Pewter pushed through the bushes, smiling when he saw the abandoned temple. No partner yet though. Climbing nimbly up the stairs to the sets of half pillars with the relics resting on top. He looked around. It seemed a couple of the relics were already gone. He might as well wait here for a partner to burst through the tree.
Picking up a relic, he examined it. It was a flat, coin-like object with an emblem of a lily etched into its bronze metal. The other relics were either the bronze, or a pale silver, and a few gold. Each had a different flower carved into the coin. A lily, a tulip, a rose, a foxglove, and a lilac.
Pewter rubbed one horn and placed the coin back down, glancing out into the forest again, still no one. Maybe he should go back in and find someone. A shout and crashing noises from the forest. Someone or something were headed his way. He drew his battle axes and stepped off the dais that held the relics.
A King Taijitu's head reared over the trees, its long fangs glinting in the sunlight. A girl ran out of the tree line, a spear clutched in one hand. No one else followed. Well, as the poet Riyung would put it, 'fate forceth them to make a pact'.
Pewter ran towards the Grim as it fully emerged from the trees, its long body wrapping around one and pulling it loose from the ground before sending it rolling towards the two enemies. Pewter shouted as he rolled out of the way. The girl used her spear to vault over it at the last moment.
"You!" she shouted. "Go for his blindspot!"
Pewter blinked in surprise, but recovered instantly. This King Taijitu was old, its scales a gleaming black without mark. Its body was long and thick, the only vulnerable point being its eyes, if you could even get that close. The blind spot was behind the Grim's head where the eyes could see you. Never in front of the head, its tongue was sensitive and could locate you immediately. This was going to be hard.
This was exactly what Onyx had expected. A perfect plan thrown to the wind because of unexpected variables. There was no such thing as sticking to the plan. She ran a circle around the Grim, making sure not to get into range of its massive tail. Fortunately, it was focused on the faunas student with the axes. Now could never be a more perfect time for a partner. Angered, the Taijitu reared up into the sky, above the reach of their weapons. It knew their games, it was ready, and it knew how to thwart them.
She tapped her spear and it folded into a crossbow. Maybe she couldn't reach it with a spear, but perhaps her arrows could. Aiming carefully she shot, a disappointed scowl crossing her face as the Grim moved and her arrow bounced off as if it were merely a stick she was throwing at the King Taijitu.
Growling she motioned to the male faunas student, "Get him close to the ground. The wind is against us today so we need him down if we are going to kill him."
Pewter nodded, flipping his battle axes before slamming them together. In a matter of seconds they had changed into a semiautomatic shotgun. He blasted several rounds at the Taijitu's tail, avoiding its crushing sweep, and flipping his shotgun to form a double-bladed battle ax. He slammed this into the end of the Grim's tail.
A shrieking hissing quivered in the air and the King Taijitu dove towards the ground, fangs gleaming.
Onyx crept behind the other student, her white aura shimmering for a second. The Grim dove towards the ground, aiming at Pewter.
She would send it back to the black hole from where it came.
She had a light green aura. Making sure to memorize it, Cloud turned her semblance off. She needed all of her aura intact. Something told her things had been too easy.
"So, your Bullspear's best?" Rouge's ss vibrated.
Cloud smiled a little, "I wouldn't say that. I just had to become good."
"Sounds like we aren't too different," Rouge noted. "Well, I'm glad to have you at my back."
"Thank you," Cloud inclined her head slightly. "Same to you."
"As long as you don't care I'm a snake faunas, I don't care that your blind," Rouge shrugged, looking at Cloud.
"I don't care."
Cloud raised her head, listening around her. There was a slight change in the sounds...was that birds? It sounded like mad birds…
She raised her staff. That was an Nevermore's screech. Rouge must have heard it to, because there was the clanking sound of her weapon changing. Cloud ignored it and focused on the Nevermore's approach. The sounds of the other birds had faded. Another sound caught her attention, only this one was further away. It was the sounds of another battle. From the sound of it, a King Taijitu.
One battle at a time. The Nevermore was straight overhead.
Rouge pocketed the relic she and Cloud had picked up thirty minutes ago. They had met in the forest a few minutes before finding the relics. Agreeing to be partners, they had retrieved a tulip coin and headed back to the cliff. Rouge almost liked the fact Cloud was blind, she wouldn't judge like the other humans.
Raising her gun she loaded the violet cube into it. The Nevermore had spotted them and there was no turning back now. She dodged the hail of flying feathers, noticing Cloud do the same. She didn't need to doubt Cloud, obviously the girl was skilled to make it this far. Raising her gun, she sighted down the barrel and fired. The plasma wrapped around the Nevermore's wing.
A scream rent the air and the Nevermore crashed to the ground. Quickly loading another cube, Rogue fired another shot at the Grim's opposite wing. Loading another, Rouge held her gun in readiness.
Cloud raised her staff and slammed it down on the Nevermore's head, ignoring the stench of burnt feathers.
"Want to do the honors?" Cloud asked.
Rogue smirked, "Thought you would never ask."
With a flip and a press of a button, her gun changed into two katanas, chained together. Grabbing the chain, she whipped both razor sharp blades over her head and brought them down hard on the Nevermore's neck. One last dying scream then the Grim as dissolving into black dust.
"That was easy, it must have been young," Rouge noted.
"I think we should go help the others, it seems they are in trouble," Cloud lifted her head.
"Eh, they are going through testing same as us," Rouge huffed out a maniacal laugh. "Let them battle their own Grim."
"But they may be future teammates," Cloud pointed out. "We are going to go help."
"Alright boss," Rouge laughed again. "Lead on!"
All the partners together! Next is the finishing touches on the Initiation and Teams, then First Day of School!