D.I.R.T. - A RWBY Fanfic Complete

The Change

Tigris was currently separated from the rest of her team. As they had began helping those fleeing the battle in the Square it had become necessary for them to split up in order to cover more ground.

With her waa a couple of boys a few years younger than her. They had been messing around instead of being in school. She doubted they'd skip school again if they didn't die today.

"Let's keep going guys," she encouraged them. "Just around this corner and you guys should be safe to go home on your own."

They remained silent but she could hear their pace increase. They really were good kids. As she passed the corner she turned to speak to them.

"Alright-," she began when her senses were suddenly assaulted. A pungent smell of death and fear filled her nostril as the realization of what that meant hit her in more than one way.

Luckily she managed to push the boys back as a giant black paw slammed into her side sending her flying across the street into a nearby building. Their cries of shock were drowned out by the roar of the Ursa.

"Get out of here!" she shouted as she jumped out of the rubble. They were frozen in place as the Ursa turned on them. She needed to get its attention. And thankfully it had provided her with plenty of ammo to do so.

"Pick on someone your own size!" she shouted as she began to hurl prices of brick and wood at the Grimm. Scooping up several more pieces she began to run towards it.

"Get out of here!" she shouted to the boys again as she tackled it.

Seeing her bring it down got them moving again. Relief filled her as they ran past her and the Grimm towards safety. Guess Rose had really rubbed off on her. A year ago she wouldn't have felt anything for the boys because of her past experiences.

A roar in her ears brought her back to the battle and she back-flipped off the Ursa. It quickly stood up and charged her. Slipping her hands into her outfit she rolled under its attack. When she came up ash rose from a gash on it's belly, a single blade extended from each of her gauntlets. It was wounded, possibly mortally so, but it was still standing.

"Let's go!"

They both began charging each other again. This time it was more cautious. As they drew closer it stood up and attacked her left side. She jumped to the right and prepared to counterattack. But she was forced to defend when it swung it's other arm backwards at her sending her sliding back several feet.

It was livelier than she had expected which meant she would need to put away some of her own limits. The moment she made the decision her aura began to form around her giving her a dark glow. Switching her blade into five that gave her the appearance of having large claws she waited as it charged once more.

Again it stood in front of her to attack her left side. It's eyes watching for her escape showing more intelligence a beast like it should have. Instead of dodging she caught it's paw in her left hand, not even flinching as the pavement beneath her cracked. Without hesitating she shoved her right Claw into its gut causing it to scream. It retaliated with it's other paw on her unguarded side only to be knocked away by her tail which had struck from it's normal hiding place around her waste. She had been training it so that it was as strong as her arms and just as capable.

Before it could recover from having its arm knocked back her Claw began to glow red and its body shudder as Dust formed blades began to fire into its gut. It took only a few seconds before the projectiles began shooting from its back. And only a few more after that for the weight in her hand to vanish as ash filled the air.

Her shoulders slumped in exhaustion as she closed her eyes and began working on putting her mental defenses back up. While pushing her limits and letting her semblance activate a little gave her tremendous strength it was also dangerous. If anything went wrong while her defenses were lowered she could lose control. She had finally begun to let herself believe she could stay at Beacon. And nothing would her in the way of that.