to trap a grimm... (Flip/Private/Hunt)

Alex looked out at the vast night sky that was over the skylight woods from his perch in a tall red wood tree. There was complete cloud cover the forest so the only light in the forest is any that Alex brought with him, which in this case was his own aura and semblance. With his arms crossed over his chest and an emerald glow coming from the semblance leaves that were fluttering around him, Alex was in deep thought. Ever since Lucy had arrived he hadn't gone on any hunts because she needed his attention and his protection. However he had no idea what he needed to protect her from considering all he had to work with was a simple blackmail letter that was addressed to his academy office with a return address to his house. He wasn't sure where to start.

Under normal circumstances Alex would've simply stayed in tonight and watch over Lucy. However over the last week all the shipments of dust coming from the dust mine in the skylight woods was getting attacked by Grimm repeatably. What's more was it was the same every time; same breed of Grimm, same number of Grimm, same time of attack, and every time someone died. A few attempts to catch and kill the the Grimm had been done, but they all failed. Alex began to think that these Grimm might of been leftovers from the group of people that had used Grimm to attack the academy during the summer. However he had no way to prove that, other then these grimm seemed to be rather smart, or at least had learned that there was a pattern to the humans and faunus coming from the mine and heading towards the town.

So Alex came out in the dead of night while Lucy slept to get the Grimm before it could harm anyone else. Alex looked out to the horizon in the direction of where the shipment from the dust mine was going to be coming from that night. They had wanted to go in a different direction, but Alex had called them ahead of time that he needed them send the transports through the forest as usual to lure the Grimm out for him, however it was up to the mine supervisor if they would do it. Hearing something in the distance Alex squinted his eyes and saw the electrical headlights of the shipment transports moving through the forest, but there was only one instead of the typical 15. So the supervisor only sent a single vehicle to help lure out the Grimm instead of going all out, that was fine with Alex. The fewer put at risk to hunt down these grimm, the better.

With a nod knowing it was time to get to work, Alex took a running leap off of the branch he had been standing on and dived towards the forest floor. Then at the last second he used his semblance to create a large leaf parachute to slow his fall and to land safely. When his feet touched the ground and the leaf parachute retracted back into it's seed, Alex took off running towards the transport car.

For the most part this hunt seemed like a simple, straight forward kind of job. Go out and kill a few Grimm's that's been attacking the dust transports. So Flip thought before learning more detail from the drives that had made it out alive. One attack wasn't that uncommon, but this had been multiple attacks. Each one the same in both times, place, and numbers of Grimm's. If he didn't know better he would have thought the Grimm's was being control by someone or something.

A scary thought he much rather not entertain by thinking about it. Beside the mood inside the vehicle already had more than enough fear in it to be a beacon to any near by Grimm's. Sitting in the back seat Flip eyes had been scanning the tree lines ever since they had entered the areas of the attacks. "So around here right?" He asked never looking about. "Y-Yes! The same place every time. It's like they know every time. Does the academy have any ideas why they are doing this?" The man asked, but Flip had nothing tell him.

He was just as much in the dark as they were. Maybe the Professor would know more, but he were somewhere out there keeping an eye on the transport. Looking down at his scroll Flip nodded as it was time. "Well, it's time." He said as he starts opening the side door. "W-What do you want us to do!? Should we stop..." the Drive ask, but Flip simply shook his head. "Keep going normally. We need to draw them out first." With that Flip hopped out the door, flipping onto the roof of the large transport vehicle as spear enter battle mode.

He wasn't fully sure where the Professor was, but Flip had agreed to help with this hunt so he had to make sure he carried his own weight. Beside a side of him was also excited for the hunt. Standing atop the vehicle with the wind rushing through his hair could make even the most boring of souls get into the mood.

Two creeps raced through the woods, their powerful hind legs sending them speeding through the branches of trees as they went looking for a prey. One was noticeably bigger and more mature than the other, but both were experienced in the savage art of killing.  From a distance, they spotted the headlights of a vehicle and while their intelligence weren't the best, they have enough understanding to know that vehicles meant humans, and humans meant prey.

As they neared the shipment, they spotted a man landing from what seemed to be a giant leaf and was now bounding to the transport. They took this as an opportunity and spread out while hiding behind the darkness of the night. As creature of the dark, they could see perfectly within the blackness as though it was day, giving them a huge advantage during night hunts.

The smaller creep finally sprang out from the bushes and aimed to a take a huge chomp out of his left shoulder while the bigger creep emerged from behind him to bite at his right leg.

Grimms Deserve a Battle Log too!:

As Alex continued to run towards the transport he reached over his shoulder and pulled Oblivinator off of his back and the weapon transformed into the wrecking ball he used for all of his hunts. His time spent at Syne has helped his old abilities return, along with a few new ones he never had before. However he was still a shell of what he used to be. So until he got all of his skills back it was best to play it safe, hence the reason why he had approached the young man Flip Nelson from his survival class for some help. He had made it very clear that it was going to be dangerous and there was nothing wrong in refusing to dive head first into the unknown... in fact it was smart. The reason why he had approached the young man because according to the student's history he had grew up as a nomad and therefore must of been used to having to fight Grimm when he was at the disadvantage of fighting at night. The young man had accepted though, and Alex was very grateful for that.

When Alex heard the deep thump, thump, thump of large foot steps he quickly looked over his left shoulder and saw a very large Creep running at him, clearly intending to take a hunk out of his shoulder. The only thing Alex could truly see was the glowing red eyes of the beast, but that's all he needed to see. Jumping, stopping, or jumping wasn't going to help Alex avoid this beast, so he had to dodge it a different way. The seed that he had used to slow his fall with was still in his left hand though. Alex's aura awakened and it fluttered around him like glowing emerald leaves swirling around him.

He dropped it on the ground and it quickly sprouted into an ever growing red wood tree that was glowing with a bright emerald light, illuminating the whole area so now Alex could see clearly. As he grew though it was sprouting short branches while rotating counter clockwise. Alex jumped up, grabbed one of these branches, and quickly pulled his legs up to his chest. The growing, rotating tree quickly lifted Alex up into the air was swinging him away from the Grimm. By lifting up his legs he made sure the Grimm aiming for his shoulder wouldn't hit a lower part of him instead. The tree swung Alex around it at high speed, and as it did so the professor saw a second Creep that was even large. How the heck did he not see that one?! Alex didn't believe in luck, but something must of been watching over him considering the dodge he used to avoid the first Grimm helped him avoid the second one as well.

Alex let go of the branch, kicked off the tree heading towards the larger of the two Grimms so he would pass it with the Creep being on his left side. Alex swung Oblivinator to his left side in peperation, then as he landed on the ground and leaped forwards to keep his momentum going he swung his weapon hard horizontally to his right to smack the Grimm across the chest with his weapon. Alex then jumped and turned around in mid-air to face both Grimm. The second he landed Alex swung his weapon hard to the left in a wide arc, trying to hit both beasts with the same strike.


As the was happening the red wood tree that was glowing with emerald light continued to grow till it was nearly 100 feet tall... and easily visible from the transport that Flip was in. Alex had told him ahead of time that there was a chance he might run into the Grimm before they came at the transport. If that was the case, he would give him a signal that couldn't be missed at night. The brightly glowing emerald tree was the signal.

OOC:

From his spot atop the transport Flip could not hear the battle taking place within the forest around him, but he sure could see it. Or rather the large glowing tree shooting out toward the sky. "Bloody hell!" Flip let out at the same time as the people in the truck added their own screams. Almost knocking Flip off as they came to a stop at the sight of the glowing tree. Flip knew what this meant as he stomp the roof before jumping off. "Get on out of here! The Grimm's are here!"

The sign might have been the tree, but Flip still couldn't believe his eyes at the size of the thing. He had no idea that a semblance could do such a thing. But this wasn't the time to be comparing semblance as he reached the tree lines and jumping up into the treetops. He needed to find Alex as fast as he could and join the fight.

Hopping through the limbs and branches Flip was thankful for the lights from the tree. Giving him the much need path right toward his teacher and the Grimm's. Then it hit him, the sounds of the fight. The switching sound of metal through the air along with the snarl and growing of Grimm's. He watched as Alex was what appeared to be counter attacking a pair of Creep Grims.

Using his advantage from the tree tops Flip body began to glow brilliant tan, lighting his both his body and spear allowing him to jump even higher. Once high over the smaller creep Flip body once again lite up, this time increasing both weights three times it noms. Spinning the spear downward he aimed the blade right toward the back of the beast's neck as he dropped down like a bomb from the added weight.

Spoiler:

The Creeps could not comprehend how the human was able to dodge their attacks using some form of contraption. Like savage beasts that they were, they howled and growled at the human suspended in a rotating tree-like object. They watched in impatience, waiting for their prey to drop down, and when it did, they bounded, ready to strike.

The second creep however did not anticipate a counter attack and had simply felt a sudden pang of pain on its chest and it whimpered loudly. It couldn't even recover before it was hit again on its right side. Both beasts were thrown to their side at the force of the impact.

The bigger of the two growled and quickly burrowed underneath, digging its way underground until it sprang up in an attempt to bite the man's left leg.

The smaller creep was planning to do the same but was caught by a blade on the back of its neck. Out of survival instincts it twisted its head to the side, allowing the blade to slide against the bony protection of its body. Following that, it growled and slammed its head against the human's body then attempted to bite its forearm

Battle Log:

Alex's facial expression didn't change at all as his strikes at the second Creep struck true not once, but twice. On one hand one would think that Alex would be pleased that he had managed to score two hits on the bigger of the two Grimm, but now wasn't a time to celebrate. He knew full well that Creep's this size were more then capable of biting him in half and ruining his day until he had the wound treated. However now wasn't the time to think of the bad things that could happen to him. As a matter of fact, that time was never. Right now he had to focus on the battle.

Flip had managed to show up by attacking a Grimm from above, causing that Creep to turn on the young huntsman, so Alex turned to face the bigger Creep... only to see a hole where it used to be. "What the..." Alex was stunned. During his entire career as a huntsman he'd never seen a Creep burrow underground. Ever. The only Grimm he's ever see do that were the two headed snakes. This was new. Next thing he knew, the Creep was coming out of the ground right under him! Avoiding the attack was impossible, so he had to endure it. Alex commanded his semblance tree next to create a wooden barrier between himself and the Creep under him, but the Creep busted right though it. However the wooden barrier DID slow it down to the point that by the time it bit down on Alex's leg it hurt a lot less.

Instead of trying to pull his leg away though, Alex instead started to bash the side of the Grimm's head with Oblivinator repeatably. "Hey! My leg! Let go!" Alex bellowed as he continued to swing.

OOC:

Falling down the attack look like a clean hit, but it seems that he bone on the back of the Grimm were a lot stronger than he had first thought. Watching as the blade chip off striking the ground Flip hardly had time to think as he felt the pressure in his chest. The pressure was the think slamming its head into Flip side. If it wasn't for his spear in holding him in place he would have easily been knocked to the ground.

Breaching himself Flip tried to jump away only to spot the enclosing jaws aimed at his forearm. With little options he what little he could as he strengthen his aura and felt the cold teething bite down on him. To the pain Flip was blind to the event happening around with his teacher. But he did think of one move that just might work. Grabbing his spear with his free hand, he hit the switch causing it to fold into is compact side, but stoped it just before the spear head disappeared.

At this range it was impossible for him to miss, or so he hoped as he slammed the blade down toward the Grimm eye. Making sure to increase the weight of the spearhead for max damage. His goal was to stab it in the eye and quickly follow up with a another stab toward the softer side of the beast's neck.

Spoiler:

Despite the wooden barrier, the larger creep was able to bust through it and was successful in biting down its target's leg. Its jaws sank in the tender flesh as it savoured the damage it had done to the unsuspecting human. A metallic ball bashed to its head and shook its consciousness a little but maintained its hold on the leg. The second time it connected on its skull though, the creep whimpered and moved away, making sure to take a chunk out of the human's leg in the process. Shaking off its pain, the creep was quick to spring forward after the third swing of the weapon to rip through the human's exposed neck.

On the other hand, the other creep also managed to connect a headbutt on the boy and was able to bite his arm, though the flesh was harder and it couldn't comprehend why. The next thing it new, a severe pain ran on its eye and it howled in pain, followed by a pierce to its neck. With what little strength and energy left of the grimm, it pulled back and opened its jaw wide to rip a part of the human's right side.

Battle Log:

Alex sucked in a sharp breath as he mentally blocked out the pain he was feeling in his leg. While it was possible to block out pain, it was something that he always had trouble with if a large amount of damage was done to him at once. Several punches in a row? Not a problem at all! One big hit though? Expect to have your eardrums pierced from Alex's scream of pain. That's why he used to wear armor. Now against these Grimm though, he wished he didn't abandon his class 4 armor in Veil. Most likely the armor was sitting in a storage closet in Beacon, waiting to be used in an emergency. Now he was gonna have to make or buy a new one. Until then though, he's own durability would have to do.

However his two strikes against the Creep that was trying to eat his leg seemed to of struck true, causing the Creep to let go of his leg. It didn't manage to take a chunk out, but his leg was bleeding a bit. When the Creep jumped up at his neck though, Alex's right arm was a little to far away to do any good... but his left hand was easily close enough to stop the beast. Alex leaned backwards and struck the underside of the Creep with an uppercut from his left hand, then swung Oblivinator at it from the side. The attack was done, but Alex didn't get through it unscathed since he fell backwards and landed on a sharp rock that cut into his back. Another grunt of pain, but Alex was soon back on his feet and ready to take on the Creep if it came at him again.

OOC:

Flip had been in many fights in his life, but this was the first time he has ever been at the forefront of the battle. As such, it was the first time he felt this kind of pain as the grim bit into his arm. Thankfully, with the help of his aura he avoided the teeth going to deep and losing his arm, but it would need some to heal before being useful again. He was ever more fortunate as this blade met both their mark, causing the beast to loosening its bite and release him.

As he was free from the jaws Flip fell backward as he lost his footing falling to the ground. As the air filled with the sounds of the Grimms howls of pain Flip couldn't help feel a bit of joy in returning the pain back onto the creature. But he had little time to enjoy it as it once again went on the attack even in it weaken state. "Relentless little sh*t aren't you!" He growled laying flat on the grounds and using his good arm to place his spear edge toward the beast before extending it back to its full form. From his angle it would place the blade right between himself and the charging Grimm with hope the it would impale itself upon it. With luck the Grimm wouldn't have time to change it attack and end this fight once and for all.

Spoiler:

The larger of the creeps could still taste the blood on its teeth from having bitten the man's leg from before and it lusted more for the flesh as it neared his neck. However, it couldn't stop its motion when the man sent an uppercut to its lower body which shook the creep to its core and finally was dealt a finishing blow with the ball and chain. The grimm slammed down to the ground lifeless.

Meanwhile its brethren was momentarily in an advantageous position with its target lying on the ground. But just as quickly the table was turned. The spear was unleashed to its full form and there was no way the creep could have escaped the attack. It could only howl to its demise as the blade pierced its body and collapsed on the ground, dead. As with all creatures of the darkness, the two lifeless creeps slowly dispersed into black ashes.

A small wave of pleasure flowed through Alex as the Grimm that he had struck not once but twice fell to the ground dead. Good he thought as a looked over at Flip to see that he had won as well. The battle was won. It was a hard fought battle, so the victory was very much appreciated. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as he converted Oblivinator back into backpack form and slung the weapon over his shoulders. He then offered Flip a hand and lifted the man to his feet. "You're good. Little rough around the edges but good none the less. You also have plenty of potential. Don't waste it, you hear me?" Alex said with an affirming tone as he brushed off the young huntsman's right shoulder.

Alex then glanced around before tossing a seed towards the ground and had it grow into a bamboo shoot. The emerald glow from the plant illuminated the entire place, and Alex quickly glanced around before finding something interesting on the ground. On the ground was a patch of dug up earth so no grass was growing in it, but the markings around the dug up patch seemed to of been made by claws. Alex had the bamboo shoot tilt until it was hovering over the dug up spot, showing that two large forms had to of laid down on the dug up ground recently since parts of the ground were packed down from weight. "I'll be... that's... that's a nest!" Alex exclaimed in surprise as he walked over to it and knelt down next it.

"Those Creeps must of been alive for a long time for this to happen." Alex thought out loud, then glanced over at Flip. "I heard rumors of such a thing, but I've never seen one in my 10 years of being a huntsman. You see anything like this before?" Alex asked the spear man. True Alex had been around for a while and Flip was just starting out, but that didn't mean that Flip hadn't encountered anything like this before.

As a pair of howls filled the night sky with the death of the two Grimm's Flip couldn't help, but let of a nervous laugh out as he lay in the darkness. It had been his first more or less official hunt on his way to becoming a Hunter. However, the pain in his arm told him everything he needed to know about the night. He still had a long road ahead of him.

Taking Alex hand Flip pulled himself up with his help and winks at the pain as he was patted on his shoulder. As Alex went about doing whatever it was that Huntsmen do Flip did his own thing thinking about what Alex said. He would have to reflex over how he had fought at a later point. There were much he could do to better himself, especially his reckless nature to jumping to the attack without thinking.

Converting his spear back down, he would place it back into the holster on his hip as he walked over to Alex and his weird plant. So this thing before them was a nest? That wasn't something that made him feel at ease stand next to. "No, can't say I ever seen one myself. But I heard about them from others in my clan. I believe they said nest are mostly formed by Grimm's that have serviced an especially long time. Meaning these two have been really lucky with those they have attacked over the years, or we got real lucky to fight them and live." He said with a smile at the end, hinting at the joke.

Still, he was just happy it was all over now. Between his arm killing him and his whole body feeling like lead he just wanted his nice soft bed at this point. "So should we report this to the academy? I mean, how offend dose a Grimm nest just pops up?"

As the two men examined the Grimm nest, Alex listened to what little Flip knew about the rare occurrence and nodded solemnly. "Sounds about right. Those Creeps were huge and they were strong. Despite being a low intelligent breed of grimm, one of those Creeps actually took me by surprise by burrowing and attacking me from below. Burrowing! A two legged creature with no arms, only a mouth, and no brains learned how to not only burrow underground but how far to dig and know that they were right below me so it was the perfect time to attack. The only way they could've learned to do that is if they faced a hunter that did that repeatably and still won against them and then started to use it themselves because they saw how effective it was." Alex responded before grabbing a handful of dirt from the next and tossing it away, as if disgusted by the very notion. "So yeah, luck had a lot to do with this. They were lucky for a while till they became this strong, and we were lucky not to face them solo. Thanks for showing up when you did or I might of been limping back to Syne with a limb missing."

Alex stood to his full height and pulled out his scroll, marking the location of the next on the small device's GPS. "Yeah we should report it. These things don't pop up for no reason. Lemme think... grimm only gather in locations where there has been a great amount of suffering and fear. And not just one person, but several people at the same time over a long period. Even when there's no one left the grimm will stay there because the aura from the negative emotions will linger. Mountain Glenn in Vale is a good example, though I wouldn't exactly say the grimm 'nest' there." Alex stated with a sigh as he rubbed his chin in thought. "A through search of the area to find out what happened around here is required, though I'm not going to make you stay here and help me if you don't want to. If you want to leave you can." Alex stated with a nod.

"One question though; you said you were in a clan. Mind if I ask which one?"

Rotating his arm around to relieve the pain Flip would shake his head at the man offer. "No, I'll stay. It would take the rest of the night to walk back from here anyways. So I might as well give you a hand." Listening to the teacher it seemed there were a lot he had to learn about both Grimm's and the nature of these monsters. Like most people he knew how Grimm's were drawn to negative emotions such as fear and sadness. However, he did not know that such emotions could embed itself into an area if it grew great enough. He would have to make sure to remember this.

While looking over the pit below Flip nodded at the man question. "I don't mind. Thos I doubt you ever heard of us." He said as he kicks a rock in to see how far the darkness went. "My clan name is Oda. For generations, we have been nomads living outside of Kingdoms walls. Not wanting to take sides with anyone's land. My father, however, believed it was time we finally had a homeland for ourself. So he picked the one with the less temor to setter down in."

True at first he had argued against the idea and still wasn't fully behind it. He did come to like the idea of becoming a Hunter. Which were more or less the same as what his clan used to do on their travels. Sword for hire in a way for the few villages and towns outside of the Kingdoms city great walls. "That's it in a nutshell, more or less."

At the comment of Alex having never heard of the clan, the professor only shrugged. "Oh I dunno. I might surprise you. Hit me." he said. He was interested in where Flip came from since the young man was clearly skilled in combat and in his survival class the huntsman was also knowledgeable. The answer was a pleasant surprise. "Nomads? Living outside the city? Wow, tough childhood. Though I imagine it was also a good childhood as well. The tone in your voice makes me think you're fond of them." Alex responded, then realized he might of invaded the man's privacy with that comment so he decided to not ask anymore.

However there was one thing that surprised Alex. "However I have heard of clan Oda... or at least I think it was Oda. About 17 years ago a clan that I believe went by that name had accidentally stumbled across the farm I was raised on. I was 10 at the time and thin as a twig. That clan forced the owners of the farm to treat the faunus workers as actual workers instead of as slaves. My mother, the only human laborer besides myself, was so happy that her fellow workers were going to be treated better that she gave the clan leader a handmade blanket she had been working on for nearly a year; it was a rich purple color with thick golden zigzags running across it, and it was large enough to cover a king sized bed." Alex stated, then started to scratch the back of his head. "You know, I can't remember if the clan leader accepted the gift or not. Ain't that something?"

It wasn't much later that the emerald glow of Alex's aura illuminated something in the distance... and it was huge. "Wow... didn't expect this... but I think we found the source of what ever caused this area to become saturated with fear." Alex commented as he tossed down a seed and made it grow into a willow tree. Each one of it's leafy willow branches glowed with emerald light, so all of it combined to the point that the two huntsmen had enough light so it was as if it was day time.

In front of them was a crashed airship. It was a much older model, and it had been there long enough that the forest had grown up around it and even through some of the windows, but it was still fairly intact. "But this brings up another question; how the heck did no one know this was here?? Bellmuse is small, and a falling airship is hard to miss!"

OOC: