I mentioned before how peaceful it is to get a bird's eye view. How it's a thing only a few wastelanders will ever have the fortune of seeing. How tiny and peaceful everything seemed. Even then, as I continued to fly upwards into the wild blue yonder, I still believed that to be true. Even as I hit my parabolic arc and begin my descent I still believed it was beautiful.

"FUCK! FUCK! FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-"

I just wished it wasn't overshadowed by the crippling fear I was feeling.

I was already beginning to lose sight of the other would-be hunters. Some were crashing into the forest with all the grace of a drunk Gecko, others floated through the air like feathers. Every one of them prepared for what they needed to do, having had time to prepare. I needed to improvise, fast.

'Ok six, calm down, ground's getting close. Gotta think.'

My mind ran through as many ideas as it could, cobbling together any ideas that could potentially slow my descent. Part of me briefly entertained the idea of using explosions to slow myself down. Of course, that was assuming I'd brought something more effective than a bunch of grenades. Plus, this wasn't a cartoon, I'd kill myself trying that. I knew a lot of other shit though, some of it was actually useful at one point or another. I knew that spreading out force across a large area lessen the impact, it's why a shield or armor worked like they do. But that was only going to do so much, I needed to slow down. If I could hit the leaves of a taller tree it'd help, but would it be enough? Even if it did, it was still going to hurt worse than that time Lily Dragged me into that radscorpion nest.

'…wait, drag! That's it!'

Moving like a man who was hurtling to the ground and didn't want to die, I slid my legs into a set of loops that were stitched into the lower section of the Riot armor's duster. They were there to help it be form fitting, just needed to hope they were up to the task. With my legs ready and the ground creeping up fast, I gripped either side of my duster and spread my coat taut. The effect was almost immediate, the wind caught my expanded coat like a sail and slowed me down. But that didn't change the fact that landing was still gonna suck. I stayed airborne for about another five seconds. Struggling to angle myself towards the highest tree I could with my rapidly declining height. I dive bombed straight into a sea of green. The leaves were the first thing to try and cushion my fall. Then I crashed through those and against dozens of branches before blowing out the other side. I came out spinning, unable to control my fall anymore. I was crashing hard. The world was a blurred kaleidoscope of greens and browns.

Then I hit something chest first, it was cold and wet for the moment I was on it. Then I bounced, hit it again, bounced, and then crashed down, skidding to a halt in the dirt. It took me until after the world stopped spinning to realize I just skipped myself across a small pool of water. Of course, that wasn't immediate.

"…Ooooowwww." I wheezed painfully.

The world spun, my body felt like I just went ten rounds in the ring with Veronica, and I was considering walking into this bright light that was slowly creeping up in front of me. Then I realized I was just staring at the reflection of the sunlight on the water. I wasn't entirely cognizant, but I got the feeling the last thing I needed at this moment was to add drowning to my current list of ailments. I'd come to rest under the shade of a tree, sunlight trickling through the gaps between the various tree banches. I laid on the ground, hoping some of the pain would subside. At this moment, I think I was starting to understand what the term 'Adamantium Skeleton' meant. Nothing felt broken but I was gonna need a stimpack or some med-X. Unfortunately, Ozpin had confiscated everything that remotely looked like a drug. Fucking narc. Guess I was gonna have to settle for bronze.

As soon as my bones didn't feel like shattered glass, I dragged myself out from under the tree and into the direct sunlight. Not sure when it happened, but at some point in the past I noticed that spending time under the sun had a number of impacts on me. Such as making me not feel like I was sitting at death's door. Not sure when it happened, furthest back I can remember it was after my time in vault 22. …Perhaps I should check with Keely when I get back. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that powerful. If I had a day to spend just lounging in the sun I'd probably be fit as a fiddle in no time. But I didn't, I had to keep moving if I didn't want whatever 'obstacles' Ozpin had mentioned making a snack out of me. I'd get better with time though, so I guess it pays to be Solar Powered.

"WOOHOO!" I hear a voice hooping overhead. It is promptly followed by several bouts of gunfire. I see a yellow blur pass over head, binging off the trees and descending into the forest up ahead. In the distance I could hear a soft "Nailed it!"

'… show off.'

If I was following the spirit of Ozpin's whole "partnership" guideline, I'd have to peel myself from the ground and chase her down. But I wasn't observing the spirit. I was looking at the word. There'd been no eye contact, I wasn't getting a partner. Screw Ozpin if he says otherwise. Screw him and his fucking secretary…

"THAT FUCKING BITCH!" I shouted, trying to bite back the pain that was coursing through my body. "I swear, when I get my hands on her I'll… I'll…!" I proceeded to break down into a series of unintelligent noises. Being completely honest, I was only half as mad as it seemed. Most of it was me trying to vocalize my pain. I went on like that for a few seconds, then my throat started hurting too so I put a stop to it. I took several deep breaths and tried to focus, pushing the pain out of my mind and getting my ducks in a row.

'Ok, I can worry about revenge later. Right now, I need to move. Let's see if I can stand.'

Despite pain still rippling through my body, I manage to roll to the side and push myself up. Limbs feeling like jelly with sticks in them. By that judgment, I estimated I was about fifteen percent not dead. Not particularly good in any way, but I was getting better with each second in the sun. I trudged away from my landing spot.

…

All things considered, once the pain mostly subsided I was doing pretty well. I hadn't seen anyone since my landing. I also hadn't seen any trouble yet. As far as I was concerned, things couldn't be better. I could hear gunfire and the sounds of struggle echoing from elsewhere in the forest, but nowhere actually close enough to draw my immediate attention.

I'd been following the compass of my pip-boy for probably half an hour. I had no clue how far the temple was from the cliff we'd been launched, but I assumed I was making good time. I had to say, it seemed like my luck was taking a turn.

Then the forest caught fire. I walked into a clearing, caught the whiff of smoke for all of a second, then the forest behind me caught fire. Then forest to both of my sides caught fire. Everything was burning.

I broke into a run and charged into the forest ahead of me. The heat and smoke clouded my vision, but I knew standing still was just going to get me killed. Then I leapt over a giant burning tree and met what I can only assume were the 'obstacles'. In front of me were three frenzied creatures. They appeared to be some hideously mutated dog or wolf. Fur the color of tar and boney spikes covering them. Their eyes glowed beneath the bone armor that covered their heads. If there existed creatures that screamed 'I'm evil' louder than these things, I had yet to meet it.

The largest of the creatures noticed me. It stopped panicking and turned to face me, letting out a distorted and warped howl. I could feel the fire growing more intense with every passing second. I couldn't stay here, but these creatures wanted otherwise. I drew the 10mm pistol from my hip holster and got a bead on the smallest one's head. One twitch of my finger, and a ball of hot lead leapt from the barrel. I could see the impact, the head of the small one pivoted backwards and stayed tilted for a bit. Then its head lurched back down and it glared at me again. Not so much as a crack in its armor. It gave a low growl.

'Oh come on!'

10mm was pretty weak by just about any standard. There was just so much of it that wastelanders kept using it. I figured that it'd be at least somewhat useful, I shouldn't have been surprised this world was gonna throw me another curve ball. But, for probably the third time now, it did and I was. I might as well have just shot the thing with a BB gun.

The small wolf charged at me, its two friends keeping pace behind it. Part of me was tempted to turn VATs on and hope I could target something vital before they got to me. But there were three of them, even if I got one I'd be left to deal with the others. That's not even accounting for the fact that VATs keeps me from running. So I took option B, I ran.

I strafed to the left of the beasts and they curved their gait to keep in line with me. One handing the 10mm, I squeezed the trigger. Slinging lead towards the wolves as they chased me. The small one drew close enough and pounced. I dove and rolled as it crashed past me and into the fire. I wasn't going to count on it burning and quickly got back to my feet, running as fast as I could in the direction of the forest that wasn't currently a burning hell hole. I fired off another three shots from my pistol, emptying the clip. The bullets whizzed through the air, two buried themselves into the dirt. The third found a home in the paw of mid-sized wolf. The beast snarled loudly, clearly effected to some extent by the small wad of lead that hit it. But it wasn't enough to stop it, it was slowed slightly but it still continued to chase me.

I could feel myself sweating bullets in my armor and helmet. The heat of the fire was unbearable. I was running as fast as I could, but the blaze was still expanding. Whatever had caused the fire must've lit the place up worse than a flamer. My lungs burned from the heat and the running. I could hear the beasts behind me. If the fire bothered them, they weren't showing it. I grabbed one of the grenades from my belt and pulled the pin. I released the safety lever and counted, chucking it over my shoulder at the two count. I leapt over a fallen tree and heard a solid *BOOM* echo out from behind me. I heard one of the wolves let out a distorted yelp and hoped I managed to wound one of them. But I couldn't turn and check, I needed to keep running.

I reached a small clearing in the flames, an area where the trees had either never taken root or had been removed from. Wasn't sure which. I bolted across the clearing. I could just barely see the part of the forest the blaze had yet to claim. It was right behind those Yao Guai.

'Yao Guai!?'

I stumbled to a halt. In front of me was a pack of four Yao Guai, or rather this world's version of them. They shared some similarities to the wolves. Bone plates covering their heads like a helmet, spikes protruding randomly from their bodies, and their fur black like tar. They saw me and immediately closed the distance. I turned, two of the wolves were waiting. The large one, who was missing most of its left fore paw, and the medium sized one, it's jaws slack and rear legs trailing behind it. Guess the grenade only did half the job.

I raised my pistol and pulled the trigger. The empty click of the receiver reminded me I needed to reload. The Yao guai and wolves circled me. Probably trying to get me to panic, make a stupid move so they could tear me down. Unfortunately, I'm not drunk. I grab another clip out of my coat and reload the pistol, racking the slid to chamber a round. One of the Yao Gaui motions towards me. I turn and draw on it, I squeeze the trigger and pump a round at its head. It hit the mask, but the splatter sends a shard of lead into its eye. It reacts, it's not happy at all. The glowing in its now wounded eye dies down.

"Come on!" I roar at them "What!? You afraid!? HUH!?"

Their circling begins to slow.

"I've got enough bullets for all of you! COME ON!"

I wrap a finger around the wire loop of a grenade pin. I have my hunting rifle still slung to my back, but it wasn't meant for fights this close. It'd take too long to aim. This fight was going to be short and loud. If I'm being honest, I under shot this by a gross margin. I was a skilled shot even without VATs, if I'd even had half a plan coming in here I'd have been fine. Instead, my dumb ass walked into a forest fire filled with tough as hell mutant animals. Saying I got luck like 13 pitch black cats and the perception of a trout can't even begin to describe it.

The Yao Guai charged me, I turned and squeezed the trigger as many time as I could as they bore down on me. Hot lead tore at the charging bears. I could see the bullets sparking as they clashed against their bone armor. They lunged and I wrapped my hand completely around the grenade.

Then I took to the sky.

Something came at me from out of left field and pulled me out of the fire. At first it slammed me face first into the dirt, then it pulled me up with bursts of air smacking against the ground. I could see the ground quickly falling away as the thing that grabbed me took off into the sky. I scrambled to look at the thing holding me. Looking back, it appeared to be some sort of crow or raven. Only it was the size of a bus and had a bone mask/helmet like every other mutant I'd seen. It'd plucked me from the forest and was currently flying low over the trees. It seemed to be preparing to rise a little higher as the distance from us and the fire grew.

'yea, this isn't happening.'

I aimed my pistol behind my back and stuck it against the leg that was holding me. Before we got any higher, I pulled the trigger twice. The talons holding me released and I fell back into the canopy, crashing through the leaves and bouncing off of tree branches. I pass through, fall, and hit the ground with a thud. The wind gets knocked out of me and I'm left coughing. I'm overheated, can't breathe, and I hear a ringing in my head. Part of me really just wanted to lay there.

"Six?" A familiar voice asked through the ringing

'Great, now what?'

I turn my head to the left and see Ruby sitting on the ground. The snowflake girl was standing behind her. She looked like she'd been pacing around. On a bright side, I still wasn't getting a partner. The dark side, I was going to be stuck with these two for the rest of the trip. I could feel it in my bones. Either that or it was from hitting the ground again.

"… Howdy." I grunt, as I force myself up from the ground.

"Who's that?" The snowflake asked, with just the faintest hint of snobbery.

"He's a… friend?" Ruby ventured

"More like a bad habit." I say, approaching them.

"Ugh." Snowflake groaned, rolling her eyes. "Perfect, just what I needed."

"Well screw you too Snowflake."

Snowflake glared at me while Ruby looked sullenly at the ground.

"Whatever." Snowflake grumbled, grabbing Ruby by the sleeve "Come on Ruby. The temple's this way." She then proceeded to walk in a direction that, according to my compass, was not the right way.

"… I mean, this way!" She corrected herself, now going the complete opposite direction of the temple. She then stopped again "… actually, you know what? We passed it."

"You got any idea where you're going Snowflake?" I ask, sliding my pistol back into its holster.

Snowflake gave me another glare, probably had the patent for it or something. "I know exactly where I'm going."

"Uh huh." I nod sarcastically

"-And my name, is Weiss Schnee." She said indignantly

"Alright, got it, White Knee, totally gonna remember that. So where are you going then?"

I felt her glare ratchet up a notch as I continued to grate on her nerves. I was doing a wonderful job at it.

"We are going to the forest temple." She hissed angrily

"Ugh." Ruby groaned from her position as dead weight

"Oh stop it." Weiss switched her attention to the girl in black "You've got no idea where we are going either."

"Well at least I'm not pretending like I know everything!"

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"It means you're a big, stupid, Jerk and I hate you!" Ruby pulled her sleeve free from Weiss's grip and motion angrily to her.

"Urgh!" Weiss growled angrily "Just keep moving!"

"'Oh, Just keep moving', 'hurry up!', 'wah! Watch where you're going!'; Why are you so bossy?"

"I'm not Bossy! Don't say things like that!"

"Well then stop treating me like a kid!"

"Stop acting like a kid!"

"Well stop acting like you're perfect!"

"I'm! Not! Perfect!"

"Enough!" I shout at the top of my lungs "You're both acting like a couple of children!"

The two stopped their shouting match and looked at me. Ruby looking like a kicked puppy, Weiss like a very angry and smug cat.

"I am not a child." She growled

"Could've fooled me since your acting like a spoiled brat. What, mommy and daddy didn't buy you that pony you wanted?"

I hit a nerve with that. The look she gave me implied she really wanted to stab me with that weird looking sword on her hip.

"How dare you!"

"Whatever."

I look down at my compass to find my bearing. Soon as I find it I turn my back on the duo. I walked off in the direction of the compass.

"Hey! Where're you going!?" Weiss demanded angrily "Get back here!"

"Take a wild guess. I'm going to the temple. Have fun you two."

"Hold on!" Ruby shouted

"Not happening Ruby!" I say back "Your partner knows what she's doing, let her sort it-"

There was a massive rush of air from behind me and a flurry of rose petals. From nowhere, Ruby appeared and was now pushing against my armor with her tiny hands. It was having no effect on me.

"-out… how the hel-"

"Please don't leave." Ruby said quickly "I don't want to be left alone with her, she's mean."

"I heard that!" Weiss shouted

I kept walking and Ruby kept pushing, with the only result being her boots sliding backwards in the dirt as I moved.

"please." She asked again

"Ruby, she's your partner." I say, slowly moving her to the side "How're you going to work together if you can't come to a consensus on something like this?"

"I… I don't know." She admitted

She stopped resisting and stepped aside. Remember how I said she looked like a kicked puppy before? Now she looked like a kicked puppy that just watched all its siblings get sold off. I continued forward, stepping through some bushes, following my compass, and ignoring the sad girl behind me. She'd be fine, she was tougher than she looked. She totally wasn't crying right now. If she couldn't do this, how was she going to make it here? These two could find their way by themselves, right? Their sense of direction isn't that bad.

'… is it?'

I stopped walking and looked up from my compass.

'Don't do it six, this'll be easier without company. Just get in, grab something, get out. Don't complicate it.'

"… ugh." I sighed

'don't you fucking dare.'

I turned around and started walking back.

'don't-'

I stepped through the bushes.

"So… you guys wanna tag along or…?"

Ruby sprang up to me with a big smile on her face. "You came back!"

"Gah!" I articulated my surprise eloquently.

This girl managed to trick me using crocodile tears. Something ain't right, that's not how that works. I don't get tricked with shit like that.

"Come on Weiss!" Ruby shouted back to her partner.

"What makes you think he knows the way?" Weiss asked indignantly

"The all-knowing block of steel." I said, raising my pipboy. "It's got the coordinates for the temple. You coming or not?"

"… fine." Weiss trudged over to us, clearly not happy about the turn of events.

…

We were making good time to the temple. The two of them were following close behind me the whole way. It was definitely quieter than my initial romp in the forest had been. So far we hadn't been jumped by a bunch of wolves and bears.

"So… Six." Weiss said, clearly liking my name as much as she did myself.

"Yea?" I say, ducking beneath a low hanging branch.

"What were you doing in that tree?"

"Waiting for snooty rich girls to scare slash poke fun at."

"… Really?" Weiss asked in honesty

"… No, not really. Watch your head."

I moved aside a branch and let the two girls pass before following them.

"I was dropped into it by some bird." I continued, less sarcastically for my companions.

"A bird?" Ruby asked

"Yea, some giant black bird with a bone mask, helmet, thing that grabbed me while I was in the middle of something."

"Bird… you mean a Nevermore?" Ruby asked

"… A what?"

"A Nevermore, you know, Grimm that look like birds."

"…Grimm?"

"… you do know what Grimm are, right?" Weiss cut in

Ozpin had told me that the point of this academy was to train people to fight monsters. He'd never called any of them by names though. Something he didn't have to tell me though was to keep my trap shut about being from another world. Things were going to be hard enough without people thinking I was a few bullets shy of a full clip. Damn shame that I didn't know jack about this world and was now starting to make an ass of myself.

"Oh yeah, totally…"

"Ok, then why did you let one grab you?" Weiss continued

"Well, I was pretty distracted. There was this forest fire and a bunch of wolves-"

"Forest fire?" Ruby asked, stepping over a log.

"Yeah, some idiot probably lit it by accident. It'll probably have a good chunk of the forest removed by the time we're done."

Ruby and Weiss shared a look. Not sure why, but I wasn't in a prying mood.

"-Anyway, I was tumbling around in it and didn't notice when the- uh- Nevermore swooped in an nabbed me. It actually helped me more than anything."

I stopped and checked my pipboy. We were getting close. Couldn't check the map but I could tell we were getting there. I really needed to see if Ozpin had a microfilm map of the area.

"How much further?" Ruby asked

"Little further, probably just over the next hill."

I continued forward, following the compass.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, where's your partner Six?"

"Don't got one." I grumble, side stepping a puddle.

"What do you mean? You should've run into at least one person before you found us."

"Not if your intentionally avoiding everyone. Ozpin said you only get a partner if you make eye contact with someone. I don't want a partner, ergo I don't let other people see me."

"What about us?"

"You get a pass for being partnered already."

"Well you can't expect to make it without a partner." Weiss spoke up "Just because I'm stuck with this screw up doesn't mean I didn't want a partner"

"You don't even know me." Ruby mumbled

"Yeah, well I've made it this far on my own." I continued "Don't plan on getting tied down to a team either."

"I don't think you get a choice with that either." Ruby cut back in

"Watch me."

We passed through some shrubbery and found ourselves facing another clearing. Compared to the others I'd seen, this one was clearly artificial. People regularly took the time to make sure trees didn't spring up in this area. If I needed any more evidence, the large ruin at the opposite end was a pretty obvious indicator.

"Finally." Weiss groaned, pushing past me and Ruby

"Weiss, wait up!" Ruby said, tagging along behind her teammate

Ruby and Weiss left the safety of the shrubbery behind. It didn't take much to realize that these two didn't have a very good sense of caution, hypocritical of me as it is to say. But I at least knew better than to rush out of cover and into the open. There may not have been anyone trying to shoot us, but that doesn't mean it's safe. I waited a moment longer, just to make sure that I wasn't going to regret stepping out of cover.

'… Ok, seems-'

It the blink of an eye, a massive shadow fell over Ruby and Weiss. They realized this, turned to face it, and were snatched from the ground by a massive Nevermore.

'… not safe, definitely not safe.'

Having learned my lesson with the 10mm for the time being, I pulled my hunting rifle off my back and made sure there was a round in the chamber. In the distance I could hear the sound of shifting stone and could feel the earth rumbling beneath my feet.

'wonderful, back into the fray'

I brace myself and step out of the shrubs. Then a lot of things happened at once. I heard the sound of a 12.7 mm round followed by Ruby screaming. She was now free and falling from the sky. I bolted towards the falling girl, but before I could reach her, something else flew out of the forest and smacked into Ruby like a ragdoll mid-fall. They both disappeared into the nearby branches of another tree. Then there was a roaring from a different part of the forest almost directly behind me. I turned and watched as a Yao Guai the size of a fucking farm house knocked over trees as it stumbled out of the forest on its hind legs. I pulled my rifle to my shoulder and prepared to pump a round into it. Before I could there was a pink explosion behind it and it toppled over like a house of cards. That's when the girl with the orange hair, I think I called her motor mouth before, somersaulted on top of and over the crumbling corpse, laughing like she was having the time of her life. She stood and turned back to look at the yao guai.

"Aww. It's broken." She pouted before jumping back onto its head and staring down at it like an enamored ten year old.

Then kung-fu guy stumbled out of the woods from behind the bear. Clearly winded and trying to catch his breath.

"Nora-" He panted between breaths "-Don't ever do that again."

In the blink of an eye she was gone from the bear. Then I realized she was suddenly in front of me, trying to look at my eyes through the lenses of my mask. Her eyes were a pale blue and she had rosy cheeks.

"HI THERE!" She shouted merrily "Remember me? Of course not, we haven't met, but I remember you! You were in the bathroom this morning when me and Ren walked in and I thought your mask was really cool and it made you look super mysterious and now you're wearing that cool armor and where did you get that rifle? It look ancient and probably has a bunch of cool stories and I bet you have a bunch of cool stories too, what's your name?-"

She spouted words like a runaway minigun. it seemed innocent enough but she was quickly invading my personal space. She definitely lived up to the name 'motor mouth'.

'Dear god, where's the off switch?'

I blinked again and she was gone. I quickly looked around trying to find the A.D.D. addled girl. I saw her at the temple a few yards away, staring at what I assume was one of the relics. I finally noticed Yang and Blake standing there as well. Nora then snatched the relic from the pedestal and held it high in the air. She then started dancing around with it.

"I'm queen of the castle!" she shouted happily.

"Nora!" Kung fu boy shouted, approaching from behind me and clearly aggravated by his companion's antics.

Nora immediately stopped dancing around and started back towards us. "Coming Ren!"

Kung fu boy sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"How… how do you put up with that?" I ask, trying not to come off as overly rude

"Patience." He groans "A lot of patience."

"Buddy, there ain't enough patience in the world to-"

Then there was another roar from the forest. Followed promptly by an explosion of trees and earth. I watched as the Legionnaire I'd seen in the locker room got chased from the forest by the largest radscorpion I'd ever seen. To give perspective, it made the X-42 roboscorpion I fought in the Big Empty look small. If I had to guess, this thing was probably poisonous too, given that its stinger was FUCKING GLOWING. I watched the legionnaire dip and dodge away from the creature as it made continual swipes at her.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oh fuck that." I say, turning and running towards the temple, officially tired of standing around and waiting for shit to pop out of the forest. Kung-fu boy followed suit.

I quickly closed the distance between me and the temple. As I did, Ruby popped out of the trees and landed next to Yang.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted happily in surprise

"Yang!" She returned, going in to hug her sister

"Nora!" Nora popped up between the two, interrupting the reunion.

"Watch out!" I shout, barreling past the small party and into the temple.

"Six?" Yang asked, slowly growing frustrated

"Jaune!" I heard the legionnaire shout in the distance

"Pyrrha!" I hear a familiar voice shout from the trees.

This continued on while I ran into the temple. In a large circle that ringed the ruin were stone pedestals, most were bequeathed with a chess piece. Others were empty. These must've been the 'relics' Ozpin had been referring to. There were two sets of colors and doubles of each piece, save for the pedestals that were empty.

'… ok, so he's using the pieces make the teams. That's pretty simple to work around.'

I examined all of the pieces present and found a set that still had doubles. A set of black pawns. I took them both and stuffed them into my coat. No teams for me, thank you very much.

"… did she run all the way here with a deathstalker on her tail?" I heard Blake ask as the Scorpion drew closer

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAGGHH!" Yang sreamed angrily, fire exploding into existence around her. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill for, like, two seconds before something else happens!?"

The group fell silent. Save for Kung-fu boy, who was now joining the group.

'one… two… ding.'

"Um… Yang?" Ruby said, trying to get her sister's attention. She motioned upward and everyone's attention was drawn to the Nevermore that was circling the area. If I had to guess, the white speck that was clinging to its talon was probably Weiss.

"How could you leave me up here!?" I could hear faintly in the distance

'yep, that's snowflake.'

"I said jump." Ruby offered to nobody in particular.

"She's gonna fall." Blake added dryly

"No she won't." Ruby said in false reassurance

"She's falling." Kung-fu boy stated

"Bye bye, snowflake." I added with a sarcastic wave.

Weiss fell quickly towards the ground, flailing wildly and making no attempts to slow her descent. She made my crash landing almost seem graceful by comparison. Then Jaune flung himself out of the trees and met her in mid-air. For a second, they seemed to just hang there. I couldn't hear what he said but I know for a fact he said something that would've made Mr. NewVegas want to slap him. Then he seemed to realize they were still thirty feet in the air before they both plummeted towards the ground. Jaune hit the ground first, with Weiss landing daintily on top of him, looking no worse for wear. How these two just survived a drop like that with no injury? I do not know, but would very much like to learn.

"My hero." Weiss grumbled sarcastically

"… my back." Jaune grunted painfully

"Now's your chance lady-killer." I say sarcastically "Give her a peck on the cheek."

Jaune tilted his head to look at me. "… really?" He asked with some degree of hope hidden in the pain.

"… No, not really, get over here!"

Before the two of them got up however, the radscorpion, deathstalker, whatever let out a screeching noise. Next thing I know the legionnaire is lying on the ground as a crumpled heap next to us.

"Great, the gang's all here." Yang said with, at least I think, feigned enthusiasm "Now we can die together."

"Not if I can help." Ruby said with a cock-sure smile on her face.

She let out what I think was supposed to be an intimidating roar, it sounded more like a mewling kitten, and charged towards the rampaging scorpion.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang shouted

Ruby swung the red block of steel out from her back and it transformed into that massive scythe. She pointed it behind her and fired off a shot, using the momentum to catapult her forward at the scorpion. Who then proceeded to knock her back about fifteen feet with no effort.

"D-Don't worry!" Ruby shouted back "Totally fine!"

'Wow, never thought I'd meet someone who was as bad at lying as I was. Even worse she's probably only, what, fourteen?'

The scorpion approached Ruby as she stumbled to her feet. She turned and fired a round from her scythe. It sparked harmlessly off of the beast's boney carapace. I looked to the sky briefly, the Nevermore was flying back towards us now. Part of me wasn't sure what to do. But watching Ruby fight reminded me of the first trip I took with Veronica. She'd charge straight in and start punching things that attacked us. I had to save her ass more than once on that trip…

I looked briefly at the rest of the would-be hunters present. Still just standing there.

"You're all shitty back-up." I growl. I bolt from the temple, taking care not to accidently discharge my rifle as I run.

Ruby, despite clearly being outclassed, was still swinging her scythe. Trying in some vain attempt to hurt the beast. Unfortunately, the scorpion kept either knocking her back or taking pot shots at her with its stinger. She should be running away, instead she was determined to stay and fight.

I was about 20 yards away the next time she got knocked down. The scorpion wasted no time, it thrust its stinger at the downed girl. I leapt into VATs, I needed to act. This thing's shell was too tough, don't know if the strength varies for each creature but it shrugged off a 12.7mm round. My rifle fires .308, I'm not punching a hole in it. I needed to get creative. If the splatter from a 10mm was enough to wound the eye of a yao guai, this'll hurt a hell of a lot more.

I aimed carefully in VATs, I needed only one shot to prove my point. I lined the Iron sights up with the largest eye on the scorpion's right side. I squeezed the trigger and watched as the eye instantly exploded in a shower of blood and viscera. It worked too, the shock knocked the creature off target enough to miss Ruby entirely. She recovered and backpedaled towards me.

I left VATs and handled things normally. I put another round into the scorpion's largest right eye. It staggered, clearly not happen with the sudden decrease in vision.

"O-ok." Ruby said, trying to regain her composure. "We got this."

"No we don't." I say, feeling the receiver on my rifle beginning to gum up. I thought I'd cleaned it before I got stuck in this world. Guess that was something I'd have to take care of if we survived this.

I gripped one of the grenades on my chest and removed it. I pulled the pin and chucked it at the scorpion. It exploded, blowing off one of its smaller legs but otherwise leaving it unharmed.

'I really screwed the pooch on weapons.'

I grabbed Ruby by her hood and ran back towards the temple. The only reason I'd bothered coming out here was to grab her, not fight the barn sized insect. She struggled as I pulled her.

"Hey! Let me go! We can take that thing!" She shouted

"Shut up! You're literally going to get yourself killed!"

At that moment Nevermore had rejoined the party. I heard a screech as the bird hovered overhead. There was a high pitched whistling and thudding sound behind me and it was gaining. A torrent of humongous black feathers passed me, piercing into the ground. I was pulled to a stop when one of the feathers pierced Ruby's cape, pinning her in place

"Ruby!" Yang shouted, finally snapping out of whatever trance kept everyone from moving. She charged towards us, but was stopped by another volley of feathers.

I released Ruby's hood and she immediately went to trying to free her cape from the feather pinning it. I tried to rip the fabric, but it only stretched. I didn't have any clue what the cape was made from but I wasn't going to rip it free. So I turned my attention to the feather, I pushed and pulled on it, trying to pry it from the ground.

"Ruby! Get out of there." Yang shouted from the distance

"I'm trying!" she shouted back

"Try harder!" I shouted, straining against the feather. It wouldn't budge.

The sound of the scorpion's legs colliding with the ground stopped. It had reached us. I got a very good look at the two eyes I'd blown out. It made an angry hiss and quickly raised its tail. Though I was closer, it wasn't angling for me. It was angling for the target that couldn't run away. Ruby's eyes widened as the stinger shot towards her. I moved from the feather, putting myself between the stinger and Ruby. I wrapped my arms around her, closed my eyes, and prayed my armor was strong enough to stop Ruby from getting hurt.

There was a rush of wind an unsettling cracking noise. I braced for pain to set in. But nothing came.

"You are so childish." Came a familiar snooty tone

I opened my eyes and released the girl. Turning back, I saw a wall of ice keeping the stinger less than an inch from where my back had been. About five feet away, Weiss was knelt with her sword plunged into the dirt, the ice seeming to grow out from it.

'W-what the- how!?'

"And dimwitted-" Weiss continued, turning to face Ruby "-and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style."

"H-how did you-" I stammered still trying to comprehend the wall of ice

""And I suppose I can be a bit…" Weiss continued, ignoring my slow break down at the ice. "… difficult, but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together."

"Ice- wall- what!?"

"So, if you quit trying to show off, I'll be… nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off." Ruby answered "I want you to know I can do this-"

"Where the hell did all this ice come from!?" I shout, finally grabbing Weiss's attention.

"Oh, right, you." She got up in my face "What were you thinking!?"

I finally dropped the subject of ice, knowing I wasn't going to get an answer for the time being.

"Me? I was thinking 'Gee, this little idiot is going to get herself killed. Maybe I should do something about that.'"

"You almost got killed yourself!"

"Well I still acted before she nearly got turned into a pin cushion."

"Whoa!" I heard Ruby gasp as she moved around the side of the ice wall. I followed her a bit, ignoring Weiss's indignant chatter, and saw the scorpion struggling to break free.

"Shit, that thing's still alive!?"

"Watch your language!" Weiss said

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I offend your virgin ears? I was just surprised by the GIANT SCORPION!"

"Ruby!" Yang shouted, finally having found her way around the column of feathers. She ran straight up to Ruby and crushed her in a hug. "I'm so happy you're okay!"

"Me too." Ruby squeaked as her sister squeezed her for a little longer. When she was finally released, she turned and looked at me. "Thanks for, uh, coming and helping me, Six."

"Don't mention it." I say, fiddling with the bolt of my rifle. Trying to guess how many shots I can get before it starts jamming. "… If I'd waited on someone else to do it, they'd probably screw it up." I add sarcastically.

"Nice to know my sister's safety means so much to you." Yang said with a cocky smile.

"Hey, everybody gets one." I say, raising my hands innocently. "Besides, it's not like anyone else was chomping at the bit to fight that thing."

"That's because no one else was stupid enough to try." Weiss said

"Hey!" Ruby pouted

"Gotta agree with Snowflake here, Ruby." I say with a shrug. "That was pretty dumb."

The demonic cawing of the nevermore broke our conversation. I could see it preparing to circle back in the distance. We raced back to the Temple as the bird began to turn.

"Guys!" Jaune shouted "That thing is coming back around!"

"No kidding?" I ask sarcastically "I thought it was gonna leave us alone."

"What're we gonna do?"

"No sense in wasting time." Weiss cut in, motioning to the 'relics' "Our objective is right here."

I quickly flipped through my pip-boy, just to double check. "She's right, our job was to collect the relics and return to cliff. Not waste time two-stepping with a couple over grown bugs and birds."

"There's no point in fighting." Ruby surmised

"… so run and live then?"

"Damn skippy."

Jaune nodded happily in agreement. He and Ruby quickly went into the temple and grabbed a piece from the pedestals. The Scorpion began to make hissing noises loud enough that we could hear it even from the distance we were at. I saw the ice began to shift and readied my compass to point us back to the cliffs.

"Time we left." Kung-fu boy said.

"Right, Six?" Ruby asked

I pointed off in a direction of the woods. "Got it, ready?"

She gave me a nod.

"Good. All right everybody, keep close and don't fall behind! We're hauling ass outta here, let's go!"

I slid my hunting rifle back into its holster and ran from the temple. I charged up a hill I didn't bother to look back. I trusted they were either going to follow or find their own way back. I passed the boundary of the trees and leapt over a log. The compass pointed dead ahead and I was intent to follow it. It was only after I rounded a bend that I noticed a red and bronze tint in the corner of my vision. A cursory glance revealed that the legionnaire was keeping pace with me. Every step I took she effortlessly duplicated. I might not want to shoot her anymore, but I wasn't about to be out done by her either. I moved a little faster and yet she kept with me. Needless to say, this was a little annoying.

'aight, that how you wanna play? Let's play.'

I took the lead out and started running full speed. When it comes to Agility, I'm a goddamned Acrobatic Marvel. I'm not about to be out done by a legion wanna-be.

…

We burst from the forest and into the ruins at the base of the cliff. To my surprise, Everyone managed to keep up well enough. We were also just ahead of the Nevermore. If we could climb the cliff we'd be in the clear, technically speaking.

"Just a bit further!" I shouted, aiming for the stone bridge in front of us.

"It's Gaining on us!" Jaune shouted from his place behind me

"We're almost there! You just gotta-"

I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard it. A low, bellowing note that always signaled I was about to have a bad day. The others closed the distance behind me, either not hearing the noise or not recognizing it. They all came to a stop beside me, confused.

"Six, what's wrong?" Ruby asked

"We're about to have a very bad time." I say as calmly as I can, pulling my hunting rifle back out. "We are about to have a very, very, bad time."

I slowly started backing away from the bridge, scanning the cliff side in front of me for the source of the noise.

"Look, the exit's right there." Jaune said, trying to reassure either himself or everyone else. "We just gotta cross the bridge."

He went to walk past me and I grabbed him by the back of his armor, pulling him back into the crowd. He stumbled and landed on his butt.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Quiet!" I hissed

"The Nevermore is getting closer Six!" Ruby insisted

The bellowing echoed again. They didn't seem to notice it again, but I heard it load and clear. It was getting closer and I still didn't know where it was coming from. The demonic cawing the nevermore was growing closer.

"We have to go!" Weiss said, pushing past me. The rest of the group soon followed, but I remained frozen in my spot.

The bellowing sounded once more. I finally realized where it was coming from.

"Stop! Don't go near the bridge!"

Too late. The circular stone anchor in front of the bridge burst open. A massive clawed hand punching through it and slamming against the ground, pulling an equally massive creature from beneath the stone. Its skin was black as pitch, though you'd never guess due it being completely covered in plates of bone armor. It had a pair of horns that curved off either side of its head, bowing out into a points. Red lines traced its armor, flowing messily down it limbs and back along a massive tail. It's jaw was filled with razor sharp teeth, all guarded by a segment of bone that lined its jaw and rose to several large points itself. Its eyes glowed bright, seeming to pierce through the hunters that stood in front of it. Powerful legs carried it from its underground home, as though the armor that clad it weighed nothing. At its peak, it was larger than any other of its kind I'd seen.

This was the largest deathclaw I'd ever seen.

Everyone took a step back as the beast let out a ferocious roar. I could feel the wind as made its rage clear.

"Everyone get back!" I shouted, ripping another of my grenades from my belt. I pulled the pin and lobbed it as hard as I could. It sailed over the small crowd and landed at the feet of the deathclaw. The grenade exploded between its legs and the monster roared. The grenade did nothing.

Having failed to heed my, admittedly late, warning the crowd was slow to react. The deathclaw charged them, moving with its infamous speed and agility. With a swipe of its massive claws Jaune went flying. How he avoided being shredded is beyond me, but he was sent flying into a pillar a good distance from the bridge. Another swipe launched Weiss to my feet. Only then did the crowd react appropriately, trying to put distance between themselves and the rampaging monster.

Except for Yang and Nora, who proceeded to try and take the beast head on.

"What is this thing!?" Ruby asked, quickly following me as I tried to line up a shot.

"Haven't you ever seen a Deathclaw before?" I ask, loosing a shot at the aforementioned creature's leg

"A what!?"

'I'll take that as a no.'

My bullet collided with the creature's armored leg. A few small spark deflected off of it as the bullet impacted. No visible damage was done. I silently cursed as I chambered another round.

"Aim for its legs." I tell Ruby "The only thing worse than a Deathclaw is one that can ran at you full speed."

Ruby didn't seem to understand but did as I told. She whipped out her rifle and started flinging rounds at the Deathclaw's legs. From their closer location, I watched as Yang and Nora did battle with the monster. Nora had taken out a friggin' grenade launcher and was trying to blow the damn thing up. Yang, in what I can only call a bout of insanity, was trying to punch the thing into submission. Granted it looked as though she was using some sort of ballistic fist, but the point still stands that this girl was trying to box the thing to death.

But it wasn't working. Everything we sent at the deathclaw just seemed to make it even madder. It was swinging and charging like a frenzied bull. It focused itself on Yang and charged her down. Trapping her between its horns, it ran her back from the bridge and towards us. I rolled out of the way as it barreled past me and slammed Yang into a pillar. I could hear the stone work shift from the impact.

I took another shot, aiming for the nape of the deathclaw's neck. The bullet collided into another shower of sparks.

'what's the only thing worse than a deathclaw?' I thought bitterly 'An armored one.'

The deathclaw pulled back to ram into Yang again. Barely recovering in time, she dipped out of the way as the monster head butted the pillar again.

"Guys!" Jaune shouted "We've got company!"

The demonic caw of the Nevermore echoed over head as the massive bird raced past renus. I turned to the sound of splintering wood as the Deathstalker burst from the forest. Blake and kung-fu boy had taken to attack the scorpion, while Weiss and Legion had taken the opportunity to collect themselves.

"Run!" Legion shouted

I was in a position to agree with her, the inclusion of an armor clad death claw officially made this situation untenable. Everyone who could began sprinting towards the bridge, myself included. The only ones who'd stop were Kung-fu boy and Legion to lay down suppressing fire. For the little good it did anyway.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted

I turned my attention back towards the yellow huntress. Despite everyone else trying to beat feet, she was still going toe to toe with the deathclaw. She was starting to lose. It was pushing her back. She was handling herself well, very few people can claim they beat a deathclaw to death with their bare hands. But it was becoming increasingly clear that if she was going to be one of them, it wasn't going to be today. The deathclaw was smacking her around and trying to give her no chance to escape. She was fighting admirably, I could actually see the armor on the deathclaw's skin shuddering. But it was trying to back her into a corner. It was backing her towards the cliff. She didn't seem to realize it, she was too engrossed with just trying to avoid the hits it was sending at her. They were probably ten feet from the edge when I moved.

My feet pounded against the ground as I closed the distance between me and the huntress. I didn't know what I was doing, my feet moved before I'd actually though up a plan. What was I supposed to do? What could I do?

Five feet from the edge, the death claw bent down and charged at Yang. The huntress cocked her arm back, fully intending to punch the deathclaw in the head as it charged her down.

She never got the chance.

I closed the distance remaining in a single bound. I slammed into her side with a shoulder check, tackling her out of the way.

"Run you idiot!" I shouted a moment before the deathclaw collided with me.

It felt like I was hit by a truck. I don't know if the deathclaw had planned to stop before going over the edge. If it did, then it screwed that part of its plan up royally. I grabbed it by the horns and braced as we both went flying over the edge of the cliff and into the mist below.

…

Free Fall! [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c5956089-ecb3-4ee9-8b87-bdaa8d0724e7/di3lefa-b358228f-8710-40a0-8d79-40bdb4b66b25.png/v1/fit/w_828,h_1196,q_70,strp/commission__free_fall_ing__by_alex_kellar_di3lefa-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTQ3OCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2M1OTU2MDg5LWVjYjMtNGVlOS04Yjg3LWJkYWE4ZDA3MjRlN1wvZGkzbGVmYS1iMzU4MjI4Zi04NzEwLTQwYTAtOGQ3OS00MGJkYjRiNjZiMjUucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwMjQifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.-3gU1NpmmBFRX1fScHXEZRiCuCiwPY0Xq3b-Ua6Xq7w]

I grappled the deathclaw in mid-air. Even as we were plummeting towards the ground the thing was still trying to take a bite out of me. The wind roared in my ear as we tumbled helplessly though the air. I couldn't see the bottom of the ravine we were falling into, so I had no way of knowing when we were going to hit. All I could do was grapple with the beast and hope I wasn't the one to hit the ground first.

The deathclaw snapped its jaws at me, trying to tear out my chest. It crashed its arms against whatever part of me it could aim at. It wanted to make sure that if It was going to die, I would go before it.

'Not happening.'

I locked my legs around its neck and flipped myself onto its back. The beast flailed wildly as I planted myself there and grabbed it by the horns. I twisted and jerked its head, struggling to keep it beneath me as we fell. I punched it in the spine and it was momentarily stunned. Just long enough for me to brace for impact.

The ground came out of nowhere and we hit it hard. The deathclaw cushioned my landing but It still sent me sprawling. It had been worse than my landing in the forest not more than a few hours ago. It probably doesn't help we hit solid rock rather than dirt. My entire body felt like it'd been put through the ringer and I wanted to just lie down and rest. My guess? I was back down to fifteen percent again. Hadn't taken much, just another fall from a cliff.

'I swear, if I'm going to just keep falling off of shit, I'm just gonna start avoiding high places.'

I forced myself to my feet and looked back at the deathclaw. It laid against the cold stone ground. Its tongue was flopped out of its mouth and its eyes were shut. I knew better than to hope it was dead though. I hobbled away from the monster. I'd dropped my rifle in the free-fall. It'd smashed against the floor of the ravine. I found it a few feet from my landing spot. The barrel and mechanics looked functional, but the stock was completely shattered. I could probably chance using it again, but there was no way I was making any precise shots with it until I fixed it. I slid the shattered rifle back into my coat and turned my attention to above me. I could hear explosions and gunfire. Things probably weren't going to any better for Ruby and her friends right now.

The sound of a soft growling drew my attention back to the area around me. I was right, the deathclaw wasn't dead. Its eyes snapped open and it bellowed again. It struggled to rise to its feet. Its hind legs stayed limp behind it.

'looks like the fall did something at least'

I gritted my teeth and pulled out my 10mm pistol. The Deathclaw was crippled, but it was still alive but that didn't mean I was safe. I was right too, unlike any other deathclaw I'd ever seen this one started dragging itself forward with its arms. It wasn't anywhere near as fast as when it could run. But it was no slouch. It bounded towards me, armor cracked and scraping against the stones.

I strafed to the left, shooting at the cracks in its armor. Hoping that if I kept hammering them they'd break and I could actually kill the thing. But I could only run so fast while trying to aim. The beast got close and took a swipe that sent me sprawling back. I landed on my back, dazed with a ringing in my ears. I tried to focus, lifting myself up enough to shoot at the deathclaw as it continued its assault. But I couldn't aim, my bullets kept bouncing off its armor, I couldn't hit the cracks when the deathclaw was bearing down on me and I was seeing double. The Deathclaw lunged and I rolled lamely to the side. It made another swipe for me and barely connected. I felt its claws rake across the front of my armor and watched as a thin line traced over one of the lenses on my gas mask. I staggered to my feet and took another shot before the slide locked back on my pistol. I'd emptied the clip.

I pressed the release lever and snapped the clip out of my pistol, vigorously jamming another in as the Deathclaw prepared for another lunge. It stopped when the sound of breaking stone sounded from above us. The stone bridge collapsed above us, its massive pieces rained down on us. I dove out of the way again, but I couldn't move fast enough. One of the massive stone supports fell on my left leg. I heard a very unsettling crunch and was racked with pain. I let out an agonized howl.

'That's broken, that's definitely broken.'

The deathclaw continued to claw its way out of the rubble. Shrugging off the several ton bridge like it was nothing.

'Are you fucking kidding me!? Come on!'

I pushed myself up again and began to hobble as fast as my one leg could carry me. Cursing every time my broken leg had any weight put on it. I could hear the deathclaw closing in. I wasn't running away this time. I literally felt like I was about to die if the breeze hit me the wrong way and the thing chasing me survived everything that was thrown at it. That armor stopped everything I threw at it. It shrugged off everything. If I wanted to live, I needed to get past it. But how? Every part of it was covered up tight… except for its mouth.

An idea began to form in my head as I hobbled, I could hear the deathclaw behind me. Getting closer with each second. I was out of options and this was a very bad plan. But it was do or die time. If I died, I'd at least be known as the only dumbass wastelander to try something this stupid. I pulled my last grenade from my belt and ripped the pin out. I clasped the safety lever down and turned to stare death in the face. It lunged me without a second's hesitation. It knocked me on my back and tore into my left shoulder. My armor was beginning to crumple underneath its teeth, I could feel a warm liquid trickling down my arm.

"Hey asshole!" I growl through gritted teeth "Before digging in how about you try some finger food!"

I Jam my knee into the deathclaw's throat and it releases my shoulder and rears back slightly. Just enough for me to ram my left arm into its mouth. I slither my fist to the top of its throat and release my grenade. I whip my arm back and scramble away from my dazed opponent. I only get a few feet away before the grenade goes off. I feel a shower of bone and flesh splatter against my back.

I turn back over and stare down my enemy. Their jaw having been blown messily from their head in conjunction with a large section of their throat. Black blood oozed from the grievously fatal wound.

I paused for a tense moment as the creature remained frozen in place. It didn't fall or move to attack me again, it just stood rigidly on its arms. That wasn't good enough for me.

I aimed my pistol and pumped the whole clip into its exposed throat. A shower of blood flowed out. The creature made a shuddering downward movement as my clip ran dry, but still it stood.

"FUCKING DIE ALREADY!"

I whip out my utterly wrecked hunting rifle and jam the barrel into its throat. I yank the trigger and a .308 round bursts out the back of its neck in a mess of blood and bone. The deathclaw finally collapses.

I lay back against the ground, gasping for air as the adrenaline in my blood begins to fade. Everything hurt and I really just wanted to take a nap. Of course, that was before I had to dodge the giant decapitated bird corpse that was now falling into the ravine.

…

Dodging the limp bird was easy enough, it was finding my way back out of the Ravine that took longer. The place was misty and it was hard hobbling around on the loose gravel with a broken leg. I eventually found an old carved stone stair case that worked its way up the side of the cliff. Assuming there'd been a river here at one point, maybe the people that used to occupy this ruin used these stairs to reach it. My sun healing didn't kick in until I was about half way up the cliff and out of the mist. By the time I reached the top of the stairs my leg was still tender but I could at least walk more easily.

My 'companions' had all but disappeared. I could just barely make out people standing at the top of the cliff we'd been launched from at the start of this whole debacle. It took a few minutes to find bridge to the other side that hadn't been completely wrecked, from there I just followed a path that wound its way up the cliff. I came out of a small forest to the left of where we'd been launched from. I found my 'companions' by the Cliffside, looking down at the ravine. Ozpin and Goodwitch were standing a few feet behind them, looking solemn.

"-Never forget that this is the path you've chosen." I heard Ozpin say as I approached. "Hard as it may be, sacrifice is now a part of your lives."

I stumbled towards my companions by the Cliffside. Curious why they were all standing so close to the edge. As I came close, Ozpin and Goodwitch took notice of me. They both looked like they'd seen a ghost when they locked eyes with my gas mask. I looked Goodwitch dead in the face from my distant standing

'I don't care when it happens or how, one day I will get my revenge on you for what you did today.'

I turned back to face my companions, still facing off the cliff and joined them in their forlorn vigil into the abyss.

"… So did somebody fall off?" I ask, breaking the silence "- 'cause if they did, we should consider putting some guard rails here or something."

I turned to look at everyone for an answer and was met by wide eyes and slack jaws. Everyone stared at me in surprise. Most of them had a look of incredulity, I noticed Nora had one of awe.

"…Six?" Ruby asked, stepping out of the crowd. Her eyes looked a little red and puffy. "Y-you're alive?"

"'course I'm alive!" I say in my best attempt to sound jovial "Don't need to act so surprised."

"B-but you went over the cliff… with that thing!"

"Thing? You mean the Deathclaw?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, don't worry, I took care of it." I tried to convey a smile through my helmet.

Ruby blinked twice and looked me over. Clearly surveying the damage I took. The claw marks across my chest and mask, the huge bite mark on my shoulder, my slightly messed up leg, and the huge blood stain that ran down my left sleeve.

"How?" Nora asked excitedly from her position in the crowd.

"Ah, well…" I rubbed the mark on my shoulder. "I guess he just bit off more than he could chew."

Silence filled the air. I waited for my terrible joke to settle over everyone.

"... he heh heh" I saw Yang snickering. It was growing into a pretty good laugh.

"What about you guys?" I ask, a smile on my face.

"We, uh… we took care of it." Ruby motioned over to the decapitated head of the Nevermore.

"Damn, looks like someone got a little ahead of themselves."

I could tell everyone was slowly starting to get a little irked by my bad jokes. Except Yang, who was still cackling with laughter. I looked back down the cliff at the ruins, taking notice of the scorpion, with its stinger now embedded into its head.

"Gotta say though, you guys sure did a number on that thing while I wasn't around."

"Yeah." Yang chuckled "It was a bit of a sting operation."

She started howling at her own joke while everyone else just rolled their eyes.

"…*snrk*" I chuckled a little "That's *snrk* not funny."

…

Things moved pretty quickly after that. We were lead back to the academy and given a short period to clean ourselves up. By that time, most of my wounds had healed and was at least not going to keel over if the wind blew me over. I took the chance to clean the blood, mud, and any other muck that got on me off. After that I slid back into my parkstroller outfit and got to work on patching my armor. My rifle was wrecked, I was gonna need a bunch of resources and a few hours to fix it properly, so I saved that for later. For the time being I knock the dings out of my armor and kept it from coming undone. Once I did that, I sequestered myself some place I wouldn't be bothered and removed my helmet. The damage was mostly superficial, nothing a bit of polish and elbow grease wouldn't take out.

By the time I was finished, we were all called to an auditorium. All of the people who'd partnered up and formed teams were assembled towards the front of the room. I could make out the figures of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang from my position on the back wall. I doubted they could see me against the sea of silhouettes and darkness. But that was fine, I wasn't looking to call attention to myself anyway.

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Skye Lark" Ozpin said from his position on the stage. With him were four young men of varying sizes. "-The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team cardinal."

The four boys' faces appeared on a large overhead screen, underscored by the letters CDRL.

"Lead by: Cardin Winchester." Ozpin finished

The four boys nodded and walked off the stage as another set of four students took the stage. I recognized Jaune, Legion, Nora, and Kung-fu boy.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you shall work together as team Juniper.

Similar to the last group, their pictures appeared on the screen underscored by the letters JNPR.

Nora hopped on one leg and latched onto Kung-fu boy, guess I should call him Ren now.

"Lead by: Jaune Arc." Ozpin stated.

A large smile flashed onto Legio- I mean Pyrrha's face. Jaune looked around confused. I would too, I wouldn't peg him for the leader type.

'Meh, I'll give it time. See how it turns out.'

Pyrrha playfully punched Jaune in the arm and sent him sprawling to the floor. A sprinkling of laughter stretched across the atrium.

'Probably won't take too long.'

The newly formed team left the stage and Ruby's small group took it.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long."

'Xiao Long? Sounds Chinese… maybe the Chinese are still here somewhere.'

"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces, from this day forward you will work together as team Ruby."

I looked at the screen as the letters scrolled across them, RWBY.

'huh, that's a little ironic.'

"lead by Ruby Rose."

'… scratch that, this was completely deliberate.'

Ruby did her best to contain her shock and excitement while Weiss looked at her in shock. Yang ran right up to her younger sibling and wrapped her in a bear hug.

"Looks as though things are shaping up to be an interesting year." Ozpin finished with a smile. Goodwitch strode up next to him on the stage. "This concludes today's ceremonies, please return to your dorms and prepare for tomorrow. Classes will commence at 9AM tomorrow."

People began to file out of the auditorium. Most of the newly formed teams were busy conversing. I could see Nora bouncing around Ren like a coked out Bloatfly. Most of team RWBY looked to be celebrating the way things turned out. Which was good enough for me. After all, I did my bit and managed to dodge the bullets that got sent my way.

"Mr. Six" came a stern voice from beside me. I turned and saw miss strippe- I mean Goodwitch standing there. "I must ask you to follow me for a moment."

"… Aight." I had an idea of what this was about and figured I should get it out of the way.

Ms. Goodwitch lead me down a series of vacant hallways and up to an elevator. We climbed in and rode it all the way to the top. We arrived at the top floor of the tower. The doors to the elevator slid open and revealed an office space that probably would've made Mr. House jealous. The place was immaculate, with collumns of dark stone supporting the roof, tinted windows dying the room a green with light of the setting sun, and cogs and gears of varying sizes whirring and clicking around the room like the inside of a massive clock.

"Enjoying the scenery?" Ozpin asked from his desk, having noticed how distracted I was.

"Gotta say, never seen anything quite like this in my travels." I say with a shrug.

"Oh? I'll take that as a compliment then."

"You best, but I doubt you brought me here to talk about home decorating."

"Indeed." Ozpin motioned towards a seat in front of his desk. I went and took it.

"So, may I ask why you wanted to speak with me? Or would you prefer to tell me?"

"Hmm, which ever you prefer." Ozpin took a sip from his mug of coffee.

"Ok, why am I here?"

"I wanted to ask you a few questions about what happened during the initiation today."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, nothing too complicated I assume?"

"Not at all." I say, slightly surprised. I'd been expecting something else. "Ask away."

"Very well. When you were attacked this afternoon, an unknown form of Grimm assaulted the other initiates. From what I've gathered, you have some familiarity with it."

"Familiarity is relative. That thing looked like one of the creatures from my world."

"Oh?" Ozpin looked intrigued by this.

"Yes, but so did a few of the other… what did you call them? Grimm?"

"Ah! Yes, I forgot you don't know much about this world."

"… No kidding? Wanna fill me in?"

"Mmm, no. I believe letting you discover this world on your own terms will help you grow accustomed to it."

"…"

I wanted to reach across the desk and smack Ozpin. Grow accustomed? I was only sticking around until I found a way home. I'm not making a home here. The sooner I got away from this crazy twin mooned planet the better.

"You were saying?" Ozpin prompted me to continue.

I sighed and continued. "The 'Grimm' as you put it, looked similar to a creature from my world. One known as a Deathclaw."

"That's certainly an ominous name." Ozpin chuckled

"Nothing ominous about it. They're several hundred pounds of irradiated death and claws that can strip a person to the bone in a matter of seconds."

"…" Ozpin stared silently for a moment. "That does sound deadly."

"No kidding?" I ask sarcastically

"So, would you say that these creatures are 'feared' where you're from?"

"… You're pulling my leg right? What part of 'strip you to the bone in seconds' isn't fear inducing?"

"Point taken."

"So what's this about exactly? All this fear talk?"

"Everything, mister six." Ozpin rose from his seat and went to stare out a nearby window. "The Grimm are creatures are beings that are drawn to negative emotions. Hatred, Jealousy, Sadness-"

"Fear." I surmised for him

"Indeed. They are drawn to it and will destroy any living creature they find. They are pure engines of destruction."

"This connects to me… how?"

"Until today, it has been hard to identify where the various form of Grimm spawn from. Most of what we have learned is speculative at best. But with your appearance in this world, a new Grimm with a resemblance to a beast only people from your world are familiar with appears in the midst of initiation. One that very nearly killed you."

"So you brought me up here because you wanted to confirm a theory?"

"Yes, a possible explanation for what brings the Grimm into existence. You may very well help us in ways you were not anticipating."

I nod thoughtfully at this. Maybe my presence could do some good if this world had problems an outsider could help with. "Well." I put my hands on my knees and rise from my chair. "Glad I could help, but if you don't mind I have things I need to do."

"Such as?"

"Do some shopping, get cleaned up, things of that nature. It helps that I don't have to spend all this time getting to know people."

"Oh? That's one way to give the cold shoulder to your teammates."

I scoffed as I headed towards the elevator. "That implies I actually have any."

Ozpin chuckled. "Tell me Mr. Six, did you find it odd that I didn't call up any pawn teams?"

My pointer finger hovered over the call button for the elevator. I stopped and considered his words for a moment. I'd watched the ceremony from the beginning and didn't recall seeing any pawn teams despite the use of black and white pieces.

"… perhaps."

"That's because there are no pawn teams." Goodwitch finished.

"Correct." Ozpin continued "The relics you chose were added in addition to the pre-chosen pieces."

I took a step back from the elevator and looked at the man staring out the window. "You were planning on me not playing along?"

"Indeed."

"… Bullshit." Goodwitch shot me a glare for language "What would you have done if another team chose the pawns, or if I partnered with someone?"

"If you'd partnered with someone you'd go through the normal process and the extra initiates would have been paired with other students. As for if someone else chose the pawns… well…" Ozpin turned back and gave me a coy smile. "I'm the head master, do really think specific chess pieces would have derailed anything?"

'… son of a bitch planned this shit. Damn.'

"So?" I ask, not entirely sure where that left me. "I didn't partner up with anyone and last I checked you can't force that."

"True. But that doesn't stop me from placing you on a team and, as I noticed, you had a certain affinity for one team in particular."

I got a sinking feeling in my gut. "No… you wouldn't."

…

I stood stiffly in the doorway of the dorm room. The four girls seated on their beds and staring at me as Ms. Goodwitch stood beside me, explaining.

"-Due to a miscalculation, Mr. Six was left without a team. While we work to remedy this, he will be made a secondary member of your team. As such he is under the command and care of your team's leader."

'Please, no, I've suffered enough.'

"You are to treat him as a comrade, as he is to treat you. If there are no questions, I shall take my leave."

Each of the girls responded with their own level of enthusiasm. None of it vocal. Ruby's eyes went wide and started sparkling while she got this big grin on her face. Weiss looked ever so slightly pissed at my return, and just sort of scowled at me. Blake didn't really have a reaction, she just kept up this cool look like it didn't bother her, but I did notice her bow seemed to droop slightly. Yang… Yang got this big smirk on her face and gave me a look I wasn't entirely comfortable with.

"… Very well, I wish you all a good evening." Goodwitch nodded and began to walk away. I turned to try and stop her, before noticing that smirk from the initiation had returned to her face.

'She's enjoying this! That fucking bitch is enjoying my suffering!'

Before I could continue trying to escape, Ruby clamped onto my arm and pulled me into the room.

"Welcome to team RWBY, Six!" She said with a big saccharine smile

'Graham help me.'