Chapter 3: Did We Fail?

Dawn Bella-Long

Wind, if going fast enough, feels like shattering through a billion sheets of break away glass, every inch another sheet smashing and spreading around the body. Dawn found it exhilarating. The initiation day event was probably her favorite little ritual of Beacon's. Solid mix of grimm killing, screaming, treasure hunting, and gambling. Plus, Dawn had the dealer's advantage.

The catapult platforms sent everyone flying, the relics now so old the spring had enough time to wear and precision was lost. Maybe on purpose, but the students were fleshy variants of poorly folded paper airplanes. Everyone dropped somewhere different. Azura passed her by a mile midair, right into the thicker woods, a good place for the monkey. She lost view of Summer, bad, but got to see the bull faunus land in the deepest segment of the valley. Good. It was Dawn's turn to hit the floor.

Having stretched her legs out, the wind dragged. Too fast. "Steady." Dawn crossed her arms, grip firm for support. The back jets of her gauntlets might have been meant to give her punches a bit of a boost, but right then they made perfect retrograde rockets. Aura licked into the dust stores and boom, a momentary jet of flame. Each ignition slowed her down, little pops of fire fighting gravity.

The uniform emerald leaves below gave way to browns of branches and greens of grass. A little bit of black and white for the beasties, too. Dawn made a drop zone of one broken oak branch, her boots peeling the bark off the limb as she slowed. Below, content to lick at tree sap, a pair of ursa minors turned their heads toward their new guest. "You first, papa bear?" Dawn stopped dragging her feet, snapping the already cracked branch, and jumped. Ursa were dumb, the biggest looked straight up into the dawn light, cooking its eyes with solar rays and blinding itself to its fiery kick.

Dawn stomped with her entire mass, an igniting of aura to add some fireworks to this show. The grimm skull plate cracked, and Dawn propelled from it like a diving board. Another trip back into the sky. Dawn pulled a short belt of ammo from her robe, feeding it into the right gauntlet, Gawain, each dust laden heavy round the size of a large man's thumb. Left hand bracing the right, elbow locked, Dawn twirled around, falling right back towards the bigger ursa minor, face cracked, blackened blood pooling around the red of his eyes. Papa bear was mad. Dawn unloaded. The automatic rounds shredded the ursa into strips of dark, boiling flesh. The kick actually gave her some extra air time.

"Now for mama bear." Dawn didn't get a good look before she landed, instinct and careful ears prompted her to roll through the forest dirt. She did feel the rumble as the second ursa minor slammed its full body into the ground she had just escaped.

Gawain spit out the back of her spent belt and Dawn kicked herself onto her feet. The beast growled, and the thudding of its charge knocked leaves from the trees. Closer, Dawn raised her fist, let it come, white blade-like claws jutting for her throat. Close enough. She dropped herself down onto one side, and, staying on her right hand and leg, kicked with fire spilling from her boots into the bear's soft throat.

Crack. Something gave, either its jaw or Dawn's ankles. She didn't care to discover. The ursa stepped back, possibly choking if they really needed to breath, but its belly left open, presented. The ursa minors lacked any of their older cousin's armor. The left gauntlet, Agravain, came into play. Aura popped the fire dust and rocketed the punch forward with a touch of extra to add some flame to her fist. Soon as she made contact with the ursa's chest it was bye bye, mama bear. The flesh collapsed and plenty of that oil-like black spilled onto her hand.

Smokey blood on her gauntlets, dirt on her robes, and leaves in her coal and gold hair, the grace of Dawn's landing was robbed from her. The roar of something else dragged a groan out of her. "Oh, what now?!" Little bear. An actual little black bear was growling at her. Least it wasn't a manifested collection of evil. "Hey little one, you're not on my list." Dawn stomped the grass with a popping flame, enough to send the furry thing bounding the other way. Alright, back to that list. Back to finding Summer Schnee.

Eyes on the sky. Odyssia might be clever enough to try and trick the system, but faunus ears, small as Dawn's might be, they hear involving flares. Thing was, if Dawn was smart enough to listen from a distance, others might, others of ill-repute could as well. Do or die.

Dawn bounced up two neighbor trees for a better vantage, furred ears tilted toward every distant sound. Off in the depth were reverberations of rifles and elemental weapons, all shots coming from below, but her senses focused high. The blue midday sky was free of clouds, besides a handful of distorted shapes in white. Dawn didn't catch the flare till the big burst, a single blast of fire dust, until her faunus hearing picked up the rippled air. The time release shell blended into orange shrapnel and signaled for Odyssia.

And Dawn.

And everyone else. Go time.

Dawn sped up to a race, the branches her track. She kept high, sliding around trunks and jumping between trees. It wasn't exactly quiet, but keeping a small rapid creek splashing against rocks to her right and the human propensity to look straight, not up, kept her safe. If anyone saw her, the plan was fucked. Below, Dawn caught a few scattered future students, ignoring them outright. The one person who seemed to notice the faunus was called out by someone else, letting her slip by unclaimed.

Eventually the creek flowed down a different path, tree limbs ended, and Dawn was forced to slide down the bark and continue on foot, no pause in her pace. The forest grimm were all in a panic. Had to be a bad day to have over thirty would-be hunters dropped right on your homes. Dawn managed to avoid them, besides a pair of creeps she had to kick into Remnant's upper atmosphere. With the forest thinning, the flare's remains had of course dipped down into a clearing.

Dawn kept low, trying her best not to be noticed, though the golden highlights were likely to really screw her right about now. Who's here? Dawn's eyes caught two figures, then a third. Rouge. Easy to spot, built like a brick shit house and probably looking for Odyssia. He found Azura instead, obviously looking for the other cousin. He was an old friend, and with the muscle to back up a master of glyphs. Good combo, and most importantly not the foreign faunus.

The third figure was irrelevant. Hera Adel, the child of Vale's famed admiral and nationalist Coco Adel. Her noticeable rabbit ears were a danger to Dawn's incognito objective, split by a small green garrison cap with red trims. She stood alert, back straight, shoulders tight in her matching jacket and asymmetrical skirt. The black leggings were a nice touch, cute, but Dawn had other business to attend to. Two more students approached the clearing, a handsome girl and an equally heightened friend with peculiar white and red hair, but both simply walked on after a few words and neither were the target. Neither Summer Schnee, nor Odyssia Nikos were here, just everyone looking for the—

That clever bitch!

"Dawn! Over here!" Shit. Dawn was cursing herself to oblivion as soon as she cracked a twig on the way out. Azura had good hearing apparently, that little adorable twerp. Curiosity was going to kill that little blue headed—Dawn, breath. You planned for this.

Dawn clicked her tongue to admit, not defeat, but an alternative. "Well, hello there kiddo!" She spun herself right around on her heel, kicking up a bit of foliage with her. The three figures were all staring at her, further complicating the who-saw-who first. Dawn was going to relieve them of the complication.

"Hey, you must be Dawn," Hera started her introduction, confidently stepping up with her arm out and a box strapped around her waist. Their parents were political adversaries, Dawn knew damn well where she had heard about her. Interesting choice, why approach her natural rival? "I heard about your skill while at Signal—" Not interesting enough. Dawn stepped right past her.

"I call my cousin," Dawn announced

"Excuse me?" Hera complained, voice turned from sweet summer to angry growl quick.

"Actually, Dawn, I'm Rouge by the way, it's been a really long while," Jaune's boy liked to talk as much as his dad it seemed, "Anyways, Azura's not great with people, so we figure, why don't I be on the kid's team and help 'em out." Dawn thought him sincere, if skirting an awkward line between trying to impress her with his good guy charms and actually helping out the Rose hunter.

"She saw me first," Dawn bullshitted, snagging the blue hood of her cousin and dragging them along the grass.

"I've been chosen!" Azura seemed thrilled at the prospect, arms and rifle up for a new adventure. Such a goof. Four years of this. This, this was going to be a very strange affair.

"So what? It's just me and, um?"

"Hey man, you can do worse than Hera," Dawn tossed him a line. He could use the help. "We on the other hand are going to comb this forest and find your sisters." The Emerald Forest demarked miles of ruins, foliage, creeks, grimm, a lot of bullshit, and a girl with a target on her back. Finding a needle in a haystack sucked, racing against a family enemy, well that at least made it exciting. "You ready for adventure, Azura?"

Odyssia better not screw this up.

Odyssia Nikos

"Bang." Odyssia pulled back Penelope's trigger, the compact form's barrel lit up with the spread of heated dust and fragments. They carved a path out of the left side of the beowolf, a dissipating figure of ash that she could run through.

The pack kept up with Odyssia, unable to lose them in the forest interior, and with the flare, options were limited. The ruins offered some pathways to escape, a carcass of white moonstone dirtied by moss and centuries of battle. How any of the structures stood on this initiation culling ground astounded her. Didn't save them from being the site of her hunt. Legs kicked her faster through the stone grounds. Almost got away from the looks of it, but she knew better, heard the sound of claws pounding the cracked marble. As Odyssia cut between the crumbling cutaway alley, unsurprisingly one of the pack clung to the overhead arch.

Odyssia went for the gap, running for the amphitheater's courtyard corpse. The beowolf descended, swinging its right claw for the young human's head. In return she dropped, skidding on her bronze boots and under its reach. The shoes could take it, but with a swing over her shoulder, the beast could not stand a scattershot to the back of that white and black skull.

The grimm died, Odyssia lived. She was given a moment of peace at the center of the ancient theater. The flooring had long since been rended apart by starving plantlife. Long tendrils of grass rose between the cracks shifting as wind swirled, still trapped inside. This place had seen its battles, acted and real. Recently enough were long wooden rods stuck out from the ground, likely projectiles from another long gone student, the grimm corpses having faded shortly after. The acoustics still worked, too. Odyssia did not need to look back, the noise of a starving pack loud enough.

"Well boys, aren't you going to be good and calm," Odyssia whispered. She did not want to turn around, agitate the slow hunting monsters. Instead, she controlled her breath, reserved emotions. A dust tipped arrow was pulled from her back without driving the others things wild. She took one step for every pair monsters. She could make out two, maybe three. With the arrow, stalling was over. Penelope's grip snapped up with a click that set everything off.

Odyssia slammed the arrow into the grip's bottom compartment, extended the weapon, and a single button press split it open. The folding, telescopic internals formed an oversized recurve bow of plated bronze and blue hued wood.

First howling beowolf was racing, but ran right into the tip, the arrow pinning him to the back wall. Another arrow, a lost second, but released it struck the second beast in the jaw, the force snapped his neck right around and the body fell limp into an ashy pile.

The last came too close to restring, a flip of the switch snapped the bow back down, an arrow head slammed in and pulled by the internals to the front. It lept, but not at her, simply into the pointed spear end of Penelope, right through the throat.

"Down doggie." Odyssia kicked the corpse off the spear. The creature faded into soot as the wind blow it away, cold and uninterested. She hoped the founders of this once great stadium applauded her noble kills.

Now, Summer. The ruins were a good place to rid some straggling beasts, but took her off the path. She landed somewhere, maybe a kilometer and a half into the forest, though guess work was required without a map. No more grimm, the air felt free of negativity, of their choking oppression, clear run.

Ready, set, go. Odyssia kicked herself forward in a full sprint, the freedom of a skirt and under shorts really coming into play with the length of her strides. Not far beyond the amphitheater's end and over an unknown collapsed structure, Odyssia could see the clearing of what was once likely a town square, but was now a meadow of high grass outside this particular civic decay. No grimm, just a few more of those wooden bolts. Good to go.

Then came a click, a distant human voice as well.

The creatures of grimm are not known for the subtly. Even creepers tend to emerge from the ground slowly, screeching as they do so. Griffons have been seen to carry themselves with some ingenuity, but not bear trap making. Bear traps were the dominion of man. And Odyssia found a way to step in one.

"Oh, god damn it!" Her scream came out hoarse with a base tinge of pain and frustration. She prefered to save aura, turning on defense when she needed it. After all, her semblance meant a wound like this was no big deal, but she got to feel it, flipping face first into the soil while metal teeth bit to the bone.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?!" A female voice, the shouting came closer. Odyssia couldn't think about her, or anything. Pain cooked the thoughts from her brain, leaving one order: Rip the damn thing off.

"Ah!" Odyssia shouted, pulling the teeth open. Most were stopped by the bronze, but some slipped through the blue, now red, cloth. Aura was pulled out of her automatically, the wound, deep and too much for a normal warrior to just wipe away, sealed. That was her special little talent. For the price of a bit of her soul, say goodbye to bear trap nightmares.

"Oh god, I'm sorry! I didn't think anyone would be running through my traps without aura shielding them! That was meant to catch ursa, not you!" Odyssia's mistake. It was cheaper for her to take the hit and heal than leave a shield up all the time. Sure, the wound itself cost more, but keeping up the full shield wasn't cheap. This was a good advantage to have. One she did not want getting out.

"I'm fine, was running on low, but I caught it before it got deep," she lied. The cloth bits had holes and there was a red mess all over the bear trap. Yet as far as anyone could see, all clear.

"That's a lot of blood," the girl noted. Odyssia finally looked up at her, first and foremost caught by this girl's eyes. Heterochromatic purple and orange, a fun combo. The stranger's black hair was chin length and shifted to one side opposed to her undercut. She dressed a little like Odyssia's brother at half size. The beige and stone colored Mistralian battle skirt did it, though the small huntress wore leggings to the knees as well. Her chest was a grey leather vest ringed at the neck by a beige wolf pelt, the top of which was pulled over her head. The massive projectiles sticking out of the ground definitely came from her, judging from the cross stringed ballista sized auto-crossbow she had.

"And a lot of not wound, so…" Odyssia slapped the scarless bits of fresh skin and stood. This girl was alone, no partner it seemed. With an outstretched hand and a faint smile, the young huntress accepted fate. "I'm Odyssia Nikos."

"Oh yeah, I'm Antimony Calfuray, super nice to meet you." She was quick to grab the open hand, shaking it with peppy gusto. "Has anyone told you, you're really tall." This was going to be fun.

"Never," Odyssia joked. "Shouldn't you be looking for the relic?"

"Well," she brushed hands through her hair, black hunting gloves matching her curly mess of a head, "Traps and ranged fighting is sort of my deal, though Polynices here turns into a kanabo club in a clinch," God damn, "I thought I'd camp out here, lay some traps and nab me the first person to come though, didn't think I'd be literally nabbing them." And to think, Odyssia kept South to avoid people.

"Well, I promise, getting my leg stuck in a hunting trap wasn't exactly how I thought of starting a four year friendship," Odyssia said. Mom turned out right, but rolling with the punches was definitely a Nikos trait, "but nice to meet you, partner." The hunter smiled, multicolored eyes lighting up.

"Least I left an impression!" she chuckled. "So off to find the relic then and start our team adventure? Soon as I collect my traps for you know, safety."

"First, well first before the relic," Odyssia cut off, "I have to collect an old friend of mine."

Summer Schnee

"Why three?!" The boarbatusks, usually a fairly lonely grimm type, somehow found itself two more friends of equally armored nightmare bacon. Breath. Summer stood guard at her landing spot, as she had for an hour, killing the grimm that more and more grew attracted to her. The combo of a piss poor mood and impatience made her a stronger magnet the longer Odyssia took. She had Excalibur, her wits, her armor, her training. You got this.

The first pig scraped at the ground, bone white tusks shaking back and forth. It was preparing for a charge. Summer reflexively fired off the revolving cannons of her sword, butt of the blade a stock, triggers at the arm guard, and grip the the hollow center, it was easier than it looked.

Problem was, grimm bone armor didn't care. The hard shells pushed him back, even cracked the white plate scales down his spine, but the explosive bullets did little besides make noise. Mother mentioned this, during studies, 'Under the armored stomach, the belly is thin and sensitive.' The beast was ready for a charge, its brother already spinning up. She prayed it was weak enough, aiming a double explosive round right under its legs. The dust fire and shrapnel dissected the pig and the first of three died.

Second didn't want to wait, its cyclone carving tracks through the dirt and coming right at Summer. She flipped her greatsword over, resting it on her shoulder, ready to bat the beast out of the park. If she could hit it. Honestly, swinging at a charging boarbatusk was a terrible risk.

Which is why Summer wasn't taking it.

She threw the weight of her body into a single horizontal strike, right as the grimm was primed to hit her, but nothing happened. The beast hit the stone of the cliff face behind Summer, not flesh, not steel. He must have been so confused if he could think at all, flailing with his back against the rock, tusks stuck against the floor, belly open and covered in white rose petals.

Summer popped in and out of existence, the petals her mark. Short spacial teleport reserved her momentum even if now its direction was reversed. Like a bat, she swung, the blade going through belly, through bone, through black ink, and deep into Remnant's rock. Oops.

The third boarbatusk had been patient, but his charge was coming Summer's way. She could just stand there, both amused, panicked, and annoyed at her own strength. The sword swing encased Excalibur in rock. "No, this is not fair!" She pulled, but only for a second. The grimm struck her, the weight delivering a hard blow to her shoulder before a teleport saved her from being totally obliterated.

On the other side of the warp Summer appeared by a nearby tree and the farthest range her semblance could muster. Momentum conserved, the trunk took the force of Summer's body, thrown back, a heavy thud against solid wood. Ouch.

By the time she was on her feet, less than five meters away the boarbatusk kicked at the soil, ready for another go. Summer froze, her strength might have of been her highest combat attribute, but her fists weren't punching through bone backs. She settled for the marginally less suicidal, charge the beast, hope it runs at her, and teleporting to Excalibur. Breath. The thing let out a hard snort. It was time for action.

Or women dropping from the sky with the fury of a lightning bolt.

She thought it was Odyssia at first, with the red hair color of hot blood, but the black suit and flash of lightning told a different story. The girl landed on the grimm pig's back, hands grasped the tusks and light engulfed them both. The boarbatusk squealed and smoked, being cooked by this invisible force that spilled sparks from this stranger's hands. The beast collapsed, and Summer recognized not the grimm's, but the stranger's horns.

Really?! Her?! Summer contained herself, shoulders slumping and eyes going from sturdy stare to a displeased droop. "Thank you. I had it covered, but I appreciate…whatever it is you just did to that pig." The thing smelled like cooked bacon sizzling now, but vaporized back into smoke and oil.

"Oh," the faunus mumbled in accented sincerity, "I thought you were about to die." Well, that's one way to call me incompetent. "I didn't mean to electrocute your prey. I'll be going then." The stranger stood, brushed herself off, and turned to walk away, just like that. Summer almost didn't react, too confused. Was she not part of the initiation? Was she actually staff?

"Hey, where are you going?" Summer nearly choked on it, the plan falling apart with a faunus thunderbolt, "Aren't we partners now? I'm Summer Schnee, although you probably already know that. Hello?" The stranger paused as Summer stared into the intricate designs on the back of her black and red robe like suit. A rose petal floating away from the bush in a crossed circle seemed to be the center symbol.

"Well, I had," the faunus paused to find the words, a bit of pink on her cheeks, "I had hoped to find a faunus partner, if you don't mind, Miss. Schnee."

"Isn't that against the rules? If not just kind of prejudiced of you?" Summer didn't know why she was arguing, wasn't like the almost blood bath yesterday was a solid ground to grow a four year companionship. "Is there something wrong with a human partner, miss whoever you are?"

"N-no, I don't mean it that way," the faunus muttered, she actually seemed embarrassed. Not much of the 'will-murder-you' fury of yesterday. "I'm not use to being around humans, or human customs. I thought it would be easier. Would you not prefer it?"

"My hometown is near seventy percent faunus, so it's not really relevant to me," Summer still had the problem of Excalibur becoming one with a boulder. She grasped the handle, putting a leg on the stone and pulled between her sentences, trying to squeeze it out. "But if you want to trounce upon all the rules, then by all means leave, whoever you are."

"It's mostly faunus, yet you're the princess of Mountain Glen?" the girl asked. Summer couldn't tell by the way she phrased it if there was more than curiosity behind it, but she was damn tired of hearing that all her life. "My name is Vermillion Lance. You seem fixed on it."

"The current," Summer groaned as she heaved for another bad try, "Governess is a faunus," Summer propped both her legs against the rock, the strain of her armor already killing her back to do this, "and nearly half the elected officials, but I get your point."

"Would you like help, miss Schnee?" Summer could hear Vermilion giggle ever so close to a whisper. Screw that.

"No!" Summer threw her whole body into it, the blade was almost slipping, she could feel it in her soul. "Come on!" It finally moved, just a little. She was so happy Summer almost didn't notice the yellow light of a glyph on the stone crack. It pumped her full of strength and both came flying off the rock right onto a hard dirt floor.

"Azura here to save the day!" The familiar high pitched squeal of her sibling overrode the yelp of her hitting the ground. What was once blue hair turned yellow to match the glyph last used. Azura. How the hell did all these people beat Odyssia here?! Is she that bad at math?!

"It's your sister," Vermillion piped in with a low distaste on her tongue, the almost knifing seemed like a fresh memory. "With the fire faunus."

"I'm her Azura, actually and nice to meet you~" Azura devolved back into their shell from a momentary break out, she always got like that. Like they forgot people were strangers and then quickly hit halfway in the sentence realizing. "I-I am, I'm sorry about the thing, you know, with the school and st…"

Vermillion sighed. Her hand rocked the hilt of her sword as she shook her head, not quite enough to be a no. "Apology accepted, Mis—uhh, that's not right is it... are you also Schnee?"

"It's Rose, just Azura Rose," Dawn interrupted as she crossed into the space between the formerly quarreled, "and you don't have to apologize for anything, it was a mistake." Dawn pushed back Azura's hood, ruffling the black and yellow hairs, their color fading back to blue within, "Speaking of, are you two partners now? We heard the cannon, came running." Aggressive, Summer noted by the tone.

"I was actually looking to be partners with you," Vermilion countered with no real hesitation. Summer couldn't see Dawn's eyes under her sunglasses, but her lips twitched and brows pulled towards the center. "Or someone like you," Vermilion quickly edited. For such a deadly looking girl this faunus was an awkward, hot mess. Kind of cute.

"Summer~" the forest called out her name with about five extra syllables. Oh, now you show up! "My love!" Odyssia charged out from the dark, a six foot battering ram, one Summer could not avoid. "I'm so sorry!" She tackled the smaller girl up into the air, spinning her around like a trophy to show the world. "I'm sorry, I had to lose a pack of beowolves, then I got stuck in a bear trap," what? "It's been dreadful. Worst of all, I'm cheating on you with another huntress."

"Oh hell, did anyone here get who they wanted?!" Summer grumbled.

"We could do a few swaps?" a new black haired huntress offered, following Odyssia out of the green.

"Really, with that hussy? I'm so much better," Summer whispered to Odyssia as a joke. Maybe a little salty over today, but mostly a joke.

"We can't," Dawn interrupted, sounding more indignant than even Summer. And after years of practice at it, too. "The school records all this, our parents and the teachers are watching. We are stuck without a justification." Dawn let out a groan, fire spilling from her angry breath. "Well, lucky for you all, I know where the relics are. Let's go."

"Well," Summer whispered to Odyssia, "I personally blame your mother."

"What do we pick?" Vermillion asked, stepping onto the the grey temple rock. It had to have been a shrine once, a circle structure that had lost its roofing. The interior had columns with gold rings and clean etchings. Many of which had the relics, simple chess pieces. Some were missing, hunters having passed them on the way back. This place stood alone in a clearing, bits of rubble, but mostly silence. A sanctum of stone in an ocean of green.

"Why settle for anything less than the king himself?" Summer argued, snatching the white one. White has a 4.33% higher win rate than black in chess, first move advantage still counted for something.

"Oh nice," Azura stepped into the little temple ground, quick to hop from stone to stone. "I want a white knig—"

"White king as well," Dawn cut her cousin off, snatching the partner piece of Summer's. With a quick flip, it was up in the air and dropped right into her robe.

"But I always wanted to ride a horse…" Azura grumbled from behind her hood.

"If you would like Azura you can ride mine." Vermilion offered with a smile. Summer guessed she found that sort of childish behavior adorable. Considering the attempted murder, this was a stellar improvement for them.

"You have a horse?!"

"Yes, it's how I got to Vale."

"Please, be on my team." Summer felt weight off her shoulders. Knowing Azura would have at least one acquaintance in all of Beacon not blood related to her or an Arc-Nikos put the edge off. She hoped Vermilion was prepared for a little crazy.

"What do you think, Antimony? Black knight? Who doesn't want to be the edgy black knight?"

"Sure!" Odyssia of course made friends with everyone, easy enough for her. Considering the heat, the near boarbatusk skewering, and the tedious hike, Summer was desperately looking forward to going home.

"Odyssia, is your brother ready?" Summer asked, drained.

"Yeah, he and Hera got theirs, so they're waiting on the hill." Summer could make out the twin figures, but not identify who was who. They were a good bit away, someone wanted to be alone.

"He's not bothering the poor girl, is he?" A distant screech of a grimm, a few gunshots, this place was getting less romantic by the minute.

"Certainly trying," Odyssia giggled as the noises got closer. Two hunters ran right passed the temple, screaming something about birds. The watching hunters all stopped laughing and started listening. A third student, a rattlesnake faunus, drifted behind the others coughing up a lung. "What are they running from?" Remnant punctuated her sentence with thudding noises from the forest edge, but as an appetizer for things to come, a griffon came down from the sky right as the snake faunus tripped. The most opportunistic of the grimm types.

"Distract it!" Summer shouted, acting before thinking. The trapped faunus tried to slip away, but the griffon's beak could easily swallow someone whole. No one was close enough to save him, not even Summer...without a teleport.

She didn't have a plan, running full sprint, quick to drop Excalibur to lose some weight. Once at full speed she teleported. One burst of rose petals she was halfway there. Another explosion of white, Summer came out below the griffon's beak, snatching the boy and tumbling both of them to safety.

The griffon was not amused, nearly twice her height and each step he took ruffled the feathers. Arrow bits from Odyssia didn't even seem to phase it, and the heavy thud of the new kid's oversized crossbow bolts just make it squack with irritation. Well, shit genius, what now. "Go for your friends, we're going to need help. I'll distract it," Summer told the other initiate. Plan hinged on the distracting part, something she hadn't quite worked out. There was always the old punching things strategy. The faunus nodded and ran, the griffon taking a second to decide which meal to eat. It seemed to prefer its dishes served in shining steel.

The grimm bit forward and Summer dogged with an awkward hop. She swatted the beak with her armored fist, nearly losing her hand in the exchange, and the thing barely shuttered. She needed a weapon. Again its gaping maw opened to swallow a human whole and again Summer primed for a teleport, burning more of her precious aura.

"No, bad birdie!" A sheet of blue ice spread down a straight path, encasing the griffon's head in rock solid frost. Azura's arms burned bright where the tattoos turned blue, eyes and hair matching the glow. The kid kicked back, a vertical glyph catching booted feet and sending them forward. A blue ripped cape flew at blurred speed passed the top of the grimm's neck, taking chunks with it. A glyph let the kid turn around, land, and launch again, this time slicing open the bottom of its feathered neck.

Vermillion charged in for the final move. She unsheathed the minimal curve katana and shredded through the damaged neck in a single eye frame, pulse of thunder down the blade. Azura's spear staff already cutting through the thick skin, its black blood spilled out and the body dropped into a pool of ooze, shifting in the dirt. "Schnee," Vermillion started, wiping her sword and sheathing it back again, "You forgot your weapon."

"I didn't forget! It's heavy, I had to make a call," Summer protested.

"Here you go b," Odyssia dragged the great sword along with her. Despite her height and tone, Summer had more muscle, and carrying a cannon just did not suit her. "We need to be careful, griffons are opportunistic; they only attack if a bigger problem attracts them. Excuse me while I save my brother." Rouge had found himself his own feathered grimm. Something was attracting trouble, and it wasn't being subtle.

The small green clearing got a little bigger. Trees crumbled to the earth under the behest of an invading monster, a creature of white and black that so rarely entered this dominion the forest could not abide by his presence. A baby for sure, but the famed goliath smashed its twin set of tusks through the green edge and into the hallowed proving grounds. "Of all the ways to die today, crushed by a newborn is not how I saw it happening." Dawn leaned back, hands on her head and let air in, breathing out that forlorn proclamation. Cheery.

"I've never seen one of these. How are we supposed to fight it?" Vermillion asked, understandably perplexed on how to kill a building with legs.

"Nothing we have can puncture the armor," Dawn answered grimly, "Unless one of you has a secret railgun, we are going to have to pray for a meteor."

"Or make one." Summer could feel the stupid come out of her mouth. "If we can hold it still, and launch me into the air, I can teleport and come crashing on his skull."

"Pfft, I can do that," Azura let out, feeling eyes turn to them. "The, like, throwing her... cause glyphs... I mean."

"Okay, so that's checked. How do we get the thing to sit still?" Summer didn't feel at all more confident, but at this point... "because I'm only doing this once."

"How about we do not turn my cousin into a projectile?" Dawn snapped.

"I can," Vermillion ignored Dawn's protest, "I can generate enough voltage to lock pretty much anything in place for a time being." There was a catch, Summer could smell it. "I just can't control the path it takes once it leaves my body, usually to ground. I need either wire or," Vermillion flicked something on her weapon and lit up the arm guards rotating rings. "My weapon, Arondite, has a strong enough magnetic field to pull electricity at a range. If someone can embed the blade in its skull—"

"I got this," Dawn pulled the blade from Vermilion's belt. Its simple design suggested nothing like the faunus claimed, but Dawn looked done with it, the insanity. "If I die, this is your fault. I f I live, I'm a badass. Take care, cousins." The goliath was done waiting, the grimm urge to destroy all things man touched cried for blood, eyes glowing like crystalline hate. It was not content crushing the remains of a human civilization, it wanted the hunters. The rest of the grimm were after Odyssia, but baby goliath stampeded towards them.

Dawn spun with her whole body, tossing the sword like a disc. Vermillion gasped as the half-faunus tried her luck. Arondite twirled and stuck in the white bone of the creature's face. Not even the slightest reaction. "It's not in deep enough!" Vermillion shouted.

"Yeah, give me a minute!" Dawn retorted, starting a sprint, then a hop, finally a jump, and a jet of flame, burning aura for flight. Summer had to admit, that was cool.

The goliath did not slow, no one expected it to. The heavy feet crushed the earth, pushing it forward, right towards the in flight Dawn. Body half fire, the girl flipped in air, leg out for a jet enhanced drop kick. Land it! Everyone watched silent, even if they should have been preparing. Dawn made it, kicking Arodite a foot deeper into the protective skull of the goliath.

The beast did not like this. One shake of his head and a tusk swiped the girl from the sky. Dawn went completely limp, crashing into the hills motionless. Her fire nearly went out. Summer feared the worst, but weakly, she rolled over, flashing a thumbs up. Poor girl needed about ten ice packs.

"I will hold it. Don't miss," Vermillion hands sparked light. Summer expected something flashy like full bolts of lightning, but instead it was a thin steady stream of blue and yellow charge, draining her and rending the goliath motionless. It didn't seem to take any damage, but the muscles locked up from the shock. If the grimm had nerves every one had to be signalling.

"We won't, I promise." Summer pointed Excalibur straight up, bending her knees for a lot of coming stress, "Right, Azura?"

"Yeah, of course," kinetic glyphs glowed a mix of colors below and above Summer, a long shoot of accelerants. Every individual pattern designed to build up speed. "Probably."

"What? No probably, yes?!"

"Here we go!" Azura spun Fortuitous Druid, the ribbons of dust embedded in tattooed skin glowing almost neon. Striking the staff against the ground, the first accelerate glyph pushed Summer towards the sky. Each level let her pass and begun to spin and activate. Between them she would teleport and limit the slowdown of gravity and wind. She went beyond the trees, passed the monster. Summer's world blurred by the intensity of the wind. Body railing against the rising velocity. A thunderstorm raged in her heart, adrenaline became the basis for her blood, and despite the fear, Summer felt... excited.

You're going to be incredible. Her mom's voice came to mind as she passed the final ring. She could taste the clouds, and vanished into white.

On the other side, the pull of gravity was reversed, and blue became green with a spot of white, the target. Summer worried she'd land on Arondite and ruin the already tense relationship. You're about to be too dead to kill, the girl thought silently. She might have laughed too, but all she could hear was a cyclone of air Excalibur.

Turning around proved difficult, sliding the helmet over her face a necessity to aim. She was dead on, the light show was about to begin. Sliding her boot through the sword grip, hands on the dust triggers, she activated the sword's third form, elemental damage. The cannon hammers snapped back, dust flowed free and fire lit. Only aura shielded her from her own inferno. From above, it must have looked just like a meteor. She struck the skull dead on. Later she would hear of how the force knocked down trees, flattened the beast's head, but from her perspective, it was all white. No other sense, that and horrible pain in her legs.

Her eyes flickered open, light coming in first transforming into grey sky. Second sound, a screeching creep and a bolt of lightning. Two, then three. "Summer Schnee!" A male voice, she did not recognize it. "Schnee, can you hear me?"

"I," Summer choked on her first word, "I really don't want to stand." An older man with blue hair laughed, eyes shielded by goggles. He had a charge rifle in his palms and seemed content with her response.

"Don't move too much, we don't know if you're injured," Vermillion was there, too, hand resting on the hilt, other on a scroll, checking Summer's states. The sword survived apparently, so Summer assumed she would, too.

"You have no aura left. I'm here to bring you back to Beacon." The older hunter shifted from her to Vermillion, nodding with approval. "I saw what you did with the electricity. I approve."

Vermillion blushed, immediately giving a proper bow Summer had seen some faunus give. "Yes professor, thank you."

"Don't fall for Professor Vasilias' pretty boy charms, my mom says he's kind of a scumbag." Dawn was up. Both Vermillion and the professor were taken aback.

"I literally just," Neptune sighed, "Your mother is filling your head with nonsense."

"Did we fail?" Summer asked. She really wanted a bed. Professor Vasilias swept back the blue of his hair and smiled. "Normally, yes, but considering the goliath, I think you got a good shot with the boss."

"Hera Adel, Antimony Calfuray, Rouge Arc, and Odyssia Nikos as team Heroic!" As each name was called out the background holographic display flashed a new face and letter. HROC, the name was tinged bronze. "Led by Hera Adel!" Summer could watch Odyssia's smile flash bright, she didn't want to be leading anyone. An advisor at heart. Rouge seemed a little disappointed, brow furrowed uncomfortably on stage. Headmaster Arc had him such a happy grin, lot of pride despite his decision on leadership.

That left their own mash up. "Dawn Bella-Long." Summer swallowed, feeling out of breath on the stage. Lights were heavy, cameras flashing for the local news. "Vermillion Lance." Summer's partner stood straight like she was tied to a damn post, didn't seem nervous at all, same with all the others. Did they not get it? This was four years of their life! "Azura Rose." Even the blue one seemed fine, swaying from foot to foot, hood on despite how many times Summer slapped it off. This was it. "Summer Schnee as team Chevalier!" SVLR, each letter spun up on the screen, their faces all with a tint of silver white. Summer's heart was quaking, a drum beat she could dance to. This, this is what she was born for. Odyssia took her space in the audience, smiled and flashed a thumbs up, and suddenly this was the most natural thing in the word. We're still a team, my dear friend.

"Led by," Dawn, of course, "Summer Schnee!" Gray eyes flashed open and wide, a natural gasp sucked in, and Odyssia Nikos started a loud cheer from the audience. Jaune laughed, Pyrrha looked rather pissed, but contained, as she stepped down to handle the disturbance. Summer nearly fell over. This was the game plan, she wanted to be leader, so bad in fact. Prove to the world, to herself, she could earn her place as heiress, as a person. Dawn, she had thought, crushed that dream as soon as she was called to be matched together. Summer felt like crying.

"We have to move," Vermillion's voice, cut her out of the dream, hand on her shoulder and red tinged eyes not judging, just alerting. "Congratulations Summer. I look forward to fighting under your lead."

****Ugh I am so sorry just for this chapter. Wanted to get initiation out of the way so next chapter can be back on the parents, but man it made this long (And stuff got cut) makes me wish I had an artist I could team up with for a comic instead hahah. (actually re reading it it's not nearly as bad as I thought it was writing it. Lol let me know!)

So a few not-rwbaby OCs have shown up. One of them is just an extra, a rattle snake boy to be saved from a friend named Office Lady, two are also rwbabies from Nobyas which is, well you will see, don't worry about it. And the last is Antimony, who will be a member of this fic's JNPR equivalent. She and Hera are in plot and screen time going to be similar to Ren and Nora respectively. Antimony is actually a Rwbaby of Lazykatze OCs but I just felt at least one character not from the loans of RWBY JNPR or CFVY would help make things feel more right. Hope its not too much!

This chapter ends at initiation hope it was fun really guys let me know in reviews or comments or notes. I'm really glad to each of you for checking us out and please let me know what you think! Thanks so much to LazyKatze for the edits and to Okami and Nobays for reading it and giving me opinions.