"...Another pair has been formed, Marcus Lodain and Grace Veilstone." Glynda muttered, tapping away at her scroll, recording the partners into Beacon's database. "Those two are not going to get along. They argue more than an old couple! It's a shame we didn't get to observe her sembl-"

"All in good time Glynda. But do put her on the on the list." Ozpin interrupted, observing the events below, from his Scroll.

"It seems the duo of Krystal Klein and Tiffany Lockhart just made contact with them. Would you like me to add any of those students as well?"

"Yes, add , the two from Vacuo and their partners. Also keep an eye on Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose..." Ozpin said, taking a slight pause in his thinking, "Noir Raven and Ecru Modena."

"Noir Raven and Ecru Modena?! What for?" Glynda asked, surprised by the unexpected request.

"Simple, I have... promises to keep." Ozpin smiled with a glint of mystery in his eyes.

"Hmm, alright." Glynda tapped away at her scroll once more. "Might I ask what's this list for?"

But reluctant to directly answer the question, Ozpin drowned out the question with another sip of coffee then nonchalantly replied a simple "You'll see, I'll brief you later."

"So this is it then? Grace would be either overjoyed by it or disgusted" Shannon joked as she approached the abandoned temple.

The walls of the structure seem to be unstable, falling apart in some places. The broken half dome-like structure held within its wall the 'relics' Ozpin spoke of.

"Chess Pieces? You think those are the relics that Professor Ozpin spoke about?" Lyla asked her partner as the two walked inside what was left of the broken building.

"Well there's nothing else here, so it must be" Shannon replied, scanning her surroundings "unless you want to lug around a rock from these ruins, back up the cliff" she snickered, Lyla rolling her eyes at her remark.

The black and gold relics were held up by small pillars protruding from the temple's floor beneath. The pillars aligned the floor in a perfect almost-circle, only having a gap for the entrance way.

Lyla's eyebrow raised up as she tilted her head to her side slightly, scanning the pillars, "Look! All the pieces are still here!"

"I guess that means we're first!" Shannon cheered, reaching for the white queen piece.

*CLANK*

Mere seconds before grabbing the queen piece, it was shot by an arrow coming from the tree line, knocking the piece off its pedestal.

"What in the- Heads up Lyla, we got company!"
shouted Shannon, turning towards the tree line.

Shannon's shook loose the feeling of shock she received when the arrow almost took off her hand. Her usual happy-go-lucky demeanor and smile was wiped off instantly. Her hazel eyes honed onto the tree line, focused on eliminating the threat.

Around her forearms were red and golden gauntlets, her weapon, the Sunbreakers. She flipped open each gauntlet. The red gauntlet on her left arm revealed two claw-like blades. Each blade reached a half a forearm's length beyond her fist. The golden gauntlet opened up and transformed itself into a mini gun.

Shannon took her stance and looked ready for blood. She soon eased and disarmed herself as soon as she heard voices screaming at each other.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR YOU IDIOT?! YOU ALMOST HIT HER!"

"But I didn't, so what's the problem?"

"But.. What if you missed!?"

"Listen Cyril, I. Don't. Miss."

Emerging from the distance, Cyril and Amber argued about the safety of Shannon. In her stubborn nature, Amber kept re-justifying her actions. She kept explaining her semblance to him, her vision. Amber's semblance allowed her to have picture-perfect precision aiming, notice things out of place with exact detail, read minuscule movements, see in the dark, and see farther than normal people as if she had binoculars. Regardless, Cyril persisted on arguing otherwise, although knowing full and well it was pointless.

The duo eventually argued their way up to the temple while Lyla and Shannon stood there, glancing at each other, wide eyed in amazement. Lyla and Shannon haven't met anyone that argued that much without either person being frustrated. In fact, they were sharing smiles and eye rolls between words. They were sure that the bickering duo were enjoying the argument oddly enough.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude or interrupt but..." gritting her teeth together, "WHATS THE BIG IDEA SHOOTING AT ME?!" Shannon screamed, demanding a response.

"Oh! Yeah sorry about that! I just wanted dibs on the Queen piece." Amber awkwardly chuckled, scratching the back of her head in slight embarrassment.

"YOU COULD HAVE ASKED YENNO?" Cyril screamed at the Faunus archer. "Yenno, normal people ask if they want something"

"Yeah, you have a point. But what's the fun in that?" Amber teased, sticking out her tongue at Cyril.

Lyla walked over, bent down, retrieved the queen piece from the ground and handed Amber the relic. "Here ya go! Let's just start over! I'm Lyla and this is my partner!"

"She just shot at me, I'm not goi-" Lyla quickly kicked Shannon's shin, signaling her to introduce herself, "AH-I-I'm Shannon! Shannon. Yes that's me I'm Shannon."

Laughing a little at the feud displayed by Lyla, the blue caped swordsman introduced himself, "Hey! I'm Cyril and-"

"I'm his partner, Amber at your service." Cutting off her partner as she extended her hand out to Shannon, offering a warm smile, "So... no hard feelings?"

Usually people would be absolutely furious with what just conspired. Its not everyday that someone nearly shoots your hand off; nevertheless, over a stupid chess piece. In fact it sounds kind of idiotic. But Amber had a odd way of convincing people to get her way. She has a sheer innocence that makes you think that everything she did wrong, was an accident. Her smile, warm as a fireplace in the middle of the winter, always gave a reassuring feeling that she meant no harm. Which meant Shannon ate up Amber's apology quicker than she would down a bucket of fried chicken.

"Ahh what the hell, it's cool! You didn't hit me right?" Shannon stated, grasping a hold of Amber's hand, "no hard feelings"

The two quickly made a mends, shaking each other's hands to confirm. It seemed a little too good to be true, but Shannon doesn't ever hold a grudge. The two then exchanged smiles, knowing that their little fiasco was settled.

"Now that's settled, how bout we get that relic?" Lyla said, letting our a sigh of relief. She walked over to one of the pillars and picked up a golden bishop piece. "Shannon! How do feel about this one?"

"It would be a little misleading, you're definitely no sai-" Lyla tossing the piece at Shannon, "HEY WHATS THE BIG IDEA?!" Shannon howled at her partner, as she fumbled the catch.

"I may not be a saint but you're far from ho-"

"HOLY SHIT MARCUS! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO PISS IT OFF SO MUCH?!" Grace screamed from a distance.

Upon hearing Grace's scream, the four at the temple turned towards one of the pathways coming from the treeline. Out in the distance they saw the quartet of Grace, Marcus, Tiffany and Krystal. Unfortunately, they were being hunted by a Giant Nevermore. The four of them sprinted towards the abandoned temple, trying to avoid the Nevermore's dive attacks.

"Less- talking! *pant* *pant* More running!" Krystal forced out, yelling at Grace.

"Oh my god- That's Grace, Marcus and Krystal!" Amber yelled, recognizing the group using her semblance.

"GRACE?!" Shannon and Lyla said, glancing at each other in shock.

Realizing the immediate danger, Cyril removed his blade as quickly as he could, prepping it for battle. He reached for his belt, grabbing a magazine. He swiftly loaded it into his sword, activating the effects of the new found element, lightning dust.

"Amber, lets buy them some time, think you can do that for me?" Cyril asked, turning to his partner.

"Already a step ahead of you Cyril!" she smirked in reply, bow already in hand.

He nodded at his partner then sped in the quartet's direction. Without a second thought, Shannon readied the Sunbreakers and ran after Cyril. Next, Amber launched off three arrows at the Nevermore soaring in the distance, clipping its wings.

The ebony bird screeched in pain then ascended into the sky. Like a dive bomber, the Grimm swooped swiftly downwards. Trying to capture it's prey in it's talons, the bird sped at Grace.

Having a slight glance back, Marcus noticed the sudden change in the Grimm's speed. "GET DOWN!" Marcus yelled as he recognized the threat, knocking his partner to the ground.

He laid on top of Grace, protecting her from harms way as the giant Nevermore flew over head. Any second too late and the Nevermore would have been closer to decapitating the two. So either Marcus was pretty damn good at noticing ambushes, or he had the reaction time of a god. Either way Grace figured she was pretty damn lucky.

"Get up you two, it's coming back around!" Shannon yelled, running towards the two on the ground.

Looking up from under Marcus' shoulder Grace yelled in relief, "Cyril! Shannon!"

"We'll distract it." -Lifting up Marcus and Grace, Cyril commanded- "We'll distract it. You guys regroup with the others at the templ-"

Snarls and growls filled the already tense air, cutting off Cyril. Out from the tree line, came a pack of Grimm.

"Boarbatusk?!" Shannon snarled, spooling up her wrist-minigun.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

-A/N-

Ecru Modena and Noir Raven are from Aab0289's OC Fanfic, Team MNCE! Please go check it out and give it a read! It'll give some context to why they're on Ozpin's watchlist. ;)