Team 1 (evilparsnips and Switchblade)

He stands, slowly,keeping Indigo in his arms, noticing her glance away. After a moment he coughs, awkwardly so and looks away himself. Awkward. At her question he smiles just a little and laughs...a sound completely at odd with his stern nature to this moment.

"Yeah...we're fine. We won. Just...more's the pity. We...worked well. All of us."

When She Collapsed again Tyler Chuckled, at least she still had a sense of humor. I guess we did Didn't we? He asked as drake noted how well they worked together. All right, all of you that don't have a relic, grab one! As for you and me Matt, let's go. I don't want to be here if something bigger shows up... he said as he took off running, headed for the cliffs and the end of his initiation....

Matt smiles at the rest of them. Good job guys, and good luck. Matt runs and catches up with Tyler, and runs with him back to the cliffs. He looks at Tyler. You ready to finally finish? Matt smiles, knowing they were finally almost done.

He nods and in silence looks to Indigo. Then, for a moment he smiles, carrying her to the artifacts. What was left....? He glances and decides to reach out, helping her. Only logical. Shifting her to one arm he reaches out, hooking up both the Ruby Key and Silver Lock onto one of the blades of the free Talon. Hope she likes silver.

"Hey. Whoever's partnered with Indigo...you like silver, right?"

This felt odd. He looks at the Ground Team and nods to them, respectfully so and then waves back toward the cliffs. "Straudd. You have command. Got us something. Don't think you'd mind red. Just make sure everyone gets back safe. Going to carry her back to safety."

Yeah, Lets finish this! He said with a smile as they moved through the forest, almost finished, almost students at beacon...There wasn't any time to stop now.

Matt turns to face forward and run as fast as he can. We're so close now. It's time to officially become students. As long as nothing else tries to mess with us before we get to the cliffs. Matt shakes his head. He didn't want to think about that now. He just wanted to reach the cliffs.

Mike descended through the forest using his grapple blades. When he got to the ground, he found Markus, and gave his gauntlet back to him. He made no comment about his arm. Then he looked over at the dying bird lying helpless on the ground. He sprinted over to it, leaped onto its head, and embedded his blade into the top of its head. Then, he fired it, sending the blade through the skull, killing it instantly. Then he turned away, looking sad that everyone had simply left it to die. Then he left, with markus, who had the key.

Straudd looks up at the destruction in the air before him. He deactivates Black Judgement before walking over to where the other's have landed. He takes a quick look around and sees that no one is seriously injured, at least as far as he could tell. The only issue seemed to be Indigo getting knocked out, presumably from the exertion of her aura use. Drake seemed to have her though, and Straudd grinned as he realized - they had done it - so long as they made it back to the cliffs, they would be official Beacon students.

Then he hears Drake say that he's putting Straudd in command. He gulps, a little surprised at the sudden responsibility. However, he steps up on a smashed pillar and projects his voice so that everyone can hear, 'Nice work everyone. Now all we need to do is make it back to the cliffs. You can all make your own ways there if you would like, but I think that traveling in a group would be best to avoid any more... interruptions. As for the path - I think the way me and Drake arrived is good - it's clear and it comes out in a clearing close to the cliffs.' He indicates the edge of the forest and the path of fallen trees they had arrived from. 'Anyone who wants to travel with us is welcome.' He nods and moves over to Drake, a little relieved as he sees some of the teams begin to move back into the forest, lifting some of his responsibility. He looks at Drake and says 'Let's get going - we're on the home stretch now.'

OOC: Hey everyone. Sorry I'm late to the party, but real life has been a little busy lately. So for the moment I'll just try playing catch up.




In a moment Indigo was dashing though the trees, leaving Cain lying where he was upon the forest floor.

Well she’s certainly fast, I’ll give her that.

As soon as the silver haired girl was out of sight, Cain lifted himself off the ground and casually brushed off the leaves and grass which still clung to his lab coat.

Now then, where are you running off to?

With a simple thought the ABEL system switched to Level 2, and once again Cain allowed his senses to become enhanced by the influx of his magnified aura. He could hear the young woman making her way through the forest, and far ahead, what appeared to be the sounds of a battle.

Instantly Cain was on his way, dodging between trees as he followed behind his “partner”. After several minutes of travel he reached the edge of a field and observed what appeared to be a fairly intense fight. High overhead a nevermore circled a group of other students who, in turn, seemed to be preparing to take the giant monster down. Among the group of armed strangers Cain spotted a familiar silver-haired figure ready to join the fight.

Standing within the tree line, Cain gave small grin and adjusted the glasses on his nose. He had not had the opportunity to truly observe Indigo during their last fight. But maybe now was his chance to collect the data he had been waiting for.

Alright Ms. Indigo. Let us see what you are capable of.  

After several moments one of the students whom Cain did not recognize summoned several aura seals, sending Indigo towards the nevermore. It was a fairly straightforward maneuver which was lacking in any attempt at subtly, but Cain could not deny its effectiveness. From his hiding spot the white haired boy watched as Indigo delivered a powerful blast of aura which, in conjunction with attacks from her new comrades, quickly brought the Grimm down. However, the strain on Indigo seemed to be severe and judging by how she fell after delivering her strike, the young woman lost consciousness in midair.

Knowing he was in no position to help her, Cain instead looked on with cold objectivity as she fell helplessly towards the ground.  However, even he had to admit to feeling a brief moment of relief as one of the other students caught her and brought them both safely to rest. After several minutes the group moved off from the battlefield towards the cliff, one of them carrying Indigo gently in his arms.

In a flash Cain was in pursuit of the group. After several minutes of travel he neared them; and by the time they became aware of his approach the young man was already pulling out a small black pouch from within his lab coat.

“Indigo!” Cain shouted as drew closer, his face portraying what he hoped was a slight exaggeration of the relief he had felt earlier. “Indigo, are you alright? You left too fast for me to keep up. Indigo?”

Even as he was feigning ignorance of the girl’s current condition and playing down his own abilities, Cain’s mind was simultaneously taking in as much information as he could. Indigo was unconscious and appeared to be severely injured from the exertion of her fight. Meanwhile, several of the other students looked as though they too were not in the best of conditions.

“I am so sorry for being late everyone. I got lost trying to follow Indigo. My name is Cain. Cain Noctis. I’m Indigo’s partner. Is everyone alright? I have medicine if you need it. Is Indigo alright? Please let me see her, I can help.”

He kept running, his eyes constantly scanning the area ahead of him for Grimm. Thankfully so far there were none, but he needed to move Faster! He didn't want to be in this forest for any longer than he already was. So, gritting his teeth, he poured on the speed, moving quickly through the forest in hopes of getting to the cliffs before anything else found him and Matt....

(OOC: NAV! You completely forgot about Markus, so I'll just make something up. I'm pretty upset that Markus was just ret-conned out of the story.)

Markus awoke in a pile of rubble, next to the dead nevermore. He saw Mike standing over him, with Switchblade and his Gauntlet offered out.
He donned the Gauntlet and Switchblade, with an ashamed look on his face. Mike didn't say anything, and Markus was afraid he had hurt another student in his rage. Unbeknownst to him, he had collided with the bird mid-flight, and almost got roasted by the fireballs, luckily landing on top of the bird, he was knocked unconscious and rolled off into a pile of rocks. He saw Mike leaving for the cliffs and he followed suit. He'd ask about what happened later.

Of course, this would not be a good moment for Cain to run in, with his feigned ignorance. Indeed, the first thing he would find as he ran closer to Indigo was four rather sharp blades angled toward him, flames dancing along their edges.

Drake's eyes danced between their usual black and the brilliant blue that marked the Frenzy as he looked over Cain as though assessing him as a threat. With a grunt he kept Indigo closer to him, putting his body slightly more in Cain's way.

"She's exhausted. If you must insist on treatment it can wait until we've gotten back to the cliffs. She is quite safe now and she will be allowed to rest." The same person who, earlier spoke with authority and calm logic had something else lurking in his voice and in his eyes. Something more...feral. He was protective of Indigo and after a moment he lowered the Talon, before idly chucking the silver lock up for Cain to catch.

"Here. Figured you'd like this. Silver works."

With that he glances to Straudd, making a very careful motion with his fingers. Watch this one.  Cain may be Indigo's partner. But for the time being Drake was stubbornly determined to be the one to carry her back. She'd done exactly as she said she would...and looked far too similar to the ghosts of his past for him to trust with another that seemed ignorant of her condition.

The Cliffs were now in his Line of sight, just a few more minutes and he'd be there, all he needed was two more minutes without some grimm attacking him, and he'd be a student at beacon! So, looking back at Matt and everyone he smiled and sprinted at top speed before jumping onto a momentum seal, leaving it there for others to use as he landed on the edge of the cliffs, smiling.

Matt sees the cliffs. Finally. Tyler then makes his momentum seal and takes off. Matt reloads his weapons and jumps into the seal. god, this is the third time today I've been launched into the air. This is becoming a habit. When Matt reaches the apex of his flight, he fires his weapons, causing him to fly higher into the air, closer to the cliffs. He keeps doing this, getting closer to the cliffs.

Straudd stops to look at Cain as he approaches Drake. 'You must be Indigo's part-' He says before he notices the aggressive look Drake is giving to Cain, and the flaming tips of the Talons aimed at Cain's throat. He looks on warily as Drake lowers his weaponry and throws Cain his team's artifact. 'OK then, now that this is apparently sorted out, maybe we can get moving again. We're only a few minutes from the cliffs if we move quickly. The quicker we get back, the less time there is for some Grimm to jump us.'

When Mike reached the cliff, he simply aimed one blade at the top of the cliff, fired, and was catapulted high into the air. When he came back down on the top of the cliffs he sat and waited for Markus.