Sterling's POV
Four years. Four Years I was at Signal, training as hard and as much as possible. I didn't make many friends, true, but to be honest I was never very good at making friends anyway. I was always the type of girl who found curling up with a good book preferable to hanging out with a crowd. So you could imagine my excitement when I received my acceptance letter, telling me I could start at Beacon at the beginning of the new school year. It was always my dream to become a huntress, and that letter was my ticket to making my dream a reality.
There I was, on the airship to Beacon, the start of my new life. All I did during the ride was sit and smile, but I wanted to scream, to dance, to celebrate. Unfortunately, that particular setting prevented me from doing so. "Oh well" I reassured myself. It wouldn't be much longer until I reached my destination.
Mere hours later and I was ready to go into the Emrald Forest. Standing on a platform near a cliff, my mind started racing, devising strategies that would help me. Unfortunately, Ozpin, the headmaster, informed us that the first person we made eye contact with after landing was to be our partner for the rest of our time at Beacon.
I inconspicuously rolled my eyes. "Oh great," I thought. "I'm getting paired up with someone I don't even know."
It didn't help that I wasn't much of a people person. Come to think of it, I hadn't talked to a single soul since leaving Signal. I sighed, feeling anxious but determined. I felt a clank. The next thing I knew I was flying through the air. I drew my bladestaff, Quiksilver, and pushed the small button, sending out the grappling hook. After falling for a bit I felt the hook snag a branch, slowing, then stopping, my momentum. I pressed the button again and the hook retracted back into my staff. I took a look around the clearing, but saw nothing so I decided to press north towards the ruins.
After walking a short distance, I heard someone yell "MONSTERS!". I sprinted toward the origin of the voice only to get cut off by several ursa. I drew Quiksilver, muttering "Come at me then".
One of them lumbered toward me, snarling. He attempted to strike but I easily dodged, hopping over his claw before stabbing him in the neck by deploying the grappling hook into him. I pushed off of him and swung to the next, sliding under it and pulling its dead companion into it.
"Two down," I mused. "Four to go."
I retracted the hook and vaulted over the nearest one, causing the hook to catch his face and pull him down. I followed it up with a strike to his head. That was three. Another moved to bite me, and I simply stabbed one of Quiksilver's blades into his open mouth, killing him. Four. The last two attack at once from opposite sides of me. I slid under one, causing the other to cut him open. Five. I pressed another button on my staff and aimed at the final ursa, causing a barrage of spikes to impale his head. Six. The last of them. I retracted Quiksilver, and put her away.
I looked up and saw a fellow hunter-in-training. Tall with dark hair and clothes and bright blue eyes. My partner.
"H-Hi" I said lamely.
"Hey" he replied with a smile. "Nice moves, partner" he added.