Yang walks through the forest, looking around for anyone or even her sister. Having not found anyone immediately after she landed, the blonde began to grow bored a while later.

"Hello...? Is anyone out there? Hello? I'm getting bored here! Is someone there?"

A rustling sound is heard as Yang comes over and peaks inside the nearby bushes.

"Ruby, is that you?"

A low, inhuman growl is heard, and Yang's head rises up as she stares at the two creatures in front of her.

"Nope!"

Yang quickly rolls to the side as an Ursa charges out of the green. She gets up and activates Ember Celica, staring at the monster before another Ursa runs out behind her. She leaps over it, and its companion runs at her again, only to get knocked back by a fiery punch. The other Ursa and Yang charge at each other, and Yang manages to get under it and deliver several punches and a kick to send the creature back.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?" Yang asks, knowing that neither ursa will answer her.

Instead the Ursa merely growl at her.

"You could just say 'no'."

One of the Ursa stands on its legs and swipes at her twice, Yang barely dodging the attacks.

Yang laughs. "Geeeez, you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba..."

Before she can complete her insult, a single strand of her golden hair falls in front of her face and lands on the forest floor.

"You..."

She takes a deep breath and closes her violet eyes, then opens them to reveal red irises instead. The Ursas look at each other confusedly before Yang screams.

"You monster!!!"

An inferno of flames surrounds Yang for a moment, and she rockets forward, unleashing a devastating combo of flaming hits and blows on the offending Ursa, making it fly through several burning trees. The other monster runs over, but stops short at Yang's gaze while a tree falls to the ground behind her.

"What! You want some, too?!" She asks, challenging the creature of grimm.

The Ursa rears up and prepares to strike... right when a whirling noise is heard and the monster makes a befuddled noise, falling down a second later to reveal Blake Belladonna with Gambol Shroud in the beast's back. Yang pants in exhaustion while Blake recalls the weapon back to her hand, sheathing it on her back then she turns to smile to the side. Yang, now purple-eyed again, looks at her new partner over the smoking remains of the monster.

"I could've taken him." Yang says

Across the forest, Layla hears rustling around her, without hesitation she grabs her revolver, Bellona, and shoots. The bullet ricochets against an unknown projectile, as a puff of ash is carried away by the wind. From the bushes, a wolf carrying a silver rapier in it's canines. Layla kneels and hisses at the dog like creature, it only growls in retaliation focusing it's golden eyes on the tiger faunus. The wolf begins to shift, dropping the rapier on the floor, leaving behind Klaus in his regular form. His tail peaks out from his clothes, Layla relents her attack when she sees that he also has ears at the top of his head. An odd trait, as faunus only have one animal trait and yet he didn't.

"What are you?" Layla asks

Picking up Alpha from the ground, Klaus slips the rapier back in it's sheath. Then he attempts to try to hide his tail again, by applying a cape on his shoulders. The tail wasn't visible then, but he believe it would be if one were to look too close which he hoped that no one would.

"Sorry about that, I'm Klaus."

"Yeah, who cares. I asked what you were not what you're name was." Layla says, pointing Vigdís, her own rapier, at him.

"Faunus, just like you. Isn't that obvious?" Klaus gestures to his ears

"No duh genius, but you're not entirely like us. No normal faunus has two traits." Layla says

"I'm a hybrid, just some freakshow if you ask me."

"It's not that freaky, it's just new. At least you're not human." Layla says, lowering Vigdís down.

Silence overcame them, Layla with nothing more to say and Klaus fearing saying the wrong thing. A nevermore flies over their heads, Layla looks up at it and follows after the large grimm from her spot all the way down. Klaus follows after her, finding it odd that he was accepted too easily.

Weiss deflects the swipe from a Beowolf with Myrtenaster, getting pushed back into the middle of the beastly circle. She holds out her sword as she goes through her dueling motions and practices.

'Remember your training, Weiss. Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward - not that forward! - slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike, and... Now!' She brings her rapier up.

Weiss dashes forward with her loaded weapon at the Beowolf in front of her, just when Ruby suddenly appears between the two in a blur of rose petals and a swipe of her Crescent Rose scythe, landing a hit on the monster.

"Gotcha!"

Weiss widens her eyes and screams as she quickly has to stop, swinging the sword in a random direction and creating a line of fire that sets a nearby tree ablaze, followed quickly by the rest of the forest around the clearing. Ruby, distracted by Weiss' mess-up, is barely defended when the same Beowolf scratches at her weapon, knocking the younger girl into the heiress.

"Hey, watch it!" Ruby says

"Excuse me! You attacked out of turn! I could have killed you!" Weiss exclaims

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that..." Ruby mutters

The duo wield their arms as the pack of Beowolves whine and growl around them. Ruby reloads her scythe just as a flaming tree falls near them.

Weiss grabs Ruby's arm. "We have to go!"

She leads Ruby out of the blaze as it engulfs the grass and sets the Grimm to running back the way they came or suffering in the fire. Ruby and Weiss stop a safe ways from the smoke and flames. Weiss leans over and pants as Ruby looks behind her.

"What was that?! That should've been easy!" Ruby says

"Well perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!"

Ruby scoffs. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asks

"I'm just surprised someone who talks so much would communicate so little during an encounter!" Weiss sneers

"Well, I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!" Ruby shouts

"Well, congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak your way into Beacon. Bravo!" Weiss says, her tone laced with sarcasm.

Weiss begins to walk off on her partner yet again. Ruby, with an agitated shriek, unfolds Crescent Rose, slices a tree down to the stump, refolds it back, and follows her partner as the tree crashes behind her. Neither notice the large dark feather floating onto the fallen trunk behind them.
Meanwhile across the Forest, Pyrrha Nikos, armed with Miló and Akoúo̱, and Jaune Arc are making their way through the bushes. Jaune hears a noise far away and turns his head.

"Did you hear that?" Jaune asks

"Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

They keep moving forward, Jaune still staring in the sound's direction as Pyrrha raises a branch to pass by and accidentally releases it right at Jaune's face, flooring him instantly.

"Jaune! I'm sorry!"

Jaune laughs, lowering his hand from his cheek to reveal a gash. "It's okay. Just a scratch!" He says getting back up when Pyrrha approaches him.

"Why didn't you activate your Aura?" Pyrrha asks

"Huh?"

"Your Aura." Pyrrha repeats

"Gesundheit."

"Jaune, do you... know what Aura is?" She asks

"Psch! Of course I do! Do you know what Aura is?" Jaune asks, trying to draw the attention away from himself.

"Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

"Uh... yeah."

Elsewhere, Ren stops and narrows his eyes, looking around him while a huge black Grimm serpent rises up from the grass behind him and quickly surrounds him with its large, hissing body. Ren adopts a fighting stance as the snake coils together in front of him and attacks with its long fangs.

"With practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals." Pyrrha says

"What about monsters?" Jaune asks

"No."

Back to Ren, he leaps out of the way, the snake's mouth hitting the ground and instantly coming up again to hit a jumping Ren back with its snout.

"The monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity."

Ren lands in a crouch when the serpent encircles him again, and he unleashes his Storm Flower before jumping up and firing at the creature.

"They are the darkness, and we are the light." Pyrrha says

Ren kicks the snake's snout and slashes at its head.

"Right, that's why we fight them!" Jaune exclaims, beginning to understand the concept.

"It's not about why; it's about knowing."

The snake flows around Ren and tries to bite him again, but he flips over it and drives his weapons into its head, pausing a moment without sensing the serpent's white head behind him.

"Understanding dark and light helps us manifest our Aura. Everyone has some of both."

Ren turns and looks up at the white head as it launches itself at him, dodging it and landing just in time to see the head slither towards him. As it gets closer, he runs at it and leaps onto the black head, sliding over its body and blasting the other head.

"By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting."

Ren is unprepared for the white half to hit him with its head, knocking him off as he drops his weapons, and leaving him to merely raise his arms and distantly cry "No!" to the mouth of the black head.

Jaune opens his eyes. "It's like a force field!"

"Yes, if you want to look at it that way." Pyrrha says

Ren is now holding the front fangs of the colossal snake in his hands, glowing a faint, pulsating pink as he grips the teeth and yanks them from the monster's mouth, causing it to flail away. It attempts to bite him again, but Ren spins to the side and stabs a fang into its eye, rotating his arm to deliver a final blow that drives the makeshift weapon into its skull, which ripples, expands, and blows apart in a dark mess as its headless body falls over its fellow creature. Wasting no time, Ren runs right at the white head.

"Now, close your eyes and concentrate." Pyrrha instructs, walking up to Jaune and placing her hand on the side of his face.

"Uhh... Okay." He says, closing his eyes.

Pyrrha smiles and closes her own eyes, opening them as her skin glows and her irises shrink before shutting them again. The two stand there, now with Pyrrha glowing a faint red and Jaune a bright white.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death." She places her hand on his chest. "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

Pyrrha stops glowing red and hunches over in tiredness. Jaune still glowing, opens his eyes, concern washing over them as he notices the state that Pyrrha is in.

"Pyrrha?"

"It's all right. I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own." Pyrrha explains

She grins as she watches the scratch close up and vanish completely as if it never happened.

"You have a lot of it." She adds

Jaune smiles and looks at his hands as the glow stops. "Wow..." He mumbles in astonishment.

At the same time, Ren stands atop of the body of his enemy, sliding the weapons into his sleeves and brushing them off before a strange, animal-like noise is heard above him twice. He looks up and meets the upside-down eyes of Nora Valkyrie.

Ren chuckles. "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."

In response, Nora gives her friend a boop on the nose, causing him to smile.

Standing on the cliff, Professor Ozpin watches the students on his scroll at when Glynda walks up behind him, holding her own tablet.

"The last pair has been formed, sir." She states, taping the screen to show the results. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Miss Nikos." Glynda says

The video on the tablet changes to Pyrrha and Jaune Arc's trek through the woods.

"Mmmm..."

"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat." Glynda deactivates the tablet, walking back a little. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" Glynda asks

She is met with silence. "Professor Ozpin?"

Ozpin doesn't answer, watching his scroll with a contemplating interest as it shows the footage of Ruby Rose sitting in the grass and picking stray leaves while her "partner" Weiss Schnee walks in random directions. He swipes to the left and footage of his protege being dragged by Lilly comes up. The blonde suddenly drops the pinkette, opting for grabbing her blade rather than to continue to hold onto the girl.

Lilly begins to fight against the pack beowolf, using a combo of swordsmanship and her semblance to do so. Aracel raises her head from the ground, then let's it fall back down. A beowolf pounces on her, only to be met with an icy fate. Aracel kicks up and is back up on her feet in a matter of seconds, grabbing her sword she stands back to back with Lilly.

"How many?" Aracel asks, grabbing her bow and an arrow from her quiver.

"About a dozen maybe." Lilly responds

"Let's light 'em up then." Aracel says, taking the first shot.

The arrow is shot right into the mouth of a beowolf, flashing brightly before it causes the grimm to explode into a pile of ash. Summoning a flame in her right palm, Lilly dashes at another and blasts it with a beam of sun. As the two continue to take the beowolf out, soon the pack is cleared out leaving only trails of black ash behind. The pinkette simply puts her bow away and walks off. Lilly follows after her, not wanting to risk getting split up.

"What were those arrows? I've never seen anything like them." Lilly says, attempting to break the ice.

"Light arrows. And that semblance of your's, powered by the sun correct?"

Lilly nods. "Yeah, actually it's-"

Aracel motions for her to be quiet. "We don't need to get into that. It was a simple yes or no question."

"What's your semblance?" Lilly asks

"I don't have one, don't need one. Does that answer all your questions?" Aracel asks

Lilly bit her lip, trying to repress her anger towards the pinkette. She had a short temper, which she would have lost by now, but she didn't want to snap on the first week of school. Instead Lilly let's Aracel lead them to the temple, since she was Ozpin's protege, she assumed that she would know where the relics would be at. With Lilly distracted with her own thoughts, Aracel looked down, using her long hair to cover her eyes. The flames appear again as she forms a figurine in her hand. When she's done, she looks up, flames gone and the temple right before them. On the stone pillars, several chess pieces were spead out, some were already gone meaning other pairs had been there before them. The good thing about this is that it wasn't a contest. Lilly approaches the chess pieces, looking them all over until she reaches for a bishop. However, Aracel places a hand on her wrist stopping her from retrieving the relic. She holds out the piece of king that she herself created a few minutes ago.

"Where did you get that one? It wasn't there a second ago."

"Doesn't matter, we should choose the king." Aracel says

"I don't know about that. It's best that we grab a piece-"

"In chess, the queen has mobility throughout the board and she's the most powerful piece but she holds less value, as the game can continue without her; the hobbled king is relatively powerless, but is the most valuable piece without whom the game ceases to continue if he is lost. We're all pretty much powerless now as we're in training and we still have much to learn, but since we are the future, losing the king would result in us losing ourselves and the battle."

"I never thought of it like that." Lilly mutters

Lilly looked at her partner, expecting a sarcastic comment from her, but the pinkette only stared off into the distance. Her knuckles turned pale from gripping the chess piece tightly in her fist. The blonde wondered why her polar opposite wanted to be a huntress. For Lilly her own reasons were obvious, she wanted to save people by combating the creatures of grimm. But Aracel's reasons for becoming a huntress didn't seem as obvious as her own. Though there had to be a reason why Ozpin took her under his wing. She didn't seem too into the profession, so why was she the one chosen by Ozpin?

"We should begin to head back." Aracel says

"But-"

Without another word, the pinkette turns and begins to head back into the forest. With no other choice but to follow her, Lilly does so, despite the feeling that they should have stayed behind a bit longer.

The heiress paced back and forth, in an attempt to get on the right path again. Except she didn't really know where it was at, but that didn't stop her from trying to find it.

"It's definitely this way. I mean... this way! It's definitely this way." Weiss says, walking to the right, then the left, and back again.

"Alright, it's official: We passed it." Weiss pauses in front of Ruby.

Ruby stands up. "Weiss, why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?" Ruby asks, growing annoyed.

"Because I know exactly where we're going! We're going... to... the forest temple!"

Ruby sighs, clearly frustrated with the heiress.

"Oh, stop it! You don't know where we are, either!" Weiss sneers

"Well, at least I'm not pretending like I know everything." Ruby says

"What is that supposed to mean?" Weiss asks

"It means you're a big, stupid jerk and I hate you!"

Weiss sighs to herself, spinning around and walking in another direction. "Just keep moving!"

"Oh, just keep moving! Hurry up! Waaaah! Watch where you're going!" Ruby says in faux imitation of the heiress. "Why are you so bossy?" She asks, switching back to her normal tone.

"I'm not bossy! Don't say things like that!" Weiss says, turning to face Ruby.

"Stop treating me like a kid!" Ruby demands

"Stop acting like a kid!" Weiss retorts

"Well, stop acting like you're perfect!" Ruby fires back.

"I'm. Not. Perfect! Not yet... But I'm still leagues better than you." Weiss says, walking away.

"You don't even know me..." Ruby mutters dejectedly.

From the forest, Yang and Blake step out into a clearing that reveals the circular stone temple, broken and decrepit but for the platforms around its inside, holding several black and gold objects.

"Think this is it?" Yang asks

In response, Blake gives Yang an incredulous look and heads down the hill, her partner following. They walk across the floor and observe the items on each pedestal, now shown to be familiar shapes.

"Chess pieces?" Blake questions, looking a bit confused.

Suddenly, the black king before is snatched right before her amber eyes. Blake looks up and locks eyes with Layla, who smirks while tossing the chess piece at Klaus. Growing defensive at having not left the white fang on good terms, Blake reaches for Gambol Shroud.

"What are you doing here Layla?" Blake asks, keeping her voice down.

"What's it look like? I'm playing human just like you! Only I'm not ashamed enough to hide who I really am." Layla glares

"Whatever sick twisted game you're playing, I want no part in it."

Layla laughs. "Oh, Blake not everything is about you."

"Layla-"

"This is shaping up to be an interesting year." Layla smirks

Jaune and Pyrrha are standing at the mouth of a dark cave, where drawings are seen to the side involving armed men against giant beasts.

"Think this is it?" Jaune asks

They walk inside the cave, Jaune holding a short, burning torch to light their way.

"I'm not sure this is it."

Jaune sighs. "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for, like, five more feet?"

Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, Jaune trips on the ground, and the torch flies into a small puddle, extinguishing the flame so the two are cast in darkness with only their eyes visible.

"Do you... feel that?" Pyrrha asks

"Soul-crushing regret?" Jaune grumbles, getting up.

"No, it's... warm." Pyrrha says

Back at the temple, Yang approaches one of the relics while Blake was still distracted with Layla. Klaus awkwardly stood by, sniffing the air he caught unto an odd scent. It's not that it smelled bad, it was the exact opposite, but the scent was drawing him in calling to him to follow it. But with Layla talking with Blake, he sighed and stayed put instead. He glances at the blonde brawler, who was studying the relics intensely. She studies the golden knight, then picks it up deciding on grabbing that one. Yang looks over at the trio, causing Klaus to immediately look away, this time him having been the one caught staring.

"How about a cute little pony?"

"Sure." Blake says, feeling uneasy about turning her back on Layla, again.

"That wasn't too hard!" Yang says

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find."

Jaune and Pyrrha continue onward through the cave until they see a large glowing point of gold right in front of them, illuminating Jaune's excited features.

"That's the relic!" He slowly reaches out to grab it, but it moves away from his swipe.

"Hey! Bad... relic!"

Jaune tries to get it again, then jumps forward and hangs onto it as the object raises him above the ground.

"Gotcha!" He triumphantly exclaims

"Jaune...?"

Jaune's catch lowers itself so he is dangling right in front of the now-glowing red lines and eyes of a Death Stalker. Jaune's scream is heard all the way from the temple, where Yang turns towards the direction of its source.

"Some girl's in trouble! Blake, did you hear that?" Yang asks

"Oh, I'm sure she heard that." Layla says

Blake doesn't answer glaring at the tiger faunus who just waves and smiles at her old friend. Blake looks away and stares up at something in the sky.

At the cave entrance, Pyrrha rushes out right before the monster crashes through the hole, roaring and waving its grass-encrusted claws as Jaune hangs from the stinger, calling from help and continuing to scream.

"Help! Whoa-ah-ah-ah-ah! Why?! Pyrrha! He-e-e-elp! Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not! Do something!" Jaune sobs

Pyrrha wields Miló in front of the creature. "Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let-

Before she can finish, the Grimm hurls its tail back and launches a still-screaming Jaune across the forest as she watches in dismay. She then turns back to the scorpion as it continues to snap its claws at her, she smiles embarrassedly before turning and rushing away in a burst of green leaves.

Blake is still staring at something above them, but Yang is focused on the forest.

"Did you guys hear that? What should we do?" Yang asks

Finally, the faint-but-ever-growing-louder scream of "Heads uuuuuuuup!" is heard when Ruby falls from the sky, causing all four teens to look up at her in shock as she uncontrollably continues to fall.

《☆☆☆》