The oversized scorpion raged against its icy prison, yanking hard on its trapped stinger. Each tug widened the cracks in the ice and loosened the cold grip that prevented the monster from ripping its prey apart. Finally, the ice cracked and let go, the Deathstalker immediately shattering the remains of the ice by ramming through it with a mad drive to kill, to maim, and to annihilate its hated enemy. Its avian partner high-above noticed its compatriot's freedom and flew off in the direction of the initiates. The initiates were looking to avoid a fight but they were going to get one whether they liked it or not.
The group of initiates ran towards the finish. Soon, they saw the haphazard stone structure at the base of the cliff.
"Holy sh*t, how did we not notice that?" asked Simmons.
Without turning her head, Carolina replied, "I did."
"I did." said Wash.
"I did too!"
"Shut up Caboose, you couldn't find your way out of a paper bag."
The standard bickering between the BGC took place over their private voice comms. The other initiates were fortunately spared from their argument as they approached the stone bridge.
Carolina felt a sense of foreboding as they got closer. The bridge didn't look too unstable, but there was a lot of fog under it. Would they even be able to see the bottom? Their group would have to funnel through that sort of narrow bridge and scale the cliff. Any sort of attack would seriously complicate their success. Her eyes flicked around, scanning for any sort of enemy.
Pyrrha apparently had the same idea. As the group reached the bridge, she turned around and raised her weapon in rifle form. Wash noticed the unspoken coordination between the two as Carolina did the same with her pistol, each woman looking in different directions. There was also the man with pink hair. He had the aura of an experienced warrior and was scanning for any sort of enemy as well. The grey Freelancer directed his attention back to the bridge. The girls Ruby and Weiss (he'd gotten their names from their arguments), as well as the brunette and the blonde that was Ruby's sister, had already gotten halfway across. Red Team and Doc were right behind them, Sarge focused on the girl with the red cape and Doc desperately trying to increase the distance between himself and Dr. Grey, who was standing near Carolina.
The Nevermore snarled internally as it watched its prey escape. They farthest among them had nearly reached the bridge. It dove into the ravine and used the heavy fog to conceal its approach. It aimed not at the initiates, but at the bridge itself. The dense mist served to hide the massive raven's approach as it sped toward its prey the way a shark attacked bleeding prey.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were almost halfway to the center citadel-like structure. The Red team and Doc were on their heels. The Blues and Pyrrha had yet to set foot on the bridge, with Tucker and Nora being the first to do so.
The mist began to warp as the Nevermore's wings beat the very air around it into submission. It sped up now, gaining speed as it closed in.
The first half of the group had almost reached the end of the bridge, and the others had turned to run on. Carolina's eyes widened as she noticed a figure in the mist below.
The Nevermore launched itself forward with all of its might, its massive bulk and weight propelled by anger and fury. The fragile bridge stood no chance in the warpath of the avian Grimm's rampage.
Blocks of shattered stone flew through the air like an oversized grenade had gone off. These massive shards floated through the air before dropping like, well, stones, into the foggy abyss. However, because the Nevermore used the fog to hide its approach and attacked from below it wasn't able to see its targets and maximize the number of people hit. Thankfully, the Reds had already crossed while the Blues barely started and the Nevermore's flightpath wasn't accurate enough to hurl anybody to their death. Had any of the BGC been thrown off the bridge, even Wash, they would have died. Only Carolina had the ability to recover and get back up with and that was only because of her equipment.
Either way, the Reds, Doc, and future team RWBY were stranded on the citadel-like structure at the center as the Nevermore looped around and fixated its furious, crimson eyes on them. The Blues, Dr. Grey, and future team JNPR were stranded on the bridge, given a quick shortening by the Nevermore.
"How do we get across!?" Tucker shouted.
"We can't stay here, it's too unstable!" Jaune shouted.
Carolina took charge of the Blues, shouting "It's fine, everyone, off the bridge!"
They knew that their position was shaky, as the bridge didn't seem to be to strong anymore and the Nevermore could turn its attention to them at any moment. As the group thought this, the avian Grimm glared at them for a moment, before ignoring them and making an attack run against the other group.
"It's distracted, let's go!" Wash shouted, turning to run back onto terra firma…
...before freezing abruptly.
"Or not."
Barely ten meters away was the massive, armored hulk of the Deathstalker, which had demonstrated surprising speed and stealth to close the distance while they were distracted by the Nevermore.
"Aw, f*ck!"
Ruby looked around, horrified at the broken bridge. Thankfully, no one had been knocked off. She quickly relocated the Nevermore and began tracking it, her silver eyes focused on the avian Grimm as it charged again. From the moment the Nevermore had cleared the bridge, Yang had been firing explosive flares nonstop. It didn't seem to be doing much but that didn't stop her sister.
"Come and get it, turkey!"
Still, the shots from Ember Celica and provocations did little to damage or deter the Nevermore as it used its sweeping wingspan to cut through the firestorm. Meanwhile, the Reds barely avoided the falling pieces of the bridge that had been thrown towards them, Grif saving Donut by exploding a two-ton chunk with his Brute shot. They ran over to join the huntresses.
"What's the plan?" Simmons asked nervously, focused on the Nevermore.
Since he hadn't addressed anyone, Ruby answered at the same time as Sarge.
"Shoot it."
No one needed any further encouragement as the nine immediately began sending a storm of gunfire towards the oversized kamikaze raven.
Ruby transformed Crescent Rose and began firing round after round of sniper bullets at the incoming Grimm.
Weiss flicked her sword through practiced patterns and used her semblance to draw runes in the air, sending glowing missiles of sapphire light flashed towards the Nevermore.
Blake began shooting Gambol Shroud, keeping it in pistol form. She knew her weapon probably wouldn't do much but a mosquito was still flesh.
Yang furiously launched a storm of fiery explosions at the Grimm, punching rapidly as if she was shadow boxing, except with grenade launchers on her fists.
Sarge had switched to his pistol, him and Lopez shooting with the same mindset as Blake. He willed the bird to come into shotgun range, but until it did, he'd have to stick with the pistol.
Simons teamed up with Donut to send three-round bursts from their BR55's at the enemy.
Grif launched explosive grenades from his Brute Shot, trying to keep the Grimm from gradually collapsing the already unstable structure they were standing on.
Doc was in full O'Malley mode, laughing as he fired rockets from a still unexplained supply of ammunition with mad glee. Most of his enemies fled from him, but this being came charging in relentlessly, practically begging for annihilation. He was going to enjoy this planet.
The multicolored tracers and explosions made it seem like the Nevermore was attacking an entire artillery battery with Anti-Aircraft machine guns and Surface-to-Air rockets rather than ten soon-to-be-students. Still, it was unlikely that even a stationary emplacement would have been able to stop this particularly zealous Nevermore. The avian Grimm stayed on target, sending its entire bulk at the pillars of the central structure.
It's wings sliced through the stone pillars like an oversized broadsword, bringing the stone dome to collapse and raining another shower of rubble into the misty abyss. Unlike artillery, the initiates were much more mobile, clearing the structure and jumping towards the central hole of the dome, landing safely. As the Nevermore pulled up and looked to make another attack run, Ruby realized that they needed to kill the thing before it killed them all. Their ranged weapons didn't seem to have much of an effect but allowed them greater mobility, preventing the Nevermore from landing a solid hit. As a result, it didn't bother trying to kamikaze them, instead focusing on collapsing the structure they were standing on and letting gravity do the work.
"We need a plan!" she shouted.
"Of course!" Weiss shouted back, both sarcastic and open to ideas.
Blake had already understood the threat that the Nevermore posed and its battle plan. Her experience in the White Fang's operations had taught her to remain calm and analyze threats, so she knew that they needed to counteract the Nevermore's methods of attack in some way; still, planning wasn't her forte, as she'd always left the organization to Adam.
"Anyone got an idea?"
Blake's question was thrown out, but no one had an answer other than "shoot it 'till it dies." The Reds and Doc lacked the understanding of the Nevermore's capabilities and weren't able to come up with anything. Not to mention, the majority of their plans amounted to using everything in sight to shoot the enemy until one party lost. Lopez might have been able to assess weak points on the Nevermore and plan a counterattack, but nobody actually understood him. A detailed and efficient battle plan from him would be less useful than hurling his robotic chassis at the bird.
In the end, it came down to Ruby.
She didn't know it, but no one else in their group could come up with an idea to kill the Nevermore. They either lacked the basic knowledge or the experience in fighting larger foes. Ruby had always been ahead of her age group in combat; of the group, she was the only one who had had to target an enemy weak points and win through strategy rather than skill. When fighting the pack of Beowolves, she'd unconsciously targeted larger ones and positioned herself in ways that allowed her to see all of her enemies. She'd gone for surgical and rapid strikes, willing to give up one-hit-one-kill opportunities for speed, preferring to reposition and attack multiple times rather than risk taking a hit in exchange for taking out one enemy.
It has an armored head, headshots don't work.
Its body is solid and resistant to gunfire.
It's too fast to drill through.
Ruby considered the Grimm's weakness and their capabilities. She was no stranger to taking down Grimm, but her previous adversaries had been much weaker and less intelligent. This Nevermore was clearly playing to its strengths.
This is what it means to be a Huntress.
She realized that this was the value of Beacon. She needed experience, everyone around her needed it as well. Unlike previous combat schools, Beacon would give them challenges that talent and individual skill alone couldn't overcome. Beacon would prepare them for reality. She'd never really considered what it meant to truly fight Grimm, only knowing that it was to protect people. It was more than slashing apart weak monsters; it was overcoming difficulties as spontaneous and challenging as this. As she thought about it more, thinking about her current enemy's weakness, she began to understand her enemy more.
Ruby began to know her enemy, and by extension, herself.
Inspiration struck her as she remembered her experience against the pack of Beowolves. In her mind, the memories of how the Grimm had attacked her flashed by like a fast-forward. This time, she was one of the Beowolves, and her friends were her pack. The Nevermore took her original place. The reason the Beowolves lost was that they were outmaneuvered. They allowed their enemy to dictate the fight and were never able to utilize their strengths to their maximum potential.
Ruby understood that she needed to seize control of the flow of battle, to do more than react to the Nevermore's attacks. She found her battle plan in the way the Beowolves of the past attacked her, how they swarmed in numbers, how they went for the weakest spot, how they always, always, went for the throat.
That was the key, she realized.
That was the Nevermore's weak point.
Armored feathers covered its body, preventing any sort of meaningful damage. The fact that they were feathers meant that it could still have a moderately flexible back. But at the neck, just under its best defensive measure, the bone armor on its head, there had to be a chink.
"We need to hit its neck, that's where we can do damage!"
Everyone looked to her and nodded, acknowledging her idea.
"But how do we hit it?"
Ruby looked over to the heiress, no, her partner. Already, Weiss had saved her life. Now, come to think of it...
"I have an idea."
The Nevermore focused the red spotlights that were its eyes on the particularly annoying human with long, yellow hair. That one had been challenging the Nevermore since the beginning, hurling bright flares that hurt when they impacted. Though the damage was negligible, the avian Grimm was maddened and furious at the ant that dared bite back. It pulled up and swooped around before tucking its wings and diving towards the nuisance, which had run closer to the cliff for firmer ground. It ignored the other figures it saw: the armored people running away, the black and red ones heading for two stone pillars that had remained intact, and the white one that was moving towards the yellow one.
Yang saw the Nevermore arrow toward her. The armored people had already moved out of range and away from the potential fallout. Ruby and the others huntresses-initiates had also cleared the area; Ruby had already rushed over to the armored figures and was probably telling them the rest of the plan. As for Yang, it looked she had done the first part of her task beautifully. The Nevermore was angry and aiming at her. Now all she needed to do, was smack it into the cliff.
Though she was prone to losing her head in fights, right now, she was calm and composed. While it may not have appeared so, with a veritable storm of explosive shells flying from her fists, Yang was patiently waiting. The Nevermore came closer and closer, dodging around her shells. Finally, it was close enough.
She fired one more shell into the Nevermore's face, blinding it temporarily. Her arms swung back and Ember Celica blasted once again to rocket Yang into the Nevermore. It's beak had opened to try and eat her, and her blinding shot had caused the bird to falter slightly and caw in pain. Yang aimed for the open mouth, landed, and began firing shot after shot into bird's mouth, clearly enunciating with every punch,
"I-
-hope-
-you're-
hungry!"
The Nevermore was suddenly thrown into a world of pain, the nuisance more dangerous and capable than anticipated. After receiving a thorough force-feeding of explosives from the blonde fireball, it's charged faltered and it awkwardly flopped into the cliff, landing on a stone structure with a heavy crash.
Weiss saw the blonde girl pump the Nevermore full of fiery gunshots before using her shotgun bracelets to launch herself away, soaring towards Ruby and the blonde's partner. The Nevermore didn't look seriously damaged, as it was already getting back up.
Sarge watched the Grimm stagger to its feet. Before it could scream its rage and take off, he shouted for everyone to fire. The entirety of Red Team (and Doc) opened up on the bird before it fully regained its feet. Rockets and brute shots pummeled the Nevermore along with a hail of pistol and rifle fire. The oversized bird lost its balance again and tumbled over. The elegant white-haired girl was rushing in now.
"Alright everyone, wait for the next opportunity."
Red Team stopped firing and began waiting for the next time the Nevermore would be held still, according to the red-caped girl's plan. In the meantime, they paused their artillery to allow the white-haired girl to act.
"Go for the throat."
Sarge had liked the red-caped girl since he saw her weapon and her clothing. After hearing her plan and her vicious reminder to target the weak point, he knew he needed her on Red Team. The other redhead had been impressive, but this one was a perfect fit. The only way it could be better was if this girl's first and last name were the color red.
Yang made it back to the pillars and nodded quickly at her partner. Ruby was waiting on the ground, in the middle of the pillars. Despite the situation, Yang found herself smiling and her eyes watering a little. Ruby's figure stood tall and proud in her eyes, and Yang found even more pride welling up inside her. Ruby belonged at Beacon. Ruby would become a Huntress, no doubt about that.
Blake held her position patiently. She'd had to wait for the right moment many times before during her past operations. Though the plan seemed a little ridiculous, it seemed like it was going to work. In the end, all the plan really boiled down to was getting the Nevermore to stay still and pounding it with explosives until it died. Simple and flexible. The only difference from before was that her partner's younger sister, Ruby, had come up with an idea to keep the Grimm down as well as a specific weak point.
Weiss rushed forward, and upon hearing the artillery fire stop, she moved even faster to close the last several meters. Her aura flared and Myrtenaster flashed. The air immediately became colder as the sudden eruption of ice chilled the area. Once she was satisfied with the amount of ice, she flicked Myrtenaster back to save her supply of Ice Dust before flipping downwards and waiting for Ruby.
The Nevermore attempted to take flight, knowing that it was now in a bad position. Its main advantage of flight and maneuverability had been compromised, and it needed to get back into the air, now. It beat its wings and lifted off, only to jerk back, frozen in the air. It turned its head down to see that its tail had been encased in ice. The culprit was standing several meters in front of the Nevermore, waiting for something.
As the Nevermore stalled and flapped vainly, Ruby used Crescent Rose to jump into the air. Blake hurled Gambol Shroud over to Yang simultaneously, who deftly caught it and fired Ember Celica behind her. Blake widened her stance and dug in as she whirled her partner in a circle. As Yang flipped around, courtesy of centrifugal force, she caught Ruby's arm, just below the apex of her jump and the two completed another full rotation. When Ruby was aligned with the Nevermore, Yang released, throwing Ruby at the Nevermore. Ruby fired three times, once for course-correction, another to negate overcompensation, and another time for speed. Yang had already been pulled in to Blake and fired a shell of her own.
The Nevermore looked up from the white-haired girl when it heard a series of gunshots, only to be blinded once more by a flare before something caught its neck and slammed it into the cliff.
As Weiss saw her partner take off, she immediately cast Air-Walk glyphs on the face of the cliff. Ruby landed, and took off, using her semblance for extra speed. Weiss channeled more energy into the glyphs, accelerating her partner even more.
The force of Ruby's pull yanked the Nevermore out of its icy shackles. Though the bird was massive, it was a lot lighter than it seemed, due to the fact that it was a bird and it was a Grimm with no internal organs. She rocketed upwards, leaving behind a trail of rose petals that were dragged upwards in the wake of the Nevermore. As she raced upwards, she concentrated on keeping her footing, firing as quickly as she could to continue to pull the Nevermore up.
As the Grimm was dragged up the face of the cliff, Red Team let loose with their explosives, joined by Yang as well. They aimed carefully at the bulk of the Nevermore so as to not slow down Ruby or miss, the concussive blasts adding to Ruby's momentum.
Everything culminated in one, last, decisive shot. At the top, Ruby jumped and flipped to clear an outcrop, shooting Crescent Rose once more. The blade tore through the Nevermore's neck, worn down by Yang's first barrage, the Reds' (and Doc) artillery, and the constant pressure created by the force of gravity pulling its neck against the scythe. An explosion of rose petals blossomed out like a spurt of blood, the trail from earlier catching up and floating through the air. The Nevermore's massive head went tumbling into the air as well and its body slid back down the cliff, cleanly separated from each other.
Ruby regained her feet and stood at the edge of the cliff. The other huntsmen and the other armored figures were standing on the far side of the bridge, but they looked okay. The Deathstalker was nowhere in sight, so Ruby guessed that they'd thrown it into the hazy abyss below.
The Deathstalker took a swipe at the group. Pyrrha leaped forward and deflected the blow. Nora whacked the other claw back, momentarily forcing the Deathstalker back. Carolina and Wash immediately tried to capitalize, spraying gunfire at the front armor of the massive scorpion. Emerald bursts of bullets from Ren's Stormflowers splashed in as well, followed up by a collective burst from the rest of the BGC. However, they might as well have been trying to dig a tunnel with toothpicks. The Deathstalker recovered from the momentary knock-back and lunged forward to regain its position as a roadblock to safe ground.
The initiates jumped back as the Grimm threatened to ram them, losing the ground they had made. Carolina instantly realized that their weapons did nothing; if they wanted to defeat this thing, they would have to outmaneuver it. Right now, that wasn't an option. They were trapped on a tiny bridge with two ways off. Through the Deathstalker, or through the gates of hell.
If there's no opportunity, make one!
Carolina and Pyrrha rushed forward, attracting aggro and creating distance between their ranged allies. Again, the Deathstalker swiped at the pair. Carolina rolled under while Pyrrha jumped back, hurling her spear into one of the red eyes of the scorpion Grimm. As it recoiled in pain, Carolina tried to jump over it. Her armored boot made contact with the grass at the very edge of the bridge, just as she was about to hurdle to the scorpion Grimm, it recovered, lashing out at her with its stinger. Carolina jumped straight up to avoid the vicious stab, only to be knocked back as the scorpion headbutted her to prevent the Freelancer from escaping, though she managed to grab Pyrrha's weapon.
Pyrrha jumped and caught her doppelganger, dodging another swipe from the Deathstalker before setting Carolina down. The Grimm was smart, trying to keep them bottled up on the bridge, unable to use their advantages in speed and agility while leveraging its own tankiness and bulk.
Nora and Ren jumped into action as the red-haired partners fell back. Stormflower flashed and Magnhild roared as the duo of thunder and thorns launched their attacks. Nora stopped a claw dead in its tracks with a swing of her own as Ren sprinted forward. He was forced to dodge a stinger before being forced back onto the bridge to avoid another headbutt. Despite the capabilities of the initiates, their position and situation limited their options too much.
Dr. Grey had already noted that their enemies didn't seem to possess a vital organ. They needed to be shredded with bullets, broken to pieces, or lose limbs before they faded away. The Deathstalker was like a tank, armored and dangerous. Still, maybe it shared the same weaknesses.
"Go for the jugular!"
Carolina glared at the medic, shouting "It's a scorpion, it doesn't have a throat!"
"Just shoot it in the godd*mn stomach then!"
The bridge prevented the initiates from coordinating too well. They were only able to advance in pairs or they'd be restricting each others' movements to the point they wouldn't be able to dodge enemy attacks. As a result, they were forced to attacking in pairs.
As the bridge started to shake, the initiates began to worry, but before Carolina could calm everyone down and organize an attack, Jaune beat her to the punch.
"Two people need to block the claws!"
Carolina instinctively nodded while Pyrrha rushed forward.
"Got it!"
Ren looked at Nora, who grinned and ran forward eagerly. The two juggernauts earned the attention of the scorpion. It swiped at Pyrrha, who, instead of deflecting it upwards, rotated and let the claw slide back. Nora whacked the other claw, leaving the Deathstalker's front open.
At the same time, Jaune was organizing the others.
"Catch the stinger and cut it!"
Wash ordered Caboose into action, shouting "Caboose! Give that thing's stinger a hug!"
"Okay!"
The lovable blue idiot ran forward and caught the stinger as it nearly impaled him. Tucker was close behind and slashed at the joint when Caboose forced the stinger downwards.
A roar came from the Deathstalker as soon as the energy sword made contact with the black flesh. However, the pain of the superheated plasma blade gave the Deathstalker strength it needed, as it twitched and threw Caboose backward. Carolina hurriedly pushed Dr. Grey out of the way of Caboose's armored body but was knocked over the edge herself. As she fell, she twisted and fired her grappling gun into the bridge, pulling herself up. Pyrrha instinctively turned and ran over to pull her friend up.
Jaune's eyes widened as he realized what Pyrrha's departure meant. Without thinking, he jumped forward, shield first, deflecting the claw that Pyrrha was no longer holding back. The spartan in question had already pulled Carolina onto the bridge and flinched in horror as she realized she had nearly been thrown into the abyss as well by the back attack.
Carolina nodded briefly at the white knight before continuing the attack, which was starting to turn in their favor. Wash and Grey had bought time, Wash with his EMP gauntlet and Grey with her medical device's electric-viridian glow, the bursts of light distracting and irritating the scorpion Grimm. While it squirmed and brought a claw back for another swing, Nora transformed her weapon into its grenade launcher form and fired explosive after explosive point-blank into Deathstalker's face, pushing it back slightly and ravaging its eyes with pink light.
Jaune noticed the weakness of the stinger, barely connected after Tucker's slice.
"Someone, cut the stinger and hammer it in!"
Again, the redheads jumped into action. Carolina got Caboose to toss her into the air. Pyrrha flipped her sword before throwing the blade at the stinger, cutting clean through. It dropped onto the Deathstalker's armored carapace just as Carolina flipped onto it, her weight driving the point into the armor and cracking the bone covering a bit. The nail was primed and the Grimm realized its imminent death. It launched itself forward in a desperate attempt to use its bulk to knock everyone into the chasm. The initiates jumped back as Nora decisively crouched and jumped, hammering the stinger deep into the Deathstalker as it stepped onto the bridge. The weight of the Grimm and the force of the blow catapulted the others onto firm ground. The hammer girl twisted and fired once more, sending herself into the air and back to safety as the bridge, and the oversized scorpion plummeted an unknown distance to destruction.
Carolina picked herself up, looking around to see her counterpart kneeling in a classic battle stance. She smiled slightly, nodding acknowledgment as the Mistralian champion rose and made eye contact with her. The Freelancer was a little surprised though, as Pyrrha laughed happily and jumped forward, wrapping her arms around her friend. Carolina staggered back slightly but returned the hug nonetheless. The war-weary Freelancer didn't realize that she was wearing an ear-to-ear grin and that her emerald eyes, normally tired and fierce, were shining with happiness and vitality. All she knew was that she felt good, better than she had felt in a long, long time.
Wash smiled as he saw Carolina relax and return the hug from Pyrrha. Regardless of his reservations about Pyrrha, the girl had incredible combat skills and synergy with his long-time leader. He'd met a lot of resolute and incredible soldiers but he'd never seen anyone elicit true laughter from his boss, not since York. He let Carolina have her moment as he refocused and scanned the area. This time, there were no sneaky Grimm left. The area was rather silent, with the exception of a complaining Tucker. The hammer girl, the martial artist, and Jaune had gotten up. Wash figured he'd revise his opinions of the blond knight, whose shotcalling had been vital to their success.
The others stood up shakily and grinned at one another, basking in the glow of overcoming a dangerous obstacle, reaching higher ground, and reinforcing their foundations in combat. A loud screech brought everyone back to combat mode, as all initiates remembered that there was a massive Nevermore on the loose. The collectively turned to face the source of the sound, only to watch the other group dismantle the avian Grimm. Jaune couldn't help but breathe a quiet "wow" as Ruby decapitated the Nevermore.
Ozpin watching, smiling in satisfaction. Both Jaune and Ruby had grown so much in this trial alone. Naturally, this rate of growth couldn't be sustained, but they were moving in a positive direction. They would need training and experience to solidify their skills in leadership, but they had already proved their potential. Ozpin relaxed slightly, content that his faith in Arc hadn't been misplaced, that his confidence in Rose had merit.
He mentally made a shift to the armored spacemen. The way the Nevermore had divided the group had been perfect, so he had some thanks to give to the now-deceased Grimm. Ruby and Weiss would be grouped with Blake and Yang. A bruiser and close-quarters assassin paired with a long range-control specialist and long-range sniper/mid-range melee was a rather stable composition.
The group of red-armored extraterrestrials synchronized well with this group, as they were comprised of powerful long and short-range fighters with mid-range shooters as well. Their leader, Sarge, was adept at a shotgun. The robot, Lopez, the technician, Simmons, and the pink one, Donut, were accurate with their semi-automatic rifles. The orange one, Grif, had a strong artillery cannon along with the psychotic medic, Dufresne.
Team RWBY would be a team that prioritized offense, and any strategy would need to take the fight to their enemy. Pairing them with another group of all-offense would complement their fighting style. Pure offense didn't necessarily mean brainless offense; the group had a mix of all ranges of offense, meaning Ruby and Sarge would have to coordinate to maximize their damage and their advantage in all ranges. Enemies would find the group a very difficult obstacle to overcome. If the enemy prioritized close range, it wouldn't matter, as RWBY and Red Team had specialists to beat them at their own game and long-range artillery to stop them from getting close, and vice-versa.
As for the others, team JNPR would be more tactically minded, having only one heavy hitter, Mrs. Valkyrie. However, Nikos, Carolina, and Arc would have a lot more options to make their strategies and win their battles with the composition of their team. Their team had mobility and agility in Lie Ren, whose acrobatics and close quarters martial arts made him an effective assassin-type who could also output steady damage over time.
With two shields, JNPR would likely focus on defense before offense, however, giving Arc the ability to analyze and counterattack, a style that fits very well with his personality. So far his calls had all been reactive, capitalizing on his team's strengths and exploiting enemy weaknesses. The difficulties he'd face would be in offense calls and engaging fights, again, his personality would likely hold him back. The insecurity and lack of confidence would hamper his decision to commit those under his command to risk and was something that needed to be addressed.
Nikos was an effective and charismatic leader as well, but her combat capabilities meant she was best used in the action, limiting her tactical view and giving her fewer opportunities to shot call. Still, her decision-making and experience would be invaluable in helping Arc develop as well as initiating counterattacks.
The medic, Grey, seemed to be less focused on offense and more focused on protecting her teammates as well as helping shot call by pointing out weak points, which would further help Arc's strategies.
Paired with the less explosive and heavy-hitting Blue team, JNPR would still need to merge their styles, however. Though Blue team had a similar composition, with Caboose as a tank, Tucker as CQC, Carolina as mobile DPS, and Washington as mid-ranged control, from what Ozpin had seen of the Freelancer's capabilities and fighting style, Blue team was much more aggressive and focused on starting fights. Whereas Arc would probably look for opportunity and wait for a good opening, Carolina and Washington would hit hard to make one. Despite the tactical and personal differences, the synergy between Nikos and Carolina was definitely something to develop, and would likely translate to greater synergy between the teams as a whole.
Back at the base of the cliff, the initiates were calming down from adrenaline highs and refocusing on ending the initiation. Jaune waited for everyone to enjoy the moment, knowing the importance of morale and success in improving teamwork. Eventually, he spoke up.
"Let's go, if we wait any longer, we might get into another fight with more Grimm."
Carolina and Pyrrha nodded in assent, Wash signaling to his Freelancer counterpart that the coast was clear. The group turned to face the cliff, where the success lay, where the finish line was, where the entrance to four years at Beacon Academy waited for their taking.
The Reds and RWBY began waving at them, feeling similar currents adrenaline and accomplishment coursing through their veins.
"How the f*ck are we going to cross that?"
Blue team froze briefly before looking at Tucker, who simply shrugged and continued.
"I mean, that's like, a hundred feet of nothing."
Though having what's basically a ninja, a girl who could bench five of herself, a world-class fighter, Jaune, two highly lethal Freelancers, a psychotic medic, an intelligent assault rifle, and Caboose, Blue team and JNPR would always need Tucker.