So what was it? Where DID I go wrong? As far as I'm concerned I did everything right. So...if there was just one thing I've regretted about the way I've lived my life...everything that I've done up until this very moment...

"AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGH!"

It's that I'm dying.

My body sailed through the air as the wind screamed past me. My clothes restlessly fluttering because of the current's influence. Below me lied a beautiful verdant forest chock full of deadly grimm. But right now where I was going wasn't the immediate problem, it was HOW!

"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!" My mouth screamed out curses as I tried to prevent myself from becoming the world's most attractive pancake. Damn it! Now's not the time for jokes!

Briefly closing my eyes, I tried to calm myself for a moment. "Think. How are you going to fix this?"

My right hand still clenched the silver and purple spear. 'How do I slow my descent? Wedge the spear into a tree? No, the recoil might tear my arms off. Stab into a tree and slide to reduce my momentum? I don't have that kind of skill.' My index finger brushed over the small button on the handle of the weapon. The claw really was my only option. But I have to wait until I'm ABSOLUTELY sure I can hit a sturdy enough part of a tree. Something that's quite difficult for someone of my skill level. If I panicked and messed this up, there wouldn't be a second chance...

Opening my eyes, a nauseous fear permeated my body as the ground continued its mad dash towards me. And I did the most difficult thing possible for someone in my position...I waited. The wind blasted at my eyes causing tears to form around the edges. But I waited. The indistinguishable hunk of green below quickly became a more detailed form of trees. A cold sweat formed on my motionless body as my mind screamed at me to do something, making it very difficult to keep my composure. It was as though time had slowed down in response to my potential death. And while I was grateful for this, the experience was absolutely maddening.

"NOW!" My right arm shot forward holding the spear and pressed the button. Immediately the bottom of the spear opened up firing the claw which dug deep into a thick branch.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOA!"

My downward plummet started to become a curved swing. Barely missing the ground by a couple of feet, the momentum of my swing carried me into an upward arc, with my back to the ground and my face skyward.

*CRACK*

There was a splintering sound as the claw had ripped out a chunk of the branch because of my swing. "Oh dear..." I fell, crashing through several thin branches before my back slammed into a thick one finally stopping me. "Ow..." I lay there for a second before shaking my head and pushing myself up, putting the claw back into place. "Well, any landing you can walk away from is a good one I suppose."

Good news, I didn't plummet to my death. Now I can look forward to being ripped apart by grimm. Steadying myself by placing a hand on the trunk, I looked at the enormous expanse of the forest before me. "You know, when it's not threatening to kill you, this forest can be pretty beautiful." Alright, enough sightseeing.

'I need to find a way to get out of this exam. Ozpin and the other staff are watching me right now on those monitors so if I were to give up, would they come and rescue me?"

Remembering what Glynda and Ozpin had said, this didn't seem likely...

*"Can't this wait? You'll ruin the assignment of teams if the number isn't divisible by four."

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene."*

"Goddamn it!" Why?! Why isn't there an option to give up?! This is just cruel, the only options here are to pass or die! The point of an exam is to see if you're ready, not to kill you if you aren't! "Okay...let's try and calm down..." Screaming about the lack of common sense here isn't going to get me out of this forest, I need to get my team started. If there's at least one capable student with me, I have a chance of making it out of this mess. 'I just need to find someone...anyone...'

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Huh?" I looked up to see Jaune tumbling through the air, much like how I was a moment ago. "When I said anyone, I meant anyone BUT Jaune! Fine, whatever, Pyrrha will save him like last time. And when she does I can just add her to my team as well." Pyrrha will have to babysit TWO incompetent students instead of one, but I guess it's better than nothing...

'Any second now Pyrrha will spring into action.'

Jaune continued to yell as he dropped.

'I'm...sure it'll happen at any moment...'

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

*Sigh* "Why me..."

Hoisting the spear to my shoulder like a rocket launcher and squinting one eye, I fired the claw at Jaune's descending figure. The metal talon just barely missing my target and ending up on his left side. "I really need to practice with this th-URK!" Jaune had reached out and grabbed onto the chain next to him for all that he was worth. Well, that didn't go as planned but, whatever works. "URGH!" Aero's arms bulged and strained at the falling weight, just barely able to turn his fall into a swing.

"WHOOOOOOA!"

Unfortunately, his momentum proved to be too much, as I was yanked off my thick branch, causing me and Jaune to be sent tumbling to the ground. No good deed goes unpunished it seems.

"Whew, thought I was a goner." Jaune said standing up and dusting himself off. "Hey, thanks for the help back there."

"Sure, whatever." I wasn't planning on sticking around.

"Ah! Wait up!" Jaune called after my retreating figure.

"Don't follow me."

"Huh? Wait, aren't we supposed to be on a team? I mean you kinda just fished me from the sky just now."

"Ozpin said those who make eye contact would be put on a team together. Since your eyes and mine haven't met yet, technically I don't have to join up with you. I only have to join up with people whose eyes I see."

I might be acting like a douche, but Jaune isn't exactly someone I can count on to protect me. We can only have four members on a team, and if that team included me who was already weak, AND Jaune, then half of the team would already be pretty unreliable. I had hoped that Pyrrha would save him like before so I could follow her, but it seems my meddling with the timeline has made a few small changes to it. But before I can even THINK about trying to save Vale, I'll need to make sure that I survive first. "So don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want you with me." I turned around, hoping that was the end of that, however...

"Wait! Don't leave me behind!"

'Man this guy's persistent.'

"So, can I ask you a question?" Jaune continued, refusing to take a hint. "You saw what happened back there with Weiss in the locker room right?"

"You mean when you got speared to the wall?"

"Yeah...that...anyway, what did I do wrong? My dad said all women look for is confidence."

"Jaune, there's a difference between being confident and being annoying." Like right now for example. "Weiss can be...temperamental at times. If she doesn't already have a good opinion of you or if you don't pique her interest, your conversation probably won't go that well with her. I mean, would you be attracted to some random girl who got in your face saying how great she was?"

"Probably not." he sighed. "Any suggestions?"

"Do I look like a love guru to you?"

"Well, I was just hoping that-"

"Look." I turned around keeping my eyes on Jaune's feet in order to avoid his eyes. "Can we talk about this LITERALLY any other time? This place isn't exactly safe and I don't want a grimm..." I paused as I noticed a shadow looming behind me, causing Jaune's face to become pale. "To...sneak up on us..."

There was only a brief moment of time, between looking up before the grimm attacked. I rolled forward as a large claw slashed down onto my previous spot. In front of me stood a tall black Beowulf with gleaming red eyes.

'Oh my god...'

The Beowulf roared and charged at me. I dodged one of its claw strikes, as the other smacked me right across the face knocking me down. Rushing in, it opened its mouth revealing rows of sharp teeth, clamping down towards me.

"Grrrrr..."

I quickly held out my spear as the rod part of it separated me from the Beowolf's fangs. The creature snarled still gnawing on the spear handle between us still trying to get to me. Its glowing eyes bore into my mind like red hot coals. 'What do I do?! What am I supposed to do?!' My mind froze up, unable to do anything else but try and keep the snarling beast mere inches away from ripping me to shreds.

"I gotcha Aero!"

Jaune ran in with a shout causing the creature to turn its head. The Beowolf roared in anger as Jaune slashed at its forearm. He raised his shield as a blow came from the grimm making him stagger. Seeing that the beast was distracted, I scrambled to my feet, immediately running in the opposite direction.

"Wait! Where are you going!?" Jaune cried in confusion.

"RUN!"

Jaune hesitated for a moment before sheathing his sword and sprinting alongside me with the beowolf hot on our trail. The two of us kept running, but the sounds behind us kept getting louder with each passing minute. The grimm growled before crouching down and leaping into the air, landing right in front of me.

'Oh no...'

"Aero look out!"

Seeing the grimm raise its claws I let out a panicked yell, shutting my eyes tightly and swinging the spear in my hand as hard as I could, expecting the worst. But instead of feeling the pain, there was a heavy thud at the end of my weapon. Opening my eyes, I watched as the beowolf sailed backward from the attack before crashing into a tree with a yelp.

"Did...did I do that...?"

The grimm lay there for a moment before shaking its head. Climbing to it's feet and letting out a bone-chilling roar before charging at me. Legs still shaking, I raised my spear again, when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a faint gleam as something shot past me. A hunk of metal almost the size of my head slammed down onto the Beowolf's skull with a disturbing crunch.

"Whoo-hoo!" The culprit stood triumphantly on the grimm's corpse as it disintegrated. Mint-colored eyes and tangerine-colored hair, Nora gave her work a small nod before turning to me. "Hee hee, sorry." she said with a huge grin plastered on her face. "I know you had that one but I couldn't help myself. I mean it's been so long since I've seen any action, like really long. Well maybe not TOO long but a pretty long time."

I shakily collapsed on the grass, still preoccupied with what had occurred to listen to her rambling. 'That was close...if Nora hadn't shown up, who knows what might have happened! I just barely started here in this world, and I've come close to dying three times already! How many more times is this going to happen? Did I really come here just to run around and have people protect me?!'

I looked at Nora who was still happily rambling on as if the grimm that had attacked earlier was nothing more than a rowdy kitten. When would I get that level of composure? That level of confidence.

"Whoa!" Nora turned around and saw Jaune. "Looks like I found two teammates for the price of one! Talk about a bargain. Hello everyone, I'm Nora Valkyrie, teammate #3! So, what's your name?"

"Me?" Jaune asked a little surprised "I'm Jaune Arc, that's Aero over there. Hey, thanks for your help earlier."

"Psht, it was nothing."

"Nora."

The orange-haired girl looked in my direction as I called her name. "Yes, new teammate?"

I walked forward, lifting my spear and hacking at a decent-sized branch in a tree above me causing it to fall. "I want you to hit me." I said, handing the branch out to her. The two of them both looked at me in confusion.

"How exactly does this help us?" Jaune asked

"Yeah, we're supposed to be doing that to the GRIMM, not each other, like your enthusiasm though."

"No, I need you to hit me with this branch okay?"

I wasn't trained like the other students. I'm still afraid of pain and the idea of getting hit. Well, so is every other huntsman but...I'm a lot more afraid. However, I still have the aura and body of a huntsman. It's like if a gun expert was given a combat knife instead. They would be a lot less effective than before, but they could still put up a fight. I wasn't helpless, I just...don't know how to use the tools I'd been given.

Nora looked at the branch club I gave her with uncertain eyes. "And you're SURE you want me to hit you?"

"Yes." I planted my feet in the ground, dropping my weapon and trying to keep my arms at my side. "Whenever you're ready." If I can stand here, knowing I'm gonna be hit and still watch it as it happens, I might get closer to getting over my fear.

"Alright, if you say so." A wild smile appeared on her face, raising the thick branch over her head as if it were her hammer. A frightening image for anyone who actually knew Nora.

'It's okay...you got this...don't move. Watch the attack as it happens. You've got aura so it shouldn't hurt that bad...probably.' Despite trying to reassure myself, I was putting my trust in aura. Something that as far as I knew, didn't exist in my world, so that wasn't very reassuring. A familiar fear gripped my chest as I saw the club come crashing down. Instinctively closing my eyes, and jumping back.

*THWAK!*

There was a smashing sound as the branch hit the ground. Nora looked at the spot where I'd jumped back with a confused expression.

"Dang it. Sorry Nora...let's try that again."

"Huh? Aero I thought you WANTED to be hit."

Jaune shook his head. "We should get going."

"No, wait! One more chance! I won't move this time! I promise!"

Nora glanced at Jaune and shrugged, walking over to me and bringing up the branch yet again. I watched as the piece of wood turned into a blur that shot towards me.

'Don't move! Don't move! DO! NOT! MOVE!'

Once again, my vision went black as I closed my eyes and covered my face. Only this time I stood my ground, feeling something smack my arms, leaving a slight stinging sensation. But...it barely hurt at all. "That's...it?" Despite knowing my aura would take most of the damage, I was still surprised that it had actually worked. My legs were trembling and my heart beat like crazy. I mean, I wasn't supposed to block her swing, but I didn't retreat this time! It'd felt like I took an actual step forward! "AGAIN!" I shouted, looking at Nora excitedly.

"You got it!" Nora seemed to be having fun with hitting me...a little too much fun honestly. She swung the branch in rapid succession, striking my face, legs, shoulders, and a few other spots. There was barely any pain at all, I don't know why I was so scared in the first place! I've got a force field!

"HA HA HA!" I happily laughed raising my arms with the rain of blows coming down on me before the branch broke in Nora's hands.

"Shhh." Jaune quietly hushed putting a finger to his lips and looking around. "Can we go now?"

"Oh...right. Sorry." I coughed in embarrassment, following Jaune with Nora asked trailing next to me.

You know, I'd forgotten something since I came here. I'm talking to Jaune and Nora, like REALLY talking to them. Two days I'd only dreamed of such a thing, and now here I am. It's actually too bad...if wasn't in danger I might be a bit happier chatting with them. "Try and keep your voices down from here on. We were attacked by only a single grimm last time. It was probably just a scout with others nearby."

"Psht." Nora said dismissively waving a hand. "Don't worry about them, we can handle those things easy peasy."

"Speak for yourself Nora." Aura shield or not, I'm not gonna go looking around for grimm to fight. "The point of this exercise is to get our relic and find team members. No matter how many grimm we kill, it won't help us. It'll just take our energy, not to mention draw more attention from other grimm."

"Uggggggh. Finnnnnnnnnnnnnne." Nora groaned and slumping her head forward.

Suddenly off in the distance explosions could be heard. This caused Nora to immediately perk up, her eyes practically shining. "Did you hear that?! Come on, let' go check it out!

"Wait what about that talk about avoiding the grimm?" Jaune said spreading his arms

"That fight means we'll find more grimm but it also means we might find a teammate. No time to lose!" Nora shouted enthusiastically running forward. She sprung upwards catching her hammer on a branch and flipping onto it before continuing to run. The sounds of battle got louder as we approached the scene. Running through the bushes, countless small branches slowed me down and pulled at my clothes. When we reached a clearing, I caught sight of a familiar blonde girl currently giving a flurry of blows to a large bear-like grimm.

'Jackpot! I managed to find Yang again.'

Yang's eyes flickered to us and a sly smile crossed her face. All of the sudden, Yang became much showier in her attacks, now that she had an audience. She stopped her savage blows, doing a flip in the air as she jerked her arms, causing her shotgun gauntlets to fire. The recoil accelerated her spin as brought the heel of her leg down on the back of the grimm's head with terrifying momentum, even bringing the large Ursa minor to the ground and briefly stunning it. All this happened in only a second. With one final punch, the grimm fell apart under her strike and disappeared.

'Wow...'

My body froze as Yang walked right up to me. Extending a hand, her two fingers went under my chin and closed my mouth, which was embarrassingly enough, hanging open from shock at her earlier feat. Something I'd wished I'd noticed much earlier...

"You like what you see?" Yang asked chuckling.

"V-very much so..."

"Yang that was awesome! Did you SEE that spin kick?!" A familiar childish voice cried out.

"I know right?!" Nora said responding with equal enthusiasm.

I blinked in surprise at that voice as Ruby jumped up in excitement. Wait how long had Ruby been standing there?

"Yep." Yang cracked her knuckles "Looks like I still know how to please em." she turned to me. "Guess we'll be seeing each other more often as a team huh?" Yang said looking at me and Nora.

'On a team? But how could the five of us...wait where's Jaune? We must've left him behind on accident. Oh! Yang thinks it's just me and Nora!' "Yep, a great team! Me, you, Ruby, Nora, and no one else!" What would our team name be I wonder? Yang, Nora, Ruby, and Aero...YARN?

"Guh!" All four of us turned our heads as Jaune fell out of the bushes panting. "Sorry for...*huff* the holdup, I...*huff* accidentally tripped and lost sight of you guys."

"Jaune?" Ruby said making a peculiar face.

"Oh, Ruby hi."

"There you are." Nora walked over to the exhausted Jaune and gave him a friendly slap on the back. "I was wondering where you'd wandered off to."

"Wait so, he's already with you two?" Yang asked. "You guys have three members on your team right now?"

"Yep!" Nora chirped before I could stop her.

"Wait, so, how would this work?" Ruby responded tilting her head.

"I'm...not sure." An unexpected loophole in Ozpin's exam rules. We're supposed to join up with whoever we make eye contact with, but the members on a team have to equal four. This means my team of three can't join up with Yang's team of 2 or else we'd be breaking the number rule. But if we don't join up, then we'd be breaking the eye contact rule... Worst case scenario, only one team is composed of four members and everyone else accidentally ends up in groups of three. "Either way we end up breaking the rules." I said shaking my head. "We should part ways for now, there's really nothing we can do."

"Yeah, I don't think it's possible to join our members like this." Ruby said frowning. "Anyway, me and Yang are gonna make a beeline towards the end. Yang thinks that some of the more talented students will be there if they've gotten there first. Guess we'll see you guys later?"

"Yeah, I guess we'll probably move ahead at our own pace. By the way, we haven't met yet, have we? I'm Aero." I said extending a hand towards her.

"Ruby." she said taking it after a slight hesitation.

I noticed with some surprise that Ruby's small hands were covered with callouses over her fingers and palms as I studied them. Her hands felt a lot rougher than I thought they would.

"Um..." I looked up at Ruby who was wearing an uncomfortable expression. "Can I have my hand back now?"

"Er, sorry..."

"Aw, my baby sis made a new friend!" Yang cooed.

"Yang!"

"Heh, seems like Ruby's pretty lucky to have a sister like you."

"I guess..." Ruby said doubtfully.

"Glad SOMEONE finally gets it." Yang said resting her arm on her sister's head before smiling at me. "Aero right? I'll see you around. Come on Ruby."

"Bye everyone, good luck Jaune."

Ruby shot off into a direction at an impressive speed with her sister tagging along.

"Hehe, she said she'll see me around..." Nora looked at me and then turned to the retreating Yang before back at me once more. Her eyes narrowed before waving her hand back in front of my face to catch my attention.

"What?"

"Nothing..." she said innocently, trying to hide a goofy grin.

"Anyway." Nora said, changing the topic. "I just remembered something! Our secret call we planned in advance!"

"Your secret call? I don't follow..."

"Yeah me either."

"Don't worry guys." Nora said with a mischievous grin. "I've got a secret signal that'll make someone come to US." Nora cupped her hands in front of her mouth like a megaphone. "Qrrrraawwww..." she cried out softly "Qrrrraaah..."

Wait, is Nora doing that stupid sloth call she told Ren about? She can't be serious. "Uh Nora, what are you doing?" Jaune asked

"SHHHH!" Nora hissed. "I'm using my secret call." she cupped her hands again. "Qrrrrrraaaaaaawwww."

I facepalmed shaking my head. "This is a waste of time."

"Qrrrrrrawwww."

A few minutes passed with Nora doing that call. Aside from a few birds, it was completely quiet causing Nora's head to droop. "Maybe the reception's not that strong in this forest..."

"Yeah...that's gotta be it..." I said giving her a small pat on the shoulder trying to console her.

"Alright...let's go." Nora sighed.

We all turned around to continue when there was a rustle in the bushes behind us. I immediately fumbled with my spear, quickly pulling it out in front of me while Jaune and Nora got into battle positions. The rustling got slowly louder as we waited in suspense.

"AAAAAAAAAGH!" Jaune let out a scared cry and raised his sword to charge in when Nora quickly reached out her arm to stop him.

"Wait!" At her urging, Jaune reluctantly stopped as the sound in the bushes got louder. Still holding our breath, out walked not a grimm, but a black haired teen with sharp violet eyes. Upon seeing us he lowered his weapons and his eyes flickered to Nora.

"Ren!" she happily yelled.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me!" How the hell did Ren find us?! Don't tell me he actually heard that ridiculous 'secret call' of theirs.

Nora bolted over to Ren with alarming speed, barely stopping in time and somehow managing not to crash into him. "Haha I knew it!" she yelled excitedly. "You heard my secret call!" Ren tilted his head and gave her a quizzical smile.

Now I know Ren has really good senses, but I don't think he heard us. It's more likely he heard the commotion with Yang and Ruby earlier and came to investigate. Nora however, ignored Ren's confused smile and yanked him over to meet us.

"Guys, meet our newest team member. Wait." she turned to him. "You don't have anyone else, right? Just you?" Ren smiled and gave a nod."YES! Our newest member."

"No complaints here." Ren is a skilled, perceptive student. With him around my chances of making it out of this exam alive are a lot better.

"Who is leading this group might I ask?" Ren said speaking up.

"Oh well...we actually don't have a leader..." Jaune said rubbing the back of his head. "We've kinda just been moving along trying to find the last of our teammates. Wait...how DO we choose a leader?"

"Doesn't matter." I said waving a hand dismissively. "Ozpin will figure that out. As long as we can work as a team and get the relic, we can all get out of this mess."

"Great. But uh...where ARE the relics?"

"That's...the part I'm not sure of..."

Ren pondered for a bit before running to the tallest tree. He jumped, kicking off of it to gain more height before sinking his bladed pistols into the bark. With one continuous movement, he pulled himself up and leaped off the pistols he embedded in the tree as a platform.

'Hot damn, when can I learn to move like that?'

With one final flip, he reached the near top of the tree and looked around for a moment before returning to us. "I can see an enormous clearing with many stone pillars not far from here. If we get there we should be able to obtain our relics."

"Alright Ren! You the man." I grinned and motioned for a high five.

Ren just stood there looking for at my hand for a moment before giving a small smile and walking off. Ah, I guess Ren's only buddy-buddy with Nora. Come to think of it, he didn't talk very much in the beginning of the series unless he thought it was necessary. Well, I guess that happens when your parents are killed in front of you and your only friend is an enormous chatterbox.

Nora put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't take it personally."

"I won't, I know Ren's just like that. He'll warm up later on."

Her brows raised. "Didn't you just meet him like 30 seconds ago?"

"I'm psychic." I said with a playful smirk.

Boy was THAT a bad idea. From then on she continued to pester me with countless questions about the future. I tried to ignore her, but that didn't work. Nora was already used to the silent treatment from Ren. So if anything, she took my silence as a reason to keep talking to me about the most ridiculous things. Good god woman, we're in a forest of deadly monsters. Surely you have more pressing matters than finding out what your future meal is going to be.

"C'mon Aero..." Nora persisted, not the least bit daunted by my ignoring her. "What color's my underwear?"

"Nora, if I'm right about your underwear you'll call me a pervert, and if I'm wrong you'll call me a fraud. I lose either way."

The orange-haired girl gasped. "You ARE psychic!"

"Hey look, there's the relic site!" Jaune said excitedly

"Oh thank god..."

An enormous stone ruin came into view, it looked like some sort of grand hall with over a dozen pedestals. This place had obviously seen better days, but looking at it, you could feel the history of this place, the wear, and tear of the ages. It wasn't the only ruins in the forest either, along the way there were several man-made objects in the forest which seemed to hint at an ancient civilization. Remarkably, each one of the pedestals still had its own pieces on them, not a single one of them was missing. It seems we were the first ones to arrive.

"Chess pieces." Ren said quietly.

"So then, we just pick whatever piece represents us or whatever?" We each walked forward taking our piece.

"Ooooh..." Nora stared at the rook with wide-eyed fascination before snatching it and dancing around with it on her head. "A castle! I am now your queen! Queen Nora!"

"What'd you pick Ren?" I asked turning to him. Ren opened his hand revealing a tall piece with a pointed top. "Nora the rook and Ren the bishop huh? Hmm. I think a rook suits Nora quite well." Rooks move in a straightforward manner, forward and back, left and right. It works for a simple girl like Nora.

"I picked this one." Jaune said holding up a pawn. "It's nice, it's simple...it's me."

"Jaune...have you ever played chess before?"

"No, why?"

"Um, well...never mind it's not that important."

"Don't keep us in suspense." Nora joked, lightly elbowing my side. "What'd YOU pick?"

"This one." I said showing a slightly large piece with a crown. "It's supposed to represent the king."

"Well someone thinks awful highly of themselves." Jaune chuckled.

"The opposite actually. I consider the king to be the second most useless piece in the game. It's not very effective on its own, it constantly needs to be protected and if it's taken, everything falls apart."

"That bad?" Jaune asked with surprise. What's the worst piece in chess?"

"Well..." My gaze shifted downward to the pawn in Jaune's hands.

"Oh..." Jaune sighed as his head drooped. "I don't suppose it's too late to change my mind?"

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"What?!" We all looked up in shock as a giant black crow-like grimm flew overhead. It didn't seem to notice our presence and kept on past us. Soon afterward, sounds of a desperate battle were heard right where the Nevermore had headed.

"Someone's in trouble! C'mon gang!" Nora led the charge, bringing us to a dense thicket of trees. Carefully peeking out, I saw Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Weiss huddle in a defensive circle with the Nevermore in front of them and an oversized black scorpion at their back.

"Wow." Yang said keeping her gauntlets raised and at the ready. "This situation looks pretty GRIMM huh?"

'Okay what's going on?! Why is everything so drastically different from how it was before?!'