Automne glanced over to his new partner who was wearing a serious expression and positively exuding determination from his pores. Automne cleared his throat and looked for any kind of reaction on Ty's behalf, but he only received silence as they briskly walked through the dense forest. They would occasionally have to stop and clear away vines or some brush, but all the while the stifling silence remained between the two young men who were now forced to be partners for the next four years.

Automne glanced over at Ty one more time and took a deep breath, 'Looks like I'm going to be breaking the ice this time.'

"So… are you still mad about the hiding in the bushes thing?" Automne's answer was met with dead silence, aside from the foliage rustling beneath them.

'Probably should've started out with something a little less recent.'

"So, did you manage to find any rice yesterday? ...For the Scroll? ...The one that I stepped on." Silence persisted while Automne cringed at his own question

'Wow… Are there any more stupid things I should say? How about I just insult him because at this point I honestly don't know how I could possibly make things any worse.'

"Actually yes I did,"

"Really?" Automne said slightly awe struck that Ty had actually managed to find rice in an academy made to train warriors.

"Yeah, the lunch ladies in the Cafeteria said stuff like that apparently happens a lot, so they keep a couple of extra bags of rice on the side." Ty said with what sounded like a somewhat upbeat tone.

'Yes, thank you extremely considerate lunch ladies. You have saved my life once again.'

"But that doesn't really matter because when you stepped on it you must've broken something internally, because now the screen doesn't work."

'Damn it!'

"Oh, I'm really sorry about that. I'll try to repay you as soon as possible." Automne said with a frown as guilt and worry ran through his mind due to the fact that he had completely botched up all chances for a good first impression.

"Don't worry about it too much. You'll have plenty of time to pay me back, and now I don't have to worry about hunting you down now." Ty responded with a sinister smile.

"What does that mean?" Automne asked slightly offended by what Ty was implying.

"No offense, I'm just saying I just thought you might try skipping out on me after that debacle."

Automne opened his mouth to return fire, but just decided to let out a heavy sigh instead. "Whatever, so you seem pretty… lethal. Where did you train?" Automne asked curiously as he eyeballed Ty's lean but muscular arms as he climbed over a fallen tree.

"I went to Signal."

"Just Signal?" Automne asked as he threw his legs over the tree. "No private ninja army or anything like that?"

"No, but I did work with my dad and the Vale police department for a while." Ty chimed with a sense of pride.

'Well that explains a few things, I guess.'

"I actually almost joined the police force, but I figured defending all of humanity and the Faunus was the better choice." He continued with a large proud grin.

'Lot s of noble people around here.'

"Huh, well that was a bold choice. It was probably the better choice anyways; I don't think the Vale PD would want you running around with that big old thing. Ya might accidentally be scraping cars and accidentally cutting up old ladies; people would be freaking out." Automne gave a chuckle as he imagined the streets in panic over something as simple as a giant shuriken.

" 'Ahhhh run away, it's the shurikeeen!' Then they all burst into flames" Ty and Automne shared a short laugh before Ty cleared his throat. "But actually the Vale Police Department was perfectly fine with me using my shuriken and they even promote the use of personally constructed weapons as long as they follow permitted statutes set by the current elected officials and the commissioner. The use of constructed weapons prevents officers from becoming extremely stressed on duty and has been shown to cause a decrease in crime rates in areas where patrol officers are using custom weapons. The only real issues have been a small group of citizens claiming that blah blah blah blah blah-"

A small trail of spittle began to crawl out of Automne's mouth after he got lost in the endless lecture that poured out of Ty and it only crawled further and further down his chin as Ty continued to go on and on and on and –

"So does your shuriken do anything cool." Automne rudely interrupted as he wiped the saliva off his chin with his scarf.

Ty gave a bitter scowl and drew his collapsed shuriken by its circular handle and raised it up inches in front of Automne's nose. Automne stopped in place and keenly studied the four blades collapsed next to each other to form a single wide sword. The interior of the blades were thin and razor sharp while the exterior was noticeably broader, but Automne had no doubt that it could hack through steel and bone without any issue. Automne continued to follow the mysterious allure of the curved blades to their tips and was once again surprised by another piece of this weapons arsenal, a small hollow port just behind the tip of each blade.

Before Automne even had a chance to ask Ty about the port Ty slid his thumb forward on the handle, causing the blades to spring open with the speed of a bullet and lock into place to form Ty's large, somewhat intimidating shuriken.

"The handle is equipped with small pressure plates which I use to manipulate the blades and the dust ports on the end of each blade." Ty explained flatly as he pushed his thumb sideways on the edge of the handle, releasing two parallel blades which began to slowly spin while the other two remained locked in place. "These two are on a separate axis and can rotate freely while the other two remain set; any more questions?" Ty pressed his thumb against the handle again and brought the spinning blades to a halt before giving the handle a squeeze to collapse the blades.

"What's its name?"

Ty paused for a moment as he hooked the shuriken onto his belt, "What?"

"Your weapon, what did you name it?" Automne asked with a growing expectation for something so stunningly awesome as he crossed his arms.

Ty stared down at his sword-shuriken thing and began to nod his head, "Chuck," he said happily before proceeding to walk northward.

Automne squinted a bit, 'Chuck?' hey quickly shrugged it off and rejoined Ty, "Oh, just one more thing," Automne inquired as he jumped over a rock. "How were you guiding it through the air back there in that fight?"

"Easy," Ty started as he rolled up his purple leather glove slightly and pulled his vambrace back to reveal what appeared to be a spool of metal thread. "I just loop a thread into the handle before the fight starts and I can control the Shuriken by hitting its pressure plates."

Automne stared down at the threads and blinked a few times. 'Not going to even try and make sense of that. You know what at this point I'm basically inclined to believe whatever anyone tells me.'

"Cool, so how much further is it until we get to that temple?"

"I don't know it shouldn't be too much further now."

"See here we are," Ty said triumphantly as he pushed past a few bushes and walked into a large clearing, the stone temple standing like a golden trophy a few hundred yards away. "I told you it wasn't too far."

"Huh well that was unexpectedly fast." Automne mumbled as the two of them walked into the field which was, for some reason, covered in melting ice and large feathers that were skewered into the dirt. "Wonder what caused that."

"Yeah, something big must've happened here." Ty said in awe as he looked around.

"Haha good thing we didn't have to deal with it, right?"

Ty gave a chuckle "Oh definitely, up top!" and so they shared an extremely undeserved high-five and laughed all the way to the altar. But their moods took a drastic turn when they actually got to the temple and looked around.

"Oh come on!" Automne said in disappointment as him and Ty stared at the last remaining relic, a black pawn.

Ty gave a heavy sigh and picked it up, "Well it's pretty clear that we're doing the worst out of everyone. Don't blame yourself too much,"

"Hey I-"

"Wasted a good chunk of our time by hiding in the bushes and preventing us from actually making any progress,"

'Oh yeah… Sort of forgot about that'

"What we need to worry about now is getting back to Beacon as quickly as possible. That being said we can't go back the same route, it'll take too long, those thicker trees over there probably have more Grimm, but it should make for a straighter path back towards the cliffs." Ty advised without the slightest indication that there were any other options.

'Hmm so we're going to trek through an even more dense part of the forest than what we were just in, which is more than likely filled with monsters which could very well impede our progress even more, and this plan is entirely dependent on the fact that that part of the forest makes for a straighter line to the cliffs which we really have no actual reference towards because we were flung through the air, and we have absolutely no experience with traversing this landscape. I see absolutely no issues with this plan.'

Automne gave a heavy sigh, "This is bogus." He muttered weakly before he started to march off towards the tree line with one hand in his pocket and his other on his drawn blade.

"Hey you got us into this mess, and who still says bogus anymore?" Ty inquired with growing impatience as he stuffed the relic into his pocket and drew his swordiken.

"I still say bogus. Don't be bogus." Leaves and vines flew through the air as Automne sliced through the thick greenery.

"I don't think you even know how to use that word." With every step they took into the forest light slowly faded away as the canopy above them grew unruly and wild.

"Nuh uh, I know how to use it you're just too bogus to understand, you bogus person." The air around them began to grow cold while the smell of rotting flesh wafted past them gently.

"You know what, you're fired."

"What?"

"Yep, you're fired from doing stuff. Now step out of the way, I'll clear out the path for the rest of the way."

"First off how is that even a punishment? Second this plan sucks anyways. We're making almost no progress with all these damn plants in the way." Automne said bitterly as he kicked a fallen branch.

Ty pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head a few times while Automne continued to kick the branch. "Would you stop kicking that-" Ty stopped midsentence and looked straight up and began to look around the dense canopy as a large smile made its way onto his face. "Automne, come here and take hold of me!"

Automne stopped kicking the branch and turned to Ty with his hands held out in front of him, "Whooooa, where're you going with this?"

Ty stared at him with a mixture of shock and confusion, "What? No! For Dust's sake dude, just get over here." Ty demanded as he opened his shuriken.

"Okaaaay," Automne said hesitantly as he shuffled over to Ty.

Ty took the shuriken in one hand and raised it up behind him. "Alright, now grab on." Automne nodded his head and took hold only to immediately receive a shocked, curious stare from Ty after he had bent down and wrapped his arms around Ty's waist.

Automne stared back at Ty with an obvious amount of discomfort, "What?"

"You… could have just grabbed onto my arm…"

"… I-uh I don't want to screw up your throw or anything…"

Awkward silence filled the air for what felt like a minute before Ty cleared his throat.

"Alright then, let's go" he said as boldly as he could as he chucked ('Oh hey I get it.') His shuriken up into the trees above, "Hold on!" Ty shouted as he gave a small tug on the wire, whipping them off the ground and pulling them into the canopy. Ty gave a grunt and knocked Automne off into the air where he suddenly collided with a branch.

"Ow." Automne said flatly as he pulled himself onto the branch while Ty stood on a separate branch a few yards away trying to yank his shuriken out of the shattered wood. "Any particular reason why we're up here?" Irritation obvious in Automne's voice as he tried to balance himself on his branch.

"I had an awesome idea while we were down there; why not travel through the canopy? There's no brush to get in our way, these branches are thick enough to support our weight, and there are almost no Grimm that can get us up here." Ty shouted happily as he jumped over to Automne's branch.

"Huh, it's not a bad idea… Hey do you get the feeling that this seems kind of… familiar?"

"What do you mean?"

"It kind of feels like somebody has done this idea before… Kinda feels like we're ripping it off." Automne rubbed his neck, completely lost as to where they got the idea to dart through the trees to get to their destination.

"I know what you mean," Ty started, "But we can't worry about that now we need to get back to the cliffs. Now follow me!" Ty shouted boldly as he jumped to the nearest branch and flailed his arms back and forth insanely to keep his balance.

'I really should have written my will before I came to this school.' Automne thought cynically as he followed Ty's lead and began to join him in jumping along tree branches.

The branches swayed heavily as they threw all of their weight onto the limbs hoping for dear life that they wouldn't snap and end up dragging them to the forest floor. The really great upside of being closer to the canopy was that there seemed to be more light than down below and if Automne didn't know that this forest was trying to kill him he would even have the audacity to call it peaceful.

In between jumps the forest felt so surreal, as if the trees were producing some kind of aroma created to lull people like him into a calm slumber. The kind where your eyes go heavy and your head begins to sway as you drift off into a comfortable mid-day nap. The kind of nap induced by a lack of foresight to not have your scarf cover your nose and mouth before doing any strenuous activity.

'You're suffocating you idiot!'

Automne shook his head back and forth as he landed on a branch; he pulled the scarf down below his chin and began to gasp for air. He lurched forward and placed his hands on his knees to steady himself as he tried to catch his breath.

"Dude, Y'all right?" Ty asked in concern as he fell back from the lead and joined Automne.

"Yeah," Automne managed to sputter between gasps, "Just. Catching. My breath."

Ty let out a sigh, "You had me worried for a second. You really need to work on your endurance, dude."

"How would I-" Automne held his breath.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and the air grew cold and dank as that piercing feeling of being watched burned into him. His body was screaming at him to run away, he looked around to see where it was, the entity that was about to kill him.

Below

"Automne move!" Ty shouted as he drew his weapon and leaped for another branch.

Automne turned to jump but a monstrous crushing noise roared into the air as the tree he was perched on snapped. Before he knew it he was falling, he turned over to see a pair of large black jaws rapidly leaping upwards to consume him whole.

Automne's mind began to race with ideas for how he could evade, his hands gripped his weapons and-

His mind went blank.

There it was, his life, his short sad, slightly ironic life flashing before his eyes as the seconds stretched on across the years as he approached the mouth of a King Taijitu.

Automne was ready to take his last breath and die, but a loud droning noise began to drown out his irrational thoughts.

Luckily the droning was more than just a minor annoyance. The annoying drone was emanating from Ty's large flaming shuriken, which was just about to collide with the Taijitu.

"Huh," Automne said blankly as the shuriken embedded itself in the serpent's head. A gut-wrenching shriek erupted from the monster as the force from the shuriken sent its head sideways into another tree.

'Well at least I won't eat me.' Automne thought with a sense of satisfaction as he plummeted towards the ground.

A loud pop rang through the rushing wind as Ty scooped up Automne in his arms. The wind stopped streaming past Automne's face as all the color from the forest disappeared into white, gray and black outlines of what once was and in a sudden rush they rolled onto the ground with Automne secure in Ty's arms.

A large smile crossed Automne's mouth, "Heeeey, you saved me!" Automne cheered happily with a small chuckle.

"Didn't think I had to." Ty said with a hint of impatience as he dropped Automne onto the forest floor. Automne glanced around and saw that they were in a perfect circle devoid of any shrapnel from the shattered tree.

"So what just happened?" Automne asked utterly clueless as they got to their feet.

"I call it Burst Blink, but we have other things to worry about dude!" Ty informed as the King Taijitu began to rise off the forest floor with Ty's shuriken still embedded in its skull. "I lost the wire to my shuriken, distract it while I retrieve!" Ty ordered as he leapt over the fallen tree and out of sight.

The Taijitu must not have heard Ty's plan though, because instead of focusing on Automne it tracked Ty with its blood-red eyes.

"H-hey!" Automne was breathing heavily as he stared up at the one thing he feared most in the world. He gripped his sword and pistol so hard he thought he could feel blood dripping in his white knuckles. He could barely hold his gun steady, he crossed his right arm over his left in an attempt to keep his iron sights properly aligned, but he knew it was no good.

He was trembling like a coward as the King Taijitu continued to follow Ty with those piercing devil's eyes.

"HEY!" Automne hollered again as he put his foot forward and tried to steady the weapons in his hands.

Automne squeezed the trigger and sent a round down range towards that nightmare.

The seconds seemed to stretch on for days as the Taijitu slowly turned to him.

Automne could feel death creeping through him like a poisonous slug as that beast of a Grimm tore into him with its demonic stare.

It lunged forward.

Automne let out a visceral scream and opened fire.

The world went silent, Automne was screaming his head off, he pulled the trigger again and again and again and he was more than certain that the force of pure malevolence in front of him was shrieking, but he couldn't hear any of it, but he could feel all of it.

Automne pulled at the trigger again and was met with a horrifying click as the last round flew out of his barrel and the slide locked in place. Automne swore under his breath and faced his ninjato outwards towards the Taijitu.

Automne held one foot out towards the monster which was about to strike upon him. The beast rammed at him with the force of a train and sent him flying back, but not before Automne landed a small stab in between its scales.

Automne kicked his heels into the dirt and stabbed his blade down into the ground. A large cloud of dirt kicked up into the air and hung low to the ground as Automne staggered to recompose himself. He dropped the empty magazine from his pistol and quickly reloaded as the relentless serpent began to slither towards him, ready to retaliate for the minimal damage Automne had managed to cause.

A small smirk began to stretch across Automne's mouth as the stupid glory of Ty's plan came to fruition. The muscular warrior was running up the back of the completely unaware King Taijitu. He broke into a full sprint as he started to reach the end of the "path" and let out an incredible roar as he grasped onto his weapon's handle and ripped it out of the monster's head.

Ty pivoted quickly and slashed at the creature's nose before vanishing into thin air for a moment only to appear in the same spot. A sudden burst of energy erupted from Ty's "blink" and repelled him into a back flip while the Taijitu staggered from the recoil.

Ty landed next to Automne with an over the top pose that screamed 'I'm a badass.' But Automne wasn't one to judge, at least not too much, so he clapped a bit and nodded his head. "Nice, I'd give you a 9 out of 10 in the style portion. You cou- Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Automne shouted in frustration as the monster shook its head back and forth and once again locked its eyes on them.

Automne's blood was beginning to boil, he had had enough of this stupid, dirty, monster infested forest and this was just giving him a headache. Automne pulled his scarf over his mouth and adjusted his goggles, his eyes shimmering with a burning passion beneath, "Keep it in one place," Automne demanded as he began to walk off into the woods.

Ty stared at his partner, slightly perplexed as to what his vague order actually meant. "Dude, where-" Ty began before the Taijitu began to circle around him in preparation for a crushing constriction. Ty gave a gasp and teleported out of the narrowing coils.

Ty turned back to prepare for the Grimm's next attack, but a loud crunching noise filled the air. He turned to his left and had come to the realization that he had teleported too close to a tree and ended up blowing away a large portion of its trunk.

"Oh no," Ty muttered in his spare moment before the King Taijitu lunged at him again. He bolted backwards, his head was soaked in sweat and he could feel the energy draining out of him as this fight dragged on. Lucky for him his mistake had become an instant benefit as the lumbering tree he destroyed came toppling down on top of the Taijitu, pinning it against the ground.

The Grimm writhed and shrieked under the enormous tree which, to Ty's surprise, the monster was still capable of moving. Ty took this brief opportunity to catch his breath.

A loud scream filled the air as Automne suddenly appeared next to the head of the King Taijitu and plunged his blade into its blood red eye. The creature let out a shriek of anguish as fluid sprayed outwards onto Automne's face, but he wasn't done just yet. He pressed the barrel of his gun against its eye and began to fire wildly, its juices spraying all over him as he pumped every round he had into the monster even after its head slammed against the floor, indicating their victory.

Automne stared into the mutilated pool of blood and gore that was the Taijitu's eye and let out a sigh. His legs were tired and now he just wanted to sit down on the ground and sleep, but unfortunately he still had things to do.

"Nice job, you could've been a bit clearer with your instructions, but whatever." Ty said cheerfully as he walked over towards Automne and the now dead King Taijitu.

"Thanks," Automne said with a slightly hollow smile as he once again dropped a clip out of his pistol and replaced it with a new one from a pouch on his vest.

"So how did you do that invisibility thing?" Ty asked as he gestured to where Automne had first appeared.

Automne removed his blade from the eye of the Taijitu and wiped it against his sleeve. "It's my semblance; I can turn invisible for about a minute."

"Hmm, ever try more?" Ty asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nah I usually pass out."

"Huh… Hey does it feel like we're forgetting something?"

"I know what you mean, something just feels… off." Automne and Ty said completely clueless to the fact that the King Taijitu's other head was slowly creeping over the fallen tree, preparing to strike on the two of them.

"Hey idiots," A girl screamed from out of nowhere, "get back!" Automne and Ty turned toward the Grimm, shock and fatigue had taken their toll and there was nothing left for them to do.

'Well time to see my life again.' Automne conceded hopelessly as the white jaws of the King Taijitu closed in only to collide with a large light blue triangular wall of light with a flower in the center.

That's when she slid in between the barrier protecting Ty and Automne from death and the imposing monstrous Grimm.

'It's her,' Time seemed to slow down once again as Automne marveled at her stunning, short, blue hair waving gently as an almost nonexistent breeze grazed past them. 'She's even lovelier in her gear.' His love-struck mind whispered as he watched creepily as she pulled a shotgun off her back and opened fire, a pair of orange bandanas tied to her arm whipped along with her purple leather jacket as her hail of gunfire held the Taijitu at a distance.

The girl's shotgun gave a loud click; she grasped the top of the barrel in her hands adorned with fingerless gloves, ('Because of course she would wear fingerless gloves.') and flipped her weapon over her shoulder. The grip folded up into the now smooth, streamlined handle as a sharp axe-head popped out from the stock with a metallic shink to form an axe which she wielded with an intense confidence.

She steadied her grip on the handle and raised it above her head in a defensive stance. The hair on Automne's neck stood on end as the Taijitu lunged forward; its jaws wide open with the primal desire to rip the mysterious badass apart, but Automne already knew she was going to win this.

The girl glided out of the Grimm's path on a single foot and swung her axe downwards into the mouth of the King Taijitu, lodging its head into the serpent's gums.

She raised a hand off of her axe and with a flick of the wrist created another barrier in its mouth. "Now!"

A sudden rush of black and white swept past the girl and sliced through the Taijitu's fangs with a single clean cut. The blur came to an immediate stop as she turned, her long, lustrous black hair shimmered elegantly as she turned her long weapon in her small gloved hands, jabbing the end of it into the dirt and propelling herself into the air.

'Eve?' disbelief and doubt rushed through his mind as the delicate and strange girl he had met only yesterday flipped through the air, the sun glistening off of her glasses as she flew down onto the top of the King Taijitu, impaling the bladed end of her staff into the center of its white and gray head.

The barriers shattered and dissipated into the air, causing the King Taijitu's mouth to awkwardly clap shut in the now silent clearing.

Eve leaned onto her staff, which was humorously taller than she was, and looked over at Automne with an absolutely cheerful expression. "Hey Automne!" Eve quietly cheered as she waved to get his attention.

"You know these guys?" The blue haired girl grunted as she ripped her axe out of the dead Grimm's mouth, glancing over at Automne and Ty from behind a pair of bright orange mirrored aviators.

"Mhmm," Eve nodded her head happily, "Well, I know that one." Eve pointed at Automne then took a firm hold of her weapon and tried to pull it out of the Taijitu with no avail.

"Hey dude," Ty whispered to Automne, "Is your friend with the naginata single?" Ty asked with a suggestive grin as he pointed over at Eve who was still struggling to remove her weapon from the Taijitu's corpse.

"Too late tough guy," The girl with the axe interjected as she wiped the head of her axe against her purple cargo capris. "I already called dibs on her." An arrogant smile crossed her lips as she rested her axe on her shoulder and placed her other hand on her hip causing the bandoliers covering her midriff to lightly jingle.

'Wait, did she just say she called dibs.' Dread began to crawl into Automne.

"You can't call dibs when no one's around to hear it."

'Oh my Dust, she's a lesbian. Meaning you have absolutely no chance with her.'

"Well you just heard me call dibs. So there you go."

'Well there goes any chance of living a happy life with her and having five kids. Then again I didn't actually know her; I just fantasized for a few hours or so.'

"That's crap and you know it." Ty said heatedly as their stupid argument began to disintegrate.

"Well tough luck, pal. I saw her first so unless-"

"Enough!" An absolutely irritated Automne shouted.

Eve stopped yanking at her Naginata and looked over at the tree of them. "What was that?"

Automne looked over at Eve, feigning pure befuddlement. "What was what?"

"I thought you said something."

Automne removed his goggles and blinked a few times, "Ummm… No, I don't think I did."

"Oh," Eve blinked a few times and looked back to her weapon. "Never mind then." She shouted almost inaudibly as she returned to the task of removing her weapon from the dead Grimm.

Automne turned back to Eve's partner and Ty, "Look," He breathed in an irate whisper, "Neither of you are calling 'dibs'. Eve's a good friend and she deserves better and if you even try anything I'll shut it down before it even starts. Are we clear?"

A loud sloshing sound filled the air as Eve dislodged her weapon from the King Taijitu's head, causing her to raise it above her head and let out some cheerful laughter, before walking over to the front of its head where she sat down and slowly slid off.

"Crystal," Eve's partner said with a hint of agitation in her tone.

"Alright, fine." Ty said with a disappointed frown as he crossed his arms.

"Good, now never speak of this again." Automne said in a rush before Eve joined them.

"Hey guys, so what're you talking about?" Eve asked happily as she held her tall weapon at her side and glanced between the trio.

"Oh nothing much we were just thanking your teammate for helping us out." Automne lied through his teeth as he looked back and forth between Ty and the partner.

"Yeah, we're really grateful for the help." Ty added with a small honest smile.

"It's not a problem," the blue haired girl said flatly as she sheathed her weapon in a holster on her back. She extended her hand out towards Automne, "My name's Petunia," A wry smile present on her lips.

Automne couldn't help but feel crushed as the thought of having absolutely no chance with Petunia sat in his mind, "I'm Automne." He said with a weak smile. 'Y'know the funny part is I wouldn't have guessed on Petunia; given the hair and all.'

"And I'm Ty."

"Hi Ty, I'm Eve." She said happily as she shook Ty's hand after Petunia.

Ty gave a loud comfortable sigh, "Alright now that introductions are out of the way let's get going." Ty insisted with a sense of urgency.

"Are you sure you guys don't want to rest for a minute? You look exhausted." A worried Eve inquired as Ty made to walk off through the forest.

"There's no time for that. The longer we take to get out of this forest the worse our scores will become." Ty added in concern.

Eve giggled a bit, "You don't have to worry about that. I can use my semblance to heal all of us while we walk." Eve added with a proud smile as she put her hands together and rested her weapon in the crook of her elbow. The air around them began to grow cool and soft against their skin as a dense, but unusually clear fog engulfed them.

Automne took a deep breath and reveled in the soothing mist which seemed to be patching the cuts along his face and numbing some of his bruises. "Thanks Eve, this is awesome!"

"Thanks, I'm glad it's helping." Eve said through staggered breaths as beads of sweat ran down her face.

"Alright, now let's move out!" Ty called out to the freshly rejuvenated group, who promptly joined him in the last leg of their journey through the forest.

They did it; they ventured through the Emerald Forest, retrieved a relic and managed to make it out of that Dust-forsaken place alive, with the worst possible time out of all the other students who were participating. Automne didn't want to focus on that last part though. They were alive and that's all that mattered… for the most part, and now they patiently waited to be called up to the stage by Ozpin to become inducted into Beacon Academy.

"Go," An occupied Glynda whispered as Ty, Automne, Petunia and Eve were ushered onto the stage.

Automne gave a small sigh, "This is it." He muttered to himself with a smile on his face as the four of them stepped forward in unity with their hands held behind their backs.

"Tyrian Inuhoozuki," Ozpin began, watching them with reserved joy as they took their place in front of him.

Automne blinked a few times, 'Am… Am I with the right group?'

"Automne Ombre Noire,"

'Oh… Wait, Ty's name isn't Ty?'

"Petunia Kapelle, and Eve Howlite. The four of you retrieved the black pawn pieces. From this day forward you shall work together as team Taupe, led by, Tyrian Inuhoozuki."

A large smile spread across Automne's face as he looked from "Tyrian" to Petunia and Eve, but something caught his eye. That being the large monitor above them presenting the letters T-A-P-E.

Automne quickly nudged Tyrian and pointed up at the monitor. Tyrian looked up and a horrified expression slowly washed away the joy from his newly acquired position.

Ozpin opened his mouth to call up the next students, but was interrupted by a raised hand from Tyrian. "Umm Professor Ozpin, I hate to interrupt, but our name spells tape." Tyrian said with an evident amount of concern.

Petunia's mouth fell open as she stared up at their team name which had begun to elicit a bit of laughter from their fellow students.

"Yes, but it's pronounced taupe." Ozpin said statically as he looked between the four of them.

"Well… yeah, but… can't you put a U in there instead of an E? Or something."

"I'm sorry but none of your names start with a U. Now if you wouldn't mind clearing the stage, there are other students who need to be initiated." Ozpin asked politely.

Tyrian, Automne, Petunia and Eve complied quietly and walked off the stage completely embarrassed, and the random students pointing, whispering, and snickering didn't exactly help to boost their self-esteem.

Automne gave a heavy sigh as they found a place to stand in the crowd, "So… Your name's Tyrian." He said flatly as he glanced over at Tyrian's boots.

"I prefer to be called Ty." He responded listlessly, his mind clearly somewhere else. "It's more fluid that way."

Automne nodded his head and muttered "Alright," He glanced over at Petunia and Eve, Petunia was rubbing her temples, obviously tired out from this entire day and Eve was just staring at one section of the floor.

"It's not so bad." Her quiet uneasy voice rang out to her teammates.

"Not so bad? Eve, we're probably one of the worst teams here." Petunia said in a sad, discouraged and tired tone.

"And our name sounds so stupid." Ty added to the steaming pot of depression.

Eve paused for a minute, Ozpin's voice still ringing in the background as he announced the name of another team. "I think we're pretty cool." Eve said in a small sad voice.

Silence fell between the four of them as they all stared at the floor, with the exception of Automne who was watching Eve with a bit of pity in his eyes.

"I don't think we're cool," Automne broke the silence and gained the attention of his teammates who stared at him inquisitively and slightly offended. "We're a bit too awesome to be cool. Like no offense to everyone else, but I don't think they can match our amazing potential and skill." Automne sarcastically boasted.

A sly grin grew on Petunia's face as she pulled her aviators out of her jacket and slide them onto her face. "Yeah, I mean those other guys got style and all," Petunia popped up the collar of her jacket and tried to hold back a laugh "But they can't touch our swagger."

Ty pushed his glasses up his nose and crossed his arms, "Between the four of us we've got enough skill and brains to outmatch anyone or anything that stands in our way." A large smile dominated his face as he puffed out his chest.

Automne looked back to Eve who was now wearing a giddy smile. A large smirk crossed Automne's lips as he held out his fist before Eve. Eve's eyes glimmered with tears of happiness as she lightly pounded her gloved hand against Automne's.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an interesting year." Ozpin stated, concluding the ceremonies in the background while Team TAPE shared a laugh in the crowd.

Petunia let out a loud groan as Team TAPE trudged down the hallway towards their dorm. "How much further?"

"Not far," Ty responded patiently as he looked at a sheet of paper that was handed to him after they were inducted. "Keep your eyes open for #38."

"Noooo, I'm too tired to keep my eyes open. Automne, dude, you watch for it." Petunia whined as she dragged her feet against the floor.

"Oh tone it down it's not like they made us climb stairs or anything." Automne slurred as he tried to suppress a yawn.

"Yeah and they even put our luggage in our room for us, so that's nice." Eve chimed in as she lifted her glasses to rub her puffy eyes with one hand while she held all of their uniforms against her chest with the other.

"I wish they would've carried me." Petunia whined as she swayed back and forth with every step.

"Well we're here so you can stop whining now, Ty toss me the key."

"There is no physical key. We have to program a code into our Scrolls so we can each unlock the door when we want to without worrying about losing a key." Ty responded with an angry glare.

Automne gave a groan, "Dude I said we'd go to a repair place this weekend. Just tell me the code."

"I'm not supposed to say it out loud."

"Gah, then get over here." Automne said impatiently.

"Guys you need to be nicer to each other." Eve said in a small reasonable voice.

"He legally owes me a new Scroll." Ty complained as he held his papers in front of Automne's face.

"I said we'll talk about it later, but right now I think we've all earned some well deserved rest." The lock to the door clicked open and Automne pushed the door in. "Voila,"

"Oh thank Dust," Petunia said weakly as she trudged in and began to remove the bandoliers from around her waist and stomach, throwing them onto the floor in the center of the room. "This one's mine." She called out as she pulled off her shoes and fell face first onto the bed on her immediate right.

Automne couldn't refrain from staring as Petunia slipped out of her jacket and rolled onto her back. Her orange tank top seductively crawling up her body as she writhed in bed and rubbed her face against the bright red sheets.

"You're drooling, dude." Ty said flatly as he walked over to the bed on the far left of the room, sat down and started to remove his armor.

Automne ran his sleeve over his mouth only to realize that Ty was messing with him. "Very funny,"

A loud clatter and the soft sound of folded clothes hitting the ground filled the air. Automne turned around just in time to see Eve sprinting down the hallway.

"Eve?!" Automne called after her, he knew it was no good, but there's no harm in trying. He let out a sigh and began to pick up their uniforms from the ground.

"Where'd she run off to?" Ty asked from the room as Automne picked up Eve's almost unwieldy weapon in one hand.

"I don't know. She does this kind of thing a lot." Automne stood Eve's weapon up against himself and examined the mostly smooth shaft and slightly curved blade which towered above his head, he even had to walk it into the room at an angle because it was too tall for the doorframe.

Automne walked over to an empty desk and set the uniforms down. "How long do you think she'll be gone?" Ty asked from across the room as he slipped into a pair of pajama pants.

"I dunno, but I wouldn't worry about it." He replied as he leaned her weapon against the wall, removed his own from the holsters on his back and placed them on the ground next to hers.

Automne sat down on the bed to the far right of the room and began to remove his vest when a loud billowing sound began to grow closer.

"Do you hear that?" Automne asked casually as he stood up.

But Ty's reply wasn't really necessary because right then Eve burst into the room carrying a large blue tarp. She threw the tarp down in the center of the room and ran over to a white suitcase. She popped open the suitcase and rustled its contents around loudly before pulling out a handful of large needles.

"Umm Eve, what are you-"

"If we're going to be living together in the same room we need to have something to divide us!" Eve softly shouted as she stood on top of a night stand, pierced the tarp with one of the needles and threw it into the ceiling.

"Okaaay, but where did you get that tarp?" Automne asked with growing concern as Eve hopped down from the night stand and moved it over a couple of feet.

"I borrowed it from the janitor."

"And he was okay with this?"

"I'm not sure, he wasn't there."

"Uh huh, hey Ty feel free to pitch in whenever you want." Automne advised with hints of concern in his voice.

"I want no part in this." Ty called back as he buried his head under his blankets.

'Terrific,'

"So Eve, we're going to give the tarp back, right?"

Eve threw another needle into the roof, "Yeah, but we'll need to get a curtain first." Eve stated in a happy, but humorless tone. "I figured maybe we could go shopping this weekend and buy a nice one that goes on a rail so we can open it up during the day." Eve said with a smile as she threw the last needle into the ceiling and formed a dirty blue impromptu wall that divided the room in half. "So what do you think?" Eve asked with a warm smile as she joined Automne on the right half of the room.

Automne stared up at the tarp for a minute then looked back to Eve whom was watching him with an eager smile, Automne gave a heavy sigh. "What kind of curtain did you want to get?" a small tired smile crossed his lips.

Eve put a finger to her bottom lip, "I'm not quite sure yet, you can help choose if you want to."

Automne gave a small chuckle and walked past Eve and held the tarp to the side, "We can go looking for that stuff this weekend and I'll help you pay for half of all of it." He offered with a smile.

Eve's face went blank from Automne's sudden generosity. "Really? I mean you don't have to, I was going to pay for it all myself."

Automne shrugged, "Eh, it's not a problem, what are friends for?" He uttered with a small smile as he walked behind the tarp and removed his vest.

There was no reply from Eve until after Automne had removed all of his gear and slipped into his bed, and when it came it was only a few pleasant words, "Good night, Automne." Her sweet voice rang through the dark, "and thank you."

Automne slowly closed his eyes, "Good night, Eve." He gently called back as he snuggled his head against his pillow.

'Anything to make them happy.' He thought to himself as he buried his face in the cool fabric of his pillow. There was a lot coming their way, but that was still a while away, so until then he didn't have to worry about it.

Right now all they had to do was get some sleep.

'I did it.'

Hey everybody, thank you for reading if you're enjoying the story follow and favorite and please leave a review. I'm eager to hear what you guys and gals have to say. A big thank you to my editor NinjaSlayer4x for his support, go check out his story if you haven't already. Please tune in next time for the escapades of "Ty", Automne, Petunia and Eve, but until then peace out.

-CS