"Tanya, get down from there!"

The old man sighed, running a hand through his graying blue hair. He had been trying to get his eleven year old granddaughter Tanya Jenks to come down from the cliff that overlooked their house. She wasn't exactly cooperating, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Not until you agree to train me with the cool weapons, you old fart!" Tanya responded, giggling as she swung her legs absentmindedly. "Not our old dinky wooden pieces of crap!"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to-Hold on, what did you just call me?!" The man leaned onto his cane, an annoyed expression on his aged features. "And watch your mouth, young lady! I know I raised you better than that!"

"I called you an old fart," Tanya repeated, laughing at her own nickname, "You old fart!"

The old man sighed in aggravation and stress. Clearly, the argument between him and the mischievous little girl was going nowhere. Knowing her grandfather would exchange anything for her own safety, Tanya had managed to climb to the top of a cliff near her grandfather's cabin. She didn't quite know how she'd been able to scale the side, but something inside of her allowed her to feel more fit. It was for getting what she wanted from her dear old granddad.

"If you just agree to train me, I'll get down, Grandpa Alm!" Tanya yelled, haphazardly leaning her upper body over the cliff's edge. He held his arms out, scared that she would fall.

Alm groaned and sighed, knowing he had no other choice but to give in to her demands. Their relationship had never been one that followed the rules. He dramatically ran his hand down his face.

"Fine, but get down here before you hurt yourself."

"YES!" Tanya exclaimed in victory, quickly climbing down to her stressed out grandfather. "Can we start now?!"

"Well you won't let me do anything else, so I guess," Alm teased playfully, ruffling Tanya's hair. "Come on."

Tanya cheered, sprinting to her grandfather's weapon rack in the stables. Alm shook his head in amusement before he hobbled after the blue haired girl. She was never allowed in there, Alm only let her practice with wooden training weapons due to the high possibility of Tanya blowing up their entire plot of land if she got her hands on an explosive gun. Her eyes scanned through the displayed weapons. Swords, axes, lances, bows, daggers, all of which had their gun counterparts. Her eyes stopped on what looked like a long, ivory stick with blue highlights.

"What's that?" Tanya asked curiously, pointing to the strange weapon. Unlike the others, it didn't have any sort of blade. This fact piqued her interest immensely; how were you supposed to kill Grimm without any sort of proper blade?

"That... is a bo staff," Alm answered, taking the staff off its stand. He twisted the handle, causing it to morph into a multicolored heavy pulse rifle.

"Woah.... So cool..." Tanya said in awe, her innocent eyes widening in further excitement. "That's crazy!"

"You wanna test it out yourself?" Alm asked with a knowing smile. He turned the rifle back into a bo staff, holding it out to the girl. Tanya pumped her fist into the air in ecstasy.

"YES!" Tanya exclaimed, hurriedly grabbing the staff from her grandfather's hands. She grinned as she tried to spin the staff around. "Whoa!" She almost dropped it due to how much taller the object was than her.

"Huh. Looks like you already got the hang of it," Alm complimented, watching the girl try to handle the staff. She had a lot to learn since her posture was all off, but Alm figured he'd give into his granddaughters excitement and let her try something for real. "Why don't you try it on one of our targets?"

Alm led Tanya into the stable where he kept extra training dummies and targets. He picked up a dummy and a few targets and set them up just outside the stable.

"Okay... Try hitting the dummy and please don't take off it's head..." Alm instructed, making sure the hyperactive child was listening to him closely. "It's a pain to sew back together."

"Do I just...hit it?" Tanya questioned curiously, running her hand across the staff. Alm nodded encouragingly.

"Yes. Just do what your instinct tells you."

Tanya nodded, and got in a low and wide stance before berating the dummy with hits of the bo staff. Alm silently and carefully watched his granddaughter's movements, noting every misstep, inaccurate blow, and poor hand placement.

Tanya stopped her assault, standing back up and wiping the sweat off her brow. "So, so? What do you think!? Am I ready to become a huntress right now?"

Alm scratched his bearded chin, trying to word his phrases gently. "Hmm... You let your feet get too narrow quite often... You held the staff with your hands awkwardly close... And your hits weren't placed strategically at all."

Tanya's mood instantly deflated like a balloon, and she dejectedly glanced downwards. She felt so cool fighting with the bo staff, so she was sure she was getting something right. Maybe she wasn't cut out for all of this after all...

"However..." Alm continued, hoping to encourage his beloved granddaughter, who wasn't exactly very good at taking criticism. "Your hits were very strong and confident, and there was close to no hesitation between your movements. All in all...not bad for your first time."

Immediately, the smile jumped back onto the kid's face. She looked up, hope in her stormy gray eyes. Alm couldn't help but chuckle lightly at her actions.

"That's not even the best part. Here," Alm took the weapon and slowly twisted the blue handle. Once it clicked, the whole staff quickly transformed into a pulse rifle. Tanya gasped in amazement as she witnessed the transformation, and Alm led Tanya over to the three targets he set up.

"Try hitting the middle target first. You have twenty five bullets in each magazine. This gun was specially made, so you don't have to worry about heavy recoil," Alm instructed gently. Tanya nodded, but she really only understand his first sentence. All she really could process was that she was holding a gun! Her family had been trained as soldiers, and Tanya was left in Alm's care (with strict instructions not to let her touch the weapons). Of course, Alm was never very good at abiding by his son's wishes, and he had trouble saying no to the little devil in front of him, so...

Alm stood back, signaling for Tanya to start shooting. Tanya breathed deeply, and held up the gun. She closed one eye and stuck out her tongue in concentration; Alm nearly facepalmed at her childishness. She had no idea what was going on, but she pressed onto the trigger. She fired twelve bullets before she let go of the trigger, amazed. Even though she hadn't come close to the target, she had used a gun! A real gun, just like her parents did!

Alm made his way back to Tanya's side, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Not bad for your first time shooting...promise you'll keep this all a secret, would you? Your father would probably have me executed."

"Dad won't notice!" Tanya promised happily, carelessly holding the weapon. Alm snatched it out of her hand before Tanya could manage to somehow literally shoot herself in the foot. "You have my word!"

The next couple weeks, Tanya did nothing but train with these weapons. Her grandfather taught her about how to harness her aura, and told her that her climbing ability was due to her semblance. It took quite awhile for Tanya to completely understand the ideas of semblances or aura, but it was intriguing, so she listened attentively.

It was yet another training day, one promising great adventure for the two of them. Alm and Tanya walked out of their cabin, heading to the stables at Tanya's insistence. Yesterday had been a rest day, and Tanya hadn't liked the thought of staying down one bit. Tanya held her rifle in her hands, excitedly bouncing up and down.

"So, kiddo," Alm gripped his cane in one hand as they finally made it to the stables. "Lets get back to working on your aim. Okay?"

"Ok-"

Instantly, a loud roar resounded through the forest, cutting off Tanya's sentence. She glanced at her grandfather worriedly, and he rummaged for something on one of the stable's tables. Finally, he drew a great sword, pushing Tanya behind him gently.

"Grandpa Alm, what's going on-?" Tanya questioned curiously, but was shushed by Alm. The young girl immediately stayed silent, clutching her rifle intently. Just then, a huge, inky black creature with silvery claws and blazing red eyes rammed through the trees, threatening their peaceful atmosphere.

"STAY BACK!" Alm immediately commanded, charging as fast as he could with his cane toward the angered creature. Tanya had only heard about these monsters, the Grimm, in Alm's detailed heroic stories. He swung at the Ursa with his great sword, his blows blocked with the monster's massive claws.

Tanya could just stand in panic and shock as her grandfather fought the Grimm. Her grandfather was a retired hunter, but he was old and humbled. Seeing the Grimm for the first time made her body freeze, only able to watch as her crippled grandfather struggled to fight off the monster.

Realizing he couldn't fight the Grimm with his sword successfully, Alm transformed it into a huge particle cannon. He shot a thick laser at the Grimm, causing it to stumble backward in pain as it's fur was shaved off. The Ursa roared in anger, swiping its giant paws at Alm once again.

The old man shot particle grenades at the Ursa, blowing off chunks of its fur and flesh. Yet, the large monster kept advancing and the Ursa pounced on Alm, sending his weapon across the ground just out of reach and pinning him down. Alm violently struggled under the beast's grasp.

"TANYA, RUN!!" Alm yelled in panic, not fearful for himself, but for the little girl someways down. He grabbed the Ursa's snout with his hands, barely pushing the jaws of the Grimm away from his face.

The sight of her beloved grandfather struggling was enough to snap Tanya out of her stunned state, and she held her rifle tighter to her chest. All she could see was the back of the giant Ursa, and she didn't realize she was screaming until she was running blindly toward the monster.

"NO!"

Tanya hurriedly took her rifle, taking great care to aim precisely. She shot at the Grimm, hitting all over it's back. The Ursa roared in pain and turned towards the charging eleven year old. It lifted its paw just enough for Alm to push it off and grab his weapon, now back in its sword form. Before the Ursa could focus on a single target, Tanya shot a helix rocket right at the beast's face just as her grandfather stabbed his greatsword through the Grimm's sternum.

The Ursa howled, disintegrating into small little pieces of dust.

Alm shakily managed to stand, using his sword as a crutch to keep himself upright. His cane had been long knocked away due to the intense scuffle. Tanya ran to her grandfather, immediately hugging him tight.

"Grand-papa, don't do that ever again!" Tanya exclaimed, trying to hide her fear by pathetically hitting Alm's chest. She buried her head into him, trying to calm her breathing.

Alm chuckled, affectionately patting Tanya's head. He hugged her with his free hand after sheathing his sword. "I've got to do whatever it takes to protect you, Tanya. I won't take that back. But... you know what?"

"What?" Tanya asked, gradually calming down as she reveled in her grandfather's embrace. Alm set a hand on the child's shoulder, a proud smile on his aged face.

"You'd make a great huntress."