The Taijitu hissed as it slithered closer, every so often it would lurch forward and attempt to snatch her mid-run, but Rain was too quick and jumped out of the way, irritating the creature further. She couldn't see the temple over the crest of the hill, and the trees were growing larger with every step she took until she was once again at the edge of the forest.
Without waiting, she unsheathed her axe and detached the head, allowing her to swing it at her side from a chain, just as the Grimm were closing in she let go and the blade of the axe wedged itself into the trunk of one of the giants far above her.
She gave it a sharp tug to make sure it was stable before running towards the tree, the chain linking the half of the weapon in her hands to the head contracting as she did so, when she was less than a meter away her feet left the ground and for a few seconds she was airborne. The chain continued to pull her upwards until she made contact with the trunk and sprinted the rest of the way, the momentum carrying her until she got to a branch halfway up and she swung to the side to land.
The axe left the bark and withdrew back to her with a clunk as she stood with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath. Rain straightened her back and looked down at the expanse of shadow that was swarming around the base of the tree, she had drawn more than expected, but it was no problem if it meant Teal had less to deal with. She glanced at the temple and saw that the number of Grimm present had significantly decreased, probably due to a mixture of Navi's plan and the sound of firing she'd heard earlier.
A Nevermore flew at her, attempting to knock her from her perch, but she shot it out of the sky. The Taijitu that had been following her since the start was still there, and that was the only thing she was concerned about, the creatures size meant that if it wanted to, it could reach her quite easily, or even worse, take down the very tree she stood in. Of all the Grimm she knew of, Taijitus were the least aggressive; only attacking when they deemed it necessary, so then why was it here?
Rain wondered if previous events in the day, specifically the fight at the ruins, had disturbed the rest of the Grimm in the forest, and the amount of students at this particular spot lured them here. She nodded to herself, it seemed like a decent enough explanation, it would also explain why the Grimm were so active, since she'd heard from the previous group that some students managed to get through the entire forest without meeting a single one.
"WHOOHOOOO!" That sudden voice almost made Rain fall out of the tree and she looked towards the origin to see her blue haired friend soaring through the air... on the back of a Nevermore. Rain did a double-take and stared wide-eyed at the sight, how, in all of Remnant did she manage that?! Teal was stood on the creatures back with rope in her hands which led down to two arrows pierced through each wing; Rain assumed that was how she steered the thing, at least she'd thought of that.
Teal leaned to the right and the creature veered in the opposite direction, bringing the girl nearer to the branch where Rain stood, in one motion she sliced, removed her arrows and stepped, just stepped onto the platform, leaving the Nevermore to spiral down into the other Grimm as it disintegrated.
Rain stood bewildered with her jaw hung open, still staring at the blue haired girl by her side, who looked amused at the sight. She eventually got over the shock and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Why did you just do that, where are the others?"
Teal grinned and pointed at the temple, "For the plan!"
"And what plan wo-" A roar cut Rain off and both girls turned in the direction of the sound, Navi and the blonde girl were approaching, riding a Beowulf and an Ursa like they were horses. Like Teal, they used their weapons to steer the creatures and ploughed through the horde towards them, the Grimm under their control swiping at others out of frustration of having a human on their backs, safe from their claws.
A loud thud was heard as Rain face-planted the tree, "I swear I'm the only sane person here."
Both girls used their steeds as a boost onto the lower branches, and then climbed up to their partners' level; Teal greeted them excitedly as they arrived. Wynter took a moment to look at the scene below them whilst Navi went to her partner, who still had her face pressed into the trunk, after a short exchange she returned with Rain who had a defeated look on her face, "So what's the plan?"
Wynter crossed her arms and looked at the three girls by her side, "If two of us distract them we can keep them down here whilst the others grab a relic, which will keep Grimm away from the temple and other students as well." Rain nodded and adopted a serious manner as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Right, one from each pair I assume?" She looked to Navi and the two had a silent conversation before the brunette smiled and brought out her weapon, Teal and Wynter had done the same and Teal stepped forward to the edge of the branch with Navi.
"Okay, you two will have approximately 30 seconds to get out of here, got that?" Both girls nodded to Wynter, and she turned to Rain who stood with her weapon trained at the Grimm, she returned the nod and yelled,
"Three!" Teal and Navi leaned forward.
"Two!" Wynter turned Cassepine into a shotgun and aimed.
"One!" Everyone leapt off the branch, but only Wynter and Rain made it to the ground as they fired at the Grimm, successfully capturing the hordes attention, as soon as they made contact with the grass they were off in a sprint, leading the creatures away from their partners, who were crouched in the shadow of the forest on one of the lower branches. They waited until only a few Grimm remained before emerging and darting up the slope towards the temple.
When the ruins came into view they noticed several silhouettes stood there, slowly the shapes became clearer until Teal recognised them as students, and they were all staring at the approaching girls. Navi instantly became nervous and stopped running, she buried her hands in her pockets and hid behind Teal, as much as she could at least, as the blue haired girl continued to walk closer to the temple.
Despite it being quite a while since the initiation had begun, there were still a lot of 'relics' sat on their pedestals in a semi-circle, and Teal couldn't see any difference between this and the way it looked when she had first arrived with Wynter, where were the rest of the students? She mentally face-palmed at her own stupidity, then giggled, the students were stood right in front of them, they just hadn't chosen anything yet. Good, that meant she had more choice!
Navi was practically dragged over to the chess pieces as Teal gawped at each one like a child, she managed to free her arm from the girl's vice like grip and look for herself , the chess pieces were so... odd. They were large and clunky-looking, but Navi understood why they were perfect, she couldn't explain it, but they had such... significance, like your entire future was determined from your choice of ten objects.
She felt eyes on her back and her vision came into focus, she wondered how long she'd zoned out for, just staring at the pieces, one in particular had been calling out to her since the beginning, and as weird as it sounded, she related to that little relic, it seemed lost amongst the rest, like it was drowned out for not being flashy enough. Almost subconsciously she reached out and grabbed it, cradling it in her hands she spun to see Teal across the ruins, she held a similar object and beamed at the brunette.
She pocketed the relic and walked over to her friend, Navi was halfway across the stone when gasps came from the students behind her and she saw Teals eyes grow wide, she spun around just in time to see Rain and Wynter bolting up the hill with a herd of Boarbatusks right behind them. Teal bounded past the huddle of confused students towards the plum girl, "What did you do this time?!" Rain scowled as she recognised the exact words she had used yesterday, and the mocking tone that accompanied them, as she punched the smaller girl on the arm, causing her to stumble slightly.
"Shut up you, you're the one who got us into this mess; you always have to find trouble somehow."
"Hey! It's not my fault! And trouble finds me, not the other way round."
"Will you two give up and help us out here!" The pair was brought out of their little argument by Wynter, who in the meantime had managed to persuade the rather reluctant students at the temple to aid in fighting off the herd. Teal ran to the far edge, bringing out her weapon as she did so, Rain mimicked her actions, but stayed close to Navi in the centre of the barricade of students as Wynter barked out commands.
"Edges! Keep them from straying!" Teal and a girl with pink hair at the far end of the line nodded and readied their weapons, "Everyone else! Kill 'em where they stand!" A collective battle cry drowned out the roars of the Boarbatusks and the eight teenagers were immediately slicing and deflecting the creatures, preventing them from even landing a single hit. "Push forward!" The group began to walk a few steps, and little by little, the herd shrunk. There were less than ten of the creatures left when they fled; squealing as they almost fell over their stubby legs trying to get back into the trees.
The group let out a cheer and collapsed onto the grass panting, a well-built boy with red hair placed a hand on Wynter's shoulder and gave her a broad smirk, "Nice going there Blondie." Teal suppressed a squeal as a light blush appeared on Wynter's face, but it disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived.
"Thanks," She turned to the three, who all looked too sheepish for her liking, "We should head back to the cliffs." With those words, she turned on her heel and left, leaving a dejected looking red-head and her blue haired partner, who quickly bounded after her. Rain approached the boy and smiled apologetically, then beckoned to Navi and the two left as well.
The boy then walked over to the pink haired girl who was laughing heartily, and held his hands out in front of him, "So cold..." His companion laughed harder and he chuckled along with her.
If only they had seen the colour of Wynter's face as she marched back towards the school.
***
"Buckthorne Bloom, Rao Alpine, Cherry Bloom and Hemlock Tsuga, the four of you collected the White Pawn pieces and so you will work together as Team BRCH, led by Buckthorne Bloom." Wynter stood with Teal and the others as they applauded the students, the red haired boy, whom she now knew as Buckthorne, made eye contact and smirked as he puffed out his chest, to which she rolled her eyes and smirked back. They left the stage and Ozpin spoke again.
"Wynter Thyme, Navi Skie, Teal Drop and Rain Fall." Wynter's eyes widened as she tried her best to seem confident on her way to the centre of the stage, "You girls retrieved the Black Pawns," Ozpin raised an eyebrow as though that information surprised him, "From now on you are Team WNTR, under the leadership of, Wynter Thyme." She would have fainted then and there if it weren't for the hand on her shoulder, and she looked to her left to see Navi giving her a small smile.
She had made it, she was in Beacon, and she was a leader. She hoped her father would be proud; she was doing this for him.
They left the stage and joined the rest of the first-years as a girl with long red hair and three other students replaced them. Teal grabbed her arm and squealed, "Is that Pyrrha Nikos from Sanctum?!" Wynter hummed in agreement and added.
"It appears so," She then remembered who she was talking to and her formal attitude was dropped as she grinned, "Since when were you such a fangirl?"
Teal gripped her arm tighter and grinned back, "Since forever! She's so cool! She's almost as tall as Rain!" Wynter chuckled and led the blue haired girl to where their teammates were waiting with the students in team BRCH, a red haired boy, a Faunus boy with two brown ears poking through his hair, a tall green haired boy and a girl with short pink hair, she recognised them as the ones who helped them out back at the temple and gave a polite wave. The four waved back and a certain red-head stepped forward with a smirk.
"So Blondie, or should I say Wynter?" She rolled her eyes again and Teal let go of her arm to stand with the pink haired girl and look in their direction, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"Wynter, nice to meet you, Buckthorne." She laughed as his face went red and he turned to his teammates for support, but they just laughed too.
"Actually it's just Buck, harder to forget."
"Let me guess, just like you?" He looked surprised and she smirked, "I've heard that one before." He nodded and let out a small chuckle before they were swarmed by their teams. The eight of them engaged in casual conversation until an announcement came on over the speakers for all first years to head to student accommodation for their dorm numbers.
As they walked down a long hallway Wynter stopped and smiled happily, lost in her own thoughts as she gazed out of the window, that was until Teal noticed she was missing and looked back, she saw her partner daydreaming and beamed.
"Hey Wynter!" The blonde blinked and met her gaze before jogging to catch up; she re-joined the group and smiled with Teal as they continued to wander through the building.