(February 13th, 2015)

Chapter 4. The Emerald Forest

Over a dozen bodies were soaring across the sky. Several people propelled their flight with their weapon to land further into the forest.

Rouge was using Sylph as her 'means of transport', using her wings to slowly decend onto the ground. Nicandra was employing ice ramps to help her arrive onto the mainland. Thistle was firing bullets at the ground to slow down his arrival, and the blue haired boy employed a similar strategy. Zelony embeded his yoyo into a tree branch and swung, performing a three-point landing.

Bruin was at the same time both excited and scared: this was the first time he was doing such thing. Back in Haven he trained in variety of situations, but this was something new. He had to come up with some landing strategy real quick or he'd end up with a major injury if he'd survive the impact. Then an idea struck him.

He used his Semblance with his weapon in its crossbow form by creating an Auric rope attached to the weapon's bolt. Around hundred yards away he noticed a tall tree and shot. The bolt embeded into the trunk high above the ground. Bruin was yanked by the Auric rope and on his way to the tree hit few branches which slowed him. Then he hit the trunk head on and the impact resulted in losing his control over the Semblance and falling onto the ground. He managed to sit with his back against the tree to catch a breath, but passed out.

At the same time, Nicandra was battling some Beowolves in other area of the Emerald Forest. Several lightning bolts and ice shards flew across the battlefield and defeated the Grimm. Then she heard another monster coming at her and conjured a flaming tornado around her. The create died when it came upon the fiery whirlwind.

"Nice job, Nic," a female voice came from behind her.
"I suppose this makes us partners then," Nicandra replied looking at Rouge. "Also, please call me 'Nicandra'."
"Have anyone told you you're no fun?" Rouge asked with a chuckle.
"This is a combat school, not a circus."
"So any idea where is this abandoned temple?"
"We arrived from that cliff," Nicandra pointed at a distant hill, "and we were launched in the opposite direction. We need to continue further that way," and she pointed the oppose direction.
"Makes sense."
"Let's continue," Nicandra said and started to walk, followed by bored Rouge.

Pearl landed with the help of her weapons: the claws which she used to 'slide down' a tree in spiral. She was a bit disappointed that no Grimm welcomed her. Her thoughts strayed to the possible partners, there were few 'categories' to consider. Faunus haters where definite 'no', yet she didn't crossed out humans from her list altogether. She hoped to end up with a Faunus, but life wasn't so giving so she had to accept anyone who'd end up with her.

She looked at the Beacon Cliff and went the opposite way since that was were the abandoned temple should be. As she walked she grew restless: quite some time passed since she started her search, around an hour or so. There was no one in sight, apart of few wild animals. Something wrong was happening, she was certain of that.

Then she heard sounds of battle and rushed in their direction. Pearl arrived to a view of a blond man fighting with Boarbatusks and Ursai. He had a strange weapon of choice: cards. They were circling around him and when he waved with his hands the card attacked that target. She finally decided to step in.

"Need a hand?" she clawed a Boarbatusk who was thrown into a tree and dispersed into black mist.
"That'd be great!" he shouted as he jumped back to evade a swipe from an Ursa.

Pearl dipped one of her claws into the Ursa which attacked the man and quickly removed it. The beast roared in pain and just as it was to disperse it fell onto the woman. Few Boarbatusks saw this as an opportunity to kill her and charged at her, but the man came between them and formed a shield from his cards. The trick worked to a degree as one of the monsters managed to break through the defenses. Pearl, who recovered after the man shielded her, performed a swift uppercut on the Boarbatusk. She then kicked it midair sending it across the battlefield and it dispersed.

Few more Boarbatusks and a single Ursa remained. The girl went with the large monster and as she was to scratch if a few times, she was cut by a few cards.

"What gives!?" she shouted at the boy.
"I-I thought you'd take the Boarbatusks!" the man replied angrily.
"Then you go get them!" she replied with a commanding time to which he complied.

After finishing the battle, the woman approched the man and measured him with an intent look. The man was quite nervous, even hiding his face in his hands.

"I'm Pearl."
"M-Maize," the man replied.
"Are you always this uptight?" Pearl asked with an annoying face.
"I d-don't know what you're talking about," he cried out from his hands.
"Since obviously you and I were alone before and now we've met, we're partners now."
"Gosh," the boy muttered under his breath. Pearl looked at him as if asking what he said. "You okay there?"
Pearl simply laughed at that. "Let's get going. The temple is that way," she said pointing deeper into the woods.

Rouge was following Nicandra in silence. Occasionally, the two slain a few Grimm that appeared at random.

Suddenly Nicandra paused for a second.

"What is it?" Rouge asked, but was shushed by her partner.
Something moved in the bushes and Nicandra called out, "Who goes there?"

A two-headed snake Grimm rushed at the two women, attempting to chop of their heads. Nicandra send a flurry of ice shards, while Rouge smacked the monster with her weapon in the whip form. That only angered the creature.

"Two heads, long tail," Nicandra commented. "You take the heads! I'll try to disable the tail!" she commanded and rushed to the Grimm's behind.

Rouge was alterting between sword and whip forms of her weapon, occasionally relying on Dust injected into the weapon's handle. She managed to scar the Grimm with the help of lightning Dust. On the other hand, Nicandra was having some problems with the monster. Despite her tries to freeze it in the place, the creature broke from the icy casing with ease. She also tried magma pools and lightning bolts but without success.

"Rouge, how is it going?"
"Fun!" the dark pink-haired woman replied and for the first time since the initiation's start summoned a spirit. Gnome dropped from a brown emblem onto the ground and several spiky rocks emerged from the impact zone and struck one of the heads. Then the spirit vanished.
"This tail is proving too much trouble! We must withdra—!"

Nicandra was sent flying into a tree by the snake's powerful tail. Rouge summoned an earth wall in front of her blocking the attack from both heads and rushed to her partner. She summoned the water spirit who healed Nicandra, while Rouge was defending them from the onslaught. She was about to get hit with the tail when it suddenly was frozen in a large crystal. Rouge looked around and noticed Nicandra rushing to her.

"We leave. Now," she commanded.
"O-Okay," Rouge hesitantly replied.
"We might have better chances of beating it if we find more people. Now run!"

The two now sprinted into the direction they were previously walking leaving the angered Grimm to itself. It would soonly free itself and go after them. They had to rush.

Thistle was walking without any idea of where to go. He only knew that he had to collect a relic piece from an abandoned temple with his partner. A new problem appeared before the man: he had no partner.

Then a blue-haired man appeared as if to save the other man from his distress. He then drew his weapon, the dualblade, and bent it slightly revealing a string coming from it. He then drew an arrow from the quiver on his back.

"Fight me," he commanded.
"Why? We're partners now. Partners don't fight?" Thistle was unsure of his last statement and turned into into a question.

The blue-haired man then shot the arrow, but Thistle just blocked it a foot before him with a wave of his staff. The other boy the shoot three arrows in rapid succession, but Thistle evaded them. He then when head on and struck his opponent's guts with the staff's head. He then followed it few more hits and the other man landed several yards away from him. The blue-haired man stood up, switched his weapon's mode to dualblade, and slashed Thistle a few times. The purple-haired man then jumped back, reversed the grip of his staff, and shoot a few bullets at his enemy. The other man twirled his weapon on front of him blocking the shots and followed it with a rushed thrust. Thistle got hit and struck the other man with the staff's head, but he simply jumped back.

"That is enough," he said.
"I don't understand," Thistle replied.
"I was testing you. I don't want to end up with a weakling as a partner."
"Do I pass the test?"
"Yes, you're quite a warrior, I must admit."
"I am Thistle Sophie," the purple-haired man introduced himself.
"Larimar... Mikulio," the blue-haired man replied with cold voice. "The temple is this way. Let's not waste time on useless banter."

Suddenly Larimar heard a shot and turned around: a Beowolf was slowly dissipating. He looked at Thistle whose face remained strangely neutral despite saving him. There was something unsettling about the purple-haired boy that was worrying Larimar. He would at least have four years to see who Thistle truly was.

The two then continued their quest for the abandoned temple.

Zelony just slain another group of Beowolves. How long has it been since they started the initiation? He estimated around hour and a half to two. There was no sight of anyone or the temple. He started to wonder if he hadn't lost his way in the forest: after all it was quite expansive. He was walking in random directions since he considered finding a partner the primary objective. Finding a relic without a partner would kinda be weird. They were also graded during the initiation: he wondered if his meandering was giving him negative points.

Suddenly he heard a group of men laughing and followed the noise. He came to a view of two men bullying someone. When he approached them he noticed a familar brown-haired man.

"Bruin!" he exclaimed.
"Oh? You know each other?" the man with brown hair and armor on asked with a sickening grin.
"What's it to you?" Zelony asked with a frown.
"Russel, get him."

The man commanded his partner with the green mohawk who attacked Zelony with a couple of dagger slashes. The yoyo wielder simply crouched, startling the boy named Russel. He then low-kicked him and the man fell on his back. Zelony punched him into face and he passed out.

Zelony looked around and noticed that Bruin was dragged in the distance by the other man. He catched up with them without being noticed. He used his yoyo to knock the other man from behind with a hit on his head's back. He put the bullies together against a tree.

He then approached Bruin and gently woke him up. The other man opened his eyes, but closed them immediately. The sunlight was hurting his eyes a bit. After a moment he opened them leaving narrow holes.

"Wh-who—?" he asked.
"Are you all right?" Zelony asked. "They didn't beat you much?"
"Huh?"
"I see few bruises here and there," he commented. "Nothing that Aura can't heal."
"Th-that voice—!"
"Yeah, it's me, Zelony," the man replied with a smile. "You were attacked by some Russel and his partner." He growled the last few words. "But I dealt with them."
"E-eh..."
"They're just knocked out," he calmed Bruin's worried train of thought. "The staff will deal with them, I'm sure."
"Let's go."

Bruin didn't want to stay there much longer. Two bullies attacked him out nowhere which he was still knocked wasn't a pleasant company. Plus, there were Grimm around and four people together would certainly attract them quicker than a pair. So it was a logical conclusion to go straight for the relics now and be done with the initiation.

"Already? But you just woke up, after being bullied nonetheless! You sure you don't need a rest?"
"I was knocked out by a tree, I think rested enough," Bruin joked trying to make light of his current situation.
"We're partners now by the way," Zelony said.
"Better you then them," Bruin pointed at the two bullies in the distance.
"Hey!" Zelony protested. "Am I a Grimm now!?"

They both laughed. Then they agreed on a direction of their walk towards to abandoned temple and continued their journey.

Author's Notes

Finally a new chapter! This is nothing interesting I'm afraid. Partnering the characters seems so rushed. RWBY and JNPR doesn't appear as I couldn't find anything that would work out good, but Cardin and Russel are in, mainly because I think that "Jaunedice" was kind of rushed (i.e. time skip) and said that Cardin bullies everyone and there wasn't any bullying showed performed by him in the show before "Jaunedice" (those 'flashbacks' hardly count as "shown before"). Also, I wrote this all today (February 13th, 2015), that's quite an accomplishment I presume.

Also, I'm considering some romance in the story. Team RWBY will not get love interests in form of my OCs since I aim for the story to be faithful to the actual show. Romance will mainly happen 'within' my OCs (that is sooo poorly written). What do you think about it?

I also decided to put dates on top of each chapter. I think that some people may like to know when the story was last updated and such things.