"Remember to stay with your assigned group," Marigold announced. "Don't stray too far from the group. While the Jade Forest is impressive, it is still crawling with grimm. Remember that today's hike is only to get you acquainted with basic wilderness survival skills. Do not attempt to fight any grimm you may encounter. Instead inform either Mr. Pine or I and we will take care of it."

Oscar sat near the front of the bus. Marigold stood on her knees as she addressed the entire bus. When she was finished, she slid back down into her seat and faced forward. The whole bus immediately erupted into students' conversations. Marigold groaned and rubbed her temples.

"Hangover?" Oscar asked her.

"Just a small headache from the noise," she replied. A wad of paper went soaring through the air above their heads. Marigold shot up. "Don't throw things!" Another wad of paper came flying, forcing her to dodge. "Jett! Throw one more paper and you have to sit up here with us!"

Oscar fiddled with his collapsed cane. He didn't want to get involved yet. Marigold slid back down with a long groan.

"This is going to be a long trip," she complained.

"Tell me about it," Oscar sighed. Marigold started on a long rant about her students before transitioning into stories about her school days and her friends. Oscar ended up zoning out and watching the scenery that passed by the bus.

The trees started being replaced by toppled trees. Oscar perked up at seeing an increase in destruction. Then the bus passed by a destroyed house. The students excitedly murmured amongst themselves. More houses destroyed and crushed started popping up. Then the bus stopped. Oscar stood up to see why the driver stopped. There was a blockade. Oscar got out of his seat and reassured the driver before leaving. Two guards stood by the blockade. They greeted Oscar as he approached them.

"What happened here?" Oscar asked.

"Same as usual. Grimm," the first guard answered.

"A large horde of them," the other added. While grimm were steadily disappearing from the world, they were still around in abundance. "We have a huntress working to exterminate them right now. We don't want any ordinary civilians entering the area in the meantime. Too dangerous."

"My name is Oscar Pine. I am a teacher at Signal and a skilled huntsman. This is a field trip of students from Signal. I have paperwork to say we're allowed into the Jade Forest today, if you would like to see it." Oscar fished around in his bag for the paperwork. He presented them to the guards. The two exchanged looks before quietly consulting with each other.

"Alright. Please be careful," the first guard said. Oscar returned to the bus as the guards moved to open the blockade for the bus.

"I am going to remind you of what Ms. Pearson said when we left. There will be a lot of grimm today so remember to be safe and don't stray from the group under any circumstances." Oscar sat back down in his seat. The bus started moving again and Marigold tapped him on his shoulder.

"Is it really that bad?"

"They said it was a horde, but a huntress is taking care of it."

"That's good. We'll be able to step in if anything happens!" Marigold stated determinedly. Oscar smiled kindly at her. He absentmindedly traced the swirls on his cane. It had been a long time since he heard about any large hordes of grimm in Patch. It worried him.

The bus pulled into the entrance of the Jade Forest. The students filed out of the bus, each with varying levels of excitement for the hike. Oscar began his lecture on the wildlife in the area and how to survive in an area such as this. The group came across a large clearing and Oscar gave the students their first task. He sat on a rock on the far side of the clearing as he watched his students build small tents from leaves and branches.

###

"I don't understand this!" Nora complained. She held two large branches in her hand. "If it rains you could just camp out in a cave or something!"

"You're not always going to find a cave, kid," Qrow leaned against a tree as he watched them work.

"I'm sorry that I pulled you into this…" Oscar piped up. He held some sticks together as Jaune and Yang worked on tying them together.

"Don't worry about it." Sun replied. He was high in a tree, tossing down branches and leaves for them to use. "We needed to set up camp anyways."

Half of the group was working on setting up a camp. Ren had even started preparing dinner with the help of Ilya and Weiss as Blake worked on starting the campfire. The other half had opted out of camp preparation to help Oscar with learning to build a small shelter. They called it "training reasons," but really Nora and Ruby had just wanted to build a fort.

"There, that should do it." Yang stepped away from the shelter. Oscar and Ruby, who were tasked with holding up the branches, let go with sighs of relief. Ruby squealed.

"It's so cool!" She began crawling into the little shelter.

"Don't forget the leaves!" Nora started piling leaves on top of the sticks of the shelter. Ruby excitedly bounced as she watched the sky start to be shaded by the piles of leaves.

"Oscar! Come in here! This is so cool!" Oscar slowly crawled into the little shelter. There was barely enough room for the both of them. They sat shoulder to shoulder on the damp ground. He wasn't as excited over the shelter as the others were. "Isn't this cool?!"

Ruby turned to him with excitement sparkled in her silver eyes. Her face radiated joy. Oscar couldn't help but smile too. He felt awkward but sitting next to her in the little twig shelter made his chest feel warm. He turned his gaze to stare at his feet. He felt that if he looked at her too long, he would go blind.

"Yeah… it's pretty cool," he smiled. Ruby's grin became wider and Oscar could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"My turn!" Nora announced. There wasn't enough room for all three of them. Oscar decided to leave to make room.

###

"Hey Oscar!" Marigold came to sit next to him. She stretched her arms. "I know that I'm supposed to help everybody as revenge for not taking the troublemakers, but you're a jerk for making me run around like this."

"I am?" he replied with a joking tone.

"You looked pretty lost in though over here. What were you thinking about?"

"Just thinking about the past. I remember when I learned how to make a stick shelter."

"Ah. Fun times."

"Yeah… it was…" Oscar sighed in reminiscence.

He looked over the students as they worked. Some were working on overly-ambitious shelters that looked more like forts. Some had made their forts already with the help of their semblances and their group was hanging out around their little shelter. Luckily everyone was working. It was peaceful… too peaceful…

"Hey Marigold? Where are the troublemakers?" Oscar asked.

"Last I saw them they were right over there…." Her sentence trailed off as she pointed to an abandoned pile of sticks. Oscar groaned and stood up.

"They are so dead when I find them. Stay here and look after the other students. Let them eat lunch when they're finished or something."

"Got it." Marigold saluted. Oscar stomped into the woods.

Oscar opened his scroll. He had all of his students' contacts. He opened Cole's contact and called him. There was no reply. Oscar's eyebrows scrunched up. He tried Hector. Same result. Finally, he tried Jett. Still nothing. Now he was frustrated.

He heard a beowolf's howl. Oscar froze. That was never a good sign. He took off running towards the noise. His heart pounding in his ears. He feared the worst. What if his students were being attacked by beowolves?! He ran closer and saw something in the distance. It was people running towards him. They had terrified looks on their face. Oscar recognized them to be Cole and Hector. There were tears streaming down their cheeks when he approached. Oscar was panting, but managed to get some words out.

"What happened?!"

"Beowolves! A-A lot of them!" Cole blurted out. Oscar put a hand on both of their shoulders.

"We will discuss this matter later. For now, get back to the group and stay with Ms. Pearson."

"But Jett is still over there!" Hector cried out.

"Just do as I say! I will get Jett!" He pushed both of their backs as he continued to run. The beowolves' growls were getting louder. Their dark heads peered over the tall bushes and undergrowth.

A beowolf could sense his anger. It came charging at him. Oscar extended his cane and stabbed the grimm. He slid underneath its feet and repeatedly hit its back before jumping onto its shoulders. He pierced its head. It collapsed and started disappearing.

Oscar jumped off and continued his advance. He burst through the brush and landed in a small clearing. He spotted Jett on the other side, cowering by a tree. Oscar immediately jumped up, landing on the head of the nearest beowolf. He leaped onto the next one, using their heads and shoulders as stepping stones. He saw a beowolf readying to attack Jett. Oscar quickened his pace. He leapt at the beowolf and stabbed it in the back, through to its front. The grimm fell.

Oscar looked down at the grimm as it disappeared. He took the moment to catch his breath.

"Jett!" Oscar roared. He was beyond furious now.

"M-M-Mr. Pine! Look out!" Jett called.

Oscar whipped around. He held out his cane to block any attack that may come at him. He saw a beowolf with its claws out, arms lifted to attack. Oscar waited for it to slash at him so he could counter it.

Except it didn't. There was a flash of red before his eyes and the beowolf was down. A figure stood before him, clad in a red cape that flowed with the wind.

"Are you his teacher? Please get him out of here right now," a soft voice came from the huntsman. Oscar's blood turned to ice. He knew that voice. It was sounded a little different, but it was hers. She turned around. His eyes met with those beautiful silver eyes.

"Ruby?!" The name escaped Oscar's lips before he could do anything about it. She took off her hood. Long, flowing black hair spilled from the hood.

"Oscar?!" Ruby gaped. Before either of them could say anything else, a grimm growled, reminding them of their current situation. They immediately fell into a natural battle position. Their backs pushed together and their weapons readied.

"Jett get out of here now." Oscar demanded. He couldn't tell if Jett obeyed him. He focused on counting the grimm surrounding him.

"There should be about a dozen grimm left," Ruby reported. Oscar heard the distinct chink as Ruby released her cartridge and loaded another one.

"I'm guessing you have a plan. What do you need?"

"Not much. You have two minutes then get out of the way. Corral them into one spot, please."

"You got it."

Ruby and Oscar leaped into action. He hit the nearest beowolf, knocking it back. He rushed at a straggler, pushing it back into the center of the clearing. He knocked a beowolf approaching from behind Ruby. She shot at them, refusing to let them past some imaginary line.

Two minutes were up. Oscar jumped out of the way. He landed where Jet hadn't moved from his tree. Then Ruby started running. Oscar knew what she was doing. He grabbed Jett and pushed him into the nearest bush as the wind started to pick up. The clearing transformed into a storm of red rose petals. The beowolves trapped in the middle. Then Ruby broke away. She skidded to a stop and held Crescent Rose behind her as she readied for the final cut.

Crescent Rose extended. A red light blasted from it, creating a larger version of Crescent Rose. Ruby dashed forward. In an instant all the grimm were slashed at once. They disappeared into black smoke.

Ruby sighed in relief and put Crescent Rose away.

"That was awesome!" Ruby cheered. She waved to the two in the bushes. Oscar came out with a smile on his face. Ruby dashed over and pulled him into a hug that nearly toppled him to the ground.

"It's sooo good to see you again!" Ruby grinned.

"It's been a really long time," Oscar laughed. Ruby let go of him.

"Look at you! You're so much taller than me now!" She stood on her toes to measure the height difference between them.

"And… you've grown your hair out." Admittedly Oscar didn't know what else to say. Nevertheless, Ruby took a long lock of hair in her fingers and played with it.

"Yeah… well I though it would be a cool change."

"It looks good."

"Thanks!" Ruby beamed. There was a moment of awkward silence between them. "Sooo… you're a teacher now?"

Oscar remembered Jett was standing right there. He also remembered his rage from the boy running off.

"Will you excuse me for a minute?" Oscar parted from Ruby. His entire attitude changed. "Jett!"

Jett flinched at his teacher's enraged expression. It was rare that Oscar got mad. His students had never seen it before. Even Ruby looked a little surprised by his outburst.

"You blatantly broke the rules and ran off on your own. To top it off you almost got yourself and your friends in danger! When we return to school, you are to report to the headmaster. You will be suspended for a week, minimum. Am I clear?!" Jett meekly nodded.

"Wow Oscar, you're taking this teacher thing really seriously," Ruby commented.

"Not now, Ruby. I'm trying to do my job."

"Well we weren't exactly the 'rule-abiding' type either." Ruby shrugged. She walked up to Jett. "I think you'll be a great huntsman one day. But first you need to learn to put others before yourself. Being a huntsman isn't about killing the most grimm or rushing straight into battle. It also requires a lot of looking around and evaluating the situation. If you run head first into a fight, you could get yourself hurt of worse, your friends and teammates."

Ruby looked at Oscar for encouragement. Oscar only sighed, hearing Ruby's words dissipated all the anger from his body. He was relieved to know that that part of her still hadn't changed.

"So? What are you doing out here?" Oscar asked Ruby.

"Hm? Oh before that… Hey Oscar… does the world seem to be spinning to you?"