LXXIV - Scoring

~~~(LXXIV)~~~

Oxon breathed in the chilly air as he descended through the sky. There were few clouds as far as he could see, but the weather here wasn't exactly predictable. He put that out of his mind as focused inward and closed his eyes. It felt good to be out of the academy. Incredibly good.

The few seconds of relaxation had to of course end. It would be a poor idea to have his eyes closed the whole time. "Let's see what we're working with." Opening his eyes, he saw he was probably a few seconds from impact. Cracking his neck, Oxon positioned his legs below him in preparation for the landing. At mere feet above the icy land, he flooded his body with aura.

Like a great pine, his impact shattered the ground below him with a spiderweb of cracks spreading out through the glacial ice. A great plume of loose snow blasted out and up from his strike on the ground. His semblance tanked the impact to his legs and spine, and only a little more was used to prevent injury.

In quick manner, Oxon brought out Bulls Breath in the case of unseen Grimm. Solitas Grimm could be hiding in the snow. When none showed, he sent a message to the team that the landing zone appeared clear. With no threat observed, he stowed his main weapon on his back, it was a crowded area due to the mid sized pack he wore. He'd loaded up on supplies in case the weather shifted and they needed to hunker down for a few days. The weight wasn't bad, but it wasn't fun.

Stretching his back and checking his scroll, he saw he was at ninety two percent. The dent wasn't worrying, he'd get that back during the hike. He was warned about the frigid air that could drain his aura, but it seemed like the gear he borrowed came with heating. He was against it at first, he came from this climate after all. He almost left without the thermal later, but Weiss, Blake, and Ruby gently persuaded him to reconsider.

Sucking in a breath of Sub-Zero air hurt his lungs and stung his eyes. After his days in the Vale heat so long ago, as well as the moderate cold that was the Anima winter, he finally felt home. Though he'd admit, Solitas was a good bit colder. He was thankful to have taken the girl's advice, as much as it hurt his cold-weather-lovig pride to need external means of warmth. Seeing that he was well ahead of the four, he felt like he could take off his helmet safely.

Undoing the strap under his jaw, Oxon removed the stuffy thing and shook his head; his shoulder length hair began to blow behind him as he faced the wind. His face began to sting at the cold gusts that were full of ice and snow particles. He didn't dislike the feeling.

Around him was a desolate and frozen land. Great dunes of snow rose like hills all around him. Sharp blue boulders of ice poked out here and there, some as big as small buildings. The temperature may have been reminiscent of his home in winter. But there were no trees. No towering pines with boughs bent by titanic snowfall. It wasn't the same, but it was similar enough to pretend.

Oxon took another deep breath of the frigid air as he waited for the students to land. From what he was told by Teams RWBY and JNPR, landing strategy was one of the first things taught at prep schools. Hot-dropping into hostile environments was a simple day at work for a huntsman. He'd done it himself, but he wasn't exactly the creative type and simple tactics have worked so far.

"Wooooooo!"

And here they come.

Oxon quickly put his helmet back in place and opened his eyes to look skyward. What he saw was impressive as it was surprising. The oddest sight was that the parka girl, the one that seemed fairly rational, was diving headfirst toward the ground. The others used classic techniques to control and slow their fall, but she was dropping like a widowmaker in a storm. She must have a special plan if she doesn't see it as dangerous. For now, he'd just have to watch.

The polar opposite of her, the lone boy of the team seemed to have spread his limbs out and was controlling his fall quite well. He seemed to be following the girl going near terminal velocity. Further up, the robed girl and the faunus girl seemed to have a similar descent plan as he had.

Back to little miss reckless, he watched with interest as the fluffy meteor crashed into one of the larger snow dunes. Unlike him, there was no plume of snow bursting upward when she landed, which was curious. It was also eerily silent and he lost sight of her immediately. She had looked in control, but he had no way of knowing if her plan panned out. The lack of screams was not quite worrying but not quite comforting either.

Ironwood is gonna kill me if I let one of his die out here.

Oxon looked to the side at the eyebot or whatever it was called. He didn't know if anyone could hear him on the other side, but it didn't hurt to try. "Not my fault, I can't fly. Unless this is normal for her?" Thinking about his provisions, he knew had a medical emergency kit, but an impact at terminal velocity tended to do just a bit more damage than he could fix with gauze and sutures.

To his immense relief, he began hearing noise from near him. It was in the direction of the fallen girl. To be cautious, his right hand fell to Patris and cocked the hammer back. It it was a Grimm, he'd blast it and rush over to the girl's landing site. He didn't need to worry as the bundled girl burst through the snow bank with a gasp and quickly got out away from the exit. He lowered the hammer and let the tension leave him.

He didn't get someone killed in the first ten minutes! He thanked the gods for small mercies, even if he knew how useless as they apparently were.

She turned to the sky and shouted with a thumbs up. "Ramp's clear!" Immediately there was a change in gunner boy's aerial posture. The large item he'd seen from the meeting and the ride over, some sort of gun, appeared from the boy's back and was fired upward. The ballistic weapon changed from a controlled fall to one resembling the girl who stood in front of Oxon used.

As the kid neared the ground, the weapon moved under the boy's feet, looking like it changed shapes as well. As he disappeared into the same area the girl had. From the exit hole, echoes of joyful yells rang out.

Is he sliding down?

The answer was immediate. With a spray of powder, the teen rocketed over the two with a howl. Oxon saw what happened, the rifle of sorts has a second form, and not exactly a combat based one.

"A snowboard, huh?"

"Donovan is a bit of a powderhead." The short one, Trudy, said. Seeing his confused posture, she explained. "When I was dropping, I saw a little crack in the ice on that dune, when I hit it, I found a tunnel had formed inside from the wind. Altering the terrain was a simple thing, creating the exit was a bit troublesome, but it worked out in the end."

It did indeed, Donovan also seemed to approve if the boy's grin was anything to go by "Alrighty then." Moving on from the high speed entrance, he looked back up to the other girls just in time to see their imminent arrival.

The curious faunus girl used a rather abrupt means of descent. Perhaps only twenty feet above the ground, the girl made her move. In a moment, great blue shapes burst out the back of the cloak, revealing two very much expected limbs. "Called it." The blue wings expanded to an intimidating width each was about as long as he was tall and halted her momentum in its entirety. With a few slow flaps, the girl landed gracefully on the ground before retracting the wings back under the cloak. He did get a glimpse of some decent armor beneath it.

"Just waiting on boss lady now." Donovan, casually said as he walked back to the group from where his entrance landed him.

For the girl in black, there was a sort of shimmering of light surrounding her form. Looking closer and seeing the rustling clothes, he realized it was wind. So the girl was using wind pressure to slow her fall. Whether it was a semblance or something else, he'd need to ask.

In comparison to the others, it was a much more graceful touchdown; even if it kicked up snow into his face. The blue haired girl gave Oxon a salute. "Team BLBD all present and accounted for! We are ready to begin the mission." A raised eyebrow was hidden by his mask. Mentally shaking his head, he gave the girl a thumbs up.

He wasn't Ruby, so he didn't have some inspiring speech or words of encouragement to share. Still, he had to say something. "Well, you didn't die on impact, so let's go." He knew it was shit, they knew it was shit, but he pushed past his embarrassment and turned around to avoid seen their reactions. He waved the others to follow him as he pulled out a compass and began walking east. He heard the others fall in line behind him along with the bot hovering near his head.

The thing has dropped at some point when he wasn't paying attention to it. It was a creepy thing. But as long as it showed the general and his men that he wasn't about to let them down, he'd accept it. A pensive voice peeped up as he started into its camera lens.

"How was the landing, Mr. Burgundy?" The leader of the team, Blaise, quickened her pace to walk beside him. "Like, on a scale of one to one hundred? How was it?"

On his other side, the girl named Trudy appeared. "Or even one to ten if you want."

"You want me to grade your landing?" The two girls nodded. "Do I have to?"

"I know that this is just a mission for you, sir, but for us, we are being evaluated on how we perform in the field as future specialists. Training like this is what makes student teams into elite units, so we need to know what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong. Most huntsmen or specialists observe teams and deliver a report to the faculty on how we did." He knew that, he did that back in Vale. He glanced at the bot, hoping to get a hint at if he really was supposed to grade them. It was silent. "So, how'd we do?"

Resisting the urge to rub his temples, he looked at her. "I want to start by saying that I'm no teacher, and I wasn't the best in certain subjects. Though as far as I can see? You did four alright. Almost all of you were able to land in a way that would not alert any nearby Grimm to our position. Yours and Delaney's were particularly good; very little sound created that would hardly travel in this sort of environment." The girl looked very happy at his praise for her work.

He looked over to the girl by his other shoulder. "Snow Puft, your landing was good as well, not exactly something I would really expect or want to experience myself by any means, but it was quiet and aided your teammate by giving him an easier landing. Bonus points for that." His eyes slid over to the last of them.

"Donovan, you could use some improvement."

"Yeah?" He seems confused about being singled out. "I mean, what did I do wrong, sir?"

"First, no more calling me sir, and no more salutes; just call me Burgundy, or Tim." He'd shave Yang for telling the general that was to be his alias. She never admitted to it, but he knew it was her. Oh he knew, vengeance would be equal. Moving past his plotting, Oxon looked back towards the front to ensure he could properly navigate the ice boulders and snowpack. "Second, the use of your gun was loud, even when muffled by the snow around us. This is an expedition in Grimm held land, an expedition to investigate unusual gathering behavior. We're lucky your shot didn't bring any of said Grimm in. And I don't think I need to explain why yelling at the top of your lungs during a stealth landing was just as bad."

"Right…" the guy looked bummed. He'd just praised his teammates yet had only been critical of him. He'd need to lighten things up.

Oxon shrugged. "Look, it wasn't awful, compared to my more caveman landing, it used less aura and was an actual strategy. I give y'all a eighty nine. You four have lots of time to get better, so don't worry too much." They were clearly competent, and he knew they'd go far. Just a bit of experience and polish was all they need.

"A B+? I'm good with that."

"Speaking of landings, what was with yours? You slugged a specialist and then took a casual stroll off the ramp!" The ginger girl was gesturing between him and the general direction the Manta flew off in. "Who does that? Why'd she agree?"

Ah right, he'd powered up his semblance with help from the buff specialist. She'd thought he was joking when he first broached the question, she then laughed like mad when she realized he was serious. He was glad she'd agreed, otherwise he'd have been forced to think of a real strategy.

"I get a boost from landing blows on people, so Ms. Ederne volunteered when I explained my semblance to her this morning. Normally I just hit blondes." He grinned at the shocked expressions and increased questions about his methods. "A certain few blonde allies of mine aren't fazed by a punch or two. One of them even prefers I hit her, it's a symbiotic relationship or something."

"What..?"

"It's also not important to the job we're on. But what is, is the way Bluey and Orange use their semblances and how they fight." He turned to the girl at his right first. It honestly looked similar to a maidens power, something that concerned him. "I saw a bit of it, some air based semblance? What do you use for weapons?"

He didn't see any on her person, and unless they were hidden like Ren used to do, she appeared unarmed.

"You're kinda close, but not quite." The girl pulled out a pebble sized lightning dust crystal. The fingertips of her left hand glowed a gentle Purple before morphing into an energetic yellow. Placing the stone back in her pouch with her right, she pointed at a nearby block of ice before a bolt of lightning struck out, blasting it apart. "I can absorb energy from dust into my aura and use it in offensive and defensive forms. Burn, shock, water, wind, even hard light. I can do anything I need to. For CQC, I have a collapsible staff in my robes."

"She's a regular Dust Mage, this one is. I swear she used to chant spells during back in the prep school." The blue haired girl blushed at both the praise and mortification at the teasing from the winged girl. "As for me, I can enhance parts of myself with my semblance, mostly it's my wings, eyes, or arms for different scenarios. But not all at once, it gets painful if I do my whole body. For example, normally all I can do is glide on my wings if they're not enhanced."

To emphasize it, the blue wings appeared once more, but they looked to be half the length they were when he first saw them. "As for a weapon, it would have to be Sky-Holder here. It's my precious ally in combat." Out of the cloak came a medium sized hatchet and it was slightly bigger than New Leaf. It had a ball of it at its base with multiple feathers hanging from the end. It did not stay that way for long. With the flip of a switch, the hatchet extended while the head morphed into a long point. It became a spear that was segmented by now four rings of fur and feathers. It was damn beautiful.

"As for how I fight, I'll let you try and figure that out." She stuck out her tongue and smirked at him. "You're an observant guy after all, right? Shouldn't be too hard I bet."

"Sure." Moving past her challenge with a sigh, he motioned for them to walk ahead of him. Once they were in front he motioned for them to keep going. "If you want me to give the general a report on your actions, I'll need to see what you do. Be warned, I've seen more than a few different teams in action. So impress me, yeah?"

~~~(LXXIV)~~~

It had taken a few hours to traverse the miles of tundra to reach the center of the odd gathering point. Unnervingly, they never ran into a single Grimm. Oxon counted his blessings for the unimpeded trek as the less issues he had today, the better. As expected of a team hand picked by Ironwood, the team moved through the tundra expertly. The scouting done by the occasional upward flight from Delaney every twenty minutes gave them an idea on the Grimm population.

It was unnerving how few she spotted.

Trudy, the pick-hoe wielding girl was an expert in clearing or navigating around what might have been impassable terrain. It seemed like her pick -which he was told was named Miochin- could extend, and with help if burn dust, melt any ice it met.

The other two hung in the center, each watching over their respective partners. Blaise had asked Oxon to be their rear guard since he held back to observe. He'd been doing so already so it had been an easy yes.

They were a mere quarter mile from where the center of the now dissipated gathering was. They would need to look for clues, which meant splitting into groups. He didn't want to leave them on their own in small groups in case anything happened, but if they moved as one, it might get dark before they find what they need.

If he was honest, unless he saw some strange person skulking around the area, he doubted he'd find anything of substance.

Whistling at the four got them to halt and turn to him. "From here on out, we'll be having a change in formation. There's a whole three square miles that we need to go over with a fine rake. If there's any evidence to be found, we need to find it." He looked at the four as scenarios and surprise events went through his mind. He needed at least one person to help him search. Also, leaving three of the students together seemed safest in case this was a plot by Salem.

Oxon himself was an all rounder when it came to combat; range, mele, and defense were skills he was confident in. So he just needed one of the less crucial kids. Donovan and Trudy were out since they specialized in long and short range respectfully. Blaise would be of more use in her leadership role instead of following him. Which only left the skyward scout.

"Orange, you're with me." He got a, well, squawk of surprise from the feathered faunus. Ignoring her, he pulled out a map of the area, the search zone being a large red circle drawn on it. "The rest of you take the southern half of the area while we investigate the north. I know I've been like a broken record, but I need you to maintain the highest level of caution possible. We don't know what is out here, it could be nothing, but it could very well be something we haven't seen before."

"Of course, General Ironwood has put his faith in us, we will not fail." Donovan patted his teammates on the back and gave Oxon a firm look. "If we run into any trouble, Blaise'll send a lightning bolt skyward. Well hold out for you to reinforce us in the eventuality. We still can use our scroll's locally, so we should check in periodically."

It was a great plan, praiseworthy. It seemed that while they may be outgoing and kind kids, they were good at the job too. Ironwood would be happy.

"Good, A+ to you." The boy grinned at that. Oxon pulled a small orange gun out of his pack and secured it on his sash belt. "We will have a flare gun in case it is us that ends up finding something."

Oxon glanced at the observation bot that continuously hovered near him. The general probably won't like him telling them about Salem and the threat of her minions. But still, he needed to give them some warning. The three were already beginning to move out when he called out to them. "If you see anyone out there, retreat and call for backup immediately, I don't care if they look nice, injured, or attack you; you will retreat and let me deal with them. No exceptions. If you don't, I'll fail you then and there and then swat your head."

The bundled girl spoke, confusion clear in her voice. "Why would there be anyone else here? This was a Grimm horde's camp for a week until last night."

"It's not something I can say." He cut off the vocal complaints with a raised hand. "And yes, I realize that saying that means nothing nor do I expect you to accept it, but it's not something I can say. It's not my decision to keep you in the dark from potentially helpful information, but I can't go against orders."

"Fine." It clearly wasn't. "But why are you the one that will deal with them? Why can't we, a full team,

"Because if it's those animals, then let's just say you'd no longer have to worry about grades." The deadly insinuation made them flinch back. "As for me? I've subdued a few beasts in my day."

With that, the two groups split up. Oxon and Delaney searched north while Blaise, Donovan, and Trudy went south.

~~~(LXXIV)~~~

"Kid, you see anything over there?" Delaney looked down from her perch on a high ledge. Their observer, Burgundy, stood below with his face towards her. She shifted her aura and semblance to her eyes to get a better look at him. Unlike before during the walk, he had his weapon out and ready. It was a simple enough looking piece of equipment, but there were subtle clues that betrayed some sort of… something… about him. But she'd have to worry about that later.

"There's a gathering of Grimm roughly half a mile northwest of our position. They haven't noticed us yet, but it's odd that they're just milling about." Unfurling her wings, she glided down to his position. "Trudy just messaged me that they found a cave or something nearby, it's maybe a quarter a mile away at most, and went to investigate. She thinks their signal is gonna be spotty for a while."

The guy grunted in acceptance. "Message her back that we may have found something, but that they should still search the area they are in. We can hope they can link up with us before we're spotted, but we can't waste time waiting." Without waiting for a response from her, or even for her to finish sending the message, he began walking in the direction of the Grimm.

The guy was oddly driven. She understood the importance of seeing what has been causing the recent incursions, but his attitude seemed different than theirs. It felt more desperate. After sending the message, she jogged to catch up with him.

"So, you gonna fill me in on what's going on?" She saw his eyes shift to look at her momentarily before pressing on while saying she already knew enough. A sentiment she disagreed with. "The others are either too polite or quiet to push, but I'm not. You and General Ironwood clearly expect something more to be going on. Why else would you warn us about the possibility of non-Grimm threats?"

"Never believe you'll always know what'll be out here, Remnant's a dangerous world." She saw his fingers ghost against the grip of the revolver on his left hip in an unconscious manner. "It's best you always prepare for anything."

"Can you tell me some if the "anything" that you've seen?" It wasn't as subtle as it could be. But subtle wasn't working. "Might as well tell a tale of your adventures to sn impressionable young student."

To her surprise, that actually got a laugh from him. Though not a gentle one.

"I've seen a fair bit. Strange semblances, stranger people, and done a few interesting things."

"Like.?"

"Well, I used to have a pet bull." That, was something. "Big gray grump with eyes like sapphires. He and I were as close as could be, and he saved my life from a Grimm once, gave the guy all the apples I could buy. Though I did forget about my own meals for that week."

"And how about fights? Any cool brawls?" As riveting as the childhood pet story was, she wanted a peek at what kind of huntsman he was. Even if he said he wasn't one. "I bet you've had some good ones?"

Perhaps not the best topic, as she saw his hands shake before clenching them. She definitely screwed up. He took in a deep breath and held it for a moment before speaking again.

"I've been in of battles, and I can't say I'm proud of all of them. Well, I'm not proud of most of them really. But a few good ones were against a certain cocky double amputee with a too smug smile. It was cathartic like nothing else to wipe it off his face. As for Grimm, I burned down a homestead full of Apathy after helping kill a Sphinx that caused half the Argus Limited to derail."

"Wait, that was you!?" She'd heard about that in the news! A team of traveling huntsmen and huntresses saved a train from a huge herd of Manticores led by a Sphinx. The fact that there wasn't a single civilian casualty in that had been incredible. "It was all over the TV for days!"

"It wasn't just me, and I just helped out a bit. Ren and Arc did the heavy lifting." She gave an Incredulous look at his nonchalant shrug. "Though I can say I helped take down a rather creepy cow. Thing just followed us like it needed to mess with us."

A... Cow?

"Enough about me, there's more than enough people more worthy of listening to."

She knew he was still hiding stuff; he was still keeping her from seeing the full picture of who he was, but she'd get it eventually. She'd also figure out what the hell was carved into his guns. The big one had a ton of names on it; none of them recognizable to her. The other did though. The short hatchet-shotgun combo had a lesser number of names carved in the wood and the metal. They were written so small that she had needed to use her semblance on her eyes to get a closer look without putting her face right by the thing.

Brawnz Ni, Roy Stallion, And May Zedong. Those three were members of Team BRNZ. She'd seen their fight in the tournament. But she didn't know what their names meant. The other names, though, had a worrying pattern to them.

Tukson Mayes. That name meant nothing to her, but it clearly meant something to Burgundy.

Ambroise Ozpin. The late headmaster of Beacon. Not much was known about him, but when General Ironwood returned from Vale, he had every flag in the kingdom at half mast for a month to mourn the man.

Pyrrha Nikos. A few months after The Fall of Beacon, news broke out about her death. A lot of students were shocked, many younger ones had been inspired by her skill to take up the fight as well when they watched her fight. Many more had taken it up after her death as well.

Penny Polendina. Hers seemed to have a line cutting through it long ways. Was that because the android was not dead?

Roman Torchwick. Everyone who came back from Vale knew that name. The criminal has been a conspirator and was responsible for countless murders of Atlesian soldiers when he took over a battleship. His name, along with the one that follows it seemed out of place with the other names.

Adam Taurus. That name set off warning bells and sent a shiver down her spine. There wasn't a faunus alive, especially in Atlas, that didn't know of the bull faunus. She glanced from the name to the horned helmet he wore. If it were not for the vastly different builds and weaponry, she may have thought it was him, even if the likelihood that General Ironwood would hire the faunus supremacist was lower than zero.

The biggest question running through her mind was why did he have the names of huntsmen and criminals as decorations? Was it a memento of past fights? A hit list? She'd need to do more digging.

"Shock, I need you in the air, now!" The urgent boom of his voice shattered her concentration. She flinched and looked from the weapon and up at Tim. He was staring right at her eyes. He'd seen her looking. "Now!"

Obeying without further thought, she focused her aura to her wings and took off into the blue sky. Once there she saw why he gave the order. A horde of Grimm descended on the pair and I to the craggy area they were walking through. From what she could see, they seemed to be originating from a rather treacherous outcrop of ice. She quickly relayed that information to him.

"Then we've found the focal point! Good job!" She saw him slam the heavy ax head into the skull of a Sabyr as his left arm pointed up. The bright orange flare that was sent past her cemented their location as where the other three would be running to soon enough.

They'd just need to hold out until then.

Delaney pulled out Sky-Holder and quickly transformed it into its lance configuration. Below her, Burgundy was tearing a path through the Grimm in an effort to get to the epicenter. She refused to let him continue alone. With a twist of its haft, the section below the point extended even more with a menacingly yellow glow.

Tearing off her cloak, she revealed the armor of leather and copper. Small beads formed decorative patterns in the shape of lightning along her arms and a large blue bird on her stomach. On her shoulders and back of her neck was a mantle of blue and red feathers. A belt with turquoise stones held up a long hunting knife and vials of shock dust. Over her knuckles were leather gloves with copper rings. Similar bands of the metal spiraled down her forearms as well as from her boots to just below her knees.

A pressed button caused electricity to run down the lance and coat her arms with electricity. It was a tingling sensation, but the protective underlayer kept it from shocking her. With a brave cry, Delaney folded her wings and dove down on the dark monsters.

To her pride, she debuted her martial prowess as she slammed her lance through the eye of a Sabyr as it was mid leap at her ally's back. Noticing her arrival and intervention, he gave her a thankful nod. "Not quite what I expected, I'd prefer it if you kept away from me while fighting. I'm not good with electricity..."

"Suck for you, I'm not leaving you on your own." She flinched as the taller huntsman or whatever fired a shot past her head into a crouched Grimm. Well, they were even now... "So what's our plan?"

"The same plan "A" I had this morning, though I'm happy to not be doing this solo now, that's for sure." The eyes behind the mask morphed from stern to resolute. "Now stay behind me and kill any grim that tries to flank us. I expect the rest of your team to be here in a few minutes, for now we have no option but to move forward. I don't want to get pushed into a corner or into a bad location in this kind of situation. As a point of obviousness, I can't let you die, Shock; Ironwood'll hang me if you do."

A Grimm attempted to do just that, but was met with a stab of the lance into its stomach and a revolver round to the skull. With that, the two began fighting the horde around them. It was exciting to fight alongside a more experienced fighter. It was sure to be a valuable learning experience.

Burgundy shifted away from her and blasted a Grimm with his creepy shotgun at point blank. She herself had to roll under a swipe from a Beowolf. She killed it with a stunning kick to the jaw and a quick stab from her knife. It returned to its sheath as she began to lance out at the other foes. She wasn't weak, but she didn't have the strength to backhand a Grimm like Burgundy did.

speaking of Burgundy...

Delaney had seen many kinds of fighting styles, but she never witnessed one with his brutal and simplistic methods. Slashes, blasts, punches, headbutts, and even stomps were used to dispatch Grimm in quick succession. A hatchet thrown here, a ripped apart jaw there, the gruff figure fought without the elegance a typical huntsman fought with. It wasn't all to interesting to watch, if she was honest.

Every now and then when she had the chance to look over at him, she'd see that he'd begun glowing sometime during the fight. A translucent green shell covered his body. It was like his aura was constantly at maximum output. Was that what she saw after he punched Specialist Ederne? The glow had been gone by the time she made it to the ground. All she could tell was that he didn't bother to avoid blows like she or others did; the blows that landed on him were brutally counted immediately after.

She, on the other hand, danced between beasts, Sky-Holder finding and piercing weak points. If a beast got too close, she'd release a burst of electricity from her lance, stunning a Grimm long enough to finish it. It was a dance for her, and the Grimm were her partners. Though no single dance partner lasted long.

As she'd seen from above, the Grimm poured out from a single direction. Like a spring wash, the sudden flood of darkness meant that something had drawn them to that location originally, and Burgundy was making his way there.

"Isn't it smarter to wait for the others!?" She had to shout to get her words across and be heard over the cacophony of snarls and roars. She got no response from him, her only answer was his continued march forward. "Dammit guys, hurry up..!"

They moved together, each supporting the other in the advance. He would stop Sabyrs and Beowolves alike from reaching her while she would take advantage of openings he gave her. What he didn't kill she would strike out at, impaling or slashing through hide and bone. He kind of reminded her of a more violent Donovan with how he used his guns. Two had blades on them and he used them to decapitate lesser Grimm. And as much killing as they were doing, the tide didn't look ready to subside.

We're hardly making any progress! A bolt of lightning launched from her lance vaporized a small Sabyr. Without the others, this could go wrong at any moment. Not like we have the option of sitting around to wait for them… Damnit!

Seeing that a hole needed making, she focused her aura back into her wings. The increased size would be a hindrance in a mele, so it was necessary to execute the combo she and Blaise created as quickly as possible. Without her usual power source, she'd need to improvise; but she was too strong to back down. She refused to.

Cursing to herself at the high cost, she leapt into the air and placed a second vial of dust into the haft and began twirling her lance. She had done this countless times; closing her eyes and remembering the tales her grandmother would tell her. Tales of power and heroism. Tales of a legendary ancestor who saved her home. As her wings flapped to hold her aloft, she rotated her arms and moved her charging weapon in a sort of dance. Arcs of lightning began to dance over her arms as the light emitted intensified. It began to move past the copper bands and occasionally shocked her slightly.

As the power reached critical levels, her eyes snapped open as she glared at the ground. "Burgundy! Move back!" Her voice had become warped by the electricity flowing around her. Thankfully the guy didn't question her and used a Beowolf's attack to launch himself back.

Seeing the path clear, she sucked in a breath and dropped.

Like a bolt of sentient lightning, she descended with a thunderclap into the dense front line. With a scream of effort and mild pain from the overcharged weapon, she spun her body while rotating the lance; once she saw the thickest part, she stomped forward with a thrust. Using all the dust in her weapon, a ray of pure power lanced out of Sky-Holder. The Grimm in her line of sight met the great bolt head on and vanished to nothing in an instant, the power of her attack blasted through beasts and glacial rocks alike. As the attack subsided, there was a perfect hole in the ice nearly one hundred meters away.

"Hell yeah." The strain from the lighting shocking her during the attack left her stunned and she staggered slightly. She definitely used too much dust. Ugh, it was gonna cost a ton to replenish. "I really gotta not do that so that by myself… ever again."

To her disappointment and fear, the Grimm were not all gone, a few stragglers on the outside of her bolt avoided death and ran towards her. She quickly ejected the spent vials and was in the middle of replacing them when they leapt. Bracing herself, she pushed her aura to the front as the blow sent her backwards.

Landing on her wings was never comfortable, least of all in a fight. The dust was back in her weapon, but it had yet to charge up as the approaching Grimm closed in again. She shut her eyes and focused on her aura as the Sky-Holder spun up.

The follow-up she expected never came.

"Hwah?" Cracking open an eye, she saw a snow white back in front of her. Looking further up, she saw Burgundy. The guy had intercepted the Grimm and had a hand around the lower jaw of both a Beowolf and a Sabyr.

"What I say? "Don't die"." He wasn't even looking at her. The larger of the grim took a swipe at him with its claws, striking him in the face. He didn't even flinch as the claws sparked over the steel mask. She swore she heard him click his tongue. "I expect you to try harder at that in the future."

She didn't have anything to say as he briefly pushed the two heads apart before violently crashing them together. The Grimm faded to dust over him as she got back to her feet. "That was a good move, though just warn me if you have any other terrifying moves like that one. Especially if it leaves you open to a counter attack."

"Nah." She let out a deflated chuckle. "I think it's more fun to leave you on your toes." Flat eyes stared at her.

"And they call me reckless. Snowy would have an aneurysm watching you fight." Looking around, there seemed to be a lack of Grimm around them. A temporary reprieve.

She didn't know who he was referring to, but they must be a friend of his. Maybe a teammate from his academy days? Usually that move was saved for when they needed something destroyed. And she usually has Blaise regulate the voltage, leaving less powerful but easier to manage. She'd admit that her method to wipe them out had been a big gamble. But at least she won?

With a tired sigh, he gave her a pat on the head. She jumped back from the sudden contact. "Anyways, catch your breath while we go and see just where they came from. Hopefully we'll discover some type of clue." He walked a few feet back and slung his pack over his shoulders once more. She didn't even notice he'd taken it off.

In cautious silence, the duo moved forward. A message on her scroll told her that her team saw the flare and we're heading their way. That was a relief. She could really use her usual group right now.

She wanted to thank Burgundy for his help. The only issue was that she'd been so, well, her this whole time and wasn't sure how to properly say it. Things were easy with Donovan. Her temp partner was too busy loading new rounds into his weapons to notice her staring. In the end, she mumbled her appreciation for what he did after her big attack.

From down the way, heavy footsteps began to grow louder. Burgundy spun and dropped to one knee as he aimed his rifle at the sound. Delaney twisted her lance, charging the head with electricity. The sounds got closer and the two tensed up.

Thankfully, it was a familiar trio.

"Del!" Blaise spotted them instantly and rushed over. Seeing no danger, she deactivated the charge while Burgundy stood up, took his finger off the trigger, and rested the weapon on his shoulder. "We saw the flare! Are you okay?"

The three person hug almost knocked her down but for a firm hand on her back. The owner of said hand spoke up to respond.

"We've survived, your teammate proved a skilled combatant, if a bit reckless..." His voice became slightly far away in the second half of his sentence. In a distracted voice, he muttered again, but not towards any of them. "Oh gods, is that how they see me?"

"Who sees what?"

He gave a small wave to them. "Never you mind, just a bit of an eye opening revelation."

Strange mutterings aside, the two of them explained what happened and shared their hypothesis. The other part of her team told them that while they found no Grimm inside, they found paw prints as well as footprints made by a human or faunus. That had put a dark look in Burgundy's eyes.

"Thank you for your hard work, now we just need to find whatever that person was doing here."

"Yes, Sir!" The four of them shouted out at once and saluted.

Delaney chuckled at the sigh he let out. Too easy. The guy put his hand on his mask and attempted to massage his forehead, she chuckled again when he realized the mask he wore prevented it and let out a longer, sadder, defeated sigh.

"Let's just get going…" The team snickered as he walked through them to continue onward to the objective.

~~~(LXXIV)~~~

Thanks for the read! It was a long chapter, but there wasn't a way to shorten it without making two worse chapters.

I had fun doing research on the folk tales for the new characters to make them as accurate as possible. For a few Native American cultures, they refer to spears as lances. So that's why Ox and BLBD call it different words.