Chapter 1

Greenery stretched on for miles, covering the far reaches of land at the edge of Beacon, what was commonly known as the Emerald Forest. Shadows were cast over the forest floor, as trees loomed up in all directions, and the shrubbery beneath fought for the little sunlight they could reach. A slight breeze swayed the taller foliage, as birds settled on their branches, and all that could be heard was the whistle of the feathered creatures, and the rustle created by their movements.

Despite the peaceful scenery though, the Emerald Forest wasn't a place to go for a casual stroll. Deep within it's green confines, roamed the creatures of Grimm, waiting for someone to take as prey. These creatures were not to be underestimated, either; they dwarfed the average person, and would wipe out the entire human race if they could.

No matter how terrifying they may seem though, there were always those who sought after these beasts, their aim to annihilate any threat they caused to humans. But before they could become the undisputed slayers of these monsters, those wishing to join the hoard, had to go to school. So where would initiation be held for these aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses? The Emerald Forest.

It was above the towering trees and wildlife that one teen found himself that morning, only seconds after initiation began. He was flying through the air, of course.

He cheered in delight, spreading his arms wide as the wind blew past, causing his bangs to fly around his face in all directions. He'd been looking forward to this ever since he arrived at Beacon yesterday, but now that he was here, he couldn't do anything less than grin. "Alright, let's give these babies a try..."

He still had a considerable amount of time before his descend would lead him into the path of the foliage, but he wanted to test out something he'd been working on for quite some time. Kicking his heels together, his boots automatically responded with a click. In 3, 2, 1...

Just as he had expected, the small device in the back of his boots had set off, sending the teen hurtling forwards at a blinding pace. He could only grin wider in glee, out of all the times his testing had failed, they finally worked! And it couldn't have been better timing, as he maneuvered himself over the trees, feeling the cold air rush past his face.

"I love this place!" he beamed, watching as the trees moved past under his feet.

Momentarily, his speed slowed down dramatically, matching with the sound that his boots suddenly made, not unlike a car breaking down. He cursed, realising he had celebrated too soon, and all he could do was flap his arms and howl in panic as he began to fall towards the foliage. Tree branches scraped across his face and arms as he plummeted through the canopy, before his descent was brought to an abrupt stop as he hit a thick branch with a grunt. Letting out a groan, he moved into a sitting position, wishing he had planned a different kind of landing.

"I take it back, I hate this place," he muttered.

Meanwhile, another figure was making his way through the trees, having planned his landing perfectly. The steel contraption encasing his forearm had many uses, but at the moment, he was using the wire shot from it to swing from the trees, and gracefully plant his feet on the forest floor. After retracting his wire, the teen set his multi-functional weapon back to it's default position-so that it looked like a slightly bulky arm guard. He was quite the skilled engineer when it came to mechanics, and had built many things in his spare time in the hopes for creating the perfect weapon, but none had satisfied him. That is, until he'd gotten this idea from a swiss army knife.

With a sigh, the teen looked around at his surroundings. All of the new students starting at Beacon were now scattered around this forest, and they had been told before their launch that the first person they made eye contact with would be their partner for the next four years.

The idea sent an unwelcome swell of nausea through the teen's gut. Let's just hope I find a good partner.

He set off in the hopes to run into someone, all while keeping his wits about his surroundings. Any minute, a Grimm could pounce on him, and he had to keep his guard up. As he moved through the shrubbery, his hearing kicked in, and the teen caught the sound of...was that someone screaming?

Perhaps not everyone was used to being in the air. The teen continued to listen, registering the violent rustling of tree branches, followed by a loud thud. He could hear the birds fleeing from nearby trees at the commotion, and a curse echoed through the surrounding area. Maybe I should see if they're alright, he thought. But then again, do I really want a screaming maniac to be my partner?

The teen moved towards the sound none the less, though partly hoping he ran into someone else on the way.

The man in the tree was beyond disappointed. He'd worked on these boots for months, and still couldn't figure out why they weren't working. He'd hoped he could start at Beacon with some sweet kicks, but apparently not. He stood up on the branch and attempted to dust himself off, before glaring down at said boots.

"Why won't you work?!" He complained, kicking the trunk in annoyance. That's when he heard a click. "Oh, no you do-"

The teen had no chance to finish his sentence, as he had been flung forwards once more, the boots kicking in with the impact to the tree. All he could do was wail in protest as he shot off of the branch, before smacking into another tree nearby, and spiraling to the ground. He groaned in complaint at yet another harsh impact thanks to his boots, cursing once again.

"Not quite got the hang of landing yet?"

Startled, the teen looked up, to see a man approaching him, sporting dark hair and striking blue eyes. He looked down at the student sprawled on the ground with amusement, and the latter deflated.

"You saw that?" he asked, pulling himself into a sitting position, rubbing his head. The man nodded, and he sighed dramatically, "And you're so pretty, too." The man just stared at him for a moment, before letting out a laugh in response, unable to think of anything to say; nobody had called him that before. Luckily, he didn't have time to dwell on it, for the student on the ground spoke up again. "So, I guess we're partners, then."

"Looks like it," he replied, extending his hand to the man on the ground, "The name's Yusei."

The teen accepted his hand, and after he was pulled to his feet, replied, "Screaming idiot, nice to meet you." Yusei chuckled at the response, and it made the other teen smile, "Call me Atem."

"Alright. Though Screaming Idiot did sound quite accurate," Yusei replied, before taking a moment to examine Atem's attire, noting the two swords sticking up over his shoulders. A dual wielder...? He then noticed the vest that was holding them in place. "...Are you wearing anything under that?" he suddenly asked, noticing how low it was zipped, revealing a decent amount of cleavage.

Atem looked down at his chest for a moment, "Should I be?" Yusei simply stared for a moment, before turning to head in the direction he guessed the temple would be in. Atem assumed his comment was brought on by the fact that he was basically covered head-to-toe. The only skin Atem could see on the other man was his face and fingertips. Perhaps he wasn't so used to the cooler weather here. Atem shrugged, before moving to follow his new partner. Just as he caught up, he caught the sentence that Yusei was muttering.

"I hope I don't regret this..."

Atem jumped up beside the teen, catching him by surprise. "Of course you won't, I'm stunningly attractive." Yusei was only slightly startled by the man now at his side, but he was more surprised at the guy's words. He gave Atem a sidewards glance, raising his eyebrows in the process. "Not that you aren't," Atem then added, "I've got no complaints there-"

Yusei suddenly held his hand up, "Shh."

Atem blinked at him, "What?" Yusei shushed him once more, as his ears focused on the sound he had heard a moment ago.

"Do you hear that?" he asked.

Atem looked around them for a moment, before looking back at his partner, "Hear what?" He watched Yusei, who's eyes were scanning the nearby bushes, and the look on the man's face made Atem reach for his swords.

Suddenly, a fierce growl tore through the trees, and Yusei activated his arm guard, "There!"

There was barely any time for Atem to react as a Beowolf burst out of the bushes, snarling as it lunged at the pair. Yusei sprung out of the way, while Atem raised his swords, challenging the beast. The wolf charged at Atem, and when they clashed, his swords were pressed against the bone protruding from it's arm, as it tried to swipe at him. He had stopped the attempted attack, but now it was a battle of strength, as he pushed against the beast, earning a growl in return. It then overpowered Atem, and he stumbled backwards, just as Yusei swung in from behind, before slicing at it with the blade that now protruded from the side of his arm guard. Atem then charged at the beast once more, now that it was distracted by Yusei's attack. It turned to swipe at him, and he ducked out of the way, before lunging at it, driving his sword into its flesh. It let out a loud shriek, and as Atem tried to pull his sword out, discovering it was stuck, he noticed the wolf bare it's fangs in an attempt to chomp at him. Panic flared in the teen's gut as he realised he didn't have the time to escape, and in an attempt to block the wolf, he raised his other sword above his head.

But there was no impact. Bewildered, Atem stared as the beast fell to the ground, head no longer attached to its body. He then looked to Yusei, who was shaking the blood off of his blade. How did...? Atem was baffled. He was sure that Yusei had been coming up behind the beast to try and strike it's legs, so how could he have beheaded the thing so easily? He was nowhere near close enough to get to it before it would have chomped Atem to pieces.

Yusei moved over and pulled Atem's sword from the beast, before holding it out to him, "You alright?"

Atem started at him, "...Yeah, but, how did you do that?" He then grabbed his sword in hand, as Yusei shrugged.

"I'm uh, fast," he replied, turning to keep moving.

Atem slid his swords back into his jacket, before moving to catch up with the teen. "So, speed is your semblance?" he asked.

Yusei didn't turn to look at him as he replied, "Uh, yeah you could say that." He then moved to change the subject, "We'd better hurry, we are getting observed, you know."

"Right." Atem was satisfied with Yusei's answer for the time being, as they picked up their pace. "We're meant to find these so called relics."

Only thing was, they had no idea what the relics looked like, nor what the abandoned temple was supposed to look like. It took them fifteen minutes to discover that they were possibly going in the wrong direction, as fighting the Beowolf had put them off. Yusei decided to climb a tree to try and see if he could spot the temple, while Atem waited at the bottom. He'd had enough time off of the ground for one day.

"I see it!" the optimistic call came from above him, and Atem looked up in surprise, only seeing the slight patch of blue through the branches; Yusei's jacket. So not only was he fast on the ground, he was a fast climber, as well. Though, if it was his semblance, then that did make sense.

"Are you sure?" Atem called back, "What does it look like?"

A matter of seconds later, and Yusei was dropping back to the ground next to Atem, and the teen blinked at him. It was probably going to take him a while to get used to this. Yusei seemed incredibly agile for his...stature. The guy stood taller than Atem, with broad shoulders, but a slim waist. Not that Atem was incredibly short, though his hair helped in make him appear taller. It seemed that was the case for Yusei as well, he thought, noting the spikes that stuck up above the other's head, some streaked with yellow.

Yusei brushed the leaves out of his hair, "Looks like an abandoned temple," he said, "About two hundred meters that way." Pointing in the direction they needed to go, Yusei looked back to Atem. The shorter male chuckled, causing him to raise his eyebrows.

"You missed one," Atem said, nodding his head at Yusei's hair.

"Hm?" he began to run his hand through dark locks in search of the stray leaf, and Atem shook his head.

"No, no, in your fringe," Atem tried to explain, though his partner was completely useless at retrieving the item. Atem sighed, "Here." Reaching up, he combed his hand through Yusei's fringe, freeing the leaf, and brushing his forehead in the process. The move startled Yusei, and he stepped back for a moment, causing Atem to withdraw his hand swiftly. "Uh, sorry," he said, ducking his eyes to the side. He probably shouldn't have just reached out like that, considering he didn't know the kind of person Yusei really was yet. Despite the way Yusei composed himself once more, Atem had still seen the discomfort cross the other's face.

"No, it's fine," Yusei replied, turning in the direction they needed to head, "Just, caught me by surprise is all."

Atem stayed quiet as he began to follow Yusei again, before deciding that a good joke was in order. He jogged to catch up to Yusei, his usual grin returning, "It's because I'm gorgeous, isn't it?"

Yusei almost stopped in his tracks, "What?" The way that Atem's mannerisms changed so quickly were catching him off guard so easily. How he was going to keep up, the guy did not know.

The shorter male laughed, "I'm just kidding, come on, we don't want to run into any more Grimm." He turned and began to lead them forwards, though not before noticing the colour that had filled Yusei's cheeks. Atem smirked to himself as he walked, this was going to be fun. It only made him wonder who they would end up with on their team.

After swiftly making their way through the forest, Atem and Yusei broke into the clearing, noticing the stone structure sitting in the middle. There were numerous stone pedestals placed around the temple, each holding the 'relics'. Atem eyed the temple, noting how there were a few pedestals who no longer held an object.

"Are they-?" He had no chance to finish his sentence however, as a hiss tore through the clearing. The two teens spun around just as a King Taijitu burst out of the bushes, with a wailing boy attached to it. Yusei and Atem stared as the creature slithered along, with a chain wrapped around its middle, and the boy's ankle, effectively dragging him around.

"Help!" he cried, seeing the pair standing in the clearing. Atem and Yusei darted out of the way as the snake like creature tried to strike at them, and Yusei activated his arm guard, as the curved blade slid into place. Atem ran around to the opposite head as Yusei fought the dark end, and the boy was furiously trying to untangle himself from the chain, that seemed to have a blade at either end. He was in the process of pulling one of the blades towards him, when he was flung around once more by the Taijitu and he lost grip, having to start again. The Lighter coloured head of the creature wasn't very happy at all though, as it bared it fangs at him. Swords in hand, Atem leapt forwards, slicing at it's head to keep its attention away from it's third limb.

"Crow!" a female voice suddenly called out, as a girl burst from the trees, wielding a bow in one hand. Seeing the two unfamiliar faces fighting each head of the Grimm, she ran over to her partner, who was still flailing on the ground as he was dragged around by the Taijitu. All Atem could hear were rapid apologies flowing out of her mouth as he was thrown backwards by a slash from the creature, rolling on the ground, before springing to his feet again. The Taijiti had just been distracted by the newcomer, so Atem took his chance to take one last slash at the creature. Charing at the Taijitu, Atem flung one of his swords at it, as it sunk into the flesh of an eye, and it let out a piercing shriek, before slashing his other sword down on the creature's head, driving it into the ground with incredible force. He was then on his feet once more, darting over to the boy as Yusei kept the other head busy, and Atem turned his sword so that he was holding it upside down, before bringing the handle down on the chain, breaking it in half so that the boy could get away. A moment later and the other head fell to the ground, as Yusei dispatched it appropriately.

The four teens all stared at the dead creature before them, all catching their breath, before the two pairs looked at one another. The red haired boy then retrieved his bow from the girl, as Atem noticed the arrows strapped to his back. "Uh, thanks," he said to the pair, as they placed their weapons away.

"Not a problem," Atem replied, stepping over the chain that he'd broke in half, "I'm Atem, and this is Yusei," he nodded his head over at his partner, who was eyeing the broken metal object he'd just walked over.

"Crow," the other teen replied, while his partner retrieved her chain from the King Taijitu.

"I'm Aki!" she said, finally wrenching it free, before walking over to join them once more. She looked down at her weapon, now broken in half, before looking to Atem.

He gave her an apologetic look, scratching the back of his neck, "Sorry."

She shook her head, "It's fine. It was my fault that Crow got tangled up in the first place. If you don't mind me asking, how did you break my chain scythe?"

Atem grinned then, looking down at his work, "I'm just an incredibly strong individual."

Crow snorted, "I hope that was sarcasm."

Yusei was standing beside Atem with his arms crossed, and he sent an amused glance over to his partner, "Half the time, it isn't."

Atem raised his eyebrows, turning on Yusei with a mock look of hurt, "It's only been half an hour and you're already making such bold statements. I could be a serial killer for all you know." Yusei then suddenly made a spluttering noise, as if Atem's words had startled him-or he was choking on his own saliva, you never know-and he tried to recover himself quickly, though not before Atem had noticed the look of surprise on his face. "Are you a serial killer?" he then asked.

"No!" Yusei countered, "But unless you've forgotten, we're being monitored, and better get moving." He turned and walked towards the temple, as Atem moved to follow; he'd been doing a lot of that today.

"Always reminding us of the job at hand," Atem said as they stepped onto the stone. "You must be a task oriented person." Yusei didn't bother with a response, as they took a closer look at what the relics actually were. Playing cards? Atem thought, walking over to one of the pedestals. Well, they weren't the usual flimsy bits of card, they were made out of a porous kind of stone.

"Some pairs have already been here," Yusei noted, seeing the empty spaces, "Let's just grab one and go." Atem eyed down the different cards, before reaching for the Ace of Spades.

"Yoink!" Crow was suddenly in front of him, grabbing the card before Atem could reach it, and he darted away in an instant, leaving Atem blinking at the space in front of him. So instead, he picked the card beside it, wondering why the red head had been so in favor of that particular card.

"Right," he said, pocketing the card and turning back to Yusei, "Ready to head back up to the cliff?" Yusei nodded. "Alright Emerald Forest," Atem said, turning towards the shrubbery once more, "Bring it on."

There was a sigh to his left, as Yusei began to walk back toward the trees, "You need to stop being so dramatic."