Chapter 28

The first-year rookies wasted the rest of the day either exploring the area around Beacon's main hall, or in the hall itself, claiming sleeping bags and pieces of real estate. Aldric kept himself right in the center of the hall, keeping the exits and windows equidistant on all sides, to sate the paranoid parts of him. He inadvertently ended up functioning as the dividing line between the male and female halves of the hall, but didn't pay it any mind, spending most of the day furtherly networking with the few people he'd met thus far, as well as having an encounter or two with some people who recognized him from the Vale exams.

One of whom, rounded out his collection of encounters with the show's namesake.

Dinner rolled around, Yang ran off to see some of her other friends, Pyrrha stuck to him like glue, being the only person she kind of knew in the whole building, and then Weiss slid into position right in front of him. Pyrrha's eyes popped up, recognizing Wiess by sight, but Aldric, playing the blind man, simply kept picking at his food.

She cleared her throat, and Pyrrha gave him a light prod, causing him to look up. "Hm?" He grunted, leaning towards Pyrrha.

"Good evening." Weiss said, formally.

Aldric straightened back up, now looking at Weiss, "uh, Hi." He chirped, "how's it goin'?"

"Hello." Pyrrha nodded, her own formality matching Wiess'.

"I believe I recognize you... Pyrrha." Weiss said, cautiously, nodding to Pyrrha. "From one of my father's international tournaments, yes?"

To which, Pyrrha nodded. "It has been some time." She said.

"You know her?" Aldric rumbled.

"I met her once." Pyrrha nodded, "at a tournament I participated in. This is Weiss Schnee."

"You're Weiss Schnee?" Aldric practically screeched, though his voice barely reached past the three of them, "what the flaming f-" But Pyrrha displayed an uncanny knowledge of how it was he spoke, giving him a subtle kick from under the table to stave off the profanity, "-french toast are you doing in Vale?"

If Weiss noticed his narrowly avoided 'fuck', or was wondering what French toast was, she didn't voice it. Instead she responded with, "I felt that attending an academy in another country could only foster good relations between my home and this one." She said, a professional air to her response. "Would you happen to be the blind fighter from the exam?" She asked.

"Man -" Aldric reached up, "and here I thought I was -" But when he attempted to slip off his glasses and freak Weiss out, he found they weren't budging, and it didn't take but a fraction of a second to realize that the parts resisting his force specifically were its metal frames, and he managed to transition quickly into pushing them back up the bridge of his nose. "- being subtle about it. What with the dark glasses and the white cane." He said, nodding to the cane leaning next to him; though he did file this away for later - Pyrrha was far more well versed in his aptly named 'grand game' than she was with her people skills, an interesting discovery. "Name's Goud, but that's not groovy, so call me Ash." He said, with a smile and a nod.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ash." Weiss said, "I saw both of your fights after the marathon." She said, before nodding to Pyrrha, "as I did all of yours, Pyrrha. You both did remarkably, and your battle together was quite something to behold."

Aldric felt like he was talking to a state senator. "I dunno, I got quite a few shiners in my bits." He nodded to Pyrrha, "and she beat me into the ground."

"Thank you, Weiss, having your attention is quite a feat... But I fear you're being modest, Ash. Few lasted against me quite as long as you did."

Weiss agreed, "indeed. I think you would have gone much further, had you not been matched up against Pyrrha Nikos so early."

Alright, Aldric couldn't let that one slide - if he didn't say something, they both would probably wonder why, in some way. "First and last name -" He looked over at Pyrrha, "are you famous back home, or something?"

Pyrrha steeled herself at this, slowly nodding. "I did very well during my pre-academy years..." She said, Aldric noticing the grip on her fork tightening, as she no-doubt expected some amount of hero worship from him. "It was part of the reason how I got selected for Mister Schnee's tournament."

Weiss smiled politely, "now who's being modest, Pyrrha? You're the Invincible Girl! You had a free ride anywhere you wanted!"

"And here I thought Yang was just poking fun at you." Aldric set down his fork and turned to face Pyrrha, raising his hand and pointing at her, all fingers splayed out; he drew on his roots from back home and laid his accent on thick. "Okay girlfriend, I got this buddy back home, right? His name be Antoine, he been rottin' in a cell fo' comin' on two years now." He noticed her trying not to smile, and it only made him smile even wider, "you gotta pull some strings, girl. Get my buddy outta jail." He raised his fist, "free Antoine - that's what we was all shoutin' when he got put up." Here, though, he lost control and trailed off into laughter, shaking his head and turning back to his food. "I couldn't keep it together." He said, picking up his fork. "So what can we do ya for, Weiss?"

"I'm merely hoping to make acquaintance with my fellow students." Weiss said, only now starting to eat her own food.

Whenever a public figure says the phrase 'I'm merely', everything that follows is false. To prove this, Aldric merely had to point out that Weiss was talking to Pyrrha Nikos - no explanation needed - and him, who apparently had already begun building something of a reputation. If he'd give Cardin anything, the dude was open about it, though that very well could just be because he didn't have the capacity for subtlety.

"Well, welcome to dinner!" Aldric said, briefly raising his hands, "so -" He indicated himself, "I did it because my boss offered to fund the whole thing." He cast a glance to Weiss, "she did it totally for international relations." He gave Pyrrha a brief glance, "why'd you hop the border?"

"I felt a change of scenery from what I have known would be good for me." She said, with a smile.

Aldric shrugged, "seems legit." He dug at the last dregs of his meal, resisting the urge to make a drug joke in regards to Weiss' hookup in the Dust trade. "So I kind of had a premature ejection from the tournament, thanks to her here." He nodded to Pyrrha, "and I've been told on no uncertain terms that -" He raised his voice to a facsimile of hers, "oh, I achieved victory, but by no means does that diminish the accomplishments of my classmates." He noticed her pursing her lips in an attempt to not smile, but the lack of bodily harm told him she was okay with the digs, likely already knowing where he was going. "But how far did you go?" He nodded to the snow-haired rookie.

She smiled, and if it hadn't already been ramrod straight and perfect to begin with, Aldric was pretty sure she would have straightened up a bit, "I made it to the finals." She said, with no small amount of pride in her posh tone. "But my aura levels were insufficient to continue any further than I did, so I hadn't the honor or the opportunity to test myself against the other finalists." She said, "but I learned where my strengths and weaknesses lay, and know from where I should build."

Captain! The snide buildup is reaching critical levels! Aldric nodded, deploy countermeasures! "So what you're saying is you could totally take one of us in a fight." That got him another kick, but Weiss took it in stride.

"I would definitely relish the chance to pit my skills against yours, Ash, and yours too, Pyrrha."

The snide is going back down to safe levels! That was a close one. Aldric made a mistake and snorted loudly, but at the strange looks he got, he merely shook his head and waved it off. "Thought of something stupid." He said, trying not to smile too wide. "So uh -" He cleared his throat, "what do you think we can expect for tomorrow?" He said, trying to recover, and pointedly not thinking about how he'd made fun of Cardin for doing this earlier in the day.

"Likely something that will test our combat and survival skills." Weiss said, reservedly. "Perhaps in the Emerald Forest. Wild lands, a high Grimm population, ancient ruins."

Plane crash site. A mass grave. Cubone's non-corpse somewhere. Mothra's burned self somewhere else. The exploded ruins. Aldric nodded to the side, "makes sense."

"I have heard Beacon's initiations are often symbolic in nature." Said Pyrrha, "but fun, nonetheless. I would think something of a scavenger hunt."

"That is a good observation, Pyrrha." Said Weiss.

But Aldric's two cents was, "search for one thing in a giant forest." Aldric nodded, "an almost literal needle in a huge, vast, green haystack. I can dig it."

The trio continued on until the sun fell and their food was gone; Weiss excused herself to return to the sleeping areas and gather her sleepwear. After the two pitched their dinner trash, Aldric gave Pyrrha a look, "so what was with the ah -" He elbowed her, and then flicked at his glasses. "Yeah?"

Pyrrha nodded, a frown on her face "Weiss is a far more experienced player in the political half of a huntsman or huntresses' life, than you or even I." She said, a bit of remorse in her voice. "We must be careful to tread lightly around her and others like her, people with influence and power. Risking any sort of slight or offense could do damage to our careers even years down the line."

"And is that spoken from experience, eh? Miss Nikos?" He gave her playful shove.

To which she gave him an apologetic smile, "I apologize for the subterfuge, Ash... But one of the reasons I left Mistral was because everyone knew me." She said, "this was... Sort of going to be a fresh start."

Was this moving fast? Or was it because she hadn't any other choice? Either way, Aldric kept up the act. "So you coming to talk to me was one hell of a leap of faith, then."

She nodded, "I'd seen your fights and they struck a chord in me... Made me decide to try a bit earlier than I'd intended."

Well I'd stolen the idea from you in the first place, kind of. Aldric nodded to the side, "Welp - I'm sorry to disappoint." He chuckled, turning to her and extending a hand, "good luck in the morning?"

Pyrrha smiled, and nodded. "Yes." She said, shaking his hand. "Good luck in the morning."

For the Record

And my collection is complete!

Kind of...

Met the last bit of the RWBY team, met half of JNPR, ran into Cardinal again.

God damn, I'm really here, aren't I?

Initiation's tomorrow, it does occur to me that Ozpin's a far more experienced player than I am, he may use this as an opportunity to play a game with me.
If only because I'm certain he's the kind of guy to get his kicks where he can, and fucking with me because he can would, admittedly, be funny.

I suppose we'll know once the teams get picked, though.

Side note: I would love nothing more than to try and build the lightsaber tonight... But I'm kind of surrounded by every rookie student, I would reveal 'unregistered' weapons, and, you know - I'd probably scare the pants off of everyone in here if, in the middle of the night, whole room got woken up with a loud ZHOOM!

It's definitely happening - I've thought about everything I remember from Star Wars lore the last few days too much to not do anything with it - but it'll probably take a bit of time.

'Till next time.

From: AdrianBrittReidVeight{a}ScarlettMailCCT

To: xXCFallXx{a}ScaleMessengerCCT

Subject: Contact

Hey, Hot Stuff.

Made it in, no risk to my cover as of yet.

Will work first to establish myself before taking any massive risks; some progress already made. Don't ask me how to explain it, but apparently Goud already built a small reputation for himself, lasting for 'so long' [read: Five minutes? Ish?] against Pyrrha Nikos. Looked her up, she's a badass from Mistral. Also made contact again w/Yang Xiao Long, had to alter Goud's story just a bit to fit with her recognition of me (was working 'Miss Ember's' security as a summer job, when we first met.), and also had brief contact w/Weiss fucking Schnee.

Might (?) have made a mistake or two - she's a business woman/politician, and that's not a game I play often. (Neo's the only experience I have, but I'll stop right there. Making those jokes would be too easy.); but I think I recovered it well enough. She's networking like a motherfucker, saw Goud's fights and believes the hype. Will see about pursuing further (Don't Tell Neo).

Haven't seen Silver Eyed chick (Name of Ruby Rose, possible familial relationship to Yang Xiao Long, but no direct confirmation) since I sent that picture, that dude I mentioned (No aura, 'this'll be hilarious') vomited on Xiao Long's shoes. Stupid Shit.

Have the initiation tomorrow, will keep you posted on team assignments.

Side note: We passed over Emerald Forest on the way in. No sign of my plane crash; is safe to assume that Ozpin picked it clean and removed all evidence.
Potential(?) problem, if they figure out how to read Earth English, and figure out that there are a few names I didn't cross off of the manifest, they may conclude that there are survivors.

Bad news: they'll look for them.
Good news: They may assume there's more than one.

So, six in one hand, half a dozen in the other.

-MisterMasterptlk

For the first time in several days, Aldric actually got some sleep. There were some minor instances of eyeless Maidens trying to choke him out, but for the most part he slept and he slept well. He awoke alongside everyone else and, as was becoming the custom, was accosted and traded insults with Yang, and chatted with Pyrrha over breakfast. Ruby stopped by for a little while, unable to locate her sister, and that conversation was mostly dominated by the three of them swapping conversations about their weapons.

Once breakfast was out, the rookies filed out to the locker room and retrieved their weapons and played witness to some events to the show. Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha's first encounter went about as he expected it to, the only difference coming afterwords.

"Ash!" Weiss said, waiting a moment as he swung his cane and navigated out of the locker room.

"That's my name!" Aldric said, airily, "how goes things..." He frowned, "is that Weiss?"

She nodded, "to your right." She said, matching her pace as he passed her by. "Did you sleep well?"

Aldric's knee-jerk was 'no, I'm still alive', just to see her reaction, but he could sense Pyrrha a few paces behind them, so he decided he'd avoid pissing people off. "Well, I woke up." He said, with a nod, "so I count that as a win."

"Doorway just ahead - have you, perhaps, put any thought into your teams?"

"Far more than you may think." Aldric said, a wide smile on his face. "I'm looking forward to seeing who I get put up with." He was willing to bet quite a bit of money that Ozpin would fuck with him and put him in a group of straight men, to counteract his funny man, and probably as a means of subtle torture - oh, so you want to spy on my school? Well you'll have to suffer for it.

"Oh!" Weiss seemed as though she hadn't expected the answer, "and what did you come up with?"

"Well, I spent a long time thinking about it, but then I recalled some rather wise words someone once said to me, and decided to stop worrying about things I couldn't control." And he wasn't lying, either - his final conclusion had actually been that, if Ozpin didn't make any additions to the 'eye contact' rule, Aldric's position in Beacon could feasibly be completely controlled by Ozpin, if only because technically Aldric wouldn't be making eye contact with anyone, because it would be the same insane troll logic that got Ruby and Jaune into the school: Oh, this'll be hilarious.

"I see." Weiss nodded, "perhaps you would consider joining a team with me? I think we would compliment eachother very well."

I respect the attempt, but that kind of stuff stopped working once the last one who tried started sticking knives wherever she could put them. "I guess we'll see, won't we?" He shrugged, with a yawn. "I've long since become the type to roll the dice, see where they land, and improvise accordingly."

"I suppose great minds do think alike, then. You're not the first person to say that."

"So there's someone else as stupid as me?" Aldric grinned.

"I... Wouldn't go so far." She said, shaking her head. "Although your modesty is something to respect." She said, trying to recover.

Aldric let out a long, slow breath to avoid any inappropriate jokes; much as Ash was uncouth, there had to be a limit. "I guess we'll see." He said again.

The rest of the walk was spent in relative silence, and once they found the cliffs they and the rest of the class took their positions on the catapult plates. Once everyone was in place, and considering the importance of the context of the event, Aldric actually listened to the teachers' speech, as he secured his shield to his arm.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors." Ozpin began, pacing up and down the cliffside, eying down the many students assembled and ready. "And today..." He called out, "your final evaluation shall take place in the emerald forest." He said, coming to a halt next to the prim and proper Goodwitch.

She picked up with, "we are certain you've heard many rumors regarding the assignment of your teams." She said, in her sharp voice. "Listen closely, as we will put an end to those rumors." She said, straightening her posture, "each of you will be given teammates... Today."

So far so good. Aldric thought, his hands finding their way to his pockets, as he scanned over everyone present with his radar.

"Allow us to be clear when we say that these teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin warned, "so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." He intoned, "that being said - rest assured that you can confidently know that the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years."

So the question really is, should I point it out to him? Aldric wondered, as he sensed a few eyes turning towards him. Fuck it. "Uh, question -" Aldric raised his hand, "- I don't have eyes."

Goodwitch frowned at him, "that is not a question, young man."

Oh, so it was Jeopardy rules. "What is I don't have eyes?" Aldric stowed his hand away again.

"I suppose we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it." Ozpin said, as Goodwitch kept up her poker face. "You did make it here, after all."

In other words: Aldric was right; Ozpin was getting ready to drop some kind of insane troll logic on him. This would be fun.

"Okay."

"If there is nothing else..." Ozpin raised his voice, "after you've partnered up, make your ways to the northern end of the forest." He instructed, "you can expect to meet opposition along the way... And must destroy everything along your path... Do so, or I can guarantee you will die." He said, bluntly. "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene.

"At the end of the path, you will find an abandoned temple containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return here." He explained, "we will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade accordingly." He gave a look around, "are there any questions?"

Aldric was too far away to hear Jaune without his semblance, bur he could read his lips well enough. "Um, yeah -"

"Good!" Ozpin grinned, "now get ready."

Aldric stayed exactly like he was, his hands in his pockets, shield on his right arm and pressed to his side, and his posture straight. In short order, people were launched, and more than a dozen went by, when it came Aldric's turn. With the way he stood, perfectly still, he was launched through the air and soared straight through it like a spear.

The only difference between this flight and those done under his power, was the lack of the latter. He soared straight through the air based on nothing but Sir Newton's laws, and as he reached the apex and began curving downwards, he removed his hand from his coat and readied his shield. As his arc towards the ground became more and more sharp, the shield protected him from the impacts from the branches. He slowed down remarkably fast, and with a pulse of his semblance, killed the rest of his momentum, allowing him to orient himself to the ground with a flip. He landed with a billow of his coat, and skidded forward for a foot before coming to a halt.

He nodded, stowing his hand back in his coat; he didn't need to expand his radar to search for the ruins - he remembered the general wheres of the forest well enough: The cliffs were to his back, so he had to go the other way. It felt odd, being here again - like everything had come full circle. So of course, as he trekked forward, he just waited for the universe to give him a shove.

As it turned out, it instead opted for a brown and gray missile, heralded by, "OH NO LOOK OUT!"

His radar pulse snapped out further, and he saw the body belonging to the speaker hurtling straight for him. He sidestepped the rapidly approaching rookie, and with a nod to the side, he tossed his shield upwards. She hit the shield feet-first and careened towards the ground. Her momentum and the force of the impact were both absorbed the instant the shield flattened itself against the ground, stopping her so quickly and so suddenly that she needed a moment for it to register.

Once she was done, she hopped off the shield, expression one of amazement. "Whoa!" She said, scooping the shield up and brushing her footprints off of its multicolored surface. "Whoa, how'd you do that?" She snapped back to Aldric as he approached, handing him his shield with one hand, and running her hand over her tightly-shaved head with the other.

"Magic?" Aldric shrugged, accepting the shield and presenting his hand to her. "Name's Goud, not groovy enough, call me Ash." He said, with a nod.

"Oh!" She bounced on her feet, and thrust a bare, dark-skinned hand out, grasping his tightly. "Ecru!" She nodded, shaking his hand vigorously.

Aldric smiled politely as they let go of eachother, "so - shall we go?"

"Oh - yeah! Yeah!" She nodded and the two took off at a leisurely pace. "So -" He sensed her lean in close, "are you the blind guy?"

Aldric let his glasses slide down his nose, and he gave her a look. "So I'm told..." He said, winking, before he pushed them back up.

"Cool..." Ecru nodded, running her amber eyes over him, assessing him. "I saw you fight Pyrrha Nikos, you know." She said, "how do you do that? Even I didn't get close to her!"

"You made it to Pyrrha?"

"I was the runner up and I only lasted ninety seconds!" She somehow managed to puff out her chest with pride, and slump over in defeat, at the same time.

"Well - I couldn't see it." He grinned.

Ecru's grin returned, "we're going to get along, Ash." She nodded, "so - why a shield?" She asked, as the two circled around a titanic tree.

"Ups my defense... Serves as a good symbol... And I've been told it looks good."

Ecru giggled, "well, that it may, but it doesn't hold a candle to my lovely lady." She said lovingly, pulling an iron baseball bat from her back, nuzzling it against her cheek and stroking it with her hand. "Blunt force trauma, high powered shotgun, and for when I really need to split a skull -"

"Like that Grimm's?"

"Huh?" Ecru spun around and saw a Beowolf charging them; the grin that stretched across her face was feral, but as she readied the bat and a port on its side opened up, she found that she had been outpaced - Aldric's shield zoomed past her, hitting a tree off to her side and bouncing straight for the Beowolf.

It impacted with a loud twang and chipped off part of its exoskeleton, and as the beowolf lurched forward and slid across the ground, it bounced again, now hurtling right for Ecru, who stood there, slackjawed and in awe. Aldric slid around her and thrust his hand forward, catching the shield and securing it to his arm. Ecru gave it a look, and then Aldric, before grinning and raising her bat high above her head - after a moment's preparation, there was a loud explosion, and it rocketed downwards, smashing the Beowolf's skull into pieces.

It dissipated to smoke momentarily, leaving Aldric to realize, that's the first Grimm I've fought since Cubone... He nodded, Holy shit that got easy. He was ready to swear he could feel the scars on his chest prickling at the memories, but he was distracted by Ecru grabbing him by his sides and turning him to her.

"How?!" She asked, an infectious grin on her dark face, and a gleeful twinkle in her eyes.

"Keep asking me that, and I'll keep giving you the same answer." Aldric grinned, "a wizard did it." He waved a finger at her, as the two continued on. "We can't reveal our secrets, you know." He intoned.

Ecru scoffed and waved Aldric away derisively, "oh please. We're going to be an item for the next four years, don't give me that." She lolled her head to the side, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Aldric snorted, but shook his head. "Why ruin the surprise?" He asked, "besides - I've already shown you my semblance."

"Oh, yeah, semblances. That's what I was talking about." She straightened up, looking anywhere but Aldric, before grinning and giving him a shove on the arm. "So is this mystery that you draw power from how you're navigating without your cane?"

Aldric nodded, "it takes a bit of focus to see without my eyes, which is why I use the cane whenever I'm not fighting." He explained, "but out here? Where a Grimm can show up at any moment? Yeah." He nodded, "I'll burn the aura, but god help you if you want me to see further than..." He pulled out the white cane, flipped it a few times, and then thrust it forward at full extension, just a few feet ahead of him. "That far around me." He said, before collapsing the cane and stowing it back in his coat.

Ecru nodded, accepting that answer. "Makes sense, I guess." She said, "have you considered -"

"They're being made." Aldric cut her off, "but it'll be some time. It takes a lot more time than an arm."

As they continued speaking, they made their way through the forest, until coming across a long, and wide, clearing. At first glance, Aldric thought it was just any ordinary clearing, until his radar let him know what was under the dirt. Ozpin and the League had done a good job hiding it, even managing to plant new patches of grass, but the last time Aldric had been here, he'd dug a huge pit in the ground, and burned a great deal of bodies in it. They could try to mask the damage all they wanted, but those bodies were still here.

I really did come full circle... Aldric thought, taking in a deep breath through his nose.

"Yeah, it's really peaceful out here." Said Ecru, looking straight up. "Almost makes you forget about the giant Grimm circling up above us."

"The who-what in the where now?" Aldric hadn't so much as started extending his radar, than did the Grimm the dark-skinned rookie pointed out begin hurtling towards the ground.

When it landed and came within his range, Aldric's peaceful expression dropped. It was a gigantic nevermore that had landed here, but it wasn't just any nevermore. This one specifically was sporting a rough patch on one of its wings, bare of feathers - as though it had been burned.

It was Mothra.

The question Aldric had to ask now was if this was the Universe's peace offering, or rather an omen. Here was an almost literal, physical representation of not just everything he had once feared, but also of how weak he had once been and how strong he had grown between then and now, so was this the Universe letting him close this loose end? Or was it warning him that there was always a bigger fish, and that this was barely the tip of the iceberg?

Regardless, Aldric knew one thing: This was, ostensibly, the reason why he was the only full-blooded terran on Remnant. So, "this has to die."

"Uh, I appreciate the enthusiasm, Ash, but that's a Nevermore."

"And you've got a rocket powered bat - as a matter of fact, let's put it to use. Ever heard of the fast-ball special?"

"Uh - yeah?" Ecru sounded nervous, as the Nevermore took in a deep breath, and let out a deafening caw.

"Just think of me as the ball!" Aldric said, tightening his grip on his shield, and then hopping into the air. "Go!"

Ecru caught on quickly enough, and with a mighty heave, swung her bat into the target provided by Aldric. With a loud explosion and the sound of ringing metal, her lovely lady hit his shield and launched him through the air. He thrust his shield forward in a Superman pose and rammed into the Nevermore's throat, cutting its shriek short and leaving it with little more than a gurgle. Aldric grabbed a fistfull of person-sized feathers as the Nevermore began thrashing about, and he swung himself onto its back as Ecru began strafing around it, laying into it with her shotgun, each blast sounding like a thunderclap, and each slug causing the Nevermore to flinch on impact.

Aldric grunted as he ambled onto the gigantic demonic raven's neck, and when he got into position, he raised his left arm high. The Nevermore's plumage may be thick, and straight-up blunt force trauma may not be enough to deal lasting damage, but that wasn't all Aldric had at his disposal. When this thing knew him, he'd merely had a knife and an axe.

But now?

He'd upgraded.

And with a loud bellow, that was soon drowned out by the sound of a revving engine, Aldric's left arm split into pieces and flipped outwards, revealing the chainsaw, whose teeth popped into existence and began spinning with furious anger. His chainsaw could be heard above his bellows and Ecru's shotgun blasts, and he slammed it into the Nevermore's neck, digging it as deep as he could.

The effect was immediate, the Nevermore cawed again, this time in great pain, and extended its mighty wings wide and began beating at the air with them; Ecru realized it was taking off and dashed forward, a blade springing out of one end of her bat, which she dug into the Grimm's talons just as it left the ground. Aldric continued sawing at its neck, jerking it back and forth, up and down, in every direction, as bits of plumage flew about in all directions, before, finally, blood joined it; and as he tore into its skin and dug closer and closer to its spine, Ecru used the bladed bat as a climbing axe, carving into the Nevermore with every strike as she climbed up its leg and to Aldric.

She reached him at the same time as Aldric felt his chainsaw grinding against something firm and unyielding, and as the Nevermore grew higher into the air. Ecru knelt down next to Aldric and spun her bat lengthwise, turning it to the shotgun, a bayonet jutting out from underneath its barrel. She planted the weapon in the pit of flesh Aldric had carved for himself. Before she could fire, however, the Nevermore dove, now hurtling straight back towards the ground at breakneck speeds.

Ecru was bucked from the Nevermore and fell off, but Aldric, with his chainsaw in its neck, was stuck fast, and he used this to lunge over to his partner and catch her by the forearm. Holding her tightly by the arm, Aldric looked up to the Nevermore's head, and then down to her, before nodding in its direction. She nodded once and tightened her hold on her shotgun, as Aldric swung her back and forth, building up his momentum before finally tossing her ahead; with a subtle application of his semblance, she flew exactly as far as she had to. She dug the bayonet into the creature's exoskeleton and was halted, and as she got into position, Aldric mounted its neck again and revved the chainsaw once.

She seemed to get the idea and racked her gun; Aldric revved the saw twice, and she shoved the barrel of her gun under the thing's white outer skull, trying to bypass it entirely. Then Aldric revved it three times and let it keep going in a further spray of viscera, now joined by the thunderclaps of her shotgun as she blasted away at the oversized bird's head.

The Nevermore tried one last time to throw its attackers from it, but the both of them had learned from the first attempt, and the both of them held on tight as it inverted itself in a full roll. Aldric could tell as the roof of the forest grew closer that the bird intended to grind them off, so he kept cutting through its surprisingly dense spine, until finally - pop. He carved straight through it, and all the resistance practically vanished as the loud saw started tearing through its spinal cord.

This proved to be the final straw, and Mothra vanished in a huge cloud of smoke, leaving a triumphantly laughing Aldric, and a grinning Ecru.

The latter lasted all of two seconds before she realized the both of them were airborne again, and the ground was coming up even faster than before.

"Uh - Ash we're airborne again!"

Ash's response as more laughter.

"The ground is coming up fast!"

His laughter grew a tad maniacal, and he straightened himself out - zooming towards the ground even faster than his companion.

"You mad bastard!" He heard fade off as he careened through the trees.

This landing was just a bit rougher than the day's first, but he stuck it all the same. He heard Ecru's screams as she came flying in right after him, and he let his laughter die down as he revolved on one foot, and held up his shield, both legs braced for the impact. Ecru crashed through the roof of the forest, her hip slamming into Aldric's shield and her entire body stopping fast; Aldric followed this up by swinging his free arm around and cupping her legs before gravity could try and win over her. The bridal carry lasted a moment before Aldric lowered her to the ground, but her stance turned to be unsteady, her legs almost failed her, the adrenaline still thundering through her system as it tried to drain away.

Aldric merely raised up his chainsaw and gave it one final rev, unable to let the opportunity pass him by. "Groovy."

"I -" Ecru struggled, "you -" She shook her head, and gave him a few strikes with her bat, "just what was that?" She demanded, each word accentuated with another hit with the bat on his shield.

"Are you telling me that wasn't just a little fun?"

"Ash, I don't like heights." She grumbled, smoothing out her gray tunic.

"And yet..." Aldric said, letting the blades vanish and the saw flip back into his forearm, revealing his hand once again. "You still ran right in there when it started taking off." He grinned, noticing that as he wiped the sweat from his brow, no Grimm blood came with it - in fact, despite the visceral display, it had all seemed to vanish alongside Mothra; no wonder people hardly knew anything about the Grimm.

"Well that was because someone hopped on top of that thing like a maniac!" Ecru practically shrieked, running her hand over her shaved head, "I mean - who rides a Grimm!?"

Right on cue, an ursa came thundering on by, with a few familiar faces hanging on for dear life. The two shared a moment of silence as they let the whole thing register, and no sooner had Aldric raised a finger, did Ecru shove the flat end of her bat into his stomach.

"Not a word." Though he could tell she was fighting back a grin.

After a few minutes of silence, only broken by the leaves, grass, and twigs being crunched underfoot as they kept on through the forest, she spoke again. "So..." She began, "did you notice that it had burns on one of its wings?"

"I'm blind."

"Yes."

"I thought I noticed something, but I was moving kind of fast." He said, pantomiming her baseball swing. "Lovely Lady packs one hell of a punch."

"You're damn right she does!" Ecru gave the bat another loving stroke, "that's 'cause she's my Lovely Lady!" She cooed, as the ruins with their objective came within range. "But, really - I've never seen a Grimm with burns before."

"Have you seen a Grimm before?"

"A few, but that was the biggest."

"I bet there's a reason." Aldric said, with a shrug, as they arrived at the ruins, finding a surprising number of the chess pieces already missing.

"I guess these are it?" Ecru hummed, as they approached. She leaned forward, looking at the pieces with a frown on her face.

"Looks like it." Aldric said, swiping a pair of black pawns, noting that they were the only two remaining, and tossing one to Ecru. "That was fun."

She caught it without looking, "but... Was that really it?" She asked, straightening up and turning to Aldric.

Aldric shrugged, "get the stuff and get home. We're only half done, you realize."

Then suddenly, "damn it Beebee!"

Aldric didn't break eye contact with Ecru, "I will give you three thousand Lien right now if you let me borrow that bat."

But Ecru didn't respond fast enough, Yang came flying through the air, trying to tackle Aldric to the ground as her faunus partner came strolling out of the woods. The blonde fireball dug her knuckles into Aldric's skull as he braced himself on an empty pedestal to keep his balance.

"How dare you get here first!" Yang growled, "and who's this?" She shot a faux-glare at Ecru, who blinked in confusion. "How is it you're finding so many women?!" She slid off of Aldric's back and grabbed both sides of his face, "am I not enough for you?!"

"Bitch, you're too much for me, that's why I took her." Aldric said, pushing Yang off of him. "Ecru, Yang, Yang, Ecru." He introduced, before eying Blake, "oh hey, you."

"Hello." She said, with a reserved nod.

"Wait, you know her too?" Yang demanded, throwing her gaze back and forth from him, to Blake. "Holy crap, Beebee, when will you be satisfied?" She demanded, a grin on her face.

"Well, considering how severely outnumbered I am, I think I'll... Not answer that how I could, and instead make my leave." There was actually a plan behind that - if he was going to be up late talking to Ozpin tonight, he wouldn't want to get stuck in their Nevermore or the Dark Stalker fight. "Ready to go?" He asked, nodding to Ecru.

"You're abandoning me, Beebee? I'm hurt." Yang said, holding her hand above her heart.

"Oh, just tell me when you want to spar. We'll work out the tension in the ring." He said, as he and his partner began strolling back to the cliffs.

"I'll hold you to that!"

"It was nice meeting you!" Ecru called back, before turning right back to Aldric. "So how long have you two been a thing?"

He burst out into laughter.

Returning to the cliffs ended up being far easier a task than venturing out from them, only having to deal with a few beowolves on the way. Climbing back up turned out to be fun, with Ecru having thought that when Aldric offered to give her a boost, he meant helping her get a handhold on the wall - not using his shield as a launch platform and throwing her clear over the edge of the cliff. The sheer surprise of the act nearly made her unable to stick the landing, but Aldric helped her out with his semblance, as he flew up to join her.

Ozpin and Goodwitch were waiting for them, and after offering congratulations and recording which relics they obtained, the two were directed back to the main hall, where they remained until well after dinner. The last of the stragglers came in, and Ozpin took the stage to begin announcing teams. Aldric recognized several, and didn't many others, until he finally heard his name.

"Gout Etiolate, Ecru Lily, Myrtle Lake, and Srebro Lemarac." He announced, as the four called came to the stage. "You four secured the black pawns, and shall form team GEMS." He said, turning to the group as they took the stage, "with mister Etiolate, as your leader." He said, giving them each a nod, and a brief, almost imperceptible wink, to Aldric.

Aldric merely kept up his own grin, bowing in thanks. The rest of the ceremony went about as he expected, and once they were released, GEMS left the hall as one, making for the dorms. Ecru, Aldric had already met, she was busy fawning over Myrtle, a mousy woman, barely half a foot taller than Neo, making grandiose claims of having fought three ursa on the back of a bucking Nevermore - and Ecru was eating it all up, a fire in her amber eyes. Walking on Aldric's left was the last of his new team, the third female of the group and likely last for what Aldric could already tell would be all the women needed for an endless barrage of teasing from Yang. Srebro, a giant of a woman - almost seven feet tall, clad in armor enough to make her appear to Aldric closer to Wonder Woman than anything else, were it not for the baggy clothes she had on underneath the armor, and the tightly bound dreadlocks flowing off of her head. She remained dead silent throughout the whole ordeal, merely smiling and listening to Ecru and Myrtle as they swapped battle stories from the day.

A fact of which Goud had to point out. "Okay ladies - you two have had your fun, but the third member of our troupe has remained so quiet it's worrying." He said, over the sounds of their talking and his cane clacking on the ground.

Both of the warrior women to his right seemed to realize this only as he said it, and as one they converged on the dark-haired, silver-named member of the team, who, despite her size, managed to visibly shrink under the sudden attention and barrage of questions. Everything from where she came from, what schools she went to, what her weapon was, to what Grimm had she killed. She answered them meekly, completely overwhelmed, and making Aldric feel a little bad for a while, up until she managed to turn their attention onto him in a way so subtle that Aldric had found himself blindsided by the two so quickly he hadn't even realized it had happened until his ears were ringing in a way only Yang had ever accomplished before.

He had to admit: It felt kind of good, not thinking, like this. The conversations they were having were hardly even relevant about anything - mostly focused on what had happened earlier in the day, to lead them to acquire the pieces they did. That the biggest issue plaguing those in his inner circle was what arose when they found their dorm - next door to the only other teams he'd interacted with, he noticed - and discovered that it was smaller than they'd hoped, and spending until well after sundown arranging the beds such that everyone had a corner of the room to claim. When she finished dragging her bed into the corner, the chocolate-skinned firecracker decided she'd 'test' exactly how blind Aldric was when he wasn't fighting, and gave a clear indication she'd go until she was satisfied.

But gave up fast after Aldric let a full can of soda nail him in the back of the head.

"The good news..." He opined, pressing his hand on the welt forming on the back of his head, "is that it's not like the vision centers of my brain are getting any use." He said, more to diffuse the situation - as Myrtle seemed ready to throttle Ecru like Homer would Bart - than anything else, it hadn't even hurt.

Mounted on Ecru's back, one arm wrapped around her throat and the other pushing her head forward, Myrtle gave him an incredulous look from over Ecru's shoulder. "You're sure?"

"Well, if you want to knock her the fuck out." Aldric raised his hands in a shrugging motion, "it's not like I'll be a witness." He said, grinning, before he undid the clasps on his armor and slid it off, letting it rest against his nightstand.

Myrtle accepted that, and dropped her sleeper hold on Ecru, who didn't even seem perturbed, instead looking down at the mousey woman with awe, "I didn't even see you! How'd you do that?!"

Myrtle merely grinned and reached up to pat Ecru on the head, "don't wrestle with the short ones, Ecru." She said, retreating to her corner of the room, "I knocked out guys bigger than Srebro." She seemed disturbingly proud of that.

They descended into more idle chit-chat - or, more accurately, Ecru and Myrtle set the standard for the nights to come and kept building off of eachother, while Srebro retreated to her corner of the room and listened intently, and Aldric collapsed onto his mattress, sans armor, and noting that this was one of the rare times that he wasn't wearing either of his gauntlets, letting his arms be bare. His arms, however, weren't all that were bare - flopping down onto the bed as he had done made his shirt ride up his back, and Srebro's involuntary gasp when she saw his missing arm, and the multitude of scars on the visible portion of his back, attracted everyone's attention first to her, and then to him.

"Whoa, Ash."

"Huh? Did the eggs hatch?" Aldric grunted, not yet aware of why everyone was looking at him, only that they were. "I didn't do it." He yawned, righting himself and sliding his sunglasses off his face and onto the nightstand next to him, and rubbing at his eyes, wondering how long he'd have to stay up in order to sneak out of the dorm while everyone was asleep, and meet Ozpin.

"Clearly -" Said Ecru, sitting down on her bed, "an arm, your eyes, and a spiderweb of scars on your back. What happened?"

All eyes on him, Aldric shrugged, "played stupid games, won stupid prizes." He said, twisting the black and red arm out of its socket and planting it on the ground next to his armor. "It's really not that interesting of a story." He'd only got - or lost - them by fighting God... ess.

Myrtle shook her head, "all scars have a story, Goud." She said, "and it is clear to me that we here in this room may be the first to have ever seen the Goud Etiolate as you are now... Not the fighter who battled Pyrrha Nikos, but the very mortal student." She crossed her legs on the bed and brushed her blue hair out of her face, nodding to him. "Please, we're gonna be a team for the next four years, and perhaps far longer than that."

The others seemed to agree with her sentiments, and it made him grunt in defeat, as well as note that, technically, she wasn't wrong - no one had seen Goud like they were seeing him now; but Nebo Aldric, on the other hand... "I got a summer job working security for some lady. Grimm attack -" He chopped at his arm and sliced at his eyes, "- got the lady out, fast enough, but I wasn't so lucky." He yawned.

"Have you still phantom pains?" Myrtle pressed, eyes briefly rolling over his mechanical arm, her expression one of concern.

Aldric shook his head, "not since I got the robo-limb."

"And what about your eyes?" Srebro quietly squeaked from her corner of the room.

"Should be getting some new ones, but it'll be a while."

"Did you at least get the Grimm that did it?" Ecru demanded, haughtily.

Aldric nodded to the side, "I dunno, you tell me." He grinned.

Ecru blinked, but it was Myrtle who called out - "The Nevermore! That was what took your limbs?!"

Aldric nodded, "set the fucker on fire before he flew off." He said, "but I've got a better question."

"Okay." Myrtle nodded.

Aldric pointed a knife hand at the door to their bathroom, "there's only one shower stall in there."

All of the attention was successfully deflected off of him.