The wind whistled through the bark in the Leon Forests, one of the many natural borders that surrounded Mistral, aiding in its defense against the growing darkness of the Grimm. What allowed what would naturally be considered a normal forest to hold back the unrelenting force was in fact what could be viewed as the most normal thing to expect in the woods. Roots. The roots of the Leon Forest ran shallow, and often breached the earth to tangle with the similar appendages of the other trees. This formed a series of powerful thickets and canopies, which all but halted all but the most determined or powerful of foes.

It was underneath one of these canopies that Ruby Rose laid, back to the trunk as she attempted to regain her bearings. Narrowing her eyes, she attempted to focus her vision on the ground directly in front of her. Soon, three roots became one, and she raised her head to view her surroundings, only to have her neck flare in pain as she shifted, causing her to drop it again, all while gritting her teeth.

"Ahh…fish sticks" grunted the Rose. Slowly this time, she shifted her gaze to the dark world around her. Scanning her immediate surroundings, recognizing she was in a large clearing. During this, a glow caught her eyes, immediately causing them to widen at sight of the smouldering wreckage of a Bullhead in the clearing, a good 100 meters away from her.

'Their Bullhead' she realized, horror dawning on her as she grasped the situation. 'Their. Plural. As in the one that Nora was flying. As in the one Ren was co-piloting and Jaune was barfing in'. In a panic, Ruby began to rise, only to have the entire world start spinning once again. Plopping back into her seat, Ruby began to evaluate the crash site anew and assess the situation. While the Bullhead was on fire, she could see that it had torn up much of the earth in its crash, leaving little vegetation nearby that could burn. Thanks to the glow of the fire, Ruby could see the area surrounding the Bullhead quite clearly. As she focused her aura to her brain to heal any concussion she may have, her memories flooded back to her.

It had only been four days since Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren had left Patch. Rather than try and go back to Vale to secure one of the rare flights that left the kingdom for Mistral, the team had decided to…borrow the Bullhead that Ruby's father, Tai-Yang, held in a personally owned warehouse in the small port town that was normally used to secure transport between the island and the mainland. When they claimed it, Jaune raised the question of whether or not it would be okay to steal a transport – family or not. To this, Ruby merely snorted and simply stated "Sure! It's not like he needs it right?" No one had argued at the time, but looking back on it, her father would most certainly annoyed that his preferred mode of transportation had disappeared along with his youngest daughter.

Sporting aviator goggles and a pink bomber jacket, Nora surprised both Jaune and Ruby as she hoped into the pilot's chair while Ren made his way to the co-pilots seat. Watching their dumbfounded looks, Ren merely smirked and stated, "You aren't the first people to steal an airship."

As they flew high above the Leon Forest, Ruby had opened the side-hatch of the aircraft to peer out into the veritable sea of green and gold, causing Jaune to begin retching anew. At the calm smell of greenery rose from the forest, Ruby felt peace for the first time in what felt like years. This is what they were fighting for. This nature, this world, all of it was far too beautiful to watch it burn at the hands of Cinder. At this thought, the reaper grimaced as she remembered the terrible fate that the lady in red had bestowed upon Pyrrha. Clenching her fist even tighter on the frame of the hatch until her knuckles grew white and her eyes grew became clouded with unshed tears. Poor Pyrrha…she would never get to see these forests again. Almost as though reading her mind, Ruby felt a hand on her shoulder as a distinctly pale-faced but determined Jaune stood beside her, his docile tone doing nothing to hide the underlying fury that he surely felt in his heart, "This is why we have to find that woman. To set things right." He finished with considerable effort on his part, "For Pyrrha."

It was at that moment that the Bullhead shook, causing Ruby to lose her balance and began to fall out of the open hatch, headfirst. Before she knew what was happening, she was a two feet away from the hatch and hanging in mid-air. Before she could plummet, Jaune's arm shot out and grabbed her leg, stopping her fall. Looking into the eyes of her unlikely saviour, Ruby almost drowned in her overwhelming sense of fear at almost meeting a grisly end, and pure joy that Jaune saved her, yet he wouldn't meet her eyes. Those emotions were instantly obliterated at the realization that Jaune's face wasn't red from the exertion, but the fact that she was indeed wearing a combat skirt…and hanging upside down underneath Jaune. Soon, all she could feel was such heavy embarrassment she kind of wanted Jaune to just let her fall at that point – in her eyes her life was already over.

The Bullhead shook again. From her peculiar vantage point, Ruby could see the faint wings of a Giant Nevermore that had gotten the drop on the vessel, and was tearing away at its canopy and engines. With a guttural roar, the airship began to spin out of control, and fear established itself in Ruby once more. Clenching his teeth, Jaune could feel his grip slipping as he too struggled to hold himself upright inside the vessel. He looked at Ruby one last time, opening his mouth to cry something out…

Only to be cut off as the left engine exploded.

As the chain of events that led up to her position rectified themselves along with her now fading headache, Ruby nervously searched the clearing for any sign of her friends. Checking her now cracked scroll, Ruby could barely make out the time it displayed. '9:13. we must have crashed only a few minutes ago. I have to be quick if they're in trouble.' She stretched her arms to her sides and placed the adjacent to her legs and onto the ground, propping herself up. "Gottafindthemgottafindthemgottafindthem" she muttered over and over to herself as the thought of losing any more friends gripped her heart

Her prayers were answered when a hatch flew off of the toppled Bullhead and landed several feet away. As smoke billowed out of it, a haggard looking Nora Valkyrie climbed out of the wreckage, her goggles gone and her pink bomber jacket covered in soot. Following suite came the coughing figure of Lie Ren, clasping Nora's outstretched hand. His normally prim and proper green top was missing a sleeve and had a hole in his back with a rough black line surrounding it. 'His jacket probably caught on fire! I'm sure Nora had a field-day with patting that one out.' she laughed to herself. Rising to meet them, Ruby found that her feet could once again rest comfortably underneath her. Taking a few confident steps towards the duo that rested atop the rubble, she froze at a sudden and terrifying prospect.

Jaune hadn't come out of the ship. Nora and Ren wouldn't just leave him in there if he couldn't come out on his own, meaning…..

Ruby's eyes scanned what she had initially believe to be nothing more than rubble in the darkness at first, and found her answer in the form of a tuft of Blonde that stuck out from a shape that looked very much like a sack of potatoes. Swiftly marching towards shape, Ruby found herself smiling as she heard the boy groaning, something about airline food or other. As she closed the distance between them she noted that he was only 20 meters away, while the Bullhead was still 80 meters away from Jaune. Striding forward, Ruby could only feel relief at the sight of all of her friends being safe. Battered and hurt, but safe nonetheless.

Her inner peace was sharply interrupted as she found herself stumbling, only managing a weak "Wuh-" before finding herself face to face with a bunch of dirt for what felt like one to many times in one night. Looking behind her, only then did Ruby notice the absence of the familiar weight by her hips. Covered in dirt and grime yet intact, lay Crescent Rose on the ground.

"Ah! Rosie! You came back for me!" she sniffled as she clung to the scythe, face first. "I thought I'd lost you forever!" she cried, only to stop herself and ask no one in particular – "Wait. Did I just lie to my scythe?"

Her question was never answered as an all too familiar growl echoed across the clearing. "Aw come on!" yelled the reaper, now getting the attention of the two pilots resting on the Bullhead, as well as the now upright Jaune Arc. "Heya Ruby! Heya Jaune! I'm glad you guys aren't pancakes! Well. Mostly glad anyways!" Yelled Nora in her typically upbeat manner, though the drawing of her might hammer Magnhild ensured Ruby that the red-head wasn't unaware of their situation.

The source of the cry rested in the treeline she had just been resting under, the blood red eyes of an Alpha Beowulf shown clear as day in the darkness of the forest. Swinging Crescent Rose hard, Ruby shifted the weapon from a high-powered sniper rifle to a mighty red scythe. As she readied herself for battle, the form of the Alpha became clear against the glow of the Bullhead as it barreled its way into the clearing.

Charging Ruby, the Alpha took a mighty swing at the girl, only to have her roll underneath its claws and to its left, slicing at whatever exposed regions she could find. Swiftly recovering, the Beowulf ground its feet into the forest floor as it spun to face its nimble adversary, seemingly unfazed by its multiple fresh cuts. Leaping forwards, Ruby fired two shots at its thick face plate, causing it to flinch. Using her opening and momentum, the red reaper buried her blade deep into its neck, firing her rifle to add extra force to her pull as she tore the blade from the already disintegrating creature of Grimm.

Upon re-examining the field, Ruby found the others to be engulfed in their own battles. Standing atop the crashed airhead, Nora fired her grenades into the tree line that was dotted with red eyes of all kind, clearly drawn to the crash site. All the while, Ren fired bursts from his twin SMG's called Stormflower into the creatures that had begun to scale their vantage point. Kicking and stabbing where he could, and shooting where he couldn't, Ren would keep the Grimm clear of Nora. 'For now at least' Ruby couldn't help but think as she watched the almost unending waves of Grimm pour out of the treeline. Hearing a sharp whistle from behind her, Ruby instinctively ducked – only to see an Ursa's paw swing clearly over her. Without even looking, Ruby spun Crescent Rose with a flourish and cut deep into the Ursa's ribcage. Confident in her abilities, Ruby dashed out from underneath the beast, hearing the familiar crash as the creature toppled onto the spot she had occupied seconds before.

Ruby now looked towards her friend; the blond and proud knight. While not exactly the most…Skilled of fighters to grace the battle field, scratch that – easily one of the worst she had ever seen, Jaune showed immense potential. And that much was shown off right now as he pulled his blade, Crocea Mors, from the leg of a collapsed Beowulf and finished it off by slashing its head off – only to turn and soak up an overhead smash from an Ursa with his shield.

Using her semblance, Ruby cleared the distance between the two of them, firing away at the exposed joints of the Ursa as she skidded to a halt next to Jaune, who took the distraction as a chance to bury his blade straight through the creatures jaw.

"Ruby!" Jaune gasped, his relief and joy thick in his voice despite his haggard breathing. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"Dontcha worry Jaune!" She beamed at him, "It'll take more than a silly explosion to-"she stopped as she decapitated a particularly reckless Beowulf, "take me down!" she finished with a giggle. Jaune looked visibly relieved at the news before stepping in front of Ruby to glance off a Boarbatusk's charge, sending it careening into the chest of an Ursa Major.

Truth be told, she felt a lot less than alright. Being thrown from an airship only to hit a tree had really done a number on her aura, and her exhaustion was beginning to seep through the adrenaline. The Grimm's numbers had begun to thicken, as they no longer came one at a time, but by two's and three's as well. Sparing a glance at her friends, Ruby could see the duo were in no better shape. Ren's defense had begun to collapse, and now sought to hold a much smaller area of the ship, being forced to let some of the Grimm board safely onto the tail end of the ship. Nora had stopped firing at this point, opting to save her grenades as a last resort. Now, the chipper red-head swung with deadly efficiency, ensuring that every swing ended with a kill.

"We need to push towards them!" Yelled Jaune as he barely rolled away from a Deathstalkers probing stinger in time. Simply grunting in affirmation, Ruby leaped onto the head of a nearby Ursa and launched herself towards the Deathstalker. With its attention focused on the blond knight, Ruby fired into the base of its sickly-gold stinger, causing the entire creature to recoil in pain. Not one to let an opportunity be wasted, Ruby grabbed Jaune's arm and ran with him towards the airship, closing the distance rapidly. '60 feet. 40 feet. 30 feet. Almost th-' Ruby thought to herself, only to have her focus shattered by the ear splitting trumpet that sounded from the the sound rang out, Ruby could feel her teeth chattering as she slowed her and Jaune's semblance enhanced sprint. The Grimm slowed their assault as well, watching the tree line that stood to Ruby and Jaune's right and lay alongside the middle of their team. The sounds of fighting were drowned out by heavy thumping as one final blast rumbled its way through the massive, building sized trees.

It was at that moment that one of the trees exploded.

Shrapnel and debris showered monster and human alike, the slower and weaker of the Grimm finding themselves impaled by the once proud and thick limps of the wooden sentinel. Standing in its place strode a Goliath, easily five stories tall and twenty meters wide. Ruby stood agape as she realized exactly just how huge the creatures she had seen from her perch at Mountain Glenn truly were, 'And I wanted to fight one of these?!' was the first thought that raced through her mind as saw the behemoth crush its brethren underneath its feet as it plowed towards Nora and Ren – who had taken the lull in the battle to sprint with all they could muster towards Ruby and Jaune.

"Jaune. Ruby." Ren greeted each of them in turn, though not without stopping for air in-between names. 'Even in battle he still maintains his composure...' mused the brunette. After they had all caught their breath before the monstrosity realized the duo weren't by the Bullhead anymore, it was Jaune's turn to speak "What the crap is that thing even doing near Mistral?!" he half-whined, half whimpered. His frustration was not a positive effect on moral, Ruby couldn't help but agree with his confusion. Why on earth is this here?

"It looks rather small compared to the descriptions in Professor Port's lessons, perhaps it's a young one – still foolish enough to try and break through the barriers." Stated Ren, not even looking at the now very angry beast that turned its attention to them whilst he reloaded his dual SMG's. Upon closer inspection, Ruby could indeed see the signs of a newer Grimm. Its hide lacked the numerous scars and bone plates that normally dotted an elder beast; parting gifts from hunters and huntresses, either dead or alive. "Well, that just means we can smash it even harder!" giggled Nora, turning a fleeing Boarbatusk into a flat piece of black and white mush with only one swing of her mighty hammer, a sight nobody other than Ren could bring themselves to get used to.

The beast was almost upon them, and the time for idle chit-chat was over. The team split apart, leaving Ren to roll underneath its right front foot and kicked off the ground to bury his blades into its legs, firing into its muscles as he tore away at the tough hide. Nora's approach to combat lacked the refinement that Ren carried, but was nonetheless effective. Leaping away from the battle, she shifted Magnhild to its grenade launcher form and begun scoring hits along the Goliath's white mask, leaving it scorched and blackened beneath the assault. Ruby leapt through the air, cutting away at the creature's underbelly and dodging around its mighty tusks as it failed in its attempts to obliterate the three insects that thrummed around its legs. Jaune fell into a protective role, dispatching the Grimm that had returned after they fled.

"We aren't even doing anything!" cried Ruby, dodging a rolling Boarbatusk only to watch it get crushed underfoot. The Goliath reached under its torso and swept its trunk along the ground, attempting to disorient and hurt its foes, forcing Ruby and Ren to leap out from underneath it in order to dodge.

Only to have a King Taijitu, a large black and white two headed snake – easily one of the wiser known Grimm, take this moment to lunge from its position outside of the battle and barrel straight into Ruby, sending her careening towards Nora. With a hand from Nora and a few seconds to reorient herself, the hopelessness of their battle began to dawn on her

Ren was luckier, as he managed to latch onto its white head rather than absorb the brunt of the attack. Unfortunately, he was now being thrown around by an angry snake as it attempted to dislodge him as its black half began a relentless assault on Jaune, who was being pushed dangerously close to the treeline. The Goliath had begun charging the white knight, identifying him as the weakest link in the battle. A single swing from those tusks would kill Jaune instantly, with or without Aura. Nora was still in relatively good fighting shape, and looked at Ruby with rare uncertainty. Realizing they only had one shot to crack that Goliaths skull and win, Ruby changed Crescent Rose to its sniper-form, and yelled loud enough for Jaune to hear, "Nora! Jaune! Smash!"

With a glint in her eyes, Nora set off at a run, firing her second-to-last grenade at the half of the Taijitu that was harassing Jaune, effectively stunning it from the sudden assault. Grateful, Jaune didn't waste any time in plunging his blade up to its hilt into the eye socket of the Grimm. Turning to Nora, all he needed was a nod for him to face the charging Goliath and drop on one knee, bracing his shield above his head. With a "Woop!" Nora leapt onto Jaune's shield and with practiced skill, Jaune pushed with all his force and leapt into the air, all while Nora simultaneously fired her remaining grenade to sail high into the air in front of the Goliath's head. 'We can do this!' thought Ruby, filling with hope at the sight of her ace-in-the-hole flying through the air. The hammer-maiden yodelled a battle cry as she swung her mighty maul directly at the creature's face-

Only to be grabbed out of the air by the Giant Nevermore that had previously downed their Bullhead, forcing her to drop her hammer by the sheer force of the movement alone. Failure was the only word to describe the emotions that resonated in Ruby as one of her only friends was plucked from the air as though she were naught but an insect. Horror as she saw Jaune get his legs swept under him was the Black half of the King Taijitu dislodged Ren, who hit the ground with a sickening thud. Momentarily stunned, the stoic man in green rolled over only to find Jaune and himself on their backsides about to be torn apart. Regret as she realized she really was just a kid. She couldn't do this. They couldn't do this. No matter how hard they tried, they never stood a chance. The world rapidly span as she felt the last dregs of her Aura collapse under the blow of an undetected Ursa Major that had taken advantage of her disarray. Flat on her back, Ruby felt… Shame. She would never be a Huntress, they would never find Pyrrha's killer, and they would never see their friends or family again.

They would never be heroes.

"I'm really going to die aren't I?" Ruby dryly asked the Ursa Major that now swayed menacingly above her, its paw slowly raising – no doubt gathering as much strength as it could to destroy the little red creature under it. It was almost surreal – Ruby noted – she felt so many horrifying emotions at the moment, but Fear was not one of them. It would never claim her. Not after Pyrrha had willingly gone to her death to give everyone in Vale a chance.

No, if she was to die, she would go in a manner worthy of all the efforts and faith her friends, families and professors had place in her. She would die on her own two feet. Casting aside Crescent Rose (she wouldn't even be able to swing it if she tried), the Red Reaper rose steadily to face her adversary one final time.

Staring the creature in the hollow eyes red eyes, she raised her arms at her sides to be level with her shoulders. It was only then that she closed her eyes and accepted her destiny.

"I'm sorry Yang…Make me proud…"

She felt the familiar change in air pressure that signaled the heavy arm of an Ursa swinging rapidly towards its target, praying that her friends could get away – and waited for the real Reaper to claim her…

Only for nothing to happen to her. After several seconds of waiting, the Rose cracked open an eye and swiftly opened the other at the sight in front of her.

Where a head once rested on the Grimm's shoulders now sat the black head of a mace, its extravagant flanges superheating the skin and bone it was buried in thanks to a large Fire Dust crystal inside. Attached to the mace-head was a long, thick black chain that ran past Ruby's shoulders. Her eyes following the chain, her eyes finally landed upon an intimidating figure standing a few meters behind her. The figure was clad in a black suit of chain mail, with an impressive set of heavy plate mail over it with a red sash around the man's waist. Instead of a head, the man wore a Cross helm, a closed visor helmet that encompassed the wearer's entire head except for two small eye slits. In the dead center of his helmet rested the helmets namesake – a cross. On both sides of the gray steel masterwork laid two beautifully carved golden wings.

And emblazoned on his chest plate was an all-too familiar symbol of a golden Phoenix.

"C-Cardin?!" Ruby choked out, her disbelief at the sight in front of her threatening to overwhelm her. While she couldn't see his face, the symbol and weapon were unmistakeable; come to think of it, she had never seen the weapon use a secondary form before. Almost as though he was reading her mind, the knight flipped a switch and the mace and chain began retracting to the handle and its owner – ad dragging the Ursa's headless corpse along with it. Placing a foot on the Ursa's shoulder, the knight wrenched the mace out of the maimed corpse, and confirmed her suspicions as to the identity of the warrior. "Giving up already short stop? Whatever happened to getting into Beacon two years early?" came the classic sneer of Cardin Winchester, former bully and leader of team CRDL. Brushing past her, he let out an uncharacteristically good natured laugh as he hefted his mace and rested it on his shoulders, waving his free hand at the rest of the clearing "The battle's just getting started!"

Tearing her eyes off of the man who was quite possibly the most unlikely savior in the entire universe, Ruby's eyes widened even further – something that didn't quite feel possible.

Dead was the King Taijitu, its entire body split open like a log. Ren and Jaune seem enthralled with the same disbelief she held as they watched Dove Bronzewing, wearing a plumed bronze helmet, riding the back of a troublesome Deathstalker – one palm laid across its head while the other fired his gun sword repeatedly, scoring a hit every single time without even looking. The incredibly durable exoskeleton of the scorpion seemed to vibrate intensely, practically becoming a blurry version of itself. All of a sudden its armor split apart at the very seems, the beast letting out a roar in pain as its response. Placing both hands onto the handle of his blade, the blind man drove his blade straight through the beasts head and out its mouth.

Before she could even process what she had just seen, a loud crack echoed out across the forest, followed by a small crackle of lighting that struck out the tree line behind Ruby and Cardin. It stretched across the air, until it came to rest right along the flight path of the fleeing Nevermore, Nora still in its clutches. The small string of lighting was swiftly followed by a large arrow that crackled with deadly electrical might, rocketing out of the trees and straight through the creature's tough steel-like feathers – killing it instantly. The limp body of the bird began to plummet from its lofty heights, Nora slipping from its limp clutches, powerless to stop her rapid descent without Magnhild.

Screaming in horror, Ruby picked Crescent Rose off the ground and began to run towards the inevitable crash site of the lady in pink, only to be stopped by Cardin laying a heavy hand on her shoulder, simply shaking his head at her. Before she could even voice her opinion, the source of the arrow leapt from its lofty perch and flew towards the falling Nora, leaves twirling behind him. The figure wore a forest green hood and cloak with his hood drawn tight, a pale-green spiked pad resting atop his cloak on his left side. On his chest he wore a leather brigandine, strapped to the limit with knives and Dust of all shapes and sizes. He wore simple black tights with thick brown boots. Midflight, the character held his bow aloft. It was comprised of two halves, each symmetrical with a bladed edge facing away from the user as well as curving towards him. At the center rested two rotating Dust revolvers, one cartridge was noticeably empty.

As the hooded figure neared Nora, he broke apart his bow with a flourish, and placed the now-separate daggers at his sides. Yanking Nora out of the air, the hooded figure held her bridal style with one foot extended in front of the other as he fell upright with a screaming Valkyrie in his hands. As they neared the ground, they slowed down rapidly yet softly as the wind raced to meet the falling duo. Daintily placing the trembling Viking on the ground, Russel Thrush drew back his hood and let a smirk break through his typical scowl. Dove sauntered over to the other members of his team as Ren and Jaune raced to check up on their teammates.

Ruby was relieved to see that they had all suffered minor injuries and broken ribs, but nothing too major or life threatening. However, it was blatantly apparent that they all had their Aura's completely depleted. 'They're alive…' Ruby felt tears welling up in her eyes as she stared into the coloured souls of her teammates and found the same emotion bubbling within all of them, yet none of them could bring themselves to speak. 'We're all alive thanks to… thanks to…' still unable to comprehend what had occurred, she turned to the winged-helmet barbarian-of-a-man and observed as he popped the muscles and joints of his muscles. "Let the big kids take care of this one, boys and girls." Laughed Cardin, his eyes obviously set on the Goliath that was observing them carefully before it began its final charge to destroy all of its enemies at once.

Throwing off his helmet, the orange and neat hair of the Winchester stood out in the rising sun of the breaking dawn. Looking back and into the eyes of the red reaper, she could see the predatory gleam that shown in the teen's indigo eyes. Ruby couldn't help it, but with the sunrise and the eyes and size, she felt as though she was staring at a hero of old.

The trio charged forward to meet the behemoth. Unleashing his mace and its chain, Cardin swung his flail once. Twice. And on the third time he let the whole chain loose as he finished his final rotation, cracking in into the right leg of the Goliath, bursting through skin as it heated and exploded the oxygen in its very blood. The creature wailed in pain, but did not stop its charge. Swinging its tusks at Dove and Russel, it found no purchase in its attacks.

Leaping high into the air once more, Russel attached his blades together once more and rotated the chamber of his bow, settling on a red one. A thin red line appeared between the two blade tips, and Russel drew back, and promptly let loose a bolt of fire straight into the creatures eyes with such force that a large crack began to form down the middle of its faceplate. Loading a pale blue cylinder, he unleashed another bolt at its legs hind-legs, freezing it in place.

Using the momentum of the Goliaths' swing, Dove leapt onto the massive tusk of the monster, and began to run up the steep incline as the monster held still under the barrage of fire in its eyes, unable to move from the pain. With a boost of air from a descending Russel, Dove flew on to the back of the creature, firmly gripping its surprising soft neck. Just as with the Deathstalker, the creature's mask began to shake wildly, its' already battered visage and tusks beginning to crack under the constant barrage of intense vibrations that shook through its' body.

Raising his mace one more, Cardin planted his right foot forward as he brought his left hand above his head. With a mighty roar, he brought his mace crashing down onto the massive tusk of the beast, shattering it almost entirely.

Ruby was at a loss for words. Here was one of the worst teams of Beacon in sparring. The team that had been beaten in its entirety by Pyrrha Nikos without her even breaking a sweat. The team that made it to the second round of the Vytal Festival Tournament solely due to the fact that the other team was a no-show. Bullies and cowards in everything they had done in their school life. Yet those very same brutes had gone toe to toe with some of the strongest forms of Grimm they had yet to face in their lives and crushed them easily.

As team RNJR watched in silence as the trio did their deadly work, only Ren noticed the blue haired man walking out from behind them, carrying a box full of medical supplies. Without saying a word, Sky Lark dropped the crate in front of the team, lazily unslinging his halberd as he took a few paces until he was a meter or two away from them. With a flourish, the silent boy buried his blade into the ground at an angle with the handle pointing in the direction of the Goliath. With deft hands, the boy slid the handle downwards and apart, leaving two small stands for remaining pipe to prop itself against. Now with only one third of the handle remaining, the silver plated boy drew a thick metal cylinder from his pouch and slid it into the tube. Without being bid, the trio halted their assault on the Goliath and hastily drew back to group.

Plugging his ears and gesturing for the others to do the same, Sky pressured a button near the base of his buried blade and hit the ground next to it. Blocking her ears, Ruby's mouth fell open as the cylinder shot from the tube and flew a lazy arc towards the now-free Goliath…only to explode into a glorious rain of fire and death. Explosions billowed out from its impact on the beast's back, tearing off chunks of hardened flesh and splitting bone. The mask of the creature all but blew apart of the unrelenting barrage of death that rained upon it knocked any trace of life out of its mutilated corpse. Ruby tore her eyes from the terrifyingly beautiful scene to see Jaune covering his eyes, and Nora looking like she would never close them again if her face was anything to go off of. Ren nervously looked between Nora and the fireball of death, clearly knowing exactly what she was thinking and clearly being terrified at the possibilities this presented.

Upon scanning her the now empty clearing, Ruby saw how beautiful the clearing really was. The sun shone through the cracks in the trees and the birds had begun to return to their nests with the end of the fighting.

'I'm alive…'

"So…." Jaune began, all eyes turning to him, "What have you guys been up to?"

Ruby felt that now was a good time to pass out.

Hello readers! It's Jupitermonkey4 here, coming to you live from a brand new story! Shout out to TimmyTam0907 for beta reading :D

This story is going to be focused on expanding CRDL's backstories and abilities beyond what we've seen in the show. No, this isn't fic centered around CRDL changing who they are in their entirety, or about them all getting along in the end. Its going to be a story about people with real problems and twisted, cold hard logic. Obviously, characters will develop beyond their current states, but I intend to follow the characters as far as we have seen personality wise. RDL are all blank slates, and I will be exercising creative liberties with how I personally interpret them beyond being douchebags. I have a plan surrounding how I want this story to go, so you don't have to worry about poorly contrived plot :) i hope to update soon, so stay tuned!

leave a review, and if you enjoyed this chapter then follow and favourite :D

~cheers!