She watched while Carmine tangled with the antlered Grimm, admiring her strength and skill. The Huntress vaulted over a Jackalope’s head to land on its back, then grabbed the horns and twisted them, jerking the monster’s head sharply until its neck was broken. As it faded away, she leaped onto another Jackalope. She stabbed down into its back with one of her sai, then threw the weapon into another creature’s eye. The weapon electrified, destroying the Grimm. The sai flew back toward Carmine as the Grimm reared back, sending the Huntress tumbling. She landed hard and her weapon dropped into the sand.

Uh-oh, Coco thought.

Carmine stumbled to her feet. She looked for her sai, but it was lost in the sand. She lowered her goggles and raised her hands. The sand around her started drifting upward. Carmine had a weak telekinetic ability that allowed her to manipulate small objects, like swords and grains of sand. It didn’t compare to the ability to lift large chunks of buildings like Glynda Goodwitch could, but being able to manipulate lots of small objects at once still made Carmine quite powerful.

The effort must have distracted her, though, because Carmine didn’t notice the Jackalope’s powerful back legs kicking out until they knocked into her. Carmine went down.

Coco switched her glasses back to normal magnification. Even as she was thinking about the course of action, she was rushing toward the fray. Sometimes decisions were like that—your body already knew what to do while your brain was still processing the situation. Only in this case, Coco’s body wasn’t necessarily the clearest judge of character. Her brain would have said that Carmine didn’t deserve her help.

Coco ran right up to one of the large Grimm and swung her purse in a wide, upward arc, smacking the creature from behind and sending it flying over the heads of its dark brothers. Carmine stirred and climbed to her feet—holding her sai.

She didn’t miss a beat. “Fancy meeting you here,” Carmine said to Coco. She turned to the remaining two Jackalopes. “Oh, you boys are in trouble now.”

- RWBY: Before the Dawn, Chapter 10