Chapter 4: Landing Strategy

XxX

World of Remnant: Grimm

Grimm. Even as I say the word I can see you all tremble. They are your shadows, your monsters in the closet, your boogeymen all the more terrifying for being all too real. If you hope that I will explain Grimm away, turn your fears into an explainable phenomenon you can stop seeing in the corners of your eyes like a reaper, lose hope now. I will not explain Grimm to you today. However, I may tell you some of what your kind has found. Perhaps, in collating that information, you may have unexpected insights. And that's all any teacher can hope for.

First, what are Grimm? Not much is known, but what has been found is thus: Grimm are beings composed of what seems to be a macabre reflection of Aura, held together by a central core of this negative Aura, known to those who care to name it as Shadow or Grimmflesh. Without this core, Shadow quickly reacts with natural concentrations of Aura in the air left by human habitation, dissipating quickly. This is, in fact, how Grimm are killed: bringing enough Aura, even the suppressed Aura of a civilian holding a blade, into direct contact with the Shadow core of a Grimm will cause it to unravel and the Grimm itself to die and dissipate. Somehow, despite this and the natural reaction of Grimmflesh to Aura, a Grimm's skin, bone armor, and similar external features will remain resilient to Aura when exposed and must be punctured to reach the core.

Grimm themselves come in many forms, ranging from the common wolflike Beowulves, raptorlike Nevermores and bearlike Ursai to rarer beings appearing to mimic ancient legendary beasts. Not much is known about what causes Grimm to assume the forms they do, but the prime scholarly belief is that Grimm reflect the fears of humanity. Scholars, however, don't know why.

Speaking of fears, we now come to one of the strangest things about Grimm: their predatory sense of emotion. Grimm are attracted to negative emotion at a range and strength modulated by that emotion's strength, the number of people feeling it, and the presence or absence of huntsmen and huntresses. The latter can often be a double edged sword:the presence of a huntsman's power draws Grimm in, but fear may keep older Grimm away.

The life cycle of a Grimm is also shrouded in mystery, but has been divided into three main stages. The first is larval. In this stage, the Grimm has minimal bone armor covering its Grimmflesh, will attack animals as well as humans and Faunus, and will attack regardless of situation. Next:Adult. In this stage, the Grimm has significant bone plating, will only attack nonsentient beings over territorial conflict, and will often wait for a numbers or strength advantage before attacking. Finally: Metamorphosed. In this stage, the Grimm will be transformed into a larger form, often a Goliath, also known as a Grimm Elephant, and be covered almost completely in bone armor. Grimm in this state can produce new Shadow cores and thus new larval Grimm. Metamorphosed Grimm will almost never attack, only joining the fray when the odds are certain.

How do Grimm advance from one stage to another? Scholars do not know. But, it does appear to involve being in combat and near negative emotions. And eating people alive.

Knowing all this, are Grimm made clear to you? Or are the monsters more terrifying for your brief moments of understanding?

XxX

Ruby

Ruby flew through the air, a smile glued to her face, firing the occasional bullet to keep her path steady. Diving into a forest full of Grimm to retrieve a special artifact while fighting off countless enemies? This was what she was trained for. Real heroing, none of that difficult blackmail stuff. She turned to either side, looking for her friends. Yang was a little ways back, shooting down baby Nevermore with occasional shotgun blasts and having the time of her life. Blake had...well, Ruby didn't know quite what Blake had done, but she was on the ground now. Somehow. Weiss was in front of her, daintily leaping between what looked like dust sigils in the air. Now that looked like a cool Semblance. And Weiss had seemed interested in being partners, and Yang had said to get out of her shell...yeah, that settled it. Ruby would be Weiss's partner, blackmail or not.

As Ruby neared the treeline she concentrated, channeling her Aura into the Dust paths of Crescent Rose, encircling it in her Semblance. Once rose petals started to flutter around her scythe, Ruby closed her eyes, focusing on her location and direction-down and forward, focus on Weiss's Aura, lock on lock on lock on... As her Semblance took over and her world became the blur of rose petals and speed she had spent months getting used to, one thought ran through her head. Time to make Mom proud.

One moment, Ruby was nearing the trees, Semblance wrapping around her. The next, she was nearly on the ground, Aura unwrapping as she landed in a combat stance, shoving her momentary disorientation to the back of her mind as her scythe snapped into full extension. She heard a slight noise behind her and whirled, relaxing to see it was only Weiss, leaping from her last sigil. Weiss met her eyes calmly before smiling.

"Good reflexes. And impressive speed and resilience, to beat me to the ground and remain unharmed. You'll make a worthy partner."

Ruby grinned.

"Told you I was good. Anyway, what were those symbols under your feet?"

"Those are my Semblance," Weiss replied, straightening. "I can shape my Aura into any glyph from a large set, with effects ranging from movement to battlefield control to Dust use and weapon empowerment. As I become more adept at using my Aura I will be able to use more glyphs. It is a Semblance the Schnee have had for generations."

Ruby tilted her head. "For generations? I thought people nearly always had unique semblances?"

Weiss inhaled softly, hand coming up to rub the back of her neck, shoulders tensing.

"The Schnee are a special case. Every member of our family is part of the Schnee and bears its legacy and mark. It ensures we bear a known and powerful semblance."

Ruby's eyes widened.

"Legacy and mark? Are you saying your family controls your Semblance? Isn't that like breaking your soul?"

Weiss laughed quietly, hands tensing slightly. Her next response was cold and almost brittle.

"No more than a normal Semblance has ever done to its user. If I am careful, my Aura will not twist me any more than yours would twist you. Speaking of semblances, actually, what is yours?"

Even Ruby could recognize a segue that forced. But Weiss looked uncomfortable, and it was good information for her to have, so she'd go along with it. How did Qrow describe her semblance to her when she asked how to explain it to people again? Oh, right...

"I can turn myself either partially or fully into a rose state where I can move far faster and am nearly immune to impact and acceleration. It also turns on automatically when I get hit hard on the part that gets hit, so blunt impacts really don't hurt me much. When in that state I can't really interact with the world, but I've coated my Crescent Rose in dust paths so it comes with me when I blur."

Weiss looked impressed almost despite herself. "That's impressive dust work, and a powerful Semblance. Let's get to the dais." She began walking off, and Ruby froze.

"Um, Weiss? The dais is north."

Weiss immediately turned around.

"I knew that."

XxX

Yang

Yang grinned as one last perfectly aimed shotgun shell launched her into a running start along the ground, simultaneously decapitating a Nevermore. This was great! Ruby had found a partner and taken Weiss out of the equation in the bargain, and she had a forest of Grimm to punch a broad swathe through. If Yang had to imagine her perfect afternoon, all that was missing was someone to share it with. And, speaking of Grimm, if she wasn't mistaken, those were some pretty loud rustles behind her. She turned as three Ursai crashed through the branches behind her, one standing on its hind legs and roaring.

Yang grinned, raising her fists.

"So, how do you boys want to do this? One at a time or all at once?"

Seemingly in response, all three Grimm charged.

"All at once, eh? I'm OK with that."

She lowered one hand before firing a shell behind her, launching herself up and forward. As she reached the first Ursa she winked, snapping a bullet enhanced punch into its bone-plated face. The recoil spun her around as her gauntlet flew up to catch the claw of the second Ursa inches from her face.

"Forward, aren't we? Typically you buy a girl a drink first."

She coated her forearm in Aura before firing two shells directly into the face of the Grimm, recoil firing her elbow into the face of another. Her other arm flew downwards, firing again, launching her over the head of the Grimm behind her. At the apex of her flight she fired twice more, bullets piercing the Grimm's skull and launching her back.

Yang landed, grinning as one Grimm disintegrated.

"Is that all you had, boys? I'm disappointed..." she trailed off. A strand of her hair was falling to the ground.

"Oh. Well, that changes things."

Yang pressed her knuckles together before firing shells directly into her fists, wincing with the pain. Moments later, as the injury activated her Semblance, wreathing her in flames, tinting her violet eyes red and empowering her muscles, she looked up.

"I'm going to end you. Nothing personal."

She threw both hands behind her, firing twice, launching her straight at the Grimm. Her first punch pulverized one of the two Ursai. She landed, whirling towards the other, to find it...already dissolving, blade in its back. Blake stepped out from behind it, meeting her eyes impassively.

"Blake, I had that one." Yang complained.

"Oops."

Yang sighed.

"I guess you'll do. I couldn't...bear my old partners." She motioned widely, encompassing the dissolving Grimm. Blake very gracefully put her hand over her face.

"I can see you smiling under that hand, Blake."

"...let's just go to the dais."

XxX

Jaune

Jaune hurtled through the air, eyes scanning in front of him, sword and shield out and tightly gripped. Time to take stock of the situation. Finding a partner could wait, nobody would appreciate a dead teammate. First off, he was moving too fast. If he hit the treeline at that speed with no protection, they'd be picking pieces of him up off the terrain for weeks. So, he had to bleed off speed and all he had was his sword and shield and trees? That meant... Jaune grinned, tensing midair. This would probably hurt. He quickly braced his sword hand against his shield hand, wide side of his sword facing out, blade down and shield tilted slightly down. He had to wait til he got near the treeline and... now.

Jaune curled behind his shield and sword, locking his arms forward, crashing through branches with a thunderous noise. A few woodchips whipped by him, slicing into his limbs and drawing blood. It was all he he could do to keep pushing off lower branches with his shield and armored knees, limbs burning at every exertion. He'd be sore in the morning, but sore was better than dead because he didn't turn enough of his vertical momentum into horizontal momentum and therefore hit the ground at the speed of a bullet.

After a minute more, Jaune whirled slightly, catching himself against a thick branch with shield and sword, arms and shoulders screaming as he used the last of his velocity to whip himself upright. The moment he was certain of his balance, he collapsed against the trunk. Gods, that had been a stupid idea. Yeah, Jaune, brilliant, burn off all your velocity by smashing through every tree in the vicinity, no flaws with that plan - well, to be fair, he was alive and not a flesh pancake. That was a benefit. Now, he just needed to get down from this tree...

Jaune heard a faint whistling noise and raised his shield defensively. If a Grimm attacked him here, that would be bad, but doable. Hopefully. After a few moments, the whistling concluded with a thunk into the tree about halfway down. Jaune lowered his shield cautiously and looked down. Pyrrha's javelin was vibrating in the tree. Which meant-

"Jump down, Jaune." Pyrrha calmly walked out from the nearby forest, lowering her shield as she realized there were no Grimm nearby. She looked directly into his eyes before smiling.

Jaune grinned sheepishly.

"I would, partner, but my arms are kind of not working that well right now. I'm not confident I'll be able to catch myself."

Pyrrha opened her mouth to respond before closing it again, indecisive. A few moments later she appeared to make up her mind.

"I think you'll find you're stronger than you think, Jaune. Trust me."

Jaune shrugged.

"Can't argue with that."

He sheathed his sword before dropping off the tree. As he approached the javelin, he saw his armor faintly glow and felt his body slow enough for him to safely grab the weapon. His eyes widened and he released it quickly, body again slowing when he neared the ground, allowing him to land gently. There was no way he'd hallucinated that.

"Pyrrha, not that I mind the help, but what was that? Weapon centered telekinesis? No, my armor was glowing, maybe telekinesis of clothes? Gravity? Wait, no..."

Pyrrha held up a hand, eyes pained. "Please don't, Jaune. You said to me last night that everyone can keep secrets. Please let me keep mine."

Jaune shrugged, wincing a little as the motion drew his bleeding cuts against his hoodie. Pyrrha stepped forward, concerned.

"Jaune, you're bleeding. Why didn't your Aura stop the wood from cutting you? Did you get hit that much?"

Jaune tensed himself. Pyrrha trusted him, she was his partner, and they were alone in the woods. Now or never.

"I don't have my Aura unlocked. My father didn't want to unlock it and risk attracting more Grimm to the house until I was trained."

Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"He sent you to a Huntsman Academy with a locked Aura."

"He didn't exactly send me," Jaune responded. He held up a hand to stop Pyrrha's reply. "Look, I know you have have a lot of questions. Can they wait until we're safe in Beacon and not surrounded by Grimm?"

Pyrrha nodded, still shaken.

"Of course, Jaune. I can awaken your Aura now, if you'd like."

"That would be great," Jaune responded, a little surprised himself. He'd assumed teachers were the only ones who could, after the huntsman trainers he'd had had refused. How much anguish could he have missed - not the time. Aura now, postmortems on failures later.

Pyrrha stepped forward, placing her hands gently on Jaune's shoulders and looking into his eyes. Jaune felt a faint presence seeming to push at his very being as she began speaking softly.

"Thus I awaken your light to match mine. Thus I light your candle with mine. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul unto the world, to fight and shield and sacrifice, for it is in passing that we achieve immortality."

Jaune felt an outpouring of energy rising within him as Pyrrha stepped back, startled. One moment, he felt power rushing through every muscle and neuron in his body. The next, he felt it concentrate around his eyes. The next-

-PAIN-

-DARKNESS-

Pyrrha Nikos stood stockstill, unable to even react as Jaune Arc collapsed, blood pouring from his nose and dripping from his ears and eyes.

XxX

Glynda

Glynda looked up from the view screen, still stunned. All indications were that a student without Aura or even serious training had been allowed into initiation, and was now having what looked like an aneurysm, and nobody else seemed to care-

Ozpin's hand landed on her shoulder.

"Peace, Glynda. All will become clear in time."

A/N: These chapters keep expanding beyond what I expected, but I can't say I'm annoyed at how this one turned out. Partners are, thus far, as expected, and the Yang scene even almost looks like the one from the show. Albeit with a little modification to make her semblance consistent across episodes, it's now only damage activated.

Then, of course, the Jaune scene. First, I changed the Aura awakening slightly to fit the mythos I want to build. Then...the cliffhanger. I'm sure you all have questions. Rest assured they will be answered. (I originally planned to have that be a scene break, not the end of a chapter, but that was just too perfect to pass up)

I'm not sure whether I'll be able to update next week - moving back to the US after a year in Israel, plus college placement exams, plus some extra strategy work for a startup means my week might be full. Here's hoping I find time.

Please review!