"Field! Trip! Field! Trip!" Nora bounced on her bed, happily shouting. "Fieeeeelllllld! TRIP!" she did a flip off of the bed and landed on the ground, raising her arms.

"You're sure are excited about today." Jaune commented, watching the giddy girl in action.

"Well duh! I mean, Beacon is nice, but aside from our test in the entrance exam, its started to get SO boring here!" She groaned, falling backwards onto her mattress, as if to further prove her frustration.

"Well, I guess the classes have gotten a little repetitive." Jaune admitted. "I wouldn't say no to something new."

"Right?!" she turned to her scroll on the desk. "Ren, is Aero done yet? I sent you to get him like 10 minutes ago!"

Ren shook his head, turning the screen towards me in the field. "I'm afraid it's going to take a little longer."

"That was a good kick." Aero cracked his neck, and smiled. "I had forgotten how much I missed the heat of battle. I guess a person's nature doesn't change so easily..." Aero rushed forward at his opponent swinging his weapon diagonally. Mimicking Aero in the video, I slashed diagonally with the same timing. Reversing my swing, and quickly pressing the button on my weapon twice. Stopping the claw mid-shot, and using it as a flail. Keeping my fluid momentum going, I whirled my weapon, smashing towards an imaginary enemy with the flexible claw. "Wha?" there was a sound of surprise in the video as Aero's attack struck his opponent.

Alternating between the straight slashes from the spear blade, and curves attacks from the claw acting as a flail. Beads of sweat fell off my face as I carefully tried to synchronize my movements to Aero's. As I swung the weapon, my posture slightly faltered, causing the swinging claw to alter its course, just barely missing my head. I quickly corrected myself, moving back into the same position as Aero on the scroll.

"Phew..." I finally lowered the spear, wiping my face with the other hand.

"Aerooooo! Can you hear me?" Nora's voice echoed from Ren's scroll.

I sighed, picking up my scroll leaned against the tree, and turning to Nora. "Yes, I can hear you. And yes, I'm done. You know, the trip doesn't start for another hour right?"

"I know! I'm just so excited! But here you are watching the same old video for probably the millionth time. I don't get it, ever since you got that thing, you've been watching it non-stop. Do you really like watching yourself or something?"

Using Aero's battles as a reference to improve myself is FAR better for my training than just reading his journal. I'm able to see every move Aero makes and replay it over and over again until I get it right. The problem is, that it's a little strange for someone to watch a video about themselves over and over again. But I'm willing to endure a few odd looks from my teammates if it means catching up to the real Aero faster.

"Well, I was really just in the zone that day, you know. Have you ever have a really good day where you surprise yourself with how well you do? It's good to go over things and make sure you've got them down."

"If you say so..."

Back at the dorm, I changed out of my sweaty clothes, as the rest of ARJN was chatting among themselves.

"This will be our first outing as a team together." Jaune said looking at everyone. "Well, unless you count the entrance exam. And I uh...I don't exactly have very fond memories of that."

"Oh lighten up!" Nora chirped, slapping him on the back. "I'm sure it won't be too bad. OH! HEY! Why don't we ask our handy dandy psychic what he thinks today will be like? Like checking the weather man before a picnic."

All of the sudden, everyone's eyes shifted to me.

"Okay, first off, I resent being thought of like that..." I muttered.

"Come on." Nora grinned, lightly elbowing me. "You gotta have SOMETHING you know about today?"

I'm not so sure it's a good idea to give away knowledge of the future. Doing so tends to change it and make it more unpredictable. Then again, a lot of changes have already happened. Let's see, going by what happened in the show...

"There's going to be an unexpected grimm attack today. Probably."

"Probably? Do you not know? Also, is the attack really unexpected if you tell us it'll happen?"

"You wanted me to tell you something, so I did. Don't nag about the details."

"Aww. Yeah...I guess you're right."

I shook my head, opting to change the subject. "This is our first-ever field trip, did you buy a camera for the memories? You love making those right?"

Nora looked away with an embarrassed face, poking her two fingers together. "I uh...I don't really have very much money...never did."

'Ah, right, right. Nora's childhood hasn't exactly been a normal one.' I fished out Aero's wallet, handing her some lien.

"You're just...GIVING this to me?"

I smirked. "For the memories right? Make sure you take some good pictures to share."

"Yes sir!"

I watched as Nora ran off in a hurry to go buy a camera, before turning to Ren and Jaune. "C'mon you guys, we should get ready for the trip too."

Soon enough our class was ushered into the Forever Fall forest. As the name might imply the leaves of the forest were always a red color. Some of them were bright scarlet, others were a darker Maroon, or anything between. Leaves littered the ground, making soft crunching noises as we walked. There was a faint hint of sweetness in the air of the forest, likely from the sap hidden in the trees. Honestly, the endless flood of red on the ground, in the trees, and falling from the sky was beautiful, but also overwhelming...

"Alright class, gather around!" Port stroked his beard with one hand, while carrying an old-fashioned ax/rifle. "Haha! I know you're all as eager as I am to begin, but we must account for every student. Line up if you would."

At his request, the teams all formed a horizontal line in front of him while he counted everyone. "Alright, we're all accounted for!" the man merrily exclaimed.

'Wait, wasn't Glynda supposed to lead the students in Forever Fall?'

"Now!" Port clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention. "Rather than your ordinary teams, you shall be paired in groups of four up by the partners I've assigned you!"

"Say what?" I couldn't help but voice my astonishment. The other students also seemed rather startled, looking around at each other.

"Quiet down now, I shall assign today's teams. Come forth when I call your name!" The professor took out a piece of paper, reading off from it. "Sophie, Cardin, Nora, Blake!"

The four stepped forward when called. Sophie and Cardin looked irritated, both looking at each other with angry expressions. Wow, it didn't take long for THEM to start hating each other. Blake for her part looked rather awkward, while Nora on the other hand appeared to be happy just to be here.

"I hope today is a memorable moment for everyone that you'll never forget!" Port continued with his usual jovial cheer.

"That's what I'm afraid of..." Blake quietly murmured under her breath. She forced herself to smile as she and the other three were given jars to collect tree sap with.

"Next Team! Russel, Weiss, Raelin, Aero!"

The four of us stepped forward, receiving jars from Port and sent off into the forest. "Be careful now! The forest is teeming with grimm! It would be wise to stick with your members." Having said that, he returned to announcing the other groups.

I snuck a glance at Nora's team a short distance away. While our group probably wouldn't be having the best pairings, it was still definitely better than theirs.

"How can you be so bad at collecting this stuff?!" Sophie yelled. "You know we're stuck here together until we all hand in our jars right?"

"Shut up! It's not like you're any better at it!" Cardin shook his container at her which held a small amount of sap. "See this? At least I actually HAVE some! Your jar doesn't have any!"

"I already had my jar filled and done! But when I checked on it again later, it was suddenly empty! You're the one who dumped it out aren't you!?"

Sophie and Cardin fiercely argued back and forth, neither side giving an inch. Nora nervously looked away with purple sap on her lips, sheepishly wiping her face with her sleeves. Blake completely ignored the three of them, sitting alone with her jar already full. Clearly not wanting to get involved with this headache.

"Guys c'mon." Nora walked over to the two, trying to calm things. "It's not that bad, we just need more sap right? So how about instead of getting a little bit from the tree at a time, we get it all at once!"

The two stopped arguing, perking up at Nora's words. "All at once?" Sophie murmured. "Is that really possible?"

"Yeah! Watch this!" Nora pulled Magnhild off her back, transforming it into a hammer. Wait, is she going to do what I think she is...

"Smash!" Slamming her weapon into the tree, it practically exploded, sending countless leaves and most of the sap flying before being carried by the breeze. The smell in the air became even sweeter as the tree fell to the ground with a crash, a large hole in what remained of the trunk. "Aaaaaaand there." the energetic girl held her jar up to the sap pouring out of the hole in the tree, filling it to the top in an instant. "See? Easy peasy!"

"Now this is an idea I can get behind." Winding up as if his weapon was a bat, Cardin's weapon blasted another tree to pieces. Most of the sap flying off, but what remained of it was easily collected into his jar.

"Hah!" Sophie patted Nora on the back. "Not bad! I'm starting to like you! Slowly filling it to the top was taking too long anyway. Certainly a lot better than anything that blockhead Cardin could come up with."

Cardin's face wrinkled, dropping the jar and pulling out his mace. "You wanna go!? Don't think I'll hold back against you just because you're a girl!"

"Bring it on!" Sophie drew her tonfas, pointing one at Cardin. "I've been just ITCHING to shut you up for a long time now!"

Things looked like they were heating up in the group. Nora seemed to be at a loss, unsure of what to do. Blake stopped resting, opening one of her eyes to watch the two of them, but otherwise didn't interfere.

"Come on." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "We need to focus on our team right now, not theirs."

"Fair enough." Giving them one last look, from afar, I shook my head. "Good luck Nora, you're gonna need it..."

"Well..." Weiss said, breaking the silence, and looking at the three of us after we had left. "I didn't expect THIS to be my team for today..." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "But! As the professor said, a good huntsman or huntress is capable of adapting! So I'm going to make sure none of you drag me down."

"Wow." I smirked, shaking my head. "I feel so inspired already."

Russel let out a sound of disgust, rolling his eyes.

As for Raelin...she didn't respond. Or react at all for that matter, because why would she...

Weiss didn't seem to notice the awkward atmosphere, continuing to speak. "The first order of business for any team is to elect a leader. So, just for today, I nominate myself to be in charge. Those who agree, raise your hand."

"..."

"..."

"..."

I looked around in the accompanying silence. No one had their hand raised, leaving Weiss the only one with her arm up.

"As if I'm gonna obey some spoiled rich girl." Russel sneered, crossing his arms.

"What was that?! I am TRYING to organize this group in an orderly and efficient manner! I don't suppose YOU think you're leader material!"

Russel frowned at that, shaking his head. "Maybe not, but at least I know how to take a hint."

I lifted my arm, speaking up to interrupt them. "Raise your hand if you think I should be the leader today." Russel and Weiss stopped arguing, turning their attention towards me. However, none of them raised their hands. "Russel, your options are Weiss as a leader, Raelin who can't talk as a leader...or me."

"Tch." Russel clicked his tongue before begrudgingly lifting his hand. "Whatever."

"Raelin, which of the options do you suppose is the lesser of two evils?"

"..." The girl was silent, quietly thinking to herself, before also raising her hand.

"Great, we got the majority vote."

Weiss sighed in defeat, grabbing her jar. "Fine. That's the result of the vote, so I have to accept it. What are we going to call ourselves?"

"Eh? Do we really need a team name? It's only for today that we're going to be grouped up."

Weiss let out a 'hmph!' crossing her arms. "If we're going to do something, we need to do it right. No half measures."

"Okay, uh. A...W...R...R. Oh! What about Team Aero (ARRW)?"

"We are NOT calling ourselves that!" Weiss shouted, becoming rather flustered. "It's bad enough I have to deal with MY group being named after a teammate! I don't need another."

"Fine fine. Buzzkill..." I picked up a stick, writing letters into the ground. "I'll use my last name, let's go with Chartreuse (CRTS) as our temporary identity."

"Does it really matter what we call ourselves?" Russel laid back under a tree, stifling a yawn. "All we need to do is collect a jar of sap. Then we can spend the rest of the trip relaxing."

Hmm, while Russel IS correct, he should probably take this a little more seriously. I turned to Raelin. "I don't suppose you have anything to add."

The girl simply shook her head, holding her jar close to her chest.

"Great..."

Collecting sap turned out to be harder than I'd thought. Apparently more precision was necessary than expected. I ended up wasting a good deal of sap and only managing to fill my jar up a third of the way.

"Ugh, I can't believe this!" Weiss furiously shook her arms, purple liquid dripping from her sleeves. "This stuff had BETTER not stain my clothes, or someone's going to pay!"

"Heh." I couldn't help but chuckle at Weiss's predicament. She wasn't doing any better than I was despite her high and mighty attitude. Russel wasn't having much luck either, although he didn't seem to care very much about completing the task anyway. I'm kind of worried about Russel's lack of cooperation, but as long as it's only for today, I should be able to tolerate him long enough. "It's true, this will probably take us a while to finish. But what else can we do but keep trying?"

All of the sudden, I felt a soft tug on my arm. "Hmm?" Looking behind me, I saw Raelin standing there expectantly. "Yes? Do you have any ideas?"

Raelin didn't speak, merely lifting her hand and pointing out into the forest where Pyrrha and Jaune were.

"Ho, not a bad suggestion all things considered. If we're not doing so well." I turned towards Pyrrha's team off in the distance. Their group seemed to be have collected all their sap, four full bottles sitting in a pile together. Ruby and Jacey seemed to be missing from their group for some unknown reason, while Pyrrha seemed to be trying to help Jaune with his sap allergies. "Maybe we can just ask for help."

Weiss followed my gaze, noticing the other group. "Pyrrha. Yes! For once, excellent idea Aero."

"For once?" I turned to Russel, who hadn't moved from his spot under the tree. "You coming or what?"

"Hmph, I'm gonna take a nap, make sure my jar gets filled, 'leader'.

Taking a deep breath, I fought back the urge to go punch him.

"Now, we just need to find a natural and appropriate reason to go over and talk to Pyrrha." Weiss continued. "She's likely handling her own business so-"

"HEY! PYRRHA!" I interrupted my teammate, shouting towards the woman.

"You-you blockhead!" Weiss quietly hissed. "How is that natural?!"

Pyrrha turned towards my shouting, giving me a wave as I approached. "Hello Aero, have you managed to finish your task?"

"Well, we're not doing that great, to tell the truth. That's kinda why we came over here honestly. We kinda suck at gathering this sap, and noticed you were having better luck. Would you mind giving us a few pointers?"

"I wouldn't mind at all." the red-haired girl said, faintly smiling. The point of this trip is to encourage teamwork between us, so helping other teams would fit exactly that right? Ruby and Jacey just left to go find Professor Port so he can take our jars."

"Oh..." Jaune loudly sniffed, wiping his nose. "Ey Weiss." he said, his allergies affecting his speech. "Ancy beating you here..." he leaned against a tree, trying to act natural. "Zo, you wanna-"

"No." Weiss interrupted Jaune, walking past him to go talk to Pyrrha.

"Oof." I glanced at Jaune hanging his head in disappointment. "That's rough, I'm sure you'll get her next time."

"I zink, I gonna wash by bace at duh stream. Zis zap is triggering by allergies..."

"Alright." Giving him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder before joining the others.

"How are you and your team faring?" Pyrrha questioned, noticing only three of us had come.

"Well, we could be doing better I suppose. Still have to work out a few issues."

"That's putting it mildly." Scoffed Weiss. "We can't communicate with Raelin, Aero tried to name the team after himself, and Russel is completely uncooperative!"

"It's true." I gave a small nod. "Good thing we have Weiss here to straighten us out. She's a perfect teammate with no flaws."

"Oh? Well, thank you Aero. It's nice to know my hard work and prudence have gotten through to you. Seems you're not hopeless after all."

"Wh..." There was an awkward silence as Pyrrha and I shared an odd look with each other. Apparently Weiss hadn't noticed my sarcasm, and had taken what I said seriously. Raelin frowned at Weiss, silently shaking her head before walking towards a tree to try gathering sap again.

"Say Pyrrha..." I watched Raelin silently working. "You've been with Raelin longer than I have, is there anything you can tell me about that girl that might help me being paired with her?"

Jaune returned from the stream, drying off his face with his sleeve. His eyes and nose looking a lot less pink. "That's better. So, what're you talking about?"

"Raelin." I continued, pointing at her. "She hasn't opened up to me at all this whole time. And that might be 'normal' for her, but at this rate, I'm gonna get a big fat F on my assignment."

"Anything I can tell you..." the red-haired woman muttered, crossing her arms to think. "Um...oh! She likes dogs...I think."

"You think?"

"Well...I honestly couldn't be certain. We saw her staring at a dog once, and seemed a little reluctant to leave." Pyrrha shook her head. "I'm sorry I don't have much for you. Maybe Jacey could think of something."

"Speaking of Jacey." Weiss frowned. "She should've been back with Port by now right?"

"That's true." Jaune nodded. "They've been gone too long, think they've gotten lost?"

"Ugh, that would be SO like Ruby. To go wandering off on her own and getting lost."

All of the sudden, Raelin's head perked up. She immediately shot to her feet drawing her weapons. Shortly afterward we all heard a low roar as a large black grimm with spikes on its back appeared.

Russel woke up, quickly scurrying to his feet after hearing the grimm's roar. "Th-that's an Ursa Major!"

"Ah, there it is. I was starting to wonder if the Ursa was going to show up."

"Wait, you knew that was going to happen? Ah, come to think of it, you did say there was going to be an unexpected grimm attack today." Jaune smiled, "Well, you were right, but it's not as bad as I was expecting. There are six of us, and only one of it."

"Jaune, go kill that thing." I said pointing at the large grimm.

"Huh?" Jaune's jaw dropped, looking at me, and then at the Ursa Major. "Y-you want me to fight that? Alone? Now? But...you're still holding onto my shield remember!?"

"I remember that, yes. This should be a good opportunity for you though."

"Now hold on." Pyrrha stepped forward, placing a hand on my shoulder. "We're in different groups at the moment, Jaune isn't on your team to order right now."

"Ah that's right, I'd nearly forgotten. That makes sense." I gave a brief nod at her words. "Alright then. Jaune, PLEASE go kill that thing."

"Huh?! But-" Pyrrha was interrupted as Jaune nodded, nervously drawing his sword, and getting ready to fight the grimm. "Jaune, you don't have to fight that thing."

"It's alright." Jaune nervously gulped, grabbing his sword. "I trust Aero. If he's asking me to do this, then he probably has something in mind." Steeling himself. Jaune ran towards the Ursa with a battle cry. Bringing down his sword, his weapon met a claw strike from the grimm, the force causing him to skid back a few feet.

Pyrrha turned towards me, displeasure written on her face. "You know, that wasn't very nice Aero..."

"Whatever can you mean?" I asked, feigning innocence with a smile. "It wasn't an order, I'm still allowed to ASK your teammate to do something right?"

She didn't respond, merely shaking her head with a sigh.

The Ursa roared, lunging towards Jaune with a monstrous bite.

"Ugh!" Jaune blocked the bite with his sword, the large grimm's jaws locked onto it. Suddenly swinging one of its claws while he was still holding off its teeth, the beast's attack caught Jaune in the chest, knocking the air out of him and sending the student slamming into a tree. The tree shook from the violent impact, crimson leaves raining down. Jaune's sword had been knocked out of his hand, laying a dozen feet away behind the grimm.

"C'mon Jaune!" I yelled, cupping my hands like a megaphone. "You don't have your shield to babysit you anymore! Find a way to play to your strengths."

Jaune picked himself up, frowning, as a leaf landed on his nose. Suddenly his eyes lit up, immediately looking around for something buried under the leaves.

The Ursa Major dropped down on all fours, immediately charging at him. "C'mon, C'MON! AH!" He seemed to have found what he was looking for, pulling his jar of sap from under the pile of leaves. Reeling back his arm, Jaune threw the jar, nailing the beast in the face with the sap. The grimm roared, now angrily increasing its speed towards him. Quickly diving out of the way the Ursa smashed into a tree, breaking it down. Leaves raining down and sticking to the sap on the Ursa's face, blinding it.

"Yes!" As the beast blindly swung its claws, hitting only empty air, Jaune managed to circle around it, grabbing his weapon. The Ursa attempted to wipe the sticky leaves off of its face, however, in that time Jaune had closed the gap, delivering a clean slash to the beast's chest. Growling angrily, the grimm used its arm as a club swinging at him, intending to knock the human back once more.

Instead of trying to dodge this time however, Jaune planted his feet, pointing the tip of his sword directly at the grimm's oncoming paw.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A loud roar of pain from the beast echoed through the surroundings. Jaune grunted from the strength of the Ursa Major, his arms shaking from the brute strength of the beast. However, it was worth it, his blade completely pierced through the grimm's paw.

"Hoo, using the Ursa's own strength against it. Not bad, not bad Jaune..."

Now furious, the grimm's other paw came from the other side, slamming into Jaune and throwing him onto his back.

Hmm, there's still too great a difference in power. It takes everything Jaune has to stop one of the Ursa's paws, but the grimm still has the other one to hit him with while he's blocking it.

Bringing its massive limbs down, Jaune barely rolled out of the way in time. The force from the grimm's attack caving the ground in. Leaping to his feet Jaune was just in time to see the Ursa opened its large jaws trying to snap his head off. Gripping his sword with both hands, Jaune ducked just in time. Putting power into his legs, He shouted fiercely, leaping up from his crouched stance like a frog with all of his might, the blade angled upward. His sword piercing under the Ursa's jaw and coming out of the top of his head.

"W-whoa..." Pyrrha and I stared dumbly at the sight as the huge grimm suddenly froze up, before finally falling over. Its large body hitting the floor with a thud causing the ground to shake.

"Huff...huff...How's...that?" Jaune weakly grinned, allowing himself to fall back onto the ground.

I shook myself out of my trance before walking towards him "Brilliant, good job Jaune. There were a lot of close calls, but really, you did a lot better than I expected." I grinned, crouching down near him. "Killed a grimm all by yourself, how's it feel?" I asked, extending a fist.

Still panting for air, Jaune chuckled. "Honestly?" Reaching up, he tapped his fist against mine. " Not bad..."

"Uh, guys...?" Pyrrha's tone was that of a warning, she was on high alert, immediately drawing her weapon and looking deeper into the trees.

"What is it?" Following her line of sight, my breath caught in my throat. Seeing a huge black mass coming towards us. Low growls came from the trees as, eleven other Ursa lumbered out of the forest, their red eyes focused on our group. Other beastly roars could be heard behind the Ursa deeper in the forest, where sounds of battles rang out from the other students.

"W-why are there...why are there so many?!" I couldn't help but take a step back, overwhelmed by it all. 'Dammit! This didn't happen in the show at all!'