Chapter 2

The time had arrived. Falcon stood at the face of a cliff, along with plenty of other students, waiting. But for what? Falcons mind raced, trying to focus on one thing at a time. It didn't help that he had been rudely awakened by an obnoxiously loud red haired girl that morning. And now, as the students next to him were launched into the forest beneath him, he was starting to get nauseous. He looked to his right and saw a blonde haired boy rambling to Professor Ozpin about a landing strategy, and then to his left, a somewhat familiar face, Hayate. He was getting into position, his right hand on the hilt of his sword, the soft wind blowing his coat behind him. And then he was gone. "Alright Falcon, this is you" he thought to himself as he got into position himself, bracing for the launch... and then he went., feeling the cold brush his face as he soared through the air towards the sky, thankful that his beret had stayed on. As quickly as he had gone up, he felt his body start to descend. He took his staff, Avery, into his left hand and used it to hook onto a stray tree branch before levering his body into a backflip and landing with both feet on the ground. "Not bad Falcon" he thought to himself as he brushed the dirt off himself. "Now to find a partner and avoid Grimm".

As he wandered through the forest, Falcon could hear the sounds of other students around him. He wondered whether he should head towards them or not, but opted to be found by someone else, just incase-

"Damn it!" Falcon muttered under his breath. He had been shuffling through some bushes when he caught sight of another student. Wiess Schnee. She hadn't seen him yet. Good. If there was one person he didn't want to be on a team with, it was Wiess Schnee. Or any Schnee for that matter. Falcon jumped at the feeling of someone's hand on his shoulder, he looked over and saw Hayate staring down at him.

"Hey, long time no see Falcon! Sorry for the surprise" Hayate greeted, in his apparently normal tone.

"N-no. It's f-fine." was the reply Falcon managed to stutter out. "Again?! How can I be so careless?" Falcon mentally kicked himself again.

"So... I guess we're partners now?" questioned Hayate.

"So it would seem." Falcon adjusted his beret. He studied Hayate's appearance. It had changed since the last time they had seen each other, though not by a lot. He was wearing more combat suited clothing and had a metal bracer on his right forearm. However, his expression was still almost as casual as ever, if only slightly more tense.

"We should get moving," stated Hayate, his hand on the hilt of his sword, "Better find those relics before the monsters come to play."

As the two neared a clearing, Falcon heard the sound of struggling and stopped walking.

"What is it?" questioned Hayate.

Falcon looked at Hayate, "Someone is fighting Grimm nearby."

"No idea what you're hearing, but I'll follow your lead." Hayate stepped aside and waved his hand, gesturing for Falcon to take the lead. Falcon started heading towards the noises. As the two pushed their way through the shrubbery they found the source of the sounds. Two students, both male fighting a huge deathstalker. Falcon wanted to study the two strangers' appearances, but became suddenly aware of how badly the two needed their help. He turned behind him, but his partner was already gone. Hayate leapt into the face of battle and started slashing at the deathstalker's armor. Falcon followed suit, taking Avery off its hilt, however, choosing to stay out of range of the creature, he converted Avery into its bow form, watching as the dust casings at both ends of the bow used hard light dust to create a string for the arrows in the quiver on his back. Falcon shot a total of eleven arrows at the deathstalker before it became agitated towards him. Realising he was in danger, he equipped a different arrow and shot it at a tree and was pulled towards the tree and out of the creatures way. While he sat up there, catching his breath, Falcon watched Hayate fight one of the pincers the creature had. His skill was remarkable, his slashes were incredibly precise and fast, like he never once lost control of his blade or the movement behind it.

"Hey! Arrow Man!" Falcon was shaken out of his thoughts by the taller stranger shouting at him and then pointing at a tree opposite himself. Falcon nodded understandingly and shot an arrow at the tree. The arrow left behind a trail of hard light that the tall stranger jumped up to and then started swinging around. Before Falcon could figure out what he was doing, he had flown off the wire at the apex of his swing and launched himself into the air. Falcon noticed him touching something on his forearm before coming back down on the Grimm. Hard. He had hit the creature with so much force he had gone straight through it.

"Ha, not bad" complimented Hayate, sticking his hand out to the taller of the two. As the tall one went to grasp it, small trails of electricity ran off his fingertips.

"Iskandar Pharanx" He replied as he shook Hayate's hand. "That is Syrian Lique," Iskanadr pointed to the other stranger, who just waved quietly. "I presume the two of you have names?" asked Iskandar rather bluntly.

"Hayate Blacksteel, good to meet you." All eyes went to Falcon who snapped out of his trance almost immediately. He had been studying the two strangers that stood before him, something of a habit he'd picked up. Iskandar was very tall but not muscular at all, only broad shouldered. His hair was swept to the left and was very long on that side, but what he had on the inside of his right forearm was rather interesting. It seemed, to Falcon, to be a sort of device to infuse dust. "But into what?" Falcon had thought to himself. The other stranger, Syrian, was a lot more muscular than his partner. He stood at roughly the same height as Hayate and was wearing some very formal clothing. Under his armor he had a shirt and tie and on his back, a sledgehammer, which Falcon had seen in a shotgun formation of sorts earlier.

"I'm Falcon, Falcon Hood." Falcon muttered with a nod, before adjusting his beret.

"Well then," Started Hayate, "now that we're all friends here, how about we keep moving?." Falcon rolled his eyes a little. Did he ever take anything seriously?

"Syrian saw a temple of sorts before we were attacked by that Grimm." Iskandar said.

"Alright then," Said Hayate, once again stepping aside, this time for Syrian. "Lead the way."