The Bright one laughed melodiously as Siegfried was sent careening through the air, no control over his limbs as he performed numerous cartwheels and a plethora of other noteworthy tricks to anyone who could actually see what he was doing.

Steadying himself he assumed a skydiving fall position tucking himself into a dive as he held his breath, his body began to lose colour leaving a spectral image of himself as he neared the ground, flipping himself over he landed on the ground with a soft whump sending dirt and leaves into the air only for them to drift lazily down to earth again.

Dusting himself off he surveyed his surroundings, on the mortal plane all was quiet but in the realm of Wraiths it was abuzz with activity, his eyes glowed blue once more and his sight entered a new spectrum colours of all kinds entered his line of sight, not too far away Grimm had begun to stir, their docile black forms within Siegfried's vision began to transition to a volatile combination of white and red loud, he could detect voices turning his gaze into their general direction he identified the source as Lie Ren and his accomplice Nora Valkyrie weapons at the ready and speeding ahead of him.

Drawing his sword instinctively he continued his search his eyes constantly switching between wraith and mortal vision to keep track of any Grimm that dare approach upon his route, picking up the pace he pulled into a full sprint utilising any large roots or rocks as boosts to his momentum after what felt like at least a half minute of running he had stopped at a clearing, scattered branches and leaves lay on the dirt of the clearing as well as a patch of flattened grass a few meters away furrows of dirt and two sets of footprints could be seen as well leading away from the clearing.

"Hmm, someone fell here used the branches to break their fall" He mused to himself "Fought a Grimm here and killed it with someone else , already fully decayed probably long gone by now"

Deciding to take things a bit slower he walked through the forest, lest he exhaust himself before any real fighting began. Using his wraith vision he noticed two shapes both human and most likely female given their shape, merely a few paces distance between them foliage the only barrier between them.

"Hello?" A voice called "Is someone there?"

"Aye" Siegfried replied "Over here!"

With the singing swish of a blade the shrubbery obstructing contact with the two parties ceased to be.

"Huh fancy seeing you here" Yang smirked arms folded

"You two know each other?" a raven haired girl asked, Siegfried took note of her eyes startling yellow like a domestic feline, a bow sat snugly upon her head too adding to his suspicion.

"Well not really, my little sister met him in that Dust shop that got raided two days ago" the Blonde explained "He makes some mean flatbread too"

The ravenette's brow quirked at that final comment

"So I guess you want to tag along?" Yang asked "No one else seems to be nearby, Oh by the way this is Blake"

To which the black-haired girl waved slightly

The Wraith nodded "As much as I love fighting alone, fighting Grimm is better done in numbers"

Blake inclined her head in agreement as well "We better get moving, just being here is probably attracting Grimm with every second"

Turning towards the set of footprints that lead out of the clearing they all broke into a jog following the trail, weapons ready. The trees eventually gave way to a set of colossal ruins, toppled pillars and brickwork lay strewn across the relatively flat ground, in the middle of it all lay an oversized chess board with several pieces already missing.

A loud roar startle the trio as Weiss Schnee came into view fighting off an Ursa, she pirouetted away from a lazy swipe punishing it with a swift series of jabs using a glyph she launched herself backward to a safe distance a determined expression on her visage.

"Should we help her?" Yang asked

"She seems fine" Blake stated

Until three beowolves stalked out from the bushed to Weiss' left they snarled at her, forcing the heiress to back up towards the ruins her bravado had faltered slightly.

"Never mind" Siegfried huffed "looks like she does need help after all, as obnoxious as she was yesterday, death is too harsh a punishment for childish arrogance"

Sprinting towards a torn down ruin wall, he scaled it with ease, drawing his baton he focused his mind the spectral limbs formed along the lengths of the intricate baton, drawing an imaginary arrow he took aim swiftly and let loose a ghostly arrow.

Weiss back-stepped a swipe by one of the Beowolves before unleashing a deadly jab at its throat, sinking easily into its black flesh with a satisfying 'shink' she could not deliver a killing blow as a second Beowulf attempted to crush her with both arms, withdrawing Myrtenaster quickly she formed a glyph to propel her out of the way of the overhead smash, turning to face her attacker she was surprised to see it stagger backward as it clutched its eye a chilling blue arrow shaft poking between its claws.

She turned to the source of the projectile, her saviour much to her chagrin was the brutish rogue with the funny accent from yesterday. He stood hunched his bow already prepped for another shot, he matched her gaze swiftly.

"Keep your eye on the Grimm lass" He warned "Thanks can come later"

She fumed internally but was interrupted and turned just in time to dodge the large paw of the Ursa she was fighting before back flipping elegantly away, her eyes locked and on the Ursa's neck and belly, only to see the blonde haired sister of the dunce, from yesterday as well lunge at the Ursa and deliver a mighty uppercut on the beast's jaw, staggering it. Weiss unleashed another glyph propelling her swiftly across the ruins before spearing the Ursa's exposed, neck killing it.

Siegfried drew three arrows firing them in a fan formation, all three striking the first Beowulf in the chest halting its attempt at a charge, he drew another arrow quickly this one's tip burned with white-blue flame and let it loose and struck true, it fell into its knees dead.

Blake charged towards the second Beowulf, it roared and sprung forward claws ready to rend her flesh, she spun out of the way unleashing a volley of gunfire from her machine pistol, it covered its eyes to avoid the bullets from entering its eyes but inadvertently disrupted the lunge leaving it sprawled on the ground.

summoning a clone she charged straight at it the clone unleashing phantom cover fire whilst the real Blake leapt into the air the Beowulf roared defiantly as it stood swiping at her hastily, anticipating this she switched out with her clone leaving it to dissipate against the wolves' claws.

Drawing her blade she dashed between its legs swiping at both of them forcing the Beowulf onto its knees leaping onto the creature's back driving the slender blade through its spine ending it swiftly.

Only one Beowulf remained it stood a few meters away, growling in warning it reared onto its hind legs, its claws low ready to fight regardless of the result. That is until a massive hammer head lopped off its head sending it careening away over the tree line, its body slumping to the ground and decaying into black particles and mist.

Bull-roarer Took would be proud

-Over to the culprits-

'Fore!' Nora shouted

Ren staggered out of the bushed behind her, panting and groaning he waited for a few moments to regain his composure before he spoke

"We're not riding an Ursa ever again Nora" Ren said

"Aww but it was fun!" Norah whined "At least until it broke…."

"Looks like Siegfried is over there as well" Ren observed "It would be smart of us to join them"

"Well let's go then!" his friend yelled already jogging towards the gathered huntsman

Ren sighed before following suit

-Back to our daring trio-

"Well, that happened" Yang quipped

Siegfried nodded heeding Ren's advice to not question it too much

"Yeah" Blake blinked in surprise

They turned towards the Ice queen who was already marching towards them

"I suppose I have to thank you for assistance?" She huffed

"Aye, that would be most appreciated" The Wraith nodded

"Were you alone this whole time?" Yang butted in quickly

"No" The heiress replied "Your dunce sister was with me, she sped off and I couldn't catch up with her"

"So that's how you came across the Grimm then?" Blake inquired

Weiss nodded

"But where is she now?" Yang wondered aloud

"How would I know?!" Weiss cried out in a shrill voice as she threw her arms out

"She's falling right onto you" The Bright One whispered

If one could just filter out their conversation, you could hear a faint screaming from the above getting louder and louder.

'aaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAH' screamed a voice from above

'Does anybody else here that?' Siegfried asked to no one in particular

"Here what?" Blake asked quizzically, the others too raised their brows in confusion

"The screaming"

"What screami-" Weiss began, interrupted by a flash of red and black that slammed into the ground at her feet, the crimson reaper lay spread eagled dazed from the fall

'Ow'

"Oh hey Ruby!" Yang chirped "I've been looking for you"

"That was quite a fall" The Bright One noted "Hopefully her Aura didn't suffer too badly"

"Ye 'right there Ruby?" Siegfried asked snapping his fingers in front of her face, hoping to gain a reaction

'Yeah, I'm fine' Ruby slurred her eyes spinning comically within their sockets

Their greetings were interrupted, by the caw of a crow. They all knew that no ordinary crow could make a sound as loud as it did, the mood took a complete 180 degree turn. Jovial grins were replaced with determined scowls, the ambient clicking of weapons arming and humming to life.

"Nevermore" Siegfried breathed taking up a defensive stance, eyes scanning the surrounding tree line, for even the faintest flicker of black. He could not use his wraith powers now, flashing his eyes briefly he caught glimpses of the colour coded Grimm, they were only Beowolves and Ursas. A slowly decaying King Taijutu from where Nora and Ren emerged from the bushes, he also saw within his brief glance of the Wraith world, but no Nevermore.

A second caw, louder and more aggressive than the first one resounded once more, the trees began to shift uneasily and the echo, grips tightened further around their weapons, and their hardened faces tensed further.

Out of the clouds descended the Nevermore, cawing one more time to announce its presence it pulled into a swoop, its wings gleamed dangerously as it charged swiftly towards the small party. The group all rolled away from the large avian form, twisting its body as it ascended to a generous height it unleashed a storm of sharpened feathers, Siegfried jumped backwards to avoid the deadly projectile, others rolled and dived from them.

"It's too high, how are we going to take it down?" Weiss shouted

"Shoot it down then!" Yang roared returning fire with her shotguns gauntlets.

"We don't have the firepower to take it down efficiently" Blake reasoned "You're wasting ammo"

"She's right" Siegfried agreed "None of us here can shoot it down except Ruby"

"What we need to do is lure it down, so I can take it out" Ruby finished off

"Exactly"

"But how do we do that?" Weiss asked again

"Oh Oh!" Nora raised her hand "I can shoot my 'nades so make it fly lower"

"Good Idea" Blake nodded in approval

"Looks like we're set, Nora force the Nevermore to fly lower while you're doing that I will find a good vantage point to make the shot, everyone else distract it, so it doesn't focus on either of us"

All nodded their heads in approval, now it was time for execution. Evading another barrage of feathers, they readied their ranged weapons.

'Now!'

Nora instantly began firing a volley of grenades, detonating just at the right height startling the creature forcing it to abide by their plan descending slightly with each volley, allowing for some of the other student's projectiles to strike it. Meanwhile Ruby had begun to scale the large cliff, utilising her semblance and boosts from Crescent Rose's recoil to reach a small stable outcrop that could bare her. Setting up the scythe into its full long ranged form, she gazed into the scope, quickly gaging its location, following the Nevermore's flight pattern she aimed for its head, however with each barrage of sharpened feathers its head would either be obstructed by its wings, or the bobbing of its narrow head as it maintained its height while stationary.

Unleashing a loud shriek it dived towards them, its narrow beak a spearhead, ready to pierce its next victim. Siegfried broke into a run away from the creature but refused to move sideways away from the large avian's path, the Nevermore locked onto him its body folding into a black missile.

Just as the creature was about to make impact, the Gravewalker made a calculated sidestep, using the momentum from the run he spun before springing himself upward his fingers finding purchase on the Nevermore's feathers around its neck and gripped firmly, as the Grimm pulled up into the sky, high in the air the Nevermore thrashed to and fro, frantically attempting to dislodge the unwanted passenger that clung to its neck.

Drawing Bright Vengeance he stabbed it deep into the bird's shoulder, its wings began to beat unevenly from the crippling injury, Siegfried yelped from the jerking movements of the Nevermore, taking larger handfuls of the Nevermore's sleek feathers as the Nevermore squawked in pain, drawing in his determination he dropped from the neck and onto its back, drawing his elven knife he took it into a reverse grip and plunged it into the flesh of the beast, sinking the ornate blade through to the hilt, twisting the blade viciously the Nevermore threw back its head and shrieked into the open sky.

The loud crack of a gunshot silenced its death rattle, the hateful flow in its eyes dimmed, the frantic beating of its wings ceased the avian to plunge from the sky, as like all other Grimm black particles flew into the open air as the process of decay began, Siegfried pulled into a skydiving position, trying to slow his fall. Noticing this Ruby fired off her platform, again using the recoil as a boost turning her into a speeding blur of red and black tackling into him sending the two rolling across the flat ground stopping with a soft thump, the loud boom of the slain Grimm's cadaver made contact with the ground kicking up a large cloud of dust in its wake.

Ruby and Siegfried sat up groaning from the rough landing, the two clutching their heads attempting to still their spinning heads. Meanwhile the rest that stayed on ground level made way to their downed comrades, helping them to their feet, while Ren separated to collect Siegfried's Bright Vengeance.

"Thanks for the save Ruby" he grunted

"No problem" Ruby replied cheerfully

"I have to admit that was quite the spectacle" Ren commented as he handed the longsword back to its owner "as vague a plan as it was, we still pulled it off, nice work Ruby"

She chuckled in embarrassment "Pshaw, I couldn't have done it without you guys to help out"

"Aww come on sis!" Yang whined "stop being so modest soak in the glory, that plan was great!"

Blake nodded in agreement "That was a good shot, considering the many factors playing against you"

"Yeah" Ruby chirped "Even I didn't think the shot would make it"

Nora however was over by the Nevermore corpse planting Magnhild into the fallen beast's body like a flag before striking a noble pose, taking multiple pictures with her scroll with her free hand.

Siegfried chuckled and shook his head when he saw her

"Youth Culture is indeed a weird concept" The Bright One noted jokingly "Perhaps you should participate, widen your range of local customs and such"

'That is out of the question' Siegfried hissed sharply

The Bright One chuckled softly

The rest of the group began to shower the young reaper and Wraith with praise, all except Weiss who watched from afar, watching with disbelief and the barest hint of jealousy.

With that done, once the group had fully recuperated they set off together, coming across Jaune and Pyrrha along the way, they made for some interesting conversation regarding their journey to get the relics and back, fighting off a Deathstalker when Jaune accidently mistook it for the possible artefacts they were meant to be looking for, they all laughed uproariously much to the knight's embarrassment.

Scaling the cliffs a menial task at best for super powered teens, the group made it back in time receiving a personal congratulations from the headmaster and Mistress Goodwitch, they then directed them back to the school campus where they noticed other students had already finished the task judging from the sounds of chatter echoing out the door.

They were directed to the backstage of the amphitheatre by screens that hung off the walls, complying with them they sorted themselves into a line, Glynda Goodwitch approached from the other side of the stage scroll in hand and a passive expression on her face.

She instantly began explaining the process of the ceremony, the students would be placed in groups of four, a call sign name would be designated to them just like all other Huntsman teams and then be told to move off towards their designated rooms, which the Headmaster will give them the key to. Jaune asked about personal belongings, in which she replied they have already been moved to their dorms beforehand so that matter was settled.

After a seemingly endless number of teams being established, healthy rounds of applause by the upperclassmen it was time for them to be sorted. Poor Ruby was quivering like a leaf, pouring over the multitudes of possible team compositions and was positively terrified of the prospect of not being with her sister for the next 3-4 years it took words of encouragement from Yang for a few minutes for her to calm and it was smooth sailing from there.

Team JNPR was established much to our surprise, considering we had no interaction with them until the return trip back to the cliffs. Weiss audibly sighed in relief free of the young knight's romantic pursuits of her, Yang covered her mouth in amusement snickering softly at her reaction. Blake however had distracted herself with her book (as to where she keeps it I have no clue) and Ruby was already beaming in anticipation, considering there was no one else on stage it seemed that the five of them would be a team, and Siegfried the poor sod the only male in that said team.

Beyond the murmurings of the other students, Siegfried sighed internally at the outcome much to the delight of the maternal Bright One.

The girls quickly left the stage, making a beeline straight for their room. Siegfried strolled behind him attempting to calm the storm within his mind, Siegfried's personal goals returned to the fore, he smiled fondly at the words that his father had once said to him.

His reminiscing was interrupted by a surging headache, a cacophony of voices tumbled and rushed through his mind like a raging tsunami. He knew what this meant, but it didn't help knowing that it still damn hurt.

'Our worms have unearthed new information Siegfried' The Bright One whispered suddenly 'Would you like to hear their murmurings?'

'Yes' he replied gravely

The chatter dwindles into whispers, amongst the cloud of murmurs within his mind clear phrases vocalised their messages to him, filtering through the new knowledge he had learnt something new from his worms, a planned attack on an Atlas shipment of Paladins, the location is unclear however but the date is expected to be around the time of the Vytal tournament, given his heritage as part of a travelling caravan he was unfamiliar to this event, he would need to plant more worms into the White Fang but that in itself is a challenge, branding a captain would be most fortuitous, but he knew his strength and his limitations, he is still not ready to catch the bigger fish.

'I understand your urgency my child' The Bright one soothed 'but learning here will make us stronger in future than by hasty insurgency'

'Aye…I understand' The Gravewalker muttered dejectedly

His mood heightened quickly knowing that he had accomplished what his father would have wanted, anticipating the thought of advancing his skills to greater degree, his eyes flared that same ghostly blue a genuine smile crossed his lips.

'I believe this is our room' The Bright One noted

He retreated a few steps, turning to face the door that he nearly walked past, knowing that his future teammates would've already entered, he moved to knock on the door.

The door swung open before his knuckles could make contact, bidding him entry.