Team 2 (eyeblaster3 and Drake Ferrox)

As Drake slid under the death stalker it began to bleed, It's body catching on fire as the flame thrower kicked in. It's legs wobbled and it fell to the ground on Drake. It was unable to move as Straudd stabbed it's eyes, darkening it's last moments of life as it bled out and burned. The smoke rising into the sky and the corpse releasing a horrible smell as it burned.

The beast was falling. The beast was done. He starts to laugh, the things unfortunate demise triggering the more twisted part of his damaged psyche, even as it starts to wobble and sway, plummeting toward him. No. Not this day.

"Straudd! Get off!"

He brings the Talons around in two, crossing forward slices, his aura flaring and a sound not unlike gunshot heard as the falling Deathstalker receives a point-blank Shockwave. Now at this point a lot depended on the poor thing's current structural integrity. It'd either be launched skyward and away from Drake...or effectively ripped in two by the kinetic force of the shockwave at that point.

Straudd leaps back from the Deathstalker, still wary of the giant claws. However, then Straudd's face forms into a grin as the beast stumbles, the last of it's life leaving it. 'I guess this would be the time for some kind of witty remark... uh...' Straudd thinks to himself, realizing the battle is won.

However, before he can think of anything, he hears his partner's voice coming from seemingly nowhere, and Straudd looks around, trying to locate Drake around the collapsing body of the Deathstalker. He then sees the glow of Drake's aura from beneath the Deathstalker, and moves swiftly away, not wanting to get crushed by bits of flying monster.

The body of the deathstalker shot skyward off of Drake. It's body holding amazingly together as it flew up into the air as a burning mass before coming back to the ground and crashing several yards away from the boys, next to the path that the death stalker had cut through the forest.

At this he sits there a few moments, laughing and then after a bit he stands. His movements are deliberate, opening the armoured plate beneath the wrist of each gauntlet, ejecting the spent fuel canisters and slotting in their replacements.

"Ah..introductions since we were...interrupted. Drake. You fought well. Keep yourself in control. That's going to be a good thing. Now...perhaps we should get going?"

He nods at that, as though it were a thought out loud and makes his way toward the burning wreckage of their victory, looking about for any telltale signs of there being a viable path to their destination.

Straudd smiles as the Deathstalker sails through the air, thrown by the force of Drake's blast. He deactivates Black Judgement, and the flames dissipate from it's surface. He observes the destruction around the clearing, but turns towards Drake as he starts speaking. Straudd responds with 'You fought pretty well yourself, Drake.'

Straudd walks over to join Drake by the wreckage, wondering what Drake meant when he said that keeping control over himself was going to be a good thing. He doesn't mention anything however, but instead climbs up the slope of a fallen tree to try and get a better vantage point.

From his vantage point Straudd could see clearly all the way down the path the Deathstalker had made which lead to another clearing. From this distance it looks like there was several stone brick laying around in it. Beyond that there was nothing but trees to see around them.

Straudd points down the path of fallen trees created by the Deathstalker. 'Over there, there's another clearing.' He shouts down to Drake. 'It looks like there's some ruins or something in it too! Looks like this is the way, huh?' Straudd jumps down from the log, landing heavily on both feet, before standing up and beckoning to Drake as he begins to walk down the path. 'Come on, let's move out before something else turns up to waste even more of our time.'

At that he laughs, just a little, moving to keep pace with Straudd, cutting errant branches and foliage away with the Talons. He nods at the comment and then clambers up a log himself to look, frowning just a little beneath his mask.

"Looks like. Of course we could be wrong...we do have...that thing's tail over there as our shame."

ooc: walk down the path and talk for a few posts. get to know each other. I'll make another post then with the details about the temple.

Straudd hums quietly to himself as the pair walk down the path, occasionally vaulting over logs and patches of foliage left in the the Deathstalker's wake. Eventually, he looks over at Drake and breaks the silence with 'So, how'd you end up at Beacon? I mean, we're partners now for the next few years, so I guess we should get to know each other.'

There is an awkward silence as the pair walk. Of course, this was bound to happen. Drake was not one for people...but Straudd had a valid point. He shrugs, occasionally hacking at a bit of foliage or a twig, thankful that he had the Talons. This could have been a bit of work otherwise.

"I dedicated myself to killing them. The Grimm. My father told me this place was...of some reputation in the old field. So he took the funds the family already had and ensured I could get here." His voice drifts off a bit at that. There was something Drake wasn't telling about this. Something he wasn't prepared to tell just yet.

He shakes his head and looks to Straudd. "And what of yourself?"

Straudd replies with 'If I'm honest, I have no idea where I came from. I got grabbed by slavers when I was very young. I got sold to someone in this city a couple of years ago. Then a Hunter freed me and I went to Signal. I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I went along with it and this is where it led me.' Straudd shrugs his shoulders. 'Not exactly a great story, but it is what it is I guess.' He inadvertently rubs his eyepiece, before squinting at the clearing in the distance. 'It doesn't look much farther now... What do you think this "relic" might be?'

Another shrug as he keeps pace, climbing over bits of fallen branches and scree, keeping his balance with the Talons. The armoured plates clink together slightly as he walks, the bits of chain connecting them swaying ever so slightly. Of course any expressions he may be making are generally hidden by the crimson scarf-mask as he glances to Straudd.

"Huh. So we are effectively the Lost and the Damned. Seems appropriate."

Drake stops, glancing up the path toward the clearing, then looking about carefully. Of course, unlike the mythological drake he did not have any sort of enhanced senses. But naturally he was wary of his surroundings. Far too used to expecting the worst.

"I honestly don't know Straudd. I expect it'll be something that stands out from its environment. I honestly don't know what exactly we are doing wandering about here for the most part." Another glance about and he starts to clamber up the fallen branches, trying to get a higher vantage point. Not that he wasn't already the second tallest person within this particular initiation...

The two teens heard the loud caw of a nevermore coming from forward and above them. If they looked up they would see the bird firing feathers down, presumably at another team or student. A battle was about to commence.

OOC: you guys are going to join in with Team 1.