Chapter 4 – Relics
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." - Milton Berle.
Alexis climbed as high up the tree as she dare go, the branches above her not looking strong enough to support her weight. From here she could see clear over the top of the forest, she took a moment to take in the view, as the sunlight hit the autumn leaves it caused the forest to glow a warm orange.
Drawing her sniper in its compact form, she unfolded it and began using its scope to scout the forest around her for any signs of the ruins.
Spotting the top of an old stone structure in the distance, Alexis folded her sniper and placed it on her back, and began her descent back to the forest floor. On her climb back down she heard nearby gun fire, staying in the trees, she quickly moved towards the sound of battle.
She came across a rock face, on the ground below was a student defending himself from three Grimm, two Beowolves and a Death Stalker.
The young man had distinctive fox ears, protruding from his bright orange hair. He wore grey skinny jeans, with a brown leather jacket over a tight white T-shirt. As a Beowolf took a swipe at him with its claws, he blocked the blow with his shield.
Alexis wondered where the gun fire had come from, until the young Faunus' shield rotated on his arm, releasing a blast from hidden gun barrels around the shields edge. The blast quickly dispatching one of the Beowolves, the Faunus turned to face the Death Stalker, its giant tail already striking down towards him.
He knelt down raising his shield above his head, stopping the deadly sharp point of the Death Stalkers tail in its place, as it impacted his shield. Pinned in place, with the Death Stalker's claws approaching fast, the young Faunus' options were limited.
His shield began to spin in its place, quickly firing off shots in rapid succession into the Death Stalkers face. The beast recoiled in pain, its screech deafening. The young man didn't waste his opportunity, quickly rising to his feet.
Curved blades released from the side of his shield, performing a side flip he released the shield, it spun forward, with a force strong enough to sever the beast in two.
A roar came from the remaining Beowolf, as it approached the now unarmed Faunus, with his shield now stuck in a tree, behind where the Death Stalker once stood. The young man prepared to dodge the incoming Beowolf, when he heard a loud crash like thunder.
The beast blown back, the young man turned to see Alexis, standing in the tree behind him, with her sniper pointed down at the beast.
"Thanks" he called to her.
As Alexis made her way out of the tree, the young man retrieved his shield. "Glad you were here."
"Nice work with the Death Stalker." Alexis responded.
"Thanks, but I shouldn't have let myself get disarmed like that. If you hadn't been here, I don't know what would have happened. I owe you one." The young man said, while contemplating his own death.
"Well, what are partners for?" Alexis jested.
"Oh right, well I'm Xeek." Realising the two were to be partners.
"Alexis" she replied, while offering her hand.
The young man took her hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you Alexis."
"Likewise Xeek"
"It shouldn't be much further." Hexi said, still marching at full pace towards the Ruins.
The trio stopped, they could hear talking coming from nearby. Cole pointed in the direction the sound was coming from. The trio pushed their way through a bush, emerging on the other side they were confronted with a most peculiar sight.
A young woman was stood there, she had short copper hair, and wore a slightly armoured black leather chest piece that left her shoulders and midriff exposed. She had tight fitting black leather armoured trousers with tall laced up boosts, and a pair of black leather gloves that went up over her elbows.
She stood with her back to them facing a tree, talking to it. "I guess this means I'm partnered with a tree, do trees have eyes? Can you see Mr. Tree? Wait, trees don't have ears. I don't think this is going to be easy, but I don't mind trying to make it work. Oh right you can't hear me."
"Um are you ok?" Cole asked cautiously.
"Huh, more people. This is good." The young woman excited by the group's arrival.
"Maybe she hit her head on the way down?" Rian suggested.
"My names Cole, this here's Rian and Hexi." Cole introduced the group.
"Lia and this here's my partner, Mr. Tree." The young woman responded.
"Um actually, I think Hexi here is your partner." Cole continued.
"Huh! Really?! Yay, we can be best friends!" Lia screamed with excitement.
"No." Hexi said as she turned and headed back through the bush, towards their original path.
"I don't understand…" A look of confusion befell Lia's face.
"Something I see her saying a lot." Rian joked to Cole.
"…am I her partner or not?" Lia continued.
"Don't worry Lia, you're Hexi's partner, if she likes it or not. Why don't you come with us until she's had a chance to get used to the idea?" Cole gesturing for her to follow them back the way they came.
Quickly rolling out of the way as the Boarbatusk rushed past her, Netes landed kneeling down on one knee. Firing a bolt from her crossbow, as the beast turned back to face her, hitting it in the eye, killing the beast in a single blow.
She turned quickly, ready to continue the fight. To her surprise the remaining Grimm had already been defeated. Uluka was stood with his Scimitar, pinning the Ursa to the tree behind it.
"You looked like you could use a hand." Uluka said while sheathing his blade.
"I had everything under control. But thank you." Netes replied as she reloaded her crossbow.
"You don't have to thank me. It was to be expected, we are to be partners now after all." The young man spoke with a confident tone, extending his right hand while his left clasped the lapel of his burgundy tailcoat. "Uluka" The slender man introduced himself.
"Netes" she responded as she shook the man's hand.
Uluka looked to the sky, "Perhaps we should get moving, I'd hate to be out here in the dark. We've yet to find the Ruins, and walking back to Beacon will take longer than our method of arrival."
"This way" Netes headed off.
"What makes you think it's this way?" Uluka queried, as he followed behind.
"I researched the history of Beacon before coming here, there used to be a fort in this direction that guarded the borders of Vale before Beacon was first built. It's since fallen to ruin, but it's the only structure to have ever existed out here, so it must be the Ruins the Professor spoke of." Netes answered.
Uluka shocked by the response, "Oh… we are going to be such good friends." He said as a smile formed across his face.
"I'm not having her as my partner." Hexi protested.
"I don't think you have much choice in the matter." Cole tried to explain.
"She thought she was partnered with a tree. A TREE! I'm not spending the next four years with her as my partner!" Hexi continued.
Lia followed along with the group, completely unfazed by the conversation around her.
All four stopped as they heard a loud crash up ahead, followed by a screeching that sent a shiver down their spines.
"Let's move!" Cole ordered as the group started running towards the noise.
Xeek and Alexis stopped at the edge of the trees, Alexis using her scope to scout the Ruins ahead of them for any signs of Grimm activity, before the two made their way over to the crumbling remains of the once great fort.
In the centre of the remains there were small stone pillars arranged in a circle, atop each was a small metal disc. Each was inscribed with a playing card. "Which one do we take?" Xeek asked his partner.
"Queen of Hearts" Alexis replied with a wink. The pair gave a laugh as Alexis picked up the disc and placed it in her pocket.
The pair's moment was cut short, as a King Taijitu burst out through the ruins. Bigger than any Grimm either had seen before, it's fangs as big as themselves.
The beast let out a deafening screech, as it moved to ram its head down, crushing Xeek. He quickly darted out of the way, the creature ramming itself face first into the ground, Alexis begun unloading shots from her sniper, into the side of the Grimms enormous head.
The creature pulled its head up from the ground, knocking over a large stone pillar as it turned towards Alexis. The pillar about to crush Xeek, he closed his eyes and braced himself. The moment passed, and to his surprise he wasn't crushed, he opened his eyes to see Lia stood over him, holding the giant stone pillar above her head.
"Hello!" She greeted him, with a massive smile across her face.
"Uh… hi" Xeek responded, in shock at the girls extreme strength, and inappropriately cheery attitude, given the situation.
Cole, Rian and Hexi stopped, taking in the sight of the young woman lifting the pillar, they could only assume weighed around 1500 pounds.
"Ok she's my partner." Hexi said, as all of their jaws dropped.
"ALEXIS!" Netes screamed, as she came out from the trees. Bringing everyone's attention back to the King Taijitu, as Alexis was avoiding its blows.
"Lia!" Cole shouted, pointing towards the Grimm. Lia threw the pillar towards the Grimm, stunning the creature, giving Alexis a chance to put some distance between them.
Rian flashed his semblance, and in a bolt of lightning moved to the creature. Jumping onto its back and running the length of the beast, he slashed into it as he ran. "Its hide's too thick!" He shouted.
"Keep it distracted!" Cole commanded. "Lia you're with me." The two ran deeper into the ruins, as the rest moved to engage the beast.
Hexi released her chains, and begun chain whipping the creature in the face, as Alexis and Rian unloaded round after round into the creature. Netes transformed her crossbow into its axe form, and joined Uluka landing blows with his Scimitar, while Xeek kept the beast distracted, blocking its blows with his shield.
The battle raged on for several minutes, Xeek feeling his strength waning, having to block so many powerful blows. Cole reappeared, shouting to the others, "Lead it this way!"
They all obeyed, leading the battle closer to the Ruins.
As they all slipped through gaps in the stonework, the King Taijitu smashed straight through. They appeared to be in what once was a large hall, no doubt where those stationed at the fort, while it was functional, would congregate for meals. In the centre of the room, there still stood tall a large statue, of a Human warrior holding a giant great sword, pointed down at the Faunus bowing before him.
Cole took several shots into the King Taijitu's face, grabbing the creature's attention. As it started moving toward him, he made his way closer to the statue. "Hexi, when I say, hold it in place!"
Hexi being sure to keep up with the creature, Cole shouted "NOW!"
Hexi wrapped her chains around the Grimms giant fangs, pulling down to pin the creature's head to the floor. The statue began to move forward, only to fall back into its original place.
"I can't hold this thing forever!" Hexi shouted, as the King Taijitu flipped its head back, throwing Hexi into the air. Still attached to the creature by her chains, she landed on the back of the creature's head, and started pounding her fists into the top of the creature's skull.
As everyone kept landing as many blows as they could to the creature, Cole and Lia found their way on top of the statue, moving along its arms towards where it's hands were holding the greatsword.
With the creature pinned by the students beneath them, Lia gave a kick to the hands of the statue, breaking the hands clean off at the wrist. Hexi diving out of the way of the giant stone blade, the sword fell straight down into the back of the creature's head. Lia jumped down onto the handle of the blade, forcing it all the way through the creature's skull.
With their foe defeated they all fell to the floor exhausted, Alexis started laughing, and they all joined in. All except Cole, who looked down at the group of young warriors, revelling in their victory, a smile crept across his face.
"Hmm, I say we take the Queen of Hearts" Netes suggested to Uluka, who nodded.
"Actually we-" Xeek begun, until he saw Uluka pick up the disc. "-never mind."
"Think there's a Joker card?" Rain asked, earning him a flick to the forehead from Uluka, followed by a hug.
"I'm glad you're ok too." He spoke softly into his boyfriend's ear.
"Let's take the King of Hearts." Cole suggested.
As they started looking, both he and Hexi both shouted "Found it." as they raised the discs in their hand.
"Well, I guess this means I don't have to pick another one." Hexi looking slightly confused.
"There seems to be two of each." Xeek spoke up, "We also picked Queen of Hearts earlier."
"I guess with the amount of students, maybe fifty-two wasn't enough?" Cole reasoned.
"Maybe, anyway I think we should be getting back." Alexis suggested.
The group moved off, back towards Beacon.
