Team ALLY

Chapter 3: Proving Grounds

The next day we meet up at the edge of a cliff overlooking the emerald forest. We're all standing on metal plates with some sort of hinge at the front. Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch stand in front of us. "For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin says quietly while holding his cup of coffee.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." Glynda continues. The girl in the red hood lets off a small whine as Ozpin continues from where Glynda left off. "Now these teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." The girl in the red hood lets off another small whine as Ozpin continues. "That being said...the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next 4 years." That confused and shocked a few. To me it seemed counter-intuitive. If I have to be able to work well with them then why would I choose the first arbitrary person I came across? Nevertheless, my parents studied under Ozpin so I have full faith in his methods. He finishes with our objective: A, get to the north end of the forest; B, collect "relic;" C, return to school with our "relic;" D, destroy everything in our path or we'll be grimm food. After being informed we're in charge of our own landing strategy I pull out wolfsbane and prepare for launch.

We're launched into the air and I place wolfsbane on my back. It folds out into the wings and I find a nice place to land. I fold up wolfsbane and put it back on my hip. "Look out!" I hear a familiar voice shout. I look up to see lilac come crashing down. I go to catch her but before I can she smacks into me. Smacking us into an oak tree behind me. She stands up but I'm not as fast to my feet. Even with my aura up I took quite the impact. "Hold still." she places her hand on my arm and focuses. She glows then the glow spreads to me. I feel the pain subside and the strength return to my legs. "That's quite the trick."

"I'm able to absorb sunlight and convert it to energy that my Aura can harness to heal me, heal others, increase speed or strength, create a shield, or..." she spins her staff and points it at me. It's filled with a reflective metal and there seems to be a hole under one of the grips. "I can channel the energy into a solar cannon through my staff."

"Nice."

"I'm guessing yours has something to do with your mind."

"How'd you guess?"

"Why else would you try and catch me holding out one hand if it wasn't some kind of telekinetics?"

"Fair point, but it's more than telekinetics. I've got a full range of psychic abilities. But I forgot a lot of them. I still have my main stuff like illusions, telepathy, and telekinetics but apparently I used to be quite the prodigy before...well let's just say my life changed."

"Well let's get moving. We're headed north." Me and Lilac start to walk to the northern edge when I spot Leo. "Hey bro!" He looks over and I wave he runs over with the girl with the black sword from the airship. "Well I see you got your partner already."

"And you, yours. I'm sorry. Lilac this is my brother Leo."

"Yellowjacket, Aries." We exchange greetings and I feel a vague presence nearby. "Woa, woa, you guys sense that?" I hear a large howl and we spin around to see a large group of beowolves. "Everyone get behind me." I urge. They stand back and I ready myself. They charge and I make a wall of spiked barriers. I shove them back and manage to skewer some. A large alpha leaps over and before I can even think he's on top of me. Leo charges and gives him a mighty uppercut. A flurry of black spikes pierce his body. We turn around to see Yema holding her hand out. A bracelet with dust containers around her wrist. "I make barbs out of dust."

"Nice, we have a speed brawler, a solar cannon, a psychic, and a barb thrower. I'd say we shouldn't expect much issue getting to the end." We continue on our way. Quickly dispatching grimm along the way. I feel a rumbling in the ground. And I kneel down. I feel the tremors coming from the east and I look over to see a giant deathstalker chasing Pyrrha with Vomit Boy hanging off the tail. "C'mon!" I look up to see the girl in the red hood and Weiss hanging off a Nevermore. "Lilac you're with me." I mount my scythe on my back and it folds into my wings. "Leo, Yellowjacket, You guys chase down the Deathstalker, I'll pursue that nevermore in the air with Lilac." They nod and run off. "I can't exactly fly."

"That's what I'm here for." I grab one end of her staff and we fly up. We're on top of the nevermore in a second. "Lilac, grab them, quick." I slowly lower her onto the nevermore. She reaches for the girl in the red hood but the girl in the red hood slips off. I go to divebomb to catch up only for her to be intercepted by Vomit Boy who had been flung from the tail of the deathstalker. I turn my attention back to Weiss and lilac only for Weiss to start falling. "Well this has gone real well." I look down to see Leo and Yema being chased by a white Beowolf. "Really? We're just piling onto the party." I try to catch Weiss but miss. Luckily Vomit Boy's spine breaks her fall. I fly up and pick up Lilac and lower her to the ground. "Well by the way I see it we have three major problems. Nevermore, Deathstalker, White Wolf." The girl in the red hood charges the Deathstalker but it ends pretty poorly. Luckily Weiss blocks the tail with ice. "Leo, we can lead off the Wolf, give these guys a fighting chance." I levitate a couple relics from the shrine and hand one to Leo, a pair of white rooks. I get the wolf's attention with a couple shots from Wolfsbane's AR mode. It howls a deafening howl and we take our group to lead it into the forest. "What now, genius!" Yellowjacket says annoyed."

"Give me a moment! Alright. Leo, trip him up; Yema, aim for the eyes; Lilac, you're with me." Lilac gets close to me and I levitate us on top of a tree. "Okay I'm gonna create a lense out of barriers. It should, in theory, amplify the sun's rays. How big can you charge that cannon?"

"I onced punched it through a foot thick wall without even trying."

"That'll do." Leo starts to dash and shoot at his feet. Yema fires off her barbs, bouncing just shy of the eyes. I form the lense and start to intensify the sun. "Tell me if it's too hot."

"I can take the heat." She tightens her grip on the staff and a small glow starts to emanate. They manage to keep him busy long enough that the glow coming from the staff is blinding. She flips something and a small metal disc slides out and a bright beam comes out. Punching huge hole in the chest of the beast. It falls to the ground in a giant cloud of smoke. I dissipate the lense and she falls back. "Hey you alright?"

"Just a little drained. I'll be fine." I help her up and they make their way back to the rendezvous point.

We find out the artifacts assign each pairing as a team of four. We're lead into the room usually used for the sparring class and lined up. We're first since we were the first back. "Aries Paladin, Lilac Flora, Leonidas Paladin, Yema Wasby. You four retrieved the white rook pieces, This day forward, you will work together as Team ALLY. Lead by, Aries Paladin." I'm at the same time surprised and worried that I was chosen to lead. One by one the teams are formed and we're assigned our dorms. I set my folded up scythe under my bed and toss my trench coat on my desk chair. I plop on my bed and go to sleep.