"…" I glowered crankily in the direction of some rustling bushes over to my right. After watching a squirrel scamper out of them and onto a nearby tree, I continued my irritated walk through this godforsaken forest.

How did you get there? You may ask. Why is Railen so cranky? Oh. Ohohohooo. Railen is very cranky. Let's go back to about two hours ago.

Two hours ago… In Haven's Great Hall

I found myself exchanging some small talk with Elysia and Nero while we waited for the Great Hall to finish changing. As it so happens, this entire room was powered by Dust, allowing the professors to change it into whatever room is necessary for any occasion. As the clock finally ticked to 8:00 on my Scroll, I sighed and watched the last of the dining tables set up for an early breakfast. When I woke up, I immediately noticed the drastic change in the amount of students in the room. From the hundreds applying yesterday, there were about twenty or thirty of us remaining; that's a rather disturbing thought, if you think about it.

We were then told to get dressed for our initiation mission before breakfast. As I strapped on my light plates over my chest, shins, thighs, and arms, I thought of the number of students again. You'd think they'd be glad to have such a large number of students as potential Hunters and Huntresses. I strapped my dagger and its sheath to my hip, and checked that my short sword was secure in its sheath, going diagonally down my back. I suppose they're looking for the best of the best. I looked around at the other students, who were all fully dressed out in their combat attire. As a group, we made our way back to the Great Hall.

"Alright everyone!" Kestrel, one of the upperclass students from yesterday's exam, called for attention once some people in white clothing laid out a breakfast banquet for us. "Please, don't eat too much. We don't want anyone puking out a lung during initiation."

With a smile, she allowed us to collect our food and sit where we wished. Elysia, Nero, and I, having already been rather acquainted with each other, shared a table. It was small talk and small smiles once again throughout the whole room. As we all took our first few bites into the delicious looking pancakes, waffles, muffins, and bacon, the soon-to-be Haven freshmen fell unconscious.

Somewhere, Headmaster Watson was giggling, as he watched one student's face fall into some mashed potatoes.

Back to present time…

"AAAAARGH!" I exerted some extra effort into cutting down some rather tough vines in my way. I was working out some frustration, sweat rolling down my forehead, and chest tightening from asthmatic overexertion. After sufficiently cutting my way into a clearing, I looked down again at my Scroll.

OBJECTIVES

1. Encounter and Find your partner.
You and the first person you make eye contact with will be one-half of a team of 4; This is your team for all of your Haven career
2. Search and Return Keys to the beacon.
There is a small temple in this forest. Take ONE of the relics and return it to the location of the green beacon.

Sure enough, one could see a green beacon from any open space in the forest. It was far off to my left, and I was actually taking the first objective to heart. Obviously, it would be hard for someone to sift through Grimm-infested forest on their own; team work makes the dream work, guys! Speaking of Grimm…

Grrr… A Beowolf emerged from the foliage to my right, and I turned to face it. Its bright red eyes glowed with malice and hunger. Its long claws glistened in the sunlight. I was glad to be in a clearing; much more open space meant more maneuverability. It also meant that—Grrraaowl… Fuck. I turned to see another Beowolf approaching from my left side. It looked at the first Beowolf, seemed to nod in understanding (to my surprise), and lowered itself, a charging stance. I turned once more, so that they were on either side of me.

"Right…" I said, finally catching my breath as I stood my ground. I gripped my dagger with the blade pointing along my arm. "This is exactly what I wanted. Totally. Great."

The second Beowolf charged at me from his spot on my left with its arms extended, and the one facing me lunged with an arm primed for a rather harsh-looking slash at my head. Instinct took over, and my aura pooled into my eyes as I activated my Semblance. The world turned to shades of blue and black, and time seemingly froze. Immobilized,I took stock of the situation.

Obviously, moving left and right won't help very much. My eyes moved to look over at the Beowolves. I had thirty seconds to think of my next move. If I move back or forward, I catch either the start or the end of that Beowolf's swing. Lefty here also might catch me if try to attack Righty from below its leap. So, there's really only one option here. With an idea in mind, I took a breath, released my Aura, and jumped—

Over Lefty, and time slowed down in my head; Thank Dust he took a low lunge. At the push of a button, my dagger's butt end instantly opened to resemble a pistol barrel. With a quick press of the same button, a .50 caliber round was blasted into the top of its skull. I landed with a side roll and reoriented myself just in time to see Righty bounding over the downed Lefty, claws extended once more. This time I took the offensive: I lunged forward, and my sword cut across its chest, causing a red gash to appear and forcing the beast to stumble back. I followed that up with one, two, three more strikes counted in my head, then rolled around to his side to avoid another, much slower swipe. It was easy work past that, a few more slashes, rolls, and a final stab into its throat: a vital point for most Grimm.

"Well," I wiped my forehead as I watched the Grimm dissipate into the air. "That was almost a close call." Before I could take a step however, another growl cut the silence behind me. Too close behind me, to be exact. I could feel the ground under me rumbling.

Graaaao—aa! It's charging roar was cut off by something.

I turned just in time to see two large walls of earth pull away from each, and the remains of the Beowolf drifted into the wind. I hadn't even pulled my dagger back out yet to try to defend myself. The walls sunk back into the ground, and I met my savior. He was much taller than me, and had broad shoulders. His dirt-brown hair was messy, and he donned a blue headband. He wore hardened leather armor over simple green clothes.

"Thank you," I said, approaching him as he wiped dirt off of his hands. Judging by the two holes in the ground, he had just stuck them in there to create those earthen walls. I offered my hand to shake after he was done. "I really owe you that one. What's your name?"

"…" He said nothing as stared at my hand before shaking it, and smiled at me. He then pulled out his Scroll, and pressed a button. Immediately, my Scroll vibrated and I looked at the screen.

PARTNERS:

RAILEN ROAME & ARGOS HADRIX

"Argos, then?" I asked, and he smiled again. "Not much of a talker, huh?"

I watched as he typed into his scroll with practiced quickness. I looked down at my Scroll.

Been mute since birth. You're Sanctum's Railen Roame?

I looked up at him after reading it softly aloud. H-he knows me? I thought. I nodded, deflated by the first statement he made. Mute since birth? That's a tactician's personal worst nightmare! Behind blindness, of course.

Good to know I at least have a chance at survival now, with a former tourney champ for a partner.

"Right." Oh. Right. That's why. "I suppose that's correct."

And I'm really sorry about—

"Anyway…" I forced my eyes way from the rest of that sentence. "I suppose we're partners then?" A nod, then a gesture to follow him.

After a long while of silence and trudging through the forest, I concluded that Argos wasn't fully mute; He would grunt in exertion and sigh from time to time, and I deduced that he had a rather ragged voice.

"So, Argos" I begin, ending the period of silence. "What's your Semblance?"

Ground-Power. I can control whatever solid ground is under my feet, as well as form temporary structures out of it.

"Interesting." I noted.That explains the walls from earlier, I gathered. An elemental Semblance is rather rare in Mistral. I was about to ask how he learned to use it until we heard more rusting in the bushes a few feet away. I drew my sword, and I saw Argos press his fists against the ground, an orange Aura surrounding them. Another male duo emerged from the bushes, but no one that I recognized.

One was a few inches shorter than me, and had hair colors ranging from black, red, orange, and yellow. His eyes were a calculating dark grey. In his hand was a Gladius sword similar to my own's design, with a rather complicated looking handle that comprised of a large cylinder barrel. A bladed weapon that also happened to be a gun, not uncommon, but a favorite and effective combination for many Hunters.

His partner was a Faunus, a bit taller than the first young man. His fox ears were barely noticeable through his black and white spiky hair. His eyes shone red with excitement and curiosity. He wielded large clawed gauntlets that appeared to jut out from a wristband on both of his arms. A barrel-like hole by his knuckles told that he could use projectiles if needed.

"Hold your arms!" The Fox Faunus spoke first, left hand on his right arm, and a smile on his face. "Friendlies, here."

"Of course." I lowered my sword. I made to shake their hands, and Argos followed. "Who might you be?"

"Taz. Taz Kitsune." Fitting, I commented inwardly. He gestured to the multicolor-haired boy next to him. "This is my partner and long-time friend, Noir Ignatius."

"I can speak for myself, Taz." The shorter of the duo said. He pulled down on his black and red hoodie, realigning the light pieces of armor on his torso. "But yes, that's me."

"Railen Roame." I reciprocated before gesturing to my partner. "And this is Argos Hadrix."

"What's up big guy?" Taz said with a smile and a wink. "Fox got your tongue?"

The comment caused Argos to take a step back for a moment, before realizing the speaker was speaking in jest.

"He's mute." I glanced over while I explained, hoping the use of the word mute was okay with him. "But he's pretty damn fearsome."

"Silent yet deadly." The duo in front of us said, simultaneously. Light laughter ensued, followed by a quick fistbump between the two friends.

"You two seem really close." I commented.

"Mhmm." Noir was suddenly rather impatient when he replied, "That's what years of dealing with this guy gets you. Now while this was all nice, do you have any idea where that temple might be?"

"We were looking for it ourselves." I said. Looking at Argos, who shrugged. "No clue so far. You guys?"

"We passed another two on our way here." Taz answered. "They were headed back to the beacon already with a key. Said it was due north."

How do we know which was is north from here?

After reading Argos's question out loud, all I got in response was a sly smirk from Noir; he apparently just hatched an idea.

"Hey, Taz. What did you Scroll say about the weather and wind direction today?"

"Uh…" Taz sounded confused as I was when asked this question. Looking to Argos, apparently he didn't know either. "I think, mostly sunny, and slight breezes going West."

"Good." With that, his Aura flared a bright red-orange all over his body, and a great cloud of smoke enveloped the area within moments. Completely obscuring all of us from view.

"Noir!" I called out into the greyness. "Is this you?"

"Yup!" I heard Taz respond instead. "It's his Semblance!"

Within a few minutes, the smoke began to dissipate, and Noir pointed to the sky. According to him, the wind was much stronger among the treetops, and would tell us where West was. Sure enough, the wind blew the smoke to our right.

"You could have done that," Taz took a moment to glare at his partner. "We've been wandering aimlessly for half an hour!"

"You could have stopped rambling on and on about the breakfast muffins' betrayal this morning." Noir countered.

"Good point." The Fox Faunus said, before turning to me and Hadrix. "Well, let's get going."

I looked to my tall partner, who shrugged as if to say, I don't' have any better ideas. I nodded in agreement before following Noir northward, with Taz behind him saying that the muffins' betrayal was still unforgivable.

(Author's Note): HEYO, BLEACHCADELINA HERE WITH A LONG DESERVED UPDATE FOR THE READERS!

The new laptop is going well, and I'm pretty much set up with all the OC info again. Thanks again to everyone who resubmitted! Writing schedule, of course, will still be slow because of school, but I shall be dutifully working on it. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy it and what else I have in store!

Review Responses:
(From next update on, I will only do responses for the previous chapter)

VorticalFiveStudios: Thanks! I need much more improvement, in my opinion, but that comment still means a lot to me.

Hiero II: I follow that idea personally IRL.

Zabaniyz: Yeah, sorry. I wish I had let you know that I did that. Also, I hope you don't mind me changing his name from Rama to Roma. And yeah, I wanted to show the exam, since it's somewhat of an original idea.

kaixnx360: Mhmm, a rather diverse bunch, and we've only scratched the surface! I plan on doing Railen's POV for the main story; if I start talking about something that doesn't involve the main protagonist and his team, I will use 3rd Person.

xxxcidexxx: I really felt the Kestrel would be great as an upperclassman. I have plans for her. Just you wait. For a long while. Because that part of the plot doesn't happen for a loooong time. So stay tuned!

Maebird: *finger guns*

Wallflowerpower: Hope your eyes are better now! And you'll see more characters soon.

That's it for now, see y'all next udpate!

Heart You!