Lucas's mind was spinning as fast as the windows of Sophist's Lantern as he tried to think of a way to escape this current predicament. Yes, he succeeded in getting his fellow initiate out of the dangerous encirclement, but neither of them were out of trouble yet. If they tried to run now, the Grimm would no doubt give chase. Frankly, Lucas didn't think he was faster than a Beowolf. Sure, he could use his semblance to give himself a boost, but that would mean spending a not insignificant amount of dust. Those factors combined eliminated a hasty retreat as an option, so Lucas had to consider alternatives.

Solution 1: Acquire assistance from other initiate?
Ability and condition uncertain, unreliable prospect

Solution 2: Use smokescreen and hide?
Beowolf sense of smell and personal anxiety would defeat stealth

The more options that raced through his head, the more Lucas realized he just jumped into a fight he couldn't back out of.

Dammit, me and my stupid ideals, he thought to himself bitterly as he prepared himself for combat. He didn't know much about the other initiate's combat abilities, but she did look like she could handle herself from what little he saw. Maybe together they could--

"Hey, thanks! I would have been totally dead!"

A sudden cheery voice derailed Lucas's racing mind, causing him to stumble even though he was standing still. Whirling to face what had caused the intrusion, only to find the smiling face of the fellow initiate he had just "rescued" offering him a fistbump. The contrast of her demeanor to the situation around them that Lucas had no idea how to properly respond. The only thing that came out of his mouth as he made eye-contact was an incomprehensible, "bwa?"

Wait, eye-contact? Does that make us--

Lucas was once again interrupted from his thoughts by another sudden sound, though this one was much more situationally appropriate. A gunshot heralded the arrival of another student, a winged faunus, that had settled into the limbs of a tree and immediately began laying down cover fire. Almost immediately after, another (very much welcome) intruder erupted onto the scene. Wearing a striking white and pink jacket, a male initiate cut down two more of the Beowolves before barking an order at the group.

"Draw them into the circle for me. I need a moment, but I can take them all out!"

With all of the surprises happening one right after the other, Lucas had lost quite a few of the details, including the names of his surprise team. With that said, the order had enough impact to shake Lucas's thoughts back on track. Glancing at the pink circle that was forming at the newcomer's feet, the only thing he could really tell was that whatever it was, it was going to be big. Perhaps if he had longer to look at it, he would notice the singing of the grass as it expanded, as well as the amount of energy it would take to cover that wide of an area. As things were, though...

"Fuck it, I don't have a better plan."

Stepping forward even further, Lucas stopped spinning the cylinders of his weapon and held it out in front of him just as one of the Beowolves regained enough of its senses to charge. Before the creature could reach him, though, the shutter of Sophist's Lantern opened, and a powerful gust of wind burst forth, blasting the monster back along with a few of its allies into the expanding glyph.

At the same time, the semblance lantern, which had remained in its previous position, began to emit a dark purple glow, and everything touched by the light grew significantly heavier. The prone Beowolves that had been slow to get up suddenly found themselves pinned to the ground as their bodies suddenly increased in weight. The downside of this, however, was that the male newcomer was unfortunately well within the radius of the light, and he would experience the negative aspects of Lucas's semblance first hand. Hope he didn't skip leg day.

"I can push them into the circle with wind dust," he began to explain, "and the purple light is gravity dust that will slow down the Grimm inside. If someone can knock them on their ass, they'd be pinned!" He hoped that explanation would be enough for the other two to follow up on. The wind from his weapon might be enough to push them back, but it won't have enough force to knock them completely off their feet without help from his semblance. The gravity light from his semblance will slow down the Grimm, but if they're still on their feet, they can still lunge at nearby targets, and the increased weight will increase the damage from their attacks. It was a gamble, and if it was just Lucas and this new guy, he wouldn't go for it. But now there were four of them, and if the other two can run enough interference, maybe they could pull this off.

---

Situation Log
Beowolves: 12 Remaining, 3 are still prone, 6 are within the glyph

Lucas's combat log:
Action: Using wind dust to push Grimm into the circle, using gravity dust to keep them inside

Aura: 100%
Semblance: 73% (3% for sustaining gravity lantern)
Dust remaining:
Fire: 100%
Ice: 100%
Earth: 100%
Lightning: 100%
Wind: 85% (Used to push beowolves/ forgot to subtract dust used during landing strategy)
Kinetic: 85%
Gravity: 95% (used to sustain gravity lantern)

Still laying flat on his back against the deathstalker's armour plates and relying almost solely on the staff firmly lodged into the articulation between two of the aforementioned plates, Nathan was spending most of his thinking power on not getting thrown off by the increasingly wild bucking combined with keeping an eye on the golden glow of the beast's stinger. He was entirely reliant on his partner coming down sooner or later for the moment - though if this kept up, he'd have to go with his original, solo plan sooner or later.

Through this and the scorpion's frantic, infuriated screeching, he barely even understood the last words someone shouted nearby - "need help?" A few seconds later, his brain had managed to process the information enough for him to generate a reply. Yelling a bit to try and be heard over the rampaging Grimm, he said "Nah, we're fine, just uh, give it a bit!"

No sooner had he finished his sentence that a far more pressing yell reached his ears from on high. Luckily, he was already looking up and therefore had absolutely no issue spotting the speeding fireball heading towards him. He only gave it a scant few seconds, to get better timing, then swung around Ergia, firmly planting his feet on the white, bonelike plates and pulling with all his might in an attempt to dislodge the black weapon from the equally black creature. A particularly violent attempt by the deathstalker to get him off of its back gave Nathan the help he needed, the black tube coming out of its lodging with a mix of suction and a loud crack. Half furious from the injury and half invigorated by having at last sent him flying off, the black monster turned its red eyes to face Nathan as he rapidly got up from the stream's bed and screeched with all its might.

The way the Beowolves floated by was almost comical, their arms flailing and swiping at thin air as they drifted harmlessly over Tina's head. A bullet to their very exposed noggin sorted both weightless Grimm out and Tina turned back to see Cyrus dealing with another that decided it wanted a course of chicken wings. She winced in sympathy, taking careful aim not to put two holes in Cyrus's already injured wing, before firing through the Grimm's neck with both revolvers. Hopefully, severing its spinal cord would instantly relieve some of the jaw's pressure before the head would fully disintegrate.

Still fully aware that there was one Grimm left on her radar, Tina beckoned with one revolver-grasping hand for Cyrus to come closer to her, away from the treeline so that she'd have more time to nail whatever decided to emerge instead of being jumped on like they previously had been. Behind her, the Deathstalker screeched in displeasure, prompting her to turn around and look. She wasn't expecting the other Hunter to be riding it like a rodeo bull at an arcade, but it seemed to be a pretty good distraction while Rocket Girl did her thing.

Speaking of, her new position afforded her a prime position of the other girl falling like a meteor, fully encased in flames and all. So, a giant with an equally large guitar, a Deathstaker-mounting hunter, and a burning girl with a rocket-propelled...broom? She couldn't tell from this angle, but it was a stick with a bulbous end - broom was the first thing that came to mind. In spite of everything happening around her, Tina sighed deeply. Why couldn't I have found people that aren't as loud and boisterous...

Combat Stats: ShowHide

● Aura: [█████████▄] 94%
● Ammo: Sunrise - 6/12, Nightfall - 6/12

His feet solidly planted in the stream in evident defiance, Nathan's mind went into overdrive. He consciously made an effort to process information outside the centre of his field of view, in an attempt to register any kind of anticipation to the deathstalker's movements. At the same time, he examined his options. His partner was above the canopy. To his right, the rest of his fledgling team was dealing with one, or perhaps several, pack(s) of beowolves. He could not back down and survival was the top priority, while his actual goal was forcing the giant, fake arachnid of a Grimm in front of him to focus its entire attention, aggression and intellect onto himself.

Turns out he would be using that plan after all.

Patiently, he waited in the same defensive stance as before, not moving back or to the side from the predator. The latter very obviously found this insulting, as it hissed and snapped its immense claws in an attempt to intimidate him - with no result. He was too focused to even register threat displays as actual threats. The deathstalker, however, did not share his patience and soon lunged at him, claws open for a shredding.

The entirety of Nathan's plan unfolded within the next second. Retracting his legs towards his body as fast as he could while bending down and using Ergia as a pushrod, he dropped down and forwards, the scorpion's claws swiping at air as it barrelled right past him. As fast as he could, Nathan shoved his staff through a gap between two of the beast's right legs and, using one of his hands, hoisted himself on top of the bony plates. He immediately rammed one end of Ergia in the articulation between two large plates and laid flat, back towards the ground, while holding the staff with both hands.

The shrill was decidedly painful to Nathan as the deathstalker raged against both the pain of having plates forced apart and the humiliation of a human deciding to ride it. It frantically trashed around, slamming against the ground, spinning left and right, anything to attempt to dislodge the pest on its back, out of reach of its claws.

Grimly observing the Deathstalker back off slightly before continuing its slow advance down the slope, which could only mean her bullets didn't hit their mark, Tina would have continued raining lead on the oversized scorpion had the girl on the streambed not rocketed off like...well, like a rocket. She stared in wonder as the girl swiftly soared out of line of sight from her position, and could only assume that it wasn't her beating a hasty retreat. Given that her bullets would do little against the Deathstalker's thick carapace, she would be more than happy if Rocket Girl was gonna sort out the big critter for them.

"Take care of the beowolves! This guy's after me, I'm gonna keep 'im busy 'til she comes back down!"

Oh right, the Beowolves. Tina scarcely had time to turn around fully before one lunged from the thick bushes, pitch-black throat growling gutturally and razor-sharp fangs dripping with drool. She threw herself backwards, still getting clawed across the right shoulder for her troubles but double-tapping the Beowolf in the head in retaliation. Now with two large holes through its brain, the Grimm's corpse tottered and slumped across Tina's prone body and legs, making her kick and flail her way out from under the slowly dissipating darkness.

"Cyrus, they're coming!" She shouted, somewhat pointlessly. "Two on your left first, then two on your right, and one straggler that's lagging behind!" Scrambling to her feet, she took up a position behind the guitar-wielding giant with guns trained on the treeline, sparing nary a glance at the man brandishing his pole in front of him.