Chapter 3

As the morning began, Xavier found himself tiredly trudging along as he made his way towards the Emerald Forest, following behind a member of the faculty. The man in question was named Peter Port, and was the professor of Grimm studies for Beacon. Xavier was at first rather excited about the prospect of learning from the foremost expert in these strange shadow creatures that the school had, however...

"And with the opening left by the beast, I finally managed to line up a clean shot! Needless to say, taking aim for the eyes is an effective strategy whenever it can be implemented properly, haha!" Xavier's right eye twitched a bit, irritated as he was. The fatigue his body was going through was enough to rile up his nerves, however, Xavier had to legitimately wonder if Port had ever stopped talking since they first met up, or even taken a breath. What seemed to mercifully be the end of this tale brought the briefest of respite. Xavier let go of a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in pure relief, but it didn't last. "So, young Mathis! What do you take from this story?"

Shit. Xavier blinked in surprise, not realizing he would be tested in any way, but... "at my best guess i'd say-" He paused only to yawn, not a voluntary thing. How... Unusual. "...er, i'd say the idea is to trust your gut instinct when it comes to pinpointing weaknesses," It took some conscious effort to not make that sound like a question.

Port nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. The portly man stroked his thick mustache with a thumb and forefinger in contemplation for a brief moment before his retort came. "That is a good takeaway, however, the main point I wished to enforce are the similarities between many species of Grimm and natural wildlife. Beowolves for example, or perhaps Deathstalkers, both of these have rather obvious comparisons. An Oppel however may not be so obvious to those who have lived outside of Vale."

Xavier nodded. "yep, no idea what that is," At least the man was taking breaks and letting Xavier get a word in edgewise now.

"They are a Grimm species baring striking similarities to a species of giant bat. Strangely enough, not the vampire bats one may expect, but rather the large fox bat! This is one example that throws the hypothesis of Grimm evolution into some contention. Why would a predator that prays exclusively upon humanity and its works evolve to resemble an herbivorous creature?"

That made Xavier pause in his stride, he thought about that question for a moment. The evolution of one's enemy seemed a natural thing from his experience within The Game, however, this was... Different. Based on what little he knew of Grimm, and the shapes they could come in, he speculated aloud. "...maybe instead of purely predators, they've evolved to resemble mankind's fears? it's not like we always knew that giant flying mammals weren't out to eat us,"

Port gave a hearty laugh at that response. "Very good! I personally share your particular theory, however it is remarkably difficult to prove. Grimm cannot be given any form of dissection or autopsy, you see."

Xavier nodded. "they vanish when they die, and don't have the decency to leave anything behind, i'm well aware" His tone seemed to bring out some personal resentment, the gamer within him still craved loot it seemed. Port, however, appeared to agree with his frustration.

"Indeed, it is rather inconvenient. Which is why..." He would suddenly come to a stop, Xavier stopping just behind him before taking a step back. They had reached the edge of the woods where just yesterday, the various teams had wreaked havoc in searching for supposed relics. "...We must capture our specimens alive. Today will be a demonstration, I require at least one live Boarbatusk."

Xavier would produce a cigarette from his sylladex and light it with a snap of his fingers as he looked into the woods, as much as he could see from the low light of the sun having not yet risen. "and that is...?"

"A common species of Grimm native to Vale as well as Vacuo, they resemble a wild boar in many ways, though their tusks are rather more dangerous. Their primary method of attack involves momentum." Port answered matter-of-factly, it seems under all of that hot air, there was a reason he was an accredited academic.

"right," Xavier said after taking a drag. "...anything else to go off of?"

Port simply shook his head. "Professor Ozpin was insistent that you perform this venture on your own. I am merely present to supervise, and while I have utmost confidence in your ability to perform such a simple task, I will nevertheless provide a bit of aid." Port would reach into the front pocket of his red suit jacket and produce a crystal of Dust, a common mineral substance that was used extensively in everyday life. This particular crystal was a light, amethyst purple, entirely opaque, and in the shape of an expertly cut gemstone. "Gravity dust is expensive, Mr Mathis. However, I believe you will find this bit particularly useful. This crystal when used properly will activate one of the many cage traps scattered around the forest. Good hunting."

It seemed this was a fairly common practice. Xavier accepted the crystal and... Carefully placed the crystal in the pocket of his blue hoodie, rather than captchalogging it. As he made his way into the dark forest, he would almost immediately take to higher elevation, making his way forward by climbing and leaping between trees, keeping an eye out for his quarry. While the aforementioned boar Grimm wasn't immediately visible, he decided to pause upon spotting a group of Beowolves, briefly closing his eyes and attempting to sense them.

All that Xavier could see when he closed his eyes was darkness, these creatures didn't seem to have any form of energy or aura that he could sense, however, he could hear a sound in the distance. Off a ways to his right there was a noise that sounded like a distressed swine of some kind, but a bit more... Uncanny. And so, that's where he would go, following the feint sound as it grew louder upon his approach... What he found would be a point of interest. Once he had made it to a small clearing in the woods, he would see a group of the boar-like Grimm, roughly 5 in total, surrounding a bear. The creature roared and came down with slashing claws onto one that seemed already wounded. While the others would jump back, this one stumbled, its hind legs giving out from the effort.

Xavier knew opportunity when he spotted it, and readied Brotherhood, drawing the weighty knife from its sheathe as he inched closer towards the very edge of the clearing. The skirmish of unnatural predator vs natural behemoth wasn't especially drawn out, as it seemed the wounded Boarbatusk was a necessary sacrifice for the others to gain enough ground, once they had, they curled up into ball-like states and launched themselves brutally at the bear, a display reminiscent of a certain blue character from earth, though he couldn't quite remember a name. Xavier watched the display, a bit impressed that a creature like this could perform such a feat as it had no natural indicator of being capable of such a thing. Regardless, that poor bear was doomed, taking multiple consecutive hits until it was too wounded to fight back any longer... Even if it recovered, nature would take its course. Survival of the fittest was a concept Xavier was intimately familiar with.

And so was the art of the ambush, the opportune strike. These creatures seemed to have no fear, so it was best to isolate them, to thin their ranks and focus the efforts of capture on one. He gave a small smile as his plan came together in his mind. And fortunately, the Boarbatusks seemed more than happy to walk right into it, the three healthier ones making their way towards the edge of the clearing that Xavier was currently camping on. Seizing the opportunity once they were in range, Xavier gave a quick one-two punch, throwing Brotherhood with incredible accuracy straight into, or rather through, the eye of one Boarbatusk. The creature vanished almost instantaneously, disappearing into a cloud of smoke. With the others turning to see the distraction, Xavier lunged downward, bringing his fist, and an incredible amount of strength, down onto the back of the second one.

The Grimm screamed quite literally like a stuck pig as what passed for its back was shattered from the force of the impact. Xavier's hand reached forward to pull his knife from its embedded place in the ground. Upon returning to his hand, he brought Brotherhood down into the skull of the wounded creature to end its misery. Upon returning to his feet, he was face-to-face with the last Boarbatusk. The Grimm seemed... Confused seemed to be the right word. It took a moment of sniffing to catch Xavier's scent, even with him being only a few meters away and having just attacked the members of its pack. Xavier chuckled a bit as he sheathed his blade, standing and spreading his arms out to invite his prey.

"here piggy piggy, come get it" He taunted before turning to run back into the forest. The Boarbatusk gave chase, curling into a ball and spinning in place to gather momentum before catapulting itself towards Xavier, or rather, where he was. The beast seemed to be fairly inaccurate, and despite striking with the force of a cannonball, it wasn't getting anywhere close to its target... Xavier, however, was. He led the beast with taunts and jeers, letting it follow the sound of his voice as it crashed into multiple trees like the world's deadliest pinball. Xavier couldn't help but laugh at the situation, but all he had to do was find... A trap! He set the crystal down on top of the large metal cage, assuming it would activate as he left it behind but... No. The Boarbatusk ran right over the crystal, reducing it to dust as it passed right by the cage... And nearly ran into Xavier!

He blinked in surprise as the creature had come only inches away from barreling him over entirely, but since all the elements were in place, enough was enough. Xavier turned to face the Grimm, which had, in turn, turned around and made another lunge right for him. Fortunately he had a trick for situations like this, with a snap of his fingers, a radius of several meters around him was subject to antigravity. Within a split second, the Grimm had lost all momentum and was squealing, panicked evidently over the sudden shift in events.

Xavier rolled his eyes and grabbed the now uncurled beast by the tusk. "oh shut up," He said with a rather annoyed tone as he dragged the creature towards the cage. Only when he had reassembled the contraption around the now helpless victim did he return gravity to normal, and breathed a sigh of relief. This little trek through the woods was frankly exhausting... And to make things worse, he wouldn't be able to captchalogue a live specimin like this. Xavier gave the cage an experimental lift to determine how heavy one of these creatures was... A couple dozen kilograms was his best guess, along with the steel cage. Being already rather fatigued, he would sling the cage over his shoulder as he made his way back to the edge of the woods.

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Professor Port checked his watch, somewhat concerned about how long this was taking, perhaps even concerned for Xavier's safety. However, he was rather jubilant when the young man returned, and with a fresh catch over his shoulder nonetheless! "Mathis! Magnificent work on your first hunt! Ah, I suppose I should tell you the story of my own first hunt. You see, before I ever became a Huntsman-"

Xavier visibly cringed at what would undoubtedly be an elongated speech, though felt his strength begin to wane as he stumbled while carrying the cage. Mercifully, this caused Port to stop as well. The Professor gazed over his assistant with a bit of worry. "...Young man, have you eaten today?" Xavier could only really give a sheepish smile in response. Port shook his head. "This will simply not do. Go ahead and set that down, I will call for a retrieval team. For now, you require sustenance! Breakfast is important after all, why, when I was your age-"

2 Hours later, Beacon locker room.

Xavier sighed wearily. To his surprise, breakfast did indeed make him feel better, lifting a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that he... couldn't quite remember feeling before. After all the effort, all he wanted was a nice, hot shower. Stripping down to only a towel, leaving his glasses behind, Xavier blindly stumbled out of the locker room and towards the showers. At this time of the morning, only exceptionally dedicated morning people would even be awake, let alone taking showers, so the communal nature of these bathrooms didn't worry him so much for today... However, a bigger concern was that, in leaving his glasses behind, he had failed to see the signs properly and had wandered into the wrong bathroom...

The showers were barren, which made it harder to tell his mistake... To get more area, the square room lined with showers, also had two walls jutting out in the middle, creating three aisles in addition to the front and back row. The only other person seemed to be in the leftmost corner of the back row. Considering this was the showers on the left side of the locker room, that was the comfy back corner... Someone was already there, but only having one person present was hardly the worst thing in the world. Xavier stood a distance of a few shower heads away as he turned on the hot water, letting it wash over him and relieve much of the tension from the day. Though... He couldn't keep his eyes closed forever, and would curiously glance at the blurry figure to his right.

The figure in question possessed very long, dark hair that was being lathered with white shampoo, their skin was very pale, though had a bit of red coloring undoubtedly due to the heat of the shower... And something seemed very familiar. Xavier attempted to focus his gaze a bit, and while being very nearsighted didn't help, his suspicions were confirmed by the voice that followed. A content, almost wistful sigh that came from her. Her. He would immediately realize his mistake and attempt to quickly exit, turning the water off, grabbing his towel... And slipping, falling forward onto his hands. He was still soaking wet, and now prone, not exactly a great position.

The situation, however, could always get worse. Especially when he heard a familiar voice ask "A-are you alright?" Out of anyone he could have possibly run into, in the girl's showers no less, it was the one person he actually knew.

Xavier could only give a hoarse response. "actually, i'm pretty sure i'm dead"

Yeah, that was an accurate assessment. In a brief moment he was helped to his feet, and could therefore catch quite a glimpse just before those words left his mouth. Blake's entire front was bared to him as her eyes went wide with shock, the realization of who exactly was standing in front of her hit. And immediately following that, her face turned deep red, and a powerful kick was planted directly into his stomach, not only knocking him back onto his ass, but sending him sliding across the slippery tiled floor as the girl dashed to another stall behind one of the nearby walls. "WH-WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"owwww..." He managed to groan out before slowly getting to his feet, having the breath knocked out of him from the strength of that blow right to the solar plexus. "would you believe... i'm blind as a bat... and this was a complete accident?" He struggled with the words as he caught his breath, getting it knocked out of him just a moment ago. It was a struggle to get to his feet just as much as to get the words out properly. "either way... i'm gone... s-sorry about this..." After grabbing his now soaked towel, he would stumble towards the other bathrooms, hoping to put this incident out of his mind as soon as possible.

"Thank you!" She sighed a bit... She wasn't especially angry with him, not about yesterday at least. Her main issue was that... It seemed just a little too coincidental that he'd come looking for her again, when she just so happened to be alone in the most vulnerable state possible... She thought that maybe he just wanted to see her specifically... And wanted to take advantage of that fact that she was starting to feel the same way about him to try pushing his luck with a stunt like this... But all that ended up taking a back seat as she looked back over to the shower she was using, still running though she was now several feet away, as she played out that kick again in her mind. "I didn't get a good look at his..." She gasped, slapping her cheeks before standing back up and forcing the thought out of her mind, getting back into the shower and washing her hair aggressively. Hoping the pain of ripping out tangles would set her mind straight.

As he left, the boys showers this time, he finally felt clean enough to do something. However, realization struck that he was already late for Port's class! After reshaping his Spiral Overcoat into some relatively casual clothing, Xavier would attempt to take a shortcut through the mess hall. He didn't know just how long he had been in that shower, but it was long enough to finally set his mind straight...

And he would run right into Blake once again, or rather, manage to catch her gaze, crossing paths as they headed in the same direction, she would quickly hide something in her bag and push forward to take the lead. Xavier paused, unsure if this was purposeful to make distance between them or... Mind, out of the gutter please. Regardless, he wasn't the only one late and that counted for something. Especially since Port seemed rather distracted by a lecture of his own. By the time Blake had taken her seat beside her team, and Xavier had taken his place by Port's side, the timing of those two occurrences generating some small talk, Port was just wrapping up. "And now, who amongst you would like to prove that you have what it takes to be a Huntsman?"

A hand immediately rose. It came from the girl in white, one of Blake's teammates. "I will!" Port seemed to consider this for a moment before giving an earnest chuckle. "Excellent, miss Schnee! Mr. Mathis, if you would?" He gestured towards the large tarp that hid what Xavier could only assume was the Grimm he had captured earlier. He nodded and made his way over to the cage, unveiling it as the Schnee girl would take a stance, her rapier in one hand. Her left hand, Xavier noted, that gave him a bit of a smile.

As the exhibition began, Port would place a hand on Xavier's shoulder to get his attention before speaking. He spoke low enough that the other students, too enthralled by the display before them, wouldn't take much notice, if any at all. "Now, tell me what you see from Miss Schnee's performance?"

Xavier observed as Weiss's movements were practically forced to change to adapt to her opponent... And the distraction from her leader. "...she's disciplined, well practiced, but has minimal practical experience,"

Port gave a firm nod. "What has led you to that conclusion?"

Xavier didn't take his eyes off of Weiss as she began using her Semblance, glyphs that appeared to adjust momentum, to begin turning the tide of the battle. "...she's not used to adjusting her strategy, upon observing that momentum was the main strength of the enemy, she could have used the best tool at her disposal to change that, instead she attempted to use conventional tactics until it was proven they don't work,"

However, the tide of the battle did swiftly turn, and the blade of the rapier was plunged deep into the belly of the beast. The spot where it was least armored. Port would give a hearty chuckle, giving Xavier one last note before addressing the class. "Experience is key, but don't hold such a thing against her as an observer. Ahem, well done Miss Schnee! Why I believe everyone present could learn something from..."

Following another, mercifully brief speech, class was dismissed. Xavier sighed in relief as lunch was right around the corner, and for once, he felt famished. Port would invite him to eat with him, however Xavier would turn the idea down politely in favor of mingling with some of the students.. And it just so happened that one he wanted to see was sitting alone.

As Xavier stood across from her, Blake immediately looked up and blushed darkly, hiding something in her lap. From the brief glimpse he may have gotten, something was being wrapped in a little black bow. "Damn you." She said, not with any malice, but rather out of reflex for her surprise being spotted.

"to which hell?" Came the immediate, and somewhat sarcastic reply. He hadn't sat down yet as that would place him well within kicking range, but standing there with a tray in hand wasn't doing him any favors. Noticing he didn't get much of a positive response, Xavier would decide to risk it, and sat at the edge of the table, across from Blake. "sorry if you're already sick of seeing me, it... wasn't my intention" Apologizing for earlier in such a public setting wasn't exactly an option, he hoped that this would come close.

She sighed a bit, shaking her head. "I was trying to surprise you... But you can't seem to stay away." She gave a half-hearted laugh at that, seeming somewhat tired already. "...Here." She handed him a small purple box she'd wrapped with a black ribbon. Just a knot since she didn't have time to do a bow. "I was going to give you this later but... you caught me red handed, so here. It's an apology for... Overdoing it. O-okay bye!" And with that, she would abandon what remained of her lunch and head towards the next class.

"wait wha-" He couldn't even get a word in edgewise before she was already gone. He quietly wondered to himself if this is how Leo DiCaprio felt after getting flashed by Kate Beckinsdale. That movie was terrible but provided some good lessons. He sighed to himself and decided to at least try to relax as he carefully undid the ribbon and opened the box. She had... Made him a gift?

It was a pretty hastily made gift... one of every chocolate bar in the vending machines nearby, and a small bit of paper that said: "Remember to pay me back for what you saw." And with a harsh blush spreading over his face, he felt like that chocolate could melt just from the heat he was giving off. He decided to store most of them away in his inventory, save for one that had peanut butter in it, that would be a good snack right? The week, hell, the year, was only just getting started.