.
"I can unlock it for you."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Carolina breathed a sigh of relief. Her armor offered her some form of protection, so felt like she could keep up with her counterpart when it came to taking damage. But Jaune was lacking in skill, severely lacking in skill. And he was Pyrrha's partner for the next four years. Carolina was very glad that they'd managed to find this problem so early. She watched as Pyrrha placed a hand over Jaune's heart and recited some sort of poem. A clear and bright glow began to emanate from the two, a rich scarlet surrounding Pyrrha's figure and a clean white light shone from Arc. He looked down at his hands in awe but stared at Pyrrha in alarm as the redhead bent over in apparent exhaustion.
"Pyrrha?"
Carolina looked over at her twin in concern. Pyrrha was someone who was important to their trio's survival. If Carolina was the only one capable of defending them and needed to protect Jaune and Pyrrha, she wasn't sure she could do so. It wasn't like she had a stellar track record extracting two other people.
"I'm fine." Pyrrha straightened and smiled. "Wow Jaune, you have a lot of aura."
"Aura sizes can be different?" Carolina asked.
"There's not too much variation in the amount. It's just that some of it sometimes takes a while to appear, so younger people usually have significantly less aura than older people. The release rate varies from person to person. Jaune has more than me, but by the time we graduate, we should have roughly the same amount."
Carolina nodded. At least Jaune had more shielding. Pyrrha could take care of herself very well, but Jaune would probably need protection far more than her.
"Carolina, do you not have your aura unlocked either?"
"I didn't even know about aura until you talked about it. From where I'm from, no one's ever heard about it." Carolina answered truthfully. Too truthfully.
"Where you're from? You're not from here?"
Carolina cursed internally. She hadn't meant to reveal her extraterrestrial origins or even let on to the fact that they weren't local this early. They'd only escaped scrutiny from the other students because of a simple fact: though their armor and weapons were strange, the variety of clothing and arms the natives of Remnant possessed provided a good enough cover for them. Pyrrha was an understanding person and probably wouldn't pry. Either way, judging from the way they'd hit it off, her group of foreign space people would probably spill the beans at some point.
"It's a long story. Maybe later?"
Pyrrha nodded. "Should I unlock your aura?"
And get the sort of forcefield I've always wanted? Hell yes.
They assumed similar poses, and Pyrrha began to glow as she recited the mantra, but she soon stopped in confusion as the freelancer remained unchanged.
"Is something wrong?" Carolina asked.
"Yes, it's just- your aura seems like it's sealed." Pyrrha frowned unhappily. "I can't unlock it."
Carolina nodded. It was disappointing, but she figured she could manage. No use in making Pyrrha feel bad for something out of her control. Though Carolina didn't like being one of few without biological force fields in a world full of them, she could take care of herself. It wasn't like she didn't know how to fight from a disadvantage.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine."
Pyrrha sighed, clearly in distress but unable to do something. The three began to head towards the stone structure again. They made good time but were soon distracted by a very loud scream. Everyone whipped their heads around to look in the direction of the fearful cry.
Pyrrha glanced nervously at Carolina. "Do you hear…"
"Something's coming this way."
Jaune gulped hard and gripped his sword tighter.
"Uh...what's coming this way?"
"I don't know, just that it's big and can knock over trees. Lots of trees."
Weiss really didn't like the red-cloaked girl. She was loud, obnoxious, and immature. As if messing up the Schnee heiress moments before wasn't enough, she'd gotten them into a cave with a Deathstalker. Now the two of them were running for their lives at breakneck speed with a massive scorpion chasing after them.
"There were markings on the cave walls! How did you not see them!?"
Ruby grimaced at the heiress's wails.
"Why didn't you say anything!?"
"Because you'd already run in you dolt!"
The two bickered fiercely as they ran, the massive scorpion chasing after them flattening a good portion of the forest behind them.
"How are we going to search for the relics like this!?"
Ironically, their distress would soon be alleviated as the two initiates were heading straight for the relics in question. Unfortunately, that meant that their new acquaintance was heading in the same direction. Whether or not it was unfortunate for the initiates or the Grimm itself was to be decided.