Transcript 1: Red flags

"So where do you think we'll place?" mused Amazon Flage, pursing her lips as she lay on her back inside the courtyard." The four teams lay sprawled out on the grass, resembling a battlefield with limp bodies sprawled across the ground. Instead, the limp bodies lay stuffed to the gills after an enormous picnic lunch to relax before the final exam of the semester.

"Not you guys," she said, staring at an amused Fox. "Your combat scores alone will put CFVY on top, don't look at me like that."

"I'm not looking at you!" he retorted, blank white eyes staring in her general direction.

"Bad" said Lina, restraining herself from throwing something at his head for once. "You can't just keep making that joke over and over and over again."

"Stop me!" he grinned.

"I think we're better placed than last semester, I feel like AKKH's stronger than TOPZ and BTTR this time around" said Knight Hayze. "But I heard Dale and Pollen smashed Port's strategy exam, and that is probably harder than the dust science one tomorrow, so maybe DLPN just passes us."

"So you think seventh then?" said Maizy Storm. "I think MAJE will stay where they are, I can't see us passing the big four, including these two big boppers here. LIHT and CURI are too strong, India has gone to another level this semester."

"Yeah, she might even beat me in the combat category," said Coco, not hurt by the statement as she recognised its accuracy.

"Guys, we're here to relax, not keep worrying about these exams, chill out." said Jasper, reaching for yet another slice of bread and Autumn Jam, made with the sap from the red-leaved trees in Forever Fall. "As far as I'm concerned, we can stay here eating from now until forever."

"The nerd will miss his favourite exam!" teased Gale.

"Not on your life, dust science is the best," replied Jasper, spooning yet another helping of the sap straight into his mouth.

A cacophonous wave of black and red Beacon Academy uniforms poured out of Professor Peach's exam room as the discussions began in earnest.

"I think we go straight to the results room" said Terra Bluefoot. "They've apparently somehow marked all our other exams, and this one was multiple choice so the results are automatic."

"Multiple choice?" smirked a passing senior. "They really do baby you first-years, don't they?"

"Shut up, Gypsum!" replied Terra. "You've got to wait days longer than we do for results!"

"Do I now?"

"Yes! You've got your Huntsman confirmation this week, that's another two days."

"That's true. Make sure you don't burst sitting there in the hall" he joked.

Barely minutes later, the seats were filled with students, some a lot more apprehensive than others as they waited for their teams or hopefully their own names to appear on the screens around them. After all, Beacon accepted only the best of the best, and if they weren't at least close to standard, they might not even be allowed to repeat a year.

Suddenly, the black screens flashed brightly, and the names flashed in blue for all to see.

Semester 2 - Current

Most Valuable Team

Most Valuable Fighter

Most Valuable Class Member

1. CFVY – 5190 pts

1. India Walnut – 759 pts

1. Velvet Scarlatina – 784 pts

2. CURI – 4713 pts

2. Coco Adel – 741 pts

2. Zelda Prentice – 729 pts

3. LIHT – 4636 pts

3. Yatsuhashi Daichi – 723 pts

3. Jasper Glass – 710 pts

4. JNGL – 4587 pts

4. Nero August – 717 pts

4. Pollen Lightfoot – 701 pts

5. DLPN – 4344 pts

5. Velvet Scarlatina – 698 pts

5. Dale Forrest – 685 pts

6. MAJE – 4239 pts

6. Plum Kittle – 665 pts

6. Coco Adel – 673 pts

7. AKKH – 3955 pts

7. Ember Swanfeather – 663 pts

7. Urban Stalli – 650 pts

8. TOPZ – 3782 pts

8. Castor Oyle – 651 pts

8. Fox Alistair – 629 pts

9. SYLC – 3655 pts

9. Gale Grigia – 638 pts

9. Reggie Vinyl – 622 pts

10. BTTR – 3629 pts

10. Sven Harbinger – 631 pts

10. Lina Lavender – 618 pts

"YES!" hollered Gale.

"Noooo!" lamented the perfectionist Lina. "I knew I misread those troop defence numbers in Port's section!"

"I called it," said Coco. "India's been on fire this semester. And well done again, Velvet!"

"Hang on," said Jasper with a frown. "These numbers are a bit weird. They're only about half of what we got last semes…"

Suddenly, a cursor appeared on the screens, and before the students even had time to react, it swiped left and the screens hummed and updated. A wave of confused gasps erupted from the cohort.

Semester 2 - Current

Most Valuable Team

Most Valuable Fighter

Most Valuable Class Member

Most Valuable Huntsman Team

1. CFVY – 5190 pts

1. India Walnut – 759 pts

1. Velvet Scarlatina – 784 pts

1. AKKH – 0 pts

2. CURI – 4713 pts

2. Coco Adel – 741 pts

2. Zelda Prentice – 729 pts

1. BTTR – 0 pts

3. LIHT – 4636 pts

3. Yatsuhashi Daichi – 723 pts

3. Jasper Glass – 710 pts

1. CFVY – 0 pts

4. JNGL – 4587 pts

4. Nero August – 717 pts

4. Pollen Lightfoot – 701 pts

1. CURI – 0 pts

5. DLPN – 4344 pts

5. Velvet Scarlatina – 698 pts

5. Dale Forrest – 685 pts

1. DLPN – 0 pts

6. MAJE – 4239 pts

6. Plum Kittle – 665 pts

6. Coco Adel – 673 pts

1. JNGL – 0 pts

7. AKKH – 3955 pts

7. Ember Swanfeather – 663 pts

7. Urban Stalli – 650 pts

1. LIHT – 0 pts

8. TOPZ – 3782 pts

8. Castor Oyle – 651 pts

8. Fox Alistair – 629 pts

1. MAJE – 0 pts

9. SYLC – 3655 pts

9. Gale Grigia – 638 pts

9. Reggie Vinyl – 622 pts

1. SYLC – 0 pts

10. BTTR – 3629 pts

10. Sven Harbinger – 631 pts

10. Lina Lavender – 618 pts

1. TOPZ – 0 pts

"What is it?" whispered Fox telepathically to his teammates.

"There's another category, it's just come up on the screens!" replied Yatsuhashi thoughtfully.

"So? Which category?"

"I don't know. It says 'Most Valuable Huntsman Team', but the scores are blank."

"What?"

The screech of a microphone interrupted the chaos, and the discussions fell silent.

"Students." Ozpin's voice echoed around the room as he adjusted the microphone. "Today marks the end of your assessment for this academic year. However, it may come as a surprise to you all that although the theoretical examinations are complete, there is still one last task you must complete to move on to the next stage of your studies. As I mentioned during your welcome to Beacon Academy many months ago, your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. All your planning, all your preparation, can be undone in a moment of bad luck. Or a split second in which you make the wrong decision, or miss your mark just so."

"Thus, I believe that we need to embrace randomness as well, try to harness it and turn it to our advantage. We have to plan for the unexpected, prepare ourselves for situations we never could have anticipated or trained for. Therefore, to mark the completion of your first year, your final piece of examination has been up until now unannounced."

"That sounds almost like what he said to me earlier this year!" sent Coco.

"What?"

"He told me something similar when I asked if I was supposed to be leading Team CFVY. And he said while his methods might be unorthodox, they haven't failed him yet."

She paused for a second to process something, then continued.

"And stop saying 'what'!"

Now Glynda Goodwitch stepped up to the stage, and began to instruct the students on the events that would shortly follow.

"Today, at midday, you are to assemble on the northern side of the school. Your first-year skills, including strategies, stealth, combat capabilities, and the ability to work as a team in an unfamiliar environment, will be examined as confirmation of your skills developed during this first year at Beacon Academy. This assessment will be worth half of your grade for this semester, and you must display adequate competency in this examination to be considered a fit candidate for second-year studies."

"Just as the Emerald Forest and its relics were used to group you into teams during initiation, these same teammates will be working alongside you in the forest of Forever Fall."

Forever Fall? The freshmen students began to titter amongst themselves. The Emerald Forest was full of Grimm, yes – but Forever Fall?

They had been there once before to collect sap for an assignment, but that was under professor supervision – trained huntsmen - and they barely ventured in past the edge. The Grimm in Forever Fall were fierce, and rumours abounded of glowing, mutated variants deep inside these woods. Some claimed to have seen huge Beowolves with glowing green spikes and enormous Death Stalkers, although most claimed sightings had been from around Mountain Glenn. But Mountain Glenn had been destroyed by Grimm, many years ago, with some whispers of experiments by a mad scientist, so it was plausible in many of the students' minds that they could now well reside in this very forest.

Glynda Goodwitch interrupted their thoughts, trying to bring them back to the topic at hand.

"You have nearly two hours to freshen up before making your way to the north boundary of the school. You are allowed to bring one item other than your weapons and usual supply of dust. Huntsmen and huntresses are more than their weapons, and as Dr Oobleck may have communicated a few days ago, it is essential to assess a location for sources of strength and potential challenges before even setting foot inside its border. As such, we will be replicating a real-life situation."

"Your goal is to enter the forest and make your way to ruins locations throughout the area, similar to the initiation in the Emerald Forest. There are more than a dozen different such ancient temples, and in each one a singular, hollow sceptre has been placed. Each sceptre is filled with the sap from the trees in the Forever Fall forest which is attractive to the Grimm. Your objective is to secure as many of these sceptres as possible, while fighting off other competing teams, and of course, the Grimm."

"Facing both human and Grimm opponents will force you to develop strategies to counter each of these obstacles, possibly at the same time. Points will be awarded for the Grimm you destroy, your teamwork and strategies, combat against other teams, and the number of sceptres you hold and the duration you hold onto them. However, if your aura falls below safe levels at any point, as indicated by your scrolls, you will be removed from the arena and your team will be weakened, so choose your strategies wisely."

The students sat in stunned silence. Glynda waited patiently, slightly amused but used to this reaction that all first years seemed to display, and waited for the inevitable questions which arose each year.

"How long… will we be in the forest for?" queried Ram Peters of Team BTTR.

"The time in the forest varies from year to year. Sometimes it is over before nightfall, occasionally it lasts several days."

"Several DAYS? Without food or drink?"

Ozpin gave an amused smile, and jumped in to answer his question.

"I would hope, Mr Peters, that you have developed some skills to look after yourself throughout your combat training. Trained huntsmen and huntresses wouldn't be very effective if they starved to death the first time they travelled outside the kingdom's walls now, would they?"

"I… I guess not."

Transcript 2: Extreme Camping

"I can't believe our final test of the year is a big game of Capture the Flag," said Lina as she reefed through her belongings back in JNGL's dorm room.

"Well, when you put it like that, it does seem pretty unusual," said Nero. "Facing both Grimm and human opponents is certainly realistic, but the method is very strange.

"What are you going to be taking for as your extra item?" asked Lina. "Has anyone thought of anything, and should we coordinate our picks?"

"Well I'm taking some brown hair dye," said Gale, digging around in the bottom of her drawer. "I'll try and get it applied before we leave, and take what's left with us if I need to fix anything up. Grey hair sticks out so much against any sort of background, but in Forever Fall it will be even worse against the reds."

"I don't think it's that big of a deal," said Jasper, "is there something else that might work?" He frowned suddenly, then his eyebrows shot back up. "Wait! No, that's a great idea! The ammonia in the hair dye - we can use it to mask the sap smell from the sceptres!"

"If we use that much, the other teams will be able to smell it as well, surely?"

"Not as strongly as the Grimm. We can try and wrap it up somehow to minimize that as well. And in that case, I think I'll take one of those brown woollen blankets, they're also super tough and nearly waterproof, not to mention useful for camouflage and helping us sleep if we need it for that long. Nero?"

The gladiator scratched his chin. "A good bit of rope would come in handy. You'd need to tie that blanket around you anyhow, otherwise you'd have to carry it everywhere."

"Alright, we're nearly there then. What should we take as our last item, what do you think, Lina?"

The fox girl pursed her lips. "I was considering our fire or water options mostly. But would a fire be any good to us anyway, or mostly just give away our position?"

"We might need it briefly to boil water," said Nero, "otherwise probably not. And most of us have fire dust crystals for our weapons, so we'll be fine to get one started if we need to."

"Then it's settled then," said Jasper. "We're going camping."

"Camping?" Gale laughed. "How so?"

"Blankets, ropes, water, and camouflage, sounds like we're getting ready to sleep rough." He replied.

"That's what we ARE doing, Jasper" Lina reminded him, and Jasper grinned in response.

"Must be on the right track then," he said. "Gale, you get to colouring your hair, I'll help these bozos get ready to leave for our holiday in the woods."

Forty students, five professors and one doctor, as he insisted on being called, assembled on the northern edge of the cliffs surrounding Beacon. Instead of just Ozpin and Glynda, the experienced faces of Port, Oobleck, Peach and Greene also stood by, scrolls in hand, ready to monitor the students' performances.

Jasper looked down at the sea of flame below him, stretching towards the coastline in front of him and far into the west above Vale. It was much easier to take in the size of Forever Fall than it was for the Emerald forest, which almost blended into the other trees on the opposite end of Beacon Cliff. Forever Fall was massive, seeming to have spread somewhat over the last few generations. The trees themselves grew at a ridiculous rate, not to mention the sheer amount of leaf litter produced year-round choked out most other plants, and it now occupied much of the northern coastline above the commercial districts and upper-class residential areas, including Moss Grove where the Lavender family resided.

"What sort of things did the other teams bring, do you think?" asked Nero, peering out at the colourful array of student outfits.

"I don't know too much, most of them are keeping it pretty well hidden." Jasper replied, following Nero's gaze. "Looks like Velvet has enough hard light dust to keep her going for a week, and I can see a few water bottles and snack packs. Castor has a compass… ohh now that would have been a good idea, easy to get lost in a place this size. Lemmy Braithwaite looks like he's got some camera equipment or something, we'll have to watch out for that, it will most likely be used for setting ambushes or traps."

Loud voices broke Jasper's monologue as a pair of blue heads babbled at each other in disapproving tones.

"What's up with the Hayze twins?" asked Lina, trying desperately to catch a glimpse of Harley and Knight but failing miserably due to her 4'11 frame.

"Harley's brought matches!" giggled Gale. "And Knight's telling him off because Harley didn't remember his own brother's weapon had fire dust!"

"Poor Amazon," said Jasper. "I hope the rest of her team brought something more helpful to the table."

Just then, Glynda Goodwitch's voice rang out and the students turned to line up in their teams, stepping onto familiar-looking metal launchpads, although these ones seemed significantly bigger than the ones at initiation.

How high are they planning on launching us? Nero thought.

"Want me to 'float' you before we begin?" Gale whispered to the others. "It would make us land heaps further in than the others, we'd avoid the initial combat."

Jasper thought for a moment.

"No, that would take up too much of your aura, and we don't know what to expect early on. We can't afford to be down a team member so early, even if we do end up getting a head start."

"Alright," she replied, then danced a quick little jig on the plate, freshly-coloured chestnut brown hair bouncing in the light wind atop the cliffs. "I've missed this! This is going to be great!"

"What part?" queried Lina.

"The flying!"

"I don't care for that part myself," grumbled the recipient of many a "seeing-eye Lina" launch efforts.

"Are we ready?" checked Jasper, equipping his gauntlets.

"Yes," replied Nero, whips poised in his hands.

"Ready," confirmed Lina.

Gale opened her mouth to express her enthusiasm, but she was already flying through the air – just like the other thirty-nine students who had been simultaneously launched.

`Transcript 3: Fall

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Gale's whoop could be heard by half the people at Beacon, Nero was sure. He quickly scanned the forest, and counted perhaps fifteen gaps in the tree line which might indicate ruins, and the long streak of grey which cut through the forest like a scar. That might be some way to speed up their travel, if they happened to catch a hold of a train they would make it to the back half of the forest in no time. Nero decided that that would be a pretty popular idea though, and that meant early battles. He oriented his body and prepared to aim a little left of the tracks.

An idea struck Nero. He'd never had the opportunity to try it from this high. Instead of readying both his whips to wrap around a branch below, he put Quarter back on his belt and instead whirled Draw above his head in ferocious fast circles.

It was working. He felt a tug on his right hand as the gravity dust took effect, slowing his descent. He changed the angle of the whirling whip and helicoptered down towards the tallest tree in the vicinity. Nero looked around. With this extra airtime, he had a very good opportunity to determine where the other nine teams were landing. CFVY was apparently taking the train route - no surprise there, it wasn't likely that any team would be willing to take them on so early. SYLC had already landed far into the west, and were disappearing towards one of the furthest ruins. Not a bad strategy there. As leader of a weaker team, Sven Harbinger recognised SYLC's limitations and used it as a strength, instructing his team to go for one or two of the less likely sites and disappear. Stronger teams like LIHT, CURI and maybe MAJE were more on Nero's mind though, and important to keep track of in case they ran into them later.

A bullet whistled past his head. Nearly everyone was on the ground, he realised, and he was pretty much a sitting duck. It was time to drop. Nero caught a glimpse of Lily Smith and maybe India Walnut a hundred metres ahead. So team LIHT was taking a more direct route, close to where JNGL had planned.

"About time you arrived," said Lina as Nero touched down and rolled into a defensive position. "We're behind half of them now."

"CFVY and I think TOPZ are going for the train, LIHT is ahead of us, and I saw SYLC heading off into the west. Don't know where CURI is though."

"Well, that info's not a bad sacrifice for a bit of lost time," said Jasper. "I bet only Velvet knows where absolutely everyone is, blast that photographic memory of hers."

"You're just salty you couldn't beat her this exam period," teased Gale. "Dropped to third too, what a dreadful result!"

"Yeah, yeah, we'll catch up overall though if we ace this exercise. C'mon, let's go!"

Ozpin stared out into the distance, watching silently as forty brightly-coloured student uniforms disappeared into the mass of red trees far below him. Today always hurt, and not because of anything to do with the students. Since he became headmaster of Beacon a quarter of a century ago when barely older than the students themselves, this exercise acted as a yearly reminder to the tragic event that had occurred so long ago. So long he had neglected to fulfil his part of the promise, until his appointment as headmaster enabled him to accomplish his duties. The promise to keep the forest of Forever Fall safe.

It had grown very quickly in the two hundred years since its establishment, and after barely a decade Ozpin's predecessor could no longer protect the forest alone; so he left, having become too easy of a target for Salem to slaughter over and over. Three new bodies within that timespan was unfair, both to the hosts and the Fall Maiden to whom he had made the promise.

Was it worse to leave it for so long, to abandon it to the Grimm for so many years? That alone had probably caused the death of more forest-goers than the initial influence of Salem in the area. The attacks on both him and the surrounding areas became frequent and merciless after those first few years, when it became apparent why he was living there, and that he was essentially unprotected apart from his own skill and magic.

"You're thinking about her again, aren't you?"

Glynda checked quickly to see if the other teachers were watching, but they were all preoccupied with their initial notes on the students landing.

"I do every year," replied Ozpin, his gaze remaining steadily out over Forever Fall.

"What was she like?" asked Glynda gently.

Ozpin chuckled, and gave a sad smile as he turned his head to meet her eye. "And you ask that every year."

"You know why I ask. I know why you're sad, to a degree, but you never give me a real answer. What was she really like? What made her so special?"

Ozpin nodded gently, and resumed watching over the students landing area, or perhaps maybe he was gazing a little further off into the distance, wistfully remembering the events that took place.

"June was one of the great maidens, perhaps the greatest of the many Fall Maidens I've ever known. It wasn't just that she was kind, or smart – I mean those are characteristics we look for in all candidates - or even that she was incredibly powerful. She reminded me so much of the original Fall, in fact when I first saw her as a young girl, I thought for a moment it was her, returning to visit me as she often had done a thousand years before. My mind provides me some very silly notions from time to time. When you live through countless lifetimes, it's not that hard to imagine someone else… or at least someone else besides her… might continue to live alongside you."

He sipped quietly from his mug of now not-so-hot cocoa, and continued.

"When I first met June, I was immediately struck by how she made you grateful to be her friend, and appreciate what you have, just like Fall did. Even when she took on the role as Maiden, she was just grateful that she was better able to help others, and I don't think you can ask any more of someone than that, can you?"

He spied Coco trotting up beside the trainline, followed by the rest of her team, and India Walnut a few hundred metres the other side of the line, heading towards one of the closer ruins sites. Ozpin scowled. Salem had destroyed those once magnificent sites, remnants of an earlier time, just as she had destroyed his and others lives roundabout when the forest was in its infancy. Now they were the destinations of two promising students, maybe candidates to take up the mantle in the future - although that still remained to be seen.

"So this day is for June."