At the start of the team, Raven had been skeptical of Taiyang's leadership position. He'd seemed far too immature and not nearly serious enough about life-and-death matters. Even his combat had seemed weak - he had no weapon, just a pair of unpowered gauntlets.
Yet over time she'd been won over, despite how desperately eager she was to assure herself that the Huntsmen were easy prey. When he fought, Tai rarely got hit. His seemingly puny strikes (which weren't nearly as puny as they looked, she later learned in sparring practice) always connected with his enemy's weak points, bringing them down much faster than people with far more impressive weapons and fighting styles. His leadership style always seemed to steer people - including herself - right where he needed them without making it obvious he was in charge. And just as Tai's fighting style hit just at the right place, STRQ hit just where they needed to following his lead.
So it wasn't a surprise how well Tai's plan worked today. As she sliced through half of the Grimm she encountered on her route while hearing the other half following close behind her, Raven felt her usual grudging respect for someone who wasn't of the tribe. Tai's plan would lead to something brutal when STRQ came back together, but it was an effective way to clear the area.
Summer was already at the clearing when Raven came in second. She arrived in time to see Summer finish dispatching the last of the Grimm already there, then watched her turn, without a second of hesitation, to start sniping at the Grimm flooding in behind Raven. Ordinary ammo and weapons weren't usually enough to take out Grimm with one shot, but the custom rounds used in Needle, combined with Summer's killer accuracy, dropped Raven's pursuit with a perfect, regular cadence.
Indeed, when Raven finally reached Summer's position, nothing was left... or so she thought, before a roar and a rumble in the trees resolved into a Death Stalker pounding towards them on a half-dozen legs. She glanced over at the other woman, who nodded, grinned slightly, then disappeared in a cloud of cream-colored petals, using her semblance to fly towards the monster.
Raven had been fighting on her own for nearly a decade before arriving at Beacon, so it'd taken her some time to learn how to delay her attacks to sync up with her teammates, rather than attacking as quickly as possible. Now it was second nature, and she made herself wait the necessary moments by thinking of Summer herself, her petite form turned into a kind of gorgeous bullet. It made her smile.
In fact, thinking of Summer made her delay her attack a split second longer than she should have, and she almost missed her part of the combo. As soon as Summer hit a sensitive spot of a large Grimm, piercing it with Needle, she fired the gun part of the weapon, the high-powered rounds tearing the creature apart inside. Before it could react Summer was supposed to detach and speed away to a safe location - but not before Raven could appear where Summer had used her weapon, hitting with her sword to add damage on top of damage before portaling away again to Summer's new location.
Few creatures could stand more than a few hits strung together like this, and the Death Stalker was no exception. With one last feeble roar it dissipated as the women watched from a perch on a nearby tree.
"You were a tad late on that first entrance," Summer said, checking her weapon... though Raven could hear the smirk on her face.
"I know, I know..." Raven smiled. "But it could be worse, we could be... those guys..." she said, pointing up to the northern sky where Qrow and Tai were bringing down a flying Nevermore in a showy, violent, somewhat out-of-control way.
"Pfft..." Summer rolled her eyes. "They make it look dangerous on purpose, you know. They're doing it to show off as much as anything."
"Doesn't mean they won't hurt themselves by accident." She sighed and stood up. "Excuse me a moment..."
Three moments was all it took, actually: one to create the portal to Qrow, another to strike at the beast, which had been entirely focused on fighting two opponents, not three, and a last moment to portal them all back to the ground safe and sound as the Nevermore crashed screeching behind them.
Summer was waiting as they came through, clapping and whistling. Then she suddenly turned and started headed south, towards the checkpoint. "Raven and I got ours done first," she called over her shoulder. "So dinner's on you guys tonight!"