"I must admit-hragh! I didn't think you would find me first! I would've expected you to-hup! Hunt down your husband."

"That was my plan at first-hrat! But I noticed that you were clo-ser! Tah! And I felt it was better to guarantee a partner I-knew! Firsthand."

Despite the minor inconvenience of fending off a horde of creep grimm, Sveta and Amiti have little issue keeping an idle conversation going between deft swordplay and fisticuffs. A few of the more clever lizard-monsters try to circle around to attack from behind but never make it more than a few feet before a blistering whip of wind or water strike them down. After the last one has its boney face literally crushed under heel, the blue-haired swordsman relaxes his stance and strolls up to his partner, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"So who did he get?"

"He stumbled upon your cousin fighting a two-headed snake grimm."

"Ah. It's reassuring to know that they're both in good hands. Although Rief might be give you both an earful if you try to have too many midnight trysts."

"Oh shut up. Like you and Karis are any better. Or any more discrete for that matter."

Lightly thumping her chuckling partner's chest with the back of her hand, the martial artist shrugs off his hand and starts heading northwest. "Come on. I saw a set of ruins on a cliff this way. I think it might be the 'temple' the headmaster is having us find."

"If it isn't, then it should at least give us a vantage point to find it. Lead the way."

"Okay, that cave didn't lead anywhere but to a pack of cute puppies and an angry mom, but Ozpin didn't say if the temple wasn't an underground temple, so it could have been right!"

Patting a despondent and scratched-up reaper on the shoulder, Himi calmly responds, "I believe those were called foxes, Ruby. And while I can see the logic there, I believe I saw something resembling a dilapidated building up on a cliffside while we were launched. And if that doesn't turn out to be said temple, the higher vantage point could help us find it."

"As much as you can see anything in this blasted black nest of a forest."

Turning to the left, Ruby and Himi see a very disgruntled and battered pair of huntresses-in-training stomping through the brush towards them.

"Weiss! And… Ilia, right?"

"Surprised you managed to hear that given how you were at ground zero of this explosive ice brat."

"Don't make me stab you. I will enjoy it."

"Whoah whoa, okay, calm down please! This isn't the best terrain for a grimm fight, I mean not that I don't think you can't handlettbutyoubothlooklikeyoualreadywentfiveroundswiththemandCrescentRoseisabitbigforsmallspacesand-"

"Ruby..."

"shuttingupnow."

Bemused by the red girl's sudden babbling, the two newcomers nonetheless close their eyes and take a long, deep breath to try and settle their aggravation. Opening her eyes first, Ilia presses her hands together as her now red and yellow skin and freckles lessen to a faint shade. "Thank you. As you might have guessed, Weiss and I are partners, much to my misfortune and it's proven rather… difficult, for us to search this part of the forest."

"I assume because of an abundance of grimm?"

"Not just the grimm. The trees' canopies here are too thick to see through, yet the branches are too weak to support our weight, so we can't climb up above to see or to get enough space for me to make a glyph big and strong enough to stand on. If only my partner knew how to navigate the wilderness."

"Well sorry for expecting a Schnee-produced compass to be hardier than a soggy twig!Maybe if someone's company didn't run those that sprung for the bare minimum of quality to the ground like they do on everything!"

"Don't you blame me for your failure to spot an obviously sabotaged forgery!"

"Oi! Enough! Let us just take another deep breath and-"

"Duck!"

To their credit, the arguing partners immediately react and drop down to the ground as Ruby whips out her compacted weapon, launching two quick shots that blow two leaping beowolves out of the air. Immediately jumping back up, the four get into a diamond as they find themselves surrounded by a group of the snarling devils in the shrubbery.

"Well shit. Fifth time this happened, the persistent bastards."

"Alright then, leave the blame game for after this is done. Weapons, Semblance, aura levels and supplies?"

Raising an eyebrow at how the normally shy teen is taking command as if a switch has been flipped, Himi answers first, mainly Ilia and Weiss's benefit. "My semblance is floral manipulation, where I can cause plantlife to grow and move like weaponry at the cost of them immediately withering afterwards. I wield a katana I call Masamune, and have a surplus of plant seeds, medicinal salves and supplies. I'd say my 'aura' is four-fifths full."

"Tch. Myrtenaster is a handforged rapier with a built-in revolving Dust mechanism. If for some reason you don't know, my family's semblance allows us to do manipulate objects and the environment via glyphs. My aura is a little under half full, and I have a small first-aid kit, approximately 12 grams of lightning, fire and ice Dust each."

"Lightning Lash is a bladed whip combined with a gun. I don't have a semblance, but I'm agile and as a chameleon faunus I can change my body's colors. I think my aura's half empty, and I got 15 grams of lightning Dust, a couple of smoke bombs and a length of rope on me."

At this point the first ring of beowolves have edged into sight. "Alright. My Crescent Rose is a high caliber sniper-scythe. Semblance is extreme speed. Aura is seven-eighths full, and I have three clips of fire Dust, one ice and one gravity, a first-aid kit, a survival knife, a can of mace, emergency rations and canteens and a small tool kit."

Ignoring the two belligerent girls' shock at her preparedness, Ruby quickly counts out the amount of grimm cornering them. 'Hmm, thirty-five. Relatively cramped location, multitude of trees and other obstructions for the enemy to hide. Two avenues of clear ground for escape, both already occupied by several 'wolves. Himi is good at area of effects and area denial, but they don't last long enough to make a bottleneck. Weiss sounds versatile but seems to lack stamina, while Ilia seems more suited to one-on-one unless there's sufficient room for her to take advantage of. How best to go about this?'

A distinctive caw grabs her attention, and slowly, a grin that her team would come to both fear and love forms on Ruby's face.

x-x

"Jaune, are you… sure this is the right way?"

"Well, I was at first. But even if it isn't it's at least worth a look anyway, right?"

While Pyrrha isn't naïve enough to think she'd never have to go spelunking into grimm nests in her career as a huntress, she was under the impression that such an obviously dangerous task would be reserved for full-fledged graduated huntsmen/huntresses, not fresh-faced students.

Then again, they did just get launched off a cliff into a grimm-infested forest, so Beacon having the 'temple' inside a cave doesn't seem that absurd. And Jaune having the know-how and supplies to make a rudimentary torch was also a nice surprise!

Him suddenly tripping and dropping the torch was not a nice surprise.

Neither is feeling a warm and humid gust from deeper in the cave immediately after, followed by a gold glow slowly growing above their heads.

"Pyrrah?"

"Yes Jaune?"

"I don't think this cave was worth a look anymore."

A set of red glowing eyes popping open just further drives that point home.

x-x

"I'd say we're about two miles out from the cliff. We keep up this pace, we should reach it in about twenty minutes."

"We're making good time, then… honestly, it's almost too good. Have you noticed we haven't run into any more grimm since that creep horde?"

"…now that you mention it, that is strange. You would think the goal would have a greater concentration of obstacles."

"Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let-"

Sveta and Amiti's musings are soundly interrupted a woman's frantic warning, followed by a screaming blonde knight being flung over the trees into the distance. Turning to where he came from, they soon find a red-headed amazon running full-tilt towards them, with a giant angry deathstalker barreling after them.

"…ah, that would explain it. A boss monster."

Seeing as how their current is a bit too cramped to comfortably fight this particular grimm, the two adepts launch a joint attack into the scorpion grimm's face to give the red-head some more breathing room before turning and dashing away, both to collect the erstwhile knight and to find a more open space to fight the thing.

x-x

During all of this, the first of the prospective students finally arrive at the designated temple, with a great shuddering crash and a pair of ursa major collapsing to the ground.

"Whoo-hoohooo! I win! I win! I'm Queen of the Castle!"

"Argh, damnit! I'll beat you next time, Thundergirl!"

Jumping off the dissipating corpse of her impromptu ride, Yang pouts in mock anger as her red-headed rival celebrates her victory, having beaten the blonde to the ruins by having her grimm last just a single second longer before breaking. Trailing behind a ways back, Blake slowly shakes her head with an amused smirk. "I'll be sure to oversee the next race, although I think Ren might have to sit that one out."

Indeed, the sole male of the quartet could be found further back, bent over and panting in exhaustion. Nora starts to frown as she takes notice of her friend's plight. "Well that's not good. You really need to work on your cardio, Ren."

"You-ha… you try to-to keep up with a-ha , terrified ursa on foot. Whoo."

"Hmm, that sounds like fun, actually! Great idea, Ren!"

"…damnit."

Taking a quick look around, Blake quickly spots something out of place. "…huh, those are the relics we're supposed to collect? Chess pieces?"

Following Blake's gaze, the other three see collection of giant novelty chess pieces on a raised dais. "Huh, that's weird, but alright. I'm guessing the teams are based off pairs that pick the same pieces?"

Hearing that, Nora immediately zips forward and grabs the black rooks, tossing one over to Yang. "Ooh, if that's the case, then as the first ones here, as well as victor of our race and as Queen of the Castle, I declare this to be our symbol!"

"I would've gone for the pony, personally, but alright. Wonder how everyone else is doing?"

"Not good, I'm afraid. Look!"

"What?"

Following Ren's gaze, who had walked to the southern edge of the ruins, Yang swears in shock. "Oh shit, that's a goliath!"

This was not a good year for me, I have to say.

Had to resign from my last job due to it being too much for my shite spine, followed by a family emergency and several of my family's pets having to be put to sleep because of kidney failure or crippling accidents.

Does not help with creative hobbies, I can tell you that much.