As the Grimm began their attack on the light humans were forced into the darkness of the caves at all times, living off of fungus and other oddities that grew deep in the holes they cowered in. That is until one day when they came across the embodiment of nature's wrath, Dust. Using the power of Dust and the strength of their soul's, humanity pushed itself from the brink and began a counter attack against the Grimm to claim the world for themselves. Standing against them was an infinite sea of darkness controlled by four beings that claimed to be gods. These four are the only documented SSS class Grimm, the most powerful creatures to ever walk the planet. Using their will alone, they could command the hordes of darkness against humanity. But even against these monsters, humanity fought.
And so the story continues.
Cinder looked at the moving brush and prepared herself to attack, forming a ball of flames into her hand and running attack strategies through her head. She wasn't used to fighting one on one, most of the time she would either be teamed with Emerald or fighting multiple opponents that would allow her to release wider attacks that she could catch groups of enemies in. But from the way the bushes moved, it seemed like there was only one creature on the other side.
"Son of a… thorns… crap," out of the bushes fell the figure of Roman Torchwick, whose entire body was covered with foliage from his trek. "Why would there even be…" he looked up and locked eyes with Cinder. "Oh no… not you," he fell backward as he realized just how very badly this was going to go.
With a partner that couldn't even control herself around Dust what was he going to do? He would get kicked out of Beacon, he would have to go back to his family and explain why he hadn't been good enough to get accepted.
While Roman was worrying about his own problems, Cinder felt her heart shatter into bits. She had always hoped Emerald would be her partner, but she wouldn't have minded it too much if someone else were to take her place so long as they were nice or at least bearable. But it seemed fate was destined to stick her with someone she couldn't stand. What was it Uncle Qrow would say? Making the best out of the worst is the best quality for a Hunter… or something like that at least. "So…" Cinder sighed a bit and looked at him.
"Yeah…" Roman stood up and looked at her, trying to form his thoughts into words. He decided to scrap that since his thoughts would probably land him with a sharp slap, and decided to go a different route. "Listen, I get that this isn't ideal for either of us."
"Agreed," Cinder said with a sigh.
"…But we both want the same thing in the end; to be Hunters and protect the world," he finished, annoyed at the interruption but not willing to start a fight over it. "So let's just try to get through this forest alive, and deal with the issues that will probably come up from it later."
Cinder thought about that for a moment. "You mean put aside any insults or annoyance for later and just act like adults?" she put on a show of considering it. "I suppose it's not the worst idea in the world."
Roman was obviously not amused, but put on a fake smile anyway. "I will take it," he put out his hand. "Let's start fresh for now. My name is Roman Torchwick, I work best with small to mid-size Grimm in up close combat and can act as a Conductor for up to ten people at the same time."
Cinder looked at his hand for a moment before reaching out and taking it. "Cinder Fall, I am a Dust Caster, I work best at a range and have limited up close fighting skills. However, my blows hit hard enough to count."
Under his guise of politeness, Roman winced at the pairing they had been given. A Dust Caster and a Conductor were two people you didn't want to have fighting by themselves. They were meant to stay back and attack at range while weapons specialists or Aura fighters held off the enemy. But this was the real world, so he knew that there wouldn't always be ideal team ups. "We should try to link up with another group of two then to bolster our numbers, I don't think either of us want to get caught in a fight with a bunch of Beowolves and no one to distract them."
"I suppose…" a sudden chill ran through the air as a dark energy ran through the forest. This wasn't like the normal chill one would get when faced with a group of Grimm, this was much more intense and much more powerful. A massive roar followed the chill, along with a number of screams of pain and terror.
"Someone's in trouble," Cinder ran toward the sound of the screams, knowing that whatever was causing them was a force to be feared. At the same time she couldn't just let someone be hurt. It was her duty to protect others, no matter the cost.
Roman hesitated for a moment, having felt the same thing as Cinder. He didn't like the idea of running toward whatever was causing it. But then a thought ran through his mind. This is probably part of the test, just a collared Grimm that seems powerful but can be destroyed at any time. With the rationalization in his mind, he ran after Cinder.
Mercury took a few steps away from the eyes and waited for the enemy to make the first move. His style was more about counterattacks than straightforward aggression, which worked well against many flavors of Grimm. Grimm tended to focus only on attacking and destroying their target with no mind for defending themselves or building a strategy for a long fight.
From the woods burst forth six Beowolves, five of which were normal versions of the creature, but the one at the very back of the pack was different. It was a bit larger than the others, and had a few more bone like blades coming forth from its skin. It was the pack's Alpha most likely, leading the group and allowing them to act in a more unified fashion.
This fight was going to be slightly difficult from the looks of it. A smile crossed Mercury's face, because to be honest, that was the way he wanted it.
"Missile," he struck his foot forward twice and launched two blasts directly into the armored heads of two of the Beowolves, knocking them away from the pack. "Now then," he turned toward the remaining three that were still moving. They ran in a V formation with the Alpha taking the back and the two Betas covering it.
Before Mercury could react though, another figure leapt out of a nearby tree directly onto the Alpha pack, forcing it to the ground and sliding on its body ahead of the two Beta's. The figure on its back was none other than Emerald, who after giving a small smirk aimed at Mercury, pulled forth her blades and slashed the back of the creature's neck, the lead armored portion of its entire body. After the cut was made, she lifted and aimed her weapons at the two other Beowolves, firing two explosive rounds into their necks and grinning as they both slumped over. "Behind me please?"
Mercury nodded and leapt over her, slamming both feet into the two Beowolves that he had knocked down, both of whom were about to attack Emerald. "Cannon," he fired two powerful shots directly into the Grimm's faces, leaving two smoking holes where their heads had once been. "Thanks," Mercury said, back still to Emerald.
"Eh, you had it," Emerald collapsed the blades on her pistols and put them back into their holsters. "I just wanted to be awesome, which I am all the time anyway, but yeah," she blinked and realized he wasn't looking her way, so she walked around to stand in front of him. But he just turned his head so their eyes wouldn't meet. "Okay, so what's with the whole not looking at me thing?"
"You don't want me as a partner," Mercury stated, already feeling old ghosts start to rise in his mind. "Trust me."
Emerald sighed. "Oh please don't tell me you are one of those 'I am a super depressed person because x happened in my past so I am always serious now' kind of people," she walked over and put her hands on either side of his face, tilting it up so he was looking into her eyes. "You are obviously a good person, Cinder told me that much. You are strong, and you want to become a Hunter. I plan on teaming up with a Dust Mancer and whoever she ended up partnered with. She is my best friend and that means that I need to make sure I can help keep her safe. I am a Weapon Specialist, and with you on the team, that makes us three of four for the perfect squad."
"That… is extremely rational," he admitted, knowing that after making eye contact he was already stuck in the partnership anyway. "The name is Mercury by the way."
"Better than what I was going to call you," Emerald stepped back and pointed toward the forest. "Let's go!"
"Wait, what were you going to—" before Mercury could finish a massive roar shook the forest, causing a multitude of birds to fly out from the tree tops. Following the roar was a loud scream, a number of them actually.
"We need to go," Emerald said, knowing that Cinder would most likely run toward the noise. She always leapt into situations that were dangerous if it meant helping people, and something that could make a noise that loud was surely dangerous.
"Right," Mercury said, tossing away his question and breaking out into a run after Emerald.
"So…" Jaune looked at the entrance to a cave and tapped his foot a bit. "Do you think that the thing we need to get is in here?"
Pyrrha looked at the painting to the side of the cave, seeing clearly that it was something meant to keep people away. "I… somehow doubt it."
"Well maybe that's the point?" he said, thinking out loud more than actually talking. "Like hide it in a place that people wouldn't expect and then have them enter it as a test of bravery or something?"
"That makes sense…" she said, still holding a lot of doubt in her mind.
"Look Ren, more people!" a rather cheery voice rang out from the woods as two figures exited the area and moved toward the cave. Nora waved toward Pyrrha and Jaune and walked over with Ren following closely behind. "Hi there other people!"
"Hey," Jaune waved, not sure what to think of the two people. They seemed nice, or at least the girl did. The guy was hanging back and didn't seem to be saying much of anything.
"Pleasure," Pyrrha said with a smile. "What brings you this way?"
"I detected two other Aura signatures, thought it would be a good idea to meet with other people with all of the Grimm running around," Ren finally spoke, his voice loud enough to be heard but no more than that.
"It makes sense from a tactics stand point, larger numbers offer better protection," Pyrrha looked toward Jaune. "What do you think?"
"Yeah, new people," he smiled. "Name's Jaune Arc."
"Pyrrha Nikos," the red head said, introducing herself.
"Name's Nora," she pointed toward Ren. "His name is Ren, he doesn't talk very much," that earned her a slight glare from Ren, but he didn't make an issue out of it. "So what's with the cave?" Nora asked.
"Well we thought—" before Jaune could finish a roar shook through the forest, followed by a number of screams. "Sounds like someone's in trouble," Jaune looked toward the other three. "I know we are supposed to focus on the artifact, but I think we should go help them."
Pyrrha smiled and nodded her head. "Right."
"Woo, kick butt time!" Nora looked around a bit and pointed. "That way!"
Ren put his hand on her shoulder and adjusted her. "That way…"
"This way!" Nora broke out into a sprint toward the sound, and the rest of the group quickly followed after her.
Cinder and Roman paused at the edge of the forest, and what they saw froze both of them in place. Standing in a spot devoid of trees was a small structure with a number of artifacts sitting within. On the ground around the structure where the fallen bodies of students who had been knocked out in battle, looking badly hurt.
Behind the structure loomed a massive ape-like Grimm which stood fifteen feet tall, pitch black body covered with a thin layer of black hair. It had four massive arms as thick as tree's with pulsing crimson lines running through them. At the end of each finger sat long, bone-like claws, and on the top of the arms sat bone-like blades that extended past its body. Covering the creatures face was a bone white mask with red lines running throughout, covering four pure red slit eyes that glowed with malice. It opened its mouth to let out a blood curling roar, revealing its rows of shark-like teeth.
Roman took a step back and looked down to his hands only to realize they were shaking. "I don't think this is a part of the test," he said under his breath.
Cinder nodded in agreement and looked at the monster. "We have to fight it," she stepped forward to face the Grimm. Even if she had to do it on her own, she would not let this monster hurt anyone.
Roman watched her and cursed her, himself, and the entire world before stepping forward. He wasn't ready to live like a coward, so he might as well die as a Hunter.
A human figure miles away put down a pair of binoculars and let out a grunt that almost sounded like laughter. The figure's body was covered by a black robe and hood, which only left room for one to see the white mask with two black eye holes and a long beak sticking out from it. On the figure's back sat a massive rifle, easily two times its size. "Hm… so then, what will you do now Ruby?" he looked toward the battlefield and tilted his head. "Whatever it is… let's hope it holds my interest."
Glynda Goodwitches Lesson of the Day: Hunter Classes
Welcome students to a prerecorded lesson. Today I will be teaching on the various classes that Hunters are commonly divided into in order to form effective squads. There are four common classes with more specific underlines to them depending on the person classified as such. The four classes are: Aura Fighter, Weapon Specialist, Dust Mancer, and Conductor.
An Aura Fighter uses their natural Aura and Semblance in harmony in order to create an effective fighting style. One need only look to Mr. Oobleck in order to see an example of such. He forms his Aura into deadly attacks, striking and defending himself with his soul.
Weapon Specialists focus more on using their Semblance and a weapon in harmony, sometimes training in one weapon and other times developing skills with multiple weapons. One need only look so far as Mr. Port and his personal favorite weapon, which he keeps on display in his classroom.
Dust Mancers use their Aura to tune in with the power within Dust, fusing the two together to perform powerful attacks and destroy their enemies. I, myself am a fine examples of this, drawing our energy inward and directing nature's wrath against our foes.
The final class we will speak about today are Conductors, those whose souls connect others. A Conductors main ability is setting themselves up as a line of communication between a number of people, allowing instant transmission of thought and strategy into multiple people. They can also allowed a sort of shared vision among those they are connected to, allowing allies to see the enemies moves even from cover. Headmaster Ozpin is one of the best known Conductors, said to be able to link up to thirty people at the same time with no stress.
By the time you complete your training here at Beacon, you will rise to an A rank in at least one of these classes, and either a B in another or C's in two. For more on these classes please see the tape marked 'Subclasses'.
Cinder finds herself faced with an enemy more powerful than anyone could imagine her to be ready for. Will the aid of others allow her to win the day, or will the overwhelming force of darkness devour all? Find out next time in A Light in the Dark Chapter 7: A New Light Appears.
Sorry about the short chapter, but the next one is already started and it's going to be BIG. I mean huge. Anyway leave a review or favorite the story if you liked it. Review if you didn't as well, critic is good. Share with your friends if you would like and I hope to see you all next time.