Everything hurt. That was my first coherent thought as I regained consciousness on the cold, hard floor of the cavern I had fallen down into. I looked around blearily, finding myself in a large, damp cavern that was just barely lit by the lights of the research station up above.

Large jagged scratch marks were carved into the floors and walls, clearly from the grimm that had sent me and the researchers careening down here. The question was, was it still around?

My heart thudded at the idea and I began to rise, only to hiss as every single bone in my body screamed at me, numerous shooting pains popping up along my arms and torso practically ordering me to take it easy.

I ignored my body's suggestions, rising to my feet anyway with a pained grimace on my face. I needed to be in a position to defend myself if it came to it.

As I climbed to my feet, my face twisted at an especially intense pain in my right hand. I looked down and it only took a cursory inspection to realize why that was.

My pinkie and ring fingers had been broken or at least badly sprained, red and swollen to the point where even moving them was a challenge without the addition of intense pain. That would make wielding Hit much harder.

I pursed my lips, trying to clench my fingers unsuccessfully, only to freeze as I caught sight of something just past my damaged digits.

My goggles had apparently fallen off of my head in my descent and were lying only a few feet away, lenses shattered to pieces and casing cracked to pieces. That sucked, but it wasn't what had caused me to freeze.

Henry was lying right beside them on his side. The man's back was facing me, but even from this distance I could see that he wasn't moving. Blood was leaking from his head, staining his white lab coat crimson red from whatever wound he had incurred.

Maybe it was the sudden unfamiliar and dangerous situation I had found myself in, but I could feel panic welling up within me as I stared at the only familiar face nearby lying like a corpse on the cave floor.

"Oh fuck! Henry? Henry!?" I rushed over to the man, frantically calling his name and feeling my heart sink when I got no response.

I slid to my knees in front of him, ignoring the pain the action caused as I reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders, flipping him over. His face was covered with blood running from his hair but I couldn't see any wounds.

But he wasn't moving. Hadn't budged in the slightest even when I flipped him over.

"Shit. Shitshitshitshit!" I whispered frantically, placing my hands on his cheeks hesitantly. They were still warm. Buoyed by this knowledge, I ripped his lab coat off and leaned down, placing my fuzzy ear against his chest and listening intently.

Relief filled me as I detected the steady thumping of a heart beating in his ribcage. He was alive. Damaged, but alive.

Not knowing much first aid and not wanting to damage anything that I couldn't see, I pulled off my jacket and placed it under the man's head, maneuvering his body into the recovery position like I had seen in some of the shows I used to watch.

As I stood and looked around, it became apparent that Henry had gotten the better end of the stick compared to his fellow researchers.

The fall had been much kinder to Henry and I than his friends. Those that I could see were completely still, several limbs bent at awkward angles and one of them looked to have his neck snapped, his head resting in a position that shouldn't be physically possible.

Another nearby, a ginger woman who I hadn't seen before, was laying on her side as Henry had been. I couldn't see any wounds on her and she looked mostly fine, but the growing pool of blood that was spreading around her made me think that wouldn't be the case for much longer.

I began to limp over to the woman, wanting to make sure that she was actually beyond saving, only to freeze as I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.

My heart began pounding in my chest like a war drum as I slowly turned towards it, somehow already knowing what I would see.

A massive undulating form, several meters in length, was covered in bone-white armor, dark jagged spikes jutting out from it at random points only adding to its intimidating appearance.

It wound around the column of stone and I took an unconscious step back as more of its body was revealed, long and chitinous, with dozens of skittering legs that dug into the stone like it was nothing but butter.

Its face looked like a mix between a worm and a spider, with twitched mandibles clicking together in front of a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and several glaring crimson eyes that stared at me with so much malice it was almost sickening.

Every single hair on my body stood on end as the creature made itself known. This thing had less in common with a grimm than it did some sort of nightmare creature straight out of a children's horror story. My heart pounded in my chest and my legs tensed in preparation to flee from this monster, this predator that stared down at me like I was nothing but an ant.

But… even if I could outrun this thing, I had nowhere to go. This cavern didn't have any exits that I could see and the way that I had come in was currently blocked by the grimm and dozens of meters above me. There was no way I would be able to get to it while it was in the way.

And even putting that aside, Henry was still alive. Leaving him here would be as good as killing him myself. I was fine with leaving him and the other researchers in the base because I knew they'd be safe. Now however, that had changed and I refused to stand by and allow the man to be killed.

I sighed shakily, my mind made up. "I didn't sign up for this." I muttered almost silently as I pulled my weapons from my back.

I gave the giant monster a nervous grin, flourishing my weapons theatrically and drawing its eyes to me with the movement, "Alright then big dark and spiney, let's dance."

I burst into motion, darting off to the side of the grimm in an effort to both get a better angle on it and to lead it away from the unconscious Henry so that he wouldn't get hurt in the conflict.

Luckily, my plan worked. Seemingly more interested in a moving target than an unmoving one, the massive grimm followed after me, letting out a roar that sounded like a cacophony of all the worst and scariest sounds in the animal kingdom as it chased me across the cavern.

As I ran, I peppered its side with shots from Run, the burning chunks of dust impacting it directly as I slid to a stop, turning to face it fully.

None of the bullets did anything but scorch the boney armor comprising its body. I cursed as I dodged around one of its legs as it came down in an attempt to skewer me, skipping backwards to gain some distance.

I put Hit back on my back, recognizing that it would be useless in this situation, and instead retrieved Trick from its holster, swapping Run to my right hand so I could use it as my primary weapon.

The revolver barked in my hand as I fired three shots in quick succession. The first one missed and I immediately adjusted my aim before letting the other two loose. Unlike the dust, the bullets actually damaged its armor, biting into the bony surface and cracking the area around it as the grimm roared in pain and agitation.

In its rage it reared up, revealing its truly immense size as it lunged forward at me, its sharpened maw opened wide as it approached. As it reached me, snapping down at me with its mandibles, I suddenly reached out and shot a line between its legs, latching onto a column of stone and reeling myself in.

I slid underneath it as its face slammed into the ground where I had been. As I was reeled in, I brought Run up and peppered its underside with fire dust, scoring several hits along its unarmored belly.

Unlike all of my other attempts, the thing absolutely roared in pain, screeching loud enough that the cavern shook around us as it thrashed from the pain my attack had wrought.

My hackles raised at the noise but I couldn't help the grin as I got to my feet, "You liked that, huh?" I taunted stupidly as I reloaded my weapon with a fresh dust crystal, "Well don't worry, I've got a ton more where that came from!"

It turned to me, pure rage in its crimson eyes before it practically blurred into motion.

The leg came at me way too fast for me to even consider dodging it. I screamed in pain as it slammed into my side, sending me flying off my feet as I went soaring away with yelp.

As I flew, I could feel the strap of my satchel snag on something and snap, the accessory falling from my body and to the ground below. Seconds later, I hit the ground as well and a loud crack sounded out from my chest, leaving me breathless as my ribs screamed in white-hot agony.

I wasn't given any time to recover though. As I painfully got to my knees, the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. Following my instincts, I immediately dropped to the floor and rolled to the side, mercifully dodging the massive spindly leg that slammed through the stone right where I had been a mere second earlier.

I quickly got back to my feet, aura sparking around me as I did so, sputtering in and out with its lack of strength. I grimaced as blood leaked down my forehead and narrowly missed my eyes, before looking up at the grimm who was seemingly waiting for me to recover before it continued its attacks. How kind.

I panted, glaring at the thing through lidded eyes, barely able to remain upright as the thing strode towards me. In just that one attack, I was already on my last legs. My aura was about to break, two of my fingers were broken, and my ribs hurt like hell.

It wasn't looking good for me, even I could see that. I had never seen a grimm like this before, never heard of it either, but it was definitely too much for me to handle alone. This was the type of grimm that you'd send veteran huntsmen to deal with. A whole team of them! Not just one thief who's never even been to a combat academy.

Was this where I died? Underneath a cave in the middle of the forest, surrounded by the corpses of people I had met less than an hour ago?

I wonder how Ruby would react. Fuck, this would kill her.

The grimm, seemingly sensing my negative thoughts, clicked its mandibles in a twisted facsimile of happiness. I grit my teeth, clenching my weapons in sweaty palms as it slowly walked forward, looming over me as if trying to intimidate me.

"Well it's working!" I shouted at the thing, "Is that what you want!? Huh!? Congratulations you giant spindly fuck! I'm scared out of my fucking mind right now! Happy!? ARE YOU HAPPY YOU STUPID SPIDER PIECE OF SHIT!?"

I was breathing heavily by the end of my little tirade and my legs felt like they were about to give out, but I just managed to hold on by clenching my weapons extremely hard, glaring daggers at the creature who had caused the outburst.

The grimm paused at my words, tilting its head as if it could understand them. And then, as I stared in shock and horror, it began making a noise.

It was deep and echoing coming from somewhere deep in its throat, repeating over and over as the monster stared into my increasingly wide eyes.

It was laughing at me.

The dread in my soul gave way to pure rage and any exhaustion I was feeling was swept away in a wave of adrenaline.

With a scream born of pure desperation and rage at this thing that wanted to end me for no other reason than I was alive, I rushed towards the grimm, not caring about the consequences of my actions.

Holstering Trick, I retrieved Hit, twisting its dial and shifting it into its standard sword shape while I brought Run to bear and pulled the trigger harder than what was probably safe for it, shooting chunks of dust into the bastard's armored face, hoping to blind it so I could get in close.

I didn't make it very far before one of its legs slammed into me again, sending me flying away from the grimm as I lost my grip on my weapons from the force of the impact.

Hit and Run went skidding into the darkness, disappearing from view as I hit the ground with a loud *crack, and I could feel my bruised ribs break along with my aura as I was sent rolling along the floor painfully, skidding to a stop several meters from where I had initially hit the ground.

I gasped and nearly curled up in agony as my aura fizzled around me, white sparks sputtering faintly as what little energy remained inside me was stripped away. I groaned, rolling over onto my front as my stomach churned, all of the aches in my body being multiplied infinitely by my broken aura.

Behind me, the grimm laughed again, and fear shot through me at the noise. I moved forward, beginning to crawl away from the monster in a desperate attempt to get into a position to recover for at least a moment, only to pause as my fingers bumped into something cold and metallic.

It was the dust that I had stolen. The case had apparently fallen out of my satchel and cracked when it hit the ground, allowing the magenta light of the crystal to peek through, along with the heat that it seemingly always produced.

And like always, it sang to me. I stared at it as it blurred in and out of my vision, rolling a silent question over in my mind before deciding.

"Fuck it." I wheezed as I got to my knees painfully. I gasped as my ribs cracked at the movement, before getting a hold of myself and reaching out towards the case, "I'm probably dying here anyway."

The grimm was getting closer, the sharp cracks of its legs on the ground slowly making their way towards me as I grabbed the case in both of my hands.

I huffed, using nearly all of my remaining strength to bring it over my head, before SMASHING it onto the ground as hard as I possibly could.

The already compromised casing failed to hold up to the sudden impact, breaking into several pieces all over the cavern floor. Behind me I could hear the grimm pause as the crystal inside the case went clattering to the floor with loud clinks, rolling to a stop right in front of me, glowing brightly in the darkness as it released enough heat to immediately singe the hairs on my arm.

Before I had any chance to doubt myself or rationalize that touching something giving off enough heat to boil the air around it was a bad idea, I stretched my arm out and listened to that part of my soul that had been speaking to me all this time, wrapping my fingers around the chunk of dust even as it painfully burned the flesh of my palm.

I gasped, throwing my head back as my eyes blew wide. Power, overwhelming and all-consuming filled me as my semblance activated automatically the moment that I touched the crystal, sucking whatever power had been held inside of it straight from the source.

All of my exhaustion disappeared in an instant leaving me breathless as an energy skin to the most potent adrenaline filled my body, reinvigorating me like nothing ever had before.

In wonder, I looked down at my hands as I rose from the floor, clenching my fingers and finding that while the wounds I had sustained hadn't healed at all, they didn't actually hurt anymore.

I felt good. Amazing actually! Like I could take on the entirety of Atlas's military force all at once and not break a sweat doing it…

Or shove my foot up a certain giant grimm's ass.

Heat roiled off of my body as I turned back to the monster responsible for my injuries. It looked confused and slightly wary, or as much as the living embodiment of hatred could be anyway, and as I walked forward, scorching the ground as I went, I could swear it inched back minutely.

It was afraid. Good.

"Alright motherfucker!" I flexed my newfound power just as I would activate a semblance. Magenta flames immediately sprung to life among my limbs and shirt, burning brighter than the hottest bonfire yet causing me no harm.

I grinned ferally at the grimm, "Round two!"