A/N: Chapter 4 of REKT. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or teams of RWBY, they belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. What I do own are the characters of my OC team: REKT, GTSY, KACE and DAZE.

Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story, I really appreciate it.


Chapter 4: The First Step (II)

Outside...

"Birdy no!" Ruby said sadly when she shot a bird literally out of the sky upon her descend into the forest. Getting over the fact that it was definitely an accident, she shot some more bullets to get rid of some of the tree branches before switching gears. Changing Crescent Rose into its scythe form, she snagged onto one of the thicker branches and after a few swings, did a somersault and landed in a crouch. All around the contestants use their own unique ways to slow down their descends after being catapulted off the cliff.

"Whoo Hoo!" Yang yelled as she hurtled through the sky in bursts. "Ahaha, yeah!" She did all sorts of stunts, all the while laughing. "Ali oop!" Getting a few more bursts in, she escaped through the canopy and started her descent. Kicking off some of the thicker trunks of the trees, she hit the ground with a grunt before rolling back to her feet. " Nailed it!"

For Pyrrha, she used her tough shield to block most of the branches before coming to a halt onto one of the taller trees. Looking through her scope, she noticed Jaune screaming in the other direction. Changing her gun into the familiar spear, she took aim by using her left arm as a guide and let it fly. She waited and listened for anything good as both the boy and her weapon disappeared from her line of sight.

"Thank you!" Jaune's voice came up.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha responded, waving an arm in the air. As for me, I was still falling without a care in the world. I might say that my descent was a bit too fast upon touch down but holding out my right hand with the palm facing slightly downward, I released a huge amount of energy in the shape of a sphere. After the release, there was a loud bang followed by a massive gust of wind that possibly knocked down the trees within a 2 mile radius. I landed quite heavily on my legs before flipping forward, landing on my back with a grunt.

"Well...that worked out perfectly." I blew a strand of hair out of my face and stood up, dusting off my pants with both hands. "Now...where to go...where to go..." Then I stopped and tilted my head to the side. "No that's not right, I need to figure out where I am first before deciding on where to go."

"Gotta find Yang. Gotta find Yang gotta find Yang gotta fiiind...Yaaaaaaaaaaang!" Ruby sang as she looked around for her said sister. Taking off through the forest she continued to yell for her sister. Ugh this is bad, this is really bad! She berated herself. What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first? There's always Jaune... She smiled at the thought. He's nice. He's funny! I don't think he's very good in a fight, though. Oh! Suddenly her expression lighted up as if she got a great idea. What about Blake? So mysterious, so calm. Plus she likes books! Well then again, I'm not sure I'd be able to hold a conversation with her. In her imagination cloud, the chibi her and the chibi Blake weren't exactly getting along.

Ugh! Okay...who else do I know in this school? Ruby shook her head in hopes of clearing out her thoughts. Reina's another possibility...she's nice just like Jaune, probably just as mysterious as Blake but at least I'll be able to hold a conversation with her. But seriously, there's Yang, Jaune, Blake, Reina, and...Suddenly her eyes widened with surprise and she came to a screeching halt in front of Weiss and the two of them made eye contact. There was some awkward silence before Weiss turned around to walk off. "Wait! Where are you going? We're supposed to be teammates..."

"Ow!" Weiss huffed irritably as thorns from some bushes snagged onto her dress. "Phew." She finally said after walking out of the bushes and brushed off some of the burrs that came along for the ride.

"Ugh come one you stupid urg...come on agh..." Jaune mumbled to himself, trying the pry Pyrrha's spear out from the bark but the blade was hella stuck in the bark. He stopped struggling when he realized that she was staring at him and thus they made eye contact as well. He laughs nervously as she walked back the way she came.

"By no means does this make us friends." Weiss commented as she walked past Ruby, grabbing onto her hood and dragged her away.

"You came back!" Ruby said with excitement, lifting up both her arms up in the air as she was being dragged.

"Hey, wait!" yelled Jaune as the two girls disappeared. "Come back! Who's gonna get me down from here?!"

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice caught his attention and the said red-head was currently standing underneath him with her arms crossed over her chest. "Do you...have any spots left on your team?"

"Very funny." He replied, looking away. Then he made up his mind and smiled at her to which she returned with an even bigger grin on her face.

"What's the hurry?" Ruby asked.

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow." replied Weiss. "I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your-What the?" She flinched backwards when Ruby suddenly appeared by her side with speed faster than the naked eye.

"I'm not slow see? You don't have to worry about me!"

"When did...?"

"Weiss, just because I don't exactly know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters." She wrapped an arm over the ice princess's shoulder. "You're about to see a whole different side of me today, Weiss! And after it's all over, you're gonna be like 'Wow! That Ruby girl is really really cool..." At that Weiss rolled her eyeballs and released an inner sigh. "and I want to be her friend'."

"You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" Weiss shouted after Ruby dashed off in a flurry of rose petals. The sounds of leaves rustling gave her the willies and she started to get a bit scared all by herself. "Ruby?" She asked hesitantly as the noise started to get closer and closer. "...Ruby?" What responded was an animal growl, putting the white-haired princess on the balls of her feet and she found herself coming face to face with what looked like a massive werewolf. "Ruby!"

"GROAR!" The animal roared angrily as a couple more popped out of the bushes. They seemed to be a pack of Beowolves, a creature created by Grimm. They basically resemble the traditional, bipedal forms of lycanthropes, more commonly known as werewolves. They stand on their hind legs, albeit with a slouch, and are extremely muscular. They have pitch-black fur and glowing red eyes. On their face is a bone-like mask with red markings, and they have bone spikes protruding from their arms, back, and knees. Their fingers and toes are tipped with long, sharp, white claws. They appear to have protrusions made of bone along their back and arms.

Remember your training Weiss. She told herself, blocking attacks one after another with her rapier. Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward, not that forward. Show your breathing, wait for the right time to strike...Her eyes narrowed in focus. And... She took aim, the barrels of Dust within her rapier began to move and whirl like gears until the red one was facing upward. Now!

"Uhh! Gotcha!" Suddenly Ruby appeared in a flurry of rose petals, slicing the target Beowolf in half with Crestcent Rose.

"Gaah!" Weiss yelped at the sudden appearance, skidding to a halt and pointed her weapon somewhere else. A burst of fire flew out and burned a nearby tree instead. Ruby got distracted by the sudden burst of flame so she barely dodged an attack which sent her crashing into Weiss.

"Hey, watch it!" Ruby said as she hopped back on her feet.

"Excuse me, you attacked out of turn." replied Weiss with annoyance. "I could have killed you...should have killed you would be more precise."

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that." Ruby commented as they stood back to back, surrounded by Beowolves. Stealthily she reloaded her weapon in hopes of going a round 2 but that was when the tree that Weiss accidentally attacked fell over, still on fire.

"We have to go." The ice princess said, grabbing Ruby's hand and the two of them ran off. The Beowolves themselves whimpered and howled at the forest fire before fleeing in all directions.

"What was that?!" Ruby exclaimed after they put a considerably amount of distance between them and the forest fire. However the girl was still a bit upset about the fight. "That should've been easy!"

"Well perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!" Weiss shot back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby scoffed incredulously, assuming that Weiss was blaming her for everything that went wrong.

" I'm just surprised that someone who talked so much would communicate so little during an encounter." said Weiss with a huff.

"Well, I'm sorry that you need my help to win a fight." Ruby shot back, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm just fine on my own!"

"Congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak your way into Beacon, bravo." Weiss said mockingly, throwing both arms in the air in exasperation before storming off.

"Aaaaah! Gyuh!" Pissed off even more, Ruby attacked a poor defenseless tree to vent frustrating before following the white-haired princess.


Swamp Area...

"Hellloooooooooo?" Yang asked as she stumbled around the heavily dense forest where the only sounds in the air were swamp noises. After making her grand entrance, she had been walking around without much human contact. "Is anyone out there? Helloooooooo? I'm getting bored here?" Soon some rustling in the bushes catches her attention and she turned to look behind her. "Is someone there?" Since her curiosity got the better of her, she wandered over to investigate. "Ruby is that you?"

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." A growl answered her instead.

"Nope." Yang concluded as her eyes looked up to see a snarling beast towering over her. She rolled to the side as it charged at her. "Hyuh!" She somersaulted as another one came out of the bushes and she was facing two at the exact same time. These 'animals' were known as Ursai, large, dark, bear-like creatures of Grimm. They have appeared in two varieties: the smaller, more common Ursai, and the larger, more powerful Ursai Major. They had black fur and bony spikes on their backs and arms, as well as white, bone-like masks with red detailing, but are much larger and stockier. Luckily for Yang, these two were the smaller ones.

"Groar!" One of the two charged at her in hopes of ripping her body to shreds.

"Hyiah!" She retaliates, smacking one of her gauntlet fists into its face, blowing it back with a ferocious bang thanks to its dual ranged shot capabilities. Landing on the balls of her feet, she turned and punched the other one underneath it's bony chin with an uppercut before kicking it back. "You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood would you?"

"Grrrrroar." The two Ursai growled out of anger and not for the purpose of answering her question.

"You could just say no." said Yang as she leaned back from one of their claws. Dodging from left to right, she flipped backwards and laughed cheerfully. "Aah! Hahaha. Geez you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba-" She paused when her eyes narrowed at a strand of bright-gold hair floating down to the ground. She took a deep breath, released it and closed her eyes. "You..." When she reopened her eyes, they were red instead of their usual lilac color.

"Grrowr?" The bears grunted in confusion at the obvious change in atmosphere.

"You monster!" Yang roared, her gauntlets ignited with fiery passion and she started to punch one of the Ursai. "Hyaaaaaaaah!" The monster didn't get a moment rest as it was consistently getting beaten by a flurry of punches. Finally Yang jabbed her elbow into the creature's chest, sending it flying with an explosive. The trees toppled over as the giant body crashed into a tangle of limbs. "What?! You want some too?!" She snarled as the gauntlets reloaded and turned to face the other one.

"Groar!" The bear growled, rising onto its hind legs in an attack position. However something blurry flew past and sliced its back. Letting out a roar, it fell to the ground dead, revealing who the attacker was. Removing her weapon from its back, Blake returned her weapon to its rightful place before smirking at Yang, the latter already calmed down and returned to her normal state.

"I could have taken him." Yang said dejectedly, staring at the dead animal.


Elsewhere...

"Well...I must be walking in a circle." I have concluded after wandering around aimlessly. Using my hands and feet as guidance, I started to formulate and draw out my surroundings which is made up with trees and rocks in my mind. "This is getting frustrating."

"Fancy meeting you here. It seems that fate wanted us to be together."

That voice...the mild gruffness...I perked up at the sound of leaves rustlings off to my left before hearing the sounds of footsteps approaching me. It's her.

"What? No greeting in return? Rude." The footsteps came to a halt and judging by the closeness of her voice, I knew that she's standing about a few inches in front of me.

"Nice to see you too...uh..."

"Kairos Klain."

"Pardon?"

"My name." I felt as though she was frowning at me with disappointment. "You know it's rude if you don't introduce yourself in return."

"O-Oh, sorry." I apologized. "Reina Raylan."

"Let's get going then Reina." Kairos said and grabbed a hold of my scarf. "Time's a wasting and we have lots of ground to cover."

"You know where to go?" I asked, letting her lead me around like I was some lost puppy.

"Of course." She replied immediately. "I have scouted out the place long before you came along. Of course I had an idea where you were gonna land anyways."

"How did you know that?" I asked her, feeling my right foot kick a rock over what seemed like a drop-off. I felt my scarf slacken a bit and I ran into Kairos's back side. I stepped back and rubbed my nose with my right hand in discomfort. "Why did you just stop like that? A fair warning would have been better."

"That's a silly question." She said, turning around to face me. "After that little magic thing you did, anyone within a 2 mile radius could feel it. It was sure powerful, knocked me off my feet."

"...is that so?" I chuckled nervously before the scarf around my neck tightened, prompting me to follow her. "Ack! You're gonna choke me to death!"

"Just follow me. Don't complain about the little things."

Kaboom~

"Did you hear that?" Kairos asked, stopping in her tracks once again.

"The earth trembling underneath my feet. Yeah I did." I replied as I promptly walked passed her to the point where the scarf tightened around my neck. "Aaagh...my death will definitely be dealt by my scarf.."

"Sorry not sorry." She replied cheekily and I puffed up my cheeks into a pout. "We should tread carefully, there's something not right about this forest. Besides, we 're not far from where we are supposed to be. Let's get going."


Somewhere...

"Did you hear that?" Jaune asked as he turned his head to the side at the sound of a distant explosion. After Pyrrha got him down from the tree, the two of them had been wandering around almost like on an adventure.

"Gunfire." The girl said after thinking about it. "It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

"Blaugh!" The boy grunted when a tree branch smacked him in the face. He feel down and put his hand against his head. "Aauuh..."

"Jaune! I'm sorry." Pyrrha realized that she didn't hold the branch back...or the fact that she forgot that there was another person following her.

"Heh. It's okay." He assured her, lowering his hand to reveal a horizontal cut on his right cheek. "Just a scratch."

"Why didn't you activate your aura?" She asked him.

"Huh?" He looked at her confused.

"Your aura." She repeated.

"Gesundheit." He said, thinking that she sneezed.

"Jaune, do you, know what aura is?" Now she was looking at him with a serious expression.

"Of course I do..." He scoffed as if she said something really funny. "Do you know what aura is?"

"Aura is the manifestation of our soul." Pyrrha replied promptly. "It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt like you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

"Uh, yeah."

"With practice, our aura can be our shield. Everyone has it. Even animals." Pyrrha explains.

"What about monsters?"

"No, the monsters we fight are black at the soul." She shook her head before motioning him to continue walking so that they could cover ground while she accounts the history. "They are Creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity. They are the darkness and we are the light."

"Right." Jaune agreed. "That's why we fight them."

"It's not about why, it's about knowing." Pyrrha corrected him. "It's about understanding both dark and light helps us manifest our aura. Everyone has some of both. By bearing your soul outward as a force you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are our conduits for aura. You project yourself and your soul with fire."

"It's like a force-field!" Jaune said excitedly.

"Yes, if you want to look at it that way." Pyrrha nodded her head with agreement. Coming to a halt she turned around had waited for Jaune to catch up with her before closing the distance between them."Now close your eyes and concentrate."

"Uh..." He said as she placed her left hand on his right cheek. "Okay." He closed his eyes as instructed. Smiling Pyrrha did the same before tapping into her power. A shimmering red light surrounded her body as she kept her eyes closed.

For it is impassing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. She slowly placed her right hand over his chest, right over his heart as she continued to concentrate. Infinite, and distanced, and unbound by death. I release your soul. And by my shoulder protect thee. Taking a huge sigh she stepped back as Jaune opened his eyes.

"Pyrrha?" He asked in worry, seeing the girl hunched over as if the energy was sapped out of her.

"It's alright, I used my aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own." She explained and smiled when the scratch on his cheek was healed immediately. "You have a lot of it."

"Wow." Jaune whispered as he looked at the yellowish aura that surrounded his body before fading away. Excited he continued to follow Pyrrha as they continued to where their destination was. Somewhere further in the depths of the forest, a male teenager with magenta colored eyes and long black hair tied into a ponytail that ends midway down his back was busy dusting off his clothes. There is a magenta streak on the left side of his hair and his clothing appears to be influenced by Chinese culture.

He wore a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming goes down the right side of his torso and forms a black collar. Below his feet were a couple of snake-like corpses, the black one had its head blown right off.

"Qrrrrawww! Qrrraaww!" A voice spoke over his head and he looked up to see someone hanging upside down from the tree branch. She had short orange hair and turquoise eyes while her clothing seems to be a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes. She wore a collared black vest that ends at her waist and her signature symbol, a hammer with a lightning bolt, can be found on the back. Under the vest are two layers of clothing, colored red and light-blue respectively.

There was also a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm with matching fingerless gloves on each hand. She sported a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh while her shoes are a mix of pink and white with pink laces, displaying her symbol on their soles. Some sort of armor could also be seen that begins in the middle of the shoulder and neck and ends by the waist. It seems she has a light-gray or off-white bow at the back of her skirt, with ribbon extending to the skirt's bottom. "Qrrraww! Qrrraw!"

"Heh." The male smiled at the sight of her dangling upside down. "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like Nora."

"Shhhh, you don't know that Ren." Nora replied with a smile. "But guess what?"

"Hmm?"

"Boop." She touched his nose and stuck out her tongue playfully.