"I'm so excited! We're going on an actual huntsmen mission!" Ruby Rose would excitedly cry out. She and the other members of team SPYR were on their way to the deployed bullhead at the front of the school to take them to their destination. "I mean, we already got to do that with Professor Oobleck, but this is a REAL ONE!"

"Yeah! We'll finally be somewhere where we don't know what tomorrow will bring, things we'll have to adapt to on the fly! It'll be what I always dreamed of!" Yang agreed, stepping along just as enthusiastically as her sister. Despite what happened and what they learned on Mount Glenn, their wishes and hopes of being huntresses were still part of it all. This was what it really felt like, it seemed.

"This will be such a lovely learning experience for us," Pyrrha would say next, giving just as much enthusiasm as her new teammates were. It felt almost jarring to be amongst her friends instead of her own team, but this was still good company for her.

Speaking of company, their leader appeared to be the only one not among them. They hadn't even seen him yet, even his face didn't appear on the display for their names. The trio simply left for their dormitory rooms to pack their bags for the trip, being allowed to skip their class in order to get underway. They were minutes away from leaving the grounds and their own leader wasn't even around. Ruby felt inclined to do something, perhaps go back towards the Ozpin's office to see if he was there. It had been about an hour or two since they got their indoctrination, after all. But just as she turned to say something to her new teammates, she spotted something in the air coming from the CCT tower. It was shaped like a…person?

Her suspicions were confirmed when the mass began to increase in size, showing it was now approaching the courtyard at a fast speed. It was more diagonally downward, shifted up on a curve, and stopped midair due to the pull of gravity. Upon closer inspection from a few meters up, this person adorned a pair of giant black wings that seemingly helped him glide. Those same appendages had streaks of white at the very tip end of some of his large feathers along with close to his back. They struck up and down like that of an actual bird, creating wind gusts underneath the person's body. Students nearby made a hole as the body lowered and eventually landed on its feet- with murmurs from the nearby crowd almost holding in their excitement. This mysterious flier would turn to face the trio behind them, revealing his identity to them. They wore steel-inforced dark brown boots with a bright white welt or midsole, tight black jeans with a copper belt and two dagger pockets, a ripped off-white shirt, and a dark gray jacket that was sloppily sliced just around the hip line. They had a very messy set of short dark brown curls and a jagged scar riding along the middle of their face and along the right side of the nose. Their eyes were a dull and grayish blue, almost appearing dead if looked at without context to their very vividly strong body.

This must be Samuel. Their leader.

"Apologies for not being around earlier- Ozpin needed to disclose the mission to me alone." His voice would come out in a hoarse tone. The strange Faunus seemingly looked sleep deprived with the circles under his eyes and an overall blank expression on his face.

The girls appeared stunned when he met their eyes individually. They just saw someone fly into the courtyard using appendages never before seen by any of them. It was considered…out of the ordinary. Something none of them ever actually expected to have happened to them. "…he…briefed you on the mission?" Ruby would ask nervously.

"It's better to call it mutual confirmation," he reiterated, shifting his stance with his arms crossed. "Now- since we didn't get time to get buddy-buddy earlier on, we'll do something a little speedy before we get to business. First off- call me Lance. Since I'm your leader now, you're gonna have to understand how I lead: you've got a question or a problem, we deal with it as soon as possible so as to not waste time on our mission.

Now, from you three: all I want is your name and a little fact about yourself. Starting from my left…"

His eyes fell onto Pyrrha, who had regained her composure and appeared far more relaxed than before. "Pyrrha Nikos. I've been known for quite a number of things, so…I'm unsure of what to mention."

"Won four regional tournaments in a row, broke several records in battle performances- the previous two also being awarded for being the youngest to do so, might I add- and being the star celebrity tie-in for the cereal brand Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes." Lance would recite out as he counted the five different criteria on his fingers. This got part of the crowd around them to giggle while also making the redhead turn her head in a shy manner.

"I do suppose you know a lot about me."

"I know a lot of you, miss Nikos," he retorted. "And no offense, but that doesn't mean a damn thing to me. Seeing is believing, and I don't care how much I see through a screen or reports on a scenario: I need to see it in person. You're simply a Mistralian with a lot of progress backing you up. I look forward to seeing you prove yourself to me."

His eyes would keep locked to Pyrrha's as he spoke, unintentionally staring daggers into the crimson-haired warrior as he did so. There wasn't meant to be an intimidating factor, but it simply came into being from his overall visuals. And Pyrrha wasn't scared. Rather, she was put off by how forceful his expression was in contrast to his far kinder words. "I understand, sir. I won't let you down."

Lance nodded as his attention then shifted to the next in line: the golden-haired brawler of the bunch. As Pyrrha's response ended, she would begin her own little introduction. "Well, Lance- I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister. I'm not known for much here at Beacon, but I have stopped a good chunk of underground crime before I got signed up."

Lance raised an eyebrow at the mention of "stopping crime", but eventually relaxed into his original resting face. "Hmm. Hot headed and a need for action- pretty open book, if you ask me. Still, my comment about Pyrrha wasn't just for her. It goes for every one of you. So when you're out there fighting, I expect you to be under control."

"I'll be fine, trust me," Yang would shoot back, giving a cocky smirk in response.

The brown-haired Faunus would actually crack a small smile as a result of the quip being thrown his way. It almost looked like it hurt trying to lift his mouth in that way. "And that makes you, no doubt, miss Ruby Rose."

He was now on the short ravenette, who was distracted by a black bird in a nearby tree. She would let out a squeak once she realized that attention was back on her. "Oh, uh- Yes, sir! And my fun fact is…well, I'm the leader of team RWBY!"

A beat was held once she gave her little fact, only making Lance give out a hum in response before responding properly. "I've heard a lot about you, young huntress Rose. But, once again- seeing is believing. I expect you to show me what a leader is like if I slip up somehow along the line."

"Affirmative!" Ruby replied with a stiff salute, standing perfectly straight as to emphasize her attitude. She soon relaxed when silence filled their conversation again. That black bird she was looking at let out a few squawks before flying off. "...sooo, uh…what's this mission about?"

"I'll catch you up to speed when we're on the bullhead," the avian would answer as he turned his back to his group. "Before then, I suggest you speak with your teammates. We should try to leave within the next…three minutes." Lance would begin walking towards the airship, leaving the rest of his new team to talk to their previous team members. He simply walked straight into the crowd of people, people who swarmed him like they were paparazzi. The trio had turned to see their teams in their own little groups waiting for them. Pyrrha went to her acquainted trio while the sisters of team RWBY met with Weiss and Blake.

"I seriously can't believe you two were selected for his team," Weiss would bitterly say to her teammates, having found the presentation a rather huge waste of time.

"Oh come on, Weiss, it's not that bad," Ruby would reply, trying to be the optimist.

"I don't believe that for a second."

"I'd say he's a pretty fly guy," the blonde retorted. "And he seems…decently trustworthy."

"While he may be seemingly praised by the other students, he still has a lot to prove." Blake would then proceed to correct her teammate. "You three will have to confirm whether or not he is that skilled. After all, "seeing is believing"."

"I doubt that he is even capable of handling any of you," Weiss continued to support her argument.

Ruby sighed before responding again. "Look, Weiss, Lance may be a mystery to us, but he seems to know what he's doing. He's the same year as team CFVY- and we trust them fairly well."

"Ruby's not wrong," Blake concurred. "You and I saw him during that sparring match, and saw him during the siege in Vale. If Ruby thinks he's capable, then we need to trust her judgement."

"Yeah! So please don't be mad you didn't get picked, Weiss. We'll be ready to fight anything that this mission throws at us."

All the heiress could do was shake her head before pulling her eyes and attention to her rose-tinted team leader. "Alright, Ruby. But if you come back with even a single scratch, I will show him what the Schnee name represents."

"Aww, I knew you had a warm heart, Weiss!" Ruby cheered out as she hugged her favorite teammate. All Blake and Yang could do was laugh as Weiss attempted to push Ruby off.

But while team RWBY had begun their conversation, team JNPR had also begun their own.

"I can't believe you guys are going on a mission like this! All without us again!" Nora would blurt out. "And what's with the name "Lance"? Is he too ashamed of being called what his real name is that he came up with something even MORE lame?"

Pyrrha would nervously laugh at her teammate's plan, rubbing her arm as she did so. "I'm sure he has a reason for not wanting to be called that."

"What do you meeaan-u?!" The ginger would cry out as she began exaggerating her movements. "He's clearly too cool to call himself by his real name!"

"Nora-" the tall dark-haired man would butt in, having not said a word for quite some time. "I believe it would be rather disrespectful."

"Disrespectful, Ren? You call potentially dangerous missions, one-vee-three-ing an upperclassmen team with little effort, AND having a hidden identity disrespectful?! This man DESERVES every bit of attention he gets!"

"Guys, guys, it's not about his name- it's about who he is. He said it himself: there's some proof to who he really is," Jaune would interject, now attempting to take control of the conversation. "Take Pyrrha for example- everyone knows her name, but not a lot of people know who she really is. Sure, she's a great fighter and has won plenty of tournaments, but beyond that- she's a friend. A mentor. Someone willing to help others and put those people before herself."

Pyrrha near-instantly grew a blush from accurate and uplifting her team leader's example was. She felt rather embarrassed that she was getting praise in this way…a way that many others haven't done before. "I…thank you, Jaune…"

While their conversations had begun, Lance was dealing with his own problems. Students from all four kingdoms were flooding him with questions, people begging to have merchandise from Beacon or Shade be signed by him. Due to his supposed reputation, it only made sense for people to continue pestering him. He did apparently change the usual Shade initiation from its desert run to the ziggurat maze…which plenty of students ended up failing other than him.

"Back it up, people! This man's handling enough stress as it is!" A female voice yelled out, with the swaths of people dispersing. This woman was wielding a stylish purse and her teammates waved people away, allowing all their different groups to spread apart and idle with themselves. Said fashionista would approach Lance and smirk. "Thought I'd lend you a hand, make up for you getting squashed a few weeks back."

"Yeah…thanks." Lance would respond, cold venom in his words. He was still fed up with having a team- to the point where he was tempted to leave them at Beacon just to spite Ozpin. But his new colleagues were enthusiastic to be on a real mission…so he sadly couldn't deny it, which made him a little happy. "What happened to the whole "you so deserved that" schtick you had running?"

She proceeded to point directly at his face as if to scold him. "You do still owe me for the pair of sunglasses you broke."

"Coco, calm down," a shorter rabbit-eared lady would say as she pushed her teammate's arm down. She looked to Lance next, smiling at him with that same loving encouraging curve of the lips. "It was just a sparring match. If anything, we should have been trying to overwhelm him more."

This made the brown-haired woman back down, stepping out of the way and bumping shoulders with the avian as she passed. The crowds she once dispersed now surrounded her, taking pictures and chanting out praise. Seeing all of this made the rabbit Faunus laugh. "You two aren't so different."

"You think so?" Lance would ask, turning back to face the other traited person.

"I know so. We didn't all get along at first, and we still have arguments now. So just take your time and get to know them- I know they'll be good to you.." Velvet would then respond as she gave a quick embrace to the Faunus. He didn't even have time to respond before she moved off back towards the campus. Their other teammates, Fox and Yatsuhashi, moved past him- the former setting a hand on the avain's shoulder.

Ozpin told us that someone's on the ship waiting for you.

The words of a man rang inside Lance's head, all before Fox severed the connection and continued moving with his team. Lance wheeled around to start saying something…but the words never left his throat since he had no idea what that meant or who even said it. Was it Fox? Someone else? The brown-haired man decided to ditch the thought process and got a running start towards the airship. He would hop abroad and see one of the pilots standing in the doorframe to the cockpit. Their head was obscured by the helmet, yet he could see freckles and an innocent smile could be seen regardless. It only took the standing salute and the pronunciation of the word they said to make him realize exactly who it was.

"ALRIGHT LADIES, LET'S GET MOVING!" A voice could be heard shouting from a ways away. It so happened to be Lance, having just re-inspected his gear to make sure he was fully prepared. The three teammates said their goodbyes and began to run towards the bullhead, making the winged man smirk a little. He leaned into the cockpit and got the attention of the co-pilot. "And you're positive you want to come along for this."

"Affirmative, sir!" The co-pilot would respond, giving a small salute to Lance before snapping their attention back forward to the windshield. Lance would shake his head with a discontent smile still on his face, turning to see his new teammates sit down on the available seats near the back.

"Then we're good to go!" Lance would reply, stepping out of the doorway to the cockpit and closing its door behind him. The bullhead's bay-doors closed and the aircraft rose up as it turned, now headed westward. Students on the grounds all hollered praise as the ship flew off, celebrating one of the biggest missions ever given public appearance. The bullhead began to pass above buildings as it went further into the city, bringing them closer and closer to the open ocean. Within the airship, the three other members of team SPYR waited. Ruby excitedly kicked her legs and rocked in her seat, Yang simply sat with her arms crossed, and Pyrrha had her hands in her lap waiting patiently. The Faunus took himself a second to open his scroll to check the time before clearing his throat and putting said scroll into a small display terminal nearby.

"Now- we can actually begin the briefing," Lance would say aloud, now announcing to his teammates that their initiation into this mission has begun. "As a sort of small quiz for you three- who here can tell me what is of geographical importance directly west of the kingdom of Vale?"

Yang seemed to be the first to respond after humming and tapping her chin. "I would say that the kingdom of Vacuo and the rest of Sanus, but you're probably looking for somewhere closer."

"You are correct- it's not that far," the ruffled team leader responded.

"The only other place I can think of is Patch." The blonde would say back, knowing all too well there would have been some sort of alert from her and Ruby's father if there was a problem.

"Nope, not there, either. Think further than Patch but not as far as Vacuo."

This seemed to stump the students for a moment before Ruby's face lit up. She would let out a series of "oh"s as she bounced in her seat with her arm raised to be called on. Lance cracked a smile and pointed at the young huntress-in-training. "Yes, Ruby."

"We're going to the Amosian Isles!"

"Heh…indeed we are," Lance mused, tapping the screen on this scroll. Large holographic projections displayed a series of islands west-southwest of the island of Patch. Many small landmasses consisting of trees, subtle to dynamic hills, sandy beaches- all surrounding a larger landmass that seemed to house most of the populus on it. The center island seemed to concentrate the most with its peaks closer to the east, making a large valley near its center. The waters between the islands were not as deep as the open seas, possibly suggesting boating or swimming was common to get across to the other landmasses.

"This, is the archipelago of the avian Faunus," the brown-haired huntsman with a rather sad yet appreciative look in his eyes.

"...my old home".

The other students would look in awe, observing the wooded and grassy landscape, the warm sandy beaches and bright blue waters. While they had studied and took notes over what this place was like, textbooks had never mentioned Faunus had ruled over this section of land. "Many years ago, long before we were born, this area was considered a resort for both humans and Faunus. Menagerie may be the domain of Faunus, but the Amosians welcomed all people to relax and forget about the stresses of life and the Grimm…even if it was temporary. For many, it was like the return of Vacuo's prime: fruit, fresh water, perfect weather, and natural dust deposits. But with all walks of life coming in, there were those who deemed themselves worthy to take it all."

Lance presented a small chart depicting the monthly rainfall throughout the year along with the temperature line, detailing what kind of heat and humidity they would end up dealing with over the next several days. It seemed like a good probability for rain and to be quite warm throughout even the sunnier days. He then moved onto a dot distribution map of the dust concentration over several years. By the present day, all of those dots were virtually gone. "As luck would have it, Atlas decided they needed the dust that was located here more than the inhabitants. And to their credit, we didn't need it- no Grimm were easily able to get to the islands in the first place. But over time, as history repeats itself, the negativity brought to the islands made Grimm from the deep seas rise…and it did not take long for the compounds to be destroyed and the homes to suffer the same fate." Various images appeared showing an aerial view of each island, revealing damaged excavation sites and flattened properties. Even with how little Atlas seemed to intervene on the environment, it was still an eyesore in terms of the culture here. "Our duty, from what is presented to us, is to inspect the archipelago and map out each island. Vale and Vacuo plan on removing the equipment here and restoring this place to its former glory. But with the Grimm still persisting here, it's also our job to clear them out."

The visual display would shut off as the avian pulled his scroll from the display terminal, now seeing the concentrated faces of his teammates. He was glad to see them taking this so seriously now. "So…questions."

Ruby's hand shot up near instantly again and voiced her question. "Did they ever specify what kind of mission this was?"

"This is just a scouting mission, much like how your assignment with Oobleck was meant to go," Lance would respond soon after. "And also unlike that, we do have our supplies and will most likely be camping out if we end up getting harsh rains."

"And they expect us to get this all done in a week?" Yang would ask next, showing a hint of frustration regarding the ideals of the mission.

"Well…I have someone with us who can…speed up the process a little bit." The trio would exchange glances in pure confusion. Not a single one of them had seen anyone else on the bullhead. All Lance could do was tap twice on the cockpit door to signal the front. The co-pilot stepped out of their navigation seat and took off their helmet to reveal ginger-hair and a freckled face. They would do a small curtsy as they saluted.

"Sal-u-tations, dear friends!"

"PENNY?!" Both Ruby and Yang would blurt out in astonishment while Pyrrha simply sat in subtle surprise.

"In-deed," the redhead would reply, giving a small bow as she did so. "I was assigned by General Ironwood to help survey the mission. It also gives me a chance to be with my friends!"

"Trust me, I'm just as worried as you two are," Lance added with his face still a bit perplexed and vaguely hinting at worry. "Also, Penny- I don't think you've met our other teammate as of yet." He was now gesturing to the crimson-haired woman sitting amongst the sisters.

"...so I haven't!" Penny would then concur, turning her attention to the redhead sitting with the others. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Nikos."

"The feeling is mutual," Pyrrha responded in a cheerful and happy tone. It made their leader smirk a bit, seeing that his teammates were all in high spirits now that the redhead was with them. "I've heard so much about you and now I'm finally able to see it."

Penny did a little gasp and turned to whisper to Ruby. "Does she know too?"

Ruby seemed confused at first before snapping into a small nervous breakdown. "Wha- noooo. Not…everything."

This caused Yang and Pyrrha to look at their youngest teammate in confusion and concern. "Wait…what do you mean "not everything" ?" Both harmonized at the same time, even Lance chiming in part way through.

"What are you talking about, we don't know anything secret! Why would we keep secrets?! We're all friends and family here, there's nothing to hide!" Ruby would frantically try to explain herself out of the conversation, being quickly given the opportunity to leave it when a ding came from the cabin of the bullhead.

"Oh! It appears we have arrived at our destination!" Penny chimed in and stood towards the cockpit. Team SPYR moved to one of the main doors for the bullhead and slid it open, exposing those back to the open air. They now were hovering above the Amosian Isles, able to see all the scenery that was described to them. The greens of the trees and grass appeared far more vibrant, and the waters even looked warmer. They could also vaguely see some of those Atlesian compounds that were shown, giving the islands a very big eyesore.

"Alright ladies, it's time for your landing strategies! Get going, or I'm shoving you out myself!" Lance would yell out before repeatedly shouting go, and his teammates soon jumped from the aircraft. The avian then turned to Penny, nodded, and he jumped out soon after. The ginger would move to remove her pilot outfit and reveal her modern clothes before leaping out from the bullhead herself. Its bay-doors shut soon after and the ship turned to fly off back towards Vale.

Yang had jumped out first, diving towards the clearing they designated. She sent off one gauntlet shot at the ground itself to propel her back, allowing her to land on her feet without much harm.

Ruby had jumped out next followed by Pyrrha, the ravenette using her scythe-rifle to pojo-jump her way down. The momentum Crescent Rose propelled the young huntress-in-training upward which helped her keep a solid back-and-forth for most of the descent. She used her super-speed semblance to zoom her way down, standing triumphantly with her sister.

Pyrrha had gone mere fractions of a second after Ruby, now using her polarity semblance to slow her descent a fair bit. She had huddled close to her shield and used the upward drag she gave it to give her descent a very graceful ending, in which she hopped off the shield itself and landed in a fighting-ready post.

Lance and Penny floated gracefully, the Faunus with his wings flapping to give him draft and the ginger using her swords to float down as well. Penny would step from beside her team leader to stand with the rest of the group, lined up in perfect ranking order of P-P-Y-R.

"Well done, all three of you. Penny, you technically copied me so you don't count." said leader would say to his team, jeering a little at the redhead for using her rather obscure way of defying gravity. "As for the rest of you, I have some of my own critiques.

Pyrrha- you used your semblance far too easily and too often for the descent. There's no telling what state you might be in when you do a landing strategy. I implore you to think quickly and not use the quote-unquote, cheap way out."

The redheaded would nod her head, standing at attention to listen intently. She understood what he meant in his criticism. "I understand. Thank you, sir."

Being called "sir" like that almost made him blush, quickly attempting to shake it off by focusing on the sisters. "Ruby, Yang. You two happened to use your weapons far too often and too little. With Yang- you sailed across the Emerald Forest during initiation, but you both now need to think about how your weapons will be when you do your landing strategies. You may be out of ammo, your gun may jam- and if you rely on them too much to slow your momentum, you may just plummet and not have time to stop yourself from breaking something in your body. Your aura might save you, but it won't always be there to keep you safe."

The sisters would also nod, standing at their own attention after putting away their weapons. They seemed to exchange glances too, now knowing their work with landing strategies was still flawed even after nearly a year at Beacon.

"It's not just your weapons, aura, or semblance that you all need to be focusing on. It's the environment. When you're flung back during a fight, even if it's a couple feet or multiple meters into the air: you need to understand your surroundings and be quick to think. Beacon can only train you in certain ways before your instincts kick in." Lance would pace back and forth at the edge of the clearing as he talked. Behind him, unbeknownst to them, was a set of beady blood-red eyes and a very quiet snarl. "When you're in the field, it's not just your body that will be at risk. Your mind is the strongest muscle in your body, it does everything for you. So do your best to use it, as it'll save your life-"

Before he could say another word, he was cut off by the brush behind him russling loudly as a young Grimm pounced at him. Lance would turn on his heels, spread his stance, and deliver a gut punch to the assailant. It made a satisfying thud that sounded as if it shattered bone. He would sweep its leg to trip it, grabbing its arm as it fell to twist it and part of the body so he wouldn't get crushed under it. His hand shot to his side, pulled out a dagger from his belt loop, and stabbed his opponent directly in the back of the neck with it. The Grimm would let out one small whining howl as it turned to black ash quickly, leaving nothing but a bit of splintered spine behind.

"...more times than you think." He would finish his sentence as a one-liner, standing up and sheathing his blade before looking back to his team. They were all in complete shock, their facial expressions speaking far louder than any words they could possibly say. Lance, too, was shocked and uneasy- unsure of what to say for himself. "I, uh…I'm gonna scout up ahead to…to see if that Fletchling was…a- a part of a pack. Yeah…."

He then just turned on his heels and started to wander into the brush away from the group. He wasn't even sure if there was another set of Grimm nearby given how Fletchlings tend to be rather pack-oriented, refusing to go alone when hunting. Despite it all, Lance just walked away to get himself out of the awkward shock everyone was in.

Yang was the first to speak, still appalled that a single young Grimm was dispatched of in a matter of seconds. "Do…we really even need to be here?"

"He just took out a Fletchling without even breaking a sweat…" Pyrrha responded to the blatantly rhetorical question. She had seen her own performances in the field regarding executing Grimm before, but none of that seemed to compare to how proficient her new team leader was. Perhaps she should have taken the avian up on that offer to spar about a month ago…

"Do not fret, team SPYR!" Penny would announce to her teammates as she stepped forward to present herself for the trio. "I am sure that we were assigned to be on this mission for a good purpose. We should simply do our mission and commence the cartographing!"

"Yeah, so…" Ruby would begin speaking up now, scratching the back of her head after regaining her composure from seeing her leader perform. "How do we do that?"

"I shall analyze the immediate area and correlate the major geographical changes to that of previously documented maps." The ginger replied and began to look around as if imprinting all of the scenery for memory. Ruby even leaned into her partners to reiterate that point across for them.

"She has a really good memory."

From several meters away just ahead of them, a Grimm could be heard roaring before it was sequentially choked out. "Found 'em!" Lance's voice carried on the wind as another snarl could be heard followed by grunts and slashing.

"I'll go with Lance, you three get to work with the map thingy!" Ruby would say, her leadership still shining despite being considered last in the line of their team. She dashed ahead with her semblance, leaving the others behind.

"So proud of her," Yang would utter out, smiling and folding her arms.

As the trio began to move in the opposite direction to head for the shoreline, Lance was having his own problems. He was holding another Fletching in a headlock in an attempt to choke it out. A different young Grimm leaped behind him with a snarl, making Lance jump and turn with the previous in his arms. The beast slashed hard across the chest of its own kind, causing it to begin evaporating. The brown-haired warrior landed, grabbed the arm, turned again, and snapped it over his shoulder. The Grimm howled in pain before a dagger entered the side of its head. Lance felt another Grimm charge from behind, leading him to run in and slide along the ground. He grabbed its tail, making it land on its stomach, and the hunter stood up to swing it over his head. It made a loud thud, squish, and crunch as the beast landed into a sharp berry bush. Another Fletching approached in a heightened stance, much more boney extrusions coming from its back and parts of its face. Lance turned again, punched the incoming claw hand to knock it back, punched upwards to the jaw, and leaped back to let it fall in front of him. The wolf-like being attempted to retaliate before Lance's boot dropped down in an axe kick, crushing its weak skull with ease.

Another black wolf leaped at him from the front, Lance now preparing to slash at its neck- before a loud rifle shot went off and the beast was blown to the side and turned to ash in mid-air. "What the-"

He turned and saw the red-hooded huntress holding her weapon in its ranged mode, cocking the bolt back as she smiled.

"...Ruby." Lance would say aloud, his breath heavy and fast. He sheathed his dagger, the younger woman collapsed her weapon, and they walked towards one another. "Heh, nice shot."

"It was nothing," Ruby joked. "I just, heh- wanted to help you out."

"Not like I really needed it," he retorted, looking at the destruction he had made just moments ago.

"That Beowulf I just shot would beg to differ," she then argued with a small giggle. This made Lance let out a small huff, still not all that invested in being a team leader by this point.

A low snarl made him move back to a defensive stance, a hand now on his dagger handle. Ruby reacted by turning the opposite direction, pulling out her own weapon to unveil its full scythe form. Red eyes began to appear in the shade of the trees around this part of the clearing, some being seen to have much more boney exteriors.

"Looks like we're gonna be busy for a while," Ruby commented. Lance nodded, watching as a large black wolf slunk out of the brush.

"I'd have to agree. Let's see what you're made of."