Previously...

"You may fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" Weiss yelled out annoyed. She then heard a series of leaves rustling followed by a growl. "Ruby?" She asked worriedly, wondering if the red head was just playing a prank on her.

The leaves around her continued to rustle loudly. "...Ruby?" She asked more worriedly, as red eyes began to appear with growling in the forest all around her.

"Ruby!" She yelled as a pack of Beowolves appeared out of the forest around her.

Unknown to her, two figures, one white, one blue, both staying low, staying silent, making their way to her location and staying in the shadows of the forest, intent on figuring out what was going on.

Earlier...

Cobalt was ahead of the group, they were walking in a single file line through the forest, leading them with his sniper rifle against his chest with the barrel pointed down at an angle. They had just left the site of their landing, the pods self destructing afterwards leaving no trace and denying anyone the Coalitions technology.

Cobalt was wearing his favorite black hooded jacket with two blue stripes on both sleeves. Wearing on top over the hooded jacket he had on also has a green tactical vest with grey three-layered shoulder guards. He also wore grey tactical fingerless gloves over his hands and green tactical elbow pads. He also wore black medium tight windbreaker pants with blue lines from both opposite sides with horizontal white arrow stripes on both sides under the knees.  There were hexagon-shaped knee-pads on both of his knees. He wore a pair of all-terrain tactical boots. Strapped to his right leg was a brown pouch bag and strapped on his left was a knife holster with a hunting knife in place.

Carrying in his hands against his chest was his sniper rifle he named 'Three Strikes'. It was named like this because he has two other modes for it as well. A sword mode as well as a spear mode, making him a very versatile fighter. His role was primarily the sniper of the group, taking out anything at a distance while covering his friends and, if the situation calls for it, engage in close combat.

Behind him was Sam, clad in his grey stealth suit with belt straps all over his body. A knife sheath strapped onto the upper part of his right arm. He wore black and grey fingerless tactical gloves, has two brown pistol holsters located on each side of his hips, a pair blue and grey of knee high boots and a pair of blue knee pads shape like shields with black outlines. 

In each of his hands he was carrying his pistols, 'Wolf Pack', that could transform into a pair of swords/katana's. Out of the entire group he had on the least amount of armour as his primary role is scouting and infiltration.

Next was Gopher. He wore a green light weight green sleeve shirt that it's sleeves rolled up 3/4s of the way up, over it was a green tactical zipped up heavy vest battle armour with four grey padding, 2 on each side over it. On is shoulders he had on a pair of double layered yellow shoulder guards. Around his waist he wore a yellow skinned belt with a brown belt buckle and small brown pouch bag attached to it. For pants he was wearing a green tactical heavy military pants with blue lining running down the inside legs. His hands were covered with black finger-less gloves, for shoes he had on a pair of grey tactical boots with black linings. And for extra protection he also had on grey and black outlined tactical Knee and elbow pads. 

His weapon of choice was 'Ignis Colossus', a hand held 50. Cal machinegun that could also transform into a giant hammer. It's also able to fold into itself like a hand bag for easy transportation. His role is to be the support of the team, laying down suppressive heavy fire against the enemy.

And lastly bringing up the rear was Jack. He wore a reverse collar vest with extra vest protection for the lower body, especially for the crotch region up until the thigh with a blue overall self heating and cooling body suit underneath. Above this he had on an Arctic tactical heavy armour with shoulder padding. Wrapped over were two supporting horizontal and vertical vest straps/ tactical belt. On his right arm was a double strap knife sheath holding his prized knife he dubbed 'The Icepick'. Doubling as a combat knife as well as being able to hack into any device with a microchip. He wore a light/ice blue coloured fingerless gloves over his hands, all terrain combat boots, Hexagon shaped knee and elbow guards, a small tactical pouch attached to his left hip and to finish off he had over his right eye his tactical eye piece to help with reading more information on the battlefield.

His weapon of choice was an assault rifle he named 'Borealis Ferrum'. The body of the rifle itself also acts as a sheath he can attach to his hip or back my simply extending grip out and sliding it forward to the front over the barrel where he can then pull out his sword. This makes it pretty easy to transport. Jack acts as the assault class as well as the analyst of the team. Out of everyone he had the most sophisticated high tech gear.

Though they had a varying degree of equipment synonymous with the individual, their hard-cased backpacks was the only thing they had in common sporting different colours. Each of them had on their back a modified custom armoured ODST backpack courtesy of Cobalt and Jack. Each carrying first aid, rations, DIY repair kits as well as their own personal items they require for their own gear. Another thing they each had were the two built in thruster jets on either side of the pack. This was to help them with easier mobility across long and very difficult terrain as well as gaining a tactical advantage in combat, though they rarely used this method.

Another thing that each of them had was their own personal emblems, displayed perfectly on the sleeves of their left arms.

(If you want to have a much clearer visual representation of how they look like just refer to their pictures in the character files that @jirehl_flynn so graciously provided. Now I am aware that some of the things on that is in consistent with what I wrote here, so bear with me on this. I am going to make an updated version of those when I finish this Volume. Because as I stated at the end of Sam's file, those files are not up to date as that is all info of them before they went to Beacon. Hope this explanation helps in this)

The single file line helped to conceal their numbers, even though there was no actual need for it now they still liked to be cautious.

They stayed quiet throughout their trek, listening for anything around them, they all knew there were all sorts of monsters that could jump them at any given moment. So far everything was peaceful.

Then the silence was broken from a serious of cracking noises off in the distance. Though faint, was still enough to be heard for Cobalt to stop and look around.

"You guys hear that right?" He asked.

"Yeah, I definitely heard that." Sam replied as if it was a no brainer, considering he has better hearing than everyone in the group.

"That's gunfire alright." Gopher said.

"Seems our fellow students have engaged the enemy." Jack said.

"That or each other." Cobalt replied to Jack's analysis.

Sam turned to Cobalt. "What makes you say that?" he asked him.

"Well think about it. There's always that one or two guys that have an ego so far up their ass that they don't care what or who they shoot at, so long as it moves it's a target." Cobalt said to him all the while still scanning the forest in front of them.

Gopher looked to his younger brother, raising an eyebrow and making a single chuckle. "I think I know where this is going don't I?" 

"Yes you do." The blue hunter turns around now facing the group. "Alright listen up, change of plans." He said, now having the full attention of everyone.

"Instead of going straight up North to the temple, we're going to split up into two teams. Jack and I will head North West. Gopher, Sam you guy are going North East. Find anyone you can along the way and we should converge in at the temple in 15-20 minutes." Cobalt briefed them.

They didn't question nor debate the young huntsmen. They each gave a silent nod before splitting up. Cobalt walked up to Jack who was waiting for him, they nodded to each other and set off.

Just before he and Jack entered the thick bush, Gopher yelled out to him. "Hey! Stay safe out there little bro."

Cobalt only chuckled then wave to him. "You too big guy. See guys on the far side." He said before disappearing into the forest.

Jack and Cobalt had been trekking silently for the next 2 minutes walking side by side, scanning the forest around them. They had their weapons drawn, but held them against there chests, they didn't need to be tense at the moment so instead rather they walked on, being slightly more relaxed. 

Jack broke then the silence. "Hey Colt?"

'Colt', a nickname his parents came up for him when he was 3 years old, before the fall of his home. The same could be said for Jack, as Jack was just a short version for his first name 'Jackson'. 

"Yeah Jack?" He said to him, not even looking to him.

"About Sam, you sure he's capable?" Jack asked.

Colt stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face him. "You're asking about whether he could be trusted or not?"

Jack shifted eyes in a few directions, bobbing his head side to side. "Well..... yes. Are you sure he could trusted? I mean yeah Gopher and I spent the last week getting to know him so he could fit into the team, but his files say otherwise.

Colt looked at his best friend. He understands where he is coming from. No doubt Jack read some of Sam's files, especially about the one about him having serious problems in connecting with a team. 

Colt just sighed then looking up high into the sky.

Else where

Sam trudged along leading the way with Gopher following not far behind.
"*Sigh* So you're wondering if he could be trusted or not? I'll tell you this much."

Sam looked in every direction from left to right, keeping an eye out for anything, his ears twitching every now then picking up noise, his pistols each in his hands by his side.
"It is true of what you read that Sam did have some real trouble connecting with the trainees in his group."

Sam then suddenly stops and doesn't move, his head only making subtle movements as if he is trying to pick up something. "Sam?" Gopher asked from behind, his partner's sudden stop and silence was beginning to make him tense.
"But's that's mostly because of his past, from what I understand a lot of it is covered in black ink."

Sam suddenly flicks his right hand, making the pistol transform into it's sword mode. The blade pointing down in parallel with his leg. His back still facing Gopher and still not saying anything. "S-Sam?" Gopher asked him again, starting to freak out. 

Then Sam, with lighting fast motion whips around to his right and throws his sword at Gopher.
"As for his loyalty you may ask?"

Back with Jack and Colt

Colt looked Jack dead in the eyes, giving him his serious and convincing look. "I trust him with my life." He told him.

Then he resumed on walking, leaving Jack behind to ponder his words before walking on after him.

Gopher and Sam

Sam's quick throw caught Gopher by surprise, the sword reaching him before he could even blink. He couldn't believe it. Sam had suddenly turned attacked him from out of the blue. Questions were going through his head. Why would he do this? Why would he suddenly betray him? Why? Why, why why......... why wasn't he feeling any pain? That's when he heard a loud thud behind him.

Turning around he saw a Geist laying on the floor with Sam's sword, the one he threw, embedded into its head. That's when he realized that Sam hadn't attacked him, rather he just saved his life. He hadn't even realized one had even snuck up on him and if it wasn't thanks to Sam's quick thinking he could have been a goner. That does explain why Sam had stopped in the middle of his tracks, he was listening, using his ears to try and triangulate where the Geist was so he could quickly eliminate it.

He took a breath not realizing he was holding it, then turned to Sam. "Thanks for that." He said, as Sam walked up and retrieved his weapon, giving his partner a nod. "Just maybe give me a heads up next time?"

Sam looked down ashamed. "Sorry..." He said lowly. "I know I have issues with connecting with a team and I really thought I was going somewhere with these guys. Now I just ruined it." He thought, mentally kicking himself.

Gopher saw his partners expression and smiled, putting his hand on the wolf Faunus's shoulder. "Hey don't worry about. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't still be standing. I'm not mad at you, just... try to communicate better ok?" He explained, causing the wolf boy to perk up in relieve.

"Let's keep going, we can't stay here." The ginger head said, Sam nodding to him in agreement.

Jack and Colt

The two Huntsmen in training continued their journey deeper into the forest to find any sign of life, Colt leading from the front with Jack following close behind.

They'd stayed quiet since their last conversation, listening for anyone or anything that could be out there.

Colt suddenly stops, bringing his fist up, the hand signal telling Jack to freeze. 

Colt then slowly brought his arm down, then crouched down as well, indicating for Jack to do the same.

They stayed like that for a few moments, monitoring the area before Colt motioned for Jack to silently move up to him.

He silently made his way to Colt, doing his very best not to step on anything that could give away their position. He reached the younger Huntsman. "What you got?" Jack whispered. 

"Movement up ahead at 12 o'clock, 100 meters. Can you scan?" He asked the ice haired boy. 

He nodded then looked ahead. He touched his tac eye over his right eye and the little device's screen glowed as it zoomed in on the area and switched to thermal.

"Tell me what do you see?" Colt whispered, keeping his eyes ahead as well as occasionally looking around them to make sure they are alone.

"20 to 30 targets up ahead, 50 at most maybe. Their so close together I can't really tell." Jack analyzed.  

Colt nodded at the info. "Ok, let's slowly make our way up. Line formation, 5 meter spread." Colt ordered to which Jack nodded. What this means is instead of walking behind one another like before, they are now going to walk side by side with a 5 meter distance separating them

On Colt's signal they slowly rose up from their positions with their weapons at the ready and cautiously made their way to whatever was up ahead.

Up ahead

Weiss blocks an oncoming swing from one of the Beowolves. The attack managed to push her back, having her slide across the ground. She was now in the middle of the pack, completely surrounded on all sides.

This did not deter her however, she stood back up and held her rapier at the ready. "Remember your training Weiss. Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward, not that forward." She began to internally chant. Making herself ready to attack. "Slow breathing, wait for the right time to strike.... And!" She brings her rapier back in a reverse hold, the dust dial spinning like a revolvers magazine, stopping on the red dust colour, fire. 

"Now!" She yelled as she lunges herself forward at the Beowolf. She was halfway there when all of a sudden a red blur with rose petals appeared out of nowhere.

"Uhh! Gotcha!" Ruby declared as she struck the wolf looking Grimm across the chest.

The sudden reveal caused Weiss to lose focus as she realised that she was about o hit Ruby instead. Trying her very best to stop she brought her legs out but the moment was just too much. She stumbled forward over her footing and swung her rapier tot he right, away from Ruby and firing the red dust into a tree, causing it to explode and catch fire.

Colt and Jack had also arrived up to this point. They had arrived just has Weiss blocked the attack from the Beowolf. They didn't interfere and so rather each hid behind a tree. Coincidently Weiss's attack went into their direction and struck the tree that was between them. 

The sudden blast knocking them down. They found their footing again but still didn't jump in, Jack waiting for Colt's next move while Colt was busy deciding what their next move was going to be. And so opted to keep on observing.

Ruby took her eye away from the Grimm as she was surprised by the power of Weiss's attack. The Beowolf swung at her, but she brought up scythe just in time to block the attack, so much force was put into it that it took Ruby off her feet and sent her flying into Weiss.

"Hey, watch it!" Ruby said to Weiss annoyed.

"Excuse me, you attacked out of turn. I could have killed you." The heiress berated the younger huntress.

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that." Ruby said in a neutral tone as she began to look at their surroundings. Both teens now in the middle of the horde of Grimm.

A couple of the Beowlves howled, while most just kept on growling at the girls. Weiss backed up a bit getting closer to Ruby, while the scythe wielder decided to load in a new magazine before getting ready in an attack position while cocking the chamber of her rifle.

One Beowolf decided to lunge in from behind, taking the opportunity to attack while they weren't looking. Both girls saw this but by the time they noticed it was already too late. 

The Beowolf was going to swing down and hit Ruby, but a sudden loud gunshot was heard and the Grimm was sent flying into another direction. 

The two girls turned to where the shot came from and there they saw Colt, crouched down onto one knee aiming down the scope of his sniper rifle. The smoke of gunpowder leaving the barrel, indicating he was the one who fired the shot and saved Ruby.

"Cobalt!" Ruby yelled in excitement. Glad to see her friend here. But what she saw next had her in shock.

Two Beowolves then flanked him on either side, ready to pounce on him, Ruby was about to call out and jump in, but Colt only smirked and when they were within arms length of him, he used the butt of his rifle to whack them in the chest then unloading a round each into them, then one handed aimed his rifle down towards Weiss and Ruby and firing off another 2 shots, taking out another pair of Grimm.

Both teens then heard a series of ice cracking from below, they looked down and saw an ice coloured line, traveling between them and zigzagging it's way like lighting towards a large cluster of Beowolves. When it reached the group, multiple ice shards suddenly exploded out and struck the Grimm, making them go flying in various direction. 

The girls turned to the source source and saw just in time for Jack pull out his sword from the ground and sliding it back into it's sheath. Then pulls the handle of the sword down transforming it into a straight grip, the pistol grip also folding out for his rifle and then began firing at the Grimm. A couple of Beowolves tried to overwhelm him but were gunned down with ease.

Colt quickly transformed his sniper into a sword, then activated his speed semblance, a loud sonic boom was heard followed by a blue blur. He sped towards a Beowolf and quickly stabbed it in the chest, quickly pulling out and switching to his spear mode and throwing it and impaling a Beowolf.

Jack then used his semblance to create a sheet of ice on the ground which he uses to slide on as if he was surfing on water. He slid towards the Grimm then proceeded to give one a mid air knee kick as he jumped towards one, knocking it back and unloading a 3 round burst into the creature before landing right next to Colt.

They then slowly backed up towards the girls position as they were slashing and shooting at Grimm left and right.

Weiss and Ruby just stood there watching as the two boys were taking down the Grimm like it was nothing. The speed and sheer ferocity they went in had them at a complete surprise. 

They finally reached the girls position and reloaded their weapons. "Good thing we made it just time huh Ruby?" 

"Y-Yeah. Good thing you made it." Ruby said, a small blush appearing on her cheeks, though no one noticed this.

"I'm sorry but if you haven't noticed, we're still completely surrounded!" Weiss said angrily.

"Come on Weiss. We can take them!" Ruby replied to her partner annoyed.

"As much as I hate to admit it, she's right." Everyone then turned to Jack. "There's just too many to take on. Plus that fire is running out of control." He said, then a tree that was on fire came crashing down between them and the Beowolves, spreading its flames. 

Weiss grabbed Ruby's arm. "We have to go." She said, then dragged the red head away from the battlefield. 

Colt and Jack watched them run, then turned their direction to the Grimm, seeing them scatter and howl as the flames began to consume everything around them. 

The boys turned to each other. "Fire and move." Colt said calmly.

Jack nodded. "Copy." He replied then aiming down  the sight of his weapon.

"Cover!" Colt yelled as ran in the direction where the girl went, reaching the tree line, turning around and crouching. Now it was his turn to cover Jack as he retreated. "Set!" He called out.

Jack bolted out of the area, Colt taking shots with his sniper at any Beowolf attempting to get close to his friend.

Jack reached the tree line, running past Colt and tapping him on the shoulder, indicating to him he was in the clear. Colt fired off a few more shots before retreating himself, leaving the Beowolves to their fate against the raging inferno forest fire

They managed to catch up to the girls who had stopped when they managed to get a good enough distance away from the forest fire.

Ruby then turned to Weiss with an annoyed look. "What was that?! That should have been easy!" 

"Well perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have se the forest of fire!" Weiss said back, pointing at the large amount of smoking accumulating in the distance.

The boys said nothing, only watching the fight going on between the Huntresses, although Jack was glaring at Weiss even more, but no one noticed this. 

"*Scoffs* What's that suppose to mean?" Ruby questioned.

"I'm just surprised that for someone that talked so much would communicate so little during an encounter." Weiss said, berating the crimsonette.

"Well, I'm sorry that you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!" Ruby replied, folding her arms.

Colt was about to speak up but Weiss beat him to it. " Well, congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak their way into Beacon, Bravo. And if you haven't noticed but it appeared that we did need help from those two." Weiss sneered at Ruby and the boys, then walking off.

Both boys glared Weiss for sneering at them just because they helped them from possibly being eaten. Jack giving off an even more angrier glare as well as his right eye twitching profoundly while Colt gave a slightly more neutral glare at the heiress, a glare non the less.

Ruby started to fume with rage at the Weiss. "Aaaaah! Gyuh!" She brought out her scythe and quickly swiped at a nearby tree before folding it back and placing behind her hip, then following Weiss into the forest.

The poor tree she slashed then came tumbling down, crashing onto the floor with a loud bang. The Huntsmen not even flinching as the tree landed near them.

"*Sighs* Well....." Colt broke the silence. "That escalated quickly." He said facing his partner.

(I'm sorry but I still love this scene XD)

"And now you know why I loathe Weiss." Jack stated and walking off behind the girls.

He watched his best friend walk off, staring at him from behind "I think you're just using it as an excuse." Colt whispered only to himself, then deciding to follow the group and provide support, as far as they were concerned, they were far from finishing the initiation.

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And done! Glad to get some combat scenes in finally.

Also I just noticed but it looks like this story is nearing a 1000 views! Didn't think it would actually reach that high, I figured by this point in the story it would only be 500.

Also I think I may have rushed this chapter quite a bit, can't really tell. Hopefully you guys would be able to point out some inconsistencies that I may have missed by accident.

Alright..... I'm out. Peace!