Welcome back one and all! I've been very pleasantly surprised by the support on this so far. Also, pay no attention to the fact that I definitely did not edit the previous chapter like fifteen times, I have no idea what you mean. I also have an important announcement about scheduling this fic. I'm aiming for an update every two weeks. I'd love to do more frequent updates, but as it is, I am a student. Tests are coming up, I have to decide my classes for next year relatively soon, and I work a job alongside my schooling. College is not cheap. It is currently the twenty-first of April, two weeks after my first upload, so the next chapter should be out on the fifth of May ideally. If not, I'd ask for a smidge of wiggle room. I've still gotta settle into a schedule for this fic. With all that boring stuff out of the way, here comes chapter 2.
The applicants to Beacon Academy woke at 9 in the morning to the entry of Ms. Goodwitch speaking into a megaphone. "Rise and shine." She said, devoid of cheer. Once the annoyed grumbling died down, she continued. "Your final trial is in three hours. Make sure to get a full meal and prepare yourselves and your weapons. The test will not go easy on you, and neither would the Grimm." She started turning to leave, but hesitated. "Good luck." she said, the slightest bit of warmth leaking into the words. The room became busy as people begrudgingly rose from their beds and trudged to the bathrooms in the rear of the room to change.
Weiss had already been up for the last hour. She had two very important reasons for that. First, she wanted her outfit to look impeccable, and since her servants had left, she'd have to fix it herself. She didn't particularly enjoy the process, but appearances must be kept. So father says. She'd only just finished up in the bathroom when Goodwitch entered, and as soon as she left Weiss strutted down the lines of bunks searching for Pyrrha Nikos. However antisocial or misguided Pyrrha may be, Weiss wasn't going to give up on their partnership so quickly. The two of them together would be an unstoppable force, especially with Weiss in command. She could see it now…
Pyrrha wasn't making any special effort to hide, merely leaning against her bed in her trademark armor. Now that she thought of it, it might actually be trademarked. She looked up as a blonde boy in white plate armor approached.
"Hey! I'm Jaune." He reached out a hand.
She took it, and shook it politely. "And you would be?", Jaune queried.
Pyrrha looked at him, neither his voice or eyes betraying any dishonesty. He didn't know. "My name's Pyrrha Nikos. Pleased to meet you."
"Huh. That's a cool name." He didn't even know of her.
Calm yourself Pyrrha. You're not that famous. "Thank you."
Jaune 's face grew a little red, and Pyrrha soon understood why as the blonde fumbled out a question. "So, I was thinking, maybe after the trial you and I could get something to eat?"
This boy she'd barely met certainly wasn't… hitting on her? She smiled politely, and fought the urge to roll her eyes. "We'll see."
It might be fun to meet someone who didn't care about her for money or fame- someone not chasing the reflections of her shining reputation. Still, he'd asked to take her out to dinner almost immediately. I might want to make friends, but I'm not that desperate. She made cautious small talk and sized him up. "Sword and shield? You're a fan of the classics then. I use them too, but I've got a couple other tricks as well."
Jaune looked genuinely impressed. "That's so cool! I've never seen so many mech-shift weapons in one place before!" Pyrrha smiled, though a hint of worry crept into her mind. He had to have seen weapons that could change forms. Even in the pre-huntsmen schools like Signal there were classes on basic weapon design, and a lot of students used those skills to create weapons that could change forms. At Beacon, there were probably more weapons that changed form than those that didn't. She carried two weapons, Miló and Akoúo̱. Akoúo̱ was a fairly simple small circular shield, but Miló could switch between sword, javelin, and rifle forms at the press of a button, though she didn't tend to broadcast that to her opponents.
She tried to shake off the bad feeling. Maybe Jaune came from a small school, or got into the final trial on raw skill instead of class transcripts. Her smile never wavered, even as the creeping doubt refused to go away, leaving a thin veneer of tarnish on her mind.
Lie Ren idly watched Pyrrha Nikos and the blonde boy as Nora cooked her second stack of pancakes. Ren wore a dark green tailcoat with gold and black lining, white pants, and black shoes. His pink eyes and single lock of pink hair stood out against black hair and an unassuming face. He said nothing as he watched them interact, waiting out Nora's hunger to devour enough pancakes for ten. He'd learned not to fight it anymore.
Nora was on the floor, stacking pancake after pancake onto a massive plate as she cooked more and more on a portable press. Where she'd even managed to find the press or an entire bag of pancake mix was beyond him. He shot Nora a tiny smile. She returned it tenfold, beaming, and bouncing up and down the whole time.
Nora was dressed in her typical, more extravagant style, with white boots, a pink skirt, and a white sleeveless shirt sporting a heart-shaped window below the neck. Atop the shirt was a black vest, her pink logo of a hammer struck by lightning emblazoned on the back. Metal framed on the front, surrounding her midsection as well as a pillar of blue enclosed by horizontal metal bands and two vertical red lines, resembling a live, possibly overloading, electrical wire. Her bright orange hair and cerulean eyes completed the look.
It fit her well, Ren mused. Overflowing with energy, difficult to truly direct or control, but possessing a rather stunning amount of power in the right circumstances. He'd always been reserved where she was outgoing, calm and contemplative where she was boisterous and impulsive. They had made it work together. They'd had no other choice. Ren frowned. His nerves felt the slightest of frays.
"Rennnnnnn, are you ok?" Nora called. Even now the girl was frighteningly attuned to his emotions. He shook away the memories. Best not to think about them here. They were at Beacon. Just one trial to go. They'd survived. They had a future ahead of them, and only one more obstacle in the way. "Yes, Nora."
The morning passed in a blur to Ruby. She'd gotten her outfit ready, had breakfast with Yang, and then worked on retooling and checking Crescent Rose for almost two hours, until Yang had barged in to drag her to the cliffs kicking and screaming. Only when they arrived did Ruby realize that Yang had gotten them there with only a few minutes until the trial started. She'd have to apologize later, once the trial was done and she'd settled down enough to hold a proper conversation.
They arrived towards the rear of the crowd of other applicants, and Headmaster Ozpin told them each to step onto a pad lining the cliff face. Ruby didn't trust it- the pad. It looked almost like a pressure plate, and the blue light patterns on it reminded her of the taser traps from some of her favorite action movies. She already felt the faint edge of disintegration in her, but she took a deep breath and halted it. She'd trained for this. She'd practiced for it a thousand times before. Make it through this last test, and maybe she'd finally be free of shaking herself apart.
She forced herself onto the pad. Ozpin might have a surprise for them, but it certainly wouldn't be dangerous.
Right?
Ozpin waited in silence for a few minutes, standing behind them all at a small podium on a portable stage overlooking the cliff. Eventually, he tapped the microphone, sipped his coffee, and spoke.
"Welcome to your final admission test. There is a ruin deep in this forest that you must reach and recover a relic from. Then you will make your way to a designated extraction point due west, marked with red smoke. I warn you: there will not be enough relics for everyone, so you need to move fast. In addition, you will work in teams of two. The first person you make eye contact with in the woods will be your teammate, and should the two of you succeed, you will remain on a team with them until the end of your time at Beacon. As for the actual challenge, we'll be sending you up against minor Grimm. They are young, weaker than many of their kind, but do not mistake that for meaning that they are harmless. I promise that they are still a credible threat. Underestimate them and you will regret it. Before that, though…" He sipped from his mug again. "You will need to devise a landing strategy."
/-/
"Landing strategy?!" said Jaune, moments before the plate under his feet sprung to life and launched him flying into the air, in a long arc over the Emerald Forest. He flapped around in panic as he approached the apex, and then began to fall quickly towards the treetops. He whipped out Crocea Mors from its sheathe and held it with both hands. This is bad. This is really bad. I'm not ready for this at all! Jaune sputtered as his mind rushed up to drown him. He watched as a tree rushed towards him, and he flipped the blade upside down as he slammed into it, impaling the blade into the side of the tree. The impact clacked his teeth together and knocked his breath out, but his quick thinking, however improvised, had prevented any serious injury. That was a miracle.
What was significantly less miraculous was his current predicament, alone in the woods hanging from a sword stuck in a tree trunk ten feet off the ground. He took a good minute to catch his breath, managing to keep his thoughts barely above water. He had to get his sword free if he wanted a chance at getting out of here. He planted his feet on the trunk and pulled as hard as he could, and the blade slid loose- and he once again found himself falling, as the only thing holding him to the tree was dislodged from it. Ah. Good one Jaune.
He fell ten feet to the ground, knocking his breath out again. "Ah-ha-how, why did I think this was a good idea?!" He stumbled to his feet. He got a good look at his surroundings for the first time. He was alone, in a small clearing, with only a vague idea of what direction the ruin was in, and couldn't see anyone near him. "Hello?" He called. "Anyone out there?" He was met with deafening silence. Jaune treaded the rising water. He looked around again, and caught the tiniest movement in a bush to his left. Then the bush growled. What? A young Beowulf leaped out of the bushes straight towards Jaune Arc.
Ruby, for all her initial misgivings, was loving the trial thus far. She'd used the massive recoil of her rifle to slow her launch through the air, and then her semblance to crash down into the forest floor. Not the most elegant landing, but it got the job done. Two little Boarbatusks decided that she looked like easy prey, and charged at her from beneath the darkness of the canopy. The first was rewarded for its efforts by a high velocity explosive sniper round to the forehead, and the second barely had time to register that it was now alone before Ruby swung her scythe from the hip and bisected it horizontally. The impact of the ground and blade through Grimm flesh was familiar, and set her quaking mostly to rest. With that, the threat was dealt with, and she moved on, due north, to the ruins.
Weiss was calmly decelerating herself with her glyphs, each one bleeding off a little more of her speed. She'd known about the nature of the trial early- an advantage of being well connected. Honestly, she was a bit disappointed by the premise. There were so many options she could've used to stop herself from a simple fall. She was… bored. How ghastly. It was because of these musings that Weiss did not notice the creature waiting in the treetops to her right. As she slowed to a near stop, it burst from the foliage and tackled her out of the air.
Ren and Nora got launched in the same direction, northwest, and Ren glanced over at his old friend as they flew through the air. He was met with her typical manic smile. He shot a small grin back, and then redirected his attention at the rapidly approaching ground. He drew his weapons, Storm & Flower, and reached out just in time to hook their blades around the trunk of a tall tree. They weren't quite as extravagant as other huntsman weapons- they were dual, low caliber, automatic pistols, with long, curved blades underneath the barrel. Ren spun around the trunk a few times, holding onto the pistols for dear life as he waited for the momentum to peter out, and then landed softly and dusted himself off.
Nora, on the other hand, had a less subtle plan. She flew towards the trunk of another tree, her hammer, Magnhild, ready for an overhead strike. She slammed the hammer into the tree and pulled the trigger, firing a grenade into it at point blank range. The blast launched her back, killing her forward momentum, and she did a backflip in the air. She landed hard, causing a small crater in the ground with the impact. Unfazed, she stepped out from the crater and shouted for Ren. She buzzed and crackled with anticipation.
She looked around her, seeing only trees, and a hillside with a cave opening. The only response to her call was a deafening roar from the mouth of the hole. Something big and angry emerged, and it extended to its full height as Nora watched. An Ursa Minor, joined by another lumbering up beside it. The larger of the two stood on its hind legs and roared again, shrieking its fury at the little human who dared to enter their home. Nora felt herself overcharging, and her only response to the challenge was a devilish smile, followed by a charge, a battle cry, and the swing of a warhammer.
Yang flew through the air, a blur of yellow hair and excited shouting. She was loving this, using her gauntlets' built-in shotguns to catapult herself deeper into the woods. She felt alive as she launched herself forward with each shell fired from Ember Celica. Locks of hair shimmered with embers as kindling caught inside of her, calling louder and louder for something to burn. She was in a world of her own, not noticing the figure in black close behind her as she finally plummeted to the ground, breaking her fall with a heavy barrel roll, and standing to shake off the dirt in the middle of a field.
Blake was not quite so overt. Her weapon, Gambol Shroud, was a unique one to be sure. One component was a cleaver blade that doubled as a sheathe for the second component, but the second component could take the form of a katana, pistol, or throwable sickle.
She'd been launched farther than Yang, and arrested her fall with her Semblance, leaving behind a shadow clone as she slammed to the ground, and simultaneously redirecting her vertical motion into forward momentum. She raced through the undergrowth like a hunter, merging in and out of the shadows as they swirled past her.
She stalked towards the expansive clearing in front of her, just as a Yang-based meteor crashed into the middle of it. She watched Yang rise, and then saw something lumbering towards her at high speed. Blake clamped down on her shadows as it charged Yang. It was a young Goliath, the elephantine Grimm blaring for bloodshed.
Jaune shrieked and raised his shield, but the block was quick and sloppy. Jaune raised his arm too high, and so the metal edge brushed against the Beowulf's fur as it lunged for his sword hand. It bit down hard. Jaune felt a piercing pain unlike anything he'd ever experienced as teeth bit into his flesh just above the wrist. The Beowulf landed on the verdant grass and pulled at his arm, still trapped in its jagged teeth. Jaune stumbled to his knees, numb with pain. He was submerged and drowning, in doubt, guilt, hatred, but most of all pain, as his breath seeped from his lungs and out his arm with his red blood, spilling into the grass and the water.
A single shot rang out, and the creature fell limp. Jaune watched, dumbfounded, as Pyrrha, clad in burnished bronze, emerged from the trees. The rest of the pack made their presence known, two Beowulves darting towards Pyrrha from the bushes. She flicked a switch, and her weapon, Miló, shifted from a rifle into a spear. She raised her shield, Akoúo̱, and made ready to kill. Jaune tried to breath, but no air came, so he desperately reached for the surface above, past all his mistakes.
The first Beowulf leapt, trying to land atop Pyrrha and pin her down. Pyrrha expertly deflected one paw with the edge of Akoúo̱, sending the claws skittering across metal, and then thrust Miló up and through the torso of the creature. It died immediately, and began dissolving into dust before Pyrrha had even pulled her weapon free. Pyrrha gleamed in bronze, and she felt like her soul was shining. Not a painful shine, but the gentle glimmer of comfort, security. Protection.
Jaune, forearm burning, stumbled to his feet as he broke the surface of his mind's ocean with a gasp. He took the sword half of Crocea Mors in his good hand. He stared at Pyrrha for just a second, sparkling as she danced death through the monsters. Something rustled behind him, and he spun, whipping the blade around with all his might. It haphazardly slit the throat of another Grimm that had hoped to ambush him. The creature tried to scream, but only made a horrid feral gurgling as it swept its claws wildly at Jaune. Jaune tried to parry with his blade, but the blows forced him back and scoured his armor with scratches that pierced no flesh but left his chest burning with pain, crying out for air.
He stumbled back and watched as the fledgling Beowulf quickly lost strength from the blood pouring out of its neck like a waterfall. Its blows began to falter. He was disgusted to find that the blood it spewed was black like tar, with the consistency of syrup. He saw his own red blood running down his arm and realized that he was bleeding out too. He was slipping back into the black water inside. He needed to finish this fast. He yelled and swept his blade up twice, as the raging beast stumbled forward, severing one arm from the Grimm with the first strike and cutting a deep diagonal rent into its chest with the second, and the thing fell dead. Jaune turned to Pyrrha.
The final young Grimm appeared from behind a tree, swiping with clawed hands, but Pyrrha stepped back and out of reach, her blade already retrieved from the decaying body of the first Grimm to challenge her. She readied her shield and waited. The monster moved in for another swipe moments later, and Pyrrha sidestepped the claws easily, then stepped forward into the beast's guard, looking calmly up at the demon towering a good foot above her as she thrust her javelin clean through its skull from below. The blade of Miló emerged from the other side, shining in the sunlight. The body slumped, and Pyrrha heaved it off of her and turned to find Jaune.
Jaune, still in severe pain and sinking, staggered towards the girl. He looked to Pyrrha, met her eyes, and choked out, in an anguished tone, "Well… I guess we're teammates now."
Pyrrha didn't respond to that, more focused on the fact that Jaune appeared to be bleeding profusely from his arm. "How did it bite you? Were you distracted? Your aura should have protected you."
Jaune hesitated. "Ah, well, about that…"
"You do know what aura is, right?" Pyrrha said with disbelief.
Jaune looked at her like she'd asked if the sky was blue. "What? No, no, of course I do! It's like a magic energy produced by the soul. It works like a force field, and we use it to power semblances, those weird, unique powers everyone has."
Pyrrha was now even more flabbergasted. "Then why didn't you use it?"
Jaune stammered. "It- it isn't unlocked."
Pyrrha's eyes widened, and she exclaimed incredulously. "What!?"
Jaune held up his hands defensively, then winced at the fire in his right arm. "It's not unlocked, okay?! I wanted to train to be a huntsman, but the only person I knew who could unlock it was my dad, and he wasn't fond of the idea of me following in his footsteps. I got into the trial on my school transcripts alone."
I can buy overprotective parents, but there's no way his transcripts should've gotten him in if he has no aura. He was surprised by mech-shift weapons earlier too. Plus, if he went to a huntsman school, how was his dad the only one able to unlock his Aura? That's a basic requirement to train Hunters. Just who are you and how did you get here, Jaune Arc?
She frowned. "We'll talk about it later, after we're out of the forest. You need healing." She placed a hand on Jaune's uninjured wrist.
He fidgeted, instincts telling him to fight against the rising tides. "Stand still."
Jaune shifted his shoulders one last time, and Pyrrha began to recite something.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."
Jaune was more than a little confused, until the last word. He felt a flare of warm, comforting energy wash across his body. The ocean in his mind subsided down to puddles on the ground. Pyrrha stepped back, and Jaune looked down at his hands. A thin yellow shimmer surrounded him, slowly fading from view. In addition, the bite mark on his wrist was sealing rapidly. After a few seconds, it had healed over entirely.
"That's your aura.", Pyrrha informed. Glancing at his wrist, and the yellow glow surrounding him, she added, "You seem to have a lot of it. We can talk about the specifics later. The most important part is focusing on your target. As long as you're paying attention to your enemy, you'll do fine." Pyrhha turned away and nibbled her lip. This could be a problem. The spot of tarnish grew.
Ruby jumped back as something slammed into the ground in front of her. On second glance, it was a Grimm ripping into Weiss Schnee, pinning her to the forest floor as Weiss flailed for room to maneuver, aura flashing white with each strike of the creature's claws. Ruby launched herself forward with a shout, and brought Crescent Rose down in an arc, sweeping towards the monster. It glanced up and threw itself back as the blade kissed its chest, leaving a thin slice that began to leak black blood. The thing snarled.
A Beowulf, Ruby saw. Notably though, not a young one. This one had significant bone armor. Not an ancient Grimm, but no baby either. In its eyes she saw a primeval hatred, but also an element of something else. There was the tiniest spark of intelligence.
Ruby fought off a shiver and launched forward, the beast dodging with a leap onto the trunk of a nearby tree. Its claws sank into the trunk, before it jumped free, lunging for Ruby's head. She spun her scythe up to block, and a strange, rotating white symbol appeared in the air in front of her.
It caught the leaping Beowulf, slowing it just enough for Ruby to bash it aside with the flat of the blade. She snuck a look to the side, and saw Weiss panting, rapier recovered as she rose to her feet. Weiss flicked her wrist and the white symbol disappeared. Weiss didn't return Ruby's glance, extending the tip of her blade towards the enemy. Ruby turned back towards the target. It stood crouched, arms wide, the razor-sharp claws waiting to bite into anything that came close.
It roared as Weiss pulled Myrtenaster's trigger. The canister of light blue Dust glowed, and four chunks of sharpened ice formed in the air, then flew towards the Beowulf. The Grimm could no longer control its bloodlust, and charged into the hail of spikes. Two deflected harmlessly off solid bone and one narrowly missed, but the fourth found purchase, piercing straight through the stomach. The creature let out a vengeful shriek, made a halfhearted lunge at Weiss, and fell halfway through into a heap on the ground, the body decaying into dust, leaving only the bone armor.
Ruby turned back to Weiss, several glyphs floating in the air from where she'd summoned the frosty projectiles. The ice dissipated as Weiss broke her focus, and subconsciously looked to the little girl in red. Ruby stared back. Weiss realized what she had done, and let out a hefty sigh. "Of all the people in this forest, I just had to get stuck with you."
Ruby started stammering out an apology immediately. "Look, I'm really sorry about the Dust thing yesterday. I wasn't paying attention and it was really stupid and I swear I'll make it up to you-"
Weiss paid Ruby's words no mind, caring little for her juvenile ramblings. She just continued her train of thought. "And your performance. I swear, you barely scratched that Beowulf, and you took your eyes off the fight to check on me."
Ruby was staring at Weiss, blinking repeatedly. "Wait, what?"
"Honestly, that technique was barely fit for a children's brawl, much less a huntress."
Ruby's lip started to curl into a snarl. "Excuse me?!"
"Your form was terrible, you weren't focused, and you let the enemy dictate the terms of engagement." Sometimes people need a little cold critique. I mean, look at her. It's a wonder she's made it this far! Weiss thought.
Ruby was by now quite animated, punctuating her words with angry pointing and then throwing her arms in the air. "I saved you! You were pinned to the ground! Did you choose that as your stupid terms of engagement?"
Weiss finally deigned to address Ruby's insolent comments, maintaining her composed, frosty façade as she stared off into the woods and began walking away. "I was caught by surprise. I would have been fine if you hadn't shown up. In fact, I'd be better off. Now I'm stuck with a brat who wants to get into Beacon early and doesn't have the skill to back it up." By the end of the statement, she was fading into the trees, and Ruby dashed to catch up.
"I tried to help you! I tried to apologize and you didn't even listen! I'm sorry for how we got off, but you don't have to be so… mean!" Weiss didn't look back until she felt a hand fall on her shoulder.
She spun to Ruby and scrunched up her nose. The comment bounced right off the ice. "Who are you to tell me what I have to do, brat?" Weiss strode into the trees again. Ruby stomped after her with a huff.
Nora slammed her warhammer, Magnhild, into the jaw of the first Ursa Minor with all her might. The skull snapped back with a hefty 'thwack'. The monster was less than pleased with this, and made to smash Nora aside with a bash from its arm. She stepped back, but not far enough, and the tips of the claws raked her front, tossing her five feet and causing her aura to sparkle angrily as she felt the force of a piston graze her torso. Power coursed through her veins, and she recovered quickly, staring down the young Ursa as it lowered to all fours. Then she remembered the second Grimm.
It barreled towards her from the right at full speed, and she flipped her hammer to bring it down on the other Ursa's spine. Her blow was stopped as the juvenile Ursa slammed into her with all 620 pounds of its crushing weight, Magnhild barely scraping the Ursa's back before it was launched from her hands. Nora snapped backwards and hit the soil hard. She was pinned to the ground, without her weapon, beneath the Ursa, and was now staring into its very unhappy face. Her aura felt ready to lash out in a blast of lightning, to fry anything and everything around her, as she grappled the beast. It roared inches from her skull. Nora roared back. The Ursa staggered to the left.
It shifted its gaze to Nora's right, and she soon saw why. A hail of small Dust rounds was pelting its' side- not enough to hurt it, not really, but enough to give her an opening. She used it to slam a foot into the side of the beast's head, directing the electricity to spring her backwards and out from under it. She landed near her weapon and swept it up from the forest floor. Nora was jubilant. "That's what you get for double teaming me, ya losers."
Lie Ren stepped from the treeline, Storm and Flower still spitting Dust as he talked. "Technically we're now doing the same thing Nora." He spared a quick glance into her eyes before refocusing his pistols and attention on the smaller of the two Ursa, which was now charging at him- past Nora.
Nora grinned. She wound up, gathered her overclocking soul into her arms, and slammed the warhammer into the small Ursa's side with all the force she could muster. "You forgot that it's Ursa season you goof." Energetic venom dripped from her words as the blow struck home, accompanied by Nora's cruel giggle.
It had the desired effect, knocking the little Ursa sideways and tumping it onto its side just long enough for Ren to dash in and plunge the blade of Storm into its neck. Ren jumped back as the dying beast spasmed. It made to stand, failed, roared, swiped at Ren, and then fell silent and still.
That still left the big one. Nora could go to town with her hammer, but she had another idea. "Stay back Renny. He and I got unfinished beatings." She sprinted back to the treeline. The Ursa made to bite her calf, but Ren dumped the rest of his magazines into its side, forcing it back just enough for her to get clear. She channeled her aura into her legs and leapt into the branches of the nearest tree, then flicked a switch on Magnhild. It morphed and shifted in her hand, until it completed its transformation into a rotary grenade launcher. Sure, it could still fire grenades in hammer form, but this was easier to aim, and could you fault a girl wanting to play with her gun?
She leveled the barrel and fired.
A 40mm Dust-infused grenade with a pink heart stenciled on the nose traveled ten meters into the face of a minor Ursa. Within a fraction of a second, the front half of the creature had ceased to be, quickly dissolving chunks of Grimm flesh raining on the ground all around them, like the very sky had deigned to smite the monster.
Nora pumped her fist in the air. "Yeah! Teach you to mess with me!" Ren rolled his eyes. What am I going to do with her?
Blake's already incredulous gaze intensified as Yang rushed the Goliath head on. Blake flipped Gambol Shroud into pistol form and started firing off rounds as she stepped into the field. She hated the open ground, but she wasn't going to let Yang kill herself so easily. Plus, if that Goliath gets angry enough, I don't think a few trees will keep it from running us down.
She watched as Yang slammed her fists into the front of the monster over and over, each blow accompanied by the twin roars of shotguns and Yang's battle cry. It was doing damage, sure, but the Goliath's hide was thick and Yang didn't seem to be hitting anything vital, just mincing flesh.
The titan flicked its head, and one of the deadly tusks grazed Yang's back and shoved her away. The yellow brawler stepped to rush back in, and Blake desperately split Gambol Shroud in two, shackled her shadowy aura to her hands, and launched the sickle to the girl. She yanked the accompanying ribbon tight with the other hand, tugging the fabric around Yang's waist and dragging the blonde just out of the path of the Goliath's earthshaking charge.
Yang shot a dirty look back at Blake, apparently angry that she'd been kept from taking an animal weighing roughly six tons to the face. Blake called out. "If you keep trying that, it's going to crush you to death."
Yang rolled her eyes, unwrapped the ribbon from her body, and then leapt toward the beast, slamming a fist into its side as hard as she could. A chunk of flesh was torn asunder, the wound left smoking, but the animal turned far faster than Yang expected, This time ramming a tusk into Yang's gut. Yang's aura lit up like a Christmas tree, flaring orange and yellow. Yang didn't go flying, standing her ground and taking the hit, but she made an odd ragged gasp that Blake knew well- the sound of breath being forced from her lungs. Yang stumbled to one knee, and Blake pulled her weapon back to her and rushed forward. This is a terrible idea.
She roared, hoping to draw the beast's attention. She charged across the field and plunged both blades into its opposite flank as the creature stepped towards Yang. Blake wrenched the weapons free and threw herself backwards as the creature spun to face her, narrowly dodging the brutal horns.
Yang stumbled to her feet. "Alright emo girl. What's the plan? I got one chance to bring this thing down." Blake couldn't believe it. Her impression yesterday was correct. Even when she was barely standing, wheezing every other word, Yang still couldn't resist name calling.
Blake put it out of her head. "You're confident you can take it out?" Blake called, backing up and drawing on her shadows as she narrowly dodged a second and third swipe of the tusks, dancing out of the path of the monstrosity, slowly losing ground as it closed in on her.
Yang shot back a grin, and her hair glowed faintly. "Oh yeah. Just get me a clear shot."
Blake didn't have the luxury to be hesitant. "Alright. I'm gonna try to keep it still. Be ready to move." Blake pondered how insane the move she was about to make was quickly, before deciding that they really had no other options. She tossed the ribboned half of Gambol Shroud at the Goliath's massive foot and yanked it taut, embedding the sickle blade into the animal's ankle, then pulled with all her might, channeling her darkness for one monumental gamble. The Goliath stumbled for just a moment.
"Now!" Blake yelled.
Yang leapt into the air and came down like a falling star, eyes flashing ruby red and hair lit by a brilliant yellow inferno that didn't touch her, but immolated the skin of the giant monster. Her fist came down, and there was a tremendous snap like the sound of a tree cracking in half. Blake watched, and did a double take, processing what had happened in front of her.
The Goliath's head fell from its body, severed from the torso by the force of the punch, smoking with the embers of Yang's fire. The rest of the body fell to the ground, and Yang climbed atop the disintegrating corpse, beaming. "They weren't kidding when they said the parties at Beacon were wild."
Blake stared at the girl, silent, and then turned and began walking towards the center of the arena.
Yang pouted playfully. "I thought that was a good one."
/-/
Ren quickly picked a path through the trees as Nora tailed. She chafed at the stealth, but she'd gotten used to its necessity in their years of travel. She pouted silently, wishing for something to hit. Just like that, they had snaked their way through the forest, and a ruin stood in front of them. By the looks of it, an ancient amphitheater. Columns rose to the sky, but if a roof ever sat atop them, it was long gone, leaving the chipped and lonely pillars to stand free, a few having collapsed in this place's long isolation. There were crumbling stones that might have once been benches leading down to a cracked stone floor with the center mostly intact. Sitting on the intact stone was a ring of chess pieces on little pedestals. Nora whooped, rushing down to take a white rook. "Yeah! I'm queen of the castle!"
Ren slipped in beside her. "This isn't a castle."
Nora pointed at him dramatically as she spoke. "You dare besmirch the dwelling of the queen? Off with your head!" She swung her hammer lightly at Ren, nothing more than a love tap. He surprised her by stopping it with his palm, as he looked off into the woods. Then she heard what he had. Something rustling the bushes, snapping sticks, and generally making a lot of noise.
The two moved close and aimed at the treeline. The noises continued, moving closer slowly. Nora was considering just ripping a grenade into the forest for the hell of it when they saw two people step clear of the woods.
Pyrrha Nikos and the blonde boy from the bunkrooms. They lowered their weapons as the two approached. Nora turned at the sound of even more voices from the left.
"I have every right to be adversarial when you shouldn't even be here, girl." That would be the Schnee brat.
As Weiss entered the ruins, Nora saw a little girl in red on Schnee's tail. "You're like, two years older than me!"
Weiss was unperturbed by the factoid. "Quite. I dread to think what the normal kids in Vale are like if you're considered worthy to be a huntress."
Pyrrha had, by now, entered the amphitheater and grabbed a different white rook from one of the pedestals, and was staring, eyes narrowed, at the heiress. Everyone's eyes then snapped skyward as something flew towards the building. Yang landed hard in the center of the floor, punching the ground and cracking the stone. "Beat'cha Blake."
Blake stepped from the foliage, where no one had even noticed her in the ruckus. "I wasn't racing. I was watching them discretely, but there's no point now." The girl stalked towards her teammate as Yang grabbed a black knight, and Ruby bolted up to the pedestals and grabbed the other black knight immediately. No further students approached, and the eight trainees sized each other up.
Yang broke the silence. "Well, we've all got our pieces. What now?"
Pyrrha shrugged. "We start making our way west to the extraction point."
Jaune spoke up next. "That's our ticket out, right? Come on Pyrrha."
Pyrrha turned towards Jaune, but was interrupted by a shout from Ruby. "Wait! We've all got our pieces already. There's no need for us to compete, and there might be other Grimm out there. Why don't we travel together?"
Jaune pondered the question, then shrugged. "Sure, why not."
Ren and Nora looked to each other and nodded.
"I'm all for it sis!" belted Yang.
Blake stood in the corner, arms crossed, bouncing up and down on her heels, but when the group began to move, she sighed quietly and followed, as did Weiss, grumbling. "Sure, listen to the child before I get to speak. These people."
They walked in no real formation, flowing through the tree trunks towards the red smoke in the western sky. Ren and Nora quipped, and Ruby and Yang got along famously as always, telling each other about the Grimm they'd fought. They got a bit competitive, Yang trying to claim that Ruby got no credit for the Beowulf and that a young Goliath outweighed two minor Boarbatusks, while Ruby said that Yang got half points for the Goliath because she needed Blake's help to kill it.
Pyrrha was patiently dissuading Weiss' attempts at flattery, and Blake and Jaune just walked in silence, too uncomfortable to join in. The group continued peacefully for a while, slowly making progress through the trees. Blake guessed it had to have been about an hour since they were dropped into the forest, and about thirty minutes had passed since they left the ruins. If the ruin was truly in the dead center of the forest, their extraction must be near the very edge, on the beaches.
After a few more minutes, the group came to another clearing. In it stood a massive ruin, a multi-story crumbling tower rising from a pit they couldn't see the bottom of, connected to the surrounding land by ancient stone bridges. The group stepped forward, marveling at the giant relic of the past. Pyrrha was the first to snap out of it, as a faint sound of shifting wind reached her ears. Or was it- flapping? She turned around, and yelled out as she saw something large and black, with hateful red eyes loosing a hail of spikes towards the group. "Grimm!"
Two Nevermores of massive size spat death at the trainees. They only needed a glance to tell that these were also mature Grimm, much of their bodies hardened and protected by bony plate. Pyrrha and Jaune took up the rear with their shields as the group raced forwards across the stone bridge. One of the birds swooped in low, forcing Ren and Nora to fall back as it tried to knock them from the bridge with its body. The second landed on the decrepit stone- and promptly took off again, nearly slipping as the middle of the bridge collapsed under its weight. The first released another flurry of pinions at Ruby's group, pinning them behind cover- on the other side of the bridge. Has to be a fight then. Jaune braced his shield as Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora drew their firearms. The second Nevermore dove for them, and they started shooting.
Ren and Pyrrha's shots barely seemed to bother it, while Nora's grenades were visibly chipping through its feathers. What is it made of that a Dust bomb only chips it?! Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora dove to the ground. Jaune just stood there. Like an idiot, he thought, as he raised his sword and plunged it into the raven's chest. It didn't sink nearly as far as he'd hoped, barely piercing the flesh. "Uh oh."
One of the talons tore across his front, his aura blocking the physical damage but doing little for the pain of getting ripped into by claws the size of his leg. He was tossed back and to the ground, and the water came rushing back into his mind, rising fast. Pyrrha fired rapidly, and two of Nora's grenades slammed into the mockery of a raven. The bird glared murderously at Jaune, then rose into the air and fired off another brace of spines. Pyrrha slipped away from most of the quills, deflecting an errant few. Jaune's larger shield allowed him to block most of the spikes that came his way, even as he scrambled to get upright. Ren and Nora took several hits, defenseless against the projectile assault. The bird swooped down again, going for Ren.
The boy narrowly dodged- or, more accurately, the Grimm missed him. Jaune watched as Ren's grimace turned to a calm expression, and he dove out of the Grimm's path. It was long in advance, easily long enough for the Grimm to notice, but it didn't seem to. Instead it kept going in a straight line, missing Ren entirely, and letting out a confused squawk that would've been funny if it didn't come from a demon. "Semblance." Ren explained calmly. "I can mask emotions, making people temporarily invisible to the Grimm." He didn't stop firing for a second as he shouted the explanation in a dull monotone.
The Grimm returned to the air, seemingly unable to locate them, as Jaune felt an odd sense of relaxation wash over him. Ren's semblance calmed his mind, and the mental ocean began to drain. "We need a plan." Jaune said. "Anyone got an idea to get that thing out of the sky?" "I'VE got an idea!" Nora shouted.
Clearly Ren wasn't muting Nora's excitement- or he simply couldn't.
Nora yelled across the chasm to Ruby's group. "Hey Schnee, ya got any of that yellow zappy Dust?"
Weiss turned to her, narrowing her eyes. "Yes. May I ask why?"
"Just toss it here." Nora thumped her chest.
Weiss hesitated. "Come on, don't you trust me?", Nora whined. Weiss reluctantly tossed a vial of yellow Dust across, and turned back to her team.
Nora caught it easily and threw herself backwards into a cartwheel to escape the gaping maw of the Nevermore bearing down on her. Pyrrha and Jaune watched in semblance-muted horror as Nora stuck the landing, then took the vial, tossed it on the ground, and stomped on the extremely volatile electricity Dust.
A small storm of lightning exploded around her, and Jaune reached out, about to scream- when he saw the sparks dissipate, with Nora standing there unharmed. She grinned, eyes wide as can be, and now he could see the pink electricity flowing across her body.
She leapt into the air towards the Nevermore, easily covering seven meters as she arced up and brought her hammer down on the Grimm's wing. Jaune had to look away as a massive pink explosion bloomed bright, and turned back to see the Nevermore plunging towards him, one wing visibly shattered and useless, and Nora falling towards the edge of the pit.
Ren sprinted towards Nora's falling body, and Jaune felt the calming blanket of Ren's semblance vanish. He had more imminent things to worry about however, as the falling creature made to swallow him whole. Jaune raised his shield and felt a jaw like a massive vice clamp down on him, doing his best to pump his newfound aura into his legs and arms to keep from being crushed. It felt like his bones were bending, and the pressure was only building. Jaune wondered if this was what a hydraulic press felt like. The ocean was cascading all around him, and he was drowning, sinking, his mind screaming to fight, to live. He panted as his knees shivered once, twice, and then began to bend, the force building even further. He was going to be crushed alive.
Then, the jaws loosened. Not questioning why, Jaune dove out of the giant beak to see Pyrrha's weapon, in spear form, jutting from a now dim red eye of the broken bird. It stepped forward shakily, then screeched up into the sky. Jaune stumbled as the ground shook under its approaching footsteps. He heard Pyrrha firing her rifle, her weapon somehow back in her hands, as the horrific raven bore down on him. Jaune broke the surface, gasping. He took a crazy, stupid chance and leapt for the Nevermore's head, clamping one hand down on a jutting spire of bone. The beast shook its head rapidly, desperate to throw him free. Now his hand gripped like a vise, boosted by his depleting aura. Come on, I just need to hang in there a little longer! His grip held. The Nevermore stopped shaking for a second. Jaune plunged his blade into the wounded eye. The creature shrieked and tossed its head back, and Jaune was thrown onto the spine of the beast.
The Nevermore made to spin its head and bite him in half, but it was shocked to find Jaune standing firm. The beak clamped down, but the bloodthirsty Grimm had made a mistake. It had bitten down on Jaune's shield. The shield half of Crocea Mors was ancient, but it was also a masterfully crafted and lovingly maintained piece of wargear. It didn't buckle, even under the bite of a mature Grimm. The Nevermore loosened its jaw, coming in for another bite. Jaune thrust his blade forward and felt it sink into softer flesh, as his sword arm went through the mouth of the Grimm, and the blade of Crocea Mors pierced wherever the brainpan should be on the wretched creature. It made one tiny squawk, and then collapsed and began to disintegrate, casting Jaune onto the forest floor in a heap. He stood slowly, and saw the bird decaying. He stood in silence for a moment, and then began to laugh uncontrollably as he somehow survived the storm. He buried his face in his hands to hide the tears that came between laughter.
Ren hauled Nora up by the hammer she'd dug into the face of the cliff, stupefied by her happy smile even as she hung inches from a drop that meant certain death. Once she was safe on the cliff top, he gave her a quick hug, then looked into her eyes with concern. "Don't ever try something like that again." Nora seemed not to have a care in the world, as her only response was to poke Ren in the nose. "Boop."
/-/
Yang screamed in exasperation as the bridge between the two groups of trainees collapsed. "I have not come this far to get beaten by an overgrown chicken!"
Ruby reached for Yang, but her sister leapt from the wall as soon as the pinions stopped flying, launching herself straight for the Nevermore's head. Ruby's hand fell, and she looked to Weiss, mind racing. "Crap. Alright, I'm gonna get ready to save my sister. When I say so Weiss, I want you to use your little speed glyph thingies and launch the Nevermore into the top of the tower and then the cliff wall." She pointed behind her at the sheer rock face on the western edge of the chasm, not far from the rising red smoke of the extraction point. Weiss nodded as Ruby faced the demonic bird.
Meanwhile, Yang was hammering into the Nevermore's neck as she clung to its feathers. Jaune's group fired up into their enemy behind her, the explosions telling her that at least Nora was having fun. She slammed punch after punch, shell after shell into the throat, and it slowly began to weaken, rock-hard feathers snapping off under the onslaught of jackhammer blows. She felt the beast shake, and saw Ruby firing her rifle, sniper rounds punching into the bird all along its underside.
Yang grinned wider, and leapt forward as the Nevermore made to roll over and toss her free. She flew back to the ruins with a smile, until the talons of the Nevermore clipped her calf and sent her spinning into the wall. Yellow aura flashed, and Yang hauled herself back up, coughing. "I don't like this one. He's too… flighty."
Ruby stared at her sister in disbelief before turning to Weiss and Blake. Weiss flicked a vial of something over the chasm to Nora. "Now!" she cried.
Weiss turned back, and cast her glyphs on the monster as it dove for Yang, accelerating it towards the stone walls of the higher floors of the tower. It realized what was happening quickly, and began to pull up. It was going to dodge the glyphs. It rose slowly, punching through one glyph after another until it rose just above the edge of the final symbol- until it was yanked back down. Blake had tossed Gambol Shroud and wrapped it around the Nevermore's ankle, tugging down just enough to pull the creature back into the trap.
Before it even hit the last symbol, the Nevermore shook off Blake's weapon, but that didn't matter now. She'd stopped it from escaping. Ruby turned into a blur of red and shot like a lightning bolt to the other side of the ruin, and then straight up into the air as the Nevermore came crashing through the stonework, showering her with debris. She hooked Crescent Rose around its neck and fired, hoping the recoil would sever the neck that Yang's fists and a direct collision with a building had weakened.
It did not.
Instead, she and the bird rocketed towards the cliff face. She yelled out to Weiss. "Glyphs!"
The girl got the message, and a series of glyphs appeared on the vertical rock. Ruby hit the wall, and then began running up the sheer rock. Weiss' glyphs anchored her as she sprinted up the side, firing her weapon and using her semblance to boost her speed, boost the force behind the blade as the Nevermore flailed angrily. The blade sunk deeper into the neck, an inch, two inches. Still not enough. She forced down the violent shivers that threatened to overtake her. Ruby approached the top of the cliff, and came up with one last idea.
She leapt for the cliff's flat top, wrenching the blade as hard as she could, with her full semblance, body weight, speed, and Weiss' glyphs all lending their force to it. It was like sawing through steel, the blade moving at a crawl. She threw everything she had behind the blade, the resistance so extreme that she imagined herself turning to dust before the cut could be made. She fired the rifle once in midair. The blade bit deeper. Twice. That was almost the artery. Probably. A third shot to be sure. A fourth. On the fifth shot, the blade finally severed the Nevermore's head from its body. Crescent Rose dripped black blood as the head fell beside Ruby and the torso slumped into the pit below the tower. She panted, turned to her teammates below, and planted the blade of her scythe in the dirt of the clifftop as her cloak fluttered in the breeze.
/-/
Ozpin sipped from his coffee as he watched the fight unfold from hidden cameras. He maintained a calm expression despite the worries rushing through his mind. He had not lied. There were supposed to be no mature Grimm in the forest for this trial. The ruins had proved mostly safe before this, and Port and Oobleck had been as thorough as ever in their a Beowulf had slipped past was not unheard of. Two Nevermore going unnoticed was highly concerning, something he hesitated to write off. Both of these, alongside the mature Deathstalker and pack of mature Boarbatusks other trainees had faced? It could not be coincidental.
If there was one saving grace, it was how well the trainees had held up to the challenge- especially Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose. This would certainly be an interesting year.
Teams RWBY and JNPR get their first impressions and first fights together. This is the second version of this chapter, so I'd like to know what you think. I'm really excited to watch this story develop. Thanks for reading, and comments and critiques are very welcome!