Chapter 05: Into the Forest
Ozwald soared through the air. The shields on each hand spun as the adjusted them and fired from several of the barrels along the edge. He practically came to a full stop mid air before gravity took over again. Twice more he stopped himself before he landed with a muted thud. Satisfied with his landing he looked around. It was still early morning and while they were only provided with minimal directions, he doubted that this...test was supposed to last the full day. He watched a few more students get launched when he shrugged and started to head north.
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Liseran cartwheeled out of control as she filled the air with laughter. She fired each time her trident aimed at the ground, but she didn't make her weapon with this scenario in mind. And since she did not aim perfectly perpendicular to the ground, she continued to spin out of control through the air. [This is something to think about. Maybe some kind of extra propulsion in each prong of the trident?] Her next shot mostly canceled her out of control spinning so she flipped the blade down as she continued to descend. As she drew close to a tree she closed her eyes and forced her aura prepared to take the brunt of the hit if she timed it incorrectly.
As she reached the first tree, she jumped off, and fired propulsion rounds as fast as her weapon could. She jumped from tree to tree and managed to slow down enough to jump to the ground and roll to a stop. Standing with a grumble she stretched out her legs. Her aura took the brunt of the impact from each leap but she still felt pins and needles. The extra propulsion was definitely something to look into. Or at the very least, a faster fire rate while in the trident form. She froze as a growl came from behind her. A sigh escaped her as she amended her previous thought. [It is something to look into...assuming I survive.] Her eyes turned red as she spun her weapon with a flourish. "Here grimmy, grimmy, grimmy. Let little Liz here Tag you~. Then you'll be it and I can avoid you~. Pwease~" A roar split the air as the Grimm charged out of the brush.
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Fae soared through the air, her pistols fired repeatedly to keep her aloft. They weren't great in terms of movement, but they could fire in rapid succession which more than made up for it...she hoped. [Well worst case scenario I land horribly and shatter my legs and am left easy prey for the Grimm that roam the forest. A quick death would be….preferable? Since when is death a preferable outcome?]
Fae shook her head as she dropped closer to the trees. With a careful motion she changed one of her pistols to its hatchet form. With a slash she embedded the hatchet into the tree as and fired with the pistol to slow down as she spiraled down the tree. There was a bit more 'oomph' then she would have liked when she hit the ground, but all things considered she landed safely. Fae looked around and realized she wasn't entirely sure which direction north was. She sighed. Maybe someone landed near her, it would be a quick pair up but if they knew where to go...she called out, "Hello? Did anyone land in close proximity?" A low growl emitted from ahead of her. Grimm, how unfortunate.
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Warren jumped to another tree branch. The forest must have been ancient as these trees were enormous! Of course the farther north he went the smaller the trees got. Soon they would be unable to support his weight with his armor, and he'd have to traverse on the ground. Which would mean he would be more likely to make eye contact with someone. Crouched on a branch his ears flicked about as he tried to pinpoint the gunshots he heard earlier. The shooter had not fired another round for a while. Either they were victorious, or they were dead. His gauntlets dug into the bark as he unconsciously tightened his grip. He would NOT let the Grimm kill any-
"So are you going to at least tell me your name? We are partners now after all." Warren looked behind him and then off to the side as he spotted Coco push her way through the undergrowth. She was followed closely by the guy who was on the launch pad next to him. The guy sighed and looked over at Coco. His eyes were white and his weapons were blades that ran from his wrists to well past his elbows with knuckle dusters so he could still punch. Warren wondered if he had a gun built in there somewhere when he answered Coco's question. "Fox."
Warren suppressed a snort at his answer. With how noisy Coco was, it would be good to have someone to 'mellow' her out. Coco sighed as she turned and looked at Fox, "You don't talk much, do you?" Fox shrugged in reply as Coco sighed again in exasperation.
No point in sticking around around Warren turned and jumped to the next tree as he continued onwards. He still needed to find someone and the head to the ruins. Suddenly a thought hit him. What if someone HAD died? If anyone died already...then he might not have anyone to pair up with. With a silent curse he leapt quickly across a few trees before he dropped to the ground and took off. He had to find someone and soon.
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Fae jumped over the Beowulf's swipe and fired both pistols to launch herself over a second Beowulf's lunge. She swapped it into the hatchet form and fired with the other pistol. The shot spun her around and she sliced through the Beowulf torso. The first one rushed forward and she blocked as she backed pedaled. The space gave her time so she could line up a shot before she fired, the creature dropped without its head. Two more Beowolves charged at her when a thunderous shot rang through the air.
The bullet shot through the first Beowulf's head, the second one's chest, and continued through the wood and gouged a hole through several trees as it passed out of Fae's line of sight. She stared at the path of destruction as she heard someone speak from behind her. "Found you~! Though I admit I may have cheated a bit. Do you have a partner yet?" Liseran walked into Fae's field of view as the other girl stared at the weapon in her hands. The trident's central blade had turned into the stock and main mechanisms for the gun while outer prongs formed a kind of support. The length of the staff, was now the barrel of what could only be described as railgun, complete with tiny dust crystals that ran the length of the barrel. She looked at Liz's green eyes and found her voice. "I haven't ran into-" the rest of Liz's statement sunk in, "Wait, cheated?"
Liseran smiled as she spun her weapon around and it turned back into the trident Fae was accustomed to. "My semblance. Tag. I can tag anything in eight colors. And then whatever is tagged is outlined in that color. Unless I can't 'directly' see it then the outline is 'colored in'. I tagged you when we first met." Fae recalled how Liz tapped the side of her hand and her eyes turned green back when they first met. Green like they were at that current point in time. "So I have a green tag?" Liz grinned, "Bingo!" Fae walked forward and stuck out her hand which Liz happy accepted as they shook. "I'm happy I got to be paired with you Fae."
"Likewise. So, inform me on how this 'Tag' works."
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*bam* Warren blasted the head off another Beowulf and rolled to his feet to block the next strike. The pack circled around him and waited for an opportunity. He growled and rushed forward. He jumped the first monster and slammed his feet into its back before he launched himself at the next grimm. It swung too slow as Warren ripped out it's throat and fired both arm mounted guns to propel himself back and clotheslined the grimm behind him. He settled into a low stance and punched down with bang and crushed the grimm's skull into the ground. The four grimm that remained had started to circle him again when an Ursa flew backwards into the clearing.
Ozwald lept out after it and pointed at the grimm. The shields spun rapidly as they fired and riddled the Ursa with holes. The shield popped a clip from its center and Oz grabbed a new one from one of his pockets as he kicked the spent clip at a Beowulf. It backed up and watched the clip with interest as it glowed brightly before it exploded in the creature's face. One of the Beowolves charged him. He blocked with his shield, when Warren noticed his shields still spun. The spin deflected the Beowulf's striked as Oz let his arm drift down and neatly shot it through the eye.
Warren blasted one through the skull as he advanced on the last one. It reared up and tried to bite him. Warren caught its jaw and held it apart with both hands. It tried to claw at him but its attacks bounced ineffectively off his armor as he strained and ripped the creature's head apart. He panted from the exertion as he looked over to Ozwald. "I doubt it, but have you found a partner yet?" Oz nodded, and smirked. "Yup."
Disappointed Warren shrugged to hide it, "Oh well. Where are they at?" Ozwald grinned as he pointed. Warren looked behind him before it hit him. He cursed and shot Oz an irritated look when he realized that Ozwald referred to him. Oz was laughed and with a bemused grin stated, "I didn't even say behind you and you looked. Didn't know you were that gullible." Warren growled as he set off to the north. He glanced at the timer on the hud. He deactivated the systems when he wasn't in a fight but even with just the combat and mobility systems.
He only had 3 minutes and 17 seconds left till he hit the 40% energy remaining. As long as he didn't use the dust systems, navigation, life support, combat analysis, action assist- Warren sighed as the stopped the tally of systems he didn't have active. Sure each one was helpful, and he would never consider the War Suit complete until it could run all of them simultaneously for a few hours, but right not that line of thought was not helpful.
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Glynda panned through the various camera angles on her tablet. "And with that, all pairs have been formed." She panned to another pair and made a disgruntled face. "It is sad how this year we have some of the highest scoring students, and yet at the same time some of the worst performing ones." She panned again. As Ozpin mumbled something incoherently from behind her. "I don't care that his family managed to convince the Vale Council to give him a chance. His personality, attitude, even his combat aptitude, all point to him not being a fit for our school. The only things he has going for him is he managed to inherit SOME of his grandfather's charisma and his above average aura levels."
Ozpin sighed, as Glynda panned to Liseran and Faerien. "I'm not surprised Miss Mathews tracked down Lady Vert, they seemed to get along from the interactions we've observed." Ozpin panned over to Warren and Ozwald. "And then there is these two. Something about that boy. They haven't gone close to any of the Grimm dens yet they have been attacked more than any of the other groups. Not to mention Mr. Marune is incredibly vicious in dealing with the Grimm."
Apparently she was had turned to the same pair. It was unusual...if one neglected to account for Warren's past. A past Ozpin may have neglected to inform the staff of. Unless it became a problem he would refrain from informing the teachers of the details of the student's backgrounds. Glynda knew his mother, they were friends that fell out of contact when she moved to Solaris, but she was not aware of the details of her death. Ozpin watched Warren violently end another Beowulf. His aggression towards the Grimm was troublesome. His emotions will draw them and his emotional state will only grow more unstable the longer he fought. Then again he survived for years outside the kingdoms on his own, so he had to have some method of that let him deal with his emotions. But as the test dragged on he obviously turned more unstable.
Was it the burden of responsibility for another's life? In any case, Ozwald would be a good partner for him. All of his recommendations spoke highly of his patience and willingness to help others. With the right team, Ozpin had no doubt Warren would make a great huntsman. Provided of course, they lived that long.
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Ozwald pushed through the undergrowth into a open field. At the far end of the field was a stone structure of some kind. He waved Warren over and pointed. Warren snuck over to where Ozwald was and looked at the structure. In a low tone he asked, "Think those are the ruins?" Oz shrugged and took one last look around before he headed across the field. They agreed that if the instructors or observers or whomever monitored them were not impressed with their fights thus far, they likely would never be. Thus they attempted to avoid additional Grimm. They drew close to the decrepit structures and noticed the pedestals scattered in a semi-circle with stone tablets on them.
Well, all but one pedestal had a tablet. Warren was impressed. For all the fights, and the time it took to find his partner, not to mention the slow progress when they decided to avoid additional confrontation, they were the second team there. That...was pretty good. The tablets all had a line across the center with a number of indentations on the top and bottom. Ozwald looked back and asked which one to take. Warren responded with a shrug and grabbed the closest tablet. "That works. Let's get to the top of that cliff." Ozwald pointed to the cliff a bit farther north of the ruins. To which Warren objected. "We are supposed to climb the cliff we were dropped from!"
Ozwald grinned, "Trust the local would ya? Its the same cliff, it runs parallel to the Emerald Forest. We were told to make our way across the forest to the ruins but we were never told to take the same way back. Most Grimm stay in the forest as passing air ships take shots at lone Grimm out in the open." Warren thought about it then agreed. It certainly sounded like a good plan. His time read at 3 seconds remaining before he reached the 40% remaining. For them to have almost finished, he was rather happy with the usage. Even if he had yet to use most of the systems.
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Some time later Liz and Fae walked through the forest as they discussed Lis' semblance. "Tag's limit is my visual limit. The larger the marked item is the farther away I can see it. Just like how you can't see bugs and stuff really far away but you can still see the tree they are crawling on." Fae pondered it and came up with another question, "What if the Tagged item breaks?" Liz grinned, "Then I see a bunch of colorful little pieces."
They moved past some foliage and entered a large field with some stone structures visible in the distance. "So who else have you managed to tag?" Liz stuck out her tongue and said, "Sorry. Just you."
Fae looked at her with a mix of surprise and shock. "Why only me?" Liz shrugged as the crossed the field and noted another pair already at the ruins. "Well you were really nice and I wanted to get to see if the legend was true!" Fae gave her a deadpan stare as she replied in monotone. "It is just a myth." Liz practically sang her response, "A myth that has yet to be proven false~" Fae gave a very un-lady like groan before she started to mutter a string of curses under her breath.
As they approached the ruins they saw a guy and girl pair start to run towards them. Gunshots rang out behind them as they spotted yet another pair make their way into the field...chased by a very large number of Grimm. The tanned girl with black hair they spotted at the ruins ran past them. Wait, not black hair. Just a really dark blue. "Grab your relic! Hurry!"
The two charged the other group as Fae and Liz watched. The hoard of grimm continued to grow as more and more Grimm poured out of the forest. Fae turned to Liz. "Help them, use your gun, I'll grab the relic." With that she took off towards the ruins. Liz sighed as she spun her trident as it shifted, the supports extended and impaled the ground for support. The first thunderous round tore through the Grimm and killed several of them. Liz waited for the mechanism to reset before she fired again. She could take several out with a single shot, but at the rate they rushed out of the tree line...it would only be a matter of time till they were overwhelmed. Where did all these Grimm come from?
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Oz reached up and for a moment his hand grabbed at nothing but air. Puzzled he looked up and realized he reached the top of the cliff. He gave a short laugh as he pulled himself up completely out of breath. He looked over at Warren and cursed, "Thanks for your help, partner." Warren glanced over and shot the other boy a smug smirk at the fact that he wasn't even winded. He turned his attention back to Glynda who typed away on her tablet. "And there we go. All done. Congratulations."
She nodded at them. Oz gave her thumbs up as he groaned out, "So glad we don't have to walk all the way back to the start." Warren scoffed and replied with, "You need to work on your endurance if you are already tired."
"Something, something, something, witty comeback. Ha. Victory." Warren looked at Oz with a raised eyebrow. "Too tired to actually think of a witty comeback. So shut up." Glynda sighed which drew both of their attention. "What's wrong?" Glynda looked at, no she glared at Warren. Oz was confused when she answered, "Something or someONE-" Oz decided he did not like the way she emphasized that while looking at Warren, "-disturbed the Grimm. A large number of them have cornered several pairs near the ruins. We may have to step in but that would invalidate their scores."
She turned away and touched and earpiece, "Qrow what is the status of the Goliath?...What. What do you mean you lost track of-Damn it Qrow! Deal with the Death Stalkers and find it!" Warren froze. A Goliath? In the woods? He couldn't take one of them out. It was likely none of the applicants could. He looked back at Oz, concern etched on his features. And just like that a solution occurred to him. "Professor Goodwitch, Ozwald and I have already passed, correct?" Glynda looked over at Warren but nodded all the same. "Excellent! CANA, activate mobility assist and action assist. Full suit engagement. Leave other systems inactive and prepare combat systems activation."
He waited as the suit expanded and fully covered his limbs. The helmet shut over his face and the HUD initialized. "Next, mark target as ally. Designation, Ozwald Marigold. Then activate Overdrive Protocol on all active systems."
His aura covered the armor as Oz stepped forward, and passed him one of his shields. "With my Semblance I'll be able to keep track of you as long as you have that, as well as help you remotely." Warren gave a two fingered salute as he replied, "Try to keep up." With that he launched himself off the cliff. Oz jumped after him as the made their way back to the ruins. Briefly he wondered who they were off to save. [Probably should have asked Professor Goodwitch that before we left...]
Warren ran full tilt back towards the ruins. He jumped to a tree branch and swung himself up into the air before he used the suit's propulsion to clear the treeline. [Come on where is...there!] Not to far off to the right was some of the large slabs of stone that marked the ruins. As he fell, a few more rounds fired to lighten the impact as he took off in the right direction. He heard a loud gunshot and shortly after that he heard the others shouts and gunfire. There were several dozen Grimm that filled the clearing. Creeps, Beowolves, Ursas, a few small Death Stalkers, and in the thick of it was a Goliath. The massive Grimm stampeded towards the groups that had banded together to fight and forced them to scatter. The smaller Grimm surged after the ones who were separated before they could regroup. Warren growled out, "CANA, all combat systems online, maintain Overdrive protocol." There was a pause before he felt the systems activate. It reminded him of the time he tried to help his mother fight after his father-
Warren's blood ran cold as a knot settled in the pit of his stomach. Before he knew it he was surrounded by Grimm. When did they rush at him? Did he rush them? Where was that bloodcurdling scream coming from? Oh, it was him.