Tyrian followed after Emerald, Cinder, and the maiden from the shadows, always keeping a close eye on them as he always stayed just out of their vision. He stuck low to the ground and concentrated on information more than anything else, like the excitement that thrummed through his veins. The others didn't need to know that he was there, but he was the main point of contact that existed between their two groups.

All because he was fast and he was good at keeping quiet, when need be. They'd needed a tracker, and Tyrian was willing to be that person. He could hear better than the others, even if his eyesight was often lacking.

The women were interesting to him. They talked a lot, but it was usually about inane things. Small talk that was meant to make the trip more bearable. The girls were clearly plotting something, while the maiden (Amber, he learned her name was) was aware of what was happening behind her back.

It was all that Tyrian needed.

On his third night of tracking them, Cinder walked far from the camp and waited by a river.

Tyrian looked down at her from the perch in the tree that he had decided to take.

She noticed him and smiled as she looked him in the eye, eye blazing as ever.

Slowly, Tyrian dropped down into the place beside her and as silently as possible. He crouched and slipped back towards the bushes. He didn't really think that he and Cinder were being watched, but he needed to be sure.

"They're getting impatient." Tyrian murmured, keeping his voice down so that only he and Cinder would be able to hear it. "I hope that you two are prepared to- heh, mobilize."

"Tomorrow morning." Cinder said, keeping her voice quiet. "The map that Amber has places us reaching a branch in the road. We'll be heading towards Haven."

"Good." Tyrian replied, grinning wide and devious. "You shouldn't make us wait, dear Ember."

With that, he slipped away and left Cinder to her own devices. Tyrian sprinted back to the camp, alerted Watts and Hazel, and then the three of them that were left picked up their pace. What they knew said that they would be able to cut the girls off at a break in the path.

Between the three of them, Tyrian was confident in their abilities.

By morning they had found their place, all three of them ready to lie in wait for what was to come. Tyrian couldn't stop twitching and flicking his tail anxiously as he crouched in the bushes, eyes on the road and hands pressed to the ground. All that he needed was to be able to feel for the girls as they came.

That was all.

That was all he would ever need.

This would bring them closer to their goals.

Watts was planning something, but Tyrian didn't know what. It seemed that Hazel was preparing to attack this in his own ways as well, but that was a little more-

Hazel was definitely up to something, but Tyrian wasn't exactly confident that helping was in his plans. Hazel carried his hesitance too obviously on his shoulders.

Hours into their watch, there was the feeling of the vibrations, running through the ground. Tyrian's eyes widened and he arched his tail over his head. It was almost time and he needed to be ready for what was to come.

The women were talking.

Emerald seemed to put on a look of shock and broke forward into a sprint, towards a bush near where Watts was hiding. The man was sitting up in the tree, and went silent with a slight movement of his hand which meant to tell them to do the same and lay low.

"Raleigh!" Emerald cried, putting on a clear look of despair and upset. "Cinder, he's-"

"No." Cinder said, playing along.

Amber stood by the horse and pat its neck gently before walking forward to join them. Whatever she was seeing, Tyrian didn't know what it was. And he didn't want to know, not really.

The three of them talked, waiting for a clear sign.

It came when Cinder slipped back just slightly and looked back over her shoulder, locking eyes with Watts.

Tyrian prepared to sprint, but was stopped by the sight of a bolt of ice dust rushing in the Fall Maiden's direction, from the shadows and from Hazel's direction.

It hit the ground at her feet, spreading out towards her and wrapping around her feet and freezing her in place.

"What-" Amber reacted immediately, removing her own weapon from her back. "Cinder, Emerald, help!"

"We're good." Cinder said, her voice going cold all at once as she stood up properly with her head up high. "Boys."

That was all the sign that they needed. Emerald slipped back into the bushes, breaking into a sprint to place herself at a distance to their target.

Cinder didn't even move.

Tyrian raced out of the bushes, so fast that he didn't know that the girl would even be able to see her coming. He launched his entire body at Amber, weapons out and his tail wrapped around his stomach so that he could hold that particular detail in his pocket for a bit.

He threw her off balance, which created just enough of an opening for Cinder to mobilize.

She snapped her weapons off of her back and rushed Amber, her aim steady as she slashed at the woman.

Amber pushed herself back and landed on her feet, suddenly realizing that she was completely surrounded. She let the staff spin, flames and ice hurling off of the spearheads at the end which were clearly cut from sharpened crystals of Dust.

"What is this?" The maiden cried, her voice completely raw and hoarse from the stress that was happening. "What are you doing?"

"We need something from you, Amber." Cinder said, standing up tall. "And you are going to give it to us."

"What about your teammates?" She cried. "Was that all a lie?"

Cinder seemed to hesitate just a moment, looking to Tyrian and then to the trees, her expression bored. "Obviously."

Amber let out a yell, and she waved her weapon as much as she could, trying to send a burst of fire in the direction of Cinder.

Before she could finish through the motions, Tyrian watched as a chain wrapped around the woman's weapon, punctuated by Emerald's scythe. The weapon was pulled back roughly with one pull from Emerald. It slammed straight into Amber's sternum while Cinder approached, preparing to do something.

Tyrian slipped into place behind Amber, trapping her staff in the curve of his own weapons and tugging back, making sure that she would have no chance to escape. Emerald approached to remove her own chain and walk up beside Cinder, locking her eyes with the Maiden's.

Emerald seemed to focus, and Amber looked around in confusion for something which wasn't there, while Cinder drew her weapon.

Amber screamed, her voice too loud and Tyrian felt more than saw the burst of something that threw him back, his grip on the woman's weapon failing as well.

He wasn't the only one, as large swirls and gusts of wind began to whorl around the maiden, pulling her away from them and up towards the sky, her arms stretched out at her sides and something akin to flames appearing from her eyes.

Tyrian couldn't help but look at her in awe, because this was the true power of a Maiden. This is what they had been seeking for so long, and now that they had finally found it-

Well, Tyrian knew his job.

It felt almost as though nature itself was turning against them. The woman raised a hand over her head and the winds became more and more intense, ripping the leaves off of the trees around them and making them too join the tornado that had formed around the woman.

"Stop her!" Watts' voice came from the trees, sounding almost panicked now that his cover had been torn away from the others. He was standing up, preparing for something, while Hazel-

Hazel's cover had been stripped away as well, and the man walked out into the clearing that had been created. He wasn't armed and didn't seem prepared for a fight himself.

The woman stared at him and she stopped moving, whatever strike she had been preparing for clearly paused in mid-motion. Her expression twisted into a snarl before she threw her hand down, and those leaves that she had taken control of began to change, turning to icy shards in midair and then flying in the directions of each and every one of them.

Knowing that he had no time to avoid this, Tyrian broke into a sprint, because he needed to get away before he got hit. While he ran he raised his arms and began to fire burst after burst of bullets at the maiden, but it seemed like most were simply directed away from her.

Hazel didn't budge, raising his arms to try and protect himself while the iced over leaves cut into his aura but never went through. Watts decided to take cover just behind Hazel, crouching low to the ground in clear preparation for his own attacks.

Tyrian skidded into place alongside his teammates, stopping only because he was running out of bullets and needed to reload badly. He was breathing hard and he could feel his muscles locking up underneath him.

He glanced past Hazel and realized that the three of them were going undisturbed, Amber's attacks all too clearly directed at something which wasn't even there. Emerald was keeping a safe distance from the rest of them, while Cinder-

Cinder had taken her place in the treetops, already having knocked an arrow. Tyrian realized then what she was planning to do, and he prepared to run. Someone was probably going to need to be on the ground to restrain the woman if this went well.

Besides, Tyrian was having serious doubts that Hazel would do it, when he was the one among them that had the most muscle and was the most capable of handling such a dangerous opponent. Watts' greatest strength was his mind, and Emerald-

Well, it seemed for the best that nobody try to interrupt her actions.

The arrow set into flight, and Tyrian broke into a sprint towards the woman, needing to get there before she could either fall or catch herself. He needed to beat her to the end, before anyone else could get in the way first.

It made impact, slamming into the Maiden's chest and Tyrian heard more than saw the way that the tornado that had began to swirl around her cut out. The silence spoke for itself, only to be punctuated by a choked out cry that the woman had let out, like she was struggling to move air from her lungs..

"Move!" Watts screeched, and with that Tyrian used his tail to help to launch himself off the ground and slammed into the woman's body before dragging her down alongside him. He wrapped his entire body around the Maiden, and he could feel the heat of her body- she was trying to use her power to hurt him.

Tyrian merely grit his teeth and let his venom begin to flow through him before striking her in the back of the leg with his stinger. He kept the dose of venom that Amber got controlled, the type that would only be able to paralyze her. The way that she squirmed would only make it worse- it would only force it through her veins faster and faster.

The others began to gather around the two of them, while the woman began to twitch. Watts looked down at her and then checked something on his watch, while Hazel kept a distance between himself and the rest of them. Emerald and Cinder looked at each other, silently communicating, and Tyrian watched as Emerald approached him and the Maiden.

"Sit her up." Emerald commanded. Tyrian grit his teeth and did as he was told, making sure to stay behind her and keep her legs pinned in place so that she couldn't react.

The woman walked around his side, and Tyrian watched as her hands slid into Amber's soft brown hair to hold her head in place, her fingers rested on the woman's temples.

"What-" The Fall Maiden tried to choke her words out, eyes wide and her entire body trembling. "What is-"

"I'm sorry, Amber." Emerald said, keeping her voice even before she closed her eyes.

All of them stayed there, and Tyrian watched as Cinder drew another arrow, focusing this one on the center of Amber's chest and pulling it back as far as she could manage. There was the silence before it fired, and the woman cried out in pain again.

Tyrian felt her body lock up, and slowly began to release Amber's arms and give her a little bit more room. Emerald didn't move, and Watts just watched his watch the entire time, smirking behind his mustache.

Cinder's expression began to shift into a sly smile, the most obvious sign that she had gotten exactly what she wanted.

Amber grit her teeth, before letting out a loud scream and a burst of fire, or electricity, or raw nature itself lashed out around her entire body, sweeping through rows of enemies that weren't truly there. She hit Cinder, and Tyrian watched as the wooden parts of the woman's bow burned away into absolutely nothing.

"What the-" Cinder reacted quickly, gripping onto what was left as it burned away in her hands before slashing at Amber, one of her blade's slicing through the woman's face while the other one stabbed into her chest, too violently and too viciously.

Tyrian stood upright and watched as something changed, and the world around them felt like it was beginning to distort and shift around them. He felt like everything was spinning, like the golden glow that was raising into the sky was something that wasn't really there.

It lingered there for a moment, above Amber before shooting into motion and slamming into Cinder's chest. The woman took a few steps backwards, stumbling and falling to her knees, hunched over and exhausted as something unnatural happened to her.

Cinder kept her head down for some time, but when she picked her head back up, she smiled.

Fire billowed from her left eye and lit their Goddess' crest from within it.

Weiss did what she could to keep pace both with everyone else on her team, but with Doctor Oobleck. He was much faster than she had originally thought, and so far the only ones that had managed to keep pace with him were Ruby, Blake, and Pyrrha.

That left Weiss and the rest of them mostly evenly matched, all worried about what was going to come.

"Children!" Doctor Oobleck called back to them, raising his voice enough to make sure that they were going to be able to know what was happening. "I do hope that you are all prepared for what is to come!"

"It would help if we knew what we were looking for." Yang responded, just at Weiss' side. "Because right now I'm not really sure what you're planning for."

"As of right now," Oobleck explained as he skidded to a stop not too far away from the pool of blackness that their team had found before. He took a quick look around and waved a hand, signaling for the rest of them to fall into position as a perimeter of sorts. "We don't know what we are looking for. "

"Then we're looking for trouble." Jaune panted, holding his sword and shield in preparation for whatever was to come. "I really don't like the sound of that."

"And you shouldn't." Oobleck said calmly. He looked up to the sky, checking for something that Weiss looked for as well. All that she saw was the giant grimm overhead, moving faster and faster as it chased something. "Because as things are, you don't know what there is to look forward to."

"So we're..." Weiss looked over at Oobleck, feeling more nervous than she had earlier. "Are we waiting?"

"The current situation is that you are here to contain an additional threat in the event that more grimm arise." Oobeck explained, turning away from the pool now so that he could look down at it. "I know that it is not an ideal situation, but you have been selected for this because you are the best suited for it, despite your level of experience."

Weiss glanced back over her shoulder at the pool for herself. It was laying there, mostly undisturbed and without any sign that something was going to happen to it. "What happens if that thing gets closer?"

"As of right now-" Doctor Oobleck started, looking among all of them. "There is a team of Hunters that have been tasked with distracting it away from the city. As things stand, we cannot rely on that possibility. If it comes your way, then I am here to aid you in dealing with it."

"But..." Nora spoke up, looking back at the pool and gripping her hammer a little bit tighter. "We can't handle something like that. We could barely beat a Deathstalker between all of us."

"Yes." Doctor Oobleck said, glancing back up at the sky. "And that is a problem which we are well aware of. Should it come to that, you all are likely to be kept away from the main event. I do not intend on risking your lives like that. You may be able to aid, but it will be done at a range."

"What happens if that doesn't work?" Blake asked now, her eyes narrowed.

"That is something we will have to figure out when we come to it."

Weiss nodded, but she wasn't even close to happy about that specific idea. She couldn't pretend like the plan was guaranteed to go well for them, regardless of whether they have Oobleck there to help them out. She looked down at her sword, and felt more than glad that its weight was so familiar.

Off in the distance, she heard the sound of a gunshot. It startled Weiss just slightly, making her jump in the position that she'd taken. She looked to Oobleck, feeling at least a little bit panicked by what she had just heard. "Sir?"

"That would be one of our Hunters fighting the grimm." Oobleck said calmly, obviously trying to reassure their team. "I figure that it may be better if we all try what we can to be able to distract ourselves. After all, negative emotions are only likely to stir up some problems for us."

"What are you suggesting, then?" Yang asked, and Weiss could hear the obvious irritation in her voice. "Because if we don't know what we're going to deal with-"

"Do any of you know the prevalence of known spawning sites surrounding Vale twenty years ago?" Oobleck ran ahead with the conversation, and Weiss was a bit surprised by it. It definitely wasn't something that any of them had learned in their classes, and definitely not from him. Their silence spoke for them, so Oobleck continued.

"As I expected. Before the disappearance of the pools years ago, there were a counted four pools in the miles surrounding Vale which hadn't been possible to eliminate. The other kingdoms also kept their own numbers with regards to this issue. Further away from each of the kingdoms there were more of course, but-" He paused, looking up at the monster again. "That doesn't seem to matter so much."

Blake was looking at the ground, her hands clenched into fists at her sides in frustration. "I heard once about one that used to be so big that it was nearly a sea."

Weiss snapped her head over to Blake, because that was something that she had never heard before. That seemed like the sort of thing that would have been well known about, or at least heavily discussed. So how had she never heard anything about it?

"That was a well-known story." Doctor Oobleck sighed. "And also one that wasn't entirely without merit, even if it's one that's rare in the Kingdoms. Regardless-"

The gigantic grimm roared. Oobleck looked over in its direction again, and Weiss followed his gaze. Far off from them, there was the black dots of two birds flying near the grimm, darting in and out of range of it. The monster was moving off away from the city, but it was going slow.

"Should we go and help?" Ruby asked, her eyes wide and her voice scared. She was watching the birds as well. "Do you think that they might-"

Oobleck was hesitant. He turned to face the pool again and reached down into one of his pockets in search of something. Weiss stood back and watched as a frown stretched across his face. He swallowed hard before looking to Weiss directly. "Miss Schnee?" He asked, his voice almost wavering with the question. "Do you think that you may have some Dust Crystals on you?"

Weiss blinked and looked down at her sword, then reached for her pack. "I mainly use the powdered form, Doctor." Weiss explained as she removed a small bottle. "Would that work?"

"I'm afraid not. this is a matter of nature. Processed Dust is unlikely to do the job."

Weiss offered the little bottle anyways. Oobleck approached her and reached out for it, taking it in his hand and turning it so that he could see the label. Weiss didn't know what he was looking for on it specifically, but Oobleck seemed interested at the very least. He took a breath and pick his head up.

Their eyes almost met, but the glare on his glasses stopped it.

"I will make an attempt to use this, if you are quite alright with that." Oobleck offered. "I am sure that you will be able to understand."

"It's fine." Weiss said, but she was already running through a number of possibilities in her head for what this could mess up. She didn't think that she was going to be needing Wind dust that night, at the very least. It was the best when she was faced with projectiles, and the Grimm didn't seem to have any. If she felt otherwise, she wouldn't have made the offer.

Oobleck smiled and stood up tall before walking towards the pool. He took a breath and raised his voice, just enough to make sure that he caught the attention of everyone that had gathered there. "I think that it may be beneficial for all of you to watch this-" He uncapped the bottle and poured a little bit of the Dust out into his hand, as careful as surgery.

"What... are we supposed to be looking for?" Ren spoke up, approaching but keeping his distance because he was obviously wary about the things that could have gone wrong. "Because I don't really understand what you are about to do."

Oobleck took a breath before launching into yet another one of his lectures. "In the past, Huntsmen have been able to observe certain reactions and phenomena with regards to grimm and the fonts that they appear from. One of which was related to Dust. Traditionally, a test to check whether or not one of these sites was-" He whirled around in one easy motion, staring out at the pool that was in front of them. "Active was to see whether or not any Dust on your person was reacting to it. Usually nothing would come from the processed forms, but Dust that seemed to disturb the pools was well-documented."

Weiss blinked, because that seemed like it should have been something that she had known. But she didn't know that was right, because there was something so obviously wrong about it. She thought back to Atlas, and to her father, and everything that she knew about her family's company.

They had once thrived because they had access to Dust and were able to control the markets for it. But it was a resource that was beginning to get difficult to get, and if it was a way to check for whether or not Grimm were going to appear-

Suddenly the scarcity felt more terrifying than ever before.

She looked down at Myrtenaster, sitting in her hand and a little too heavy. The little cartridges of powdered Dust were all there, but there weren't any sign of change. They were just... there. Exactly as they had been when she had loaded the weapon before they'd left for this mission in the first place.

"So what do you have to do?" Weiss asked, looking up at Doctor Oobleck directly.

Oobleck crouched down. Weiss and just about everyone else there craned their necks to see what was happening, and they watched as the colored powder fell into the black waters.

All at once, the entire space around them seemed to go silent and all that Weiss could really focus on was the suffocating blackness in front of them. The Dust disappeared, and the pool didn't react. It laid there, dormant and quiet, but then moments later, almost like the entire world had been placed on a time delay, it moved.

The waters shifted and swirled sickeningly. They rippled inwards, like something was drawing them in and Weiss couldn't help it- she took two steps back and raised Myrtenaster, prepared for a fight because there was absolutely no way in which this could have been a good thing. All that it could have possibly meant was trouble, and that wasn't what Weiss wanted.

She wasn't the only one feeling that way. Before she even realized it, she had Ruby and Blake, both at her sides and both equally prepared for a fight. Jaune shouted an order to his team, and on the other side of the pond they fell into place as well, all in a row and all holding their weapons tight.

The one exception was Ren, who was crouching down to the ground with his hand ready to be placed there.

Oobleck hesitated and held his weapon tight and close to him as well, but his attention wasn't exactly placed on the pool.

In the distance, the giant grimm roared, its face turning towards them and its eyes lighting up into an even brighter shade of red.

"Oh dear." Oobleck mumbled. "Students, you should prepare for a fight. I believe... that thing may be coming our way."