RWBY: Tiger King and Dragon Queen

We do not own RWBY or any other copyright content. All rights to it go to Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and their original owners. All OCs are owned by us.

Writing credits go to Uzumaki Ricky, Monsterhuntergod-Ratholas Mk1, Sharad the hedgehog, and SlimShady2015 on Fanfiction.Net.

Tiger King and Dragon Queen: Year 1

Volume 1 Prologue: AZRE

Act I: The Tiger Roars

The night sky blanketed over the kingdom of Mistral, a cool breeze rustling the short, sweet grass under one's feet. In a clearing in a mysterious land, a young, teenage samurai with his daishō blades on his hip walked out. He wore a training gi consisting of a short sleeved black undershirt with a royal azure blue sleeveless top and matching pants with a white sash around his waist to hold the pants up, the garments being whipped lightly by the breeze. He was fairly tall, about six feet in height if not a bit taller. He had a fair skinned complexion and wavy, medium length royal azure blue hair with bangs draped over his forehead.

His eyes were a shade of deep, dark azure blue. Though, at the same time, they were also very kind and gentle looking, the eyes of a man who cared about others. The young man also had very handsome and regal, but, at the same time, almost wild facial features, appealing much in the way a tiger that had taken the form of a man would be. He had a strong frame, and a body toned from years of hard work and training.

But what stood out the most about him was a set of massive scars in the shape of a set of claw marks covering the entire left half of his face, adding a more rugged edge to his features. He took a deep breath, taking in the night air happily. It always had a way of calming him.

'If everything was as simple as a nice evening such as this, this world would be so much better.' the boy sighed in his thoughts, unsure of what to do with such a night.

With his family moving off to the Kingdom of Vale in the city of the same name, and his sensei putting him under intense scrutiny before that to test his abilities, his world was not as simple as he wished. He tried to put that out of his mind, but to no avail. With what had happened to him recently, he wondered what cruel trick of fate happened to cause this.

'I just hope Father, Mother, Argent, and Aqua do well with this move. Even though I pushed for it, I'm going to miss this place. It's so beautiful here, and peaceful. From what I hear of Vale right now, it's anything but that…' the boy thought, before he heard rustling in the undergrowth nearby.

Just then, there was a light rustling that could be heard from the bushes. Turning his attention to it, the young man crept over towards the rustling, preparing to draw his swords from his waist. Drawing his katana, he prepared for battle in case something jumped out.

Just as he drew his weapon, a small pink and brown blur jumped out of the bushes, arms out wide as the blur tackle hugged the young samurai. Looking down, the young man smiled at the sight of his adopted older cousin, her signature parasol in black silk clad hands. She had heterochromatic eyes, one pink and the other brown. Her hair was equally heterochromatic, pink and brown like her eyes, but with the sides swapped compared to her eyes.

His eyes scanned the smaller girl rapidly, and with a warrior's ingrained efficiency. Stealth obviously was not her motive. Her jacket in a very traditional fashion, with its deep cream white and pink lining shone like a lantern in the night. He could maybe forgive on that front the milk chocolate brown tank top underneath, or her black denim jeans. Maybe criticize how skinny they were, but he was the last person to judge on that. Capping her pants was a caramel leather belt made from the finest his clan could offer. Finally, though having to nearly put his sight through her shoulders to do so, he noticed her boots. With calf high white boots with black heels, she was certainly making a statement. The pink side buttons furthering that point.

The young man relaxed a bit and lowered his blade, hugging her back with one arm as he smiled. "You had me worried there for a moment, Trivia. I thought you were a Grimm or another student entirely."

The tiny, mute ice cream colored girl grinned mischievously as she pulled out her scroll and typed in an implied sing-song tone, 'That was my intention!'

"So, what are you doing here? Did sensei send you here as part of my test?" he asked, still not dropping his guard completely.

Trivia giggled and nodded, typing, 'I'm supposed to spar with you, but don't worry. I'll go easy on ya.' Trivia winked.

The azure samurai smiled a bit and chuckled at that. "Same here. After all, I'm not going all out on my fragile, little adopted cousin." he responded back, a bit playfully.

Trivia scowled in response, before vanishing into seemingly thin air, the only evidence that she even existed being the dust her Stilettos kicked up.

Following the dust that was kicked up by her movements, the young samurai readied his blade, drew his wakizashi, and prepared to fight. Holding his blades with one hand each while dropping into a stance, he watched for any signs of movement from Trivia.

Seeing what her opponent was planning, she intentionally kicked up dust behind him, before back flipping over him, attempting to strike his chest.

The young man turned and swung at the dust with his katana in a quick slash, only to hit air. Anticipating what she was about to do next, he twisted around and swung his wakizashi in the opposite direction. Trivia dispelled her illusion, as she ducked under his blade, before springing up immediately after it passed overhead, and body-checked him. Getting pushed back slightly, the azure samurai quickly recovered and lashed out with a roundhouse kick to her gut. He smirked as he felt his kick land, only to be surprised when "Trivia" shattered like glass and disappeared.

The young swordsman chuckled a bit as he turned and tried to sense her presence. "Clever, Trivia. Very clever." he commented, readying his blades again.

As the azure swordsman heard a rustling on a tree branch, he looked up only to get a face full of Trivia, who had opened her parasol and was floating down. Swinging back and forth, building her momentum before closing the parasol at the apex of her swing, her stiletto aimed directly at his pretty boy face. Moving quickly, he blocked her stiletto-armed kick with his forearm, causing her to jump off him.

'Always have at least three plans of action for every attack.' she thought to herself, remembering what Old Master Yūri had taught them. She landed and crouched, lunging at her opponent, the blade in Hush blade drawn out.

He smiled as he watched her land. "Not bad, Trivia. I'm glad to see you took Sensei's words to heart. You already had plans for what to do in case I blocked your strike." the samurai said, rather impressed by the move.

Just as Trivia was about to strike, she vanished, and he heard the sound of rustling in the underbrush. As he looked in the direction of the sound, Azura was shocked at what he saw. A silver-haired, green-eyed boy of about twelve years old, crying with his eyes wide in fear with hand axes at the ready. Out of the brush, large, bipedal werewolf-like creatures were making their presences known.

"Beowolves… Not again…" the young man muttered, pale as a sheet.

He narrowed his eyes as he saw this. He knew that this could be a trick, but he did not want to take that chance. Not when his little brother's life could be on the line. He would just have to proceed with caution.

Trivia grinned under her illusion, thinking to herself, 'Guess we finally know who's the cat, and who's the mouse in this instance.'

The samurai ran in, ready to confront the beasts and protect his brother. His blades at the ready, he leapt in front of his little brother, coming to his defense. Trembling in fear, he refused to back down. Swords at the ready, the azure swordsman tried to keep himself from trembling as the Grimm closed in.

The beasts had them surrounded, outnumbering them ten to one. Reminiscent of a scene from his past. A scene he would rather forget. The young samurai started to tremble as panic started to set in. Would this be just like that day? Would he lose someone else he cared about…?

Shaking his head, he clenched his hand tightly around the hilts of his trusty katana and wakizashi. He then swung at a leaping Beowolf, ready to decapitate it. However, as soon as his blade contacted the beast's neck, the creatures all shattered like glass. Shocked, he was unable to react to the stiletto heel that kicked him in the back of the head, throwing him off balance.

Trivia stood over him, initially grinning until she noticed the look on his face. Kneeling down, she gave a look of concern and typed, 'You ok? Something wrong?'

He glared up at her, cold anger clear on his face and burning in his eyes. "Don't you ever do that again, Trivia. Do you understand?" the samurai frigidly replied, trying to calm his nerves.

Confused, Trivia typed, 'Did I go too far? I had no idea… I'm so sorry…' Trivia gave an apologetic look.

The azure swordsman sighed at that and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "It's fine, Trivia. I'm… I'm okay…" He replied, though the tone of his voice betrayed how badly shaken he still was.

Trivia sighed, typing, 'My goal was never to traumatize you, Azura. I'm sorry I went too far; I should've known better… I promise, on my honor, I won't do it again… we good?' Trivia gave him an extremely awkward, uncomfortable look, betraying just how difficult apologizing was for her.

He nodded at that as he got back up. "We're good. Let's continue the spar." Azura replied, dropping back into his stance.

Trivia shook her head, typing, 'I feel like that wouldn't be fair to you. I gained an unfair advantage by going too far. I concede the match.'

Azura was a bit surprised by this but smiled and nodded as he sheathed his blades. "I understand, Trivia. Thank you." the samurai replied, pulling her into a quick hug.

Trivia flinched slightly, still getting used to the whole openly showing love thing, but eventually hugged back typing, 'I do love you, Azu. You're a dum dum, but you're my dum dum…'

Azura smiled a bit more at that. "Who are you calling a dum dum? If anything, you're the dum dum between the two of us." the samurai replied playfully.

Trivia pouted slightly, typing, 'No need to insult my intelligence over a sign of endearment, Azu…'

The azure swordsman chuckled and ruffled her hair. "You know I'm just playing with you, Trivia." he replied.

Trivia pouted slightly, typing, 'Dum dum…'

Azura smiled more at that and motioned back to where he made camp for this part of the test. "Do you want to sit down and relax until the next part of my test?" the swordsman asked her.

Trivia sighed, typing, 'Can't… I got at least three other bozos I gotta el-kabonk before the day's out…'

Azura chuckled at that and nodded. "Fair enough. Good luck, Trivia. And wish me luck, too."

Trivia grinned, smacking him on the back and typing, 'Good luck, dum dum. You'll need it.' Trivia winked mischievously.

He smiled at that and waved goodbye to Trivia as she left. Taking a deep breath, he turned and headed back to his campsite to fix himself some dinner from the rations he collected during the day from hunting and gathering.

Sitting himself down, he set up his pot on the hook and filled it with water. As the water got to a boil, he began to prepare the ingredients. Aside from some basic spices and salt he had in his pack, he had to make do with what he had. Having killed a large crane, he began to cut out the breasts and cut them up for the stew. He then added the collected gooseberries to the water to get it properly seasoned.

'Well, that crane should lessen the load for the local farmers.' Azura thought as he then began to chop up watercress to add to the stew before starting on his rice.

Soon he began to add the ingredients at various points, and before long, his sour and savory wilderness stew was complete. He just began to muse and began to tuck into his campsite dinner when he sensed something unnerving. This forced him, however much he did not want to, to stop his tucker and reach for his sword.

Standing up and drawing his blade, Azura prepared to fight as multiple Grimm began to creep out of the underbrush. Werewolf-like Beowolves, the bear-like Ursa Grimm, Imps, and a couple of Horse Grimm began to come out, gnashing their teeth and dripping black drool from their maws. Altogether, about nineteen Grimm stood before him. Trembling in fear as panic set in once more, Azura gripped his katana's hilt as he prepared for battle.

'Ancestors… give me strength...!' Azura thought, closing his eyes in an attempt to calm himself as the Grimm charged in at him.

Soon, the ground began to shake with the thunder of the multiple pairs of feet charging in at Azura. As it did, Azura began to glow azure-blue with the glow slowly changing from azure-blue to cobalt, then to sapphire as an aura that resembled lightning surrounding his body. His hair began to stand on end as he opened his eyes, which had changed from their normal azure blue to a seemingly glowing sapphire blue. The blue glow spread from his irises to slightly outside of them as the glowing lightning aura spread out from him.

Readying his blade with his Semblance activated, Azura charged right at his enemies. Rushing in on an Imp, Azura dodged a claw slash and sliced off the creature's hand, making it cry out in pain. Dodging another claw lunge, Azura ran on the limb and jumped up into the air. Coming down on the Imp, he slashed it in half from shoulder to hip.

Dodging a pounce from a Beowolf, Azura decapitated the beast before jumping aside to avoid a swipe from an Ursa. Getting in close, Azura dodged a claw swipe and sliced off its arm. Jumping up over a Beowolf, Azura jumped off of its back and landed on top of the Ursa's head. Stabbing into the Ursa's head, Azura penetrated its skull.

Ripping the blade from the Ursa's skull, Azura jumped off the dead Grimm and stabbed down into the Beowolf he vaulted off. With the Beowolf dead, Azura looked at the other Grimm. Two more Imps attacked him with their extending arms. Dodging their claw attacks, Azura jumped on top of the arms and ran along them. Jumping off as the Grimm retracted their arms, Azura slashed through one Imp before kicking another one in the head, twisting its head all the way around.

With both Imps dead, Azura dodged a slash from an Ursa and swung with all his might, decapitating it. Hearing the thunder of hooves rushing towards him, Azura turned to see a Horse Grimm coming at him. Rolling to the side, Azura avoided being trampled before vaulting onto the Horse Grimm. The Horse Grimm bucked and kicked, trying to throw him off as he tried to take control of it by force. Forcibly taking control of it, Azura used the Horse Grimm to stomp on three more Imps and trod on a Beowolf.

Jumping off the Horse Grimm, Azura came down and sliced off the Horse Grimm's head. Looking at the Grimm, Azura counted seven more to go. About two-thirds of them were dead. He still had quite a way to go.

'Okay… I can do this… I can do this…!' Azura thought, trying to keep himself from panicking.

The Grimm charged in again as Azura tightly gripped the hilt of his sword. He then charged in and sliced off the head of another Beowolf before stabbing another through the head. Kicking an Ursa hard enough to knock its head off, Azura jumped over a Beowolf and drop kicked it in the back of the head hard enough to knock its head off. Hearing the sound coming at him, Azura turned to the side to dodge a charging Horse Grimm. As he did, he sliced with his katana to slice through its legs, cutting them off. Jumping onto the Horse Grimm's back, Azura stabbed it in the neck and sliced, decapitating it.

Azura counted two Imps left. Charging in, Azura dodged and ducked around the Imps' claw attacks while slicing off their arms. Rushing in, he activated the Dust mechanisms in his trusty katana Aotenjō as the blade lit up with flames and slashed, burning the Imps alive. The last of the Grimm defeated, Azura dropped his blades, trembling and shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Taking deep breaths, Azura attempted to calm himself before he had a full-blown panic attack. "Come on, Azura… stop shaking…!"

But no matter how hard he tried; the trembling would not stop. As he kept taking deep breaths to calm himself, he began to get memory flashes of an earlier incident. Claws… screams… the sounds of ripping and tearing of flesh… the crunch of bones being broken by chomping fangs and teeth… blood-curdling howling roars. Covering his ears in an attempt to block out the sounds, Azura curled up into a ball on the ground, trying to calm himself.

"Stop…! Stop it…! Make it stop…!" Azura muttered, trying not to cry.

Slowly, Azura began to calm down as the images began to fade away. They were still there, in the back of his mind, but the memories were subsiding. Continuing to take deep breaths, Azura slowly began to regain control of himself as he got back up. His hands slowly stopped shaking as he picked his swords back up.

"Damn it…" Azura cursed, hating his own perceived weakness.

With a trained and smooth motion, he sheathed his katana and wakizashi, hoping to the gods he would not have to use them again. Slowly but surely, he walked back, a sense of dread and misery hanging over him. Azura could swear it somehow got colder by the time he reached back to camp. At this point, the cold could take him. As he laid back on his bedroll, if the cold did take him, he had no more concerns for Grimm anymore.

Act II: Through Thunder and Flame

The small town of Breakwater is what everyone stuck in the city of Vale imagines country life. Peaceful, idyllic, the odd Grimm attack every once and a while, and overall, pretty boring. To the locals however, boring is just what they want. For if something were to be happening around those parts, it was usually bad. Such a small town required only minimal presence from either militia or Huntsmen. In fact, the town only had a single Huntsman post, acting as both sheriff and town protector.

However, despite the lackluster mood of the town, the Huntsman's residence was in a flurry of activity. In his spare time, he had found a pupil to train. The boy, though by his height of six foot two inches tall he did not look it, was hard at work practicing proper hammer swinging techniques. His tall frame was covered in thick muscles from a long life of hard work. He panted and brushed some sweat off his brow, keeping it out of his extremely short black hair. His ocean blue eyes looked at his teacher, who had given him the signal that the sessions were over.

"Well done, Zhan. You are doing well in your studies." the Huntsman said with a smile.

"Thank you, sir. I do my best every time." Zhan answered as he put away the training hammer.

"Don't worry about coming in tomorrow. I know you have your trip back to West Vale Academy combat school to pack for." the middle-aged Huntsman said with a smile.

"Thank you. Your training has really helped with my classes. If I keep things up, after this semester, it looks like I can get into Beacon a little early." Zhan explained happily.

"Beacon. Now that's a proper academy. None of that high-tech Atlas nonsense. There you learn the proper principles, ethics, and training to be a proper Huntsman." the Hunter said with a smile.

"Well, you did go there." Zhan answered with a chuckle.

"You run along now. Your mother's likely wondering what's keeping you. And I'm not going to be blamed for your tardiness." the Huntsman said, smacking him on the shoulder.

"Have a good one!" Zhan yelled as he ran off.

Like a lightning flash, Zhan was off. Honestly, the day was perfect. The sun was shining on his deep tanned skin, a cool breeze was blowing, and not a damn thing was going wrong. Seeing smoke from a chimney in the distance he made a break for it. His family were the local blacksmiths, and all his life he'd worked on about everything metal you can think of. His mother and father, both close to his height or taller, saw him and smiled.

"Back early I see." his father asked him as Zhan put his stuff away.

"The old man let me out early so I can pack for West Vale. Need me to do anything tonight before dinner?" Zhan asked.

"Farmer Fern needs some fittings for his plow redone. We already forged it, but we've been too busy to put them back on." his mother explained, and quickly Zhan was off to do that.

After that bit of work and a hearty dinner, Zhan made his way towards his room. Though he did not have much to pack, he never was the best at planning ahead on that. Once in his room he got to work, grabbing clothes out of drawers and closets. He heard steps behind him, and looking behind him he saw the massive frame of his brother Dao, his white hair touching the top of the door frame.

"Hey, bro. Was wondering where you ran off to so quickly after dinner." Dao said with a smirk.

"Yeah, gotta pack for school." Zhan said, turning back to packing.

"Well, you always were more ambitious like that." Dao said, looking over the room.

"Need something big guy, or still got your head in the clouds on something?" Zhan asked.

"For once, I do, actually. I realized today I never got to see that hammer you built at school." Dao explained.

"Oh! Right this way, my good sir! I'm always up for showing someone my pride and joy!" Zhan said, instantly perking up and rushing off to a workshop out back.

Dao chuckled and shook his head but slowly followed his brother. After a minute, he arrived to see his brother carrying out a large purple and gold hammer equipped with quite advanced dust mechanisms. Dao stood there shocked that his brother was somehow to whip this up at a small Vale school, as there were pretty modern parts, and even some that had to be handmade. All of this, however, made him smile.

"This is my magnum opus, Dawnbringer. I basically took the base design for dad's two-handed forge hammer, and in the center between the two heads is where I added the dust components. I had to make the shock absorbers and braces myself, as they didn't have anything that could stand up to what this thing can put out." Zhan explained like a giddy schoolgirl.

"What kind of forces are we talking about?" Dao asked, inspecting it.

"I've tested it. It can crush concrete with Dust empowerment, and compromise even reinforced concrete beams. Can crush an Ursa's head like a walnut with the good Dust. I'm gonna be breaking Aura like crazy once I'm at Beacon!" Zhan said, giving it a test swing, forcing Dao to back off a bit.

"Easy, slugger. Don't send me to the stratosphere." Dao said, putting his hands up.

"Sorry. Once I get to Beacon, I can work on it even more. The possibilities after getting access to the Beacon workshops are endless!" Zhan yelled excitedly.

"I thought you wanted to be a Huntsman, not a mad scientist?" Dao asked.

"Oh, I want to be a Huntsman, but I can enjoy the perks regardless." Zhan answered with a smile.

"You know what, fair enough brother. That's not a bad way to look at life." Dao said with a chuckle as he watched his brother put the hammer away.

"Well night, my beauty. See you tomorrow." Zhan said as he locked it up, before flipping the combo off the lock and heading inside. Dao looked at the door one more time, before following.

Night soon fell over the village, and everyone was tucked away in their beds. Zhan snored away like a chainsaw on a log, dreaming of all the new innovations he could do on Dawnbringer. However, under the cover of night, a figure sneaked their way over to the shed. They then began to fiddle with the lock, trying to figure out the combination. In a fit of rage, they pulled on the door hard. This sudden noise roused Zhan from his sleep.

"What the hell is that racket...?" Zhan muttered, sleepily getting up and heading to his window.

As soon as he arrived, he looked out and saw someone at the door of his workshop. In the deep darkness of night however, he couldn't figure out who it was. Not that that particularly mattered at this moment. Someone was trying to break into his shed! Hastily, he made his way down the steps and out towards the backyard. As soon as he arrived, the door was open, and out stepped Dao… holding Dawnbringer.

"Dao? The hell are you doing in my workshop this late at night?" Zhan asked, annoyed and beyond not happy.

"Oh… Hi, Zhan… What are you doing up?" Dao asked, surprised, and nervously fiddling with his fingers.

He could tell from the cross look on his younger brother's face that his attempt to change the subject had failed. If anything, Zhan looked even more annoyed by the attempt.

"I was sleepwalking…" Dao nervously answered.

"Getting in through my lock in the middle of the night, and walking out with Dawnbringer? Hell of a sleepwalk, brother." Zhan said, not buying it.

"Okay, Okay, I wanted to get another good look at it and I didn't want to disturb you…" Dao said, continuing his fidgeting.

"That's one hell of a way to do it." Zhan answered, getting more and more annoyed.

"Well, that didn't go as planned…" Dao said, starting to shuffle away.

"Dao, put down my hammer." Zhan ordered with a glare.

"I'll put it down, just give me a sec…" Dao said, nervously looking down at it.

"Dao, put down my hammer!" Zhan ordered, getting angry and frustrated with his brother in the dead of night.

"Look, just calm down bro. I'll..." Dao said but did not let go.

Zhan finally, in a fit of exhaustion, annoyance, and protectiveness, Zhan rushed his brother to try and get it out of his hands. Dao flinched at the sudden change in his brother. On instinct, he swung back with Dawnbringer and smacked him square in the face. The sudden concussive force was enough to send Zhan flying. When he landed, he fell limp. Dao stood there panting, drenched in a cold sweat. Mercifully, he could see him faintly breathing, but it did not help how he felt.

"I'm sorry, Zhan… Please forgive me. I didn't want to do it this way. I swear to you…" Dao said, his voice beginning to crack from the upwelling feelings.

Without another word, Dao ran off into the night, swallowed up by darkness. Soon their parents walked out, and saw the aftermath of the betrayal, as they found Zhan slowly returning to consciousness after the events of the previous night.

Prologue Act III: Spear of Destiny

It was a frigid day at the Hyperion Military Academy combat school in the Kingdom of Atlas. The bitter cold of the continent of Solitas was mostly kept at bay by the school's artificial heating system, but even that was not enough to escape the cold completely. The students of Hyperion, like most combat schools in Atlas, were being trained to be soldiers as much as Huntsmen. This part of our tale centers around one student in particular.

Standing in line like the rest of the grunts, a girl of about five feet and six inches tall stayed back and forth impatient at the wait. Her tan skin stood out against the sheer white of the room around her. Her brown hair held up in a long ponytail was being tugged at by horrible draft, and sharp blue eyes scanned the room, looking for something to take her mind off the wait. Hugging tightly on her frame was the standard white shirt, pants, and thick boots of her school uniform, with only a few spots of red on the shoulders and sides of the pants to break up the monotony. Everything was white in this place. The walls, the furniture, everything outside was a white snowy hell hole. After what felt like forever, she finally got her grub and stormed off to a table in a huff. Sitting down however, she did not get a single bit of peace.

A male student with gray hair, stormy gray eyes, and a broad-shouldered build wearing the same uniform sat down next to her with a smile. "Is this seat taken?" he asked.

"Take it. Couldn't care in the slightest." she answered with a frustrated groan.

"Don't be like that, Rena. After all, I thought we were friends." the boy replied with a mock hurt expression.

"If you survive this place for more than a month, then I'll relent, Slate. Though, since I've seen your sloppy performance on the grounds, I doubt it. Like the rest of this lot. If this place wasn't just one color, I'd be tempted to call this place the meat grinder." Rena answered, beginning to eat some peas on her tray.

"You know, you're going to have a hard time finding people willing to work with you if you don't learn to lighten up, Rena." Slate replied with a frown as he bit into some rehydrated potatoes.

"See, that's where you're wrong. When I'm an officer, that doesn't matter." Rena answered curtly, cutting into a tough looking bit of rehydrated steak.

The two continued to eat in relative silence. Slate tried to make small talk with Rena, but she all but refused to interact with him any more than necessary. After all, she was not there to make friends. She was there to complete her training and make it into Atlas Academy. That was the only reason she was there.

The silence was smashed to bits by the perimeter alarms going off before a loud thud pierced the room, followed by a shockwave that shook the mess building like a minor earthquake. Then the distinct sounds of screams, panic, and a blood curdling roar reverberated through everyone's eardrums. Rena was the first to react, parkouring over the table and making for her coat and weapon, a two-handed polearm, halfway between a spear and a glaive. Kicking the door open, she looked straight for chaos.

Before her was a reptilian type of Grimm, with two thick and titanic clawed wings in front, and short, stout taloned legs. Its body was thick and barrel-like, making anyone question how it could possibly fly, and forcing it into a low, squat position. Its black underbelly barely was above the ground. Its back was covered in thick bony plate armor, with spikes sticking out the side. Its tail was a horror show of spikes and bone, with its thick and tractor trailer long tail ending in a thick, mace-like club.

A short and thick armored neck, collared in bone like a thick dog collar, held aloft its head. Flat on top like a frying pan, its striking white was mixed with thick red markings akin to tribal warpaint, and a cavernous maw capable of eating a car whole, and ringed with thick, brutal teeth. However, as Rena looked up into its eyes, blood red abyss of contemptuous rage. And the abyss was staring back.

It was at that moment that Slate came running out, a power hammer in hand. As soon as he saw the beast in question, he paled. "Oh shit, it's a fucking Rage Drake!" Slate called out in fear.

"It can smell fear, you idiot! Get your act together!" Rena bellowed against the snowstorm that began to blow in.

"Easy for you to say! You've got something sharp to try to pierce its thick hide! I've got a fucking hammer!" Slate replied.

"Hit it in the head! Stun it!" Rena ordered as she surveyed the scene before her.

The massive wyvern Grimm was slamming its tail down into groups of students, all of whom jumped away to try to dodge. It slashed its claws into the courtyard in an attempt to catch its prey, digging deep trenches into the dirt. Rearing its head back, it let out a loud, guttural, fearsome roar that shattered nearby windows and rattled the bones of anyone unfortunate enough to be close enough to properly hear it. The students closest to it instinctively covered their ears in pain, unable to move from the pain.

Rena saw it then snap up a stunned recruit in its jaws and throw them up into the air. As they fell, screaming in terror, the enormous Grimm snapped its jaws shut on its pray, silencing them forever. Shaking herself out of her stupor, Rena began to concentrate on activating her Semblance. Immediately, everything seemed to slow down around her as her mind's processing speed sped up dramatically. Her mind began to take in the details of everything around her and process everything. Suddenly it all came to her, and time began to slow back down to normal.

"Squads A and B, move up and lay down suppressing fire! Keep that Grimm from taking off again!" Rena roared above the din of chaos.

"Anything you want me to do?" Slate asked nervously.

"Hit that thing in the head, and don't stop for anything." Rena ordered sternly.

Slate saluted her before hefting his hammer. "Yes, ma'am!" he replied, before running to get behind it so that he could get on top.

A Squad then began pelting the massive reptilian Grimm with a barrage of bullets and explosive rounds to distract it. Annoyed, the Rage Drake shrieked in anger and tried to lash out with its tail to hit them. Most of A Squad managed to roll under the swing to dodge it or jump over it, but a couple took the tail swing head on. One took a glancing hit and was sent tumbling, but the other was sent flying through a pillar from the force of the swing. Undeterred, A Squad continued laying down distracting fire to keep the beast's attention on them.

B Squad began firing heavier rounds on it from all sides to keep it pinned in place. The beast shrieked and roared in rage as it tried to swipe at them with its claws, forcing them to stay back as they fired explosive round after explosive round upon the monster. More annoyed than hurt, but unable to land a solid hit, the beast thrashed and slashed at them in an attempt to get them away from it. The Rage Drake continued trying to use its stunning roar to get an attack in, but the hail of fire being pelted down on it didn't give it an opening to take a deep enough breath.

Meanwhile, Slate had maneuvered behind the reptilian abomination and leapt onto its back. Running up its back, Slate dodged and took cover from the hail of fire pelting the beast's hide, holding on as he made his way up. Eventually, he made his way up to its head and lifted his power hammer high. Swinging it down as hard as he could, the power hammer smashed into its thick hide and made it shriek in pain.

Thrashing about, the monster tried to throw Slate off. Holding on for dear life, the hammer-swinging recruit continued to smash his hammer into its head with all his strength. The beast shrieked and roared as it tried to throw him off, the hail of fire continuing to keep it from being able to muster up an offensive in response. An explosive round even went into its mouth and went off, causing it to shriek in agony as it thrashed harder.

Meanwhile, Rena was watching carefully, waiting for an opening as they began taking casualties. She would only get one shot at this. She had to make it count. If she did not, this thing would eventually win. Finally, the beast reared up, throwing Slate into the air.

"Ohhhh fuuuuuuuck!" Slate screamed out in terror as he fell into its jaws, which snapped down on him and crushed him.

However, that was exactly what Rena was looking for. Seeing her opening, she coated her spear head in Lightning Dust via the Dust mechanisms in the spear. Rearing back, Rena threw her spear with all of her might like a javelin. The lightning-coated bladed head of the spear roared like a rocket as it flew at its target, hitting its mark and stabbing it in the chest where a reptilian animal's heart would be.

The Rage Drake shrieked in pain as its body came crashing down. This action, however, impaled the spear deep into its chest. With a final death rattle, the beast roared in agony before falling silent. The Grimm's body then began to lean forward, before hitting the ground with an earth-shattering crash. The shockwave was enough to send Rena and others a fair distance away. Then it began to disappear into thick, black smoke. Her weapon briefly was held upright, before resting on the ground, its duty done.

Walking over to pick up her weapon, Rena surveyed the battlefield to see how many they had lost. Most of A and B Squads had been killed, crushed to death by the beast's tail or slashed to bits by its claws. Of the twenty total members the two squads had between them, only seven were left standing. Slate's mangled body lay where the Grimm's jaws had once been. Looking away from the barely recognizable corpse of the closest thing she had to a friend at Hyperion Academy, Rena picked up her spear and collapsed the pole of the spear in, placing it in a large holster on her back.

"Attention!" A loud, angry voice could be heard over the storm, followed by a harsh whistle.

At this, the eight remaining recruits all holstered their weapons and stood at attention, nervous about what was coming next. Looking ahead of them, they saw the enraged visage of one of Hyperion Academy's drill sergeant teachers, his face red with rage as he marched up to them.

"Recruits, what the flying hell happened here!?" the man demanded, his face almost turning purple.

"Sir, a Rage Drake landed in the middle of the school courtyard. Through my command, we successfully killed the Grimm." Rena answered with a steely calm in her voice.

"I can see that, Cadet Septum! There are claw marks and indentations all over the damn place from that thing and thirteen maimed and mangled bodies here! What I wanna know is what you recruits were thinking when you decided that taking that thing on without any backup was a good idea!" the drill sergeant barked out, his face beginning to turn purple with rage.

"Sir, if I did not take command of the situation and did what I did, you would have a lot more casualties, and easily half the school demolished. Thirteen casualties for an Alpha Grimm of its caliber are a necessary trade. After all, it is you just this morning that taught us that, in war, casualties are not only likely but expected in any operation." Rena answered, standing firm, and looking the teacher directly in his eyes.

"You're all dismissed! Cadet Septum, we will be talking to the headmaster later about your decision today!" the teacher snarled out, barely controlling his anger.

"I look forward to it." Rena says, a small smile curling at the edges of her lips.

The drill sergeant gritted his teeth as the eight surviving cadets took their leave. As they did, a chill went up the spines of the other surviving recruits as Rena passed them. Whether this was from the cold or from Rena's demeanor, they did not know…

Prologue Act IV: In Shadow's Embrace

It was a hot, sunny day on the continent of Sanus. The sun beat down on the mostly barren landscape. Various beasts of different shapes and sizes roamed the land, some being attacked and snatched up by Grimm. Our current tale begins on a certain farm in the Kingdom of Vacuo. A farm owned by a family known as the Hedda family.

The center of our story was a young, twelve-year-old girl named Ember Hedda. She was very thin and short for her age at only about four feet tall but had lean muscles for her size and age. She had short platinum hair and deep, soft blue eyes. She wore a remarkably simple outfit consisting of a tan colored shirt to help keep her warm, but not overheat her, denim overalls meant to be tough enough to handle farm work, sturdy boots to handle the tough ground, and a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off her.

Ember was soon to finish her chores. All that was needed was to get more water for the pigs, and she was free for the day. With as much strength as she could, she lifted the two water pails and slowly walked towards their pen. As she made her way, she saw her mother pulling weeds in the garden.

"Hello, mother." Ember said with a huff.

"Hello, dear. Almost done with your chores?" Ember's mother replied with a kind smile.

"Just have to water the pigs." Ember answered.

"Excellent. It looks like we'll be able to finish early today." her mother replied.

"Don't count your chickens just yet, Margaret." a male voice replied.

Ember turned to see her father, a relatively tall and very well-built man, coming back from chopping wood.

"Don't be like that, Dexter. You know how hard dear Ember works helping us. Let her have a break after she finishes her chores." Ember's mother, Margaret Hedda, replied to her husband.

"You know this time of year; you never stop doing chores. If we don't do the work now, it'll get all the harder in the dry season." Dexter answered, putting the brush wood down on the firewood rack.

"But she's been working so hard lately. I think she's earned a little time for herself." Margaret replied.

"Can I please have a break after I water the pigs, father?" Ember asked meekly, looking at her father hopefully.

"Alright, fine. Take the afternoon off. You earned it." he said with a sigh, relenting at this two-pronged attack.

"Thank you, father." Ember replied with a smile before heading off to water the pigs.

Soon, with the pigs having their water, Ember had the entire afternoon to herself. However, while she now was excited with this newfound freedom, she did not know what to do with it. It was such a rarity, and now she was left with a quandary. It was then that an idea popped into her head. A very much oddly rebellious idea for her.

She had never been to town before. Her parents had always told her that life outside of their farm was too dangerous for a little girl, so they had never taken her off the farm. That there were large beasts, monsters, and Grimm everywhere and very few people willing to protect her. She could use this newfound freedom to sneak off and see for herself what it was like. It was a very risky idea, but she could not help but be curious about it.

The walk along a shoddy dirt road was a lot longer than she expected. It did not seem to take this long for her parents to go to the store. However, the outskirts were eventually in view. She smiled at that and picked up her pace, having a pep in her step. Soon, she was among a bustling row of market stalls of homegrown and homemade goods. While the selection was not great, it was varied and well made. She immediately began looking around with an innocent glee.

However, before she could explore the town any further, a chorus of howls, snarls, and roars broke up the noisy hustle and bustle of the marketplace. Someone screamed in fear as a stall at the far end was destroyed.

"Grimm attack! Everyone, run to the nearest shelter you can find!" a man yelled out in fear as he ran, everyone else following suit and scrambling to find sanctuary.

Poor little Ember was confused and afraid. She had heard of Grimm from her parents. They were monsters attracted to negative emotions. Beasts that knew only how to maim, kill, and destroy. Running, she tried to find the nearest safe haven willing to take her in.

Unfortunately for poor Ember, she tripped on a rock and fell to the ground. Just then, she looked and saw a large, hulking creature. It looked like a bear, only it could not have been one. For one, it was black and white in color with a white bone-like mask for a face and head. It also had white bony spikes sticking out of its arms, legs, and back and razor-sharp claws. It was a type of Grimm known as an Ursa.

The beast roared and raised its paw to swipe down at her as Ember screamed and shut her eyes. However, before it could attack and kill the young girl, a thunderous explosion rang out that nearly made her jump. She opened her eyes and saw the Ursa staggering back, a shot from a bazooka having hit it square in the chest. Almost unable to believe she had been saved; she turned to look at the source of the fired shot.

What she saw was a Huntress who looked like an older, more militaristic version of herself. The woman was about five feet and two inches tall. She had long, platinum colored hair tied back in a ponytail and kind, but fierce looking fiery blue eyes. Clad in armored, shock resistant pauldrons and hardy, travel worn cloak and jeans, she practically looked as if she was raised in the same area as Ember. In her hands was the bazooka which had been used to fire the shot, which the woman quickly turned into a relatively small tetsubō that she then hefted.

"Get to safety, kid! My friends and I have got this!" the woman ordered the twelve-year-old little girl.

"Who are you… Where did you… Why did…" Ember said in confusion and shock, before being cut off by the woman's sudden response.

"I'm a Huntress-in-Training from Shade Academy! Protecting people, especially from Grimm, is what we do! Now get moving!" The woman barked out, trying to get the girl going so that she could handle the beast in question as it slowly recovered.

"Yes, ma'am…" Ember said as she rushed to her feet.

The girl then ran past the Huntress-in-Training and headed towards a nearby shelter. As she did, she looked back at the woman in question as she baseball smashed the Ursa as it charged at her, practically taking its head off. More Grimm began crowding around the woman as the figures of three more Huntsmen-in-training showed up to back her up. One had twin swords in hand, another a spear, and the third a scythe. Making it to the shelter, Ember frantically knocked on the door.

"Please let me in! There are Huntsmen guarding the door!!" Ember yelled, hoping the Huntsmen were not trying to save her in vain.

"No way, brat! There are Grimm out there!" a gruff, male voice called out in response from inside the shelter.

"Just open the goddamn door so we can do our jobs! We can't protect her and fight these Grimm!" one of the Huntsmen, the man with twin swords, called out in anger.

A sigh was heard from the male voice inside the shelter, followed quickly by the sounds of locks being undone. Soon, the door to the shelter swung open and a man became visible to Ember. He was fairly tall, but lanky in build. He had a scruffy beard and was tanned from hours working in the hot sun of Vacuo. Looking down at the little girl, the man gestured inside with a tilt of his head.

"Get inside quick! We need to shut the door!" the man demanded.

Nodding, Ember rushed in through the doorway and past the man. As soon as she was inside, the man shut the door and began locking the six distinct kinds of locks on the door. A chain lock, a doorknob lock, a deadbolt. Each lock was vastly different from the one before it. Finally, the door was fully locked up tight as the man looked down at the girl in question, who looked around the room and saw dozens of people crammed into the shelter.

"You're lucky those Huntsmen showed up, kid. If they hadn't, we would've just left you out there to die rather than risk our necks." the man told her.

"I know. And I'm eternally grateful…" Ember said mournfully, fearing for her savior's lives.

"Don't worry about it, kiddo. Huntsmen are tough." a female voice from the crowd of people in the shelter told her, making Ember look at her.

Before her was a tall, admittedly attractive redhead who stood at about five feet and eight inches tall. She was well built from countless hours of manual labor. Her lightly tanned skin was covered in a light blue sundress. On her face was a strangely kind smile.

"Are you sure? There are a lot of Grimm out there. Some scary ones, too." Ember nervously asked, hints of fear easily denoted in her voice.

The woman knelt in front of Ember and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Hey. They're gonna be fine. They're trained to deal with these kinds of things." the woman gently told her.

All Ember could do in that moment was nod and hope deep in her heart that this woman was correct. It was unusual for someone from Vacuo to be this gentle and kind towards a complete stranger. Then again, the same could be said of her.

Sensing her remaining concern, the woman pointed to some spots in the shelter to look through the wall. "If you're still worried, use those to try to watch. You'll see what I mean." The woman said reassuringly.

"Thank you." Ember said, bowing her head in respect, before going to look out the viewing slits.

When she reached the viewing slits, she looked through the lowest one she could find to account for her short stature. The view was not perfect, but she could still see through it. If only just barely. And what she saw left her amazed.

The four Huntsmen-in-training, including the young woman who had saved her, were standing alone against the large amount of Grimm. Her saviors stood tall and fearlessly against the approaching threat, not backing down as they readied their weapons for battle. The young woman and her three cohorts leapt into the fray, going on the attack. The man with the scythe sliced the head off of a Beowolf before charging into a group of them, the curved blade of his polearm weapon becoming a blur of motion as he hacked and slashed through the pack of werewolf-like Grimm one by one.

The woman who saved her used her tetsubō to smash and bash the heads of Grimm, from Beowolves to Beringels, occasionally turning her weapon into its bazooka form and firing. Looking closer, she saw a strange emblem emblazoned on her shoulder pauldrons: An azure-blue roaring tiger head. This sight was cut off by the young man with the twin swords slicing and slashing through Grimm with great speed and dexterity, his movements flowing almost like a dance as he cut a path through the beasts. The woman with the spear stabbed and slashed through her own monsters, unleashing waves of elemental attacks from the spear as she attacked.

She saw the four group up together, fighting back-to-back to cover each other's blindspots. The woman with the tetsubō smashed and slammed her weapon into Grimm, covering for the scythe wielder and the spear-woman as they swung in arcs to cut a swath through the beasts. The man with the scythe used his polearm's superior range to cover for the woman for the tetsubō and the twin-bladed swordsman. The double-bladed sword master used the speed of his weapons to cut through Grimm as they got close to the flanks of his polearm using comrades. Finally, the spear-woman used the elemental properties of her weapon to attack from a distance and put up protective barriers of rock to protect her allies.

As Ember watched this, she could not help but be in awe. She had heard tales about Huntsmen from her parents, mainly about how unreliable they could be. However, what she saw before her now completely contradicted what she had been told. The four worked together like a well-oiled machine, each one's movements flowing from one to the other and supporting each other with seeming perfection and ease.

Not only that, but they were risking their lives for them. Fighting with death around every corner to protect complete strangers, people they did not even know. Something about the sight before her stirred something in Ember. Something she did not know was even there.

Her thoughts were cut off as a Beowulf was slammed into the shelter, the back of its bone armored skull hitting the slit, causing Ember to fall onto the ground in shock. Getting up and brushing herself off, she trembled a bit as she took deep breaths to calm herself. One by one, the other occupants of the shelter made their way to the viewing slits to watch the fight for themselves, the platinum haired girl making her way back to hers to watch as well. But, by the time she got there, the last of the Grimm had been slain, its skull crushed by the tetsubō wielding young woman.

Seeing that it was seemingly safe to leave, the occupants of the shelter all heaved a heavy sigh of relief, each releasing a breath they had not known they were holding. It was then that the twin-bladed swordsman sheathed his weapons and walked over to the door, out of sight. A knock was then heard at the door.

"You can all come out now! It's safe!" the young man's voice called out.

Slowly but surely the doors opened, and reluctantly people left the shelter. Looking around in all directions for Grimm, none could be found. To many of the more jaded people of the village, it came as a shock. The Huntsmen actually came through for them for once. Slowly, the people began to erupt into cheers and thunderous applause.

Little Ember then made her way through the crowd of cheering people as they crowded around the Huntsmen-hopefuls to thank them. Making her way to the forefront of the crowd, Ember made it up to the person who saved her. The platinum haired woman was being patted on the back by members of the crowd and having her hand shaken against her will. Reaching out, the tiny preteen grabbed and tugged on the young woman's pant leg.

Looking down, the woman was surprised to see the little girl she had saved. Kneeling, she addressed the little girl. "Are you okay, kid?" the young woman asked.

"Yes, I am. Thanks to you…" Ember said, her voice trailing off in admiration.

The woman chuckled lightly and placed a hand on the little girl's head, ruffling her hair a bit. "No need to thank me, kiddo. Just doing my job." the woman replied with a smirk.

"Still, it's the right thing to do after all you've done for me." Ember nervously retorted.

The woman seemed surprised but smiled a bit at that. "Fair enough. You're welcome." the woman replied.

"How can I be like you? You know… saving people from Grimm…" Ember nervously asked.

The woman was surprised by the question from the nervous girl. However, a genuine smile crossed her face at that. "You wanna be like us and fight the good fight against the Grimm, huh?" she questioned Ember, making sure that was what the girl wanted.

"Y-Yes." Ember simply answered.

"You're a lot braver than you look, then. Few people who aren't born into it have the guts to choose this life. If you're serious about this, I suppose I can point you in the right direction." she woman said, testing the platinum haired preteen's resolve.

"If you could, that would be great." Ember answered with a hint of eagerness in her voice.

The woman smiled at this. "Go to the nearby Shadow Academy combat school and sign yourself up. They'll train you up and get you combat ready. Once you manage to graduate, try to get into one of the four Huntsmen Academies and work towards earning your Huntsman license." the woman explained to the tiny girl.

"Thank you so much." Ember said, bowing with respect towards her tiger emblemed savior.

The woman nodded and ruffled Ember's hair again. "Good luck, kid. With any luck, maybe I'll see you on a mission someday when you become a Huntress yourself." the woman told her as she and her team turned and left.

That night at the Hedda family farm, Ember swiftly and quietly was packing everything she could into her two duffle bags. Clothes, bathroom supplies, and anything else that she could think of that would be useful. Even her secret allowance stash was broken into. Once she had checked, double checked, and triple checked her things, she slowly made her way down the stairs and out the door, slowly making sure to lock it. Then under the broken moon's glow she let out a sigh, before beginning the long trek on foot to Shadow Academy.

The house was quiet with Ember's departure. The only hint to her parents that anything was wrong was a note left on the kitchen table. It was written in her handwriting and addressed to her parents…

To Be Continued…