OOC: Posting order will be set to Freeform, except during crunch time. In general, you can post in any order at any time, but don't get out of control if someone hasn't posted for a while. This thread is supposed to be lots of explosions and lots of fun. If someone is posting slow about how many Grimm they just mauled into the ground, we'll just press on and assume they mauled a lot. Just assume Michael Bay is directing it. Make sure you look away from explosions too if you cause them. Very important.
PrologueThe Lion's Blade. An ancient weapon said to be able to nullify Aura constructs, allowing it to easily cut apart humans and faunus as easily as Grimm. It could also take the shape of any bladed weapon instantly. The blade was forged hundreds of years ago for a traveling warrior named Leo. With it, he cut down thousands of Grimm as he and his band traveled the continent of Sanus, searching for a way to destroy the Grimm completely, once and for all.
The story of The Lion is a fairly well-known story wrapped in folklore and speculation. Keeping track of history has always been difficult on Remnant, and the truth of this story was lost to the ages. Still, it's often told to children in a way that portrays Leo as a great hero who saved villages and towns from evil.
The leadership in Vale was quick to act when word got out that some records containing evidence regarding the story of The Lion had been found. After verifying their credibility, the government suppressed information as best they could on it. If the blade really did exist, and after this find they were suspicious, then the weapon needed to be found and destroyed or safely stored. In the wrong hands, the weapon could cause untold destruction with its Aura suppressing abilities.
When their specialist returned empty-handed and suffering from what appeared to be dementia or maybe even insanity, they struggled to keep the information under wraps. People were growing curious of where these new rumors were coming from. They still didn't want to run the mission to collect the weapon through public channels. So they turned to Alban Inverno, headmaster of Beacon Academy. He would be able to send a team of students on a routine mission to Petros, the abandoned town the sword is supposedly lost at. Included would be a staff member from Beacon, who could then collect the weapon. This type of thing had happened before. There were concerns about sending student huntsmen to the location after seeing what happened to their specialist, but after experts claimed he would recover the vote passed.
And so, on an unmarked Friday, a mission became available to students to clear Petros of Grimm. Petros is an old city that has been abandoned for years. It is a relatively common training site for Beacon Academy to use, as it is always crawling with Grimm. The worst part was that it was such a far distance away. The trip was done overnight due to the length of the flight, and such lengthy missions could sometimes be delayed in their return.
And so, just before six o'clock that evening, four students arrived at the Beacon Docks. Their "instructor" was
Kirkka Scarlet. Though she doesn't do any teaching, she does work for the Academy and is often tapped for missions. She was going over some data on her scroll when the others arrived. Behind her was an Air Bus, standard issue at Beacon Academy.
Mia Brightspear, the owner of the "Loaded for Bear" Dust shop on the Academy grounds, was just finishing loading up what seemed like way too much cargo while her pet bear
Waffle lazed about in his armor.
As the four students arrived, Kirkka spoke with them briefly and checked them all in on her scroll. As you pass her you can catch a glimpse that she looked to be reading Beacon's Profiles for each student. Good to know your allies.
Just a few minutes later, the Air Bus lifted off with Mia as pilot, Kirkka as Mission Advisor, and then the volunteers:
Akeldama Blood-Heart,
Fallow Russet,
Airi Okairos, and
Graham Dylandy. The trip was going to be quite long, and so Kirkka recommended that everyone get some rest during the flight. Refreshments will be available throughout the night.
A voice came through the cabin intercoms.
"Briefing is in 5. Touch down in 10. Gear up."The voice was that of Kirkka Scarlet, who was currently with Mia in the cockpit. The announcement that came through was hopefully enough to wake anyone still sleeping. Looking around the Air Bus, it is easy to tell this vehicle was made for comfortable long flights. It was like riding first class, or maybe even better. There were only 12 seats, two per row, with large windows that had variable tinting running along both sides, providing a great view. There was tons of room to walk around and store things as well. This was much better than the short ranged Bullhead transports. The chairs even reclined so far that they basically became beds. It was quite a nice ride to be transporting a bunch of students to a Grimm infested area so they could purify the area.
There is a ton of supplies being stored in the back end of the Air Bus. The supplies look like a whole bunch of Dust and Dust accessories, many of them catered to be of use to the students. There is even a crate labeled, "
DANGER: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE", and another one with "
DANGER: EXPLOSIVES". Mia comes prepared, it seems. The pile of supplies has a guard, as well. In the form of a large armored bear. He stayed put throughout the trip, only moving around a few times but keeping his distance from the students. He seemed quite okay with being on a plane and took a nap when the other students did. Currently, he is sitting next to the Explosives, leaning slightly against it. At the front of the cabin where Kirkka was sleeping earlier is a much smaller set of supplies, her property, no doubt.
It was still dark outside the windows, but dawn was on the way. The sky had changed from blackness to a faint blue color, and the ground below was faintly visible. They were quite a ways up but still well below cloud level as they flew over the darkness of some forested area. There was little to see other than that, though, since they had yet to arrive and it was just a little too dark.
Well... better gear up and make sure everyone is awake, fed and ready to go.