Disclaimer: How the hell did I manage to drag the release of this chapter so long?

To be honest?

Pancakes suck.

They're not that bad when you eat them separately, but when you pour that cursed syrup on it, that's when it's all ruined. The soggy texture and the diabetes-inducing flavour are more than enough to ruin any kind of dish in the world, even if they provided sausages on the side doesn't excuse it.

Whoever thought of this needed to go to hell-Jolyne thought to herself as she sat at the table, eating her breakfast dispensed by the school, a stack of appetizing pancakes covered with syrup and melting butter atop in her plate. Never a fan of it back on Earth, and it seems like that's not going to change anytime soon.

It didn't seem like a problem for those around her: They were feasting on those wet cardboard cutouts with gratitude, probably only because it's produced here in Beacon. Heh, take a look a those two sitting in front of the windows, the two with orange and black hair, look at how much fun they're having, swallowing down pancakes like it's water while talking about life while she's sitting pretty much all alone. How great's that?

Sitting beside her is her father, he was sitting tall with a proper gesture while sending a slice of food into his mouth, having no problem with the food in front of him. The clings of the knife and fork blend into the million others along with all the talking.

"You're seriously going to eat all of that? It's disgusting." Jolyne complained, stabbing her fork into the stacks of pancakes out of annoyance.

"We will need energy for the initiation ceremony today, Jolyne, I hope you haven't forgotten about it. As much as you despise pancakes, you will need to consume something so that you can sustain your performance. It's important."

"Save it for yourself," She grunted, piling all the remaining pancakes into Jotaro's plate. "I'm not in the mood for food."

"...Something on your mind?"

"It's nothing, just...this whole initiation thing, you know? I'm not sure how I feel about it."

"And why's that?" Jotaro began yet again to send slices of pancakes into his mouth.

"Are you that dull or your brain's made out of wood? Do I really need to remind you that this whole thing is about slaughtering monsters with our magical powers? Don't suppose you had this kind of stuff as an elective back in your high school, sure, people here had experience beforehand, but we don't."

"..."

"I know I've technically killed people before, but they weren't all good samaritans. I killed them because they are evil, and if I don't stop them, then no one will have the ability to make it up for what they will inevitably do later on. I never enjoyed killing, hell, now that I think about it, I barely killed half a guy, I only beat them until half their bones in their body were broken, it was mainly Hermes finishing them off. But these people here- they are different."

"They were feeding on the concept of fighting since they were very little, fight for your family, fight for the people around you, fight for the better day, they have no problem with it, while back in our society some people would call eating livestock evil. What I'm trying to say is, I can't even begin to understand their views. I suppose Grimm are dangerous creatures and wants to take over the planet, but shouldn't you put the army or something to deal with that kind of stuff rather than sending emotionally unstable teenagers that are most likely to abuse their powers? A-And-"

"Jolyne." Jotaro gulped down another slice of pancake. "Calm down."

"-R-Right, sorry, I got a bit carried away..." Jolyne apologized. "..Well, I'll just go and check on my gears, then. Enjoy your meals."

With that, Jolyne got up from the chair, heading for the locker room.

"Wait." But before that, the man with a hat sudden called out to her, just about when she's leaving.

"If you don't want to adapt to their views...Don't."

"What do you mean?" Unsure about his words, Jolyne asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"We are nothing more but visitors here. An American visiting Japan can't understand why the Japanese would declare they are going to eat before having their meal, this is the same as our relation here. As you said, people here received a different concept of life and different values in general, it's hard to adapt to and it's normal. We don't belong in this world, one day we will leave and return to where we came from, I'm already planning out on that, so if you don't feel like adapting to them, don't."

"And you're certain that we will be able to return to the world we once knew? That we won't spend the rest of our lives hunting down monsters for a living?" Jolyne refuted. "As much as I would want that to happen, but it won't, Jotaro. You knew what happened-The universe we belonged in was annihilated, everyone is gone, and they won't come back. I'm just starting to accept that fact, the 'help' Ozpin offered us is nothing more than an excuse to let us help him fight whatever he had trouble dealing with. Didn't know you were that innocent."

"..."

"Well...I'll see you later." Jolyne said, walking off.

With his daughter walking away, the table was left with only the man wearing the hat sitting lonely.

He took another bite with the pancakes, he chewed on it for a few seconds, only to spit it back out into the plate.

At the locker room

Dear Mrs. Jolyne

There was a slight minor feature for your weapon that I forgot to mention.

Have fun.

Headmaster Ozpin

As Jolyne opened her locker, the first thing that she saw wasn't the muscular blue evening gloves, but rather a note placed atop.

While she is pleased to have such fine weaponry at her disposal-mainly for fashion points rather than practicality, she can't stop but wonder what did this note meant. She found the switch to trigger the detachable mechanism, but was there something else to it? Like a rocket launcher, perhaps? That would be sick.

This whole thing looked like it came freshly out of some sci-fi movie. She wondered if Ozpin hid a full suit of it somewhere deep in Beacon that she'll be able to use and fly around, that sounds pretty cool. The Iron Woman of Remnant, she doesn't even have to worry about copyright infringement.

Thinking about it, Jolyne slid her right hand into the glove. Much like her experience from yesterday, her knuckles reached a dead end somewhere around the wrists, but also a few holes at that end.

Slowly, her fists began to unfurl into the holes. The green-haired girl could feel the metal touch of the cables as the strings flow into different directions. The process was a tad uncomfortable, but she'll have to get used to it. After a few seconds, she could finally feel the strings reaching the end, where she was able to reform it back into her fist.

And that was it. it was easier than she thought it would have been.

Okay, now forget the talk before about it being a chunk of metal, this thing is flexible as hell. if it weren't for the texture, she could barely figure out a difference between this and a regular evening glove, because it just felt so damn comfortable, it's like a new car in there.

Perhaps there were some other functions that she was missing out on, but she couldn't care less. This is neat. She swung a few punches around to test out the punch-ability, jabs,

hooks,

uppercuts-

*Clang!*

As he swung her brand new weapon around in excitement, it collided with a solid surface, the bright yellow sparks trembled out in between, resulting in a ripple of shockwave travelling back through her arms, knocking her back.

...

She didn't even notice it was there. A metal sheet at the height of her face in front of her as she turned back and did a straight punch.

Why the hell is there a metal sheet standing in the middle of the locker room? That's surely not a locker, she punched backwards. Besides, the colour pattern looked similar: red, silver and black.

"Um..." Behind the metal sheet, a weak and shivering feminine voice called out.

It was Ruby.

...

Oh crap.

"Um, eh, heeey!" Jolyne rasped out, trying her best to ignore all the stuff that just happened, leaning against her locker. "Wh-I mean, How are you doing? Eh-I-I see you've got your sister with you, um, how's life, people? Did you sleep well last night?"

"We're just, you know, checking stuff out..." The blondie standing next to Ruby exclaimed, obviously also a bit startled by the sudden violence. "Sure, somewhat disturbed for you trying to murder my sister just now, we're doing fine otherwise."

"Heh, great."

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"So, any plans for the future team combos?" Jolyne changed the topic awkwardly, leaning her back against the locker.

"Well, so far..." Ruby placed her self into the conversation, holstering the holstered Crescent Rose to her back. "I've got Yang here on my team, but as you know, we need four. Not that I need a team, I'm perfectly fine by myself, but it's the rules! I can definitely handle myself, right, Yang?"

"Of course you can, sis. Of course you can." Yang nodded in an altitude that Jolyne couldn't tell if it's sincere. "Fancy weapon you've got there. What do they do?"

"Thanks. I actually just got it yesterday night, why don't y'all check this out?" With a click, Jolyne's right fist fell from her wrist and dropped onto the ground.

"Gahhhhhh!" And then, a scream from Ruby was followed afterwards as she fell onto the ground, even Yang took a step back, frowning.

Pffffft.

"Hehehe...Don't act all scared, it's just a trick." The fist on the ground retracted itself back onto the wrist as Jolyne chuckled with a mischievous intent, she even stretched her hand out a couple of times waiting for the two to recover.

"...Wait, no no no no no, that's more than just a trick!" Yang yelled, pointing at the green-haired girl's lively fingers. "You can't-you can't just detach your damn hand from your wrist! That's not how hands work!"

"It sure as hell isn't. It's my power." Jolyne jokingly said.

"P-power?" Slightly recovered from the overwhelming shock, Ruby asked.

"Yeah, it's my sta-I mean my semblance, I can turn myself into strings and manipulate them. Don't think too hard about it, that's just how it works."

For a brief second, a flash of doubt sped through Ruby's mind.

A Semblance to the user into strings? She knew that there are a lot of semblances out there that consist of different abilities, but rarely were there cases of them modifying the user's body. Her uncle had the ability to bring bad luck and turning into a crow, but turning yourself into strings? That's a first.

Well, the world's a big place, and she barely left Vale. Maybe there are other bizarre abilities out there, perhaps she will meet someone that could stop time in the future. That would be cool.

"Sick." Yang, on the other hand, did not think about it too much, but instead simply admired. "So, that's all it does? You just throw it into people's faces?"

"Sort of. I've been told that there might be something else to it, but hey, I've only got it yesterday. I'm sure I'll figure it out."

"Does it involve those buttons on the back of your hand?" Ruby mentioned, gathering Jolyne's attention.

Upon closer inspection, among the rather more decorative lines, there was a vaguely bulged out rectangular outline in the middle on the back of her hand. If you didn't look closely, you would have easily missed it.

"...Huh." Jolyne expressed, pressing the button down.

With a light click, came the consecutive sounds of running machinery. Like a jack in the box winded up, the button retracted back into the shallow surface of the glove and was replaced with a small cuboid shape. It happened all within the blink of an eye as if it was her father who fidgeted the device around with his abilities. Under the blue covers atop, the shapes seemed to remind her of something.

Are those...

...

Gun Barrels...?

As she wondered about the possible identity of these mysterious gadgets, she reached her left hand out, trying to touch it. It felt like a million years between when she heard another click and what happened afterwards.

*Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt*

Gunfire.

A rapid line of gunfire.

A deafening, deadly, rapid line of gunfire that ripped through the formerly calm air, shrouding everything in an orange coloured flame.

Jolyne once got the chance to witness the power of a Gatling gun mounted on a jet fighter when she was somewhat younger, though it's at a showcase with at least a mile between them, it's definitely no joke to underestimate what those menacing barrels could do. The sound didn't even reduce by one bit when it travelled miles into her ears while shredding a massive stack of hay back into the fields where they grew. She wondered if she was going to become a pilot just for the sake of those badass weapons.

Now, her wish is kind of granted. But not in a way that she expected.

"Mother Fu-!?"

"Gaaaahhhhhhhh!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!"

The boiling hot shell casing was vomited out to the right side as the gunfire continued, much like back on Earth, it packed quite a punch given that it easily shreds the locker it was pointing at. What came at the same time was the overwhelming recoil, her arm wasn't close to ready to withstand such force, forcing the line of fire sideways like a sword sweeping across the room, shredding the walls and the ceiling like paper. Yang reacted fast, planting her face in the ground while Ruby took out her weapon yet again to block in front of her as the gunfire swept across its surface, leaving a few shallow holes.

The overwhelming firepower knocked the weapon's welder on her back, yet somehow still firing above her head on the ground, the flame burns brightly from the muzzle. "Mother-...Fuuahhhhhh-!" The stand user yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice totally overlapped by the immense gunfire, also her efforts at stopping this madness of a weapon to go haywire.

But finally, the firing stopped. The weapon is letting out a series of constant clicks, seemingly out of ammo.

laying in a pool of boiling hot shell casings while bathing in the dust that got shredded off the wall along with voices from the people gathering around, all she could do is to lie there, ignoring all the eyes that were laid on her. Yang slowly got up from the ground while Ruby kept trembling behind her folded weapon in which she used as a shield.

In a daze, the green-haired girl marvelled.

What...

The fuck...?

"For years you have trained to become warriors..."

Sigh...

"And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Sigh...

"Something wrong, Yang?" Standing atop a cliff with the Emerald Forest below them, Ruby asked her sister on her unusual behaviour.

"It's nothing, Rubes. It's just...Jolyne and Jotaro, Y'know?" Covering her face within her palm with a complicated emotion, Yang replied.

"What about them?"

"They're nice people, don't get me wrong. But there was just something about them that makes spending time with them tiring as they have never interacted with anyone in this world before, the way they talk and act just felt...different. The more I spend time with them the more my lifespan will shorten, even if Jolyne didn't accidentally shoot me in the face, Jotaro's...you know, uh, personality is going to make me drown in my own nosebleed."

"I'm sure it's not that bad. Maybe they're just nervous in a new environment, you know, like me. People tend to do things wrong when they're nervous."

"Actively trying to murder people around them isn't caused by simply nervousness." Yang crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Normal people get nervous, what kind of normal people gets a weapon forged specifically from Ozpin himself?"

"Don't get so cocky just now," Ruby remarked. "I'm not acting better than they are. Besides, you're pretty fond of Jotaro's 'personality', aren't you?"

"Oh, shut it." Yang bumped her sister's shoulder, a slice of flush flaring up on her face.

"Each of you will be given teammates... Today." While Ruby spent her time talking with her sister, the headmaster had already finished his sentence and let Mrs. Goodwitch take over, talking about the assignments for teams.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Followed by Ozpin.

Jolyne's standing on the leftmost pad in this group of students, the furthest away from the headmaster. The only person standing beside her is, of course, Jotaro Kujo.

Exposed to the clear, opening air, the swirling wind blew past the feminine stand user's body, making her shiver every now and then. With her semi-exposed attires that exposes most of her upper body. Slightly shaking with both her body and her teeth, this is one of the few cases where she regrets picking such a set of non-mainstream clothing.

Yeah, as if installing a mobile death machine on my weapons without telling me wasn't enough, you also just decided to not tell me it's taken place on a damn cliff beforehand? This damn white-haired guy is hiding more things than a hibernating squirrel.

Glaring at her, the tall man finally decided to open his mouth and ask about her conditions. "J-"

"You shut your mouth." Before those concerns could leave the man's mouth, Jolyne shuts him up in a harsh tone, though that might be toned down a bit from the freezing air. "You are part of the reason why I'm out here suffering this hell. Could have at least told me we're going outside."

"...That's not exactly my fault. It's mostly your fault that you chose such exposing attire to wear-"

"Shut up." Jolyne trembled through her teeth. "I didn't ask for your stupid opinion."

"...Okay." Replied Jotaro, turning his attention back to the headmaster's speech in the distance.

"..." And Jolyne kept on shaking.

Piece of shit wizard of Oz, god damned juvenile kids, I hate this fricking place. Jail is better compared to this, tenfolds.

...

...

"Ahem-" A low groan, coming from the man beside her yet again.

"Shut it!" Yelled Jolyne yet again, grinding on her teeth.

"No, I'm trying to say that... It's gonna start with you." Jotaro said, lowering his body in a balancing stance facing forwards, his eyes staring directly over the distant tree line.

"What are yAHHHHHHHHHHH-" Before that confusion was delivered, the girl's light body was thrown into midair by the pad beneath her, her voice trailed away from Jotaro, but that's not long before Jotaro got launched into the air in a similar fashion. However, unlike her, he was prepared.

Skies aren't an uncharted realm to humanity: Whenever you look up, you could see it. Whenever you ride on a plane, you could feel it. When you go skydiving, you're surrounded by it. In no way was it something that scary to normal people, it's a place everyone knows and sees, there is nothing to get scared of.

However, what if this is the case:

You were thrown abruptly into the skies kilometres above unprepared, the only object at your disposal are your fighting gloves, and the trees below are coming towards you at an extremely fast rate while you spin like a windmill, does that make the sky scary?

...Eh, kind of. It's really not the sky that you should be scared of, it's more of the fact that you'll fall to your death and turn into a pile of Joestar meatloaf.

"Gaaaaaaahhhhhhh-!" If not observed close enough, one might think that it was a bird that just flew across, but that's the body of a young woman, Cujoh Jolyne. With the speed of a bullet and the rapidly decreasing altitude, it's only a matter of time before she makes contact with the ground and turns into mush.

"S-Stone Freeeeeeeeee!"

Immediately, a burst of string popped out of Jolyne's back. Though messy at first, it was clear what she was trying to plait: A parachute. It looked more like a plastic bag with two strings loosely attached to her body, but given the time, it's the best that she could do. There was no time for delicate design.

In theory, this would work. Only if she isn't spinning like she's in a laundry machine.

The strings that she tried to fabricate resulted in the opposite effect than she had imagined, it tangled her around her body, locking her limbs and blinding her eyes, leaving her wrapped in her own strings like a mummy. Before she could remove them, the trees are already meters in front of her.

*Slam!*

"Ah-"

*Crash!*

"-Mother f-"

*Thud!*

The girl's body bounced around the tree branches, scorching cuts on her smooth yet slightly muscular skin while ripping the strings around her off-while it might sound like it's limiting her movements, it did a great job weakening the momentum, thereby not breaking every bone on her body. She couldn't even think before hitting the ground with a thud.

Even with the precautions, the green-haired girl still got her face planted into the dirt, leaving a broad trail by sliding on the ground using her face. Under the emerald leaves and the brightening sun, besides the tweets from the birds and the blowing breeze, amid the browning tree trunks, she simply lies there facing down without any movement, a few strands of white strings still latched onto her.

Not long after, her father slid down a tree beside her, his stand's purple right arm gripped onto the tree trunk. The first few things that he did after touching the ground was to run toward and kneel down beside his daughter's body lying down, calling out her name. "Jolyne! Are you alright?"

"...I'm...Cough...Fine, I'm just...Reevaluating...My, cough...Life choices." As she tried to get back on her feet, a small leak of blood streamed down the corner of her mouth, there were not many injuries except some bruises appearance-wise, perhaps she broke a bone or two somewhere, but if she can't feel them and they are not preventing her movements, all is fine.

"I see." Jotaro got up from his kneeling position, starting to walk off, his concerning tone slowly dissipating back into the regular dullness. "If that's the case, we should get going. We will want to get this done as quickly as possible."

"..."

He didn't even look back. Jolyne thought to her self, raising her body up from the ground, relying on a stick she found nearby. Asshole.

Most of the time, she simply couldn't figure out what's going on inside that head of his. At one moment he'd give you the impression that he's the most reliable guy in the world, but most other times he's more of a dull imbecile with the mental capacity of a goldfish while also lacking the ability to properly display human emotions.

Was he always like that, or that's simply a new thing that popped up since they've arrived? Their communication is almost minimum, plus that he never told a soul on how he's feeling, just what is going on with him? Does he feel insecure, happy or furious? Even if she is concerned about him, she couldn't do anything about it- he simply wouldn't open his mouth and talk about things, in which, you know, any regular human can do. If not even his own daughter, his own flesh and blood, could pry open that vault with a welded shut door, who could?

"Jolyne." As the girl was patting the dirt off her clothes, her father turned his head around and whispered.

"...What is it?"

"We've got incoming."

A gale blew past the forest and the stand users, it was strong enough to make Jolyne cover her eyes, and more than enough to blow open the covering leaves above them, shining down the brightening sun, giving them a better view of their surroundings.

Amid the intricate labyrinth made out of brown branches and trunks, in the darkened distance, almost blending themselves one with the sound of the blowing leaves, were movements. It was given away by the minor noise of something stepping on the fallen leaves and branches, and if otherwise, it would be impossible to spot any unusual activities.

Black silhouettes, down beneath the shadows of the trees, concealed one with the obscurity. The red dots atop are like sensors that are staring straight at them, the menaces.

Then, as if they've realized that their vision had met, the silence was broken with a loud screech screamed into the sky, followed by the rapid brushing sound of the leaves and branches along with heavy and accelerating tapping sprinting right for the two.

"Don't panic, Jolyne," Jotaro said, readying his stance, his trusty purple partner, Star Platinum materialized behind him, it gave out a feeling of security simply by looking at it. "If you could save me back in the forest all by your own, then it should be no problem for you to deal with them now, especially now that you're at your full strength. Show them what you can do."

"Ugh..." Groaned Jolyne, like her father, she also summoned her stand, it's fists pointed directly at the enemy's direction at a combat-ready stance.

"When did I say I panicked, you old geezer!?"

Atop the cliff, everything is calm and silent.

Saying that it's a nice place and a nice climate for a picnic wouldn't be far off- only judging the looks of it, the sanitizing wind, the sun hanging over the top, you could set up a golf field here and it would not be out of place. So, why isn't there anything closely resembling the strong and establishing traces of humanity anywhere around here?

The answer is simple: It was still a soil occupied by Grimm.

It wasn't that this place is too dangerous for huntsmen to handle, in fact, all the area surrounding it was already established as towns and cities. It was more rather specified to be left isolated as a standalone ecosystem by a specific individual by a name that is known to almost every household on this planet.

Ozpin.

It wasn't due to mercy for him to practice this act, in fact, this lonely forest was used almost every two years for the initiation of the new freshmen. Everything here is monitored 24/7 with Grimm let loose inside the perimeter, the students were placed in to complete the objectives designated by the headmaster himself, even if someone gets hurt or badly injured, with a snap of his fingers, a medical lift would be sent out to retrieve the injured, along with a letter that basically says "You ain't qualified yet, get your ass back to combat school where you came from".

And this man, the man with such power and influence, is standing atop the cliff, staring down at a giant scroll that displays everyone's whereabouts.

"The pairing has already begun, starting with Cardin Winchester and Sky Lark." Glynda Goodwitch, the poster lady for Beacon stood beside the man with white hair and said, a similar scroll displaying the same images in her hands. "At this rate, we should expect the outline of the teams to form in about thirty minutes. These two boys aren't exactly the best personality-wise, however, their physical marks had been proven to be extraordinary. Mr. Winchester had a history of bullying and abuse during his time at Murkroid combat school, it would be best if we keep an eye out once the initiation is finished."

"Hmm." Replied Ozpin, and nothing more. The report was simply dismissed without him taking an eye of the scroll in his hands.

Glynda looked over to see what this man's been spending so much attention on. It was the camera footage specifically focused on one girl.

And that girl, of course, is Ruby Rose.

"...I'm not slow, see? You don't have to worry about me!" Through the muffled microphone, her voice was displayed through the speaker on the scroll.

"...When did...?" There was another person standing beside her, Weiss Schnee. She simply stared at the trail of rose peddles all around, the red-haired girl seemingly teleported in front of the heiress.

"You seemed particularly interested in her." The blonde woman remarked.

"Of course I am, Mrs. Goodwitch." Replied Ozpin. "She had something that most of us lack- a spirit that is willing to do things right. Most people wouldn't have been able to stand up towards the menace that is Torchwick that night, even with the right skills and weapons. She's capable of great things in the future, and that silver eyes of hers... If I'm not mistaken, could be an essential piece towards solving all this cluster of a situation."

"...What about the other two?"

Ozpin slides his hands across the device, displaying another separate footage: The footage that's broadcasting the two stand users, fighting a group of Grimm in the crowded forest.

"I've said it before, and I will say it again, Ozpin." Said Glynda, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I do not trust these people: While Ruby Rose might be an innocent teenager with a correct and passionate motive to become a rightful huntress, but the same could not be said about these two strangers. They've fallen from the skies, need me to remind you; Even for our standards they are way past the age of being in an academy, plus that they've harnessed abilities that are beyond our knowledge, we can't say for sure as if they would turn on us one day."

"...And I would repeat my answers, good lady. The thing is, I could feel it, inside those two, there are also-"

"-Golden spirits that drive them to do what's right." The woman filled in the blank. "There are times where people make mistakes, Ozpin, but when it comes to you, this shouldn't be something that you would mistake. Just because they have this 'Golden Spirit' doesn't mean that they're to our benefits, they came from a reality that doesn't exactly share the values of our own, that's something that should be added into the equation. It's a huge bet that I knew I'm not going to bet on."

"...I know." Replied Ozpin, his emotion stayed idle. "...If you're this cautious about them, why don't you make this initiation the chance to prove themselves? Perhaps you'll change your view by then."

"...That's not-"

"Shh." Ozpin put up one finger to his mouth, disrupting the conversation, then proceeds to place his eyes onto the scroll in his hand.

"-Orrrraaaaaa!"

With a furious cry, the right hand of Stone Free launched out towards a charging beowolf coming straight for the girl, a string attached to it.

A few barrages of punches had already done a number on this poor creature, causing it to stumble a bit while running forward, but that does not slow it down by even a bit. The flying fist head towards it simply seemed like a cable car travelling slowly on the cables.

The Grimm simply dashed aside and the punch seemingly is about to miss. Just when it thought it would be able to get the upper hand by disabling one of this girl's arms, the fist of the stand, as if it had it's own conscious, unfurled into a pile of tangled web then flew directly for the beast's direction, latching onto its head.

With a loud screech, the beast lost its balance, the bulky body of its dropped onto the ground facing up, the dull claws trying to scratch the strings blinding its sights off, but not before getting pulled towards the direction of the stand user where the strings came from.

Howling and screeching, it's almost like it was begging for mercy, its claws fluttered around in a panic, destroying the trees and bushes it was laid on. And finally, it stopped.

The towing was instead replaced by a metal object shoved into the beowolf's mouth, the barrels propped up the beowolf's throat. The beast gagged, and was followed by the woman yelling almost furiously:

"Eat lead, dipshit!-"

The last thing it heard before it faced its demise, was the deafening sound of Jolyne's weapon.

*Brrrrrrrrttttt*

And then, splatter.

With that, this short battle was settled. On the ground, there was only a bulky body of a damned animal without its head slowly dissipating into the air, along with the surrounding that got ravaged during the fight and other significant traces of combat, large pits lay on the ground as if meteors struck, creating a clearing in the middle of this plantation.

"...I don't think they use lead for bullets in this world, but whatever." The master of Stone Free wiped a trail of sweat from her forehead and the goo on her weapon, then proceed to look back to his father, trying to tell him the news that she had dealt with all of them. "Hey, Jo-"

"ORA!"

*Crash*

*Sizzle*

*Thud*

As Jolyne turned her attention to her father, she was perfectly able to catch a glimpse of her father finishing off one last enemy. The right arm of his stand was choking one of the beowolfs against a tree, and with a loud ORA that she just heard, the body of it slid onto the ground with a stud, breaking the tree in half during the process while it dissipates slowly into dust.

"...You can somehow make everything I do look less impressive." Jolyne uttered.

The man did not turn back his head and answer, he rolled up the sleeves of his purple coat and looked at his watch. "That fight took about fifteen minutes, our progress is way behind everyone else's. We should head out as soon as possible. Besides that...Your punch is as strong as I expected, but I will have to teach you a few moves if you were to use your stand at its peak."

"Yeah." Dismissing the small compliment she just mentioned earlier, she followed behind the man.

Also, speaking of coincidence: As they were walking away from the scene of combat, some familiar faces popped up behind the trees in front of them.

It was a red one and a white one at that. From the looks of it, they are yet to notice the stand user's presence, but guess what?

...

Nope.

No-no-no-nope.

She's not waiting around until the two kids notice them.

Jolyne dashed a step ahead and grabbed onto the back of Jotaro's collar with her metal gloves, forcing him to drop on his back while dragging him back towards the opposite direction of the two other girls.

"...What are you doing?" Jotaro said, his mind in a totally confused state, his back dirtied and dragged on the crude and bulky forest ground filled with rocks and dirt.

"Oh, you know, just getting to where the relics are and getting out of this forest as soon as possible, as you've requested," Jolyne replied, her voice raised by a significant semitone.

"I am sure of the fact that our destination is that-"

"Nope, pretty sure it was this way." Jolyne did not listen and picked up the pace, walking away from the other two children, trying to disappear into the trees.

"Look, it's Jolyne!" Before she was able to get away, the red-haired girl was able to make the first response, pointing her finger right towards the girl trying to run away.

...

"God damn it." She quietly mumbled, planting her face into her empty palm.

"...Hey, Ruby! How are you?" After standing there for a good minute, Jolyne turned back and greeted brightly, dropping her father on the ground with a thud.

"We're...What's with that, ahem...thing, on your face...?" At first, it was simply a friendly approach, but then it turned into curious confusion as she saw the object placed on her face. It was a blindfold fabricated by her own strings wrapped around her eyes.

"Ozpin said the first person we had the eye contact with is our partner for the rest of our lives, right? This shows that I do not wish to partake in any form of your squad action." Said Jolyne, her expression still shines brightly despite the words being hurtful as a blade.

"Okay...So, you don't want to be a part of our squad? Why not?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." Chuckled Jolyne. "It ain't personal-not about you, you're cool. What I do have a problem, is her."

With that, the green-haired girl pointed her finger at the white heiress standing beside Ruby.

"...Excuse me?" Her expressions aren't exactly all friendly and welcoming since the moment the two groups came into contact, but the insults only poured gasoline to the fire as Weiss frowned even harder.

"Yeah, I'm talking about you, snow queen." Jolyne ripped her blindfold off with rising hostility. "For every moment Ms. Schnee being in your team-I will not join you on your mighty quest, I think we're better off on our own than having to spend time with this pitiful snow white."

Jolyne wasn't too fond of her, that's a known fact. It didn't start back when the whole dust incident happened back in the front yard, it started the moment Jolyne read about her on the books and magazines. As if the portrait embedded into the golden pattern on the front page wasn't enough to make her want to puke already, the fact that she's going to the same school as she did.

Jotaro forced her to read all about this girl- Cocky altitude, top of her class, one of the children of the dirty rich millionaire, she already knew more about the heiress before actually meeting her herself. Shady illegal Faunus labour, malignant acquisition of other smaller dust companies...Those are in her debt in some way. One day she's going to be the one who reigns over those hideous actions like her father, and Jolyne's not a fan of that.

Say otherwise for Ruby, she's just a young kid with a good heart, as far as to what this world has to offer, she's one of the better people. But Weiss Schnee? That's a big no-no. The textbook example of a spoiled brat brought down to this Earth by the misfortunes as if it was the punishment from God, everything in this realm that's wrong about juvenile teenagers, merely one step off from being the wicked head honcho of the megacorporation of her own, a detriment to Cujoh Jolyne's mental health, a sorrow testament-

"...Indeed, I suppose it would be slightly harder to comprehend the importance of I, Weiss Schnee, being on a individual's team when it comes to such a degenerated person like you, who I presume doesn't have even slightly the dignity nor knowledge given that you would spew out such vile and ignorant words out of that mouth of yours, I apologize for being so inconsiderate about your lacklustre mental capacity." It was obvious at first that with her fist clenched, the heiress was going to spew out a series of insults at first, but that was soon tuned down into sarcasm, flinging her snow-white hair.

"You put that sarcasm up one more time and I'll rip your face off." And things only began to heat up even more. However, there was something else that was also heating up that they've yet to notice.

Behind them, the 195cm tall stand user got up from the ground, patting off the dirt on his clothes, while the two continued on with their argument. Now, isn't this familiar to anyone? Two girls, an heiress, a premature young adult, arguing alongside a towering man? It sure makes you wonder how that turned out last time.

Jotaro began to walk steadily towards the middle of this babbling, with Ruby trying to calm down the situation on heat, they've yet to notice him coming.

"G-Guys! Now isn't the time for yelling at each other! We need to-"

"Stay the hell out of this, Ruby!" Yelled by the two in a unison, shutting her down and forcing her a step back, and soon the situation went back into the verbal fighting.

"You think you're the tough shit? Lemme tell ya, I've seen more pathetic chickens like you for way more times than I would like to, you've got way too much spending cash in your pocket and exposure than you're good for, with that shitty ass altitude, I would much rather get expelled and wander the streets than spend rest of my time here with you!"

"For what reason would I even have the closest idea of spending my precious time with you when I can do things that actually contributes something to this society as a whole? At the end of the day, I would always come atop, above where scums like you were placed. For what you're worth, you should feel grateful for me to not rain down punishment on you for treating me this way."

Jotaro is still walking menacingly towards this slapstick, a menacing atmosphere forming around him.

Ruby was the first one to notice it, she was still trying to calm down the whole situation, but stopped as she saw the towering man slowly marching this way.

Even a fool would have noticed it by now. As the two girls are still going on with their argument, all at the same time, they felt an immense shiver down their spine, effectively shutting down the situation.

Weiss didn't notice what it was at first, but as she saw the woman in front of her welding her mouth shut and looking above her head with an ocean of sweat flowing down her head, she knew that it wasn't going to be good.

The heiress slowly turned her head around.

The menacing aura-we're not talking about physical aura here, not those when you use in combat, but rather a strange stressful ambience emitted by a man. The source to it all is currently staring right at the two competitors, though shrouded by the shadow of his caps, it did not prevent him from pressing down an almost physical pressure on them.

"...In my defence, it was she who-" Weiss spoke first, trying to get the upper hand of the situation.

It didn't work out that well.

Before both of them could regard it, and quite the contrary to their expectation, the two girls were suddenly carried over Jotaro's shoulders on their bellies facing back.

"Wha-!"

"You-!"

"...I'm trying my absolute best to not lose my temperament," Jotaro said while Weiss and Jolyne began to struggle with blushes on their faces, as futile as it might be. "I would have shouted at you both if this were any other circumstances, but as of now, we have a more important task at hand. Ruby Rose!"

A bit unexpected to him calling her name, or anything at all at this point, she answered with a tad of panic. "Eh-Y-Yes?"

"Since these two can't control their temper very well, I believe we will have to put our safety into your hands. Are you up for the responsibility?"

"...O-Of course!" As if it was a direct order that came from one of the mentors, Ruby immediately readied her weapon. There was a kind of force in his words that can't make her say no.

"You shall unhand me right now you cursed barbarian, or I will take this matter to court and sue you and your entire bloodline bankrupt!... Ruby, help me!"

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!? Do you think I'm a fucking toddler or some shit!? Let me down right now, or I'll beat your ass into oblivion!"

"Let's go." Ignoring the livid words being roared into his ears, Jotaro began to move out towards the objective at a steadfast speed, followed by Ruby behind him.

"...Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

The quiet whispers of the redhead gladiator bloomed a thin colour as she sets her hands on the blonde novice, the colour red mixed into the bleached white, emitting a lightful aura covering the blonde's body, one that's full of life and burning energy.

Finishing unlocking the boy's aura, Pyrrha Nikos bends slightly over in exhaustion, causing Jaune to ask in concern. "Pyrrha?"

"It's alright, what's important is now that you've got your aura...Do you feel it? The warm wave of energy rushing through your veins?"

"I guess." Shrouded within in a white surface, Jaune inspected his hands. "It's nothing like what I had ever experienced before."

Pyrrha chuckled. "Now you can protect yourself or deal some damage with that power, it takes time and practice, but you'll get there. And boy, do you have a lot of it."

"Thanks...Hey, did you hear that?" Before Jaune had the time to celebrate, he turned his head around, notifying a peculiar sound coming from the distance.

It was vast-like the wind blowing through the coarse canyon, echoing by the honed stones. But it wasn't the wind, as they can feel the vibrations beneath their feet. There was something headed this way towards them, fast.

Without a word but rather a turning kick to the right, Pyrrha knocked Jaune onto the ground before he can respond, slamming sideways face-first onto the dirt with a meaty thud and a grunt.

Then, wasting no time at all, the gladiator unholstered her primary weapon, Miló, it quickly transformed from a short sword into a full-lengthed spear the moment her hands came into contact, the base sturdily pinned into the ground with the sharp end of the spear pointed at the woods where the sound is coming from, forming a 45 degrees angle against the soil.

Jaune, who's yet to realize what's about to strike, asked with a minor shockwave rippling through his brain lying on the ground. "P-What-"

And then, came the darkness as we know it.

It's beowolves, nothing too special about that, this entire place is their breeding grounds. But the unusual thing is that unlike how they regularly act, they seemed to be full of thirst for something. While there's no way to tell what it is that they want, but it was sure that it isn't the two standing in the middle of this forest. As Pyrrha calculated, one of the beasts pounced over towards them. But rather than achieving whatever goal it had in mind, it leapt straight into the sharpened end of the spear, piercing through the monster's skull with a wet crack, and through its entire body like meat stacked onto a strain of kebab. It dissipate into the air a minute later, as if nothing was there in the first place.

But that's not where it ends-following behind the now dead beowolf, are tens upon hundreds of his brethren.

"Jaune! Get over here!" Tucking the shield on her back into the terrain facing the swarm behind the spear, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune by his collars and dragged his body behind the shield, his body hurled into a ball while the redhead brought him into her arms, encasing him in artificial protection. The quaking vibration trembled the ground beneath the soil, a neverending current of thirsty screechings shot past them without a scent of interest. After what felt like forever, the movements finally died down, leaving only the two students behind the sturdy shield.

"Gah...eh...Are they gone?" It was like a tornado, it comes quick, raises hell and disappears without a trace. After apprehending the fact that the beasts are now gone, Jaune was able to squeeze a few words out of his mouth.

"I think so. Are you okay? Did you hurt anywhere?" Asked Pyrrha, her eyes searching up and down for every single possible bruise on the blonde.

"I might have got a minor case of a concussion that you've kicked into me...I mean, I'm fine, sorry."

...

It took them a good minute to understand what position they're in.

A quite embarrassing one at that: a girl embracing a boy hurled into a ball, cowering behind a small bronze shield, it's reasonable given the circumstance, but taking it out of the context- or, not at all- it seemed weird. Like two magnets with opposite polarity meeting each other, Pyrrha ejected up from the ground with a blush burned up to her ears, Jaune probably would have done the same if it weren't for that he's still recovering from that kick.

"I-I mean, let's go, Jaune! We've wasted enough time!" Retrieving her weapon back from the ground, the redhead trotted away from the perplexing situation, trying her absolute best to maintain a natural gesture as if nothing just happened. She was supposed to be a professional, after all.

"Okay, but...just wait a second!" Jaune replied, getting up from the ground. "What was that all about? I've never seen a swarm of Grimm that big before!"

"...I have no idea." Likely relieved at the fact that Jaune probably didn't pay too much attention to what just happened a second before, Pyrrha turned around and answered with her usual tone. "But if I had to guess, Grimm are especially drawn to negative emotions... So it might be someone or some people having a really bad mood?"

"That doesn't make sense. Why would anyone be that pissed to draw that much attention?"

"I don't know. Either way, if the Grimm nearby are all attracted to that direction, it means that we should be clear for the next few hours. Come on, we gotta move."

And down goes another beast in their path- one that's brave enough to stand in front of the skilled group, and one that's dull enough to give into its desire of slaughter. What rewarded such action fueled by varying rationale was only the sharpened blades of Crescent Rose, a clean death that splits the monster in half, granting mercy more than anything else.

With Ruby Rose leading the small gathering, followed by the man wearing black carrying two girls over his shoulders, the continuous cursing coming from the two girls struggling to get off the man' shoulders and the seemingly neverending wave of various Grimm chasing after them, it's a hellscape.

"Ugh... they just... keep coming!" Yelled Ruby, the edge of her weapon swung from side to side again and again, no matter how many beasts she slew, like the waves colliding onto the shore, they simply kept on filling the gap where it's hollow.

"That's what I was saying! If you, Jotaro Kujo, would generously let me down, that way I'm sure we don't have to make this the slapstick as it is!"

"I will break your spine if you don't stop treating me like I'm five, you fucking geeze- I mean, uh, young man."

"No." Jotaro replied coldly. "Both of you are highly emotional unstable, I doubt the possibility that we will be able to complete our objective will be high if I let you two run free."

"Oh, now you've asked for it." The blue elbow of Stone Free appeared Jotaro's back, with Jolyne lit up yet again within the colour blue. "There's a point where it tips, there's a point where it breaks... Don't say I didn't warn ya." Weiss was too busy trying to reason with the tall man, Ruby's focused on clearing a safe path, there is no one and nothing to stop Jolyne from what she's about to do.

And then, strike.

Right in the spine.

With a loud grunt, fell down the towering mass of a man, and the weight he's carrying. Slamming headfirst into the ground, his face dragged along the earth, his groanings were muffled down by the planet itself with an offchance of losing his other eye. But at least now the girls are free of the strains, rolling a few turns on the ground was enough for them to flip immediately back up.

"See, this wouldn't have happened if you just let us go." Patting the dirt of her body, Jolyne ridiculed to her father planting his face in the dirt.

With the white heiress taking similar action, slightly concerned whether her makeup fell off or not, she claimed. "Whew, glad we've got that overed with... Still, I doubt the necessity to resolve this in such a barbaric way, but it's still efficient nonetheless..."

"What did you just call me!?" The second their boots went on the ground, it turned back into the smoking battlefield just a few minutes prior. "You wanna say that to my face, asshole!? C'mon, I dare ya!"

"As I said, you, in terms of skills or self-cultivation, you are in every way substandard. That whole situation back there would have been solved easily by my negotiation skills if I had sufficient time, and not hurting anyone physically. Having to resolve situations with violence shows how incapable you are, and I do not consider that a breakthrough in any shape or form..."

"...This is what I was talking about..." Jotaro groaned on the ground, due to his age, while a hit on his spine is not going to break him completely, it's enough to knock him down for good.

"Guys, this is no time for messing around! Look around you!" Midst of the ceaseless verbal clashings, it was Ruby who called out to the two immature girls, letting them realize the circumstances around them.

They're encased- the grimm threat, while the two were wasting time arguing, formed a circle around the group like a net, without a single gap for them to breakthrough from where they can see. Unless they have the ability to fly, physical encounters seemed to be the only way out.

But as alarming as the situation is, Jolyne and Weiss simply aren't coming to an understanding where they really should put personal rivalry behind and value their lives better, instead, verbal insults took the upper hand in their minds. The monsters girded the party in a ring, although they were attracted by the negative emotions, upon arriving at the scene, they were quite alarmed by the argument with the volume turned up to the max, not exactly willing to make the first move.

"I swear to god, you should be thankful..." "Well, aren't you just perfectly ignorant..." Etcetera, etcetera. It's an endless cycle of throwing meaningless insults around without proving any points. It's actually impressive how they were able to keep all this mockingly badly written burlesque without getting bored, perhaps it was just another perk to their young and wild personality.

"...This has gone on long enough." Grunted Jotaro, slowly getting up on his feet. As long as these two were kept at least thirty meters radius from each other, there would be no way for them to work even just individually. Trying to carry them to the destination won't work, Jolyne's likely to break his spine before they reach there, and with them being encircled and only Ruby technically doing all the fighting, it's a bad situation.

He can summon his Star Platinum and fight, but he's not sure if he should. With its raw strength, agility and the time-stopping ability, they can get out of this mess without breaking a sweat, but everything here is monitored by the school. Unlike Jolyne, they have yet to know Jotaro's abilities and he's yet to put trust in them, it wouldn't be ideal to expose his trump cards too early.

Only if there's a way to get out of this situation...

Abruptly, a howl tore across the blue sky, causing everyone to look up.

It's a shadowy figure, but unlike the horrific monstrosities with their claws on the ground, it was in the sky, soaring through the wind with its strong wings. Nevermore is what people called them, they're basically giant crows that can shoot their feathers around like spears, some claimed it to be too dangerous to be put into a training ground such as the Emerald Forest, but hey, it's Ozpin making the decision.

No one should be cheering for its presence at this point, but as of now? It gives Jotaro an idea.

"Jolyne, for once, listen to me. I need your help."

"Hmmm... Say, do you think the queen one suits me?" Asked the blonde to silent dark-haired, staring at the white side of the relics lying in front of her, along with two other students that arrived with them. They called themselves Nora Valkrie and Lie Ren.

"Of course." Answered back Blake, who didn't pay any attention to Yang's fashion query and randomly picked a knight piece from the pillars and stuffed it into her pocket.

Yang looked back. "Hey, you weren't paying attention! This is really important, maybe some of these pieces might give us more marks! Now tell me, do you think the queen suits me?"

"I'm sure the professor wouldn't give us an objective that complicated before our class even begins. It's likely only for the team plannings." Replied Blake, who yet again, ignored the fashion problem and instead focusing on the vicinities, the amber pupils searched through the timber, alarmed for any bit of movement.

"Ugh, you're no fun. Guess what?" Grunted Yang, grabbing a white knight piece that is the same as the one Blake took, showing it up in front of the black-haired girl's face. "I'm gonna teach your wooden head what human emotions are, alright? You're stuck with me."

"...Are you always this enthusiastic to strangers?" Blake's vision turned back to Yang with her usual deadpanned face.

"Who knows?" The chess piece was toyed around in the blonde's hands then thrown a meter up into the air, then landed straight into her pocket. "You gotta find that out yourself."

But rather than replying, Blake suddenly angled towards the direction away from Yang, her body visibly in an alarming stance, the almost glowing eyes flickered around like a cat, it is unsure if she caught all the words coming from the blonde. "D-did you hear that?"

"...Um, what-" From Yang's perspective, everything's still and quiet, there's barely a breeze blowing through her face, not to mention any movements.

"I heard it! It's definitely coming from somewhere-It's getting louder! I think it's coming this way! Can't you see anything?" The girl began to grow a tad of anxiety on her expression and in her voice, quite contrary to her routine "Above all" personality that she displays in front of most others.

Uh-huh. Yeah. I guess something's coming...I can somewhat hear it. Thought Yang.

But something else caught her eyes. Above Blake's head, and this could be just Yang seeing things, the neatly tied up bow began to twitch slightly. A single drop of sweat slid down the blonde's cheeks, her eyes staring at the supposedly decorative bow utterly confused and concerned. Pretty sure it shouldn't do that.

Does she know that it's somehow moving? No, ahem, how about "Why is it moving?" Can't really think of a logical reason for that, like, what-

"-in the sky! Above you!" Before making any claims, Blake was first to notify the thing approaching from above, whatever that is. With that kind of curiosity, Yang looked up to the sky above.

It's the grim shadow casting down on her. To be more specific, the grim shadow of a bird-shaped Grimm is charging down upon her. Although she might have seen it wrong, but on the back of the Nevermore's neck sits four similar faces, three girls and one guy, the girl sitting in front holding a thick strand of strings connected beneath the beak like a horse rope while the rest loosely grabs onto the feathers. With the tall guy being the exception, all of them looked like crying.

Yang didn't have enough time to respond to anything as the Grimm bird crashlanded into her, striking her beak first in her stomach and send her flying backwards, wiping any thoughts and doubts earlier clean, replacing them with pure blankness as she rolled back onto earth. The bird docked into the dirt, blemishing a long trail of dirt on the ground, ceased to any movement.

With the chaos slowly died down, the quintet got down the Nevermore's back mostly on their knees, the air filled with the sound of them coughing and disgorging, also with the exception of Jotaro trying to maintain his balance on his feet, as wobbling as it is. "That was...the...worst experience...in my life...BLARGH!" Weiss puked out the remaining content of her breakfast, if it weren't for the hard training throughout the years, she would be lying unconscious on the ground as of now.

"Weiss Schnee! And...Ruby! What is going on here?" Remarked Blake, who remains unmoved, trying to comprehend the situation.

"Bad landing." An arm latched onto the back of the Nevermore, revealing the familiar Cujoh face. "Things went south, thought we could take a shortcut and here we are. It looks bad but here we are with an extra kill, I'd call it a success. Speaking of which, I thought we accidentally landed into something, is it just me?"

Finishing the sentence, Jolyne looked to her right.

There is the body of Yang lying on the ground with her back facing the group, with no movements in sight.

"Oh, crap." The stand user soon got on her feet and tried to move to the girl on the ground, but someone else was already standing there.

...

Ow... That hurts really bad.

I've got plenty aura left, definitely enough for me to take the hit, but it still felt like getting crushed by a truck.

Yang's eyes are filled with hollow and whiteness, the brows clenched down to the inner corner of her eyes and the clutched teeth exposed wide open, the thoughts aren't even coming through straight. But as the ache slowly dissipates, she caught a shade of someone standing right next to her, lending out a hand.

Oh. That's nice. The brawler latched onto the helping hand, feeling the sturdy texture of the grip, she got back up. The scenery sure is familiar, but whatever.

Now, who's this nice gentleman who nicely lend out a helping hand-

It's Jotaro Kujo.

The sudden rush of adrenaline pumped into her legs, they bolted the blonde a meter away from the man while jumping back up, her arms covering her face from the immediate surge of an overwhelming rush of a strange sensation, another stream of crimson leaked through the gap of her nostrils covered by her hand. "Y-You-Stay the hell away from m-me!"

"...Why? I am only trying to help." With a seemingly confused yet deadpanned face, it's a myth that if he actually feels confused or is simply messing with her.

"Just-Keep your damn distance! You're only making it worse!"

Suddenly, a low roar came from behind. The nevermore that was presumably dead came back to life, screeching, with the students nearby preparing their weapons for a fight, it flapped its wings with the remaining strength that it has left, the Grimm took off into the sky, regaining his advantage from the disgrace that is being treated like a horse.

Before now, there isn't much challenge so far. Beowolves aren't exactly strong, the only advantage they have is numbers, even with that, they are nothing too big to be worried about if one knows what they're doing. However, this is different. The nevermore is airborne, covering its body with a thick layer of rock-hard feathers, agile like a fish in the water, the tight muscles that could rival the strongest of animals, this here is their real first challenge.

And they need to lay off that loosen altitude for once to face it.

In the meantime, a familiar shape got thrown into the scene. Quite literally.

With an approaching scream launching over the trees, the blonde teen, Jaune Arc crashed right into the flying beast at a high speed. The screaming stopped as he crashed into the bird's body that's hard as steel while managing to grab onto one of the feathers before sliding off mid-air. Before his calling for help out of despair could escape his mouth, his partner, Pyrrha Nikos ran out of the treeline with an also threatening scorpion-shaped Grimm pursuing behind her, ripping the distant line of trees into a clearing.

"Gahhhhhhhhh-Guys, help!" The Blonde called for help, using all of his strength to grip onto the Nevermore's hardened feathers as it tries to shake the young man off.

...

And now, there are two more problems to take care of.

Oh look! I'm not dead yet! And the chapter's writing is just as bad as ever!

With all honesty though, it's kind of hard to imagine it took this long for me to release this chapter, given that I already finished writing this back in April last year. The stuff that I had to deal with for the past few months are tough, mostly school stuff, but nothing to write home about.

Let's count what happened in between the release of these two chapters-

-Avengers Endgame aired

-JoJo part 5 anime ended

-doom eternal is coming out

-I learned how to code

And a bunch of other stuff! Crazy, I know! I really dragged the release of the chapter for this long! Unbelievable!

Well, the hiatus being long is one thing, but I did manage to hone my English level and overall writing skills by a bit, and I guess I'm picking that original passion for writing back up somewhat. It would be a shame for a completely structured out plotline to go to waste after spending all that time planning it out. I still can't promise a consistent schedule for the release of the chapters, but expect it to have some better writing than what I had before.

Also, how in the hell did this fic get this much favs and follows while I was gone!? You guys are wonderful.