Blake Belladonna was finding Initiation a lot easier than she had originally expected it to be. It was slow going to be sure, but it was peaceful. Her own natural proclivity to espionage and concealment meant that few, if any teachers or huntsmen were able to track her. Let alone attack or trap her. Surprisingly, she had yet to run into any other initiates. Either the Beacon staff and huntsmen were doing a much better job at fighting the initiates than she had expected, or this forest was a lot bigger than she first thought. It did make sense. There were a few hundred student hopefuls in this forest, along with she'd guessed at least a hundred huntsmen and professors to act as competition.

Not to mention a civilian running around.

As much as Blake hated the idea, she knew that her first goal would be finding a partner. It made her grateful for all her time, training and experience as an expert sleuth and tracker. There would be little possible way for someone to accidently run into her without her first having seen them in action. It would not do well at all to find someone who would be a Faunus hater. Or particularly bad at fighting.

"Hello?!"

Like that blond guy.

Hidden in the leaves and branches of the trees, Blake watched as the first person she saw her age pass by below her, shouting into his hands. He had a sword in its scabbard on his hip but was carrying what looked to be a gold and red spear. He held onto it clumsily, seemingly unsuited to its weight in his arms.

Blake could only shake her head. Was this the type of person they allowed to attend the world-famous Beacon Academy?

"Is anyone there?!" He called out again.

Blake remained silent, leaping into a different tree to keep an eye on him.

"I have your spear! I wanted to say thanks for saving me. My sweater does have a little rip though… but that's okay!"

"Is this guy a moron?" Blake could only ask herself. There was absolutely no way someone would be dumb enough to shout in the middle of an Initiation Exam, where the sole objective is to not get caught.

And there was absolutely no way that she would stick herself with someone who lacked so much common sense. Rolling her eyes, she left the area, choosing to put as much distance between herself and him as possible.

If Blake had her choice of partner, she would hope it would be someone like her. Maybe not a faunus per se, but like her in other ways. Not that she would refuse a faunus partner, of course. It would indeed make life in Beacon a hell of a lot easier if she was not hiding her own species from someone who would be so close to her over four years. But aside from issues related to species, Blake's perfect partner would be someone like her. Intelligence was a must. Nothing like that moron who was shouting for all to hear. If he made it through Initiation, Blake promised herself she would give up fish for a month.

While she did not care much for the gender of those on her team, she did hope for a female partner. And one who was not super touchy-feely like many of the girls she had witnessed while walking through the crowds of student hopefuls before Initiation. A love of books was preferred. Studious would be nice as well. Heaven knew that Blake could use the help when it came to her studies. Not to say she was unintelligent. Just that it may have been some time since she had actually sat down in a classroom and taken proper notes.

Finally deciding that she had enough distance, she hopped down from the trees, landing near silently in the underbrush. Without a particular direction in mind, she began walking.

It was very early into the morning. From what Blake could gather, this Initiation would last all day. How the faculty was expecting to remove so many hopefuls in a day was challenging to consider. Then again, it was only the first fifty pairs which would make it into the school, so it did place some pressure on the Initiates themselves to find a partner, find the civilian and make it back in time. Fighting between Initiates was allowed, so there was always the risk of partners or even groups of Initiates taking out their competition to give themselves a better chance of joining the school.

And almost like clockwork, she heard two distinct shouts and the loud stomping of feet heading her way. Turning to look at the cause of the noise, she could only sigh. It was the first pair she could spot. Neither looked particularly memorable. Even their weapons looks pretty basic. A sword with what looked to be a pistol mount, and a shotgun. No fancy attachments, just a straight shotgun. Withdrawing her own weapon, Gambol Shroud, she prepared herself for a fight.

The sound of a shotgun blast triggered her semblance, flickering away in smoke and shadow, leaving a faux body behind to explode from the shrapnel. Why was it that whenever one spoke of fights, they were always brought into it? Shaking her head to bring herself back into focus, she let loose a quick barrage of fire at the guy with a shotgun before switching her weapon into its sword form to block an incoming strike.

A quick sweep of the leg and the guy was on the ground. She went in for the final attack, only to be driven off by the butt of the gun striking her shoulder.

"Hands off!" He shouted. "Why don't you surrender or let us finish you off quickly? It'll make this so much easier for everyone involved."

"Has that worked on anyone yet?" Blake gave him a look, all the while unfurling her weapon's ribbon behind her back with a free hand.

The guy shrugged, "not yet. But it did freak out another guy which made him easy pickings for us. You alright man?" His attention briefly flickered to his partner who stood up rubbing his head.

"I'm good. Dibs on breaking her aura. That hurt a lot more than I expected."

Their focus was back on her. But it was too late. With all the time she needed to prepare herself helpfully granted to her by the two partners, she whipped her gun out, now in it's scythe and hook form. Attached to her ribbon, it whistled through the air, curling back as she pulled on it, wrapping around the waste of the shotgun-wielder. A hard yank and she was flying feet first into him, cracking his aura. Spinning on a foot, Blake kicked the other guy in the face.

Her free hand went back to her scabbard, slashing it across his chest, breaking his aura.

"Sorry boys. But this was defense."

All she got in response was a low groan.

She huffed. It was still so early in the morning. What other wonderful events would fate place her in?

Not super happy with how this one turned out, but alas! A new chapter! As you can probably see, updates have slowed down a bit. That's mostly because of exams, but also because I want to focus more of my attention on writing (and hopefully finishing) Rhodopis in Remnant. But the story of the never-ending Initiation shall press onwards with no clear goal in sight!

MidnightWolf64 - Port is a lot of fun to write. And having him chase Yang? Insanely fun.

merendinoemelliano - I've got to agree with you there. But her, that's what happens when you tell the story of a character entirely from other people's perspectives.

Darknight2124 - Thank you! Ruby is super cute.

Therecklessone - Oh, I doubt Initiation will remain nice and safe... maybe. Who knows? *evil cackling in the distance*

JacktheSpades - So true! But what ten year old isn't?

Dragonborn2704 - Thank you so much for that. And now I want to have Ruby kill a Grimm by sheer cuteness alone.

Rhyn3 - Thank you!