Team 4 (SentientSnake and Shadowdragon Nox)

OOC: once landing SentientSnake and Shadowdragon Nox will post here.

Indigo heard familiar sounds of the wind rushing past her head as she fell. She tucked into a ball and began rolling in midair, picking up speed. As she passed the tree line, a pop sound is heard as Indigo flash steps to the forest floor, rolling violently for several feet before casually getting to her feet. "Piece of cake. And now, I need to find a person." Indigo surveys her surroundings.

Around indigo there was naught but trees and bushes. The trees had several gashes on them in various places. The grass on the ground was still depressed as if one or something had been laying in it recently. Upon inspection of the ground she would see small traces of a yellow goo.

Indigo examines the goo, picking some up on her finger, and sniffing it.

The yellow substance had an awful smell similar to that of b.o. In front of her a small Ursa's head poked through the bush. It reared up on his hind legs standing a whole head shorter than Indigo. It let out a roar to intimidate the girl and leaped at her and swung it's claw trying to strike Indigo for invading it's home.

A small yelp escapes Indigo's mouth before flash stepping 6 feet backwards. "Hey now little guy, I'm not gonna steal your berries or anything." Indigo said, trying to calm the young ursa. She readies her shuko, prepared to climb away as a plan B.

The cub missed Indigo and fell forward on it's belly. It let out a little cry before standing up as Indigo attempted to calm it down. It raised it's paws above it's head stumbling backwards a little and let out several small roars trying to intimidate Indigo.

Behind Indigo the mama bear walked into the small area and heard it's cubs roar. It stood up behind the girl towering over her. It reached up and tapped her on the shoulder with it's claw, then let out a deafening roar complete with spit and bad breath right in Indigo's face, or back of her head if she hadn't turned around.

The little cub fell backwards on it's bum as it's mom roared. It clapped it's paws together happy to see it's mom again.

Indigo had a small heart attack as she heard a deafening roar behind her. She flash stepped a few feet up a tree and before she knew what was even behind her, she was climbing with lightning speed, a look of fear like no other on her face.

The mama bear looked up the tree as the girl climbed up the tree quickly. It grabbed the tree and began to shake it trying to knock the girl out of it and back to the ground so it could attack her for disturbing her home and her cub.

The little cub watched it's mom shaking the tree and stood up and waddled over to a small sapling and began to imitate it's mother.

Indigo retracts the shuko and drops from the tree. Here goes nothing! Indigo falls strait down from above of the mama, charging her bare feet with her aura in an attempt to aura push the ursa and stun it.

“Well this is rather annoying.”

Cain shook his head as he mumbled to himself, glancing round at the many trees and bushes surrounding him. He had not seen anyone else upon landing after his… unique… launch from the platform. Gingerly he massaged the spot on his spine from where the launch pad had impacted. While his clumsiness on the cliff may have been an act, the bruise on his back was very real.

“Not exactly the cleanest of landings, but I suppose it could have been worse.”

Continuing deeper into the forest, the grey haired boy kept an eye out for any of the other initiates. However, even as he pushed further through the thick tree trunks and concealing underbrush, Cain could not see any signs of another student’s passing. After about ten minutes of walking, the young man gave an exasperated sigh.

“This is taking far too long. How about we speed this process up a bit?”

Reaching up to the small black box on the back of his neck, Cain flipped the switch of the ABEL system’s Keystone. For a moment the air around his body shimmered slightly, and a second later the Keystone’s tiny indicator light turned green.

“Now then… Level 2… Enhancement Field!”

Slowly he closed his eyes, and as he did the Keystone light flickered from green to yellow.

In an instant the world about Cain was a rush of new sensations as the receptors of his sensory system were pushed to new levels. The trickling sound of a tiny stream nearby erupted until it became the roar of raging rapids. Meanwhile, the chirping of a small bug to his right rose just as quickly in intensity until it resembled the blaring screech of an alarm.

Carefully so as not to miss anything, Cain focused his aura and slowly muted the frequencies of these sounds even as he pushed his focus further. A rustling of leaves told him that a bird had alighted upon a branch somewhere to his left, about four hundred meters away if he had to wager a guess. Yet this was not what he was looking for, and just as he had with the stream and cricket, the hunter-in-training adjusted his perception until this animal too could be easily ignored.  One by one Cain screened the sounds around him, adding more of his aura to the enhancement field he had set up within his body.

Another bird… a squirrel… another stream…

“Hey now little guy, I'm not gonna steal your berries or anything."

… a girl!

Instantly Cain’s eyes snapped open, and the sounds about him once again dulled as the Keystone light returned to green. Raising his hand, the boy pointed somewhere to his left.

900 meters... Cain thought to himself. North-north-west. Looks like someone has gotten into a bit of a brawl.

Quickly Cain began sprinting in the direction he had indicated. While he could tell nothing of the one who had uttered the words, save that they were most likely female; he could not delay in reaching them. However, his wish to find a partner was not the reason he was now sprinting through the trees. Rather, it was the other sounds originating near the stranger which caused him to waste no time. He would recognize those growls anywhere. After all, he had heard similar sounds often enough during his training hunts.

Soon enough Cain found himself hiding behind a tree. Carefully he peeked out from behind the trunk just in time to watch as a white haired girl dropped down from a tree towards a very angry looking ursa. Even as she flew towards the animal, Cain was already taking in his surrounds as he looked for an opening to strike.

The Mama Ursa fell over as the girl fell onto it stomping on it. It's cub turned and looked as it heard it's mom hit the ground. The cub ran at Indigo and swung at her to get revenge for it's mother, which was really just unconscious.

Indigo panted from the exertion of the aura push. She had just about enough of these ursa. Indigo hopped off the large creature and activates her bronze knuckles. Making an intimidating roar, she charges at the cub, her right fist trailing behind her, ready to punch it.

The punch connected firmly with the cub. It spun around on it's foot before falling over, out cold.

The mother pushed it's self up and roared at the girl. It moved towards the girl and swung it's left claw at her.

Cain was already on the move by the time the mother Ursa raised itself from the ground; the Keystone light of the ABEL system once again switching to yellow. He burst forth from his hiding spot, accelerating almost instantaneously to top speed while aura energy permeated his muscle tissue to generate new muscle fibers. Even as the Ursa roared in anger at the girl who had harmed its child, in the blink of an eye the monster unexpectedly found its claw intercepted mid-swing.

“Settle down girl.” Cain chuckled, a blue light shimmering from his right palm as he held the beast’s claw at bay. “I am willing to bet that this young lady was not responsible for starting this fight.”

The smile faded from the Cain’s face and his eyes took on a steely glint; all warmth quickly vanishing from his voice.

“Perhaps you should back off for a moment.”

As he braced himself, Cain’s aura continued filling the muscles of his arms and legs. Yet by the time the boy did throw the beast’s left claw away he was already redirecting most of his aura to his left palm, causing the air around his hand to crackle with the rapidly coalescing energy.

“Alpha point… Primary strike!”

The ground beneath Cain’s feet cracked, and in a split second the boy’s open palm shot towards the roaring monster’s chest.

The mother's claw was stopped by a teenage boy who had come out of the woods. It growled at the boy that was stopping it from attacking the girl who had harmed her cub. The teen boy then slammed his open palm against the Ursa.

In a moment it was launched back against a tree and slid down. The Ursa shook it's head confused at what had just happened to it. It sat for a moment on the ground before staggering and getting up. It roared at the teens and charged at them aiming to tackle them.

Indigo had already rolled out of the way, only to hear a loud impact noise. As she rolled she saw the upside down image of a boy in a lab coat grabbing the ursa. Shem? As she got to her feet, she confirmed that it was indeed someone else, and that the someone had also knocked the monster 10 feet into a tree. "Watch out!" She yelled as the mama charged at him.

"Watch out!"

The stranger called out her warning, and a small smile returned to Cain’s face as the Ursa charged. Admittedly, he was impressed with the beast’s reliance. While his attack had only been meant to stun the monster, it had still managed to recover far faster than he would have predicted.

With a light chuckle Cain allowed the ABEL system to reset to Level 1; his mental command causing the Keystone light to shift once again to green. In a fight such as this there would be no point in maintaining such a high level of strain. It was not as if fighting an Ursa was something out of the ordinary. Even so…

Cain took a deep breath, and in that one moment it was as if the world had come to a stand-still. His mind began to race, and piece by piece the young man began to analyze the situation in which he now found himself. From the locations of the surrounding trees to even the placement of their shadows on the groud, one variable after the next was instantly characterized and compiled into his memory.

To his left lay the Ursa cub that had been struck by the white-haired stranger. Judging by the constant rise and fall of its chest the creature was certainly still alive. However, the lack of any other movement or sound was enough to reveal that the miniature beast was most definitely unconscious. It was certainly not going to prove to be a factor in this fight, but as Cain’s analytical mind generated a map of the current battlefield he cataloged its location all the same.

Next the boy’s attention turned to the stranger whom he had decided to assist. The young woman had bright blue eyes and long white hair which was currently tied up in a ponytail. Her clothes were green, and while she could not have been taller than five feet in height, judging by her face Cain guessed she was about his age. Asides from her physical attributes, Cain knew absolutely nothing of this girl or her capabilities as a fighter. However, he was confidant in predicting that she was far from being a helpless damsel in distress. After all, the best hunters and huntresses were never helpless, and Beacon only accepted students who had the potential to be the best. Yet despite this prediction, the girl was still an unknown variable. So before he could proceed any further, Cain knew he would have to conduct an on-the-fly investigation.

It seems I have some data to collect.

Cain released his breath and the world suddenly lurched once again to its normal pace. The sounds of the surrounding forced returned once again, and this included the angry roars of the Ursa as it charged towards him. Drawing his right arm back, the sound of crackling air arose once again as Cain allowed the ABEL system to magnify his aura and localize it around his right fist. Waiting until the beast was only a few meters away, Cain finally slammed his clenched fist into the ground and allowed his condensed aura to explode outward at the point of contact. The dirt and rock beneath was immediately pulverized by the rapidly expanding energy, and instantly a massive cloud of dust and broken rock erupted into the air, blocking both him and the approaching monster from view.

As Indigo watched on, a shadow appeared from the dust cloud. A moment later Cain erupted forth, coming to land beside her as the sounds of the enraged Ursa continued to emanate from somewhere  within the slowly settling dust cloud.

“Sorry, by the way.” Cain apologized, smiling at her as he brushed some dirt from the sleeves of his white lab coat. “About interrupting your fight I mean. I realize you did not ask for my help, so I apologize if you wanted to handle this on your own.”

By now the dust and dirt were already beginning to clear, and judging from the volume of the enraged roars it sounded as if the Ursa was not happy at having lost sight of its prey.

“Anyways, I’m Cain by the way.” the grey-haired boy continued, extending his hand to Indigo as though the two of them has simply met on a pleasant stroll through the woods. “If you would like, I can just leave the rest to you. After all, I would hate to crash a party to which I was not invited.”

Indigo raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh..." She looked past Cain to make sure the coast was clear. "Indigo. Looks like we're partners now. I'd love to trade formalities but we've got to move." Indigo focused and, after a moment, sent out a silent wave of aura, sensing for life. She points north. "There's a large group of... Somethings out that way." She grabs Cain's arm and pulls him with her, westward. "Let's move! We've got a job to do!"

The Ursa roared as it was blinded by the dust. Some of the dust getting in it's eyes causing it to be blind ever after the dust settled. When it got it's sight back the two teens were no where to be seen. It growled before curling up around it's cub.

The two teens moved through the forest in the west talking as they went.

ooc: yeah... just go through the woods and talk. Move branches out of the way and stuff. I'll eventually have you encounter the temple. or something.

The two initiates traveled westward through the woods, Cain glancing occasionally towards the white-haired girl with whom he now journeyed. As they walked, the boy’s mind continued to look back on the fight from which they had just escaped. He tried to piece together what little information he had gleaned about his new companion, and more importantly, how she had handled herself during the conclusion of their “battle”.

Cain had created the dust cloud to completely shield the two of them from the Ursa’s view and, more than likely, impair the monster’s ability to see them clearly even after the distraction had settled.  The advantage at that point in the fight was theirs, and it would have been easy enough for Cain to eliminate the threat of the Ursa by himself, let alone with the two students working in tandem. Yet instead of finishing off the monster, this girl had instead insisted that they use the distraction as a way to retreat. The question then became… why? The fact of the matter was, by running, the two of them had turned their back on an enemy.

Was Cain worried about a follow up attack by the Ursa? Not in the slightest. And that fact alone was the reason he had allowed himself to be dragged away while the creature still lived. Though Grimm lacked any souls, they still displayed basic animalistic behaviors; and in this case that would mean the mother Ursa was likely far more concerned with looking after her offspring than chasing after some intruders. So for the moment the two students had nothing to fear from letting this particular beast get away. However, Cain was still curious about his “partner’s” reason for choosing to run.

After several minutes of walking, Cain decided to break the silence and turned to the young woman.

“So… you said your name was Indigo, right?” he asked, giving her a bright smile. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ll admit; I was getting a little worried about not having found anyone else before meeting you. I thought perhaps I was going to have to do this whole thing by mysel… oof!”

As he spoke the boy’s foot caught on a protruding root. He gave a startled grunt before tumbling forward to land on his face with a dull thud.  

“Ow…”

Cain slowly picked himself off the ground, adjusting his glasses as he gingerly rubbed his nose.

“Where did that come from?”

"Are you okay?" Indigo squated down to his level. "you aren't too good at navigating forests, are you?" She perked her ears and looked around, listening intently. "Do you hear that?"

The sound Indigo was picking up was the sound of a Nevermore cawing ahead of them. If she looked up she would notice a white pillar in a field through the trees. If she waited she would most likely hear the sounds of battle too.

OOC: you guys are going to be merging in with Team 1's thread. Be sure to enter the field from the forest.