Team SWRZ - Volume 1 - Chapter 10 - Second Pairing!

Falling from great heights wasn't something that Rowan expected to experience on her second day of Huntsmen training. Her previous, foolish dreams of becoming a Huntress as a child vanished in a flash when the faculty dropped unsuspecting students into the dangers of the forest. Thankfully, she was among the many students skilled enough to formulate a landing despite the severity of the situation. Her twin derringer pistols, [Double-Dealing], extended out from her sleeves into the safety of her hands. Rowan spun the barrels until the desired ammunition was selected.

Rowan licked her lips and aimed at the incoming trees. She pulled the triggers several times and fired her dust rounds, encasing her targets in ice. From there, the young woman braced herself and crashed through the icy branch's feet, using them to soften the blow until her inevitable landing.

"Safe..." Rowan proclaimed more to herself rather than anyone else around. She reached down and picked up her hat, returning it to the top of her head before wandering off in a random direction. Fortunately for her, she didn't appear to land nearby any other students, giving her time to speak with a trusted friend. "Mari? Do you copy?" She put her finger to the earbud.

"Yes! I copy! Where are you right now? Connection's terrible!" Mari complained.

Rowan grimaced from the static feedback produced from the earbud. "Can you believe this? The bastards dropped us in the middle of the forest from the sky! No parachutes or anything!" The young woman went on a tangent, venting her justified frustrations to her partner on the other end. Rowan didn't expect to go through near-death experiences until months into her training.

If hiding out at Haven was going to be like that every day, she'd take her chances elsewhere.

"Well, if you have enough time to complain, you must alright," Mari concluded, much to the irritation of Rowan. She planned to give her partner a piece of her mind if they met in person.

"Alright? Alright?! Take this seriously," Rowan exclaimed, "I could've died!"

"Could've..." Mari agreed. "Anyway, I'm piggybacking off the security cameras in the forest. There's so much footage to go through..."

"Have you spotted any areas where I could find both scrolls? I wanna get out of here as soon as possible."

"I've found several, but I still can't pinpoint your location right now. You're on your own at the moment,"

"Okay, I'll deal with this myself then." Rowan ended the conversation by removing her earbud. From that point, she was out on her own, wandering through the forest without knowing what to expect.

She looked off in the distance, having spotted areas of combat further ahead. Black smoke rose into the sky, warning her not to proceed in that direction. She took the hint and headed elsewhere. Battle wasn't necessarily her strong suit. Therefore, she decided to take the high road.

Rowan leaped into the air and landed on a tree branch. From there, she jumped from tree limb to tree limb, hoping to avoid students and Grimm alike until she found both scrolls that she needed to complete the assignment.

Unfortunately, life had other plans in mind. After she crossed quite the distance, Rowan encountered a swarm of Lancers. The moment the Grimm laid their eyes on her, they attacked.

"Shit!" Rowan cursed as she jumped down to the ground, narrowly avoiding the bombardment of stingers the Grimm launched from their bodies. She looked over her shoulder and saw how easily the stringers tore through whatever material got in their way. Gruesome images flashed through her mind at the thought of those things going through her skin, which only fueled her desire to run away faster.

Thankfully, the mechanisms on her wrists ejected her twin Derringer Pistols in her hands, where she proceeded to fire away at the incoming Lancers. Sure, she took down a few. But, their numbers were too much. If not for the several trees she cut through to avoid impalement, she would've been dead long ago.

"Damn it! I'm not dying here! Not now!" Rowan inwardly swore, preparing to use her semblance when she found an opportunity.

She glanced over her shoulder again, spotting another stinger heading straight for her. A firm hand pushed her aside when she prepared to activate her semblance.

Rowan hit the ground. Meanwhile, the one that pushed her away stood firm and defended her from the stinger. The downed woman looked up and saw her fellow student's familiar, hulking figure, Sunil Ambrus. The large Bull Faunus held a massive shield in one hand and grabbed the Lancer's stinger.

He pulled the Lancer toward him with a mighty tug, readying his shield to deliver the fatal blow. Once it was within his reach, he slammed it into the Grimm's body with a mighty roar, destroying it instantly.

Rowan looked on in awe at the fantastic show of strength of the young man.

"Can you stand?" Sunil asked, not looking away from the Lancers that swarmed around them.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rowan nodded and readied her pistols, "You should try being more gentle with ladies, y' know. I could've dodged that last stinger."

"I don't doubt that," Sunil agreed. "I just thought that we should've given you a hand."

"We?" Rowan arched her eyebrow. As if answering her question, several knives rained down from the treetops, impaling the Grimm. While the Lancers fell toward the ground, Sunil turned and covered Rowan, knowing what to expect. Seconds later, the Grimm burst into flames, covering the area in a series of explosions.

Sunil released Rowan from his tight grip and stepped away when the smoke cleared. The duo turned and witnessed the late Grimm fade away into nothingness.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Sunil inquired.

"I'm fine," Rowan answered, looking around for the source of the explosions.

"Good. This would've been meaningless if you were harmed," Sunil smiled and looked up at the treetops. "Ilma! Do you see Grimm anymore?"

Rowan glanced upward, following the young man's line of sight. She spotted another student leisurely lying on one of the tree branches. It was a young woman in a smoky grey coat with long, shaggy black hair that reached down to the back of her neck.

"Nah, I don't see anymore," Ilma lazily replied, following up with a long, drawn-out yawn. "You check and see if that girl has any scrolls on her?"

"I haven't," Sunil returned his gaze to Rowan.

"Ah, so that's why you saved me?" Rowan placed her hands on her hips. "You wanna extort me for my scrolls? Well, too bad. I don't have any."

"Waste of time," Ilma complained.

"No, I saved you because I didn't want you to die." Sunil shook his head, trying to cast aside Rowan's suspicions. "I couldn't sit back and have a future Huntress die. Humanity won't last if we keep losing good people."

"So you say," Rowan doubted every word spewed from his mouth. Call her cynical, but she didn't believe in good people. There was no such thing.

"Where's your partner?" Sunil asked.

"Don't have one," Rowan answered as she turned heels and headed in a random direction. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

"You're not going to wait for someone to come by? You're going to need a partner out there,"

"I'll be fine. I'm more than capable of holding my own out here,"

Ilma scoffed and looked down from her spot in the tree. "Yeah, sure, 'cause you had that Lancer situation handled."

Rowan's face turned bright red, knowing that Ilma's response wasn't entirely false. However, she refused to admit it to everyone outright.

"Fine, if you two wanna tag along until we complete this trial, I don't mind." She suggested, figuring that having those two follow her around wasn't too bad of an idea. If they stuck around and handled all the fighting, she could collect the scrolls and quickly escape from there later on down the line.

"What do you say, Ilma?" Sunil asked.

"You guys go on ahead and do it without me," Another yawn leaked from Ilma's mouth. She smacked her lips and closed her eyes, making herself comfortable on the branch. "Wake me up when it's all over."

Rowan couldn't believe how brazen the girl acted. They were in a forest teeming with Grimm and other dangers, yet Ilma didn't give two shits. Instead, the girl tried to sleep soundly on a tree branch.

Sunil shook his head. "Forgive her. It turns out she's quite lazy," The large man proceeded to toss his shield into the air. It spun rapidly and struck the branch Ilma used to support herself. Without it, Illma plummeted to the ground. Or, that would've been the case if Sunil hadn't caught her and his shield.

"Shall we go?" He asked, casually carrying his partner underneath his arm.

"Damn it, Sunil! Let me go! Let me go! It's a waste of time!" Ilma complained, kicking and screaming as the large man carried her off in a random direction.

Rowan shook her head and reluctantly followed, knowing she'd be somewhat safe with the duo.

Meanwhile, Zorina trekked through her forest area, her scythe, [Blood Wing], drawn and kept close to her chest. It was safe to say that it was one of her first times out in the woods without any form of security. She was on her own, wandering through the unknown, far from the safety and comfort of her mansion walls.

Honestly, that aspect terrified her. The seventeen years she spent chained to her mansion by her mother was terrifying but sometimes rewarding. At least there were places she could find to escape. In the forest, however, was a different story.

She didn't know what to expect from the location or terrain. It clicked in her mind that she needed to find a partner as soon as possible — someone big and reliable who could watch her back.

"Oh man, w-where am I?" Zorina stuttered. The farther she wandered through the forest, the higher her anxiety rose. Why hadn't anyone arrived? She could've sworn she saw other students fall in her direction.

Bushes rustled nearby. Zorina shrieked and recklessly swung her weapon around. What was in there? An enemy? What kind? A bandit? A Huntsman? Grimm?

Out from the bushes came her answer in the form of a fellow student — a green-eyed young woman donned with fur-trimmed scale armor and long black hair with three braided ponytails — two falling in front of her shoulders and the third one falling behind her back.

"Umm, excuse me? Are you okay?" The young woman asked. But, Zorina, who was far too busy screaming her head off, couldn't hear the girl's query. The student stood there, baffled about how to deal with the situation. She couldn't exactly get close to the girl by swinging her scythe around like a crazy person.

The way she screamed also caused some concern. Grimm and other animals could hear and attract their attention, which the male student wished to avoid. Eventually, Zorina tired herself and lowered her weapon, taking a few deep breaths. When the young woman's opportunity to speak again came, she took it.

"Got it all out of your system now?" She asked, resting her spear, [Slayer], on her shoulder.

Zorina nodded her head and exhaled, "Yeah...sorry about that. I uh..." She paused, realizing that she had broken character for a moment. Zorina straightened her posture to rectify that mistake and posed, "I mean, of course, I'm alright! You should be grateful, mortal, for you have just witnessed one of my most frightening techniques!"

"Ah..." A sound of complete disappointment leaked from the female student's mouth. She came across a weird one, that was for sure. As long as the girl was okay, she was okay with moving along. "Well, since you're okay..."

She walked around the nutjob, trying to head deeper into the forest. However, Zorina blocked her path.

"W-Wait! Where are you going?!" She exclaimed. The mystery girl was the first person she encountered in the forest. They made eye contact and everything. According to the rules, they were partners. "Aren't we partners now? We made eye contact."

"We did. But I've already got a partner." The girl revealed.

"Who?" Zorina asked.

"Him," The student pointed over to her partner with her spear. Zorina's eyes darted in that direction and spotted the White Tiger Faunus, Wei Tian. He wasn't more than five feet away from the two, yet Zorina hadn't noticed him until that moment. The young man's icy stare sent a shiver down her spine.

"Are you done messing around with that girl, Emma?" Wei asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Emma nodded and wandered back to her partner. "She looked scared, and I wanted to help her."

"What good did that get you? She doesn't even have a scroll," Wei pointed out.

"It's not about personal gain; it's about doing the right thing." Emma countered.

"You're wasting time helping every little person you come across. Let's go," Wei demanded. He slipped his hands into his pockets and went on ahead.

"Wait up!" Emma called out to her partner, but Wei refused to listen. She shook her head and looked at Zorina, "Hey, you're more than welcome to follow us until another student shows up. It's not a good idea to hang around here alone."

"Hmph, solitude is something this Empress of Darkness prefers! I do not need more minions at the moment!" Zorina boasted.

"Don't be like that. Come on," Emma grabbed Zorina by the hand and led her after Wei. Despite the young woman's constant demands for release, they fell on deaf ears.

Zorina made nothing but complaints about getting dragged around by Emma for the first few minutes together. But, one sharp glare from Wei kept her quiet for the most part. She couldn't describe her feeling from the young Faunus' gaze.

But, she knew from the uncontrollable shaking of her body that she shouldn't mess with him. The only comfort she found in that situation was Emma standing in front of her. If not for her, she wasn't sure how'd she deal with Wei.

"It's too quiet around here, Wei," Emma complained while the group continued through the forest. None of them could hear a single sound — no sounds of combat, the rustling of bushes, Grimm, nothing.

Zorina also found it strange that she couldn't hear the wind. She felt it blow through the area, but it didn't make a single sound.

"Let's keep it that way," Wei snarkily remarked. He leaped into the air and landed on a tree branch, deciding to scout the vicinity from a high vantage point. He spotted numerous students fighting for their lives against the Grimm. "Grimm up ahead."

Suddenly, the sounds of battle reached the ears of Emma and Zorina. It startled them initially, but Emma cracked her knuckles and rushed ahead into battle.

"Come on! We should help!" Emma tried to goad Zorina into taking action.

Zorina made no sudden movements. Instead, she stood there, staring off at the Grimm that attacked the other students. The battlefield was far too different from her mansion's controlled environment. She'd seen pictures of the Grimm in her study books. However, seeing them up close awakened an emotion she never imagined she'd experience from them.

Fear.

It was perhaps the first time in her life that Zorina was left speechless and motionless. Even as the students fought for their lives against the creatures of destruction, she couldn't find the strength to lift her scythe. She watched as Emma courageous jumped into the battle, happily fighting off the Grimm with her spear.

On the other hand, Wei quickly slaughtered the monsters with his weapons, [Severance], a pair of gloves with sharp, golden blades that extruded from them.

Zorina couldn't understand how brave those people could fight against such terrifying creatures so quickly. Didn't they fear death?

One Beowolf escaped from the students and charged the distracted Zorina.

"Hey, look out!" Emma called out to her. Poor Zorina was too frightened to raise her weapon, let alone her voice to cry out for help. The closest person to her was Wei, but the Faunus didn't bother to save her. He watched on with disinterested eyes, waiting to witness the inevitable slaughter.

And that would've been the case if not for the knife that flew across the field, striking the Grimm in the face. The beast growled in pain and fell to the ground, skidding to a stop in front of Zorina. The silver-haired girl blinked in shock at the monster before she evaporated. She slowly turned around and spotted her saviors, Ilma, Rowan, and Sunil.

Rowan immediately grimaced the second she made eye contact with Zorina, knowing full well that the two girls were now partners at that moment.