Author's Note

Hey guys, I thought I'd introduce the characters I'll be writing for later on in the story. They're my OC and his teacher. They more than likely won't make another appearance till later on in the story. I wanted to contribute a bit to the story too. Please enjoy.

Chapter 3: The Huntress and her Student

Meanwhile in Anima’s wilds

A Huntress in a black hooded leather trench coat was tracking through the woods. She’d been hired to do reconnaissance on a pack of Grimm that had appeared recently. On her back, she carried a double-edged longsword while at her side was a large six-shot dust revolver. The two weapons were of her own design from when she was younger. They could be used in tandem or they could be combined into a six-shot longbow for long range sniping. She had just turned twenty-five last week and this would be her last job before she could move to Vale.

She’d been hired to track down a pack of Geists by the local’s of the areas neighboring towns. She didn’t like it as Geists aren’t supposed to be social Grimm. Apparently, they hadn’t even been seen in this area until a few months ago. Not long ago, a small and upcoming settlement known as Kuroyuri was attacked by a Nuckelavee. She’d sworn as soon as she could afford to she’d move out of Anima. Sure, jobs were plentiful but there was no way to keep a steady pay coming in. There just weren’t enough high paying jobs to where someone would have a steady enough income to not have to go out and hunt Grimm for the next few meals.

“For crying out loud. After this job is done, I‘m moving to Vale and I’m getting a desk job. Even if I end up at one of the local island schools. At least then I won’t have to hunt Grimm as often,” said the figure as she threw her hands up and then crossed her arms, pouting. “At least this negativity I’m spewing out should attract any nearby Grimm. Hopefully one of them is a Geist from that supposed pack. Then I could wound it enough to get it to lead me to the pack if it exists.”

She kept trecking through the woods for what seemed like hours. Not much goes on out here when you don’t have Grimm in front of you. People would hunt for only two reasons, Grimm or because they need food. You’d end up facing one or the other and usually both if you’re not expecting it. She’d only been a huntress for four or five years now and she was fed up with it. That’s why she took this job though. So she could get the last bit of the money she needed, but not have to do any major work other than simple recon.

Geists weren’t anything to handle as far as Grimm go if you could take them out with long-range weaponry. It was their ability to form bodies from practically anything made them extremely hard to deal with, even in simple recon operations such as this. ‘It usually took teams to take down just one of these things. If there really is a pack of them out here, then they could pose a real threat to any settlement or even the larger towns.’ She thought as she walked along.

CRACK.

“Seems I got hit with the lucky stick,” she whispers to herself as she ducks behind a tree. She readied her revolver with an electric shot. She peered out from her hiding spot to get a look at what had made the noise. As she did she sees a lone Beowolf. It was fairly young as it had hardly any of the bone armor that forms with age.

“Guess I didn’t get hit hard enough. Still, it looks like I’m heading in the right direction,” she says as she starts to see other young Beowolves. These were probably the most common type of Grimm out here. They were like cockroaches. Easy to deal with if you knew how to deal with them but extremely numerous as their packs usually consisted of up to ten or more members.

“You guess must be gathering from the fear being put out from the wake of that Geist pack I’ve been tracking,” she says stepping out from the tree where she’d been hiding. The nearest Beowolf noticed her movement and started to snarl and growl at her as she approached.

No telling how many of these guys are out here and she couldn’t just leave a whole pack of Beowolves to roam free. Especially, if there is a pack of Geists out here. She quickly loaded her revolver with more rounds. She hated close combat, but that doesn’t mean she can’t handle herself in a close quarters fight.

The Beowolf turned to completely face me still snarling the whole time. It decided it would charge at her. As it came at her she held out her gun as she put her free hand on her sword. Waiting for just the right moment and when it was about four feet in front of her, she fired a round at the Grimm. Her shot landed dead center in the Grimm’s head, she then drew her sword and cut it in half, right down the middle. The two pieces land on either side of her and then started to flutter into the wind as pieces of ash do from a campfire.

“At least I can relieve some of this boredom from this long walk I’ve been on for the past few hours,” said the figure as she started to sprint to the other Beowolfs. She held up her revolver and fired off a few more shots hitting the Grimm in the head, chest, and arms. She then proceeded to slice them apart with her sword wanting to preserve what ammo she had with her.

A few hours later…

The huntress had cleared the area of the Beowolves and was now taking a little break to fix herself something to eat. She never cooked anything out in the field as a simple campfire would attract any number of the area’s local bandit tribes. She was busy munching on an apple for the time being.

“There has to be something going on out here if all these Beowolves are headed the same direction. This had to be the fourth pack I’ve taken down since I started out a couple of days ago,” she says, standing up and throwing the apple core off to the side. The figure raised her hands up to stretch before she continued on her mission. As she did so, she saw smoke off in the distance rising into the sky.

“Great. Just what I needed, a village under siege. I really hope there are survivors and not bandits or more Grimm. The last thing I need right now is bandits or that pack of Geists,” the hooded huntress says as she makes a dash in the direction she’d seen the smoke coming from.

The huntress made it to where the smoke had been coming from around an hour after she’d first spotted it. The source was a small town with buildings that had all but burned down to little more than charcoal. There were bodies of the town’s patrons lying all around. Some were crushed, some burnt, and others just unrecognizable.

“Gods. What in the world did this?” the huntress said as she walked through the remains of the buildings. ‘There was no way this was bandits. Not even they could do anything like this. It was without a doubt Grimm, but not one I’ve ever seen before. This much damage and all of these corpses. It looks as if some of them were just rammed with something.’ Thought the huntress as she knelt down to examined one of the more damaged bodies.

“HEY! IS ANYONE STILL ALIVE?! PLEASE, SOMEONE, ANSWER ME!” shouted the hooded woman. It looked as if the town had been completely silenced from the Grimm attack. That’s when she heard a faint cry for help from behind her a little ways away.

“Someone… help… me… PLEASE!” cried a young boy.

The Huntress quickly found the boy partially buried under a still smoldering building. He was clutching what seemed to be some sort of mask. A family heirloom no doubt. She quickly started throwing the remains of the charred building off of the youth. Finally able to get a better look at the boy she guessed his age to be around seven years old. The Huntress sighed in relief to find someone still alive here. The good news was that the boy was alive, barely, but alive.

“Who… are...you?” said the boy weakly as the huntress put carried him in her arms to one of the still intact buildings.

“Don’t worry kid. I’m a huntress with the Anima Huntsman Core. Let’s see if we can’t find someplace to set up camp where you can get some rest. While you’re resting I’m going to find some medicine and food for you. Then you can tell me what happened,” the huntress said as she placed the boy down on a bed in the building. She looked at the kid before her. He’d been severely wound on the right side of his face and on the right side of his body were multiple first and second-degree burns, maybe a few third degrees too.

She turned to leave to go and look for some form of medical supplies if any survived the fire. That’s when the boy spoke again.

“Please… the... Geists… are… they… gone?” asked the boy with all the strength he could muster as he held onto the mask in his grasp for dear life.

‘So, there is a pack of Geists out here. I’ve got to get this kid on his feet and back to town as soon as I can. Then I have to get back to headquarters to get the Huntsman to take out the pack before another town is destroyed.’ thought the Huntress as she turned back to the boy.

She knelt down to the kid and spoke softly while laying him back down on the bed. “The Grimm are all gone. Now I’ve gotta find you some bandages so I can treat your wounds so they won’t get infected on our way back to Anima.”

She laid the boy back down and went out to see if the town’s doctor’s office had survived or at least the local vet’s office. Either one would have the supplies she needs to treat the young boy’s wounds. The Huntress ended up going all over the town to find all the medical supplies she could get her hands on. There wasn’t a whole lot to collect as most of the buildings had already burned to the ground. With the supplies she managed to find in a satchel, the Huntress made her way back to the boy who was sitting up in the bed staring at the mask in his possession. The Huntress spoke as easily as she could.

“Is that something that belongs to your family?” she asked. “Yes, it’s been passed down in my family for years. It always went to the head of the family and now that’s me. Seeing as how I’m the only one left,” said the boy as tears started to fall from his eyes. “Ah, it burns,” whimpered the child as his tears hit his burns.

“Let’s treat your injuries. Then we can get some food in our bellies and some rest,” said the huntress as she took out a few bandages from the satchel. “I’m going to use my semblance to sterilize and cauterize those wounds of yours. You should know beforehand that even if I didn’t do this you’d still have serious scarring. This way it won’t get infected and you won’t have to deal with it getting worse.”

“If it keeps me alive so I can get my revenge on those monsters that destroyed my town, friends, and family then I don’t care,” the boy says with a scowl.

The huntress snapped her fingers and a small spark ignited from her glove that quickly spread green flames across the young boy's body. In a brief moment of pain, the child winced as the flames steadily covered his wounds like a blanket. Once the task was done the huntress started to bandage the boy’s wounds. Afterward, the two shared a meal as the huntress explained she been hired to do reconnaissance on Grimm of the area to determine if the rumors of Geist pack were true.

Remembering what he’d asked her earlier, the boy looked to the fire in the fireplace and then to the Huntress. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything in his current state but he’d decided to as soon as he was better he was going to learn how to become a Huntsman. This way he could kill every last Grimm.

“Miss. I know we just met and we’re total strangers, but would you be willing to teach me how to be a Huntsman when I get out of the hospital?” asked the mummy of a boy.

“Look kid. I’m taking you to the hospital and then I’m going to the Huntsman Association in Anima so I can report and confirm that there’s a pack of Geists out here and collect my pay. Then I’m going to have to stick around while we organize a small army of Huntsman and Huntress so we can take down said pack,” the still hooded Huntress explain to her new companion.

“I don’t even know if I’ll be coming back from that mission and the gods know if I do, I won’t be sticking around Anima for very long afterward. I’ll finally have enough money to move to Vale and live off of to where I can look for a part-time job at one the local place to supplement my income while still being a Huntress part-time.”

“Please take me on as your student. I need the skills to hunt down the Grimm and I owe you for saving my life,” the boy says jumping to the floor on to his knees as he bows his head. The huntress stays silent for a moment, before the boy changes, and she sees a younger version of herself where he is.

‘I can’t just abandon him like I was. I know what’s it’s like to be here alone and then you have the orphanages too. Odds are he’d end up in a good one if I took him to Anima and gave him a recommendation, but I don’t have very much pull either, being a low-level Huntsman Graduate. The people of this land take their debts very seriously too. He’s not going to let this go after what’s happened to him. I guess I can give him an ultimatum.’ the hooded Huntress thought as she looked to the young boy. ‘He’ll be discriminated against like I was, even though he’s human, thanks to the scars he’s going to have. I can’t let that happened.’

“Look, kid, I’m going to take you to the hospital in Mistal and then give my report. While I’m still in town I come by and see you and get to know you as a person. Then I’ll decide if I want to take you on as my student if I come back from helping out on the Geist hunt. We’re going to need all the Huntsmen and Huntresses from the city, academy, and the surrounding towns to take on a whole pack of those things. I doubt I’ll even make it back at all,” the huntress explained as she now looked into the fire.

“But you’re a huntress. You fight Grimm for a living and to keep people safe, right?” said the boy as he looked up to the hooded woman.

“Kid, I’m not going to sugar coat this. I’ve only been a Huntress for four or five years and I’m only one because I didn’t really have much of a choice growing up as an orphan after I ran away from my own teacher. Not long after I ran, I expected her to come after me, but she never did so I tried to live on my own but soon found that I couldn’t. Not unless I wanted to die in the wilds. So I went to Mistral, a ten-year-old girl who’d never had to fight to survive in a world were that meant everything to everyone just to get by on a regular basis.” she says while looking at the child that reminded her of herself.

“I ended up in an orphanage there and went to the local battle school and learned the basics of fighting, weapons, and Grimm. Eventually, I made it up Mistral’s Haven Academy and was placed on the usual team of four until we graduated. Those were some of the best years I had since I came here. Anyway, after we graduated we went our separate ways as most young adults do and I’ve been scraping by ever since. My point is, kid, I’m not a Huntress by choice but because I have to be. Meaning, I’m the last person that you should want as a teacher, let alone to be around,” sighed the huntress.

“I’ll accept your terms Ms. Huntress, and if by the time you come back from your mission and still don’t want to teach me than I won’t pursue the topic any further,” said the boy as he bowed his head again.

“What’s your name?” asked the hooded Huntress. “My name is Aeon Crim. Last of the House of Purpur.” answered the young boy.

The Huntress stood up and pulled down her hood allowing her golden and fire red striped hair fall down to her shoulder out from under the hood while also exposing a pair of amber furred pony ears and cyan eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you Aeon, my name is Sunset Shimmer.” said the faunus Huntress to the boy in front of her. “And if I come back in a few weeks you best prepare yourself for quite a few grueling years of training.”

The boy could only cry tears of joy at this phrase.

“Thank you so much.”