Blake and Yang walked inside the Bullhead, and sat next to Ruby and Weiss. Glynda, now seeing that all the students in her class had boarded and seated themselves within the transport, radioed the pilot.
"We're ready, prepare for takeoff." she announced, the bay doors closing up as the Bullhead lifted into the air. The first-year Cadets were organized such that Teams RWBY and JNPR were seated next to each other, with STEL and CRDL across from them with STEL being closest to the exit with JNPR. As the students of Beacon looked to her, Stanton was the first to speak.
"Professor Goodwitch, where's our first field trip going?" He asked, to which Glynda stared at him, then chuckled. The class as a whole looked at her with varying levels of confusion at the normally stoic woman.
"Straight to the point, Captain Egurd? Relax, it will be a couple hours yet before I tell you all. Until then, go ahead and chat amongst yourselves." was all she replied with, before walking off to the side. After a few seconds passed, Yang looked over to Eleanor.
"So then, how's the nose?" She asked.
"...It is alright, unfortunately my sense of smell has come back, so I can tell who Mr. Swims in Hatchet Body Cologne is." The Raccoon sniper quipped, gesturing to Russell Thrush seated next to her. The punk vest wearing Cadet made a face as Nora snickered.
"Should've plugged your nose in then, if it's that bad. You're the only one that seems to have a problem with it." Cardin sneered at her.
"I don't even use Hatchet…" Russel mumbled in annoyance, brushing up his mohawk spikes. As Eleanor and Cardin began shooting off another set of quips and jabs at each other, Yang turned to Pyrrha.
"So then, Pyrrha, what brought you to Beacon. I don't recall many Champions of the Mistral Tournament signing up for the less glamorous role of hunting Grimm." The blonde asked, as the others waited to see what she gave as a reply. Pyrrha blushed in embarrassment from the attention as she spoke.
"Well… I have lots of reasons. My main one was I was tired of the spotlight and the cameras." she said, while casting a glance around the Bullhead loading deck everyone was seated in.
"How so? If you ask me, being a celebrity sounds nice, with everyone fawning over you and all that..." Jaune said, clearly trailing off in whatever fantasy he was thinking. Weiss frowned and shook her head at him, pausing as Blake spoke up.
"Not when you start to miss the peace and quiet." the introverted member of Team RWBY said, as though from personal experience. Pyrrha nodded.
"Yes, exactly! Even at home by myself, I had to pay attention to any aspiring paparazzi cameraman trying to sneak embarrassing photos through a window. Not only that Jaune, but when you're rich and famous, money and affiliation becomes all people will care about you, they won't care about any interests or hobbies you as a person like… or anything else for that matter that you can think about as a person." she explained to Jaune, while the rest of the class, including Eleanor and Cardin listened to the conversation.
"So you chose to go to Beacon?" Cardin asked, raising an eyebrow at her. While he his it well, the large bulkhead of a young man scowled lightly as he looked at her.
"Becoming a Huntress meant I can still put my skills to use, this time for more than spectacle." Pyrrha replied. Jaune shuffled nervously, as Cardin continued to stare at her, face stoic as he was appearing to think about something.
"Well, that's… I'm just here to beat Grimm and get paid while doing it." He gave in response, which made the rest of CRDL give various replies to the affirmative.
"Can relate, I moved out here to Beacon more so because Haven didn't want me." Langley said, which prompted an aside glance from the Team CRDL member.
"What for?"
"Turns out the Mistral government doesn't like it when you and your cousins throw a particularly rowdy riot right inside one of the mansions of the nouveau riche." the Snake Faunus replied with a dark chuckle. Stanton laughed alongside him, while Eleanor facepalmed. Ted, however, leaned his head, seemingly out of the loop. Blake spoke up then, an audible note of surprise in her tone.
"You're related?" she asked.
"Yeah, on my mother's side. She had a sister who married an Ahro- ack, Armadillo Faunus." Stanton was explaining, grunting from his getting elbowed rather sharply by Langley mid-sentence.
"Said Faunus has a sister who we are the children of though, hence why we aren't the same type." Eleanor explained, gesturing to both herself and Langley. Weiss looked over to Ted.
"Er… no relation." He says, then added, "I went to school with Langley and Eleanor during the summer."
"Ah, sounds like you guys are a pretty tight-knit group then!" Nora exclaimed.
"Yep." Stanton answered, then asked Nora, "So how do you know each other?" while gesturing to both her and Lie Ren. The two of them paused, as they looked at each other. It was the latter that decided to speak first.
"We're from a village in the north of Mistral… Kuroyuri. We're the only ones in our families who made it out of there when the Grimm attacked and destroyed it." he said, causing the others to turn silent as he and Nora took a moment to compose themselves.
"Sorry for your loss." Pyrrha says, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Stanton replied in a similar manner, while Langley, Ted and Eleanor were silent.
"Thanks." Lie Ren said before inhaling and exhaling deeply, then he laid his head back against the walls of the Bullhead fuselage. Jaune looked over, and saw Cardins' face soften slightly.
"Well, do you two happen to have anybody waiting for ya back at Mistral now?" Langley interjected, causing Nora and Ren to look at the Snake Faunus, who was picking at his teeth with a pinky while staring at them both. For once, the otherwise chattier of JNPRs' two redheads was left stumbling over her words, while Ren sat silent.
"Heh…" Langley grunted, then smiled impishly as he narrowed his eyes, moving back and forth between Nora and Ren.
"What are you getting at?" Jaune asked.
"Nothing. Just make the Valkyrie isn't too rough with her toy if she decides to play with it." The Snake Faunus replied, earning a guffawing sound from Cardin as Yang outright wheezed at the innuendo in his comment. Pyrrha, Blake and Weiss had the least expressive reactions, the redhead blushing slightly as Blake stifled her own laughter while Weiss hid her smiling expression as best she could under her palms. The rest of Team CRDL burst out cackling, whilst Ruby facepalmed.
Jaune stared blankly, turning to process what the joke was.
"Eh?! What do you mean by that?!" Nora exclaimed while Ren stared blankly. Her face was a beat red, making Ted, Stanton and Eleanor laugh harder in response.
"Whuh?" Ren grunted, turning to Nora.
"Brothers Langley, that… that was pretty good." Yang replied, taking a moment to inhale. She then turned back around to Nora.
"Don't." She said, not letting the blonde speak. Weiss, clearing her throat, interrupted the conversation.
"Well that's enough gossip for now, what does everyone think we will be doing at Forever Fall?" She asked the group in general, causing them to focus instead on their ideas for it.
"Hmm, I hope it involves clearing out the Grimm there. Maybe a bounty got put up and we're racing to collect it?" Cardin questioned, a dark smile on his face. Pyrrha, however, disagreed.
"No, at least some of us would have seen it being posted on the Bounty Site." She countered, making him frown.
"Not unless it was deemed beyond our experience. The Huntsmen Bounties are usually sorted based on what estimated level of experience and skill they would require to complete, but then Professor Goodwitch wouldn't be bringing us along then unless it's something else entirely. As First Years, we wouldn't be able to even see bounties like that." Eleanor added, then turned to see what Ted wanted to show her and the rest of Team STEL upon feeling Stanton tapping her shoulder. Cardin looked over, only for Langley's hand to push his face aside.
"...something wrong?" Ruby asked, noticing how her fellow Cadets expressions dropped into something more serious.
"Personal business." was all that Stanton replied. Before anyone can ask further, Goodwitch interrupted over the Bullhead transport's intercom.
"Heads up class, we are arriving at Forever Fall Forest." Her voice announced, and immediately everyone geared up their weapons. Teams STEL and JNPR took up positions to prepare to rush out as they waited for the Bullhead to lower itself.
Once it stopped and stabilized in the air to begin its descent, the Cadets all unbuckled themselves from their seats as Glynda entered the bay.
"Alright students, today we are here at Forever Fall to look for a particular resource that is unique to a species of tree native only to this particular region." She said, as they all felt the Bullhead lowering itself. When the doors of the bay opened up enough to allow the Cadets in front of everyone else (that being Eleanor, Pyrrha and Jaune) to scan the area, someone replied when they saw the sea of red, orange and yellow that greeted them.
"Which tree are we looking for? Red Leaf Oak or Brown Bark Birch?" Cardin quipped, making everyone not the now chuckling subordinates under him roll their eyes as Glynda stared.
"Autumn Maple. If you've all paid attention in your botanical studies in Professor Port's class, then you all know that the Autumn Maple is of scientific interest for its distinctive red sap, specifically the fact it is known to attract the Grimm to that particular species in Forever Fall. Tonight, we received a request from the Vale Sciences Institute asking us to collect samples of the red sap of the Autumn Maple tree, of which you'll be in charge of doing… each Cadet Team shall receive one crate containing four sample jars." She explained as the Bullhead landed, gesturing to where there were around ten or so such crates that were being pulled out by her Telekinesis and set on the ground.
"Uh, why are there ten crates?" Jaune asked, carrying a cardboard box that he had brought with him into the Bullhead.
"Because while one crate will be enough to pass this class, as an extra incentive the two Teams which gathered the most red sap will be allowed to have a share of the Lien reward for gathering it. Remember, the creatures of Grimm will be drawn to the smell of the Autumn Maple's sap, so be careful out there, and remember your training." Glynda answered, to which all the teams grabbed a crate and headed out in different directions.
Once the Cadets left, Glynda walked back into the Bullhead, and sat down on one of the seats. The door to the cockpit opened, and the two pilots that flew the airship walked out. Both were dressed in airmen uniforms that were dyed in the brown and red colors of Beacon and as one of them offered a water bottle to her, she took it and nodded.
"Thank you." She says, opening it and quickly taking a drink from it. With that, they began to engage in small talk to wait for the Cadets to return.
"Rraggh-CHOO!" Ted sneezed, the sound echoing throughout the forest as he had a fit from a leaf hitting him in the face, then breaking up into a powder.
"Bless you." Eleanor said, as she took a look down a forest path, Night-Iron in rifle form aimed down it. Her mouth and nose was covered with a bandana, while Langley and Stanton wore paper face masks.
"I told you to get a face mask Ted." Langley remarked, scanning the canopy of fall colors above them. Their hidden follower ducked behind her cover as he looked back, as she kept still. After counting to ten, she peeked around the corner of the trunk, confirming Team STEL was not looking in her direction. As she snuck up on them from a distance.
"...een turned Urrah then, and his office got hit by the White Fang… think we've been compromised?" Langley suddenly says, causing Blake to pause.
"Hopefully he wasn't enough of an ass to keep our personal data where they'd find them. Long as we don't run into any of the White Fangs' HDPs, we should be fine." Eleanor says.
"Well, apparently AT was spotted in the security footage being reviewed by the Elders at HQ."
"Shit… Taurus was there?" Stanton asked, to which Blake stiffened upon hearing a name all too familiar to her.
They know about Adam? Does that mean they might suspect who I am!? She thought, as the wind blew in the air. By the time she realized it was downwind of them, Team STEL stopped and had started to turn around. Crap! she exclaimed internally as she ducked back to cover, hand grasping the handle of Gambol Shroud in the event that she was forced to fight to flee Team STEL. However, a cry from Eleanor followed by a gunshot and roar settled the issue for her.
"Ursa Major!" Eleanor shouted, and Blake looked over to see Team STEL splitting up to avoid the claws of the bear-like Grimm Alpha as it snarled and attempted to charge Stanton, who had just dropped the crate in his hands to draw his weapon Spring-Blade in its sword form. He managed to parry a swipe from the Grimm, only for it to backhand his sword. The force was enough to slap the blade out of his hand, causing Stanton to curse. When it then attempted to body slam him by dropping its front legs on him, the Human boy braced and caught it by the paws.
Blake watched as Stanton managed to actually hold himself up as the Ursa Major put as much of its weight onto him as was physically possible for it. She then noticed that Stanton grew taller slightly, with his clothing stretching to account for his sudden growth… that reminded her of when Eleanor apparently changed sizes as well. The Ursa Major, for its part, roared in response to him growing.
With an angry snarl, Stanton glared as he bared his teeth at the Ursa in reply. Or rather fangs, as Blake saw, a set of fangs that weren't there before.
"Gonna tear that skull mask clean off your face, you filthy beast!" He loudly threatened with a guttural tone. The Ursa than recoiled as a series of gunshots from Ted Renzo shooting it in the leg with Bar Claws' SMG form, damaging it enough that it forced the Ursa to drop to one knee to try and cover up the areas being shot with it's naturally grown bone armor plating.
This distraction of its attention however, left an opening for Stanton to exploit, as he let go of one of its paws, delivering a vicious haymaker to the face of the Ursa Major. A loud CLACK! reverberated as the Grimm was stunned, then was knocked back by Stanton throwing a quick left hook with his other hand, pulling its paw along with it. Thrown off balance, the Grimm fell face first to the ground. When it began to get up, Stanton grabbed the top half of the two piece bone mask that made the creatures' face with both hands.
With a quick yanking motion, a snapping sound was heard as he managed to about halfway tear the bone off of the Grimm when his hands slipped, and black vapor spewed where the mask was now separated from the rest of the body. A loud screech of agonized pain was emitted by the bear Grimm, as it knocked the Team STEL Captain away and grabbed at its face. The Ursa Major stood on two legs, its enraged and pained roar silenced with a final shot from Eleanor, the Ice Dust bullet she used from a spike that struck it in the exposed 'flesh' of its chin, and through its head. As the Ursa collapsed and began to dissolve, Stanton quickly retrieved his weapon and raised the blade of its sword form, shrinking down to his normal height and build.
"Everyone alright?" Langley asked, to which Stanton growled in the affirmative, while Ted reloaded his gun, saving the magazine to refill it later upon returning to Beacon.
"What shall we…" Eleanor began to speak, stopping when everyone heard growling sounds. As they looked over in the direction it was coming from, Blake watched a pack of more Grimm crawled out, about three Ursa and seven Beowolves to be precise. She stayed still, trying to work on what to do mentally. Langley, however, could be heard chuckling.
"Alright then, who here has been going stir-crazy back at Beacon?!" Langley called out to the rest of Team STEL. In response, Eleanor, Ted and Stanton let out a war cry.
"That's what I thought! Tear'em up!" Langley shouted, prompting his Team to immediately start firing their guns at the Grimm. Stanton fired a Wind dust crystal out of Spring-Blade's grenade launcher form, the object flying out like a cannon-ball into an Ursa, blasting through its chest and into the head of a Beowulf. As the Dust crystal slammed into the second Grimm, it detonated, exploding into a whirlwind which tore apart the Beowulf and slammed into its fellow monsters, scattering them.
Langley fired a barrage of bullets from Hi-Lo which Blake could see flying and homing in on the Grimm as they tried to get up, killing another Ursa and two more of the Beowolves which were torn apart by the hail of fire he unleashed. Blake supposed that was his Semblance Target-Lock, and saw a third Beowulf snuck around without Langley noticing and turning Hi-Lo in time to stop it from charging into melee with him. She was about to jump in, but when his arm took on a red glow and punched a third Beowulf that rushed him from the side in its lupine skull, she paused. A series of cracks erupted from the point of impact, and then the forehead of the Beowulf's exposed skull burst, exposing the black 'flesh' of the Grimm as it staggered back.
Hold on, does Langley have multiple Semblances? She questioned and immediately Eleanor, who also saw what happened, took advantage by shooting a bullet into the exposed head of the stunned Beowulf, the beasts' head jerking back as it collapsed like a ragdoll. As the last Ursa attempted to rush forwards, tanking multiple rounds from Langley, another Wind Dust shot from Stanton blasted it onto its side.
Ted emptied a magazine into the exposed belly of the bear Grimm, then was pounced on from behind by one of the last few Beowolves standing. His Aura flared up with a bright green glow as it clawed at his back, and he called out with a high-pitched cry. Langley rushed over, shoulder-checking the creature off his teammate, and lifting Ted to his feet with his free hand while firing Hi-Lo point blank into the Beowulf's waist, the machine gun tearing it in half as it ran out of ammunition. To finish it off, he blasted the crawling upper half with the recoilless rifle half of Hi-Lo, firing a Burn Dust crystal which exploded, blowing up the Beowulf while also igniting its remains. After shielding Ted from a couple pieces of burning Grimm matter raining onto them, Langley grabbed Ted by the shoulder.
"You alright?" he asked, while Stanton and Eleanor finished off the last Beowulf. Upon seeing Ted nod and looking over his back to inspect it, Langley nodded and added, "Good. Everyone, get moving."
"Yes sir." Stanton said, picking the crate up and checking the jars.
"How is it?"
"Good, the jars are intact, surprisingly." Stanton reported. Blake raised an eyebrow. She then recalled that Langley seemed pissed that he wasn't chosen to be the Captain of Team STEL, thus seeing he order the rest around confirmed to her that he was the one actually in charge of their team.
"Alright, let's head out." She heard Langley say, and then they left the area to continue their own search. While she wanted to continue following them, she decided that she had to return to the other members of Team RWBY for now. She then proceeded to jump from tree to tree, quickly making her way to her team.
While she was leaping from different trees, she spied a figure within another tree's canopy she didn't recognize watching her from her peripheral vision. Stopping for a moment and turning to where she thought she saw it, only to see the branches were cleared of anything atop of them. As she moved on, she didn't see the Human man that emerged from behind the trunk of the tree she was watching.
He appeared to be around his 30s, but the look he had was someone that had been around for longer. Two sky-blue eyes gazed out and watched as Blake left. He brushed aside a lock of dirty blonde hair, and walked out onto the branch, carrying a staff which had a skull tied to it. The skull and the staff had tribal symbols carved into them and the man, despite being dressed in rags, carried himself with an almost regal air as he pulled out a small booklet.
Upon opening it, he flipped through the pages, which had drawings of various individuals, and other events. One of them was a depiction of Vale City on fire, whilst Beacon was falling from the sky on top of it, pausing to examine one image of a horned creature that the people of Remnant would describe as a Beowulf with goat horns, facing off against a woman whose skin was as pale as her eyes bore the dark red visage of the Grimm she was ordering to fight the creature alongside its own abominations of a nature that had been unseen in the world for eons unknown to the people. The horned Beowulf had a symbol on its chest that made the man bare his teeth, an expression of intense disgust and hate crossing his features at the Glyph.
"Spiral…" he intoned to himself with anger, then turned the page to an image of Blake herself. Specifically, she was on the ground, with a sword being stabbed through her abdomen, while Yang could be seen in the background charging the person who wielded the sword.
As he closed the booklet, the man crawled down the tree, and proceeded to transform into a wolf with a silver pelt as he followed where Blake was going.
Author's note: I originally intended for this chapter to be a bit longer, but I am splitting it into two parts for now. Reviews and follows will be appreciated, especially if they're in regards to how this story's pacing is going.