Hey.

No long A/N. Not feeling great. But I know FFNet isn't sending update emails, so I'm not exactly expecting much from posting until they start again.

Enjoy.

The Grimm below didn't see her coming. The first one took the full brunt of her weight, all of which was driven through the shield that crushed the beast's skull before it would have been able to react. Pyrrha turned that downward momentum into a roll off of the decaying corpse of her first target, coming up to her feet with a whip of her arm that sent Akouo gliding through the air in what seemed like a harmless toss of a frisbee to her.

The shield ricocheted off the torso of the second Beowulf hard enough to put it on its back, guided by her Semblance into the roaring mouth of a third. It fell silent at the new obstruction, which let the champion hear the coming threat. She dipped below the claw that was set to tear her head off of her shoulders, then dove to the side of another charging Beowulf, calling her shield back with her polarity and coming off of the roll into one of her ready stances.

Without Milo, she felt nearly naked and defenseless. Under normal circumstances, she would put top priority on retrieving her famed weapon, but it was currently lodged in a tree some hundred meters away. Hopefully, still holding up that blonde out of harm's way. One of the remaining two Grimm snarled and charged, closing the distance in order to meet her shield that much quicker. Pyrrha brought the weapon overhead and forced a meeting between steel and skull mid-charge. The force behind the blow put the Beowulf down for good, and a single precise kick to the furry neck removed the final bit of opposition from her mind.

Better to keep alert. She instructed herself, If there are Beowulf in this forest, there are likely Ursa.

It would be remiss, and likely irresponsible of her to miss an Ursa. By what she had heard, they were big, mean, and loud. Likely to stand out among the browns and greens. Flicking the blood and fur off of her golden shield, with only a slight of distaste, Pyrrha placed Akouo firmly into its place on her back and took towards her quarry with a jog. Provided the Emerald Forest wasn't Grimm infested, it would be quite a nice place for a walk. Vibrant greens and browns, all the more pronounced by both shadow and sunlight.

She had always enjoyed forests when she had traveled. It was unfortunate that her place of birth was fairly barren of them. There were plenty of swamps and cliffs in Mistral, but the former was far too humid and the latter was far too lifeless. She preferred the capital, with its tiered construction, bustling streets, and flowing canals. A shame she couldn't walk it anonymously.

Homesickness welled in her heart, so she redirected her thoughts to the task at hand. A set of bushes gave way to her arms, her aura resisting the thorns and bristles that attempted to scratch at her smooth skin. Three steps into the clearing she stopped, tracing her eyes up a tree until her gaze came onto the teen she'd pinned. Milo held fast even as he had lifted himself up to essentially hug the spear, trying to push his hood down the length of the shaft and free himself.

Pyrrha set her hands on her hips and did her best to not giggle at the concentrated look on his face. "It would be easier to just pull the spear out."

In response to her voice, the blonde let out something between a screech and a help, jumping so violently that his leg slipped from around the handle and swinging him down like a pendulum. Gravity and momentum brought the full weight of him and his armor towards the butt end of her spear and physics took care of the rest. The spear angled downwards and slipped from the tree, the male already plummeting towards the ground.

He hit first, and Milo would have followed business end down had Pyrrha not recognized the threat and sprinted the distance to catch her weapon before it ended a life. "Oh my, sorry! Sorry…"

"Ow." Her new partner groaned, wriggling on his back and cracking an eye to meet hers. "By my blood, you scared me."

That's what he was concerned about, not his back? Her question was answered when he didn't follow up, instead forcing himself into a sitting position and leaning his back against the tree. "Are you okay?" She knelt down to put herself at his level, worried that she might have inadvertently harmed him in a way that might be detrimental to his performance in initiation. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

"It's perfectly fine." He replied, though it didn't look it judging by the pain on his face. His aura would heal it soon enough. "Better a bit of pain then to have gravity give me a hug."

"I suppose." She frowned and opened her mouth to ask him his name when a trio of cracks echoed through the trees. The blonde stiffened, his eyes opening to check the surroundings. Pyrrha shot a single glance towards the source of the sound. "Gunfire, it seems our comrades have engaged the enemy."

"We should go." The blonde pushed himself to his feet with a grimace. "Hate to be Grimm food. I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc." He extended his hand to shake. She took it with a smile. "Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

"I'm sure they do." As cheesy and likely overused as the line was, Pyrrha felt her smile widen,"I'm Pyrr-"

"Pyrrha Nikos. So I've been told." Jaune smiled back, but Pyrrha's grin dropped along with her hand. Some light she didn't realize she'd felt from their meeting vanished. Of course he knew who she was. "Listen, I'm not going to be anywhere near your level…"

"Don't worry about it." She waved him off with a polite, practiced smile. "Just keep up and recover from your fall, I can handle anything this forest throws at us."

"What if it's a Deathstalker?"

"I can handle most things this forest throws at us." She amended, frowning. His accent was distinctly from Vale, or from around it, which meant he likely knew of the type of Grimm that inhabited the forests better than she did. Which means that he should have at least a bit of practice fighting or fleeing from them. "Are Deathstalkers common in these areas?"

"I've never seen one." Jaune gestured towards the forest, an 'after you' motion, so she began their trek. "But my sister has told stories. Scary stuff. Big claws, large stinger, tough as nails."

"Sounds like something to avoid."

"Yeah." He trailed the word, "You ever see one?"

"Only in books. They're not around where I'm from."

"Mistral, right? That explains the accent."

"Accent?" Pyrrha shot him a glance, intending to ask about her accent but stopping when she noticed the way he slouched and held a hand on his back. They had been walking for a good time now, his Aura should have… "Jaune, why hasn't your Aura mended your body?"

"My what now?"

"Your Aura." She enunciated, her brows furrowing and her lips set in a frown. There was no way… He simply gave her a blank look. "Gesundheit."

"Jaune…" Pyrrha tried for gentle, but she was certain her words hit like the slash of a sword judging by how he jumped. "You do know what Aura is. Right?"

"Eh? Pssh, of course I know what Aura is." His voice didn't sound convincing, even as he waved a hand at her. "Do- Do you know what Aura is?"

This was unbelievable. Aura was taught the very first two years at Sanctum. Pyrrha schooled her expression to neutrality and examined him up and down. Two possibilities came to mind, he was either really lucky to make it into Beacon of all places without even the rudimentary knowledge of Aura, or he was so strong that he actually had no idea that he was at a disadvantage. The male squirmed under her gaze and flushed, something that forced her to note exactly how she was staring. Then her face felt warm in return. She cleared her throat. "Aura is the manifestation of our souls. It shields our bodies and our hearts…"

Jaune's brow furrowed. "Souls?"

"Provides us with the strength to fight the Grimm, and protect those we care for." His interruption earned him a frown, yet he didn't make to speak again. "Without Aura, none of us would be able to do the incredible things that Huntsman are known for."

"That makes sense. That explains the crazy stuff my sisters do." Jaune scratched at his jaw for a moment, his eyes flicking to her for a moment. While the gears turned in his head, Pyrrha sighed with a tight smile. She knew what he was going to ask, and her choice was obvious. "Close your eyes and relax."

He did as he was told despite his obvious hesitation. She moved forwards and placed a thumb on both his chest and his forehead, reaching into the core of her soul to pull gently at the power thrumming within. She spoke an invocation as she sent tendrils of her soul into his, probing for the light she knew she would find. It felt far too intimate to be comfortable, given her status and the fact that they were mere acquaintances, yet she tied those tendrils onto the natural barriers holding his Aura fast and pulled during the final words of her invocation. "... and by my shoulder, I protect thee."

His power, pure and immense, sent a wave of conflict through her body and soul. It muddied her mind and scattered her thoughts, flashed images and emotions across her that she soon came to realize belonged to him - his past, his present, his potentials. Who he was at his core. Pain and catharsis, ecstasy and agony. Followed by numbness and a flash of fire and steel, a sight of man who would stand against a tide of black with his blade alone, a line of knights gathered around a carved stone circle.

She shuddered and stumbled, even as he did the same and caught her. His Aura, as powerful as it was, rejected the presence of hers and left her feeling overwhelmed. But whole. "You have a lot of it." She said once they were steady, wincing and squinting at the radiant white he gave off. "How do you feel?"

"Like…" Jaune's face took on a complicated expression as he looked at her, but it was replaced by a smile. His eyes flicked to his hands and his arms, then to her as she returned to a more comfortable distance. "I feel like I could move mountains. Run a thousand miles. Leap tall buildings in a single bound. I feel good… but are you okay?"

"I am. I used a portion of my power to unlock yours." She felt sheepish to be caught so unprepared. "I just didn't expect the backlash."

"So it wasn't just me… who saw those things?" Jaune looked… shaken, almost, by what he saw.

"No. I saw them too."

"What were they?"

"Potential." She stretched her hands, feeling soreness in them. His Aura must have made her tense, or perhaps it was just an unfamiliar feeling that came with the Unlocking. It would fade. "We should continue moving. Find some of the others."

"Yeah. Good idea." Jaune nodded, stepped forward and then stopped. His head swiveled left, then right, then left again. After a moment, he started forward. "This way."

"Okay." Pyrrha followed, eyes on the surrounding area for coming threats. She was fairly certain that his direction wasn't going towards the objective, however she wasn't quite sure of how to tell him that. After ten minutes of walking alongside a rock face, she finally spoke up. "Jaune, where are we going exactly?"

"I dunno." He replied without looking, "I just have a feeling."

"Okay." Pyrrha trailed the word as Jaune came to a stop, turning left and staring at a relatively wide opening in the rock. He glanced to the side, where a picture was etched into the wall, before turning to her. "Think this is the place?"

"I don't know." She said, examining the drawing and coming to the conclusion that it looked much too much like a Deathstalker for her comfort. Still, considering that the Headmaster had been willing to send an unprepared, un-enhanced human catapulting into a dangerous forest filled with Grimm… she wouldn't put it past him to set the relics into a Grimm cave. "It's a possibility."

"I guess we gotta find out." His hands were already at work, though before she could ask what he was doing, Jaune lifted a crudely fashioned torch into her view. "I'm sure that we'll be fine."

"Right."

"I mean, you're a world class champion." He nodded at his own logic, looking back to the cave. Her expression deepened to a frown. Right. He knows who I am. Makes sense that is what he focuses on. Pyrrha's thunderous thoughts were interrupted. "And I'm… uh… a good meat shield. Let's go."

"I'm sure you're more than a meat shield." She chastised as they moved into the darkness of the cave. There was no need to be rude, even if she was certain that this decision wasn't entirely intelligent. But he was her partner, so she would have to trust him. The torch flickered, Jaune stopping for a moment to shoot her a surprised glance. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." He looked on her for a second more before turning back around to keep moving forwards. The cave was silent, except for the sound of their armor and footsteps as the traversed the dark. A minute passed. Behind them, the light of the exit slowly dimmed and disappeared. It made her nervous. "I don't think anything is in here, Jaune."

"I made the torch, Pyrrha. Can you humor me?"

"I am humoring you."

The blonde was silent for a moment. "Oh. Right. Do you hear that?"

"I don't-" The words stopped, the champion instead opting to actually listen. It was a faint sound, almost like someone clicking something on the rock. She slowed her pace, testing to see if it was just the steps of her heels echoing. Disappointingly, it was not. "I do. That's..."

"Creepy." Jaune sighed, before one of his steps slid with a disgusting squelch sound. He yelped and slapped his hand against the wall for support, scowling in the dim torchlight. "Yuck, I stepped in… something."

Something was the proper term. When her partner dipped down to one knee and brought the torch close to the ground, he was met with blackness. At first Pyrrha thought it might be some sort of liquid, but closer inspection showed her that it was more organic. Thick, black goo that had an iridescent yellow sheen even in the orange torchlight. And it was moving, like it was alive. "What on Anima…?"

"By my blood." Jaune swore at the same time, waving the flame over the substance. "This feels like bad news… like really bad news."

Pyrrha agreed.

"I… I feel like I've seen this before… somewhere." Her partner's voice was vague, different. Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know." He reached down with a tentative hand, one that she was too slow to stop after she realized what he intended to do. His fingers slipped over the black, shooting back a moment later as if he'd been burned. Jaune hissed and shook his hand. The clicking in the cave went silent. That turned her nervous feeling into an anxious one. "Pyrrha?"

"Yes?" She looked to him, then followed his gaze and froze. His voice shook as she took in the eight glowing red orbs that were growing in size. "Do you feel that?"

"What?"

"Soul crushing regret." He fell silent as something came into the torch light. Wide sharp mandibles, chitin as black as any midnight, eight sharp, bladed legs. Her breath caught in her throat, and her stomach dropped. Spider. A giant, monster spider.

If it had spotted them, she couldn't tell. It meandered in their direction, its legs clicking with each slow step. A cold, phobic sweat came to her. Jaune's wide blue eyes flicked between her and the monstrosity. "Pyrrha…"

"We should run." She whispered.

"Good idea." Jaune agreed.

And so they did. They made it four steps before whatever it was behind them let out a bone chilling screech and followed. Her heart felt like a jackhammer, each beat audible throughout her body. Jaune stumbled and dropped the torch, so she wrapped a hand around his breastplate and hauled him to his feet without pause. "This isn't the the right place, Pyrrha!" He shouted, voice an octave high. "It's not!"

She spared a glance behind her, spotting nothing but red eyes and the remnants of a dying torch. "It's gaining on us!" She cried, pushing her body further. Her Aura wavered and brightened to her call, filling her with strength. They were lucky, missing any obstacles that could have tripped or stopped one of the two of them flat.

"We'll engage it in the daylight, where we can see!" Though she was all too sure that she would prefer the Swamp Fever to fighting a giant monster spider, the choice was the only one that they could possibly survive. Unlocking Jaune's Aura had left her's weak, a necessary sacrifice so that he would survive… and a mistake that may ensure they both didn't.

At the time it had been wise. Felt wise. Now, she was facing the consequences of her wisdom.

The daylight was a welcome sight. Though she was partially blinded by the sunlight, Pyrrha brought Milo and Akouo to bear, spinning around and hefting her shield. Jaune followed her lead with his sword, drawing the blade and taking a position on her right. "You sure about this!?"

"No, but it's the only choice!" Her response only got a groan out of him. The beast crashed out of the small opening with its eerie clicking, thrashing its bladed legs into the ground and charging. Jaune dove left, but Pyrrha took the beast head on. The leg skittered across the shield with a screech, the girl shuddering under the force of the blow and striking back with a shot enhanced strike from Milo. The tip of the spear lodged itself no more than an inch into the carapace, something that surprised her enough that she didn't dip back quick enough to avoid the counter attack.

It took her on the stomach, her Aura the only defense that kept her from being bisected in the middle. Pyrrha felt her air leave her lungs in a huff, her weapons held tight in her grasp as she worked to recover mid flight. She'd learned her lesson long ago about losing her weapons from taking a hit, her trainer had drilled that into her plenty. She stumbled on her landing but held fast, her weapons at the ready for another strike that never came. Impossible that she couldn't pierce the shell. Milo could embed itself several feet into rock, slice through steel… She glanced at her blade, then back at the insect.

The spider had set its sights on Jaune. His style of fighting involved a lot of screaming and narrowly avoiding slashes of those dangerous legs that would likely send him flying if not outright kill him. He caught a blow on his shield and turned it aside, retaliating with a slash that made Pyrrha panic - it left him wide open. She dashed forwards, but there was no way she could make it in time. While the giant insect wasn't human and likely didn't see the same opening, it still struck out with the same claw that could have very well been the end of her partner.

Had he not swung the blade back in the opposite direction and intercepted the strike.

She expected his blade to fold under the pressure of the strike, simply because of how strong she had felt the beast before and how weak a single handed block was. The fact that he'd been able to block one of the strikes as easily as he did spoke to the physical strength that he possessed, but it wouldn't hold a candle to physics.

Which is why when Jaune's sword cut clean through the leg without resistance, lighting the wound alight into a steady blue flame, Pyrrha stumbled out of her charge in surprise more than anything. To his credit, her partner didn't question his fortune. Instead, he dove backwards and made his retreat from the spider as it began to thrash and screech. "I dunno what I did!" He cried, sprinting past her, "But run!"

Dumbstruck, she followed. There was no doubt in her mind that the spider-Grimm-thing wouldn't stay down long. "We need to find any of the others!" She called to him, "That thing is strong and fast. Way too much for just us two."

"I vote we just keep running." Jaune broke through a set of brush, sending a glance her way. It quickly turned into a glance behind them and a loud whine. "It's coming!"

"But it's injured."

"Thing ain't injured enough!" He hefted his blade for a moment, sending the weapon a glance. "Go without me and find someone. I have an idea!"

"What? No." Pyrrha slid under a fallen tree and came to her feet. With a slash of her blade, she cut through a set of vines in her path. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"I'll be fine. Trust me. I have a feeling this will work."

"I don't-" She let out a frustrated groan, her words dying when she made to give him a stern look and found nobody in sight. Pyrrha frowned. He was going to get himself killed, and she couldn't do anything about it but go find someone to help fight this thing and hope to get back in time to save him. Her aura pushed towards its limits, the champion leapt over another fallen log and crashed through more brush, listening for the sound of gunfire - anything that would lead her to some of the others.

His brash action on her mind, Pyrrha Nikos nearly felt frustrated enough to swear.

Starting to look familiar?

For the new readers; Here we're introduced to one of the main adversaries to our characters, in the form of a giant monster spider. Should be fun.

Lemme know what you think.
-Phoenyx

Tips for the Aspiring Author - Power Levels in Stories

As a great majority, people suck at overpowered protagonists. Sure, God Character fics can be entertaining, but as a great whole they're not intensely popular because the action is great or because his power is cool, they're often popular because of gimmick pairings or some ridiculous harem that provides more comedic relief than anything. When you get down into the gritty action and adventure stories, you don't want a protagonist that always has the answer. You want to see him struggle, grasp, win by the skin of his teeth and lose by mountains. Sometimes you want them to sell their soul, other times you want to see exactly how brilliant he can be with a good plan or an even match up.

Mostly, people want to see characters grow to be respectful. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but they're normally done as a sort of parody to other works. See: One Punch Man.

For this, you don't need weak protagonist, you need good antagonist with well thought out powers. I'll use the Grimm as an example here; In the show, it is very inconsistent as to what power the Grimm has. Sometimes they're killing machines, other times they're nothing but canon fodder for RWBY or JNPR. This should not be the case. They're talked about in the show as if they're this mindless unstoppable horde, and yet every time we see them save for the recent finales, they've been nothing but squishy target practice. In the sake of simplicity, I'm going to write out how I see each of the Grimm that appear or will appear soon in ranking.

So first we have Beowulves. These are your horde monsters, your wolves. They rarely attack alone, often appearing in packs that can overwhelm a lesser Huntsman or Huntress. As a whole though, they're not quite tough or powerful enough to survive anyone with half a brain for fighting. Evidenced by Pyrrha getting the drop on the beasts and winning. Ursa are monumentally tougher and stronger. Unlike in the show, Yang won't slaughter Ursa after Ursa. She'll have a fight on her hands because, in accordance with their source animal, Ursa are tough monsters like bears. To put it into tiers, lets imagine that Yang and Pyrrha are S Tier first years, right? They can take Ursa alone, but won't be able to do it easily, whereas anything below like Beowulves or Creeps will fall a lot easier. Now downgrade to someone like Jaune, and say he's C tier as an example. He can take Beowulves, but he'll take hits. Ursa are but a dream. Now this also doesn't take into account anything like familiarity with the fights, it's just a very general example. But this example gives you a good idea of why Pyrrha amended herself when Jaune mentioned a Deathstalker - She knows how strong it is.

But then, you ask, what about the Deathstalker? Nevermore? Well, they'll require a team. As in the show, JNPR would be required to be together to kill the Deathstalker, and RWBY for the Nevermore, and it won't go anywhere near as easily as it did. They would struggle and get injured.

So this new beast, where does it fall? Well, it killed the Deathstalker.

How do you keep a protagonist from being overpowered, or keep them from progressing too fast? Well, catalog your threats and their levels, and compare them to your character. Then ramp the character up to be able to take one threat out at a time, over time. So say at first, your character can kill one Beowulf without help, but he gets injured. A month later, he might be able to take a pack of them with minimal injury. Another month, he might be strong enough to take out an Ursa. A year? A pack of Ursa? Two years? A Deathstalker, easily. Learning a combat skill is just like any sort of exercise; You ramp up quickly, but you plateau in power and then very, very slowly rise. As new threats come, your character adjusts and learns. Another good thing is to keep their faults in mind. If your character is overconfident, he may take a fight he can't win and set back his progress by being injured, or losing faith in his own skills. Maybe he/she's used to fighting one type of opponent and doesn't know how to fight another, which brings them down to a more level encounter. In this example, I'll use Pyrrha. She knows how to fight people, because of the tournaments, but against a good majority of the Grimm, she'll be at the same level as someone like Jaune, Nora, Yang, and Ruby.

Power isn't just physical strength or fighting ability. You can very easily make your character to powerful by giving him or her connections or victories based on just being too damn smart. Cinder's an example of this in the show. Her plans relied heavily on things lining up correctly, or things not being present. I'll use her virus as an example; Where's the computer security at? You're telling me out of everything, not one person noticed a black chess piece on a terminal when they were accessing important information? This is the case of a villain that is simply too powerful for the sake of the plot. Seems a bit suspect that they have nobody watching data feeds, or checking external accesses in their networks, more-so since it's a network that connects all of the world together. I still have problems with Emerald's power, as it simply seems too strong for the world. Doesn't seem to require eye contact, distance, anything. It's only weakness seems to be that it just tires Emerald out, and it only applies to one person... and that's it?

I don't know, though. Just my two cents.