Chapter 2
"Yang!"
"Ruby!"
The two sisters swept each other into a hug, holding it for a moment before breaking away.
"It's so good to see you again, sis," Yang laughed.
"Yang, you saw me a week ago," Ruby scolded.
"I know! That's way too long! Almost criminal, really!"
Ruby shook her head in amusement at her sister's antics. "So, how'd your trip to Mistral turn out?"
"Terrible!" Yang swooned, draping her arm over her forehead. "General Sacre got shredded by Rikitiks before I could convince him of the Dust Devil's awesomeness! A tragedy! Such a tragedy!"
Neo nodded in agreement, feigning crying motions and extravagantly blowing her nose with a handkerchief.
"Funny." Ruby deadpanned. "Personally, I could have sworn I heard Neo working her magic in the background."
Yang and Neo snickered at that. "Yeah, it's weird how those two sound so similar." Yang admitted before stepping back. "But anyways!" She swung her arm out to indicate the room. "Welcome to Casa de Xiao Long! My home away from... well, actually, it pretty much is my home!"
Ruby raised an eyebrow as she stared at the array of armchairs, sofas, dirty dishes, magazines television screens and gaming consoles. "It's... really... really..." She hesitated as she searched for a word. "You."
"Please tell me the Casa includes drinks," Roman groused as he strode around his boss. "I have been having a very bad past few days that I'd like to forget."
Neo obligingly shattered and returned with a bottle that she tossed to him.
Torchwick grunted appreciatively as he twisted the cap off. "Thanks. So, how's big, loud and yellow been treating you, Neo?"
Neo's grin cocked into a full-blown smile.
"Glad to hear it..." Torchwick sighed as he plopped down on one of the armchairs and folded out the footrest. "Now, if anyone needs me, I'll be thoroughly and viciously drowning the memories of my past few days."
Yang raised her eyebrow at the master criminal. "Let me guess. Shit duty?"
"Literally." Ruby nodded.
"A crass, but... appropriate punishment, I must admit."
"Weiss!" Ruby cheered, flinging her arms around the woman's neck.
"Ack! Ruby, not the neck! We've talked about this!"
"Good to see you again, Weiss Queen!" Yang laughed as she wrapped her arms around the two of them and...
"MY SPINE!"
"AGH! YANG, WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS!"
"Steel rods ain't cutting it, huh?" Mercury drawled as he walked in behind Cinder, side-by-side with Emerald.
"Mm, yes, it appears General Xiao Long has gotten stronger again," Cinder mused as she worked on her larger-than-average Scroll. "Shall I have your tailors upgrade your corset to titanium instead?"
Weiss made a strangled sound of rage in response.
"Understood, Miss Schnee."
The green-haired thief, meanwhile, drifted over to where Roman was polishing off his beer, leaning on the top of the chair. "So, the 'professional' screwed up and is now in the doghouse. Oh, how the mighty. Have. Fallen."
She didn't even flinch when Roman flicked his cane up and pressed the barrel into her chin. "Do be quiet, sweetheart, daddy is trying to get very drunk here, and he'd hate to have to beat your ass into the ground."
Emerald barked out a laugh. "You? Beat me?" In an instant, she had a pistol drawn and the barrel pressed against Torchwick's skull. "I'd love to see you try..."
Both of them froze as the felt simultaneous pressure on their necks and heads.
"Is Belladonna behind me, too?" Roman forced out.
Emerald nodded, not trusting her voice.
"Here's an idea..." He drawled in a strained voice. "We both put our weapons down very slowly, and try not to piss her off again. Agreed?"
Emerald responded by slowly taking her gun away from his head, an action that Torchwick mirrored.
"I could have handled that, Ms. Belladonna," Cinder said, a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"This was faster," Blake replied, dismissing the two clones and allowing the thieves to sag in relief.
"Blakey!" Yang cried, dropping Weiss and Ruby and allowing them to actually breathe again before trying to tackle-hug Blake.
"Back off or I'll replace your shampoo again."
Yang scrambled to a halt, barely a foot away from the faunus. "Nooo!" She whined as she clutched at her scalp. "The last time you did that, it took me a week to get my natural color back!"
"Should have thought of that before you tried to attack Blake," Adam said, stepping forward. "I have half a mind to-"
He cut himself off and scowled indignantly as he glared down at the petite woman who had just stepped in his way. "Move out of my way, Neo." He stated firmly.
The three-tone-haired woman's only response was to let a small smile flit across her lips, her umbrella tapping on her shoulder.
Adam grit his teeth at the insubordination. "I told you to move, Neopolitan."
Neo's smirk grew infinitesimally as she raised a finger and tilted it left and right, as though she were scolding a child.
The bull-Faunus's hand fell to Wilt's hilt. "I will not ask a-"
"Heeey, hey hey hey... what's going on here?"
Neo's smirk evolved into an all-out cheshire grin as Adam realised the voice was coming from the side, instead of behind Neo, too late to stop a hand from plopping onto his head.
Adam's scowl deepened, but his hand refused to leave his weapon. "Your subordinate and I were having a... discussion. Nothing you need concern yourself with, General Xiao Long."
"Reeeaaally?" Yang casually drawled, her hand never leaving Adam's head. "Because it looked to me like you were threatening my lackey. And you wouldn't be stupid enough to do that, would you, cow-boy?"
"What did you just call me, hu-GARGH!" Adam's furious retort was cut off by the fingers on his head suddenly digging into his skull like a vice. His legs jerked as he was slowly lifted a few inches off the ground.
"Because if you were stupid enough to do that..." Yang went on lightly, casually inspecting her free hand's fingernails. "Then that would make you a liability. And if you were a liability... well..."
Neo suddenly shattered into glass before walking back into Adam's view, grinning madly as she showed him the folded up rug she had on her shoulders.
"Yeah. So, are you that stupid?" Adam gasped in pain when the pressure on his head slowly increased. "Cow-boy?"
"N-no!" He grit out.
"Great!" Adam dropped to his knees the second he was released, clutching his skull as he tried to alleviate the pain. Meanwhile, Yang waved over her shoulder as she walked away. "You two play nice, now!"
Adam scowled up at the woman who was smiling above him. "I despise you..."
Neo smiled even wider and stuck her tongue out in response.
Cinder raised her eyebrow as she stared down at the Faunus from the very comfortable armchair she was ensconced in. "You do know she just did that in order to get a-?"
"I get the picture." Adam snarled.
"For the record, Yang, I'd appreciate it if you didn't threaten to pulp my second-in-command's head." Blake noted idly.
"Duly noted!" Yang chirped. "Now, let's get this party started!"
-o-
After the third request for an autograph Pyrrha Nikos was starting to despair of finding any table that wouldn't immediately venerate her for being the 'greatest Sanctum graduate in generations!' She'd have even preferred it if they knew her from just the damn cereal boxes…
Scanning the hall for another table with open spots, her eyes fell on an isolated mop of blond hair. Wasn't that the guy who had gotten seriously motion-sick on the plane ride over? He looked like he needed some company, and Pyrrha was more than willing to give him a shot.
"Hello," she said as she sat down next to him, internally bracing for recognition.
"Oh, hi..." He groaned, not looking up from where he was resting his head on the table. "You here to laugh at 'Vomit Boy', too?"
Though she kept her friendly smile up, inside Pyrrha was wincing. Of course he had been teased about that. "No, no, just trying to get away from the crowd. I never did get your name, by the way."
"Jaune Arc," he mumbled. Looking up, his eyes narrowed in a mix of recognition and confusion. "Huh, you look... kinda familiar…"
'Here it comes.' Pyrrha braced internally for the explosion. Which came in handy when a pink and orange missile rammed into her and attached itself to her arm.
"OH MY GOD YOU'RE THE CEREAL BOX LADY! EEE!" The missile, which she could now be identified as an orange-haired and pink-clad girl, squealed.
"Oh yeah!" Jaune snapped his fingers in recognition. "That's where I know you from!"
"Uhh..." Pyrrha hesitated as she found her brain attempting to shift gears without a clutch. So it was to her considerable relief that the limpet she had acquired was soon pried off.
"Sorry about this, Ms. Nikos," Ren said sheepishly as he seated himself next to the bemused champion. "Nora sometimes has problems with the concept of 'personal space'. Congratulations on your fourth championship, by the way."
Pyrrha's eye twitched minutely, but nevertheless she managed to plaster a winning smile on her face while searching for another table to sit at. "Do you… want… an autograph?"
"Sure," Ren said. "Nora would love one. She really likes Pumpkin Pete's. I'm pretty certain that'd be all she'd eat if she could get away with it." His eyes shifted behind Pyrrha, prompting her to look back and see Jaune desperately trying to play keep-away with his box of cereal while Nora attempted to grab it. "He has no idea how lucky he is to have all his limbs intact right now."
Pyrrha stared at the two silently for a moment before looking back at Ren. "So... how come you're not essentially worshipping the ground I walk on like everyone else here is?"
The martial artist shrugged indifferently. "So you're a good fighter. Lots of people are. Why that merits worship, I don't know."
Pyrrha sat there silently for a moment before replying. "Could I… hug you? Maybe? A lot?"
Ren's face turned uneasy. "You could, but I can't guarantee that Nora won't break your arms if you do. I mean, I can't guarantee what Nora will do on a good day, but... well, yeah."
Pyrrha looked over her shoulder at the hyperactive girl for a moment before coming to a decision. "I'll risk it." And with that she threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him, hard.
In an instant, Nora went from obsessing over the cereal box to ferally growling at the young champion's back, fire blazing in her eyes.
Jaune thought fast and pointed to the weapon slung over her lower back. "H-hey, that's a cool looking weapon! W-what does it do?"
The fire dulled, replaced by an only slightly less disturbing manic gleam. "Oh, you want to know about Magnhild?" Grabbing the handle, Nora whipped out the grenade launcher and shoved it in Jaune's face. "It's a grenade launcher!" She the clicked a hidden trigger that allowed the weapon to unfold into its massive form, its head inches from Jaune's nose. "That turns into a hammer!"
Jaune let out a panicked whimper in response to the quarter-ton of metal that was hanging right in front of him.
He was saved from any further posturing from Nora by the PA system letting out an announcing ring.
"Attention. All first year students, please prep your weapons and report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. All first year students, please prepare and report to Beacon Cliff for initiation."
"A-a cliff? Why a cliff?" Jaune stuttered.
-o-
"I'm just saying, I think that this is all completely unnecessary. So a student delayed Torchwick long enough for Goodwitch to show up, so what. Do you know what this is going to do to my schedule for the next month?" Weiss griped.
"Oh, calm down, Weiss Queen. Just sit back and enjoy the show, okay?"
"Ssh, guys, the students are arriving!"
Views of the forest were provided via signals piggybacked over Ozpin's own camera network. A nice little program that Weiss had the SDC's cyber-espionage division cook up. Views of the cliffs, on the other hand, had to make do with lower-quality cameras provided by White Fang operatives. It was as close to Beacon as they could get with their own cameras, and now the investment was paying off.
"And to answer your question, Weiss..." Ruby spoke up, directing a glare at Torchwick. "We're doing this in order to determine just how much trouble Roman is in. If the rookie is strong enough, then he has an excuse for needing help. If he isn't..." Ruby's glare became downright frigid. "Then Torchwick has a lot to answer for."
Torchwick swallowed heavily before catching sight of something on the screen. "Hey, that's him!" He jabbed a finger hastily. "Green clothes, pink streak in his hair!"
"Hmm..." Ruby's attention shifted from her underling to the rookie in question. Namely, she focused on the weapons hanging at his sides. "Twin SMG-hand-axe combo... mainly used for close-quarters-combat while providing long range firepower when need be. Kind of light, though..."
"You didn't see how that kid was fighting..." Roman grumbled. "Some kinda crazy kung-fu/karate stuff. He's more weapon than those little toys of his are."
"Looks like the rest of them aren't bad either." Blake noted, examining each of the prepared students in turn. "I'm seeing a lot of potential. Rather impressive take this year."
Yang chuckled as she watched the old headmaster step forwards. "Old Ozzy hasn't changed his speech at all. And look at that one blond kid! Ten lien says he's not even going to survive landing."
Ruby and Blake both zeroed in on the student Yang had pointed out. "Not a gunsheathe, and I don't see any slots for dust cartridges either... I'm pretty sure that's just an ordinary sword and sheath combo." The red-head commented.
"Definitely not prepared for this situation," The faunus concurred. "Well, every class has its busts..."
"I'll take that action."
Everyone present stared at Weiss in shock.
"What?" The alabaster financial empress shrugged. "I've got Lien to burn. I win, I get some spare pocket money, I lose it goes to a friend."
"Remind me to never let you near any race tracks, Miss Schnee..." Cinder groaned as she kneaded the bridge of her nose.
On the screen, the catapults fired, sending the students out over the forest, the blond comically flailing his arms and screaming as he flew through the air.
-o-
"I still don't think that's the sound a sloth makes."
Nora giggled, dropping down out of the tree canopy. "You're so silly, Ren. Of course that's not what a sloth sounds like! Anyone can imitate a sloth!" She sniffed the air. "What's that smell?"
"King Taijitu. I'm going to be cleaning that off of me for days," Ren lamented.
"Yeah, that stuff's always hard to get out," Nora nodded sagely. "So, let's go!" she exclaimed, turning in a seemingly-random direction.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Ren asked.
"Nope! Do you?"
"...I actually don't." He really didn't. "Lead the way, Nora," Ren replied wearily.
Time passed as they walked. Mostly, they saw trees. The occasional Beowolf or Ursa, which were all quickly dispatched. Until finally, a relatively low, grass-covered hill broke the monotony.
"Nora, see if you can get a better view from up there. Maybe you'll spot something," Ren said, pointing to the hill.
"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Nora saluted, skipping off up the hill. The top was something of a disappointment; not quite high enough to get a good view. Nora, though, knew exactly how to fix that. Stepping on the head of her hammer, she pulled the trigger, detonating a grenade in order to send herself up high.
"Ooooh, pretty!" She cackled, looking around as she flew up before starting to descend. When she finally met the ground, she swung her hammer and slammed it into the ground in order to negate her momentum, forming a large crater in the earth around her.
"What'd you see?" Ren called up.
"I saw a birdy!"
"NORA!"
"Aheh..." Nora scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Let me try again..." She hastily prepped Magnhild and launched herself up high.
This time was a bit different. Ren jerked in shock when the ground rumbled slightly, shaking beneath his feet. It shook again when Nora landed, a bit more forcefully than before.
"I think I saw something! Let me check one more time to be sure!"
"Nora, wait-!"
A third explosion and a new set of quakes, this time very violent, cracks and fissures erupting along the hill, forcing Ren to fight to remain upright. And when Nora landed again...
Silence. Nothing.
"I saw a clearing over that way!" Nora crowed, pointing her finger triumphantly. "It's really big, I think it's-!"
Without rhyme, reason or warning, the ground exploded upwards, kicking up a titanic cloud of dust and debris and sending Nora flying. Miraculously, she landed by Ren's side and managed to spring to her feet.
The duo stared at the cloud in shock, trying to process what had just happened.
"Nora..." Ren breathed.
Suddenly, a pair of relatively small but very high up eyes shone through the cloud.
"Run."
"BAROOOOH!"
-o-
Back at Beacon Cliff, a pair of elongated, lapine ears twitched slightly. The owner glanced around in confusion.
"Hey, did anyone else hear that?" Velvet Scarlatina asked the rest of her team.
The three humans looked at one another in confusion, but before any of them could respond...
"oooOOOH!"
An echoing noise became apparent, coming from the depths of the Emerald Forest.
The largest of the trio dug a square of metal from a pouch at his side and unfolded it into a set of binoculars that he peered through.
After a second of searching, he froze before slowly looking at his teammates.
"We might have a problem..."
-o-
Pyrrha had to admit, the Emerald Forest was quite beautiful up close. Majestic trees, enough undergrowth to not appear barren, and deep, loamy soil that filled the air with the scent of the earth. A flash of uncharacteristic grey in the corner of her eye caught her attention.
"Jaune, I think I've found something!" she called back to her companion.
"Cool, give me a second to catch up!" came the reply. A few seconds later, the bedraggled form of Jaune Arc burst out of a shrubbery, panting slightly. "So... what'd you find?"
"Look!" She pointed towards the grey area she had seen. Now that she was looking at it head on, she could see what appeared to be carved stone.
"I'm seeing some grey, I think?" Jaune said tentatively. "I'm pretty sure you've got better eyes than me, so if you think it's worth checking out..."
Pyrrha nodded. "I think they're old ruins. I can't really think of a better way to describe a temple in a forest, can you?"
Jaune shrugged. "Fair enough. Onwards!" He started to forge through the brush... before tripping on a root. "Uh... little help?"
Pyrrha giggled as she helped him to his feet. There was just something about his awkward honesty that was incredibly endearing. They made it to the clearing without further incident, and sure enough, there were the ruins. A stone slab set in the ground, another raised upright (probably part of an old wall), and several raised plinths with-
"Chess pieces?" Jaune wondered aloud. He stepped forward, poking one of them. "Huh. I was expecting something a little less… mundane."
Indeed, on the plinths stood a set of chess pieces, gold and black obsidian, all but one pair of pawns each. Several pairs were already gone, indicating that other teams had already passed through.
"It's probably a metaphor of some kind," Pyrrha guessed. "Perhaps what roles we choose for ourselves?"
"Eh, let's just grab a piece and not overthink it," Jaune replied, scanning the remaining pieces before grabbing the gold queen. Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at his choice.
"Why the queen?" she asked.
"Well, I just kinda thought that you're like the queen," Jaune admitted honestly. "You know, best piece on the board and all?"
Pyrrha was really glad for the experience she had with maintaining her composure for press conferences. The absolute last thing she needed was to break into a luminescent blush. "Jaune, t-that's-!"
"GANGWAY!"
"RUN FOR YOUR LIIIII-Ooooh, pretty castle!"
"NORA!"
"RIGHT! GOT THE KING! -IIIIIIIVES!"
Jaune and Pyrrha spared each other a confused look as a blur of orange, pink and green whipped past them, before a massive sound shook them out of it.
"BAROOOOO!"
"Uhh..." Jaune blinked slowly. "What was-"
With the sound of splintering wood and tearing earth, the massive form of a Grimm straight out of legends and nightmares erupted from the treeline: a Goliath. A titanesque, multi-ton elephantine monstrosity that towered taller than anything living had any right to. The faded gray of its faceplate, tusks and miscellaneous spikes, as well as the plant life growing here and there on it, only served to accentuate the colossal creature's ancient age.
The monster flung back its head, rose its trunk high into the air and let loose another earth-rumbling bellow as it charged towards the pair, obliviating the forest beneath it as though the age-old trees were little more than twigs.
"Jaune..." Pyrrha breathed slowly, staring in horror as the behemoth barreled towards them.
"ALREADY RUNNING!" he threw over his shoulder.
Pyrrha bolted after him, sticking close behind and throwing the occasional worried glance over her shoulder. "Can you see them?!" she yelled over the din of shattered stone and splintered trees.
"Yeah, thank Remnant Nora wears all that pink!" Jaune yelled back. "Actually, I think we're catching up!"
That was a worrisome sign, considering the Goliath was slowly catching up to them. This sign was proven a reality when the figure in green lost his balance and fell over.
"REN!"
Pyrrha reached for the shield on her back. If she could push enough of her semblance into it-
Her train of thought derailed when she saw Jaune put on a burst of speed and skid into a crouch in front of Ren, shield held out and blue Aura flaring instinctively. Pyrrha made to reinforce Jaune, but her instincts screamed at her, and she instead threw herself to the side just in time to not get trampled by the Goliath, instead getting thrown further by the beast's slipstream.
Time seemed to slow as she watched the beast barrel down on the Jaune and Ren's prone form. Somewhere in her, she knew that if the beast made contact, the two would not survive.
'No!' "JAUNE!" A voice screamed. She later recognized it to be her own.
"REN!" Nora shrieked.
If time was slowed before, it ground to an absolute halt as the Goliath heaved, launching itself up to balance on its hindlegs. Slowly, as it started to tilt forwards, Pyrrha saw just where its forelegs would land.
She could only imagine the devastation the impact would cause...
And she couldn't do anything about it.
"HRAAAGH!"
CRASH!
"BAROOOOO!"
Suddenly, without rhyme or reason, a massive figure in tan armor, bearing an equally massive sword in his hands, impacted into the Goliath's forehead like a small meteorite before leaping back off it. Overbalanced from the transfer of kinetic energy, the Grimm toppled onto its back. The way it flailed its limbs would have been almost comical, if not for the devastation it caused in its pained throes and the roars of impotent rage it loosed.
These roars were accentuated when a barrage of high-caliber bullets fell from the sky like the wrath of god, slamming into its exposed underbelly, causing it to devolve to expressing sheer and utter noises that spoke of a single action: DESTROY.
The four trainee hunters stared at the flailing Goliath numbly for a second before being broken from their thoughts by a trio of figures landing heavily around them.
"Uh, Coco? I think you just made it mad..." Velvet pointed out uneasily.
"Its bellows are quite painfully loud," Fox noted idly.
Yatsuhashi landed near the rest of his team with a thump. "I barely scratched the plating, even with Fox's boost." He turned to his leader, his neutral expression broken by an uncharacteristically worried frown. "We might be in trouble here."
"Hmph." Coco adjusted her glasses menacingly. "No matter. It's a Grimm. We're hunters. The results are a foregone conclusion. Right?"
Velvet clenched her fists before nodding definitively. "Right."
"Hmph." Fox grunted in agreement.
Yatsuhashi nodded silently.
"Good," Coco nodded. "Let's see if we can't find any weak points."
"H-hey!" Jaune spoke up, scrambling to his feet and pulling Ren up with him. "Who the heck are you guys!?"
"We're Team CFVY, second-years." Coco responded flatly, not taking her eyes off the Goliath as it started to work its way on to its side. "I'm the leader, Coco. These are Velvet," She gestured at the rabbit-Faunus, who smiled sheepishly and waved.
"Hello."
"Fox." The dark-red haired kid with white eyes and gauntlets with blades extending up his arm.
"Hey."
"And Yatsuhashi." The giant teen with the massive blade and a five-layered sode on his left shoulder.
A silent nod.
"Sorry for interrupting the initiation, but... while Ozpin might allow trainees to tangle with higher-end Grimm like Deathstalkers and Nevermore..." Coco gestured at the monster before them. "Goliaths are another matter entirely. We were by the launchpads and I had the codes to activate and overclock them. We couldn't just let you face it alone."
"I hope you have a plan for that," Pyrrha stared at the Goliath nervously. "Because I can't think of a single way to take that thing down outside of a small army of Hunters."
"We'll go for its limbs; if we can cripple it, that expands our options tremendously." Coco nodded definitively. "Including, if need be, retreating."
"YEAH! WE'LL BREAK ITS LEGS!" Nora whooped... before almost collapsing, forcing her to lock her knees together to keep from falling over. "Or... not."
"Nora and I have been running from that thing for an hour straight." Ren groaned, leaning on Jaune for support. "It's a wonder that either of us is standing at all..."
"Fox." Coco ordered. He nodded, tapping Ren and Nora on their shoulders. The green-clad young man blinked in surprise for a second before pulling himself off of Jaune's shoulder and testing his once-aching muscles. "Well... this is impressive. Thanks."
"No prob-"
"WOO!"
Fox's reply was cut off by Nora jumping up and darting around energetically.
"THIS IS INCREDIBLE IT'S LIKE A SUGAR-RUSH AND CAFFEINE RUSH COMBINED AND IT FEELS LIKE SO SO SO GOOD AND EEE!" Nora vibrated eagerly, her pupils dilated to the extreme.
Suddenly, four thumps echoed throughout the clearing as the Goliath lumbered back onto its feet, punctuating its rise with another air-shaking bellow.
"LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN!" Nora flipped Magnhild's head beneath her feet and snapped up a salute. "WE'LL BREAK ITS LEGS!" And with a click of the trigger, she launched herself at the Goliath at incredible speeds, Magnhild swinging in low arc to hit the leg with a meaty thump.
And nothing else.
Nora's pupils shrank back to normal as her aura-high died. "Uh-oh," she squeaked.
The Grimm's trunk came down like the hand of god with the intent of crushing her, only to be deflected by a snapkick from Velvet, who was suddenly in the air before Nora.
Upon landing, the two were immediately forced to frantically scramble away as the Grimm slammed a truck-sized foot on their landing spot, shaking the trees and sending the remaining birds flying. A tight spread of bullets from Coco's rotary cannon smacked into the leg around the knee joint, followed up by Ren and Fox dashing up the limb and attacking the same spot with their blades, once, twice, several dozen times, leaving a series of shallow wounds. The Goliath jerked its leg forwards, dislodging Ren and Fox but doing nothing for another round of bullets that stitched a circle into the joint, expanding it into a small but growing crater.
Nevertheless, the beast was incessant in its fury, breaking into a mad stampede towards the students. Everyone scattered in pairs to get away from the rather obvious charge. Then the Goliath unexpectedly wheeled on its feet with a nigh unnatural agility that caught everyone off guard as it raked its trunk through the ground.
Jaune and Velvet, while out of the line of the trunk, were nevertheless sprayed with chunks of rock and soil torn up by its passage. Thankfully, Jaune's aura took the brunt of the damage, but both were sent tumbling into the tree line with a sizable collection of bruises and small cuts.
Pyrrha and Coco, meanwhile, found themselves right in the path of the trunk. Thinking fast, Pyrrha activated her Semblance and used Coco's rotary cannon as the anchor for a magnetic shove that sent the two flying in opposite directions.
"Hey!" Nora yelled as the Goliath wound up its trunk for another strike, shooting a salvo of grenades at the beast's face. "COME AND GET ME YOU BIG FAT-YEEK!" The valkyrie was forced to dodge out of the way as one of the creature's legs crushed where she'd been moments earlier. "Owie..." Nora winced, rubbing the back of her head. "I thought that Grimm only attacked after you taunted them..."
"Young Grimm, perhaps," Yatsuhashi rumbled as he marched over and helped her to her feet. "This one is old. Very old. It's likely more intelligent than any Grimm that you or I have ever faced before."
"So, it's really big, really fast, and really smart? That's just not fair!" Nora complained.
"'Fairness' has never been a quality the Grimm have possessed in any abundance." Fox snorted as he and Ren dropped down from the treeline.
"Then we'll simply have to find a way to win anyways." Pyrrha stated definitively as she and Coco jogged to meet the group, Coco firing a continuous volley of hellfire at the Goliath.
"Whatever you have in mind, Pyrrha, better do it fast. That thing's not going to let us plan for very long," Coco grit out.
"Right. Fox, Coco told me you can boost allies beyond their normal abilities, besides restore them to fighting condition," Pyrrha said. He nodded in affirmation. "Good. I need you to boost my Semblance as much as you can."
Fox nodded uneasily, a weary grimace on his face. "If we do this, I won't be able to boost you again during this fight."
"If this works you won't need to," Pyrrha retorted. The Goliath let out another roar as it charged them, the steady whine of Coco's rotary cannon and the thumps of Nora's grenade launcher doing little to impede it. "Now do it!"
Fox grabbed Pyrrha's shoulder, and she felt the power flow, course through her body. Nora's burst of hyperactivity was suddenly a lot more understandable, as though every part of her body was electrified. She hefted her spear at the Goliath's eye, her free arm not necessary for aiming due to the Goliath's headlong charge, and her Semblance lending even more power to the attack. Pyrrha's hand didn't move; the spear simply shot from her hand with a crack and a roar of displaced air.
Jaune and Velvet, pulling themselves out of the shrubbery where they had landed, got the best view, though given all they could see was a split-second streak of fire, that wasn't saying much. It also meant they watched in horror as the Goliath jerked its head to the side with the unnatural speed it possessed, forcing the spear to miss its mark and instead tear into the Goliath's tusk, punching clean through before glancing harmlessly off the faceplate.
"No!" Pyrrha cried. It was only thanks to the residual aura remaining from the burst that she was able to return her lance to her hand and remain standing.
"Damn it..." Coco cursed under her breath, allowing her barrage to slack off.
It didn't matter either way. The Goliath was all but strolling towards them by this point, languid in its pace massive, uncaring, ineffable pace. It didn't charge. It had no reason to. It had taken their best and had lost nothing more than a few chunks of measly flesh.
It. Had. Won.
This wasn't a fight for it anymore. This was its meal.
"We… we can't win… it's completely invulnerable… nothing we have can hurt it..." Velvet breathed, shaking as she slumped to her knees.
"Nothing wehave…" Jaune repeated slowly, his eyes drifting over the colossus.
Suddenly, he focused on the gash in its tusk, the cracks spider-webbing away from the impact.
"Nothing... we have!" Jaune exclaimed. "Velvet that's it!"
The Faunus looked at the human in confusion. "Wha-?"
"Come on, Velvet! Nothing we have can hurt it, but-"
"Oh! Oh, th-that's brilliant!" Velvet's face lit up with realization. "I- alright, you have a plan?"
"I- I think I have something. Can you snap that thing's tusk off?" Jaune asked.
Velvet nodded determinedly. "I-I can try. And if I can't, Yatsuhashi should be able to do it."
"Good..." Jaune swallowed heavily. "Keep it distracted, I'll go and tell everyone the plan."
Velvet nodded and crouched down as she prepared to leap. "Good luck."
"You too!" Jaune replied as he scrambled through the brush.
Velvet took a few calming breaths before pumping her legs and leaping towards the Goliath, soaring through the air for a few moments before landing on the tusk. She stared at the statuesque visage of the Goliath, and nearly froze when the eye nearest her swiveled no doubt to focus on her. Luckily, her reflexes were honed enough to save her from the trunk that rammed into the spot she'd been standing moments before. Velvet ricocheted off of its faceplate and bounced as high as she could go, twisting around to observe the trunk as it followed her upwards. The instant it was within inches of her, she twisted again, planting her feet against the trunk and dashing down its length before leaping anew and delivering a devastating ax-kick to the tusk, deepening the cracks so that they ran almost halfway through the enlarged tooth.
Velvet didn't remain there for even a second, kicking off as hard as she could to leap away from the Goliath as it brought its trunk back down after her, completing her job and snapping the tusk clean off.
"BAROOOOH!"
The Goliath tossed its head and stomped furiously in agony as it tried to come to terms with the loss of one of its most notable features, kicking the severed fang away as a result.
Back on the ground, Jaune let out a whoop of exhilarated joy as the massive shard of ivory crashed to the ground. "Alright, she did it!"
"Obviously." Coco nodded confidently before levelling a glare at Jaune. "Did you think she couldn't?"
"No-I-I-I mean t-that I-!" Jaune sputtered and withered under the senior Huntress's cold gaze.
Coco stared at him silently for a moment before snapping her gaze to Yatsuhashi. "Yatsuhashi. Take Nora and get the tusk ready."
"Righty-o, cool boss lady!"
"On it."
The giant and grenadier ran towards where the discarded tusk had landed.
"Fox, Ren, climb it and go for its eyes. Blind it."
The speedier duo gave her silent nods of confirmation before streaking towards the Goliath.
Coco looked over her shoulder at Pyrrha. "Pyrrha-!" She was forced to bite off a curse when the champion nearly fell to her knees, solely supported by Miló. "Never mind. I'll bait it myself. Jaune!"
"Y-yeah?"
"Get ready for anything."
"Got it..."
The speed at which Nora and Yatsuhashi returned with the titanic tusk supported on their shoulders was a true testament to their strength. With a massive heave,Yatsuhashi hefted the tusk up onto his shoulder, the point parallel with the ground and the flat, fractured portion pointing straight up.
With a swift twirl and detonation of Magnhild, Nora launched herself up high and landed on the cracked end. "We're rea~dy~!"
Meanwhile, Ren and Fox clambered up the Goliath's legs, leaping from bone spur to bone spur before landing on the bases of its tusks. The dual speedsters glanced at one another before nodding definitively. As one, they leapt and dashed up along the Goliath's faceplate. Before the Grimm could react, the two slashed their blades through its eyes and then jumped off it to safety.
"BAAAROOOOOOH!"
If the Goliath had been furious before, this final attack had driven it mad with pure outrage, causing it to lash out and attempt to flatten everything around it in its blind, unrepentant fury.
Suddenly, the retort of Coco's cannon and the impact of its shells managed to pierce through the Grimm's agony and give it a target for its wrath. Without further ado, the archaic titan set off on a final, desperate charge, the impact of its anger translating into a small earthquake.
The Hunters and Huntresses tensed as the Grimm approached, closer and closer.
One hundred yards.
Fifty yards.
Twenty-five yards.
"NOW!" Jaune called out.
Grinning like a lunatic, Nora swung Magnhild over her head and into the fractured base of the tusk with as much force as she could. Yatsuhashi grunted as the tusk rotated in his grip, it's point stabbing upwards...
...and into the throat of the Goliath.
"BAROOOOH!"
The Goliath roared and jerked... but it pressed onwards.
"GAGH!" Yatsuhashi grit out, his feet digging into the soil as he was forcefully slid backwards, unable to find any traction with which to complete the deed.
Before he could even think about what he was doing, Jaune ran up behind the giant teen and pressed himself against him, throwing his weight against the might of the Goliath.
Without warning, there was a flash of blue light...
"BAAAAROOOOOOOH!"
And the Goliath let off a final, titanic dying scream of rage and agony as the tusk rammed itself straight through the Goliath's throat, even forcing it up off its forelegs.
It flailed and jerked minutely for a few instants... before finally falling still.
After a second, Yatsuhashi dropped the tusk, allowing it to unceremoniously drop to the ground.
The Hunters and Huntresses stared at the carcass in numb shock, absorbing the scale of what they had just accomplished.
Finally...
"Soooo..." Jaune asked slowly. "Does... this mean we passed?"
-o-
Silence reigned in Yang's room as the assembled individuals stared at the screens.
No one dared say... anything. Even a vindicated Roman was unwilling to speak. The tension was unbelievably high, ready to snap at the drop of a hat.
Finally, Emerald decided to bite the bullet. "Sooo..." She breathed.
CRACK!
Most flinched as the sound of snapping wood permeated the air.
The source wasn't hard to discern.
Slowly but surely, the armrests of the nigh throne-like armchair Yang was slouching in splintered and disintegrated beneath her fingers, smoke starting to waft from beneath her as her hair glowed brighter and brighter and her eyes became redder and redder.
She wasn't the only one having an adverse reaction.
Blake was slumped forwards with her legs spread and her forearms resting on her thighs. Adam shied away from her in an effort to avoid the pale shades that sprang up around her and disappeared in mere instants, like the shadows of a fire.
Weiss was hunched over, her hands tented in front of her face and her elbows resting on Myrtenaster's hilt as she kept it stabbed into the ground before her. Cinder and Emerald were forced to evacuate the couch they were sharing with her due to the frost that was slowly creeping away from her.
Finally, Ruby had her arms crossed over her chest and one leg folded over the other, slowly kicking up and down. Roman stared at her with naked, wide-eyed fear as about a dozen or two rose petals slowly drifted about her.
"Leave us." The red-clad woman intoned darkly.
Silence reigned as none dared to move.
"Now." Blake growled under her breath.
The subordinates beat a hasty, nigh panicked retreat from the room, slamming the door shut behind them.
Silence anew.
Then...
"We have..." Yang grit out. "A problem."
"A Goliath." Weiss hissed. "Eight trainee hunters actually managed to kill an elder Goliath. That is... not possible."
"Clearly it is." Blake spat. "They managed to do it on their own, without any fatalities whatsoever."
"We've been careless." Ruby stated flatly. "We've let Beacon grow too strong. Failed to pay enough attention to Ozpin."
"Could we have prevented this if we knew about it?" Weiss asked.
"Probably..." Yang mused. "I should have tried setting up an academy of my own, training my own recruits. Be a pain in the ass, but still..."
"Enough lamenting over mistakes we can't take back." Blake cut in. "How do we move forward from here?"
"Those trainees still have potential in them. Maybe we- Yang and I, that is- can attempt to recruit them." Weiss suggested. "Blake, could you try and turn the Faunus? Velvet, was it?"
Blake was silent for a moment before shaking her head. "No. I... I think I know her. Call it a hunch, but I don't think that I could recruit her if I wanted to."
"Leave it to me, then." Yang shrugged. "Whoever Weiss can't hire, I'll recruit and vice-versa."
"If they become a clear threat to our plans, under most all circumstances, they die." Ruby declared with finality. "Agreed?"
"Of course."
"Agreed."
"No duh."
"Good." Ruby nodded. "We'll need to be more careful in the future. I suggest that we infiltrate Beacon at the earliest opportunity."
"The Vytal Festival?" Weiss proposed.
"Multiple kingdoms, my guys'll definitely be on scene." Yang mused.
"Faunus will surely gather as well." Blake added.
"Works for me." Ruby concurred. "Now, if that's everything?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Then I guess we're done here. Have safe trips home, girls, and good luck."
"And to you as well, Ruby."
"Until next time."
"See ya 'round, sis."
And with that, the Strategos departed.