"And so that makes our last pair….Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie….I feel sorry for the poor boy, though I would say it is a remarkable difference with Mr Cielo and Ms Nikos, I know you said that you would keep him on an observation period this semester but I am honestly still not certain that he is-" Glynda would say as she observed everyone's progress before noticing Ozpin's stare over the cliff face; "Your concern is noted Glynda, but remember that the whole point of this exercise is to determine the first years' strengths, weaknesses and more importantly…their potential." Ozpin would remind her as he sipped from his mug; "Besides, we have already given our terms for him to do his best under our supervision at Beacon…the most that we can do is have faith that he will fulfil them." Ozpin would mention as he pulled out his own tablet to view the others; watching Ren following after Nora, Yang fighting a pack of Ursa with Ruby and Weiss bickering among themselves.
"So why exactly did you come looking for me specifically?" Jae would inquire as he handed his new teammate her weapon back after his less then graceful fall to the ground, Pyrrha had helped him up as she sheathed her spear and then looked around to be cautious of Grimm; "Well….considering the last time we met was in the locker room, I wanted to make sure that we didn't start on the wrong foot….plus you were falling out of the sky and heading straight for a tree." she would mention as they started walking, her focus on the task but also making sure her new partner had healed up from his fall, "Yeah, I guess that kind of tracks, but you don't have to worry…I had my gun ready to cushion the impact plus I tend to be pretty good at taking a hit." he would shrug off the concerns as he followed after her, keeping the second pair of eyes out for where Pyrrha wasn't looking. The forest was quiet save for the random snapping of twigs and rustling of leaves around them; "Did you run into anyone else on the way here?" Jae asked Pyrrha curiously; remembering that Weiss was kicking up a stink about Pyrrha's popularity and seeing as they were technically partners, he wanted to see what he was dealing with.
"No, once I landed, I tried to follow the trajectory of my spear throw….so far I hadn't met anyone along the way, though I wouldn't mind meeting our new teammates…whoever they may be." Pyrrha would say optimistically as they cut through the underbrush, navigating around the bushes and the tree branches, however one such branch sprang backwards and hit Jae square in the face with a painful sounding thwack. "Gah!" Jae would exclaim as he felt the sharp edge sting his cheek and rubbed at it with his thumb; "Jae! sorry, I wasn't looking an-wait…why didn't you activate your Aura?" Pyrrha would apologise before noticing that the scratch wasn't healing.
"I-It's okay, things like that happen sometimes…it's just a scratch anyway." Jae would wave it off as he noticed Pyrrha's confused look and then turned to slight concern; "Jae, your aura...how come you're not using it or…do you not know how to activate it?" she would ask, drawing out a look of unease from Jae as he averted his gaze from her's; "Look, I know it's dumb but….it's complicated okay?" he would remark though she still remained focused on him; "Jae, this isn't something to ignore, this is serious….if you're not using your aura while fighting Grimm then you're putting yourself in danger." Pyrrha would explain to him with an understandable concern as he tried to push on to look for relics, or a Grimm.
"Look I'm not trying to make excuses, I just….I have a-" he would start to explain but he heard a tree collapse and a pack of retreating Beowulves heading their way before turning to face them, picking up on Jae's anxieties and drawing closer seemed to put them back in fight mode. "Alright, we can fight through to the temple for now, but I at least want to know what's wrong." Pyrrha would say, drawing her weapon and shield before rushing at the approaching Grimm.
"You got it…." Jae would agree as he drew his sword and held his gun up, twirling it in his free hand as the others started to approach him. The first Beowulf growled at him as it readied it's claws to strike but it caught against the flat of his blade, using the momentum to twist around and swing into the Grimm's shoulder upward to force it into the air, with a swing of his gun arm; he aimed the barrel of his gun at the airborne enemy and hit it with a purple shot, the Gravity dust round that was already loaded had sent it crashing into the brush and burst into black smoke. With the second Grimm rearing it's head, it decided to start swinging both arms to claw into Jae's body; he twisted his body around so the monster's claws wouldn't hit their mark, Jae spun his sword around so the blade pointed in the opposite direction and thrust it backwards into it's chest before pushing off with a resounding spin slash, however with that movement, the last Beowulf was able to swipe his wrist and knocked his weapon out of his hand and away from him.
Pyrrha heard the sword sink into the ground and turned to see Jae facing off with his empty gun, thinking back to what he said about his aura. She rushed to ensure that he was safe….however what she wasn't expecting to see what Jae thrusting his arm forward and driving a spear straight into the Beowulf's body, sending it off the ground with it's own momentum and aiding Jae with thrusting it back down to pin it, this was new….Pyrrha saw the sword still away from Jae and she would have definitely seen him carrying another weapon but this just added another question to the pile as the spear vanished into smoke.
"Come on, we need to keep going." Jae would say seriously as he yanked his sword out of the ground and carried on walking. Pyrrha was stunned to say the least and shaking off a blush when she saw that focused glare of his, she had to admit that the way he fought was a lot more aggressive then she had expected from the boy who got nervous from a few nice words, though it didn't look flawless as he was taken off guard but the biggest question that she had in her head seemed to be the first thing she said to him; "What was all of that earlier?" she would ask as they carried on through the forest, "Oh…that, well it's a long story." Jae would mention as they carried on, the deflections was starting to get to her; "Why exactly? I just saw you summon up a spear from thin air….is it your semblance? and why did it look like…..well like that." she would ask him; prompting Jae to stop as he then decided to lean against a tree.
"Alright, I can tell you but for right now….I can't let anyone else know about it yet….I'm not sure how they're gonna react." Jae would explain, noticing that the easygoing demeanor was replaced by one of concern and nerve; "We're teammates Jae….I promise." she would say to reassure him before he closed his eyes and inhaled. "Alright, I'm not sure why it takes on this form but my Semblance is called Galvanisation….I can weaponise things." He would explain as he summoned up the spear once more; now she got a better look at it, it was intriguing in a macabre way as it looked like it was based off of a Beowulf; the shaft of the spear was a deep coal black like a Beowulf's fur, it's wrappings were a deep red and it's points were a bone white: the pommel of the spear was a sharpened point like it's inspiration's fang and the head of the Spear was as long as Jae's forearm and had a slight curve near the end with a saw like edge that resembled it's claw. "I call it Fenrir….and as far as I know, it's my oldest weapon next to my sword, I got it when I unlocked my semblance during a fight against a Grimm….my father thought it would be good character building to see how well I could handle an actual assault by a Grimm." Jae would explain before it vanished into Jae's arm again.
Pyrrha was still trying to process that he turned a Grimm's essence into a weapon, much less the fact that he could use a semblance but not keep a constant shield of Aura; "Well? say something at least…." Jae would snap her back to reality as the silence between them was palpable and he looked nervous to what she had to say, "I-I'm sorry but this is a lot to take in….being able to summon a weapon is one thing but being able to create a weapon out of a Grimm?" Pyrrha was both impressed and shocked that someone had this ability…then again she herself had the power to manipulate polarity. "We should keep going….we don't want to miss these relics." Pyrrha would say before she saw Jae bumping face first into someone from the bushes.
"Alright, we're lost." a prim and proper voice would say as she paced around the empty space that the two had found; Weiss was trying to formulate a plan on how to get to the temple but with Ruby around, she also had to do her best to ensure that she looked like she knew what she was doing; "Look Weiss, why can't you just admit that you don't know where we're going? it'd be easier if we worked on the same wavelength." Ruby would sigh as she watched Weiss groan in frustration, the two were already on a rocky start thanks to the explosion but following their botched fight against a pack of grimm, they were able to chase it off with a toppling tree but it certainly didn't help each other's arguments about communication. "That's because I DO know where we're going…..we're going to…the…the Forest temple." Weiss would state to her "Teammate" with a newfound confidence but the eye roll from Ruby only broke that facade as she headed off into the trees again; "Look just because you attacked out of turn doesn't mean that all is lost….Besides, I can still get solace in knowing that I can certainly get a relic before that rude riffraff can." she would say, hoping to grasp at anything to keep motivated.
"Weiss, what exactly is your problem with him? I can understand you not liking me after what happened at the school but Jae wasn't a part of that, all he did was try to…." Weiss glowered at her, causing Ruby to trail off; "My problem is that HE thought he could talk to me like that….Acting like he's better then I am." she would say as they headed further in; "Only because you were yelling at the both of us, you weren't exactly miss Welcome wagon." Ruby would admit out loud which resulted in Weiss groaning in frustration. "Just keep moving." she would grumble as Ruby was starting to get more and more annoyed by Weiss's attitude and that only swelled further when the Heiress snapped at her yet again; "Why are you so bossy?!" She would snap back at Weiss causing her to turn and face her with a furrowed brow and a glare that could kill; "Well, why are YOU constantly acting like a kid, because all I see is a hyperactive, childish dolt who trips over themselves to prove a point!" Weiss would lash back at her before storming off deeper into the woods, leaving Ruby feeling a number of things; "You don't even know me…..", meanwhile across the forest; Yang punched a hole in a nearby tree…hard; "Something wrong?" Blake would ask as she pulled her sword out of the last Ursa, while Yang was reloading her gauntlets; "No….but I think someone must've said something bad about Ruby...or me because I just feel really mad for some reason…." she would admit, Blake sighed; "I can appreciate you being concerned for your sister but she'll be fine." Blake would say to at least calm her down a little before heading off towards the temple.
"Hi new teamma-JAE!" Nora would squeal happily as she saw him bump into her and Ren while on their way to the temple, pulling him into one of her bear hugs out of joy that now she, Ren and Jae were all on the same team while Ren welcomed Pyrrha; "Looks like we have our 4 members, did you have any luck finding the temple or the relics?" Ren would ask the two and chuckled as he saw Jae's face turning blue from Nora's embrace; "Everything….going….dark…." he would wheeze out before Nora finally let go. "Well, we found some Grimm along the way but no Temple…." Pyrrha would explain as Jae got his breath back, "What a coincidink, so did we….but we managed to outrun it." Nora would say with a wide smile but the tired look Ren gave her told a different story; "Should…we be worried?" Jae would ask as Ren and Pyrrha both had the same idea; "We should focus on the task at hand, if the Grimm DOES show up then we can fight it off enough to get away…" Ren would explain as they cut through the brush and saw the temple ahead; "Alright, we found it!" Jae would say triumphantly as Pyrrha breathed a sigh of relief; "Thank goodness, we should be able to get the easy part done now."
Pyrrha, Jae and Ren were the second group to arrive as Blake and Yang seemed to beat them to getting there first and picking up their White Knight pieces, "Oh, hey guys, looks like you were able to get here too." Yang would wave to them as each of them introduced each other; "Looks like Ruby's not here yet, you think she's okay?" Jae would ask as he figured that she'd get here first with all that energy she had; "Funny you should mention that, I don't think I saw her since we sprang off." Yang said as she couldn't help but worry a little; "Wait, have you guys found your fourth yet?" Blake would ask as she pocketed her relic, making Jae and Ren confused; "What do you mean, it's me, Ren, Pyrrha and…Ren where's Nora?" Jae would ask as he sounded off the others before they heard the boom of a grenade; "Never mind….I think that's her." Ren would mention but his expression turned to shock as Nora rolled through a bush….quickly followed by a gargantuan Grimm that was following after her with an ominous hiss and the clacking of their claws; it was a Deathstalker...an Alpha too based on how large it was and how old it was considering the moss covering it.
"Did…she just come here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake would ask out loud as she tried to process; however her eyes directed upwards as Ruby was falling out of the sky towards them, only to be caught by Yang; "RUBY, WHAT WERE YOU DOING UP THERE!?" Yang would ask frantically as she was both shocked to see her fall out of the sky but happy to see her again, "We were trying to get to the temple and found a ride out here." Ruby explained, causing a bunch of eyebrows to raise; "Wait…we?" Yang would ask as they looked up, there was a giant flapping of wings as a Nevermore streaked across the sky and circled around them…but the odder thing was seeing a small white speck screaming and yelling for Ruby while hanging from it's claw; "Yeah….Weiss…." Ruby would finish before seeing Weiss falling towards the trees; "She's falling…" Ren would say blankly as they were watching the madness.
Jae had grabbed the White Rook pieces like Ren and Pyrrha…plus Nora did but he was also debating in his head, sure Weiss was a prissy, haughty and very, very pretentious girl…..but he also felt that he couldn't sit there and watch her plummet….not that he had much of a choice because his legs were pushing him towards her; with Yang and Pyrrha's protests to not do something reckless/stupid, Jae summoned up his sword and threw it in front of him, leaping on top of it and as it dug into the ground; he sprang off of it and into the air, catching Weiss in his arms but before he could give off a comment to her, the momentum rocketed them forward with the two of them hitting a nearby tree hard; Jae first.
As Weiss opened up her eyes, she was clutched tight to Jae's chest as he was drawing in deep breaths after the impact with the tree knocked the wind out of him, "Why did you jump in like that? you know that was dangerous!" She would demand of him as he tilted his head back; "Heh….good to see you're okay too….Ice Queen." he would respond with a smirk but winced a little as he felt his body ache, before Weiss could say anything else; the two of them heard Ruby yelling in preparation as she was brandishing her scythe to attack the Deathstalker but ended up getting pinned by the Nevermore's feathers.
"RUBY!" Yang would yell out before a white blur flashed past her and the others to freeze the stinger and stop the Scorpion Grimm from skewering her; "Alright, I will admit it….you are childish, dimwitted and incredibly hyperactive…." Weiss would start with Ruby looking down as she was still in shock; "BUT…..I also realise that I can be a little….difficult, so I want to arrange a deal for us as members of the same team, if you promise to stop trying to show off then I'll do my best to be nicer." Weiss would explain as she held Myrtenaster up to keep the ice held and helped Ruby up to get back towards the others.
Jae would follow soon after as everyone regrouped; "We've all gotten what we need and that giant Grimm keeps circling back around….So I would suggest we make a tactical retreat." Pyrrha would start off to explain as they realised two giant Grimm might be too much for them. "She's right, we've completed our objective so there's no need to stick around." Weiss would continue as they each headed back towards the cliff by crossing a giant stone bridge, however the Nevermore was looming closer and swept under them by taking out the pillars holding it up, with Blake getting knocked off by Nora but using her sling to grapple on and regroup with Yang, Weiss and Ruby.
"Ren and Pyrrha still need our help, so let's do this!." Nora would yell as it was them vs the Deathstalker, Jae however peered over the edge; "Yeah, but I don't think I can make that jump…" Jae would admit, though before he could come up with a plan; Nora had unveiled her giant hammer and used it to slam down and catapult Jae over the empty air towards the others before using her own Hammer as a spring to rocket forward and deliver an explosive "SMASH!" on the Deathstalker's head, with Ren drawing Stomflower, Pyrrha readying her spear and Jae bringing up his sword; the four of them readied the attack.
The Grimm brought one giant pincer down on Pyrrha who had blocked it with her shield, the other pincer descended on Jae which he took the chance to redirect the claw away and down on the ground so that Pyrrha could use that clear shot to throw her spear at it's eye, Nora used Magnhild in the tandem to shoot grenades at it's head to little effect, "It's armour's too thick, we need to pierce it…" Jae would think to himself before noticing that it's stinger was dangling by a thread thanks to Ren's focused shots to shake it loose, coming up with a plan, he summoned up Fenrir to throw into a point between the Deathstalker's face plates and rushed forward, "Pyrrha Up, Nora…Nail it!" Jae would call out as he rushed forward, gripping both his and Pyrrha's spears….and with an almighty heave; he had pushed the Deathstalker's head upward slightly to better angle the stinger's trajectory. Pyrrha directed her shield upwards and with Magnhild's explosive help, Nora propelled herself in the air and used another shot to bring herself spinning downwards; catching the stinger with the rim of her hammer and taking it down to drive into it's head like a stake….bringing the giant Grimm down in a pile of smoke and a flashing white ball of light guiding itself into Jae's hand while he brought his spear back.
Meanwhile, Team RWBY had come up with their own strategy of slingshotting Ruby up the mountainside to guillotine the Nevermore with the help of Blake's ribbon sling and Weiss's Glyphs, they watched as Ruby Rose dragged the bird up and separated it's head from it's body. "Well….that was a thing, that should at least be worth extra credit." Yang would joke as the trio made their way over to the cliff to climb back up to join Ruby while the other group were still trying to understand what just happened with Jae.
"What. ARE. THOSE!?" Nora would ask as she eyed the new attachments on Jae's arms, even Ren was taken aback as he saw what became of his new teammate; on Jae's arms were a set of three pronged, katars fashioned to look like their fallen enemy's pincers, they had two curved outer blades that were bone white and the middle blade was a glinting gold that seemed to signify the Scorpion's stinger. Pyrrha thought the spear was an odd enough thing but she was currently watching her new teammate jabbing and practicing swift and fluid moves with them in hand like he had been using them for years before they vanished into his arms; "Come on, we need to get back to the top of the cliff." Jae would say as they tried looking for a way across.
Hours passed as all the passing teams were in the auditorium and being awarded their team names and leaders; "Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark and Cardin Winchester…as you have attained the Black Bishop pieces, you shall be known as Team CRDL led by Cardin Winchester." Ozpin would explain to them as the crowd applauded each of the four boys, leading on to the next group as Ozpin cleared his throat; "And now; Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Jae Cielo and Pyrrha Nikos, the four of you however have obtained the White Rook pieces and shall be known as Team JNPR…lead by Jae Cielo." Ozpin announced to everyone's continued clapping and a look of surprise from most people as they thought Pyrrha would've been a shoo-in for leader. "Y-You picked me?" Jae would ask to himself as he was still surprised; "Congratulations young man, Make sure you live up to your position." Ozpin would advise as Jae was still trying to process all of it as one final team was announced; "And finally; Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long…the four of you had taken the White Knight Pieces so you shall be recognised as Team RWBY." Ozpin would declare; "It should be obvious who the leader is….if Ozpin can select that ruffian to be their leader, then I should be more th-" Weiss was gloating in her head as Ozpin finalised; "Lead by Ruby Rose." which not only got Ruby a hug and look of intense pride from Yang but also the outright shock from Weiss when she heard that it wouldn't be her leading.
One thing was for certain that it would be an interesting year for everyone involved….including a well known gangster working out of a warehouse to plan his next few heist.