Heya people.

First off, I would like to say thank you to jakillking999 and TheDelta724 for reviewing this fic. Also, thank you to TheDelta724 for following and favouriting. You guys both rock.

So here is the new chapter. It's a pretty long one; about 2000 or so words longer than the last two. I'm apologising in advance for any grammar or spelling errors; it's, like, five in the morning where I am and I'm not going to proof-read now.

I've been a little inconsistent in this chapter with what I call Nathaniel outside of dialogue. I just used 'Nathaniel' for the first two chapters and I was going to stick to that, but then I started using 'Nate' unconsciously, and then switching to 'Nathaniel' without realising it, and then going back to 'Nate' again. In the end I figured, just roll with it.

I am nowhere near awesome enough to own RWBY.

Chapter Two: Strangers in the Forest

"Okay, I admit it," Yang sighed. "We're lost."

Blake just shook her head. She knew they never should have trusted her partner with directions.

Weiss groaned, throwing up her hands. "Well that's just perfect! Now what are we going to do?! We'll never reach the ruins in time!"

It had been two days since Team BSTN's arrival at Beacon, and today the entire first year faced a practical test in the Emerald Forest. The teams had all been had all been dropped off in separate locations, dropped out of an airship rather than flung off a cliff this time, and told to make their way to yet another ancient ruin situated deep in the forest before five o'clock. So far it was nearly noon and Team RWBY had been wandering through the trees for hours without a clear idea where to go, and the lack of progress was beginning to grind on their nerves.

Yang rolled her eyes at Weiss. "Do you want to try and direct us, princess?"

"I could probably do a better job than you," Weiss shot back.

"Guys, guys," Ruby said nervously, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. "We're not getting anywhere fighting like this."

"We're not getting anywhere anyway!" Weiss snapped.

Suddenly, Blake's ears twitched and she drew Gambol Shroud. When she spoke her voice was soft with warning. "Guys."

Recognising her tone, the others ceased bickering immediately and deployed their weapons.

"What are they?" Ruby asked quietly.

The loud howl of a Beowolf sounded from the undergrowth, answering the red-cloaked girl's question. The four girls instinctively adopted battle-ready stances and moved until they were back-to back, with Ruby facing the direction that the sound had come from while the others scanned the rest of their surroundings. One almost never found just one Beowolf.

Sure enough, a series of deep growls emanated from the bushes all around them and a second later the spaces between the surrounding trees were filled with the dark forms of a pack of Beowolves. One larger than the rest, obviously the pack alpha, stepped out of the shadows directly in front of Ruby.

"I'll take the big guy," Ruby muttered. The other girls nodded their agreement, never taking their eyes off their as-yet motionless opponents.

Yang broke the stalemate. A yell tore from her throat as she charged towards the nearest Grimm, Ember Celica firing round after round into the monsters.

The others didn't hesitate to engage their own opponents. As the horde of Grimm came roaring towards her, Weiss wasted no time in launching herself forward with a glyph, Myrtenaster becoming nothing more than a deadly blur in her hands. Nearby, Blake whipped Gambol Shroud from one side to the other in gun form, in which state it doubled as a kusarigama-style weapon.

Ruby went straight for the alpha. In an instant she was across the no-man's-land and Crescent Rose was hooked around the large Grimm's neck. A sharp yank on the trigger sent a bullet slamming into another Grimm, while the recoil, combined with Ruby's own strength, jerked the blade backwards, neatly beheading the alpha. She vanished in a flurry of rose petals, re-appearing at the rear of the group, swinging Crescent Rose in a deadly arc.

In but a few minutes, all that remained of the Beowolves were carcasses dissolving into the air.

"Well that was fun," Yang remarked cheerily, dusting off her hands.

Ruby grinned at her sister. "Come on, let's keep moving."

"But which way?" Blake asked.

Suddenly, a sharp scream rent the air. All four heads snapped in the direction of the sound.

"Somebody's in trouble!" Yang exclaimed.

Weiss snorted. "It's probably just Jaune again. His team should be with him. He'll be fine."

Ruby considered her partner's words, but a nagging feeling took hold at the back of her skull. "Let's go check it out anyway."

"But what about the ruins?" Weiss exclaimed. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to fail this test because of some needless distraction."

"Someone could be in real trouble," Ruby reprimanded.

"Besides," interjected Blake, "For all we know that could be the right way to go."

After a long moment Weiss relented, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "Fine! But if it turns out I'm right and we fail because of this…" She left the threat hanging.

"We won't," Ruby assured with a smile. "Now let's go!"

With Ruby at the front of the group, the four girls sped through the forest in the direction of the sound. A few minutes later the sound of running feet, as well as the odd clacking sound of crutches, approached from the left. Seconds later, Team BSTN burst through the undergrowth.

Catching sight of each other, both teams screeched to a stop.

After a moment of silence, Taka spoke up. "I'm going to go ahead and assume that it wasn't one of you that screamed."

Weiss huffed, offended. "Of course it wasn't one of us."

Nate snorted. "Easy, princess. No need to get huffy."

"It's heiress, actually," the white-haired girl corrected loftily, crossing her arms. "My name is Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"So I've heard," Nate shrugged. "But you seem more like some privileged, stuck-up princess to me."

Weiss's eyes widened in indignation. "Why you - !"

"Guys, break it up," Bastion commanded, his head turned in the direction that the scream had come from. "Someone's still in trouble." The blue-haired boy glanced at Nate. "Can you…?"

The lion-Faunus nodded. Then, with little more than a thought, he activated his semblance. Instantly his senses sharpened to razor clarity, his eyes picking out every single vein in the leaves on the trees, his nose sorting through every miniscule scent in a twenty-metre radius. His ears became hyper-sensitive sound detectors, picking up every variation of noise for several metres. Closing his eyes, he pushed his hearing out further until, finally, he picked up the faint sounds of a battle.

His eyes snapped open and he nodded at Bastion. "Someone's fighting, and not too quietly either. I can hear it from here, but it sounds like it's a while away yet."

The blue-haired boy nodded. "Anything else?" Bastion knew the look on his partner's face. That look meant that there was more imminent danger.

Nathaniel nodded. "A group of Ursa Major, directly in our path and approaching as we speak. There are Beowolves to the north and south, so we'll probably hit them if we try to go around."

Bastion exchanged a glance with Taka, who nodded in reply. The team leader nodded to himself to re-affirm his plan, and then spoke. "We're going to have to keep going and take care of the Ursi when we come to them. It's the quickest way." He turned to Ruby. "Unless you have another idea?"

The red-cloaked girl frowned for a moment, and then shook her head. She couldn't see a better alternative. "No, your way sounds like the best plan right now."

"Wait a minute!" Weiss interjected, planting her hands on her hips. "Are we seriously joining up with them? They'll just slow us down! We'd be better off going ahead alone."

"Weiss…" Ruby growled warningly. There was a limit to how much of the white-haired girl's prejudice she could take, particularly since, after their meeting two days ago, she now considered Bastion a friend. She had seen for herself how adept and agile he could be, despite his condition, and she had a sneaking suspicion that he could handle himself in battle just as well.

From his position beside Bastion, Taka spoke up. "I think you may be underestimating us, Miss Schnee. You might want to take the time to learn a little about a person before judging them."

As Weiss floundered indignantly for a comeback, Silas spoke. "I think you'll find that we're perfectly capable of keeping up. All of us." His statement was completed with a cold glare that actually made Weiss shiver.

Taka bit back a wry smile as he glanced at his wolf-eared partner. Nathaniel may have been more open about it, but Silas also harboured ill sentiments for the Schnee heiress after overhearing some of her comments on Bastion, particularly the ones involving the word 'invalid'. Taka had to admit that he himself was none too pleased after hearing of that. Nate was, however, often able to forgive easily enough if given reason to, though he was less amicable when his team-mates or family were involved. Silas on the other hand, despite typically being the more level-headed, was entirely too capable of holding grudges. If Bastion insisted for long enough, Nate would drop his grudge against the heiress, though they probably still wouldn't get along. He'd already relaxed considerably in comparison to two days ago. Silas's ire, however, had not melted in the slightest. Weiss Schnee would have to outright apologise, and mean it, before Silas would even begin to forgive her.

"If you're done…" Bastion said wryly, quirking an eyebrow. Silas broke off his glaring and turned to face his leader, subtly shifting in preparation to run. That was all the confirmation Bastion needed. He turned back to Team RWBY. "Let's go."

Without further comment, the eight hunters-in-training took off into the woods.

As they ran, Weiss was forced to admit that she had indeed underestimated Bastion. Not only was the boy not slowing them down, he was right in the middle of the group; the longer 'strides' that his crutches enabled allowing him to keep pace with his friends. She noticed with some curiosity that he appeared to be using both legs as well as his crutches to aid in his 'running'.

Before she could muse on this further, a group of seven Ursa Major burst through the undergrowth ahead.

"We can handle this," Nathaniel shouted, unslinging his trident from over his shoulder. As the weapon's head expanded and the metal shaft lengthened in his hand, the golden bracer and armband on his left arm expanded as well, joining together to cover his entire arm from shoulder to finger-tip in scale-like golden armour, with thicker, plate-like sections encasing his forearm and shoulder. Removing what appeared to be an ammunition clip from his belt and inserting it into a slot on the underside of his forearm, he raised his arm and took aim. A section of the armour on his forearm rose to reveal a small gun barrel as he fired a bullet after bullet at the oncoming Grimm.

"What about us?" Yang called.

"Help if you want," Bastion replied. "But I think we got it."

So saying, the blue-haired leader of Team BSTN slid back the safety switches on the handles of his crutches and raised the right one into the air. He shifted the setting on the dial switch underneath his right ring finger and clicked the button under his pinkie. A thin metal rod descended from the back of the shaft, branching out to become a tripod-style stand. Then he slammed his thumb down on the button on the end of the handle and pulled the trigger, unleashing a rapid-fire barrage on the monsters.

Taka unhitched what resembled a pair of blade-less katana handles, one slightly shorter than the other, from their resting place at his belt. He slid the openings at the pommel into slots on large rectangular Automatic Ammunition Loading Cases (Or AAL cases) that rested on either hip, withdrawing them again with a canister of red Dust slotted in place on one and a canister of yellow Dust on the other.

Sprinting forward, the black-haired boy dropped to the ground and slid flat on his back underneath the belly of one of the Ursi. As he did so, he clicked the trigger button under his left index finger, releasing a cloud of red Dust behind him. As he shot out the other end, he cut off the Dust and instead pressed his thumb against the small button at the top of the handle. At the edge of the handle, a large spark jumped into existence. As a weapon in and of itself, it would have been completely ineffective. Fortunately, one large spark was all that was necessary to ignite the cloud of dust behind Taka, sending a gigantic fireball exploding into being and torching the Ursa.

By the time Taka's Ursa went up in flames, Silas was already moving. He unhooked the two metre-long rods, one grey and one black, from his back, spinning them in his hands as they shortened and thickened until he was holding a pair of semi-automatic handguns. He slammed the butts of the gun handles into the AAL cases at his sides, withdrawing them when the ammunition clicked into place. There was a series of sharp bangs as he fired shot after shot into the nearest beasts. One collapsed nearly immediately, weakened by Bastion's cover fire, and another went down soon after. The others were considerably more resilient.

Upon hearing the click of an empty barrel and deciding that he was close enough, Silas jettisoned the empty ammunition clips as the guns extended and narrowed in his hands to form six-and-a-half-foot-long staves. He spun them in his hands, whipping them from side to side. As he did so his semblance crackled to life, sending sharp strings of electricity running down the shafts. He dodged between two Ursi and struck out to either side with his staves. The beasts shrieked as hundreds of volts of electricity coursed through them, the force of the strikes knocking them back.

In an instant, Silas's teammates were on them. Taka swung the weapon in his right hand, releasing a cloud of yellow Dust over one of the Ursi. With a soft click another spark flared to life, this time turning the Dust into a cloud of deadly lightning. The Ursa fell to ground, now a smoking, life-less husk.

Nathaniel, meanwhile, had taken care of the other one. Quickly scaling a nearby tree, he took aim at the beast. Responding to his aura, a small section of his gauntlet extended and a small projectile shot out, quickly expanding into a large, weighted steel net. The net slammed into the Ursa, snaring it and pinning it against the ground. With a sharp whoop Nate leapt into the air, aiming his trident down at the Ursa. With a sharp click the middle blade shot forward like an arrow, trailing a black cord behind it. It sank into the flesh of the Ursa's neck with a thunk. Immediately, the cord went taut, pulling Nathaniel down towards the trapped beast at an incredible speed. He yelled in triumph as the rest of his trident head slammed into the Ursa, his momentum driving the weapon down and causing it to pierce right through the monster's thick neck.

One of the remaining Ursa had fallen already to Bastion's gunfire. The last beast, however, was more intelligent than its fallen comrades. Retreating into the undergrowth, it circled silently until it was behind the shooter that had caused it some painful wounds. Then, when it was sure that he was vulnerable, it leapt from hiding with a roar, bearing down on the blue-haired boy in a dark wall of claws and teeth.

Startled, Bastion swung around to see the huge beast burst from the undergrowth. Acting quickly, he slammed his finger onto a button, causing the stand under his crutch to retract. As the metal tripod folded away, Bastion brought the weapon back to face the ground and, with a sharp tug on the triggers, repeated the manoeuvre that he had used two days ago. A cloud of flame unfurled against the ground as Bastion was rocketed into the air, evading the charging Ursa by a hair.

Bastion clicked another button, deploying the Resolution's blades. Twisting in mid-air, he slammed both blades into a nearby tree and braced his feet against the trunk, hanging almost upside-down. Another pull on the triggers fired him off the tree trunk and sent him hurtling towards the Ursa, which was now rearing on its hind legs. He flipped in the air, bringing the ends of his crutches forward to slam into the bear-Grimm's face. He pulled the triggers one more time. Resolution fired, propelling him backwards into space and knocking the now-dead Ursa to the ground. Flipping to right himself as he fell, Bastion braced himself for landing. There was a sharp clack as the ends of Resolution hit the ground, followed by the barest whisper as his feet were lowered to the dirt.

Then it was over.

To say that Team RWBY were surprised by Bastion's prowess would be an understatement. Weiss and Yang stared in open-mouthed amazement and Blake's eyes were wide in shock, her eyebrows raised so high that they vanished into her bangs. Only Ruby seemed relatively unsurprised, having seen his surprising agility for herself already.

Catching sight of Weiss's astounded face, Nathaniel chuckled. Taka couldn't resist a smirk, while Silas's lips twisted in a way that could only be described as smug. Invalid, was he?

Sliding his safeties shut, Bastion turned to his companions. "We should keep going."

Shaking their heads to clear the fog of amazement, the girls nodded. "Right."

As they turned and broke back into run, Bastion allowed himself a small smile. Though he liked and respected what he had seen of Ruby's team (though his opinions on Weiss were a little iffy), he had to admit that he had enjoyed the astounded looks on their faces. It did feel good to prove the naysayers wrong. It felt good to prove that he was just as good as any other huntsman or huntress.

As they sped through the trees, Nate pulled up alongside Weiss and cleared his throat pointedly. When she glanced his way he flicked his eyes towards his partner and smirked at the heiress, who huffed and looked away, speeding up to pull away from him. He chuckled smugly.

Weiss scowled as she thought about what she had just witnessed. Okay, so maybe she had judged Bastion a little too harshly. Oh who was she kidding? Though she was loath to admit it, Weiss had been wrong about Bastion. After seeing him in action, she was forced to admit that he was, in fact, a very capable huntsman in his own right. She sighed as she contemplated having to apologise to him and his team. It wasn't a pleasant prospect for the proud heiress.

Hearing the older girl's sigh, Ruby glanced back and smiled encouragingly at Weiss, sensing that her partner had finally conceded to being wrong. Weiss was a little surprised by how easily the red-hooded girl could read her, though after being partners for a few months now she supposed she shouldn't be. The idea that someone knew her well enough to read her through a sigh was both gladdening and terrifying for a girl so prone to being aloof and alone. It was a little scary, but it also provoked a strange warmth in her chest that made Weiss smile.

Soon the sounds of fighting began to filter through the trees. Blake and Silas were the first to hear it as they approached (Nate having heard it long ago). Silas's ears flicked and Blake's bow (and therefore the ears beneath) twitched. They tensed, pushing themselves to go faster. Not long after, the sounds of roaring Grimm reached the ears of the rest of the group.

"Get ready," Ruby called.

"Weapons out," Bastion advised, sliding Resolution's safeties open.

Less than five minutes later they burst out of the trees onto a grassy slope that ran up to a cliff. There, at the base of the sheer rock wall, was a large King Taijitu, a huge pack of Beowolves and several Ursa Minor, all converged around one point. A strange purple glow leaked out between the Grimm, but whatever they had cornered was hidden from sight by the seething mass of shadow and bone.

A loud yell burst through the snarls and howls of the Grimm. An unfamiliar, distinctly human yell.

"Somebody's in there," Yang yelled.

"Didn't we already know that?" Nathaniel yelled back. Yang just grinned in reply.

"I think we should split up," Bastion called. "Come at them from different sides."

"Good idea," Ruby nodded. "Team RWBY, we'll take the left side. Weiss, you and I will take the far end. Yang and Blake come at them from closer to the middle."

"Right," Weiss agreed. Blake nodded and Yang smiled slightly, allowing some of her pride at her little sister's leadership skills to leak onto her face.

Bastion chuckled. She may have been young and still a little insecure, but it was clear to him that Ruby Rose was a born leader.

He turned his head to his team-mates, never breaking stride. "You heard the lady. We're heading right."

He looked back at Ruby and nodded. She nodded back and then the group split, the girls heading left while the boys took off towards the other side.

"Silas and Taka head for the middle," Bastion called. With a nod, the two boys changed tack and began to peel away from their team-mates.

"You ready?" Nate asked, clenching the metal-enchased fingers of his left arm in anticipation.

Bastion chuckled wryly. "About as ready as I'll ever be."

Turning his eyes to the cliff, Bastion examined the rock face, taking note of every groove and indent in the stone. He noticed a small shelf part of the way up, but quickly dismissed it. He couldn't shoot well enough from there.

As they approached the snarling mass of Grimm, the young leader's eyes finally landed on what he'd been searching for; the perfect vantage point. Rising from the base of the cliff at the centre of the huddle was a large pillar of stone whose tip would be well out of reach of any Beowolf or Ursa. The King Taijitu might be a problem if it could reach him, but he would have to trust his comrades to take care of that.

Guessing his partner's plan, Nate followed the blue-haired boy's line of sight to the pillar. "So you have to get through?"

Bastion nodded. "Yup."

Nathaniel grinned. "Let's do this!"

Bastion allowed himself a small smile at his partner's enthusiasm. Stopping for the briefest second, Bastion slammed the sides of both crutches into the specially designed AAL cases that were strapped to his sides, replacing the bullets with smoke rounds (which would cause the same amount of damage but give off a lot more smoke). Then he was on the move again, close on Nathaniel's heels.

They drew up alongside the cliff wall and charged straight at the mass of Grimm. The instant they were close enough Nate leapt into the air and fired the middle prong of his trident, which latched into the back of a Beowolf. With a sharp howl, the wolf turned to face its assailant, only to inadvertently swing the lion-boy around behind it. Instead, it came face-to face with one of Bastion's bullets. While the resulting smoke cloud did little to no harm to the other Grimm, it was more than enough to attract the attention of the nearest Beowolves. As Nate retracted his trident prong, Bastion fired another few bullets into the crowd of monsters. Any that the bullets didn't kill were quickly impaled by Nate's trident.

Something was odd about these Grimm, Bastion thought. It wasn't just the fact that there were so many different kinds all grouped together. There was something else that seemed off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

As soon as the crowd of Grimm had thinned, Bastion fired himself forward and up, aiming for the nearest Ursa. Gravity slammed Resolution down onto the Ursa's neck and Bastion pulled the triggers, blowing off the beast's head and launching himself towards the cliff face.

As he rose above the crowd of Grimm, Bastion finally caught sight of what they had surrounded and his eyes widened in surprise. Kneeling against the stone pillar at the base of the cliff that Bastion had seen earlier, was a petite girl with platinum blonde hair and eyes like a pair of amethysts. Surrounding her was a pale purple dome of aura shot through with wisps of silver. Standing crouched several feet in front of her was another girl, this one in a brown leather jacket, her brown hair turning scarlet at the tips, a pair of knuckle blades in her hands.

Bastion hit the cliff wall and fired off it again, flipping to land atop the stone spire. The brown-haired girl glanced away from the Grimm for a moment, her green eyes darting his way. She looked as if she were about to say something, but at that moment the Taijitu's white head lashed forward, pulling her attention away.

Before she could react, a streak of purple shot from the aural dome behind her, forming a wall between her and the incoming Grimm. The snake-like head collided with the wall of aura with a loud thud and was stopped cold. It pulled back, hissing as it shook back and forth in disorientation. The brown-haired girl glanced back at the violet-eyed girl and smiled gratefully. Then she brought her weapons up in front of her, the blades extending until they were the length of short swords. Then she charged at the nearest Beowolf, beheading it in a single strike.

Bastion quickly switched his smoke rounds for regular bullets and deployed the stand beneath one of his crutches. He clicked a button and the small scope at the end of the barrel popped up. Instantly, a close-up image of the Beowolf that his gun was currently aimed at flickered to life on one side of his glasses lens. Instead of being a telescope-style device, Bastion's scope functioned more like a camera, transmitting the images to the lens of his high-tech glasses. He took aim and began sniping at the Grimm.

From his vantage point he could see Nate causing mayhem to his left, using his weapons, Neptune's Law, to devastating effect. Seeing him snare a pair of Ursi in nets, Bastion sent a bullet through the eye of one, while the Faunus boy finished off the other.

A quick glance told him that the others were all causing havoc among the monsters. To his right, Ruby spun from Grimm to Grimm with impossible speed, her scythe nothing more than a flash of death in her hands. Nearby, Weiss darted from side to side with a precision and grace that Bastion had rarely seen, stabbing monsters and launching them into the air with her glyphs.

Blake and Yang were fire and shadows. Yang was mass of flame and bullets as she slammed her gauntlets into opponent after opponent, while Blake was everywhere at once with the aid of what appeared to be multiple shadow-clones.

Not far away, Taka and Silas were throwing lightning left right and centre. Silas's semblance allowed him to generate the electricity whenever he so desired, often using it to augment his staff strikes. As Bastion watched, narrow, thirty-centimetre-long blades slid out of either end of his staves; midnight black blades on Dexter, the black staff in his right hand, and silver grey on Sinister, the grey staff in his left hand.

For Taka's part, he was using Hiryu and Rairyu, his weapons, to devastating effect. Rairyu, the weapon in his right hand, spewed streams of yellow Dust, igniting them into long clouds of lightning. Hiryu's red Dust sparked into fireballs, charring any Grimm that came near. As he dodged a strike from a Beowolf, Taka activated his weapons' other form with the click of a button. Immediately, a pair of long, smooth katana blades unfolded from within the handle, until Taka was holding two swords of differing lengths. Rairyu had become a full katana, with lightning dancing down its blade. Hiryu, on the other hand, had become a flaming wakizashi; a shorter version of a katana. Bastion also caught flashes of ice in the air and assumed that Taka's semblance was at work.

Speaking of semblances, Bastion realised that he had yet to use his own. Seeing the Taijitu raise its black head in preparation to strike at Silas, who happened to be nearest to it, he narrowed his eyes and focused his energy towards the large Grimm.

The monster struck with all the speed of a tortoise stuck in tar. It moved as though the air around it had thickened into gel, slowing it to a fraction of its normal speed. Seeing the looming head, Silas raised Dexter in his hand. The staff collapsed into gun form and, loading it quickly, Silas fired a barrage of bullets at the monster. As Bastion released it, the Grimm reeled back with a loud hiss of pain.

Knowing that his leader was responsible for the monster's drastic decrease in speed, Silas shot his friend a grin before turning back to the battle at hand. Bastion grinned back.

The nagging sensation that he was missing something returned. Something was wrong. But what?

The brown-haired girl was holding her own exceptionally well, taking down monster after monster with surprising speed and strength. Often, when a Grimm lashed out at her, a streak of purple aura would shoot from the dome at the base of Bastion's spire and blocked the strike. Bastion assumed that these were the work of the girl below him, who he could not actually see from his position.

From the combined efforts of the eight-hunters in training, as well as the two strange girls, the hordes of Grimm had thinned out considerably. But just as Bastion began to hope that they could win, a crash sounded from the forest away to his right. He glanced towards the source of the sound and his heart sank to see a herd of Boarbatusks come barrelling out of the woods, a group of Ursa Major hot behind them. His heart sank even further when another loud crash from his left heralded the arrival of a Death Stalker.

He gritted his teeth. There was no way they could win this without help.

Quickly swapping the rounds in the crutch that he wasn't using as a sniper rifle, Bastion aimed the barrel of the gun to the sky and fired a smoke bullet into the air. A moment later, he fired a second. The two collided at the height of their arc, about fifty feet up, and exploded into a gigantic cloud of smoke and flame. He lowered the crutch back to the ground, hoping that someone had seen his signal and would come to help.

He cupped both hands around his mouth. "Incoming!" When his companions glanced his way, he pointed to the right, in the direction of the approaching Boarbatusks and Ursi.

Then, taking a deep breath, he focused his semblance on the Death Stalker, slowing it to a crawl. He could have used it on the Boarbatusks instead, but they were further away and his semblance was more taxing to use over long distances. He wouldn't have been able to slow them down as much anyway; he could slow a single enemy drastically for a longer amount of time or he could slow a group of them less drastically for a shorter amount of time. In any case, that Death Stalker was worth at least six Boarbatusks, though there looked to be at least twice that number approaching, not to mention the Ursi running behind them.

Bastion shifted around and began to snipe at the incoming Boarbatusks. As his scope zoomed in on one of the monsters, Bastion realised what had been nagging at the edges of his mind. The eyes of Grimm creatures were usually in the orange to red colour zone. The eyes of these Grimm were all black.

A quick glance around told him that it was true of every monster in the vicinity. Not one of them had normal Grimm eyes. Every single one had eyes blacker than the deepest pits of hell.

Before he could wonder more about that strange fact, four humans burst out of the undergrowth to Bastion's right. A glance through his scope told him that they were the classmates that he recognised as Team JNPR. They must have seen his signal and come to investigate.

Leaving the Ursa Major and Boarbartusks to them, Bastion turned to face the Death Stalker, which was crawling on at a quarter of its normal speed. Feeling the strain of using his semblance for so long on such a large creature, he lessened the strength of the technique and allowed the Death Stalker to double its current speed (though it was still only half as quick as usual). He took careful aim and began to fire bullets at its eyes.

Below Bastion, Blake narrowly dodged a strike from the King Taijitu's black head. Leaving Yang to handle the remaining Ursi, the cat-eared Faunus took a running leap and alighted on the rising head. Before the beast could shake her off, she stabbed down with Gambol Shroud, impaling it through the eye. The Taijitu thrashed beneath her, throwing her into the air. As her feet left the Grimm's scales she yanked sharply on Gambol Shroud, carving a furrow in the monster's head as the blade was dragged out of the eye socket.

She hit the ground with a soft thud, landing on her feet within the coils of the giant snake-like monster. Acting quickly, before the beast could tighten its coils around her, she leapt onto the Grimm's body and flipped off it, landing safely on the other side, right next to Silas and Taka.

The wolf-Faunus glanced at her, while his partner shot her a grin.

Taka turned to Silas. "I'll handle the Beowolves. You two deal with the Taijitu."

With a sharp nod Silas turned to face the giant monster, exchanging an affirming glance with Blake. Readying himself, he brought Dexter, still in gun form, up in preparation to shoot at the beast. He spun Sinister in his left hand, the grey metal blurring into a deadly disk by his side.

Blake readied Gambol shroud. As soon as the white head drew near, both Faunus began to fire as quickly as they could. When that approach didn't seem to do much damage, Silas leapt forward and swung Sinister at its body, the blade at the end of the staff opening a deep gash in the monster's side. As the creature hissed in pain, he shifted his grip on Sinister and then threw the weapon like a javelin, straight into the monster's eye. The long shaft of the staff allowed it to pierce deeper than a sword could, and the white head hit the ground with a life-less whump.

Transforming Dexter back into a bladed staff, Silas leapt over the now-dead head with Blake right beside him. As the wolf-Faunus ran out to attract the black head's attention, Blake shifted behind it. When the head struck at Silas, he dodged to the side and slashed at its shout. Before it could rear back, Blake leapt forward and swung Gambol Shroud, now in sword form, at its body, managing to slice through half of its large form. The remaining head thrashed wildly, probably half-dead already. Silas quickly leapt into the air and slammed down onto its snout, driving its half-severed head back to the ground. Before the beast had the chance to move again, Blake dashed forward and severed its head completely.

Neatly hopping off the now detached head, Silas retrieved Sinister from the eye of the white head. With his weapon safely back in his hand, he offered Blake a smile. She smiled back briefly, before being distracted by one of the few remaining Beowolves.

Team JNPR had managed to eradicate all of the Ursa Major before they could reach the group. A few of the Boarbatusks, however, managed to make it through. Hearing the squeal of the boar-Grimm behind her, Ruby spun away just in time to avoid the beast's sharp tusks. Before she could return the attack, a shape that Ruby recognised as Pyrrha's weapon Miló, in javelin form, embedded itself in the Grimm's eye, killing it instantly.

"Thanks Pyrrha," Ruby called cheerfully.

The older girl smiled as she retrieved her weapon. "You're welcome."

Behind her, Nora was having all too much fun as she slammed a Boarbatusk over the head with Magnhild, giggling madly as she did so. Beside her, Ren fired a rapid barrage of bullets from StormFlower at another approaching boar-Grimm. Jaune had engaged a third, the sword half of Crocea Mors flashing in his hand, the shield half a barrier from harm. Pyrrha gave a proud smile as she glanced his way. His training lessons with her had definitely been paying off.

That left four Boarbatusks still running free. Weiss took care of the nearest one, hurling it into the air with a well-placed glyph. Not giving it the chance to hit the ground, the heiress launched herself up after it, slashing Myrtenaster across its belly and opening a deadly gash in the beast. She landed in a perfect crouch as the body of the Grimm hit the ground behind her.

Yang made short work of another, slamming her gauntlet-encased fist into its side and releasing a flurry of bullets into it a point-blank range. As the squealing pig-grim thrashed on the ground, she silenced it with an explosive blow to the head.

Taka had dealt with the third already. Hiryu's blade retracted and the back of the handle shifted and moved, until the weapon's shape was reminiscent of a gun. One of the buttons had become a trigger, which he pulled sharply, firing a volley of fireballs at the beast. Halting his fire, he focused his energy on the Grimm before him. A second later, tendrils of ice began to creep up from the ground and encase the Boarbatusk's body. In moments the Grimm was frozen solid. Then Taka dashed forward and swung Rairyu in a devastating blow that shattered the frozen beast into pieces.

Off to the side, the Death Stalker finally keeled over, Bastion's pinpoint-accurate shots having done their damage. Nate finished off the last of the Beowolves by impaling it with his trident.

Ruby took off after the final Boarbatusk, using her semblance to catch up in a split second. She hooked Crescent Rose beneath its neck and pulled on the trigger; the recoil jerking the blade towards her and beheading the Grimm.

The brown-haired stranger had confronted the final monster, an Ursa, lashing out with her blades and carving deep wounds in its sides.

Content to let her finish it off on her own, though prepared to intervene if need be, Bastion returned his sniper rifle to its position as a crutch and fired himself off the spire to land beside his friends.

"Who's that?" Jaune asked, indicating the girl currently fighting the Ursa. "And that?" he looked behind her to the pale girl by the cliff.

"We don't know," Ruby replied. "They were there when we got here."

"You looked like you were in a bit of trouble," Ren observed.

Bastion nodded. "That's why I signalled. I was hoping someone would see it and come to help."

"You're lucky we were nearby," Pyrrha smiled.

With a sharp yell, the brown-haired girl finished off the Ursa, stabbing it through the chest. As the dead beast fell, she turned to the Beacon students and opened her mouth to say something.

Then she collapsed to the ground.

A sharp cry sounded from the girl by the cliff as she staggered to her feet. "Amaryl!" She stumbled forward a couple of steps, battling exhaustion as she tried to reach her friend.

Then her body gave out and she fainted as well.

From the cliff above, a dark shadow watched with distaste as his forces were destroyed.

Oh well, he thought. He would just have to find another way to eliminate the girl.

And there you have it. We've actually started to get into the plot now.

And yeah, more OCs. There's gonna be a lot in this story, so be prepared. Like I said, I'll try to keep you from hating them (unless you're meant to hate them. In which case I will do everything in my power to ensure that you do).

For anyone who is wondering, a kusarigama is a chain scythe. And if anyone has trouble picturing Amaryl's knuckle blades, think of the ones that Asuma from Naruto uses.

If you loved it or if you hated it, or even if you're just 'meh', REVIEW!

Until the next chapter.

- Forever a Cookie