RWBY 1. Practice

_Hey there, guys and girls! XtremeManiac33 here welcoming you to something I've cooked up in a state of boredom. This story is based on the hit webseries called RWBY if you are one of my followers. If not, then welcome to the story that you clicked in the RWBY section of the site!_

Side Impressions _is actually not a whole story with a linear plot. This is actually a collection of short stories I've written before and I just decided to put this up here. I though it would be a waste if I just let my team here not do anything after I finished creating them, so I just thought of some scenarios for them to take part in. Not everything in this story is concrete aside from the composition of the team and their backstories (I have a present link in my profile that takes you to their full profiles.). So Beacon Academy might not be their actual school and they might not even be actually studying in Vale when I decide to flesh out this story, among other things. The things you might read here might even become canon if I choose to do so._

_Anyway, enough rambling! Here's the first short story._

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**I. Practice**

Cray Nicholas did not know what had gotten into him when he had agreed to doing this activity his partner had suggested.

He had some free time before his first class of the day would begin, but he was already dressed in his Beacon Academy school attire in case he wanted to take a walk around campus. He had been lucky enough to have a schedule that starts right after lunch but ends at 7:30PM, unlike his teammates who started in the morning. Cray initially planned to lounge around the team dorm before lunch, seeing as he woke up early today. All that changed when half of the team came back.

Amber Solarys, his partner, barged into the dorm of Team MACL with an explosive 'hello', the door hitting the wall hard enough to make Cray jump. Lashe Sherwood trailed behind the orange-haired girl and stopped the door from nudging him as it came back around. Both had just finished their history class with Professor Oobleck, and it was apparent that the hyperactive teacher with a certain affinity to caffeine had gotten Amber excited.

No, she was not excited because of what she learned about the Faunus War or what kind of mistake General Lagune made. It was his constant movement and trailblazing method of speaking that had gotten Amber restless.

"It's gotten me pumped up that I wanna do something!" Amber answered Cray's question regarding her constant hop-skipping around the room. She had dumped her stuff on the nearest bed, which was Marille's, the leader of their fearsome four.

Cray was about to step out and exit to meet up with Malkas, his Faunus best friend, when Amber stopped him with a handful of his collar.

"Let's do somethin' fun. Whaddya say, Arrow?" She looked over to the silent archer, who was diligently putting away his books, and only made a grunt as a response. Somehow she interpreted it as a positive.

-MACL-

"Steady...c'mon, Drillbit. Steady..." Amber muttered, admonishing her partner's constant fidgeting. Cray glared at her as he tried to stop looking at the dangerous point staring back at him. She turned to the boy beside her, awaiting his teammate's move. Lashe slowly released a breath and let go.

In a single moment, Cray had both of his eyes open in an attempt to watch everything unfold, but closed them tightly the moment impact was made. He sighed after a few silent moments when Amber cheered. The raven-haired teenager blinked his open eyes and released the breath he was holding when he realized that it was over.

"Good one! My turn!" Amber declared, shoving the taller student and stood at one side of the room. A whirring sound started to enter Cray's ears, one that started slow and was about to build up speed and noise, and it immediately made him stiffen.

"NO! Nononononono! No!" Cray was waving his hands desperately, crossing over from the far side wall to where the other two were standing at the opposite side of the room. "I am not doing that again. Especially with _that_!"

"What!? Why?" Amber frowned at her partner's attitude.

"I'd rather not die, that's why." He then pointed to the taller teenager without even looking at him and then to the thing at what his partner had at hand. "He might look like he knows what he's doing, but with something crucial like this, I wouldn't even let him use that!"

"You think Lashe would miss? Even with Wild Dortchen?" A hesitant nod from Cray answered this question. "Pshaw! Lashe wouldn't do that."

"_Never_ miss," Lashe added, his deep emphasis only assured Cray a little bit since it was probably true.

"Now don't be such a spoiled sport, stand over there again, and put this over your head," Amber was readying her stance for her turn after she threw Cray something, which he didn't even try to catch.

"No! What if _YOU_ miss? Beacon's best and brightest would cease to-" Of course, he was referring to himself proudly, but was interrupted by smaller girl.

"..._You _should cease talking before I miss on purpose."

A glare met Amber eyes. "You wouldn't dare." Her only response was a cocked eyebrow, challenging her overconfident partner. Both teenagers stared down each other like two gunslingers about to be embroiled in a duel to the death.

One moment later, both launched into a dueling tirade of arguments that neither side seemed to hear the other. It became physical eventually with Amber jumping on her brazen partner. As much as Cray tried to fight, he was unable to get away and retaliate, seemingly overpowered by the girl's strength. But she has not won yet.

Lashe looked on with indifference as the two fought for control up and down the room. He walked over to a corner of the room that did not intersect with the route of the two's fight, casually adjusting one of the curtains beside him and looking out of the window. Eventually, Amber got on top of Cray, one foot on his neck while the other hooked on his right shoulder, one of her hands held on to his long hair like she was in a rodeo.

Amber was trying to shout something to Lashe, but Cray had her mouth blocked with his hand, muffling her voice. He did know what she was trying to do as he eyed the thing being placed on Cray's head. A single orange struggling to be balanced on the ravenette's head. That was the signal Lashe was waiting for.

Everything was going smoothly when she arrived.

"What is going on here!?"

The three teenagers stopped at that instant, all eyes now directed at the person standing at the open doorway, a brunette with short hair wearing a breastplate on her chest and a long scarf around her neck with a confused look on her face. Marille Seance is her name and is the leader of the three teenagers. When her eyes went to Lashe, she swore he looked almost guilty as he averted eye contact.

"Lashe, why are you armed like you're ready to shoot something? Why are Amber and Cray standing like that? And why are there two apples on the wall with arrows through each of them?" Her questions seemingly went through deaf ears as nobody answered. She closed the door and spoke again, this time her hands on her hips and a no-nonsense look on her face. "I am not going to repeat myself."

The boy with the duck wing sigil used that opportunity to push off his partner away from his back, the girl landing on the floor with a thud.

"Well, _team leader,_" his emphasis on the phrase sounded sarcastic, "If you must know, I'm the victim in all of this. Amber here thought it would be a fun idea to get rid of her energy by using me as a stand for apple target practice. She even convinced Lashe to take part in it. And look at what they've done to the room." He swung his arm to show her around the room to show the arrows they've used, Amber's attempts in using Lashe's weapon, as well as the two beds that were on its side due to the Cray and Amber's brief showdown. But he didn't want to admit fault in that as he put all the blame on them.

Marille turned to the smaller girl. "Is this true?"

"Yeah," Amber replied, scratching the back of her guiltily. Lashe stood beside her and nodded when the leader's attention went to him.

The two waited as Marille paced around the room with a serious look on her face, perhaps thinking of a way to punish her teammates for such behavior. Their team dorm room is not meant to be used as a place for target practice simulations. There's a place for that across the campus. When she stopped and faced them, they thought she had made up her mind on how they would fix this little problem as Cray looked on with a smug look on his face.

"The faculty would scold us if they knew what happened here, so it's my duty to sentence you two to…" A dramatic pause for dramatic effect. Cray could almost taste the satisfaction for getting forced into being made to stand like a post. "...a proper target practice simulation!"

"Excuse me?" It was Cray who broke the five second silence between them when the announcement was made by their leader. Cray's surprise could have not been apparent with how dull it sounded. Amber brightened at Marille's words. "Don't you see what they did to the room? They should be punished!"

"Oh they will. After our little team building activity, of course." At least Cray had that going for him.

Figuring that he would not be able to convince her of enacting a harsher punishment, he turned to leave. "Well then, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with a certain Faunus friend of mine. I'll see you guys later." He walked past his leader with a nonchalant wave over his shoulder, but was stopped when Marille closed the door he was about to open.

"When I say 'team building exercise', I mean the entire team," The shield-saw bearer of the team told him. He raised an eyebrow at her and tried to open the door again, which was closed a moment later. She only looked at him with a stern expression and he knew that she would not budge when she has made an effort to do something with the whole team, even though they had only been a team for a week.

Cray sighed frustratingly before leaning on the wall, crossing his arms and frowning at the ground. "Fine."

"Team target practice first, then you guys clean the mess you made." She then turned around to address the rest of the team. "But we need to make it interesting! Amber, go get 10 stacks of encyclopedias from the library. Make those big ones." She mimed the expected size she wanted her teammate to get. It was _very _thick.

Amber grinned and saluted her leader, "Yes, ma'am!" She proceeded to run out of the room excitedly, probably barrelling through a few students if the surprised noises and thuds from the hall were any sort of indication.

"Lashe, get all of the curtains in this room. Cray, you and me are going to get some cabbages from the cafeteria. Probably some squash too to make things interesting. Hopefully the ones that they won't be using anymore. There should be enough before lunch starts. We'll meet at the school grounds in ten minutes!"

Lashe silently nodded and started taking the nearest curtains. Cray sighed in disbelief, head hung in defeat, as he followed the exiting Marille.

"Now where can I get a catapult…" An audible whisper came from Marille as she wondered out loud.

"I knew I shouldn't have gotten up early," Cray mumbled sourly, shaking his head as he followed the girl in front of him.

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_There it is, the first chapter of _Side Impressions._ If you have any thoughts or constructive criticisms or just want to ask something about this chapter, feel free to make a review. I'll put the second chapter soon. Thank you for your time._


	2. Leaving The Nest

_If I were to put this in a timeline, this would have taken place before Volume 1's 'Ruby Rose' episode. This is just a little background piece on the leader of Team MACL._

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**II. Leaving The Nest**

Marille Seance was always an early riser. Why? It's because she loves the sight of the morning sun rising from the horizon as the day begins. A relaxing sight, in her opinion, that preludes the numerous things her responsibilities as the eldest in a household full of young children that need to be done.

But today, it won't be about her numerous responsibilities for once.

"Who'll take care of us!?"

"Who will read to me about the cool warriors in the Great War…?"

"I don't want you to go!"

A handful of cries filled the small vehicle trudged along the main road at a moderate speed and safe speed. It was big enough to fit a family and some camping equipment if they were on a road trip. About eight children sat in the back, boys and girls still young enough to need constant care but old enough to learn, surrounding one teenage girl.

Some of the young ones around her tugged on the white and violet flannel scarf she had around her neck despite the spring weather that is transitioning to summer as the days came to pass. Her short sleeved apricot shirt with black stripes was ruffled by the constant movement to her sides. Her violet skirt was barely safe as one child sat on her lap and is always moving about, turning around to look at her or at the scenery outside. Thankfully, he wasn't crying. Her black fingerless gloves and apricot leggings were left untouched, a miracle which she was also thankful for.

The driver at the front tried to tune out the ruthless voices of the young ones behind him, and his battle was a losing one. Combined with the traffic, he is nearly on the verge of shouting or ripping the remainder of his white hair until he pulls out his own brain by accident.

A hand lands on his knee. The passenger beside him offered a sympathetic expression, silently telling him to calm down with just her eyes. He had taken in a big breath and let it all out in a single go.

"C'mon guys, Maw-Maw and Pop-Pop will still be there with you," Marille offered, but it seemed to be unable to quell the group of children. In fact, they even cried harder.

"They just miss you, sweetie," Maw said from the front.

"Even when you're still here…" Pop added, turning right to another bigger street that flowed faster than the one they were just on.

"They're just exaggerating." She patted the heads of the two boys sitting beside her, chuckling. "They'll be better when we get to the airport."

"I doubt that." He chuckled along.

She continued to comfort them as best as she can while drowning in their tears and attention. Their current destination was the airport, where Marille will board an airship that is headed to Vale for Beacon Academy. The single teenager in the vehicle had managed to convince that she is qualified enough to be part of the new first year students for this year, a definite momentous achievement for her.

"_Congratulations, Marille!"_

"_Your mother and I are so proud that you're going to be starting your studies in one of the best academies in Remnant."_

Marille could remember the couple congratulating her from one of the monitors in the Cross Continental Transmit terminals the day she visited Vale when she was summoned in order to formally accept the invitation. She, too, was very proud of her accomplishment, but she wished that her parents were there to celebrate with her. Unfortunately, a highly needed member of a super-famous hotel management team and a fiercely dedicated captain of a police force could not pull away from their respective occupations to do such a thing.

"_Thank you, mom, dad," Marille said, accepting the greetings with a big smile._

"_We're sorry that we can't be there right now, but we promise that we'll make it up for you."_

"_It's okay, mom! I know you're busy with the expansion and that dad is trying to train a specialized squad that assists Huntsmen and Huntresses."_

_Her mother on the other side of the video put her hands together in front of her chest as she leaned into the screen. "We're really grateful that we raised a very understanding girl."_

"_Takes after her father," The man on the other line chuckled, eliciting a negative, but teasing, response from the woman._

"_I take after both of you and nothing's going to change that." Marille told the two, laughing at their antics. Even after being married for at least twenty years and taking on difficult jobs in their own right, they sometimes act like a teenage couple._

Marille snapped out of her daydream when her grandfather had just started pounding on the horn as a vehicle cut him off right after passing an intersection. His window was now rolled down and his head partially out as he angrily ranted at the reckless driver.

"For Dust's sake, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE DRIVING! I have children on-board!" A vein was popping and beating as he tried to sit back down and stop at another stop light. The children behind him had covered all of their ears, Marille covering the ears of the one sitting on her lap, to avoid any damage to their hearing. His wife had turned off her hearing aid a few moments it happened. When everything had settled and after a few deep breaths were made, it was calm once again inside the van.

"What I was trying to say before I was rudely interrupted," He spoke again, this time much calmer than before, all of his grump in his voice somewhat faded after that outburst. "Just know that we'll be cheering you on from home."

"Let us know if you're able to communicate from Beacon," Her grandmother said, turning slightly so she can look at her granddaughter. "And try to do your best, Marille."

"I'll try, Maw-Maw." Marille leaned over to the passenger side and planted a kiss on her cheek.

The trip to the port was thankfully calmer than their departure as the children had stopped crying as they are now mumbling and asking questions about what being a hunter was, even though they had had this conversation already. But it kept their minds busy from the impending tearfest of her leaving.

They eventually arrived at the port's parking space as quite a number of them had already taken multiple spaces as a good few of them were waiting for their own airships to be ready for departure, some portions of the port already having a line or a group patiently awaiting arrival and departure.

A parking spot was then occupied by the vehicle and its passengers started to disembark, stretching tired and idle limbs as number of groans about the long ride began to be heard from the group of children now standing beside the car. A few of the older kids helped Marille with some of her bags while she mainly focused on the one bag that contained her equipment. All of her defensive armor, and the most important piece of all, her weapon lay inside the organized heap in the bag as she inspected it momentarily before closing it once again.

Marille's eyes looked up at the bullhead that had opened its doors, an announcement now saying that the airship headed for the city of Vale is now boarding passengers. With a huff, she stood and straightened herself as she faced her relatives that rode with her, patiently waiting for her.

"Okay guys, this is it," she announced as she walked closer to the group. Marille bent down on one knee in front of the children in front of her and smiled sadly. "I know I'll be gone for a while, but I trust all of you that you won't give grandma and grandpa a hard time while I'm away. No rough housing, no running around, no making a lot of noise, okay?"

The kids nodded almost simultaneously at her instructions, some of them giving their own variation of the response, "I'll try."

"I"m gonna try to visit if I'm allowed. Hopefully the academy would allow it." The brunette promised. One intake of air later, she opened her arms and readied herself. "One last hug before I go!"

In an instant they all piled onto her, dozens of arms wrapped around the teenager as they devoured her in one massive hug. Almost all of them cooed in anxious comfort as she tried to play off the pressure of eight children on her single 5'8" frame, not wanting their beloved cousin to go away.

"Okay...that's a goodbye hug…" Marille stated, wincing as they have yet to let go.

Her grandmother shook her head but had an amused look on her face. Her grandfather, on the other hand, knew that the bullhead won't be waiting for her all day.

"Alright, alright! Break it up, give her some space," He walked over and was waving for them to separate, tapping them on their backs and heads precisely on their pressure points to make them step back. When everyone was finally not suffocating the teen, he huffed and looked at the girl with shaky eyes, unable to find the words.

"We don't want you to be late for your flight," Her grandmother spoke instead, stepping beside her husband, slipping her hand into his for comfort.

"We'll miss you, Marille," he finally managed to speak. Marille shook her head and enveloped the two in a hug of her own. His aged hands patted her on the back as he whispered the following, a saddened tone to his voice. "It's not gonna be the same back at the house without you there."

"I'll miss you too, grandpa." She pulled away, trying to smile and stay strong.

"Just be careful, sweetie." The older woman tucked away a stray fringe on her granddaughter's face, letting the sight of her beautiful girl sink in before she has to leave, probably for the last time.

It was a thought she didn't want to entertain, but a possibility for the occupation she is training for. She knew that taking care of her cousins will not match the dedication she will need to learn everything she need at the academy or the hardships she will go through in an encounter with a Creature of Grimm as a Huntress. She may wish her all the safety in the world, but it all comes down to her abilities.

With a nod and sniffle, she went and gathered all of her packed belongings. She checked her weapon once again, making sure that it is there. Dust forbid that she forgets the most important thing she needs as a huntress-in-training.

But during her checking, one of her younger cousins walked over. He sees the shield inside the bag and knocks on it with his small hand.

"Gowd wuck, Dymond…" He looked up at Marille, giving her a winning smile despite the uneven teeth. Marille smiled back and knocked on the shield too before ruffling his hair. After picking up and putting on the straps on her shoulders of the bags, she faces them one last time until her next visit whenever it may be. An announcement for the boarding bullhead to Vale once again went through the speakers.

"Okay guys! Here I go! See you when I see you!"

A chorus of goodbyes followed her as she turned around and walked towards the open ramp of the bullhead ahead of her. One small look over her shoulder gave her a sight of eight children and their two grandparents waving in different styles, some composed and some wild and frantic.

She smiled. Marille felt a pang of sadness the more she put distance between her family and herself, but she had to be strong. She could not be a huntress if all she could think about is being with her family. She had to leave the nest eventually, and at least, for now, it would be of her own volition. If she wanted to be a huntress she had to soar into the sky.

With one more look over her shoulder, she took in a breath. One step into the bullhead took her one step closer to soaring.

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_If you guys feel inclined to leave a comment about the story, some nice/harsh criticism, or some other kind of remark then go ahead an write me up. Until then, I'll leave you guys for now and try to update **Of Lies and Fantasies.**_


	3. Who or What is Team MACL?

**III. Who/What is Team MACL**

The team name is based off the word "mackle" and "macle". Defined as "a blurred impression in printing" or "twin crystals".

**_Members:_**

**Marille Seance** aka _"The Motherly Creative Thinking Leader"_

Quotes:

\- "Sketches are for hobbies, but it helps with the battle plans."

\- "I know just what to do, but I'll need some surgical tape, shoelaces from five pairs of shoes, a bottle of lubrication, and curtains. Definitely need those curtains."

\- "Teams don't have to revolve around one person."

_Age:_ 18, 8th day of the 8th month

_Gender &amp; Race:_ Female – Human

_Symbol:_ A diamond with small triangles on the four corners.

_Main Color:_ Light Apricot

_Appearance:_ She has green eyes and short brown hair styled to the left held together by a white head band capped off with her symbol on it. Her skin is somewhat a little lighter compared to her hair and to her teammates.

Her neck is adorned with a white and violet flannel patterned scarf that goes down her back. She has a metal breastplate that has her symbol emblazoned on it in a bright brown design and underneath it is an apricot-colored short sleeved shirt with black vertical stripes that covers most of her upper body save for her arms. Her forearms are armed with armguards that matches her breastplate while only her left hand has black fingerless gloves. Marille's bottoms consist of apricot leggings, a violet skirt with one brown belt, black knee pads over the leggings, white and violet shin guards with two black wavy vertical stripes that look like fire and a small triangle in the top middle, and white heeled boots.

_Brief Backstory:_

Marille Seance has been mostly raised by her grandparents from both sides of the family. That is because of her parents' dedicated lifestyle to their work. Sure they see each other a lot, but most of the time they try to relax and rest when at home. She actually respects their work ethic, but like most teenagers, want to see their parents and connect with them more.

When she got older, she helped take care of her much younger cousins with some relatives with the same age as hers. This developed her sense of responsibility and patience with others. If she's not maintaining order around the house, doing chores, or practicing self-defense, she listens to her grandparents recount old tales of hunters and huntresses from older relatives. Her mother actually tried to stop the lineage with her being a pacifist, but Marille decided to continue it when she is able to. Her parents encouraged her to do it if she wanted to, though her mother was worried and proud at the same time.

_Personality:_ Marille is quite an eager beaver, always the first to rise (If Lashe doesn't decide to wake up early that is) and the last one to go to bed. She will try to encourage her teammates to be proactive around the school, but not force them to participate if they don't want to. She is incredibly patient and understanding of others, which she obtained through years of helping in taking care of her cousins back at home before focusing on combat school.

Her patience was developed through her dislike of being angry, which she tries to control by holding it all in and venting it out later (usually through screaming into a pillow or writing long letters with such intensity that leaves marks on any surface), but she is still prone to sudden outbursts where she calms down after a few seconds. The leader of Team MACL does not like bending/breaking the rules due to how she was raised by a strict father, often making her look like a goody-two-shoes. She has a tendency for 'creative planning' due to subverting the childish antics of her cousins though she considers this a fun activity. It always involves a number of irrelevant objects that she asks for. This is often thought of as a joke by anyone who hears it, but despite her exuberance she is actually serious about it.

When she is able to spend her free time, she is usually with an open sketch book and trying to immortalize images in them with varying effectiveness. She got this from her mother when she found her old sketch books when she was younger. It's her way of sharing interests with her since they don't have enough time to spend with each other.

_Strengths:_ Defense is her best offense. Marille and her shield will certainly protect you from any harm or might try to if her certainty isn't certain. Close quarters combat is also a specialty since she is efficient in hand to hand combat with her training of grabs, throws, and strikes without her weapon.

_Weaknesses:_ Anything to do with range. She is not equipped for ranged fighting with her weapon so she has to be backed up either by Lashe or Amber for these kinds of situations. She tries to remedy this by installing skates into her shoes.

_Semblance:_ **Protective Aura**. Her Aura covers the person with protective energy, deflecting any physical attack to come upon them. Once hit, the energy disappears and has a cooldown for about a few minutes before it can be used again.

On the downside, this makes Marille physically incapable of moving her limbs while this is active. This can be applied on herself along with other people, but works less effectively if she is protecting multiple people at the same time with its effects considerably weakened.

_Weapon Name:_ **Diamond Cutter**, nicknamed **Dymond**. Often referred as the Shield-ular Saw.

**Primary Form:** A round light-brown shield with a wavy white trim. It has her symbol on the middle. About a quarter of the shield opens up and exposes the circular saw mechanism inside, allowing for defensive and offensive strategies at the same time. There is a cartridge slot on the top center of the shield that allows Dust cartridges to be inserted. The element of Dust inserted gives her weapon an added resistance for her shield and damage for the saw. For example, if she puts in a Fire element Dust cartridge, it will be more resistant to fire and adds a fire element to her saw portion weapon.

**Secondary/Tertiary Form:** None

_Weapon History:_ The nickname comes from her cousin, who is still too young to pronounce everything correctly. It was said around the house that it stuck with her in combat school. She is not an advocate of guns because of an experience during her part time job in her father's police force.

When she was younger, her arms tired easily of trying to wield two weapons, Dymond and a sword. To make things easier on herself, she thought she'd combine defense and offense instead of carrying two weapons at once. Since then she has yet to return to wielding two different weapons.

**Amber Solarys** aka _"The Mischievous Wild Card"_

\- "Size doesn't matter; unless you're only 5'5'' and surrounded by tall teammates then you can complain about size."

\- "I'd rather skip the monologue and go right to the asskicking."

\- "If it doesn't work on an Ursa, it isn't working in the arena."

_Age:_ 18, 15th day of the 2nd month

_Gender &amp; Race:_ Female – Human

_Symbol:_ A sun rising over the horizon

_Appearance:_ She has darker skin, blue eyes and long orange hair tied into one braided ponytail. Amber also dons a miniature peaked cap, which is as big as her hand. She received it as a gift from her best friend. It is usually pocketed when the action starts. She is the smallest person in Team MACL, standing at 5'5".

Her top consists of a tank top with her symbol shown on the back. Her arms have separated sleeves going from her elbow to her wrist while both hands have white tape. She wears orange shorts with a white middle that has orange suspenders, which is usually not worn and left down. Completing her look is a pair of orange sneakers with short socks.

_Brief Background:_

Amber used to be an orphan in the countryside region of Vale. She enjoyed the life of a young girl raised in an orphanage, causing trouble left and right, stealing little things, and often picking fights. Her aggressive personality drew her into the world of hunters and tournament fighters. Amber liked watching matches from the TV store that previewed them and shared this interest with the apprentice of a local armory.

The village was attacked by a nearby pack of Grimm that were stronger than the local population. They overwhelmed the defense force of the town and nearly destroyed it until a wandering ex-Hunter named Solarys fought off the Grimm. He witnessed Amber trying to fight the creatures with a stolen axe from the armory. Seeing potential in the girl, he adopts her and they go travelling all over Remnant while training the young girl, who was now a few steps closer to achieving her dream of being a huntress.

_Personality:_ Mischievous, rather cheerful and tends to play pranks on people. This tends to push others up the wall when she goes too far and often has to be confronted about it. Has a tendency to nickname her friends, like "Hoody" or "Arrow" for Lashe, "Chief" or "Brownie" for Marille and "Drillbit" or "Ducky" for Cray.

She despises eating sweets like candy and chocolate and would rather eat bitter food instead. Amber can get rather rough and foulmouthed. Despite being okay with her own height, insulting it would result in a broken arm. She is all about having fun, always wanting to do away with anything boring and instead do something worth her time, like physical training or hunting Grimm.

_Strengths:_ Causing chaos. She's a wild one in the field, making her an unpredictable force, often running distractions for the team. She's also pretty strong for a girl her size due to her training with Solar. You just wouldn't expect just from looking at her at a distance, but she can manhandle anyone she wants. She doesn't do that, of course, because she thinks that wouldn't be fun.

_Weaknesses:_ Rather impulsive, sometimes too much. This, and her gung-ho attitude, can bite her in the behind when she doesn't think too much while doing stuff either in battle or with schoolwork. Her teammates sometimes have to act as her filter to help coordinate her.

_Semblance: _**Berserk**. Amber gradually becomes stronger the more attacks she lands on enemies. This will make her eyes slowly change color to orange and be surrounded by an orange aura. Once this happens, her aura completely takes over and Amber can deal up to five times the damage, but this sacrifices her speed and ability to control herself as she will attack anything and anyone once her initial enemy is dead.

She can only be calmed down by an item she has called Aegis, which is a portable containment field, made by her mentor, which is customized to play an intense dull sound that will incapacitate her if she gets too out of control.

_Weapon Name:_ **Wild Dortchen**

_Primary Form:_ A giant labrys with 6 small rocket accessories. The rockets come into play when she is swinging the labrys that helps add or slow momentum. When not being used, the handles of the axe fold up four times while one of the blades transition to one side. This makes it easier to carry on Amber's back.

_Secondary Form:_ Minigun. The long handle of her labrys folds up to become the three barrels while the blades become the engine for the gun and handle for Amber. The bullets are carried separately in a bag and are inserted only in this form.

_Tertiary Form:_ None

_Weapon History:_ Amber designed Wild Dortchen with the help of Solar, her mentor. He tried to dissuade Amber in adding a minigun to the design and instead add something more useful because of his bad history with guns. The name came from the street intersection where the orphanage is located. (Wild Avenue and Dortchen Street)

**Cray Nicholas** aka _"The Self-Proclaimed Mouthpiece"_

Quotes:

\- "You either be the best or you get beat LIKE the rest!"

\- "Introducing Cray Nicholas, leader of 'Cray's Magnificent League of Awesome'! I rearranged the acronym so I'm in front. Deal with it."

_Age:_ 19, 23rd day of the 7th month

_Gender/Species:_ Male - Human

_Occupation:_ Student

_Appearance:_ Long black hair, shoulder length, parted in the middle with his fringes curved to the sides occasionally threatening to fall down and cover his eyes and forehead with orange eyes.

When Cray is in his casual attire, he wears a teal shirt with tribal designs covering the left half of his torso (back and front) with a white collar popped up, an orange tie with his symbol embroidered on the bottom. His right shoulder bears a shoulder plate of bronze with a black trim while his left is bare. His left sleeve shares a teal color, is long and has a black elbow pad, which he sometimes loads with things in combat to give himself an advantage, while his right is only short but his hand is taped that has the letters 'CRAY' written on it.

He has green cargo pants with multiple pockets, about eight of them, which he uses for storage of small items along with a hidden pocket for identification in case he needs it, and blue fitting lace less shoes to finish his attire.

_Symbol:_ A wing of a duck with a single stripe

_Brief Background:_

Cray Nicholas comes from a middle upper-class family in Atlas and graduated from one of their academies before aiming to train at Beacon Academy. He is the middle child of the Nicholas family that has a lineage of military pilots of five generations. He decided to break the chain by trying to become a hunter since he said, "It's pretty much the same, except you prove you're the best personally and not by being in a militarize tiltjet."

He had to delay his entry to Beacon Academy because of a personal family problem, but now he is ready with the encouragement of his family. His confidence in himself seems to be well based off his performance in his old academy and his hard work.

_Personality:_ He is cocky and quite fond of exaggerating his personal accomplishments. He is also self-centered, always focusing about himself whether it may be in class or in combat. If you are not talking about him then you might as well not talk at all.

His definition of teamwork is 'protect your most important asset (which would be him) until he can strike the final blow. Even with his mediocre skill he will tell you that you are the lesser student, physically, mentally, and psychologically, and if you would want to prove him wrong you would have to convince him, though that is impossible since nothing can change his mind about himself.

He sometimes comes off as a bully and a jerk to his team, which his teammates can attest to. All of that doesn't mean he is stupid. He has his moments of clarity where he shows he is capable great things, but like most things about him it will most likely be a flash in a pan.

_Strengths:_ Talking and improvisation. For the former, that is why he is the self-appointed spokesperson of Team MACL when he was teamed up with Lashe, Marille, and Amber; even better if the topic of the subject is himself. Don't expect him to shut up or run out of breath once he gets rolling.

For the latter, his lack of fighting efficiency had him in a complete disadvantage, so making things up as he goes has become second nature to him, though it has its moments where it comes back to bite him in the behind.

_Weaknesses:_ One on one fighting. You may actually put actual fighting here in general. Cray is probably a physical manifestation of the phrase "All style and no substance". He may look like he knows what to do in a fight, especially with how he talks about his skills, but when forced to prove it he is only mediocre at best. Sometimes he looks like he doesn't know what he's doing. Don't let the quick swings, acrobatic flips, and stylistic attacks fool you. Sometimes you won't need to worry about Cray in fight as he might take care of himself if you let him. That's why he's in combat school, right?

_Semblance:_ **Gravity**. It allows Cray to manipulate how high he can jump, how fast he falls, and how heavy objects are when he interacts with.

_Weapon Name:_ **Letha**, _**"Big, Fancy and Traumatizing"**_

_Primary Form:_ A blunt weapon handled like a sword. Kind of has a figure of an umbrella. Black hilt like a sword and a narrow bell shaped end that somewhat looks like a triangular shape for hitting that looks like a drill. There is a button on the hilt where Cray holds the weapon that activates the weapon, making the other end spin like a giant drill that can penetrate most surfaces.

_Secondary Form:_ Aside from the button that activates the drill, there are triggers on the hilt that transforms the drill end into a grappling claw. It can latch onto surfaces and pull Cray towards it or pull the target towards Cray.

_Tertiary Form:_ The drill end can turn into propeller that will allow Cray to fly off the ground. The hilt also extends, providing Cray some footing while using this form. (think of Penguin of Batman's rogues gallery)

_Weapon History:_ His reasoning for naming it, apart from the title, is that it is easy to remember. This is not his best designed weapon nor is it his best designed weapon as it was made up on a delirious whim during a late night cram design session with his best friend among other designs. The design was taken by his uncle and had it optimized. The reason why this became his weapon is because most of his weapon designs had incredibly sharp blades and guns, which his uncle and relatives were severely adverse to. They thought it would be best if he had something less dangerous.

**Lashe Sherwood** aka _"The Silent Archer"_

Quotes:

\- "No comment."

\- "…" _*Turns away and leaves the team to handle their squabbles*_

_Age:_ 18, 9th day of the 12th month

_Gender &amp; Species:_ Male - Human

_Symbol:_ Green feather with an arrow in the middle

_Appearance:_ He is a tall individual, standing at 6 feet and 1 inch, towering over his teammates. He has short black hair with the front of his hair dyed green and brown eyes.

Lashe wears a leather shirt with a hood that is dark green from the chest up and black downwards along with a dark green softer shirt underneath with long sleeves that goes up to his elbows. He has arm guards worn on his forearms and gloves that match the color of his sleeves. A black strap is worn around his torso which holds the quiver of normal and specialized arrows at his back for his bow. His pants have a camouflage pattern and are held up by a big black belt with pouches for his Dust containers. Completing his ensemble is a pair of laced up black boots that has three straps.

_Brief Background:_

Lashe Sherwood is the son of a retired Hunter who lived with his family in the woods away from from civilization. His dad enjoyed a natural lifestyle and lack of a populated town. They were very happy with their current way of life. That is until a young and naive Lashe asked his dad to train him to be a hunstman.

Training was rather brutal for him, like he was trying to break him, but Lashe didn't complain because he was the one who asked for it, persevering silently throughout his training. However, this caused a rift in the relationship of his parents due to his father's treatment of him. It reached a boiling point some years later with an act of domestic violence. He tried to fight off his father and barely won with the help of some travellers. His father was never seen again after that.

He took up the mantle of man of the house and helped take care of the family through a lot of legal and some illegal means. It took a while but eventually their life was stable again. But his last confrontation with his father still bothered him. He told Lashe that he would never amount to anything. It drove him to make a goal for himself. He wanted to prove him wrong. And his way of proving him wrong is to beat him in his own game: being a hunstman.

_Personality:_ Calm and collected, always keeping to himself, he comes off to the team as distant. The reason for that is so he can observe the people and environment around him. Despite that, there is a different feel about him when in the field compared to outside of combat.

He's the kind of guy who wouldn't waste his breath on trivial things. If he can say something in a way that can be done without wasting any time he will do it. That doesn't mean he could care less about his team as Lashe will involve himself in team squabbles when intervention is really needed (for example: the three of them trying to murder each other).

He is also tends to remember every single thing you have done to him, positive or negative. He can be either gracious or vengeful depending on what you did to him.

_Strength:_ Ranged combat. He can shoot arrows from a very long distance with almost pinpoint accuracy. He's trained with the bow for the longest time, not that his melee game is terrible, but he's just used to it more. And staring contests. He will look into your soul.

_Weakness:_ Prolonged social interactions. Since he was raised in an isolated home environment and home schooled for most of his life, he prefers them in short bursts or none at all if he can help it. Because of this, most of his interactions with his team consist of direct-to-the-point blunt statements.

In the field, his issue is teamwork. He's trained alone for most of his life and has only recently started getting used to the concept so he may go lone wolf a few times.

_Semblance:_ **Camouflage**. His Aura allows him to blend with the environment. It works well when he is still, but when he moves while it is active his form can be seen until it flickers, making him visible.

_Weapon Name:_ **Apache**

_Primary Form:_ A mechanical longbow with a dark shade of green. It primarily uses Dust to form arrows that is done by putting a Dust cartridge in the slot near the grip, but normal arrows can also be used. He carries along with him normal arrows in case he runs out of Dust along with specialized arrows that have specific uses like inflatable landing pads for safe landing or zipline arrows.

_Secondary Form:_ Hook sword. If the combat situation would turn from ranged to close quarters, Lashe has it covered with his hook sword as his mechanical bow can turn into one. Just don't expect him to use it a lot.

_Tertiary Form:_ None

_Weapon History:_ The bow pays homage to his great grandmother from his mother's side who is a brilliant archer, who met her husband and fell in love with him in an archery contest.

* * *

_A/N: Made a few edits for this part as well as some changes in regards to some backgrounds. Nothing major. Onwards to the next chapter!_


	4. Freefall

**III. Freefall**

Cray Nicholas stepped forward from the metal plate he was instructed to stand on and peered over the side of Beacon Cliff.

His eyes widened at how deep the drop is, along with how far the forest in front of him reached. He wanted to take a guess as to how long the Emerald Forest, the name his best friend informed him just a few seconds earlier, stretched. The amount he estimated was a hundred miles since he is not an expert on calculations. He concluded that it is VERY far.

His throat felt dry, his entirety feeling nervous. Cray did not like showing any hints of weakness, so he attempted to look casually concerned, raising an eyebrow at the sight.

"Just what are we doing up here…?" Cray wondered silently to himself.

A short hiss came behind him, but his gross fascination and growing dread prevented him from hearing it. It came again at least twice more, but was left ignored. However, he did hear the next sound that was directed towards the teenager.

"Mr. Nicholas!" His name was shouted by a bespectacled blond haired woman holding a tablet in her hand, dressed to look _too _professional despite the black and violet cape on her shoulders. Cray turned his head to her and straightened in an instant. "I would advise you to follow instructions unless you do not want to partake in the initiation."

"…Of course," He winked and pointed to the professor before going back to his instructed place in the line while a few students began whispering to each other. The blond professor shook her head before putting her attention to the others getting into position.

Cray didn't care about his fellow students' reaction were about what happened. He is only concerned with hearing his name in their conversation. They knew who he was now. His goal now is to make them remember who he is.

One person who knew him now was looking at him. Head topped with white hair standing beside the professor known as Glynda Goodwitch, hands holding to the hilt of his sword and, strangely enough, a mug of coffee that is hot enough to see the steam from where he is. Ozpin is his name and he is the headmaster of Beacon Academy.

Cray felt somewhat intimidated now that the headmaster was looking straight at him. The only time he felt like this was when he was training at home as his father and trainer looked on.

"Seems like you want to have a negative impression on your first day," Cray looked over to his right where the source of the deep voice was: his best friend, Malkas, his large fur covered arms crossed at his chest and his head shaking at him.

Malkas is one of the only few people he has known from childhood to recent memory, a gorilla Faunus who was almost three times bigger than any normal human. He was born in Menagerie and had moved to Atlas, Cray's original home kingdom, at a young age. Malkas has been with him for as long as he can remember. Any memory he can bring up always had him by his side, the two friends being somewhat inseparable. Even now they had moved to another kingdom and are now in the same school.

The teal-wearing teenager scoffed at him. "Any impression is better than no impression at all," Cray stated confidently, pounding his chest once before grinning. Malkas just sighed.

Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch spoke briefly to the line of students in front of them, confirming the assignment of teams in regards to the rumors that have been floating around with the freshmen since yesterday after their arrival. The headmaster told them what the purpose of their next endeavour is, which is being paired up with their fellow students into teams of 2. Cray could not help himself in nudging his best friend, prompting him to nod back. They are then tasked in travelling to the temple in the Emerald Forest, obtaining one of the relics, and going back to Beacon Cliff safely.

Cray paid attention to the headmaster's instructions. What he got out of Professor Ozpin's brief explanation is that this whole activity is not a competition, but more of a complex assignment of pairings. But he did not say that it _could_ be a competition and _try_ to best the other pairings by being the first pair to get back. He thought that this would prove their team's efficiency as a huntsman-in-training, thus proving that he is one of the best upcoming students in Beacon Academy. And he is all about being the best.

He looked over to Malkas and saw him absorbing the details of being given by the two professors like a sponge. If Cray could pick anyone in the world that he would team up with, it would be the individual physically towering over him. He is one of the few people he trusts and he knew he would have his back. That is something anyone would look out for a partner, right? Why bother looking anywhere else? If they could be paired, he would be the spectacular, great, and awesome leader and Malkas would be the daring and loyal right-hand man.

"Are there any questions?" Headmaster Ozpin asked, but did not look around for any curious eyes.

"Um…yeah. I got one." He actually did not need to look far since the one who spoke up, a young man with blond hair who looked like he didn't belong with everyone around him, raised his hand near the front.

"Good!" The Headmaster exclaimed, ignoring the questioning teen. "Now take your positions."

The row students moved upon notification, some readying their weapons and took their own stances, save for the blond guy with his hand still raised. Before he could ask his question, Cray started to hear whirring of gears and the groaning of machinery.

"So this...landing strategy thing, what is it? Are you dropping us off?" The student asked. Cray heard this and rolled his eyes.

The teen in teal did not know who this guy us, and he really didn't care who he was, but he thought he was an idiot. He should have already figured out by now what is going to happen. Did he need more context clues to be able to tell what is going on?

His hand went to the hilt of his weapon, Letha, strapped to his back. If his guess is correct, and 10 times out of 10 it is, whatever will happen may involve a lot of falling. Letha's tertiary form, where the blunt end expands into a form reminiscent of an open umbrella and spins like a propeller until flight is managed, a form inspired by his brothers' current piloting careers in the military, would certainly help him in this scenario. Cray grinned as he waited for the signal to jump off the cliff.

His thoughts were disturbed by the sound of whirring mechanisms once again, causing Cray to look around. To his left he saw one of the students on their platform get catapulted off the cliff. The sight surprised him, his widened eyes following the students into the air as they peaked in the ascent and started descending. Strangely enough, the student looked prepared instead of scared.

"Uh oh..." The grin on his face dropped. He may have been right on the falling part, but he definitely did not expect being forcibly thrown off the cliff by the plate under their feet.

"What's the matter?" Malkas asked him, a smile forming at the edge of his lips. "Losing your nerve?"

Cray straightened and glared at his friend. "Cray Nicholas NEVER loses his nerve!" He grabbed Letha from his back and pointed it to the faunus. "Don't ever say such a ridiculous thing ever again. It's insulting!"

"Rather touchy today, are we?"

"You don't attack a man's ego just like that!"

"It's because you make it so easy."

"Listen here, just because I'm your friend doesn't mean I'm not going to smack that hairy face of yours. Do you want me to prove to you why I'm_ the_ _best_ huntsman-in-training in all of Atlas?"

"Okay, first off, you are not _the_ best. 26th best, sure, but not the overall best. Second, I'd like to see you try. Here's hoping you'd last longer than our last mock battle."

"How dare you bring that up!?" Cray hissed, stepping forward and digging his index finger to Malkas' chest. It looked like he had ruffled his feathers a lot with that just one statement seeing as he was now turning red in the face.

Malkas rolled his eyes as Cray continued to rant on his friend, which he had now tuned out. But unbeknownst to him, the Initiation did not stop just because he was not paying attention. A couple of students near Cray had already been launched and there were only 3 left before his turn.

"Cray," Malkas tried to interrupt as a student was catapulted into the air.

"The reason why that fight was so short was because I had other matters in mind! My schedule was full for that day and I could only entertain you for a few minutes. But if circumstances were different, hohoho, I would surely show you why I am better than you!"

"Perhaps you'd like to listen-" Another student was sent flying. He could see from the edge of his peripheral vision that Miss Goodwitch was staring at them along with a few of their fellow classmates.

"If you were fighting any normal man, they would have immediately conceded, but not Cray Nicholas! Cray Nicholas fears no man, woman, Faunus, or Grimm! Fear itself is scared of _me_! It'd be a dark day when I am to be seen shaking in my boots over any individual brave enough to even attempt to intimidate me, because that is impossible!"

"If you interrupt me one more-" One more was sent flying, leaving Cray to be up next.

"Or what?" Cray went forward once again, staring upwards to the taller student, eyes burning with determination, unafraid of the possible consequences for not listening. "What are you going to do? Huh? Nothing, that's what! Cray Nicholas does not take orders from the likes of you! If you want, I'll even show you why I'm the best student to ever graduate from Core Academy, 26th best or not! You may be the bigger combatant between us, but my efficiency, athleticism, and complete mastery of my skills will definitely show you that I. AM. THE! BETTER! HUNTER!" He emphasized his point by jabbing his finger continually at Malkas' chest.

Malkas growled at him, expressing his impatience with his friend. If he didn't want to listen then he would just have to use force. He grabbed Cray's wrist to stop him from prodding him, eliciting another outraged cry. With his other hand he simply shoved back, getting him back on his platform.

"Oh you're in it now!" Cray pointed Letha to Malkas' face. "You want a fight? I'll give you a fight. It'll be a fight you won't ever forget because by the end you'll be whimpering at my fee-"

He was unable to finish his statement when the platform he was one suddenly whirred and sent him airborne.

"-EEEEEEEEEEEEEETTT!" Cray finished his statement with a yell, not expecting to be flying over the forest at the moment. His form upon flight is barely graceful with his body flipping and rotating all over the place, but that did not matter to him when his mind was finally able to get a grasp of the situation. He had committed one mistake he made that could possibly cost him dearly.

Cray had accidentally let go of his dear Letha.

Cray was swearing to himself when he realized what he had done when he saw his weapon sailing through the air just ahead of him. He was severely caught off-guard that he inadvertently released his grasp on his weapon the moment he lost feeling of the ground under him.

The raven-haired student reached for the umbrella-shaped weapon, but his arms were coming up short as he is unable to even touch it. He looked down and saw the forest is still at a reasonable height below, though that was about to change in a few seconds. Cray knew he wouldn't last if he didn't have Letha's tertiary form to help him out. Seeing himself as a splatter on the ground did not entertain the confident boy one bit. So he had to act quickly.

He quickly tried to remove his orange tie as fast as he could. As he did this, he heard a few students around him reacting to being launched. One guy was screaming and one girl was trying to tell the others to get out of her way. One notable girl he saw, one with long yellow hair, use the momentum she was getting by firing her weapon to push her up into the air and continuing her flight. Cray mumbled to himself that he should have gotten a weapon with recoil instead, but he didn't have time to complain. When he had his tie in his hands he used tried to throw it like a lasso to get a hold of Letha and pull it in. He barely missed the first attempt when the hilt flipped out of reach.

Fortunately, the second attempt worked in his favor, the loop catching the hilt of the weapon. He barely had any time to celebrate when he was a tree branch coming his way. He put shoved the tie into his jacket's pocket and activated Letha's tertiary form and cut through the branch with ease. That did not make things easier for him as part of the branch was left stuck in the blades, stopping it from spinning.

"Nonononononononono!" Cray muttered as he tried getting the branch out, kicking and pulling at it, but it was stuck in there real good and it clearly was not moving anytime soon. He needed time because another tree was in front of him, a massive one at that, and soon it was going to hit him, or rather he was going to hit it. He pulled the trigger of his weapon to make it spin over and over again, but each time it only whirred like a car that refused to activate.

Hopelessness began to set in when Letha did not want to cooperate with him. He could only look forward and see the tree coming closer. Cray Nicholas only wished that if he had a choice in his death that it would be a fantastic send-off that would equal the Moon incident, like how awesome individuals such as himself deserve, not a disgusting splat. But he closed his eyes and hoped it would be quick and painless.

He counted the seconds, hoping to be cut off by the impact. _One. Two. Three...Four...Five...?_

... …

Cray was sure that by the speed he was going along with the descent being caused by gravity, he would have been a simple abstract art of blood on the tree trunk by now, his carcass to be given for free to the Grimm to munch on. But it did not happen yet.

_Six...seven...eight...nine... TEN…_

Again, nothing.

When death didn't come, he realized something was wrong. He opened his eyes and wondered if he was already dead, that his death was indeed quick and painless. He turned out to be wrong as he felt the world around him to be still there, but everything looked like it was going in slow motion. The tree was still there a few feet in front of him as he rotated towards it, waiting for his demise to be met against it. He looked around and his surroundings went by him slower than usual.

Actually, that is not the case. Things went by slower than usual for a reason. When Cray tried to move, he expected his limbs to react also in slow motion, but they did not as his hands went up to his face in normal speed. He also heard some whooping and gunfire in the distance, and it did not sound like it was warped or anything as it sounded normal. Realization hit him when he saw his hands and arms along with his entire form being covered by a glow that shared the color of his jacket.

What he realized is that he had activated his semblance. His ability to control his own gravity.

"Stupid, stupid..." He groaned, smacking his forehead when it sunk in, making him rotate in the air. He momentarily forgot about his own semblance since he was too focused in teaching his friend a lesson.

He felt himself hit the tree now, but the impact was rather anticlimactic since his speed and velocity was barely there and it all felt like a ball in a slow roll nudging a wall. The second-born of the Nicholas family righted himself with his feet planting against the tree's trunk and pushed off the tree towards the ground. He flipped and landed in a three-point stance.

At least he was able to land on his feet with more grace and elegance compared to how he was during his flight.

After putting down Letha for a second and brushing off the leaves and pieces of wood off his clothes as well as putting back his tie where it belonged, he proceeded to remove the branch from his dear weapon. It came off eventually, granting him use of his weapon's full abilities once again.

"Now to find that annoying ape," Cray said to himself once he was finished fixing up his tie. He might have been arguing with him earlier, but he is still his best friend. He's the only person he can be partnered with, one way or another. He is not going to be stuck in a duo with anyone else. With that goal in mind, he picked a random direction and started to walk, hoping to find Malkas before he makes eye contact with anyone he would regret.

* * *

_A/N: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this particular what-if Initiation experience of our cocky hunter-in-training. This was the first thing I had in mind when I was done making his character, especially after the weapon concept was made. I am planning on making one for each of the other members of the team, especially Amber's, but it may turn out a bit shorter than this. If you listen to the RT Podcast then you will immediately know where I got her landing strategy._

_The reason why this chapter was this long was because I wanted to introduce another character, and in turn, work on the dynamic between Malkas and Cray. __Of course there will be other original characters aside from Team MACL. And if you were wondering, yes, Malkas is part of a team._

_Well, that's it for me. Until then, I'll see you guys when I update!_


	5. Fated to Meet

**V. Fated to Meet**

5:00AM

Lashe Sherwood sat up from his sleeping bag and looked around, trying to loosen his joints after a good night's sleep. No one seemed to be stirring from their slumber at this time of day. Not that he had any expectations that there would be anyone else who like to wake up this early. Too much excitement had been used up upon arrival at the school grounds. They are bound to be tired, wanting to take their time in sleeping.

The sleeping bag and additional blanket had been packed away before he would proceed in changing for his early exercises. Lashe may be starting my first week at an academy, but it gave him no excuse to skip on his strict morning regiment.

Walking out of the hall with the intent of finding a place to put his belongings momentarily, as few as they are, he came upon the bathrooms as he silently explored the campus. Even the faculty seemed to be inactive at the moment. That or they preferred to watch from a distance.

He turned around as fast as he could, hoping to find the thing/person stalking him. There doesn't seem to be any cameras explicitly placed anywhere on campus. They must be using stealth or minuscule cameras in order to keep track of their potential students, faculty, and other staff. If not, he would have already spotted them. His training would never let him miss anything he needs to see.

Cautiously, he approached one of the bathroom doors, only to be hit by one of the girl's bathroom door when he is about to pass it. The person on the other side gasped when she felt the collision.

This girl had brown hair, short and directed to the left and somewhat still wet, capped by a white headband. A small diamond with four smaller triangles was attached to the accessory, her insignia most likely. He saw green eyes widen in surprise.

"I'm so sorry!" He heard someone say, worried they have hurt him.

But when she tried to look for the person she hit, she saw no one else in the hallway. Her violet and white flannel scarf followed her head movement as she surveyed the area. She felt strange to have been talking to someone a second earlier only to have no one there with her.

The girl pulled out what looked like a shield from her bag and placed it on her wrist. It was big enough cover most of her arm, her forearm and half up her elbow to be precise. But it was no ordinary shield as a quarter of it opened up to reveal a sawblade underneath. It revved as she took a few steps away from the door, hoping that there really was no one there playing tricks on her and that it was only in her mind. Lashe thought of the act as a warning shot a police officer would do to in an attempt to intimidate a criminal trying to flee.

"Stand down." The voice made her jump. She spun around and still saw no one, but she knew that there was a person with her. That didn't stop her from maintaining her battle ready stance, despite the bag she is carrying with her other arm. At least she didn't randomly swing her weapon in hopes of getting him.

There was a bit of flickering just a few feet from her. Lashe began reappearing a few feet from the bathroom doors, hands raised as if to say 'Don't shoot' or in this case 'Don't saw me in half'. He would not be doing such a gesture if he's armed, but who would have thought a girl would come out of the bathroom armed with a shield-saw?

When she realized that he was not a threat, she closed her shield and dropped the stance. "Please don't tell me you weren't going to take a peek in the bathroom." Her tone was not unlike a mother about to scold her own son.

The boy across from her could only glare at her for thinking that he would do such a thing.

"O-Oh. Sorry," She stepped back, scratching the back of her head as if understanding his wordless statement. "You were invisible there for a second there..."

"Semblance," Lashe simply answered. He received a nod from her as a response.

"I hope you don't plan on going to Initiation like that." She pointed to his current outfit. A loose green shirt and jogging pants with a dark shade of green. He shook his head in reply. "Good! Don't wanna make a bad impression out there."

He presented his own bag, as if telling her that he plans on changing as well.

"Well, I'm just gonna go and put these away." She pointed her thumb to one of the hallways. "I still have some exercises to do. Loosen up and prepare, you know?"

Lashe raised an eyebrow at the girl. In a school as big as this, he knew that he wouldn't be the only one to like doing morning rituals similar to his. He just didn't expect them to happen this early in the semester, probably a week or so when everyone has settled in. Again, he nods at her, understanding her desire.

"I'm Marille, by the way." Marille introduced herself, extending a hand to him.

"Lashe," he replied, shaking her hand once before pulling away.

"Nice to meet you, Lashe. I guess I'll be seeing you later then." With a wave, Marille turned around and went looking for the lockers, leaving Lashe alone by the bathrooms.

The boy in green could only shrug his shoulders at their brief introduction. 'It could have been worse,' he thought to himself. But he knew that this was not going to be the last time he sees her. That he was sure.

\- MACL -

They were told to assemble at the cliff later for the event called 'Initiation'. Marille had mentioned that same word back in their first meeting, but apparently it had a bigger meaning than he previously thought. The concept of being paired with someone else was thrown around in some rumors he had heard during breakfast sent a lot of people panicking. But he knew rumors were just rumors. He will have to wait for the official word on partners from the staff.

He ate at a steady pace, filling him up for the important event soon to come. He had chosen to eat at the corner of the room on his lonesome with his own table. None of the other students seem to pay attention to him, which he liked. It would give him some space and room for observing his fellow first years.

There were quite a number of students there. It might have been a blessing to have such a space to accommodate a big enough number with the food supplied all the while being aptly comfortable. The academy didn't pull their punches in the quality of the food. It might as well be the best breakfast he's had in a while, but he still had a bias from a certain delicacy prepared by a certain individual who brought him in to the world.

Some of the individuals there were quite colorful. He had spotted a girl with bright yellow hair that burned as bright as the sun accompanied by a smaller girl with black hair and red highlights, who looked like she was younger than the rest of the student population. He saw a boy, brunette and short haired, armored enough to be thought of classical equipment, breastplate and armguards and all as a mace was hung from his waist. He felt uncomfortable as he saw him grin at a passing deer faunus.

He had seen another girl, this time she had a familiar patterned scarf around her neck. He remembered her name. Marille. She was chatting with another person, a boy who held a bag of chips. It seemed like she was scolding him for his choice of breakfast, who answered loosely with a shrug before he put in a chip in his mouth.

His eyes zoned in on two individuals who had just entered the room. A faunus and a human, both boys. The duo differed in size, the faunus being almost three heads taller than the human. And hairy too. His arms too were longer and bigger than the usual faunus and human. Silence also seemed to be a strong suit that contrasted the human's perpetually moving mouth, one that was accommodated by a resigned deadpan stare.

His human companion seemed to be in the middle of a story as he had been using exaggerated gestures whilst telling it to his friend. The voice carried over to where Lashe was. Some of the preoccupied students even turned to the source just to see what the commotion was all about. From the looks of it, his body language seemed to get bolder with each pair of eyes focused on him, his story telling getting louder and grander.

"My classmates would have been dead meat if I hadn't intervened! Just goes to show you that if you want things done, you better have the best on your side." The human bowed to no one in particular when he ended his spiel.

"I know. I was there." The gorilla-faunus sighed, taking a tray from the stack as he lined up for breakfast. His friend took his tray and cut in front of him, earning him another sigh as he grabbed another tray with his long reaching arm.

"Move aside." He just walked up to the middle of the line and casually shoved a poor unassuming blonde teenager from his spot, which then became his. Several of the other students behind him expressed their outrage with various iterations of the phrase 'What the hell!?'. He looked back at them over his shoulder and scoffed before returning his attention to his friend. No one else seemed to continue their reaction upon seeing the towering half-animal, half-human in front of them as they shrank in their spots and were effectively silenced.

"I'm sorry for his behavior." The much taller first year bowed slightly before turning his focus back to the human in front of him.

"Now where was I? Oh yeah, good thing too. But you weren't as good as you are now compared to back then. If you were then you might have lasted longer."

"That was because I had spent the last fifteen minutes of that encounter fighting them off while you struggled to make a dent on a Beowolf." The faunus argued.

"Semantics, dear Malkas." The human waved a finger in front of him with a proud grin on his face. "Potato, tomato. Moral of the story: the hero always wins, and the hero that story is 'moi'!"

"Not every hero is always victorious," The boy named Malkas said. He received a frown and a shake of the head from his companion.

"You're bringing this hero down with that kind of talk this early in the morning."

"I won't be talking like this if you weren't lying, Cray."

The frown deepened. "Are you really going to start? Let's not."

Malkas shrugged. "As you wish." He said dismissively, passing Cray as he had kept the line waiting.

Lashe was interested in knowing what this Malkas person's skills and abilities were. His friend, on the other hand, was someone he'd like to avoid. He would only test his patience. Once he had finished the last bite of his sandwich, he disposed of his tray and went to the lockers to equip himself and prepare as best as he can.

\- MACL -

The wind blew gently as he stood on the plate he had taken up upon arrival at the cliffs. It almost blew his hood back, but his hand kept it in place. Lashe's eyes scanned the area where the Initiation would be taking place in.

A horizon of green stood in front of him, various sizes of trees had grown in this massive forest as well as the population of Grimm. If this place were the designated Initiation location every year then that same population is always affected by the students aiming to impress the faculty while being paired with another hunter or huntress in training.

Speaking of faculty, two of them were already at the front upon their group had finished occupying the plates. One of them had been scolded for not paying attention, only to play it off as he swaggered over to his designated place. Lashe made a note to never look at him in the eye if he meets him at the forest until Initiation ends.

"You're seriously fighting the Grimm with just a bow?" A feminine voice spoke up in the midst of their orientation. He looked over, only having to look down due to the girl's smaller stature. She couldn't have been only five feet and five inches. A head of orange hair tied into a long ponytail with a small peaked cap.

He only raised his eyebrow at the question. "If ya got offended by that then don't worry about it. Was just curious."

She had been eyeing his dark green longbow for quite a while. As if attempting to answer her question, he activated its secondary form. The bow folded in half and twisted until it became a sword, its blade ending with a hook-like point.

"Cool." She remarked. He immediately returned it to its longbow form when she was done looking at it. Lashe nodded at hers, prompting her to tilt her head sideways. He then gestured to the weapon placed on her back.

"Oh this?" The girl pulled it off her back to show an axe. It had a long handle and two blades at the top with what seemed like thrusters at the front and back attached on the blades, its massive size overshadowing the girl, but she confidently handled the weapon like she had used it for a long time. "Don't worry about the size. I may be small, but this thing ain't that heavy once you get through years of training with it."

He could only nod at the statement. She must be quite strong to be that small and still be able to wield such a large weapon.

"Are there any other questions?" The headmaster piped up after a long explanation. A moment later, even after one of them had expressed a curious question to which he was ignored, he added, "Great. To your positions!"

A chorus of gears grinding and machinery activating sent of the students who understood the implied incoming chain of events and the headmaster's previous instructions into readied stances. Lashe was curious as to how they were beginning the Initiation, which was answered by one of the students hollering in excitement as they were catapulted into the air by their plate.

Lashe only nodded and prepared himself, taking note of his specialized arrows in his quiver, thinking ahead and taking note of what hazards lie in the forest below.

"I hope I run into a lotta Grimm! Just so I can see how much of 'em I can cut down!" The girl beside him spoke to no one in particular, but it did get Lashe's attention. The Grimm were very dangerous creatures, especially for civilians and other individuals unequipped for encounters with them. Normally, a hunter/huntress-in-training would do their best to avoid them in their initial days in an academy. Seeing one relishing the thought of fighting and slaying one made Lashe want to be cautious with this kind of person, perhaps avoid them in case he would get in her line of fire.

"What's your name?" The girl asked him, her murderous smile being replaced by a casual yet inquisitive glance. "Mine's Amber Solarys."

"Lashe Sherwood." He answered. Lashe would have given her his first name only, but thought to give his full name since she had given hers.

"Lashe Sherwood?" She repeated, a hint of curiosity in her voice. "Nah, doesn't fit 'ya." The only made him look at her with confusion. "How about 'Arrow', since you use a bow and arrow. Sound good?"

He only shrugged. He wasn't going to try to convince her to use his actual name. That's her prerogative.

"Great!" Amber cheered.

The student next to Amber had been launched into the forest. She took her weapon at hand and readied herself, the thrusters on her weapon flaring as she gripped the handle with both of her hands.

"See ya down there if I see ya!" Amber told him, her grin almost as big as the axe she twirled above her head, just before the plate under her feet activated. She flew into the air and over the lush trees and dangerous Grimm with a cheer.

Lashe shook his head. He sure was meeting a lot of interesting people. It was inescapable that he would. A school that trains teenagers to fight the darkness of the Grimm and what else that may endanger the world has a tendency to do that.

His only issue now was what kind of people he would get teamed up with. Would he agree and like them or would he hate their guts? If it were the latter, he knew it wouldn't beat his hatred for the person he hated the most. Whatever it is, he has four years to spend with them whether he likes them or not. He hoped it would be worth it.

* * *

_A/N: Hey there guys and girls! You may have noticed that I did not explicitly state that the academy in this chapter is Beacon unlike the previous chapter. This is because I only used Beacon as a placeholder school. So I tried to keep it vague this time around. I've yet to decide if I should make my own academy or not. _

_Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. The 'landing strategy' chapter is still on the way! Funny thing about that is I was writing that when I veered off course and made this one instead. Took me a few days, but now it is done. It may be short if I do get through it. Hopefully, it'll only take a few days to write, probably fewer than this if I could concentrate._


	6. Paradise

Team MACL - Paradise

"Are you coming or what?"

Lashe looked over to the doorway to see Cray leaning there, arms crossed and one foot tapping impatiently, waiting for a reply. The only occupant of the room was the silent archer, seeing as Marille and Amber had gone out an hour ago, so an answer had to come from him.

Cray should have also been included with Marille and Amber, but apparently he needed Lashe's presence for some reason, one Lashe couldn't think of at the moment.

"Time's a-wasting." Cray pointed on the non-existent watch on his wrist, putting on his best charming smile to help sway his teammate on moving, as he continued to wait for Lashe to say anything.

"No," was Lashe's simple reply. He readjusted himself on his chair and continued on with his daily arrow modification. He hoped that would placate Cray and encourage him to leave.

Of course, not everything goes the way they are planned.

Cray walked over and sat on his desk, effectively blocking him from the rest of his sharpening equipment. It was obviously an attempt to stop Lashe from doing any kind of work. The archer looked up at him with annoyance.

"You're not going to grow up into a mature man if you keep yourself holed up in the dorm. You gotta live a little!" Cray gave a grand gesture before patting Lashe's on the shoulder.

Lashe couldn't disagree with him more. If he had to compare himself and the boy sitting on his desk then the mature one had to be the former. He would say that out loud, which would only be a waste of breath for Lashe. Plus, the Atlesian youth would only be provoked after a hit like that to his ego. A fight was the last thing he had planned for the afternoon.

With a growl, he flicked the arrow towards the interrupting teenager. It flew past his head and hit the window frame, getting stuck at the tiny space of metal. The boy on the table yelped. Cray's face was pale, the right reaction after nearly getting an arrow to the face. He quickly got off the table and stood stock still, trying to recover part of his dignity as Lashe got up from his chair.

"Th-This way…" Cray managed to say after clearing his throat.

He silently trailed behind Cray as they exited their team's dorm room, putting on his hood to disallow eye contact from those around him. If he had to look someone in the eye it would be on his terms. He kept his eye on Cray's back, silently pondering his need of his presence.

At that instant he noticed the lack of a certain towering Faunus always walking beside Cray. Perhaps walking alone always bothered him? However, this point becomes moot if he has to consider the fact that he walked to the dorm alone. That is if they haven't parted ways before arriving there anyways. This is also a moot point because Cray is the kind of person who would not let insecurities show if his constant delusions of grandeur were any evidence of this.

Besides, he and Cray have not seen eye to eye since they have become a team. He looks down on everyone in Team MACL, only looking out for himself. And because of that, he never had the desire to bond or even build relations with him.

Now he is wondering why he had to drag him out of their team dorm.

"I bet you're wondering why I'm dragging you out of our room," Cray sighed over his shoulder with an over-exaggerated shrug of his shoulders. Apparently, he knew what Lashe was thinking about. "I normally wouldn't even bother, but my hands are tied! Our _beloved_ leader," The amount of sarcasm on that singular word seemed venomous, "has enlightened me that one should not bury themselves in school work in a regular basis. As for why I'm the one tasked with this, I was the only one available today. She said, 'teammates have to stick together through hard times and fun times. Think of it as being a second family so that's why I want you to bring Lashe along with you today!' Ugh…"

A curious eyebrow was raised by the archer, which the brazen Atlesian caught at the edge of his peripheral vision.

"It was either doing this or contending with her custom-made 'punishment'. That involved, and I quote, 'a bungee cord, three dozen pineapples, a school desk, and an entire playground. I have no idea why she needs all those." The idea sounded ridiculous, but Lashe believed in his leader. Whatever she'll be able to do with those specific things, it'll be something he would not want to be on the business end of. "So while she is absent, I was told to bring you to one of these gigs."

Lashe had not noticed that Cray had led them to a dead-end hallway. His eyes scanned the wall and immediately felt that something was off about it. A rectangular portion of it had a slightly lighter contrast than the rest of the wall. From up close, in Lashe's observant eyes, it seemed like a poorly hidden doorway.

Cray stepped up to the fake wall and performed a rather complex and intricate series of knocking patterns using his elbows, knuckles, and knees. Two hard knocks came from the other side, making Cray back up as it started to open. As it opened, Lashe's ears were greeted by music that got louder and louder as the opening got bigger and bigger. He was then ushered in by his teammate, one of his arms wrapped around his shoulders as they walked in.

"I present to you what I would like to call "Paradise"!" Cray announced.

That was another thing Lashe wanted to disagree with.

One thing he could say about this 'Paradise' is that it is all placed in a gigantic room. With all the noise going on in here it was a wonder how it was hidden to the faculty. Was this event even allowed to happen? Someone in authority definitely knows this is going on and is just allowing it to happen.

Students of various years brushed shoulders with them as they slowly inched their way to what seemed like a bar that only handled drinks ranging from soda to lemon juice to alcohol mixes, which was definitely allowed on campus grounds. A vast variety of party games were located around them. Darts, billiards, a variation of beer pong that didn't use straight beer, and what looked like a card game being played at the corner, however this one had no chips or money, only snickering teenagers.

His 'Paradise' consisted of many things that aligned to his own personal taste. Therefore, this was not paradise, for Lashe anyways.

"C'mon and relax! No need to be all tense!" Cray patted him on the shoulder as he retrieved two red plastic cups filled with cold liquid.

Lashe crossed his eyebrows, eyes looking back and forth between the teenager in front of him and the cup in his hand. This caused Cray to sigh, a building irritation audible despite the music blaring in the background.

"It's just a drink! Nothing to be so paranoid about! Just blend in and try not to think much of it. If you need me, I'll be over there!" He pointed over to one of the closed doors over to the west of the room. With one last nod, he started making his way over to said door.

Now Lashe was left to his own devices in the middle of a room bustling with people he didn't know. So much noise from so much people. Even the loudest night back at home with the occasional animal noises and growling Grimm could not beat this room.

He backpedalled from the middle of the room, avoiding any shoulder he could until he was sure he had the wall behind him without even spilling a drop. When he was sure that no one was in danger of coming in contact with him, he let his semblance take over until his figure blended with the wall to avoid any unwanted interaction.

Even if Lashe was completely silent and unmoving, it was inevitable for accidents to happen due to the party happening around him. A girl nearly tripped because of his invisible foot. Thankfully, he managed to catch her before she hit the floor. Her drink wasn't so lucky.

Despite trying to gracefully slip between the gaps of bodies partying in the room, he was accidentally elbowed and shoved by some of his fellow students. Of course, when he resurfaced from his camouflage and saw him staring down at them, they stuttered an apology before making a quick getaway from his unflinching gaze.

That was when he decided that camouflage would only be useful in hallways, libraries, and battlefields as he just let himself blend in with the crowd naturally.

That meant hood up, lips shut, and standing in the corner. He'd look down on the cup he was carrying if someone took a glimpse at him. A brief sip from the cool drink in his hand and watching the party from the sidelines did help pass the time. It wasn't water, but if he had to drink something at a social gathering, it would be a close third choice.

"Hey there." Someone from his left spoke up. Lashe acknowledged the young man with a tilt of his head. "You're that archer guy from Team MACL, Lashe Sherwood, right?"

Strange that someone would be able to be able to recognize him, much less know his name. Not a lot of people tend to bother him outside class. But Lashe nodded nonetheless.

"Sorry if I'm disturbing you. I saw you come in with Nicholas earlier. Anyways, I just wanna ask if you wanna join us in a game of darts." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder, giving him a glimpse of four other people at the corner waving wildly at them.

Lashe didn't want to waste time. He was already in this party and away from his equipment so he simply agreed to join them since he was not entertaining the thought of blending in with the scenery again. The guy who asked him smiled mischievously as he led him to his friends.

It was not a choice he regretted as he was able to get some target practice by proxy of darts. His impromptu team cheered for every great shot he successfully made. The other team were no slouches either, adding to the competitiveness to both sides, but in the end Lashe's team were the victors.

This led to a multitude of games as rematches. Billiards, beer pong (only in spirit, with the punishment being eating a spoonful of mayonnaise), and some fighting game he didn't know about. He was not very good at the first and third games, but through observation he was able to learn some of the games' mechanics. That did not mean he was able to win as his team lost in billiards and he got pounded in the fighting game.

Once their most recent competition was done, he excused himself and departed from his team, thanking them for the fun experience in the traditional Lashe-style of 'five-words-or-less or your minute is wasted' before heading to the bar for a cold refill of soda. He looked back to the crowd in the room as he waited for the girl behind the counter to finish with the other customers there.

People were having fun. That was the gist of it. They were here to relax, to let loose with their teammates and friends, to escape from the pressure of everyday school life the cold glares and lengthy lectures from their professors in what Cray called 'Paradise'.

His kind of Paradise may be different, but he can clearly see the appeal this has with other people. It would be an open forest free of Grimm, a gentle breeze passing by, and a decent enough weather. Not too hot and not too cold. No other person would be there. It will only be him and the wilderness. But since he is not in his own brand of 'Paradise', it's best to focus on the present.

He felt a few taps, or what Lashe thought to be shoves at first, against his shoulder. His head turned to see a familiar and towering figure standing in front of him. That might explain the slightly heavy taps that caught his attention. It was a miracle that he was not sweating from head to toe with all the fur he had all over his body and the mass of people around of them adding to the room temperature.

"Good to see he was able to persuade you to come out here and that you're having fun," Malkas said to him, crouching just a bit so he could be heard. He offered him a toast with his own cup, which was reciprocated and taken a sip from once he got his own cup. "Though I was sure I heard Marille tell Cray to keep an eye on you. She didn't want you to just turn around and leave in just a minute."

His other hand made its way to his face as he sighed to himself. Lashe couldn't help but feel a bit stupid that he didn't think of that immediately. He was so focused on blending in and not getting caught up in the various wild shenanigans of the party that he didn't think of simply leaving in the time Cray left him alone up until now.

"Ah, I see he didn't mention that part. Cray, once again, half-asses his duties to his team." Malkas just shook his head upon realizing this.

"Agreed," Lashe responded, taking a bigger chug of his soda to cool down.

Malkas sighed. "I guess he's too caught up in his winning streak."

That caught his attention. What has his attention in a vice grip that he is unable to complete his duties assigned to him? He turns to the door where Cray told him he would be in for the duration of the party. He then starts to march over there, Malkas following behind after trying to ask him what he was going to do there.

He opens the door and is welcomed inside by a sight of a large group of his fellow students cheering and chanting around what seemed like oversized machines. After sifting through the crowd, he realizes that the two machines were designed after a cockpit of a military jet equipped with an actual helmet and steering equipment. Their respective screens displayed a wild view of fast movement from the perspectives of the seated individuals, the sounds of blasters and missiles hitting targets came out of the speakers. It might give someone motion sickness if one is not ready for such a sight.

As Lashe was switching screens to make sense of what was happening, he recognized a familiar shoulder plate and teal jacket. It didn't take a long wait for whatever was happening to finish as one mighty bellow of 'PLAYER 1 WINS!' following a raucous cheer from everyone surrounding the players, who emerged from their seats and removed their helmets.

"Ha-_ha_! Victorious once again!" Cray, or designated as 'Player 1', exclaimed to the crowd, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

"Great match there, man. How do you do it?" Player 2 approached him and asked.

"When you got wings, you gotta let 'em fly." He tapped the insignia, a sign of family history in flight, on his shoulder guard as he replied. Before the second player try to shake the hand of the winner, he was shoved aside as Cray soaked in the adulation from the spectators as he made his way to his best friend, waving proudly, about to start another of his known bombastic tirades.

"Yo, Malkas! Did you see—" He was about to brag about his latest videogame conquest when he spots Lashe right behind his friend.

He nearly stumbled, only managing to save it when he grabbed on some random boy's shoulders, spinning them both around that ended up with them with their arms around each other's shoulders, and feigned an active conversation with him before 'discovering' that his teammate was there. "Ah, Lashe. Didn't see you there buddy!"

All that got him was a grunt.

"Nice save," Malkas commented.

"Shut it." He pushed the guy he had his arm around and straightened his outfit. "Anyways, nice party, eh? Glad that you're enjoying yourself." That statement was replied with a straight glare. "Aw, c'mon man... Don't be such a sourpuss. At least give me some props for getting you into this great gig."

Still glaring.

"I mean you've already had a cool drink, you've probably hung out with other people, impressed some girls out there." He added a bit of suggestive winking. That did not get him anywhere. "What else is there not to like?"

The glare that never ends seems to be making Cray crack under the pressure. The confident boy looked to over to his Faunus friend for some support, but all he got was a cold shoulder as he had already walked over to a different side of the room to take part in a conversation with some other guy eating a bag of potato chips.

Cray waved his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. You want me to apologize for leaving you alone in your first time to a party like this? Fine. I'm sorry for trying to make you blend in with the modern world with people your age. Happy?"

Lashe sighed internally, rolling his eyes at the weak apology. That's probably the best apology he would ever get without having to physically threaten the guy. Without the intense look keeping him in place, Cray finally managed to breathe easy.

"If you're ready to hit the hay and enjoy a bit of sleep before the latter half of the weekend hits, we should get back to the dorm now." Cray suggested. The hooded teenager agreed, leading the way to the exit, not even looking back or waiting for his teammate.

On the way there Cray bumped into a familiar darts player as he passed the bar. Though the bump was more intentional that it seemed, to the unseen eye it might have been a collision caused by fatigue from partying too hard, only for it to cover the exchange of some Lien by hand and a pat on the back from the Atlesian to the random student.

"Thanks for occupying him."

The partying teenager liked the amount of money given to him for such a menial task as he counted it when he sat down by the bar for some more drinks. Cray did not bother looking back as he thought the simple compliment and payment for his time was good enough. And all of that happened right behind the ever-so-observant and precise individual of Team MACL.

* * *

_A/N: Hey there fellas! I know I promised a chapter about the other members of Team MACL going through their own landing strategies, but somehow this managed to take the forefront of my attention span. That'll be coming up soon. Been trying to write that for months, but I've been more preoccupied than usual. Anyways, that'll be the next chapter. HOPEFULLY._


	7. Training

**VII. Training**

Marille noticed two things in today's combat class. First one is Cray still continued to live up to his own hype, struggling against another of their classmates in a one-on-one spar for the third time this week. Second one is she could hear the girl seated beside her grit and grind her teeth despite their cheering classmates and through the sounds of dust and weaponry being used.

The leader of Team MACL looked to her left and to see Amber Solarys intensely watching the match happening. The teeth grinding or the glare she was aiming at the sparring students was not what concerned her. This was actually part of the regular routine to a certain extent. What got her attention was Amber's balled up hands shaking from her lap with her feet needlessly tapping on the floor.

Her head turned to the right where her partner, Lashe Sherwood, sat wordlessly. His gaze was straight and sharp towards the two dueling teenagers in front of him. The sound and physical reactions of his teammate didn't seem to bother him. It made her think that she's only concerned because she was their leader.

She thought it might be wise to get Amber's thoughts about what's gotten her tightly wound up. However...

"Dust damn it, duck and weave, know where they're swinging! You're giving us a bad name!"

...she couldn't contain herself any more.

Marille jumped from her seat to her partner's lap when her ear got suddenly assaulted. Before she could get properly embarrassed at her current place, Lashe merely took her by the shoulders, gently pushed her off his lap, and placed her back on her seat. She was barely able to express her thanks before her other teammate started shouting again.

"What are you doing, Cray!? Get in there and break their guard!" Amber had leaned past the railing as he voice reached her competing teammate. She was close to tipping over it, but Marille had reached and held one of her feet to avoid that from happening.

It made Marille wince, not just because Amber was shouting but because some of their surrounding classmates were starting to give them dirty looks. Not because she was being loud, but because she was distracting both fighters.

"Amber, can you please tone it down. The professor might send you out if you keep it up." Marille suggested.

"Like how he did three weeks ago?" She rolled her eyes.

"That and having to fill five pages all by yourself." Her team leader reminded him.

The memory of having to write an essay about efficient combat tactics made her groan. It took her an entire day of looking at books and trying to put it in long enough sentences to fill space made her want to drive her head through her desk. What made it worse was she was not allowed to have no help. Doing that again is currently sitting on her 'never to do again' list.

"Fine," Amber raised her hands in surrender and finally sank back to her previous spot beside her. She then continued with a sigh. "I just can't help it. You know how that guy is."

Both of them peered over to the ongoing spar and see that he's stuck in a clash against the other student's thief swords. Cray got kicked in the gut and was overwhelmed in the clash, being knocked down on his back and forced on the defensive. His Aura meter took a hit from that attack, putting him in the yellow while his opponent was still in the green. He rolled away from an attempted finishing strike as he tried to plan another approach.

"I'd be here sitting quietly if he wasn't constantly bragging to us that he's better than all of us and do THAT." Amber pointed at the action happening in front of them.

Marille would have agreed because it was true. Cray's confident tendencies tend to...exaggerate his skill. "He's trying his best." Yet she tried to defend him nonetheless. Leaders should believe in their teammates whatever their attitude is.

That got Amber to scoff. Then she spotted her teammate being disarmed and scrambling to evade any attacks coming his way. Cray found himself slipping behind his opponent, wrapping his arms around their body and arms to prevent any more attacks. It resulted in an awkward struggle between the two that both girls found embarrassing to watch while their other male teammate kept his gaze unwavering despite what he saw.

"If it doesn't work on an Ursa, it doesn't work in the arena! C'mon Drillbit, get that in your head!" She yelled once again and this time she got shushed by their refereeing professor.

"One more outburst like that Solarys, and you're gonna spend the next week outside the amphitheater working on another essay!" He warned her. Good thing he didn't notice her growl as she sank to her seat again.

"My mentor wouldn't even let that guy touch a weapon with that kind of skill..." Amber mumbled to herself, nodding at the direction of her partner.

"Mentor?" Marille can't help but repeat. This was the first time she heard Amber mention this part of her past. When it comes to the smaller girl, they frequently talk about their battles as well as some strategy when it comes to approaching Grimm. Any personal history is usually mentioned casually and never elaborated on. That would be changed today.

Amber picked up on Marille's curiosity and nodded. "Definitely! He didn't let me touch a weapon until I knew how to fight with just my hands." She did a few fast punches in front of her and grinned. "Then he made me fight Grimm without weapons until I could do it competently."

"Dangerous." Lashe commented whilst keeping his eyes forward.

"Yeah! That sounds less like a lesson and more like a punishment!" Amber noticed how alarmed her leader is regarding this reveal in her former training regimen.

She waved her hands defensively. "Oh nothing like that! It was actually fun."

The usage of the word 'fun' with the same thought of wrangling with live Creatures of Grimm made Marille question it more, whether it was the mentor's type of lessons or Amber's own definition of 'fun'. Her confusion was clearly evident from Amber's position while Lashe kept mum about it as he focused elsewhere so his face wouldn't give himself away. However, the smaller girl tipped the small hat on her head and was determined to paint her mentor in a better light.

"Look it wasn't all that bad. Our teachers here are even weirder than him." That had Marille nodding in agreement. It's easier to count the teachers who were normal than those who weren't. "He's drilled a lot of his sayings into my head, like that last one I sent Cray's way. If it weren't for him you guys wouldn't have lil' ol' me as the way I am today. That reminds me on how that one lesson went when I was younger and just learning..."

\- MACL -

Back when I was just starting off, I really wanted to get my hands on any weapon that's in front of me. it can be anything! Swords, maces, axes, with or without any gun modifications, as long as I can hold it in my hand I wanted to use it. But old man Solarys basically said no and would swat at my hands every time I went for a weapon.

He used to tell me the importance of learning how to fight without any weapons, that there will be a time that hunters and huntresses don't have the luxury of being armed in every encounter or you'd be disarmed and forced to fight. You're gonna have to fight with just skill, strength, and brains. And I didn't have any of that except energy and enthusiasm. I had no problem with training my plain fisticuffs skill.

So he showed me some clips of hunters and huntresses fighting without their weapons, whether it was out in the wild or competing in tournaments. He says I can learn a bunch from watching these fights. Now I like me some hunters duking it out in sanctioned fights like the Mistral Tournaments and the Vytal Festivals. One on ones, team fights, specialty matches, all out rumbles! They always get my attention whenever I see it on TV.

The particular clip we watched before going out was this match with two dueling hunters of different styles. First is The Dragon, and yes that's the name he's known for. He goes around in spandex tights, has a face full of beard, and fights with just his quickness, technical skill, and bare hands. His opponent looked more like he belonged in a castle in some kid's fairy tales. Even his name, Olivier Gainsboro, sounded like it. But he did swing a good fire sword. No gun version since his 'lineage' believe in pure bladed weaponry, whatever that means.

Anyway, Solarys lectured me while we watched this match, pointing out possible techniques while The Dragon would slip into Gainsboro's defenses after dodging a lot of his combination attacks and when he would break his guard with precise strikes.

"Momentum has no loyalty, anyone can use it. Just make sure you can use it better than your enemy." He said after The Dragon utilized his enemy's momentum against him.

He did notice some good points for Gainsboro's tactics, using some unconventional ploys to get the advantage over The Dragon. Any hits he scored on the technical grappler would have seared any Grimm his sword touches, but it seemed his Aura was stronger than his small frame let on.

"The Grimm don't fight fair. Most of them operate on pure instinct. Go for everything you can until you get called out." He told me. Sure he has a point since the Grimm can't be bitter about sportsmanship, but I've never done anything that low in a sanctioned fight or in a spar.

When he wasn't telling me techniques or pointing out flaws in the competitors' approach and how he would do it better, we would be sitting there in silence and just watching the match. I knew I enjoyed it because I was pretty much doing whatever the hell The Dragon was doing, jumping around and attacking the air like kid my age would when they see the hypest fight ever. What I didn't notice was old man Solarys leaning back and looking like he was actually relaxing and enjoying what we were watching. Man's always tense and focused on training if we're not going from point A to point B. Picture me surprised when he ended up cheering with me when The Dragon overpowered his opponent by putting his arms around him and throwing him over his head. He then made Gainsboro surrender with this unique hold that nearly broke his arm, and that was when the knight dude still had half his Aura! We watched much more tournament fights casually soon after.

The next day, we were walking through some forests to start our early morning training, yoyu know, just blazing through a trail until we're sweating. Well, at least until I was. He looks like he barely broke a sweat after my little legs started to shake at an hour. We'd been at this regiment for close to a few months so by then I've been able to stand afterwards.

What we didn't expect was finding a group of Ursas patrolling by the trail.

Solarys holds me back as he takes both of his axes into his hands, instantly ready before it could even lay its eyes on us. The first Ursa was the traditional one anyone would see in books, big, burly, and claws that could cut through any Aura-less person like butter. Behind it there were like three smaller Ursas...Ursae...? Whatever. They were like a third as big as the first one, but they still towered over me if it stood on their hind legs if they weren't growling behind their pack leader.

"I can take them on!" I confidently declared and pointed at the big one, stepping up to the plate right after my target roared at us. Solarys, on the other hand, disagreed and pulled me back by my ear. That was one of the things I'm not gonna miss now that I'm not training with him.

He disagreed, brandishing his axes and was already staring a hole at the big Ursa, probably painting a bullseye on its face. "You're not ready for the big time just yet." But he did point his axes at the smaller ones. "You can try the small fry though, small fry."

I pouted at being redirected to the smaller Ursa at the back of the pack. I knew I could take them, pummel them to the ground or at least beat them even without any weapon. I was probably TOO eager to prove that, and I might've died then if I just jumped in there, but Solarys knew I wasn't ready. So I watched him drive the larger Ursa back, dividing the pack from its smaller brethren. One of the smaller Ursa followed him though, it probably thought it'd have the others follow its lead so they can overpower my mentor.

But nope! It was too distracted to see me come in with a dropkick where the back of its head was. The other one growled and lunged to avenge its victimized brethren. I rolled out of the way until I had a tree behind me, preventing a scenario where I'd get flanked after I dodged.

"Alright, first hit! Which one of 'ya wants another taste of my boot!?" I yelled at the two. My gesture for them to come at me was met with an eager charge from both monsters. I circled around the tree behind me and felt it shake against my back, the sound of two heads bonking together made me chuckle. The sight of two claws coming around the tree didn't look fun though so I went on the move to escape being cut up.

Looking back on that whole impromptu fight, I thought I was doing well. Weaving left and right, punching the Ursai when I can in the face or in their bellies when they leave it open, sliding under them when they get too excited in their lunges. But what Solarys didn't teach me at that point was being too cocky. Get in too many hits and it gets to your head. That's exactly what happened when I got both of them on the ropes.

When you're too busy proving a point, it gets to 'ya and it makes you wide open for a sneak attack. My eyes were focused on the two smaller Ursa when I should've paid attention to my environment. That's why I didn't see the third one come back and slash at my back.

Thank Dust my Aura covered for me, but I could still remember how painful Ursa claws to the back were when you're just a kid. Being younger meant you take in the lessons you get, painful or fun they may be in the end. That was the first one that hurt like hell. I could still even feel my back ache just from thinking about it.

The damage was already done and I'd been overpowered. All three of them looked down on me with hungry eyes ready to chow down on the poor human kid who thought she could fight them on by herself. My last gasp came from a lousy punch to the nearest one. It hit it right in the snout and it recoiled in pain just as I was about to scramble for an escape, but one of them jumped right in front of me to stop that right away.

I would've been dead if Solarys didn't send the pack leader flying at its two subordinates, wiping them out and sent them through a few trees. The Ursa in front of me was too surprised to see the axe get thrown into his gut. It didn't have time to register when Solarys lunged and sliced its head off.

Its body fell down and black wisps started to escape it as my mentor helped me up. "You're reckless, kid. Didn't I tell you to always pay attention to your environment? It's sometimes the small things we see or don't see that can make or break a fight."

"Sorry..." I apologized as I let my hand feel the spots I'd gotten cut. My Aura was starting to close up the wounds so I didn't need to worry about that. However, we still had two more Ursai to take care of.

Solarys walked forward, putting his axes away on his back as he approached the Ursai trying to get up. "Here's another lesson. There's certain things I believe one can do in a fight that and it can be determined by a simple process. A Litmus test that would prove effective for fighting people and Grimm." One of the Ursa had recovered enough and saw the man going at it. It saw my mentor as a target and attacked him, but it didn't know it was being used to prove a point. "Listen carefully, Amber, and remember this…"

He ducked under a massive swipe and executed this combo on the Grimm, hammering it with just his fists and feet. I stood there and looked in awe, the student taking in what the master was executing right in front of her. Even the other Ursa can't help but stare. He landed with one last spinning kick in its face, stunning the Ursa long enough to slip behind it and lock his arms around its torso. With a mighty yell, Solarys lifted the Grimm off its feet in a feat of strength until it went over his head. The old man kept his arms locked with his back arched and bridged during his throw. The Grimm's head impacted against the ground with a crack.

My mentor released the now disintegrating body and kipped up to his feet. With a grin and a thumbs up, he proudly proclaimed one of lessons that stuck with me. "If it doesn't work on an Ursa, it won't work in the arena!"

\- MACL -

"Oh man, I was pumped up after seeing what he did! Then I wiped the floor with that last Ursa and actually threw it into a tree and snapped its neck. I was going for that suplex old man Solarys did, but I got too excited and wasn't able to lock my arms right. But it was a good throw nonetheless!" Amber concluded her story, the memory of her lessons with her mentor put a big grin on her face as she recalled that specific time of her life.

Marille and Lashe exchanged looks with the shared sentiment about Amber's past training. It was rough that she had to fight weaponless at first. Her mentor is right in a way that one would need to be ready to fight without any form of defenses ready but your fists and feet. Still that doesn't sound like a good entry point in training. But she can admit one thing though.

"You're right. That sounds a lot normal than most of our teachers here." Marille admitted, prompting a proud nod from the girl.

"Crazy," Lashe would have gotten away with that remark if it wasn't for his partner getting used to his low voice. That got him a sharp nudge from her elbow.

"True. He says a lot of tips like that and a lot of people think he's crazy, but I think he's more awesome because of it." She defended her mentor. "Not everyone can be normal. Sometimes you gotta stand out from the rest, and he sure stood out a lot."

Marille thought the glimpse Amber gave her with that one lesson made her think that Solarys' methods were unconventional, however, not all teachers have the same methods of teaching their students and Solarys obviously taught his lessons his way. She could tell that his influence definitely molded Amber into the tough girl she is now. Perhaps that is how she should judge the effectiveness of her mentor.

"He sounds like an incredible man and a great mentor." Marille said once her smaller teammate had calmed down.

Amber looks forward into the arena at the match ahead now approaching its last moments, her grin giving way to a wistful smile. "Yeah. He sure was."

* * *

_A/N: There you have it, a short one-shot done that explores a bit of Amber's background. If you guys know what I follow and watch in my free time, you might notice some references to a certain person. They are the reason why I made this chapter. Anyway, that will be it for now. I should get back to writing more OLaF._


	8. Landing

**VIII. Landing**

Marille Seance needed to check everything before anything could begin. Scarf, not in the way. Dust, stored in a pouch on my belt. Armor, shiny and strapped, but not too tight. Actually, she had to adjust her left knee pad because it felt off. Diamond Cutter, operational and ready to slice through Grimm.

Her last inspection went to her weapon to double check if it the swinging attachment under it was working. With a flick of her wrist, the shield dropped from her forearm with a spin, but was pulled back in position by a thin string. Satisfied with her double-checking, she let her attention go to the view in front of her: a lengthy forest line with a mountain in the distance.

She was always told by her grandparents that preparation is a major step for everything, and nothing says being prepared than a working weapon. Well, half a weapon, but it depends on the situation. Anyways, Initiation was the last place to have anything she is using backfire on her, especially if all she's heard about it from her grandparents.

"_Dunno how you youngin's gonna do your Initiation, but when we were trainin' to be Hunstmen, they threw us out of airships and made us walk to the academy. Dat was 'fore our first day even!_" Her grandpa told her when he sharing what he remembers of his time as a young hunstman-in-training.

"_We spent days out in the wilderness. Traveling cautiously with an eye over our shoulders in case any Grimm attacked us was very much a constant throughout Initiation._" Her grandma added with a hum. "_A lot of us were wounded, some died, but it was a particularly intense reality check._"

Nodding at the memory of that one time, the moment she learned that Initiation was today she knew she had to be prepared. That was why she woke up early, doubled her daily exercise routine, ate a healthy breakfast, and tested her equipment before the students were called to the cliffs.

Her mind absorbs the short lecture given to her and the rest of the students by the headmaster. Any word of instruction, implication, or breath could be useful, especially on this particular day. She will need all she can get to get through this endeavor, especially when all the tales she's heard from her relatives about how the first day is the most dangerous.

Speaking of taking in every word of the lecture, she learned that they will be paired in a very...random way. The very first person you make eye contact with? Sounds like a very specific condition, especially after all that talk about 'being with someone you can work well'. Maybe he had something special when it comes to eye contact.

Afterwards, it was pretty standard and straight-forward about what to do once we started. Travel to the north side of the forest and fight through anything standing in our way once we are teamed up. Then we take a relic from an old temple and bring it back. Simple, but taking all that in mind as well as the area we are going to do it in and the 'unique' way of forming teams, it sounds anything but.

Once all the explanation needed for their Initiation done and any question about it ignored, Marille took up a stance and pondered why they would need a landing strategy. Are they waiting for a signal to slide down the cliff? She thought she could take her shield off and use it as a snowboard, or in this case dirt board, to get down before straight out running towards the temple. Any thought of getting a teammate might take a backseat before getting close to the temple. On the flip side, being teamed up the instant she touches down in the forest is a good tactical advantage, but looking for one might slow her down.

Those thoughts went out of the window when a faraway member of their lineup was suddenly propelled off their platform and into the air over the forest.

"O...kay," was the only reaction Marille managed to make. Apparently students finding themselves in the air during Initiation is some kind of tradition.

So she needed a change of plan then. Less shield sliding, more figuring out how to land safely through all those trees and avoid getting surrounded by Grimm upon landing and getting injured in the process.

One by one, the students from the left side of the lineup were flung off the cliff with varying levels of readiness. Most had a stance at the ready with their weapons drawn before their platform activated. At least one of them was caught off-guard and ended up flipping through the air with whatever he was talking about turning into an intelligible echo in the distance. Marille definitely did not want to follow that guy's example.

Determined to do well in the school's first challenge to her and successfully kick off her year with a bang, she let the platform underneath her feet fling her into the air when it was her turn. She flipped a few times in the first few seconds of her flight and had to straighten herself out so she can figure out where she was going. From what Marille could see at the moment, it felt like the forest was never-ending with only small patches of open spots passing by quite fast, and the mountain seemed farther than she originally thought.

Regardless of how she enjoyed the sights, she still needed to make a 'landing strategy'. Her shield offered little to the imagination as it is usually just a defensive weapon she modified to include a saw inside. Not including a gun function to Diamond Cutter or having a second weapon is a choice she is kind of lamenting as it would expand her current options, but that is not helping at the moment.

As she is starting to descend into the forest, she had to activate the shield's saw as her form came close to one of the taller trees. She is forced to trim some branches as she got lower and lower, and she did so by flipping through the air, her right arm extended forward to cut branch after branch in front of her.

Fortunately it is big enough to cover her if she were to curl into a ball behind it. Of course, her shield alone wouldn't be enough to protect her. A large tree with branches so thick Diamond Cutter wouldn't be able to do what it is meant to do in a single swing, or in this case a flip. So she deactivated the saw and curled up behind it as she tried to call to her own power. She felt it answer her call and start to surround every part of her body as she barreled towards the ground.

"Here goes nothing!"

-MACL-

Lashe Sherwood didn't expect to have that short chat he had with the girl with the small hat and the big axe. To be fair, he thought the less words he used the better. He had other things in mind when she spoke up and talked about their weapons. Usually he wouldn't mind, but this is an important time right now. He needed to focus on the rules being set and what he was needed for him to do.

It was needless chatter at the moment. Nonetheless, he was able to push through the small talk and take in the much more important and needed information from the headmaster. Sure he was caught off-guard by the rules and the entire scenario they are faced with including on-the-fly preparation of landing strategies and the Grimm threat in the forest. Not that he minded. Huntsmen need to be prepared for anything, and being catapulted into danger is part of the job, for now at least.

In conclusion, his attention was wasted and he needed to make up for lost time.

However, since he was right beside that girl, he was already in the air the moment he had made his conclusion.

Lashe quickly scanned the area ahead. His current speed in flight didn't help matters, but he needed to prepare. It only took a few seconds for his momentum to slow down and it made considering his options easier. He looked ahead, down, and side to side to fully get a sweep of the area. Once he figured out what he wanted to do, he then grabbed some choice arrows from the quiver settled on his hip.

The arrows didn't look sharp upon first glance. It had an edge, but the arrow looked more rounded than the usual angular shape, yet it satisfied Lashe that he drew them out. He nocked one arrow and kept the rest in his hand, pulling back on his bow string all the while aiming ahead of him. There were many factors working against him as he tried to aim: the wind blowing against his face and body, being airborne, and having no steady ground. Yet he just inhaled and let his eye focus on a particular spot on a tree trunk coming close to him.

With a single exhale, he let the string go and the arrow flew. Before it could get far, he had already aimed his next arrow and fired it downward to the ground and past the leaves under him, followed by another as he flipped in the air after the second shot. Lashe then curled into a ball and waited while his entire form started to start its descent from its upper trajectory.

His first arrow sailed true as it hit the big trunk of the tree that would stop him in his tracks if he were unprepared. The instant the arrow impacted against it, the arrowhead blew up into a big, soft bag that was twice as big as the archer and was immediately filled with air. The other two arrows followed its lead, one of them inflating with air on the ground with the last one in full size, almost facing the same direction as the first.

The green-hooded teenager counted the seconds before his flight ended, keeping his ball form secure until he hit the balloons. It merely took five seconds after firing to hit the first balloon. It didn't soften the blow, but it sent him flying again, this time directed towards the one he shot last. He bounced off it a second later and then hit the last one on the ground, sending him straight up. However, this fall wasn't as dangerous as the one from the cliff. After one flip in the air, he landed neatly that would have been seen as heroic by those younger than him, save for his bow ready to be used and an arrow prepared for any hostile unlucky enough to find him here.

He scanned the area first to make sure there was no danger to him. When the area seemed clear, he stood up and placed the arrow back in his quiver. The first part of Initiation is done. Now comes the hard part: finding the relics.

Before he could decide on where to begin looking for said relics, he noticed some of the other students still sailing in the air above him. One of them was trying to lasso a sword-like weapon while a girl in red was shooting at possible targets ahead of her. His eye caught sight of this light orange glow in the sky. It was like a falling star in broad daylight, except it was falling fast into the middle of the forest instead of an everlasting voyage in space. Lashe could hear wood cracking and heavy impact in the distance when he thought it had touched down.

He could almost immediately tell that whoever that was is going to attract a ton of attention. In fact, he can already hear the growls of nearby Grimm go silent, a few even scurrying towards the direction of the crash. Normally when hunting in the wild, one would avoid being caught in the middle of a hostile group of predators. That falling star would get torn apart the moment all those Grimm come down on them, and their chances would be definitely worse because they were alone.

Lashe observed the spread out trees around him and approached one of the heavier ones. Upon scanning it and seeing the moss gathering on a particular side, he looked towards the direction of the crash and sighed. Nature is telling him the direction he needs to take for his objective crosses with the landing zone of that person who fell surrounded by that bright light.

Shaking his head, he took his bow into his hands again and started walking. Lashe might as well see if this person wants him for a partner.

-MACL-

Amber Solarys enjoyed being launched into the air. Not that she had already done so before, but there's always a first for everything, and so far she's taken a liking to this new activity. She might even try to make this a new addition to her hobbies. Her mentor, however, would probably roll his eyes at the thought of jumping off a tall structure or jumping at a high altitude. Not that he didn't like it. He would probably find an excuse that it would cut into their training time.

She smiled at the memory of her old mentor. Unfortunately, reminiscing about the past is something she can do later on her free time when she's not supposed to worry about finding some old timey stuff in a forest filled with Grimm and being teamed up with other people she barely knew. Not that she worried about those things. It's pretty much easier since making friends is being combined with her favorite past time.

Killing Grimm. LOTS of them.

However, as much as she likes flying so freely like this without a care in the world, she knew she is going to have to land eventually. So she finally pocketed the small peacked cap on her head and gripped the handle of her massive battle axe tighter. All she can see in front of her are a lot of green leaves from trees, only a handful being tall enough that a student catapulted off a cliff might hit and splatter against. It was an interesting image, but it's something she wants to avoid.

She thought of transforming her axe to its minigun form and just try shooting ahead of her. Before she could let it happen, she realized she would run out of bullets before her speed could be decreased enough to land in a roll. Besides, it'd be a shame if she couldn't shoot at Grimm with her minigun.

Her options were running out fast as she started to fall out of her launch's upward trajectory and started to descend.

'_Gotta think fast,_' she told herself as she looked ahead again. '_What can I do so I'll be able to land safely..._' Her eyes spotted a particularly tall tree that looked like it had been part of the forest for a long time and that she might pass it if she continues flying this course. Part of her guessed it might be thick and healthy enough to support that size for this long in its lifespan. Another part of her thought of cutting it down would be fun.

Both parts agreed that it be a good landing strategy.

'_That should work._' Amber let Wild Dortchen transform to its minigun form and started blasting at the base of the tree.

Any tree would normally have been ripped to pieces like paper if it was on the receiving end of a minigun, however, her aim was all over the place since she didn't have any steady ground. She tried her best to hit the base, swinging Wild Dortchen left and right in the hopes of hitting it enough to make it start falling. Alas, it was not meant to be as her first belt of ammunition is close to running out before she could accomplish this.

Reloading another belt would take too much time for her. She needed an alternate method of cutting down that tree. Then she looked at her weapon again before smiling. If bullets can't do it, go for the traditional way. Or as traditional as it gets.

She fires the rest of her ammunition to the side, causing her shift and spin until the bullets were emptied out. Once her gun clicked, she switched back to its axe form and used the rockets on the blades for an additional boost. When she thought she had enough power and speed in her spin, Amber waited for the right time and angle. Her timing needed to be precise. She wouldn't have another chance at this.

With a spirited bellow, she released her axe and sent it flying ahead of her towards the tree's base. The added rocket thrusts it had gave it enough oomph to slice through the trunk and embed the weapon on the ground behind it. The cut, along with the damage it took from all of her shots, caused it to lean and fall. Problem was it was falling in her direction.

Being stuck falling out of the sky with limited options didn't faze the girl at all. She just readied herself as the tall tree approached her. Fortunately, the tree's fall was timed right as she reached out and caught one of its branches, causing her to spin for one revolution around it. It helped her transition to the main trunk with a small jump.

Amber didn't have time to appreciate her small gymnastic skill as the tree continued its fall. She rushed down the trunk with adrenaline pumping in her veins, helping her run down faster than usual. Before the massive tree could touch down on the grassy field and the rest of its leafy and wooden brethren, she had jumped off the trunk, flipped in the air, and landed in a roll towards Wild Dortchen as the dust of its crash unsettled the area with flying leaves and dust.

"That went as well as I thought it could." Amber surveyed her handiwork with a grin and a nod. "Hope I can get some footage of that form the school. It'd be a shame if I can't share that with my new team."

She pulled out her small hat to place it back on her head, only to be stopped when she heard rustling in the bushes around her. The clear glow of red dots glaring at her put her on alert, taking a stance beside her giant axe as a group of Beowolves began to surround her. Growls of hate and hunger echoed in the air around the small girl. Normally these sounds would make a chill run down the spines of any regular person confronting these malevolent creatures.

But not Amber. She grinned at the dark armored wolves and put a hand on her axe's handle after putting away her hat.

"Looks like I'm gonna have some fun before the real test starts." Her grip on the handle tightened as she pulled it out of the ground, twirled it over her head before pointing it to the closest Beowolf. "C'mon and get some!"

And thus, the Initiation begins.

* * *

_A/N: I remember when I said I would work on the rest of the team's go at a landing strategy. That was about a year ago. It definitely took a while since I still had my focus on my other story, but it's better late than never, right? I hope you guys and girls enjoyed this chapter. If you guys remember a little science joke made by the guys in the RT Podast years ago, you might recognize the logic in Amber's landing strategy._

_There are a few other scenarios Team MACL might find themselves in the future, one of them including some more falling. But I'm not sure when I'll get to work on that. Anyway, that will be it for me. I'm gonna write some more OLaF or laze around playing MGSV:TPP/Overwatch/Digimon Story:Cyber Sleuth. See you guys and girls next time!_


End file.
