He didn't know how long he had been moving. To Sora, the trees looked the same. But Dr. Ozpin pointed in this direction when he mentioned the temple. Maybe it wasn't an exact direction. The rumors were right. Ozpin was an oddball with questionable methods. If he had given similar tasks to all his employees, why had they all given positive feedback? Did Ozpin have all the people with bad experiences hunted down? Sora barely knew him and considered it was a possibility.

The boy shook his head. He needed to find Celeste. At first, he considered calling her name, but knowing her, she would run from his voice. He sat down to think and rest. Ozpin had lined her up behind the girl with the enormous sleeves. That meant she should be heading in his direction. He just had to keep an eye out for her and avoid the others. That was easier said than done. Even if he found her, she would refuse to be his partner. Then, all that time searching would be a waste. Celeste was such a pain. He should just look for another partner. He tried to remember where Nikola had been lined up.

Feet shuffled beside him.

Automatically, Sora stood up and called, "Celeste?"

A large wolf-like creature burst through the greenery. It was a Beowolf. Sora jumped back and unsheathed his swords. He struck the creature twice before cutting off its arm. It struck back, knocking him aside. The Beowolf was joined by three more. There were too many to handle with just his swords. Sora needed to use Dust magic, but he was too close. He ran, hoping to put some distance between them. The Beowolves chased him, and they were fast. Sora whispered a spell, reached into his pocket for Dust, and crashed into a person.

"Oh, excuse me," the large man in full armor said. His eyes snapped up to the Beowolves. "Get down," he ordered. His tree trunk arm swept Sora aside. Then, he lifted and swung a large hammer at the first Beowolf. It flew backward and crashed into the one behind it. The hammer swung again and again, knocking down Beowolves like bowling pins. Sora had never seen someone take down so many Beowolves without dust or spells. He may be a good partner.

Sora grabbed some Dust and poured it into the hilt of his swords. It wasn't as powerful as a spell, but it was more than enough. Like a wand, he pointed his left sword. Ice froze one of the Beowolf's legs in place, allowing the armored man to finish it off. He swung his right sword and fire burst out at the other Beowolf. Sora charged forward, freezing the Beowolf with one blade and slashing it with the other. The armored man had just taken down the last Beowolf to see Sora do this move. His jaw dropped.

"You took it down so easily. Why were you running away from them?" he asked.

"I didn't think I needed to use Dust," Sora admitted, "The creatures of Grimm here are bigger and stronger than the ones I usually deal with."

"If you have Dust, use it."

Sora shook his head, "Dust is very useful but I don't carry much." He coughed and muttered, "Thanks for saving me, by the way."

"No problem," the armored man said, lifting his hammer onto his shoulder.

"I suppose we're partners now."

This took the man by surprise.

"Oh… right… the eye thing. Sorry. I was hoping to partner with Ecru."

Sora recalled him running to the tiny girl who seemed really excited to be partners.

"Is she your sister?"

The armored man shrugged, "Sort of. We're good friends, basically family."

Loud growls interrupted their conversation. The chaos of their fight had not gone unnoticed. A small pack of Beowolves appeared in the distance. It was enough distance for Sora to perform his earlier spell. He grabbed small fistfuls of Dust from his pockets. Letting the Dust shed from his hands, he whispered a spell and swirled his hands to create a visible arcane circle. The circle shot forward, collided into the wolf-like creatures, and exploded in a beautiful array of red and blue. The pack lay on the ground, motionless.

The armored man was impressed. "You're really magic-strong. I'd love to be partners." He shook Sora's hand with unintentional force. "My name is Terran."

"I'm Sora," the boy replied, "What about Ecru?"

"Bah! She's friendly. I'm sure she's found a partner already." He motioned for Sora to follow. "C'mon. Let's go to the temple."

As they walked, Sora thought about what Terran said. He hadn't considered the possibility that Celeste had already found a partner. She was a loner, only working with people who helped her study. But it was highly likely she would partner with a complete stranger if it meant avoiding him. The thought put his mind at ease.

Walking beside Terran made Sora feel small, but having a partner who could physically take down a Beowolf was comforting. He wondered if Ecru felt the same way.


Far from Sora and Terran, a tiny girl wandered around the forest, calling out, "Terran! Terran, it's Ecru. Can you hear me?"

No answer.

Ecru frowned. Terran was nowhere in sight. They had been placed on opposite exits, so she had crossed over to his exit and waited. But it was possible he had done the same thing and missed her. She kept hidden to avoid the Nevermore, and the whole plan to partner together had been ruined.

In an attempt to find him, Ecru climbed a tall tree to look around. It didn't help her search, but she did discover a black device as small as a dime sitting in tree branches. Upon discovering what it was, Ecru had to find Terran and tell him.

"Terran!" she yelled.

In the distance, she heard heavy objects crashing together in what sounded like a battle.

Ecru's face brightened, "Terran!" She hurried toward the battle sounds. As she went, she took out her quarterstaff. If Terran was in trouble, she needed to be ready to take down their enemies. She rushed into the clearing and instead spotted a man in a black cloak battling a large pig-like creature and two younglings. Boarbatusks. Using a conjuring staff as a club, he seemed to holding his own with the bigger one, but the smaller ones were trying to head-butt him.

Ecru charged forward, flicking her quarterstaff at one of the younglings and jabbing the other one. The cloaked man knocked over the large Boarbatusk and stepped back. The gem in his staff glowed.

Catching sight of it, Ecru dove out of the way just in time. He cast a spell, knocking over the Boarbatusks and exposing their bellies. His staff shot black Dust at the large one, and a crushing force bore down on the creature until it stopped moving. Ecru was a little taken aback by his methods, but she supposed it wasn't too different from her own. She took out her dagger and finished off the younglings.

Then, she went over to the cloaked man and stuck out her hand, "Hello, my name is Ecru. I guess I'll be your partner."

"I don't partner with anyone," he said flatly.

"But Dr. Ozpin told us to be partners with the first person you see."

"He can say what he wants. I like working alone."

"He won't pay us for not following his rules."

The cloaked man scoffed, "Your need to follow rules says a lot about you."

Ecru frowned, dropping her hand, "Your need to break the rules says a lot about you."

The man gave a dry laugh, "Smartass. Ozpin's not here to enforce his eye contact rule. And, it doesn't even make sense. Shouldn't people who can work well together be partners? Shouldn't people who work better alone be left alone?"

"I don't think it makes sense either, but I want to be paid for coming out here," Ecru replied. She pulled out the black device from her pocket.

"What is that?"

"It's a camera," Ecru explained, "I found it and several others when I climbed the trees. I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Ozpin were watching us right now."

The cloaked man picked up the small camera and examined it. His eyes darted to the trees, and then back at Ecru. He sighed and handed the tiny thing back.

"Alright," he said, "Let's go."

"We're partners?" Ecru said ecstatically, "Yay! This is going to be great. You fight kind of like Terran, so working together should be no problem. We might need practice. On the first time I fought beside Terran, his hammer accidentally grazed my head. But that won't happen with you, because I'm a better fighter now."

The man sighed again and muttered, "Lukas."

She leaned over, "Pardon? Lukas?"

"That's my name," he said.

"That's great," she said, "Lukas and Ecru working together and fighting Boarbatusks in the deep forest. Sounds so cool."

"If we're going to be partners, you have to learn to be quiet."

Ecru crossed her arms, muttering, "I should have kept looking for Terran."

"Or you could have run into someone worse. I passed by a guy with two masks. He kept talking to himself in different voices. This job is full of weirdos."