The air of tension in the arming chamber was palpable. Each student was filled with a mixture of excitement and fear as they prepared themselves for the initiation test. Early that morning, the call had gone out to assemble at the Beacon Cliffs, armed and prepared for battle. No one hesitated; everyone knew what would be expected from them.
Marigold tightened the last lace on her boot, and grinned; soon, she'd need another pair. The constant wear on the soles would tear through soon, and she'd be walking on air again. For a brief moment, she closed her eyes and felt her power flow through her, the aura of the huntress already awakening. Her long ponytail flicked aside, tossed by a wind despite all the windows and doors being closed.
A sharp swat on her rear brought her back; a half formed, angry protest died as Yang laconically slumped up against the lockers nearby. She was only half dressed; her gauntlets, Ember Celica, were probably still locked up. There was no urgency about her, not from the casual slouch, nor the giant grin on her face. "Sup?"
The other warrior turned away to hide the flush that struck her cheeks. She deflected; no sense letting her friend in on her inner worries. "You ready?"
"Oh, you know it." Yang's eyebrows waggled comically, her grin never wavering. "Looking forward to bustin' some heads."
That brought a smile as the flush faded, and Mari turned back to her friend, a thin eyebrow arching above her piercing eyes. "Is beating the living stuffing out of Grimm the only thing you think about, dear?"
"I like it rough." The Sun Dragon winked, spun away in a cascade of liquid gold, and strode off, throwing a salute back at Mari as she did. There was unstoppable confidence in that stride, something sensual about it that tickled the eastern huntress' senses. She shook her head, adjusted her sword belt, and joined the procession that started for the doors as the PA chimed out for their attendance.
There were so many, such varied faces, it felt good to be among people again. They were taken to the cliffs as one large pack, lined up on steel plates emblazoned with Beacon's symbol. Once everyone arrived, the Headmaster began his speech, Ozpin's cool delivery holding each of them tight with his words.
"- the first person that you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
Marigold's brow wrinkled as the headmaster spoke. How did that pairing method make sense? If it was truly important that you be able to work together well, a random assignment made no sense whatsoever. If anything, their previous track records should be analyzed, and their performance evaluations tallied, and dammitwhydidn'ttheyjustletthestudentspicktheirteams!
She shot a glance down the row, over the assembled heads that listened closely to what he was saying. Yang and her sister were paired nearest together; would they be dropped off closest together? They weren't even in the same year; of all the students in their year, Yang and Mari had held the highest paired scores among all the graduates. Something about her finesse coupled with the other's brute strength… it just worked.
Drawing in a short breath, she shook her head, eyes snapped forward. If it was meant to be, it would be. The more she obsessed about it, the less likely she'd be able to concentrate. It wasn't as though she'd only come to Beacon to be closer to her friends. To her.
The thought made her snicker, glancing the other way; the boys were all grouped at the far end, whispering amongst themselves. They were lucky the headmaster was so far down.
The dark haired girl with the bow to her right shifted uncomfortably. "They never said anything about teams," she muttered.
Mari's response was halted by the boy opposite her. "No kidding." He ran a gauntleted hand through his unruly hair and winced. He rolled his shoulders and fussed with the long, coal colored coat he was wearing. "Not so much of a team player myself."
The girl gave him a sardonic glance, and offered her hand, closed in a fist. "Birds of a Feather." He chuckled, and bumped it lightly.
Listening with half an ear, she took in the major details of the mission; retrieve some relic and take it to the top of the cliff at the far end of the forest. Destroy everything in their way. It made sense, though to many of them, this would be the students' first taste of real combat.
Against Grimm, at least; the exotic warrior took another glance down the line, at Ruby Rose, who sported a surprised look on her face. Yang described how she took out that band of thugs, but she looked so young. Would she be able to hack it when the fighting started?
"-Now, take your positions!"
Without thinking, Mari assumed a ready stance, her armored sleeve covering her right arm held out in front of her, her Jian, Dawnstar, in a reversed grip behind her back. The others around her dropped lower, their weight evenly distributed on the launching pads. She grit her teeth in a wild grin, adrenaline already coursing through her veins; now it began. The fighting would be fierce, and she would streak through the enemy lines like a barely controlled firestorm.
If fate willed it, she'd make Yang her partner, and it'd be just like old times.
The force of the launch pad discharging took her breath away, and then, she was flying.
Nora giggled uncontrollably as the wind beat at her face, arcing up and away from Ren like a thunderbolt. The sheer joy of flight made her scream aloud, and, by heck, you couldn't expect a girl to not enjoy herself! Magnhild felt light as a feather in her hands as she swung it around behind her, aiming back the way they came; She squeezed the trigger as she felt her velocity begin to slow, and with a mighty thumpa-click, thumpa-click, the grenade launcher discharged, punting her forward again like a bullet shot from a gun.
So wrapped up in the flight was she that – whoops – almost hit that blonde kid as he spiraled past. Nora laughed all the harder as she caught his wailing – what was it, a battle cry?
Yes. Battle cry. Had to be. She screamed in concert, feeling nothing until she smashed full on into a tree, and snapped it in half. The thick trunk groaned in protest as she tumbled to the forest floor, slamming down only a few feet away. All was quiet for a long moment.
"Qu-ra! Qu-ra!"
Nora bounced to her feet, becoming one with the sloth as she made her way deeper into the forest in search of Ren.
Terragon bit his lip as he knifed through the air, running his options. He reached out, grasping in the veins of his mind, conspicuous of how little there was now. Where once he would have had dozens of ways to effect the landing, now he was left with only one. If only he could sprout wings and fly.
Not for the first time since arriving at Beacon, he wondered just what in Hellfire he was doing. Aetherflame's old weight was back at his hip again, but the comfort he normally took from her wasn't there. Perhaps it had something to do with his situation. Possibly it had something to do with how his body ached, and whether or not he could match the performance of the others around him. Maybe it had something to do with how Jaune suddenly jerked sideways, catapulted at right angles from his flailing fall by a spear that pierced his hood, barely missing the other warrior.
Perhaps it just came from the fact that this was really going to hurt.
He threw up his arms as he entered the canopy, blasting through a pair of branches and reducing them to slivers. The steel backing on the gauntlets held, shoulder guards keeping the worst of it from impaling him. Another branch struck him, thicker this time, and spun him over; he went with it, dropping like a meteor, feet first, to the ground below.
The impact was like a freight train, screaming up through his legs and into his spine, sheer agony as he felt his bones stress and whine as they were abused. It would take far more than this to break them, but damn!
Terragon skidded backwards several dozen feet, dirt exploding into the air as he demolished a path through the forest, tree trunks snapping against his back and sending fresh explosions of pain through his body. A log caught his feet, and he flipped, eating mud, twirling over and over and over like a rag doll fired from a trebuchet.
He shut himself off from the agony, instead focusing on not throwing up as the spinning gave his stomach a turn, followed by another ten. When he finally felt himself begin to slow, he caught the spin at the right angle, planting boots into dirt again. He drew his sword in a single, fluid moment, and drove her into the soft peat beneath him.
Six feet later, he stopped. Panting, Terragon looked up at the fifty foot furrow he'd plowed in the forest, bordered by snapped tree trunks and deep pits in the ground. He grit his teeth as he smelt burnt leather; his boots were smoking again.
All across his body, there were small rents and cuts in his grey duster, and through those there were an equal number of scrapes and cuts that bled freely. The bruises would come later.
He hissed as he straightened. Yes, there'd be plenty of those.
Thankfully, no one had seen the landing. Perhaps he could reach the relics Ozpin mentioned and ascend the clifftops before he got saddled with a partner. As he moved to leave, more pain shot through his body; he chuckled ruefully and shortened his stride.
If the landing was this rough, after all, how in Hellfire was he planning on climbing a mountain?
Blake instinctively turned as her back faced the ground, her hair standing up on end until the moment that she was properly aligned again. She ran through the scenarios again, crossing each one off as that avenue closed. Were she to come close to a tree with a branch at the right height, she would cast Gambol Shroud, and slingshot around until her momentum was spent.
Should she be on a collision course, she could always flash step away, disappearing and re-appearing on the ground. Wait. Nope. Her momentum would be preserved, she'd end up face planting.
Each landing strategy coursed through her thoughts in an instant, and she discounted each of them just as quickly, the ground rushing up to meet her. She sighed; this was hardly the first time she'd been knocked from a height higher than this. She'd always figured something out.
Correction. Adam had always been there. It wasn't always her plan.
In fact, she reminisced bitterly, it rarely was her plan. So wrapped up in her thoughts was she that it was instinct when the ground finally streaked towards her; the world blurred, becoming that half reality of the twilight realms as her soul split in two.
The afterimage fell through the ground, shattering on impact as she, momentum changed, found herself hurled straight upwards towards a convenient tree branch. With utmost poise, her high heels found the perfect points of contact, hands braced to steady herself. Her back arched; the ebony ears hidden within her bow twitched, already in the guise of the hunter, the guise of-
Blake blinked, then took in her posture. Rolling her eyes, she snarled and dropped from the branch she'd been perched on all fours in in, just like a cat.
Sneaky. So incredibly sneaky. She buried her recriminations as nearby, there was a gigantic crash, the sound of splintering wood and a mighty rumble. Above the tree line, the faunus watched in surprise as a fountain of earth crested the sky, drawing a long line as something landed in the forest nearby, very hard.
Turning the other way, Blake slipped into the darkness of the underbrush and headed north.
Mari felt the surge of power within her even as she harnessed her semblance, the trees streaking by around her. Foliage slapped her face, tugged at her dress and hair, but she arced past the worst of it with practiced grace.
Only a moment before the ground caught her, she spun over, and the winds rushed to her beck and call. Where a normal person would have been buried, waist deep, in the mud and muck of the Emerald forest, Mari now hovered a scant few inches above the ground, her fall halted. Surrounding her, the underbrush was pressed flat by the force of the air rushing through her self-made clearing, forming a bubble of clear space on all sides.
She dismissed the winds with a casual flick of her blade, and took off running.
"Yang! YAAAAANG!"
Ruby darted through the forest with incredible speed. She was so damn fast!
Mari could barely keep step with her, dashing from tree branch to tree branch. It was all she could do to keep step with the girl's blazing speed; already, she could see why her sister spoke so highly of her.
Aside from being her sister, that is.
The warrior dancer followed as closely as she could, maintaining concealment at all times, but still remaining only a few steps behind her quarry. Honda bit her lip; all it would take is a sudden burst of speed on her part when they finally did find Yang, and she'd be able to block Rose off. After all, while the headmaster said that their partner would be the first person they made eye contact with during this test, he'd said nothing about being particular about who they encountered first.
Ahead, there was a flicker of white, and Mari grinned, willing Ruby onwards. Hoping, begging, that she wouldn't suddenly hare off in a new direction. They closed quickly, the crimson clad girl skidding to a halt before Weiss Schnee. As in slow motion, their eyes locked, and there you had it.
Gotcha.
Now, Mari cast her senses outwards, feeling the flow and ebb of the air currents surrounding her. Already she could smell it; cordite. Somewhere, beyond the realm of hearing, someone had already started fighting. A slight whiff caught her nostrils again, and she darted off again.
Shotgun powder. She knew where to find Yang.
The forest was far too quiet. With every pained step Terragon took, he drew closer to the goal point Ozpin had set into each of their scrolls. He didn't bother to check it again; he'd seen it this morning, and his memory wasn't that bad yet. The injuries he'd sustained in the landing announced themselves every so often, but he moved fast despite them.
All the same, it was still too quiet. It was as though the animals were hiding from a much larger predator. He doubted it was him.
It wasn't as though the forest was actually quiet; since striking the ground, the sounds of combat had erupted on all sides. To his left, an explosion. To his right, a thunderous impact kept tearing through the ground. It was as though a giant, two headed serpent were locked in combat with a foe it just couldn't get to grips with.
It was the underlying song of the forest that bothered him. It felt like a thousand eyes were locked on him at any moment, watching for any sign of weakness. Ozpin had said that they would be monitored, would be graded based on their performance. A thin smile cracked the edge of his lips as he ducked beneath a low hanging branch; what would they think when they saw that he'd doubled back not once, but twice when he discovered he was approaching another student.
Even now, he froze as he heard it. Someone calling out.
"Helloooo! Is anyone out there?"
To his right? She was maybe twenty paces to his right, somewhere out there. Out beyond what he could confidently say was a safe zone. He turned to duck away, pick a different path. This time, he did look at his scroll, and scowled. If he headed directly away, it'd loop him around on a northern path eventually.
It'd cost time. Time he wasn't sure he had, from the oppressive shiver that ran down his spine. Something was out there.
"Helllooo-oo! I'm getting bored here!"
A rustle, only a few feet away. Terragon dropped into a low crouch, underbrush covering him in an instant. It wasn't the girl's voice that sent the sudden thrill of adrenaline coursing through his veins; it was the rustle. It wasn't coming from her. There was something hidden from view, perhaps a dozen feet from either of them. She was getting closer, and the only way to warn her would be to give up his position, to get dragged into this partner nonsense Ozpin concocted.
A head popped over a nearby bush, almost beside him; it was Goldenhair. "Ruby, is that you?"
She paused, eyes widening. In sync, so too did Terragon's. The creature glared back at her, undisguised menace dripping from its fangs. "Noo-pe."
Over two tons of muscle, fur and rage hurled itself forwards, sending plant matter flying in a cascade of green followed by teeth and claws as long as Terragon's forearm. Without hesitation, Goldenhair threw herself backwards, flipping easily away and putting distance between them.
The other aspirant didn't have time to admire her form; another low growl came from behind him. Terragon spun, his sword a fraction too slow to stop the heavy claw from smashing his shoulder and sending him spinning. He rolled with it, feet sliding in soft peat, his blade flashing back around at the apex of his swing to decapitate the wolf-like creature that attacked him.
He staggered backwards, only now registering the three deep lacerations in his flesh. Surprise turned to grim acceptance as the body struck the ground, and without hesitation the underbrush erupted again. Another giant bear threw itself into the clearing towards the girl, as nearly a dozen man-wolves threw themselves upon him. Aetherflame whirled, a glittering scythe of destruction, but the creatures skirted his attack, pushing him backwards with feinting strikes. They learned quickly what damage it could do.
It would be quick. They would overpower Terragon in moments, and then turn on the girl. He reverse-handed his sword into the skull of a creature that strayed too near, taking another glancing blow to his unprotected back as he turned. Another rushed him, thrusting him back against a tree hard enough to splinter the bark, gnashing teeth held only inches away by his straining arm across its throat.
There was a heavy crash; Goldenhair knocked one of the bears across the clearing with a single punch, delivering a rapid-fire staccato of strikes to the other. If she saw him, only fifty feet away, she gave no sign of moving to assist. Savage glee twinkled in her eyes as she struck a laconic pose.
"I don't suppose either of you have seen a girl in a red hood, have you?" The bears righted themselves, snarling in pain induced fury. "I guess that's a no!"
Teeth clacked a hairsbreadth from Terragon's nose, spittle stinging his eyes. The other wolves were circling, preparing to dive in and devour him where he stood, pinned against the tree. Aetherflame was trapped at his side, the other arm holding off his assailant already burning with exertion. He had effectively discounted most of his options when the head of the creature attacking him exploded, and a dark figure dropped from above.
No words were exchanged. Without pause, Terragon spun his back to Blake's, and they whirled into action. Her sword tore through the throat of one wolf, while his own cleaved into the skull of another. They moved in unison; when one turned, the other would move to guard their back, and another pair of monsters fell.
"Looks like I arrived just in time," Blake murmured; he didn't need to see her to know she was grinning tightly. She moved with fluid grace, like a hunting cat hurling itself into the fray in a ball of claws, teeth, and pain. Nothing touched her, where his heavy stride seemed slow and pedantic in comparison. For a moment, he felt old.
"Appreciated, but I could've taken them." He shook it off, driving forward again and killing another monster. It wouldn't be enough; it was as though the wolves' numbers were limitless, with more pouring from the underbrush with each second. The boy stole a glance at Goldenhair's fight. She had her hands full as it was, there was no way she could help them. They would only bring more chaos into the mix if they ran to her.
He grunted as he drove a fist into a wolf's solar plexus, bending it double before impaling it through it's spine. "She looks like she needs your help more."
Blake shook her head, once, dropping to one knee. To her ally's surprise, her sword collapsed back on itself, and she snapped off a trio of shots from the concealed pistol, each one felling another beast. "Not a chance. I'm not abandoning my partner."
A wolf dropped from the branches above an arm's length away; Terragon had no time to free his blade. His free hand slapped his thigh, and he silently cursed. Of course he had no gun, and Aetherflame wasn't that kind of sword.
"You're not my partner." The dead wolf became a shield as he hurled it into the path of the charging monster. It struck hard, throwing the wolf off balance. It bought him only a second or two. Connections within his mind opened, and pain flooded through him as he accessed what little strength he had left, feeling the absolute last of it seeping out into the coalescing chunk of steel forming in his off hand. From here on, he would really be alone.
Blake shot a look back at him that he didn't return. "What? Of course you are!"
It was crude, but it would do. The beast lunged over the corpse of its kin, and Terragon rammed the heavy barrel of the pistol he now held in his offhand down its throat. It roared three times, far louder than his companion's had, and the wolf's head disintegrated in a shower of gore and bone fragments.
"No, we're not." He favored Blake a half-glance which went no farther than her chin. "No eye contact."
Danger, from the left. Position was bad, so he shouted. "Switch!" In a flash of darkness, Blake seemed to be in two places at once, her dual blades carving open the throat of the monster Terragon had spotted, as he lowered his shoulder to bowl another one over. He stabbed down, once, then returned to her back.
"You… MONSTERS!" Goldenhair's shriek drew his attention again, followed by an even louder explosion. He couldn't see her; the bears were between her and them. Any second could be her last.
Blake was closest, so he shoved back, hard. "Go!" She resisted at first. He pushed again.
"GO! She needs you! I'll lead them off!"
There was a moment's hesitation, but no more. Blake's presence, briefly comforting as it had been, vanished. Terragon spared only a moment to watch as she dashed through the horde of wolves, cutting left and right, to break through to the clearing. He turned, whirling his sword in a dazzling display, letting off the remaining seven shots from his improvised pistol.
He roared as he plunged into the forest, drawing the predators with him in a shower of blood and death.
Yang's breathing returned to normal as the red haze dropped from her eyes. The rage, so easy to join during the fight, had left her drained. Her heartbeat started to fade to pre-action levels, and her ample chest stopped straining for breath within her tight shirt. She offered Blake a half-hearted grin from across the fallen Ursa.
"I could've taken him."
Blake smirked; that was surprising. She didn't seem the type to smile, after last night.
Even more surprising was the sudden look of shock that flooded her face as she turned, dashing back the way she came. Xiao-long was after her new partner instantly, bursting through the foliage with both halves of Ember Celica locked and ready to strike.
The stench of blood hit her a second later, and she nearly gagged. A fight was one thing, but this… this was a massacre. Beowolves lay scattered about the small clearing, only a few feet from where she'd dueled the Ursai, hacked to pieces. Had the red rage blinded her so that this happened so close and she didn't notice?
Fear struck her, only for a moment. Blake knelt in the center of the clearing, lifting a… a gun? The barrel of it glowed hot – whoa, check the calibre on that, no wonder some of these things were missing heads – with smoke still trailing from within. It was an ancient design; guns hadn't used bullets in years, but this one had littered unique shell casings all around the clearing. "That yours?"
Blake shook her head. "No. One of the others. He sent me after you."
She spun in place, looking for new targets; nothing popped, but a clear trail of corpses led deeper into the forest, heading north. Faintly, she heard howls like hunting Beowolves, but they were moving fast. Yang pointed, and slugged her partner lightly in the shoulder. "Let's move then; don't want your friend to have all the fun."
It never occurred to the Golden Sun-Dragon to think that if Blake had met the boy they were chasing previously, maybe those two were really partners.
Blake, for her part, didn't mention it.
Bit of a bit gap in between chapters there, for which I apologize; just started a new job and things have been rather busy.
That said, I have a schedule now and should hopefully be putting out a similarly lengthed chapter every week now, give or take.
No need to watch new episodes in time for the next chapter; I want at least one more before Mari and Terragon get stuck in against their Nevermore / Deathstalker level opponent.
Assuming they make it far enough to face one, that is...