In just four days RWBY Volume 2 will be coming out! I'm very excited. *jumps up and down, strangely*

Anyways, in honor of this momentous occasion, I will try to update this story two more times this week. It might be difficult but all of you are completely worth it.

Warning: This chapter will feature a bit more action and some scenes that you may have to go into suspending disbelief. Please accept my apology prior to your experience.

Also, LightJakRises, the reason why they weren't brought in the first time is because none of them attended official combat school and thus, it took a while for them to be found. In my story, a lot of Huntsmen and Huntresses have been found murdered in their own homes. In the attempt to replace them, Ozpin, as well as several others like him, have went to great lengths to find worthy, new candidates. We all know that Mallow has no experience whatsoever. But here are some things I'll just reveal right now and hopefully no one minds. Adonis didn't live in a city, he lived in the wild. Phlox lives a sheltered life as the youngest child in a expanding criminal empire. Lupine is the son of the Verde's butler and so, spent most of his life on their main estate. And that's all I'm going to say. Maybe next time.

Disclaimer Time! While it has been a while, I still don't own RWBY.


Under the Stars

It had been several hours since the initiation began and no pair was anywhere close to the temple of relics. A few were headed in the right direction. But for every pair moving forward, there were several who either hadn't even found a partner yet, or were headed in the wrong direction.

For Glynda Goodwitch – who would rather be fast asleep at this late hour – seeing a few of the teens moving in the wrong direction was absolutely infuriating. She herself had no idea what Ozpin was thinking, giving a few unknowns the opportunity to enter Beacon and staging their initiation in the thick of night. All of it was quite perplexing. She considered questioning her superior's motives and hopefully finding a method in which to obtain straightforward information. But she knew that wouldn't happen. Ozpin wasn't the type to be very clear.

So instead of really questioning what was occurring at his ungodly hour, Glynda busied herself with her scroll and tried to uncover something interesting about these "exceptional" teens going through initiation.

To be quite honest with herself, Glynda did not believe any of these students to be that special. Some of them were below average in her book, while others fell short of the mark completely.

Adonis was probably the only one she would consider to be "exceptional". He was of an absolutely ridiculous size, and yet he moved on light feet. He did not seem like the type to be easily distracted while in battle, nor did it seem like he would shy away from it. He also seemed to have an aptitude for combat. If scans on him were true, he held five different weapons within his makeshift trench coat. Each appeared to have a very different function and require a different degree of skill. Unfortunately, he clearly had no grasp on social skills or conventions, whatsoever. Based on recordings he was essentially a statue the entire trip from the city of Vale to Beacon.

Glynda really did not like Maverick. He had an extremely arrogant air about him as if nothing really mattered to him, not even the people around him. He seemed like a capable fighter but he lacked the attitude for it. In fact, the woman seriously hoped that he would fail. She doubted it, considering some of the people on the list, but wished for its inception nonetheless.

Marron was a very different story. The young woman seemed to take all the best features from the two previous teens and left all the negatives. She had the attitude and maturity to handle almost anything that approached her, while still being able to communicate with other human beings. She dressed sensibly, held herself with a very collected, focused and completely modest manner. She didn't seem to be the expressive type, but she was far better than Adonis.

Sangui is creepy – even Glynda couldn't say anything more about the teen.

Glynda frowned upon Phlox Verde's and Lupine Ao's relationship. It was obvious that Lupine was extremely attracted to Phlox – who Glynda recognized as the youngest daughter of the monstrous crime lord, Vito Verde (everyone knew that he was the head of a crime family but no one had the guts or the evidence to incriminate him) – and it was obvious that his affections weren't returned and, most likely, never would be. She didn't know much about their past, but she could tell in her gut that they were not going to make good partners. But then again, she felt that way about Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, and those two were arguably among Beacon's finest.

Waxyn Pequod intrigued her more than anything. While he was tall, he didn't seem imposing. While he was skinny, he didn't seem weak. His eyes were dark brown, so dark they were practically black. Waxyn appeared to be quite stoic, like Adonis, like Marron. But he revealed himself to having a cheerful, playful side. He was interesting, nothing else.

Teel Squall was also a very interesting subject. She seemed to be a less perfect version of Marron. This is because she seemed a bit more hesitant, less decisive. The young woman also seemed to be easily moved by outward appearances as well as being slightly more talkative; if anything she observed on the airship told her anything.

The last two on Glynda's list was where quality started to decline sharply. The woman had no issue with faunus joining Beacon. In fact, there were several already enrolled and they were among the best. It was just that Amber Byeon seemed to lack the confidence a Hunter requires. She also seemed to be demoralized easily. These were two flaws that could easily be cured at Beacon. It was just the young woman didn't seem "exceptional", or worthy enough to join Beacon through an accelerated course.

Finally, Glynda got to the final name: Mallow. She didn't know what to say about this boy. He had no weapons or combat equipment anywhere on his body. He seemed to have no clue about anything that was happening to him. It was as if he had a death wish. And to make matters worse, he slept on the airship. While others roamed about and tried to meet their opposition, he hid away from everyone and slept.

Glynda hadn't looked at Mallow's personal camera, afraid that the boy was dead. There was no way that Ozpin wouldn't have known this about the young man. After all, Ozpin had met with Mallow's family personally. He should've known how incompetent he was. She began to feel as if the young man was being sent to his death. Eventually, Glynda could not keep her feelings in. She turned towards Ozpin and professed her thoughts.

"Sir, I can't help but wonder about your motive behind this Mallow boy's recruitment. He has absolutely no combat experience prior to arriving at Beacon and unlike a few other subjects; he clearly has no place in any combat situation." Glynda shot Ozpin a pointed look, actually expecting an answer from the stoic professor. "Sir, I'm not one to question your motives…"

"Then don't start," Ozpin said slowly, his wasn't the least bit threatening and yet Glynda backed down. He turned from his position and scroll to focus all of his attention on his assistant. "I have my own reasons for my selections. They will become clear to you at a later date. Just trust me. Can you do that Glynda?"

"Yes, Professor Ozpin."

"Alright, then consider the matter closed."

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Mallow opened his eyes to a starry night sky. Sensation flooded his limbs and torso. He could taste a dry, salty after taste at the back of his throat and around his lips. He could smell the cool forest air and an unpleasant salty scent. He could hear the trees and bushes rustling all around him. There was also the crackling of a fire nearby. To his right he began to feel heat as well as the presence of another.

Mallow tried to jump to his feet and prepare himself for a potentially hostile encounter… only to fall back pathetically due to an incredible stiffness in his joints. There was no pain, however the young man could barely move. He looked down at himself and his chocolate-brown eyes widened. His grungy dress clothes were nearly torn to shreds. But the pinnacle of his shock came from the red stains coating his shirt, his arms, pants, and probably his face.

"Aaaaaahhh! What happened to me?!" Mallow gasped frantically, reaching up to his bloodstained shirt, feeling for wounds and fragmented bones. His heart was beating quickly – racing even – as it strained to break free of his chest.

"You fell," a rather deep, gravelly voice deadpanned to his right, and then his heart nearly escaped from his chest.

Mallow slowly whirled to face the owner of the voice. He was met with the sight of his calves. Mallow then, looked up, and even further up. He continued to look up and up, until he met two piercing purple eyes that flickered menacingly in the dim firelight. It was Adonis.

"H-h-hey Adonis," Mallow sputtered in fear, as he began to shake like a twig in the wind. The young man slowly backed away from the muscular monster only a few feet away.

Adonis made no movement in response. He continued to stand by the fire, like a statue, unmoving and unfeeling. His eyes bored into Mallow, rotting his insides, burning his mind. There was not much the young man could do about Adonis's sudden appearance, for Mallow was simply dwarfed by the huge man. Not only that, but he was unarmed and his joints were stiff. Besides, even if he had a weapon, there was no way he could use it properly.

As Mallow continued to stir in untrustworthy thoughts, Adonis slowly sat upon the ground beside the fire and began stoking the crimson flares with a nearby stick. Even when sitting, Adonis was still huge, looking somewhere between a crouching Ursa Minor and a Beowolf. This was all hyperbole of course but young, inexperienced Mallow wouldn't have known anyway. Then he turned to face Mallow and stared deeply into him.

Normally, Mallow couldn't hold eye contact with any person, let alone someone as intimidating as Adonis. Yet somehow, the young man began to feel slightly less fearful and far more awkward. The purple-eyed mountain was going to speak and yet, he was still as silent as stone. But eventually, that gravelly, rumbly voice of Adonis returned to break the silence.

"Your name is Mallow, right?"

The young man in question flinched as if he had been attacked. His voice contained no threatening undertones and yet Mallow couldn't help but feel as if he made the wrong move, he would be attacked. He managed the courage to face Adonis and timidly uttered a slight, "yes…"

"I am Adonis. How did you fall and survive?" the large young man asked, quickly.

"Um…what?" Mallow was somewhat taken aback by Adonis's spontaneous question.

"How did you fall and survive?" Adonis repeated, with heavy emphasis on every word, trying to properly relay the message to Mallow.

"I-I-I don't…" Mallow began, just grasping the meaning in Adonis's words.

"You survived the fall. You made a drop from the sky. You made no effort to land efficiently. Somehow you lived. I found you broken and bleeding and yet you're perfectly fine. How?"

Mallow stared uncomprehendingly at Adonis, still struggling to understand the mountain's broken speech. His tone suggested that he did not actually care very much, but instead, was slightly curious. Eventually he made out the giant's words, and his eyes widened, realization finally dawning on him. 'How did I live?' he thought. In a normal world the young man would have died, utterly splattered against the Emerald Forest floor. But somehow he was alive; somehow he was moving and breathing. But not only that, he didn't have a single scratch on him. His clothes were bloodstained, but his actual body was perfectly fine – albeit a little stiff.

Adonis's eyes still remained focused on him, expectantly.

"I don't…" Mallow began. Even after understanding the mountain's words, Mallow's answer remained the same. Before he could finish his denial, gunshots rang about throughout the forest, piercing the calm, reminding the two teenagers where they were.

They both stood stunned in the clearing. Then, with incredible speed ill-fitting his humongous physique, Adonis stamped out the fire, plunging the clearing into darkness. He drew a long, red sword from the folds of his trench coat. It was composed of two prongs and a rather large space between them. The blades were very thick and featured several flaps.

"Stay behind me. You're weak," Adonis said rather bluntly. He stood in between Mallow and the gunshots. In the dim moonlight, wearing his Grimm fur coat, he ceased to be human. He was something between beast and rock as he stood rigidly, preparing for an attack.

Mallow decidedly ignored Adonis's comment, not feeling any hate or irritation in his voice. In fact, he was using the same tone he had used before. Instead, the young man's mind wandered to something he hadn't even realized before.

"Why did you light a fire in a forest full of monsters?" Mallow asked suddenly, breaking Adonis's concentration. The mountain faltered slightly, and gave Mallow a confused but increasingly angry look. The recipient of the purple-eyes continued regardless of how scared he suddenly felt just by being the main focus of the large young man's sight. "Don't you realize that would just lead them to us?"

Adonis's eyes shifted nervously away, he scratched his head and muttered, "That explain a lot…"

Before he could finish his thought, the bushes parted to allow entry by a raven-haired teen being trailed by a small pack of Beowolves. There were six of the canine beasts in flight, only a few feet behind their target. Fur stood stiffly up. Fangs were fiercely bared. The claws on their forepaws were bared, flashing wildly, desperately trying to tear the young man apart. Their fur-covered bodies were clearly riddled with gun fire, and each step appeared to cause each of them immense pain. And yet, they continued to pursue.

Their target looked up and spotted the two other people in the clearing, and shot them a dazzling smile. "Hey guys, how's it hanging? I'm a bit dog-eared right now, but how are you guys?" Maverick Casco asked without the slightest amount of stress. He activated the thrusters in his boots, creating a nearly insurmountable distance between him and the beowolves. As he began to float away, they howled furiously, until a spray of bullets from Maverick's guns made them whimper in pain.

Mallow began to back off slowly – having never faced a real Grimm before – he was absolutely terrified. They were just so large and scary and just not… human. As the young man became increasingly more likely to wet himself, Adonis ran at the suffering monsters.

Noticing his movement, Maverick ceased fire, but only for a moment. Free from the oppressive fire, the beowolves noticed a newcomer charging right at them. Growling approvingly, they banded together for a six-on-one charge, only for the gunfire to continue. This time far more powerful rounds came from the end of Maverick's firearms, at the cost of a few less bullets per second.

One Grimm went down, and another followed. Temporarily unsure of where to attack for a few seconds, the Beowolves ceased their charge for a few seconds. But a few seconds was all Adonis needed to finish them. With one mighty downward slash of his sword, he split one of the Grimm into two. Then he activated one of the flaps on his sword and a long, thin but extremely sharp metal pole rocketed out of the sword, striking the Grimm in the middle of the remaining three. Another second later, the pole exploded sending bits of sharp shrapnel everywhere, piercing the remaining beowolves in several fatal spots, killing them almost instantly. Adonis collapsed his sword and placed it back in his trench coat without any movement. His eyes and body language failed to display apprehension or fear or that something life-threatening had just happened – it was as if he just went through an everyday experience. On the other hand, Maverick twirled his guns on his trigger-fingers for a while before swiftly holstering them.

Mallow stood in awe at his spectacular dispatch of several monsters, his mouth nearly falling to the ground. "Wow" was all the young man could utter before just barely collecting himself. He began to slowly make his way over towards the two victorious young men in the clearing.

"You're amazing, Adonis," Maverick complimented, with a subtle, but thick layer of flattery that was completely missed by the young man he was complimenting.

Adonis looked at the raven-haired, dual-wielding gunslinger with a confused look before suddenly realizing that he was being complimented. Making up for a slight pause with a quick, "Thanks."

Suddenly, the bushes rustled again and a beowolf significantly larger than the ones previous charged right out and directly at Mallow. The young man screamed and cowered behind his arms as Maverick and Adonis tried to respond to the sudden attack, but there was nothing they could do that would save Mallow. He was on his own.

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"Hey Marron, do you even know where we're going?" Waxyn asked apprehensively, as he scanned the nearby trees for threats. While the moonlight was his and Marron's only source of illumination, he couldn't help but see all kinds of weird things from the corner of his eyes. He knew it was just a trick of the moonlight, but that didn't mean that the young man's nerves weren't set on edge by the misleading flickers.

Marron stopped and looked up to meet the eyes of her companion. "We're heading north, Waxyn." She pointed in the direction they were already in. "North is that way." Then she continued moving without another word.

"Oh okay Marron."

With that, the two continued for a few more minutes in complete silence, letting the moon guide them through the darkened forest. While they did not speak any further, the duo was thinking about the same thing; although, they were completely unaware of this. In the quiet of the night, a lot of thoughts will stir in an addled mind. And both Marron and Waxyn let their minds drift to the albino boy, Sangui and to memories of a far simpler time. They reminisced about constructive but enjoyable spars with each other and their anything-but-calm walks on the beach nearby their home. Unfortunately they couldn't help but dwell on his deathly pale skin. His horrible, nightmarish, soulless pink eyes. His inhuman fangs and bloodlust.

Upon remembering these unfavorable memories, Marron and Waxyn shuttered simultaneously. Once they realized what the other had just done. They smiled at each other. While the pale-skinned boy from their past – who couldn't possibly be Sangui, no matter how suspicious or paranoid they were – had left a great impact on the course of both of their lives. They wouldn't have become close without his intervention. So, while they had lost a lot, they were together and that was all that mattered. Having known each other for so long, they could communicate all that with just a simple look.

Suddenly, the brushes started rustling all around them, startling the duo and breaking their reverie. They drew their weapons and prepared to fight. Whatever was coming was soon going to regret being born.

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Teel ran through the shadowy Emerald Forest, rustling the bushes, tearing bark off of trees, and generally moving with a swift destructiveness that seemed to have no regard for its surroundings, having absolute focus on what was in front of it.

'Partners be damned,' she thought cockily, 'I can handle this. Nothing to it. I was hoping for a bit more opposition. Honestly, this is supposed to be a forest full of Grimm and I haven't found a single one.' Teel sighed inwardly, nothing interesting was happening. Trying to relief herself of boredom she began to climb a rather tall tree using her "Grasscutter". The gourd-like object unleashed a concentrated stream of energy that elongated like whip, which the young woman used to scale the tree.

Once at the top, the young woman had a ridiculous view of everything around her. She could see the cliffs of Beacon far behind her and the area where Ozpin and said the relics would be very close to her. When she looked down, she saw only one dark mass that moved and twisted with the wind's movement. Deciding that she enjoyed the view too much, Teel let herself relax on the topmost branch and let herself nod off. As darkness began to consume her vision she thought she saw a boy and a girl around her age flying above the tree line, elevated by some kind of tornado. In her fading vision was a trail of smoke, escaping into the air. 'What idiots,' Teel declared to herself, after all what kind of idiot would set a fire in a Grimm-filled forest. Then, just as she nodded off, poor Teel disappeared from the tree and into the air.

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Amber Byeon stared in awe at the speed and efficiency in which Adonis Iridis slew several Bewolves with his sword. The fox faunus couldn't help but admire how damn cool the huge boy looked when he fought. Every move was carefully calculated, each perfectly executed, none wasted. His powerful purple-eyes made her feel butterflies in her stomach and intense warmth on her cheeks and chest. There was something incredible about this boy, she just knew it.

All Amber wanted to do was go into the clearing and meet up with Adonis. Unfortunately, he already had a partner: that wimp, Mallow. And not only that, there was an unpaired individual among the three there: Maverick. The fox faunus really did not want to be with that guy. He had such an arrogant air about him. Not only that, but he seemed too really like making others suffer, especially animals – or in this case, monsters – and there was something simply vulgar about him.

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"You know what, Phlox? I'm really enjoying myself," Lupine declared. He was currently floating in the air, suspended by Phlox's glyphs. Arcane power whizzed all around him, creating funny little whistling sounds and wonderful, sparkling visuals. The young man loved Phlox's power at work. While her methods were somewhat odd, the result was simply marvelous. "I mean, what could be better than flying through the air with my favorite person in the whole wide world? Suspended by your magic, soaring through the sky; we could easily be the best team here. Am I right?"

"I could easily drop you here, how's that sound?" Phlox looked at him pointedly. "Oh, and for your first question: I can think of a million other things to do in this 'whole wide world' than fly around, at night, in a forest filled with monsters, with you." She raised her eyebrows, expecting something that would make her smile and clear away the immense fear she felt flying around in the Emerald Forest.

"Oh Phlox darling, don't be like that," Lupine said playfully. He reached over and poked her in her side – a place he knew from experience, was very ticklish.

Between giggles and laughs, Phlox cried, "For the love of all that is good in the world, stop it Lupine!" She willed him below her and raised herself higher in her personal gust of wind. But then she realized what she might have allowed Lupine to see. She flushed a deep crimson and raised him above her while bringing herself lower to the ground. As he floated by, he had a knowing, celebratory grin that just made Phlox fume.

Rubbing his victory in more, Lupine called down to her. "You look very nice under there, darling!"

"Shut up, jackass!" She called back to him.

"Hey, that's a new one for you," Lupine quipped back, with a comely smile. The young man hadn't seen anything. He hadn't looked up in respect for his love, but it was fun to pretend to. "Hey, you know what they say about…"

"I mean it, shut up!"

"Hey I'm sorry, darling but…"

"Shh!" Phlox reached into her pouch and withdrew a leather pouch, emblazoned with a symbol in the shape of a tornado. He reached in, grabbed a handful of sea green powder and slowly brought it up to her nose.

Lupine understood what was happening and floated solemnly above Phlox, looking away as he heard her snort the powder up her nose. Her eyes, as well as several runes and patterns on her dress glowed brightly for a second before dulling to a light luminance.

Noticing that her friend was suddenly silent, Phlox looked up at him and frowned. "Lupine, what's wrong?" When he was worried, she was worried. Even though she knew that she had no feelings for the young man floating in her gust, she had always looked to him to provide a sturdy foundation in a life she felt she had no control over. In the end she truly cared for him. But not in a way the young man could understand or appreciate.

Lupine hated it. He hated every moment the young woman allowed the destructive powder to enter her body. 'Enhanced resistance to it… bullshit. That stuff is dangerous. No matter who you are.' But aloud, Lupine looked down at her, gave her a reassuring smile and said, "Nothing darling, don't worry about it."

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"No!" Mallow screamed, cowering under his arms desperately hoping that he wasn't even there. 'This has to be a dream! That's it! There's no way I would be accepted to attend Beacon Academy! This was all some realistic, scary dream that I haven't awoken from. Oh well, once the Beowolf gets me, I should be back at my home, all safe and sound.' The young man sat there, for what felt like eternity. Time itself had seemed to stop. He felt the wind brush by him, he smelt the remains of a fire nearby, but he couldn't feel the Beowolfs presence.

Still afraid, Mallow opened his eyes and tried to stand up, shaking like a leaf caught in a hurricane as he did so. The Beowolf was lying on its back, bleeding out due to a large gaping wound created by Adonis's sword.

Upon seeing this, Mallow grabbed parts of himself in relief and gratitude, happy to be alive. He turned towards Adonis and Maverick, who were staring at him as if they had seen a ghost, and blurted, "Thank you, for saving me guys. I'm kind of useless, I know. I'm so sorry for that. Forgive me for…"

"What happened?" Maverick's eyes had lost its cockiness. In its place was newfound confusion and surprise.

"What do you mean?" Mallow asked, a dreadful feeling began to spread in his stomach.

"How did you knock that Alpha Beowolf attack?" Adonis added slowly, also somewhat confused. But he was less bothered by it. The young really didn't care that much, he was just curious.

"I-what do you mean? I didn't do-anything…" Mallow suddenly became very hesitant to speak. Something weird was happening.

"Don't you know?" Maverick snapped impatiently. "One of the Alphas Beowolves – you know, the largest and strongest of a pack of these monsters – attacked you. There was no way for any of us to be there and save you and yet, you lived. I'm not sure what happened. But one moment, you were almost guaranteed dead and the next you're somehow alive and the Beowolf has just been knocked back! So tell me, is the wimpy loser thing an act? Or do you just have some weird aura ability?" The young man was suddenly on edge. His eyes were wild and his voice was as harsh as a bed of needles.

"I-I-I-I…" Mallow began trembling uncontrollably. He had no idea what was going on and the gunslinger's aggressive tone made him feel a sudden urge to run for his life. Luckily for Mallow, the howls of more Beowolves and the rustling in the bush made the trio run for their lives.

"We'll finish this later," Maverick decided before activating his thruster boots and disappearing into the forest.

"Agreed." Adonis ran up to Mallow, scooped him up and ran in a different direction. Unbeknownst to Mallow and Adonis – although Adonis was only slightly aware, to some degree – a certain fox-eared being followed them on their flight from the clearing and the monsters.

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Blood… Blood… It's everywhere… Blood… Sweet, deliciousness… Love everlasting… Happiness, Nirvana, peace, freedom… That's where I belong… And that's where I'm going…

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"See?" Ozpin said calmly, gesturing at his scroll. On screen, a looped recording played of Mallow defending himself from the Alpha Beowolf. Monitors bordering the recording kept careful taps on the young man's vitals as well as his aura. Once the creature made impact with the young man, his aura levels shot to ridiculous levels, completely redirecting the force of the Beowolf's attack.

Glynda stared at the screen, eyes wide, almost completely disbelieving what she had just witnessed on Ozpin's scroll. In fact, she would be completely disbelieving if she was being told to view this by anyone besides Ozpin. It was just too fantastical. "I see sir; I just don't know what to think."

Ozpin smirked to himself. "Good. Expect many more surprises from these two in the future." He gestured towards a live stream of Adonis carrying Mallow through the forest as they were pursued by a pack of Beowolves. "I know I will."

Glynda turned back towards her own scroll. On screen, there were multiple windows open, each viewing the groups of teens. Marron and Waxyn were steadily approaching the objective, but were now halted by a massive, monochrome two-headed serpent, known as a King Taijitu. Phlox and Lupine were still teasing and toying with each other, even as an Ursa Major tried to rip them to shreds. Maverick currently faced no opposition as he hurriedly approached the temple at a rate far faster than anyone else. Amber was holed up in a tree, avidly playing spectator to an intense battle. Sangui was walking slowly through the forest, far behind everyone else. Teel was screaming her head off as she clung to a Nevermore's talon for dear life. And finally, she pulled up a window of Mallow and Adonis and couldn't help but stare astonishingly, at their – only Adonis's – extraordinary combat ability.

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Mallow's mouth was open in unrestrained awe at what he was witnessing. Before him was a display of such pure skill and ability that it simply couldn't be real. What he was seeing was putting the Hunters he used to idolize to shame. He closed his eyes and pinched himself. He slapped himself in the face. He told himself that what he was witnessing was merely in his head because nobody could be that good. Nobody. And yet, there he was: slashing and breaking and firing and hooking and just about anything anyone else one could think of to the pack of poor Beowolves. Displaying immense skill with what had to be multiple weapons; Adonis tore through them without remorse but a surprising amount of restraint. There were only seven Beowolves fighting Adonis but Mallow had lost count of how many times Adonis had knocked one away non-lethally and allowed it to keep fighting. It didn't matter. The mountain of a young man had complete control over this fight. Every time one got to close to Mallow, it would suddenly be dragged to a safe position by a green blade, attached to a chain. Every time one got too far from Adonis, he would change the shape of his sword, causing the prongs to turn outwards forming a bow, and would fire the shrapnel-poles at them using it. Every time one got too close, a pair of round, huge, heavy-looking gauntlets would form completely cover his arms and hands. Adonis then, rained blow upon blow on the black-furred creatures. Mallow could hear a sickening crunch, every time a fist made contact with a Beowolves body. And yet, despite the repeated abuse from Adonis, they still came back with a vengeance. Eventually, Adonis decided to finish the job. He backed off from the pain-wracked bodies, called on a pair of smaller green gauntlets – they were far smaller than Adonis's other ones, two scythe-like blades graced each one and they seemed to be connected to the inside of the mountain's trench coat by a green chain – activated a secondary function, causing each to open up revealing a six-barreled Gatling-style machine gun. Without a shred of mercy, Adonis tore them to shreds, leaving almost nothing left of the creatures.

He turned to Mallow and said, "Now what?" as if nothing had happened.

"Uh-uh-uh," Mallow mumbled lamely. The young man was dumbstruck by Adonis's combat ability and nearly found himself fainting… but tried to restrain himself. He had a mission to accomplish. It was a real struggle to will his nerves calm. He bit his lip and breathed through his nose to prevent hyperventilation and he shook himself several times to try and get the nerves out. "We head towards the temple up north to claim a relic and return it to the Beacon Cliffside."

"Seems simple." Adonis began walking in the direction they had already been heading when the Beowolves attacked, only for Mallow to stand nervously in his path.

Mallow whimpered slightly, as Adonis's ferocious purple-eyes bore into him. But he managed to clear his throat and sputter, "T-t-t-that's n-n-not the r-right w-w-way. North is over there." Mallow pointed off to an area right of Adonis. "W-we have to g-g-g-g-go there."

Adonis suddenly had a very confused look on his face. He frowned awkwardly and stared uncomprehendingly at the smaller boy, waiting for an explanation.

"I-I-I s-s-studied s-s-stars in m-my youth," Mallow said, realizing what Adonis wanted without even asking. "I-I-I know a-all about s-s-s-several c-constellations, s-s-seasonal s-s-star p-patterns and their m-m-meanings. U-u-up there is the N-n-north star, s-sailors and e-e-e-e-explorers used it in the p-past to f-find their way b-before b-b-better n-navigation m-methods were invented." Mallow hoped that would explain everything to the giant young man.

Adonis cocked his head, bewildered. Before turning around, and walking in the direction that Mallow had pointed out.

Mallow's jaw dropped. 'I can't believe that worked!' he thought excitedly before hurrying to catch up with the mountain silently creeping through the forest. He looked up to him. Adonis did not look back, nor did he appear as if he was aware of Mallow's stare. His partner truly was magnificent but he had weaknesses. Luckily, it appeared as if Mallow covered them. 'We're going to make a great team,' Mallow thought optimistically. But eventually the pessimism set in.

'I hope.'


Sorry guys, for the ending of this chapter. I swear that next chapter will wrap up initiation.

Anyways, feel free to ask any question you'd like. Or voice strong opinions. It will always interest me.

Have a nice life!