Oriel Baltimore had always known she was small. That simple fact was nothing new to her. Being the youngest with two older brothers, as well as being unusually small in size for a girl of her age, the world around her just seemed that much bigger in comparison. It was a daunting feeling, one that she felt on a daily basis. Yet despite that, she had a goal in life; something that could very well make her not feel as small in such a big world. A passion, a drive, a reason for why she wished to attend Haven Academy in the first place. With that goal driving her, there were times when she didn't feel so small. Moments like that were few and far between, but self-assuring whenever she did feel them.
In this moment however, Oriel never felt so small before in her life!
This... Grimm, that had just burst out of the solid rock wall just now! This crab-like Grimm that was walking upon at least eight spike-like legs that pierced the solid rock ground with little effort. The sheer length and girth of these legs held this creature up by a good twenty feet at least. While its front sported two arms that were topped with massive claws. Each one filled Oriel with a sense of dread; it would surely take no effort on this thing's part to sheer a human clean in half! And to top it off, a massive set of thicker rock that it seemed to tow around directly behind it. This Grimm was a giant, and Oriel was an insect before it.
What could she possibly do against something like this?!
"Hey! Get your head in the game!" Victor's harsh voice suddenly rang out. Oriel was shook rather hard from her fear-induced trance and brought back to reality. The Grimm itself was not the only one moving around, but so were her two fellow test-takers; the two boys that had been fighting each other just a few moments ago. The human Jackson Lithe, and the faunus Victor Rataxes. Both were rapidly shuffling and moving all around this creature, while she herself stood stationary. Victor was right- she needed to focus!
Thus she was able to jump back, just in time as one of the Grimm's legs came crashing down right where she had been standing. The sharpened point of the leg carved easily through the ground is if it were little more than sand. Its owner likely hadn't cared about who it had almost stepped upon just now; the only sounds that could be heard from its mouth area were deep clicking sounds. But Oriel couldn't see its mouth from her current angle; right now the giant Grimm's front was positioned towards where Victor was.
"Drgh, you're big and ugly, aren't you?" he challenged. The Grimm gave no response, at least not any decipherable one. Instead it clicked its two massive pincers in front off it in a threatening manner. This might have been meant to intimidate, because even from out of its direct sight-line, Oriel was still as intimidated as ever. But Victor on the other hand was far from scared. He actually seemed to respond to this display with a wicked smile of his own.
With Cera in its gun form, he fired off a number of rounds straight up at the creature's front. The bullets completely grazed off of the white natural carapace armor, with only a couple of them actually landing into softer black flesh. The Grimm almost seemed to give pause from each one of those kinds of hits, but for the most part it continued to move as if it was completely unfazed.
The Grimm raised its right clawed arm up and thrust it down hard. Victor quickly jumped to the side as Oriel had done, though with admittedly much less grace. Also in contrast, the spot where he was just standing had exploded in a cloud of rock and dust from the claw digging into the ground. The faunus boy rolled back to his feet, and the Grimm itself quickly dislodged its claw again.
As it turned to face its opponent again, a number of different projectiles peppered against its opposing side. From a distance, Jackson Lithe fired off a number of Fire Dust blasts from his Candelabra at the Grimm. For a moment, the giant creature seemed to not even register the other assailant.
"Yeah! Don't forget about me you... giant, crab, Grimm!" Jackson shouted out. As if his words alone were the driving force, the crab-like Grimm suddenly twitched its head to his general direction. Each of its legs stabbed into the ground like mobile pistons as it spun itself in place. Even from the space separating them, the look on Jackson's face could be seen from cocky to mildly concerned, "Oh, um... so you're not forgetting about me... Okay! Um...!"
"Jackson! Why would you do that!? Now it's gonna be all over you!" Oriel found herself chastising the other boy. By now the body of the Grimm had rotated enough so that the most that could be seen was its massive rock like body that comprised of all its backside. The thick, dark colored rock that was natural to the surrounding rock of the caverns themselves contrasted greatly to the Grimm's own white armor. From behind now, the clawed arms could be seen snapping their pincers at Jackson as it prepared to charge at him.
"Wait a minute..." Oriel heard Victor speak suddenly. She looked over at him to see he had a different facial expression. His wicked grin was gone, and his eyes were squinting while staring forward. As if something in particular had caught his attention, "What is that...?"
"Huh? What is what?"
"Up there, at the very top of that thing's... body!" Victor pointed his free hand out to the Grimm's rocky body, even as it walked further from them. Oriel squinted as the faunus did, trying to identify what he could see. At first she saw nothing, until eventually she did see something.
At the apex of the rock itself, two small grey objects could be seen jutting out from the rock itself! Both of their colors stood out heavily from the rock's dark tan color with its grey color, as well as held sharpened points upon the ends that were exposed. The familiarity of these objects was not lost, to either student.
"I... unbelievable!" Oriel exclaimed, "Those are control stone fragments!"
"Yep, no doubt..."
"But, but how?!" Oriel found herself shaking her head, "How are there pieces 'on top' of that thing's... er, 'rock' part?!"
"Don't know, and don't care really...!" Victor said. Oriel's head shot over to him, just in time to see him reform his Cera into its lengthened dagger form, "Cause those pieces are as good as mine in a few seconds!" In the following instant, Victor had flexed his arm muscle facing towards the Grimm and was barreling straight towards it. He rushed towards it at normal running speed, but the force of air around his body could be heard, equaling to that of a small vehicle.
The Grimm on the other hand was paying no mind to the faunus boy charging towards it from behind. Its attention was still focused on the human in front of it. It raised one of its massive claws and shot them forward towards Jackson. But the boy deftly flipped into the air so that as the claw crashed into the rock wall itself, he was left to land directly on the flat of it. With a smirk, Jackson wasted no time in jumping off to actually start running horizontally along the wall! The Grimm itself appeared to struggle both with trying to pull its lodged claw loose from the wall, as well as its other claw tracking this strange movement.
Finally, it chose its moment to shoot its free claw forward to grab at Jackson again. And just like before, Jackson deftly jumped off of the wall itself, front-flipping nearly five rotations in mid-air before finally hitting the ground running. Behind it the Grimm had finally dislodged its claw from being stuck in the wall and began to stab at the ground with its legs to turn around.
"Oh hey Vic!" Jackson suddenly called out after noticing the faunus coming in fast, "You can have him, it's all yours-!" The human boy flipped to the side and clear out of Victor's straightforward pathway. As the Grimm was turning, it attempted to slam its left side claw into Victor. The faunus boy instead ducked his whole upper body at the last minute mid-run so that the arm completely flew over his head.
Victor was then free to slam his upper body into two of the unguarded legs before it. Victor grunted hard as he threw his entire weight into the Grimm's armored appendages. Despite the sheer strength he leveled at it, the legs held strong in their shape. Still, they were bent in a way that caused the Grimm to fall backwards, unbalanced. The massive rock of the Grimm's back end hit the ground with a resounding thud, and the creature itself uttered a series of clicking noises, similar to being dazed.
Oriel watched on in growing amazement; these two boys managed to throw this massive Grimm off balance!
"J-Jackson! Victor! That was amazing!" she cried out.
"What are you doing still standing there, runt?" Victor suddenly declared after looking back at the short girl, "Make yourself useful and jump up there to grab them!" Oriel was almost put off by suddenly being called a 'runt', until she looked up at where Victor was pointing. She was then reminded of the two control stone fragments that were lodged into the top of the stone part of the Grimm.
"The pieces!" she said, "You... want me to grab them-"
"Yes! Brothers, you're slow-"
"Look out!" Oriel suddenly shrieked. Victor looked to his side this time to see that the once dazed Grimm was trying to slam its other clawed arm into Victor. But the faunus boy was ready as he caught the entire mass of the arm with his upper body. All around his body the transparent image of his Aura could be seen, absorbing the impact of the arm and claw. His feet dug in hard into the ground, yet still ended up kicking up a little dirt. His teeth were gritted and heavy grunts could be heard leaving his mouth, as well as something else.
"GO!"
"Oh- r-right!" the girl tightened her grip on her Talons and rushed towards the Grimm's body herself. She was afforded a full, careful view of the sheer shape of this creature as she ran straight for it. Though thankfully, its attention was focused on... something that was not herself at the moment. Victor, and even Jackson, had done their parts against this thing, now she had to do her best as well!
Finally reaching the shifting back rock, she jumped up to it and allowed her Talons' blades to dig into the mineral. The substance appeared much darker from the stone wall this creature emerged from, yet Oriel was a little surprised at the fact that her Talons could dig into what was supposedly solid rock in the first place! If anything, this substance felt more like solid soil, so tightly compressed it was almost like clay. Her Talons wouldn't be enough to cut straight through this, but thankfully she could still use them for climbing purposes!
She pulled forth one Talon and lodged up a little higher than the other side, then did the same for the other side. Again and again she repeated this process, steadily growing higher and higher up this creature's 'rock' shell. Grunts accompanied every advance she took; nowhere could she have thought her huntress training include literal rock climbing!
Finally, she reached the curve of the summit where she could crawl faster, with little need of using her Talons as anchors. The two control stone fragments also laid out before her. At such closer view, Oriel could see that they were in fact jutting out of the mineral material, almost as if they had 'sunken in'.
"Nevermind how and why they're here; let's get them out!" she declared to herself. With both Talons, she dug their sharpened points at the outside edges of the stones where they-
Or, tried to.
Oriel's eyes widened in shock. Her Talons weren't stabbing into material similar to what she'd used to climb up this thing's side! This material at the top felt much more solid! Like actual rock! No matter how many times she stabbed at it, from different points, her Talons could not dig in the material!
"No..." she could feel the sinking feeling of despair creeping up, "No no NO!"
"What is taking so long?!" Victor called out from below, "What are you doing up there?"
"It's the pieces!" Oriel cried out, "They're stuck! I can't get them out!"
"What do you mean they're stuck-?!" Victor declared. In that moment, the Grimm had suddenly pulled its arm back away from pushing down on the faunus boy. This sudden change in motion caused him to lurch forward. It also caused Oriel herself to shift atop the body with a yelp as a result of the sudden movement.
With a quick snapping of its claw, the Grimm prepared to bring it down again, this time aiming the claw itself straight for Victor's whole body.
A blur suddenly appeared in the air above the Grimm. That same blur suddenly halted its movement in front of the claw. The three kids could suddenly see that this blur was actually someone else; a new figure that had appeared practically out of nowhere. It hooked the end of the weapon he held into the top of the claw, and combined with the downward motion he generated, yanked the claw down with him. The claw came crashing down into the ground, similarly to how it had crashed its first claw into the ground. The clicking sounds it uttered from its mouth area again sounded like annoyance.
Once the figure had touched down on the ground, everyone was able to get a better look at him. He was dressed in a brown leather-banded top, that was also decorated with strange green material that almost looked like leaves. They covered the entirety of his torso, yet his arms themselves were completely exposed.
He quickly unhooked the hook end of his weapon free from off of the Grimm's claw, and turned his head slightly. The others were granted a clear view of his face. Nikau Kiwi sported a disappointed, even angry face while regarding them just as much as the Grimm.
"Huh? You're familiar..." Victor noted.
"Thank you! You came just in time!" Oriel called out.
"Get back, you idiots!" he ignored their remarks. He quickly shifted his weapon onto his back as he raised both of his arms straight into the air, almost presenting them in front of the Grimm. Before the monster could actually do anything, actual flames, bright and orange sprouted up and upon his bare arms. In the dark of the cavern, the raw flames produced quite a flash. In response, the Grimm did not attack, but actually seemed to recoil as a result. It even completely dislodged its dug in claw, though more out of instinctive action. It's many legs stumbled around as they carried its body backwards, trying to advance away from the fire.
"Whoa, WHOA!" Oriel's cries could still be heard from atop the Grimm's back. The way this thing was rocking, it was not safe up here! Well, not that it was ever safe up here at all, but still!
With her Talons in both hands, she carefully plotted her running course down the slant of the rock. When the curve became steep enough, she transitioned her run into a forward flip that had her land on both feet back to solid ground. Looking up, the Grimm's legs were coming dangerously close to striking at her, but at least its attention was still not focused on her at all!
"Whoa nice! Way to turn up the heat there-!" Jackson declared to the newcomer.
"All of you, get back I said!" Nikau forcefully interrupted, "Follow me!" Without waiting for any verbal confirmation from the other three, he dispelled the flames on his arms and ran in a direction opposite of the giant Grimm. Jackson and Victor exchanged looks between each other, almost unsure of whether or not to listen to this boy. It wasn't until the rushing form of Oriel running in between them and bringing them back to the present shook them of doubt. They both ran to rejoin them as well.
The four kids finally came to a rest a good distance from the Grimm, with the creature still moving around as if it was dazed.
"Alright, that should buy a little time..." Nikau looked back up at the three of them, his earlier face of disappointment returning in full, "Now then, just what on Remnant were the three of you thinking?! Taking on a Grimm like this?!"
"Huh? Wait a minute! We were handling that thing pretty well I'd say!" Jackson countered.
"Hey, we didn't have a choice! That thing just burst out of the wall there and attacked us!" Oriel protested, pointing at collapsed rock pile and hole in question.
"The one that 'he' ran into I might add...!" Jackson added, jabbing a thumb in Victor's direction. The faunus boy shot him a look.
"Shut it you!" he exclaimed, "If you'd just given up that piece, none of this would have-!"
"Shut up!" Nikau shouted, effectively silencing the three before him, "I could care less 'how' it happened, are you three really that stupid to pick a fight with a Birgani Grimm?" His statement effectively silenced whatever the other three were about to say. Both his back-handed comment to them, as well as what exactly he had just referred to the Grimm itself as.
"Wait... did you say... Birgani?!" Oriel spoke, barely controlled terror creeping into her small voice. She glanced back over at the Grimm in question as it flailed about in dazed confusion still. Her parents once told her bedtime stories involving huntsmen that fought monsters that bore the name 'Birgani', and yet her childhood mind never could quite paint an appropriate picture of such a creature. Eight year and sixteen year old merged into one in that moment, "That thing we were just fighting- 'that's' a Birgani?!"
"So one of you has at least heard of them," Nikau said, his tone softening a little as he looked at Oriel, "Then you should know the major threat they are, like I do. And also why we should get out of here and away from it!"
"No way! That's not happening!" Victor waved his hand to the side, "Not after what we just found! That, 'Birgani' as you call it, it's got pieces of that 'control stone', on top of it! And I plan to get it!"
"What?" Nikau spoke with confusion. He turned back to look at the Birgani. His anxiety rose a little as he saw the creature was slowing down its movements, as if reorienting itself. But also, looking atop the creature's rock back, he could see it. There was no denying it: there were two control stone fragments sticking out from the rocky material, contrasting sharply in both color and luster.
'No... just, no...!' he thought to himself.
"But I told you already! I couldn't get those pieces out!" Oriel argued back at Victor, "They were really stuck in there, like cement!"
"You just weren't strong enough!" Victor shot back, pointing an accusatory finger at the smaller girl, "I bet if I were up there, I'd have gotten them loose!"
"Um guys? You think you could maybe stop arguing and look alive?" Jackson cut in as he also pointed a finger past them, "That big... 'Birgani' is coming back at us!" Everyone's heads shot back and around to where he pointed. Sure enough, the Birgani was barreling back down towards them, though at much slower speed compared to before. Its leg movements were a little erratic compared to before, yet still punctured the rock ground all the same. Its eyes seemed to flex in size at it tried to focus on the test takers now in its line of sight.
"Brothers...!" Nikau said, "Alright, let's... let's keep a good distance away from it! Those claws could crush a person clean in two!" To his credit, every one of them did end up splitting away from each other, effectively dividing the Birgani's attention between them.
"Yeah, it tried to do that to me, but I didn't let it!" Victor reformed Cera back into its gun form and fired off gun blasts at the Grimm. The rounds glanced off of the hard white armor plating, just as they'd done before.
Following his example, the other three formed their weapons into their gun forms. Or in Oriel's case, their long-range attack forms. Jackson's Candelabra and Nikau's weapon, the Cunning Angler, volleyed blast after blast at the giant Grimm. Each one that made contact with the white armor however was met with a sharp ricochet, bouncing off completely and leaving only dark score marks. The Birgani itself seemed to not be intimidated, much less hurt, by any of the three boys' blasts. It simply plunged its massive claws into the ground where they stood. Though that was a fruitless effort though, as the Birgani moved its arms too slowly and the students themselves being far quicker to dodge.
The only odd one out amongst the group of students was Oriel, and not simply for being the only girl among them. Her Talons formed into their slingshot form contrasted against the three boys' much more high-caliber weapons. They were firing off high powered projectiles of great heat at the Birgani, some of them being actual fire from fire Dust itself. While she on the other hand shot little more than rocks. They were simply much less impressive compared to theirs; they didn't pack much in the way of 'fire' power in comparison. Still, with the Grimm's attention being divided upon her, she aimed her shots as carefully as she could, trying to find the best spots to hit.
As the four students jumped around, avoiding the Birgani's strikes, Nikau's mind was in turmoil.
'This is bad, this is very bad!' he thought, 'Should not be here. I should not be fighting a Birgani! I need to get away from this thing! We need to...' His line of thought itself reminding him that he was not alone, Nikau looked up and at all the three students. These three were fighting against this Grimm, but... they didn't seem scared. Well, that girl looked nervous at best, but she was still fighting! Nikau even noted how with such a primitive weapon she wielded, the shots she fired had surprising accuracy, 'But... why are they still fighting? Do they have death wishes?'
"Come on, you ugly crab!" Victor's voice rang out, "I'll pry those stones right outta your back if I have to!"
Nope. They had death wishes, and they were stupid.
"Huh? Hold on a minute," Jackson suddenly spoke up, in between his jumping and dodging of the Birgani's strikes, "Stones? Like, control stones?" He quickly looked back up to survey the Birgani again, as if taking the entire creature in his sights completely, before his eyes widened again, "No way... you're telling me this thing's got control stone pieces on it? And maybe that you 'didn't' need to attack me and try and take the one that I'd already found fair and square?! Wow! What a shocker!" He finished off his mini-tirade with mock gasping.
Nikau's eyes also snapped up to the Birgani's body as well. Specifically, the looked up to the rear end of it, the entire massive rock body that it carried behind it. Indeed, literally sticking out from the drab dark brown of the rock of the surrounding walls were two sharp pieces of gray, almost silver looking pieces of rock. There was no denying how those pieces looked identical to the one in his possession as well. And if the childish ranting from these other two boys was to be believed, at least two of them did not have any control stone pieces on them. The painful irony of the situation was not lost on him.
He turned his head to Oriel, who was doing her best as well to avoid leg stabs.
"You there! Oriel, was it?" he called out, "What did they look like?"
"Huh? What-?"
"The stone pieces! Up there!" Nikau pointed up to the Birgani's top, "What did they look like?! You got a look at them, didn't you?"
"Ah! They um- They were kinda sharp!" Oriel stammered, "Like, they had little corners sticking out that were really pointed!" In between his own quick movements, Nikau let a hand drift down to feel his own stone fragment in his hands. He could feel a straightened edge, a more rough, jagged cut edge opposite that one, with a single pointed corner. Almost point for point what the girl had described, "B-But! What does any of that matter if they're still in there-?!"
At this point, the Birgani suddenly let out a more guttural sounding roar. It slammed its left claw all the way around, with Oriel in its intended path. With a yelp, the small girl quickly rolled forward and clear out of its path. The claw was left to smack hard into the wall closest to her, leaving spider-webbing cracks in the wall at the point of impact.
Oriel herself quickly ran over to move closer to the other boys. Now rejoined in one group, the four of them gazed upon the Grimm as it more easily pulled its claw loose from the wall. Each claw made clicking sounds whose resonating sounds bounced even further off of the walls from the echoes.
"I can't believe this... I really can't believe this..." Nikau spoke softly.
"Huh? Can't believe what?" Jackson said.
"This!" Nikau indicated towards the Birgani, "We should not be fighting this thing! Instead, not only does it seem like we will, but that we actually have to!" He quickly pulled forth his stone fragment, showing it before the other three.
"What the- You have one!?" Victor exclaimed.
"You. Pull yours out; let's see something," Nikau completely ignored Victor as he spoke directly to Jackson.
"Uh, alright..." Jackson did as he was told, and pulled forth his piece. As one, the two boys pushed their pieces closer together, aligning on of the jagged ends closer to the other. Before all, the two pieces connected almost flawlessly; Nikau's end providing one point of a triangle, and Jackson's appearing more the central base to it, "Huh, what do ya know? It's a perfect fit!" He looked up at Nikau, "Guess you and I are gonna be partners, eh?" Rather than dignify his comment with any response, Nikau pulled his piece back and put it away. He then looked over at Victor and Oriel, with the Birgani behind them also in his line of sight.
"Alright... I really can't believe I'm saying this..." he said with a sigh, "But... We'll kill the Birgani..." He was met with a smug smirk from Victor and widened eyes from Oriel, "And, I'll even help you; if nothing else, to get your stone pieces..."
"Well, not that I needed permission anyway," Victor said, "And certainly not from any of you." All eyes then turned back to the Birgani again.
"But, how can we possibly kill this Grimm?!" Oriel said, "That thing is so tough! Everywhere! It's like every part of its body is like hitting armor made of concrete!"
"Yeah, I mean what's even the point of that thing carrying around that rock behind it...?" Jackson off-handedly remarked.
"That does strike me as odd too..." Nikau said, gripping his Cunning Angler in both hands. He then looked over at Oriel, "You said the pieces were stuck in the rock? So it's all completely hard as well?"
"Well, yes- or, actually no," Oriel said, until she stopped short after realizing something, "Only the top part of that rock felt like concrete! All the rest of it, not as hard! I could dig my Talons into those parts no problem!" It was then that Nikau's eyes almost appeared to light up. This was something that Oriel curiously tilted her head at, even as the boy looked back at the Grimm with renewed determination.
"Think about it: why else would a Grimm like that carry a hard piece of rock, especially when its own body is hard as a rock already...?" There was silence for a moment as the question hung about over the other three. Well, silence that was broken by the snapping of the Birgani's claws. The other three students considered what was relayed to them, until finally, realization began to take hold.
"It's carrying around a hard rock for... compensation?" Oriel questioned, "Like, it might have something underneath?"
"Just what is that thing hiding...?" Jackson said, a smirk crawling up his face.
"Maybe some softer underbelly of some kind!" Victor said, snapping Cera back into its dagger form, "No matter- I'll bust that rock apart with my Semblance!"
"Hold on-!" Nikau suddenly cut in, causing the faunus to shoot him a look of surprise for dare suggesting he hold him back, "Admittedly that's not a bad idea, but I'd like to know what everyone's Semblance is first. You already saw my fire generation; I can grow flames from my exposed arms." He held up one of his hands to sprout a small flame upon the back of his hand to prove his point, "What about you three?"
"Mine's a body-slam!" Victor declared, almost impatiently.
"I can move swift and quick!" Jackson added, "Yep, I can dodge pretty much anything when I start running!" After the two boys had spoken, Nikau glanced to the lone girl on his other side.
"I... I've also got like, well," she spoke noticeably quieter compared to the boys, "I can feel time slow down for me, especially when I use my Talons' slingshot form to shoot. I can hit t-targets dead on from up to fifty meters away, though it'll only work if I stay still and in place..." Her explanation earned her looks from Victor and Jackson.
"... Seriously?" Jackson said.
"You can shoot stuff? That's it?" Victor incredulously asked. Their obvious disappoint did Oriel no favors, as the small girl was flushing with embarrassment.
"Alright then, that's... it's a start..." Nikau said, "Now then, let's bust that Grimm's rock!" Without waiting for any word from the other three, he charged forward. The sound of footsteps behind him still told him that at least someone was following his example.
The Birgani itself charged the four students as well, sharpened legs puncturing the hard, rocky ground as if it were little more than dirt. It's mouth area clicked in anticipation. As it finally reached them, it raised its right claw back and thrust it forward, eager to catch prey within its massive claw. The first one being Nikau of course, he looked up to see the massive white claw swing horizontally with the intent of doing more than catching him. In the middle of his run, he quickly dropped down to skid forward on one knee so that his head would be out of the path of the claw. However, while he himself remained out of the pathway, the hook end of his Cunning Angler remained raised straight up. He felt a massive whoosh of air above his head as the appendage passed over him, waving the strands of his hair. Wasting little time, he pushed up the hook to effectively catch on to one of the lumps of the white armor. He instantly felt a jerk in motion as the claw threatened to take him with it, even as it pulled him back to his feet. But Nikau gritted his teeth and held his ground. Mustering all the strength he could, he gripped Cunning Angler and pulled it down hard.
A small explosion of rock and dust filled the air as the claw dug hard into the ground again. The Birgani clicked angrily at this sudden change of motion. It again tried to loosen its claw from the ground again, to no avail this time. Nikau's determined eyes met the Birgani's for a brief moment, almost studying it. He then broke his gaze to look back at the others.
Jackson himself was running straight for the now off-balance Birgani. He ran and flipped up every flat surface to be seen on the massive Grimm until he reached the top. Before him the other claw could be seen, flexing frantically as it seemed to try and register what had just happened to it. With a smirk, Jackson ran forward along the more smooth surface of the Birgani's rock. Once he reached the very end, he gave a dramatic forward front flip bearing straight for the remaining claw. His feet planted firmly down upon it, and combined with his own body weight, pushed the claw down and caused it to dig itself into the ground as well.
By now, both of the Birgani's massive claws were dug in deep into the ground, against its will. It clicked a sound that was a mix of anger and frustration as it struggled to free itself. But more importantly, it could not move itself from its position. Whether to move forward, backward, side to side, or even pivot in place, it could do neither. This immobility was the very thing that Victor was waiting for.
The faunus boy charged up his Semblance to his upper body again and barreled straight for the Grimm. This time, instead of aiming for any of the white armor pieces that were known to be a part of the Birgani itself, he aimed straight for the large rock it carried behind it. The massive round piece of dark brown rock stuck out against the white of the armor, further more making it an easier target.
Victor impacted the rock with a resounding thud. Immediately from the point of his impact, a series of crack marks appeared in a spider-webbing formation. The Birgani itself even lurched forward, uttering a strange sort of grunting noise in turn. This grunting noise quickly turned into one of clear pain, as it realized just what exactly was happening. As such, the struggles it made to free its claws became even more heavy and frantic.
Victor on the other hand quickly backed away and put distance between himself and the Birgani. Yet at the same time, he also reformed Cera into its magnum gun form and let loose couple rounds at the crack site as well. A much better to get hits in this way it seemed.
Next to him, Oriel stepped up. Her two Talons were formed into their slingshot form and held in one hand. She grasped the pull string with the other hand, and as she drew upon it, let her Semblance do its work.
Everything she could see; the world around her, her fellow students, the air, the sounds, even she herself all seemed to slow to a crawl. But in her mind, she felt it running at normal speed. Her target was dead in her sights: the center of the crack sight that Victor had created. One well placed shot with a dense lead projectile would be all it would take. She felt her breath slowly draw in...
The world and everything else resumed its normal speed once she released her shot. The round rock projectile sailed outward and smacked the crack site dead center.
The effect was immediate: crack marks grew larger and deeper as they crawled up and further along the entire perimeter of the Birgani's rock shell. The entire structure finally lost its structural form and broke apart completely. Large shards and fragments of rock fell away and splintered to pieces as they practically exploded from the Birgani's body.
Taking this as their cue, Jackson and Nikau also broke away from where they stood and put some distance between them and the Birgani, while also avoiding falling rocky debris. In the midst of the exploding rock, Victor and Oriel suddenly glanced up in the air, just in time to glimpse something. Two familiar pieces of dark gray items came sailing down through the air straight towards them. Victor reached up and caught one of them with no trouble, while Oriel's piece bounced about from hand to hand as she struggled to get a grip on it.
"Hmph," the faunus grunted as he looked at the control stone piece he now was in possession of, "About time."
"I've got one..." Oriel softly spoke, "I've got one! I've got a control stone piece! I did it-!"
"Yeah yeah, all thanks to me," Victor harshly cut her off, while also directing her attention back to the fray, "Look..." Oriel calmed down a little to look over at where the faunus pointed. When the dust had finally settled, the four students looked clearly upon what had once been an imposing Grimm. In the midst of the struggle the Birgani had finally managed to free its two claws and now shuffle around in place. Not that it would've changed much though: its entire rear end was now exposed, in every literal sense. Instead of large rock behind it, now some sort of black, slimy looking substance appeared to be trailing from its back end. That same substance appeared to also throb a steady rhythm. The Birgani itself was now letting out cries of pure pain and terror by this point; the four students had scored a major blow against it, and even it was now recognizing the danger it was now in.
"Ew, that's what it was hiding?" Jackson's face scrunched up a little, "It was hiding its... its 'guts', inside of a rock?"
"Looks like I was right; about a soft, underbelly..." Victor said, "Looks much more softer than any of its armored parts too! No wonder it was trying to keep it hidden!"
"Yeah, I'd say it's weakest there... Which means it can definitely be killed!" Nikau agreed. His level of intensity when he spoke strangely matched that of Victor's. The two were also leveling wicked grins at the now vulnerable Birgani. The giant Grimm itself was also flailing and snapping its claws again, though much more nervously and anxiously this time. It aimed its snapping claws at the students, but this time seemed to be backing away from them, "Let's finish this thing for good!"
Nikau took one step forward while also returning Cunning Angler to his back, his hands now completely free and empty. Before moved any further, he closed his eyes in brief thought,
'Mom... Dad... watch me...'
His now calm eyes opening again, he held his bare-skinned arms out before the Birgani, then thrust them forward, aimed straight at the Grimm's face. All at once, two separate streams of brilliant orange and yellow flames shot forward from the length of his elbows, bearing straight for the Birgani's head area. The Grimm's massive claws were much too slow and bulky for it to stop the flames from impacting its face. The terrified clicks that it uttered from its mouth were more garbled and disjointed from the flames. It tried to thrust its claws out to snap at the flames, desperate to stop them.
In the process, the Birgani had now reared up on the back ends of its rear leg, its front ones now pulled a little off of the ground. The four students could see much clearly just how pointed each leg was when not digging into the ground now.
But Victor was again already moving. His Cera held behind him, he held his flexed muscle arms out and charged forward, bound for one side of the Birgani's legs. With minimal effort, he plowed through the legs. The result was some of them yielding to the miniature juggernaut by bending out of the way, and even a couple of them snapping from the sheer force. The sudden loss in support on one side caused the Birgani to tumble down on that side uncontrollably. Thankfully, Victor had already run clear and out from underneath the Birgani's body before it could crush him. The giant Grimm crashed to the ground, kicking up more dust, with its remaining appendages flailing about.
On the other side of the body, the exposed, fleshy tail-like extension could be seen. It continued to throb on the ground while still connected to the main body of the Birgani.
"I can do it... I can do it..." Oriel muttered to herself as she was running this time. She reformed her Talons back into their knives form and slashed at the tail end. The blades of the knives cut into the soft black with ease. Each laceration she produced, small plumes of gaseous black burst from the body instead of any sort of organic entrails. The smell alone still almost managed to caused Oriel to keel over herself, but she managed to hold her resolve and keep striking. With careful precision, she sliced and sliced, each time causing the Birgani to shriek in higher pitches of pain.
In between her strikes, Oriel almost failed to notice the massive form of one of the claws swinging backward, trying to strike at her. She pulled her arms back in alarm and tried to duck herself down to avoid it altogether-
"Gotcha!"
She suddenly felt herself lurch from a shift in motion. An arm had wrapped itself underneath her own arms and was pulling her away with its owner. Jackson quickly bound away with her in tow, completely out of the path of the Birgani's crashing claw. The smaller girl flushed and let out a squeak of embarrassment at the way she was being held with an arm reaching clear across her; hopefully no one else could see her! Or get a clear look at her in this way!
"You gotta be careful there, you know?" Jackson called out in the middle of carrying her.
"Eep! What are you doing?! Put me- W-wait! I wasn't done with my attacks there-!" Oriel didn't wait for Jackson's reply; there was still another thing she was able to do! She reformed her Talons into their slingshot form, loaded the sling with a projectile of her own: a marble of concentrated fire Dust, and took aim. This time would be a little more difficult to manage, as she technically was in motion. With greater effort she concentrated her shot to a specific point: one of the deep lacerations she'd made into the Birgani's flesh. If this worked out the right way, this battle could be over very soon...
She loosed her projectile and the Fire Dust marble sailed through the air. It flew forward and sank deep into its intended target, deep inside of the Birgani's black flesh. The effect was instantaneous: the black of the Grimm's body rose in color from black to a much darker gray as fire practically burst from the entry point. The Birgani itself cried out in excruciating pain at this point, thrashing its appendages about helplessly to save itself. Nothing it did was helpful in the slightest however, as small plumes of smoke began to rise from the hottest sections of fire that sprouted from its body. The black of the body began to disintegrate to black colored ash rather quickly, while the white armored sections of its body slowly began to cease movement altogether.
The only form of movement it made was the slight twitching of its mouthpieces, as well as its eyes. The orbs of yellow and red frantically darted around aimlessly until they stopped on something.
Nikau Kiwi stood before the downed Birgani's face, his own face hardened and stern. His eyes bore no compassion in them, even less towards a Grimm. The only form of movement he did was aim his shotgun formed Cunning Angler point blank at the Birgani's face, followed by a sound of thunder. With the combination of Oriel's fire Dust shot from the back end and him taking care of the front, the body of the Birgani quickly began to disintegrate into specks of ash-like specks. The white chitin-like carapaces followed suit as well, albeit breaking apart slightly slower in comparison to the softer black sections.
In no time, the body had completely faded away; the Birgani was no more.
The only sounds that filled the chamber now were those of heavy panting. All four of the students were breathing hard from what they had just experienced.
"It's... it's done..." Nikau spoke, a strange sense of relief in his voice, "It's actually done."
"Heh, heck yeah it's done!" Jackson said, "Whoo! Look at me! Taking down that big monster like it were nothing!"
"We... we actually did it...?" Oriel said, her tone much softer in comparison to standing right next to Jackson, "I can't believe it! H-how did we... erm, how did..." Her train of thought trailed off as she felt something, in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly, she lurched a little as she put a hand to her mouth. Eyes widened and looking back and forth at the other three boys, she quickly darted away to the nearby wall. Only then did she finally end up emptying her stomach upon a nearby pile of rocks, the sounds of her retching filling the area.
"Oh man... That's..." Jackson looked on, disgusted and concerned all at once, "Uh hey, Shorty? You alright there...?" His reply was more retching from the girl.
"What the heck? She got some weak stomach or something?" Victor asked, walking up closer to where Jackson stood, "Killing Grimm gets her to lose her lunch?"
"Probably was breakfast, but whatever..." Jackson muttered under his breath. By now, Oriel's retching had finally subsided a little. The sounds of panting filled the air instead, and the three boys got a look at her face as she turned to them.
"Gah, don't look-!" Oriel quickly turned back, desperate to wipe her mouth more, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I don't... I don't have a weak stomach, I swear! It's just..." Her eyes quickly shot up to Nikau, who was cautiously approaching her. She lightly flinched at first, then relaxed. He himself said nothing right then and there, aside from a gentle pat on the back. The girl coughed a couple more times, then with a helping hand from Nikau was raised to her feet.
"Better now?" he asked. Oriel nodded softly, her mind still a little dazed from the extra effort her stomach went through in emptying itself, "Maybe you should drink water or some kind of fluid, after that..."
"I-I'll be fine! I just..." Oriel tried to protest, then calmed herself, "Ah, you're right... I am a little thirsty..." Nikau himself then looked back at all of them, at all three of his fellow test-takers that stood with him.
"And I... I guess I should thank you... all of you," he said, a strange solemnity in his voice at the moment, "Taking down a Grimm of this size? A Birgani no less? This was no easy feat. You all are completely ridiculous, but you've definitely proven yourselves where it counts."
"Yeah man! I told you I'd come here looking to be the best!" Jackson flexed himself dramatically before everyone, "This is what a champion in the making looks like! A champion Grimm Slayer! Get a load of this...!"
"Brothers, do you ever shut up?" Victor openly voiced his irritation. His comment did not deter the other human however. In fact, he was met with a slight smirk in return.
"No, but what I will do is accept your apology!"
"Huh? Whatever for?" Victor asked with a tilted head and a raised eyebrow.
"Uh, hello?!" Jackson pulled out his control stone fragment he had found himself and held it before them all, "How about how you got one of these for yourself? And the one that I'd found by myself was NOT up for grabs?"
"Oh yeah..." Upon seeing the piece that the human boy held, Victor slowly pulled forth his own piece that he himself recovered, "I did get my piece... Guess I didn't need yours after all..."
"'And maybe I shouldn't have tried to take it,'" Jackson spoke, doing a mocking impression of Victor's voice, "Come on, you know I'm right." Victor did not return such words to Jackson. He instead aimed a smirk at him with a snort.
"Heh, not likely."
"And now we've all got fragments of a control stone on us," Nikau forcefully cut in, "That's what matters." He held out his piece and aimed it towards Jackson, "Which by the way, you and I have pieces that fit together." The other boy held out his piece towards Nikau's and aligned it to where the two pieces fit together seamlessly.
"Hey, hold on a second..." Oriel spoke up, causing the two to glance at her. She looked at the fragment she held in her hands. Hers had a single pointed end upon it, formed from two straight edges themselves met. She glanced down at hers, then back up at the single mass that the two boys formed themselves, "My piece, it looks a lot like yours... er, Nikau."
Nikau said nothing, yet tilted his head a little. He stepped a little to the side so that Oriel could step forward herself. She held her piece up, jagged side out, and pushed out. The jagged end fit in almost perfectly, with the stone mass being formed almost becoming a full triangle.
"Huh? What are the odds? Both of yours forming up with mine as the ones I need?" Jackson said. Oriel's facial expressions did little to hide her excitement, while Nikau's face continued to show bewilderment. Jackson then glanced back to Victor, "What are the odds even your piece is the last one missing from this, big guy?"
Victor snorted as he ignored Jackson's comment, yet looked at his piece regardless. Studying it closely as Oriel had done hers, he did have to admit he was the least bit curious. What were the chances of his piece actually fitting in with theirs?
Well, the chances actually did seem likely, considering both his and Oriel's pieces had come from the same place...
Nonetheless, he aimed his piece's jagged end towards the single jagged end of Jackson's piece. Almost as quickly as the girl had reformed her piece to the whole, his piece met the whole just as seamlessly. His eyes widened in shock, and looking up, everyone else's facial expressions were largely the same. The result was a unanimous one- All four of their fragments formed the correct whole of a piece! A triangular shaped control stone now lay within their grasps, quite literally!
"Hey, well alright then!" Jackson spoke, in spite of his jovial tone earlier, "That's one less thing to have to worry about then!" He looked around at the other three surrounding him, lastly at Victor, "And really, what ARE the odds, huh?! I mean, I was kinda joking when I said that...!"
"What? You three are who I'm getting off of this mountain with?" Victor said with widened eyes himself.
"Hey, come on now! Th-this is a good thing! Great even!" Oriel tried to diffuse the feeling she was sensing from the faunus, "We're on a team now! Um, aren't we? Isn't that how this works...?"
"Hm," Victor actually considered. He had to admit, this bunch actually could hold their own in a fight with a Grimm, and not get killed. Even this really small girl, Oriel, which that Birgani could've easily snapped in half with its claws. There was a point where she had hacked away at the Grimm with those blades of hers, instead of cowering away like she had before. Jackson was annoying as ever, but man could the guy move. And this Nikau guy, there was some strength behind him, not just in his arms when fighting the Birgani. There lie another kind of strength in his eyes; a fierce grit and determination to see something through to the end. That was a feeling the faunus could respect.
Aside from the fact that all three of them were human, Victor had to admit: they were skilled.
"Hmph, none of you better hold me back," Victor finally said. He was met with open smiles from Oriel and Jackson, and a nod from Nikau.
"We should keep our fragments close to us," the human said, tucking his piece away. The other three did the same as well for their pieces, "Now then, how do we get out of here...?"
"Yeah, let's find a way out of here, and quick!" Oriel placed a hand to her stomach after putting her piece away, "My stomach still hurts a little, and I wouldn't want more Grimm to show up..." As she spoke, her gaze had drifted around the chamber they stood in. The dark tan of the walls blended the ceiling with the floors almost flawlessly, creating a nearly round enclosing around them. However, one section did stand out drastically: a steel-gray platform of railroad tracks, leading to a mechanical elevator door, built straight into the wall itself, "Wait, there! That's a mining elevator, isn't it? We could use that?"
"An elevator...?" Nikau said, "It's worth a try; I hope it still works though..." The four of them swiftly made their way to the wall and the elevator. As the doors were already opened, they were able to slip inside. Nikau inspected the controls for the car on one side, and tentatively pressed the up arrow. Instantly, the button glowed red, with the car doors closing shortly after, much to everyone's surprise.
"It, it worked?" Nikau said, "Unbelievable!"
"Alright, going up!" Jackson said, "Actually, does this go up? Like, up and out of this mountain?"
"I sure hope so," Oriel said, "I hate being in dark places like this..." Her comment earned her a glance from Victor.
"Hm, you know, for someone scared of the dark, you seem to hold yourself together to fight well enough," the faunus spoke. Oriel looked at him with widened eyes. Was that praise? Coming from this faunus boy who seemed determined to not make friends?
"Oh, um, thanks, I guess?" Oriel stammered, "That's nice of you to-"
"Just don't make a habit of freezing up every time you get scared," he quickly followed up, "I don't plan on bailing you out every time..." The comment was intended to be dismissive, and Oriel could definitely sense that. Yet at the same time, there almost was a sense of... respect, in the way he spoke to her.
She looked back through the elevator doors, gazing upon the ground floor of the chamber they were leaving. The same room where she had encountered the biggest Grimm she had ever laid her eyes upon, fought against, and somehow triumphed over. A sense of pride began to fill her being, and for the first time in her life, Oriel Baltimore didn't feel so small anymore...
-I suppose some explanation might be necessary. Yes, I also created a custom Grimm in addition to my own OCs, called a Birgani. But what is a Birgani you might ask? Basically you take the hulking armored tank of a hermit crab and combine it with the horrifyingly monstrous size and image of a Coconut Crab, and there you have it. As for the name; it's actually a portmanteau of names: The first part of Birgus Latro, the Latin phrase for Coconut Crab, and the last part of Yashigani, which is the Japanese word for palm crab (Bir + gani)-