Ruby was bored. Her and her friends had been walking for what felt like hours without any rest. Everything in the forest looked the same, and despite the fact that Mrs Goodwitch promised that their combat and teamwork skills would be put to the test, it felt like her will to walk was being tested.

"Hey Ruby, why the long face?" Nora said to her. Out of all the people on this trip it was her, and maybe Jaune, that had a good mood. "Don't worry, Ruby! As soon as we see any Grimm, it'll be pow-pow boooom!" Nora punched her fists into the air as soon as she said the last part of the sentence.

"That's the part I'm excited for. It's the constant walking that's killing me." Ruby made sure to put special emphasis on the "killing" part. Her legs were aching at this point, and were close to breaking.

"Uhm, Mrs Goodwitch?" Weiss spoke up. Her legs were probably aching too.

"Yes, Weiss?" Goodwitch responded.

"Why weren't we dropped off by airship. My legs are killing me!"She made sure to put special emphasis on the "killing" part as well. 'We agree on some things, Ice Queen.' Ruby thought.

"It's simple. Once you become fully trained huntsman, you won't have the luxury of air transport out in the field. You may be on a hunting trip for days. Consider this your first taste of the realities of being a huntsman." Goodwitch turned around and went back to walking. Weiss simply huffed and went back to walking.

"Can we have a little rest? Pleeeease?" Ruby pleaded.

"Fine, but only a short one" Goodwitch responded. Ruby could tell by her face that she was a little bit glad to take a rest, if only for a short while.

Everyone gave a sigh of relief as they all got together and sat down. They all mostly talked about rather mundane things, chatting about how boring the walk was. Ruby was just glad to rest her aching legs.

After a while the group was back to walking. As they approached their destination everyone started to die down. Mrs Goodwitch gathered everyone up and spoke to them.

"Now that we are here, you can consider the first part of this test over. Well, there's still the walk back but that's for another time." Everyone in the group groaned. It was one thing walking all the way here. It would be another walking all the way back after battling Grimm.

"A nearby village has informed us of an unidentified creature attacking the village. Apparently it's quite large, so this will be a good time to test your teamwork against a bigger foe. I'll be watching to make sure nobody gets killed. I'm afraid there's no such thing as trial and error in actual battle. Good luck to you all." Goodwitch led them to the village and then let them go on their way.

"Let's get this over with quickly. I don't want to end up walking home in the middle of the night." Weiss said, with a serious amount of frustration in her voice.

"Ok, Ice Queen. Let's hope you don't get your favourite dress dirty." Yang said, mocking Weiss as best she could.

"Lets get this over with. I'm a little-" Blake let out a long yawn before she could finish her sentence. "-sleepy."

"Let's do this team!" Ruby said. She was clearly excited. Anything even remotely better than walking for hours got her excited.

They all walked into the forest where the monster was reported. Team JNPR followed in tow.

They were gonna beat the crap out of this monster.


Loneliness. Sadness. Anger.

The creature that walked alone in the forest felt all those things.

It had not felt the joy of being with the swarm for days.

It had been cut off from its brethren after being taken away by an anomaly.

And now it was stuck in a world entirely unfamiliar to itself.

Creatures of darkness attacked it every day. And every time it tried to eat the creatures it did kill, they would suddenly disappear.

The only nourishment it got was from the nearby human settlement that it occasionally attacked.

But it was not enough.

The creature was completely alone in this world. All alone.

Suddenly, voices came from the forest.

Human voices.

Perhaps it could take it's anger out on the humans that came to hunt it.

That would quell it's sadness.

For now, at least.


A load roar was heard from deep within the forest. It sounded like a war cry.

"Uhhh, guys? What was that?" Jaune said. The loud noise had startled him a little.

"Probably the big beast we're looking for. Let's go smash it!" Nora said, as she took out her hammer and readied it.

"It wouldn't be wise to charge in. Maybe we should set up an ambush for it." Ren said. Nora could be quite the warmonger at times.

Suddenly, a large rumbling sound came from close by. Both the members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR looked into the forest as the sound got closer and closer. Trees began to tumble over as a large figure charged towards them.

"Run!" Ruby shouted, as the large figure came into view. It was a massive beast, but before she could get a better look at it the creature charged at full speed towards the group.

Everyone jumped out of the way as the creature charged past them. It came to a stop and turned around, facing both teams.

It was hideous. It had arms that were pointy and looked like scythes. It's jaw separated into different parts, with each one having at least one oversized tooth on it. It stood on four gigantic, heavily armoured legs. A long neck separated what appeared to be its head from its body. It too was heavily armoured.

The creature charged the group once more, swinging both of its arms in quick succession. Once more the team dodged the attack. Both teams were on opposite sides of the creature.

And they made sure to take advantage of it.

First, Jaune charged towards the creature. It saw him doing this and immediately came to face him. The other members of Team JNPR moved around to the side of the beast. Team RWBY did the same. As Jaune distracted the beast, Ruby aimed her rifle towards the neck of the beast. She fired and was knocked back a fair bit.

The creature screamed in pain as the shot connected with it's neck. It began to swing its scythe arms randomly. As Pyrhha, Ren and Nora got into position, the creature hit Jaune. Luckily, his shield was able to block the attack, but it knocked him back a fair bit.

"Take this!" Nora shouted as she raised her hammer and jumped up onto the back of the creature. She began to hit the creature with all her might. It screamed in pain with every hit, but it began to shake violently. Nora was sent flying as the creature shook her off. She went face first into a nearby tree.

"Im… Ok… Uhhhgg."

Ren aimed both his pistols towards the creature and began to fire. Pyrhha aimed her rifle at the creature and did the same thing. The creature shrugged off Ren's pistol rounds, but every hit from Pyrhha's rifle hurt it greatly.

As it turned towards the remnants of Team JNPR, Yang jumped up onto the creature. She ran across the creatures back and came up to it's neck. She began punching it's neck, causing the creature to scream with every hit. The creature shook itself again, trying to knock it's attacker off.

Yang continued her attack as Blake jumped in. She stabbed the creatures neck, but it didn't do much. Still, the creature was in pain, and with a final shake it sent both Yang and Blake flying. Luckily they fell onto the grass floor, causing no real damage.

Weiss came up next. She used her aura to create ice at each leg of the beast. Soon, it was stuck and Weiss jumped up and stabbed the creature's back for good measure. She jumped off as Ruby came in, ready to finish the job.

Ruby aimed her scythe behind her and fired. She was propelled forward by the blast, and went hurling towards the neck of the creature. She readied her scythe, and as soon as she went past the creatures neck, the scythe made contact with it.

Slice. The creatures neck came clean off. Blood came out of it, raining all over the battlefield. The creatures body slumped to the ground, and it's head came with it.

"Well… That was interesting." Ruby said. The battle had been won. It was one less monster in the world.

There was only one thing that bothered the group.

"Why hasn't the body disappeared yet?" Pyrhha spoke up. Everyone looked towards the body and noticed that it yet remained.

"I think it's safe to say that thing wasn't Grimm." Ruby responded.

"Interesting." Ren spoke his mind as well.

They all gathered around the corpse and looked at it for a minute. Was there more of these creatures around? Was it just a one off incident?

The group pondered those questions for a minute, until a familiar voice came from the forest.

"Children, I think it would be a good idea to step away from that thing." Goodwitch said. She was just as shocked at the creature as they were.

"Come on, guys. If there are any other creatures like this out there, I'm sure we can beat them!"

"I'm hoping this was a one off." Jaune was still taken aback by the creature.

"I hope so too. Children, I think it's time we headed back. Take a rest if yo-" Goodwitch was cut off by something… weird.

A massive wormhole appeared. It sent a shock wave through the forest, and knocked everyone in the area down to the ground. It started to pull everyone in.

"Children, grab on to something! Now!" Goodwitch shouted. The anomaly had grabbed her too.

Goodwitch tried to reach for her wand, but it was pulled into the hole.

"Nora! Grab my hand!" Ren shouted as Nora went past him. She grabbed his hand and clung on for life, as the power of the wormhole increased.

"Grab on to me!" Jaune shouted to Ren. Ren grabbed Jaune's leg with his only free hand. Nora's grip slowly began to loosen.

And then her hand slipped.

"NORA!" Ren shouted at the top of his lungs

"REN!" Nora shouted back. She fell into the wormhole

Jaune's grip on the ground loosened and he began to fall into the wormhole as well, with Ren still hanging on to his leg.

"Ruby, hang on!" Yang shouted to her little sister, but it was too late. Ruby fell into the wormhole, shouting and screaming as she went.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Yang cried out. Her grip loosened and she went into the wormhole along with her sister.

Blake and Weiss fell in, too. Weiss's hands were gripped onto Blake's legs.

Goodwitch tried to grab them but it was no use. As the pair fell into the wormhole, Goodwitch lost her grip.

Before she fell into the wormhole, it closed shut. She fell to the ground, landing with a loud thud.

"Nooooo… God, no." She looked up into the sky where the wormhole once sat.

She had failed to protect them. She had failed at her duty. And now she could only weep.

After a while. She got out her scroll. She called the only person she thought would help.

"Ozpin… there was…" She didn't know what to say. Her failure to protect them had rendered her a sobbing mess.

"Ozpin… they're gone."