Piers Garetson, Emilie Peterson

Emilie groaned in disgust at the smell. First, she’d been so rudely awoken by the water level, and now she was in a stink hole. Wading over to her pack, she took note of her surroundings. Water in all directions, not much light at all and… a partner. Of course, they had to pair her with a partner. He wore simple brown clothes and a cotton shirt. Rolling her eyes, Emilie opened her pack and removed Splendor. She was itching to fight some Grimm. Shouldering her weapon, Emilie began to walk forward. She could care less what her partner did, and just wanted to get through this maze as quickly as possible.

It was still incredibly dim. Holding up her hand, Emilie concentrated her aura, and let out a slowly building beam of light. She opened her eyes. She didn’t have the concentration to keep this up for too long, so she took note of her surroundings than began her march. Not that her light helped her much, even with it a thick fog seemed to cover everything. Groaning, she continued.

For the first time in a long time, Piers felt afraid. This was far beyond what he was expecting to face. A forest Piers could have handled, mountains would have been simple, an open plain would have flat out made him feel at home. But a cave? A dark dank cave filled with new threats he hadn't yet had a chance to examine and study? Piers couldn't have been more out of his element if he had been launched into space! And stripped of the supplies and equipment he brought with him to Beacon, even with his weapon in hand Piers was feeling extremely vulnerable.

At least he still had his clothes, in a pinch clothes could become very handy tools. He didn't wear a belt just to hold up his pants after all.

The glow of his scroll (a burst of excitement did pierce Piers's apprehension for a second upon realizing that he had been given an official scroll) offered enough light for Piers to stop him from bumping into anything on his way to the meeting spot. It looked like his partner was already here, and she looked even less happy than he did. At least he was used to being surrounded by stink and water, having grown up in the agricultural district. Something told him that she was less used to such conditions.

"Uh...hello, I'm Piers Garetson." Piers offered a hand to shake as he caught up to his new partner and introduced himself with a friendly tone. Having noticed that she could use light, he swung his quarterstaff in a wide arc in front of them to generate a burst of wind in an attempt to dispel the hazy. Hopefully it would work, but cavernous fog wasn't exactly his expertise.

"Um...hello, I'm Piers Garetson." Her partner said. Emilie eyed him more carefully. She'd noticed the clothes, but hadn't seen his weapon. A bowstaff by the look of it and, judging by the powerful gust of wind he'd generated, was dust powered. Emilie shifted her rifle and shook his hand. As irritated as she was, it wasn't going to be easy to pass initiation, and she didn't need bad blood between them to start.

"Emilie Petersen." She said, though she couldn't hide how displeased she was in her voice. She noticed the glowing scroll in his hands.

"What's that say?" She asked hurriedly, information was vital in such a time. Remembering the gust, she extended her aura again and looked. The fog had cleared a bit, but not drastically. She could now tell that there were three paths ahead, one to the left, one straight, and one to the right. Though she wasn't sure, she thought she heard skittering in the distance. To be safe, she kept Splendor at the ready. They needed to figure out what they were doing here, do it, and get out. Fast.

"Nothing that yours doesn't say I'm sure." Piers continued smiling but couldn't stop it from dipping slightly when he heard Emilie's voice. She definitely did not seem happy, and the fact that he couldn't tell why bothered him a little. Maybe she was just focused on the mission or the idea of being in the cave made her a little disgruntled, but either way Piers didn't like not knowing.

"Just the announcement, a list of who's going where, and the info on the new Grimm. To be honest, I'm not looking forward to meeting any of these." Stopping when Emilie did, Piers looked up at the intersection of caves and made a note of the echoing sounds.

"I vote we go the way that sounds the quietest. Oh! Can you use your weapon to make a mark around here? Just in case we end up here again it'll stop up us from getting lost." It seemed like a smart idea to approach this cave like it was a maze, and the first step of conquering any maze was to make sure you didn't waste time backtracking.

Emilie rolled her eyes again. Great. They still didn't know much beyond what might be lurking in the dark caverns.

"I vote we go the way that sounds the quietest. Oh! Can you use your weapon to make a mark around here? Just in case we end up here again it'll stop up us from getting lost."

"The way that sounds quietest?" She thought. "I've heard a grand total of one sound!" Biting back her words, she tried to decide which would make less noise for a mark. Firing a bullet into the wall? Or cleaving it with a sword? In the end she decided to use the blade.

"Ok, stand back Piers. I'm gonna make the mark." She said. Making sure she had enough room, Petersen switched Splendor to claymore form. The bottoms and sides expanded, unfolding one to the other, interlocking plates. In but a moment, it was a full 8 foot long blade. She pulled back her shoulders.

"mmm... what do you think, 10%?" She said, talking more to herself than to Piers. "Yeah, 10%." She finished. With a great thrust, she stuck the blade about 7 inches into the stone. She carved a gash along it, making the marking visible even in the dim light. Finally, she removed the blade, and switched it back to a rifle. Though the tunnel was spacious, it was easier to carry Splendor as a gun.

"Ok then Gartes, lets go." Emilie began to march through the water, veering towards the left tunnel.

A gun and a sword, Piers observed as he watched Emilie changed her weapon back and forth to make the mark. It was good to know that she had a projectile weapon as well as something more close range. The fact that he was going to be relying on her a lot in combat started to sink in for Piers. He was lucky enough to be able to take on the regular above ground Grimm, against the unknown he could only hope he'd be able to fend them off.

At least he'd still be able to do what he did best. As long as he could keep Emilie up and fighting, everything would work out well. For a moment Piers wondered what her fighting style was like. They'd find out soon enough he was sure.

"Thanks for making the mark Emilie." Piers offered kindly as he followed her through the left cave.

They both walked through the inky blackness of the cave. It was cold, it stank, and Emilie was almost up to her chest in water. All in all, she was thoroughly miserable. So far they'd seen no Grimm but it was only a matter of time before they were discovered. Beginning to feel agitated, Emilie attempted conversation.

"So, what's your semblance?" She asked. He obviously knew he's was light from the trick she's pulled before, and was curious as to her partners. Waiting for an answer, she gripped splendor. She didn't like the dark, nor the prospect of having to continue this way.

The deeper and deeper the water got, the more Piers found himself hoping they didn't run into anything in the water itself. While Emilie might be able to still fend for herself with her gun, Piers knew his dust techniques and weapon would be fairly useless here. He had the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that this was going to get much worse before it got better.

"Some minor aura manipulation." Piers responded simply as he waded through the water with Emilie. "I can use is to empower, invigorate, and to heal. It's really handy for helping out others, I just can't do it to myself. I try to play defense more than offense in a fight anyways."

"Empowering and healing..." she said. "Maybe I misjudged you, healing is almost certainly going to be necessary in the coming fights." Before she could hear a response, a much different sound shattered her ears. Piercing shrieks of the Echolacers. I'm an instant, blasts of acid rained down on them. Emilie reacted quickly, fishing to the side.

After avoiding the first assault, she prepared a counter attack. She opens her aura, mildly illuminating the area.
"Quick, boost my aura!" She called. Without waiting for his response, Emilie fired a volley from her rifle, the incendiary rounds shattering the dark. With the poor light, her first attack managed to only got 2 of them, the relatively fragile creatures exploding from the huge bullets entering their systems. She secreted herself I'm a small outcropping, and took aim for her next strike. She would need more light to hit accurately.

Ooc: just realized I set an auto hit. Sorry. I'll edit it when I get home as I can't do it from my phone. Just assume it says I fired, but not necessarily hit.

Combat reflexes and honed instincts took over the second Piers heard the screech in the air above him and dove into the water to avoid being struck with acid. While the water stopped any direct contact with the acid, Piers could still feel it sting his skin and quickly swam behind where he could hear Emilie splashing before surfacing.

Without wasting any time, Piers reached out and placed a hand on Emilie's shoulder. Where he touched glowed for a moment before small white particles of excess energy began to emanate from Emilie. The unfortunate problem for Piers was that there was little he could do to help with someone's shooting when it came to his semblance. At the very least though, he could help protect her from any incoming acid. For a little while that is.

What they really needed was a way to illuminate the area, and Piers had just the idea for that. Swiftly he pushed himself ahead of Emilie, stepping to the side slightly so as to not block her gun's shots, and swung his staff in a large arc in front of them. Like earlier Piers used the dust in his weapon to produce a burst of wind, but this time he didn't hold back as much. A gust of wind burst forth from him and into air, simultaneously pushing back the fog for a brief moment and making it difficult for any Grimm caught in the blast to maneuver.

"Take your shots now, I'll do what I can to keep them off of you!" Piers responded excitedly as he took a defensive position beside his teammate, ready to swat anything that came flying too close to them.

((OOC, it's fine, I was likely going to let 2 or 3 of them die this turn anyway.))

With two of the Echolacers down, their bodies exploding over the students, the other four regroup briefly, though are interrupted when Piers blows them apart.

Briefly disoriented, they start shooting acid everywhere, including at the outcropping both of the students are hiding behind. They manage to stay about 15 feet away this entire time, and are constantly moving.

Emile leaped again as more acid rained on her position. The water made it so hard to move! Not to mention the weakened acid that was biting her legs. The boost from piers has helped, but she still couldn't see what she was doing. Halting her fire for a moment, shefocused her aura and released a brilliant flash of light. Going that had helped disable the echolacers, she once again resumed her assault. With the fog cleared, her light illuminated far more. Calming her mind, she took careful aim, and fired four shots.

Oh crap...

Piers didn't count on the Grimm exploding in a burst of acid. It was fortunate his hands were already up and he could cover his face, but beyond that Piers found himself blasted with the corrosive substance. While his aura was able to mitigate some of the damage, he still cried out in pain as he felt his flesh burn. He quickly dove under water again, thrashing around to rid himself of the pain.

Piers came up for air after Emilie had fired off her shots. His arms were covered in red welts that hurt when he moved, but he know they weren't going to get any better once the acid came off. Piers swung his staff forward again, this time sending a blade of compressed air flying at one of the remaining Grimm.

Emilie aimed carefully and shoot the last, unconscious, echolacer. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was about to march on, when she noticed her partner's hands.

"Crap, you managed to get hit!" Emilie was angry. She needed him in fighting condition. "Can your aura heal it?" She ran her hands through her hair. "We have to move, staying in this acid soaked water isn't going to help."

She began to wade again, checking the status of her gun. She knew from the scroll that the echolacers were the weakest of the beasts in the cavern. She hoped they run into any others. With Piers injured, she would have to defend him even moreso from before.

"Nope. Can't charge up my own aura." Piers replied gravely as he tried to find a spot in the water to fully wash his arms off in. Doing so was easier said than done, and eventually he decided to just continue forward with Emilie. Piers could hear the anger in her voice, but wisely chose not to say anything about it. What had happened had happened and there wasn't much point in discussing it. Whether she was angry about possibly slowing her down or that he had allowed himself to become injured, the best thing he could do is just patch himself up as well as he could and move on.

"The wound looks worse than it actually is." After getting away from the acid, Piers managed to completely clean his arms off. He pulled off his belt and ripped the fabric into two pieces so he could begin bandaging himself. "There's no blood, I can't see down to the muscle or bone, it just hurts likes the worst sunburn you've ever had in your life lit on fire."

With the bandages in place, Piers rummaged through his pockets to find something to hold it down. Sure enough he found a few tiny safety pins that he quickly put into place. With his wounds covered, and soaked thanks to the wet bandages, they felt fine enough to allow Piers a few practice swings with his weapon.

"There." Piers smiled happily at his handy work. "Just as long as we don't get into a boxing match with anything, I'll be fine.

While Emilie's tension lessened after seeing Piers's first aid, she was still nervous. As they walked through the water, she kept her gun ready and ears opened. They needed all the early warning they could get.

As Piers followed Emilie, allowing her to take point while he watched their rear for an ambush, he began to notice a slight current pushing at his clothes. Nothing that threatened the two of them, but its presence made him suspect that there was something noteworthy nearby. The answer became more apparent when they reached a portion of the cave that bowed out on the right side more than any other part of the cave.

"Hey Emilie, can you hold on a second?" Piers asked as he folded up his weapon and placed it on his back. "I think there's something under the water that might be helpful to us, I'm going to check it out." With a big gulp of air Piers dove down and held his hands out to see if he could feel the current. Sure enough, it lead him to a large crevasse that the two of them could swim through. Piers surfaced less then a minute after diving, his lungs having started to ache, and took a moment to breath and gather his thoughts before speaking.

"Okay...so, I found a crack in the cave underwater and I can feel water flowing out of it. It could mean there's a larger body of water higher up than this part of the cave and it's spilling into this one, or there's a stream of water forcing itself in here and we might be able to find a quick way to get deeper underground. I'm starting to wonder if the cave we're in might be a dead end if the water is so stagnant, so I think this might be worth exploring. It's up to you though, what do you think?"

"Somehow," Emilie began sarcastically "I doubt going underground would be a smart idea. Whatever this test actually is, it stands to reason our final objective is "get out of the cave"." She huffed.

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm just a bit on edge is all. Those bats aren't going to be the least of our problems if my hunch is right. Let's just continue to follow this path. If it comes to a dead end, we can always backtrack." She continued on. Up ahead, she thought she could see a fork in the road inside a more cavernous area. She let out a trickle of light, and could make out a small patch of land, a few meters square, a sandbar of some kind.

"There's a patch of land ahead, we can take a quick break there while we decide which way to go."

Piers nodded and continued to follow Emilie down the cave they were in. He let the sarcasm pass him by without commenting on it or letting it get to him, it was a tense day for both of them and people handled their stress in different ways. Although it did certainly cheer him up to see some dry land at long last. He quickly pulled himself out of the water and relished the feeling of not having water surrounding him on all sides.

As soon as he saw the fork, Piers made up his mind which way to go. "What kind of a hunch to do you have? Do you think something's following us or coming after us? Also I think we should try the right path this time."

((OOC: I have the maze pre-made, which is why I give the directions in my posts. At the moment, you guys aren't really near a fork. Just a note for the future. ))