Ch 18: The Emerald Forest (1)

Landing softly on top of a circle of stone pillars, Ray looks down to see 25 stone pedestals. 24 pedestals, each with a giant chess piece placed on top, encircling a taller 25th pedestal with a chessboard on top of it.

[I guess this is Ozpin's way of saying I'm not getting a team.] Ray jumps down and picks up the chessboard. Looking around for a moment, he shrugs and jumps up into a tree growing next to the ruins, sitting down in the lotus position beneath the cover of its leaves.

[It would be boring to just head back like this. I think I'll stick around to wait for the gang to show up and then join in on the fun on the way back.] Ray closes his eyes and opens his mind, spreading his Aura out across the vast sea of trees to feel what he could not see. By using his Semblance in conjunction with the Aura he was sending out, he could read the unique bio-electric fields of all the living things with a nervous system within his Aura blanket. This made it easier to identify a person and their current condition, just in case he needed to step in and help. A mental map of the forest began to appear in his mind's eye, the plants, insects, and animals glowing faintly in a myriad of colors from the weak Auras their small souls generated. Meanwhile, the Huntsmen and Huntresses stood out like shining beacons in the night, and the Grimm lurked about as indistinct voids. Their presents against the empty air marked only by their bio-electric field.

[Looks like two fated pairs have already formed. Jaune+Pyrrha and Ruby+Weiss.]

######

"What's the hurry?" Ruby calls out as she chases after Weiss.

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow! I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your-" Weiss's harsh warning is cut short as Ruby suddenly appears in front of her, making a puppy-paws pose. "What the…?!"

"I'm not slow, see? You don't have to worry about me! Yang may be the brawn in our family and Ray the skill, but I'm the speed!" Ruby proclaims proudly.

"When did…?" Weiss looks back at where Ruby had been a moment earlier, slightly amazed.

"Weiss, just because I don't know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters!" Ruby throws her arm around the shoulders of a still skeptical Weiss. "You're about to see a whole different side of me today, Weiss, and after it's all over, you're going to be like, 'Wow! That Ruby girl is really, really cool… and I wanna be her friend!" With that, Ruby disappears in a shower of rose petals to scout ahead.

Weiss waves the fluttering petals away and calls after her, "You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time." A silence broken only by the rustling of nearby bushes answers her.

"Ruby?" Weiss starts getting nervous.

"Ruby…?" Weiss places her hand on Myrtenaster, raising her guard as she senses something wrong. As she takes a closer look at the brush, she discovers several pairs of glowing red eyes peering through the greenery back at her. A pack of Beowolves has surrounded her.

"RUBY!" Weiss calls out for help as the first Beowolf lunges at her. Drawing Myrtenaster and blocking the blow in one smooth motion, Weiss is pushed back several feet by the force of the impact.

As Weiss regains her footing, another shower of rose petals appears in front of her. "Sorry!" Ruby calls out to her for not noticing the Beowolves earlier. As she apologizes, she unfurls Crescent Rose into war-scythe form. Channeling her Aura through it, a crimson phantom copy of her weapon forms over it, thrice as long as the original.

"Drop!" Ruby commands, pirouetting around as her Aura Crescent Rose cuts through all the Beowolves surrounding them, almost. Weiss, still trying to catch up with what is happening and not entirely trusting Ruby yet, remains standing, forcing Ruby to divert her sweep over her.

With all but the three Beowolves behind Weiss cut clean in half, Ruby folds Crescent Rose into gun form and pulls Weiss into her chest with a jerk, removing her from her line of fire.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!* Three quick shots ring out, relieving the survivors of their heads and sending them off to accompany their pack mates into death.

"You ok, Weiss?" As Weiss looks over at Ruby's smiling face, she can't help but feel how similar these twins really are.

"I'm fine." Weiss pushes Ruby away and turns around to hide her faint blush.

[Ahhgh! What is with these twins! They're so... so... Infuriating!] Caught up in her embarrassment, Weiss failed to notice the slight pallor of Ruby's face. Her desire to impress Weiss and earn her recognition had driven her to push herself beyond her previous limits. This was the first time she had successfully pulled off the weaponization of her Aura in a combat situation. Unfortunately, forcing it like that in the name of showing off, even for an instant, had taken its toll on her.

######

Jaune is following behind Pyrrha as she cuts a path through the brush with Milo. Jaune turns to look back at the way they have come as he hears the sound of Ruby's shots echoing in the distance.

"Did you hear that?"

"Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

Jaune returns his attention forward just in time to be whipped across the face by a low hanging tree branch that Pyrrha had just pushed out of her way.

*Buhha* The branch knocks Jaune clean off his feet.

"Jaune! I'm sorry!" Pyrrha turns back as she apologizes to him.

"It's ok. Just a scratch!" As Jaune gets up, Pyrrha spots a scratch on his cheek from where the branch struck him.

"Why didn't you activate your Aura?" She asks, confused.

"Huh?" Unfortunately, Jaune is just as confused by her question.

"Your Aura."

"Gesundheit."

"Jaune, do you... know what Aura is?"

"Psch! Of course, I…" Jaune begins. Then, remembering Ray's advice that fake-it-till-you-make-it doesn't work in front of girls like Pyrrha, he decides to be honest instead. "Ok, yeah, no. I have no idea what Aura is… Sorry."

Pyrrha smiles, pleased at his honesty and willingness to learn, and begins to explain, "Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

"Uh… yeah."

"With practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals." Pyrrha continues to explain as she walks around Jaune.

"What about monsters?"

"No. The monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity. They are the darkness, and we are the light."

"Right, that's why we fight them!"

Pyrrha shakes her head at Jaune's over-simplistic statement, "It's not about why; it's about knowing. Understanding dark and light helps us manifest our Aura. Everyone has some of both. By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting."

Jaune's eyes widen in revelation, "It's like a force field!"

"Yes, if you want to look at it that way." Pyrrha isn't sure if she should laugh or sigh at Jaune's insight. Instead, she decides to move things along without minding it.

She approaches Jaune and places her hand on the side of his face, "Now, close your eyes and concentrate."

"Uhh… Okay." Jaune complies and closes his eyes.

Pyrrha closes her eyes for a moment as well, gathering herself. Her skin begins to glow with a faint red light as her eyes snap back open, her pupils very dilated before slowly closing again.

As Pyrrha begins to recite the verses of a coming-of-age ritual from an extinct tribe of warriors, Jaune's body begins to glow with a white light that grows stronger as Pyrrha chants. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all," Pyrrha places her free hand on Jaune's chest, "infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

Pyrrha slumps over, exhausted from using up a large amount of Aura in a brief period of time.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asks, concerned, still glowing.

Pyrrha straightens, "It's all right. I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own." She smiles as she sees the cut on Jaune's face quickly heal, "You have a lot of it."

"Wow…" Jaune marvels at his glowing hands as he experiences the power of Aura for the first time.

######

[Congratulations Jaune. You've taken your first step to becoming a true Huntsman. A little out of the normal order, but so what. Common sense is for chumps lacking in imagination.] Ray smiles to himself as he watches the growth of his friends and family.

However, that smile soon begins to fade as he detects something approaching at high speed from the opposite direction compared to his fellow students. Something dangerous. Something malevolent. Something hungry. Something Grimm, yet also something more.

[Things just got a lot more interesting.]