"Attention, students," Glynda Goodwitch said on the stage in the Meeting Area.
All of the students stopped their chatter.
"I have an announcement," Glynda Goodwitch said, "We have a field trip tomorrow, to the Forest of Forever Fall, so you must all be prepared."
"The Forest of Forever Fall?" Samuel asked, "What's that?"
"It's a forest that resembles the fall season year-round," Fox said.
"So make sure you all get some rest," Glynda Goodwitch said, "You are all dismissed."
The school bell rang and the students left the Meeting Area.
"A field trip," Rachael said, "We haven't been on one before."
"Really?" Velvet asked, "That's hard to believe."
"Our school was different," Rachael said, "Not nearly as cool as this place."
"So, Velvet, how's your project coming along?" Danielle asked.
"It's going well," Velvet replied, "Thanks for asking."
The two teams came to an intersection, turned to the right and ran into Max Sentinel.
"Hey, Max," Samuel said.
Max's sign said: "Hello, Team SWRD, I see you made some new friends."
"Yeah, this is team CFVY; we met them two weeks ago." Samuel replied, "They're cool."
The words: "Interesting. So, are you all ready for the field trip?" appeared on the sign.
"Yeah," Samuel said.
"We're ready," Coco said.
The sign now read "I have some news for you, I'm going to be chaperoning the second-year teams on the field trip, your team and Team CFVY included."
"Wait, we're a first-year team, what are we doing with the second-year teams?" Danielle asked.
Max's sign's screen now said "Glynda Goodwitch said that she had too many students on her hands, so she assigned you four to me."
"I guess that's cool," Rachael said, "Now we can talk with you guys some more."
Max changed his sign's words to "I hope to see you there."
The two teams made their way to their respective dorm rooms.
"Who here is excited for the field trip?" Rachael asked her teammates.
"I am," William said.
"Me too," Samuel said.
Danielle was being quiet.
"Danielle, are you listening?" Samuel asked.
"Huh?" Danielle asked, "Oh, yeah, I'm excited too."
"Danielle, what's on your mind?" Samuel asked.
"I'm just…I'm thinking about The Black Talon," Danielle said, "They've been searching for us for seven years, and now they've found us."
"Yeah, so?" Samuel asked.
"I don't think they'll stop at anything to eliminate us," Danielle said, "And that worries me."
"How so?" Rachael asked.
"They won't care about innocents caught in the crossfire," Danielle said.
"That reminds me of what Professor Port said a while back," Samuel said, "He said that Huntsmen and Huntresses were made to protect those who cannot protect themselves."
"That didn't help at all," Danielle said, "You just told me that this is going to be much harder than I originally thought."
"No…I mean that…" Samuel said.
"Besides, we're not Huntsmen or Huntresses," Danielle said, "We're just a group of runaways."
"Okay, we're not exactly runaways, but I get the gist of what you're saying." Samuel said, "You've got a point, Danielle, but just because we haven't graduated, doesn't mean that we can't protect people."
"I get what you're saying," Danielle said, "But it doesn't make me feel any better."
"Here, Danielle, how about you try to sleep the idea away?" Samuel asked, "We all need the rest anyways."
Danielle fell asleep minutes later; and she finally stopped thinking about the problem of not being able to protect people. And everything was calm until morning.
"Guys, wake up!" Rachael said.
Danielle opened her eyes and saw that it was now morning.
"That night flew by," Danielle thought.
"Come on, Danielle," Rachael said, "The field trip starts in an hour, so get ready."
After getting ready for the day, the foursome made their way to the courtyard.
"Hey, Team CFVY," Samuel said waving to their friends.
"Hello," Velvet replied.
"Good morning, students," Glynda Goodwitch said standing in front of a transport ship, "As all of you know, we're having a field trip to the Forest of Forever Fall. The students will be divided by which grade you're in. That being said, First-year students will go with me. Second-year students will go with Max Sentinel, Third-year students are with Professor Port and Fourth-year students are to be with Professor Oobleck."
The three other teachers mentioned by Goodwitch boarded the transport.
"All students must board the transport," Glynda Goodwitch said.
The students boarded the transport and it went off to the Forest of Forever Fall, when they landed, teams SWRD and CFVY joined up with Max Sentinel.
"This place is beautiful," Rachael said.
"Max, what are we looking for here?" a second-year student asked.
Max's sign changed to say "Your objective here is to collect one jar of red tree sap per student; I'm here to make sure that the Grimm here don't kill any of you."
"Come on, team," Coco said, "Let's go find some sap."
"Is it fine if we tag along with you guys?" William asked.
"Sure, go ahead," Coco said, "The more the merrier."
The two teams found a large cluster of red trees and started collecting the sap.
"This stuff smells great," William said, almost drooling over the sap.
"Uh…William, are you okay?" Rachael asked.
"He's a bear Faunas," Danielle said, "And bears really like sweet stuff."
"Go get your own sap, William," Rachael said hiding her jar of sap from William, "I don't like the way you're eying my jar."
Danielle's and Velvet's ears twitched.
"Did you hear that?" Danielle asked.
"No, what was it?" Samuel asked.
"It sounded like something…mechanical," Velvet said.
"Mechanical?" Coco asked, "Nobody lives in these woods."
"I think I see something," Rachael said, pointing to a shadow amongst the trees.
"Who is that?" Samuel asked.
The two teams got closer to the shadow and saw that it was one of the robot soldiers from the Emerald Forest.
"The Black Talon?" Samuel asked, "What are they doing here?"
"The Black Talon? Aren't they the ones who attacked you back in the Emerald Forest?" Velvet asked.
"Yes," Samuel said, "You four go get Max Sentinel; we'll track this robot back to its base."
"Okay, good luck," Coco said as she and her team ran off to get Max Sentinel.
"We can't lose this target," Samuel said, "We owe The Black Talon for our troubled past."
The foursome followed the robot around, almost being spotted once or twice, until they came to a huge cliff face.
"What's the robot doing here?" Samuel asked.
The robot turned side-to-side, to make sure nobody was around, and pressed a segment of the cliff face in and a hidden door opened up.
"What?" the foursome asked.
The robot went into the base and the door closed behind him.
"We have to go in and see what's going on," Samuel said.
"We should leave a marker for Team CFVY and Max," Danielle said.
"None of us happen to be carrying a pen around," William said.
"I got an idea, we can use the red tree sap to mark the door and the button," Rachael said.
The foursome marked the door and button with the sap and wrote the words "Secret door, press button to open" on the wall.
"Let's head on in," Samuel said.
"But remember, be cautious," Danielle said.
William pressed the button, and then they went through the door, Samuel first, Danielle second, Rachael third and William last. The door closed behind the foursome and left the hall they entered completely black.
"I can't see anything," Samuel said, "Could you guys help me out here?"
"Take my hand," Danielle said, "We'll lead you through this."
The foursome made their way down the hall and entered a brightly lit up room that was as big as an industrial warehouse, and it was filled with robot soldiers, crudely-designed mechsuits, many militaristic vehicles and human workers.
"What is this?" William asked as the group hid behind some metal boxes.
"I don't know," Rachael said, "But we need to get out of here."
"I didn't see any exit switch, so I think that that is hidden too," Danielle said.
"I just hope the others find us before these guys do," Samuel said.
"Uh…yeah…about that…" William said.
"What did you do?" the others asked.
"I ate the tree sap!" William loudly whispered.
"What?!" the others asked.
"I couldn't help it!" William whispered, "You can't trust me with guarding food or with not eating sweets."
"Great," Samuel said, "Now we're trapped and on our own, 'best' field trip ever."