Hey y'all. Sorry to keep you waiting for many, many months. This just kind of fell out of priority in my life. Once January rolls around my schedule should be freer, so expect more consistency for at least the first half of next year.
Or don't. Who the hell knows what will happen next year? I'll try to be better about uploading this though.
Come to Beacon, they said. It'll be fun, they said!
Scarlet hacked her way through yet another dense bit of underbrush, pausing momentarily to wipe her forehead. When she signed up to be a Huntsman, bushcraft had not been something she had in mind. Yet here she was, middle of the Emerald Forest, using her two trusty blades as glorified machetes. A part of her wanted to tilt her head back to the clouds and scream about how unfair it all was, but she figured Headmistress Goodwitch was watching from somewhere and wouldn't take too kindly to her complaints. She was already on thin ice. Best not to push it.
Cutting through a few more bushes, Scarlet found herself in a small clearing. Looking up to the sky, she could see a red smoke trail rising above the treetops. Her destination. She smiled softly. According to Goodwitch's walkie-talkie instructions, the students were expected to meet in groups of four at these marked locations before two hours passed. At each location, the groups would find a "surprise trial", whatever that meant. Once they dealt with it, the group would be initiated.
And if they didn't make it before the two hours? The teachers would be released to "round them up". The thought made Scarlet shudder. Not only did she have a sneaking suspicion that being caught by a teacher would end her short tenure at Beacon, but she figured that Professor Rose was among them. After yesterday's encounter with the woman, the thought was enough to spur Scarlet's feet a little bit faster, despite the muggy conditions and the exhausting hour she'd already spent hacking and slashing her way through the woods. She'd be damned if she were to face her again so soon, especially if doing so would get her kicked out.
A low growl to her left told Scarlet that she wasn't completely alone. She knew that the Emerald Forest was Grimm-infested, but she had assumed it would be cleared out for their initiation. She reckoned her assumptions were probably wrong.
Stepping fully into the clearing, she waited for the Grimm to show itself. After a moment, the black-and-white mass she had become oh-so familiar with could be discerned slowly pacing within the tree line. She took stock of the situation. A Beowulf, judging from the sound. Her father had been sure to educate her on the different noises these monsters made. Her heart quickened as she checked her surroundings, knowing that Beowulfs rarely hunted alone.
Sure enough, she could make out the red glint that signaled Grimm in a few more spots around the tree line. She made a guess at their numbers. Six? Seven?
Shit.
Scarlet ripped Bleed free from her sheath, checking the blade quickly for any imperfections. Satisfied with the state of her weapons, she took on a defensive stance, one blade held close to her body and one held out to her front. She waited like this, mentally counting the seconds, for a moment, before the pounding of feet behind her signaled the start of the attack. The Grimm had seemingly decided that her back was exposed and that they should take advantage of the fact. She heard a victorious howl and the telltale heavy thump of a Beowulf's legs slamming into the ground as the creature propelled itself violently into the air, aiming directly for her nape.
Scarlet smirked. Perfect.
To the untrained eye, Scarlet would have seemed little more than a blur of red and black. A trained Huntsman would have seen her turn and dash forwards, matching the predator she was facing in ferocity and speed. Wilt, held close for defensive safety, came up and over her body as she turned, becoming little more than a shining arc of crimson metal. The blade was brought down on the Grimm's neck, the impeccably sharpened edge cleaving through the forequarter and neck in a single, smooth blow. The Beowulf, now in two clean pieces, tumbled to the ground with a soft plop, rolling a few feet from sheer momentum before coming to a rest.
A stunned silence followed as the other creatures attempted to process what had happened. Then, with a deafening roar, they charged at once.
Scarlet snorted.
The first of the pack reached her in moments, swiping for her leg. Stepping deftly over the paw, she stabbed Bleed downward, impaling the head of the creature in a single blow. With the Grimm already dissolving, she focused her aura in her legs and kicked the corpse in the direction of the next closest Beowulf she could see. The Beowulf, having already pounced, had no chance to avoid its dead comrade, and the two crashed to the ground in a heap of black flesh and angry growling.
A roar to her back alerted her of a new threat. She ducked and spun on a heel in a single motion, sensing the blow towards the back of her head more than seeing it. Sticking Wilt out, she let the momentum of the spin carry the blade through the left hind quarter of the Beowulf, severing the limb and causing the creature to slump over to the side. It tried to swing for her stomach, but the creature was weakened and the attack was slow. Scarlet twisted Bleed towards the floor, catching the blow before it could make contact with her torso. A quick stab with Wilt and the Grimm began to break apart and drift away.
Turning, she noticed the Beowulf she had stunned with its companion earlier had gotten to its feet. Glancing around, she noticed it and the other two remaining Grimm were circling her, snarling and snapping her way but keeping a wary distance. She growled back, laughing to herself. There had been a time when a Beowulf might have presented a challenge to her, but her parents had taught her far too well for them to be a major threat to her today. Even during her early Signal days she probably could've handled three of these creatures. Now? Scarlet shook her head, spirits running high.
Might as well get some practice in, she thought to herself.
Bored of their games, she took a second to scope out the three remaining monsters. They might have been easy prey for an educated Huntress, but there was no use in getting herself injured by doing something stupid. She noticed one of the three circling noticeably further from the others and mentally singled it out. Then, with a yell, she charged.
Maybe the Bewolf was momentarily stunned by the speed of the Huntress. Maybe the creature was used to running, fearful targets. Maybe it was just, ultimately, a dumb animal. Either way, Scarlet's charge took the Beowulf completely by surprise. Rather than pounce or move defensively, the creature froze in place, caught before the charging woman like a deer in the headlights of a car. Scarlet, however, didn't wait to close the distance. Shocked as it was, the Beowulf was still an apex predator, and if she gave it the time to recover it would overcome its surprise in ample time. Instead, Scarlet wound back her arm mid-dash, shifting her grip on Bleed as close as she reasonably could to the center of gravity on the blade. Twisting her torso and using the momentum of her rush, she brought her arm around the side of her body, recklessly hurtling the blade toward the stunned creature. The Beowulf, perhaps sensing danger, began to move in a last-ditch effort to save itself, but it was far too little, far too late. Bleed slammed into the creature's forehead with enough force to push the creature back a few feet, cutting its way into the Grimm's skull and burying itself to the hilt. The Beowulf's nervous system was suddenly disconnected from its muscles, causing the body to stumble around for a second more, legs barely functioning, before collapsing into the ground and beginning to disintegrate.
Scarlet, reaching the still-twitching corpse of the Grimm, ripped the blade free and gave a little internal cheer. She'd only practiced that move a few times; her dad had said a throw like that would never work. She'd called him an old boring has-been over it, but after Adam had insisted she promise to never use it in a fight. But now that she could prove it worked? She looked up to the heavens and grinned, hoping against logic that her dad could see her right now. Serves you right, old man.
If Adam could see Scarlet right now, he probably would have been yelling at her. Not for the dangerous move, though he likely wouldn't have been pleased about it, but for the girl's easily-distractible nature. Scarlet's inspection of her attack was interrupted by the violent crash of flesh on flesh as one of the Beowulfs that had been circling her earlier crashed into her back. The two crashed into the ground, Bleed tumbling free from her hand as Scarlet was pinned underneath the incredible mass of the creature. Crap, she thought, the second Beowulf could be close. She could probably hold off one Beowulf on her back, but if the other one got close enough to help its friend she might be in trouble.
Thinking quickly, she swung Wilt for the stomach of the Beowulf, but with the blade pinned so closely to her, she could hardly gather any force behind the blow. The Beowulf was unfazed, choosing to snap its gaping maw towards her exposed throat. Scarlet leaned out of the way in the nick of time, teeth meeting dirt as Beowulf's head crashed into the ground to her left. Grimacing as the creature scratched at her chest and stomach, she let go of Wilt and brought her hands up behind the Grimm's head, gripping the fur and the edge of the bone mask. Resigning herself to a headache later, she reared back and slammed her head forwards, using her arms to pull the Beowulf's head into her own with a surprisingly loud crack. Her vision went white, and distantly she heard the Grimm scream in agony from the blow.
Scarlet reckoned that it took her a good two or three seconds to blink the spots from her eyes. Thinking about it, maybe headbutting a creature with a bony exoskeleton wasn't the best of ideas. She brought her arms up towards her face as her vision finally began to clear, preparing herself mentally to push the stunned Grimm off her body and fight it on even terms.
Scarlet, however, was surprised to find that there was no need for such violence. The black-and-white form of the Beowulf was splayed limp across her, red monstrous eyes staring blankly into her own. She prodded the cheek of the creature gently, testing for a reaction. Seeing none, she gathered her arms under its chest and heaved, rolling the creature onto its back and freeing her from its confines. Only then did she notice that the Beowulf was dissolving and drifting away.
Scarlet blinked. Had she just killed it with a headbutt?
"Jet's gonna be so jealous," she whispered to herself, grabbing Wilt from where it lay beside her.
"Of what?"
The voice behind her, gentle as it was, scared the daylights out of Scarlet. A very un-Huntresslike scream burst forth from her lips as she shot straight upright and swung Wilt backward in an arc of deadly crimson.
Jet, meanwhile, stood a few feet away. Unperturbed.
"You alright there?"
Scarlet, mind still racing, glanced back at the decaying Beowulf. Only now did she register the hole in the back of the Beowulf's body.
And the pistol held in Jet's hand.
Huffing, she turned back to Jet, who was staring at her with a questioning look in his eye. Behind Jet, she could see Jin toying with the last Beowulf, flipping around it while it desperately tried to nab the spry faunus out of the air. Lumi sat on a rock nearby, reading a book and looking wholly unamused by the whole ordeal.
"I'm fine," she grumbled. His eyebrow shot up.
"Are you sure? I could've sworn I heard you screaming like a–"
Scarlet prodded Jet in the stomach with the still-unsheathed Wilt. Hard. Jet's eyes flicked between the blade and the dangerous look in Scarlet's eyes.
"I'm. Fine." She repeated. Much firmer this time.
Jet gulped and said no more. Scarlet smiled.
Much better.
A resounding crack split the tranquil morning air as Due found her mark yet again. The Beowulf was thrown by the force of the bullet, flipping onto its back and already beginning to disintegrate as it tumbled to the ground. Elizabeth holstered the handgun and rubbed her forearm, wincing as her aching muscles reminded her of just how powerful the recoil Due produced was. Unlike her father, she had no Atlas-grade cybernetics to cushion the blow, and so even with Aura it could be a painful thing to operate regularly.
With a sigh, Elizabeth unsheathed Exenterator. The sword-whip unfurled around her feet, but it didn't remain there for long. The final Beowulf, slowed by a glyph she had cast earlier, tried desperately to claw its way towards her, but to no avail. A single snap of the whip and a cut between the eyes reduced the Grimm to little more than black dust.
Elizabeth took a second to survey the remains of the battlefield. She knew the Emerald Forest was Grimm-infested, but this was getting ridiculous. She'd already had to fight off four different groups of Grimm on her way to the extraction point. She subconsciously brought her hand to Due, thinking about her ammunition count. At this rate, she'd run out of rounds before the two hours were up.
Thankfully, however, the extraction point was close. Glancing skyward, she could see the red pillar of smoke flickering gently in the morning breeze. It was just beyond the treeline, but the looks of it. She did some quick mental math and figured it was probably a five-minute trek from where she was now. Sighing, she wound Exenterator around her arm, being careful not to leave any sharp edges cutting into her Aura, and wove her way into the trees.
For a forest used so much in initiation, the area Elizabeth had found herself in was surprisingly well-wooded. As she stumbled through the trees she found herself constantly at odds with brambles, briars, and a wide assortment of other biological landmines. While such things could never hope to penetrate her aura, they did slow her down somewhat as they seemed magnetized to any fabric that protruded even slightly from her frame.
Worse still was the forest floor. Not much light reached the floor where Elizabeth was, and that made tripping a real hazard. Earlier in the day she'd caught a root and fallen headfirst into a bramble bush, losing a point of aura. A full point! To a bush! It was a memory she was eager to forget.
After that embarrassment, Elizabeth decided she was best creating her own path through the woods. With Exenterator rolled up around her arm, she could use her arm like a machete, swinging it like a club at any bushes nearby and making short work of them. Her beautifully crafted, one-of-a-kind mechashift weapon had been relegated to bush-clearing duty. She pictured the look on her mother and father's face. Winter would have been appalled. James had probably done similar desperate things during his time in the Atlesian military, but she had trouble picturing him professionally beyond the regal, commanding politician and general he had become. That James would have been appalled, though he would probably appreciate the practical thinking more than Winter would.
Or maybe her parents were watching her right now, sipping wine with Glynda while doubling over in laughter at her misfortune.
Funny as it was, the thought made her grimace. She quickened her pace.
After a few minutes of hacking and slashing, Elizabeth could see rays of light filtering through the trees in front of her. An opening! Knowing how close she was to the smoke, she deduced that this had to be her final destination. Winding back her arm and lashing out with Exenterator, she cut across the area in front of her at chest height, felling bushes and a few small trees that lay in her way. Only then did she see the whole clearing.
Surprisingly, Elizabeth found herself face-to-face with a ruin. Stone bricks, each the size of her head or larger, were stacked and cemented together, forming a couple of crumbling walls and a shockingly well-maintained arch. Along the exposed faces of the ruins, moss and other plants grew sporadically, with some places being so infested with plant life that she could not see the stone that lay below. Judging by how thoroughly nature had reclaimed the area, Elizabeth figured that the ruins must be centuries old.
Sitting in the middle of the structure, in a little exposed area that might have once been a circular courtyard, lay a massive flare, blazing brightly and expelling huge plumes of red-tinged smoke into the air. And sitting in front of it on a crumbled bit of wall sat two very familiar people.
"Hey Liz!" Goose called out to the exhausted, panting girl, who was making her way over to the ruins now. Elizabeth thought about reminding the girl to use her full name, but she was too tired at the moment to start an argument. Not like it would matter if she did. Goose would forget, like always.
"Great timing! We only have fifteen minutes left in the challenge!"
Elizabeth sat down with thud, trying her best to compose herself. Belka scooted a little closer to her left and offered her a water bottle, which Elizabeth took and gulped down in a very greedy, un-Atlesian manner.
"How long have you two been here?" She asked the two girls between sips of water. Belka responded.
"I've only been here for ten minutes or so. Goose, well…" She gave Elizabeth a shrug and nodded to Goose, signaling her to explain.
"Alright so," Goose began, "I woke up this morning to the alarm, right?"
Elizabeth nodded.
"And, well, I was still really tired, so after Headmistress Goodwitch explained the rules, I accidentally fell back asleep."
Elizabeth shook her head at that, considering taking the nap in a Grimm-infested forest was an awful idea, but let the girl continue.
"And when I woke back up, I was here!"
Elizabeth tilted her head in confusion, noting the exasperated look she got from Belka.
"Goose, how the hell did you end up here then?" She asked.
"I sleepwalk sometimes."
Elizabeth blinked, still obviously confused. Goose sighed.
"My semblance?"
Elizabeth, finally, connected the dots. Her eyebrows rose incredulously.
"Goose, you're telling me that due to your semblance, you walked in your sleep through the Emerald Forest, avoiding both the Grimm and all the natural hazards inherent to a forest environment, to the exact destination you needed to pass the initiation trial?"
Goose nodded, her shining smile plain to see. Elizabeth buried her head in her hands and sighed. Belka, meanwhile, turned to Goose.
"...Can we trade semblances?"
Scarlet flopped down onto the cobblestones of the ruins, gazing up at the blue column of smoke above her and sighing contentedly. It had been a long journey to get here, and it was time for her to rest, dammit!
"Three minutes before the cutoff. Good work everyone." Scarlet glanced to her left just in time to see Lumi pocket her scroll and sit down on a stone wall, stretching and crossing her legs as she did so. Scarlet rolled her eyes. The girl somehow made the act of sitting look regal. Not for the first time today, she thanked the heavens that she had not been born a Schnee.
She looked over to where Jin and Jet were sitting. Jet, using his semblance, had pulled an old hand grenade seemingly out of thin air, which the two were now playing catch with. Scarlet held up her hand halfheartedly toward the two. Jin, quick to spot the open hand, caught the grenade from Jet and hurled it like a fastball toward the girls, earning a startled "eep" from Lumi. Scarlet caught it, gave it a quick once over, and tossed it back to Jet, choosing to ignore the glare Lumi was giving her.
Whatever, princess, Scarlet thought. Welcome to being a Huntsman.
A soft chiming from their bags interrupted the impromptu game of catch that the group had put together. Digging through the provided supplies, they found the walkie-talkie that had been strapped to their locker at the start of the trial was once again emitting noise. The four huntsmen huddled around the little thing until once more it began to emit the voice of Headmistress Goodwitch.
"Well done to the students that have made it to an extraction point. Ideally, there are four people at each point, but if not more will likely be arriving shortly. For those who have not yet made it, I suggest you hurry. The Beacon faculty have been released to wrangle any wayward students." The speaker crackled, distorting the woman's voice on the other end. Scarlet leaned closer, wanting to catch every word.
"For those of you who have made it, congratulations! Your survival skills have been deemed worthy of admission."
That statement summoned a round of whoops and cheers from the four young Huntsmen gathered around. Even Lumi cracked a proud smile.
"However," Glynda continued, "combat is by far the most important part of your time at Beacon. Therefore, you will now be faced with a combat test."
Looks of confusion and concern began to surround the group. A soft "Wait, what?" from Jin would have drawn a chuckle from Scarlet had she felt less nervous herself.
"Begin." The walkie-talkie cut out.
A great grinding sound from the nearby forest, one that reminded Scarlet of the sound of heavy industrial machinery, interrupted the tense silence that had fallen over the group. The four Huntsmen were immediately on their feet, turning to face the threat. Scarlet was sweating a little bit. What could the famously harsh Goodwitch have in store for them? She glanced over to Jet, and was relieved to find him just as nervous as her. Well, at least I'm not alone in this, she thought.
After maybe a minute of waiting, the grinding slowed. With a great groan, the noise stopped, leaving yet another tense silence hanging in the air.
And then a new rumbling started. This time, coming from the ground.
A very rapid rumbling.
With an ear-rending screech, the forest canopy burst open, revealing a massive monstrosity of black and white chitin and snapping claws. If Scarlet hadn't heard about Deathstalkers in her combat classes, she would have scarcely believed her eyes. The thing was, in a word, massive. It cast aside trees and gouged great chunks of dirt from the ground in a great seizure of rage. Scarlet took an unconscious step backward, taken aback by the sudden violent display.
As she placed her heel back on the forest floor, a loud crack echoed through the clearing. Lifting her leg gingerly, Scarlet was surprised to find a stick, now cleanly snapped in two, where her foot had just been. Glancing around, the noise had drawn the eyes of everyone present.
And one very angry Grimm.
The Deathstalker considered the group momentarily as if trying to assess their place in the food chain. Then, with a great gnashing of mandibles and a pounding of feet, the Grimm charged.
Lumi turned to the rest of the group, mouth open. This was survivable if they worked together, she reckoned. She'd had the best teachers money could buy, not to mention her parents! She turned to the rest of the group, eager to bark some quick orders and work out a game plan before the creature reached them.
Instead of a group of Huntsmen, however, she found herself face-to-face with empty air and a bored-looking Jet, who pulled his handgun seemingly out of nowhere. He gave her a little shrug. Glancing ahead, she saw Jin and Scarlet had already rushed forwards, answering the Grimm's shriek with an angry cry of their own. Scarlet was waving her sword over her head like a woman possessed, while Jin bounded between tree trunks, little yellow flashes sparking to life whenever he made contact with their bark.
Idiots.
Sighing, Lumi readied a glyph, summoned the best cry of her own, and charged after them.
Elizabeth's angry cry was cut off by a razor-sharp black feather striking her in the chest. Her trajectory thrown off by the impact, she missed the glyph she had summoned ahead of her by a few feet. Belka watched as she spun off towards the tops of the trees, firing at the Nevermore as she fell back towards Remnant. The Grimm turned on a dime, dropping into a dive in pursuit of the girl.
Things were not going their way.
After Goodwitch's message, the group of three had been accosted by a Giant Nevermore, which Belka was beginning to suspect was an unmentioned final trial to their initiation. Things had gone well initially for the girls, but it was becoming obvious that Elizabeth's plan of "hit the thing until it dies" was deeply flawed. The group had decided to target the head, but they'd had trouble punching through the tough bone that covered everything above the Grimm's beak. They didn't have anything with a fast enough fire rate to cut up the wings either.
She fell into a crouch with Morgan, aiming the dust laser array skyward. She thumbed the laser controls up to their maximum output.
Let's see how you like this, Belka thought. She bit her cheek and pulled the trigger.
All around her, she could feel the air begin to heat up. A whirring noise from the power pack was cut short as a beam of blinding red light was sent through the focusing array, turning the broad blast of energy into a singular beam of light not much wider than her finger. The beam punched through the air, leaving a lingering sizzling noise as the very air around the laser reacted to its presence.
It struck just in front of the eyes of the creature, punching a small hole through the boney beak and clean out the other side. The Nevermore cut off its dive with a pained scream and turned, circling away from where the shot had come from. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Goose, shotgun slung over her shoulder, rushing towards the trees where Elizabeth had fallen. Belka threw Morgan over her shoulder, laser array folding back into the naginata's shaft, and darted after the two girls.
They found Elizabeth perched on a glyph a few feet in the air, panting heavily. Above her a hole could be seen where she had smashed through the canopy, exposing the girls to the rays of midday light that shone down on top of them.
Elizabeth looked furious.
"The hell are you two doing? I'm on my–"
Belka yanked the girl off the platform. Three feathers, sharp as knives, buried themselves in the dirt below the glyph, which dissolved into black dust a moment later.
Elizabeth tried to continue, but Belka spoke first.
"We can't get off the ground like you can, Elizabeth! Our guns aren't worth shit down here!"
Goose, looking a little insulted, cradled her shotgun close. She did not argue the point, however.
"Look," Belka said, "we can't fight that thing in the air. We don't have a fourth like we're supposed to either. We need to bait it down here, where we can all hurt it. Otherwise, it's just going to pick us apart. Alright?"
Elizabeth regarded the girl, frustration shining behind her blue eyes. Belka stared right back, refusing to give in to the hot-headed girl. After a few seconds of consideration, and a supporting nod from Goose towards Belka's plan, Elizabeth relented. She sidestepped gently as another feather buried itself in the ground.
"It can't keep slinging those feathers forever, right?" It was Goose this time who spoke, drawing the attention of the other two girls. When they nodded in unison, she continued.
"We should just wait for it to get impatient and come down here. My semblance might get it caught on something." Another feather. Another sidestep.
A light went off in Belka's head. She turned back to Elizabeth.
"Liz, we don't have the fire rate to riddle the wings, but Morgan might be able to do some damage with your help." She patted the naginata as if comforting it. Elizabeth tilted her head, clearly a little confused.
"How so? Need me to get you into a better position?"
Belka chuckled.
"Not quite. Can you trust me?"
Elizabeth sighed but didn't protest. Belka turned to Goose, seeing the eager nods from the girl before she could even pose her the same question. For the first time that day, Belka grinned.
"Where's the nearest clearing?"
—
It took the Nevermore ten minutes to get impatient. The whole time, Elizabeth complained.
"Bait, Belka? Seriously? I know we've had our differences, but–"
Belka fought down that little part of her that wanted to smack the girl.
"Listen, with your semblance you're going to be the fastest of us. Besides, you don't see Goose complaining and she's basically doing the same thing as you." Goose, who had been loading her shotgun, absentmindedly waved to the two at the mention of her name.
A shriek from above indicated to the trio that their prep time was over. Belka pushed the two girls towards the center of the clearing, double-checked that the two knew the plan, and made a dash for the treeline.\
Finding a tree with a good view of the clearing, Belka began to scramble up its trunk, trying her best to ignore the increasingly urgent gunfire and screeching that she could hear to her back. She'd never been the most athletic Huntress candidate and she cursed that fact now. The bark was relatively smooth and the tree limbs were far enough apart that she had to jump between a few of them on the way up. However, after a good ten seconds or so, she hauled herself up onto a particularly thick branch, bringing herself into a crouch and drawing Morgan. The rifle hummed with energy as the lenses came into alignment. Turning, she took in the scene before her.
The Nevermore, having gotten tired of an aerial pursuit, was flying low along the base of the clearing, nipping at the heels of the two Huntresses who were trying to kill it. Elizabeth darted from tree to tree, using her semblance to create as many different landing pads for herself as possible. Her whip would lash out whenever she landed, cutting the Nevermore briefly before she leaped onto the next position. Goose sat on the other side of the clearing, using her shotgun to get the Grimm's attention whenever it got too close. She wasn't as fast as Elizabeth, but she was capable enough to keep herself out of harm's way. That fact helped to reassure Belka that she had not sent the two on a suicide mission.
"Belka!" Elizabeth shouted across the clearing, narrowly avoiding a snapping beak. "Tell us when you have a shot!"
Right. Setting Morgan's power output once more to the maximum, Belka dropped her head against the weapon's stock, sighting the rifle. The Nevermore was damned fast, but Belka was no slouch of a marksman. She waited for a second or two until the creature was turned with its back to her. Finally, the Nevermore's shoulder blade came into view.
Her target.
"Now!" She shouted across the clearing, hoping desperately that the girls heard her. Goose responded by loading two more shells into her shotgun and beginning to unload on the beast. Fearlessly, the girl marched forward, firing round after round into the Nevermore's flank and screaming angrily at it. Belka took a moment to appreciate how ridiculous the scene looked, with a tiny girl charging down a creature maybe thirty times her size. Finally, however, Goose's actions paid off, and the Nevermore whipped its head around, planting its attention firmly on the girl.
Away from Elizabeth.
The moment the Nevermore's eyes left Elizabeth's body, she was already moving, dashing from glyph to glyph on a mad break toward Belka's position. So eager was she to reach Belka that she didn't properly slow herself before she reached the treeline. Belka winced as her friend made impact with a tree trunk, cracking the bark, but Elizabeth shook off the impact and focused on Belka. Immediately, four snowflakes spiraled to life in front of Morgan. Belka, vision blocked by the glyphs, placed her hope in Goose's semblance and pulled the trigger.
Morgan roared to life, a crackling beam of energy splitting the air in front of the lens of the weapon. The beam traveled through the first three glyphs uncontested, but struck the fourth and bounced back. Belka ducked instinctively, but the beam was caught by the glyph closest to her and sent back. The beam bounced more and more as the distance between glyphs began to close, Elizabeth sweating with exertion as she focused on moving them closer to one another.
Finally, when the beam had been compressed from a long streak to a fat blob of red-hot energy, Elizabeth dropped the fourth glyph.
The bolt sped towards the Nevermore. Belka's heart, however, sank. The Nevermore had gone low to the ground in an attempt to catch Goose. The mass of energy was going to sail over the shoulders of the Grimm!
Panic beginning to mount, Belka dropped Morgan and cupped her hands around her mouth. She screamed in Goose's direction.
"Goose!" The girl's head shot up, focus broken momentarily. She turned away from the oncoming Nevermore and towards the treeline.
"DO SOMETHING!"
Goose, to give her credit, understood almost immediately. Rearing back her arm, she thumbed a button on the grip of her shotgun, causing the massive calvary bayonet affixed to the weapon's bottom to spring forward with a satisfying, metallic swish. Throwing caution to the wind, she threw her body forwards, bringing the shotgun around in an arc and letting it go. The weapon spun through the air, end over end, before lodging itself hilt-deep in the Grimm's talons.
The effect was immediate. The Nevermore, having had its foot effectively impaled, reared back to let out a shriek of pain. In an attempt to escape into the air, it spread its wings.
Right into the path of Morgan.
The blob of energy slammed into the joint between wing and body, searing right through the fragile limb and out the other end. The wing spiraled off toward the ground, but the bolt of energy had not yet lost momentum. A second later it struck the torso of the Grimm, breaking apart like a water balloon and scattering small globs of energy all over the clearing. Goose dove behind a rock to avoid the errant blobs, but the Grimm had nowhere to take cover. Burning badly, it tottered once, twice, and, ever-so-slowly, fell to the ground with a muted squawk and a resounding thud. It twitched once and moved no more.
Belka exhaled. She hadn't even realized she'd been holding her breath.
To her right she heard a cheer. Turning, she noticed Elizabeth perched on a branch, hands over her head and smiling brightly. A further whooping noise from the clearing she guessed was from Goose. Belka shot a grin both of their ways and slid down the trunk of her tree.
She caught up with Elizabeth first.
"Are you glad you heard me out?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the comment, but the smile she wore betrayed the lack of malice behind the action. The two walked out together into the clearing, angling themselves towards Goose, who was clapping manically.
She crushed the two other girls in a hug once they reached her, laughing.
"Knew you had it in you, Belka! Good plan."
Belka closed her eyes and returned the hug, enjoying the close feel. So this was their team, huh? She could live with that. Obviously they could work together well enough. Even if they didn't have a fourth, the three of them had managed to take out a Nevermore! She smiled gingerly. Things were going well. If only they–
Something struck her in the back, propelling the three girls across the clearing as one. Belka gritted her teeth at the force of the hit, having had no chance to prepare for the strike. She struck dirt, throwing her aura up to protect herself from the impact. Skidding a couple of feet, she came to a rest on her back and cracked her eyes.
The sight that greeted her was not a pleasant one. The Nevermore, down one wing and furious, was glaring directly at her. Belka gulped. It seemed almost as if the Grimm knew who had hurt it the way it had.
The Nevermore charged.
Bella's hand scrambled to Morgan, but she knew in the position she was in it would be hard to use. Using a polearm on her back? Forget it. Letting out a cry of frustration, she slammed the mechashift button.
Please hurry, she silently begged the weapon, please hurry!
The Grimm halved the distance. The realization that she wouldn't have time to get a shot off hit Belka like a truck. A part of her deep down began to consider the digestive system of the Grimm. How long would she survive? Would the other two be able to bail her out before she lost consciousness? She pushed the thoughts down, threw her arms in front of her, and braced for the worst.
Only, the worst didn't come. With her vision blocked, she didn't see what happened, but her ears registered the whizzing of a projectile and twice the unmistakable sound of a blade cutting skin. In quick succession came a screech, a gurgle, and an earth-shattering thud. After a moment and the rumbling of something heavy moving across the ground, she felt a gentle pressure grace her shin.
Lowering her arms, Belka peeked out in the direction of where the Grimm had been. Touching her leg, as gently as a breeze, was the very tip of the Nevermore's beak, which was sprawled across the ground. Tapping the beak with her foot to make sure no more tricks were being played, she relaxed once she saw the edges of the creature begin to soften and dissolve.
Perhaps more surprising than the dead Grimm was their new party member. A figure she had never seen before stood over her and her two prone companions. A curtain of bright-orange hair cascaded down their back, contrasting nicely against the green and white robes that the person was wearing. Their eyes were light blue, and Belka was surprised to find that she couldn't tell their gender. Their face was remarkably androgynous.
Placing two wicked-sharp chakrams on his back, the huntsman (huntress) extended a helping hand to Belka, smiling gently.
"Lao Ren. Sorry I'm late." They said, in a gentle manner that matched their smile. Belka noticed the masculine voice. He, then.
She returned his smile, locking eyes with the man.
"Belka. Nice to meet you."
She extended her hand to meet his. How nice of him.
Unfortunately, they were interrupted. Lao, preoccupied with helping Belka, never saw the fist that struck the back of his head. A look of surprise overtaking his face, he toppled forwards, landing face down next to Belka in an ungraceful fashion. Belka winced.
Standing over the two was one very irate, very short young woman.
"Where the hell have you been?" Elizabeth screeched down at the man.
Lao could only groan in response.
Scarlet hit the dirt hard, the black, sharp claw sailing over her head by inches. She took a swipe at it with Wilt, but the creature was well-armored and the blade only scratched the chitin. A hand grabbed her collar and hauled her to her feet.
"Having fun?" Jin was smiling wildly at her, despite the dire state of the fight. Scarlet noticed that his jacket was missing. A scrap of torn black cloth hanging off the Deathstalker's tail was evidence of its fate.
She dodged another incoming claw, diving backward and rolling into a crouch in order to get out of the way in time. Jin, meanwhile, simply flipped over it and gave her a smirk.
Asshole.
A streak of yellow and silver and a shriek of pain indicated that Lumi had struck true. The girl shot past the creature, rapier drawing a deep gash across its flank, before skidding to a stop beside them. Raising her free hand skyward, a path of glowing glyphs formed above the creature, connecting to the tree line on the opposite side of the clearing. Scarlet frowned. What was Lumi's plan?
Her question was answered a second later. Exploding out of the tree line came Jet, face a mask of concentration as he leaped from platform to platform. In his arms were, to put it lightly, a lot of explosives, all bundled up together into a haphazard heap of metal and fuses. Diving to avoid a swinging stinger, Jet tossed the bundle at the Deathstalker's head and leaped off the final platform. His handgun came up, leveled out, and his finger squeezed the trigger, spitting a bullet directly towards the great bundle as it sailed towards the Grimm's head.
The blast, a multitude of different dust explosions and effects, completely obscured the Deathstalker from view. It also had the unintended effect of flinging the falling Jet further through the air. Scarlet, luckily, was in a position to catch her friend, and the two fell to the ground with a pained oomph.
Pushing Jet off of her, Scarlet gave the others a quick glance. Jet was a little charred from his little stunt, but otherwise looked mostly winded. Jin and Lumi, however, looked worse. Despite the smile and good-natured attitude, Jin was favoring one leg over the other. Scarlet thought she remembered the Deathstalker catching a leg during the fight, but she couldn't be sure. Lumi, meanwhile, was doubled over, practically panting. There was a nasty gash across her arm from where her aura must have dropped temporarily.
They couldn't keep this up. That much was obvious.
Scarlet, sighing, walked over to Lumi, ignoring the screams and thrashing she could hear from the giant debris cloud surrounding the Deathstalker. Lumi's questioning gaze turned to one of concern when Scarlet made a grab for her injured arm.
"Hey! Let go, that hurts!" Lumi tried to wrench her arm free, but Scarlet held firm.
"Shut up and let me focus." The statement did little to assuage Lumi's displeasure, but a gentle nod from the barbequed Jet assured her that the girl had a plan. Reluctantly she relented, holding her arm out for Scarlet to poke and prod at.
With permission granted, Scarlet took hold of the girl, focusing on the forearm where the gash was the worst. Placing her hand near the wound, she closed her eyes and concentrated.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. Lumi stared at the girl, not quite sure what to think. After a moment, however, a flash of red light, the same color as Scarlet's hair, began to pulse from inside the wound. Lumi yelped in surprise but didn't pull away. Confidence mounting, Scarlet focused harder, and the wound slowly began to close, blood rising from inside the wound in little waves and slowly sealing the gap in the skin. Soon enough the hole was completely gone, the only evidence it had been there before being a deep red outline in the flesh where the wound had been before.
Lumi stared at Scarlet incredulously.
Jet, who had finally clawed his way to his feet, addressed Jin and Lumi, who both looked a little shocked.
"Blood manipulation. She can't do it a lot, you know. Don't get hurt."
Scarlet gave the group her best smile.
"I'm amazing, aren't I?"
Lumi rolled her eyes but didn't dignify the remark with a response. Instead, her mind turned to more pressing matters.
"So," she said, waving her saber at the very loud, very angry dust cloud. "How are we planning on dealing with that?"
Scarlet looked at Jin and Jet. Jet seemed lost in thought. Jin shrugged his shoulders but offered little more.
"Well, the stinger is the main issue. That, and we can't get an easy shot through the armor." Scarlet said, earning a nod from the others. She decided to press on with her plan.
"Lumi, can you get up to the tail and disable it somehow? I think that's–"
"I got it."
Scarlet stopped mid-sentence and glanced at her interrupter. For once, Jin seemed to be paying full attention, purple eyes glinting mischievously.
Well, who was she to question the man?
"Alright then. Lumi, you and I can keep it distracted."
That earned a groan from the girl. Scarlet made a mental note to buy the girl some ice cream after this blew over. Or maybe a gold-plated tiara, knowing her family's wealth. She'd cross that bridge when they got there.
"Jet?"
The man looked up from his pistol, which he was loading.
"More bombs."
Jet tilted his head for a moment, seemingly considering Scarlet's request. Finding it satisfactory, he gave the girl a thumbs up and a small smile.
Cute.
Turning back to the now-dissipating smoke, Scarlet could see the red glow of the Deathstalker's eyes peeking through the cloud. The air smelled like cooked crab meat and the shell on its back appeared cracked, yet the Grimm was still alive and kicking.
Stinging? Scorpions don't kick much.
With a click of its mandibles the scorpion launched itself forwards, advancing angrily on Scarlet. Lumi was obviously trying to get around the creature, but wasn't there yet; Scarlet reckoned that it would take a good ten seconds before she was ready to assist her, which was plenty of time for the Deathstalker to eat her. Drawing her blades, she took a second to think before, eyes gleaming, she leveled her blades…
And started bleeding?
Lumi couldn't believe her eyes. Having finally worked her way around the back of the Deathstalker, she turned back to check on Scarlet and found her coated elbow deep in blood. Perhaps even more perplexing was the fact that the Deathstalker was standing back from the girl, seemingly as confused about the whole situation as she was. The creature took an experimental swipe at Scarlet with his tail, but the girl danced backwards, nimble despite seemingly deeply cut. Scarlet, seeing Lumi's stunned expression, yelled out to the girl.
"I'm fine!" Scarlet yelled, ducking under a claw. "Stab it in the ass!"
Lumi, needing no further prompting, summoned a glyph under her feet and shot forward. She leveled her blade at the height of her target and closed her eyes, remembering her mothers lessons on glyphs.
Let your momentum cut for you.
Two of the Deathstalker's legs, caught at the joint by the blade, were sheared in half and flung from the body of the Grimm. Despite the damage, the attack did little to slow Lumi and she shot right past the scorpion in a streak of white. Her eyes widened as she realized that her momentum would take her into the treeline.
A branch suddenly snagged her clothing, halting her momentum entirely. Confused as to how the branch had stopped her, she shook her head to clear it and glanced up, immediately realizing that the offending branch was actually an arm.
An arm attached to a blonde tail.
Jin, grinning smugly, swung down to a lower chance, bringing the two of them closer to the clearing. Scarlet was holding her own, despite her apparent injuries, but seemed to be more focused on dodging the creature than hurting it. Jet, meanwhile, seemed focused on a different strategy; he had parked himself on a tree branch and was pulling various explosives out of thin air, chucking them at the creature whenever it seemed to be getting too close to Scarlet. A grenade, an Atlesian model at least fifty years out of date, tinked off the chitin of the Deathstalker now, exploding into a fireball and sending bits of exoskeleton careening across the clearing. The Grimm screeched and began to move towards the tree, but a stab from Scarlet regained its attention.
Finally reaching a suitable tree branch, Jin set Lumi down and sat beside her, adjusting his bracers. Glancing up, he gave the girl a wink.
"What? No kiss for your knight in shining armor?"
Lumi kicked him off the branch. He fell a few feet, laughing good-naturedly, before grabbing a branch and swinging himself out into the clearing. As Lumi watched him wrestle with the tail of the extremely surprised Deathstalker, she tried furiously to hide her blush.
Bastard.
—
Scarlet was bleeding. This, however, was not unintentional, and as Jet and Jin took the Grimm's attention together, Scarlet reared back and began to channel her Semblance.
Focusing on the blood on her arms, she willed the blood on her arms forwards and outwards, stretching it into thin strands of rope. Soon she had two ropes in each arm, which she threw forward like a whip, stretching them further as they reached through the air towards the Deathstalker. The Grimm, as preoccupied as it was, never saw the crimson tendrils wrap themselves around his legs. Already missing two, the creature could no longer bear its own weight, its central carapace crashing to the ground. It screeched and pulled, but Scarlet grit her teeth and pulled, straining with all her might against the much larger Grimm.
With the Deathstalker restrained, killing it was easy. First came Lumi, shooting out of the treeline with her sword; her swing nearly took Jin's leg off, but it proved damaging enough that Jin could rip the stinger from its place, effectively declawing the massive scorpion. From there the team just kept hitting it, with one particular highlight including the offensive use of some high-octane fireworks that Jet had been saving for a special occasion. After a minute or so of consistent abuse, the Grimm let out one last groan and began to disintegrate, marking the end of their initiation.
Lumi immediately rushed over to Scarlet, fearing the worst.
"Are you okay, Scarlet?"
Scarlet, registering Lumi's presence, stopped focusing on her arm and gave the girl a raised eyebrow.
Lumi, feeling dumb, tried to speak again, but Scarlet cut her off.
"It's just another part of my Semblance, Lumi. I'm fine."
Suddenly, Scarlet was overtaken by a wave of dizziness. She cocked her head inquisitively at Lumi.
"Actually, do you have any iron pills?"
The students had been gathered once more in the auditorium. Where before there had been nervousness, now there was overwhelming excitement. They had done it! Scarlet was struggling to keep her own excitement down. She kept glancing over at Jet, who would return her smiles whenever he'd catch her.
Professor Rose, who had been reading out the new teams for a few minutes now, straightened her papers behind her podium.
"Team SJJL, pronounced Sigil. Scarlet Taurus, Jet Black, Jin Belladonna-Xiao-Long and Lumi Arc-Schnee. You will be led by Scarlet Taurus."
Scarlet barely registered the smattering of applause from around the room, or the congratulatory pats she received on her back from her new teammates. Her? Leader? She glanced up at Professor Rose, sure that there was some mistake, but instead found herself once again staring into those intense silver eyes. The woman on stage gave her a slight nod before moving to the next team.
"Finally, Team BGEL," she blinked, looked closer, and gave a small sigh before continuing, "pronounced Bagel. Belka Gele, Goose Branwen, Elizabeth Ironwood and Lao Ren. You will be led by Belka Gele."
The applause this time was mostly drowned out by laughter, but Team BGEL seemed relatively unphased by their new name and were talking amongst themselves. She made eye contact with Belka and gave the girl a thumbs up, which she returned.
A few taps on the microphone brought the crowd's attention back to the front. Professor Rose grabbed her papers and leaned closer to the podium.
"Room assignments will be forwarded to your scrolls. Allow me to formally welcome you, students, to Beacon Academy!" Smiling, the teacher waved to the applauding crowd and disappeared backstage, prompting the audience to begin filing themselves out the exits. Turning around, Scarlet was met with three cheerful faces.
"Where to, leader?"
Phew. Long chapter. Thanks for reading!