RWBY: Red Wolf Saga

Resolve's Test

I don't own RWBY and OCs, only my OCs. all content goes to proper owners

Azura stood on the platform overlooking the Beacon cliffs. Down below stood the Emerald Forest. He had heard much of it from some of the older students at Yūri's school. To think such a beautiful view could hide such great danger kind of confused him. Soon other students began to arrive. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of red but kept his eye on the prize. His concentration however was broken by the sound of a cane.

Everyone looked to see Ozpin standing on his cane, and Glynda stood not too far behind. He smiled at what the crop of hunters he saw.

"Thank you all for being so punctual. Today, for all of you, is a day of significant risk, but also fantastic opportunity. A day where destiny can be claimed by those who want it the most. Or to be snatched from them by the jaws of defeat. The rules are simple. Whoever you make eye contact with first as soon as you hit the forest floor is your partner for the rest of your stay at Beacon. Once that is established, you both must reach the ruins at the center of the Emerald Forest and grab a matching pair of artifacts. Like anything as a huntsman, this will not be easy, and likely life threatening. Any questions?" Ozpin explained in surprisingly few breaths, likely from practice.

No one said a thing. Azura certainly did not have any questions. As far as instructions go, this was some of the simplest he has had.

"None whatsoever? Well, that's a nice treat for once. Ms. Goodwitch, begin with the festivities." Ozpin said, tapping his cane against the ground.

"With pleasure." She answered dryly and waved her riding crop in a fluid downward motion.

Soon the platform's support was lost, and everyone made a rapid descent. Azura gave a smile and loaded a Gravity Dust round into the chamber on his katana's oddly shaped hilt. Aiming the blade away from the cliff, he fired it against the cliff and rocketed towards the tree line while sheathing it as he soared off. Then, with cat-like reflexes, he grabbed onto a particularly thick branch, spun, and flipped himself onto it, and began to slow his descent by jumping from branch to branch. Finally, with a leap, he landed on his fist and one knee with a titanic thud.

Getting up and dusting himself off, Azura gave a small smile. "It's too bad no one was here to see that. That probably looked awesome. Little rough on the knees though."

After scanning the thick underbrush, he was off. So far, no signs of Grimm. However, from prior experience, he knew they could be sneaky in conditions like this. Inside the thick forest, it was surprisingly dark, meaning unless he got a good look at the Grimm eyes, he could never tell. He then however saw some rustling off in the distance.

Hand on his sword's guard, Azura used his thumb to push it slightly out of the sheath with a click. His other hand on the hilt, Azura prepared to draw the blade. Whatever came out of those bushes, he'd be ready for it. He had trained his entire life for something like this. Soon the much larger, and thicker form of Zhan was before him.

"Easy there. We are on the same side…" Zhan said, raising his hands a bit at what was before him.

"Sorry. We are in enemy territory. You cannot be too careful." Azura replied, resheathing the blade.

"Man, it's hard to see you in all this thick brush…" Zhan continued but was cut off.

"Is that a crack about my height…?" Azura asked, his eyes narrowed and a dangerous edge in his voice as he used his thumb to push the blade a bit out of its hilt.

"Easy, easy. I wasn't saying anything of the sort. I'd doubt I'd see an Ursa Major in this stuff. Let's just all calm down and be civil…" Zhan said nervously.

Nodding, Azura resheathed the blade again and took his hand off his katana's hilt. "Fair enough. Well, we might as well make it official. Step out so that I can see you."

Zhan made his way fully from the bush, though admittingly he had to unstuck himself from it. After brushing himself off, he looked down at his smaller partner. By his estimation, they were at least four inches off.

"Well, it looks like we are partners now. I believe we met at lunch yesterday. Zhan Vulkan of Vale." Zhan said, offering his hand.

"Sōtora Azura, samurai from the Sōtora clan of Mistral." Azura replied, taking Zhan's hand and shaking it.

"Nice to make our acquaintance official. Now let's get out of this brushy hell hole. Last thing we need is to be jumped in this stuff." Zhan said and pulled off his back a large two-handed axe.

"Hm. Impressive looking weapon. But, with how big it is, I wonder if you might be overcompensating a bit for something." Azura said a bit playfully to his partner.

"It's a placeholder." Zhan answered with a less than enthused voice as the larger axe blade folded out to its proper position, leaving a smaller blade like one on the other side.

"For a placeholder, it's very well made. I can tell you have put a lot of work into it." Azura replied, eying the weapon.

"It's a last-minute slap job as far as I'm concerned. The academy didn't have the right parts for me to finish it. Now stand back, or duck. Either one works." Zhan answered bluntly as he swung it back.

Azura nodded and leapt back, out of the way of Zhan's swing. With a powerful horizontal swing, it cleared a shocking amount of foliage. Soon Zhan swung his axe back and soon began to clear a line through the foliage. Azura followed behind, impressed by both the weapon and its wielder's performance. Reminded him of his little brother in sparring, though with much more finesse and power.

"You have impressive form and power with your axe. Where did you learn to use one?" Azura asked, curious about the source of his partner's skill.

"Family owns a blacksmith's shop. Had to cut more than my fair share of fuel for the forge." Zhan said through his swings.

Azura could tell there was more to it than that. You did not get that level of skill with an axe simply from chopping wood. But he believed, based on what he could tell from Zhan's personality, that the taller and more muscular young man would tell him if or when he was ready. Due to this, he let the matter drop for now.

"Do you have any idea where we are supposed to go?" Zhan asked as he cut through a particularly stubborn young tree.

"I have a rough idea, yes. But we will need to find a particularly tall tree for me to climb to get a look at our surroundings so that I can verify." Azura replied with a shrug.

His answer came sooner than expected as Zhan's axe got lodged in a particularly large oak.

"This do?" Zhan asked as he tried to figure out how to get his axe from the massive tree's stem.

"Perfect." Azura replied with a smile, leaping up over Zhan's head onto the nearest branch, doing a flip through the air as he soared over Zhan's head.

'Showoff.' Zhan thought as he began to tug on his axe.

Azura then began leaping from branch to branch up the tree, grabbing onto branches and flipping up onto them when he could not get enough height on a jump. Soon, he found himself near the top of the tree, overlooking the rest of the forest. Practically as far as the eye could see in most directions was an ocean of verdant green treetops. Birds flew overhead and the sun shone brightly. However, when he looked north, he saw creamy white walls of rock in a somewhat concave fashion. Faintly he could see the top of some kind of building.

"It looks like our destination is north of here!" Azura called down to his partner.

"Alright come down! Almost got my axe out!" Zhan called back; his voice muffled by the thick canopy.

Before Azura could make his descent, Zhan heard rustling behind him. Adrenaline surged through him as he swung his axe out of the tree and swirled his body around. However, in a flash he had to counter the momentum he built up, as before him and only centimeters away from his axeblade was Ember.

"Oh… Hello. Fancy meeting you here." Zhan said nervously.

"I-I-I'm sorry for s-startling you…" Ember said, shaking at what nearly transpired. Soon Azura was down from the tree to see the aftermath of the encounter.

"Easy, Mr. Vulkan. We do not need to go around killing fellow student-hopefuls." Azura told his partner.

"In this forest, it's more likely you're gonna meet a Grimm. Forgive me if my survival instincts kicked in." Zhan answered.

"Finally, someone who thinks like me." A stern feminine voice said from the brush.

From the brush stepped out a woman just under Yang's height, with similar proportions to Yang, minus some on the chest region. She had long brown hair, kept in a short ponytail, and olive complexion. Her features were fair, yet surprisingly stern and work worn for someone of her age. Two green eyes looked over the two boys, before making a nod of at least passing approval.

"I'm all for following your survival instincts. I am also, however, against killing innocent people." Azura replied, looking her over as well.

"Considering my partner is as quiet as a mouse, it's expected you two weren't going to notice her till it's too late." The taller girl answered.

"Fair enough. Well, since we are all here, I suppose we might as well go together. The location we were told about is a few miles north of here." Azura replied, pointing in the direction they were meant to go.

"I don't believe we caught your name, stranger." Zhan said before they had a chance to move.

"Rena Septum." She answered curtly.

"Zhan Vulkan, Azura Sōtora. Now that we are all caught up, let's go." Zhan said, turning to get back to cutting.

"Sōtora Azura. Last name first is how it is done in samurai culture." Azura replied, a little annoyed by the mistake.

"Well, excuse me. Never had to deal with samurai before. All right, let's get going." Zhan said annoyedly, however Ember stopped him.

"W-wait… did you hear that?" She asked.

Soon the four quieted down, and noises could be heard in the distance. However, unlike the normal rustling of a human, such rustling was accompanied and eventually consumed by loud crunching and rumbling. They all despite their varied amounts of experience knew exactly what was coming. Grimm.

"About time we got a proper fight." Rena said, a slight smirk going over her face as she readied a large, two-handed polearm, halfway between a spear and a glaive.

"Well, Samurai. Time to show off your bladework." Zhan said, gripping his axe firmly.

Much to his surprise and confusion, he heard nothing in response from the young azure samurai. Turning to look at his partner, Zhan saw something that shocked him. The normally calm, composed Azura was as pale as a sheet. His whole body trembled as he was shaking too badly to even reach and grab his katana, a thousand-yard stare in his eyes.

"Azura? Are you okay?" Ember asked, stopping herself from reaching for her weapon to check on him.

However, Azura said nothing. All he did was continue staring at the underbrush, fear and panic in his eyes as he began to hyperventilate.

"Form up around him! If he isn't gonna fight, then we have to make sure the Grimm don't get to him!" Zhan yelled, and the two girls formed a triangle around the samurai.

Soon, the Grimm began to pour out of the brush, surrounding the four Huntsmen-hopefuls. As soon as they saw them, the other three began to prepare to fight as Azura froze up completely. Rena readied her spear, Zhan his axeblade, and Ember a tetsubō from her back. As they did, Ursa and Beowolves flooded the area around them. Azura looked around them as his blood ran cold, collapsing to his knees as his hyperventilation only got worse.

"Oh great! Just what we needed right now!" Rena yelled.

"What's going on with him?" Ember asked.

"Hell, if I know, but, if we don't fight off these Grimm, we ain't gonna find out! Hold the line!" Zhan roared.

With that, the Grimm roared and charged at them. The other three prepared to fight as Azura could only freeze up in fear. The Grimm ran at them as Zhan used his weapon to unleash waves of fire from swings of his axeblade, hitting the Grimm and catching them ablaze. As he did, Rena's mind began running a mile a minute as her Semblance kicked in, taking in all the information around her faster than anyone else's brain could dream of doing as she produced a strategy.

"I got a plan! Zhan, use your Semblance and axe in wide arcs and get chopping like you did with the brush! Ember, get up high and use your weapon's ranged mode! Do not stop firing! I'll protect the samurai!" Rena roared out orders, and the others nodded in response.

Ember flipped up onto the highest branch she could, transforming her tetsubō into a rocket launcher. She then began firing into the horde of Grimm, creating holes in the lines as they kept coming. Meanwhile, Zhan continued swinging his axe in wide arcs, unleashing wave after wave of fire into the approaching Grimm that got past Ember. Meanwhile, any Grimm that got through those two were being mowed down by Rena. Rena cut down the Grimm as best she could as they got close.

Rena stabbed through the head of an Ursa before swinging, slicing off its head. She then slashed the bladed tip of her spear through a Beowolf. Electricity crackled around the blade-like tip of her spear as she channeled Lightning Dust into the blade. She cut the arm off an Ursa before slicing it in half from shoulder to hip. She sliced low, cutting the legs off an Ursa before rising to stab it through the chest.

However, despite their efforts, the Grimm kept coming. Rena stabbed into a Beowolf's chest before slicing upwards, vertically bisecting it. She then kicked back an Ursa that got too close to Azura before slashing it through the head, cutting its head in half. Slicing off an Ursa's head, the serious spear woman kept Azura within sight out of the corner of her eyes.

She saw that he was still trembling and hyperventilating, trying to get a grip on himself as the Grimm's number began to thin. Refocusing on the Grimm, she slashed through an Ursa that was coming at her before stabbing a Beowolf in the chest, electrocuting it. Ripping her spear's blade-like tip from the Beowolf's chest, she sliced the head off an Ursa and sliced another Beowolf in half from shoulder to hip. Spinning her spear, she slashed her way through two more Beowolves and an Ursa that rushed at her.

Rena looked around at the area before them to see the Grimm's numbers drastically reduced. Ember kept firing on clusters of Grimm grouped together while Zhan continued doing crowd control. Refocusing, she continued cutting down Grimm that got too close. Finally, after a period of what felt like hours, the last Grimm was cut down by Zhan's axe blade as the girls panted in exertion.

"Okay, who's dead?" Zhan asks, pants.

"We should check on Azura…" Ember panted out.

"Alright samurai. Up and at them." Rena said, shaking Azura's shoulders.

Flinching, Azura drew his blade in a flash, surprising everyone with his speed. There was a rush of air past Rena as he just barely stopped the blade before it could contact the skin of Rena's neck. Zhan, Ember, and even Rena were all stunned at this, watching the hyperventilating samurai staring around at them, eyes wide with fear.

"Easy partner. It's just us. It's okay." Zhan said.

Azura panted heavily, looking around at the others for any signs of Grimm. Seeing no signs of Grimm, the azure samurai felt no relief. Only shame. He'd been so caught up in his own fears that he'd missed the entire fight. Looking down in disgrace and anger at his own weakness, he clenched his hand so tightly around the hilt of his katana that his blade shook at his side.

"Are you alright Azura?" Ember asked.

Taking a deep breath, Azura looked away, unable to look any of them in the eye. "I am fine. Let us just get the hell out of this damn forest…" Azura replied bitterly.

With that the four continued to trudge through the darkness and thick underbrush. All four of them hoped that their day would get easier from there. Fate, however, had just one more thing in store for them.