Rise of the Fenix

by St34lth N1nj4

Follow the adventures of Fenix Fall in his time at Beacon Academy. His team (Team FABL pronounced Fable) often works with teams RWBY and JNPR but his relationships on the opposing side of the struggle for Remnant complicate things. Which side will he choose to fight for when the attack on Beacon comes? This is my first fanfic so feedback is much appreciated!

9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry guys this took far too long to get out. Work and home lives have been pretty hectic as of late. Rest assured this one is not getting abandoned anytime soon! Still looking for ideas on artwork if you have any!

Chapter 9: The Forging of Team FABL

The blonde professor went to question just what Fenix meant by having his own way. Before she could though, Fenix flicked his shades down to cover his eyes and turned to run at the edge of the cliffs. As he reached the edge he jumped off and leaned into the most eloquent swan dive he could. Soon his dive was in full effect as he hurled towards the ground face first.

Now this new tactic he had only recently tested wasn't exactly refined. As a matter a fact he had only attempted it a few times but he had the basic fundamentals down. He did a quick mental checklist as he activated his semblance causing his lit eyes to spew flames from the corners of his sunglasses. Palms facing behind? Check. Soles of the feet angled for optimal control? Check. Focus the power of his aura into the palms of his hands and soles of his feet? Check. Now time to show the professors and his fellow students something they probably haven't seen yet.

He forced high intensity flames to sprout from the four mentioned points of interest and poured the power of his aura into them. The heat alone from the four flames caused Fenix to increase his decent towards the ground at an alarming rate. He quickly turned his palms to an angle where they were facing a more downwards angle so to correct his course. He slowly started pulling up, but he still cut it much closer than he had anticipated. He gained control just in time to pull up and skim the top of the taller trees of the forest.

"WHOO!" He screamed to let off some of the adrenaline pumping through his veins at the close call. He then noticed Jaune a ways off and made his path so he would intercept him before he came uncontrollably crashing to the ground.

Back at the cliffs an astonished Glynda Goodwitch and a slightly smirking Ozpin watched as the boy pulled off his showmanship of aura control. Glynda turned to see Ozpin's look and realized something.

"You knew he could do that didn't you?" At this Ozpin's smirk grew into a complete smile.

"I had my suspicions he had developed that method. Although I figured he wasn't going to be showing it to us this early on until it was refined."

"You mean this is his raw version of this talent?" Glynda tried to hide the small amount of astonishment she had at the abilities of this new student.

"Now Glynda, we will learn in due time about young Mr. Fall. For now let's see what he and the rest of his classmates are capable of." He then sipped his coffee to show he was done with this discussion. Glynda, knowing Ozpin better than anyone else, accepted his statement and turned to observe the Fall boy that she had heard about already from Ozpin and Port.

Fenix was now approaching Jaune. As he got close he realized he hadn't exactly thought how he was going to catch Jaune seeing as he couldn't take his hands away. He was using them as stabilizers and if he touched Jaune while the flames were still being used he was sure they would severely burn his friend.

He was snapped out of his rescue planning as he reached Jaune. Still flipping end over end, his friend didn't notice him until he called out his name. Jaune's eyes shot wide open in surprise.

"FeEeEeniiIIIIX?" Jaune's volume changing in his voice was due to his not being able to control his flipping body that was now plummeting towards the ground.

"Alright here is what we are going to do." Fenix paused because he really didn't know what they were going to do. As if on cue, some warning signal started blaring inside his head and he barrel rolled to avoid whatever was coming at him. In the middle of his roll he noticed a red looking missile pass underneath him and snag Jaune. Fenix watched as he noticed the object he recognized grab Jaune and change his course mid flight towards another part of the forest. He couldn't do anything but hover and watch as the javelin of a certain Spartan warrior took Jaune to a tree and pin him up against it. At the worst he would have from the surprise landing was a headache. Fenix couldn't help but smile at the fortune of the situation as he turned and flew towards a rather tall tree that had a red figure standing on it. As he started towards her he heard a very faint yell from behind him coming from Jaune.

"Thank you!"

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha yelled back in response and waved towards the area where her spear had taken Jaune. At this point Fenix had arrived at the giant tree and he stopped to hover in front of her branch. Her look of surprise melted into a challenging look. He assumed she thought he was going to challenge her for the rights to Jaune's partnership.

She would be mistaken in that assumption.

"Take good care of him ok?" He smiled to her and she smiled back.

"Thank you."

"Don't sweat it. Just so you know he is very dense so you may have to spell it out for him." He shot her a teasing look and took off straight up into the air. He missed seeing Pyrrha's blush but he knew it was there.

He ascended until he felt he was at a comfortable height where he could observe the whole forest. He hovered above the forest getting a perfect aerial view of the area. He turned so that his back was facing the cliffs the first years (minus himself) had been launched from. Sure enough, about 2 klicks away to the northeast was what appeared to be some sort of structure. It was barely noticeable but at his altitude he was able to spot it. A gray spot indicating refined stone in the middle of a forest. That had to be it.

"There you are." He then leaned forward to guide his flight path towards the structure. He decided to descend to tree top level so he could avoid attracting any Nevermores in the area. He assumed he could take them. Getting into a dogfight in the air was not something he was keen on at the moment though. He was still working on the fine details of this flying thing after all.

He arrived at his destination without incident. Something he considered a win in his book. The structure turned out to be just some old ruins. To him it looked like it used to be the base of a tower. What remained of the support columns formed a half circle. Surprisingly enough, there where pedestals within the structure of the ruins itself. Half of the pedestals had something golden on them while the other half had something black on them. A squeal from below him interrupted his observations of the structure. He peered down to see what had caused the commotion.

A small heard of Boarbatusk were in the clearing along with the ruins and had noticed him still hovering at the edge of said clearing. This whining emanating from the sources of heat that allowed him to fly and hover made it difficult to be stealthy. Now the herd had noticed him. Not that he really minded that. He could use a good warm up to whatever else this initiation would throw at him.

The Boarbatusk were the only lower ranked Grimm that primarily stuck to open spaces. They tended to stick to fields and busy themselves with munching on whatever plants were in the area. It made no sense to anybody though since all Grimm were well known carnivores that delighted in destroying settlements and feasting on the inhabitants. Beowolves tended to stick to the forest as did Ursi. Deathstalkers liked dark spaces such as caves and narrow rocky valleys. Nevermore seemed to just be everywhere but in his experiences he found the largest concentrations on the sides of cliffs. Griffons tended to stick to the high altitude areas such as mountains but they could also be found in large cliffs as well. King Taijitu liked to burrow in the ground but mainly around thick brush. Finally the Goliaths were similar to the Boarbatusks in the sense that they liked wide open spaces but it was on a much larger scale than just clearings or fields. Of course Fenix didn't know all about Grimm because there were ancient ones hidden away in the world. Also the fact that the Grimm seemed to constantly be evolving into new species made it particularly difficult for somebody to know everything about the beasts.

Back to the situation at hand, Fenix knew that Boarbatusk were one of the weakest level of Grimm. A heard of what looked like about fifteen would be no problem for him. He lowered himself towards the ground and when he was close enough he killed his semblance. As he fell the Boarbatusk began to charge across the clearing at him. As soon as his feet touched the ground he ducked into a forward roll while simultaneously drawing both his swords Veloces and Cornibus. With the Boarbatusk still a safe distance away Fenix slapped Cornibus's hilt to the tip of Veloces blade. The swords began their mecha-shifting and soon the transformation was complete. In his hands was no longer a pair of swords but an MK-14 marksman rifle with an advanced combat optical gunsight (ACOG scope) attached to it.

He was a sniper through and through. His accuracy with his rifles was something he took immense pride in. With three pulls of the trigger he scored three headshots and three kills on the charging herd. The armor in the boar like Grimm's was heavy on their backs but on their heads it was thin enough for higher caliber rifles to penetrate. In the interest of self-preservation, the Boarbatusks curled their bodies and rolled end over end towards him. The special move that all Boarbatusks were known to have allowed their armor to protect them from his shots. A flaw in this design was that it also made their movement patterns extremely predictable.

Picking one of the blue dust vials off his belt he slammed it into the right side of his rifle in a slot that was designed for it. The white lines that had been on the sword now lined the barrel of the gun. As he twisted the vial the dust emptied into the weapon. Starting from the point of origin of the dust vial, the white lines turned to blue signaling his weapon how had the power of the dust. Fenix designed it so this particular vial would only grant his weapon its power for three shots before it reverted back to its standard form of ammunition. He aimed in front of the nearest three Boarbatusks and fired.

The dust powered shots exploded into spikes of ice in front of the charging beasts. If he would have tried to shoot them in their bodies their momentum would have just carried them through the ice. Shooting in front of them caused them to ram into the ice, still shattering the blockade. However, instead of being able to power through it unaffected, it caused them to be thrown up into the air at odd angles. As they lost control the Boarbatusks abandoned their end over end spinning in an effort to gain back some sense of control. This move left their unarmored undersides completely exposed to Fenix. Something Fenix had planned on.

He fired three more shots. The first two rounds pierced their targets on the unprotected chest of the Grimm boars. They fell to the ground and struggled before succumbing to death. The third one caught under the jaw and traveled upwards through the skull of the Grimm, killing it instantly. The rest of the herd kept up their spinning assault by going around the remains of the ice barriers.

Another weakness of the spinning form of the Boarbatusk is that head on their armor is near impossible to penetrate. From the sides, however, they are completely exposed. As the herd was turning to continue towards Fenix, their sides were exposed for easy targets. As he finished firing at the three Boarbatusks that had been sent airborne, he turned his attention to them and dropped two more before they could align themselves properly. Now the herd was only down to seven as they bore down on him.

Fenix stopped firing his rifle as they continued to approach. At this angle and this distance he stood more a chance of a deflection damaging him than doing any solid damage to the Grimm. He flicked his rifle to the right sharply. This flick was the trigger for his MK-14 rifle to mecha-shift back into his dual langseax swords. As the shift ended and he held his swords he switched his semblance on. Eyes ablaze, he began pouring his aura from his hands into his swords. The white lines along the blades began turning a fiery red beginning at the base of the blade and ending at the tip.

He smirked as the first Boarbatusk reached him. Still spinning the soulless beast must have thought Fenix would not be able to stop it. Much to its surprise, Fenix had baited it, as his now fire powered sword cut through the pig's thick armor with little effort. Without his aura power up his swords would not be able to pierce the Grimm's armor. With his fire semblance allowing his swords to have this extra ability, he bisected the first Boarbatusk horizontally with relative ease.

As the two halves of the recently slain Grimm flopped behind him the remaining six pressed their attack. Fenix took note of their surprisingly close knit formation and made his plan. 'Take one and two, let three pass, take four, five pass, take six.' That was the pattern he decided fit the approaching formation best. He then rushed to meet his attackers head on.

The first one of the group was met with a forehand swing from Veloces. Similar to the fate of the former Boarbatusk, this one was sliced in half. The second Grimm, following the path of the one before it, was just as quickly dealt with. Fenix spun so that Cornibus sliced through the second one with a backhanded swing. Using his forward momentum, Fenix continued to spin until he was facing the oncoming attack again. Not slowing down, he put his right foot forward and used it to propel him to jump over the third Grimm. As he landed, he immediately used Veloces to slice the fourth member of the attacking party. His downward swing hit the front of the spinning Boarbatusk and surprisingly decapitated it. Not having any time to marvel at his accomplishment of somehow decapitating a spinning Boarbatusk, he juked to his left. The fifth Grimm sped past him right where he had been just a split second before. The final Grimm charged him head on. Fenix brought both Veloces and Cornibus in front of him. He placed the blades side by side against each other making it look like he had one thick sword instead of two. He raised the swords over his head and brought them down in a swing that would be similar to how a lumberjack would swing an axe. The powerful swing split the Boarbatusk in half. The two still spinning halves separated and continued to roll away passing on both sides of Fenix. He turned his semblance off and stood upright. As he did he slapped Cornibus on top of
Veloces and shifted his weapons into its MK-14 rifle mode again.

The two remaining Boarbatusks were turning to come back at Fenix. Still in their spinning technique it their turns were wide. Their vulnerable sides were now exposed and Fenix lined up his shots. Two pulls of the trigger resulted in the last two Grimm falling. As their bodies already began disintegrating Fenix checked to make sure no other Grimm were in the area. Seeing no other threats, Fenix reloaded a new clip into his rifle and then flicked it to shift his weapon back into his twin swords. Sheathing them he walked towards the ruins to resume his inspection of it.

As he approached the ruins he remembered that the Headmaster had specifically instructed them to find a partner THEN retrieve the relics. He didn't want to risk failing the initiation for simply not following directions. He decided to sit and relax in the clearing until somebody arrived. If he was lucky a person who didn't already have a partner would be the first to happen across him. He lazed around for fifteen minutes until some noise on the edge of the clearing caught his attention.

It's not often you hear a Beowulf whimper like a scared puppy. It's even more rare to find the Beowulf in question come hurdling out of the woods at your as if it had been thrown like a frisbee. Fenix watched as the tossed Grimm hit one of the pillars of the ruins. A loud snap signaled that the beast's back was now broken. More rustling from where the Beowulf had been thrown from made Fenix revert his attention back to the forest. He walked to the edge of the clearing cautiously with his right hand on Veloces in its sheath. As he reached the edge he heard the sound of heavy armored footsteps approaching. He relaxed his grip on his sword and gazed up as a familiar large frame in teal armor stepped through the shrubs.

The bear faunus gave Fenix a cold stare. Fenix didn't even attempt to return the glare knowing it would only make this situation worse than it already was. Instead he just went for the classic greeting. He stuck his hand out to offer a handshake to his new partner.

"Name's Fenix Fall. Whats yours?" The faunus just evilly grinned and grabbed Fenix's hand. Instead of shaking it though he squeezed rather forcefully as if trying to crush the hand of the fire wielder. Fenix winced at first but then returned the evil grin as his eyes lit up with fire. He channeled his semblance into his grasped hand, causing a flame to ignite in his palm. The big bear yelped out in pain as he released his hold on Fenix. He began waving his hand around trying soothe the burning sensation still stinging his hand.

"I wouldn't try that again if I were you partner." Fenix said smugly. The faunus just resumed his spiteful glare at Fenix. He swore he heard the bear growl under his breath at him. Fenix just sighed at rubbed his temples in slight irritation at this situation.

"You know our next four years together would probably be a lot easier if I knew your name and why you seem to have a vendetta towards me." The glaring continued for a few moments before the faunus took a deep breath.

"Liam. My name is Liam Randgrid. And I despise you for being a racist to my kind." Fenix figured it was something along those lines so he wasn't too surprised by Liam's anger towards him.

"Liam, I am not a racist. I actually grew up pretty much surrounded by faunus. What I'm assuming you heard last night between me and Blake was because I wanted to ask her something that I figured she didn't want anyone to know about. So I played it safe and got her where nobody could hear our conversation. Was I wrong in my assumption that you could hear us from where we were before we left the room?" The big bear looked to be thinking if what Fenix said made sense to him.

"How do I know you are telling me the truth?" Fenix just rolled his eyes at the distrusting nature of his new partner. He really hoped this wouldn't be a normal thing between the two of them for the next four years.

"You don't, but you can ask Blake when we get back. She will vouch for me. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to continue with our initiation so could we choose a relic now?" He motioned towards the ruins. Liam took a moment but then grunted an affirmative. The two newly formed partners walked side by side into the middle of the ruins.

"If I may make a suggestion?" The only response he got was Liam crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at him. Fenix just walked over and picked up a piece.

"I say we take the golden queen." Liam raised his eyebrow even more.

"And why do you say that?"

"Well although not the most important piece on the board, the queen is undoubtedly the most powerful. I think we should take it to send a message to the other first years. Something along the lines of 'we know we are the strongest and we dare you to challenge us.'" After a few silent moments Liam's scowl turned to an approving smirk.

"I like your style fire wielder. I approve, we shall take the golden queen." Fenix nodded in appreciation of Liam saying the first positive words towards him since he met him. He took the empty dust vial from his belt and popped the top off. The chess piece fit perfectly inside it as he put the top back on. He clipped it safely onto his belt and turned back to Liam.

"So, ready to pass this test?"

"Indeed I am! It appears we shall be the first to finish."

"Don't jinx us like that." Fenix inwardly cursed Liam for doing that. Now something was bound to happen to mess it all up.

The trek back to the cliffs was surprisingly uneventful. The pair made small talk but for the majority of the trip walked in silence since they didn't wish to attract excess attention. A few Grimm appeared here and there but no packs or herds. Just a few lone Beowulves and an Ursa so there was no real threat to the two huntsmen in training. They were also surprised to not see any of their other potential classmates on their way back to the cliffs. They noticed the tell-tale signs of fighting here and there as well as the sounds of gunfire in the distance, but nobody seemed to be in their direct vicinity.

They reached a clearing at the bottom of Beacon Cliffs and noticed a large bridge and a temple looking structure at the base of the cliffs. Both shared a questioning glance to each other as both knew for certainty that this structure was not here when they were launched out at the beginning of the initiation. Also they noted the odd absence of any Grimm in the area. Deciding not to question it, the pair crossed the bridge and discovered there was no path to get up the cliffs. Liam smirked at Fenix as he jumped up the cliff and latched onto the side. He began climbing up showcasing his brute strength as Fenix just watched from the bottom. After he was a good ways up, he called back to Fenix mockingly.

"Do you need me to come back and carry you up?" Fenix sparked his semblance and once again returned Liam's smirk. Flooding his aura into his hands and feet he again took off flying. He slowly ascended and stopped to hover at an even height with Liam.

"I'll wait for you at the top." He blasted upwards and heard Liam cursing at him in some foreign tongue. He quickly reached the top only to discover there was a rather large flat area that served as an almost natural arena. The part where he came up from the cliff was the only open end as the rest of it was surrounded by more cliff walls that continued up to the true top. Fenix landed on the edge of this natural arena to look back. He was slightly surprised to see the ruins in plain view.

What really surprised him was the large Nevermore Grimm with what appeared to be a spec of red falling off of it. Without any delay Fenix slapped his swords together. This time he put Veloces' hilt to Cornibus' tip. Instead of forming his MK-14 marksman rifle, this combination shifted into his much heavier AX-50 sniper rifle. This large fifty caliber sniper rifle gave Fenix ridiculous range with a lot of stopping power behind his shots. This rifle was a bolt action compared to his semi-auto MK-14 so it had a slower firing rate.

Once his heavy weapon was finished mecha-shifting, Fenix peered through his scope to find that the red spec that was falling from the Nevermore was actually Ruby. 'How the heck she got on that thing in the first place is beyond me.' Then, out of nowhere, Jaune came crashing into Ruby mid-flight and they both went crashing into the trees. Fenix could still see through his scope that the two landed awkwardly but appeared to be safe. After making sure the two were fine Fenix pushed a button on the side of his rifle and a component of the barrel popped one section on each side slightly outward. They then folded down to create a bi-pod to help stabilize the rifle for maximum accuracy. Fenix went into a prone position and set up his rifle. With a quick adjustment of his sights he then scoped out the rest of the situation.

Yang and Blake were already at the ruins. They both looked at something at the edge of the clearing and Fenix turned his sights to see what had grabbed their attention. There he saw something that surprised him but at the same made total sense.

Nora was riding an Ursa.

Like full on rodeo style with one hand in the air and everything.

The beast fell over and Fenix noticed Ren running to catch up to Nora who was now looking sad over her ride being over. 'Figures those two would be partners.' He smirked to himself at how perfect it was that boyfriend and girlfriend would be partners here for the next four years.

He turned towards a large crash at the other end of the clearing to see Pyrrha running from a gigantic Deathstalker. He prepared to fire a shot but then Pyrrha hit the Deathstalker in the forehead and disoriented it. In its dazed state it flailed around and Pyrrha turned to engage it. Seeing she seemed to have her fight in control, Fenix turned his sights to see why the rest of the group hadn't moved to help her out. For some reason they all had turned their attention to the sky.

Fenix looked up to see what they were so worried about. The Nevermore was up there and he didn't see the big deal with it. That is until he noticed a flash of white on the bottom of the Nevermore.

"Oh shit." He said it out loud. Weiss was hanging onto the Nevermore that Ruby had dropped off of earlier. Hanging on by only one hand to make matters worse. Quickly, Fenix grabbed a purple vial of dust off of his belt and put it into the slot on the left side of his rifle. He loaded a round into the chamber using the bolt action and then twisted the vial so the dust would spread into the gun. The purple dust filled up the rifle in the same manor that it had on his MK-14. However, since this rifle was a much larger caliber, the dust would only suffice for one shot instead of three. As his gun began to glow a dark purple, he focused back in on Weiss and made his adjustments.

The range was just over a mile and a half which would be pushing it for most normal sniper rifles. He however built his for maximum range and accuracy. This was still by no means an easy shot but he had made similar ones before so he was confident. He took a reading on what effects the wind and gravitational pull would have on his bullet at this range. He lined up the shot accordingly and just waited. As if on cue, Weiss lost her grip and started falling. Fenix got ready to pull the trigger until something out of the nearby trees interrupted him from taking the shot.

It was Jaune. Of course he would do something like this. Jumping out of the trees he caught Weiss bridal style. For some reason the two seemed to hover for a second and Fenix knew that was his best chance. He exhaled as he pulled the trigger and watched the results of his shot through the scope.

Now in most instances people would be cautious of shooting their friends with a high caliber sniper rifle. Most instances also don't include a dust infused round and somebody who has experience with this tactic. The dust infused round would detonate on impact but would not pierce its target. All it would do is it would spread the dust and cause its target to be effected according to which ever dust had been used. Thankfully for Jaune and Weiss, Fenix had shot a purple dust bullet at them. Purple dust was the rare gravity type dust. As Weiss and Jaune held each other closely realizing they were about to fall, the round struck Jaune in the center of his chest armor. A puff of purple showed Fenix that his bullet had hit its mark. Fenix watched in amusement as the two wore shocked looks upon their faces. Instead of plummeting to the ground they were gently drifting downwards to it. They landed softly and Jaune put Weiss down earning a slight nod from the Schnee. Fenix considered that a win for Jaune.

He then saw Jaune looking intently at somebody in the group and speaking to them. Fenix moved his sights to see that Ruby was looking through the scope of what appeared to be her own sniper rifle. She was looking directly at him. Not removing his eyes from the sights, he put his trigger and middle finger to his forehead and gave a two fingered salute to Ruby. She grinned as she put her rifle down and waved back. He watched as she turned to talk to the rest of the group. They looked in his direction and gave their individual appreciative gestures towards him. They didn't have much time as Pyrrha was suddenly thrown by the Deathstalker into the middle of the group.

Liam finally made his way up the cliff and grabbed onto the ledge of the area Fenix was laying on. He hoisted himself and collected himself before shooting a hateful glare towards Fenix. Fenix couldn't pass this moment to tease the big bear.

"You're late." His only response was an inappropriate finger being raised at him. Fenix just raised his own right back at him.

"Love you too partner." He just smiled at Liam and picked up his rifle. Flicking it to the left it began mecha-shifting into his twin swords. As they began shifting they heard a guttural growl behind them. They turned slowly to find that three large holes were in the back wall of the natural arena. All three holes had multiple pairs of red eyes peering at the two huntsmen.

"It seems the noise of your rifle attracted some attention." Liam said as he slowly crept his fingers to grip the sword strapped to his back.

"It would appear so." Fenix quipped back as he held his swords up in a battle stance. Before anything could start a grappling hook caught a rock on the ledge to the left of Liam and Fenix's position. It tightened and a whirring noise could be heard coming from the wire cable attached to the hook. All movement stopped for a few moments as all parties (Grimm included) watched with anticipation who was coming up.

Suddenly, two figures jumped up from the side of the cliffs and landed on the edge of the arena near the two boys. Both boys' eyes widened in shock of recognizing the one who was removing her arm from around the back of a boy who appeared to be a mix of a cowboy and a soldier.

The boy wore a simple pair of blue jeans with an ammo belt strapped around his waist. Black combat boots and a brown double breasted shirt helped complete the basic layer of his attire. The most noticeable garments of his outfit, however, were a black cowboy hat and a matching black duster coat that he had unbuttoned. The hat also had a brown band going around the base of the crown. On his left hand was a rather peculiar looking black glove with white lines running down the tops of the fingers. There was no matching glove on his right hand, leaving it bare.

As he was dragged the wind caught his duster and flowed up allowing Fenix to see a rather large revolver in a holster attached to the boy's right hip. The top of the holster was hooked onto the ammo belt while the bottom had a strap that wrapped around the boy's thigh. This allowed the holster to be secured against his hip without any unnecessary movement. Fenix also noticed across his back there appeared to be an intimidating, yet dated, looking assault rifle. Fenix thought it looked like an old version of the Atlesian Military models. Brushing off his fascination with weapons he moved to get their attention.

"Hey Alexis!" Both boys said in unison seeming to forget the predicament they were in for a split second. The girl smiled and waved in reply after noticing the two boys she recognized. She started walking towards the other two dragging her compadre along behind her.

"Who's your partner here?" Fenix asked casually as he motioned with Veloces towards the unknown male of the newly formed group. Alexis and her buddy stopped once they were right next to Fenix and Liam.

"Beau." The boy stated simply with a tilt of his hat in a greeting motion.

"Sooooo… not to be rude, but why do you both have your weapons drawn?" Alexis asked as she tilted her head to the side in an adorable fashion. Fenix then remembered the Grimm were still there and his eyes widened in realization.

"Shit." He turned and assumed a defensive stance in case the beasts were already attacking. Luckily he turned to see that they hadn't approached yet. The Grimm were gathering at the far end of the walled in arena. He heard the rest of his group assume a stance as well. He just grimaced as he noticed what they were dealing with. A large group of Griffons were gathered in force and more were still coming out of the holes in the back wall.

"Ya'll kicked the hornet's nest didn't ya?" Beau stated with a rather thick southern style drawl.

"It was him." Liam deadpanned as he pointed to Fenix with his thumb.

"So what are we dealing with here?" Alexis asked as she armed two forearm gauntlets on her arms. Fenix had no idea how he had not noticed those before but he put that thought to the back of his mind for the moment.

"You mean you haven't seen these before?" Fenix asked Alexis almost surprised at her lack of knowledge of their current opponent.

"Never." It was a simple yet troubling answer.

"They are called Griffons. Head, wings, and talons of a Nevermore. Legs, body, and tail of a tiger. They can peck or bite with their beak, slice and claw with their talons, use their spiked tail as a club or spear, and shoot the feathers off their wings like a Nevermore. The feathers are not as deadly as a Nevermore's but they will still hurt if they hit you. An adult version of one is considered a B class Grimm and the alphas are A class. It looks like we have a nest of hatchlings to full grown adults on our hands here. Take out their wings if you can first. Once they are grounded they are easier to deal with. Got it?" After Fenix's quick summary and strategy he turned to see all three of the other students nod in acknowledgment.

Not having the time to sit down and talk with his group he would just have to make a plan based on their weapons. He hoped their styles weren't wildly different from what their weapons indicated.

"Alright here's the game plan! Liam you are the front line! Pave a path through their ranks, get us to that back wall so we call block up those holes, and cut off their reinforcements. Alexis you and Beau are right behind him dealing with anything that tries to get Liam. I will be in the back providing support and rear protection. They can fly so they might circle and try to attack from the back." As he finished Fenix slapped Cornibus on top of Veloces and transformed his swords to his MK-14 rifle.

"Any objections?" His response was Beau cocking his assault rifle, Alexis brandishing her forearm gauntlets, and a devilish grin from Liam. They assumed their formation and charged with a loud battle cry from Liam. Before opening fire, Fenix noticed Alexis pushing something on the side of her gauntlets and then a gun barrel seemed to pop up on each one.

The Griffons began to charge back in an unorganized fashion. Fenix kicked his semblance on and channeled his aura into his rifle. Now the lines on his rifle were a nice bright orange signaling that his bullets now had the power of his fire aura infused in them.

Fenix, Beau, and Alexis all opened fire with their guns. Fenix fired first scoring head shots on the front two Griffons. The fire aura in his bullets seared right through their protective bone masks killing them instantly. The other two joined in with Beau releasing a barrage of bullets into the oncoming mass of Grimm and Alexis firing what sounded like two pistols from her Gauntlets. Fenix knew that Alexis's small caliber bullets wouldn't do any damage to the larger ones but he didn't exactly have an alternative at the moment.

As the horde reached them Liam swung his huge sword in a wide arc. Six Griffons were sent backwards from the force of his strike. He continued to swing so that he could take out the most Grimm with one swing. Effectively sweeping the crowds of beasts out of his way so they could push forward.

Fenix continued to fire with unprecedented accuracy with his MK-14. With each pull of the trigger another Griffon would drop from the fire bullets passing through them. He watched as the fight was about to turn into a close quarters battle. The sheer number of Grimm was pushing their lines closer to the small group of hunters. To make matters worse he had to reload his clip allowing the Grimm a brief moment where they could push closer to the group. He slapped a fresh clip into his rifle and continued to fire. Seeing as they had gotten close to the back wall Fenix kicked his semblance off and picked a dust vial off his belt. This dust was a dark grey colored dust that soon had filled his rifle. Fenix figured this was close enough to plug the holes up with the rock dust rounds he had just armed.

"Liam, give me a boost!" Fenix yelled as he picked up his speed into a full sprint at his partner. Without missing a beat, Liam finished a wide downward slash and stuck his massive sword into the ground. Leaving his sword imbedded in the rocky floor, he quickly turned around to face Fenix and put both hands together to form a spot for Fenix to put his foot into. Fenix jumped and landed in Liam's hold. Quickly Liam threw Fenix straight up into the air with all his strength. This strength turned out to be more than enough as Fenix flew upwards at what felt like to him was a supersonic speed.

He was able to gain control of his ascent as he took aim at the openings along the cliff wall. Three bullets and three targets. This was the type of scenario he had trained for all those years. He aimed down his ACOG scope and fired at his first target. As the dust infused bullet met its mark, a spike filled barrier of stone suddenly sprouted up from the impact point of the bullet. This barrier effectively closed off that cavern so that nothing could get in or out. Smirking at his success, Fenix turned his attention to the second opening. He had to readjust a little since the recoil from his first shot threw his alignment off. Firing again, the same result as the first hole closed off the second opening. Taking aim at the final opening he fired and much to his delight sealed off the final gap in the same manner as he did with the first two. He was quite pleased with that move. Using teamwork to effectively cut off the enemy's reinforcements. A slight miscalculation was that he underestimated Liam's strength, seeing as he was still flying upwards through the air.

He looked down to inspect the battlefield from his aerial viewpoint. Most of the Griffons were pushing closer to his three companions, who had now formed a close defensive circle. A group of four Griffons had seen him tossed up and were currently flying upwards to attack him. Fenix's upwards velocity was slowing down and he looked up to see that he was approaching the peak of the Beacon Cliffs. He reached the apex of his flight as he cleared the tops of the cliff. He turned and much to his surprise met the curious looks of Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch as they stood on the ledge of the cliffs overlooking the temple. All he could think to do was bring his two fingers to his forehead and give them his signature two finger salute. This was accompanied with a grin and wink (which they couldn't see because of his sunglasses) as he started to free-fall back to his group. Luckily, he didn't miss the shocked look of Goodwitch and slight smirk from Ozpin before he fell out of their line of sight.

As he started falling downwards to meet the flying Grimm, he flicked his rifle to shift back to his twin swords. As he fell downwards towards the incoming Griffons, he adjusted himself so that he was now falling face first with his swords at his sides. By now he had fallen to meet the group attacking him.

The first Griffon swept at him with its front right talons. Fenix brought Veloces up to parry the attack and then counterattacked with Cornibus to cut the beast's right wing off. Its temporary momentum let it continue past him but he knew the fall would kill the beast. The second one followed the same attack style but Fenix once again deflected it. This time instead of cutting the wing off, he sliced Cornibus along its midsection effectively disemboweling the Grimm. The third Griffon seemed to wise up and avoided a close battle with him. Instead it tried to keep its distance and use its spiked tail as a spear to stab Fenix as it flew by him. He turned his body to dodge the weaponized tail. As the Grimm's tail passed by him harmlessly he sliced it off at the halfway mark with Veloces. The wounded Griffon screeched in pain but flew up higher to avoid any more confrontation with Fenix. He then continued to turn his body so that he was facing back at the last of his attackers. He crossed his arms in an 'X' pattern in front of him as the Griffon went to bite off his head. As soon as he got within striking distance, he wrenched both arms back towards their respective sides. The motion had both his swords catch the Griffon on both sides of its neck. The force of both swords decapitating the Grimm at the same time sent its dismembered head flying to the side. Unfortunately, Fenix couldn't avoid the body of the recently killed Grimm. He slammed into it the body effectively throwing him to the side and off his intended path to the rest of his team. Before he could correct his path, his attention was caught by the screeching of the Griffon whose tail he had cut off. The Griffon was diving at him with a vengeance for its now missing tail. Still spinning from the collision with the dead Griffon, Fenix slapped Veloces to the tip of Cornibus and shifted his swords into his fifty caliber sniper rifle. After three spins the shift was complete. He gripped his rifle tight and extended all his limbs to gather some sense of control back. After a few seconds he had stopped the spinning and was able to twist himself around enough to face back up at the incoming Grimm. He pulled the rifle up to his right shoulder but took no time to aim since the Griffon was basically on top of him. He pulled the trigger and watched as a large section of the beast's midsection disappeared. The screeching stopped as the body slumped over lifeless and continued to fall towards him. The force of the kick from his shot caused him to be hurled at a faster pace towards the ground. He was happy that that meant he was separating from the falling Grimm bodies. He was worried however because he was now speeding faster towards the ground. He flicked his rifle to transform back into his swords as he realized the floor of the arena was quickly approaching.

As soon as the swords had transformed back he sheathed them and flickered his semblance to life. Using the same trick he had at the beginning of this initiation he forced strong heat sources to his hands and feet via his aura. His propulsion kicked in but he had to quickly dodge the still falling Grimm bodies that hadn't completely disintegrated yet. He got clear of the falling debris and flew over to rejoin his group.

The look of pure shock on all three of their faces as he flew to them using his fire semblance was perfect though.

'Well no better time to show off than now I guess.' He thought to himself as he came to hover right in front of them. The Griffons were still not completely wiped out yet but his group had killed a good amount of them. Luckily for him they were all on the ground where his attack was sure to hit them. He refocused his aura from his extremities, stopping his hovering and landing gently on his feet. He crossed his arms in front of his body and focused his aura as he channeled it into one of his more powerful attacks. The ground beneath each Griffon summoned a circle of fire but before the Grimm could react he threw his arms out to their respective sides unleashing his attack.

Each circle of fire underneath the Griffons erupted upwards consuming them in flames. The Grimm let out deafening shrieks from the pain they were under from one of his most powerful attacks. The pure intensity of the fire wielder's attack left them unable to do anything but stand still until the flames killed them. Once the Grimm had all stopped their shrieking, signaling they were all dead, he released his attack and flicked his semblance off. He fell to one knee trying to catch his breath. Soon his teammates surrounded his with Alexis kneeling in front of him.

"Sorry. That move just takes a lot of my aura. Especially when there was so many of them. I'm running on fumes at this point. Good thing that was all of them." He panted out.

Of course, fate was never that kind to him. A large section of the back wall suddenly exploded as a larger and more armored version of the Griffons broke through the rock. It eyed the four hunters and gave an ear piercing screech at them.

"Ya had to say it." Beau sarcastically drawled to Fenix.

"My bad. Didn't expect an alpha this close to the school though." Fenix defended. Then the alpha Griffon finished its scream and charged the group. It ran along the ground but flapped its wings to speed itself towards them. Thinking quick Fenix took charge.

"You two take the wings!" He pointed to Beau and Alexis. Knowing full well that bullets would do no damage to the armor of an alpha Beau strapped his rifle to his back. Alexis turned halfway around still crouched but then stopped to think for a split second. She turned back to Fenix.

"Here." She said as she put her left hand on Fenix's shoulder. It was at that moment that Fenix felt the second most awkward feeling in his life. It felt like his aura was locked. Not like completely taken away, but locked behind a door and he couldn't access it. He also immediately felt immensely better. He felt so much energy flowing through him it was almost as if he was completely replenished.

Before he could thank her or ask questions she turned to stand and address her partner. She pressed a button on each of her gauntlets and dagger like blades suddenly appeared.

"Claws out." She winked to Beau. One side of his lips turned up into a lopsided smile. Suddenly his fingers became three times longer as the tips of his hands seemed to turn into claws. They both took off running at the oncoming alpha. Alexis went for the right wing and Beau went for the left one. As they charged Fenix turned to Liam.

"Liam?" The large bear faunus turned to look at Fenix.

"Cripple it." Liam then gave the most delightfully sinister smile. He gripped his sword and followed his two group members in the charge.

Fenix turned his attention back to Alexis and Beau's frontal attack. Beau was slightly ahead of Alexis in their charge so naturally he attacked first. As he went to slash at the Griffon's left wing with his claws, the beast threw its head to the side. It caught Beau dead to rights and threw him into the wall of the cliff far away. Before the beast could recover, Alexis struck.

To Fenix's surprise he felt some of his aura flare up unprovoked by him. However he realized there were no signs of it on him. He looked to watch Alexis's attack but was shocked at what he saw. Her blades were coated in fire. His fire.

He watched in astonishment as she raised her left bladed gauntlet up and slashed into the Grimm's right wing. Her left arm was raised above her head as she ran alongside the Griffon but under its outstretched wing. The fire blade sliced right through the tough feathers of the wing until it seemed to snag on something roughly halfway. Her momentum carried her body forward but the snagged blade caused her legs to be thrown up in front of her. She seemed to have planned that, because she used her new path to bring her right gauntlet up and slash into the rear section of the Griffon's wing. The gash along the back of the wing cut through the last of the muscle and the wing drooped harmlessly alongside the Griffon still attached. As a result of the cutting into its wing, the Griffon began to flail wildly. A rather nasty kick from one of the alpha's hind leg connected with Alexis and threw her to the side. She skidded to a stop before she hit the wall but she was slow to get up. As she did get up she turned to look at Fenix and he noticed her eyes were on fire the same manor his normally were when he activated his semblance.

Those glowing eyes that masked her true eyes gave him a bone chilling realization. The way it flickered upon her face, the way the flames spewed out to the sides of her eyes, the way the flames seemed to intensify as she stood up and winced at the pain… It was all too familiar. It looked just like how his mom had looked that day. He shook his head to rid him of those thoughts but he couldn't avoid looking back to see his signature fire mask on somebody else's face. As he stared into her eyes he could only think one thing.

'How?'

A gruesome squelching sound snapped him back to reality. He broke his amazed stare at her and turned to see Liam had hit the alpha Griffon in its left leg at the knee. He had turned just in time to watch the leg buckle not being able to support the Griffon's weight. It fell face first into the ground and skidded right towards Fenix. He rolled out of the way easily and turned to watch the beast come to a stop. It began struggling to its feet but had a lot of difficulty since it couldn't put much weight on one of its front legs.

At that moment he felt the restriction on his aura disappear and his semblance flickered to life without command from him. He quickly turned it off and turned to see Alexis brushing herself off and no longer in pain. Looking to Beau he saw that the boy's attempts to get himself up were futile in his injured state. Fenix turned back to Alexis to issue more commands.

"Alexis! Think you can do that same trick to Beau?"

"No problem! His semblance might make killing that thing easier by the way!" She yelled as she ran to go help her partner.

She ran over to Beau as Liam walked up to Fenix. They both watched as Alexis helped Beau up instead of doing her healing trick immediately. Checking back to see the Griffon still wasn't a threat, they waited for Alexis and Beau to join them. Soon they had made their way over to Fenix and Liam. He turned to talk to Alexis and Liam continued to watch the Griffon to make sure it didn't blind side them.

"Why didn't you do your little healing thing?" Fenix asked Alexis.

"Well it only lasts for a minute. So I want to wait until the last possible moment so I can have the most time possible with his semblance. I'm sorry Beau." Alexis explained to the group.

"Ah, it's manageable. I'll be fine in a bit." Beau wearily smiled to Alexis.

"Ok so semblances, what are yours?" Fenix asked Beau and Alexis. Alexis set Beau down against a rock to make him a little more comfortable than he was leaning on her.

"Mine is healing swap. Basically I heal you, aura and all, while I borrow the abilities of your semblance for sixty seconds." Alexis explained to Fenix and Liam as she tried to help Beau.

"And mine – mffph- is death glare. I can freeze anything living in place with a stare." He had to grunt in the middle of the explanation because Alexis was prodding his ribs to see if any were broken. Fenix then turned to Liam who was still watching the Griffon try to gain a sense of balance.

"How about you big guy?" At fenix's words Liam turned to address his three teammates. Instead of talking though, he looked intensely at Fenix. His brown eyes suddenly went completely milky white. Fenix all of the sudden felt like his semblance was locked up again. This time it felt more violent than when it had happened with Alexis. This time it felt like his semblance was being forcibly restrained whereas when Alexis did it it just felt that he was gently being pushed back.

"Negation. I can cancel out any semblance and prevent the person from using it as long as I focus on them." As he said it his eyes returned to their normal color and Fenix felt his semblance was accessible again.

"Well mine is obviously the ability to harness fire. So know that we all know about each other, how about we do a little trick to take care of our friend over there?" Fenix said as he pointed to the now standing Griffon. It held its injured left front leg up so it was only standing on three legs. Its mauled wing was also hanging loosely to its side as it tried to hobble towards the group in a pathetic attempt to attack them.

"You have a plan then?" Liam asked Fenix to which he just grinned.

"Of course. So here is what we are going to do. Sorry Beau but are going to have to sit this one out so you can heal." Beau nodded as the other two gathered in closely for a group huddle. Fenix quickly summarized his plan to the group and they all agreed to it. They broke their little huddle and started their plan.

Alexis started by walking over and putting her hand on Beau's shoulder. The healing swap took effect and Beau immediately perked up. Alexis then sauntered towards the Griffon with a sway of her hips. It was a cocky walk with an almost seductive tone to it. All three boys couldn't help themselves but watch the spectacle of her backside moving back and forth. She was attractive after all, and they were teenage boys. Fenix thought she had the same physical build as Pyrrha. Fenix shook his head reminding himself that this was not the time to lose himself to his hormones. Before his mind could wander any further, Fenix tore his eyes away from the sight, and put his swords together to form his fifty caliber sniper rifle. As his rifle formed he grabbed his last vial of blue ice dust and put it into the slot on his gun.

At this point Alexis had reached the Griffon and stopped in front of it but out of range of its claws and tail. The beast let out a loud screech directed right at her as if it were to scare her off. When the Griffon's screech didn't make her run it settled for glaring at her.

And that was its mistake.

Alexis stared at the Grimm and it instantly froze up. It was as if somebody had the pause button on a video. As soon as Alexis had it caught in Beau's semblance, Fenix sprinted towards her and the Griffon. When he reached her he jumped high over her and aimed his rifle at the Griffon's head. To insure that this method would work he needed to hit a weak spot in the Grimm's armor. He settled for the open spot in the bone mask where the Grimm's eyes were. Pulling the trigger he watched as his bullet hit its mark.

As the ice dust bullet impacted, the Grimm's head became encased in ice. Many parts of the bone mask cracked and some even broke off from the expanding ice suddenly growing underneath it. Surprisingly, the Grimm remained still as Alexis continued to stare at it. She didn't want to risk the chance of her breaking the stare and letting the beast free of her hold. Now that the head of the Grimm was a large spiked block of ice, it was Liam's turn. Fenix landed and got out of the way as Liam came lunging by him with his large sword gripped behind him in a downward angle. As he reached the still frozen Grimm he brought his sword forward in a hard uppercut swing.

The ice shattered from the force of Liam's strike and the entire head of the alpha Griffon exploded. Now that the body was no longer being held by Alexis's stare, it fell over lifeless with a thud that reverberated the entire arena they were in. As the body of the Grimm began to slowly disintegrate, the group gathered together.

"Well that was fun." Liam said with a deep hearty laugh.

"I agree, but before anything else happens let's get up there and finish this stupid initiation." Fenix replied with a chuckle of his own as he pointed up to the top of the cliffs. Liam began to climb again and Beau wrapped an arm around Alexis as she fiddled with her gauntlets. Soon she aimed her right arm up at the cliff and a grappling hook shot out of it pulling her and Beau up the cliff to land ahead of Liam. Fenix just shook his head and smiled as he flicked his semblance on and began flying up the cliff walls. As he was the last one to leave he glanced back to make sure there were no left over Griffons going to attack them from behind. He was pleased to see no Grimm in sight. It didn't take him long to reach the top but once he did he waited for the rest of his team to get up before speaking to the professors. Alexis and Beau made it up before Liam, who grumbled something about being the only true man in the group.

Once they had all gathered at the top of the cliffs they went to meet the professors together. Fenix pulled his and Liam's chess piece out and handed it to the Headmaster as Alexis did the same with her and Beau's piece. As they did, Fenix noticed a twinkle in the Headmaster's eye.

"Interesting." He mused aloud.

"What sir?" Alexis asked him innocently.

"It seems both of your pairs have returned with the golden queen piece." The Headmaster answered.

"Does that mean both of our pairs make up one of the teams of four in our class sir?" Fenix asked guessing he was right.

"That is correct Mr. Fall. However, it will not be official until the ceremony." With that the Headmaster gave the pieces to Professor Goodwitch and she typed something into her oversized scroll. Then a loud shrieking noise came from over the ledge of the cliff where the professors had been standing earlier.

"Don't tell me there's more." Fenix exasperatedly sighed.

"It seems Ms. Rose and her team are almost finished." Professor Goodwitch said as she observed a screen on her scroll. Fenix then heard what sounded like a fellow sniper rifle being shot as the shriek continued to get louder. All of the sudden the shrieking stopped. Before Fenix could ask any more questions, Ruby came flying up over the edge of cliff with a freaking scythe in her hands and the Nevermore from earlier head flying up detached from its body. She didn't notice the rest of them and turned around to look back over the cliff with rose petals coming off her cloak.

Fenix saw she hadn't noticed them and grinned. He held his hands up to shush everyone and started sneaking up behind Ruby. He turned to see the inquisitive looks on everybody's face and he mouthed "I have to do this" to them. There was one thing that he was positive would strike fear into the younger girl. As he got up right behind Ruby he quietly inhaled as much air as he could. With all his might to sound like a certain blue haired character from a children's show he saw a long time ago, he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"COOKIE!"

Ruby let out the highest pitched scream he had ever heard in his life. He was sure that anybody who couldn't see that it was her would swear it was another giant Nevermore screeching out. Ruby instinctively turned and swung her scythe to hit him. He reached up to grab the handle of her scythe and stop her. As she turned around and saw who it was who scared her, her face changed from one of fear to one of complete fury at him. Before she started berating him he could only think one thing.

'Worth it.'

A/N: So what do you guys think? Follow/fave/comment! This one took a little extra work into it but I want to know what you guys think of my action sequence writing.