[h1]auto move and battle lead-in[/h1]
The roar of thunder reached a breaking point as the massive equine Grimm erupted into the temple clearing, stopping in its tracks to glare at the group of students for a moment before letting loose a hellish whinny. 
As a group, the octet peeled away from the forest temple and the relics still resting within, fleeing together into the forest in an attempt to escape the beast. It wasn’t a very cohesive group, as the recruits had never worked together before, but they were close enough to each other to help anyone who got into a spot of trouble. The thundering of the Nightmare’s hooves seemed to grow closer as the beast hunted them, even as they pushed towards the hilltop ruin where the group intended to make their stand.

The forest flew by quickly, none of the octet really paying any attention to the sights as they focused on reaching the hilltop ruins, following the barely noticeable glimpses of Tierra in the treetops just in front of them.

So focused were they on not tripping and falling behind, there was no one to notice a grimace covering the face of the currently violet haired witch, a singular frown line attempting to swallow her beauty mark. [colour=00aeef]“Lis got trampled; it’s getting close!”[/colour] shouted Viola towards the tree canopy, hoping their would be scout could hear it.
       
Tierra only just caught the words through the wind whipping past and cursed, echoed by quite a few of the others on the ground level. She barely resisted the urge to activate her semblance, realising that she would quickly leave the others behind with no clue where to go. [colour=forestgreen]“We need to pick up the pace!”[/colour]

[colour=a0410d]“We’re  trying!”[/colour] Russ gasped out, pushing herself to go faster.

As they drew near the ruins, a flash of white bone plating caught the eye of the tree bound Faunus. Tierra let loose a shout of alarm as a deadly sharp, sickle-like blade suddenly blocked her path, mere inches above her head, and attempted to split open the girls skull. A surprised dodge stopped that from happening, the blade instead cutting through the tree she was on, and a fair amount of branches and leaves came down around her as the cheetah Faunus dropped from the branches to avoid the sudden attack, landing near her partner. The great horned head of the beast emerged from the canopy, bellowing at the octet as they skidded to a halt to avoid the rain of timber. 

Argent whipped his head in the direction Tierra dropped from, his sword automatically raising and shifting into its revolver form as his eyes focused on the angry red eyes of the beast. Three loud cracks resounded through the forest as bullets sparked off the creature's face plating, and the light in its eyes grew blinding with rage. A scream of pure rage ripped from the Chimera's throat as it turned on the group, charging forward with its tail whipping wildly from side to side. 

Cereza, Viola, Argent and Tierra all dove the the left of the beast while Nor, Lan, Tsuki and Russ dove to the right, letting the large beast skitter through them on its eight spindly, spider-like legs. As it rushed nimbly up a tree on the opposite side of the clearing, the Nightmare burst through the treeline behind the octet, and the two separate groups of four shared a glance. 

“Run!” Someone shouted, though none could tell who in the heat of the moment. The Chimera dropped back into the clearing in between the two groups, cutting Nor and the others off from the other four applicants.

Tierra gestured widely with one arm, [colour=forestgreen] “The ruin is this way!”[/colour]

The noirette led the three who could follow her through the forest, towards where she had last seen the hilltop ruins. Nor cursed as the Chimera gave chase, blocking off their chances of following, and the Nightmare turned to the remaining quartet. It seemed to study them for a moment, a tense moment of quiet descending as the Chimera chased the other group up the hill, before the Grimm gave a high pitched whinny. It’s nostrils flared above jagged razor sharp teeth as it peeled back its lips and stomped two of its eight feet, before rearing on four legs and charging. 

As it bore down on the group all four of the remaining applicants turned and ran in unison, heading deeper into the forest in hopes of finding a more defensible position. Shots swung wide as those with ranged weapons fired over their shoulder in an attempt to discourage or lose the creature.

After running for what seemed to be hours, though in truth it was merely a few minutes, the future team claret found themselves starting up an incline, approaching the hilltop ruins. The trees hadn’t broken yet, though they were obviously smaller than the rest of the forest due to no one having cleared them for so long. The Chimera skittered after them, traveling from tree to tree as it lashed out with its deadly tail and trying to get the drop on the four. Pieces of ancient masonry started to peak out from their surroundings, overgrown by roots and bushes and moss as the incline increased, making them scramble over the broken pieces of stone and rock.

Ahead, they could see the skeleton of what had obviously been a large fort at one point through the thinning trees. A few crumbling walls and a single rampart were still standing, with a tower looming over one corner of the main courtyard that looked like a stiff breeze may knock it over. The half collapsed shells of buildings, once used to house people and animals, were littered around a central courtyard. Littered here and there, obviously not a part of the original building but at the same time at least a few decades old, were the rotting remains of barrels and crates. Tucked away in one corner was a half collapsed trebuchet, the iron rusted away terribly on the main support struts.

As one, the quartet dove into a narrow gap between a wall and a half collapsed building, too small for the chimera to follow, and travelled further in until its tail couldn’t reach them either. The four shared a look as they listened to the skittering of the large monster over loose stones and dust trailed from the half collapsed building around them, taking a moment to catch their breath before diving into a battle against the creature.

[colour=00aeef]“Well,”[/colour] it was a would be princess that broke the silence, as she combed her fingers through her hair to make it look presentable, [colour=00aeef]“exactly as planned, wouldn’t you agree?” [/colour]

[colour=2c75ff]“You could say that.”[/colour] Cereza wheezed, collapsing Llaw Du to allow for easier movement in the enclosed space and scrubbing the shaved part of her head with one hand. She’d expand it again when she got outside.