Raco and Phlox battled onward against the waves of Grimm, stabbing and blasting their way through the horde of enemies.

“How many now?” Phlox questioned.

“I count fifty-eight.” Raco replied.

“Ok so we’re still within the threshold of Grimm you could kill with your eyes closed.”

“Right! Of course! Totally!”

Phlox dodged past some spit, firing a shot into a centinel that had attempted to go for a low attack at his leg.

Raco ended the life of another with a spear throw, but was immediately assailed by a different centipede. It clamped its jaws onto his leg, leaving him immobile to dodge a glob of spit that collided with his face. He swiftly called his spear back, jabbing it into the Grimm’s skull.

A third Grimm rushed Raco while he was still busy removing the last from his leg. The Grimm reaching its target was almost certain with how Raco was occupied… That was until it was slashed out of the air, in a swift flash of silver.

Standing before Raco, a shiny silver dagger clutched in his left hand, was a boy. He was brown haired and blue eyed, with a dark blue long sleeved shirt, matching cloak and black shorts.

“Target neutralized.” He stated calmly, before turning his attention to another nearby centinel. Hitting a button on his weapon, it swiftly morphed itself from a silver dagger into a pistol of the same colour. He turned the weapon upon another Grimm, ending its life with a series of shots.

“I could have easily taken that one! But, since you showed up I suppose I didn’t have to. Thank you for saving me some time, kind stranger!” Raco said, whilst launching back into the fight via stabbing a Grimm. “Oh by the way, my name is Raco M-”

“Save the formalities for later.” A colder, more regal female voice interrupted him. Rushing past the boy and his partner was a girl with short black hair, that contained wisps of white strewn about in the midst of it. She was rather well put together, her hair being straight and neat and her overall complexion radiating a sense of beauty. Her attire consisted of a pure white coat and matching combat skirt, and in her hand she clutched a thin and pointed halberd.

Joining Phlox and Raco, the two new arrivals launched into action. The girl rushed in, jabbing her halberd through the head of a centinel, with more of a swift grace compared to Raco’s powerful stabs. The boy followed up, covering her back with a series of gunshots from his own weapon.

Raco and Phlox glanced at each other briefly, before shrugging and getting back to the fight. A pair of centinels rushed Raco, who swiftly ended them with a toss of his spear. Another attacked in their stead, but it was simply dealt with by his spear whilst on its return trip back to his hand, driving a hole straight through the Grimm.

Phlox took aim, blasting away a small section of the rocky outcrop they stood upon and sending a group of centinels to their demise as they plummeted into the abyss below. He then turned his weapon upon a large group of approaching enemies. One shot was all it took to erase them from his sight.

The horde was quickly thinning now, with the addition of two more students. Together, the group stabbed, slashed, shot and blasted their way through the centinels.

The last of the Grimm stood hissing in the entrance way to the cavern that Phlox had initially fled from. It hissed at the four, and lobbed its acidic mucus towards them. The girl stepped forward, blocking the spit with ease. The remaining Grimm was then hit with the full force of a spear to the head, followed up by a rail gun blast that obliterated its corpse.

“Hah! I killed it first!” Raco said happily.

“Yes, but are you the one with a laser pointer rail gun?” Phlox replied, cocking his weapon.

“Gentlemen.”

The two were interrupted by the girl, who stepped forward whilst sheathing her weapon on her back. The girl’s posture was extraordinarily straight, resembling that of a soldier. “My name is Jade Acht, future student of Atlas Academy and graduate of Asteria Academy. This is my partner for the next four years, Azul Tyrell.”

Azul stood next to Jade, standing straight like a statue as she did, before saluting to the two boys.

“Hello there! I’m Phlox Forp.” Said Phlox Forp.

“Greetings friends, I am Raco M-”

“I already learned your name earlier when you so foolishly attempted to make introductions in the middle of battle.” Jade interrupted, walking past the two. Raco grimaced. “It is good to have encountered two allies down here. This will increase our chance of success. Now…”

Jade gazed around the area briefly, before suddenly halting her gaze upon Phlox.

“You!”

“Me?”

“You’re a faunus, are you not?” She questioned.

“Yes indeed I am.” He replied.

“Roughly seventy-five percent of faunus naturally possess night vision. The odds are in our favour that you too possess this trait.”

“Yeah, I can see in the dark.”

“Excellent. You will lead the way. There is a narrow ledge that leads further into the mineshaft, and it is the safest way of traversing this area.”

“Hold on just a moment, as a lower life form you can't simply order me around like this.” Raco said, raising an eyebrow at Jade.

"It is rude to speak to your superior in such a way. Would you treat General Ironwood like this if he gave you orders?" She questioned sternly.

"What makes you my superior? It really makes no sense considering all are inferior to me!"

"You clearly have no respect for those stronger than you. I saved the lives of you and that faunus over there. Obeying my directives would be the least you could do-"

"You barely helped! Me and the Forp did all the work!"

"Watch your tone, you airhead!"

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

"I'll show you airhead you-!" Raco shouted, raising his spear.

"I would advise you both to calm down." Azul interrupted the boy, stepping between him and Jade. Phlox too awkwardly stepped between them. "We are currently on a mission. We need to focus on the task at hand and not disputes over superiority."

"Yes. Very much." Phlox added.

"How are we supposed to proceed with insubordinate allies who refuse to follow simple orders?" Jade questioned, crossing her arms.

"Yes, but I despise that lady." Said Raco, crossing his arms.

"We need to stow our personal feelings and complete our task." Azul continued. "Personally, I move to appoint Jade as our strategist-"

"I'm going to stop you right there-" Raco said, stepping forward. Azul simply ignored him and continued on however.

"-And Raco as our lead combatant."

"Oh." Raco stopped. "What does that entail?"

"I think it means you're a higher rank than her, but she does all the talking and boring stuff." Phlox whispered to him. A grin began to slowly form on Raco's face. He immediately turned to Azul.

"I agree to this!" Raco said, giving a thumbs up.

"Excellent." Azul then turned to Jade. "If you would Jade, please explain why you think taking this path is our best strategy."

Jade let out a sigh, and firmly stepped forward.

“I deduced that General Ironwood would have most likely placed the relics at the bottom of the mine, rather than some random cavern. It would make more sense to test our skills rather than our luck.” Jade replied, her voice growing more stern than it was earlier. “Are there any more questions before we proceed?”

Phlox raised his hand.

“Would you guys like to hear about the time I fell out of a moving airship?” He asked.

“Of course!” Raco exclaimed.

“Sure.” Azul said with a shrug.

“Absolutely not.” Jade stated flatly. “If there are no more questions-”

Phlox raised his hand.

“-That aim to take this mission seriously.”

He lowered it.

“-We will proceed. Phlox Forp, go ahead.”

Phlox gave a nod, and gave the area a quick scan, quickly finding the aforementioned ledge. He took a step forward down the ledge, his weapon at the ready. Jade followed him with a level of caution about her, followed by Raco. Azul brought up the rear, keeping his pistol at the ready.

*

“Hey look over there!”

Purpura pointed over Languid’s shoulder. He gazed in the direction of her arm, aiming his light that way as well. The beam fell upon an opening in the rock, a large crevice cut into the side of the mineshaft and supported by wooden beams.

“A hole in the wall.” Languid commented.

“Yeah, finally some stable ground. Let’s take a break here.” Purpura said, nudging her partner forward slightly. Languid simply nodded, heading in the direction of the crevice.

Upon arrival, the boy propped his lamp up against the stone walls of the area, allowing light to shine down upon himself and Purpura, and illuminating most of the crevice.

Purpura sat down against the wall, crossing her arms and legs. Languide moved to join her at first, but he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey check it out!” He called to his partner. “This area goes even deeper.”

Languid stepped past the edge of the light, glancing around towards the darkness beyond. Purpura simply ignored him and began to toy around with her bow and arrow.

Not ten seconds after Languid had ventured out on his own, the crevice was filled by a high pitched scream, undoubtedly belonging to the boy. Purpura sat up in alarm, glancing towards the darkened section of the crevice and holding her weapon at the ready.

“Languid?!” She shouted. “Are you dead?!”

There was a brief bout of silence, followed by a short “No!”

This was immediately followed up by a loud and fierce roar, akin to that of a lion. Purpura covered her ears, recoiling slightly.

The first to come rushing out from the shadows in terror was Languid. Following closely behind on his tail, was a massive lion-esc Grimm. Its body was massive, taking up a large portion of the enclosed crevice. Along with its sharp teeth and claws, it sported a large pair of wings on its back, currently folded up, as well as a scorpion’s tail complete with a dangerous stinger dangling from the end.

The Grimm swiped towards its closest target, Languid, who dodged with a sloppy front roll that brought him towards his weapon.

With Languid a safe distance away, it instead turned its attention to Pupura. The scorpion tail on its back shot out towards her face at great speeds. She swiftly dodged the attack by moving her head out of the way and simultaneously activating her aura. At the same time, the musical staff appeared around her once more, this time straightening itself out in mid air.

With its attack having initially failed, the Grimm pulled back its stinger and leapt forward to slice at the girl with its claws. It was immediately stopped in its tracks by an utter bombardement of projectiles. The projectiles in question were tiny black silhouettes, barely distinguishable as musical notes, and their source was Purpura’s staff. The notes flew off the staff, each one sharpened at the tip to resemble daggers more than anything, and embedded themselves within the hide of the Grimm. Ichor dribbled down its face as it was filled with holes from the attacks, forced to instead back up and retreat.

“You’ve got it on the ropes!” Languid commented, grabbing his lamp from its position against the wall and aiming the light towards the retreating Grimm. “Here, I’ll finish it off!”

“What- No! I’ll kill it as long as I keep this up, you back off and just shine the light!” Purpura exclaimed, attempting to concentrate on her semblance.

“Don’t worry I’ve got this!” Languid assured her, before raising his lamp high. His finger fell upon a second switch located beneath the first.

“LANGUID NO!” Despite his partner’s protests, Languid closed his eyes and slammed his thumb on the button. “You dumbass just- AAAAAAAAHHH!”

Purpura was interrupted as a bright flash of light exploded from Languid’s lamp, illuminating the entire room for a brief second before it faded.

Instantly, the girl’s vision went white and a horrible ringing sound filled her ears. She toppled to the ground, blind and deaf, her musical staff disappearing. Luckily for her however, the Grimm had seemingly suffered a similar fate. It let out a loud roar, toppling over onto its side whilst blindly swiping in every direction.

Languid slowly opened his eyes, instantly noticing the pained Grimm. He grinned, turning to his partner.

“Hey Purpura I got him! Check it out!”

Purpura blinked, slowly rising back up as she found her vision returning. At the same time, the Grimm seemed to be readjusting itself as well, its eyes beginning to narrow upon the two students.

“Languid what-”

“Oh no! Purpura look, it’s getting back up!” Languid exclaimed before his teammate could utter another word. He raised his weapon once more.

“NONONO NOT AGA-”

Once more, Purpura’s hearing and vision were assaulted as she crumpled to the ground.

“I think I really got him good that time.” Languid said with a nod. He turned to his partner once more. “What are you doing on the ground, Purpura? We’re in the middle of fighting a monster. Or at least we were, that attack had to have killed it!”

“I AM GOING TO DANCE ON YOUR GRAVE WHILE WOLVES EAT YOUR LOVED ONES-”

“Oh no it’s back up again!” Languid exclaimed, turning his attention back to the Grimm as it once more began to recover, ignoring Purpura as she went on and on. “This one should do it…”

Languid raised his weapon. Purpura didn’t even need vision to know what he was about to do. With a battle cry, she rushed up and used her very minimal sight to tackle Languid to the ground.

“What the-” He stated in confusion, as he hit the ground with a thud. With what she could see, she grabbed Languid’s weapon and tossed it to the other corner of the room.

“That was rather rude.” Languid commented, sitting up.

Her vision finally returned after a few moments, just in time to notice the Grimm at the far end of the room. Despite the lack of Languid’s lamp, the darkness of the area was no issue. This was mostly due to the fact that the Grimm had opened its mouth and was in the process of charging up a bright orange fireball.

“I can see agai- Wait, SHIT!” Purpura exclaimed, jumping back up to her feet, unable to enjoy her non obstructed eyes for long. Hurriedly, she scooped up her weapon from its spot on the ground and took aim towards the creature. With minimal light and some parts of her vision still blurry, she prayed that her arrow would at least land somewhat close to its mark. Choosing not to waste anymore time, she let the projectile fly.

The arrow whistled through the air, embedding itself not within the Grimm’s head as intended, but instead directly within its open mouth, by proxy striking the fireball within. Before the Grimm could unleash the fatal attack from its jaws, the fireball exploded. The explosion took with it the monster’s head, which burst like a bubble, scattering the walls of the crevice with droplets of thick black ichor.

Purpura let out a sigh of relief as the ichor was scattered about, before turning to attention to Languid, who had finally managed to grab his weapon. He gazed towards the defeated Grimm’s body with confusion, before suddenly smiling wide.

“See Purpura, I told you that last attack finished it off! Good thing you stopped me before I went for that third one, or else it would’ve been overkill!” Languid said happily.

Purpura slowly turned to face her teammate. Her face was livid, contorted into a pure and utter manifestation of rage.

“Languid… I am going to make sure that the next light you ever see… IS THE AFTERLIFE AFTER I RIP YOUR LUNGS OUT WITH MY BARE HANDS AND SHOVE AN ARROW DOWN YOUR THROAT BEFORE FEEDING YOU TO A PIT OF FIRE ANTS AFTER BREAKING YOUR LEGS WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER AND PUSHING YOU OUT OF A MOVING AIRSHIP ONTO A BURNING BUILDING AND-”

Pupura’s tirade continued, echoing throughout the mineshaft.