A Grimm Business (Private/Vide)

(Takes place on Monday of week 10)

Being that he had never attended Signal Academy, Kai had never taken part in anything like that which the students at the school did, but apparently, now that he was at Beacon he would inadvertently take part in that which he had never done before. Recently, Kai had been informed that he would be paired with a student from Signal for a Grimm hunt, a sort of shadowing event where he could show the student the ropes training to be a Hunter or Huntress. He had been picked to help as being one of mentors for the program, which he took as a sign of the higher-ups recognizing his talent. Currently he and the others that were a part of the program we waiting at the edge of the Emerald Forest for the students from Signal. Some people were pacing, others just looking around, and still others were just sitting there. But Kai? Kai was busy looking over his weapon, Dustbreaker, a cannonhammer of his own design that was fueled by pure energy from the dust crystals. Right now he was looking over the shifting mechanism that let it shift from hammer mode to cannon mode. It had been sticking lately, and he didn't want it to end up putting the student and himself in danger if he couldn't fight quickly enough.

As he sat there, he thought about just who he was to be paired with. He had only gotten a name; Rory Veiller. Who that was he had no idea. He hadn't heard the name before, and all he knew was that he was supposed to wait until the students arrived and call out for his shadow. Kai pulled out a small can from his ammo pouch and attached a thin straw to it. This was a lubricant which was supposedly good for a sticky mechanism, and while he was somewhat skeptical about it, (He had never used lubricant on Dustbreaker before) he was willing to try it to get the weapon back to top condition.

He was just finishing applying it to Dustbreaker when the now familiar sound of an Airship came from above, and looking up, Kai saw one of the school's airships descending upon them, the landing gear extending fully. That would be the Signal kids now. Smirking, Kai stood and let his weapon morph into its compressed form, a two foot long, one foot wide, octagonal cylinder, and strapped it over his shoulder. "About time." The ship slowly landed about 30 feet away, send up dust all around it and causing the Beacon students to shield their eyes.

Once everything had settled, the side door of the ship opened and formed a ramp down to the ground. Kai watched the opening closely for the visitors from Signal, maybe he could spot his shadow from the group if he was lucky, if not, he would just call their name as soon as the students had disembarked. But for now he would just wait.

Rory had been excited for a lot of reasons. One, it had always been her dream to be a future huntress and this was her first time at her dream school even if only for a visit. Two, this was the place the Dormirse clan suspected her cousin Liseran was. Rory felt disappointed Liseran's name hadn't even been listed but she did come upon a partner. A person named Kai Kurokawa.

She didn't know what that person looked like but she had made a funky board with his name on it, hoping to get his attention with glitters, spray paint and rhinestones.

I can't wait to meet my future senpai!

Kai stood, watching the younger students flood out of the airship, most of them were unassuming, a few stood out with their weapons here and there, but none of them seemed to look like the one he was looking for. And it was only when they had all filed out and the crowd had stopped blocking his view that he saw it. A bright, sparkling sign with his name on it. It hit him much in the same way a truck might, fast and furious, and immediately caught his attention. So, that had to be Rory now, coming to meet him. She had thought ahead to make the sign, and that showed a good mind in Kai's opinion. Though he did have his own way of calling out to his shadow.

Grabbing on to the strap that held Dustbreaker on his shoulder, Kai pulled it from its resting place and grabbed the handle as it burst from the cylinder. Spinning his weapon, Kai listened to the mechanism whir as it shifted into its fully extended Cannon form, which was exactly what he needed right now. Once it had morphed, he slammed the butt of the weapon on the ground and locked in a special dust crystal he had made for the purpose of calling to Rory. Pulling the Bolt action on the handle, Kai braced himself as the cannon recoiled, launching a burst of red light into the air, above the crowd, which spread out and for the word "Rory" with a trail of smoke leading back to Kai himself. If there was anything that would grab Rory's attention, it'd be this.

Once the round was fired, Dustbreaker once again regressed into its storage form, the leather strap flying out of it once it was back into its cylinder. And once his weapon was back over his shoulder, Kai would watch the sign with his name on it bob through the crowd, giving him an idea where this 'Rory' person was.

"How pretty!" Rory said as she saw her name in the air. Using her semblance, she zoomed in to find the source, which she suspected to be Kai Kurokawa, a boy with purewhite hair.
Without hesitation, Rory made her way towards him, her red wolf ears standing straight and her small tail wagging behind her.

On her back was her two axes known as Cosmas and Damian. They glittered in the golden sunlight while her rifle, Fusilier, was at her side. She waved her hand in the air cheerily.

"Hello, there! Mr. Kurokawa, is that you!?" she stopped running and offered her hand for a shake. "Rory Veiller from Signal Academy. It's nice to meet you! What are we gonna do today?"

Kai watched the crowd closely as the sign swiftly zoomed through the crowd towards him, and he watched expectantly as Rory slowly became visible through the din. As the figure emerged, a wide grin spread across his face. The girl, for now he clearly saw Rory was a girl, was a faunus, and she seemed excited to meet him, as she was waving wildly at him as she ran to meet him.

Slowly he walked forward, nodding and waving back till she stopped in front of him, her tail wagging excitedly. Now that she was close to him, he could see her weapons, a rifle and a pair of axes. And interesting combo to say the least, though, Kai had made much stranger combos of weapons back when he was younger as well.

As the younger faunus spoke, Kai looked at her ears, interested in them, as he was with most faunus features, nodding at her addressing him. "Nice to meet you Rory, but," he put his open hand on her head, patting her affectionately, "You should call me Kai. I'm not a professor, and I don't need to be called 'Mister' anything. I'm probably only 2 years older than you." He looked around at the other pairs, rubbing his shoulder, "Well, today I'm going with you in there," he thumbed at the forest behind him, "And we're going to be hunting Grimm. I suspect you haven't killed a Grimm yet?"

At that point, people began moving towards the forest, and Kai glanced around as the went, then motioning for Rory to follow, he turned and took the lead to head in as well. "We'll want to get in quickly, or all the good one's will be taken."

Rory smiled.

"Okay, 'Kai'," she smiled brightly. "But you're wrong about the not killing Grimm. I've hunted some regular ones in the forest. Just some..."

The image of a large fire flashed before Rory's eyes. The sound of people screaming filled her ears. For a minute, Kai wasn't there at all and she was a little girl of ten in the village. In the bright burning fire were shadows. Shadows of Beowolves.

The image stopped and Rory was back with Kai. She smiled brightly and hugged his arm.

"So, senpai!" she said. "Lead the way and show me everything I need to know. I promise I'll protect you while I'm at it."

She gave him a small wink as she twirled Cosmas around.

Kai nodded approvingly as Rory corrected him on his comment about her not hunting Grimm. "Good, then you have some experience. I like that." As he turned to lead her into the forest, he felt a tight grip grab his arm and looked over to see Rory hugging his arm closely and beaming up at him. He laughed at her comment on protecting him and continued to lead the way into the forest. "Alright, you can protect me, kohai."

Kai sped up a little, pulling Rory along, aiming to head in where he knew there were a good number of larger Grimm, ones that would require some talent to kill. Large Ursa, Large Beowolves, and there was a rumor that there was a juvenile Deathstalker in that part of the woods. While a fully grown one would be difficult even for a whole team to handle, a smaller one wouldn't be too hard for him and Rory to kill.

To pass the time as they traveled, Kai looked sideways at Rory's ears, and then glanced at her still wagging tail, then commented, "You know, I like your fur, your ears and tail, they look good on you. I know that faunus usually have a hard time from some people, but personally I think they're, that is you're, pretty cool. Anyway, where are you from Rory?" He looked ahead, judging just where they needed to go. Around them Kai still heard the sounds of other pairs running, but he knew that once they were getting close to where he planned to hunt, those sounds would die away.

Rory blushed slightly at the remark, but smiled.

"You're one of the few people that's ever said that," Rory smiled. [color=#FF9933]"But I have nothing against humans even if some will discriminate. And this might be weird to say, but you look pretty cool yourself! Thanks a lot, though. Where I come from? Hm..." [/url]

She paused a bit as she thought about it. Her eyes came to the thick trunks of the trees and the leaves that acted like a roof throughout the square acres. The sun shone in little bits of spotlight.

"I actually from the mountains in a region just outside of Vale," Rory said. "My dad's a woodcutter and my mom does housework. My Uncle was a hunter, though, so that inspired me to go to Signal in preparation for Beacon."

"Well, I'm glad that we're in agreement on our mutual coolness." he chortled contentedly. It was rare for him to get along so well with someone he had only just met. Usually, he was either too forward and scared or weirded out whoever he was talking to, or he was too reclusive, and they lost interest. So it was nice to have a new person who seemed to fall into a wavelength similar to his own. It was funny, even though they had just met, Kai was considering Rory to be a good friend of his, as though he had already known her for awhile. Yet, he would remember if he had known her.

As they ran and she answered his question, he watched the trees around them and how they changed the deeper into the forest they went. Now it was much darker, and the sounds of the others had died out, well, maybe not for Rory, but for Kai they were just faint whispers in the distance, and that meant they were getting close, very close. They had to be on guard now, Kai's hand was ready to fly to his weapon if he needed to fight, or to grab on to Rory if they needed to flee, but either way, he was tense and visibly so.

"Outside Vale?" he confirmed, a little surprised, "Well then, you and I are alike. I grew up far, far away from here. I only got into Beacon because my old teacher managed to convince Ozpin to test me this last year. That was when I discovered my semblance, and speaking of semblance," he looked at her quickly before returning to his previous scan of the forest, "What's yours? I might need to know it in case something happens in here, that way I can figure out how to use it to our advantage. Oh, and also, if you have any questions for me, go ahead and ask, this is sort of a time to ask questions before coming to Beacon." With that, Kai stopped in his tracks and listened, there was indeed something amiss. But for now they were safe enough.

"I have Foresight," Rory said perkily as the two skipped along. "I can see events as far as ten miles away, so I guess that can help us with our Grimm hunting business. What's your semblance?"

Rory was so far enjoying everything, but she was really eager to get some action.

"Oh, and I'd like to know where you came from, too. You must be pretty special, being given a privilege by Headmaster Ozpin."

Kai stopped his scan of the forest around them to look at Rory for a moment, giving her an approving nod at her semblance. "Yes...that'd certainly be useful to find what were looking for..." He stopped speaking just as he was about to tell her his semblance, something had caught his eye, and it was a something that he had been looking for this entire time.

He didn't have time to get his hammer, it was too close, he needed to make some space to fight in, and he only had a second to act. Above them, where Kai had been looking, a branch cracked just as Kai threw a hand out to grab Rory's arm and pull her with him through the air. From above a Beowolf was leaping down at them, a snarl at its lips, but even as it was bearing down upon the pair, they were gone in a puff of snow. An instant later, Kai and Rory would reappear about 40 feet away and Kai would release his hold on Rory's arm, instead grabbing on to the handle that extended from his stored weapon. "My semblance is, well...that. Spacial Distortion, but no time to talk about it now, weapons out Rory. That Beowolf won't be alone. Do you think you can pinpoint any others around here?" He now wielded his fully extended Cannonhammer, Dustbreaker, and had the head pointing to where they had left the Grimm.

Giving off a rhythmic sound of gears ratcheting, the head of the hammer opened, letting the Cannon extend as it had back at the edge of the forest, and a massive blast shield expanded from the head as well. Grabbing the bolt action of his weapon, Kai moved forward as a red crystal locked in at the base of the handle. With a quick pull of the bold and a sizable recoil, a flaming ball of energy shot from the mouth of the cannon and flew through the forest back where the Beowolf had been. Kai had aimed to take that one out before the others got there to back it up, and when the sound of an explosion reached his ears, and the smell of charred wood reached his nose, he knew that it had been a hit. However, more were sure to come, and Rory would be perfect to see them coming. "Alright Rory, let's see what we can do." he said, shifting his weapon back to hammer form and lining up against Rory's back.

"I'm sorry I didn't see that other one a while back," Rory said. "But I'll focus now."

Gathering her aura, she drew into focus as her eyes' dark blue color turned into a bright silver. Rory's vision scanned the area as if she were running at high speeds and back and memorizing where everything was and how everything acted. Just a few feet away, 15 to be precise at the north, were three Beowolves coming their way. Another 25 at the east were behind the bushes.

"There's one on the east," Rory told Kai. "It's farther and alone, so I'm guessing your Cannon can take care of that? There are two up north, a little closer, I can take that on."

"It's fine, you aren't at fault, it had been following us for awhile, but I wasn't sure of its location until then. Anyway, you say there are three more?" He looked to the east, where Rory had pinpointed a Beowolf approaching. "Alright, don't get too far from me, I need to be around in case something big shows up, make sure to call out if I call for you. Be careful Rory."

With that, Kai took off to the east with his hammer in hand. He could hear the Beowolf now, and he sped up, firing a blast of air from his hammerhead and 'jumping' in the air. He soared through the air, just above the lower branches and saw the wolf pass below him.

Quickly, he thrust his hammer out, catching a branch on his hammerhead and swinging around, his momentum carrying him back around completely behind the Beowolf. He grinned, swinging his hammer down from above, aiming for the wolf's head. A violet crystal rotated into place as he swung.

"SMASH!" he called out wildly as his weapon fell upon the wolf. At contact, a violet blast of light erupted from the hammer, blasting the Grimm into countless black pieces. Kai landed nimbly, rolling with his hammer along the ground and pushing himself back up into a run back where he had left Rory. He hadn't heard anything from her, so she was most likely fine, but still he needed to make sure she was all right.

"Got it!" Rory said a little too perkily.

Using Fusilier, she jumped and used the recoil to reach a high branch. Switching Fusilier for Cosmas, she hacked it into the tree and swung on. From there, she jumped the rest of the branches, looking down as the Bewolves drew closer and closer.

Be the Grimm... her uncle had taught her. Be the Grimm...

"A Beowolf will never go alone..." Rory said out loud. As she looked down, for sure, more Beowolves came. She smiled. She could easily shoot all of them down with Fusilier.

But where's the fun in that? she thought.

Holzfallen's two axes came into her hands and she swooped down in the middle of the two. As one pounced towards her she threw her one-bladed axe Cosmas into the air, hacking the Beowolf in between the head. The other came around closer to her, trying to claw and she held up Damian to block. Her shoes dug into the ground as she was pushed back. Refusing to use Fusilier just yet, she took the axe into both hands and jumped, slicing it at the neck to make it fall.

The sound of more Beowolves howling came to her ears and they were headed towards Kai. She ran after her senior-of-the-day.

"Kai, two more to your left, 10 ft away behind the trees!" she said as she switched to Fusilier.

A call from the forest ahead of him alerted Kai to Rory's whereabouts, as well as a warning that she was giving him. He hadn't heard them coming up on him, and without Rory, who knew when he would react. Skidding to a halt, Kai turned on the spot, aiming the tip of his hammer to his left and pressing the switch for it to change...except that it didn't This time, instead of the smooth metallic clicking of the mechanism working, the gears ground, and weapon stopped changing somewhere halfway between forms.

"Damn..." Kai cursed. In front of him the bushes parted and the two shadows leaped out at him, fast as the eye could see. Kai couldn't fight without Dustbreaker being functional, and he barely had time to react now. Yet, even as he started to move backward to use his semblance, he was knocked to the ground, one of the Beowolves, a massive Alpha, barreling him over. The grim was on top of him, and aimed to sink its teeth into his neck, but he managed to get the handle of Dustbreaker up against its neck and push it away, buying time for Rory to get there. The sound of grinding gears still resounded through the trees. "Rory!" he called out, knowing that she was close at hand. He couldn't help but admit the fact that what Rory had said at the beginning was coming true, she was in fact coming to protect him. Kai had no idea where the other Beowolf had gotten to, as it wasn't anywhere in his sight.

"I'm on it!" Rory yelled.

Switching to Fusilier, Rory took aim and shot the Beowolf on but hadn't been able to kill it just yet. As she drew closer she shot more rounds, but it wasn't working.

Shooting's only making me slow, Rory thought. Taking Damian into her other hand, she used jumped and simultaneously shot Fusilier from behind, pushing her towards the Beowulf and hooking it's neck with one of Damian's crooked blade curves. She pulled off its head and it sank down with her on top. Rory suddenly felt exhausted. Whether it was from the force of using Damian at a fast rate or the running, she wasn't sure.

"Are you okay?" Rory panted as she tried to get up. At the same time, a shadow came from behind her, one she was only aware of now. Another Beowolf pounced from above, but Rory didn't have time to react.

It was all over in the blink of an eye. Rory had managed to get over in time after loosing several shots into the Grimm's hide and catch it on the blade of her axe, and that opening alone made enough space for Kai to get out from under the Beowulf and gain his feet again. Finally, with a last loud clunk, Dustbreaker finished changing, but by the time it was done, it was pretty obvious that Rory had the situation under control. Yet...Kai still didn't see the second one, the one that had disappeared when he was tackled to the ground.

Rory had dispatched of the Beowolf and began to stand, questioning Kai's state. "I'm fine, you did we-" he was cut off when a black mass leaped from the tree above Rory, aiming to tackle her as the first had tackled Kai. This one however, was even larger than the last, and without action would quickly kill the small faunus girl. In the moment that the shadow appeared, Kai disappeared, snow falling where he had stood. He reappeared above and behind the Grimm. "No. You. Don't! You won't have her!" He grabbed the back of the Grimm's neck with one hand and pulled, both demon and man disappearing in another poof of snow.

Now the pair were above the forest, and Kai wasn't about to use his semblance much more and leave himself weakened. Turning his weapon to face the barrel down, Kai pushed a trigger on the handle, planting his feet on the bolt action. From the Cannon Barrel a massive blast of air fired, lifting Kai and the Beowolf even higher. Three times he fired the cannon, until he was high above the forest, at which point he heaved the Grimm around and above his head. "You don't attack people under my protection!" Kai now spun his weapon around, pushing the barrel at the stomach of his target and pulled the bolt action, a red crystal locked in.

Anyone within a few kilometers radius would see the massive fireball that exploded over the forest, but fewer would see the falling form of Kai, somewhat burned and smoking. He grimaced as he fell, he looked worse than he felt, and was fully capable of deploying a landing strategy using his hammer. As he fell towards the ground below, his hammer changed form without locking up this time, and he positioned it under himself, standing on it like a skateboard. From the hammerhead he fired numerous blasts of air, maneuvering through the air towards the ground and back to Rory. Once he was just above the trees, he caught a branch with his hammer and swung down, landing about fifteen feet from where he had left Rory. He staggered, catching himself, and then walked back to where he hoped Rory was waiting.

Rory had seen everything with her Foresight and she quickly ran towards where Kai was.

"Kai!" she shouted worriedly. She slung his arm over her shoulder and then walked him over to a soft patch and a tree he could lean on. "Senpai, are you okay? I'm so sorry about that, I...I wish I'd seen him charging at me. Are you injured anywhere? I have a first aid kit."

Rory kept her ears alerted to the sound of other Grimm but there were none within hearing. They were safe...for now.

Kai heard his student cry out and come running, but really, he was quite alright. Though he did appreciate it when she came to help him out and brace him as he walked. Normally he wouldn't have fired an explosive shot that close to the target, a power or speed shot would have been much safer, but he wanted to make sure, completely sure, that the thing would die. So, exploding it was the best option.

Nonetheless, parts of his clothing was still smoking, as were the tips of his hair, and he had some carbon streaks across his face. He looked down at the young huntress in training and just chuckled, "I'm fine Rory. It's my assignment to keep you safe, and that wasn't anything I couldn't handle. There wasn't any way that you could have seen it coming, I'm just glad I was able to get him in time." He leaned against the tree, looking over himself and brushing the char off of him. The only thing that really phased him was a moderate burn under his chin, the only place his armor didn't cover. He winced when he touched it, but his gauntlet came away clean, so there wasn't any bleeding.

Kai pointed at the burn, lifting his chin for Rory to inspect it, "That doesn't look too bad, does it? I can't see it." Hopefully it wouldn't leave any permanent damage.

Rory was relieved Kai wasn't hurt. She took a good look at the chin, carefully lifting Kai's face up without touching the burnt areas. She clenched her teeth a little at the damage.

"It's not too bad," Rory said. "But that is going to need some cleaning. If you could just sit still, I'll cover it up."

She gave Kai one of her brightest smiles, her sharp canine teeth showing as she did.

"Don't you worry, Kai! I happen to be an excellent nurse!"

She went to the pouch tied around her waist and took out a small first aid kit. There were gauzes and bandages and little tubes of thing. There were also, strangely, little needles, but fortunately Rory didn't touch that. She instead took some cotton and opened a vial of sterile water, dabbing it and ready to touch Kai's chin.

"This may sting a little," she said. "But I'm sure senpai's a big boy who can handle it!"

The last part was said a little teasingly and Rory giggled. She hoped it would lift up her spirits. She poured some cool water directly over the burn and then proceeded to wipe the excess. She then took a little dab of burn ointment and swabbed it in a nice thin coat. After that, she covered it up with a gauze and some bandage. It wasn't too big, just a small little square covering Kai's chin. She smiled.

"All patched up!" Rory smiled perkily. "You'll be fine now if there's nothing else hurting."

Kai sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned back for Rory to treat his burn. He didn't have a problem with injuries, no, that was just something that came with his protective nature, what he had a problem with was the thought that they were vulnerable, and that they could be attacked while Rory was treating him. But, he couldn't help but smile at the (literally) wolfish grin she gave him before rushing to grab her first aid kit.

It was somewhat hypnotic, the feel of her hands gently working on the wound, she managed to keep from brushing it, and that prevented the pain from flaring up, which, now that the adrenaline had died down, he was glad of. The burn itself had a bit of sting to it, but not so much that he would show it to his kohai.

It took a few minutes, but he needed to admit that the treatment made his chin feel quite a lot better, especially with the ointment covering the raw burn. Once the treatment was done and Rory had leaned away a bit, Kai lowered his head, feeling the pad that now spread across his chin. "Useful skill that. Glad you were here Red." He was still trying to figure out a nickname for Rory, and this was the first he tried out loud, based on her red furred ears and tail. Depending on how Rory took it it might stick.

Kai pushed himself upright and grabbed the hand of his weapon, letting it telescope back into its storage form in preparation for more travel. "Alright Red, if you're up to it, I have one more idea where the Grimm I want us to find is. Whaddya say? Up for a Deathstalker hunt?" Kai wasn't phased from the Beowolf attack, now that they had stopped coming after them, it wasn't likely that more would follow them.

Rory's eyes sparkled at the new nickname and her happiness was showing with the way her tail wagged. She was more than relieved to see Kai was alright and the fact that she had been given a nickname gave her an all new sense of achievement.

It reminded her very much of how her Uncle called her that when they went out in the woods. Her uncle, of course, had been a graduate of Beacon Academy and was a Huntsman to the blood. He showered her with strict lessons and loving affection and he was the closest thing she had to a father. There was something about Kai that reminded her of that nostalgia.

"I'd be more than happy to be called Red," Rory smiled. "And I'd be more than happier to hunt a Deathstalker! Speaking of which, do we have a certain number of Grimm we have to kill? That way I can try to use my semblance to see what's on our list."

The joyful reply from Rory lifted Kai's spirit a bit, she was still enthusiastic, and wasn't afraid, and with that sort of partner alongside him he was confident they could continue. So, that settled it, it was time to head after a Deathstalker. Of course, it would be one that was manageable, so it couldn't be too big. Fortunately, Deathstalkers were scarce in the Emerald Forest, and the ones that did live there weren't all that huge, so it wouldn't be an issue for Rory and him to handle on their own.

The response that Rory liked to be called Red, as well as her question about the number of Grimm they had to kill both caused Kai some satisfaction. The first was obvious, but the second, well, he would need to tell her some time. "Well, to tell you the truth, this isn't just a shadowing session. It's sort of...well...a scavenger hunt. We're supposed to kill at least one of each kind of Grimm in the forest, and the largest one of that species that we kill is recorded as our score. And the pair that has the largest kills, as well as the most complete list, is given a reward. I think...now don't quote me on this, but I think that for the signal student, early admission was being considered depending on how promising they were." He stopped talking and faced to the west, towards where he knew a Deathstalker den was waiting. "Anyway, we shouldn't discuss winning anything until we know we've got it in the bag. But, to answer your question, if you can find an Ursa, a Boarbatusk, and a King Taijitu, that'll be three of our list." Kai didn't mention the Nevermore, as it was something that he doubted they would find, and even if they found it, he believed they would have a hard time killing it.

With that taken care of he took the lead, walking through the trees towards their new destination.

Rory's ears twitched as she listened in carefully on the small briefing. She nodded attentively and tried to list everything down in her head. She followed next to Kai as they continued through the forest. All her senses were awake. Her ears were alerted to the sounds of the leaves and the grass, the crunches and cropping as things moved. She kept her eyes sharp but decided not to use her semblance yet. She sniffed the air for the scent of Grimm. She once again remembered the thing her uncle always said.

Be the Grimm...

Rory stopped walking for a while.

"If we're looking for certain Grimm," she said. "Let's take into consideration their habitats. We know for certain we'll find everything on the list in this forest, but let's be more specific. I've heard about some scavenging. Ursa's are average near thick bushes while Beowolves are more of where the trees are wider and can run freer. A Death Stalker...is usually in caves."

She pointed to the nearby mountains and rocks some distance away.

"I'm sure it'll be easier to find one lurking there. The Boarbatusk, I'm not sure yet...but the King Taijitu was once reported to have been found in a clearing in the woods where there was a circle of trees and a large patch of grass...I hope this helps. I'm gonna recharge my aura a bit so let's walk for now..."

It was now pretty clear to Kai that while this little faunus girl had just met him, she was definitely concerned about him, and that was a touching thought, and that made him want to be able to protect her all the more. As they ran he was making sure that he was in a position to body block in case something jumped out at her, but he was sure that they wouldn't be attacked again without them knowing, not with Rory looking out for them. With her semblance active she would pick up on anything around them, and that in combination with her hearing would allow for them to be on guard easily.

Kai found it somewhat impressive that she had such a large amount of information on Grimm. True, Kai knew pretty much everything she had said, except that he had an idea where they might find the Boarbatusk, but she was still pretty knowledgeable for a Signal student. "You have a good grasp of Grimm it seems. Your Uncle teach you all that?" he asked, looking to their left for the cliffside they were heading to. It had been awhile since he had looked up information on the Emerald Forest, but he remembered that there was a sheer cliff face that rose up out of the woods around here, and that it was likely home to a few Deathstalker caves. "Rory, when we find what we're looking for, I want you to get around it and onto its tail. One of the few things that can pierce a Deathstalker's armor is its own sting. Since I have no method of cutting it off, you'll need to be the one to sever the connection. I can maneuver you around it with my semblance, but I hope to only use it to help you avoid an attack. I'll keep its attention, and I need you to stay safe. Communicate with me if you want to try something, but I need to have the final decision on it, got it?" He would look back for a reply from her, before catching sight of the cliff. Hopefully with Rory there it wouldn't be hard to find an entrance.