[Center][I][B]Pascale Isadora Buckley[/I][/B] —[I]♫♪ A Chaque Oiseaux Son Nid est Beau ♫♪[/I]— [B]Near the Edge of the Forest— F-7[/B][/Center] What was that? That sound... Sounded a lot like cracking. Pascale blinked, just now stepping into the vast forest before her, but stopping as she leaned forward slightly. Turn. Step forward just a tad more... "Oh...." Pascale mouthed, frozen in place, "Shit." Right on the edge, near what looked to the entrance of a vast swamp within the forest itself, lay what looked to be, at first, odd looking rocks. That was at first glance. The second glance clearly told any individual who stumbled upon this odd quarry weirdly positioned next to the entrance of both a swamp and a forest that this wasn't a quarry of rocks at all. It was a thousand times worse. From the position Pascale was in, she could clearly see the dip in land that was definitely not natural, but what she could clearly make out were the oval shape of these supposed rocks. They rocked, though, back and forth, cracked, jumped even. They weren't rocks at all, despite the texture; they were too perfectly shaped to be rocks anyways. They were eggs and there were thousands of them littering the entirety of a makeshift nest. Not a nest, no, it was more like a crater. The bad thing? All of the eggs were hatching almost simultaneously. Bursting through each shell came enormous creatures, reptilian in nature with scales blacker than an abyss. At first, they looked simply like an assortment of snakes inside one egg each, their heads poking out into the heat of the day, but that wasn't so. Each head was attached to one body, gathered into one giant tail and covered in the placenta and yolk they incubated in. It was a waking nightmare and not because Pascale had a phobia of snakes—she probably would after this, if she lived to see the next minute or so—but because these things were colossal for just outta the egg babies. They outdid the cat faunus in height and she had heels on. What made this situation worse, though it was a miracle of life... or did these things count as being alive if they had no souls? That wasn't a question she should be asking, at the moment. What made this situation worse was the fact that each, after thoroughly shedding their giant shells, locked eyes on what would be one of their sources of food. It was either they all stampede right that instant or die of starvation. That was a very unlikely wish... --- [center][B]F-6 — Run For Your God Damn Life[/B] —[I]♫♪ Celui Qui Fuit de Bonne Heure Peut Combattre Derechef ♫♪[/I]—[/Center] --- Hauling ass was the only logical thing to do and Pascale hauled her ass until she could feel her lungs disintegrating. She kept the sprint up. Under her breath she uttered every curse ever imaginable; she could taste the soap her foster father would have shoved into her mouth. Sweat matted her once perfectly windswept hair, turning the stark white into a sterling silver. Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for feasible escape plans and to determine whether or not those things were catching up to her. The hisses and natal cries told her, 'Yes, and they're closer than you think.' She couldn't possibly go any faster, but Pascale willed herself to, the boots that crunched the ground beneath her propelled her forward in blazing shots. Careening her head to the side, a glimpse of a very serpentine head caught her gaze. Why in the hell were these things so fast? Heart racing, ears filling with blood, adrenaline bursting. It was all happening and she felt as if she could keel over any moment, vomit her breakfast on the forest floor, and simply die of overexertion. That wasn't an option though and it would never be. She was getting out of this alive—hell, it had only been, at the most, ten minutes before she was unfortunate enough to stumble upon a giant nest of giant... things. What was her life coming to? This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening. She just wanted to squeeze her eyes shut and make it all go away. No, no, she was panicking now. Deep breaths. Deep, deep breaths. Okay. All good. Just... just keeping going straight and she'd find something—some way to get those things as far away as possible from her. "No... no, no, no, noooooo," she pleaded. Not far from her, half a mile or so, but within seeing distance, there was a tiny figure just standing there. No, she was walking. That wasn't possible, though, 'cause her W.A.T.C.H would have alerted her that another Freshman Hunter was near her. [i] Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep...[/i] "Oh, fuck my life. Just kill me now," she gasped, picking up her pace now. There was no chance of alerting the girl in time—she was so damn small. Pascale had one course of action now... or two, actually: let her die or grab her and run like hell. The former wasn't going to happen, not while Pascale was still alive and kicking. So, she bent forward, and arm ready as she jumped, flipped, and ambled fiercely through the forest. In one short burst from both of her shoes, Pascale jolted forward, outstretched in her jump, snatched the girl in a hard thump, and flipped back onto her feet. She didn't wait for any protests or explanations; Pascale broke into a faster sprint, her boots shooting her forward once again and just as one of the baby things snapped at her ankle. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she repeated, veering diagonally in hopes of disorienting the baby Grimm. At the moment, it was hopeless, they would continue until she wore herself out and now she had dragged another person into all this hot mess. This was turning out to be a very, very terrible test day, but she doubted this wasn't unusual. What she doubted was that not many people actually made it out of all of this alive. But, she couldn't have any thoughts like that poisoning her mind, though she was finding herself a lot tireder and her feet began to ache as they pounded into the ground below her. The girl in her arms significantly slowed her down and by significantly, she meant that those things were starting to viciously assert their dominance and attempt to snatch her right out of the damn air. It was a stampede of slithering Grimm who didn't seem to experience the same fatigue that was slowly overtaking her. A large, black branch hammered into the ground, picking up dust as it pierced the forest floor with incredible force. Pascale flipped over, crying out as another branch nicked her side mid-flip. Nearly losing balance, Pascale stopped in place, looking around her frantically. The hissing grew to a mind numbing pierce and she would have keeled and let everything just over take her if not for the girl still in her arms. Pascale whipped forward, nearly tripping on the snapping jaws of the baby Grimm that she kicked into the ground to propel her up and forward. Branches, gigantic branches, fell like anvils onto the ground beneath her, aiming particularly in her area. They were aimed, which meant that—Pascale looked up, barely dodging the flying serpent and branch all together, felling the force and friction once again slice into her, deeper this time, in the arm that held the girl. She cried out, almost crumpling to the ground, but continued in her sprint. The giant spears were relentless, but did more harm to the stampede of giant, serpentine Grimm than they did to her. In her acrobatics, Pascale could very well tell where those branches were coming from. They were more direct, coordinated now that they knew what was happening. The trees before her groaned, lashing out at the Grimm that marked her as prey. These selfish beings wanted her and the girl in her arms purely for themselves and they made that known. Their branches still lashed out at her, but were now less concentrated. They made swathes in the giant cloud of baby Grimm as if they were slicing and tearing apart pieces of bread. It wasn't until she was half-way through did they feel they were able to fiercely target her. They threw the bodies of the dead hydras at her like boulders. She not only had to take care of the girl in her arms, but she had to dodge both branches and dead bodies. But the end of it seemed so damn close, so near. She heard the hissing still, the rumbling of bodies and branches hitting the ground, but it all seemed more muffled. Sweat drenched her body, wanting nothing more than to give out and let her die. And she would have let herself, if she didn't remember the body in her arms. Pascale continued pushing, jumping over another branch that sliced deeper into her leg. She fell forward slightly, her knees nearly buckling under her weight and blood painting the ground in a deep crimson. That was an opening for the living trees and they took advantage of it. Pascale cursed, head shooting up to see the multitude of branches racing toward her. In one last burst, the boots charging for a mere second before catapulting Pascale forward, as far as they possibly could. She tumbled forward, down a seemingly steep heel, falling unconscious almost immediately after hitting the ground. She let go of the girl midway down, satisfied that she had at least saved her. Dirt coated her as she slid and rolled, most of her body now caked in blood, sweat, and grim. The rest was simply black, after that.