Chapter 2: Partners

(or Why Ouran Would Dominate at Capture the Flag)

Leo and his three cohorts stood at the cliff with the rest of their class, Professor Ozpin, and Ms. Goodwitch. However, despite all of them being in the same location, there was a key difference in situation. Leo and his friends(?) were standing on four gray squares. Everyone else was not. Leo reckoned this made a great deal of difference.

"Due to the unprecedented display of immaturity you all greeted me with last night," Ms. Goodwitch announced. "There will be some changes to your initiation. If I had it my way, there wouldn't be an initiation, but luckily, your Headmaster is far more forgiving than I am."

"Thank you, Glynda," Ozpin said. "While I admire last night's… enthusiasm, let's call it, it only confirmed what I said about you all having wasted energy. As you all seem to have such energy, I think it only fit you all run through today's exercise with ease. Today, students, you will be launched into that forest right there," he gestured to the expansive forest in front of them. "That forest is currently inhabited by 20 second years, and copious amounts of Grimm. Your goal will be to survive 30 minutes in that forest without getting caught or dying. Once you land in that forest, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years. If your partner fails, you fail. Stick together. The duo closest to you in terms of time lasted will become your teammates. We will be keeping track of your Aura amounts from up here. If one of your upperclassmen forces you into the red, you will be considered caught, and if you are killed by a Grimm, you will be considered dead. Once either has happened, you will make your way back up here without bothering anybody. Any questions?"

Ouran raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Arc?"

"Does that 'fall into the red' thing apply to the second years as well?"

Everyone turned to look at him. Was he serious? Even Ms. Goodwitch seemed taken aback. "Yes, Mr. Arc. If a second year falls into the red, they will be forced to leave the forest," Ozpin answered.

Ouran nodded, a peculiar grin on his face.

"Now then, those are the rules as they apply to most of you," Ms. Goodwitch continued. "However, for last evening's perpetrators, they will be going half an hour earlier than the rest of you, and their timers will not start until yours do. Essentially, they must survive double the time. The reason for this punishment -and students, I cannot stress this enough- is because you started a fight on the first night at school."

Ouran raised his hand again. "Again, Mr. Arc?"

"But Weird Eyes and Trash Can Girl tried to stop the fighting, so how come they're getting punished too?" Ouran complained. Once again, everyone stood in silence, but this time, it was because no one had any idea what he was saying.

Leo raised his hand. "I think he means Reina and I," he clarified.

"Well, Mr. Arc, in their attempts to stop the fight, not only did they fail, but they made things worse. Misjudging your own abilities can result in the deaths of you and your comrades in the field. As such, whatever the intention, all those who were involved in the escalation of the fight are being punished," Ms. Goodwitch clarified.

Ouran nodded. That made sense. He faced forward once again.

"Now, we will begin your 30 minutes. I'm sure you all have your Landing Strategies, and wish you the- What is it this time, Mr. Arc?"

"What's a Landing Strata-GEEEEEEE?!" Ouran screamed as he was flung into the air. Leo braced himself. He had been standing next to Ouran. And sure enough, he felt a violent shove from beneath him, and he was launched into the air. Reina, launched, then Selena, and with that, the four strangers were airborn.

Ouran flew through the air, steadily righting himself. Oh, "Landing Strategy". A strategy for landing. Now he just felt stupid for asking. He focused, feeling the familiar tug on his stomach whenever he used his Semblance. He forced the winds to the front of him, buffeting him, slowing him down. He slammed feet first into a tree branch, breaking it off, but he successfully caught onto the next one. He flipped onto it just as the first branch hit the ground. He immediately bolted downwind of the area. He could not let his position be revealed so easily. After all, it was a hunt, and if there was one thing he was great at, it was hunting. The only problem was the 20 to 4 odds for the first half hour. He had played enough games of Predator vs. Prey back home to know that, in games of hunting, the side with the higher number had the far greater advantage. So, all there was to do was make the numbers more even. He was in the forest, his element. He would not lose to anyone here. He smiled to himself. This was going to be so much fun.

Leo watched the trees go by with his Vision. He was moving at something like 30 mph. It would hurt quite a bit, even with Aura, if he took a full-on collision. He pulled two guns out of his jacket, and fired them into the air, stopping just as soon as his speed had slowed down enough. It would be wise to conserve bullets. He then shifted his guns into daggers, latching onto the nearest tree with them, using the friction to slow down, allowing himself to spiral to the ground. He licked his finger and felt the air, then followed the wind. It would also be wise to go downwind. He wasn't particularly stealthy so this wouldn't make much of a difference, but it was going to be a tough battle. He would use anything that could help.

Leo knew the initiation was not in their favor. It seemed like the four only had to go double time, which wasn't too bad, since the initiation wasn't built to actually fail people. Under the normal rules, anyone who didn't completely panic could survive an hour, but for the first half, they had deal with the fact that there were 5 skilled students for every 1 of them. It was in his best interest to find his partner as soon as possible, and, of the three candidates, he would prefer it be Ouran. His complete lack of any difference between his shown expressions and microexpressions interested Leo greatly.

Reina took a few calming breaths. That had been scary. Really scary. It had been 50 times worse than any one of those tower drop rides at amusement parks. And it wasn't over. She was still in midair. Any civilian who did this would definitely die. This was deadly. But she was not a normal civilian. She would not die. She had practiced her Landing Strategy in several different situations at Signal. She shot strings from her fingertips that tied themselves to passing branches. She didn't just stop letting the lines run from her hand, as at her speed, that would yank her arm off. Rather, she lengthened the line slower than the speed she was moving at, so the pull from the string still slowed her down, just not painfully so. Once she slowed down enough, she shot another string forward, lassoing a branch ahead of her, and she swung down to the ground. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do, but standing still was not an option. She had to pass this initiation no matter what. She couldn't disappoint her family and friends on Day 1. She walked forward. It was as good a direction as any, she supposed.

Selena sighed. Nobody, not even herself, heard it because the wind was whistling along at 30 miles an hour, but she did it anyway. This was too easy. She'd complete the initiation without breaking a sweat. She flicked Rune Queen, creating two circular runes, one at the branch she was about to crash into, and one on the ground. She flew straight into the branch rune, and popped out of the ground rune. Her inertia took her up to the branch rune again, and once she popped out of the ground rune, she did a flip and land a foot away from it. She erased the rune on the ground. She would just have to create another one when she was in a pinch and she'd be up on that branch, safe from harm. With her Teleportation and Dust Runes, no one would be able to even touch her. She marched forward, because it truly did not matter where she went.

It took Ouran 54 seconds from landing to find a Huntress-in-training. It took him three minutes of silent stalking to realize that she would not let her guard down in any reasonable time. He was impressed. To maintain such constant total awareness was a difficult thing to do for somebody not born in a dangerous environment. This school really was the best. Unfortunately, he was the one person who could take advantage of that vigilance. He stayed on the branches on top of her, killing off his presence and noise. Not even a Grimm could sense him when he was like this. Then, he lifted his hand. He created a breeze, one that rustled through a bush in the direction opposite of him. She immediately pointed her gun at it. "If you come out now, I won't shoot you," she announced.

Ouran alighted onto the ground. He crept up, staying directly behind her, and gripped his swords.

10 seconds later, Professor Ozpin's Scroll chimed. He glanced down on it. "It would seem Mr. Arc has taken a piece before anyone could realize they were playing a match," he noted, amused. "Ms. Akamaru has been 'captured'."

Ms. Goodwitch turned to him. "Ms. Akamaru?" she whispered, shocked. "She placed first in all surveillance and hunting tests."

"Glynda, we train Hunters, with a capital 'H'. But that boy, he was raised a hunter, lowercase. That is a world of difference. There is no doubt in my mind that right now, Mr. Arc is the most dangerous entity in that forest. And, seeing as the second years can see the same screen I'm seeing, they've all realized that there's something in that forest that can remove them from play. Now they are all wary. The fight has, mentally, been brought to them. Mr. Arc put them in check with a single move."

"You cannot sincerely believe that boy capable of thinking-"

"Glynda, I believe that that boy had this in mind the instant he raised his hand for the first time. He is a hunter, someone who has lived every day one step away from death. He knows fear and panic better than anyone else in that forest. So long as this game goes on, he is the absolute chessmaster."

Ouran fiddled with his underwear as he walked. Whatever sort of fabric kingdom underwear used, it really had a habit of riding up, especially when he got more mobile. He'd have to see if he could get different ones. While he was attempting to extract it, he saw some tracks on the ground ahead. He withdrew his hand from his pants and bent down to examine them. They were Beowolf tracks, extremely fresh, probably wouldn't take too long to catch up to them. The depth of the depressions interested him too. They had been running with force, meaning they had detected a target. He smiled. That meant if he followed these tracks, he'd have his next target. His underwear issue could wait. Not for too long though.

Leo ran along the path, attempting to evade the Beowolves. Well, not exactly "evading", more like he wanted to fight them in a terrain more advantageous to him. He had been running for a minute now, and he could see a clearing up ahead, thankfully. His breath was starting to run ragged. He reached the middle of the clearing and whirled around, watching as the Beowolves spread out in front of him.

Leo stayed still, flicking his eyes between his attackers. Every eye shift, nostril flare, and leg twitch was properly categorized and analyzed. He had a rough understanding of what their movements would be. Now time for the dance to begin. Two split off from the pack, three attacked from the front, one hung back. Showtime.

He reached behind him, for the two guns on the back of his belt. He threw them into the air above him as they shifted into daggers. Three Beowolves charged right for him. While bringing his hands back, he grabbed the four guns strapped to his hips and started juggling them. He shot six bullets, one leg, one head, each time. One of the splitters was going to attack from the left. He shifted two of his guns to knife form and pivoted to greet it. One knife used to deflect the thing's swinging claw, the next used to slash its throat. The other splitter should be attacking him from the right now. He swung his arms back, grabbing the guns he had dropped when using the knives, and pointed them at the angle where they should hit the Beowolf's head. Two splatters told him he had been correct. That left only the straggler, who was now barreling towards him. The timers on the knives he had thrown at the start went off. Their gun handles fired, and they shot off like rockets, if rockets' spins were perfectly timed to hit a Beowolf right in the head. Now blinded, it failed to notice Leo dodging out of the way and putting a gun to its head. One click later, and he no longer had any Beowolves to deal with. He looked down at the ground. One of his knives hadn't actually hit the Beowolf, but had skimmed it and landed in the ground. He glared at it. How irritating.

Leo leaned down to pick up the wayward knife. As he did, he heard a roar from behind him. Shit. He turned his head to see a larger Beowolf, clearly the most experienced in the pack, launching itself at him. It must have stayed completely out of sight in order to find an opening, rather than go for a full offensive. Well, it had found one. With his body crouched down like this, he wouldn't be able to launch a counterattack, and he wasn't capable of dodging a creature this fast. His only chance was to wait for an opening in its barrage and fire his guns through its throat, but he would not be coming out unscathed. As he braced himself for impact, however, a tremendous blast of wind hit the Bewowolf from the right and sent it flying. Leo glanced to the right, already knowing who was there. Ouran Arc smiled at him, holding his sword out in post-swing. The experienced, Aura-less, black creature of death was one thing, but how had the tall blonde clad entirely in blue gone unnoticed until now?

"Yo," Ouran greeted. "Figured you could take care of the pack yourself, so I held back, but that Beowolf looked like it was about to do a number on you."

"I'm sure I would've been the victor in the end," Leo replied. "But yes, thank you for the aid."

The Beowolf staggered up to his feet. Ouran whistled. "My windblade didn't put you down? You're a tough one, ain'tcha?"

Leo moved to finish it off but Ouran blocked his path with his sword. "Nope. You had your fun. I'll take care of this guy," he said, smiling.

Leo looked at Ouran. As expected of someone willing to start a fight at orientation, his smile was filled bloodlust. He put his guns back in his holster.

Ouran walked forward, swords at the ready. He and the Grimm circled each other. Leo watched with interest. Everything about the Grimm's posture and movement suggested it was incredibly wary of the opponent in front of in. In contrast, Ouran just looked irritated.

Ouran paced the Grimm. This always bothered him about older Grimm. They would never engage unless they were sure they could win. Sissies. Luckily, he had spent a lot of time practicing a technique to bait them into a fight. He ran forward at the beast. The Grimm lept at him, claw raised in the air for a powerful strike. Ouran grinned. Easy. He dug his claws into the ground and rocketed towards the beast, now at full speed. He snuck into the opening left by the Beowolf's raised arm before it even had time to react. He pivoted, and spun on the spot, bringing Dexia through the beast's armpit, cleaving off its arm completely. As Dexia's follow-through spun his body, he held Alisteria low for a slash at the Grimm's leg. Not a complete amputation, but certainly a deep wound. The Beowolf immediately attempted to retreat, but with only three limbs, one of them crippled, it only managed to stagger away. Ouran promptly body slammed it, pinning it to the ground. Completely immobilized, it could do nothing as Ouran thrust his blades through its neck. Ouran felt all of the body's resistance give way as the creature died. He sheathed his swords and hopped off the creature's back as it dissipated.

"Not bad," Leo praised. "Your speed and footwork are unlike any I've seen. You made much quicker work of him than I would have."

Leo cringed slightly at his praise. A tad too similar to the way he talked to the politicians and aristocrats, something he swore to abandon. Still, it wasn't a lie this time, and it was important to make a good first impression.

"I'd hope so," Oran replied. "But you're not too bad yourself. All those gun tricks you did? Totally Grimmjaw."

Leo looked at Ouran's face. Based on his somewhat impressed expression, 'Grimmjaw' was a compliment. "Thanks, partner," he remarked.

"Yeah, I guess we are partners now, huh? Well met, Weird Eyes. Glad it was somebody smart like you."

Leo winced. "Do you have to call me 'Weird Eyes'? I'm not one for nicknames."

"It's not a nickname, it's a new-moniker."

"A what?" Leo blanched.

"A new-moniker," Ouran repeated. "You know, something you call people to help you remember stuff about them? It was one of my cousin's vocab words for school. Figured you would know it."

"Do you mean a mnemonic?" Leo corrected. "A word, phrase or poem designed to help you remember something?"

Ouran scrunched up his face in concentration. "Hmmm… you know, that sounds kind of right, too."

"It is right," Leo established. "New-moniker is definitely not a word. I can see your train of logic in getting it confused, but the correct word is mnemonic."

Ouran shrugged. "Alright then. I was never good with words anyway. What should I call you?"

Leo held out his hand. "My name. Leonardo Kuros, or Leo for short."

Ouran grinned and shook it. "I'm Ouranos Arc, call me Ouran."

Leo winced. Ouran had a very tight grip. He supposed he would have to get used to it.

Reina trekked through the forest. She wasn't quite sure where she was, or how long she had been walking, she just knew she should be vigilant. Or should she be a little less vigilant, so she could conserve mental strength for when she needed it? She'd be in this forest for a while after all. But, how would she know when she needed to super-focus if she wasn't already focused? It was a dilemma.

"You murmur to yourself, you know."

Reina jumped at the sound of another person's voice. She turned to see that the tree she just walked by had a person leaning against it, specifically the person whose real name probably wasn't Sharp Shoes. Reina looked her over. She was really pretty, had great posture, and had a face that exuded both confidence and apathy. It was like she was a magazine model brought to life. Reina immediately felt awkward in her sweatshirt and jeans. "Umm, hey there," Reina stammered. "So, I guess we're partners, huh?"

"Guess so," the girl replied tersely. She held out her hand. "Selena."

Reina gratefully shook it. "Reina Mahagan, at your service."

Selena broke the handshake first. "Wonderful."

Silence quickly resumed. Reina stood there for a brief few moments, wondering if they should do something. After a few moments more, she decided they should probably do something. A significantly larger amount of moments after that, she worked up the courage to inform Selena of this fact.

"Uh, Selena, shouldn't we- shouldn't we keep moving?"

Selena shrugged. "I don't see why. Now that I've met you, I have a partner. There's literally no reason to move around until someone finds us."

"But, isn't the point that people don't find us?" Reina asked.

Selena rolled her eyes. "Look, let me show you."

She flicked her wand, and Reina watched in awe as a circle of runes appeared on the ground, then was shocked to see the ground within the circle disappear to reveal a tree canopy. "What you're looking at is the tree I landed on," Selena explained. "My runes can create portals. If someone finds us, we'll just jump in there, and then move in another direction. Rinse and repeat. Simple."

"Oh, uh, cool," Reina said. "I'll just… I'll just stand here then."

And so she did. She listlessly stood there, nothing better to do. Her partner had everything under control, and seemed to emanating a fairly strong "Don't talk to me" vibe. It seemed like she was wildly unnecessary in this whole affair. Which was fine, if she was unneeded, she was unneeded, just… she really wished her existence wasn't already pointless on the second day. There was a bit of a sting to that.

Selena looked over her new partner. She had been the one restraining the dumb blonde last night, and the one who had talked to him on the airship. A goody two-shoes type. Selena looked at her battle uniform. A dark pink hoodie with a full-length zipper, a loose, pleated skirt that matched her mahogany hair, sneakers and black socks that went halfway up her shins. The only thing that made her not totally plain was… oh no.

"Why do you have a fanny pack?" Selena asked, disdain dripping from her voice.

Reina jumped at the sudden question. She glanced down at the object of interest, emblazoned with her insignia and strapped to her hip. "Oh, uh, it's my weapons pouch," she explained, pulling out one of her yo-yos to show Selena. "I store my Dust yo-yos in there, so I can grab them when I need them."

"Right, but did you really need it to be in a fanny pack?" Selena asked.

"Well, you know, function over form." Reina withdrew into herself. Selena was really critical. Well, they were practically strangers, she supposed. She should give her the benefit of the doubt.

They stood in silence for a couple minutes. Reina played Cat's Cradle to pass the time, hoping that Selena would take notice and would remark on it, leading her to explain her Semblance, which would lead to a conversation. Selena didn't. Reina risked a brief glance at the other girl. She was pointedly examining her nails. She was clearly not going to be the one to start a conversation. Which was cool, y'know, sometimes people just didn't want to talk. But maybe she was just nervous, like Reina was. She should at least try to make conversation. But, like, how could she just start a conversation? Did they have anything in common? She didn't know. It's not like she could just start an interview or something. Wait a minute.

"Do you wanna play 20 Questions?" Reina blurted out, before she could convince herself it was a stupid idea.

Selena turned her head to look at her. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, y'know, we're partners, right? So we should probably get to know each other better, and I figured, I'm doing nothing, and you're doing nothing, so I figured y'know, this was the best time to do it, and 20 Questions is a good way to do that, because you know, it's questions," Reina finished, withering away towards the end.

Selena stared at her for a moment. Reina wished she could be a little less intimidating. Then she spoke. "Sure, why not? Like you said, I'm not doing anything."

Reina smiled. "Ok! Cool! Uhm, I'll start. What's… what's your favorite color?"

"Lavender," Selena said. "What's your favorite color?"

"Pink. I mean, I know the obvious answer is 'mahogany'," Reina answered, tugging a strand of her hair. "But I just really like pink. What's your favorite food?"

"Not really sure. Never thought about it," Selena responded. "Yours?"

"Oh, uh, peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Reina said. "I mean, pretty basic meal, but it's easy to prepare, it tastes good, and it fills you up. It's great. What's your favorite hobby?"

"I like to read," Selena responded curtly. "What's your favorite hobby?"

"Oh, uh, I like to listen to music mostly," Reina said. "What kind of books do you read?"

"I'm going to pass on that question."

"Aw, c'mon, you don't have to be embarrassed," Reina said. "You can tell me. We're partners!"

"I'm not embarrassed," Selena growled, menacing glare back on in full force. She turned back to her nails, clearly indicating the end of the conversation.

Reina stared up at the leaves. This was fine. Her partner had answered most of the questions asked. Technically. She had cut it off when she felt things got too personal for their level of relationship, which was important and understandable. Granted, not being close enough to know her book preferences was really not close at all, but they had only known each other for a few minutes. They had months to get to know each other better… by standing in total silence. Yup, this was perfectly fine.

Oh sweet Dust this was going to be a long day.