[Other FULL] [IC] As the Dust Settles; A RWBY RP [M] [EPILOGUE]

[Groc]

Brooke Webster, Reese Kells, Oswald Carotene, and Salazar Jones
Menagerie Sewers - Makeshift Arena​

[h1][/h1]
Brooke stared at the man, who stood proudly with his chest puffed out and his shoulders pulled back. His plate-like brown scales covered his entire back, continuing down his arms until they met the vambraces he wore, the vambraces themselves bearing a large wedge-shaped object on the side of each. More plates armored his head, leaving him otherwise bald. He was around average height and lightly muscled, with only leather boots and black, form-fitting pants for clothing.

"You're sure you didn't smell anyone else down here?" Brooke asked Sal without taking her eyes off the stranger. This was definitely a pangolin Faunus, but wasn't this supposed to have been caused by humans?

Sal sniffed at the air, a low, rumbling growl building in his chest. "Whatever I smelled, it's pretty strong here. Odds are good it's him."

"So, a new challenger arrives!" Began the strange man, his booming voice echoing throughout the well. "These lizards were so weak that I started to worry my master was losing his touch, but it seems they were only the bait." He stopped to give a hearty laugh that only served to make Brooke even more tense. "I should know better than to doubt him by now. Now come! I am Manus, the Crusher! Let's see if you are worthy stepping stones on my way to becoming the roughest, toughest, and most ELECTRIFYING HUNTSMAN ALIVE!"

All of a sudden, he rushed towards the group. Brooke fired immediately, but he held out his arm and with a flick of his wrist the wedge shape expanded into a shield. Brooke was sure her gravity rounds would hold him back and when the first rounds hit that indeed seemed to be the case, but in the next instant he continued his charge as if her rounds had lost all ability to move him.

Sal charged forward to intercept him before he could reach Brooke. He flung himself forward, tackling the man's legs, only to find another shield hitting him in the face. Apparently he had a retractable shield on each wrist, and could deploy them surprisingly quickly.

The shield bash knocked Sal back a bit, and he skidded to a halt just before colliding with Brooke. "Cover me!" He growled, jumping to his feet and charging Manus again. Manus raised both shields, but Sal was expecting that, and used his Grappling Hand to vault over the pangolin, detaching it and divekicking his back.

He hadn't expected Manus to be so solid, though. Hitting him was like hitting a wall, and his armored plates absorbed most of the impact. Manus retracted his shields and turned to face Sal, grabbing him in a powerful bear hug.

As Brooke frantically tried to figure out what Dust canister to use, Reese drew his knives and charged in. Grappling right onto Manus' back, he pulled himself into the action in an instant. He landed on his back and held his knives up to Manus' throat. "Let him go, brah," he threatened, but it seemed the man didn't plan to comply. With Reese still on his back, the man dropped to the ground, crushing the monkey Faunus under him and Sal against the hard concrete floor.

Sal grabbed onto Manus' arms, his fists glowing sickly green. With effort, he managed to pry the pangolin's arms away from him and kick free of the pin. He rolled free, maintaining his grip on Manus to drag him off Reese. Manus used his momentum against Sal, running away from Reese and Brooke and dragging Sal with him. He tossed Sal to the floor, a sharp spike erupting from his elbow as he drove it into Sal's back.

Fortunately, Sal's thick scales prevented the elbow spike from puncturing his skin, to Manus' surprise. Sal jumped up, uppercutting Manus in the jaw. The punch managed to stagger the pangolin, but it hurt Sal's hand as well. "Agh! What are you made of?!" Sal massaged his knuckles, growling in anger and pain.

"THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!" Manus shouted. He rushed at Sal, making sure to keep his armored back towards Brooke. He started throwing haymakers at Sal, mixing it up with quick jabs and occasional kicks. Sal did his best to block the heavy blows, relying on his natural toughness to tank the quick hits. He was angry, and after blocking another heavy hit, slammed his head against Manus' to make him stop. He immediately regretted it, and fell backwards after the impact with Manus' super-dense skull.

Reese slipped in between Sal and Manus, finally having recovered from being crushed, and drove his knife into Manus' heart, this time offering no hesitation. However, while the knife pierced the skin it did not go in very deep, thudding as it was stopped by incredibly sturdy bone. He was sure he aimed between his ribs but it seemed even that wasn't enough.

Manus looked down at him with a grin before slamming his fist down onto Reese. Reese managed to sidestep just in time, coming back in and slashing at Manus' throat this time, only for the blades to be deflected by spikes that shot out from his clavicle. Manus countered with a sweep of his arm that Reese was able to crouch under.

Reese danced around Manus' blows, his agility far exceeding his opponent's. While offensively he was only able to manage shallow cuts, it was still damage and with enough it was possible he could bleed out. Brooke attempted to fire at Manus every so often, but he was always quick enough to block it with his armored scales or with his shields, both equally sturdy. Regardless, it seemed Reese had the advantage.

Ozzy crouched beside Sal, holding a bitter powder under the croc's nose. "Come on, get up..." Sal bolted upright with a snort, pawing at his face in protest of the smell. He regretted sitting up so quickly, but the headache faded after a second. He saw Reese managing to hold his own against Manus, with Brooke providing suppressive fire.

Ozzy put away his healing herbs, helping Sal stand up. "I've been watching the fight and I think I've figured him out. His Semblance lets him grow his bones out at will, and they're probably super dense, too."

Sal popped his neck, shaking off the last of his dizziness. "So what's the plan, little man?"

"We need to hit him where he doesn't have any bones to protect him. His neck won't work, since he'll just grow more armor, but I think his stomach will be weak."

"Shut down his Semblance, punch him in the gut. Got it!"

While Reese came in for another attack, Manus took a deep breath before effortlessly knocking aside Reese's arm. Reese leapt back to avoid a follow up, but this time he wasn't fast enough. With a speed far surpassing what he had before, Manus grabbed Reese's collar and threw him to the ground, leaping into the air and landing on the downed Huntsman's gut with his knees. Reese gasped in pain as the air left his lungs.

Sal charged in while Ozzy went to relay his findings to Brooke.

"Brooke!" Ozzy slid to a halt beside her, taking cover behind her legs. "I think his bones are armored! Aim for his stomach, or anywhere without bones!"

"Got it, but I'll need an opening!" Answered Brooke as she continued to fire on Manus who effortlessly blocked her shots with his shields. He rushed towards her once more.

Sal launched his Grappling Hand at Manus, the metal limb glowing sickly green as it latched onto the pangolin's back plates. Sal pulled himself in and started hammering blows against Manus' back, pummeling his Aura with the power of his Semblance.

"GET OFF ME, YA  DUMB LIZARD!" Manus drove an elbow back, extending a bone spike as he did, but found it difficult to grow out the bone. Sal took the hit, his scales protecting him. Once again, he had to drag Manus away from his  team, but the pangolin grew noticeably heavier in Sal's grip. His attacks may have hampered Manus' more exotic abilities, but the basic powers of his Semblance remained.

Sal managed to get Manus in a Full Nelson, trapping his arms, while Ozzy rushed over to help Reese.

Brooke grinned viciously at the sight of Manus, stripped of his aura and exposed if only for a moment. "Perfect." In one quick movement Brooke swapped canisters. "Let's see how you handle 1200 RPM!" She shouted, aiming at Manus' belly and pulling the trigger. The gun fired, rounds pouring out of it in a constant stream like water from a hose. The sounds of the loud motor spinning wildly filled the room, echoing back and melding into a thunderous cacophony.

Soon the barrel began to glow red with heat, and Brooke was forced to stop her barrage. Manus stood there, blood gushing from the huge hole in his gut. However, against all common sense Manus wore a smile.

"IS THAT ALL Y-" He had to stop mid sentence to cough up blood. "YOU'VE GOT?!" He was losing blood fast, and it was clear he wouldn't last much longer at this rate.

Sal lifted Manus into the air, falling back into a suplex. He grabbed Manus by an arm and a leg, swinging him in a circle. With a shout of effort, he lifted the pangolin and threw him against the far wall. Manus fell, falling off the platform and into the foul water below.

"And the crowd goes wild! Salazar wins the match, victory by ring out!"  Sal pumped his fists in the air, turning in a slow circle and mimicking a cheering crowd. "Whoo! Ahh! Sal's the strongest fighter in Menagerie! He's so cool and suave!"

Ozzy helped Reese sit up, staring at Sal in disbelief, but trying not to laugh.

Reese groaned in pain, but that didn't stop him from giving Sal a grin and a thumbs-up. "Hahaha, I love it!"

A golden light began to glow around Sal's waist, changing form into something resembling a large belt. "For the champ, cool and suave indeed," added Brooke with a chuckle. She then looked over at the spot Manus fell, gathering blood barely noticeable in the murky pool of filth. "I wonder what will kill him first. The blood loss, infection, or drowning? Maybe he'll be eaten by a stray Snapdragon?"

"Brah, chill." Reese looked up at Brooke with a disapproving look.

At first she was confused, but then she realized she had said that out loud. "I, uh, isn't it natural to be curious?" She tried for an innocent smile, realizing that sort of talk didn't exactly match the heroic image she wanted to put out. "Besides, he was a bad guy, probably allied with the humans anyway."

"He was a bad guy, but he dealt with the Snapdragons. And didn't he say something about a master?" Ozzy said as he helped Reese stand. "Maybe the Snapdragons were like; training or something. That's why we didn't see many on our way in."

Sal snorted, waving a hand dismissively. "Who cares? The Grimm are dead, he's dead, and we're still here! Whoever his 'master' was, they just lost their prime student! And if they try anything like this again..." He pounded his fist against his open palm, grinning wickedly. "Round Two, baby! Team BROS will take 'em out!"

"Yeah!" Cheered Reese along with him.

He put an arm around Reese's shoulders, steering him toward the exit. "Now let's get outta here and tell Bullrush the good news." Sal led the rest of the team back towards the entrance, where they noticed the sun was starting to go down.

As they stepped out of the old processing plant, they were met by Carla, standing stoically by the ruined door.  "Ah, students. Good to see you all alive. The Professor will be here momentarily." She turned aside, speaking into a small headset. "Team BROS is here, sir."

"WHAT?!" Bullrush's voice could be heard over the speaker, making Carla wince. "You mean I waited at the wrong door this whole time?! I'll be right there!"

From above them, there came a loud boom and a flash of light from an explosion near an abandoned warehouse. Bullrush landed in front of the team, smoke trailing from the barrel of his rocket launcher. "Dynamic entry! Shock and awe tactics, kids! Ha ha!" He collapsed the stock and retracted the barrel of his launcher, strapping it to his forearm. "Now, mission report! What happened in there?"

"Sir!" shouted Brooke as she began the debriefing. "We entered the sewer without issue, but before long were engaged by a group of hostiles. Four Snapdragons. They were dispatched easily enough. But during our investigation, we found that other than those, the sewer was quite empty despite what the intel suggested. We happened upon a pangolin Faunus who was likely the one responsible for this. Manus, he called himself. He attacked us, so we put him down."

Reese stretched, resulting in a popping sound from various bones. "Dude was tough, too. Prolly coulda one-on-one'd any of us no sweat. But together he couldn't handle my bros from team BROS!" With that last bit he patted Sal's back and grinned.

Sal grinned, letting Reese stand on his own. "We came, we saw, we kicked his ass! No job's too tough for us!" He noticed his coat, neatly folded on the bench by Carla, and went to recover it."You're welcome... she muttered. "Oh, uh... thanks." He replied, slipping it back on.

Only Ozzy didn't share in the enthusiasm. He hung back, scuffing at the dirt with one shoe. "But... I don't think he was alone. He did say something about a master..." He trailed off into silence, a little nervous around the energetic Professor.

Bullrush nodded at their report, unable to stop a grin from spreading. "So... mission accomplished, no casualties, and it ended with an awesome fight against a traitorous Faunus! I'm giving each of you an A! That stands for AWESOME! Head on back while Carla and I finish up! You don't have to go home, but you're done here! CLASS DISMISSED!"

 

[Fen-Fen]

As Lauren stood aghast in the corner, having regretted ever eavesdropped on the conversation, she could only stand there, numb and unable to muster a response, tears streaming down her face, until she was startled by her mother shouting. The only time she had ever heard her mother so angry was when she screamed at the immigration officials carrying them away like criminals in handcuffs. It did not bode well for her at all, being reminded of such a terrible time on top of losing her Aunt Rosa was just too much for Lauren to bear. She needed to get away from her feelings after just standing there utterly distraught. She bolted past the corridor, ignoring the puzzled messenger who recognized the girl from before and everyone else who was at the school at the time, mainly students studying and receiving help from teachers with combat. While usually able to get rid of any sadness with enough exercise and cheery determination, this was a run that seemed to progressively get harder and harder as her grief seemed to weigh her down.

While running through the southern courtyard, Lauren passed by Professor Azure, who was on her way to grab something for her classroom. Unfortunately, in her emotional haze, she didn't see the small professor and crashed into her, sending Azure flying backwards with Lauren on top of her. Recovering and getting off of her, Lauren helped Azure up and was ready to be on her way when the small professor called out to the red-eyed dolphin Faunus, "Lauren, you should really be careful next time. I know you like to run but-" Without warning, Lauren embraced the professor in a tight hug, bending down so that she could cry into her shoulders. Tried as Lauren could, she couldn't outrun such strong feelings and was often crummy at hiding them. Very strong feelings often pulling at her like the ocean tides at her, making her express her emotions intensely whenever she can't keep them at bay with some therapeutic exercise. Alarmed at this sudden outburst from an otherwise cheery girl, Professor Azure asked, "Sweetie, are you alright? "

In response, the distraught teenager rapidly rambled all that had transpired, "Oh god it's awful a friend of mom's my Aunt Rosa was killed at the hands of good-for-nothing humans and I shouldn't have listened to that damn conversation why did I do this I, I-" From there, she resumed sobbing, clenching her right fist as she felt tormented by the feeling that made it seem like her insides were contorted.

The professor, in a soothing voice, calmly shushed her and squeezed Lauren a little tighter for Lauren's comfort. Lauren, who could do nothing but bawl, said nothing at first but recomposed herself enough to explain everything in between sniffles what had occurred. When she finally finished, spilling her heart out over news of Aunt Rosa's death, the terrible circumstances that had led up to it and the guilt her family had in being deported, Professor Azure was appalled at what she had heard. After all that had been said, the meek professor said, with heartfelt sympathy and concern ladened in her voice, "Oh no. I'm so sorry you had to hear all of that. I'm so sorry, sweetie, I'm so sorry. Come here."

Lauren, ever so vulnerable, held the small woman tighter, continuing to cry into her shoulders. She didn't particularly care that they were in a public place and having this emotional moment in the middle of the courtyard with some people still milling around, most too preoccupied to notice. After getting out a lot of the raw emotion and settling down a bit, Professor Azure sat down on a bench alongside Lauren. She blankly stared out, sighing and putting her hands over her face. She remembered a woman who had been there for her for as long as she could remember and now she was gone. All the warm and fuzzy memories of Rosa playing with her and reading fantastical stories to her when she was waiting in her mother's office made her like an aunt of sorts to the family.

Professor Azure, giving Lauren one last hug and a warm pat on the back, she left Lauren to her own devices and left her pondering bitterly about how things were doing so well and then boom, they were ruined, no thanks to, yet again, humans. At this train of thought Lauren developed something quite ugly inside her, a fury at the very thought that some cowards killed someone very dear to her. Lauren wasn't vengeful for much, not even about being deported now that time has passed, but it was a whole new level of disdain and pain. It was in her anger, still strangely unmotivated to do anything but sit there and let her emotions weigh her down, that she vowed revenge on the bastards that had killed her aunt. Even as she vowed this, she could still do nothing but sit there and let her mind get consumed by a spiralling vortex of thoughts. She felt quite helpless, not some huntress that was kicking ass and a heroine, but a scared little girl missing her aunt.

 

[Sonata]

Victor Strossen, Luna Niemandsluft, Lana, Carolyne Bjork

D-Day

"Level C are you ready? Level C! Lana, Luna, Victor, Carol! Are you ready! You've got to go now or you'll miss the dropzone!"

The sound of the airship's engine roared in the ear of the young Faunii. The door had been opened and the team had paired up. Lana and Vic, Luna and Carol. They held each other tight as they were to rely on their semblances to make a covert landing on the island. The humans had already landed several hours ago, though they might think nothing of the airship itself - the sight of a parachute might tip them off. Instead it was to be a direct dive to the ground below, cushioned only by the powers of Luna and Lana.

"You've got to go now!" The instructor who had the horns of a ram took a few steps back and screamed at the children. "If you don't go now I'll have to force you out!"

"Aye aye captain!" Luna remarked with a grin as she fell backwards out of the ship, Carol clinging on to her for dear life. Lana looked out the door at the two and then down at Vic. The girl wrapped her arms around him without any warning before stepping backwards out of the door herself. As soon as they had left the safety of the airship it began to pull away and the door slammed shut.

Victor's ears folded against his head to keep the air from tickling them too much, and his face was - as always - overtaken by a toothy smile. "This is gonna be fun! Finally a chance to really stretch our legs! And we might even get to play with some humans!" Lana, not being able to make any signs without risking their safety, merely nodded. It was so exhilarating dropping right out of the airship like that, the fox couldn't fight his excitement.

Meanwhile the other duo crashed into the ground, leaving a Luna sized crater in it. Carol rolled off of the girl as she let out a groan and curled up inside of the massive hole. The pages of Carol's book retracted back into it, having been used to slightly cushion the fall since Luna actually had no power that would have been useful for that part of the landing. However she did absorb the majority of the shock from the impact and put it back out into the ground, explaining exactly why their hole had been made so deep. Carol looked up to the sky for their other teammates while she stood on Luna's chest, her heels digging in to the Faunus' abdomen causing her to groan and sink even further in on herself.

The fuzzy pair twirled in the air. Lana loosened her grip on Victor just enough for him to thrust his arm towards the ground with Carolyn in hand, and begin spinning it. Faster and faster the dual weapon spun, aided by the fox's semblance until ir began to gust and slow their descent. Eventually they began to float lazily down, and once there was only a few feet between them and the earth, Lana quickly flipped them back over and let go. Both Faunus separated in the air and landed a short distance apart, Vic posing a bit with pride at the landing while Lana simply surveyed their surroundings. "Today our goal is to track, monitor, and steal, right?" Victor called out.

"Yep yep." Carol waltzed over to the other two faunii as she brushed the little dirt that was left on her off. "They should be heading inland, which is.... that way? I think? I dunno, I feel kind of dizzy in here surrounded by all these trees and such. Maybe our favorite female companion could sniff something out for us?"

Luna clawed her way out of the crater and shook her head. "Think you could at least give me a minute? You got sound girl over there, surely she could pick up on something too. It doesn't always have to be me."

"Or maybe both of you could try, y'know, together?" Victor added playfully, ears and nose both twitching from all the scents and sounds around them.

Luna gumbled and Lana smiled, scooting over closer to the shark girl. Lana flattened the palm of one enormous hand and slammed it into the ground like an angry sumo wrestler and took control of the vibrations as they traveled. Every time her soundwaves made contact with a solid object she forced the reactive sound to travel back towards them while the first kept going, bringing the sounds of objects all over the island right back to the group as if they could hear it themselves. The process also resulted in causing the scents from around the group to be more streamlined to Luna's nose. Luna picked up a trail of some sweaty human rear and the scent of freshly let blood. "We got our heading now baby," Luna said as she shook. Her eyes turning completely black as drool began to flow in large globules from her lower lip.

Victor, meanwhile seemed to have already started walking, confident he could tell which way was inland even if he couldn't track the humans by himself from this distance. With her motor already revved up Luna shot after him, bowling him out of the way and taking the lead. "Floofy Mc.No tits, the meat's this way. Stop pussyfooting around and let's go kid, I feel like I've not eaten in days. If we lose this trail..." Luna let out a giggle that turned into a laugh filled with malice, "we better not lose this trail." Luna turned her head back after she swung herself around a tree, giving the others time to catch up. Her eyes were black pearls, and her teeth like sharpened diamonds.

 

[Groc]

Team CAOX - Cassandra Alexandra, Azrael Marjorie, Orion Romanov, and Xyra Coronis
Island G - Clearing​

[h1][/h1]
Ms. Strob led the students away from the clearing and to a rough path that had naturally formed, leading up the mountain. "While other students are busy on the surface, our mission takes us into the caves and tunnels under the mountain. It is for this reason your cameras are equipped with the night lenses and the flash function. I recommend not using the flash unless there is no other light, as it will give away your position. Ms. Alexandra, since you declined the camera, you will take the lead."

Cass simply nodded, her expression never changing. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with." She moved to the front, stopping when the path ended at the yawning mouth of a cave. A flash went off behind her, briefly illuminating the cave entrance. She looked back at Xyra, scowling, only to see Azrael holding his camera up. He had been taking a selfie of the group in front of the cave. Cass sighed in frustration, cursing the immature antics of her group.

"Mr. Marjorie, what did I just say about the flash?" Ms. Strob turned to him in exasperation, although he kept a cool demeanor. "Hey, you said to document our mission. I'm just following orders."

Xyra held her camera in one hand and a retracted Painbrush in the other, stepping up to Cass. "It's pretty dark in there, Boss. How are we supposed to see?" Orion came up behind her, his massive hammer in his hands. Cass adjusted a few dials on her gauntlets, and clenched her hands into fists. A small flashlight popped up from the back of each hand, each emitting a short cone of light. She briefly shone a light on Xyra's face before turning back to the caves, her arms up as she walked confidently in. "Just follow me, and try not to get caught in anything."

Ms. Strob followed the three in, with Azrael bringing up the rear. "Remember, students: we do not know what kind of creatures we are dealing with in here. So be cautious with your lights, and keep your weapons ready." That last bit was directed at Cass and Orion, the only two without a camera or one-handed weapon. As soon as she finished talking, a loud roar echoed through the cave.

Cass swung around to face the source of the roar, her lights shining on an angry Ursa they had awakened when they entered. A grin spread across her face as she dropped into a runner's stance, electricity crackling across her body. Orion tossed his hammer up, putting a spin on it as he did, and it transformed into sniper rifle mode in midair. He caught it, dropped to one knee, and took aim. Azrael teleported behind the Ursa, dropping his camera and drawing both pistols. Xyra hung back, inserting a cartridge of red Dustpaint into Painbrush.

Ms. Strob snapped a picture of the scene, and the fight was on.

The Ursa dropped to all fours and charged, just as Orion took the shot. His bullet ripped through the Ursa's shoulder and impacted the wall next to Azrael. Cass charged forward, almost too fast to see, delivering an electrically charged uppercut that lifted the Ursa off its front paws. She shoved her shoulder into its chest, forcing it onto its hind legs. Azrael, recovered from his scare after nearly being shot, began shooting rapidly, his bullets all hitting the Ursa in the back. Xyra spun Painbrush in a circle, spawning a red Chrominion in midair. She swung Painbrush like a baseball bat, striking the minion and sending it flying straight into the Ursa's face. It splattered on impact, smoke rising from the Ursa's eyes and snout as the Dustpaint started burning it.

Cass swept the Ursa's legs out from under it, lifting it above her head and driving it face first into the floor. Orion tossed his rifle up as it converted back to hammer mode, caught it, and with a shout of effort slammed it onto the downed Ursa's head. There was a loud crack, a splattering of black blood, and the Grimm burst into black mist.

Ms. Strob snapped a picture, and the fight was over.

Team CAOX took a moment to catch their breath, but before they could say anything, Ms. Strob started clapping slowly. "Very impressive, students. You managed to defeat the dreaded Ursa Minor. But do not celebrate just yet. I noticed something about the fight. Mr. Marjorie!" She spun around, pointing a finger at Azrael. "You jumped past the enemy and into unknown territory. Do you know what was in that tunnel your back was to the whole fight? Ms. Coronis!" She spun to point at Xyra. "You threw an explosive device at an enemy with a teammate in close proximity. What guarantee did you have you would not hit her? Mr. Romanov, you used a high caliber weapon in close quarters and nearly hit a teammate. Ms. Alexandra, you charged into the line of fire of all three of your comrades." She whirled and pointed to each in turn, and the good feeling the Team had felt was gone by the end of her tirade.

She picked up Azrael's camera, handing it back to him. "The mission is not over yet. Come, we go!"

She took the lead, apparently unconcerned with the darkness. Cass noted that she hadn't even taken off her sunglasses, and suspected that they possessed some form of vision-augmenting technology. Before she could follow this line of thinking, Xyra came up beside her, attempting to give her a hug. Cass pushed her away, glaring. "What, Xyra?"

"I just... wanted to apologize. Ms. Strob was right, I didn't think. I could've hurt you. We all could have hurt each other. We need to come up with plans for the future. We're a team, after all."

Cass shoved Xyra against the wall, fuming. "We are not a team. In case you didn't notice, I didn't do anything wrong. I attacked, and you all got in my way. Just stay back and do your job so we can go home." She stepped back, turning away from Xyra. She went down the tunnel, Azrael at her heels. Orion came forward, putting a hand on Xyra's shoulder.

"Is okay, little one. Captain is just-" Xyra patted his hand, stepping away from the wall. "Is just angry, I know. Cass is always angry. But she's wrong, you know. We are a team, and I'm not just gonna stand back. She'll need our help one day, Orion. And we'll be there for her."

Orion smiled, chuckling as he steered Xyra toward the tunnel. "You are little in body, Xyra, but you have big heart, and bigger brain than you let on."

Azrael *BAMF*'d in beside them, looking annoyed. "Come on, slowpokes. That teacher lady found something." He teleported away, and Xyra and Orion glanced at each other in confusion. Orion shrugged, and the two took off down the tunnel at a quick jog.

 

[Sonata]

Victor Strossen, Luna Niemandsluft, Lana, Carolyne Bjork

Deja Vu

While Luna led the way, and Lana followed close behind on the lookout, Victor dropped back to Carol, both as rear guard, and for more obvious reasons. "So, beautiful, had any dreams about all this? Or just any dreams about me?" He made sure to finish with his trademark grin flashing a single fang.

Carol smiled at Vic and then pulled out her dream journal. Still smiling at him, she ran her finger down the entries, until she reached a blank page and then closed the book back. "No, sorry. I haven't had dreams of either of these things. There was something about a month ago about some woods and some humans, but I'm not completely sure about that one yet. And besides, even if I had had a dream about something there's nothing to say it would actually mean anything. Dreams are just dreams anyways. They're interesting, but really have no real... substance? They're not exactly worth worrying over or thinking about, though they're good for a read or a laugh every now and then." The girl giggled as she put the book back down in her bag and slightly picked up her pace.

"I dunno about that." Victor said happily, speeding up as well with his tail swishing behind him. "I can think of a few very interesting dreams I've had where I could tell you exactly what they mean." Despite his suggestive tone he was quiet for a moment afterwards, and did very little besides a twitch of the ear here, or a sniff there. "Although, plenty of others weren't so cut and dry, the mind is a confusing place... then again so is the real world, when I was a sprout everything seemed so simple. Now we're here doing all this." The way he finished left no opportunity to read into whether he meant any of it in a positive or negative light, it was simply contemplative.

"I don't know. I've been dreaming for several years... well, dreaming more realistic things. And the things I dream in these more realistic dreams, seem to come true... or at least partly that is, every now and again. It's a strange feeling, not knowing whether a nightmare is a nightmare or a dream a dream until you've dreamt it again. Again, back when we started to attend that academy, I fell asleep on the airship. At that time I had a dream that a rather bulky man would come up to the ship, throw me over his shoulder and run away into the sunset. Now I knew better at the time, and I know better now. But I wrote it in my journal nonetheless. Perhaps it was a dream in a dream, but a nightmare should it come to reality? Now we're here with two brutish ladies, a me and a you. Perhaps that dream did have some higher meaning? The images I see are often frightening, even when blissful. I'd hate to be burdened by constantly wondering if ever my dreams held a higher meaning...." Carol slowed down and pulled her diary from her pack again. She flipped the cover open and began to read through some of the earlier entries while walking at a snail's pace.

"Some bulky guy?" Victor teased. "I was hoping I'd be the man of your dreams, damn." After that he followed her in relative silence, slowly speeding up till they walked apace. After she finished talking about just how frightening her dreams and their possible ramifications could be she was nearly startled by the feeling of something soft and fluffy brushing against her. In a rare moment of innocent companionship Victor's tail rested on her shoulder for a few seconds of comfort, then swept down her back and he increased his pace again , drawing ahead and not acknowledging his actions.

"Yeah, there was a real bulky guy, almost the size of Luna or Lana. He lifted me up and carried me away. Then on that same day I had two more dreams. One was of me meeting Lana and losing to her in a fight, and the other was of a jungle..." Carol looked up from her book to see the same scenery from the dream she'd had over a month ago. "Oh no. No, no, no, no. We have to leave. We can't be here. We have to get out of here." Carol stabbed her toe into the ground and turned completely around before taking off back towards the drop point.

Victor was after her in an instant, he probably could have caught her if he wanted but he preferred to make her stop on her own. "Carol! What's wrong? We can't just turn around! Calm down! Just stop and talk to me would you?"

"No! We have to go!" Carol continued to shout, flinging her arms around at her sides so that Vic couldn't get a hold of her. "We shouldn't be here! This won't end well for any of us! We have to leave now while we still can!" The girl tripped over a branch and squeaked, throwing her book out in front of herself and rolling up inside the carapaced ball-like armor that it created around her.

Luna caught up with the two, huffing as she stopped and tried to talk. "What. Is going. On. Over. Here." The girl wiped the beads of sweat forming on her forehead and then took a deep breath. "If you keep shouting like that everyone on the island will know where we are. What are you even doing. We have to move forward or I'll lose the scent."

A small crack appeared in the armor and Carol's lips pressed against it. "No," she whispered hastily.

"Carol, we can't just stop! You've got to come out." Victor pleaded, Lana stood next to him and nodded. "Lives could depend on us finishing this mission, and we've worked so hard to get here."

The Gorilla faunus gently nudged Victor out of the way to stand in front of the crack and signed. "And we might get expelled too."

"But," Carol began, "if my dreams... if this is my power then what am I supposed to do? What can I do? I just... I don't know. I don't know anything. It's hard... the dream I had a month ago, I'll let you see it. Even if I can't figure it out, maybe you seeing it will spark something." The armor around Carol began to shift, snaking around in circles until one paragraph became visible on the top of her shell.

'It's me again. Second time today, I know. I had another dream. This time... I don't really want to remember it. Even though some of my dreams have been bad before, I don't ever think I've had a nightmare quite like this one. Lana was there, apparently along with the rest of my team which is around me now having just woke up. We were following some humans in a strange jungle. There was also a cave which we followed them in to. Everyone was talking, saying things I couldn't hear or understand. It was scary, and then we were running from... something... something big, something that I don't think should have existed. I'm scared. For once in my life, I'm hoping that my dreams don't come true. I don't know what to do. Leifr, I'm afraid. Not for myself, but for my team and for those humans... they all seemed so helpless... I never want to be in that place again... I hope when these tears stop falling I'll be able to look back on this and find some kind of understanding in it... but for now, this is all I have to tell. I don't know. - Carol'

"That monster... the looks in its eyes and the look on that human teacher's face when she stood up to it... they still burn behind my eyes. I see them every time I blink, every time I lay down and every time I start to wake up. They never leave me alone, and I don't ever want to see them again. For a while I'd forgotten when or where I'd actually first saw them, but now that we're here in this forest, following these humans... it's all starting to come back. I just want to keep us safe, and the only way to do that I believe is to not go through with this mission."

Victor turned away from the armored sphere and stretched his limbs, even though he'd already done all his exercises before they left the academy. "Well that settles it then. We definitely can't go back home without doing anything if there's a monster that horrible that needs to be dealt with. You can stay if it's that terrifying my sweet Carolyne. I really wouldn't want to see you get hurt, and one of our large lovely ladies here can stay with you. But I'm going. I didn't get here just to turn tail."

"Viiiiiiic," the hole in Carol's armor opened a little wider, allowing an eye to become visible along with her lips. "Don't goooo Viiiiiiiic. I don't want you to get huuurt. I don't want any of you to be hurt... that's why we should just leave now..."

The fox stopped dead at Carol's pleas for him not to go off on his own. She had one of the voices that was always hard for him to ignore. A shiver ran up his spine at the desperation in her voice, and he'd heard those words once before. He turned back to the rest of the group to see Lana watching everything happen impassively as she always did.

Luna however wasn't having that shit. She picked Carol up, shoving her beefy fingers into the tiny hole and lifted the ball above her head. "I'm losing the scent. We have to go now. No more crybaby nonsense. You're a big girl, grow a pair of tits and let's get on with the damn mission."

Carol started rolling around, calling out to Vic and Lana with tears rolling down her face and falling out of the small hole. Lana rushed up a little bit and put her hand out in front of her, signaling for Luna to stop. The shark girl bared her teeth and growled while Lana positioned her hands just in front of the opening and clapped gently, sending a concussive wave reverberating through the armor until Carol passed out and the armor fell open.

"Now we can move." The Gorilla girl signed as she turned away and continued walking.

"We'll have to talk to her at some point." Victor reminded them both, taking Carol and carrying her bridal-style. He hugged her slightly in the hopes it would comfort her in her sleep and set off with the rest.

 

[GreyBidoof]

TEAM SNAP

Sacha Abramovich

Nakahiko Mitsuki

Paxton Vacik

Artemis Gale

EPS 3: THE TEAM WHO CRIED WOLF

"Take that! "We're all alive. That's nice~"

Artemis couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief even despite Sacha's overly-cheery response to their close call of a landing. She glanced around, spotting Nakahiko as he dropped safely to the ground nearby, now inspecting his beloved briefcase. Well, they had all made it. Not bad for improvisation. Not bad at all.

Still hanging from the blades impaled into the tree, her arms were beginning to tire. However, the ground was a long ways down, and there was the matter of the boy wedged in between her and the massive trunk they clung to. Artemis couldn't help but wonder if it might be fine to let him fall, after all, he'd be okay. Probably.

Planting her feet squarely on the the tree, the black-haired girl pulled began to tug on the second of the two blades. This was very alarming to Paxton, who felt a sudden urge to protect his left arm from begin sliced off. "Uh, hey Art? What are you doing? We kinda need those so we don't, you know, fall and break o- whoa, hey!"

Artemis had succeeded in removing one blade from the tree, nearly amputating her teammate in the process. Two now hung by only the single blade, with Paxton locked in a wild-eyed bear hug with SNAP's leader, who's judgement he was really questioning at the moment.

"Artemis, hold up, hold up," he gasped, nervously avoiding the intense look in her eyes. "I think I may have something useful."

Freeing one arm to grab his scroll, he cycled quickly through his various apps and tools. 'Maps? Nah. MusicStream? Probably not useful here. Flashlight? Nope. Then, near the end of the display, he found just what he needed. But first....

Swinging his arm back around, he positioned himself and smiled, grabbing a quick selfie of him and his dangling teammate. "Gonna update my status to "Just hanging with my buddy Art" he stated jovially, trying not to notice how Artemis' eyes seemed to want to spontaneously combust.

Just as he'd planned, Artemis immediately ripped the other blade out of the tree, sending them both hurtling towards the ground. Luckily, Paxton was prepared. Activating his semblance, his eyes began to glow, as did the device in his hand. Tossing it towards the ground below, the scroll seemed to inflate, and had sprouted cushions of some sort.

As Paxton flopped onto the object, he sighed contentedly. "I knew that mattress app would come in handy." His rest was short-lived, though, as split seconds afterwards he something heavy landed right on top of him. That something being a somewhat flustered Artemis.

"Scandalous." Sacha teased as she watched the brunette get redder from their landing. Her, on top of him... with a bed and everything. Truly, utterly, scandalous.Paxton groaned in pain as Artemis promptly removed herself, walking over to the rest of her team. "Not funny." She muttered, glaring at the laughing girl.

Sacha stood up, jumping once to regain her energy. As much fun as watching two people on the bed was, the mission was much more exciting. She smiled; maybe they'll get to finally fight something. "Come on, lovebirds! We don't have all day!" She said, skipping over to where Naka was to help him up too. "We have crates to find, and pictures to take!"

Naka sighed as he brushed off the remaining dust on his briefcase, eyeing Sacha's energetic behaviour. "Just crates, please.." He mumbled, looking around for any clues in the environment. "How deep are we in this jungle, again?"

"We still have a ways to go. From my rough calculations before we landed, we should be somewhere near the edge of the forest." Artemis replied. "The crates are littered all over the island, so we had best make for the center to see if we can get a better vantage point. That way, we don't waste time." She scanned their surroundings, but all that could be seen was thick jungle brush. "Now, the question is, which way would that be..."

"Ah, the 'being lost in the middle of the jungle' time." Sacha smiled, looking around. The trees were blocking the way, scattering most of the sun's light. This would be quite hard, and would probably take a long time to traverse. She shrugged; go with the flow, then! Naka, however, wasn't as... amused. "Please don't tell me we're lost. Does anyone even know any--"

"We need to be heading south,"

The three looked around, wondering where the voice had come from. Paxton, who had been lying against a tree nursing his bruises, spoke up again. "We fell on the north side of the island, so the center would be south, which is that way." He pointed in a seemingly random direction, much to the astonishment of his teammates.

"...Okay... That was easy." Naka muttered, taking a deep breath. They had a plan! A rather improvised plan, but still a plan nonetheless! He nearly jumped at the thought of not dying from stupidity. Nearly.

"Since when did you start paying attention?" Artemis asked, more than a hint of suspicion in her voice. "And how do you know that way is south?"

Paxton just gave a small grin and stood up. "You guys have heard of a compass, right?" He pointed to his scroll. "This thing does a lot of stuff. "Speaking of which, how about a group pic?"

Before Sacha could oblige, Artemis jumped in. "Maybe later. Let's get moving." Sacha frowned, but shrugged it off. There's going to be a better picture opportunity later anyway. She smiled at the thought, before giving their mighty leader an eager salute. Naka didn't even get to say his own piece as he aimlessly followed; But... I still have a bad feeling about this...

---

It had been hours since SNAP had landed on the island. The four of them trudged through the thick wold vegetation, in search of the mountain at the heart of the region. Paxton, compass-app in hand, led the way, occasionally glancing between his screen and their surroundings. Sacha and Nakahiko followed close behind, and Artemis brought up the rear.

Naka was sure they were lost. They had been walking around with only a compass for their only guide of direction and a blind sense of trust since 'oh it's an island we'll be reaching the edge eventually'. He was not having fun. Not when he could see leaves clearly rustling while they walked; like they were filled with dark, hungry predators that haven't had lunch in decades. Or maybe a huge, species of grimm known only in this island! He couldn't even be sure if he had the guts to kill something yet and--

"Naka stop worrying." Sacha interrupted, almost floating next to him. "It's gonna be alright~" She smiled, "Plus, we got weapons and we can fight things out if somebody does get in our way!"

Heh. He couldn't help but smile a little bit at the fact; she was right. They've been working together for how many days now, and he could trust that they would have his back, and vice versa. "T-thanks Sash.. I needed that."

Sacha merely gave a wink and a thumbs up and skipped ahead, only going back to walking speed when she almost reached Paxton, as they kept going 'south'. She glanced around; there were slight rusting sounds, and she could see Naka at the corner of her eye looking at the jungle trees each time he heard those noise. Suspicious noise, she noted. The girl hid a growing smile at the thought of fighting something. Was it going to be a jungle grimm? Jungle faunus? Jungle... things? Oh, whatever. She instinctively gripped her tonfas as she began to feel excited. Oh, this was going to be great. But first... "Are we theeeere yet?"

"Does it look like we're there yet?" Artemis replied with a sigh.

"Well obviously we wouldn't know since we're not the one with the compass." Sacha retorted, "Soooooo Pax? Are we there yet or do we have'ta walk another 1,000,000 miles to get to our destination?"

"Welp, I don't really know how much farther, but we're heading in the right direction. I think." Paxton replied. Suddenly, the boy stopped, face scrunched as he looked intently at his scroll-compass. Sheepishly, he turned the device upside-down, and turned to face his teammates.

"So uh, guys...." he started, his voice trailing off in what sounded like embarrassment. "I, eh, might have..."

Artemis broke in sharply. "Might have what?" Something told her she wasn't going to like the answer.

".... might have been... going the wrong way."

For a few moments, the forest seemed to be completely silent.

"..."

Breaking the tense moment, Artemis spun around without another word, and began to stomp in the opposite direction.

Sacha let out an audible sigh, "You had one job, techy," she said as she glanced back to where Artemis was stomping back to. "One job! I mean really who would hold a scroll upside down?" Naka smiled, although he was tempted to use his briefcase at this point. Pax was human, they were human, Artemis was human (at least that's what he thought) and he was undoubtedly human and they all make mistakes.

Even if this was one hell of a mistake.

A small grin had formed on Paxton's face. "Guys, guys, calm down. I was joking, alright? We went the right way, in fact- HEY, ART!" he shouted at their fearless leader, who was still trudging away from them silently. "WHERE YA GOING? WE'RE ALREADY HERE!"

Artemis glanced back, taking notice of the her teammate's yelling. Paxton flinched slightly at the murderous look in her eyes. Yikes. The girl still doesn't know how to take a joke.

Attempting to remedy the situation, he pulled back as the thick growth of branches in front of where they had stopped. Doing so revealed the base of what appeared to be a large mountain, merely a short stroll away. "See, we made it. All good, right?"

Naka let out a breath of relief; they weren't going to walk for another four hours! He looked at Artemis, who was still glaring daggers at Pax. "H-hey Artemis, it's okay we're at our destination now!" He attempted a feeble smile, gently patting her back to try to pat the anger out of her.

Artemis wasn't responding. She didn't seem to be even paying attention to the conversation at hand, rather was staring off space, at a seemingly random spot between Paxton and Sacha. The former, somewhat concerned, reached out out to tap the oblivious girl on her shoulder. "Hey, Art, you okay? I'm sorry about that, I wasn't trying to-"

"Don't. Move. A. Muscle." Artemis whispered hoarsely, cutting the apology off. Confused, Paxton obeyed, and realized their leader wasn't just staring into space. She was staring, wide-eyed, at something in brush directly behind him. His face paled. Whatever this was, it was enough to have Artemis looking terrified. And that said a lot. Sacha blinked, her curiosity getting the best of her as she slowly glanced back and marveled in terror at the sight in front of her. "Oh." Sacha stayed still, her hands already fixed to her tonfas as she prepared for the upcoming fight.

Loud enough that Naka could hear, she repeated her warning. What the rest of SNAP had failed to see, and what Artemis' gaze was fixed on, were two pairs of glowing yellow eyes, shining from behind the brush. As slowly and innocuously as she could, she let her hand drop to where grimmslayer hung at her side. Slowly, she inched the rifle up from it's resting position, carefully placing the barrel on Paxton's left shoulder.

"Don't move." Though she repeated the warning, it wasn't necessary. Paxton, hadn't bothered to move since she had originally spoke. She lined up the shot, muzzle pointed right between the first pair of golden orbs.

Before she could pull the trigger, two jet-black forms leapt forward, towards the four stationary students. Reacting just in time, Paxton fell forward, pulling Artemis to the ground with him, out of the beasts' reach. Sacha instinctively dodged the first move, using her semblance to increase her speed as she hid a growing, mischievous smile. Her tonfas were already out, each aimed towards them.

As they scrambled to their feet again, they were finally able to identify what had lunged at them. Two grimm, unlike any Artemis remembered learning about before. They were wolflike, yet walked upright. Large, razor-sharp claws and a spiked tail adorned the creature's otherwise charcoal-colored form. They seemed to be dependent on their speed, as seen from how they first attacked the team. One stray hit from them would lead to some serious, if not fatal, wounds. The grimm stood their ground for a moment, snarling at their would-be prey.

Snapping back into focus, Artemis shot a glance towards her team. "SNAP, weapons free. Double team time."

"Aw, yeah! Let's do this!" Paxton tapped gripped his scroll, which began to glow a faint blue as it morphed into a pair of nunchuks. "C'mere, ya oversized rug!" One of the grimm roared, and charged the taunting boy. Paxton stood his ground, smiling smugly at the monster racing towards him. As the wolf reached striking distance, it swung it's claws in a wide arc, ready to cut him down. Before he could be turned into a pile of mincemeat, Paxton spun to the right, and in one fluid motion brought the end of his nunchucks up into the jaw of the unsuspecting grimm. It howled in pain, but was not deterred.

Sacha smirked, immediately speeding beside him and began to shoot multiple rounds at the howling grimm. She wanted to see grimm dust, and fast. "Anything you want me to do?" She asked, still shooting at the grimm, making it dazed and slightly immobile.

"Yeah, I've got an idea!" Pax responded with a grin. Grabbing Sacha's tonfas from her, they began to glow a faint blue. Slowly, they began to change shape, increasing in length and width. "Introducing the 'Tonfa Wind Cannons 2.0, patent pending'. Now, let's see what these puppies can do!" He handed the oversized weapons back to his partner.

"Oh. OH. OH!" Sacha smiled, admiring her upgraded babies. "The things I could do with these things..~" She purred, already charging up her semblance as she took aim at the grimm now speeding towards them, claws sharpened and tilted to make them look more threatening. The girl smiled, feeling the wind create some pressure to block--or at the very least slow-- the incoming slasher. She waited for a few more moments before pulling the trigger on one of the tonfa, sending a very large bullet that was amplified by her semblance, almost disappearing because of the speed it took and shot the grimm flat on the chest, the extra force pushing it back far into a nearby tree. Sacha smiled, enjoying the sudden yelp of pain the grimm gave and instantly walked near the already semi-unconscious grimm and pulled the trigger on the other tonfa she was holding on, with a semblance that had another effect than pushing back enemies. Once the bullet hit the chest of the grimm, it began to howl even more as it felt it's insides slowly but surely losing it's mass, ripping a bullet-sized hole in it's wake and disintegrate into a pile of black dust, the bullet resting on top of it.

She scowled, disappointed at the lack of blood, but shrugged it off and handed her weapons back to Pax to make them travel-sized again.

It was their victory.

Meanwhile, Naka gulped, transferring his briefcase to his right hand as it transformed into his prized heavy duty hammer and ran immediately to the right, luring one of the grimm away from the team. "I-I... I got this!" He shouted, now at a reasonable distance between Sacha, Pax, and the other grimm, and blinked once, his eyes glowing a faint green as he created a large enough field that surrounded him and the enemy grimm with the following rule: Any ally who steps inside the field shall have their speed doubled for the remainder of the fight..

He felt his semblance beginning to affect him as he managed to block the blows with ease, however, he couldn't muster up the courage to kill. He suppressed a yelp as he sidestepped once to dodge yet another vicious tackle from from grimm. "A-Artemis! Help p-please!"

The other wolf-grimm was enraged, sending a storm of vicious slashing blows towards Nakahiko, who desperately worked to parry them with his hammer. Artemis was doing her best to lay down covering fire and divert the beast's attention, but to little avail. Naka was still standing, but he made no move to attack. Seeing her shots were having little effect on the beast, the black-haired girl let her gun fall to her side, ejecting the pair of swords from the back. She ran towards the beast, which was still busy grappling with her teammate. With a quick flick of her wrists, the blades extended, glinting in the sunlight. As she approached the raging grimm, she dropped down into a slide, and shoved the weapons into the meaty part of the black creature's left calf. The wolf-esque creature howled in pain, and temporarily ceasing it's assault. "Naka! Get out of there!" Artemis shouted, reaching for her rifle once more.

"Y-yes ma'am!" Naka complied, easily skedaddling out of harms way as he stared at their leader's brutal assault on the grimm.

She narrowed her focus, and the world seemed to move in slow motion. The wound she had made in the grimm's leg was glowing a bright purple, a hint from her semblance that this was a weak spot. Lining up the shot, she fired a quick succession of bullets into the marked wound. The beast doubled over, before slowly disintegrating into a pile of black dust.

With both monsters down, the four students could breathe easy. "Alright, another victory for team PANS!" Paxton cheered.

Artemis looked at him wearily. "You do realize our designation is SNAP, right?"

"Yeah, but PANS sounds cool, especially with the 'P' in front. Just sayin'."

"NAPS sounds cool too," Naka said, how holding an ordinary briefcase--magically back to it's scratch-less design.

"Why, because the 'N' is in front?"

"...Maaaybe." The guy said, "But also since that's what most of us keep doing."

Sacha chuckled, "You have a point~"

Artemis turned to her teammates. "Anyways, we should get moving. We'll need time to scout if we want to find those crates." Before they moved on, however, something caught her eye. The corner of a rectangular metal object stuck out of the foliage where the two grimm had attacked them. "Looks like we've got one. Pax, come over here and mark this one for retrieval."

After that was taken care of, team SNAP set out towards the mountain ahead of them, not having any idea of what awaited them there.

(Infinite , GreyBidoof);

​

 

[Groc]

Team CAOX - Cassandra Alexandra, Azrael Marjorie, Orion Romanov, and Xyra Coronis
Island G - Caves​

[h1][/h1]
Xyra and Orion came out of the tunnel slowly, unable to see Cass' lights anymore. Xyra was about to call out for her, when a hand suddenly closed over her mouth. She squeaked in surprise, but the grip got tighter as Ms. Strob pulled her closer. "Quiet, Ms. Coronis..." Ms. Strob whispered. "Use the night vision, and look up." She let Xyra go, stepping back.

Xyra did as she was told, looking through the camera at the ceiling. It was much higher up than she had imagined, and it seemed to be moving. Xyra adjusted the zoom, and nearly gasped in surprise at what she saw.

The ceiling was crawling with man-sized bat Grimm.

"I've never seen bat Grimm before..." Xyra whispered, passing her camera to Orion.

"There's so many..." Azrael whispered, his hands shaking as he gripped his pistols tightly. Ms. Strob put a hand on his shoulder. "Brave heart, Mr. Marjorie. Fear will only attract their notice."

Cass merely rolled her eyes, but she maintained a ready stance, just waiting for things to go wrong. Xyra began jotting down notes in her notebook.

Discovered species of bat-like Grimm inside caves. Average size is between four and six feet tall, with a wingspan double that. Wings and feet both contain claws, mouth contains two large fangs on upper jaw. Suggested names: Batgrimm, Darkwing, Nightstrike

She put away her notebook, going for her camera. She didn't find it, but noticed that Orion was still using it to look at the Grimm. "Psst... Orion, take a picture!" She whispered. Orion dutifully took one picture, putting the camera around his neck.

"Take more than one!" She hissed, reaching for the camera. Ms. Strob suddenly appeared between them, silently beseeching them to be quiet. The noise from the Grimm had increased, and several sets of red eyes were visible as the bats looked around the cavern. Azrael decided to be helpful by snapping a few pictures himself.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten to turn the flash off.

The bright light illuminated the cave for a moment, sending the Grimm tumbling from the ceiling. Their departure awakened others, and soon scores of Grimm were dropping from the ceiling toward Team CAOX. Cass shouted in anger, activating her lights again. "Damn it, Azrael!"

Azrael dropped his camera and pulled his other pistol, firing wildly into the oncoming swarm. Orion moved to the front with Cass, hammer at the ready, while Xyra extended Painbrush to full size. Orion raised his left hand, and a translucent purple mesh appeared between the Grimm and the Team. Several Grimm collided with it, but it was malleable enough to survive, although Orion was tiring quickly. Other Grimm veered away, clumsily flapping to gain altitude. "Xyra! Now!" He shouted, dropping the shield and throwing himself to the floor.

Xyra stepped up, swinging Painbrush in a wide arc that threw red Dustpaint over the swarm of Darkwings. They sizzled and smoked, screeching in pain as they fell out of the air. Azrael kept firing, occasionally reducing a Grimm to mist, while Cass held the line. Her lights were the only source of light, though the light wavered as she kept punching bats.

Ms. Strob stepped up, and several explosions rang out from within the swarm, the shrapnel tearing wings and sending those that survived into a dive. "Come, students! We go!"

The team sprinted for a tunnel, while more bats swooped for them. Azrael turned and fired until his guns clicked empty. Just before he could be grabbed, he teleported back to the others, hitting the ground running and reloading.

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the cave, scaring the bat Grimm into fleeing. Xyra stopped, looking around in confusion. "What was that?!" Cass grabbed her arm, dragging her along. "Don't stop, go! Keep running!" The two kept going, though Xyra kept looking for the source of the roar.

She didn't have to look for long, as the Grimm soon made its entrance. Simian in appearance, the Grimm looked like a massive gorilla, but with two additional arms at its waist, a hard carapace on its back, and a head that was more beetle than ape, with compound eyes and large mandibles. It stood fully 35 feet tall, towering over the Huntsmen menacingly.

Cass was undeterred, and pushed Xyra forward as she turned to face the hulking behemoth. Orion came back to assist, with Azrael nervously following. Ms. Strob helped Xyra up, steering her toward the tunnel. "No! This beast is beyond any of you! Keep running!"

Cass didn't listen, charging electricity into her gauntlets. She looked the Grimm square in the eye, daring it to attack. It met her gaze, and its red eyes shifted to yellow. Cass suddenly felt afraid, that she wasn't strong enough, that she would fail, that this beast would kill her. Her knees shook, the lightning faded from her hands, and she took a step back.

Ms. Strob was in front of her in an instant, blocking her line of sight and shaking her. "I said GO! I will hold it off!" She gave Cass a shove, and Cass took off running for the tunnel. Xyra followed, Azrael wasted no time in teleporting away, and even Orion ran after a moment's hesitation.

The Grimm roared in anger, staring down Ms. Strob, but she seemed unfazed by its gaze. In an instant, two spotlights appeared on either side of her, shining bright light directly into the creature's face. It roared in pain and fury, charging the Huntress blindly.

Team CAOX reached the tunnel then, leaving their teacher to fight alone. The tunnel was barely large enough for Orion to fit, so they knew they'd be safe. Xyra grabbed Cass' arm, forcing everyone to stop. "Wait!"

Azrael looked around in a panic, eager to keep running. "What? You heard Strob, we have to go!" Cass shook her arm free from Xyra's grip, turning away from everyone else.

Xyra shook her head, hefting Painbrush into a ready position. "We can't just leave her back there! We have to help fight that... Umber Hulk! Cass, what happened back there? Its eyes shifted color, and you locked up."

Cass punched the wall, seething. "I don't wanna talk about it. That thing... it got in my head, or something. Must've been a hypnotic effect or something."

An explosion echoed from the cave, followed by the Umber Hulk roaring. Orion glanced back, gripping his hammer tightly. "Xyra is correct. We must go back." Xyra nodded, Cass scowled as she stepped forward, and Azrael shook his head. "Guys, come on! I can see daylight!"

Cass grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him close. "We're going back for Strob, got it? We're not leaving anyone behind." Azrael shrank under her glare, nodding meekly. Cass let him go, and the Team turned back toward the cavern, ready to help their teacher.

Ms. Strob came running into the tunnel, nearly colliding with Orion. She stopped in surprise, and the Team looked at her in confusion. She seemed unharmed, if out of breath. "Why are you still here? I said run! The exit is just up ahead! I did not kill it, I just held it off long enough to escape." She pushed past them, headed for the exit.

Azrael grinned smugly, happy to be right, but his grin vanished under Cass' withering glare. The team followed Strob toward the exit, the furious roars of the Umber Hulk fading into the distance as they left.

 

[Jauntier]

The devoted lovers, Navar and Tulile.

The princess-turned-huntress, Cole.

The team leader, Illias.

I N C T

P.001 →
Rage Against The System
Afternoon | FaunAc Mess Hall
​

Illias looked down at the metal tray he held before him. A handful of limp, oil-drenched french fries that stewed in a viscous glob of ketchup, a soggy mound of corn that was freshly uncanned and re-steamed, a hot slab of greyed red meat, and an unbranded pint carton of milk took to their own divisions on his plate. These were servings he was not unfamiliar with at the Academy, whose funding could barely afford to expend on mediocrity for the hundreds of its attendants. With a critical eye, his gaze lifted to the throngs of animals before him. They all were forced to intermingle, the greaters and the lessers, chattering, chiding, cheering, criticizing and commiserating together, a cacophony that swelled and rattled to the high rafters. And yet, even in the chaos, as the young, leering scorpion faunus slowly treaded through the yowling masses, his eyes gleaned that there was a natural order to which these animals he was to call peers instinctively adhered.

There was segregation amidst the zoo. The basic unit—as the institution of FaunAc tried to instill—was not the individual, but the team. A team was a group of four. Teams had a leader, and that leader was responsible for not just himself but his subordinates as well. At every table, it seemed that teammates were all huddled around each other, talking, laughing, nagging, shouting. Tables hosted more than one team, and on more than one occasion, there was a kind of association between groups. Those who were similar to each other gravitated toward each other. The fittest banded with the fittest and the struggling sought solace in the struggling. There was a social Darwinism here that was befitting for creatures with traits that were both human and beastly.

Someone bumped a bit too forcefully against his shoulder. A few slick kernels spilled from the tray. Illias' leer flicked to the corner of his eye as he reflexively grimaced.

"Whoa, sorry man," said the pedestrian. Catching sight of Illias' intense look of irritability and the aggressive snap of the pincer palps on his face, the culprit furrowed their brow before backing off. They turned away to a chorus of laughter and crooning interjections from a handful of witnesses at an adjacent table. Illias, ignoring the facetious spectators to the rest of the bustle and din around him, continued on, walking along the route he stepped daily. It was the shortest path among the askew and disorderly maze of tables to the one he was forced to call his own.

Unlike the other tables jam-packed with benched inhabitants, this one was nearly vacant of any bodies, save for three.

This table was voided for Team INCT, the asocial outcasts among outcasts, of which the institution appointed him the leader.

Illias quietly took his seat beside his least off-putting subordinate, a female Bee faunus named Collele, who preferred the nickname Cole. By comparison to the occasionally unnerving figures that sat across from him—the strong-nosed, three-armed creature with greasy, dreadlock-like scalp protrusions that would shudder on their own from time to time, and his bulging, dead-eyed mate, whose clamping arms she kept hidden under her tunics and whose exposed, small wings beat with a grating sound that always raked his nerves—Cole was far more relatable. He could at least look her in the eye as he turned to face her, his mere acknowledgement his greeting, though his presence was more pronouncedly noted by the other male at the table, who exclaimed:

"Illias! You agree with me, right? I'm not the only one thinking something's up here."

Thrown into the conversation and hardly settled, Illias cracked a toothy sneer, finding it patronizingly absurd that he hadn't even had the time to scoot to the edge of his bench yet, let alone know what this one was talking about. But the excitable faunus insisted he continue his nasal, one-sided diatribe.

"We haven't been given one good mission yet. I mean literally nothing. We've been sitting on our asses while teams like the tiger and the gorilla, even the hamster team is out there and getting missions to go out and mess up some Grimm. But what about us? They gave us that bogus 'lookout' job where we stood around for six hours staring off a cliff in case something maybe happened. When are we going to get our time in the limelight? No one's treating us seriously, not even the headmaster. I'm serious. They look at us and think we're weak and fraile, but they aren't even giving us a chance. Why? Because we're insects."

Illias wrinkled his nose at that last remark as he glanced off to the side, shaking his head.

"I'm not even an insect," he corrected matter-of-factly, tearing the plastic sheath from his packet of disposable utensils. There was no indignation or malice in his dry tone, but the statement itself could read otherwise. "And yet they appointed me leader of the team, saying 'our kind should stick together'."

"Exactly," the mosquito-nosed male said, slamming all three of his bony hands on the table. He nearly tipped over the jar of murky soup in front of him. With his aural, sensitive, hair-like flagellum presently tied back and bundled up in a durable head scarf, Navar could afford to make such a loud sound on his part—not to mention withstand the commotion around him. "They can't even tell us apart! They gave our leader position to an arachnid, lumping us all together! It's insulting. They don't even understand how you're not like us."

Following that particularly pointed remark came an obnoxiously loud fanning sound, its timing as if it just couldn't hold back any more. Illias turned his eyes over to the female beside the other insect, whose tik-tik wings she let out through the torn holes in the back of her tunic were a beating blur, as she wedged herself into the tirade and onto her interest's chest.

"Mozzie," she quietly protested, "We have to try not to let it get to us. We just have to be patient."

At the wavering sound of the fly's voice, Illias tuned them out. Any time Tulile tried to appease "Mozzie", as she so affectionately called Navar, the both of them end up in their own closed off conversation. It not only disinterested Illias but didn't involve him either. He instead returned to his boggy meal, picking at his corn with his plastic spork, combing it for long strands of blonde hairs that he has come to find appear in the school lunches nearly once a week in the kernel batches. Beside him, Cole toyed with her own lunch, dividing her overripe fruit salad via spork into like groups to entertain her methodical mind. She had glanced up momentarily at her teammates to tune them in, but after dubbing the insect couple's exchanges as mating talk and the arachnid as disinteresting, she returned to minding herself. Then she sneezed.

Her lunch was would have blown away if it wasn't for the thick, glutinous fluid that flung from her mouth and plastered it all down. Navar peeked her way as he talked to an imperturbable Tulile, but when he saw what it was, he dismissed it, familiar with the bee's spring allergies. Illias, on the other hand, peered out the corner of his eye to see the amber-colored mucoid coating splattered about. When he saw that she caught him staring, he quickly returned to his own business with a sniff.

Trying to take her mind off of her embarrassing incident, Cole looked off to the side and began surveying the bustling cafeteria, hoping to calm herself down by engaging in her hobby of organization. But after several attempts to pinpoint, categorize, and predict groups of faunus by their actions and associations, she realized that there was just too much havoc to systemize for herself. This place is such a mess, she thought. It's useless; there's no way I can keep up. But upon that thought, an idea formed. She hadn't used it after she had discovered the new ability during the team's private sparring practice last week, but this was perfect opportunity to engage it. Twenty drones should do it.

She deeply inhaled, and all subsequent exhales were timed to the clinking of her plastic cutlery against her tray. Bees began streaking out from behind her, her beelike abdomen doubling as her hive, and one by one they emerged and tabled themselves in front of their mistress, awaiting orders. She opened her eye while closing the other, and as her vision drastically compounded, saw herself in greyscale from twenty different slight perspectives. Her affected eye took on a drastically different appearance as well, as her pupil and iris were erased and in their stead were red lines which crossed to form hexagons, one hexagonal plane for each drone.

Cole just as quickly willed her servants to scour the ends of the mess hall. Through one feed, she could see lunch ladies quarreling against the students in their lunch lines. In another, she could see a group of faunus initiating in a rite of passage, with hands interlocked and elbows ground into the table. She saw faunus comparing the edges of their daggers, faunus engaged in mouth-to-mouth mating, something moving within a garbage can, and a pale-skinned faunus in dark shades, reclining at a table, wearing some fashionable clothes. That last one piqued her interest, so she willed the drone nearer him and began surveying he and his company. A short and pompous-looking faunus beside the target was yammering at the others around him, as a clear center of attention. There were yet two others beside the target who seemed to be an pair, though they gripped each other almost violently. The surveillance steadily drew nearer and nearer as she attempted to put the target into center frame, when suddenly the feed went black.

Fearing for the lives of her other drones, she commanded they all return to their queen. She blinked repeatedly as they made a beeline back up into her hive, counting each one. She counted nineteen drones, the last missing in action. After blinking her eyes until her vision normalized, she swept her eyes over the hall, looking for the table of the suspected culprit. Just as she turned her head in her search, a stout shadow had cast over her.

"Hey, honey," prodded the raspy, pitched voice. "I think you left something at our table."

Cole gulped. She never raised her eyes to her confronter, but she did peer over to her teammates for help.

Illias leered out of the edge of his eye at the sound of the patented gumption in the voice. His thick, densely-plated tail behind him was always deathly still, the poisoned tip poised over his head. In this moment it gave a twitch, breaking its self-discipline for a second as he watched the intruder make a show of what was in their hand.

This one standing there, in his short stature, was a well-known aggressor. Donning a fur coat that draped over his athletic shirt and the waist of his cargo shorts, one hand weaved into their slicked-back, ashen blonde hair as the other hand pinched between two slim fingers a bee. The guy, in all his shades of brown, stared on with light blue eyes as he squashed the bee against the table with his thumb.

"Keep your bugs out of our food," he said, an edge of irritability to his tone as he turned his back to them. His tapered, hairless tail whipped around and slapped the table, hard enough that Navar's bowl of soup tipped over and splashed up a little on Tulile and Illias, the boggy green liquid bleeding profusely all over.

Both Illias and Navar shot up from their seats, hands out as they stared in incredulity at the mess.

"Damn! What the hell's your problem?!" Navar shouted, glaring over to the fur-clad instigator. Illias grit his teeth as he glowered at the vermin across the table, whose ear twitched at the invitation.

"Why don't you clean it up with your nose or something, bloodsucker," was the biting retort.

Tulile glanced between the voices of Navar and the mouse faunus, her wings beating in agitation. She didn't know whether or not to imitate the same sudden motion Navar made as a statement of rebellious solidarity, or to utterly refrain. Cole, on the other hand, was fashioning the pieces of fruit in her lunch and the sticky residue of her sneeze into a little structure, attempting to keep herself removed and preoccupied. Her breath had began to labor and sweat beaded on her forehead. She was experiencing in late onset a fraction of the severe pain her fallen drone had felt through the dying link of her Semblance. Now, she just trying her hardest to distract herself from the tensions within and around her through her quirk for order.

A table over, it seemed an audience was forming, as there was laughter to the cue of the mouse's insult and the heads of animals turned to face them.

"Are you trying to get your ass handed to you?" The lanky teen swept his leg over and onto the bench, as if positioning himself for an easy leap forward, or a clumsy stumble to the side.

There were cooes coming from the tables nearby now. A crass voice in the crowd called out, "Just step on him, Geronimo!" At Illias' glance, he saw it was a girl with long, limp, tawny hair and a curious case of what looked like vitiligo. There was a guy with an arm around her, whose boisterous laughter, rodent-like ears, and horizontally-pupiled eyes were also of note.

Geronimo glanced over his shoulder back at INCT with a taunting look. "Listen, Bones," he began, deriding the gaunt and tweedy Navar, "I've killed Ursai Major. Get back to me when you finally get your first mission."

There was an eruption all around at the truthful dig, the onlooking audience encircling the scene had now spread. Heads were cocked, fingers were pointed, fists were up, eyes were hawkish. Illias stared over at Navar, knowing the jab would seriously get to him. As the appointed leader, he knew he had to do his part to diffuse the situation the mosquito was sure to escalate. Despite himself, he quickly reached out to try and touch his teammate on the arm in a gesture to hold back, but in just the same motion, Navar pulled away, poising himself on the bench before leaping off. The crowed jeered, banging on their tables, stamping their feet. No more shin-high barrier keeping Navar to the table, Tulile immediately erected herself from her seat in reaction to his dramatic movement, turning and calling after him with an urgent, "Mozzie, don't!" Navar, absorbed in his affected arrogance, acted no better than the howling mob around him. There was just something about the call of buckwhiling beasts that could suck in even pests.

Illias had hopped up onto his bench now and again onto the table in a crouch, his boots splashing up in the soupy mess and his heels catching the edge of his tray, making corn and ketchup fling against the back of his leggings. His sheer weight nearly caused the shoddy table to buckle if it wasn't for Cole holding down the other end, though now she tensed up and glared at him as her building of fruit toppled over.

"Navar!" The scorpion shouted, but it did no good. Navar had jumped up onto a narrowly empty space in the bench of another table, and as the spectators at his heels shouted and reeled, he stamped up onto the tabletop, not caring that his dirtied tennis shoes had mashed into the soggy mush of the heckler's school lunches. Now the beasts were shouting at him, shoving each other in their overcrowded seats, bleating inflammatory yet indistinguishable words at him.

"Shut up!" He uselessly shouted at the throngs beneath him, his three fists balled up in an outrage. "Just shut up! Team INCT is going to better than every single one of you dumb hapless animals, put together!" The table beneath him rattled and quaked. Some of the beasts were starting to stand up as they laughed, others booed. A soggy spray of corn assaulted him from the back, and then mounds of ketchup and fries impacted against his chest and splashed up on his chin. A slice of hot, greasy, re-fried pizza nicked him on the eye and smeared a trail of stinging cheese on him. Navar stood there as he was decked by a wave of fodder, but he didn't care. He withstood it, pointing his own bony fingers at the zoo and hollering, "Don't you forget it! And you!" His finger and attention finally fell upon the mouse, who was standing by the side all the while with a bemused smile. "You'll regret saying that," he cried, as hands finally reached out for him, tolerating his act no longer, hands like fetters clamping around his ankles, clawing at his pants, yanking at the hem of his baggy shirt, pulling him down, pushing him down as more and more of them stood up and leaned over the table's edge to drag him back down to his lowly level. "Team INC—Argh! Team IN—Get offa me! Get—!"

"Mozzie!" The little fly couldn't bare it any longer, and she charged toward the mob. Illias had to hand it to Navar though: he was passionate about the team.

"Illias,", Cole hollered at him from her seat, "Get off the tab—" sighed as she got up, gingerly moving her feet out of the pile of fruit on the ground.

"Team INCT!" Illias shouted as he lept, needing to assert that he wasn't letting them run wild by running wild with them.

Abandoned in the mayhem, the Queen Bee sighed as she slid off of her seat before kicking into gear. She bolted after him in pursuit, spurred on by a determined thought that maybe she could still stop this. Navar was too far gone, but if she could reign in Illias and Tulile from fighting, she hoped to end it all civilly.

In her rush into the pandemonium, time seemed to slow as she watched the battlefield around her. On the edges of the insurrection against the mosquito, the uproar was much more indiscriminate. Fauna were embracing their primal instincts, trashing up their tables and each other with an all-out food fight, some even digging up garbage from the trash cans to use as ammunition. Others took to turning their cursory enthusiasm into a more directly physical demonstration, grappling with each other to the ground, wrestling, some even sparring with hand-to-hand combat or a clashing of sporks or even blades. Tables were being rocked, beasts chased beasts, and many were scrambling along the floor for one reason or another, perhaps to find a shelter.

As a raw yam and a leg of chicken struck her sturdy leather chestplate, she couldn't help but remember that these were faunus accepted into a Hunter academy.

Obviously this establishment's definition of a good Hunter is very different from mine...

She was however, immediately brought back down to earth as a bowl of FaunAc's Special Cheesy Chilli® hit her smack dab on her fuzz-covered head.

Her eyes flicked about to find the dead faunus who threw the goop when she heard a familiar bellow:

"Touch my team and see—" Illias, in his mad dash, had caught up to Tulile, snatching her by the hand. "—What—" She looked back at him with those blank and swollen eyes of hers, her expression at first a shock, but when she felt the initial torque in his grip, she then knew and was ready. "—Happens!" With one powerful motion on the pivot of his heel, he swept her around him once before releasing her like a shot put throw, hurtling her over the crowd. Her little wings beat so that she could control the overshot arch of the launch, and as she soared over, she expelled a vile, choking, grit-colored fog, the trail dusting over the mob beneath, fanning out and settling upon the violent mass.

Now to the uproar of an audience which nearly spanned the entirety of the mess hall, Illias rushed in amidst the dawning smog and confusion. Stragglers on the outskirts of the action took for cover and cleaner air as they were far quicker to notice the poison that befell them. A tide of animals pushed out and away, but Cole was an exception. Upon witnessing her teammates' maneuver to her horror, she immediately ripped the sleeves off of her shirt, hastily knotting one end to the other, and tied it around her face, a filter to her nose and mouth. She wasn't resistant to Bane one bit, but her makeshift mask could stave it. Holding it to her face she began a more cautious approach into the heart of the chaos, breathing turned ragged once again.

Illias pushed through and into the real fray, and with the intent to swiftly uproot the uprising against his teammate—of whom was now utterly buried under livid, insatiable creatures—his tail worked quickly. Jabs nearly as fleet as the blink of an eye, the tip of his stinger punctured his prey in the soft tissue near their necks, in the precise point where the prey cries out as their body momentarily becomes completely subdued. Taking advantage of that moment, he grabbed them and pried them off of their victim, flinging them to the side, two, four, seven now falling in a matter of seconds, and for good measure they would remain there as his sting was laced with a fast-acting neurotoxin of a measurable potency.

"Navar," Illias choked out when he had finally cleared enough space to reach him. Tulile's Bane was affecting him too, and he tried to blink the irritation from his eye only to see the mosquito still pinned to the table under bodies, though Navar's third arm was free to beat back the dogged aggressors who had clambered up to wail on him. Through gritted teeth, the scorpion was about to make quick work of them with his tail when he felt the blow to his jaw. Stumbling back a step, he looked up with wild eyes as one of them stood before him on the table with the toe of her stiletto out. He had been kicked by the blonde snake girl from earlier, and she gave him an almost glassy stare before she drove the pointed toe into Navar's side.

The sound of his cry and the indignance of the blow made Illias lunge. "I'll kill yo—!" His violent threat was cut short with a sharp groan of pain. He had withstood the ache in his jaw, but something had chopped him in his lower spine and a vulnerable spot between the segments of his plated tail. The well-positioned strikes had him buckle immediately, and he fell to his knees before toppling over onto the grimy floor.

Looking up with bleary eyes into the fog and the bedlam, Illias saw the face of the mouse, his muzzle buried into and shielded by the crook of his arm.

"Wrong one," he warned, stepping back into the fog and out of focus. "You don't mess with my teammate."

This angered the scorpion. That was supposed to be his line. That was supposed to be his own defense, his own validation of leadership. Instead he was laying there, done in by a sneak attack while his loudmouthed underling was being thoroughly punished and a raging scream like Tulile's was barely audible in the absolute uproar.

The Bane was taking full effect now. Illias, laying there, grounded where the grit of the powder settled and collected, could hardly keep his eyes open as they frenetically batted the thick, burning particles away. He managed to catch in the distance despite the blur now of his tears the familiar silhouette of a queen bee, collapsing to her knees as figures flitted all around her, her hands to the sides of her head, the insectoid abdomen behind her raised and trembling.

But now, he was forced to clamp shut his eyes as tears streamed down to bleed out the pollutant. Silently, Illias was cursing himself, not able to withstand the tik-tik's Semblance as he felt should have. Faunus were ducking out of there now. The herd was trampling out, some of them stomping on him, tripping over him, some of them screaming something about choking, about a searing pain, about boils. But it was all too late now. The cafeteria was up in a riot. The animals were let out of their cages and despite being gassed, they did not desist. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Illias just let his mind wander. He had to take the reputation with the team, and his team was a mess.

He heard Cole scream before he met the sound of the second plague.






The four of them stood in a row, all dredged in a film of grainy soot and mashed food. Illias' hair was let out of his bun and splayed all over his face, covered in dirt, dabs of ketchup, and mushed corn. He had a bad bruise around his busted lip, all along the back of his leggings were mystery stains, and his bare arms were bumpy with a few puffy bee stings. Cole's shirt sleeves—having been torn off her arms—were now hanging raggedly around her neck. Her fuzzy hair was matted down with what seemed to be dried cheese and beans. A droplet of honey hung out of her mouth, suspended in place. She stared forward blankly, her mind a vortex of thoughts. Tulile's tunic was ripped at the back and torn from the neckline to the sleeve. She stood with a limp as it seemed she had taken some blows to the side of her leg, and her feet looked swollen from missteps in her open-toed sandals. She was holding hands with the worst of them: Navar. Besides stinking to high heaven with caked-on layers of food splatter all over his body and lodged chunks of lunches and sections of dead bees in his dreads, his clothes were ripped and torn almost to shreds. The skin you could see underneath the punctures and gaping holes in his clothing were badly bruised and bumpy with a couple stings. He could barely see out of his eyes as they were black, swollen shiners. His crooked nose was plugged with twists of tissue to stop the bleeding, and he was sipping air between two swollen, botched lips.

They all were present before an older, bearded man in a suit, whose most prominent feature were the twisting horns that protruded from his head. His eyes pupils were horizontal slats. The goat man sat in his upholstered chair, an elbow planted on the desk in front of him, his face nested in his hand.

The two parties stared at each other in silence for a time.

"Okay," the goat grumbled with thinly-veiled disdain. "Who wants to go first?"

Everyone made side glances at Illias, and he could feel their looks. The scorpion cracked a wry smile before biting his tongue as nasty thoughts collected in his head. When that second passed, he claimed the responsibility due him as the official leader.

"Headmaster Vicroc," he began, assuming a firm and grounded tone, "Team INCT requests yet again a mission that squarely challenges our unique capabilities."

The headmaster narrowed his eyes. "Is that what this is about? You incite a free-for-all in the dining hall because you can't wait for your turn on the mission roster?"

"Look at us," Illias raised, a grin spreading on his face. "We took on maybe fifty of our peers, and we're still standing. And yet teams who stood beside us the day we were all sworn into the Academy have had several missions against Grimm, while we have had only one mission and that was a stakeout. This is all in a month's time, too."

Headmaster Vicroc straightened his posture at that last remark, something he couldn't deny even if he wanted to.

"So," he brazenly continued, "Give my team a real fight."

All eyes left Illias and landed on Vicroc, who cleared his throat.

"Well then… I'm sure you'll be glad to hear about this event coming up."

Illias Ith | Scorpion | Male | Chitin Armor, Level 2: Bulletproof

Navar Mongrue | Mosquito | Male | Absorption, Level 2: Aura Drain

Colelle "Cole" Cab | Bee | Female | Hive Mind, Level 2: 20 Drones or 10 Workers

Tulile Capet | Fly | Female | Bane, Level 2: Toxic Fog and Weapon Infusion

 

[Foxrally]

Jairo Xill
Sahn Xill
Mira Cullous
Nel Phelia

Sasha Abramovich
Nakahiko Mitsuki
Artemis Gale
Paxton Vacik

Sullivan Kruxheart
Tenerus Stone
Liara Daphone
Lucinda Teras

Tenerus looked down with a sinking feeling as the noise of the shattering boulder, notified near every Death Stalker in the entire jungle. One of the forerunners of the pack dashed forward, swinging its pointed stinger down towards him, in his shock he hadn't been paying attention and a quick step back he barely managed to parry the blow as it hurtled down towards him. The impact knocked him back substantially but he'd survive, his eyes focused on the team of Faunus that had arrived, they were closer to the downwards slope than STLL had been and more deathstalkers were encroaching around them. He saw their leader, the owl faunus, he couldn't remember her name but he knew that that was what she was. He knew her from somewhere, somewhere in the past. Their eyes met.

"Ten! We have to get out of here now... quickly down a side path or something, we have to clear the area!" Sullivan was drawing his sword while quickly backpedaling, the other members of STLL were accompanying him. Tenerus furrowed his brow, it was true, they could easily escape and wait for things to calm down. They could abandon the other Faunus and save themselves, it would be the perfect bait and switch...

But Ten couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that.

"Head towards the top of the mountain. Now!" He glanced back at Mira and gave her an affirming nod, the type that informed the girl, that their business was far from concluded.

"Are you insane?! Those things will tear us apart! There's no way!" Liara sounded absolutely dumbfounded. Tenerus wondered if she was right, it was a huge risk to take... he doubted his team would follow him down the path he was choosing. Would it be better, he wondered, if he simply sent them away? Perhaps if he claimed to be completing the mission himself.

"I will follow Tenerus." Lucinda spoke softly as she turned from the rest and ran to his side. She was choosing to help him? Despite the obvious risk she chose to follow his orders to what was probably a massive tactical error? She glanced at him, her eyes sparkled as they ran, it was if she knew his every thought, as if she could tell exactly what he was thinking from his glance alone.
She nodded.

"Ahh, damn it all... To hell with it! I've gotten this far by trusting you, but if we die today I swear I'll kill you again!" Sullivan charged forward, turning to launch a quick sonic blast behind him, deterring the Death Stalker that was closest behind him. He fell in line with Ten, his eyes wild with fear... but his teeth grit together in an odd sort of determination.

"Alright leader... you'd better know what you're doing." He mumbled, grinning weakly at Ten through his uncertainty. Tenerus realized he was putting them all at risk, for what was essentially the lives of their enemies. Even under the guise of completing the mission he had expected them to turn and leave him behind. Yet here they were, Lucinda and Sullivan were beside him... and he heard the familiar gush of steam as Liara used her weapon to propel forward to join them. He had been taught his entire life that humans were selfish, that they only cared for themselves. Yet here they were. Standing beside him against impossible odds. His resolve was strengthened, his boots hit the ground just a little bit faster and his brow furrowed. They trusted him, even with an army of foes behind them, they trusted him. He wouldn't let them down.

Team JSMN watched as the opposing human team began their way to the mountain. "You heard the human. Everyone, move out! We need to leave this place as soon as possible!" Mira called out to Jairo, Sahn and Nel. "There's no other way out, so... we'll have to take the path they took."

"Are you spitting me right now?!" Jairo yelled, hopping on his sister's shoulders. There was absolutely no way he would consider associating with any humans of any kind, however peaceful. "That bloody insane human just tried to kill us!"

Mira shook her head. "They're not all humans. One of them isn't, at least."

Jairo raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wait, wha-"

"This isn't the time to dwell on this. Let's get moving - now." Sahn cut him off, addressing not only her brother but the entire team. Her point was further proven when the deafening sound of a death stalker shrieking from inside the jungle caused the four to clamp their hands over their ears.

"Wait!" Nel exclaimed as they began making their way up the mountain. She pointed at the busted crate behind them, whose lid was still half-screwed on. "What do we do about the crate? It's the entire reason we got sent out here, isn't it? It would be a shame to just let it get lost."

"Sahn, grab it and let's go!" Mira ordered, her voice shrill with urgency. It took the spider woman a few seconds to manage to lift it, but with a final wheeze she managed to carry the entire crate and its contents. Right at that moment, a giant, oversized claw appeared from behind the ledge, followed by an even more massive stinger. It didn't take another 'go' from Mira for the spider siblings to get out of the way - as the rest of the Death Stalker made its way onto the ledge.

As they ran, Jairo scrambled off of his sister's shoulder, and into the crate she had been carrying on her other shoulder. "First the birds..." he hissed, pulling out his violin. "...then the bloody bees...." He loaded a web canister into the weapon. "...and I'm about right done with this silk to deal with f***ing scorpions!" he spat as he fired the canister at the Grimm's claws. The web wrapped around them, effectively gluing them to each other and to the ground, and buying the four of them some time before the beast's hundreds of other friends come along.

"Good shot, Jairo! I suppose it's a Death Stucker now~" Nel chimed, flashing her four-armed teammate a thumbs-up as the latter considered shooting her next.

---------​

Four figures appeared from behind the foliage a short distance away. "Whoa, dudes, what's that over there?" Paxton exclaimed, gesturing towards the giant scorpions.

"Death stalkers," Artemis responded. "Let's do our best to steer clear."

"Nah, I mean what are they chasing?"

Artemis squinted, and realized that her teammate was correct. The horde of Grimm was indeed chasing after something. She couldn't exactly make out what it was, but one thing was clear. One of the figures dashing away from the death stalkers was carrying a large crate.

"They have a crate. Change of plans, our priority is to retrieve it. Let's get a move on." Artemis looked back at Sacha and Nakahiko. "Do you guys think you could give us a boost?"

Naka glanced at the distance between them and the mysterious figures. It was a distance he could handle... if he was a bit more confident of his semblance. But he wasn't. Sacha, however, gave a thumbs up with a smile. "Suuuuure we can, right Naka?"

"A-ah.. I'm not exactly sure if I can make a huge field just yet..." Naka mumbled, only for Sacha to wave it off.

"Come on, we can do it. Just do the thing we did earlier right?" She grinned, already using her semblance to (slightly) float in midair, and giving her teammates enough wind pressure to aid in boosting them to the grimm horde. "Plus we get to fight even moooore!"

"I-I'll help when we get there, Sash. I think you have things under control for now."

The girl in return rolled her eyes, again giving one signature shrug. "Alrighty~ But that field better be a good one. Like an invincibility one! Or something fun!" She snickered, already imaging the many possibilities that Naka could do with those fields... If only he wasn't so innocent. Oh well, she'll get to that point later. "But it has to be helpful. okay?"

He nodded.

Artemis made one final check, and then signaled Sacha. Giving the girl a hard look, she added-

"Please don't kill us."

"I'll try not to."

With that, Sacha's semblance flared, and sent SNAP shooting up the mountain, propelled by the wind.

---------​

Both of STLL and JSMN were making steady progress up the mountain. It wasn't too steep for the moment, but from what Nel could see, it got steeper further up top. "So, uh... Mira? Do we have a plan on how to get out?" she asked, turning to their team leader. Sahn and Jairo - the latter stopped firing momentarily to hear her answer - turned to her as well.

"I... I'm... I'm working on it!" Mira stuttered, clearly flustered by the sudden question and looks from her teammates. "Just keep moving forward, and keep those Grimm back! I'll think of something!"

"Yeah, piss off..." Jairo spat as he pointed his gun back in the direction of the group. "What I'm asking myself here is how long four bloody students can hold back a giant stampede of- gah!" he cried as Sahn stumbled and he almost fell off the crate - which now had a splatter-shaped mark on the metal outside. "What in the deep web just hit us?"

His question was answered as a second projectile flew past him and straight at Nel. "AAARGHH!" the latter screamed, clutching her arm where a small splatter of the substance hit her. The rest had been deflected by Mira's semblance and was now hovering in midair.

Mira's eyes quickly turned back to their normal color as the goo splashed to the ground. "Nel! Are you alright?" she asked, running over to her wounded teammate.

"Yeah... Just... burns a little..." Nel panted, clutching the injured arm. "I'll make it, doc. Spare yourself telling my wife and children I love them, eh?" she giggled, wincing in pain again a few moments later as she removed her hand from the wound. Mira sighed (in relief or exasperation, she couldn't tell) and turned back to where the corrosive substance had come from.

"THEY CAN SHOOT BACK NOW?!" Jairo screamed, looking at Nel and back at the Death Stalker who had now gotten free from its restraint. He patted his sides with his two extra arms, looking for a web canister. "Dammit, I'm all out of nets!"

"Wait, what? They didn't- gah!" Mira exclaimed as she barely managed to dodge another spit of acid from the Grimm. The stuff was apparently coming from an orifice in its tail. We were warned that we'd find different sort of Grimm here, but this... she thought. "We can't stay out in the open anymore if it can attack in range!" she called out. "We need to find cover before it can get up closeohcrapcrapcrapcrapCRAP!!"

All four faunus managed to get out of the way as the massive back and white scorpion leaped straight at them, causing the ground around it to tremble and crack as it landed. Sahn groaned and dropped the crate - and her brother along with it - to the ground and put on her spiked gloves. "Too late for that. Let's take it down."

"Holy hell, thought you'd never say it!" Jairo said, a wide grin suddenly appearing on his face. He jumped off the crate and onto his sister's shoulders before reloading his violin. "At least this place's got something more interesting then bloody fetch boy missions."

Mira pulled out her weapon from where it rested on her back. "Nel, can you still fight?"

The hawk girl grinned as she pulled out her razor rings. "Don't worry about me, I'm good to go!" She concentrated the air around her to her feet for a second. "Let's rock this thing!" Nel shot upwards using a blast of wind and landed swiftly onto the beast's back. "Not really sorry about this!" She said before stabbing her rings into two cracks between the death stalker's back armor plates. The scorpion slashed around in pain and rage, unable to hit the target that was on its back and instead going for Mira.

Mira grunted as she dodged the slash from the Grimm, and fired a blast from the tip of her spear straight at its face. "Aim for its eyes and stinger!" she called out. "And plug that hole where it's shooting its venom out of!"

"Yeah, yeah, got it! Sahn, go!" Jairo ordered before putting away his violin and pulling out his daggers.

"Grrah!" Sahn roared. She leaped towards the Grimm, aiming for the armor between its pincers before coming down with an audible crunch. Then, without warning, almost symbiotically, she grabbed Jairo and tossed him at the beast's stinger. The latter landed right on the stinger, barely managing to avoid a blast of corrosive poison as he flew towards it.

Mira's eyes flashed for a second as she raised her hand and the acid stopped right in its tracks. "Nel, get its attention for me!" she called out.

"Aye-aye, captain!" Nel replied, somersaulting off the Grimm's back and right beside Mira. "C'mere, big boy! I've got a present for ya…" she giggled and kneeled down. Closing one eye, she aimed her finger like a gun at its eyes, before firing a concentrated blast of air straight at them.

Meanwhile, Jairo had been doing his best clinging on to the Grimm's tail and he had finally gotten to the orifice where the acid was coming out of. "Can't believe I gotta do this- ptwah" he spat right onto the stinger, effectively clogging up the entrance. He flashed a signal to Sahn before falling backwards right onto his sister's shoulders.

The beast bellowed angrily, shifting its attention from Sahn to Nel – right before receiving a blast of its own medicine right to its face.

"It's off-balance now! Sahn, I'll boost you - tip it over!" Mira ordered.

With an audible grunt, the muscly spider woman took a step back. Suddenly feeling a rush of kinetic energy in the direction of the monster, she charged shoulderfirst into the Grimm. The beast stumbled and resisted, but a few moments later it rolled over; now a weakened, flailing heap with its unarmored underbelly exposed. Giving it no time to rest, Sahn and Nel jumped up before coming down onto the beast with their respective weapons, with Jairo and Mira making it sure it wouldn't get back up. A few more punches, slashes, bullets and blasts later, the grimm had dissolved into dust.

"Another one bites the dust!" Nel giggled and sheathed her rings. "Get it? Because, it turned into dust, so it-"

"Yes, we all understood that joke, Nel. It wasn't a good one. Sahn, grab the crate and let's keep moving!" Mira commanded and looked behind her. More death stalkers were coming their way, this time in the dozens. "More of them coming our way!"

Sahn nodded and threw her brother (who was currently having a mental aneurysm at the atrocity of Nel's joke) on her shoulder before picking up the crate and putting it on the other. Suddenly, four figures came flying up over the edge of the mountain, and landed in a tangled heap in front of the now-confused faunus team. One of the humans quickly picked herself up, and pointed right at Sahn.

"That crate. We're taking it."

A few seconds of silence passed as the four faunus looked at each other in confusion.

"Cool gun." Nel pointed out.

"Listen, we still don't know who you are, and we don't want to fight, but your team is there, so please leave." Mira said, pointing in the direction of STLL and looking back to the advancing horde of Grimm.

"NOW, horsehair. Jairo added, pointing his gun straight at Artemis' head.

The girl stood her ground, disregarding the spider-boy pointing a violin at her. "We're not with them. That crate is our mission though, so I'm afraid we're not leaving without it. She held up Grimmslayer for good measure.

"Well, it happens to be ours too." Mira said, slowly reaching behind her back for her spear at the sight of the gun.

"Well, uh... to be fair, there's one of you, and..." Nel took a moment to count JSMN's members, "...three and a half of us, so I don't think you're doing really well on the intimidating scale." she said, earning herself a deathly glare from her four-armed teammate.

"Funny you should say that..."

The voice came from a red-haired boy, who had just finally picked himself up off the ground, and walked over along with his two other teammates. "I'd say that numbers look pretty even to me. But then again, I was never any good at math."

The other girl chuckled, still on the process of brushing off the few specks of dirt on her hair. She looked better than the other guy, who held on to his hammer for dear life. "Don't worry Pax, you still know how to count." She unhooked her tonfas, aiming them at the faunus team. "So.."

Without warning, a loud shrieking sound echoed across the mountain. Both teams froze, mid-sentence, and looked to the source of the terrible noise. What they saw was not pleasant. An entire horde of death stalkers was rushing up the mountain, stingers glinting menacingly in the sunlight. They were outnumbered. Badly.

The hammer guy paled, and immediately scrambled behind his red-haired teammate. He gulped as he looked at the stingers, the team, and the stingers again. This was not going so well.

Sahn readjusted the crate (and her brother) on her shoulder and looked at the much shorter humans and faunus around her, then calmly turned around and continued her way up the mountain.

"Well, it was nice chatting with you, but I'm going with the big one. You two have fun with the scorpions." Nel said, winking at the two team leaders.

Artemis glared at the smug girl, who turned to continue her way up the mountain with her teammate. "This isn't over. SNAP, we'd better move as well. Don't lose sight of that crate."

Sacha saluted, shaking the petrified Naka off Pax. "Come on, buddy we gotta go and run. See? Run. We're not gonna fight.." She said bitterly as she hooked her tonfas back to their proper position. "We're gonna run like mad, and get that crate and run away again." She consoled, smiling when she saw her friend's breath calming down and slowly letting go of Pax' clothes that he was unknowingly holding on to.

"Y-yeah." He mumbled, "S-sorry. Let's go."

With the death stalkers quickly approaching, both the faunus and humans alike decided to make haste up the mountain.

A joint post of Foxrally, Deceptio, GreyBidoof and Infinite​

 

[Foxrally]

The Tourneys

Beacon​

This message is directed from Headmaster R. Lans to all currently enrolled students of Beacon Academy.

As you are aware, over the past week there has been talks about a particular event to which the school will be sending certain students. Allow me to confirm your suspicions. We have shortlisted a selection of particularly high-achieving and promising teams to attend something we will be calling the 'Tourney'. This will be taking place in a recently found training camp we have dubbed 'Island G', and will feature a week-long training regime where students will be allowed to train and spar against each other, and fight against creatures of Grimm in their natural environment.

Here is the list of approved teams (prone to change):

Team SHLD
Team GAIN
Team STLL
Team CAOX
Team SNAP

[the list goes on for a few more teams.]

All teams are required to confirm their attendance beforehand. Any inquiries, complaints, suggestions or other accomodations should be arranged with Miss Wynnecroft before the 15th of November.

FaunAc​

Dear students,

The Faunus Academy is proud to announce an event that we have been planning for many weeks. Following our recent missions to Island G, it has been decided that a week-long training camp will be conducted in that very location. We have named it the 'Tourney', as students will not only be able to fight Grimm in the wild, but also each other in organized sparring matches. However, only the teams the academy believes to be the most prominent and of high potential will be allowed to attend the Tourney. Thus, all selected teams will be considered elites in training, and spearheads for the revolution.

Here is the list of approved teams (prone to change):

Team INCT
Team LGHT
Team BROS
Team JSMN
Team LVLC

[the list goes on for a few more teams.]

Departure is on the 15th, do not be late. Any inquiries, complaints, suggestions or other accomodations related to the event can be taken to miss Carla found in office 42.

​

 

[Groc]

Oswald Carotene, Salazar Jones
Island G​

[h1][/h1]
Team BROS had arrived on Island G, free to hunt, train, and fight to their hearts' content. The professors had given students free reign on the island, but had cautioned them to stay with their teams. After they had picked a suitable campsite, Sal had volunteered to go find firewood (or food, fresh water, or whatever got him out of tent duty), leaving the others to set up camp. Ozzy didn't want to break the rules, and followed him after apologizing to Brooke and Reese.

Ozzy saw Sal up ahead, walking down a game trail of some sort. He could hear the babbling sound of a river nearby. "Sal, you really shouldn't go off on your own like that. Remember what Professor Bullrush said?" Ozzy easily caught up to Sal as the croc wandered through the trees.

Sal snorted, remembering the speech. "Yeah, I remember. 'You'll be using the buddy system! Always know where your buddy is, or they could get killed by the HORDES OF RAVENOUS GRIMM OUT THERE!' *pfft* Like anything out here could kill me."

"I don't know, that Faunus in the sewers might have been able to..." Ozzy muttered as he jumped over a fallen log.

Sal punched the log in half, the two pieces spinning away from him as he walked through the now vacant space. "You say something?"

"I said it would take something pretty tough to take you out." Ozzy replied, a little louder so Sal could hear him. He stopped abruptly as some bushes ahead of him started rustling. A jet-black deer stepped out, holding one foreleg off the ground as it moved. It looked hurt, but the bony white faceplate and red markings clearly indicated its true nature.

"A Grimm! And it's injured." Sal stepped forward, grinning darkly as he popped his knuckles in anticipation. A fight with Grimm was long overdue, and while a simple herbivore wouldn't pose much challenge, it would be a good warm-up. He charged forward, fist raised as he let loose a battle cry.

The deer turned as Sal rushed in, nimbly dodging and lashing out with the raised leg. Its hoof struck Sal in the chest, knocking him aside and leaving a shallow scratch along his scales. Pressing its advantage, it jumped forward and started raining blows on Sal's back, its hoof striking sparks on Sal's tougher back scales.

Ozzy quickly drew his shovel, loading shells into it as quickly as he could. He regretted not reloading it earlier, silently apologizing to Sal. Meanwhile, Sal was weathering the deer's assault, growling in anger and pain as it repeatedly struck his back. With a furious shout, he spun around and jumped to his feet, his metal hand closing around the offending limb while his left hand found the deer's throat. His attack caught the deer off guard, and managed to lift it off the ground for a moment.

Sal let go of the deer's throat, firing his Grappling Hand with enough force to drag the deer away. It hit the ground a distance away from him, and he sprung forward as he retracted the chain, flinging himself after the Grimm. He flipped around in midair, striking it feet first and sending both of them tumbling down a hill and into the river.

Ozzy ran to the top of the hill, frantically looking around for Sal. He couldn't see anything below the water's surface, but he had clearly heard the splash. Unfortunately for him, his keen ears picked up another sound: voices, getting closer. He panicked, leaping twenty feet straight up and into the safety of the foliage, scrabbling for a hold on a branch.

He waited silently, and after a moment he spotted the source of the voices: a pair of humans, coming from the opposite direction he and Sal had come. One was a long-haired male, wearing black shorts and a tie-dye shirt, and carrying a large gun connected via hose to a large tank on his back. The other was a female, her gray hair cut into a bob, wearing a simple purple dress and carrying a compound bow.

The boy looked around the area while the girl stood silently beside him. "Violet, are you sure it went this way? And was it even a Grimm? I only saw it for like, a second, man."

The girl, Violet, nodded, looking almost bored. She sounded bored, too. "Yes. It matches reports of a new type of Grimm called a Wounded Gazelle. So called because it feigns injury to lure in hunters. It can strike incredibly fast, and its 'injured' leg has a hoof as hard as diamond."

The boy adjusted his grip on his gun, looking around the area again. "Hard as diamonds? Far out, man. So... shouldn't we like, wait for the others or something?" Violet ignored him, looking at the ground.

"The earth around here has been disturbed recently. There was a fight. It started over there, then made its way to this hill and down toward the river. But something exerted a lot of force right here. It either landed heavily, or..." She slowly looked up, easily spotting Ozzy's blue clothes amid the green leaves. "Found you."

Ozzy dropped out of the tree, trying to stomp on Violet, but a blast of water knocked him aside. Violet glanced over at the boy, nodding once. "Thanks, Nyx."

Nyx aimed his gun, apparently a water cannon, at Ozzy. "Whoa, check out the rabbit ears, man! We got us a Faunus! I didn't know you guys actually lived in trees, man!" Ozzy shook his head to clear it, hoping Sal showed up soon. He didn't like his odds against two humans. His hands glowed green, and roots stretched up out of the ground to wrap around Nyx.

Surprised, Nyx flipped a switch on his gun, and a jet of water erupted from the bottom of his pack, sending him up into the air and away from Ozzy's roots. Violet pulled back her bowstring, and an arrow of ice formed from her fingers. She released the string, shooting the arrow at Ozzy. He barely managed to dodge, the arrow clipping his ear. Violet drew back her bow again, forming another arrow.

Ozzy turned to run, but Nyx landed in front of him, flipping the switch on his gun and pointing it at Ozzy. He pulled the trigger, blasting Ozzy with another water blast, sending him tumbling backwards. Violet released the arrow, but Ozzy used his momentum to keep rolling, dodging it. He rolled to his feet, desperate to escape. Nyx fired more water blasts, while Violet kept shooting ice arrows, forcing Ozzy to keep dodging. With attacks coming from two directions, all of his focus was on defense, leaving him with no room to attack.

A sharp series of beeps came from Nyx's water tank, and he glanced at Violet nervously. "Uh, Vi? I'm running low on water, here! Got any ideas?" She nodded, lowering her bow. "I have one." Her hands glowed white, and white fog started falling from her left hand. She raised her hand, projecting a blast of icy fog from her palm. The copious amounts of water on the ground froze over nearly instantly, causing Ozzy to slip as he tried to dodge the freezing fog. Violet dropped her hand, finally showing an emotion as she tried to catch her breath.

Nyx turned his gun on Ozzy, whose hands were already glowing green. As Nyx fired another water blast, a large pitcher plant sprouted from a nearby tree, catching the water. The force of the blast ripped the plant off the tree, sending it tumbling down the hill. At the same time, a pair of vines tried to grab Nyx's gun, but he moved forward with surprising grace, almost flowing like water himself. "Nice try, man, but you're not getting my gun!" He aimed at Ozzy, pulled the trigger...

...and a jet of water erupted from the bottom of his tank, sending him into the air and over Ozzy's head. In the confusion, he hadn't realized the vines' true goal: not to take the gun, but to activate the jetpack function. Ozzy had already turned his attention to Violet, confident his plan would work, and blasted her legs with his shotgun. Tired from her freezing fog trick, she hadn't had time to prepare another arrow, and the blast caught her off guard and knocked her off her feet.

Ozzy raised both hands, and a vine ripped itself free of a nearby tree, wrapping around Violet's throat and dragging her toward the tree. Nyx crashed down behind Ozzy, his pack making a repetitive alarm to signify it was empty. Ozzy turned slightly, holding a hand up to both humans, making another vine wrap around Nyx. He was panting for air, tired from all the dodging and effort his Semblance required, but he had won. "Wait until Sal sees this!"

Suddenly, there was a loud scream, and Ozzy fell to his knees in pain, his ears ringing. Another human girl stepped in front of him, this one wearing a yellow dress and pink pants, and frowned at him. "That's not very nice, what you're doing to my friends." She suddenly smiled, grabbing Ozzy by his rabbit ears. "But now that I'm here, the party can really start!"

A human male, wearing black pants and a red jacket, used his katana to slice the vine around Violet's neck. She fell to the ground, putting a hand to her throat. Without Ozzy's influence, the vines had no will, allowing Nyx to free himself. The four humans gathered in front of Ozzy, and the boy with the katana put the blade under Ozzy's chin, forcing the rabbit to look up at him. "I guess this isn't your lucky day, is it boy?"

To be continued... ​

 

[Khawill]

GAIN Goes on an Island Vacation!​

​

Gaige steps off first, shaking his head, "I can't believe you two convinced us to wear beach attire." He says disappointingly.

"Shut up you big old grump." I Lexa replies, behind him. "It's not a vacation like we thought, but I'm sure we'll be able to go to the beach."

"Come on Archer." Nina says to me, knocking on the bathroom door I had locked myself behind , "You look totally hot!"

"Hell no!" I yell back, "I'm going back to the school, I refuse to be seen in public like this."

"If you don't come out in three seconds, I'll break the door." Nina says. I can see her evil grin through her voice.

"You won't." I say, calling her bluff.

Three seconds later, the door is ripped of its hinges, and I stand exposed in a two piece bikini with a skirt. My body waxed and waterproof makeup caked on my face. Inserts fitted comfortably in my top. "Nina please!" I say, turning red and tearing up, "I look stupid."

"Oh come on Archer. You're even more attractive than I am, I'm jealous." Nina says with a giggle and a hug. "Nobody will even recognize you." I wipe my tears as she drags me out, "Have you gotten lighter?" She asks.

I stop abruptly, "What about my voice? Everyone will know…"

She thinks for a moment, "Just uh, pretend to be mute I guess?"

"That's insensitive…"

"You are such a baby." She replies, "Just don't say anything, I'll speak for you."

I sigh, "Whatever you say." My intuition tells me that she will only cause more trouble, but my pride is shattered entirely.

"You can trust me." She says with a pleasant, yet mischievous smile.

I breath in and we walk into the camp. People stare at us, none of them in swimsuits. "Why is everyone dressed for fighting?" I whisper nervously.

"Oh yeah, you were locked in there the whole time huh? Well turns out we were wrong, it isn't a vacation, it's a tournament." I look at her with a frown, "It's you're fault you didn't fact check us!" She says defensively.

I sigh, "I really don't like how people are staring at me." I say, "Are you sure they can't tell."

Nina laughs, "They probably just think you're super cute." I shutter, nervously clenching my fist. "Relax, are you trying to break my hand?"

"Let's just go to the tent, I want to change out of this."

"Er…" Nina says suspiciously, "I only uh, packed swimsuits and sundresses for us…"

My heart drops, and I feel my emotions well up, "Why though!?" I say, holding back tears.

"Well I bought a bunch of clothes I thought you would look cute in, and you were busy crying in the bathroom the day before we left, so I just uh, put them in." There's no guilt in her voice, and I begin to suspect she may be the devil.

"Why are you so evil." I ask, though before I get an answer we are stopped by the last person I expect to see, and my heart drops. My dad stands in front of me, and he is carrying a sleeping Miss Lull on his shoulder. I quickly hide behind Nina nervously as he looks at his with his stupid goofy grin.

"More students for the tournament!" He says boisterously, "You two are definitely dressed rather oddly for it though."

"Sorry to ask, but you look too old to be a teacher, so who are you?" Nina asks bluntly, "And why exactly are you carrying one of our teachers?"

He laughs his idiotic, bellowing laugh, "I'm the newest teacher, Professor Dad Ines! You can just call me Dad!"

Nina looks at him and grins wickedly, the last name falling into place in her mind, "Oh, are you Archer's father?" I grip her hand tightly and try to tug her away.

"You know my brave, intelligent, and almost as handsome as me son?!" He says excitedly, "Is he here? I haven't seen the lad in a while, he never writes or calls or anything!"

"Oh yeah, he's here alright." Nina laughs. I pull her arm.

Dad looks at me confused, "What's wrong lass? Am I scaring you?"

"Oh, don't mind her." Nina says, "She is incredibly shy."

"You look really familiar." He says to me, "Do I know you?"

I shake my head, and hide a little more behind Nina, who replies, "Her name is, uh Rachel, Archie for short." I grit my teeth, the name choice killing me on the inside.

"Hey that's what we used to call Archer when he was a little kiddo." Dad laughs. "And what is your name?"

"Nina Fiolet." She replies, "Nice to meet you Mr. Archer."

"No, no, no, just Dad. Mr. Archer was my father."

"Oh, okay, Mr. Dad." Nina says.

"Well I have to be off, they need us to check some things out. By you two!" He says leaving.

We go to the tent and I collapse. "Archie!?" I yell, "Why didn't you just leave it at Rachel?!"

Nina laughed, "Dude not even your own dad recognized you. Am I godlike with the makeover or what."

"Nothing about that was funny!" I say. Ilexa and Gaige are ignoring us, and both are reading the tournament rules.

"Dude is your dad's name really Dad? Cause that is totally lame."

"Yeah he's lame, I already know that, and yes his name is Dad. Stop ignoring my anger!"

"Relax Archie, he didn't recognize you." Nina replies, sitting next to her sister and laying her head on Ilexa's shoulder.

"You guys are just going to ignore this abuse?!" I say to Gaige and Ilexa.

"Sorry Archie, I am inclined to agree, you do make a pretty cute girl." Ilexa replies.

I look to Gaige, who just smiles at me, "You made the bet buddy, take solace in knowing that at least people think you're a pretty girl." He then goes back to reading the rules and brackets.

I curl up in my bed covers, "I'm going to die here." I whine.

Nina and Ilexa sit on my bed and pat my back, "Don't be so dramatic." Ilexa says, "I know what will cheer you up."

"The inevitable heat death of the universe?" I ask solemnly.

"No you idiot. Surfing!"

"I do like surfing." I mutter.

"Alright! Let's go!" Nina cheers.
​

 

[Groc]

Oswald Carotene, Salazar Jones
Island G​

[h1][/h1]
Sal tackled the Grimm, sending them both down the hill and toward the river. He took a deep breath, knowing that the fight would take place underwater. Luckily for him, he could hold his breath for over eight minutes with no problem. He doubted this Grimm deer could say the same.

They hit the water, their combined weight pulling them under as the current carried them downstream. The deer struggled, but it was clumsy and slow, allowing Sal to get it in a headlock as it flailed. He twisted his shoulders, wrenching the deer's head and spinning it around. He kept rolling, kicking off rocks and the riverbed to keep it disoriented, until it had no idea where it was anymore. It tried to scream (or growl, Sal wasn't sure), unable to hold its breath any longer. Sal kept his grip as the deer's struggles grew weaker, until it dissolved into black mist in his grip. He turned slowly, reorienting himself, and swam to the surface.

He was farther downstream than he had expected, but he made his way back to shore. As he climbed out, he removed his jacket, which was completely soaked. He heaved a sigh of annoyance, but hoped Ozzy wasn't too worried about him. Slinging his jacket over one shoulder, he made his way back upstream. When he arrived at the hill, he was greeted by a strange and worrying scene. Ozzy knelt on the ground, a human holding his ears while another held a katana to his throat.

Sal growled in anger, dropping his coat. These humans dared to threaten his friend? The one with the katana smirked, and his words made Sal freeze. "I guess this isn't your lucky day, is it boy?" The situation triggered something in Sal, reminding him of the worst day of his life...

~~~~

Spoiler:

Although he was only 16, Sal was still a full foot taller than his instructor Benny. But the rabbit Faunus had found Sal and taught him how to fight, so he had his respect. The pair were in human territory, investigating rumors of a metal man that the humans had recruited recently, undoubtedly some new type of armor.

They had tracked the metal man back to an old house, and had just finished dispatching the guards. Benny clapped a hand on Sal's shoulder, stopping him from charging at the door. "You ready for this, Sal? Sure you don't want a weapon or anything?"

Sal nodded, grinning as he held up his fists. "I got all I need right here. You sure those boomerangs will stop a metal man?"

Benny returned the grin, tossing a boomerang and catching it in his other hand. "Well, I've gotten lucky so far. Let's do this." He kicked down the door, startling a human who had been working on a gun inside. The man fell to the floor, and Benny quickly knocked him out with a thrown boomerang.

Another human stepped into the room, drawing a katana as he did. "Knight, present arms!" He called over his shoulder, and stepped aside as a metal human stiffly entered. "Intruders detected. Designation: Faunus. Exterminate."

"I'll handle the swordsman, you take out the Knight!" Benny said, stepping forward to intercept the human. Sal didn't need to be told twice, and rushed toward the Knight. He punched it in the jaw, which barely seemed to hurt it, taking a jab to the ribs for his trouble.

He took the hit, countering with another punch to the face, followed by a left hook to the torso. The Knight recoiled from the hits, but retaliated with another strong punch. For all Sal's strength and durability, this thing seemed just as tough. He rushed in, grabbing it around the waist and lifting it, but it smashed both hands on top of Sal's head, dazing him. He spun as he staggered, throwing the Knight to the floor. It slowly got back up, giving Sal a chance to recover.

Realizing he needed a new trick, Sal backed toward the door, taunting the Knight. It stepped forward, throwing a heavy punch at Sal's face, but he managed to grab its arm and pull it off balance, slamming the door on its arm. He kept a firm hold of it, slamming the door again and again until the arm broke off entirely, spitting sparks and leaking oil.

Sal shoved his way through the door, punching the Knight in the face again. He reeled back, his hands glowing sickly green, and punched it as hard as he could in the chest. His hand ripped through the metal plating, and he grabbed onto something inside and squeezed, crushing it in his grip. He tried to rip it out, but his hand got stuck.

Benny threw a boomerang at the swordsman, but he dodged it. The boomerang spun around in midair, coming back to strike the swordsman in the back of the head. With him dealt with, Benny turned to Sal, who was struggling to remove his hand from the Knight's chest. "Let me help you with that."

While Benny tried to rescue Sal, the human who had been tinkering with the gun earlier woke up. Taking stock of the situation, he staggered to his feet. "Knight, asset compromised! Initiate self-destruct!"

The Knight grabbed Sal's arm, holding him in place. "Core compromised. Self-destruct in... ten... nine..." It started counting down, and Benny whirled around and kicked the human in the face. He grabbed the fallen katana as Sal desperately tried to free himself, and the Knight kept counting. "Hold still, Sal!"

Sal froze, looking at Benny in disbelief. "Benny, wait!" Benny raised the katana. "Sorry. But this isn't your lucky day, mate." He swung the sword as hard as he could, cutting Sal's arm off just below the elbow. Sal fell to one knee, letting out a primal scream of pain. Benny dragged him back up, and Sal grabbed the Knight's severed arm as he rose.

"Two... one... commencing self-destruct." The Knight exploded, the shockwave sending Sal and Benny flying. They hit the ground hard, and Sal lost consciousness for a moment. When he came to, he was lying on his back, clutching the Knight's arm, and Benny lay dead at his side. He had tried to stand, but had fallen unconscious once again.

~~~~

Sal roared in fury, charging forward. He fired his Grappling Hand, clenched into a fist, and knocked the swordsman to the ground with a blow to the head.

"Redward!" The girl in pink cried in surprise and alarm. Nyx turned to face Sal, swinging his water cannon like a club. He hit Sal in the chest, but Sal either didn't notice or didn't care, and grabbed Nyx by the throat, lifting him above his head. Nyx gasped for air, but closed his eyes and swung his legs out, getting his feet on Sal's shoulder and taking the weight off his neck. Sal snarled as his hands started glowing, and he punched Nyx in the side until he fell limp in his grasp.

During this time, Ozzy had bolted, going back to recover his shovel. Violet drew back her bow, preparing three ice arrows as she tracked his movements. As soon as he stopped to grab his weapon, she fired, hitting him in the spine and legs with her arrows. He cried out in pain, the force of the impacts knocking him down. "Got you." A small smile spread across her face, until Nyx hit her.

Sal had thrown the unconscious human at his partner, then charged in. As Violet tried to sit up, Sal hit her in the face with his metal fist, knocking her back down. She groaned, so he hit her again, knocking her out. He shook with rage, but went to check on Ozzy.

Redward had gotten back up, recovering his katana. "Amber, stun him with a scream, then give him a Party Popper!" Amber saluted, the ran after Sal. Before he could reach Ozzy, she let loose a high-pitched scream that sent pain coursing through his head. He spun to face her, and she pulled back the string on a party favor, creating a small *pop* and showering Sal with confetti.

Redward conjured a ball of fire in his fist, throwing it at Sal while the croc was confused. The fire hit him in the chest, but all it did was annoy him and light some confetti on fire. Sal growled, taking a step forward, when the lit confetti exploded, setting off a chain reaction that made all the other pieces of confetti explode. As Sal was consumed in a cloud of smoke and fire, Amber turned and bowed to Redward.

"Confetti laced with magnesium and imbued with Fire Dust! Sure to kick off any party with a bang!" She laughed, until Sal reached out of the cloud of smoke and grabbed her by the head, throwing her into a nearby tree. The smoke cleared, revealing a singed and very angry crocodile.

Redward took a step back, surprised and a little scared. He quickly got over it, grinding his teeth in anger as his katana burst into flame. "How the hell are you still standing?! You're just one lousy animal!"

"An animal, am I? I'll show you just how much of an animal I can be!" Sal charged forward, roaring a battle cry. Not to be outdone, Redward shouted in fury as he ran at Sal, sword raised and ready to strike. He swung his sword down just as Sal threw a punch, katana and fist colliding. They held for a second, but Sal was stronger and his attack pushed Redward back.

Sal kept up his attacks, striking hard and fast with his metal hand, and it was all Redward could do to deflect his blows. He kept backing up, but Sal kept coming. Sal tried to shake things up, following a hard strike with a quick left jab, but Redward was fast enough to counter it, slicing Sal's fingers with the fiery blade. Sal recoiled from the hit, and Redward pressed his advantage.

Now it was Sal's turn to be pushed back, blocking Redward's sword strikes with his arms. His scales were hard enough to resist the sharp edge, but with his Aura running low, Sal was starting to hurt more and more, and his Grappling Hand was starting to dent.

"You bit off more than you could chew, Big Green! You and your rabbit friend aren't leaving this Island alive!" He dropped to one knee, thrusting his sword at Sal's stomach. The blade met some resistance, but managed to pierce Sal's hide. Redward grinned, sure of his victory.

Sal, his anger rekindled by the threat on Ozzy's life, let the blade pierce his belly as he stepped forward, burying the sword to its hilt. He threw himself on top of Redward, pinning him to the forest floor. Sal pinned Redward's arms to the ground, leaning in and chomping down on the human's neck. He rolled to the side, throwing Redward against a tree, tearing out his throat in the process. He swallowed the hunk of meat, watching the fire fade from Redward's eyes. "Crocodiles don't chew. I bit off just enough."

He lay back, breathing heavily from pain and exhaustion. His Aura was critically low, and there was still a sword in his gut. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a sharp pain came from the wound. He heard a dull thump, and tried to sit up. Ozzy forced him back down, then applied a cooling salve to the wound. Sal felt his stomach go numb as Ozzy's herbs started taking effect. "Ozzy... you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for defending me. Of course, I wouldn't have needed defending if you hadn't left me alone in the first place!" Ozzy kicked Sal in the leg, looking legitimately angry. The anger quickly evaporated, though, and he looked worried. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. And I shouldn't have kicked you, I mean, you just saved my life."

Sal chuckled weakly, clapping a hand on Ozzy's shoulder. "We'll make a fighter out of you one day, little man." Ozzy flinched as Sal clapped his shoulder, but shared in the laugh.

"Come on, we should head back. You need to rest and heal, and we're not safe here." Ozzy helped Sal stand, leading him back down the game trail toward camp.

 

[GreyBidoof]

Jairo Xill
Sahn Xill
Mira Cullous
Nel Phelia

Sasha Abramovich
Nakahiko Mitsuki
Artemis Gale
Paxton Vacik

Sullivan Kruxheart
Tenerus Stone
Liara Daphone
Lucinda Teras

As JSMN and SNAP continued to make their way up the mountain, so did the horde of Grimm - and at an alarmingly fast rate. STLL was had just reached the peak, ahead of them. Despite the contant barrage of bullets from Jairo, who was firing from atop the crate his sister was carrying, the horde didn't seem to slow down at all. A short distance away from the two teams, STLL was getting ready to place their beacon - which meant there was no more mountain left for them to climb.

"Crap! We're nearing the summit!" Mira said, looking back to the rapidly advancing Grimm.

Artemis emptied another clip into the approaching swarm. "Well, I don't suppose you had a plan, then? Or were you just planning on running up the mountain and getting killed?" Paxton, Nakahiko, and Sacha were trailing behind, with the former in the rear as usual, taking potshots at any Grimm who worked their way to the front.

"Listen, I know you won't like this, put if we want to get out of here alive we need to work together!" Mira replied.

"Dammit... As much as I hate to admit it, birdbrain's right. We're gettin' overwhelmed here!" Jairo called out.

As the two teams had nearly completed their climb, still firing away at the quickly-moving grimm, STLL had reached their objective. Liara quickly set the beacon down on the mountain, the beam of light pierced the sky like a glaive cutting through the shield of an enemy. The mission was complete... but what now? They were backed into a vertical corner. Nowhere to go but down... and down lead directly into the clutches of their enemies. Ten swung his sword in a defensive arc and held it outwards... the tip and blade gleamed under the light of the newly placed beacon. At his back, facing each cardinal direction upon the summit stood his team, each of them ready to fight until the end.

BTOOOM

All huntsmen - human and faunus - covered their ears, shell shocked by the massive shattering of rock that so suddenly came from below.

"GROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!"

It came so suddenly, its voice almost avian in nature, yet as it plunged into the air it let out the overwhelming white noise of a hiss that pounded the ear drums like a gong. Shards of rocks scattered outwards, raining on the ground... exploding outwards from the side of the mountain upon which Sullivan stood. Death Stalkers were flung haphazardly and uncaringly across the island. The force of the impact so strong that Tenerus turned his head with eyes wide... just in time to see a few land in the ocean and amidst the trees. Many of the Grimm near the top of the mountain began to run backwards in fear to the trees, only the few still near the bottom of the mound remained to attack the other teams.

Then they saw it. In response to the opposing predators crawling along the expanse of it's home, the mountain, something awakened, it burst out from the side of the mountain, completely destroying a quarter of the entire geological formation, it rose from the ground like a worm breaking from its neverending burrow to bask momentarily in the sunlight. A grimm at a scale that none of them had ever seen. It was huge, it's length surely at least half that of the mountains height, it's width easily multiplying the trunks of the jungle trees by five or six times. It was a serpent, yet near its head was a pair of black feathered wings... its face the image of some form of snake or perhaps an eel? Four blinding red eyes, an open maw filled with great white fangs... every other feature upon its black scaled head was obscured by an enormous white mask, signature of the Grimm. It snapped up three more Deathstalkers in its jaws and crushed them easily, their black juices overflowing its mouth as it soared upwards and threw the motionless Grimm into the air to swallow them in their near whole state.

All morsels worthy of its time were now further down the mountain and out of easy reach. All but the huntsmen teams.

"GROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Before any of them could react, the gargantuan monster whipped its tail around at the closest team, STLL, smashing the rock of the summit without any real accuracy or care. It was as if the beast was attempting to taunt them, toy with them. Sullivan jumped back before being immediately bombarded by the attack, but the force of the impact shifted the rock beneath his feet and sent him flying through the air, down over Tenerus' head, he reached out desperately for his friend, however his grasping hand was but a few inches too short. "Sully!" Tenerus cried however his voice was quickly overpowered by yet another sickeningly powerful roar.

The boy flew through the air, headed straight for the hard ground below. However, a cheery voice rung out out as the wind under him changed changed course, slowing his descent.

"Hey Pax, catch!"

Paxton looked up just in time to see Sullivan's form crashing into him, redirected by Sacha. As the two boys stumbled to their feet, groaning, they eyed each other warily.

"Man, do people think I'm some sorta pillow today?" Pax complained, dusting himself off.

Sullivan simply grunted and grabbed his sword, suddenly aware of the death stalkers that were beginning to get within reach.

Ten looked upon the faces of his other two team mates. Liara's expression was a painting of terror and even Lucinda, whom always kept her cool, had widened eyes and a quivering lip. He couldn't deny it in himself either, Tenerus was terrified. They had meddled with powers they could not control, upon that supposedly innocent island. They had stepped on toes they should have avoided, that they should have crossed the street at the sight of. Yet here they were... and what could they do about it now? Mustering every ounce of his courage, Tenerus took a step past his team mates... and positioned his sword in a familiar stance. His knees bent, his blade held in line with his head, pointed forward and poised to strike. "T-Tenerus?" Liara's voice was shaky. "You... we have to... run..." She was petrified, frozen in place... Tenerus grunted, trying to find the words. "If we run... it will catch us. You saw how fast it was."

Liara looked to the ground, gripping her weapons hilt in shaky hands. "I don't... I can't die yet I..." She trailed off and Tenerus looked back at her. Her expression gradually shifted from fear to shock as she looked upon him. He was smiling at her.

"Nobody is dying today... I won't let that happen. You're one of the most angry people I know Liara, I know it's scary but we can't falter now. We have to keep going until we can't anymore... the second we give in, the moment we let go... that's when we die."

Liara swung her sword around, her brow furrowed into an expression of pure rage, steam poured readily from her weapons vents and she let out an aggressive roar before screaming her oath and battle cry at the top of her lungs. "It'll take more than a pitiful flick of your oversized tail to scare us off! Why don't you stop messing around fat ass!" The beast gave no response, instead it eyed them curiously... hungrily, with the eyes of a predator.

Lucinda took a step forward beside Tenerus, her dual blade already extended to full length and held demurely at her sides. "I know we must deal with this, Tenerus... but we cannot leave Sully behind. He is a teammate."

"You're... right, Lucinda." Ten admitted. "We never leave a man behind. You go do your best back there, and keep the scorpions off of us." He watched as she nodded and slowly backed away to the other teams.

"What are guys even doing?" a voice suddenly yelled behind Ten and Liara. It was Nel, accompanied by Mira and Artemis. "Wasn't the plan to keep going and jump off?"

"Wh- what?" Liara asked, confused. "Can't you see the-"

"GROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" the beast roared as it smashed its tail tauntingly against the side of the mountain, threatening to topple the entire cliff this time. If they were going to make it out... they had to defeat it.

A joint post of Foxrally, Deceptio, GreyBidoof and Infinite​

 

[Fen-Fen]

Team LGHT and GAIN: A Fated Meeting

As the team camped out on the beach with Houari contemplatively looking at the sky, hoping to meet his own ends in this expedition, Tilki reading something and Grey catching some Zs, Lauren separated from her team to swim. Taking off her tank top and gym shorts, revealing a one piece swimsuit underneath, Lauren got a running start and dove into the water. She grinned as she effortlessly bounded through the water, to the astonishment of Tilki, who had never seen her swim before. For him, it reminded him of all the times that he had told a tale about fanciful creatures of yesteryear. Of course, it was all in hyperbole in Tilki's mind due to his predisposition for the over dramatic and an eccentric flair.

However, as Lauren swam a little further down the coast, about 200 ft from where the rest of her team was, she spied some other team who was surfing, apparently water aficionados like herself. Curious to as who they were, Lauren dove underwater and swam swiftly to their location, hopefully better able to see and hear them.

Archer sat on his board, trying to wash the makeup off, Nina laughed, "It'll stay on for at least three days."

Archer sighs, "Such a long time." He whined.

They sat for a moment, and Nina looked at him, "Hey Archer. How are you feeling?"

"Embarrassed, humiliated." He replied.

"I mean, do you feel better from our last mission?"

As Lauren swam underwater, about to resurface to say something to the team, a female voice uttered a name that made Lauren's blood freeze. "Archer." She paused, aghast about who the team could possible be. For the moment, she froze, unable to do much more than hold her breath in abatement and listen, experiencing the anger and pain that she had felt a few weeks prior.

"Oh." He said, looking at his board, "It still shakes me up, but at least I can talk about it."

"You know it wasn't your fault right?" Nina says, "There weren't a lot of choices."

"I thought a lot about ways we could've avoided it. I know for a fact that I could've done better, I should've taken more measures to keep you all safe."

"You're being too hard on yourself, and you aren't the one who called her out." Nina replied.

"I might as well have. They killed her on the spot Nina, I watched her blood spill in the room." Archer shuddered, the scene playing out in his nightmares every time he fell asleep.

After her pain reached a boiling point and being confronted with the people who certainly killed her aunt, Lauren resurfaced. Rocketing forward towards the team, aided by her waterbending, she was suddenly very close to the team, posture stiffened to strike from the water. Letting her presence be known, she shouted, "You!"

Archer watched as Gaige sprinted from the beach, summoning a full water dragon as he ran. The dragon swept Archer and Nina up, taking them to the beach before it dissipated. "Who is that?" Archer asked, though his team shrugged.

Swimming swiftly through the water, out to confront the team who were now on the shore, Lauren burst out of the water, sustaining momentum from jets of water that she had summoned and prepared for an attack consisting of large ocean waves, threatening to barrel down with crushing pressure and raw power.

By this point, Tilki, Houari, and Grey were alerted to the strange water activities to the east of them. They realized that Lauren was attacking something or someone. In a rush, Grey swiped Lauren's trident, slung it upon his shoulder alongside his own weapons while everyone else geared up. As the three prepared for whatever situation Lauren got into, the three of them worried that already they could be facing a fearsome Grimm that attacked from the water. As they got closer, however, they realized that their threat was another team.

"What a lousy time to get into a fight." Archer whined, as Nina and Ilexa pulled him and Gaige towards safety, behind a large boulder "I don't have my wings." He looked to his team to see if they had a similiar problem, but his jaw dropped as Gaige pulled his pistol from his beach bag, and Nina and Ilexa pulled the metal poles of the volleyball net.

"You should definitely be more prepared." Gaige laughed, tossing Archer his sword, "Lucky for you, I thought this might happen."

Archer caught his sword, "Okay guys, we need to move towards the cliffs, about 100 meters, we can use the rocks and height to break up the waves." The other three nodded, and began to sprint in that direction.

Ilexa looked at the assailant, "Hey is that a human?" She said to Nina.

"Yeah it is… I wonder if it's like one of Archer's evil ex girlfriends!"

As Lauren closed in on the group from the sea and the rest of LGHT closed in from the shore, Houari prepped a shot with his crossbow-rifle and fired it towards the group, sensing the immediacy as he got closer and realized that somehow, this was a human team that they were confronting. This further riled up the eagle Faunus as his burning hatred for humanity took hold and without warning, fired more shots directed at the team. Tilki fired some Dust blow darts from his pan flute, searing the ground with some flames while he prepped his Semblance for use.

Nina grabbed Archer's arm, and he felt his body endure a great pressure as things around him sped up. The world blurred to Archer and the wind threatened to tear his limbs off. As fast as it had started, it had ended, the two of them rolling into the cliff bottom, behind some rocks. Nina jumped up, "We broke the sound barrier!" She cheered as two explosive booms roared across the beach, blasting sand everywhere. And sent a wave that knocked us off our feet.

As fast as LGHT had been in dashing towards the human team, the supersonic sprint to the cliff bottom behind some tall rocks provided a buffer to the tall waves, also helped by the sonic booms slowing the waves down. As Lauren descended upon the shore, infuriated and overcome with the desire to get even with people involved in her aunt's death, she shouted at her team, "Guys, quick, concentrate fire behind those rocks, we got to nail these guys! We gotta make them pay!" She growled the last statement, feeling the anger seething from within herself. Lauren shouted at GAIN, cowering behind the rocks, "Show yourselves! How dare you run away after killing my aunt!" Spying the movements of the team, Lauren vaulted diagonally, sending more cannon-like blasts of water while tensing for any volleyed shots that might be returned

"Hey Archer, your ex looks pretty angry." Gaige says pointing to her.

Archer shakes his head, "No, she doesn't look familiar to me at all, though, do you think we should be more concerned about why they're trying to kill us?"

As a follow up to her water cannon shots, Lauren prepped her trident for a more concentrated water attack, aided by the power of water Dust imbued in the weapon. The irate dolphin Faunus charged forward. Thrusting the weapon forward towards her target, one of two twins on the team, the water conjured at the tip of her trident rocketed forward, becoming a superpowered extension of it..

Ilexa smiles and braced herself for the attack, digging her heels in and going into a swinging position. "Archer, I'm not sure what base you got with this girl, but I'm going to get a home run." She swings hard at the assailant.

The blow connected with the Faunus, knocking her off of her feet and propelling her backwards from the impact. As the blow connected, Lauren was knocked back into the direction of her team, soaring for about 55 meters before she tumbled onto Grey, who was able to absorb much of the impact without much harm to himself or Lauren due to his large size. The two quickly recovered as they paused to take stock of what was going on. The first to interject was Grey, who asked, "Lauren, what happened? We saw you from the beach with the water and-"

Lauren butted in without hearing much of his response, "No time to worry about that. Now, we need a plan to get these guys. These humans must pay for what they have done." The last line came as an uncharacteristic growl, boiling with anger that only seemed to be amplified when Lauren fought them.

Tilki then followed up with a question of his own: "What's this about something the humans have done? My my, those humans truly know how to put a damper on things."

Ilexa looked at her teammates "Dude, she's got a whole team."

"What are they doing?" Nina asked.

"They're just… talking." Ilexa replied, beginning to lift one of the massive stones out of the ground.

Their little chat was cut off, however, by the same twin who swung at Lauren lifting a giant stone out of the ground. The loud thud sound of the rock being lifted up immediately put the team on alert for what was sure to be a strike with it. Gray prepped his own weapons, a pair of dual pickaxes to break the stone apart while the rest of the team mentally strategized on how best to use their own semblances.

"Hey Nina, I'ma throw this rock at them." Ilexa laughed, flexing a bit as she showed off her strength.

"Yeah! Throw that rock!" Nina exclaimed with a cheer. Ilexa threw the rock and it landed just a few meters in front of them. "Oh, well, at least you tried!"

Ilexa grabbed her head and shook it, "Ugh, that's less distance than the cars." She groaned. Meanwhile Archer was dialing up to have his wings delivered to their coordinates.

"Hey guys, let's survive for like, three minutes." He said, "Nina, Ilexa, you two play offensive, Gaige and I will try to play defense." Nina and Ilexa fist bumped and began to sprint out from both sides of the boulder at incredible speeds.

Quickly recovering from the near miss with the boulder, the team barely had any more time to formulate a plan when they saw the pair of twins sprint towards them at incredible speed. Not nearly enough time to prep their semblances, the remaining three weaved to the side, prepping their weapons for when the twins materialized in front of them.

Nina reached the enemy group first, immediately jumping and using her momentum to do a downward kick the closest member of the enemy team. Ilexa arrived second, swinging her pole with an incredible strength at all of the members at once.

The person who was targeted by the kick, Gray, easily dodged the attack and swung a pickaxe towards her with the broad side, knocking her out of the way. The other three, however, were not so lucky, and were hit head on with the pole and were knocked away. Tilki and Houari scrambled to recover from a large blow while Lauren was on her feet once more, dashing to another team member in the direction of a guy with glasses. While Lauren took off towards the other teammate, Tilki used his flute to blow an electric Dust dart at the feet of the girl with the volleyball pole.

Ilexa and Nina regrouped, standing in the center and standing back to back, "Did you notice that they're faunus?" Ilexa asked. Nina nodded, and Ilexa lowered her voice so only Nina could hear her, "Let's just hold back then, all we need to do is give Archer time." They both planted their weapons in the sand.

"Alright." Nina said, "I'll take the dart guy, you get the other two." Without hesitation, and with perfect synergy they separated, Nina closing the distance with Tilki and grabbed him, "Sorry to do this." She said as she began to run as fast as she could while holding him. Ilexa took a more planted stance, raising her fists to both Gray and Houari in a defensive stance.

Archer and Gaige watched as Lauren approached, "Archer, get to the top of the cliff, and wait for your wings there." Gaige said. Archer nodded and began to climb as Gaige readied himself.

Just as Lauren approached Gaige, the dolphin Faunus spun went straight to striking with her trident. She thrusted the three points forward, acting as a triple pronged sword for the other combatant to deal with.

Gaige smiled as in a movement of his hand, a dragon from the sand appeared, absorbing the trident and beginning to suck Lauren's arm in.

Lauren grunted as she struggled to release her arm from the sand dragon's grasp. After struggling for a few moments to free it with physical force, she instead decided to blast the dragon with a blast of water with her other hand, melting the dragon away. She followed up the blast of water to the dragon with a whip-like tendril of water directed at Gaige, aiming to whip him to give Lauren some space.

The dragon reformed as Gaige moved quickly to dodge, "Interesting." He said, noticing her fin, "So you aren't some random assailants." A wicked grin spread across his face, "A faunus?" He asked her.

With a scowl and contempt for the boy in front of him, she growled, "What's it to ya? Less talk, more fighting." As the dragon reformed beside Gaige, she again drenched the dragon with water jets and while adopting a fighting stance, materialized a snake-like current of water, circling her arms around while she blasted it directly at Gaige.

Gaige motioned the dragon to block the attack, the sand and water falling as the dragon reforms, "No let's talk" Gaige said nonchalantly, "I find it interesting that you're targeting Archer like that… I wonder if you are in any way related to those other faunus a few weeks ago?"

The enraged dolphin Faunus shouted in response, "You murderers killed my aunt! She was trying to save our people, and you killed her for it!" The previous nuances of the death being failure of a plan rather than the direct actions of were lost on the now vengeful Faunus. She punctuated her response with another strike of her trident.

Gaige took amusement at the increasingly more aggressive and provoked attacks, easy to predict and filled with mistakes, "Murderers? Perhaps you heard the story wrong, only one of us killed your friend." Gaige laughed as he made a finger gun and pretended to shoot it, "It's pretty rich that you're so savagely trying to kill me, despite calling us murderers. Is this the true nature of faunus?"

His remarks were getting under Lauren's skin. She stopped attacking as she she replied, voice quivering slightly, "Who are you to say what the nature of faunus is? All you humans have done is belittle us, kill us, cramp us on some godforsaken rock in the middle of nowhere, and you're telling me I have no reason for vengeance?!"

"Oh? I'm sorry." Gaige said in a convincingly sympathetic tone, "I hadn't realized your life has been so hard, please, enact your vengeance." He spread his arms, exposing his chest, "Surely the lives of four can atone for the atrocities done to your people." Gaige grinned, "But it won't will it? Your kind will keep seeking vengeance until you erase each of us humans from the world, you aren't victims, you're monsters."

The grip on her trident tightened, and all the while Lauren felt conflicting feelings towards the dialogue that she had been engaged in. The raw, angry emotions wanted to just end him, to be done with the humans that have wronged her in the cruel injustices that led to her family being on Menagerie and her aunt's death. The enraging comments made towards her kind were particularly egregious to the side of her craving vengeance, causing her to make another hasty strike towards Gaige that was easily deflected.

However, the way in which her strikes were getting her nowhere fast caused a pause in the thought process of the distraught Faunus. Was the death of these four humans going to solve anything in the injustices suffered by her and countless others? This shakiness in her resolve manifested itself in the falter of the grip of her trident. Lauren had to do something quick if she stood any chance of ending this fight with her vengeance satisfied.

"Oh? Disarmed so easily?" Gaige said in a mocking voice, "Must be because you don't actually care about that faunus that was shot... or maybe you just lack resolve." Gaige laughed, "Is that it? Are you animals just driven by rage and emotions?" Gaige barred his teeth, "Savages."

That certainly did the trick in letting her resolve strengthen. In her fury, Lauren shouted, "You don't know anything about us, you loathsome son of a *****!" She stood back, using her waterbending to attack Gaige.

Gaige took the full attack, being slammed into a rock. He laughed as he leaned against it, "Maybe not, though I do know that you're not like us." He looked her in the eyes with a level of judgement and venom, "That hatred, that burning rage that you believe is justified, is exactly the same as what got your insignificant friend killed." Gaige passed out with a grin, the toll of his semblance weighing on him. Meanwhile, Archer reached the top of the cliff, the pod containing his wings landing shortly after. He quickly put them on.

Right on the heels of Gaige passing out of exhaustion, Lauren spied another of the team member adopting a set of wings to soar up to the cliff top. Hot on this person's trail, she used her waterbending to rocket her up there. When she got all the way up to the cliff top, she turned to face her opponent, seemingly female. She exclaimed to her new opponent, "Archer. You led your team to kill a Faunus very dear to me. And for that." She accentuated her remark with her trident outstretched, ready to take on another opponent. "You must pay!"

 

[dud190]

Team ZBRA

Zorox, Bradley, Rashad, Ariel

"Yo, Zorox! Why you feeling so down man? You always look down and I don't like that from you. You should cheer up!" Rashad said. Zorox and the rest of Team ZBRA were hiking along jagged terrain. They weren't really looking for anything much as they were waiting for something to come to them.

Zorox turned towards Rashad. "You don't seem to understand, which is crazy since I have told you many times. I don't like you guys. So stop talking to me or I will go crazy. The only way to prove to me that I would have a reason to not not like you, is through some extraordinary battle or something. Now please, go away." Zorox grumbled.

"Alright man, but you missing out on alot of fun. Right Bradley?" Rashad asked.

"Oh yea buddy. We're just having the bomb over here! You should join us sometime Zorox!" Bradley exclaimed. Behind him, Ariel tripped over a rock, but caught herself before she fell down. However, it still attracted the attention of the group.

"You gotta be careful there Ariel! We wouldn't want our medic needing medical assistance! Hahahaha!" Bradley said, laughing at his own joke.

"Ha ha. Funny." Rashad said, turning to Ariel. "You should really stop laggign so far behind and join us. It is fun up here!" he said, smiling.

"I'm fine..." Ariel murmured.

"Look." Zorox said sharply, pointing ahead. "There is a forest up ahead. Perfect spot for grimm to ambush us. Let us go before I get annoyed of all your talking." Zorox said sharply, before striding at a faster tempo. Bradley and Rashad looked at each other, shrugged, and jogged up to catch up with Zorox, with Ariel lagging behind.

As the members of Team ZBRA approached the forest, it was clear that the forest as going to contain something bad inside.

"Yo Zorox! Are you sure we should just barge right into pretty much what is home territory for the grimm?" Rashad asked.

"Yes. Now if any of you have any worth in yourselves, you are going to listen to me. When we get in there, we are going to walk until we get ambushed or until we get attacked or until we find them. When that happens, we are going to kite back, basically meaning we are going to attack and retreat at the same time, to try to get the grimm out of the forest, where we will have the upper hand. Understood?" Zorox asked.

"Alright, I suppose I should believe in you, for whatever reason. You are the leader, take us away!" Bradley said happily. So, the team of four stepped off of the ragged terrain they were on and into the forest, where light slowly slipped away from them.

The members of Team ZBRA could clearly hear the grimm. It was like a low moaning or a growling, except it was coming from all directions. It was clear that even though they weren't showing themselves, they didn't want Team ZBRA to be around.

Finally, the inevitable happened. A loud snarl is heard, and everyone looks to the right as a grimm lunges for the right-most member of the group, Rashad.

Thankfully, Rashad quickly pulls out his electricity cloak and shields himself. The grimm ran straight into the cloak and gets zapped, the grimm collapsing to the ground. Rashad summons a bolt of lightning from the sky towards the grimm, and it hits the grimm, effectively killing it.

However, that was just one. The grimm that live in the section of the forest that Team ZBRA were in have come and started to surround the group.

"Guys! Behind us! Bradley, help me get rid of this group behind us! Rashad, cover our back!" Zorox exclaimed, striding towards the group of about 5 grimm blocking their way out. Zorox brought out his frost blade and threw it at the nearest grimm. Frost seeped into the grimm, and his semblance (Frost Hurricane) activated around the grimm. The other grimm protecting the exit started lunging towards Zorox and Bradley, who was behind Zorox, rapidly firing arrows and using (Added strength) to add a slight knock-back effect to his arrows, which also slowed down the advance of the grimm.

Rashad, protecting the backs of Zorox and Bradley, had set up a wall of electricity to keep the grimm at bay. However, this was quickly draining Rashad's energy and the stall tactic couldn't be kept up much longer. However, in the middle of the entire group, Ariel started noticing Rashad's struggles and used her semblance (Strength of Spirit) to gradually keep up Rashad's energy and let him keep up this wall of electricity.

Zorox had decided that it was time to break through the wall of grimm.
"Bradley, I'm charging in! Protect me!" Zorox yelled. The five grimm were still standing. However, they were still charging, even though weakened, and Zorox needed to meet them head on. He charged towards the one he threw the dagger at. The dagger itself became dislodged from the creature and as Zorox was running, flew towards Zorox. He met up with his dagger a split second before the nearest grimm was about to pounce on him. The grimm dove towards Zorox's face, who quickly ducked as the creature started flying above his body. He grabbed hold of his dagger and stabbed it straight up, impacting the grimm with frost as Zorox rolled to avoid the grimm crushing his face from the creature's fall.
Bradley was still behind Zorox, firing off his knockback-empowered arrows at any grimm that got in the way. He managed to kill one that happened to be stuck in Zorox's frost hurricane for an unusually long time. There were three left guarding the exit, but the knock-back was draining himself as well.
"Ariel! I need some assistance!" he yelled out.

Rashad, who has started temporarily spawning lightning to keep the grimm away who try to come around the side and attack them, heard the cry for help. Ariel looked at Rashad expectantly.
"Go help him! I'll be fine!" Rashad yelled. So Ariel rushed towards Bradley, and her (Strength of Spirit) gave him the energy to keep the grimm away from Zorox for a longer time.

Unfortunately, Team ZBRA wasn't invincible. A grimm managed to sneak behind another grimm to avoid knock-back and lunged at the Zorox on the ground. The creature started sinking his teeth into Zorox's right shoulder. He cried out in pain, and a split-second later the creature was pushed off by Bradley's knock-back arrow. Ariel, seeing his pain, quickly ran up to Zorox, despite the danger in doing so.

Ariel got out a jug of water. She forced Zorox to drink some, then poured some on the wound and wrapped it around the shoulder.
"Apply pressure if you can." she said. Ariel then started applying some (Strength of Spirit) into Zorox too to speed up his healing. Ariel then ran back towards the main group.

Zorox, feeling much better very quickly(but not completely) picked up his frost dagger and threw it at the grimm that took a bite of his shoulder. An arrow to the head almost finished off the grimm, but didn't and instead the frost hurricane around the dagger did. There were two left guarding the exit.

Bradley now had something to worry about. He heard a snarl, and looked to his right. A huge grimm started lunging at Bradley. He froze in terror as the massive beast aimed for Bradley's head. It would've taken it off too, if it weren't for the quick actions of Rashad. Also hearing the snarl, turned and quickly threw his electric cloak in the path of the grimm, effectively stopping it in its path. Bradley fired multiple arrows into the grimm to assure its death, then resumed helping Zorox.

Zorox, going mad, reached for his frost dagger and grabbed it out of the air, and slashing it to the right, getting a direct impact on a grimm that Bradley had missed an arrow on. Frost sunk into the creature, and Zorox kept stabbing it over and over again to assure its death, despite no frost in the blade. There was now only one left, and it almost took a chunk of Zorox's head off, but Bradley's arrow pushed the creature back. It was still alive, however.

Rashad, panting, comes running towards Bradley. A pack of grimm trail him.
"I... I ran out of energy! We're screwed!" Rashad exclaimed.
"No we're not!" Ariel replied, giving Rashad some strength of spirit. Ariel was about to faint soon. She couldn't handle the giving of any more energy. "Go!" she said. "Another wall, jsut for a few seconds!" So Rashad turned back towards the pack of grimm, and used every ounce of his strength to summon another electric wall. A few grimm ran into the wall.

Zorox quickly searched for the last grimm. They both saw each other at the same time, and charged. Right when they were about to meet, however, Zorox quickly side-stepped and stabbed the beast with his frost dagger. An arrow and another stab got rid of the grimm. Zorox, now free of grimm, looked behind and saw the moment at which the electric wall dissipated.

"Come on! To the exit!" Zorox exclaimed. Team ZBRA started running towards the exit of the forest, with Bradley periodically turning and firing an arrow. At last, they made it out. But the troubles were not over yet. Three grimm took the chance outside of their forest to attack Team ZBRA.

"We've gone so far! Let's show these beasts what we're made of!" Bradley shouted. The three beasts charged at the same time. Ariel, with the last ounce of her energy, gave (Strength of Spirit) to Rashad, then fainted immediately. Rashad, to protect his friends, put up one last electric wall, and then also fainted. The three grimm ran into the wall, and Zorox and Bradley stabbed and shot each grimm multiple times while they were disabled. Finally, all the grimm that were threatening them were gone.

Team ZBRA. Zorox, Bradley, Rashad, Ariel.

 

[Orx of Twinleaf]

Team FEAR
(condensed for reduction of clutter and broken in the middle for your convenience)

Spoiler:

"For that is the way that things are, and that's just how it'll always be," Fajio finished, leading the quartet deeper into the woods, his arms swinging limply as his feet dragged like metal hooves.

"Heheheh," cackled the leather-bound tattooed punk in the rear, his pointed teeth in a wide shark's grin, "that made so little sense it has to be true, hahahaha!" Rimer stroked the blade of his chainsaw, giggling and muttering something to it.

Ignoring Rimer's less-than-necessary feedback, the tall wall of muscle behind Fajio nodded his bearded, bald head in silent agreement, his abnormally bright combination of orange wife-beater and white skinny jeans giving him the feeling of some sort of overly-colorful imaginary friend following behind the hooded blue-clad Fajio. Azoo scratched absently at his huge biceps: he had already heard this particular monologue several times before.

The girl uncomfortably stuck in line between the silent Azoo and the remarkably unsilent Rimer brushed her long blonde pigtails away from where the wind was catching them against the zippers on her kneeboots. The annoyance in Evegy's voice translated clearly through the pink handkerchief pulled up around her mouth. "What does that have anything to do with the Grimm?"

Azoo shook his head good-naturedly and Rimer only continued his alternating laughing and conversing with his chainsaw. Fajio chuckled, himself: the sound like if a great metal golem choked on a fork as it came through his metal muzzle. He looked over his shoulder with an eyeless stare through wraparound shades coming past the side of Azoo's blindingly bright orange shirt. "Oh, my dear, weren't you listening? It has everything to do with the Grimm."

Evegy rolled her eyes and straightened her pink miniskirt some more. "Whatever, Rectum. You're all just a bunch of lunatics."

Not missing a beat, Fajio turned back around, waving a shackled hand dismissively. "Oh, my dear Evegy, what would that make you, then?" He chuckled again, Rimer's low muttering cackle having at this point become just as unimportant and secondary as the sounds of the bugs and birds of the forest around them. He went on before Evegy could say anything else. "You needn't be so pouty, my dear, it's as much your fault as any of ours that we didn't get to go along to that free-for-all combat orgy all the other teams seem to have been invited to. We'll just have to step up our game, is all."

Evegy stamped her foot incredulously. "You're the one who can't fight Grimm!"

Rimer didn't even look up when she stopped, and just walked around her, still muttering to his chainsaw. He did stop, though, when Fajio stopped walking and turned to face Evegy. Azoo and Rimer both turned as well and backed to either side of their covered coordinator, forming a nice little circle for them all to chat. Or rather, for Azoo and Rimer to watch Evegy and Fajio go back and forth at each other until either Fajio satisfied himself with a properly outrageous retort or Evegy got too flustered to face the faceless menace.

Fajio cocked his head at the girl, the movement making his hood shift around his mask in an admittedly discomforting way, his eyeless stare looking everywhere and nowhere. "Whatever do you mean by that, my dear? I can fight Grimm as well as, say, a wounded kitten. Or perhaps a three-legged puppy."

Rimer fell into a less-ignorable fit of laughing and Azoo raised his brows thoughtfully. Evegy crossed her arms over her baby blue blouse. "Ugh whatever Rectum, I'm not in the mood for this right now."

She pushed past him and continued deeper into the forest. Rimer said something low to his chainsaw, grinning ear to ear. Azoo looked at Fajio and shrugged. Fajio snorted before leading his minions after the girl and gracing the forest again with his metal, rumbling voice. "To be perfectly honest, it is much better to not have been dragged to that silly tourney, I must say," he said, not caring that Evegy was ignoring him and Rimer was only half-listening. "It seems far too fishy, you know. Something's up on that island, mark my words. Some manner of twisted experiment, I'm sure, they've probably found some sort of horrible Grimm they need info on so they're going to throw a bunch of students at it and see what it does. Pfah, sometimes I wonder who the real monsters are. Perhaps, even, they've got a bunch of trapped Faunus over there and are using them as training dummies for the advanced students. Oh, how deliciously terrible that would be! And I wouldn't put it past those teachers either, why—"

"Ugh," Evegy interrupted, having stopped at a rather nice clearing and waiting for the boys to catch up. "Can't you just shut up? Now come on, just tell us what we're doing out here."

Fajio stopped and looked around the clearing as Azoo and Rimer came in behind him ready to hear the plan. Fajio cleared his throat. "Well, fellows, while our peers are off being indoctrinated into the flawed elitist system of human defense-against-the-dark-things, we had might as well make the most of their freed-up prowling grounds and hunt their quarries in their absence!"

Azoo nodded in understanding but Rimer didn't seem to have been listening and Evegy said "In English, Rectum."

Fajio heaved a sigh that came through his muzzle with a sound like a rusting robot siphoning exhaust. "We're going to get some practice in against the Grimm that are usually handled by the advanced hunters that have been pulled for the tourney. If we tear enough of them apart maybe I'll be able to find a way to be more than just a supervisor against the things. Remind me again, Rimer, what is that thing you always say?"

Rimer smiled wide enough to show off that even his molars had been sharpened to a small degree. "Heheheh, 'There's no better weapon polish than blood'?"

Fajio rubbed his mask. "No, Rimer, the other thing. About luring Grimm?"

"Oh! Hahahahaha! Haha! You mean, 'There's no better way to find a Grimm than to hang with a depressed weakling'?"

"Yes, yes, that's it, thank you. I make no false assumptions as per my ability: I know I'm the weak link. Nothing but a juicy morsel for a wandering Grimm, I'm sure, although I wouldn't consider myself depressed, really. Quite certain that whatever I do have floating around in my skull probably qualifies as a 'negative feeling,' though, so I should be perfect bait."

"Really?" Evegy said snappishly. "You expect to be able to bait Grimm out of the trees so we can kill them? What makes you think that would work?"

Fajio stood up straight, adding an unexpected four more inches to his height and allowing him to look down at the girl like some inhuman lurker, taking slow deliberate steps toward her. "Miss Evegy," he said with a cold tone that shut up Rimer's laughing and made Azoo look at him hard. "Do you not trust the leader of the only team that hasn't shown such abyssal synergy with you as to warrant your expulsion from the group? Do you perhaps doubt my knowledge on manipulation despite what I do? Do you require a reminder of what it is I do, my dear Evegy?"

She looked up at him terrified; he had come within only a few inches of her face, now. Rimer was stroking his chainsaw and nervously averting his eyes while Azoo watched the scene with a growing intensity on his face. Evegy breathed again and Azoo loosened up when Fajio turned away from the girl. Rimer laughed humorlessly to himself. The bugs and birds of the forest continued unabated.

"Grimm are attracted to negative feelings," Fajio went on as if he hadn't just threatened his teammate, "and they sense the world around them primarily through sight and sound. Our little group has some seriously messed up heads: the Grimm will know something is here and will come to look into it. These are Grimm who live close to the city, though, and who encounter huntsmen often. They will not leap on any of you just to be splattered. None of them worth killing will, anyway. Azoo is too big, and Rimer and Evegy, you two are quite visibly armed." At this Rimer stroked his chainsaw lovingly and Evegy involuntarily clutched at her sheathed scimitar.

"I, however," Fajio said as he moved to the middle of the clearing and began lowering himself onto the ground, "am neither armed nor particularly built. These weights on my limbs make me weak and slow, and the Grimm will see that. I will lie here in the open and make plenty of noise while you three remain in the cover of the bushes, or in the trees or whathaveyou. The Grimm will feel our combined negativity but as they draw near will only detect me. I will bait them in and you all can tear them to bits. Preferably before they do so to me."

He was on the ground spread-eagle now, and he turned his head to address the rest of Team FEAR. "Find yourselves some place to hide now, fellows. Azoo, you should hide near Evegy. She won't cry in front of anyone, so if you're watching her she won't be up there making noise."

Evegy opened her mouth to say something but Azoo put a big hand on her shoulder and shook his head. She threw a nasty look at the ground before leaping upward into the trees. Azoo nodded at Fajio before following suit.

Rimer was backing into some bushes and grabbing the starter on his chainsaw when Fajio called to him. "Rimer, this plan would be quite ineffective if you started your Gut-Grinder prematurely, I'm sure you know."

Rimer let go of the starter and laughed guiltily. "Hahahah, right, right. Quiet, right, haha." He ducked into bushes, his undercurrent of laughter stopping immediately.

After a moment to allow his team to get properly settled, Fajio began flailing about lazily as if he was trying to decide between making a snow angel in the underbrush and pretending to have a seizure. "Oh, woe is me!" he yelled melodramatically. "I would seem to have fallen, and no matter what I do I simply cannot get up! Oh, I do hope no Grimm are nearby, I'm just so defenseless!"

Evegy facepalmed. "This has gotta be the dumbest idea we've had yet."

Azoo looked and raised his eyebrow at her.

She hissed out a sigh. "Oh, this is easily dumber than putting Rimer in a bear suit to see if the Grimm would leave him alone. He was still carrying his chainsaw!"

"Oh," came Fajio's voice, now, "and now I am hearing voices in the trees! I must be quite delusional to think anyone could be making noise up there. Especially if they were hypothetically supposed to be quiet! Why, I must be hearing things, how vulnerable I am right now!"

Evegy rolled her eyes and shut up.

Are you hungry as a Grimm, right now? Try Beowulf Bites, the only packaged snack of cheese and bacon wrapped in a crispy chocolate-coated case! Beowulf Bites, now in barbecued pulled pork and beef jerky flavors!

Spoiler:

Ten minutes later and Fajio was still going strong, his voice like a lawnmower over the more enjoyable noises of the forest. "Alas, will no one come to help me? It would seem I am quite alone, oh how horrible! Whatever am I to do should a Grimm come upon me, now?"

Azoo had been watching from the tree with unshakable interest, but Evegy had taken to playing with her hair in boredom. Meanwhile in the bushes below Rimer had fallen asleep, his mouth open to any manner of bug that mistook it for a hollow.

Abruptly, Fajio rolled onto his stomach and started struggling to his feet. "Alright, I have determined that this area has been most expertly cleared of all Grimm. A safer neck of the woods I'd—"

A large Grimm some six feet high and wolf-like shot into the clearing and closed wicked bony teeth on Fajio's forearm, jerking him sideways. Luckily, it had bitten into his metal shackle and not his arm proper. Unluckily, it was now shaking Fajio in much the same manner a small dog might shake its favorite toy.

"Some assistance," Fajio rattled out, "would be the peak of amazing, right now!"

"Coconut Fall!" came the booming voice of Azoo as he plummeted from the trees, fists forward like a great, muscular, well, coconut. He crashed into the side of the Grimm's face, staggering it backwards and leaving Fajio to fall like a weighted rag into the dirt.

"I know you said your Wang-Bang Kazang requires you to call out your attacks and I'm grateful of the reminder that you do actually know how to talk, but Coconut Fall?"

Azoo ignored him as four pairs of orange phantom arms emerged around his actual ones as he activated his Semblance. The Grimm stood opposite him, snarling at the new challenger and flexing hooked claws, its hulking body just as top-heavy as Azoo's, and they were of similar height, so it was making out to be quite an enjoyable scene.

And then Evegy had to ruin it by covering them both in a cloud of black with her own Semblance as she dropped down next to Fajio, her scimitar, the New Moon, drawn and ready. "For as long as we had to wait, Rectum, I was kind of hoping for something bigger."

Fajio got up as Azoo's voice came through the cloud with a loud "Azoo Rah Rah Rah Rah-Rah-Rah—" continuing on and on with increasing speed. Fajio looked at his shackle, unhappy to see that the soft lead had deep gouges in it. He really would have to see about having it cased in something harder. "Do be patient, my dear, you know most of the big ones have probably already been taken out by our peers."

The cloud passed on to reveal Azoo's arms hammering uselessly at an astonishing speed into the bone-encased forearms of the defending Grimm. Azoo stopped and took a step back, his extra arms flexing in preparation for another go.

Just then a mechanical roaring tore from the bushes as Rimer finally woke up and started the Gut-Grinder. He leapt from his cover, cackling maniacally and flipping like an airborne buzzsaw, burying his weapon into the Grimm's gauntlets. "Hahahahaha! Cut through, GG, cut through!" he revved the weapon and it began to bite through the bone, which began to spiderweb outward from the wound with a series of cracks.

The Grimm heaved backward on its legs and a second pair of arms—thinner but with larger claws—pulled free from underneath the primary ones and swiped in a scissor motion at Rimer. Rimer threw his body backwards to avoid the attack and yanked the Gut-Grinder free, landing before the Grimm with a laugh. The Grimm's bone casings flaked away in a mess of slivers and Rimer taunted it. "Hahaha! GG's gonna do that to your insides next, hahahaha!" The Grimm responded by whipping its thick tail around and slapping Rimer into a too-slow-to-dodge Fajio, sending them both tumbling across the ground.

Evegy shook her head. "Oh for the love of …" She jumped forward, swinging the New Moon in a cleaving arc that the Grimm easily deflected. "Hmph," she jumped upward and the Grimm brought all four arms to catch her on its claws when Azoo ran forward with all ten arms already pumping madly.

"Azoo …" He made contact with the Grimm's exposed chest and began hammering. "Rah Rah Rah Rah-Rah-Rah-RAHRAHRAHRAH" the sound growing more intense as the Grimm was frozen by the sheer force being pumped into it. Evegy landed on its astonished face and jammed her weapon down its throat before kicking backwards off of it and landing behind Azoo as he finished his onslaught and his extra arms retracted.

The Grimm teetered for a moment, its arms falling to its sides and its mouth hanging uselessly agape and skyward. It fell to its knees, its chest horribly concaved, and then fell forward and began to dissolve.

Rimer pushed his way past everyone and began digging the chainsaw into the evaporating body in an attempt to eviscerate it before it disappeared. "Hahahaha," he said, "I see your guts, I see your guts!"

Evegy recoiled at this behavior—no matter how often he did it, it never stopped being abhorrent—and sheathed the New Moon. Azoo sat on the ground, legs crossed and catching his breath.

Fajio came up, now, gouges in one of his shackles and covered in leaves and twigs. "A job well done, team! I know it was just a Beowulf, but at least it's something."

Rimer turned off the Gut-Grinder as his latest toy evaporated completely. "Oh, no that wasn't a Beowulf, I think it's called a Seggnerlupe, haha."

Fajio rubbed his chin. "Ah, my mistake, then. I swear, Rimer, if I hadn't managed to convince you knowing their species was necessary to dissecting them I don't know where we'd be. Still, though, largely the same behavior, I think."

Evegy huffed. "Beowulfs just throw themselves dumbly at you, that one—Seggnerlupe, you said?—defended itself against Azoo and hid its extra arms until it was able to try and catch Rimer by surprise. It's smarter than some stupid animal."

Azoo suddenly made a sound very much like the sort of sound someone might make when they realize white is the presence of all visible colors at once but when you mix all the colors of paint you have together you end up with black. He looked at Fajio and Fajio nodded: he had reached the same conclusion. He looked at Rimer, who laughed and started the Gut-Grinder back up.

"What?" Evegy said in confusion, looking between them. "Oh, can't you guys just talk like normal people?"

Azoo smiled and Rimer laughed. Fajio chuckled and looked at her. "Now, my dear, that would ruin the suspense."

A slew of Seggnerlupes sprang from the edges of the clearing on all sides, having neatly turned Fajio's ambush against him.

 

[ShinyDiamond]

Fei Zero - Level 1 - Team ????
Mostly wants to get the day over with​

So this is the academy they talk about. Well, I'm not so very social, but I want to change that. I walk into the entrance of the academy. Beacon Academy. Is that the right name for this place? I mean, there's this feud between Human & Faunus'. I don't really see why they have to fight. It only leads to more trouble & hate. I'd rather not fight...but just the thought of doing nothing to protect the defenseless, it just doesn't feel right. That's why I've come to this academy, to better learn how to protect everyone.

As I look around, I see many strange people ranging from plain looking to overbearing. I'd just choke up trying to talk to them regardless. There's also this Tourney I've recently heard about. I haven't exactly joined a team. Believe me, I tried. ...Some think I'm a pervert at the moment. I tried to explain myself, but I could barely get my words out. Lucky I can heal myself. Some guys didn't take a liking to me because of...reasons. Thank my staff I have it strapped to my right side. ...& that they didn't take it away from me. I do try to defend myself when I can. I guess that's why. My claw that I have equipped to my left hand also helped me out. Hmm, their are plenty of people here with weapons out too, weird ones at that.

"Sigh..." I don't know what I was thinking, coming to this academy. I have my head down & keep walking, talking to myself. There's no way I can fit in this school, what with my bad luck always following me. I can't even get two words out without a huge misunderstanding. Sometimes. I only decided to come to this school to defend others & break free of my incredible shyness. So far I've defended no one, mostly getting into stupid fights. I haven't really had anyone close to talk to about these things. I've lived alone & held my own. It's thanks to my potential I was accepted to this academy. I sometimes wonder if I would still be a weak loner whether I came to this academy or not. Ugh, stupid stupid stupid! Maybe going to the library will help. I just need to cool off. Rounding the corner here should get me a view of the place.

 

[Khawill]

GAIN and LGHT: Beach Vacation

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Archer spread his wings, and got comfortable. "Did you kill Gaige?" He asked seriously. He didn't see the fight going well, and began to think of ways to get his team out of the situation.

Lauren huffed, and scrunched her face in disdain. "No, I didn't kill 'im. And I can tell you right now he will be, once you scumbags pay!" She tensed her muscles, trident outstretched before she decided to take aim at Archer with a water attack..

Archer sighed with relief, and immediately launched himself into the air, "You don't have to fight us." Archer called down, "Surely you're talking about some other group?"

Shouting from down below, Lauren snapped at Archer, "Don't **** with me, Archer!" She paused before continuing, her cold tone of voice rising in intensity, "You don't remember the other Faunus who were trying to find a new life away from the clutches of humans? Or the struggle of Aunt Rosa as she was ambushed? Or watching my aunt bleed out on the ground after you slain her?!" She punctuated her boiling anger with a whip of a water tendril aimed at Archer's wings.

"You're attacking me out of ignorance?" Archer exclaimed, slightly angered. "You'd act like an animal in order to kill me?!"

Gritting her teeth at the jab of being called an animal, Lauren snarled, "Don't you patronize me! All you humans have done to us has been nothing but ignorant, and I am fed. The. ****. UP." In a state of rage, Lauren swung her trident skywards, using it as a conduit for a blade like water attack.

Archer dived down at her, spinning with his wings to reduce his size and to avoid the attack. He spread his wings just before hitting the ground and rapidly unleashed a flurry of feathers to her exposed side. He decided to subdue, and incapacitate instead of speak and risk further aggravation. The force of the feathers shooting out knocked him back, causing him to roll away from her.

Grunting after having been barraged with the feathers, the small projectiles dealing small but repeated damage, Lauren sliced through the air with an arc of water to get the feathers away. After having been caught a little off guard by the feather barrage, she pinned Archer with an attack of her own, hoping for the same effect to catch him off his guard for a follow up strike. She prepped this strike by taking another jab with her trident.

Archer grabbed a handful of dirt and quickly tossed it in her eyes, calling his feathers back immediately.

Lauren was blinded by the dirt and cried out, surprised at the move. "Grgh! Get back here!" She struck blindly, still slightly blinded by the dirt, and missed Archer, who was actively avoiding striking her.

Archer kicked her away and then pulled out his sword. He needed to end the fight quick, otherwise he'd be at more of a disadvantage.

Lauren, still clutching her trident while laying down on the ground, prepared to meet his strike with a parry of her own, fully anticipating the blow that was sure to come while she was down.

Archer got up and took a few steps back, holding his sword defensively. He waved his hand and called his feathers back.

Jumping back up on her feet, Lauren charged once more over to Archer and connected a blow of her trident against his wings. Being in a defensive position, the blow was blocked from hitting him directly, but nonetheless caused him to stumble slightly due the force of the trident's attack. Lauren took this opportunity to attempt to disarm him as she maneuvered the trident to force Archer into a compromised position with his side exposed.

Archer extended his other wing, the feathers close to her body, putting them in a stalemate, "How willing are you to kill me? Would you end your own life?"

Struggling to formulate a response, Lauren grunted as she assessed the stalemate that was put in. She let Archer's question sink in as she tried to maintain her resolve like in the fight with Gaige. "I-if that's what it comes down to, I-" Her words were coming out shaky as she realized that that indeed may be a possibility if she were to achieve, in her mind, real justice. She maintained her position, stubborn to let go for fear of losing an opportunity to end it once and for all.

Archer noted her break in resolve, realizing he could talk her down, "If I'm to die here, I'll ensure that you do too, not because of who you are, but because of your actions. Are you trying to kill me because of my actions, or because of who I am?"

Shaky but still furious, she responded, "I don't give a damn who ya are! It means nothing to me after what you've done! Why the hell should I give one minute of pause to a murderer?!"

"You aren't giving one minute pause for a murderer, you're giving one minute pause before you become a murderer." Archer replied, looking her gravely in the eyes.

Finally having some semblance of recognition of the consequences, she squeaked out, unable to meet Archer in the eyes anymore, still stubbornly defiant "I-I w-will not be s-stopped. You will be k-k-killed!"

"And you're absolute in that resolution?" Archer asked, glaring unrelentingly. "Have you taken the life of a human or a faunus before?"

Still not looking him in the eyes, she mumbled the answer he probably was expecting, "No." It was apparent that her resolve was being defeated. Clutching her trident until her knuckles were white, she tried to not let emotion apart from the cold anger that she had exhibited, but failing. All she could say was "I-I…"

Archer dropped his sword and spread his wings, exposing himself, "What if I took away the threat of losing your own life? Are you going to kill me now?"

Lauren was finally defeated, not through any physical means, but from the opposing human's reasoned and levelheaded verbal disarmament. Angrily, she threw down her own weapon, frustratingly unable to claim a life even when it appeared she had the upper hand and justification for killing him. She hung her head in defeat and refused to look him in the eye. Bitter, painful grief washed over her as her resolve was broken to take a life she thought was justified to take. In the end, Lauren could not in good conscience slay this human. She was on the verge of tears for the first time in a few weeks.

Archer thought about stepping forward, but a deep, familiar sound had begun to echo unnaturally over the cliffs and beach. The beautifully eerie sound of Lull's cello washed over everyone. Archer looked to the girl worriedly, "You need to get out of here immediately."

Confused on why the hell is there a cello playing from out of nowhere, Lauren had barely enough time to register Archer's words before she asked, perplexed, "What? The hell is going on here? What did-"

Archer didn't hesitate, tackling the girl and binding her arms, "You're coming to camp faunus!" He yelled as loud as he could, "For questioning!" Archer couldn't risk apologizing, but made sure to make it look convincing. The girl and Archer could look over the cliff, and could see the twins and two of the male members of the girl's team. A large, fox-like shadowy figure sped over the beach behind one of them, biting him and then swallowing him whole. Blood splattered across the sand and upon the other combatants as the cello's music picked up, becoming quicker, and more frightening. Archer could hear Nina scream out, and the other guy merely prepared himself for a fight. The shadowy creature seemed to roar, and the music became louder for a moment, and soon the creature turned his attention to the guy.

Lauren cried out as she witnessed the terrible sight of Gray getting slaughtered while Houari was about to meet a similar fate. She strained against her captor, but the usage of her semblance and the physical and emotional wear ensured that she could not escape, being weak from the whole ordeal. Her anger returned to her face, screaming at Archer, "You coward! I surrendered and this is how you treat me?! Let go of me!"

"Shut up prisoner!" Archer yelled, she couldn't see it, but he had tears in his eyes, and his heart sank, "Y-you will tell us everything you know at camp!" The creature made short work of the other boy, biting into him and lifting him up. Despite being hoisted by the jaws of the shadowy creature, the boy stabbed at it, fighting, until his movements slowed, and his weapon dropped. His body fell limp as the creature consumed him. The creature made a silent roar again, the music picking up, and then settling again, picking up pace as the shadowy creature rapidly approached the girl and Archer. It towered over them, red dripping from the black jaws of the creature. Archer looked up at it, sitting protectively over the girl, fear-stricken, "W-we need this one." He said, swallowing his fear, "S-she is the leader, she can give us intel." The monster looked down at him, and the music began to subside, the creature growing smaller, retreating after an eternal second. Soon after, Archer's dad and a few other teachers arrived. The twins, Gaige, and Archer were all recovered, and the girl was taken into custody, as the waves slowly began to wipe away the red sand.


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[Stingray]

Nilya Umbra​

Nilya slowly walked down the well lit halls of Beacon her eyes covered by a cheap plastic pair of sunglasses. The eye wear helped hide her tired eyes, but her meandering pace and the cup of sugar and cream filled coffee betrayed her fatigue. Despite being here for two and a half weeks, the normally nocturnal faunus was still not used to sleeping at night and being awake during the day. She hated being in this school. She was forced to hide who she was, and she had to use the uncomfortable physical method to do so. A precaution in case some human here could detect her constant use of her abilities to hide her ears and tail.

Varik had been sent here after getting in trouble with the law and caught for once, and naturally she followed her husband here. He was taking it well as he saw it as an opportunity to get more training and maybe find some like minded individuals. Nilya did like how Varik was able to mostly stay out of trouble here, but now she saw him less due to being forced to live in different dorms. She looked forward to seeing him at lunch, but for now she just wanted to find a dark secluded corner to relax and read the book she was carrying under her left arm.

She approached a corner where she planned to take a left turn toward the exit of the main building, but as she approached the hall ways T intersection another student was rounding the corner. Nilya's quick reflexes allowed her to quickly stop, but the male student was took busy staring at the floor to notice the short purple haired woman in his path. As the student plowed into Nilya, she extended her right arm out so the coffee in that hand did not spill over her nice blue and gold kimono. The momentum of the boy pushed Nilya backwards, and without her tail to aid her balance she easily lost her footing.

Her rear end hit the well polished tile hard and smashing her hidden tail, sending jolts of pain through her body, and made her sunglasses slip down the bridge of her nose a little. he woman winced in pain as she looked up at the student who had knocked her down. She afforded to keep her coffee from spilling from her fall so far, but that could easily change if the other student lost his footing and fell on her.