In this chapter, our protagonists are going to take the initiation test. And yes, I'm aware that normally they would be starting the test sooner...but I figured I would give myself time to write for characters such as Coco and her friends.
Since you're probably looking forward to some action, there's going to be some Grimm fighting in this one. And of course some of the hunters-in-the-making will find their partners. Eventually, everyone will have one.
Chapter 5: Emerald Forest
Ruby woke up with a start. Her alarm clock had gone off.
Oddly enough, her sister was still sleeping regardless. Maybe she was a rather heavy sleeper. It wouldn't be a surprise considering all the training that she did.
However, Ruby was asking herself something.
Why exactly DID she set up her alarm clock?
Suddenly, she remembered.
"Oh, that's right. Today's the big day!" exclaimed Ruby. She didn't want to be late for it. That would be rude. Miss Goodwitch would be so sourly disappointed.
Of course, with her superhuman speed, she NEVER was late. It was time for her to get on a team with three other people. Who would the leader be?
Immediately, she dashed out of her room.
Suddenly, Yang woke up, stretching out her arms.
"Well, that was a rather refreshing nap..." noted the blonde. It was nice to have a good night's sleep after training for so long.
Curious, she noticed that her sister was not in her bed.
"Ruby? Where did she go?" asked Yang.
Oh wait, that was right. Today was the day that they were going to take the Emerald Forest test. It was rather standard procedure...though this year they were going to let the students train for a week in order to help protect them from the Grimm. It was a safety thing.
Meanwhile, Ruby headed to where the test was supposed to take place.
It appeared that she was the first one there. There was no sign of any of the other students. In fact, she wondered if she had made a mistake as to what day the test was going to be.
Either that, or she had simply gone to the wrong location. It did look like an emerald forest to her...but what did she know about geography?
"Yang? Jaune? Weiss? Anybody?" asked Ruby as she began to look around.
Suddenly, she noticed Headmaster Ozpin, who was standing in front of the Emerald Forest. Currently, he was admiring the scenery.
Perhaps this WAS the right place. But she decided that she had better ask him in order to make sure. She didn't want to make any mistakes now.
"Where is everyone else?" asked Ruby, looking around the area.
"You outran them..." answered Headmaster Ozpin.
"Oh...heh heh heh." stated the teenage girl. She was starting to wonder if she was as hyper as Nora was. She sure was rather enthusiastic about eating those cookies...though she preferred strawberries.
Sure enough, it appeared that the other students were eating her dust...which wasn't the stuff that Weiss kept in her suitcase. That would be dangerous.
"Ugh..." murmured Yang. Why couldn't her sister slow down for a change? Perhaps she had been playing too many Sonic games.
Immediately, she began to cough up the dust that she had consumed.
Personally, Ruby wondered if the Grimm would be able to catch her in the event that she decided to call for a retreat. Probably not.
At that very moment, Yang noticed Ruby.
"Hey there, sis!" exclaimed Ruby.
"Hey, Ruby...so you know what you're here for, right?" asked the blonde.
"Of course I do! I need to get the checker pieces!" exclaimed Ruby. After that, she would head back to Beacon Academy and she would be assigned to a 4-person team.
"You need to get the chess pieces." stated Yang.
"Oh. Well, I was close." said the fifteen-year-old girl, rubbing her hand behind her head.
"I wonder whose going to show up next?" asked the blonde.
At that very moment, Nora showed up.
"Yes! I'm here! Now all I need to do is partner up with Ren!" exclaimed Nora.
Incidentally, he didn't appear to be at the exam yet. It looks like Nora was simply going to have to wait for him.
A few minutes later, Blake showed up.
"I was taking a catnap...I mean just a nap! Just a nap!" exclaimed Blake.
"OK?" answered Yang, raising an eyebrow.
The next person to show up was Weiss, carefully carrying her suitcase so that the dust didn't end up exploding. That wouldn't be too fun for them, would it?
She seemed to be waiting for someone like Nora was.
And of course, that person was Pyrrha, who showed up a few moments later.
"Yes!" cheered Weiss. Pyrrha was here. Now all she needed to do was come up with a plan to get her to come to her side.
"Let me think..." thought the ice girl.
"So...who do you think's going to be next?" asked Pyrrha.
At that very moment, Jaune showed up.
"Am I late?" asked Jaune. He didn't want to let down the headmaster.
"No, you are not." answered Ruby. Personally she thought that she was rather early. She forgot about her superhuman speed sometimes.
"Oh thank goodness!" exclaimed the blonde.
This was followed by Lie Ren.
"Hey." said Ren.
Nora began to squeal.
"Yes! Ren made it! Now we can become partners!" cheered Nora, raising her hands in the air.
Cardin arrived along with his friends. They didn't appear to be in a hurry. In fact, they appeared to be sneering at the other students.
"Is everyone here?" asked Headmaster Ozpin.
"I believe so, yes." nodded Ruby, pulling out her scythe.
"Alright then...I suppose you're going to want the instructions for this test..." stated Headmaster Ozpin.
Cardin yawned. He already knew what the test was going to be like. He in fact had planned for it. Now all that was left was to make eye contact with one of his friends and then have two more of his friends do the same. Then he would be all set...once they took the chess pieces, of course.
"You are all going to be entering the Emerald Forest...and you will be coming back with chess pieces. In the process, you'll need to find a partner. The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner...for the next four years." explained Ozpin.
"That's...a lot." noted Jaune.
"Yes, I know. As such, I suggest you try to get along with your partners regardless of your personality differences. See these launch pads on the floor?" asked the headmaster.
Curious, the students decided to take a look at them. They looked rather bouncy.
"You're going to use them to get into the forest. Feel free to use your own landing strategy." stated Professor Ozpin.
Juane gulped. This didn't seem like it was going to be fun. Why couldn't they have a parachute?
"Who wants to go first?" asked the professor.
"I'll do it! I'm the first one here!" exclaimed Ruby.
"I'll go second!" bellowed Nora. She was feeling like a daredevil today.
"I'll go third!" shouted Yang.
"Alright then. Just keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to take turns since there are multiple launch pads...but if you want to go in one at a time, it's fine with me." stated the headmaster.
Ruby nodded. Immediately, she used the launch pad to go into the Emerald Forest.
"This is just like when I got hit with some of Weiss's dust..." stated Ruby.
"This is just like when I sent Ruby flying with my dust..." remarked Weiss.
Unfortunately for Ruby, she hit a bird on the way down.
"Nooo! I'm a bird murderer!" cried Ruby. How could she commit such an unforgivable act?
"Cannonball!" cheered Nora as she fell into the forest.
Lie Ren did not share the enthusiasm.
Cardin smiled smugly as he used his mace to land himself in the ground. However, he noted that his teammates had ended up elsewhere in the forest.
It looks like he was going to have to look for them...but he was sure he would able to do so before anyone else did. He thought that all the other students were slowpokes...well, except for maybe Ruby.
Jaune screamed like a little girl as he was launched by the launch pad.
Oddly enough, Yang screamed like a man.
"Did that come out of my mouth?" asked Yang. That was a little embarrassing...though at least people probably wouldn't be teasing her about it like they would with Juane.
Pyrrha was not too concerned about using the launch pad, as she remained calm during her brief flight.
Of course, it helped that she had magnetic powers to draw her to somewhere soft.
"There we go." stated Pyrrha as she landed on her feet.
Likewise, Blake did not have many problems. Cat Faunus ALWAYS landed on their feet. However, she did wonder if she was going to use up any of her nine lives in the forest.
Of course, she was glad that nobody else saw her landing. That might give away her cover...though judging from her facial features maybe it wasn't that much of a disguise to begin with.
Fortunately, her good sense of smell told her that there were others in the area nearby.
Of course, it also told her that there was Grimm in the forest as well. She might not want to get too close. Sure, she would be doing a favor if she did manage to slay some Grimm on the way to the chess pieces...but she didn't want to risk her life unnecessarily either.
In the forest, Ruby was running to see who she could find to be her partner.
Perhaps it would be her big sister Yang. She was sure that she would be happy to help her find a chess piece for herself. Then they could be on the same team for the next four years.
Of course, there was also the possibility that she would end up with Weiss. Unfortunately, they had gotten to a bad start when they met. But she was sure if that happened that they could work something else.
Or maybe she could end up with Blake. Of course, she didn't seem to talk too much...but maybe she could find something that they could talk about together. She would hopefully talk to her about making the way to where the chess pieces were located. That way they could head back to Beacon Academy and relax in their safe warm beds.
However, there was one person that she would like to be partnered with that she seemed to be forgetting about...but she didn't know who it was.
"Who was it again?" asked Ruby.
Suddenly, she noticed Jaune, hanging from a tree by his underpants.
"Hey there, Jaune!" exclaimed the teenage girl. It appeared that Juane had trouble making the landing.
"Hey, Ruby." said Jaune.
Fortunately, Ruby helped Jaune get down.
"That looked like it was rather...painful." noted Ruby.
"It was, but I'm fine now...listen, are you sure you don't want a different partner? I'm not a very good fighter..." stated the blonde.
"It's alright, I think we'll be fine. Besides, the headmaster said that the first person that we made eye contact with would be our partner for the next four years...I don't think we can go back on that..." said the scythe wielder.
"I guess you're right..." nodded Jaune.
"Besides, according to the signpost, though it does technically have Grimm, the Grimm here are on a low-scale..." stated Ruby.
Sure enough, there was a sign detailing the level a hunter or huntress should be before entering the Emerald Forest. It wasn't very high at all, at 2.0.
"I guess we should stay well clear if it says we're at a 10.0." noted Jaune. His father told him that going to places like that at his current skill level would be a death sentence.
"Yeah...there are legendary Grimm there!" exclaimed Ruby. Only the teachers at Beacon Academy would be interested in going there. Those Grimm must be the stuff of nightmares.
Speaking of Grimm, suddenly a Beowulf showed up.
"Aah!" screamed Jaune.
Fortunately, he was able to cut the Beowulf with his sword, giving it a gash on the cheek.
However, this made the Beowulf rather angry.
"Grrr..." murmured the Beowulf.
"Don't be scared, Jaune! Those are the weakest Grimm in the history of ever!" bellowed Ruby. She'd heard of kittens that were more dangerous than them.
"Really?" asked Jaune.
"You should know that..." stated Ruby.
To demonstrate, Ruby decapitated the Beowulf with a single slice.
"On the other hand, there are probably more in the area..." noted the niece of the legendary Qrow.
Jaune gulped. That did not sound like fun.
"I wonder who my sister is going to get partnered with..." thought Ruby out loud.
Jaune shrugged. It could be anyone.
Meanwhile, aHe jumped in surprise. He was not expecting a Grimm to be so close to him.
However, he immediately assumed it to be one of his teammates.
He smiled. Everything was going according to plan.
But a few seconds later, he realized that it was in fact not one of his friends.
In fact, they weren't even male.
"What? A girl's wiping the floor with the Grimm?" asked Cardin. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him.
Suddenly, he remembered something. Whenever two hunters made eye contact with each other, they would end up being partnered for four years.
He was NOT looking forward to working with a girl.
Quickly, he began to walk away before it was too late.
Unfortunately, it already was too late.
Suddenly, Yang made eye contact with him. She immediately smiled.
"Hey there! Want to help me fight the Grimm? Granted, I'm doing pretty well by myself...but I think it'll be more fun if we work together..." noted Yang.
"Damn it!" exclaimed Cardin, slamming his mace against a tree.
"Is something the matter?" asked the blonde.
"I don't want to work with a girl!" screamed the bully.
"Really? If you want I could try to pretend to be a boy..." stated Yang.
Immediately, she began to lower her voice so that it sounded more masculine.
"Hey, man. How's it going? Want to do boyish things?" asked the blonde.
"Grrr..." murmured Cardin. Things were not going according to plan.
Speaking of which, he wondered who one of his friends was going to end up with now that he already had a partner.
Meanwhile, Russell was looking for Cardin.
"Where is he? He said we were supposed to meet here..." stated Russel. Of course, there was the possibility that he had forgotten where they had supposed to meet.
Why couldn't he rely on him? He did say that he wanted to be leader of the group.
He was starting to wonder if he was REALLY cut out for the job.
Meanwhile, Nora was looking for Ren.
"Rennie! Where are you?" asked Nora. Did he chicken out and go back to Beacon Academy? She certainly hoped not. They were looking forward to this.
Quickly, she began to run through the forest.
In the process, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going.
Likewise, Russel was in a hurry to find Cardin.
Inevitably, they ended up crashing into each other.
"Oof!" bellowed Nora.
"Ow!" exclaimed Russel.
Russel was rather annoyed at the occurrence, to say the very least.
"Watch where you're going!" demanded the school bully.
"Sorry! I was looking for Ren! I wanted to be his partner!" exclaimed Nora.
"Partner? Wait a minute..." stated Russel.
At that very moment, he realized that he was going to be with Nora with four years.
"And Cardin's going to kill me...perfect, just perfect!" exclaimed Russel.
Suddenly, Nora grabbed Russel by the arm.
"Let's go look for Ren together!" exclaimed Nora.
"Whoa!" bellowed Russel, his eyes widening in surprise. He tried to break free, but Nora had an iron grip. Just how strong was she?
"Ren, here I come!" shouted the hammer wielder.
"What have I gotten myself into?" thought Russel as he was dragged across the forest floor.
Guess what? Ruby's going to be with Jaune and Cardin's going to be with Yang...and yes, things didn't go according to plan. Heh heh heh.
In the next chapter, we're going to see who Ren is...and who HE get partnered with. We're also going to see who Weiss gets partnered with too. And we'll get to see who Blake ends up with...you want to know that, right?