"Most of our students have already been paired up," Glynda informs Ozpin as the overlook the process via their Scroll tablets. Truthfully the process was not as completely random as the students may think, with many factors taken into account such as their skills, preferred tactics, Combat Academy records, aptitude test results and so on. Afterwards, they were launched into positions where they would be close enough to their partners and with the help of little environmental manipulation they guided the children to their partners.
"All except for our mystery student." Glynda says as she taps on her Scroll and shows camera footage of the boy known as Hunter wandering the Emerald Forest by himself, followed by a trail of Grimm corpses, "He seems more interested in the Grimm than the relics, heading for where they're most packed together. Even young Grimm seem to realise approaching him is a death sentence and fleeing on sight, which is leading him away from the relics."
"Curios." Ozpin mutters as he sees a pack of young Beowolves flee from him after seeing the death of more than three-quarters of their pack, "You don't often see Grimm with that attitude to students, only veteran Huntsmen. But then again, he is the boy that killed Tyrian Callows."
"Yes…Are you sure bringing him into Beacon is the best idea?" Glynda asks warily, "We still found not a single trace of him anywhere on Remnant, not even a single ticket from Mistral to Patch if Ruby Rose's story is to be believed."
Ozpin remembers when he spoke with Ruby, the little shifts in her body language that told him she wasn't being completely truthful with her,
"It is likely we won't find anything about him even if we request Professor Lionheart to perform an investigation. But someone that powerful does not come from nowhere, There must be a lead somewhere on Remnant, and we'll keep looking for it." Ozpin says before returning his attention to the tablet, "Tyrian has been responsible for many deaths of powerful friends, and this boy did in one night what many couldn't with years. If he isn't working with the Queen, then our priority is to make sure at the very least he stays that way."
"...Do you plan to bring him into the fold?" Glynda asks with what sounds like disapproval in her tone.
"Perhaps once he graduates, but until then he is simply a student, and we'll treat him as such." Ozpin says tapping into his Scroll, bringing up the environmental control system, "Now let's see if we can redirect him to the closest group of students. That should put him back on the right track."
"I don't think that will be needed, with where he's heading." Glynda points it out on his Scroll.
"Ahh!" Jaune screams as he hangs on to the stinger of the Death Stalker for dear life, "Pyrrha! Help! This is not a relic! It's not!"
"Jaune, whatever you do, don't let go!" Pyrrha warns as she readies Miló in front of her the Death Stalker swings its tail back and forth to throw off Jaune before slamming it against a tree and forcing Jaune to let go.
"Pyrrha?!" Jaune cries out as he is backed into a tree with the Death Stalker looming over him, and his weapons having been dropped while the Death Stalker was swinging him around.
She was about to leap in to distract it before she spotted movement at the cliff above them, something falling over it before landing on top of the Death Stalker with what looked like a massive stone hammer. Actually, it seemed less like a hammer and more like a solid block of stone strapped to a sword's hilt with writing on the head in a language she didn't recognise.
The Death Stalker was stunned by the sheer force of the blow, cracking its bone carapace and giving Jaune time to grab his weapons and flee to her side.
"What the-? Was that Hunter?!" Jaune asks in surprise as he spots the figure in a black trench coat and tricorn hat.
"Who?" Pyrrha asks, finding the name unfamiliar as the boy dodges a stab from the Death Stalker's tail by disappearing into a burst of mist, travelling to its side where he swings his hammer again using the momentum and tipping the gigantic Grimm over.
Although she was surprised at seeing a Grimm of that size being manhandled by a student like her and Jaune, she took the opportunity and leapt into the fight, jumping up before firing off a Dust round and using its recoil to stab Miló into the Death Stalker's unprotected belly.
With a flick of a switch, she then shortened it to its xiphos form and dragged it across the underside, dealing grievous damage to it as it screeched in pain, flailing its legs and claws before pushing itself back to its feet, where Pyrrha was forced to abandon her attack and fall back to join the student in black, or Hunter as Jaune had called him.
"Got a plan?" she asks Hunter as she draws her shield, Akoúo̱.
Hunter nodded and then made a series of strange gestures, possibly a form of sign language, before pausing upon seeing the confused look on her face. Before they could figure things out, the Death Stalker rushes at them, swinging with one claw while its tail struck from above,
Hunter dodged the swipe of the claw before bringing down his hammer to shatter and cripple it as Pyrrha deflects the tail strike with her shield, the venomous stinger scraping against the Aura-infused metal before being pinned to the ground beside her.
Seeing his opportunity, Jaune finally joins them and stabs his sword into the pinned tail before the Death Stalker can free it, causing it even more agony as it flails its tail around in pain with his sword still stuck inside it.
Jaune sees the stinger connected to the tail was weakened from his strike, however, and calls it out,
"Pyrrha! The tail!" He points at it and Pyrrha nods before swinging her shield and throwing it like a frisbee, cutting through the weakened tail and depriving it of its dangerous stinger.
The stinger fell on top of the Death Stalker's carapace but did not penetrate deeply. Seeing this, Hunter dashes to it, leaping above a swipe from the Death Stalker's remaining claw before raising his hammer covered in white mist, smashing on the stinger like it was a nail and easily punching through its carapace and body, finally killing it.
Both Pyrrha and Jaune relax once they see the black flesh of the Grimm begin disintegrating,
"Oh, gods…We did it." Jaune pants before taking a moment to sit down, "That was intense."
"I didn't think they would let us fight Grimm of that calibre that early." Pyrrha admits, "Or that we killed it that fast. I guess we have you to thank for that. Hunter, was it?"
She extends an open hand for him to shake only for him to stare at it oddly before awkwardly wrapping his hand around hers and shaking.
"I'm Pyrrha Nikos, it's nice to meet you." she greets, "And I think you already knew Jaune?"
"Yeah, we met each other back at the ceremony." Jaune nods before looking at his hammer, "Dang, was that the sword you showed back then? It turns into a hammer?"
Hunter shook his head before dropping the hammer, letting it sink into a pool of mist and disappearing from their sight.
"You gotta tell me how you do that," Jaune mutters.
"It's his Semblance, probably some kind of mist manipulation?" Pyrrha guesses, "I saw you use it to make yourself move faster, but how does it let you store your weapon?"
Hunter pauses at her question, looking her in the eye before shrugging,
"...Well I guess Semblances are strange by nature," Pyrrha says thinking it was him trying to say he doesn't know also.
"Right, Semblances, of course. What else could it have been?" Jaune chuckles awkwardly while trying to look like he understood what that meant before changing the subject, "Where's your partner then? I saw Ruby team up with Weiss, so where does that leave you?"
Hunter sighs and shakes his head as the two look at him with surprise,
"You haven't found a partner yet? That's troubling." Pyrrha says before gesturing in a direction, "We were following the path that might lead to the temple Professor Ozpin spoke of until Jaune decided to explore the cave."
"I thought we would find a relic inside, or maybe some kind of secret loot like those video games and all." Jaune admits, embarrassed, "Come on, after his surprise of throwing us off a cliff and randomising our partners, would a secret loot cave be out of the question? I didn't know a Grimm like that would be in there."
"Neither did I, but let's just be glad it all worked out." Pyrrha assures Jaune before turning back to Hunter, "You want to come with us to the temple? There could be someone left for you to partner with over there."
Hunter thinks on this for a moment before bowing respectfully,
"I'll take that as a yes?" Pyrrha asks as Hunter nodded, "Great, I look forward to fighting with you then."
"And stay down!" Yang shouts as she deals the finishing blow to an Ursa, blowing its head off, "Alright! Think that's all of them?"
"I think so." Blake responds as she pries Gambol Shroud from the skull of another Ursa, "We should retrieve our relic now before more come. My ammunition is running low, and I'm guessing yours is as well."
"Yeah, they are." Yang notes as she ejects the spent shells of Ember Celica before reloading them with fresh belts of ammunition for each gauntlet, "Let's go then."
The two of them approach the ruins of what was once likely a large temple, finding many chess pieces awaiting them, with quite a few having been taken already.
"Alright, which do you think we should take?" Yang mutters as she looks over their choices, "Do you think Ruby arrived already and took one? Which would she pick then? Or maybe she's still on the way? Maybe we should wait for her first, then I can pick with her?"
"You're really worried about your sister?" Blake asks as Yang sighs,
"Can you blame me? I almost lost her just a few days ago, when some psychopaths broke into our home and nearly killed her and Dad. I know that we're going to train and become Huntsmen, and it's going to be dangerous, which is why I want to be in her team. If things go South at least I'll be there for her, not like that night." Yang says softly, clenching her fist.
"...If you don't mind me asking, why did they get attacked," Blake asks after a pause and Yang shrugs,
"Beats me, all I know is that if it wasn't for Hunter, I'd be visiting two more graves every month," Yang mutters.
"Hunter? That boy your sister hangs out with?" Blake asks, remembering the boy in black with those chilling eyes.
"Yeah, came out of nowhere and saved my dad and sis, killed one of those psychos as well. I'd sleep better if both of them were buried six feet under, but I'll take it." Yang says as Blake frowns,
"So he just shows up out of nowhere and saved your family?" she asks, sounding sceptical, "That's…"
"Suspicious as hell? Yeah, I thought the same." Yang admits surprising Blake, "But Uncle Qrow told me not to worry about that, and I heard Ozpin personally invited him to Beacon. I doubt he'd let Hunter into Beacon if he was some serial killer or terrorist in disguise, right?"
"...Yeah, I doubt that," Blake mutters, suddenly looking away. What Yang said made sense, but if someone like her could sneak into Beacon without alerting the Headmaster…
"That said, it doesn't help that I get this chill in the back of my neck when I look at him for too long." Yang mutters rubbing the back of her neck, "Maybe I'm just being too paranoid?"
"You felt that too?" Blake asks, surprising Yang, but before they could continue they hear something approaching and ready their weapons just in case.
An Ursa comes bursting out of the woodwork with a roar before it suddenly collapses,
"Aw, it broke." a girl with short red hair groans as a boy with black hair wearing a green coat follows her from behind appearing winded,
"Nora…" he pants exhausted, "Never…do that…again…"
"But it was so fun." the girl, Nora, whines as she pokes the disintegrating Ursa corpse before noticing the two, "Oh look, Ren! Looks like we weren't the first!"
"Yeah… I expected that…" Ren pants out still exhausted from following her on foot while she rode a rampaging Ursa through the forest.
"Did…that girl just ride an Ursa?" Yang asks, flabbergasted at what she saw as Blake wordlessly nods. Before they could wonder how to react to that, Blake heard something faintly from above them, glancing up and widening her eyes in surprise.
"Er, Yang." she nudges the girl before pointing upwards, as the blonde's eyes also widen at the sight,
"Ruby?!" she cries out in surprise as she sees her sister barreling through the air like something had thrown her, before managing to stabilise herself and stop spinning, reloading Crescent Rose before firing all the bullets she could to slow her momentum before she plummets into the ground, creating a small crater from the impact and kicking up mounds of dirt.
"Ruby!" Yang shouts in shock before rushing over to the small crater her sister made and checking on her, wrapping her arms around her seemingly unconscious body as she checks for a pulse, "Are you alright? Talk to me! Say something!"
"Yang…I'm fine." Ruby groans out, "Just broke my Aura…"
"How did you even fall from up there?!" Yang asks as she still continues checking over her sister as the rest gather around her in surprise and confusion
"Ooh, were you flying just now? How did you do that?" Nora asks before getting excited, "You gotta tell me! What was it like? How did you even get up there? I bet the view must be good up there!"
"No, I didn't fly. I just missed…" Ruby mutters, confusing everyone as she rubs her sore neck, "Ugh, who are you?"
"Name's Nora. That's Ren." She introduces herself as Ruby weakly waves at them, and Ren waves back.
"But how did you get up there in the first place?" Blake asks as they hear a faint caw coming from a distance away.
They all turn to find the largest Nevermore they've seen flying through the forest, each flap of its wings tearing up small trees and bending larger ones as it chases something through the forest, said something firing blue projectiles desperately at it as they were chased.
Then they come rushing out of the treeline and they realise it was Weiss, using her glyphs to launch and accelerate herself to keep ahead of the giant Nevermore, and even from the distance they could tell she was slowing down from exhaustion.
"We need to help her!" Ruby cries out as she tries to get up but Yang stops her,
"Are you crazy?! Your Aura's broken you can't-!" she tries to speak but Ruby, with surprising strength for someone who broke her Aura, shoves her hand away and breaks her grip on her shoulder.
"I don't care! If she dies it's my fault!" Ruby shouts as she starts running towards Weiss and the Nevermore,
"Damn it!" Yang tried running after her, shocked that she was having trouble keeping up as the rest followed her.
Meanwhile, Weiss uses another glyph to get ahead of the rapidly approaching Nevermore, panting from the accumulating exhaustion as she glances back to find herself just barely keeping ahead. If this continues she'll run out of Aura eventually leaving herself vulnerable to the Nevermore.
Then the Nevermore peels back to her confusion before she realises it was preparing for another barrage of feathers. She tries to dodge but in her exhausted state, a stray feather grazes her Aura and trips her up, sending her sprawling.
"Weiss!" Ruby cries out as she runs faster, but she is still too far away to help.
Weiss raises Myrtemaster, bracing herself as the claws of the Nevermore approach her, ready to tear her to shreds. But before it can do so, something smashes to its side and explodes, knocking it away and missing Weiss completely.
"Huh?" she looks at the source of the shot to find Hunter approaching while reloading a gigantic cannon by dropping a cannonball inside while pouring a vial of silver-like solution, with Pyrrha by his side and firing a volley of rifle rounds that pelt against the Nevermore. Seeing the change in odds, the Grimm flaps quickly to gain altitude, putting as much distance as it could between them.
Pyrrha continued firing until it was out of range, as the Hunter tracked it with his cannon before dropping it in annoyance once he realised he couldn't make the shot. As this happens, Jaune walks up to Weiss and offers a hand up,
"Hey there ice queen," he says trying to sound suave, "Hope you don't mind us dropping by?"
Weiss looks at him annoyed before slapping his hand away, "I'm fine! I just need some rest."
She says as she catches her breath while Ruby and the rest finally catch up,
"Weiss! You're alright!" she cries as she crushes the girl in a hug, "I'm so sorry! I almost got you killed!"
"I'm…fine! Let go!" Weiss struggles to breath before pushing Ruby away before grumbling, "I told you it was crazy…but then again I ended up going along with it anyways."
She glances back at Hunter and Pyrrha, the latter quickly reloading her weapon, "And I have you two to thank for saving me. If you hadn't distracted it then…"
"I'm glad you're alright Weiss." Pyrrha smiles warmly at her before gesturing to Hunter, "And you should thank him. We were on our way to the temple when he saw that Nevermore and suddenly he wanted to go after it. We didn't know it was chasing anyone until we got closer."
"Yeah, he's pretty enthusiastic about hunting Grimm." Ruby turns and smiles gratefully at Hunter, "Thanks for showing up when you did."
"Well, great, gangs all here." Yang snarks as she points to the sky, "Now we can all die together!"
The Nevermore passes by again from a height none of their firearms could reach, dropping sharp feathers by the dozens. The group immediately scattered to avoid getting hit,
"Get back to the forest! Maybe we can lose it there!" Jaune suggests and they all do so, making breaks for the treeline to provide them cover.
All except Hunter who draws a large club-like weapon with a serrated edge, ready to face the Nevermore before Ruby calls for him,
"Hunter! We need to regroup!" she tells him as he looks back with disappointment in his eyes, waving at the Elder Nevermore as it fired barrage after barrage of feathers at them, "Now!"
Hunter throws his hands in the air in disappointment before following them to the treeline,
"How did you even get that thing's attention?" Jaune asks as they run,
"Well, it's a long story…" Ruby mutters before she starts explaining,
Moments Earlier*
"Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?" Ruby asks as she clears the path using Crescent Rose's scythe form to cut away branches blocking their way, "We've been walking for a while."
"I'm certain." Weiss scoffs, "I saw the derelict building as we fell, and using the sun I determined that its likely position is somewhere in that direction."
She says pointing in the direction they were facing, "It should just be a while longer before we can get to the temple, so quit whining."
Ruby rolled her eyes before she spotted a Messenger emerging from a pool of mist next to her, raising a note. Giving it a quick appreciative nod, she picks it up and unfurls it before smiling,
"Oh hey, Hunter's heading to the temple as well!" Ruby exclaims happily as Weiss glances at her confused,
"How do you know that?" she asks as Ruby shows her the note, depicting a picture consisting of a doodle of the Hunter, someone with a sword and a girl with a ponytail and spear walking towards a building,
"It's a note from Hunter." Ruby exclaims before reading into it closer, "It looks like he still hasn't found a partner yet, but he's heading to the temple with Jaune and some girl with a spear he's partnered up with."
"Girl with a spear…are you kidding? She's partnered with that idiot and not me?! The gods have a sick sense of humour." She grumbles in frustration before realising, "How did he send that to you anyways?"
"Oh, it's his Semblance." Ruby quickly lies, "He can do some weird stuff with mist."
"Like sending messages?" Weiss asks, glancing at the note.
"And moving very fast." Ruby shudders at the memory of him blitzing her while she barely keeps up with her own speed Semblance before he kills her again and again, "Very fast."
"That sounds like a very versatile Semblance," Weiss says as they continue walking, before they hear a scream from somewhere, followed by the sound of trees smashing.
"What was that?" Weiss asks in concern as she drew her weapon,
"That sounds human." Ruby says with worry, "We have to check it out!"
Not waiting for a response, Ruby dashes towards the source of the noise to find a group of four students like her surrounded by feather projectiles larger than her, with the largest Nevermore she's ever seen flying overhead and flapping its wings hard, sending another barrage of arrows at the group.
One of them falls over in his desperate attempt to flee and another stops to pull him back up, but before they could be struck by the feathers, Ruby leaps at them with her semblance and enhanced speed from the blood ministration to grab them before the feathers could land.
"Do any of you have ranged weapons?" Ruby asks quickly as she switches Crescent Rose to her sniper form, "If we can get to cover and-"
"Screw that!" an armoured guy with a mace screams, "We already got our relic pieces! Just run!"
"Wha-?" Ruby glances back to find the group of four run off without sparing a glance back, groaning as she turns to face the Nevermore overhead, "Oh that's just fantastic."
The Nevermore lets out a loud caw before circling back to shoot another barrage of feathers as Ruby fires her rifle but curses as she misses due to the sheer distance between them. Even with her sniper rifle, the Grimm was still out of range.
When the barrage of feathers closes, she leaps back to carefully avoid them, her enhanced reflexes making them look slow in comparison.
The Nevermore seemed to realise its barrage was having no effect and began to dive down at her, as she readied her scythe for when it got close. Once it does, she fires off a shot to launch herself up ready to engage in close quarters, but then it flaps its wings hard, sending her flying back to the ground and tearing up a few trees.
All that just from passing by, she realises as she pushes herself back up to find it already climbing up, only able to fire off a few potshots from her rifle that had little effect. Ranged combat wasn't going to be a viable answer here.
"Ruby?" Weiss shouts as she emerges from the thick forest to find the small clearing of trees being smashed apart with Ruby at the centre and a giant Nevermore circling them, "What the heck is going on?!"
"I saw that Nevermore attacked people and had to help!" Ruby responds as she uses Crescent Rose to push herself to her feet, "Are Nevermores usually that strong?"
"You would know this if you weren't a grade skipper! That's not a normal Nevermore!" Weiss admonishes as she readies her rapier, "That's an Elder Grimm, those that grow old, big and smart enough to devastate small towns by themselves! What's something like that doing here?!"
"I know what Elders are, I just never seen one in person!" Ruby shot back as she racked her rifle, "We need to get some cover, if it keeps firing those feathers we'll eventually run out of Aura!"
While Ruby was confident in her chances of surviving without Aura thanks to Hunter's training regiment and enhanced biology, she doubted Weiss' ability once she was drained of Aura. And it wasn't like they had the firepower or range to take it on.
Before Weiss could agree, the Elder Nevermore shoots more feathers at them, to which she blocks with some Ice Dust to create a barrier to protect them. Ruby admits that it was impressive to wield such control over Dust like that, which she wasn't able to do nor her sister, before she got an idea.
"Weiss, do you have any Gravity Dust?" Ruby asks quickly.
"I have all types of Dust, why?" Weiss asks as she sees Ruby eject her rifle's magazine before replacing it with another fully loaded one, "What are you planning?"
"Something very stupid." Ruby admits, "When it comes for another pass, launch me up. With my Semblance and Crescent Rose's recoil, I might get close enough to use my scythe on it."
"...You're right. That is stupid and crazy!" Weiss looks at her in shock, "What if you miss?"
"Well, I'll try not to then." Ruby tries to give her a confident smile to hide how nervous she is at her own idea, "But it's not like we can run from it, right? It'll just keep chasing us while we can't shoot it down."
"...Don't blame me when this goes wrong then." Weiss sighs as she summons a large glyph below Ruby that was infused with Gravity Dust.
"And I didn't even get close! That dang Grimm used its wings to blow me away when it saw me coming." Ruby says, frustrated at herself as they finally found a place in the forest with thick enough treetops to hide them from the Nevermore's sights, "And I almost got Weiss killed as well…"
"Evidently we need a better plan to kill it." Weiss grumbles, "We can't get our relics while it's hovering over the temple."
"W-well, what if we just run away?" Jaune suggests, "That Grimm's too strong and we can't touch it while it's up there, but it can. All it needs to do is drop its feathers and let gravity do the rest!"
"But we can't." Ren points out, "If it finds us on the way back, it'll attack our Bullhead transport."
"So fight it here or fight it in a slow-moving metal coffin?" Yang punches her fists together, "I vote we take it down right here and now then. That shit tried to kill my sister, and I'm not letting it slide."
"Yeah! Break its wings!" Nora cheers.
As the group starts debating what to do, Ruby looks on and sulks before the Hunter approaches her,
"What is wrong?" he signs looking at her with concerned eyes,
She was tempted to just lie to him and tell him nothing was wrong, but maybe she was just too tired of lying to lie to the only person she could truly be honest with.
"I thought I could make it, take down the Nevermore in a single blow." Ruby mutters as she clenches her fist, "I felt like I could. Ever since that night, I've felt stronger, faster, like nothing except you could touch me. And now here we are, my plan almost getting both Weiss and I killed."
She says looking disappointed at herself and Hunter looks at her, his eyes the only thing she can see with his mask up, but she could feel something akin to sympathy in them.
"I was the same." he signs,"When I first woke from the Dream I felt invincible. Armed with the weapons of Hunters that came before me, I slaughtered droves of beasts. The strength, the speed, it was exhilarating. Until I found a beast not so easily slain."
He rubs his throat with one hand like he was remembering an old wound, "Damned Church Beast sent me back to the Dream in shame many times before I killed it."
Ruby pauses as she takes in the information. She knows what the Hunter is telling her, but she can't help but focus on some specific parts.
"You…went through the blood thing?" Ruby asks softly, "I thought you designed it or something?"
The Hunter looks like he would have laughed if he could, "Please. I couldn't have designed that treatment. I went through it like you."
"Really?" Ruby looks at him in surprise, "Why did you do that? I mean, I know why I did, but what about you?"
The amusement in his eyes vanishes as he almost freezes before he continues signing, "...I trust you understand what I was trying to say? You failed, but we are human, and no amount of blood in your veins changes that. We fail, we try again, that is called being human."
"Yeah…I understand." Ruby nods. She understood and his words did bring some comfort to her, but the nagging thought in her head wanting to push her luck and ask why he avoided answering her question persists. In the end, she relents, not wanting to force him into answering something he was uncomfortable with.
She turns back to the group that was still debating among one another about how they should kill the Nevermore before turning back to the Hunter,
"Any suggestions for killing a giant flying monster?" she asks but he shrugs and shakes his head.
"Never. All my foes were always where I can reach." he signs before rubbing his chin in thought, "If it came down to our level, it would stand no chance. Perhaps it knows this, that is why it remains flying beyond our reach."
As the Hunter signs this, Ruby's eyes widen in realisation as a plan begins to form. She nervously raises her voice so she can be heard over the arguing group,
"I have a plan!" she says as confidently as she can as everyone turns to look at her, making her a bit more nervous,
"Your plan already failed, what makes you think this one will be any better?" Weiss asks sceptically.
"Because we aren't going for a direct attack this time. It's too high in the air, but what if it wasn't?" Ruby asks, confusing them, "Twice it came down when it could've stayed in the air. It dived to get me when I was alone but flew back up once Weiss came to me, then afterwards it went for Weiss when she was separated and tired before Pyrrha and Hunter came."
"So it only comes down to ground level when it knows it has the advantage?" Ren mutters, "You're suggesting a trap?"
"Yes, if it sees one of us alone, maybe looking injured, it might fly down to finish them off. When it does, we spring our trap and take out its wings. Once it's grounded then we can fight on our terms." Ruby explains but Weiss looks unconvinced.
"That's just as dangerous as your old idea!" Weiss exclaims, "Your plan hinges on making a trap without that thing up there noticing. How do you expect that?"
"Well, if you're good enough with controlling your emotions and certain Aura techniques, you can effectively hide yourself from Grimm." Blake speaks up, "I've hidden from Grimm a lot of times."
"I have experience too." Ren raises his hand, "My Semblance, Tranquility, allows me to calm emotions and hide from Grimm. I can also do that with another person as long as I'm touching them, two if I push myself."
"You and I can also remain undetected." Hunter signs, "They worked for the beasts I am familiar with, they should work with Grimm as well."
"Right, so the stealth team would be Blake, Ren, Hunter, me and two other people." Ruby suggests, "I think that person should be Weiss and Yang. Your Dust and her firepower would be useful for making it stay down."
"Then Pyrrha, Nora and I should be the ones to distract it." Jaune suggests, "I spotted some ruins while we were running, it had plenty of open space but enough places to hide in. When we get its attention we'll run past it, and I'll pretend to be injured and separate from the team to hide in the ruins. Once the thing takes the bait and focuses on me, they'll join up and help mop it up."
"I'll make sure it won't miss us." Nora cracks her knuckles eagerly but Pyrrah looks worried,
"Jaune, you're putting yourself at risk here. I think I should-"
"Come on, that thing's after the weakest of us, right? I fit the bill!" Jaune says, pointing at himself, "I'll look like an easy snack for the Nevermore. And I can't offer much else in a fight with it, so this is the only thing I can do."
Pyrrha looks like she wants to argue more, but seeing Jaune's resolve she relents.
The Hunter picks up something from a pool of mist before throwing it to Jaune who catches it, finds a glass bottle with a red liquid and wrapped with some bandages,
"What is this thing?" Jaune asks as he takes a whiff only to gag at the smell,
"Is that…blood?" Blake cringes as she recognises the smell,
"What? Why would you carry around a bottle of blood with you?" Yang asks looking at him freaked out,
He shrugs and signs, "Bait of course. No beasts can resist the scent of blood, can they?"
"Well, we all know that all Grimm go with their scent and sight if they can't sense emotions. Hunter here's just very prepared for hunting Grimm." Ruby quickly comes up with an excuse for Hunter,
"It's certainly a…unique method," Ren says as he covers his nose. Even with the bottle corked the scent was still pungent and strong.
"Back to the plan." Ruby quickly says, "So we have three parts. The stealth team, the distraction team, and the bait. We all know our roles, any questions? Last minute doubts we want to clear?"
Nobody raises their hand and she nods, "Good. We get only one chance at this so let's make it count. Hunter, you said there's a way for you and me to be hidden from the Nevermore. What was it?"
Hunter kneels down before pulling out two jars of strange cerulean blue liquid and handing one to her,
"Ooh, is that thing glowing?" Nora asks leaning in to get a closer look, "What is it?"
"Blue elixir, to hide us." he signs to Ruby who looks at the jar nervously,
"So…we just cover ourselves with this?" she asks hopefully but he shakes his head before pulling down his mask and downing its contents, slurping it like honey while everyone except Nora looks at him with a bit of disgust.
"What's that supposed to do exactly?" Yang asks looking grossed out,
"A potent anaesthetic. It will dull our presence to any beast, calming your emotions." Hunter explains as Ruby translates it to everyone,
"So like my Semblance." Ren realises, "I've never heard of any concoction doing something like that before though."
"Well…the things we do to survive, right?" Ruby gulps before raising her jar of Blue Elixir, sniffing it and gagging at the strong metallic and chemical smell, "At least tell me it tastes better than it looks?"
The Hunter looks at her sympathetically before signing, " Try not to smell it, and it'll go down easier. It's an…acquired taste."