Phoenix Emiliana readjusted her stance as the Ursa in front of her- and its head behind her- dissolved into black smoke, raising her right sword above her head and bringing her left sword in front of her, pointing both towards the Beowolves she knew were going to try next. Within the confines of the cavernous Dust mine, they had no possible route to flank the sixteen-year-old Jellyfish faunus and lunged directly toward their prey as anticipated.
As the first of the monsters swiped at her with its paw, the huntress-in-training effortlessly blocked the strike with her smaller left sword, and her aura pulsed as time slowed to a crawl just long enough for her to swing her right sword clear through the beast's midsection, the monster's front and back halves splitting apart and dissolving as time returned to normal speed. The second Beowolf, incapable of learning from the example of the first, was dispatched in largely the same fashion, split in half end-to-end. The third couldn't even manage to strike before both of the girl's swords impaled it through the head, and the beast dissolved on the spot around the dual blades.
With the death of the monster came the sound of another further on in the darkness of the cave: another Ursa, come to kill the warrior or die trying. The girl said nothing as the orange Dust gem on her smaller left-hand sword, Charna, glowed brightly, and as she slashed upward in front of her, a stone in the shape and size of the motion flew forward into the Ursa's midsection, blasting the creature into the cavern wall behind it. As Phoenix brought her right-hand sword, Laban, above her, its red Dust gem glowed and ignited the blade, and a downward slash launched a fireball toward the faunus' opponent, burning the beast as it writhed in pain and dissolved into black smoke.
The huntress-in-training smiled to herself, proud of her work, but another roar brought her back to reality- by sound alone, she could tell a much more powerful Grimm was roaming the cavern, just about to turn the corner and spot her, and Phoenix locked eyes with a Beringrel as it roared again. Entering her familiar stance, Phoenix narrowed her eyes, fully concentrating on the ape-like beast.
Wasting no time, the Beringrel ripped a hunk of rock from the cavern wall larger in size than even Phoenix herself before throwing it at the girl with its full might. Pointing Laban at the incoming projectile, the purple Dust gem on the gladius' golden hilt glowed purple as Phoenix spun on the spot, the Gravity dust pulling the rock to orbit around Phoenix before being returned to sender, sending the monster stumbling back. Charna's light-blue Dust crystal glowed as Phoenix swiped in the direction of the creature's legs, a visible slash impacting the Grimm and immediately creating a jagged block of ice that entirely encased the bottom half of the beast.
The jellyfish faunus rushed forward to strike the Beringrel, but the monster struck first, forcing Phoenix to block with both swords as she was sent flying by the blow, converting the momentum into a spin on the ground as her aura pulsed again. With the gift of slowed time, Phoenix activated a Dust crystal in each sword: a dark blue crystal on Charna's silver crossguard which she now held in a vice grip, and the purple crystal once again on Laban's golden hilt.
With the little time her semblance could stay active, Phoenix activated Charna's Water Dust crystal to blast water behind her, launching her towards her target as Laban's Gravity Dust was used to enhance the force of her attack, cleaving clear through the Beringrel just as the flow of time returned to normal, with enough force to shatter the ice block and shake the cavern as the Beringrel fell and died. As the body dissolved into black smoke, Phoenix tried to catch her breath, until the impossible happened: the sound of Grimm came from behind her. Phoenix turned and quickly sliced the two Sabyrs pouncing at her from behind.
"That's impossible-" she gasped. "That's the way I came from, I know I got them all!" As two more Beowolves and an Ursa emerge from the cavern she herself had come from, Phoenix recognized the disaster. "... They came in behind me."
As the Grimm kept coming, Phoenix kept slashing through them, but she struggled to move forward as more Grimm seemingly kept entering the Dust mine. "No, no, no!" The girl continued to slice and dice through the creatures, but with one spare second, she tossed a book from her backpack into a corner and covered it- mostly- with stone from Charna's Earth Dust. Continuing the fight, with worry creasing her face, Phoenix uttered a soft request to the universe.
"If I can't get out of here, please let somebody find that."
"It's been a full week since the Fall of Beacon, in which a combination of Faunus terrorists and record numbers of Grimm attacked the Huntsman Academy of the kingdom of Vale."
The news broadcast was the only sound in the reception room of Atlas Academy, empty aside from two guards: one watching the holographic display intently, and one trying to ignore it altogether. The display showed an image of the destroyed Beacon Tower as the anchor continued.
"The attack simultaneously cut off international communications by destroying the Beacon Tower itself, and forced all of its enrolled students who didn't fall in its defense to seek refuge and further training in one of the other three academies." As the image shrunk to the corner, the anchor concluded, "It is presently unclear if the other academies will be able to handle the influx of transfer students, and many are wondering which academy, if any, will be the next to suffer such an apocalypse."
"Turn this Grimmbait off. It's nothing we don't know."
"But what if there's more?"
"If there is, I don't want to hear it. We're on the clock anyway, what if the General walked in?"
At that precise moment, Winter Schnee entered the building, her stoic demeanor entirely clashing with her visual tiredness for which nobody could blame the poor woman: the fallout of the Fall of Beacon had given her much to do on the homefront, and she was here on business. As the two guards stood to salute, the one watching the news turned the display off, and Winter turned to look at both as she passed.
"At ease," the specialist barked much more harshly than she intended. As the elevator doors closed behind her, she saw the guard at the desk drop into his seat with his face in his palm and envied him like nobody else on Remnant. Winter quickly checked her appearance in her reflection on the elevator buttons, hoping to hide her disheveled look before meeting with the most powerful man in the world. As the elevator doors opened, she saw General Ironwood with his hands behind his back standing at the hologram table, with countable dozens of holographic screens open in various directions. He heard her arrival and turned to face her.
"Good, you made it. I know I've got you fighting a lot of fires out there, so I'll keep this brief."
The specialist interrupted him with a raised hand. "If it's this important, sir, detail is better than brevity."
Her superior hesitated, then nodded slightly with a smirk of approval. "Very well. From the top, then." Ironwood turned away and tapped the table, bringing a single holographic screen front and center, showing a headshot of a young man with a ginger pompadour and blue eyes next to an emblem and the name Conailte Laoch. "An hour ago, I had the privilege of meeting with Conailte Laoch, a Beacon graduate. His whole team fought in Beacon's defense, and he was the only one to make it out."
His lieutenant sighed mournfully. "There's too many names on the monument already."
"I've added them to the list, but that's not my point. Conailte is a powerful huntsman, and I made him a promise that I'd find him a new team. There are lots of huntsmen that outclass their current teams, including some other sole survivors, and we can take our pick from-" The General paused as he and Winter heard the elevator arrive on their floor, opening to reveal a short green-eyed blonde girl with white wings in a green dress. Her two skinny arms were adorned with sixteen golden bracelets covered in various green and purple gemstones.
She stepped into the room boldly, but rather than assert anything, opened with a question. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but did you mention Conailte?"
Ironwood turned fully towards the young woman as he responded. "You know him?"
The faunus nodded as she stepped further into the room, approaching the pair. "My name is Laura Thrush. His team was friends with mine all through our Academy years. I came to ask if you would give him my team." Winter and Ironwood looked to each other to clarify they had heard correctly before Ironwood turned to the hologram table and pulled up Laura's file. After a quick glance over Ironwood's shoulder, Winter turned to Laura.
"You would be willing to give up Team Lavender for him?"
"Yes, ma'am. He knows them well enough, and the acronym could even stay the same. He needs a team, and if that means I'm without one, I accept that condition."
Ironwood brought his hands behind his back as a video recording on Laura's file began to play on the screen, showing her bracelets flying through the Emerald Forest and guiding initiates safely to the relics. "From what I understand, you're an incredible leader- guided your whole incoming class to the relics and to safety during your initiation. You and Conailte also score well above the rest of Team LVND in combat aptitude." The General hesitated for a moment, then turned to the faunus. "I think I have another idea. How would you like to lead a new elite team with Conailte as your second?"
Laura's eyes widened at the question. "You mean it, sir?"
Ironwood smiled and nodded as he gestured to the hologram table behind him. "I'll even let you pick some other teammates. We have a list of strong huntsmen in the kingdom, and some of them don't qualify to be Ace Operatives due to having been born elsewhere. You can choose teammates from that list."
The faunus approached the table and eyed several of the screens before landing on one in particular, showing a dark-skinned girl with glasses and a floofy black bob named Melantha Aulnoy, and Laura pointed to the section on the card showing her Kingdom of birth as Atlas. "It says she was born in Atlas, why doesn't she qualify?"
Winter looked at the card like she had just seen an old friend, while the file auto-played a video recording titled 'Melantha vs Class 1A' in which the girl singlehandedly fought an entire sparring class, avoiding every attack and sending each opponent flying with a single strike. "Melantha Aulnoy. She was a few years down from me and still the toughest opponent I ever had. Didn't she also finish training as a detective?"
Ironwood looked at the file and shook his head disappointedly. "Melantha's a powerful huntress, but she has an extensive criminal record. My pardon was enough to let her train as a detective and a huntress, but not enough to let her be an Ace Operative."
"I'll take her, sir." The blonde looked at Ironwood with determination in her eyes, and the General smiled back.
"Sounds like you trust her, then. Very well- we'll inform her of her new assignment."
Laura turned back to the holographic screens and nodded. "And now I pick a fourth?"
"Let's wait." The General interrupted, and as Laura looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he clarified himself. "I want to test the three of you as a team for a while, and then see if you even need anyone else, let alone who that could be. Miss Schnee?"
"Yes, sir?"
Ironwood pressed some buttons on the table, creating a single large hologram screen showing the headshots of Laura, Conailte, and Melantha in order before the letters L, C, and A appeared under each. "Contact Miss Aulnoy and Mister Laoch about their new team." Shaking hands with Laura, he added, "Team Lucea."
Team LCA had only been a team for a few months, but the trio of Laura, Conailte, and Melantha proved more than enough for any missions in the Atlas area, routinely completing them well ahead of the scheduled time and well beyond expectations. Conailte, in the meantime, had grown out a beard the same orange color as his hair, trimmed short and neat to look almost nautical. Having just received a call from General Ironwood to meet him in his office, the three entered the elevator together and emerged at their floor to see the General at his desk. He smiled as he stood to address them.
"I'm sorry for all the fluff missions, but it was necessary to make the three of you look like an ordinary team, rather than the superteam you are- it gives me more flexibility in using your talents. I'm sure you've all been itching for a proper mission of your caliber, and I think I've got just the thing." As he spoke, he walked around his desk to stand in front of it, his hands behind his back.
Laura's wings unfolded as she stepped forward and boldly answered, "Whatever it is, sir, we're ready."
Ironwood nodded before pacing in front of the three. "Good. Winter Schnee is currently stationed at the Argus Military Base in northern Mistral. But I want her here by my side. The three of you are going to travel to Argus and tell Miss Schnee she's been recalled to the homeland."
Conailte raised an eyebrow. "What's going on between here and Argus that makes that a huntsman mission? We aren't sailing there, are we?"
Ironwood smirked at the comment before addressing the ginger's point. "If that were everything, I wouldn't need the three of you. But when Winter Schnee comes home, you three won't be coming back with her."
This time, it was Melantha's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Sir?" She asked, confused and concerned but not worried or afraid.
The General raised an assuring hand. "Your mission will be to travel through Mistral and make it a better place- any good you see needing done, do it. You'll have full discretion and full access to Atlas resources, minus manpower."
Melantha's confusion turned to wonder. "A blank mission card. What's our endgame?"
As Ironwood responded, he continued to pace around the room, making authoritative hand gestures as he spoke. "I have plans in motion which will have worldwide ramifications. But if there are problems in Mistral- criminal syndicates, high Grimm populations, or whatever else- the reaction there could result in chaos and destruction. I want you to remove those problems before my plan is put into action- you'll know exactly when time's up."
Conailte folded his arms. "This isn't sounding like a weeklong away mission. How long do you think we'll have?"
"Between the secrecy of the matter and complications in the process, I can only estimate you'll have at least a year."
Laura stood straight and confident, wings fully unfurled as she spoke for her team. "It's more than enough. The world can count on us, sir."
The General ceased his pacing with a smile, turning back to his desk. "Good. You'll be on the first transport out tomorrow morning, and I'll have more instructions for you on the flight." As he took a seat and folded his hands, he concluded, "Dismissed, and good hunting."
With my expertise in navigation, I cut this three-day trip down to two. I passed three separate dust stores on my way to the mine, but it's worth it: the dust from the mine is purer, and they practically pay me to take it instead of charging a markup. I might be the heiress of the world's largest steel company, but they didn't get rich by writing checks and neither will I.
The sunlit path to the Dust mine further west than south of Argus was adorned by flowers of every color, almost advertising the cornucopia of power any wayward travelers would be promised at the end of the path. On this particular day, that traveler was Phoenix Emiliana, a 16-year-old Huntress-in-Training, Jellyfish faunus, and heiress to the Emiliana Steel Company, her colorful attire representing very adequately the blend of status and adventurousness found in the girl who now wrote her adventures in a small diary. After a moment of thought, however, she was dissatisfied with her most recent writings.
"Gah, no, the kids are gonna be bored to tears!" At a switchback along the path, Phoenix bypassed the twists and turns altogether as she leapt from rock to rock to the bottom of the slope, continuing to berate her work. "They're not going to be inspired by a Huntress' thriftiness, they want stories of bravery and selflessness!" Taking pen to paper to cross out the paragraph, the Faunus stopped herself with a controlled breath. "No, no. Never erase, never cross out. I just need to add adventure, that's all." As she packed away the pen and diary, she reassured herself, "Haven Academy will open in time for me to start next year, and then I can start having real adventures for the storybooks, the kids are gonna love it."
As Phoenix arrived at the Dust mine, a bearded old man in dusty overalls standing at a booth left his post to block her path, raising a hand to motion her to stop.
"Hold it. I can't let you get any closer to the mine- we've got a Grimm problem."
Phoenix stopped as instructed, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow. "How did Grimm get into the mine?"
The old coot folded his arms as he answered her question. "We were getting more traffic a month ago, what with people moving to Argus and Atlas, but our machines couldn't keep up. When we closed to do repairs and some upgrades, the Grimm moved in, and now we haven't been able to reopen. I've sent word to Argus, but nobody's come to help yet, and all the huntsmen that stop by are too low on Dust to do anything either."
Phoenix placed a hand to her chin, briefly weighing the merits of returning to a Dust store she had previously passed, but then got a better idea and smiled. "I guess you're in luck: I'm Phoenix Emiliana, Huntress-in-Training. I'm not low on Dust, I wanted to top off while I still had a good amount. Maybe I can help."
The man scratched his beard as he sized up the jellyfish Faunus. "You look a little young to be dealing with something like this- it ain't a small infestation. Are you even in the Academy?"
To put his doubts to rest, Phoenix drew her two weapons, both made from the finest steel the Emiliana Steel Company could produce: the first, in her left hand, the small arming sword named Charna with its silver crossguard embedded with defensive Dust crystals, and the second, in her right hand, the large gladius named Laban with its golden hilt and more offensive Dust crystals.
Standing with resolve, she addressed the man. "Let me try, and I can get right out if anything happens. My family owns Emiliana Steel: I don't need a reward, so I won't be weighing the options of staying or leaving."
The man sized her up once again, and after a moment of hesitation, nodded his head. "First, best help I've gotten. But you better get out at the first sign of trouble, got it?"
Phoenix smiled and nodded. "Yes, sir." With determination in every fiber of her being, she took her first steps into the monster-riddled Dust mine. As her mission officially began, she said proudly to herself, "The kids are gonna love this."
The Argus Military Base tarmac echoed the sounds of busy footsteps and important chatter as it always did, and the Manta carrying Team LCA was one of several aircraft taking off and landing that afternoon. Despite the numerous other airships operating at that moment, theirs was the sole focus of the base's head of operations, Caroline Cordovin, flanked by her two most loyal lieutenants. The doors of the airship opened, exposing Team LCA to both the cold ocean air of northern Mistral and the smiling face of the Atlesian Specialist.
"I have to admit, I didn't believe your pilot when she said she was carrying huntsmen. But if you three got this kind of travel, then you must certainly be on assignment from the General himself!"
The team stepped off the vessel, as soldiers stepped around them to unload the cargo they had brought along with them to save Atlas the extra round trip. Laura smiled at the only woman on base shorter than she herself was, keeping her wings close to her arms for warmth as she spoke.
"We are. Winter Schnee has been requested to return to the Atlas homeland, the three of us will take over her operations in Mistral."
The grey-haired commander looked concerned at the news. "Miss Schnee's going home?" On a dime, her demeanor turned around completely, okay or perhaps more than okay with the news after a moment of reflection. "Of course! The General is quite right to want her around, and I'm as sure as Ironwood that the three of you will be a great help around here!"
Hoping to avoid getting the older woman's hopes up, Laura noted, "Actually, the three of us will be working all throughout the kingdom, and you'll have full control of operations on-base."
Melantha nodded at her leader before stepping forward to address Cordovin herself. "One more thing. Before we left Atlas Communications Space, General Ironwood confirmed that our transport would be the last outbound vessel from Atlas, and Winter's inbound vessel will be the last they accept before the embargo begins."
"An embargo... for the utmost national security, no doubt! I won't let a single ship head North until Ironwood sends a messenger saying otherwise." Once again, the news was met with some concern before a moment of thought caused her attitude to flip entirely.
Laura smiled at her understanding, then offered a suggestion: "If you have any particularly homesick soldiers, it might be best to have them accompany Miss Schnee on her return trip."
Cordovin considered the idea, nodding to herself. "Some names do come to mind, yes. I'll inform them to pack up right away."
Finally, Conailte stepped forward to speak. "By the way, Ironwood told us to ask if the Ursai were still hunting?"
This time, there was not merely concern from Cordovin, nor did her attitude deviate for even a moment as she responded with enough vigor to draw the attention of every solider on the tarmac, bringing a halt to all progress with her violent demeanor. "Will he NEVER let me live that down?! I say, if I mocked him even a third as much as he mocks me, I'd have been court-martialed years ago!"
Seeking to defuse the situation, Laura quickly stepped between the tall ginger and short commander, wings unfurled and determination, not anger, in her eyes. "We meant no offense. We'll go inform Miss Schnee of her reassignment while you gather her entourage."
Cordovin composed herself, still visibly annoyed but much calmer than just a moment prior. "Very well. You'll find Miss Schnee in the Ready Room- second floor, third door on the right from the main stairs. Wait for me there and we'll discuss your mission further."
With a nod from Laura, the three marched into the mountain base. Finding the Ready Room quickly with Cordovin's directions, they observed the various screens filled with mission postings, known Huntsman locations, and much more. At the far end of the room stood Winter Schnee, who turned to face the trio as she heard them come in, a look of surprise on her face.
"Team LCA? What are you doing here?"
Laura got straight to the point. "The General wants you back home. We'll be taking over the Mistral mission in full."
On hearing the news, Winter's look of surprise melted into weariness. "If you were wanting an easier assignment, I'd have told you to go to Vacuo. Things are a mess here- huntsmen are going missing, towns are disappearing overnight, criminal activity is at an all-time high, and it feels like there's never an hour without a Grimm attack somewhere."
Laura boldly stepped forward. "That's why we're here. We're ready for all of it, and that's why Ironwood sent us."
Winter smiled at the team's resolve before gesturing to a map on the largest screen behind her. "I was about to go to a Dust mine nearby that recently became overrun with Grimm. You should start there."
Conailte nodded and folded his arms. "Get some work done and get some Dust, not a bad idea. Thanks for the tip. Cordovin's got to talk to us some more, but we should be able to head right out."
Laura and Winter both nodded at the redhead, before Ironwood's right-hand woman walked past the three to the door. Turning back, she gave the trio some words of encouragement. "Ironwood made the right call. This place needs all the help it can get, and it doesn't get much better than the three of you."
Melantha smiled at her old sparring partner's sentiment. "Thank you. He's right to want you by his side."
As Winter turned to leave, Cordovin entered the room, and the pair exchanged a salute before Winter departed for the last airship out of Mistral. Cordovin approached the team, now without her two usual companions. "You'll have to forgive my outburst earlier."
Conailte raised a hand to stop her, smiling as he apologized. "Oh, you're fine. I shouldn't have brought it up."
Cordovin mischievously smirked at the reply. "Oh, but you were right to. The tantrum is to make sure nobody on base repeats it to anyone important. What you said to me was the passphrase for access to the Argus Base Armory and Commissary. Once I put you three into the system, you'll be able to access the best Dust, foodstuffs, and technology that Atlas has to offer! Not for free, mind you, but your access is exclusive!"
The team were startled and elated by the news, which immediately alleviated any concerns about supplies on their mission. Laura spoke for the team when she replied, " That's very helpful, thank you."
Cordovin nodded happily as she pulled out a tablet scroll. "Of course! I'll just need your names to put you into the system. Last, first, middle?"
"Thrush, Laura Madison." The blonde Faunus quickly answered.
Conailte replied almost as soon as Laura finished. "Laoch, Conailte Hayden."
Melantha patiently waited as Cordovin finished typing the previous two names, and only answered once the Specialist had finished. "Aulnoy, Melantha Teagan."
The short commander nodded as she finalized the process. "Done! Your huntsmen licenses will give you full access." Turning to leave, she added, "I look forward to working with the three of you."
As she left the room, Laura turned to her right-hand man. "Conailte, go to the armory and grab all the dust types we use. Melantha and I will start heading to the mine now, wait for us when you get there."
"As you wish," the boy nodded. With a single step, Conailte leaped into the hallway outside and rapidly bounced along the floor and walls in a beeline to his destination. As Laura opened the balcony door, Melantha took her arms out of her trenchcoat sleeves and buttoned it at the neck, raising its hood to complete its transformation into a black cloak. As Laura took to the sky with her Gyrfalcon wings, the cloak glowed a soft purple, lifting Melantha off the ground and into the air to fly right alongside her leader to head for the mine.
Laura descended gracefully onto the dirt path to the Dust mine, followed swiftly by Melantha landing in a squat before standing. The two looked around, and Laura raised an eyebrow.
"Where's Conailte?"
As if on cue, her right-hand man arrived at mach speed, kicking the ground to convert his momentum into a backflip and a three-point landing. He turned to the blonde with a smirk. "My card wouldn't work for a transaction across the ocean, I had to put it on tab while they figure that out."
Laura smiled back as Conailte handed the boxes of Dust to Melantha, who tucked them into her backpack. The detective nodded, impressed as she saw the exact types he'd gotten. "Lots of Combustion Dust," she whistled.
"Enough for both of us, and you can borrow mine." The gentleman responded.
Melantha smiled. "Thank you."
Laura put herself in front of the two and started marching to the Dust mine, her teammates following closely behind her. As they arrived, they saw a bearded man in dusty overalls, clearly distraught with his hands holding either side of his head which was shaking back and forth remorsefully.
Laura quickly rushed to the man. "Sir, we're a huntsman team. We came to help clear the mine of Grimm."
"Forget the mine!" The man shouted the moment Laura finished speaking, panic filling his voice. "There's a kid in there! I told her to get out if she got into trouble, but more Grimm are comin' in after her! I can't have that on my hands!" He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands.
Laura slid two of her sixteen golden bracelets off her wrists, held one in each hand, and placed each one over the opposite eye, looking through the golden loops as her green eyes glowed. Her semblance, Nothing Withheld, allowed her to see into the Dust mine as if she herself had teleported inside, quickly finding the girl, and also allowing her to hear the girl make a desperate plea:
"If I can't get out of here, please let somebody find that."
Her vision moved along the cavernous path to find the fastest way to the young warrior, and her eyes stopped glowing as she removed the bracelets from her eyes and turned to her lieutenant.
"She's okay, but I don't know how long she'll last. Conailte, you'll find the girl down the right-hand path. She's the priority- don't fight any Grimm until you've got her, then help get her out."
The ginger nodded as he attached his weapon to his forearm. "As you wish," he answered, before taking off and bouncing straight into the mine.
As soon as he left, Laura gave Melantha her orders. "Melantha, you're on extermination duty behind him- clean up all the Grimm he's ignoring to give them an easy path out." Turning back towards the mine herself, she added, "I'll be out here, keeping the rest from coming in behind you."
Melantha nodded and drew her weapon, Reticent Tempest, modeled after the sword of the famous Qrow Branwen but laced in Gravity Dust in a floral pattern and missing the side guns and gears. Rushing to the mine entrance, she effortlessly slashed through several Grimm, and as she entered the mine, four of Laura's bracelets flew behind her, positioning in front of the mine entrance before blasting the incoming Grimm with powerful sound waves that sent every single monster flying backward.
Laura took to the sky, releasing the rest of the bracelets from her arms as they flew around the area, disintegrating Grimm with walls of concussive sound waves that ground them into nothing. When she spotted a pair of Nevermores flying towards her, she brought four of the bracelets into the air above them, blasting their soundwaves straight downward to send the two flying giants crashing into the ground, where they crushed several smaller Grimm before dissolving into billows of black smoke.
As the four bracelets returned to the fight on the ground, Laura heard the roar of a Sphinx. Then another. Under her breath, she muttered, "Better be quick, you two."
Phoenix's semblance had always been a brilliantly powerful one, and at this moment it was quite possibly the only thing keeping her alive. On a good day, the time dilation upon blocking the incoming Grimm's swipes and lunges would be more than enough for a time-dilated counterattack almost guaranteed to kill them in one shot. After having spent so much energy already, however, the only reward it gave her was enough of a pause to be able to block the next strike.
Eventually, it wasn't even enough for that- a swipe from an Ursa slipped through as she hesitated, and she was sent sprawling across the cavern floor. On her hands and knees, she couldn't muster the energy to do anything but watch as a Beowolf growled and lunged towards her with an open maw. Phoenix shut her eyes in fear, anticipating the end.
But it never came. The Faunus opened her eyes after a moment of confusion and saw the beast's jaws clamped over a muscular arm, and her vision followed the arm up to the shoulder and then to the face of her rescuer, a bearded blue-clad redhead who turned to her and smiled.
"Sorry I'm late." The huntsman greeted her with a smirk and a bit of playfulness in his voice, clearly unbothered by the Beowolf chomping on his arm repeatedly.
"You just saved my life!" Phoenix assured him, exasperated and more than a bit surprised.
The man shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, you know me." With a quick twist of his arm, Conailte sent the Beowolf flying across the cavern into the Ursa that had hit Phoenix, before igniting a pair of Dust blades from his forearm-mounted weapon. After cutting down a Creep and a Sabyr, he performed a perfect Superman Punch to the face of another charging Ursa, wiping out several of its smaller allies in the process.
Phoenix cocked her head as she shakily got onto her feet. "Uh... do I know you?"
Conailte chuckled. "Nope." Almost immediately, the two both heard the sounds of combat further down the way they'd both come from, and Conailte smiled. "Sounds like my friend's here!" Turning to Phoenix, he added, "Why don't you grab that book there?" As he asked, he tilted his head towards where Phoenix had buried her diary. As he did so, he bounced past her at high speed, fighting Grimm even further into the mine than Phoenix had gotten.
Turning back towards the entrance, Phoenix saw a pair of Beringrels, but before she could shout for the huntsman to come back and save her, the two monsters turned away from Phoenix to face a hidden opponent in the darkness of the caverns behind them. All Phoenix saw next was an enormous metal blade cleave through both monsters effortlessly, before a cloaked figure emerged from the darkness.
As some of the last small Grimm leapt towards her, she spun the massive sword in her hand like a buzzsaw, grinding every attacking monster into nothing. When the last was gone, the figure removed her hood, revealing a dark, beautiful face laced with concern for the Faunus.
"Are you okay?" She asked, authoritatively but not harshly.
Phoenix nodded softly. "Thanks to you two." She sheathed Charna as she used Laban to break the rock covering her diary, holding it tightly before putting it away with her things, then turning to Melantha starstruck. "My name's Phoenix. Who are you guys?"
Melantha planted her sword into the rock as she answered. "I'm Melantha Aulnoy." Gesturing further down the mines, she added, "And you've met my teammate, Conailte. Our leader's outside, keeping any more from coming in."
"But why did you come here? You couldn't have known I was in trouble."
"We came to clear the place out ourselves, but the owner said you'd gotten here first. Now our mission is getting you out of here."
"And you're going to come back for the rest of the Grimm once we're out?"
Before Melantha could answer, Conailte bounced into the scene, shocking Phoenix once again with his quickness. "That's the idea. The immediate problems are gone, so we should be good to get you out of here now and come back later." The sound of a ringing scroll filled the cave, and Conailte pulled his out of his jacket pocket. Seeing the call was coming from his leader, he quickly answered it on speaker. "I'm here, what's the word?"
A feminine voice with a soft accent filled the cave. "Have you found the girl?"
"She seems fine, if a bit tired, and we took care of the Grimm around her. We're heading out with her now."
"Good. Get her to the mouth of the cave, but no further- it's not safe outside, I see multiple Sphinxes. I'll do what I can until you two get out here." At the mention of Sphinxes, Phoenix's knees buckled and her eyes went wide, but her two rescuers were wholly unfazed.
"As you wish. We'll be right there." Ending the call, he turned to Melantha. "Can you stay with her while I go on ahead?"
Melantha pulled her sword out of the ground and nodded to her superior. "Of course."
At long last, it was Phoenix's turn to speak, broadcasting her fear. "'Multiple Sphinxes!' How many do you think there are?"
Conailte folded his arms and answered with a smile. "My gut says six, but that'll never happen: two Sphinxes, it's possible. Four Sphinxes, there's an outside chance. But six Sphinxes? I'd like to see that!"
"In any case, we need to move." Melantha barked. Conailte nodded before taking off bouncing out of the mine at high speed, and Melantha motioned Phoenix to follow her, running slowly enough that Phoenix, as tired as she was, could keep up. As they ran, Melantha ordered, "You stay in the mouth of the cave, and don't fight anything you don't have to. Leave the rest of the Grimm to us."
"Okay, right!" Phoenix answered breathlessly as the two ran through the darkness.
As Phoenix's eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, she was barely able to look to the sky for signs of the Sphinxes. As it turned out, Conailte's gut feeling was perfectly accurate: six Sphinxes chased the winged faunus through the air, outmaneuvered at every turn by the much smaller and much more graceful huntress.
Conailte pointed his arm-mounted weapon into the air and shot the Dust blades skyward, narrowly missing or grazing the monsters with each blast. Impatient, he leaped off the ground, almost instantly getting above the beasts and hitting one with a bicycle kick that sent it to the ground, falling after it while the one immediately behind it chased him down.
Grabbing one of her throwing bombs, Melantha wound up a softball pitch and threw a bomb straight at one of the remaining four Sphinxes chasing Laura, following up with another bomb to the one behind it. As the two descended to deal with the attacker, Melantha nodded to Phoenix.
"Keep yourself safe."
In the air, Laura smiled, finally free to slide all sixteen of the bracelets collectively named Birdsong off her arms with the majority of the beasts distracted, and positioned them in a large circle in front of her own flight path. After she flew through the ring of certain doom, she activated all sixteen bracelets at maximum power, catching the two remaining pursuers and freezing them in the air with enough force from each direction to level a city block. The pair didn't last long, and soon both Sphinxes were only clouds of black smoke as all sixteen bracelets stopped firing.
On the ground, Conailte once again used his arm-mounted Dust sword, Two-Step Goodbye, launching the Dust blades at the Sphinxes. The recoil of the shots paired with his semblance caused the weapon to vibrate against his arm, and he allowed it to keep vibrating as one of the monsters slashed at him, its paw bouncing off him harmlessly.
Pointing his arm at one of the Sphinxes, Conailte suddenly detached the weapon from his forearm, and it flew at the Grimm with all the energy acquired from its progressively faster bouncing to hit the monster like an artillery shell directly into the face, staggering the creature and causing it to stumble backward.
The weapon continued to fly through the air until the bottom glowed purple, and the Gravity Dust within was used to pull it back to Conailte's right arm to repeat the process. As it returned, the other Sphinx tried to bite him, but its teeth bounced off him harmlessly, wounding the monster's jaw as its mouth was sprung open on contact. As Conailte remounted his weapon and ignited its blade, he looked back to the Sphinx with a smirk, but his eyes widened as he barely had time to dash to the right to avoid a fireball, and then another, each one breaking apart the ground on impact.
"Right," the ginger muttered, annoyed. "They've got fire."
After dodging another fireball, Conailte bounced straight towards the neck of the Sphinx, jamming in the pair of Dust blades from Two-Step Goodbye as the monster shook and writhed in pain, trying in vain to get the huntsman off. After a moment of struggle, the monster collapsed and dissolved into smoke, and the redhead turned to the other Sphinx that had finally recovered from his first shot.
Melantha stared down her pair of Sphinxes, Reticent Tempest in hand. The one on her right lunged towards her with a gaping maw, and Melantha immediately threw her sword such that it spun through the air like a buzzsaw, lengthened by hardlight dust at each of five points to more than double the width of the path of destruction.
The throw was aimed perfectly at the divide between the monster's open jaws where the beast was at its thinnest, and her perfect throw with perfect aim immediately separated everything above the Sphinx's lower jaw from the rest of its body. The sword's floral pattern glowed as Melantha used the Gravity Dust in her cloak to recall the weapon back to her, and the other Sphinx launched a fireball at her.
The cloaked huntress leaped into the air and avoided the projectile, and the Sphinx leaped with her to pursue her as her sword landed in the ground behind where she had stood. As she came down with a spin and a kick, the monster launched another fireball, but Melantha was completely unfazed by the powerful blast and kept falling right through it, the highlights of her eyes glowing a fiery orange-red as though they brightly reflected the light of some faraway red giant rather than the yellow sun.
The detective's falling back kick met the beast's jaw, sending it crashing to the ground with enough force that it instantly turned into a cloud of black smoke on impact. Landing in a squat, Melantha slowly stood and once again used the Gravity Dust in her cloak and sword, this time bringing her signature weapon straight to her hand.
The ground beneath her was covered in flames, briefly, before Melantha raised her hood and turned to Conailte, watching him release Two-Step Goodbye to once again hit the last Sphinx with the force of an artillery shell, aiming at the neck this time and removing its head as it and the rest of the body dissolved.
Laura descended next to Melantha as Conailte quickly bounced over.
"Did you finish in the mines?" The team's leader asked, her bracelets returning to her arms and wrists.
"No, but we're about to." Her lieutenant replied.
Laura nodded. "Make it so." Melantha and Conailte ran past Laura and back into the mine as Laura turned and approached Phoenix, who sheepishly held her arm with her hand.
"Hi. I'm Phoenix... they never told me your name." Phoenix braced herself for the scolding of a lifetime.
"Laura Thrush. It's good to meet you, despite the circumstances." The huntress responded with warm pleasantry.
Phoenix kept her guard up. "I wanted to thank you. If you guys hadn't shown up..."
Laura smiled. "I'm glad we came when we did. Are you a student at Haven?"
Phoenix opened her mouth to speak, but it took another moment for the answer to come. "No, not yet. I'm supposed to start next year, if they're open by then."
The winged faunus looked impressed by the answer, her green eyes widening with surprise. "You're not even a first-year? And yet you still got involved in this."
Phoenix, sensing the lecture finally coming, answered in embarrassment. "I know, it was stupid, and I won't do it again. I just... I grew up hearing all the stories about huntsmen and huntresses, and I wanted to write those kinds of stories to inspire the next generation. To be a good example for my little sister."
Laura raised an assuring hand, only seemingly upset by the fact that Phoenix herself was. "The world needs huntsmen with your kind of drive. What you were missing was ability and knowledge." She smiled as she added, "My team can help you with that."
Phoenix's eyes widened in shock, but before she could say anything, the old miner approached the pair. "I take it the Grimm are gone, then."
Laura nodded to the man. "My team's doing the finishing touches as we speak."
He smiled and turned to Phoenix. "Then I guess I ought to reward you all for the finest job I've ever seen done. "
Phoenix was about to feebly object, but Laura beat her to it with impassioned and carefully chosen words. "No need, sir. Your business has suffered enough from the closure." Gesturing to Phoenix, she added, "My team and I will reward her ourselves- we have Armory access at the Argus base, we'll get her something from there."
The miner folded his arms with a nod. "Well, alright then. Thank you all for your help." He shook hands with each girl, then walked back to his booth.
Phoenix turned back to Laura. "How do you guys have access there?"
"We're on a mission to travel through Mistral and do all the good we can. And if you'll come along with us, we'll give you all the training, mentorship, and Dust you need."
The younger girl's heart raced. "You really mean it?"
Laura nodded. "You have heart, and you know the area. We'd be glad to do it."
Phoenix put out her hand ecstatically. "I'm in!"
As the two shook hands and smiled, Conailte and Melantha returned from the cave, and Laura turned to face them. "Team LCA?" She began, turning back to Phoenix as she continued. "Let's get to work."
Phoenix looked to the pair behind Laura, who both smiled back at her. Phoenix took a moment to breathe as the trio passed her, and the four set off along the dusty path illuminated by the sunset.
This is gonna be one for the books.
So begins the story of Phoenix and Team LCA! I'm going to try to get a chapter uploaded every fortnight, with nine writing days, four break/editing days, and one editing/release day for each of the 12 currently plotted chapters, but we'll see how well I can keep to that! Make sure to follow for more, and feel free to ask me anything at all in reviews or DMs! Also, be on the lookout for a Kickstarter coming up soon to potentially fund a FULL ANIMATION of this chapter, PLUS a first installment of a Team STRQ fanseries to go with it! I'll include the official announcement for that in the author's note of the first chapter to come out after it's up, and I hope you'll all at least check it out and spread the word!