With the festival coming up, teamwork was more important than ever. They had to learn each other's movements like the back of their hands, anticipate how the other would attack, and how to work together. It made a difference, Blake knew. When she and Adam took down those AK-130 Androids, being able to guess where he'd be meant a lot. With the four of them, and the four incredibly different fighting styles, they had to learn each other's movements.

"So that's why we're out here!" Ruby finished enthusiastically. Blake agreed with her, but it still stunned her how much energy their leader had. "I think we should pair off with people we don't normally fight with. Weiss, you should go with Yang, and I'll go with Blake."

"Yeah!" Yang grinned, looking at Weiss. "I'll take Ice Queen and thaw her out a little."

"Hey!"

Yang ignored Weiss's offended outburst, her face sobering just slightly. "You sure though, Sis? I mean, it might work better if we go as a team so we get used to each other as a group, then break off like this."

And there was another good point from Yang Xiao Long. For all her wild grins and odd comments, when she had a good observation... Blake shifted, stepping forward a little. "I agree. By going as pairs, we might run into something we can't fight unless we were used to each other."

"Oh." Ruby deflated a little bit, the realization she might have gotten ahead of herself just a bit hitting her. "Then, maybe, we can do that after we've practiced against each other a little?"

"Sure. That sounds good." Blake looked at Weiss, who shrugged.

"Whatever. Just so you know, I think the pair plan was perfectly fine." Weiss turned her head to look at a grinning Yang, who slapped a hand against the slender girl's back.

"Ah, don't be that way. So, into the woods?"

Ruby nodded, pumping a fist into the air. "Let's go!" she crowed, her enthusiasm returning. It was so Ruby that Blake couldn't help letting a small smile cross her face as she followed the young girl. The other three were just so... different than she was used to. So much like actual teenagers. It almost made her feel old, despite being the same age as most of them.

Someone moved in beside her, a flash of gold betraying Yang's presence. "Hey. How you doing?"

The question took Blake by surprise, and she looked over at the other girl. "Why do you ask?"

"Not every day someone accidentally outs themselves then has to go back to the person that was badmouthing their people." Yang looked up at Weiss, frowning. "She's been good about trying not to offend you anymore, but she's been really Ice Queeny lately, if you know what I mean."

"Like she doesn't know how else not to be rude," Blake cautiously guessed, watching as Yang nodded.

"Exactly. I mean, it's good she's trying not to make it seem like she cares what kind of organization you've been in, but there's other ways to do it, you know?" The blonde grinned at her, nudging her slightly. "Hey, so, you got any plans after this? Ruby was thinking about playing this game we have and it'd be really cool if you joined."

That... didn't sound bad, but it would push the limits of the socializing she was willing to do. "Maybe," Blake told her, her tone telling her that it was closer to a "no."

Yang threw an arm over her shoulder anyway. "You'll have a lot of fun, I promise. It's this board game with cards where..." She trailed off as her arm lowered, steps slowing. Ruby came to a stop as well, Weiss running into her. Blake ignored them, her own senses stretched out at Yang's reaction. She couldn't see anything, but there was definitely a rustle nearby. Ursa, probably, nothing major, but-

Something told her to dodge, and she flipped backwards just as a claw came down next to her. A shadow clone was left in her place as she dodged again, tricking the Grimm into attacking it as Ruby hefted Crescent Rose, aiming and firing. It damaged the Grimm, but turned its attention to her, just as Weiss finished her movement to activate the Dust in Myrtenaster. The rapier slammed into the ground, and ice sparked in a line to pin it down. Definitely an Ursa, but it was so big. Blake lowered her head slightly, her hand wrapped around the hold on Gambol Shroud's sheath, shifting her balance. If she could get it in Yang's range- A quick dash brought her close as she sliced her sheath up, forcing it to stumble back.

Then dashed to one side as it shook its head, and swiped at her. Her feet landed next to Weiss, just as the other girl activated another chamber of Dust. Red glowed out of the corner of her eye as arms moved, shooting the Dust out at the Ursa. As Blake slide the blade free of its sheath, the Ursa finally fell into Yang's welcomed shotgun punches, howling as she pummelled it. She darted forward as Yang pushed it back, arm sweeping her katana across-

And let out a small yelp of surprise as it turned suddenly, hitting her solidly. Once she landed, she slid a bit, slamming Gambol Shroud into the ground as her legs suddenly fell off a cliffside. They had been that close? Carefully, she pulled herself back up, drawing in breath as she did. "Be careful! We're really close to the cliff!"

"Oh really?" The distracted sarcastic tone could only be Weiss, broken off as Blake could see her moving out of range of the Ursa, long legs quickly pulling her out of danger. "Like we couldn't find that out on our-" A vicious swipe sent her flying over the edge of the cliff, dazed, further out than even one of her glyphs could save her. Without thinking, Blake slammed the katana part into the dirt and jumped after, letting the ribbon around her arm unwind as she did so. If Weiss timed a glyph jump right, she should be able to catch her, and if they couldn't make it back up with another carefully placed glyph once they came closer to the cliff, a jump off one of her clones would definitely put them on solid ground. Weiss finally righted herself, pulling her feet under her as a white surface appeared under her. A perfect jump, and now they just needed to catch- there! Blake's hand wrapped around Weiss's soft one, gripping tightly as she gathered herself for her Semblance, readying a clone to leap off of.

It was then she felt it. Her ribbon, shaking as they swung back. The ground must have given way, and her blade must be coming free. Knowledge hit her, and her mind scrambled for an answer to this problem. They needed to get back there, now, before they fell. "Weiss!" she finally yelled, feeling the ribbon shake again. "We need something to jump off of right-"

Too late. The tension in the ribbon fell slack as the katana slid off the cliff, their weight too much for the soft ground. Blake held tightly to Weiss's hand as the hilt fell into her hand, shifting modes for her to whip out, wrapping around a tree as they fell. Weiss summoned a glyph as they did so, slowing them down enough that by the time they reached the tree, they came to rest on the branch.

And then Weiss's eyes rolled back as her legs gave out. As Blake caught her, she just then noticed the other girl's face half covered in blood.

If anything, Weiss took more damage than Blake realized. The Ursa must have given her a horrible blow if it cut through her Aura. Once she helped Weiss down, she inspected the unconscious girl's head, frowning as she saw the laceration. It wouldn't kill her - it was even already healing due to her Aura. But how did the Ursa-? Blake carefully tried to clean Weiss's face best she could, waiting for the girl to wake up. While waiting, she looked for their scrolls, frowning as they weren't found. They were isolated, injured... what else could be better than that?

Several minutes later, she could hear a groan as Weiss shifted, and her eyes slowly opened. They focused quickly on Blake, and she sat up quickly, a hand going to her head. "What just happened?" she asked thickly, a thin river of pain weaving through her words.

"The Ursa hit you." Blake moved to stand, helping Weiss up as well. "It managed to cut you up."

"Well that's great." With those grumbled words, Weiss looked around, frowning. "Where are we? And where's Ruby and Yang?"

"We got separated. And we don't have our scrolls."

Weiss's warm and soft hand slid from Blake's at those words. "What? And why are we just standing here? We need to- ow." She lifted a hand to her head, grimacing. "Why isn't the pain going away? My Aura should be taking care of this!"

"I don't know." Blake looked up the cliff, remembering how the Ursa fought, and how fast it was. "Everything about that was weird. Weiss, if you're still hurting like that, you should stop moving and let your Aura heal you."

"And we don't have time to just wait around." The girl pulled her hand from her head, lifting her chin slightly. "We should get moving. If we do, we should find the others before nightfall."

Weiss wasn't wrong. Blake considered her words, thinking. It would be better for Weiss if they waited for her to heal. And easier for them to fight if Weiss wasn't dealing with an injury like that. On the other hand, Weiss would be horrible to be around if they waited. And the sooner they found the others, the sooner she could have Ruby and Yang sit on her and not have to deal with it.

"Fine." At least it should be easy to find them. The sisters had seen where they fell, and were probably already on their way.

"Fine," Weiss echoed, lifting her chin. "Then let's go."