Fandom RWBY (RP, closed)

[Yakov011001]

"Fuck!" Spinel flew far out from the epicenter of the explosion, tumbling some ways away.

He was stopped by a tree, taking to knocking his breath clean out of him. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! He wasn't ready for something like this again so soon. For disaster to have stuck when he could've prevented it. Yeah, he'd seen it coming, and it was his full intention to stop it, but with the swarm having occupied him for as long as it did he wasn't able to get in. Well, he was, but not fast enough. He hooked Temporal Edge into a tree in order to get himself up on his feet again. Looking back out into the fray, he saw that a good bit of the swarm had been eliminated; however--

"Don't stand there slack-jawed you fucking fools!" He got some shots off.

Even if only for a moment, Cronan and Raine's attention had left the swarm. Of course, he couldn't blame them, that was quite the spectacle. Still, it had left them open from behind, though he had managed to take out the one or two ready to pounce on them. From there though, it was on them to protect themselves. He had his own problems. Having created the most movement out of the situation next to the explosion itself, most of the Blackharts were distracted, and followed him. Now he was surrounded, and as far as he could see; there was no getting out of this unscathed.

"Okay, get in here!" He shouted to the grimm.

His raising his voice provoked them into attacking, and several of them swung in simultaneously. Since they were now a lot tighter together than they had been, his three distortion fields were able to catch all of them. Though, as close as they were that also meant he was pinned quite tight to that tree, his only way out was up. As he crawled his way out, he fired into the bubbles and killed the grimm inside. There were two that had avoided that fate, in the back. They were waiting for him. He stepped on one's head, forcing it to the ground. The other furiously made to stab at him with its antlers, and as he danced around its strikes they instead struck the other Blackhart he was stood on. Finally, he could only lift his arms up in a smug, taunting shrug. The Blackhart went for one final thrust at his head, and still missed! The Blackhart Spenel had been standing on finally disintegrated, dropping him to the ground and under the other Blackhart. Having been satisfied with his flexing, he decided to to finally put the damn thing out of its misery with a single shot to the head.

"Now, to help the oth--shit!" He was interrupted by a Blackhart obliterating him from behind. "That fucking hurt!" Spinel shouted in rage, taking the thing out in a single swipe.

He was hoping to get out of this initiation easy, but it was turning out to be more and more difficult. That Blackhart, it was probably one of the three he stuck in a bubble just then; that's probably how he didn't see it. But how did it survive? His guns could easily take out grim in single shots, especially in the skull. The combination of sheer numbers, and their somewhat increased fortitude was really getting to him. What could be causing all of this?

HerculePyro Aleph Null

 

[Aleph Null]

<Cronan Dracula>

Starting Location: Kingdom of Beacon, Emerald Forest

Interactions: Puppernickel | HerculePyro | Yakov011001

"Dull? Don't you know how exhilarating it can be when your arrow hits its mark, especially at a difficult angle? Also, I rather not risk losing an arm or a leg" Cronan responded slightly offended that she found his method of fighting to be lacklustre. He heeded her words nonetheless and slowed his firing as he carefully backed off in the direction of the cliff. In the little time he'd gotten to know Sable he figured that as battle crazy as he was he probably prefer to clear out some more grimm before even considering going for his relic piece, and the fact Sable dove into battle without even looking to have given her words that much thought seemed to have confirmed this.

'Well I guess I could just grab his for him while I'm down here' He thought as he ceased his firing and turned to head down the cliff. He was stopped however when a sudden loud and powerful explosion rang out from behind him not a moment later and catching him completely off guard, but luckily he happened to be far enough from the blast zone to remain unharmed. Worried that someone could have possibly been injured by such a strong explosion he turned his attention back to the battlefield. His eyes widen as he saw Sable get impaled by a Blackhart from a distance. "Sable!-" Cronan barely had time to scream out his name before sable disappeared from sight and reappeared right next to him. Giving off a salute that did nothing to ease the panic rising in his chest.

Cronan tried to tell him not to speak, to stop firing off his gun and to try and save as much energy as possible, that there might be a way to save him but he wasn't so sure if that was possible with the state that he was in. So he just tried his best to fend off the oncoming grimm and keep them away from Sable.

"Sable... no, it's not. and this could have happened to anyone" he tried to respond encouragingly. Cronan wondered what type of man sable's father was, did he say that out of worry and tried or did he just had that little faith in his own son? He quickly snapped out of that thought after Sable asked him for a favour, a final request, and so he listened and made sure to etch every detail into his mind.

"Sumire Yamashita... Alright I'll do it, I swear that I will" he promised as he caught the gun tossed at him, but one particular thing about his request stood out... what did he mean if there's trouble finding the blades? As if to answer his question Sable unsheathed his swords and charged at the horde of Blackharts after giving out one last laugh. Was that what he wanted? to go out fighting? Cronan wanted to do anything besides just standing there, it felt like was just leaving him there to die but there wasn't anything he could do for him now but to fulfil his request.

He quickly got open his bag and carefully placed the gun inside it before zipping it up and putting back on and watched on as Sable unleashed hell onto the grimm. If this was the last thing that Sable wanted to do then he wasn't going to take it away from him. Cronan watched as another Blackhart rammed into him with its antlers and Sable retaliated by stabbing his both his blades into the grim, it was at that moment that the world seemed to slow down around Cronan for just the shortest instance before an explosion of ice and fire erupted between Sable and some of the remaining grim.

Cronan didn't need to check on the body to tell that it was over so he immediately sprung into action to retrieve Sable's blades which had been flung quite a bit away from the explosion. He had made sure to keep his eyes trained on them after sable mentioned possibly having trouble finding them. His mind at the moment was a whirlpool of negative emotions that he was somewhat grateful for as the grimm seemed to be more focused on going after him rather than Sable's body, but even then there were too many for Cronan to safely retrieve his body, he hoped that he or someone would be able to come back for it to give him a proper burial. For now, however, he had to focus on getting his relic piece so that he and the others would be able to retreat to safety. Luckily for him, he was able to strap the blades down safely in his near-empty quiver so they would do little to hinder his moments.

He made a quick dash towards the cliffside and dived right off with his bow in one hand, dropping towards the ground like a rock, Moments before he landed activated his semblance and with his free hand created an explosion powerful enough to break his fall. He landed rather softly but winced at the pain he felt in his hand, at this rate he only had a few more shots left. It didn't take him long to find the relics, and with them being chess pieces he didn't ponder the importance of what piece he should take at first but chose to think over it for at least a few seconds. He ultimately decided on the king, a piece that has the potential surpass both the rook and knight especially near the end-game, a piece while being the most vulnerable on the chessboard was not to be underestimated. He felt that this was the piece that represented Sable the most.

He was able to make it a little more than halfway up the cliff with another explosion and chose to climb the rest of the way up there. He made it back up in relatively little time and immediately moved to assist his other two teammates, opting to change his weapon into its dual bladed form as he was running low on arrows, he was by no means bad at close combat it was just that he despised being so close to grimm.


Ending location: Emerald Forest, Faunus KIA

 

[Xcelgamer]

The previous day
Ebony was at the back of the airship she looked like an immaculate statue or mannequin, the only clue that she was alive was the slight rising and falling of her chest and her occasional blinking. She watched silently as others constantly moved about and talked with other people, she sighed to herself "I hope I can find someone or multiple people to talk to" she thought to herself before standing up, causing some people walking by her to get startled, she mentally sighed at it but grabbed The luggage rack and pulled it along behind her to the ramp down. She had to be careful of the other people as it had all sorts of fragile things in her luggage, including dust vials and a fancy ceramic tea set. Rather than struggle to be in front Ebony waited calmly holding the rack.

She walked at the back of everyone, the only noise she made was her boots clacking against the pathway, the day had already been taxing on her so she was looking forward to being able to relax for the afternoon. She noticed a few people talking to each other "Must know each other" she mumbled to herself as she walked past every one, Ebony walked in and let her bags be checked in and taken away from her. The afternoon ceremony held by the headmaster was unsurprisingly straightforward it caused her to sigh under her breath. Ebony walked off after the speech was finished, deciding to have a look around Beacon she was Really impressed by everything from the classrooms to the amazing view it provided, eventually the sun had set and she went back to the hall in which they were to be sleeping in.

The Present Day

Ebony woke up early just as the sun was coming up, which caused her to yawn widely showing No one her mandibles in her mouth which to her was fortunate at least she got showered and dressed before going to look for her weapons in her checked in bags, eventually finding them she held back a childish smile as she cleaned them to make the gleam in the morning sun, she was prepared for what today would hold she managed to hold in her excitement. As others finally got up she followed quietly behind every one as they all took positions on out of place indents out on the cliff. Apparently they were to be sent out into the forest and were to go north to find relics and to be paired with the first person you make eye contact with after you land in the forest, Ebony sighed slightly as she pulled out the duchesses from their holsters and prepped them ready for use. She looked to the people beside her, she was dead last in line and was lucky as she got to see how they would be going into the forest "Well then this will be interesting" she said to herself before getting launched. A smile formed on her face as she made her weapons into whip mode, as she formulated a plan of stopping herself "If I use one half of the duchesses to grapple onto a tree branch I can swing around slowing myself down enough to be safe" she thought calmly as she started to brush against the tops of trees before going further down. She threw the end of her whip letting it wrap around a tree branch, unfortunately she was going to fast and rather than spinning her arm was snapped backed and she heard a worrying pop sound before the tree branch snapped off and she continued flying off before slamming onto a thicker branch "SUNAVA BITCH!" She yells loudly as she climbs up onto the tree branch gritting her teeth in pain "Dammit that fucking hurt" she growled in pain as she checked her arm "Not broken just dislocated, well that's better than I thought at least" she said putting her weapons back into revolver mode

She continued gritting her teeth as she bolstered her weapons "Ok just got to grab my arm and pop it back into place" she lifted up some of her dress and put it in her mouth to muffle her screams when she popped it back "MMMMMMPPPPPPHGHHHHHHH!!!!" She yelled muffled by biting her dress down, Ebony let go of her dress as she slowly moved her arm "Alright still some pain but usable at least" Ebony growled as she stood up "Hmm no idea which way north is..." She started but soon heard the sounds of battle "Well if I'd have to guess that's where at least people are" she said as she started leaping and swinging from tree to tree to get to the battle site "Huh, I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone yet" She thought to herself as she started running along the forest floor. Ebony saw it from the clearing a giant spider Grimm and three people fighting it "Honestly" Ebony mumbled "it's a spider try the eyes or the underbelly." She pointed both guns at the Nope and unloaded all her shots into its eyes

Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Chasm next to Emerald Forest, East of the relics – Sumire, Isern, Oceanos, Ebony (and The Nope)

 

[Ozilla]

Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Chasm next to Emerald Forest, East of the relics – Sumire, Isern, Oceanos (and The Nope)


“Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die.” Professor Ozpin’s words echoed in Oceanos’ head. Certainly the boy had taken initiation seriously from the beginning, but he realized now that part of him had not quite believed that part, part of him had indeed expected one professor or another to jump out from behind a bush and save them. Only this was their initiation to become huntsmen and huntresses; when – if?, a small voice from the back of his head asked – they all finished their training and were raised to full status, there wouldn’t be anyone either to save the day if they messed up. And yet, this was…wrong? Unfair? Oceanos almost snorted; the world was unfair, and they had to deal with that. With a last glance toward the chasm in which Clementine had disappeared, he swallowed, even though his mouth was dry already, and focused on the Grimm again.

Looking around for a moment, he thought hard about how they were going to defeat the thing. Isern was again at the very front, furiously hitting the gigantic spider with his axe, his swings somehow producing blue fire – a strange usage of fire dust or his semblance?

Sumire also had regained control of herself – she seemed to have been shocked by Clementine’s fate as much as Oceanos -; taking position on a tree branch, she yelled: “AIM FOR THE EYES OVER THE PINCERS!”, then immediately followed her own words and started shooting a barrage of bullets at the Grimm.

Still, they did not make any progress. Isern’s attacks from the ground obviously did not hit its eyes, only chitinous armor plates, and Sumi’s shots could not hit the eyes, as the Grimm had very quickly realized what she was trying to do and was now moving frantically in this way unique to spiders that made Oceanos shudder with disgust. He himself had concentrated on sending his chakrams out repeatedly to strike at the Grimm’s pincers and legs to prevent them from hitting Isern – the boy must have taken some strong hits to his aura, and Oceanos was worried it would break.

All of a sudden, even more shots began to hit the Grimm – a quick glance identified a slim girl with shoulder-long blonde hair wearing dark clothes as the origin of the bullets. She was wielding two pistols or revolvers or something, and either had she overheard Sumi’s words or come to the same conclusion on her own – she was also trying to hit the spider’s eyes, but also failing to land a shot.

Oceanos shook his head; this was hopeless. How were they supposed to hit its eyes? The Grimm was about as huge as a house, and they were trying to shoot the chimney, which happened to be lying flat on the roof while the house was moving around as if in an earthquake of magnitude 10. This fight had only one possible end unless the group managed to stop the – something clicked in Oceanos’ mind.

“Isern: back! Sumi and-“, it was so unpractical to not know the names of your allies, “revolver girl: I need you here!”, the boy shouted; he hoped they would not ask questions. It wasn’t as if he was their leader, none of them had any particular reason to do as he said, but he did not see any other way to win this battle.

He commanded his chakrams to either side of the Grimm and remotely activated their dust mode. On both sides of Scylla, the eyes of the brown octopus started to glow a clear light-blue, while on Charybdis, it was the eyes of the sea horse and of the dark dolphin; a mist began to form around both weapons as they were surrounded by intense cold. Oceanos hoped this would work; his dust reserves were basically non-existent at this point. While moving forward, he gesticulated, and his chakrams shot through the air, first hitting the Grimm’s feet, then the joints on its legs; wherever they striked, ice began to form. At first, the creature managed to immediately break the ice crystals, but after several rapid attacks, it was frozen in many places at once, hindering its movement severely. Still Oceanos knew they had to act quickly, or the thing would break free; the dust effects around his chakrams ceased without him deactivating the mode and he knew the small crystals were used up.

Oceanos was now standing between Isern and the Grimm, with Sumi and the new girl behind Isern; he turned to face the other boy while sending Scylla directly above the creature’s head and locking it in place horizontally in the air, then went low and made a step with his hands.

“Isern, I will catapult you up; use my chakram as a platform. You have to hit the Spider on the head as hard as you can; ignore its eyes, you need to stun it for a moment, okay? You two, please be ready”, he added toward the two girls.


Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Chasm next to Emerald Forest, East of the relics – Ebony, Sumire, Isern, Oceanos (and The Nope)

OOC: I was just assuming everybody would follow Oceanos' orders :*D If not, I can change what is necessary

 

[Soviet Panda]

Cwellere screamed as it made contact with the chitinous hide of the Grimm, blue sparks flying and leaving a burnt path on the carapace. He dodged many attacks, often by a hair's breadth, his aura being used to propel him faster and faster in an attempt to simply outpace the creature. If anyone was keeping track, they would see that his aura was dropping with each strike he made and dodge he performed. Luckily for him, Oceanos was also deflecting some of the attacks with his chakrams, saving his ever precious aura.

So engrossed was he in the fight that he almost didn't hear the command. He also almost ignored it, but another near miss was enough convincing he needed to back up. And as he did so, the chakrams that had been protecting him went on the offensive, freezing whatever they struck. And soon enough, the Grimmsicle was frozen in place. "Great, now what?" he asked before he saw the larger boy get down and lace his fingers together to make a step. He barely got the words out before Isern's foot was planted in his hand and he sprung up to the levitating chakram, no doubt assisted in his flight by Oceanos.

Flipping around in mid-air, Isern landed on the underside of the chakram, and with his aura flickering an ever lighter shade of blue and moving towards white he uses it to launch himself towards the Nope. The wind from of his flight stung his skin, whipped his hair around him, and tugged at his clothing. But it could not stop him. Nor could it stop Cwellere, which now was trailed by a white fire, being propelled even faster than what the boy could ever hope to do normally. All this combined lead the incoming impact to be utterly titanic.

Cwellere landed true, the force of the blow sending a shock wave out from the point of impact. But, though it's carapace was now cracked, it did not fell the great Nope. But judging by how it's many eyes were now rolling around in their socket, it had certainly dazed it.

 

[PixelSymphony]

~Sumire Yamashita~
-- Reload! --

Starting Status
Condition: Beat-up
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude, Utility Belt
Location: Emerald Forest, South

---

Hit! Hit! Please just HIT! Sumire screamed internally, as if she could will her rounds to change course mid-flight to keep up with the enormous spider's erratic movements. Instead, her shots went wide, smashing into the dirt, or at best struck the Grimm in heavily armored sections, scattering on impact or deflecting away harmlessly. Gods damnit, why can't I hit this thing!? She had ripped open the loading door on Kofude and was prepared to jam in another full set of cartridges just to futily fire them off, when Oceanos's orders pierced through the air towards her, breaking the miasma surrounding her with purpose. The purple-haired girl took a deep breath, allowing herself to find her emotional center again, before she leapt down from her perch.

She hit the forest floor with a thud, her aura draining momentarily to shield her from damage before quickly regenerating anew. Making her way over to Oceanos's side at a careful run, she announced her arrival with a "here!" so as not to spook him out of his concentration, the chakram pair whirling about as if of their own accord. As the other girl approached, the artist gave her the customary analysis she paid to all newcomers. A sense of strangeness washed over Sumi as she looked the dark-clothed girl over, but no particular feature seemed to be the source of such ill-ease. The weapons she held certainly looked fairly conventional; revolvers were fairly versatile in their payloads so she wasn't surprised these particular specimens took shotgun shells, and wielding two of them wasn't the worst idea given the fairly small ammo capacity each handheld unit contained. Something I probably should have thought of, to be honest, she grumbled to herself as she tore her eyes away to begin yet another manual magazine refill. Oh, I'm careful with my aim, you said, five rounds should be enough for anything reasonable you said-

She frowned. Everything about Grimm is unreasonable! You better learn how to load Kofude a lot faster than you are now you're going be staring down an Nevermore with an empty chamber some day! Shaking herself out of her mental flagellation, she clicked the port shut and awaited the large boy's orders, a shouted "ready!" indicating she was prepared for her part of the plan.

---

Ending Status
Condition: Beat-up
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude, Utility Belt
Location: Emerald Forest, South

Mention: Xcelgamer
Interaction: Ozilla

 

[Xcelgamer]

Ebony clicked her tongue in annoyance "Damn stupid unreasonable bastard, just die" she said at the Nope. She flicked both guns to the side, causing the shells to fall out before twirling them and inserting a set of lightning dust bullets in one and ice lightning dust in the other before clicking them back into place as the plastic holding the six bullets fell off "Alright sir I am also ready" as one gun felt cold to The touch and the other crackled with electricity, Ebony looked over the purple haired girl it was obvious with the way she held her gun that she was at the very least a decent shot but her emotions were getting the best of her "If I may my weapons are also whips so if that would be helpful I am willing to help in that way as well" Ebony explained calmly to the boy who was giving the orders

She analyzed Oceanos calmly, the way he commanded the others he was definetly smart and confident definetly a leader type, bulky but definetly skipped leg day "Come on Ebony focus on the very, very, very long lost cousin of yours" she thought to herself "Ahem Sir, if you want me on your team, my name is Ebony pleased to meet you" she said before spinning around her guns and smiled pointing both at The Nope, she gritted her teeth as her damaged arm was quivering a bit but she did her best to keep it straight

Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Chasm next to Emerald Forest, East of the relics – Sumire, Isern, Oceanos, Ebony (and The Nope)

 

[Ozilla]

Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Chasm next to Emerald Forest, East of the relics – Ebony, Sumire, Isern, Oceanos (and The Nope)


Isern jumped into action – quite literally. Maybe his semblance allowed him to read minds, or he was just quick; either way, he basically executed exactly that which Oceanos had had in mind, shooting up towards Scylla’s underside, then using the weapon as launching platform to propel himself downwards. It was then when he also began radiating a faint white glow which also surrounded his weapon, producing a white fire trail. When his axe hit the Grimm, so much force was transferred that all of the ice crystals on its joints shattered and a small cloud of dust burst out of the ground around its feet; the spider’s…knees? buckled on one side, giving it a somewhat comical appearance of a grandpa having trouble getting out of bed. Even if the thing was still alive, certainly this would buy Sumi and the newcomer a moment or two.

“Here”, Sumi said when reaching Oceanos while Isern landed on the ground again. She began to ready her weapons. In the meanwhile, the other girl was also approaching, saying something of which Oceanos only heard “-just die”; he certainly could agree with that if it was meant towards the Grimm…She offered a short explanation about her weapons serving as whips, too, then added: "Ahem Sir, if you want me on your team, my name is Ebony pleased to meet you".”

Somehow Oceanos found the time to whip his head around in surprise. “Umm…well, this is not really my team, we are just trying to stay alive right now…also, I’m Oceanos, pleasure’s mine.”
He shook off his surprise, focusing his attention on the Grimm again which probably would regain its senses soon; they had to act before that happened. Moving Scylla a bit to the side, he sent Charybdis up to join her sister; both chakrams were now floating above the Grimm’s head, forming two platforms next to each other, this time closer to its eyes to allow someone to stand on them and attack directly.

While turning around and again forming a step with his hands, the boy said:
“You two need to destroy all its eyes in this one go, can you do that? Ebony, choose whatever weapon mode offers greater attack speed, I’m afraid that thing will start moving any moment now. Sumi, I guess shooting will allow you to throw out more hits, but you decide, too.”


Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Chasm next to Emerald Forest, East of the relics – Ebony, Sumire, Isern, Oceanos (and The Nope)

OOC: I think we can break the posting order here and go on with Sumi and Ebony; Isern does not have to do that much right now PixelSymphony Xcelgamer Soviet Panda

 

[PixelSymphony]

~Sumire Yamashita~
-- Six rounds --

Starting Status
Condition: Beat-up
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude, Utility Belt
Location: Emerald Forest, South

---

“You two need to destroy all its eyes in this one go, can you do that?" Sumire gave a nod with a lip slightly trembling. "Sumi, I guess shooting will allow you to throw out more hits, but you decide, too.”

More hits, she repeated to herself, Oh look, another situation handicapped by your tiny ammo capacity. What are you going to do, Sumi? She looked down to Kofude, feeling somewhat useless in their current situation and uncertain what to do; she could have a sixth round at hand by topping off her magazine after a round was chambered (which she promptly did), but no matter how she went about it, she was undergunned. The fact was, Kofude was a slow firing, slow reloading firearm and a rather garden-variety blade because that was all she knew how to make at the current moment. If I make it through this, I'm going to have to ask Sable how he goes about tinkering with his weapons...

Sumire took another breath; all these future plans were wonderful to think about but did her no good in the current moment. She quickly took stock of the resources at hand: six rounds, high-powered but limited, with which to do with what she could, and her blade to do with what she couldn't. A deep breath and another moment of finding her center later, she gave a quick nod before pooling her aura into the ground, launching herself into the air towards Scylla.

Ok team, wish me luck.

Even before she had landed, her Semblance flared to life, trajectories of both her travel and the prospective bullet arc streaming out from her like arrows loosed from a bow. As she landed on the chakram, two shots flew out, striking the Nope in it's largest set of eyes and piercing them to their core. Even its dazed state the creature reared back from the blow to its sensory organs, limbs wildly waving through the air as it now attempted to sway away the annoying fly shooting it. With increasing determination with every pull of her bolt, three more shots followed, each to another of the seemingly endless eyes that the Grimm creature seemed to possess. With her last shot chambered, she flicked the switch on the handle that deployed Kofude's sword mode, the steel blade snapping into place as she changed her grip, preparing to perform a technique she had only previously written about in one of her old classes.

In a repeat of her earlier Ursa assault, she leapt down from her platform towards the maw of the beast, or rather, just above it, her blade positioned this time not to pierce, but to chop as she raised both arms up high. Her Flow now radiated a red arc out vertically in front of her that changed its path slightly as air currents buffeted her blade, but as the arc intersected with the glowing red beads that comprised the Nope's eyes, she swung downwards, driving Kofude's blade halfway through the gap in the beast's skull just above its pincers. Without a moment of hesitation, knowing that this was probably the most precarious location she could hope to be in this fight, she pulled the still present trigger for Kofude's firing mechanism before the blade's momentum completely stalled, and as the recoil of the shot pushed the blade out of the eye socket, she continued to drive it downward in a dust-powered draw cut that cleaved straight through to the other side and sent her flying backwards in an inverted spin.

She landed less than completely elegantly some few feet away from where Oceanos stood, her aura yet again greatly drained but unbroken as she dragged herself behind some rocks and gave a weak thumbs up to their ad-hoc leader before taking a few moments to recover.

---

Ending Status
Condition: Beat-up, very low aura
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude, Utility Belt
Location: Emerald Forest, South

Mention: Ozilla

 

[Elysium]

Starting Status
Condition - Fine and Bored
Wearing - Black duster, earthen toned homemade clothes
Carrying - Nothing
Location - The Emerald Forest

- - -

Matte wandered through the forest, idle steps moving silently through the underbrush with a thoughtless ease. He was bored out of his mind. Since landing, he had come across a single Ursa this entire time wandering this forest. That was cake for one such as he. Matte demanded a challenge. Worthy foes to fall before his blade, not the equivalent of giant rats.

"This is total bullshit." He muttered to himself as he continued to wander. He also found it odd that he hasn't run across anyone, but it didn't bother him much. He just wanted a fight. One that would challenge him. Not a routine cleanup.

With a sigh, he scratched his goatee and picked a new random direction to walk in. He was completely lost in this stupid forest.

After several minutes he heard the unmistakable sounds of war. A grin widened across his face and he began to run towards the sounds he heard. Even if the fight was over by the time he got there, maybe someone there could tell him where to go. Thanks to his mother's genetics, he had no sense of direction to go with his shock top of snow white hair. He'd never admit it, but he was totally lost.

His footsteps pounded quietly against the ground as he bolted towards the sounds of carnage, a wide smile growing his face. He only noticed the corpse of a fellow Faunus when he nearly stepped on it. He said a brief prayer under his breath as he kept charging into battle, pulling his longsword halfway out of its scabbard and allowing time for the scabbard to become one with the blade, creating a claymore that almost looked too big for him, stretching almost ten feet from point to pommel.

"Get some!" He roared with a maniacal laugh as he plunged his blade through one grimm, and then swung the blade through another with the other monster still firmly impaled.

He caught a glimpse of a few other people, but he was too far from them to make them out. With his blade humming through the air, he continued working on cutting a slow path towards them.

- - -

Ending status
Condition - Happy as a lark
Wearing - Same clothing
Carrying - Claymore
Location - Emerald forest

 

[Xcelgamer]

“You two need to destroy all its eyes in this one go, can you do that? Ebony, choose whatever weapon mode offers greater attack speed, I’m afraid that thing will start moving any moment now" Ebony listened and nodded calmly as she happily spun the barrel that contained the ice bullets so that they didn't freeze her weapon into uselessness

"Damn this is going to be a struggle to hit it fast" She said to herself as her injured arm tremble "Hmm I'm going to have to get fancy with reloading if I'm to be effective" She was frustrated with herself not because of the simplicity of her weapons but because of the fact that one of her shooting arms had been screwed up due to how she thought she could land. The Black Duchess' were powerful but quite slow at reloading, she had found a way around this by holding the bullets in a circle of plastic to shove them in all at once rather than one at a time. She flipped up the satchel on her belt and checked the bullets she had in their, 10 sets in total 6 normal and 4 different dust bullets "If I ever manage to get out of this, I'm going to need to make more bullets"

She spun her ice style gun pressing a button on top of the gun, the gun went fully straight as a long spiked metal slinked out. Ebony smirked as she flung it onto the Charybdis and she smirked as the whip retracted up to the chakram her aura went to her feet as she touched the chakra and was now standing upside down on it as she changed back to double guns. She was about to start unloading before the other woman, Sumire apparently unloading her own set before stabbing at the Nope "Hmm interesting form and technique, quite interesting I'll have to ask her about it later" Ebony thought to herself as Sumire landed behind them and hid behind a rock

"Alright then my turn"

Ebony unloaded into its eyes, lightning and ice crackling against it as she did her best to reload efficiently between Sumire and herself the Nope was flailing around severely damaged as she had helped destroy most of its, she transformed both into whips and pressed the firing mechanisms, causing both whips to shoot out extremely fast both sticking into the damaged eyes of the Nope thanks to the spikes, she jumped down from her advantage space on the side of the rock just above Sumire handing her one of her guns "Hello madam mind helping me here, just need to hold a duchess and pull as hard as you can, please and thank you" Ebony said calmly before running to the side and beginning to pull her whip trying to either keep it in place or to rip something out of it as she used her free hand to give a thumbs up to Oceanos

Mentions: Ozilla

Interactions: PixelSymphony

 

[Ozilla]

Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Chasm next to Emerald Forest, East of the relics – Ebony, Sumire, Isern, Oceanos (and The Nope)


Both girls nodded, then proceeded to immediately take their positions on Oceanos’ chakrams, Sumi with an aura-enhanced jump, Ebony by revealing the whip form of her weapons that she had already mentioned and using one of her whips to pull herself up onto the other chakram. Oceanos blinked, then stood up from his half-crouch and turned around to watch the two.

Sumi seemed to have decided on a combination of shooting and slashing at the Grimm. She had barely landed on Scylla before already starting to empty her magazines which appeared to be somewhat limited in size; after…five? shots she made her weapon change mode, jumped down onto the oversized spider and, in an extended slash, drew her blade downwards across the creature’s eyes before using the recoil of another shot to get herself away from it, landing near Oceanos. The girl seemed somewhat tired as she took position behind some rocks but showed him a thumbs up.

Ebony, meanwhile, shot a bunch of dust bullets into the Grimm’s face, producing both electric discharges and ice crystals on its eyes, before sinking the ends of her whips into the last two eyes and jumping down. She then offered one of her weapons to Sumi, also presenting Oceanos a thumbs up.
Wait, what? Ooou…

Oceanos concluded that Ebony wanted to hold the thing in place together with Sumi so that it was fixed for the finishing blow. That was actually...really smart thinking! Whatever team she was assigned to, he thought she would probably make a good leader. He did not think that any of them had the means to really destroy the Grimm like that, though; it had become obvious how heavily armored it was. Even with loads of fire dust and lots of time, he was not sure if his chakrams could saw through those.

Of course, nothing like that was necessary, now that it was blind. Oceanos was a big fan of solving problems as efficiently as possible.
“That was absolutely great work of you two, but you will not need to hold it down!”
With a motion of his hand, the boy used his semblance to pull the whips out of the Grimm and send them back to Ebony, then shot a dark glance at the spider. It had annoyed them enough.

“See, this dumb thing caused trouble instead of just letting us get some relics.”
The creature, which had woken from its axe-induced paralysis during Sumi’s and Ebony’s attacks, was starting to get up again, facing the four not-yet students, its left side maybe ten meters away from the chasm.

“Clearly, that means that it is trash.”
With a gesture, Oceanos repositioned his chakrams so that they hovered in the air above the ground between Grimm and chasm, aligned one above the other. He took a walnut-sized crystal of ice dust from a pouch and levitated it above the top chakram, then made his weapons spin rapidly in different directions.

“And you don’t usually destroy trash, right?”
When the chakrams had gained speed, he let the crystal sink down into the center of the upper chakram for a moment; the two weapon’s dust mechanisms interacted with each other and blew a fine layer of ice dust over a large area of ground. Changing the angle of the weapons, he repeated the process twice, completely consuming the crystal - admittedly, his weapons were not precisely dust-efficient when used in this manner.
When his weapons wound down, the ground between the Grimm and the chasm was covered in a thin sheet of clear ice.

“You just throw it away.”
Thrusting out his hand, Oceanos sent out three kinetic projectiles. Three trails of dark-blue energy arced through the air.

The first hit the Grimm sideways; the blind creature flinched back with a screech and, without knowing, jumped onto the icy area. It failed to get footing on the slippery field, and its momentum started to make it slowly glide towards the abyss.
The second streak hit it a moment later and sped it up. Spindly legs moved frantically, but again had no success at stopping its motion.
As the creature was right at the edge of the abyss, the third pulse connected. The spider was pushed over the edge, its final screech echoing between the walls of the chasm before, some moments later, a muffled thump confirmed it had reached the bottom. Silence.

“Now how about we grab a relic and finally get out of here?”

Oceanos had almost not used his semblance at all, only creating those three bullets, and yet he noticed that he was beginning to tire. Apparently, a good night’s sleep had not been quite enough to recover fully…


Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Chasm next to Emerald Forest, East of the relics – Ebony, Sumire, Isern, Oceanos (and no Nope)

 

[Soviet Panda]

Isern quickly backed off from the spider like Grimm, his axe held firmly in his two hands and his aura now white and flickering like a flame around him, wanting to be used, to propel him faster and hit harder. But he did not move, not while there was a plan. And as Sumire and Ebony unloaded on the creature in an attempt to blind it, Isern impatiently waited for him to be needed again. Not that he would be, for once the two girls were done, Oceanos finished off the creature by creating a slick spot of ice and pushing it into the canyon where it perished far below. How it didn't survive that fall yet was only dazed by his axe was beyond him, but perhaps that was something he'd learn about in one of his classes.

When Oceanos suggested they go finally find those relics, Isern couldn't help but nod in agreement and head off, not waiting for the others or really wanting to make another partner so soon after losing his last. Once again, he was simply walking in a random direction, not quite sure where he was heading but knowing he would get there eventually. Unkown to him, he was headed towards a chess piece, the White King to be exact, the relic that they had been sent in there to find. And while he wouldn't be impressed by a chess piece, he would be happy with just finishing up this bizarre entrance exam and officially starting his year at Beacon.

 

[PixelSymphony]

~Sumire Yamashita~
-- Relics and Retreat --

Starting Status
Condition: Beat-up
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude (Unloaded), Utility Belt
Location: Emerald Forest, South

---

Sumire shot her head towards the other girl as she called for her attention, listening aptly as a revolver was stretched out to her. She took a few deep breaths and reached out with her hand to take it, but before she could, Oceanos's semblance ejected the whips' ends from their vitreous anchors, the chains violently prompting Sumi to jerk her hand back in surprise. Peeking over the rock she was posted up behind, she saw her partner gesturing as he withdrew a dust crystal and... levitated it over to the Chakrams? So were they not staying up on their own? Geez, I wonder what kind of concentration it takes to keep those things whirling about in the middle of a fight? As the blinded creature was pushed once, twice, thrice, plunging dramatically into the gorge below, she gave a small sigh of relief. Assuming it didn't just crawl back out in a couple minutes (a possibility that was far from beyond the realm of possibility), it looked like their little group had won the day.

“Now how about we grab a relic and finally get out of here?”

"Oh I thought you'd never ask, yes, please!" Sumire pleaded, standing fully and already moving towards the central shrine. She dashed forward in pursuit of Isern, and as she cleared the last few branches to the evaluation's goal, watched the axe-wielding student lift up one of the two white king pieces and put it in his pocket. Guess I may as well do the same, Sumi mused to herself as she quickly trotted over to the other white king and tucked it away in a pouch. "Okay, we got them! Let's leave before anything else happens!"

---

Ending Status
Condition: Beat-up
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude (Unloaded), Utility Belt, White King Relic
Location: Emerald Forest, South

 

[HerculePyro]

Raine was surrounded, which was just how she liked it. Her Stytryxs dust explosion had freed up space around her as she had hoped, though her aura had taken a heavy hit. Switching up her tactics Raine withdrew Stytryx to its pole-arm form and grasped it with both hands in a defensive pose. She was deep in the fray and couldn’t quite make out what was happening with the others. However, honed as her senses were even, she could make out the sudden and fatal strike from the Blackhart to the teleporter.

Raine grit her teeth and struck out at a nearby Ursa, keeping it at bay with the reach of her spear. Spinning the weapon she sliced off the paw of another approaching beowolf, as their fight continued more and more varied grimm had started to appear, seemingly endless. With her back to a tree she observed Sables last attack, leaping into the fray and detonating the dust in his weapons, bringing a swift end to many of the grimm and himself.

Raine snarled in a mix of anger and frustration, had he been spurned to fight at close quarters by her words? Raine was prepared for close-quarters combat, that was the point of wearing armour as it mitigated the need for aura, it allowed one to make the odd mistake and to walk away from it. She couldn’t see the explosion guy, she wondered if he had gone down the cliff. Her own ‘partner’ was shouting obscenities and being quite the nuisance.

Raine struck down another Beowolf with a sharp thrust of the butt of her spear into the throat while keeping the Ursa’s at bay. Looking over the shadowy herd of black skin and bones she saw the idiot get hit in the back by a charging blackhart.

“You idiot! Do you wanna die too!?” Raine screamed over the roar of the grimm, her voice cracking.
Flicking Stytryx out once more into its spiked whip form, it cracked in front of her detonating into a blaze of fire, sending the grimm reeling. Raine darted away from the tree, deftly vaulting a rolling boarbatusk as she made her way to the body of her brief comrade. She didn’t look at it, she was unable to, but she hastily scooped the limp body up and hoisted it onto her shoulder.

Someone else had appeared at the commotion, he was deathly pale and wielded a sword that was definitely longer than he was tall. Raine wondered what made him decide to approach the enormous horde of grimm that even pros would have doubts about.
She ducked and deflected the charging head of another blackhart, now only holding Stytryx with one hand. Focusing on her idiotic partner Raine twirled the weapon above her and whipped it out to him, catching him around the waist. With all her might she pulled him towards her, as she did she broke out into a run towards the cliff.

“We’re way outnumbered and we need to get out of here, now!” She shouted to the new guy.

As she ran towards the cliff she saw the explosion man suddenly reappear at the top. Without holding back she tackled him off of the cliff, still to her knowledge, pulling her partner along with her.

“Grab onto me!” She commanded to the idiot and the explosion-man, before flinging Stytryx again up at the cliff face. The spearhead dug into the rock, going taut and the rapid descent swung out into forward momentum. Raine winced as she held up all this weight, her aura was at its limit and she wouldn’t even be able to propel them further with her semblance.

Aleph Null Yakov011001 Elysium

 

[Aleph Null]

<Cronan Dracula>

Starting Location: Kingdom of Beacon, Emerald Forest

Interactions HerculePyro | Yakov011001

Cronan barely had a chance to do much of anything after he returned to the battle field, for just moments later he was tackled by the pastel-haired warrior and sent careening of the cliff once more.

He heeded her words and grabbed onto her as she hurled her weapon into the cliff side. He was awed by the sheer amount of strength she displayed as she held up the weight of all 3 of them on her own, but was also aware that at this point she had to be nearing her limit.

"H-hey, I should be able to get us safely on the ground or at least break the fall somewhat using my semblance but doing that would probably completely deplete my aura." He spoke up to the two of them, not exactly fond of the idea but at a lost to what a better alternative could possibly be.

If he were to use his semblance this time, he would have to account for the added mass and increase the power of the explosion in turn , which would definitely take its toll on his body at that point he'd probably just be a liability.

"If any of you have a better idea though I'm all ears, but seeing as you two are better suited for combat at the moment than me and not knowing what else we could possibly run into, I think this is the best option to take" Cronan stated as he prepared himself for the potential task at hand.

Ending location: Cliff Side, Emerald Forest

 

[Yakov011001]

Soaring through the air, Spinel had plenty of time to swim amongst his own thoughts--considering he wasn't the one operating this ride. What the hell caused such an intense stampede? These things don't happen for no reason. He really needed an explanation, but before that they needed a plan to get off this pendulum mess.

"Don't worry about that, lad. I'll assist," He addressed his partner in getting manhandled. He'd paid enough attention to understand the gist of his semblance and how he planned on using it. "I need you to keep us moving forward, I'll take care of breaking the fall," He elaborated, still somewhat vague. There wasn't all that much time to explain the plan. "Alright 'Wonder Woman', I need you to let go once we hit the bottom of our swing; we can't have any of our momentum pointed upwards!"

Their swing was quite wide, so even for as long as they'd been in it they hadn't gotten to that point yet. It was coming though, let's just hope they both trusted him enough to cooperate.

Aleph Null HerculePyro

 

[Elysium]

Matte Schwarz

Starting Status
Condition - Fine
Wearing - Same
Carrying -Same
Location - Emerald Forest

Matte hummed a jaunty little melody as his blade whipped through the air, tearing Grimm open and/or apart with every swing. He probably looked like he didn't belong at an prestigious educational institution. A different institution seemed more fitting for his current state.

Despite the almost euphoric bliss his body and mind were going through, overdosing on adrenaline as he was, he did notice the people he was moving towards were beginning to retreat.

Which led him to an unfortunate choice. Stay here and fight, enjoying his high until he died or ran out of juice and had to retreat anyway. Or he could leave with them, which would be a total boner kill.

With his sense of direction, he knew he'd never leave this forest. But pushing his limits in combat was the only thing to satisfy this particular junkie. There was no fun choice. So he made the correct one.

Matte leapt back, landing once more beside the Faunus corpse. He was surprised none of the grimm had come by for a snack. With practiced ease, Matte sheathed his blade, lifted the dead weight onto his shoulder and then just fell. Through the ground.

More specifically, Matte fell through the shadow of a tree on the ground. He reappeared next to a boulder barely a foot from the cliff face.

With a sigh about his unfinished fight, Matte leapt off the cliff after the group of strangers. About halfway down, he found another shadow to vanish into, reappearing at the bottom of the cliff. His momentum carried him about twenty feet back into the air before he landed heavily. Pain lanced through his legs as he had failed to take into account the dead faunus' weight. It took all his strength not to stagger and fall, considering he was carrying something possibly important. And because he would never drop to his knee in the presence of others.

He stood straight, legs stinging something fierce as he slowly walked towards the projected LZ for the others. He needed to be part of a group or settle for living in this forest.

Ending Status
Condition - Injured legs in the descent. Too proud to limp.
Wearing - Same
Carrying - Corpse of Sable
Location - Bottom of cliff, Emerald Forest

 

[Aleph Null]

<Cronan Dracula>

Starting Location: Kingdom of Beacon, Emerald Forest

Interactions HerculePyro | Yakov011001


"Keep moving forward... I think I can manage that" Cronan responded determined despite not knowing just how long he'll be able to keep them airborne. This was a team effort and frankly, there was no time for doubting himself given the situation they were in, all he could do now was his part and trust in the others to do theirs.

He took a deep breath and extended a single hand out as he prepared to activate his semblance one more time. "It's now or never." He spoke up before the familiar cracking and loud ignition of an explosion rang out, propelling all three of them forward with immense speed.

He grimaced as he felt the heat of the explosion sear his hand. As his aura had decreased so had his resistance to heat of his own explosions, but he wasn't going to let that stop him now.

Ending location: Cliff Side, Emerald Forest

 

[Ozilla]

Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Cliff side, wildly swinging through the air on Stytryx – Raine, Cronan and Spinel


In the back of his mind, Spinel was still wondering at which part of his life he had made a stupid decision to now be hanging around - literally - with his team mates to-be, clinging to a woman who herself was clinging to her whip-chain-spear-whatever weapon that was in turn clinging - hopefully - to the side of the cliff. Should his water dust-enhanced visions not have warned him of this?
The other guy stretched out one hand, muttering "It's now or never." Then, a loud boom sounded and an explosion diectly behind them managed to speed them up even further.

When Spinel felt the trio reach the nadir of the arc they were describing, he yelled "Now! Let go!", immediately following his own advice. He looked at the others long enough to confirm they had done as told and to estimate the trajectories of their fall. Concentrating, he send out his aura, using his semblance to slow down the movement of air in three separate spaces above the ground. When he fell into his own cushion, it felt a bit as if he was falling into water; the air offered much more resistance than normally, and when reaching the ground, he managed to break the rest of his fall with a roll.

Dusting himself off, he turned around to see if his team mates were okay - he was totally not hoping that Raine had broken her neck.


Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Cliff side, wildly swinging through the air on Stytryx – Raine, Cronan and Spinel; Matte somewhere nearby

 

[HerculePyro]

Her Aura was at it’s limit; Raine was carrying 4 bodies, herself included, on her arm. She managed to hear the annoying one and the boomman speak and with the last of her strength tugged hard at the lowest point of their swing, detaching Stytryx from its perch in the cliff. A near-deafening BOOM sounded behind them, propelling them forward. Raine squinted as the air assaulted her, holding the dead body as tightly as she could.

To her surprise their rapid horizontal movement was halted and she slowly sunk to the ground, landing with hardly a thud. She guessed it had something to do with the annoying guy, based off his strange air walking he had done earlier. Raine stood, Stytryx dangling in it’s extended form from her hand, the body she’d managed to maintain hold of hoisted up onto her shoulder.

“You know you didn’t need to blast us. If we’d just launched at the most forward position of the swing it would’ve carried us just as far and none of us would have ringing ears right about now,” Raine scolded the boomman, now relatively safe from danger she returned to her more critical persona.

She looked at the annoying guy, who had a peculiar look on his face as he looked at her, like a subtle expression of disappointment.

“You were hoping I’d injured myself weren’t you?” She asked coldly. Looking over his shoulder she saw the 5th guy who’d joined them late in the battle slowly trudging his way towards them.

“Oi, hurry up! The three of us are basically out of aura. The endzone is in sight but I wouldn’t trust the grimm to not be chasing after us from up on top of the cliff. Even if we put on a brave face there’s gonna be negativity thanks to this”, she lightly adjusted the body still on her shoulder.

Turning back, Raine started running back towards the high cliff, perpendicular to the one they had just escaped down, the site of their launch and now the site of their finish line. She wondered what the staff would do when they saw the body, but no doubt they already knew. Raine suspected they had all been observed the entire time of the exam.

Aleph Null Elysium Ozilla

 

[Ozilla]

Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Beacon Academy - Auditorium – Lots of students and staff members


“-ss Vy and Sinopia Vermillion. The four of you retrieved the Black Rooks. From this day forward, you will work together as Team STRS, led by…Saffron Stars!”, Professor Ozpin stated and motioned to the large screen projected above the stage in the auditorium. Where a moment ago a scene from STRS’ initiation had been, showing the four students fighting their way back from the temple to the cliff, Saffron holding two chess pieces in her hands and shouting commands to her teammates, the four student’s pictures appeared. A moment later, the letters S-T-R-S floated beneath the pictures.
Oceanos was standing together with Ebony, Sumire and Isern. The four of them, together with the other initiates – that is, the other surviving initiates; the thought had shot through Oceanos’ mind repeatedly – stood grouped up around the stage, ready to move forward whenever their names were called. Their way back from the relic temple had been uneventful and rather quiet, and at least Oceanos had not tried to break the silence. He was disheartened by what had happened, and tired from the fighting. When they had come back to Beacon and he had realized that the students from the upper grades and the staff members had all been able to follow the initiation which had been broadcast on large screens in the school, that had not helped things at all.

“Cronan Dracula, Raine Olympia, Matte Schwarz and Spinel Violett. The four of you retrieved the Black Kings. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRMS, led by… Cronan Dracula.”
STRS had moved back to make space for CRMS to come to the front. After having realized how the teams were formed – it had admittedly not exactly been hard to figure it out -, Oceanos had started to zone in and out of what was happening around him. Clementine’s scream was still sounding in his head, and he seemed absolutely unable to just push the memory aside. He threw only a short glance at the newly formed team, barely registering that the only girl in CRMS had hair that was literally rainbow-colored, before looking at the screen. He almost snorted. Of course. CRMS had basically fought a whole army of Grimm and then even managed to make some sort of super-epic exit, including blowing up a mountain and swinging around on a rope, while he had not just failed to save his supposed teammate from a single overgrown spider, but then also felt the need to hold a rather stupid speech instead of just killing the thing and be done with it. Not for the first time he asked himself why Pardus had not realized how ill-suited he was to become a huntsman.

Ozpin spoke up again in his team’s direction, and the four of them took a step forward. Had the audience always been so quiet between teams, or was everyone else also remembering a young girl with a flute falling into an abyss?
“Oceanos Zapher –“, all of a sudden, Ozpin shot into stark focus in Oceanos’ eyes. The man could not be serious! He actually intended to make Oceanos their team leader? “-Sumire Yamashita, Ebony Araignée and Isern Vargr. The four of you retrieved the White Kings. From this day forward, you will work together as Team OSEI, led by…Oceanos Zapher.”
Oceanos stared at the Professor, who returned the look solemnly. The applause of the audience was only a muffled sound in the back of his mind. He would probably just have continued to stand there, rooted to the spot, had Ebony not gently touched his arm. He blinked, then moved a bit backwards before becoming absorbed in thought again, only half noticing the nomination of team CRDL.

Some minutes later, the four of them were leaving the auditorium; the crowd had already dispersed. Oceanos sighed, then started: “Well-“, before a sound of somebody clearing his throat interrupted him. He and his teammates turned around to find Professor Ozpin in front of them, examining the four with a serious look before speaking.
“The events of your initiation have not been overlooked. Death is a constant danger for any huntsman, and this truth should be clear in mind; yet what happened to Miss Persimmon is very sad. I want to clarify that the only reason I did not mention her death in my speech is that for all students, initiation is supposed to be something positive; the birth of a new generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses that will protect Remnant and ensure its future. While it is certainly not easy to deal with such a terrible incident, you are a team now; being a team does not just mean fighting Grimm together, but dealing with all kinds of hardships. Of course, you should also know that you can approach the members of our staff at any time. That includes me.”

The man gave the four a final nod, then turned around and marched off; it seemed he was headed towards team CRMS. Oceanos shortly woundered if anything had happened during their initiation as well.
Dejectedly, he turned towards the others.
“So…um, I will have to sleep in the infirmary for the next days”, he said. I do make a great leader, don’t I? I can’t even sleep in the same room as my teammates…
Glumly, he considered running after Professor Ozpin and asking him to make someone else leader. Instead, he shook his head and waved to his teammates. At least they would see each other the next day again; even the stern Madame Purpurea would be unlikely to prevent him from attending his classes, he thought.


Kingdom of Vale – Vale city – Beacon Academy - Hallway towards infirmary – Oceanos

 

[PixelSymphony]

~Sumire Yamashita~
-- Requiem for the fallen --

Starting Status
Condition: Beat-up
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude (Unloaded), Utility Belt
Location: Beacon Academy, Auditorium

---

Since their return to the school, a heavy weight had been burdening her. Living in as sheltered and as controlled a life as she had growing up, she had never had to face the reality of the danger of the profession she was training for. Casualty and death had always seemed academic concepts at best, a known rate of attrition that had to be calculated into any large scale effort made by an army of hunters. Now that she had seen it first hand, suddenly the cold hard math of it didn't seem so easy to handle. Hunters and huntresses were no longer resources and abilities, now they were flesh and blood people, those who walked with her, those who were her. Now it was personal, and as many know, when things get personal, they get complicated.

The sudden movement of the students she'd returned to Beacon with knocked her out of her reverie, and quickly she moved to step forward with the others. Did something happen? she wondered, having zoned out for pretty much the entire presentation, her thoughts having weighed heavier on her than any she'd previously had.

“Oceanos Zapher-“, the sudden voice of Professor Ozpin drew her eyes forwards and upwards, where she was greeted with enormous representations of herself and the three others with her. “-Sumire Yamashita, Ebony Araignée and Isern Vargr. The four of you retrieved the White Kings. From this day forward, you will work together as Team OSEI, led by... Oceanos Zapher.”

Sumire breathed a sigh of relief as she had avoided the onus of leadership. So Oceanos was chosen leader. She looked over to her partner, who simply stood in silence. I suppose that seems appropriate; he did coordinate our attacks on the Nope. Her eyes flitted between the other two teammates before flicking back to the large boy, who had by now frozen in place and needed to be prompted to step backwards by Ebony. And yet I get the feeling the person who going to bring up the most disagreement with this decision is Oceanos himself... A small frown of worry crossed her face as they began to exit the stage. Will he be okay? Will WE be okay?

~~~

The exterior of the auditorium was positively raucous in comparison to how things had felt inside, with groups of newly formed teammates already congratulating each other on making it through and being assigned together, or in one case, apparently starting to bicker among themselves. Sumire bit a lip in anxiety at their unknown future until Oceanos began to speak, no doubt to give a leaderly acceptance speech, or something that approached it. "Well-" he began, before being cut off my an authoritative clearing of one's throat.

For the second time, the purple haired girl found her attention being directed towards Professor Ozpin, his stark white hair a dramatic contrast from the spectrum of colors Team OSEI brought to the table. Again, she found her concentration beginning to waver from all the stress she'd been under, but as he spoke about Clementine directly, her mind skipped immediately back in time to her demise, watching Clementine's face as she fell, heard her scream even when she could no longer see as she plunged into the endless chasm yet again. Sumire's gaze immediately tipped downwards to stare at the ground, no longer was she able to maintain eye-contact with anyone. "Th-thank you Professor Ozpin," she mumbled out at the conclusion of his speech, her eyes still trained unwavering on the floor.

“So…um, I will have to sleep in the infirmary for the next days,” Oceanos said.

Sumire gave a small nod. "Y-yeah... I mean, you were pretty beat up yesterday..." she trailed off with, not quite sure what else to say at this point. Oceanos shook his head and waved to his teammates before he turned to head off to the infirmary, leaving the three others to stand quietly.

"... so I guess it's just us three for the rest of the night, then," she began, looking furtively at Isern and Ebony. "Um. I hope we have an okay time at Beacon. Um. Yeah..." Her eyes shot to the ground anew. After a few moments, Sumire slowly began to look around the gathered groups, as if trying to pick out a particular student. "Um... does anybody know which team Sable ended up on? I... I don't see him anywhere..."

---

Ending Status
Condition: Beat-up
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude (Unloaded), Utility Belt
Location: Beacon Academy, Outside Auditorium

 

[Aleph Null]

<Cronan Dracula>

Starting Location: Kingdom of Beacon, Auditorium

Cronan was stuck deep in thought, the events of the initiation playing over and over again in his mind. He thought back to his first encounter with Sable, the basan, the herd of blackharts, the faunus' last moments- everything just happened so fast that he was still having trouble processing it all. Cronan was no stranger to death, there were so many times when people he knew from the village died in grimm attacks after all, it was the very reason he wanted to become a hunter in the first place, to stop all the loss of life, but never before had he felt that any of it was his fault.

If only I was a second or two faster, then I could have taken out the basan and stopped it from alerting that horde of blackharts...then sable wouldn't have died. He couldn't help but feel this way, if his first arrow hadn't missed he had no doubt in his mind that things would gone differe-"...From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRMS, led by… Cronan Dracula."

Everything seemed to have come to a stop upon hearing the Professor's announcement.
Him of all people as the team leader? What had he done to possibly earn that position? For a moment a wave of self-doubt and loathing washed over him and his gripped subconsciously tightened around the strap of his quiver, the same quiver that still housed the weapons of the now late Sable Marigold.

The promise he made to sable suddenly flashed in his mind and the doubt and loathing was replaced with a surge of determination that he used to calm himself down.
Fine, if this is the role given I've been given then so be it, he decided. He'd just have to do his best to fulfill his duties and do everything in his power to prevent anyone else from dying on his watch.

"Sumire Yamashita" he muttered the unfamiliar name under his breath. Finding this sumire person was the first thing he planned to do once this ceremony was over.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Cronan wasted no time in stepping off the stage to go look for Sumire once everything was said and done, but he was stopped by an unexpected face before he even got the chance to look around. "Professor Ozpin" he greeted as best he could.

From the look in the man's eye Cronan had a fair guess at what their ensuing conversation would be about, and he was right. The professor explained the reason behind not mentioning Sable's death, the Importance of working together and what it meant to be a team, and more. All of which Cronan responded to with a single, strong nod; nothing else really needed to be said between the two and they both just stood there in awkward silence for a while.


"Professor Ozpin, do you know where I could find a student named Sumire Yamashita? It's important" he asked the older man. The professor responded by simply lifting his cane in the direction of a group of students, in particular a purple haired girl. Cronan thanked the professor before making his way over to her, she seemed to have been looking for someone and he had gut wrenching feeling knowing who it might be. "Excuse me... Miss Yamashita, Sable wanted me to give these to you... He didn't end up making it" He tried to be as straight forward as possible as he pulled out the twin blades and revolver from his quiver and held them out to her. He learned from experience to never beat around the bush when it came to the death of a loved one or friend.

Ending location: Beacon Academy, Outside Auditorium

 

[PixelSymphony]

~Sumire Yamashita~
-- Denial. Anger. --

Starting Status
Condition: Beat-up, exhausted
Wearing: Color-coord outfit 1
Carrying: MABB Kofude (Unloaded), Utility Belt
Location: Beacon Academy, outside auditorium

---

"Excuse me... Miss Yamashita,"

Sumire turned around in place, seeing a fellow student: she recognized him from the assembly. "Y-yes? That's me, you're Cronan Dracula, right? I-is something the matter?" A small voice of dread began to build inside her mind. Wait. Does this have to do with... oh no...

"Sable wanted me to give these to you..."

Oh no no gods please no... The voice inside her ramped up to a loud yell.

"He didn't end up making it."

... no no no No No No NO NO NO NO NONONO! The voice in her mind crescendoed into a piercing scream, deafening her thoughts and throwing her into a the deepest plunges of denial even as she stared at the one and only former weapons of one Sable Marigold. "Nnnnn-nononono this has to be a mistake," Sumire protested with, throwing her hands out at the weapons as if to block her reception of them as she walked several steps away. "Sable can't be dead, I was just going to talk to him, he wouldn't just-" Her eyes began to water as reality slowly hammered its way into the cracks of her shell of denial. "He... he wouldn't just!" she forced out, determined to make what she believed true through sheer force of will, but with every word the cracks opened more and more. "leave me... here..." Small rivulets began to slowly flow from the corners of her eyes.

"...alone..."

Her world shattered: the boy who was the closest thing to a friend she'd ever had, the one who she could rely on to always be there when she needed to talk or when she needed to be silent at every terrible dinner party or every nauseating fundraising event, grinning that silly smile of his or trying to make her feel better through endless compliments, would never be seen by her again. In that moment, as the last remaining vestiges of her denial faded away under the cold, harsh light of reality, everything else, her desire to demonstrate her ability, her wish to possibly stand out from under her sister's shadow, was all meaningless.

Sable was dead, and there was nothing she could do about it. The tears fell like rain as she collapsed into a miserable heap on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably and unendingly.

---

Interaction: Aleph Null