Small Issues
AN: Sorry for the delay, had a vacation last week and as much as I wanted to write during that time, I just couldn't find time or will during that week. But not only is it finally done, but it also happens to be Lie Ren's birthday today 6-22! Happy bday!
Oh, and thanks to the new followers and/or faves since the last time across all of my series!
Initiation: Part Two
Inside the cave, the team of Pyrrha and Jaune used their scrolls to light the way. What was notable was that the floor was fairly even, though descending, lending some credibility to Jaune's idea. After a few minutes of cautious walking and the entrance barely able to be seen, they walked into a far more open room in the cave. Their lights couldn't reach the ceiling nor the walls to their sides, to say nothing of the futile attempt to see what lay in the back.
"Do you see anything?" Pyrrha asks, finding a few pillars that seem to reach to the ceiling while others were shorter with large metal bowls on their tops, indicating that they used to be used for lighting this room.
Jaune stepped around a pillar and found a rather large stone table with some intricate designs carved into it, but the light from his scroll cast shadows across the surfaces in a way that made it difficult to discern what they meant.
But what really caught his attention was the golden teardrop on the top of the altar. It almost seemed to be hanging but with the small end resting on the stone, balancing the golden object.
And if that didn't have his attention already, the fact that it began to glow a soft yellow light as he drew near certainty did.
"It's the Relic!"
Pyrrha turned to see the blonde approaching the glowing object with his hands outstretched. "Jaune?"
The young man had just put his hands on the 'Relic' when he turned to face her. "Yeah?"
"I… don't think that's the Relic."
"Huh? What do you mean?" He noticed the soft warmth through his gloves in contrast to the cool air of the rest of the cave.
HHSssHhSSCchKk
The hissing and clicking sound was accompanied by some motion barely perceptible in the darkness, even with the glow of the golden object.
Then Jaune was pulled by the 'Relic' lifting up, taking him with it as his hands had clamped down on it with a surprisingly strong grip. Something much larger than the pair combined rose from behind the altar and Jaune could only watch in fear as several red orbs began to glow in the dark along with red lines that framed the eyes and ran along the rest of the bone white face.
"Jaune!"
"I was wrong! This is NOT the Relic!" He screams as he began to be shaken in the air. Though the sounds of multiple rattling chains echoed through the cavern raised some concerns.
"Just hold on! I'll try to get you to safety!"
SNIP SNIP
What sounded like a pair of giant scissors added to Jaune's fears and Pyrrha's worries but both of them went pale as the chains began to snap from the beasts struggles and it began to charge at the Spartan warrior woman, destroying the altar in the process.
As much as Pyrrha wanted to curse herself for not acting faster, despite the inability to see what she would have been fighting, she began to run as fast as she could back towards the entrance. She could hear it following and shattering stone as it continued its pursuit… with Jaune screaming in fear the entire time letting her know that he was still there.
The bright daylight momentarily blinded her and the fresh air was a welcome relief but her concerns still lay behind her, the beast smashing its way out of the tunnel and seemed to relish the open space a bit as it screeched its chittering hiss.
The beast turned out to be a giant scorpion, more than tall enough that Pyrrha had to look up just to look it eye to eye. Eight segmented black legs carried the arthropod at higher speeds than one would expect as a pair of arms reached out ahead of it with pincers as long as she is tall, each pincer reinforced by the white bony armor. Like all Grimm, the majority of its body is black, but for this species their white bony 'masks' cover not just their face and what passes for a head, but also runs down its back providing extra protection over its exoskeleton. The tail was free of armor, the black segments arching over the back and ending with a bright golden stinger.
Not only did it's sheer size help show its age, being the size of a bus, but the fact that it had apparently was waiting for its next victim in that cave for so long that what looked like mosses and fungi had grown in patches all over its body.
The creature is aptly named a Deathstalker.
And while it found that the human latched onto its tail to be an annoyance, it was also bait that was keeping the other human from going far, even as she ran through the forest with the Deathstalker hot on her tail.
—-
"Chess pieces?"
Blake and Yang found the temple they had been tasked with finding and were now in what remained. The thing that stood out were the dozen or so stone pedestals with objects on them, specifically what Blake had just said.
"And it looks like some are missing." Yang comments as she looks around, then shrugs. "I guess we weren't the first ones here after all."
"Well… Professor Ozpin told us to take one back to him." Blake looked at the choices available, noting that there aren't any pawns but most of the pieces are doubled up given that there were a pair of king's.
"How about a cute little pony!?" Yang held up a golden knight piece the size of her hand.
Blake rolled her eyes at that. "Sure."
The blonde stuffed the Relic into her ammo pouch as best she could before sitting on a rock. "How about a five minute break?"
—-
The plan HAD BEEN to climb a tall tree to try to spot the temple they were tossed into the forest to find and retrieve a relic from.
HAD BEEN being the key words as the two girls had bickered over something trivial and missed a crucial detail as they kept climbing.
Now they were traveling fast through the air as the 'tree' broke from the rest of the forest, revealing that the reason that the section of forest they had been in was so dark was because of a giant Nevermore had been perched there.
And by giant, that meant that it was the size of an airship. Not only was its beak large enough to swallow both girls at once with ease, but each of its four eyes were at least as big as their heads. Each talon on its feet are as long as they are tall.
And the pair of Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee were clinging to its feathers as best they could and could barely hear each other over the rushing winds even as they shouted within arms reach of the other.
"This is insane!"
"In a good way?"
"No! In a bad way! A very bad way!"
"You climbed up too!"
"It was your idea!"
"That just means that you had nothing of your own!"
Weiss just glared back, unable to retort without making herself look worse.
"Hey!"
"What?"
"Think that's it?"
Ruby was unable to point but Weiss was able to narrow things down by following her line of sight, spotting a small circular ruin with pillars relatively close… and a fair distance below her.
"I guess so."
"Then let's go!"
"What? Are you going to jump?"
"Why not? We were thrown off a cliff earlier." Ruby shrugs.
"I can't believe how casual you treat that!"
Silence.
"Oh you insufferable little brat!" Her spike of anger caught the attention of the Grimm she was riding, just a little, but the shifting was enough to convince her to get off before she really garnered the murder birds' eye.
—-
Nora was having the time of her life fulfilling a dream. That dream may have been a nightmare to most others but she wasn't like most others. Some may say that her grip on reality was a lot looser than for most. Others may say that her daydreaming interfered with what she should be doing. Many would say that her attention span was simply too short.
Whatever the case, she was riding on the back of an Ursa and loving it.
Even better was that she had gotten Ren to ride with her. Though to be honest, it was more that he was chasing after her yelling for her to get off and the Ursa tried running his way. The young man in green had been ready for an attack by the Grimm, but found it running past him. It was then that Nora had grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him up with her.
The beast tried slamming into trees, large boulders, twisting and bucking but couldn't dislodge its passengers. Not even running into a few more Grimm helped as the humans used their weapons while mounted to fight them off.
With that option lost and several Beowolves evaporating into black mist, the injured Ursa sprinted towards an open field just on the other side of a thick stand of trees and bushes.
There it tried rolling over to rid itself of the pests, either with them crushed under its weight, impaled by its spikes, or just falling off, it didn't matter so long as they were gone.
Ren fell off during the roll before having to give chase on foot once more as the Ursa ran off again.
"Hey! Don't you hurt Ren!" Nora could be heard shouting through the undergrowth, rather easy since her normal volume was loud, before there was a crack from her hammer to its backside.
The Ursa yelped from the pain and broke through the treeline into the open field, tearing up onto its injured rear limbs and let out a roar… before collapsing to the ground and lay limp.
Nora finally lost her hold of the beast during the last fall and rolled over its head and into the grass before jumping back onto her feet and running back to examine her 'mighty steed'. "Ew… it's broken."
Ren ran up and leaned against the carcass with a hand as he caught his breath from the recent bout of excitement. "Nora…" He panted. "Please don't ever do that again." Then he looked up to find that he was talking to nobody as the easily distracted and excitable, energetic girl had somehow run off without him noticing… again.
"I'm Queen of the Castle!" She began to sing as she held a golden rook piece in various poses, switching every rendition.
"Did… that girl just ride here… on an Ursa?" Blake stood staring at Nora in bewilderment, an expression that was understandably mirrored by Yang.
Ren wandered over, having regained his composure and leaned against a pillar. "You have no idea what kind of trouble she can get into."
"Yeah… I can see that if she's pulling stunts like that on her first day." Yang comments.
The young man simply shrugs. "At least things are never boring with her around."
"You know her well?"
Pink eyes locked onto lilac momentarily. "Since we were children we've been together."
"Ah." Yang didn't need further explanation than that- it was a far too often occurrence that children were orphaned thanks to Grimm attacks and many of them didn't like others prying into that trauma. "So… what school did you come from? I trained at Signal over on Patch." She points to the west in the general direction of her island home.
"Flavian Academy."
"Oh, I've heard of it since my Dad teaches at Signal and I'd hear some of his talks with other schools on occasion."
Ren didn't respond verbally but he did give her a small smile and nod, both for understanding to not pry into his past and for a bit of pride in Flavian Academy for having taught and trained himself and Nora… and having let them live there as well. It was more than welcome for the orphans to be taken in like that and they weren't simply given what they needed to survive, they were trained to survive and succeed in worse conditions.
"Alright Nora, that's enough."
Said girl stopped her singing and dancing immediately and skipped over to him with a smile. "Coming Ren!"
Yang leaned over to Blake so she could speak quietly. "Is it just me or do they seem to be more than 'just friends'?"
The black themed girl spoke at the same volume as her teammate. "I don't know but I see what you mean."
SSCCCCRRRRAAAAWWWW!
The cry of a large bird made the four look up to see the Giant Nevermore flying overhead… with something red falling from it.
"Look out!"
"Ruby?!" Yang knew her sister's voice from anywhere and the questions about how and why she had been riding a huge Grimm in the first place would have to wait, as would the ones about her falling from several hundred feet in the air. And there was no thought needed to get her running towards her, ignoring Blake's comment of, "Did your sister just fall from the sky?"
Trees crashing and falling over gave the other three something else to be distracted by, whatever that could knock over entire trees in an old growth forest must be big and strong.
At first, they had a moment of disbelief when Pyrrha broke through the treeline but then they noticed that she was panicked, shortly followed by a massive Deathstalker slapping aside the final trees in its path with its pincers.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker chasing her?" Blake had to ask, but only Ren and Nora were close enough to hear her, both just shrugging in response.
Yang took notice of the new threat chasing Pyrrha and despite still running to where she was estimating where Ruby was falling towards, she noticed something odd about the new Grimm… namely who was clinging onto its tail for his life. "Jaune?"
Clearly he saw the others in the field because he began to shout at them. "Get me off this crazy thing!"
The blonde may no longer be hanging onto the stinger and now just below it, holding on with both arms and legs as he was thrashed about and fear was giving him an adrenaline rush to hold on tighter than ever… but his body was tiring and nobody can hold on for that long without suffering from fatigue.
And with one final shake of its tail, the Deathstalker rid itself of its unwilling and unwanted passenger.
Pyrrha looked back in time to see the young knight being flung away. "Jaune!" There was nothing that she could do to help him as she had her own problem to deal with- the giant pincer swinging at her.
And while she had been able to dodge before, even leaping between the claws before they could close on her at times, her distraction only allowed her time to raise her shield before she was struck, hurling the Spartan warrior woman almost all the way to the ruined temple where she slid to a stop after somehow getting her shield between herself and the ground as she tumbled.
Meanwhile, by a stroke of luck, Jaune was flung in the direction of Ruby, their paths intersecting and the two collided midair. On one hand, Jaune was no longer traveling the field at high speeds and Ruby's downward momentum was severely reduced. On the other hand, Jaune was wearing armor so some of the impact was reduced on him. For Ruby… Jaune wore armor, which meant that she hit hard surfaces and edges.
For Yang, she had been worried that she wasn't going to reach her sister in time and the girl wasn't using her semblance to get herself out of the fall safely. But when the pair collided, she couldn't help but to wince. Then she found herself in their new path and braced herself for the impact.
"Aaaaaahh-ooo!"
"Oh sugar-honey-iced tea!"
"Oh shi-oofff!"
The three dug a small trench in the ground from their combined weights and force. Yang received the worst of it as the other two were tangled together on top of her, she just happened to be the final break of their momentum before hitting the ground. Still resulted in a three person tangle where each of them had to shake off the dirt and grass from their hair and clothes.
Jaune sat up on the grass, looking a bit sick from every stage of his wild ride. "Hehehe… Thank goodness that we have aura or we'd be goners." And with that said he fell onto his back.
Ruby's head spun a little as the last remnants of the collision worked its way out of her system. "Wow, thanks sis!"
"What were you thinking?!" Yang didn't waste time grabbing onto her sister's shoulder and giving her a short shake.
"I-I-I- we didn't mean to ride it."
"We?"
"Hmph! That was graceful." Weiss' voice reached the three, making them look up to see the Heiress using her Glyphs to create a smooth slide for her to skate down on in tight circles, eventually ending near the trio where she easily walked off the end.
And she found Yang looking at her flatly, not amused by her condescending tone. Ruby looking at the Glyphs curiously before they faded away. Jaune… was staring at her in amazement.
"What?"
"Snow Angel."
Weiss' immediate reaction was to turn away with her nose in the air. "Hmph!"
The Deathstalker clicked its claws and mandibles as it moved towards them. It wasn't running like before but more than enough to close the distance quickly.
"Oh great, a giant bug has come to kill us." Yang comments as she pulls Ruby to her feet. "Maybe it's mad about all of those cockroaches we found in the dumpster at Signal and crushed."
"Not if I can help it!" The cloaked girl declares as she runs ahead, tapping into a brief use of her Petal Burst for extra speed.
"Ruby wait!" Yang tried and failed to stop her sister, only catch hold of a few red petals.
The aspiring Huntress and bus-sized Grimm charged at each other, the former with her scythe deployed and trailing behind her, ready to swing. The latter splayed its pincers and curled its tail, prepared to strike from multiple angles at once.
The scythe cut through the air, aiming for the face of the giant scorpion but it never landed due to a massive claw slamming into its wielder.
Ruby slammed into the dirt a second time this day, barely holding onto Crescent Rose before staggering to her feet again, vaguely aware that the others were moving to help her.
"D-don't worry! I… I got this!" The stutters and quaking in her voice did little to assure the others, let alone Yang.
"Ruby! Get out of there!" The blonde warns as she runs towards her sister, mildly glad that the girl listened to her, though not without firing a bullet at its face… that barely scratched the white armor and renewed its anger, leading to it chasing the red cloak.
"Ruby! Yang! Look out above you!" Jaune shouts as he points to the sky.
Glancing up, the two saw the Giant Nevermore swooping down towards the field before it pulled up sharply and flapped its wings once, sending a few dozen feathers the size of lampposts hurtling down at them.
The feathers hit the ground quills first, burying their tips deep into the soil and the series of thuds from the impacts could be felt by the bystanding teens through their feet. Their trajectories were random, adding confusion to the panicking siblings, the younger one managing to dodge a few before one was lucky enough to spear through her cloak and brought the girl to a very abrupt halt. The elder sister too was able to dodge some but one landed right in front of her and with no time to stop, she ran into it, hard.
"Ooo-ugh!"
Yang fell to the ground and blinked the stars from her eyes. But from where she sat, she saw Ruby struggling to free herself as the Deathstalker drew near, more than close enough that it chose to use its tail against the latest one to annoy it.
Yang closed her eyes as she shouted. "Ruby!" But doing so made her miss the blur of white streaking by until the wind blew her hair.
Ruby saw the golden stinger rise before being thrust down at her, only able to close her eyes and lift her arms as meager defense. And then everything went cold.
"You are so childish."
Ruby opened her eyes to find that she was intact and unharmed… relatively. But it was the icy blue eyes of Weiss staring down on her in annoyance that really drew her attention… besides that the golden stinger was hovering just inches from her face.
"And dim witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style."
"W-Weiss…"
The girl turned to the one on the ground, removing her rapier from a chunk of ice in the process. "But… we all have our faults and I can admit that I'm no exception to that."
"Weiss… I… I just wanted you to know that I can do this."
"You're fine." Weiss rolled her eyes before turning to the quill holding her teammate down and slashing it low. Her blade left a deep gash but wasn't enough to cut all the way through. "But if you are willing to calm down… I'll try to be nicer."
"My turn." Yang had joined them as they talked and now was squared up with the quill as her gauntlets readied themselves over her arms. "Hyah!" With a mighty punch from her right fist, the feather broke from the earlier slash and leaving Weiss stunned from the display of strength.
But the important part was that Ruby's cloak could now be lifted over the stump and she was free. Certainly more free than the Deathstalker which not only had its tail frozen in a wall of ice, but both of its claws. The only problem with that is that the ice was already starting to crack from its struggles and one pincer nearly free.
But that didn't mean that Yang didn't have time to draw her sister into a tight hug. "Ugh! Yang!"
"I'm so glad you're safe." The blonde says as she relents on the pressure, holding her sister by the shoulders at arm's length.
"Okay… I don't mean to spoil the mood here." Weiss interrupted the tender moment. "But we have other things to do than waste our time with things like this." She jabs her sword into the side of the stinger, eliciting a screech of pain from the scorpion and for some yellow fluid to leak onto the grass, which begins to wither and die immediately.
"Eeewww." The sisters say as one as they step away.
Weiss looked down at her sword and flicked the weapons, throwing most of the venom off the metal and killing more grass. Acting quickly, she ran the blade through the vanes of the massive feather nearby to remove the rest of the venom before she was willing to tuck her weapon safely away in her belt.
"Hey guys! Let's hurry up! That bird is looking ready to attack again!" Jaune calls out to them, hurrying the trio to get back to the temple.
"Chess pieces?"
"Blake said the same thing." Yang comments to Weiss, causing both the heiress and the dark-themed girl to lock eyes in surprise.
"Whatever, let's just get what we came for and go." Weiss huffs, only to find that Ruby had stepped up to a pillar and chose a gold knight piece while she was distracted.
"Sorry for not being able to do more for you, Jaune." Pyrrha apologized as she walks with him to the relics.
"It's alright, things worked out in the end." He shrugs before grabbing the nearest piece that happened to be the gold Rook.
"But I could have done something more than run."
"And I could have let go at some point." He countered. "But you never got away when you could have."
"But I-"
"It's already done and there's nothing to forgive." He couldn't help but remember how many times he heard that from his mother when little things happened. If there were amends to be made, that was another story.
"I… alright." She relents with a small smile, though the loud cracks of ice shattering made them all flinch.
"We better go now and stick together!" Ren spoke up, thus beginning the group run towards the cliffs. Above them they'd see the massive shadow of the Nevermore and from behind they'd hear trees cracking and creaking from the Deathstalker.
—-
Initiations in the other Huntsman Academies tend to be rather different. In Vacuo, students of Shade Academy draw lots and find their teammates that way, then once paired they are sent into a tournament to learn on the spot how to work together… before finding out that there were two pairs of lots of the same numbers and thus completing their teams of four. Small bonuses were awarded to those who could complete their teams before the tournament began and that wasn't solely because they were more likely to be fighting four on two.
Not only did that teach the students to adapt to working with those they are not familiar with, but also gave the professors an opportunity to see the skills and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.
By design, it was random yet in the end the team leader was the one chosen for how they could mold the group into a cohesive unit the best.
"So, think you can watch my back with that thing?" A tall young man with gauntlets on his wrists asks a much shorter girl with one eye covered, pointing to the rifle on her back.
"You bet I can."
"Good, that's what I wanted to hear. Now let's see your skills in the arena with me."
In Atlas Academy, students were randomly selected to form a team and tasked with a retrieval mission. And while it was never openly stated that teams shouldn't fight each other, and there were always a few, those that did failed the test. Those who failed had their teams broken up and reformed with others before being given a chance at redemption through a far more rigorous test where only the best team would succeed.
Team leaders were chosen from those who could gain the cooperation of not just their teammates but other teams as well as making sound decisions in the field that would lead their team to success.
"OH! This is going to be so super-crazy awesome! Do you think that they'll let us throw a big party when we pass? Oh! Do you play music?" A rather excitable young woman could be heard among the potential students.
In Haven, they have yet another approach to team formation, that being the prospective students each being provided a map showing their destination but each map was also missing several key parts. That left the students to risk unknown territory alone against dangerous Grimm or to find partners whose maps could be overlaid with their own to complete more of the larger picture while gaining an ally to assist them through the trials.
With luck, a full team of four could be formed by having a complete map and having the clear path to the goal revealed to them. Those who had incomplete maps simply had to deal with more hazards and get through on strength and skill.
"Hey, your map is different from mine." A voice came from behind a tall young man… with blue hair.
"What?" The man turned to find nobody. "Who's there?"
"Huh? That's interesting."
He turned around again to find that not only was there a blonde young man wearing jeans and an open white shirt… hanging upside down from a branch thanks to his tail… but he also was sliding a pair of maps over each other and finding that they fill in some of the blanks.
And somehow, one of those maps was his. The monkey had taken his map from his hand without him noticing at all!
"Hey! Give that back!" He reached out to grab the maps but the blonde curled up and sat on the branch to study the combined maps.
"Hmm… I don't know…"
"Hey, come on!"
"What are you gonna do?"
"How about this?!" He reached to his back and drew a rifle that whined as it charged up in power.
The monkey boy seemed only mildly surprised to be looking down the barrel. "Huh, that's it?"
"What?"
"Not gonna shoot me to get the maps?"
"This will hurt a lot."
"Maybe… if you could hit me."
"Alright, you're going down." He pulled his trigger and released a Lightning Dust blast… and missed.
"Care to try again?" The monkey boy asks as he hangs by his tail again. "By the way, I'm Sun."
"Neptune." He shifts his rifle only to find that the barrel now has a banana sticking out of it.
"Ya gonna eat that?" Sun grins as he falls to the ground, twisting to land on his feet easily.
"I'm just trying to pass this test and get on with school to be a Huntsman." Neptune shook the banana from his weapon, idly noting that Sun caught it with his tail before it hit the ground.
"Same here." Sun peeled the fruit and began eating it, still holding it with his prehensile tail. "Think maybe we should work together?"
Neptune thought about that, lowering his rifle. "Alright, I'm cool with that."
"Alright! Let's get going!"
—
The group of eight ran through the Emerald Forest as quickly as they could while being cautious and occasionally having to fight some Ursa and Beowolves, and being aware that they needed to pace themselves so that they don't exhaust themselves before reaching their goal of the cliffs from which they were launched from.
Ren idly noticed that this section of forest that Ruby was leading them through was different from where they had been before. Every so often, there would be white stone pillars and columns jutting out of the ground or laying down, many of which are covered in mosses and lichens. They seemed to be much like the ones used at the temple from where they retrieved their relics.
And the more they traveled, the more often they appeared until there were just as many of the stone structures as there were trees, not to mention the similarly colored flat stones that seem to form a road.
Soon they came to a break in the forest where grass was dominant wherever it could grow around the carved stonework.
Not only was the ancient road far more intact here and visible, but walls of old buildings still stood, as did some structures with roofs, such as the raised buildings that looked like bridges until one saw that they are stepped. Given their length and that they mirrored another structure, they formed an arena of sorts, especially with the small, in comparison to the stands on either side, dias with a trio of pillars set towards the back.
But for all of the dozen or so buildings that could be readily identified from where they stood, marking that at least a small town had once existed here, they paled in comparison to what lay beyond.
Ruby had indeed led them to a cliff but not only was there the one that looked like it was part of the one they had come from, there was another right in front of them due to a deep ravine.
Said ravine looks to have its bottom shrouded on mists, though the echoes of a river below indicated that it wasn't really that deep. But from that ravine rose massive pillars that held up a stone bridge that led to several structures that make the buildings on the land look like mere garden sheds.
Huge constructs of stone that formed temples and towers, all interconnected by bridges and arches that reached deep into the ravine and high above the level the aspiring students are on. Rounded buildings that look like a palace of sorts with domed roofs, towers that are clearly meant for defending this place. The columns are often filled with distinct carvings of complex patterns whose meanings they don't understand.
And while the students had been careful to keep cover, the Nevermore had managed to keep track of them, flying overhead and landing atop one of the towers.
SSSCCCCCRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!
It spread its wings wide as it screeched, ensuring that the mortals got the message that 'They shall not pass.'
Still, the students split up to take cover among the supports of the arena, the sisters of Ruby and Yang, Ren and Nora, Jaune and Pyrrha, and finally Blake and Weiss… though the former of the last pair had one of them doing so grudgingly, if her amber eyes were anything to go by.
"Well, that's just great!" Yang's sarcasm carried across the small field between the stands.
Crashing trees alerted them to the Deathstalker catching up to them, only having been slowed down by the numerous obstacles that it had to force out of its way to pursue its targets. The trail of destruction that marked its path was the least of the concerns for the teens that have to face it.
"Oh no, we gotta move!" Jaune called out as the scorpion charged at them, closing the distance quickly and slammed one of its pincers into the stone support that Weiss and Blake had just vacated.
"No need to tell me what to do!" Weiss yells at the blonde even as she ran.
Still, Ren dashed out to the open and shot at the scorpion with Stormflower. The bullets did next to nothing to the exoskeleton but the spray of bullets did garner the beast's attention. And with the Deathstalker moving his way, he sprinted back under the stone stands and hid within the shadows as the others moved up for more cover, though crossing the field drew the attention of the Nevermore, which began flapping to hover.
"Nora! Distract it!" Ren orders his best friend as he caught up while the scorpion dug itself out from the rubble after it knocked out a support column trying to get him and dropping a section of the stone stands on itself.
Unfortunately, at the same time the avian Grimm chose to launch feathers again, bombarding the entire arena with the missiles. The eight teens scrambled to dodge and take cover, all but Nora as she ran out and leapt over a quill and rolled under another as it flew by just so she'd get in the best position to get its attention before pulling her weapon from her back- a grenade launcher. And her first shot struck the bird just under the chin and left the feathers there a bit damaged but otherwise the Grimm was relatively unharmed. Three more grenades were fired and struck at the wings and body, convincing the Grimm to move away before something vital was hit, such as its eyes.
Get away from the creepy crawly!" Ruby shouts as she points to the bridge now that the Nevermore was no longer blocking their path, though the Deathstalker had freed itself and was in pursuit once more.
Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Jaune, and Nora were the first to reach the bridge while the others turned to shoot at the scorpion, unfortunately doing little to harm it as a pistol, a pair of machine pistols, and a rifle lacked the power to punch through its armor, though it did force the Grimm to shield its eyes with its claws.
—-
"I wonder how the girls are doing with their initiation?" Taiyang wondered out loud as he sat in his chair in the living room. Already, he was enjoying the quiet from having the house all to himself aside from Zwei, the family pet corgi.
"Arf!"
"Eh, I'm sure they'll be fine, there hasn't been anything too dangerous in the initiations before… that I know of." Tai scratched his chin as he thought back to over two decades, pushing three, to when he first began to attend Beacon Academy and met his team there. "Ah, those were some good times. I just hope the girls are having fun like we did, right?" The last part wasn't directed to the dog but to a picture. It was old and a bit worn, but a team photo from his time at Beacon.
One that left him with some bittersweet feelings and memories but he'd focus on the sweet ones for now, hoping that his daughters would do well.
AN: So... what do you all think? I know, I left this on a cliffhanger after all of the buildup but given how big fights tend to be, they will fill most of the next installment of Small Issues by themselves. Besides, gonna be going back to Larger Issues again for that big surprise there.
Besides all of that, how did you like the little tweaks to things, like the cave Jaune and Pyrrha went in? Or going to the other academies to show what they do for their initiations? Let me know in the reviews!