"Explain this to me again: you got paid for being on the cover of that cereal box?"

"That's right. It was…a ludicrous amount of money, looking back on it now."

The sounds of conversation could be heard through parts of the forest, a strong crimson-haired woman and this brown-haired winged man talking to one another. They had started the conversation on Pyrrha's brand-deal with the Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes cereal when they arrived on the island. And Lance had no comprehension as to why they would be giving one to her.

"But you're the one on the box? Why would they pay you money for you to be on their product?" The feathered huntsman-in-training responded, emphasizing the specific terms so his partner was able to see what he saw.

"Well, think of it this way: if they pay me and get me on their product, then the people who will buy the product because I support, will allow the company to have a net gain of money. So that way, we both get money out of it all."

"…so they give you money, just so they can get even more money."

"That's right!"

"...capitalism is a weird thing."

This made Pyrrha laugh, being able to see the ridiculous nature in it all. "We all find ways to make ourselves and others happy. Even if it is expensive sometimes…"

"What do you do for fun, then? With someone like you, keeping up that figure must be hard work."

"It is, but I enjoy it. Lifting weights, practicing sparring, participating in tournaments…it's all a passion I have. It's something I excel at."

Now this was getting into far more interesting territory. Pyrrha was beginning to open up about herself and her own hobbies as a fighter. But with her semblance…that got him to ask something. "I guess I should ask. You don't actually use your semblance during fights or lifts…do you?"

"...Pardon?"

"I'm not accusing you of cheating- any use of semblance is fair game in the battlefield. What I'm wondering is how often you use it."

"I-" The redhead stopped in her tracks, unsure how to respond. Lance kept on walking, abruptly stopping to turn and face the Mistralian. She looked…ashamed. "I do use it…very sparingly. I've only ever used my semblance during weight training if I need to help myself lift a bar enough to rack it. But in fights, it's more for helping guide my weapons if need be.."

"...it's a defensive tool."

"I guess you could call it that."

A beat filled their conversation, the sound of the wind picking up and the trees whispering filled the void of language. Lance was close to asking something else before a loud snarl came from the left of his position, and a dark wolf jumped out towards him. His immediate reaction was grabbing his blade and slashing upwards. It cut through the beast's belly, causing it to turn to ash within moments. Another one leapt from behind, a slash to its neck and stab to his stomach before being brought to the ground with a thud.

"Shit! We've been ambushed!" Lance would curse, readying both daggers as he stared head long into the dense forest. Another wolf dashed in from the right this time, being slashed at the face. One of its paws managed to hit him, the claws barely scraping at his face. Another had jumped to get at the huntsman as he rolled, only to be shot square in the throat. Lance was about to attack it himself when the shot came off, making him dart between the falling body and his teammate. Pyrrha had pulled out her weapon in its rifle mode and shot the beast to protect him.

They looked at each other in silence, mentally giving agreement to what needed to happen. Lance just nodded his head before moving further into the forest, the snarls of the Grimm growing louder now. He skidded on the dirt and dashed to his right, tacking a Beowulf to the ground. Its neck was cleanly slashed open, a dagger thrown to the left to pierce the eye of another beast. Another wolf tried their paws at taking down the Faunus, only to be met with open air on their swipe. Lance had jumped using his aura and came back down- plunging his second knife into the beast's neck. Two more came from both sides, making him flip backwards and run away from the pursuing Grimm. His other weapon now reclaimed from the eye of a decaying Grimm, he threw both towards his attackers- one being deflected off its boney head while the other sunk into its mouth. The undamaged one swiped hard at the man, only to be met with a hard punch to its paw. The bones broke quickly and a pained howl shot out from the Beowulf. It was silenced by a strong knee to the lower jaw with an added foot to help send it into the air.

Lance landed gracefully as the beast fell too, thudding and started to fade into ash. The avian was panting, sweat beginning to form on his forehead from the added pressure- along with a single small line of blood from an attack he narrowly avoided earlier. So moved by the feeling of sympathy for someone, only to suddenly be fighting for his life again. It was never that easy with him…

Pyrrha was having her own way with the creatures coming at her. She had stayed further behind and focused on taking out her opponents with her superior range, allowing her to keep an eye on her partner in the meantime. Each flick of her spear, each swipe with its sword form, and each shot fired from her rifle- even her shield connecting with fur and flesh all connected without failure. Even moments where she hit at the boney exterior of the beasts were designed to knock it off balance or chip away at a weak spot underneath it. Her prowess still seemed unmatched despite it all, each beast falling with ease before her. One final Beowulf darted at her and began a lunge- stopped midair by two daggers entering its chest and held up by the huntsman. Pyrrha reflexively shot it directly in the eye, her bullet diving into its skull and destroying its brain. The beast would be dropped to the ground after Lance's weapons were withdrawn from their impact points, disintegrating in the calm breeze like the rest.

"That looks like the last of them," Lance said between pants, flicking away ichor that was stuck to his blades before sheathing them once more. He wiped his brow of sweat and blood, pushing back some of the cut skin to help seal the blood from coming out. It was only afterward did he turn to his redheaded teammate, a dejected look on his face. He only had himself to blame for making his partner feel that way about herself. "Look, Pyrrha, I-"

"Don't be," she would cut him off, her own weapon being brought back into a condensed form and put along her back with her shield. "I always tended to excel in the art of combat, even when I was a young child. I would playfight with my parents so much that they enrolled me into martial arts when I was only four. From there, I became such a big competitor. My semblance was…simply along for the ride."

"...and you never use it…because of your expertise?"

"My semblance is very special, especially considering what kind of world we live in. All of my opponents would be defeated so effortlessly if I used it constantly. And so…I don't."

"I'd consider that honorable. Semblances are unique to every person, even if there is subtle overlap on what it is. And given yours…it's honorable fighting on their level."

Pyrrha managed to smile at how words failed her team leader. He really was like Jaune, in his own unique way. "That would be a way of describing it."

"Heh. Still, you're better at it than me."

Lance began to stumble around, finding words to express himself with. Meanwhile, along the hillside…something else was lurking. Staring at the duo with four blood red eyes…

"I grew up without aura, always fearing that one good hit on me would end me. Every confrontation with the Grimm, every sparring match I've had…it all feels like a fight for life or death. Even the aura I do have now is so miniscule…not even enough to heal a scar..."

He was facing away from his partner, his arms crossed and staring down at the ground right in front of him. "I'm just…some guy…kicking and slashing his way so far into the competition that I can't pull out of it.

…I don't really belong here."

Pyrrha could feel the comparisons far more now. Jaune felt the same way himself: being someone with no aura and no known semblance going into a large school full of people who had trained long and hard to get to where they were, people who could bare their souls outward and were able to do something special only they could do. Both Lance and Jaune were very similar, but different in the sense of training. All the redhead could do was smile as she walked around her leader and set a hand on his shoulder, keeping her eyes trained on his. "Of course you belong here. You've survived most of your young adult life never needing to use aura. You've got so far in your training that you don't even need it. I've seen the fights you were in, how you've performed out in the field. You're skilled, strong, dependable. And so what if your aura is weak, or if you haven't found your semblance yet? You're here and working hard to become a huntsman, just like us. You're just as important as us. …You're just as special as I am."

Lance's eyes finally met with Pyrrha in that moment, seeing how brilliant her emerald green hues were. He quite quickly was lost within them, absorbed in the warmth of her closeness and felt…happy? His heart rate didn't even slow down, it was so elevated before that it just kept going. His cheeks even flushed red as a result, unable to truly look away. And Pyrrha just let him look, the dull gray blue that her team leader had reminded her of Jaune once again.

He was left speechless, unable to pull away from her gaze. Ironically, it was the exact thing their stalker was hoping for. It had crawled up onto the hill nearby, using the large rocks jutting from the dirt as cover to help hide itself. Its skin had turned into a shade like the rocks around it to appear as a rock itself, hiding in plain sight via some sort of camouflage. It made a loud gurgling noise as it beamed all of its bulbous eyes onto the two distracted partners, peering mostly at the one with red hair. Its loud gurgles got louder and its camouflage faded slightly to show its normal pitch black hue, thus snapping Pyrrha's attention away from her leader and onto the source- followed suit by the leader himself. The beast would click in a low tone three times before firing its tongue jagged tongue outward. The two huntsmen managed to push away from one another just barely in time and dart to the treeline. The long muscle would snap back to the gaping mouth of its owner, now losing sight of the target it had. The beast let out a low grumble as it panned its head from side-to-side slowly, its eyes darting in various directions to try and spot its prey.

Lance and Pyrrha were now behind two separate trees, separating themselves by only about a meter. They were both in shock and panting, understandably startled by how they were ambushed a second time in a row.

"What is that?" Pyrrha worriedly called to her team leader, keeping her voice low enough to not be noticed but just enough in volume to show her distress.

Lance hesitantly curved his head around the tree to get a better look at the beast waiting for them. It was a large Grimm larger than the size of the average communal dumpster with various frog, toad, and chameleon attributes being combined into a horrific combination. "That's…a Sapodomato."

Pyrrha would tilt her head in confusion. "Pardon?"

"It's a native Grimm once found in Vacuo," the avian Faunus would reply, moving his head back fully behind the tree. "It was classed as a rather less Grimm, eating small metals or coins wherever it could find them."

"And the desertification killed them off?"

"Most of them. There's still very minimal sightings due to their elusive nature and adaptive nature. But they're usually just small enough to crush with a decently sized rock- not anything like this."

Pyrrha would be the one to move her head around the tree this time, getting a good look at the Grimm herself. It certainly was big, enough to swallow a human body and probably strong enough to break its bones if necessary. But all it did standing there was watch, gurgling in that distorted tone. It almost sounded like it was trying to hum some sort of song it knew. Perhaps there's a way to distract it. If it gains its attention from metals, then we could use that to our advantage and get the jump on it.

Pyrrha's offer gave Lance a jolt to his spine, looking at her with a starstruck face. "…now you're speaking my language."

The Sapodomato continued its quiet gurgling, its four red eyes darting here and there to locate whatever prey it had seen earlier. It could sense the fear and hesitation, but was unable to truly locate it within its hazy vision. What it did see was something spin out from the treeline and land in the center of its attention- a shiny rounded shield! The beast gazed upon its metallic look, greedily licking its lips with part of its tongue. Its gurgles began to enhance louder and louder, climaxing in three clicks. The third click was cut off by the shield digging into the dirt and angling differently with the sun. This caused a reflection of the light to bounce off the shield and into the eyes of the beast, blinding it as it let out a distorted shriek and stumbled backwards.

Its shriek only intensified as it felt two sharp objects enter around the upper part of its back legs. Lance had maneuvered within the treeline and snuck up behind the beast as it was fixated on the shield Pyrrha threw. Weirdly enough, he had a large line of vines set around his right shoulder…a peculiar thing to have on his person. But now that his daggers had pierced the monster's strong legs, he could hold it down.

"PYRRHA, MOVE UP!" He shouted over the screams of the Grimm. The huntress leapt out of the treeline, dashed to her shield- using her semblance to get it back onto her- and used Miló's rifle form to shoot at her target's eyes. One shot fired, a reaction from the frog-like beast, another shot fired. Four gunshots, all hitting their mark.

"Done!" She would yell back, converting her weapon into its spear form now as she lined up the shot for its mouth.

Lance would remove his hands from the daggers, thrusting himself upwards to land onto its back. As the beast continued to writhe and scream, he would pull the natural ropes off of him and throw one end around to hook inside the Sapodomato's mouth. He grabbed onto that thrown end again once it wrapped around and used his minimal aura to strengthen both his arms and the rope he held onto. This brought the beast bending backwards and kept its mouth from being permanently closed. And as he struggled to keep its mouth open, Lance had noticed something strange. As he tugged on the make-shift rope and dug his foot deeper into the beast, a strange crack could be heard underneath that foot. He looked down and saw that there were literal cracks in the beast's bumpy skin, originating from the Faunus' left foot. The cracks let out this freakish blue-teal netherlight, as if light or aura was somehow spilling out of it.

Of course, he couldn't ponder on this since Pyrrha had launched Miló into the open mouth of the Sapodomato- piercing into his skull, skewering its brain, and coming out the other end to narrowly stop before it could hit the avian in the face. Her spear was capable of being propelled at high speeds due to the barrel of its gun form being located at the other end, allowing it to travel far and long distances if need be. Of course, that means she would be without her main weapon- but her semblance could easily bring it back once she focused on it.

The shrieking from the beast had abruptly stopped when the sharp weapon had entered its brain, its body letting out a long and drawn out gurgle as it went fully limp. Lance's aura quit out by this point, causing the beast to fall down completely and fade into nothingness once more. He was understandably in shock from his life being nearly ended by a spear to the face, but he managed to maintain his composure when he saw Pyrrha looking at him. He couldn't quite tell, but she was smiling- which put him in a stunned silence.

"I'd say we handled that well," she said while climbing up the hill and retrieving Miló from the fading corpse.

"Y- yeah…I'd say so. …I might have wanted to be a step further back, though."

The sun was beginning to set, the skies turning a pale red-pink. Within a small ravine, there were large stable planks of wood set up as a walkway to a ladder up and out of the crevice. There were crates, minecarts, and plenty of old dust and chipped rocks lying around deep within. Everything looked grown over, nature taking back this area like it was supposed to long ago. Mineshaft hallways came out of a wall on one side and back into the wall on the other, each with a small railway to drive the carts along. There was even a crane that was set up at the top of the ravine, set to possibly grab the carts from below and drag them up to be extracted on the surface. Whatever purpose it served, the place was abandoned many years ago and left to be taken back after several years.

What was more interesting were the two men. They were standing side-by-side, watching over the ravine with several boxes of supplies beside them. There wasn't much to see moving or look at in general, so they were seemingly talking to one another about some mundane thing that might have come up in their minds. This was almost too perfect for Ruby, who laid down in the grass up on a part of the ravine to watch them.

"You were right, Penny," the ravenette would whisper. "There was someone else here. Multiple baddies, too."

"Do you think they're a mining team?" Penny asked in return.

Ruby shook her head. "I don't think so. They have to be planning something else."

The two would continue to watch for a few moments, simply observing their surroundings and the crates they had with them. The crates looked like ones official personnel would use to transport weapons and ammunition. And more interestingly, the men wore clothes that seemed familiar.

"Ruby? Do those men look like the people we saw at the docks that night we went to go look for Blake?" Penny asked, pointing out how their clothing choices matched. Even the masks they wore looked the same.

"Yeah…they do…" the rose-tinted girl replied as she took out her scroll. She made absolutely sure that her volume was set to silent and that her camera would not have a flash to it. Once she did, Ruby would take several pictures of the men and the boxes of cargo to get everything they needed to hold evidence of their involvement here. After seven or so photos, Ruby moved closer to Penny and they reviewed the images together.