*Beacon cliff*
"You are here because today the teams will be formed," Ozpin and Goodwitch were standing in front of all the Hunter hopefuls, "For this, you will have to cross the Emerald Forest and retrieve a relic, you will be have to use a landing strategy of your own device to land safely, and the first person you make eye contact with will be the person that will become your partner for the rest of your team at beacon."
From then on Eleanor tuned Ozpin out, starting to look out for potential partners. Grant and Alxander were both on the top of the list, as she knew both of them, and knew that they could hold their own against most small Grimm. Next up was Pyrrha, as much as she would dislike to be paired up against her rival (Though she wasn't entirely sure that the other girl saw her as such), she could not deny that the fighter could fend off a middle level Grimm by herself. Ruby or her sister both looked competent, especially Ruby, since she was accepted two years younger than the rest of the trainees, with the exception of Grant, who looked older than the rest, despite being smaller than her.
A sound drew her eyes to her left, where the platform where one of her classmates had been standing had launched him to the air, in the direction of the forest. So that's why they needed to device a landing strategy.
She crouched, idly noticing Alexander doing the same to her right, and as she felt her feet about to leave the platform, she sprung up, adding extra speed to the already high velocity with which she was thrown in the air. She easily overtook Alexander in the first few seconds of flight.
But then she started falling and he didn't. She tried to keep her calm, you can do this, use your aura to stop yourself, she told herself, but she had no control over her aura right now, she thought she would not be able to release enough force to break her speed enough to land safely, without mayor injury.
Okay, calm down first, she thought, focus your energy, and punch down. She did, but nothing happened. A second time, still nothing but frustration. A scream of frustration accompanied the next punch, and she let out what sounded like a cough, but that surprisingly slowed her down.
So, a breakthrough, how nice, never thought she would discover something like that but hey, if it worked, it worked. She took, with great difficulty because of the air resistance, a deep breath, and held it until she broke through the tree tops, releasing a shout that stopped her a few feet from the ground.
Key words, a few feet.
"God dammit" whatever breath she still had in her was knocked out as she hit the ground from five feet back first, so she took very needed break to regain her breath, her stability, and most importantly, her sense of direction.
She saw flashes of fire and explosions above her, and unfortunately, made eye contact with Leon as he did a front flip, a grin on his face and his SMG in its tonfa mode.
Oh great, she had the guy that dissed the simplicity of her shotgun axes.
*Meanwhile*On the air*
Alexander once had heard of a man, the very first of the eagle faunus family he hailed from. He had found a book, a diary perhaps, telling tales about how he could do stunts that rivalled those of a Nevermore in combat mode, about how even humans marvelled at the grace of the man when he took flight, and the elegance with which he moved on the ground, to be compared with that of kings.
Now the clan was a shade of that. They were still graceful in the air, but their wings had grown heavy, and required months if not years in order not to spring out at any place or time.
Alexander wished they had more pure bird faunus around, to go back to when they were as equaly graceful in land and air, to when they could fly without the need of aura.
Now was not the time for that, now was the time procure a teammate.
He looked around for Eleanor, but he saw her already falling, her eyes closed, too far for him to make a good turn. He twisted his wings, flipping so he was flying on his back, a very difficult thing to do, only three people in the family could do it, counting him. He saw two others starting flight, five behind him in total. Grant and Leon were the closest.
He slowed himself down enough to let Grant catch up, and stayed level with him as the mercenary turned student started his dissent.
He had to dodge a lot of branches, but he managed to watch the other man use his weapon as a way to stop his momentum, the spear buckling but nor breaking as Grant stabbed it in the trees and released it with a spin.
The two landed opposite to each other, backs to one another, "Want to make a team?" they hadn't made eye contact yet.
"There will be rules to follow if we do," They did not turn, they could still find better partners.
"Not pointing out differences is one that applies to both of us," The two would no doubt get on a lot of fights if they did form a team, but hey, didn't all groups fight from time to time?
"And we don't get on each other's way when we're fighting Grimm, can we do that?" Alexander turned and started walking towards Grant.
"It's a deal," The two locked eyes finally, "But I doubt we'll be great friends, midget"
"The feeling is mutual, bird brain"
*Cliff top*
"Hmm, I never expected those two to form a pair" Ozpin said as he took a sip from his cup, "Both of them have something they yearn for though, so I suppose not totally surprising."
"I think it may be a bad match, Mr Jager's profile says that whenever he visited a town he often strayed from his parent's instructions, while Mr Sherman has not a bad word on his profile"
"Linda, I know exactly what type of people the two of them are, so, what about this new pair, Miss Burandt and Mister Kaynor, any thoughts?
*Eleanor and Leon*
"No, we're not searching a Nevermore just for the sake of it," Eleanor dragged the boy behind her, keeping him from running off to who knows where.
"Come on, who knows, we might kill it"
"Or we might get killed by it, I said no, we're getting a relic, we're meeting up with everyone, and then we're going back to the school for dinner"
"Oh, how bad could it be, I bet it's not even smart, making a nest this close to the academy"
"If there is even a Nevermore in the forest, which I doubt a lot"
"All the more reason to search for one, what if they're just waiting for the headmaster to let his guard down, and then BAM, one of them starts an assault on the school, when we could have prevented it," It was so extremely far fetched, since Nervermores did not normaly stay on human territory unless there was a high concentration of negative emotions.
"I doubt a school is bad enough for the emotions to beacon a Nevermore"
"It could be," Leon finally allowed himself to walk besides Eleanor, "I know at least a tenth of the students have been indoctrinated against faunus, and some faunus against humans"
"We're not searching a Nevermore, but feel free to kill any Grimm that stops us" she shot an Ursa minor as she said the, the thing trying to get a drop on them.
"And how am I supposed to do that when you shoot them in the face?" she did not answer, instead letting him deal with a huge, dog-like Grimm with white, meter long spikes running down its back and a mask set in a snarling expression, a Hound.
The explosion that went of on its face sent the meat bits flying, but they evaporated soon enough, leaving only a skeleton behind, a very fast Grimm degradation, it was probably not even a year old. It did not stay long enough to make Leon dirty.
"So, we have to get to the temple, I suggest you get moving or I'm leaving you behind," Eleanor said, hacking branches that hung too low.
"Yeah, yeah," the boy looked back to see the skeleton starting to erode, then looked ahead and caught up to his teammate.
*With Grant and Alexander*
The two both moved very carefully, taking care not to attract the attention of the Grimm that no doubt inhabited the forest around them.
"We're eventually gonna cross one," Alexander whispered, "How do you want to deal with it?"
"I'll hang back," Grant whispered back, "Try to shoot it up, as long as you try to give me openings"
"Sounds like a plan, anything else?"
"Yes, if I tell you to duck or jump, you do it, understood?"
"Yes sir, I'll try to trust you with that."