Erin squinted as the wind whistled past his face. He saw the green canopy of the Emerald Forest approaching fast. Reacting quickly, he pulled Lumberjack out of its holster in shotgun form, loaded with some gravity dust and began firing it to slow his descent. As he began to see tree branches flying past, he switched Lumberjack to its axe form and with a powerful swing, buried the blade in a passing tree.
"Alright, landing is done. Now to find the relics." Erin muttered.
'And a partner.' he added as an afterthought.
He got down from the tree and began trudging through the woods. It wasn't too hard walking through the brush, even without an outlined path. Then again, he was quite used to walking through the forests back at the Island of Patch.
Suddenly, he heard a noise. A voice. And a quite beautiful one at that.
"Damn it! Where is that thing?"
Stepping closer, Erin managed to identify the voice as that of a girl.
"Maybe that way? No, that's not it."
When he finally found the owner of the voice, he saw it was a faunus girl with fish fins coming out of her forearms. Her hair was dark red with turquoise streaks and just barely reached her shoulders. Her clothes, a maroon tunic and a turquoise sash around her waist, were clearly meant to facilitate movement rather than provide armor. She was pacing around in a clearing, obviously having no idea where to go.
"Lost?" Erin asked as he leaned against a nearby tree.
The girl looked over at him, turquoise blue meeting forest green.
"I would like to say no, but I'm pretty sure you've noticed that's not the case." she said.
"I saw the temple while we were falling, but now I have no idea where it is! I'm used to less trees."
"Mind if I help you with that? Seeing as we're now partners." Erin asked.
The girl looked confused for a second before she remembered Professor Ozpin's words.
"Right, eye contact. Sure, why not. It's not like I'm gonna get anywhere on my own." she decided.
Erin nodded before stepping away from the tree to examine the trunk. He remembered a very useful trick to navigate forests by using lichens. By looking at the side of a tree where lichens grew, one could determine which direction was north.
"Alright, north is that way. Now, the cliff should be to the south, so that way. The Forest Temple was slightly to the east, which means it should be that way." he calculated out loud.
The girl simply stared at him in amazement.
"You got all that just from looking at a tree?" she inquired.
"Yup. It's an old navigation trick. I can explain it to you later."
Suddenly, they heard a loud growl. It was still far away, but that probably would not be the case for much longer.
"Grimm?" the girl asked.
"I think so. We should get moving before it gets closer." Erin decided.
"I'm Erin, by the way."
"I'm Neli. Nice to meet you." she replied.
"Likewise."
*
After the launch, Bianca was counting herself lucky that she had gotten to the ground unscathed. Everything was going fine until that blonde girl, she had heard Ruby calling her Yang, had blasted past and obliterated the ice ramp she was planning on using to get to the ground. She was then forced to quickly switch to fire dust to clear some tree branches before loading another ice dust crystal to rebuild the ramp. To say it was nerve wracking would be an understatement. Not to mention a waste of two perfectly good dust crystals. She didn't want to be part of the fun police like the Schnee heiress, but she would definitely have to give Yang a word when she saw her again.
Regardless, now she had to find her way to the Forest Temple, collect a relic and find a partner. Easy enough.
Suddenly, as she walked towards what she assumed was her desired destination, Bianca heard some rustling and growling behind her. She turned to see a boar-like Grimm coming out of the bushes. A Boarbatusk. It locked its gaze onto her began scraping the ground as if preparing to charge.
"Right, opposition." Bianca muttered, unsheathing Paragon from her back.
The Boarbatusk growled and charged at the huntress, eager to bury its tusks in her flesh. Bianca quickly jumped over the charging Grimm and attempted to cut its back. Unfortunately, the blade simply glanced off without doing any apparent damage.
"Huh? That's not what usually happens." Bianca commented as she glanced between her sword and the Grimm.
The Grimm didn't seem to care much. It was quick to lunge at her again in an attempt to skewer her. In response, Bianca swiftly dodged to the side, letting the Boarbatusk speed past her. As she did, she noticed the bone plates that covered its back. That was why she hadn't managed to cut it. In contrast, its underbelly was completely exposed.
'I've got you now.' she thought.
The Boarbatusk turned back to face her, enraged by not being able to hit this annoying target. Bianca switched her sword to a reverse grip, almost taunting the creature by placing herself so openly.
The Grimm took the bait and charged again, this time curling into a ball and rolling towards its target at high speed. Bianca smirked. Just before it could hit her, she activated her semblance. The creature slammed head first into the shimmering blue barrier and was thrown onto its back. With its underbelly exposed, Bianca was quick to bury Paragon in the Boarbatusk's flesh.
She took a deep breath before removing the blade from the disintegrating corpse. She then sighed as she heard a roar behind her. She turned around, now simply annoyed, to see an Ursa, a large bear-like Grimm glaring at her.
"You want a piece too?" she asked.
The Ursa roared before it was interrupted. It slumped forward, an arrow buried in the back of its head. Behind it stood the one and only Yale Iliad, Ithaca in bow form in his hand.
"Do you require assistance, fair lady?" he asked jokingly.
Bianca shook her head with a smile.
"I had it handled."
*
Erin and Neli stopped as they heard another growl. This one sounded a lot louder than before.
"Sounds like they're getting closer." Neli noted.
"They are." Erin pointed out.
Suddenly, he caught sight of something moving in the brush.
"There's something here." he warned, pulling Lumberjack out in shotgun form.
Neli followed his example and pulled out her war fans, Dusk and Dawn. Then, a Beowolf jumped out of the bushes, growling at the two partners.
"Great. I hate Beowolves." Erin grumbled.
"It's two on one. We've got this." Neli replied.
As if they had heard her, seven more Beowolves came out of the woods.
"Never mind." she corrected.
"They're just Beowolves. We've still got this." Erin said.
Suddenly, a much larger Grimm stepped out from between the trees. It looked like a bunch of rocks that had come to life. The center rock had a face with a single eye. A Petra Gigas.
"Do we still got this?" Neli asked.
"I don't think so." Erin answered.
"Any ideas?"
"Run for our lives?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Okay. RUN!"
The two quickly turned around and legged it, praying that the Grimm wouldn't be able to keep up with them.
*
It didn't take long for Bianca and Yale to find the Forest Temple. They also quickly noticed they weren't the only ones there.
"Hey, guys!"
The two of them looked to the left to see Yang and the black haired girl with a bow. Blake, she had heard yesterday before bed.
"You made it too." Yang said happily.
"Yes. But please, watch where you land next time. You nearly sent me flying again." Bianca told her.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't notice it was you." Yang apologized as she scratched the back of her head sheepishly.
Yale turned to the ruined temple.
"Think this is it?" he asked.
Blake gave him a deadpanned look and walked down towards the temple. The others looked at each other and collectively shrugged before following her. Once they got down, they noticed several pedestals, each with a figure on it.
"Chess pieces?" Blake questioned.
"Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here." Yang noticed.
Bianca glanced around to see the blonde was correct.
"So, each pair picks one?" she suggested.
Yang was quick to walk over to one of the pedestals. She picked up a golden knight piece and examined it before turning towards Blake.
"How about a cute little pony?" she asked.
Blake smirked.
"Sure."
Yale in turn chose a golden bishop.
"What do you think, Bianca?"
Bianca shrugged.
"Heh, why not." she answered.
"That wasn't too hard." Yang commented.
"Well, this place isn't exactly difficult to find." Yale pointed out.
Suddenly, a loud high pitched scream caught their attention.
"Some girl's in trouble! Guys, did you hear that?" Yang said.
Yale quickly nodded, signaling that he had heard it too. However, Blake and Bianca were looking upwards instead.
"Blake, Bianca, did you hear that? What should we do?" Yang asked again.
Yale was about to ask why they weren't answering, when another scream cut him off.
"Heads uuUUUP!"