"Birdy No!" Ruby screamed, as she plowed through an unfortunate crow that had gotten in her way. Save for the unplanned bird kill, the feeling was incredible. Ruby was soaring through the air, the rush of wind swimming around her body as she fell. Raising Crescent Rose, now in its sniper rifle form, she fired a gravity round into a tree, splitting the top of the flora, with the recoil knocking her back, and slowing her descent. Hooking her scythe on a branch, she flung herself around the tree, before tearing through the branch, and shifting into her petal form, dashing through the leaves and sticks. She broke free and landed on the forest floor, sliding through the dirt, and eventually coming to a controlled stop.
Focus, Weiss told herself, swinging her rapier around, as she created a series of glyphs to serve as a floating staircase, leaping from platform to platform. Once she made it to the trees, she pulled her arms in, slipping through the branches. Once she escaped the canopy, Weiss shot ice dust from Myrtenaster, creating a slide of frozen water that she skated down, before gracefully making it to the ground.
Letting her wild eyes wander through the environment, Blake found her target. She tossed Gambol Shroud, letting the blade hook into the upper trunk, before swinging through the canopy of branches and leaves, nimbly avoiding every obstacle. When she slipped through, she pulled her ribbon back, using her shadow to launch herself upwards, and grabbed hold of a branch, before throwing herself off, and landing on her hands and balls of her feet.
"WOOHOO!" Yang cried as she used Ember Celica to launch herself above the treeline, bouncing over the tops of the evergreens, and spinning in delight. Every branch broken, or brief flight upwards making Yang's adrenaline surge. She fired again, launching herself into a higher than average tree, slamming into it with her legs. The force made the tree give way, and it fell, with Yang riding on top of it, as it crashed to the ground. Yang looked around as she regained her footing on solid ground, proud at her capacity for destruction "Nailed it."
Nora, hearing her friends screams of joy, returned the favour with a battle cry of her own, firing Magnhild downwards into the bush, and with a massive explosion of pink created a clearing where some trees formerly were. Still falling at an incredible rate, Nora transformed the grenade launcher into a hammer, slamming it down into the top of the next closest tree, the hammer splitting the tree into two. From there she slid down at a much more decelerated speed, the handle of the hammer continuing to tear the trunk in two. Coming to a halt she fired again, completely obliterating the plant, transforming it into shards of wood and ash. This freed her hammer and she was sent backwards, landing with a powerful thump on the forest floor. Smiling from ear to ear, she raced after the continued sounds of destruction that could only be Yang's.
Pyrrha tensed her muscles as she prepared for the impact, her shield tearing through trees and shattering branches as she entered the forest. Once she broke through the initial wall of the canopy, she threw her shield, embedding it in a tree. She landed on top of it, using her bodyweight and semblance to break it free from the tree, as she further slowed her fall. She landed shield under her feet, and immediately shifting into a roll as she did so, using her polarity to bring Akoúo̱ back to her hands as she got to her feet, sword out at the ready.
Ren closed his eyes as he fell, getting a feel for the wind as it whipped around him. Sensing the ground coming soon, he opened his eyes, he raised his arms, letting stormflower fly out of his sleeves. He gripped the pistols, snagging the blades on a branch, and swinging around. He released the branch, throwing himself into the air, and stabbing his blades downwards into a tree, sliding down the tree as his blades dug into the wood. As he slowed down, he kicked off the tree into a backflip. He landed in a graceful crouch, arms splayed outwards, and guns aimed to fire.
"Gotta find Jaune, gotta find Jaune, gotta find Jaune" Ruby repeated through her head, as she raced through the forest. She knew that if she found a partner that she didn't know, or worse didn't get along with she'd be toast. Plus, she didn't love her friend's odds on his own either. Thankfully he was tough, and could take a hit, so he'd probably be fine. Hopefully she found him before he had to take too many.
Other options raced through her head, as she prepared for the worst. Pyrrha was nice, and she was a really good fighter, she'd be a great partner. Smart, kind, strong, pretty…. Ruby gave her head a shake as she moved on to other potential partners. Oh, what about Blake? She was so mysterious, so calm. Plus, she liked books. Not the same kind of books as Ruby, but beggars can't be choosers….
She stopped as she burst through a bush, staring 4 beowolves directly in the eye. The ten-foot-tall werewolf like creatures looked at her in surprise, not used to having their meals coming right to them. They quickly came to their senses, and they growled, pouncing at the fifteen-year-old. In a flash of red she whipped her scythe out, tearing one of them in half as she used her semblance to blitz past the other side of the clearing.
Turning with impressive agility for creatures of their size, the beowolves charged at her once again. The first one swung its claws at her, which she rolled under to avoid, coming to her feet, and slashing it's arm off with her scythe. Another attacked from behind her, but she easily flipped over it, as the beast pounced into its friend, which saved her the trouble of having to finish the job she started with the amputation. She landed on its shoulder, struggling to balance as the beast thrashed around. She obliterated it with a shot from her sniper rifle, which sent her flying into the air.
She landed, facing off with the final beowolf, as it chose to be much more cautious then it's fallen brethren. It was bigger, more armoured, and older, an Alpha. It growled as it sized Ruby up, as Ruby did the same, waiting for it to make a move. Thankfully she didn't have to wait for it to attack, as a fire ball burst from the treeline.
"WHAT YOU WANT SOME!" a feminine voice roared from the fireball as it made contact with the beowolf, as the creature burst into a brilliant flaming explosion, disappearing in the trademark smoke of a dead grimm.
The fire faded, and a girl with long blond hair and striking eyes, which turned from red to lilac, took its place. She certainly looked like a huntress. A confident smirk set upon her face, an attractive and stylish look, as well as a tall and imposing athletic frame, made Ruby feel very inadequate.
"Hello there, I'm Yang! Just saved you, no need to thank me!" The blond boasted as she winked at Ruby.
"Hey…Yang" Ruby replied nervously, raising her hands in a hesitant hello "I'm Ruby."
She paused, realizing what just happened as they made eye contact "I guess we're partners then."
Yang rubbed the back of her head "Yeah, I guess we are. Probably should have thought about that before I burst through here to rescue you."
Ruby sighed at the girl's cockiness "Yeah…I guess we should go find the temple then."
They were on their way north, walking side by side in silence before Ruby decided to pipe up.
"You know I could have taken that last one by myself."
"Sure, you could have short stack."
Jaune really hated landing strategies. Shield in front of him, he plowed through tree after tree, as he screamed loud enough for every grimm in a three-mile radius to hear him. But one near death situation at a time.
"LOOK OUT!" Jaune screamed, as he went barreling towards Earth, shield up in front of him. He was going so fast that he really couldn't see any details as he burst through the trees. There was a figure in black that was probably human, as well as a larger black figure that was likely not. Thankfully he was falling towards the latter.
He collided with the object, ripping right through it as he crashed into the ground. His 190 lbs (including armor and weapons) going at well over 300 km/h did seem to do quite a bit of damage, considering the crater that resulted, as well as the dissolving carcass of the beowolf he ran into. Getting up he shook off the dust that had filled his hair and clothing and looking forward saw Blake with an absolutely horrified expression on her face.
"Oh…hi Blake."
A twig cracked as Blake looked behind Jaune to see a massive ursa, most likely a major, standing up tall, roaring at the pair.
Jaune yelped as he ducked under the bear grimm's sweeping paw. Blake dove in, slashing at the ursa's chest. The bear roared once again, and swung it's claw. It contacted the girl but seemed to just swipe through a pool of darkness, with the real Blake reappearing directly above, launching herself into it's face and slashing out it's eyes with her sword.
The bear thrashed around in a blind rage, and Jaune and Blake backed up silently to avoid its fury. Seeing the opportunity, Blake pounced into the air, and landed softly on the grimm's backside. What didn't land softly however was her sword, which impaled the bear through the back of the neck. With one final roar, the ursa fell, dissolving into a black mist.
"Nice work" Jaune complimented, half impressed, and half terrified from what had just occurred. Blake nodded in acknowledgment before stepping off the half dissolved grimm carcass. There they begun, strolling with Jaune through the forest, to where they would find the relics.
All things considered it could be worse. Jaune was nice, often funny…unintentionally, and didn't seem like he had a hateful bone in him. But wow, he was not a good fighter. Strong…ish, and weirdly tough, sure, He took a fall from 400 m head on and was more or less fine, Blake didn't know anyone who could do that. But it was kind of cancelled out by the boy's clumsiness. Whatever, at least he wasn't the Schnee.
"How's your aura doing?" Blake asked as they took a break, Jaune leaning on a tree catching his breath.
"Fine, why do you ask?" Jaune responded as he stretched out his arm.
"Jaune, you landed hard enough to create a small earthquake" Blake deadpanned.
"I got my shield." Jaune shrugged, before raising his eyebrow "That shadow thing you did, that was your semblance, right?"
Blake nodded as they continued, before deciding it would probably be polite to continue the conversation "I can create clones of my myself, they only really tend to survive one hit before they disappear, but I really only use them to avoid attacks anyway."
Jaunes eyes were wide in awe "That's so cool!"
Blake let out a small smile at his excitement "Do you have a semblance?"
He frowned "Not yet, I don't really know how to figure that out."
"Your semblance is part of who you are" Blake replied softly "Your aura is the source of your semblance, as both are a manifestation of your soul. It is commonly believed that it's an extension of who you are."
"So, like how your shadow is similar to you being fast and mysterious?" Jaune joked
Blake rolled her eyes but continued to smile "Yeah, whatever. There are some semblances that are different, they're rare, but they do exist. There are even semblances that are past on family member to family member…
Dusting herself off, Weiss strut through the Emerald Forest, keeping a close eye out for any people... or grimm. She paused as she sensed a shift in the air, as she saw massive coils of black and white surround her.
The heiress raised her sword, creating a glyph beneath her feet, which sent herself flying into the air. Creating another behind herself, she launched herself into the king taijitsu's face, cutting into it with a dozen tiny slashes. Flying off another glyph and landing on the snake's head, she slid down its coils, using a series of white glyphs like a slide to keep herself on the grimm. Firing off a variety of dust, she skated as she sent dust blast after dust blast out at her quarry, the elemental attacks causing the snake to thrash in rage and pain.
There she saw it, the second head dove forward, hidden in its twin's coils, and slammed into Weiss. Thankfully she raised her sword, creating a glyph in front to protect herself. The monster broke through, and Weiss slid back from the impact, taking a breath and examined the situation, as the two heads sized her up.
They struck, rushing forward as they slithered over and under each other, zeroing in on their target. She created a series of small platforms from her glyphs around the grimm. She jumped, using each like a trampoline to slash at the king taijitsu's thick skin, being too small, fast, and close to the snake for grimm to land a bite.
Suddenly the snake's back thrusted upwards, and Weiss had to quickly use a glyph to send herself into the air, avoiding running into the coils. In the air she was vulnerable, free falling towards the heads of the taijitsu, who eyed the heiress as they opened their gapping maws.
With a flip of her finger, she created a black glyph next to the white head. The repulsion glyph knocked the white head into his brother, allowing Weiss to avoid being swallowed up. She sliced downwards, blinding the snake in one eye before she landed.
The second head swivelled around and blindsided Weiss. It opened its jaws and prepared to strike.
"NO!" She cried out as it hissed, jaws closing around her.
Her arms were out wide, a giant glyph holding the grimm's jaws open. She transformed it into a repulsion glyph, the whiplash shattering the snake's fangs. She dashed to the side and used a glyph to launch herself into the side of the grimm's skull, impaling it with her sword. A blast of fire dust channeled through her sword caused a massive explosion, obliterating everything above the king taijitsu's neck.
She took a moment to catch a breath, not recognizing the second head preparing a surprise attack from behind. It came down on her, fangs barred, preparing to avenge its brother.
"SMASH!"
A hammer came down hard, annihilating the snakes head as it was crushed into the earth, and had the added effect at nearly giving the heiress a heart attack.
Weiss stared mouth agape, eyes wide as she stared at the tiny orange haired girl who she yelled at the previous night, with her foot on the snake's beheaded carcass, admiring her handy work.
"Hellllooo Friend! I'm Nora." The orange haired girl beamed
"We met last night" Weiss deadpanned "You nearly destroyed the hall with your arm wrestling."
"Oh! Well nice to see you again!" Nora said, still smiling ear to ear.
Weiss could feel a headache coming, as she stormed off into the forest with her new partner skipping behind her, chattering her ear off.
After spending her lifetime fighting people, it certainly was a welcome challenge to battle grimm. That's what Pyrrha Nikos thought anyway, as she blocked a beowolf's claw strike with her shield, the force that the monster produced vibrating throughout her entire body.
A lot of people had thought that because Pyrrha was a multi tournament champion she would be the best huntress at Beacon, but that would be far from the truth. She was a prodigy when it came to fighting human opponents, the combination of her experience, weapons, and almost ideal semblance made sure of that.
But grimm were different. They attacked in groups, and lacked aura, relying completely on their instinct, larger size, and natural weapons. Therefore, no metal to take advantage of. They were relentless, they would never tire, and would always try to kill, no matter how many of their allies died before them. Her fighting style was far better suited to fighting a small number of skilled opponents, where her adaptable fighting style combined with her semblance would allow her to quickly overwhelm and overtake whoever stood in her way, focusing solely on the target in front of her.
Her shield fell as she slid to the left, and the grimm stumbled forward. She fluidly tore through its side with her sword, as it fell to the ground dead. Well, she was still pretty darn good at killing grimm too.
But as the grimm kept coming, she knew that there was a possibility she could eventually be overrun. While her fighting style wasn't overly loud or destructive, it wasn't quiet enough to escape the enhanced senses of grimm. She would need to retreat soon. She prepared to attack the rest of the pack.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as something grabbed her arm from the bushes. She turned, pausing her sword at their throat when she saw it was human, and a rush of calm rushed over her. She raised her hand in apology, with the boy shrugging before disappearing into the trees. She followed as he silently pulled her into the bush, and to her surprise the grimm did not follow.
He was a tad shorter than her (in her heels anyway), with black hair similar in length to her own, with one distinct magenta strand. He wore a green jacket, that was clearly Central Mistralian in origin.
"Lie Ren" He whispered, hand out to shake her own.
She returned the greeting in kind "Pyrrha Nikos" She heard the grimm begin to sniff the air, and he gripped her hand tighter, with similar feeling of calm washing over her. She also noticed that both their color had disappeared, instead being replaced with black and white.
She raised an eyebrow and he responded "My semblance, it masks emotions. Hides us from the grimm." She nodded, still wanting to remain quiet to avoid detection.
"Do you have a ranged weapon?"
Pyrrha nodded, as she shifted Miló to its rifle form. He nodded and leapt into the trees. She was confused, before he leapt down into the centre of the grimm horde, using a pair of twin bladed pistols to quickly slice limb after limb off, using his semblance to remain invisible to them, as the grimm thrashed around in confusion.
As some of the grimm panicked and ran from the horde, Pyrrha immediately understood her job. She took aim and picked off any grimm that were on the edge of the group. In less than a minute the two dozen grimm were nothing more than dust, with the green clad boy in the centre of it, sitting on the ground as he caught his breath.
There was a perfect example of the difference between a hunter that specialized in grimm, and one that was better suited to fighting humans. Ren's weapons were smaller and faster than Pyrrha's own but lacked the power that both her close- and long-range weapons possessed. Against hordes of grimm this was ideal, assuming you were able to kill a grimm with one or two quick strikes, as you could kill a far greater number in a shorter time, especially if he used his semblance to hide his presence.
Against a human however, it was unlikely he could get through their aura quickly with that level of attack, at least not without having to attack several times. Granted he was fast, potentially even faster than herself, but Pyrrha doubted he could avoid her long enough before she landed a critical strike on him, especially if she took advantage of her own semblance. Their fighting styles complimented each other well in that way, and she decided she was pleased with her choice of partner, even if he hadn't filled her in on his plan before he attacked the grimm.
She walked up to him, extending a hand to help him up. Letting out a small smile and thanks, he accepted her hand as she pulled him to his feet.
"You did well" Pyrrha complimented, which he nodded in appreciation to.
"Thank you" He then had a puzzled expression on his face "Are you…The Pyrrha Nikos?"
Her mood fell slightly at this, her luck regarding this little issue had been pretty good up to this point.
"Yes…" she replied with trepidation, but he simply nodded again, displaying none of the usual mannerisms of fans.
"Your reputation precedes you. You were fighting quite well before I came" He continued, with an apologetic bow "I was just hoping to take them out quickly. It was not my intention to take over."
She shrugged "It's fine, it worked quite well, a very sound strategy. Next time however, I feel that it would be better if I knew about the plan."
He considered this before responding "That's…. fair. I suppose that's something I may need to work on. With my…. friends, I am used to not speaking about our attack plan. I suppose it is because we know how each other fights so well at this point."
"Are you looking for them?" Pyrrha asked "Your friends?"
"I am hoping to be on the same team as them" Ren replied, "We have been very close to each other since we were kids."
He then turned to look at her "Is there anyone that you are looking for?"
Her thoughts turned to Ruby, Jaune and Blake, and a ting of worry entered her chest "Perhaps if we can find them, there are a few people I am hoping to run into, but we'll have to see."