Time slowed for Ruby as her senses took in everything around her. She felt like a bird soaring through the air. She enjoyed the sight of the canopies below her, and the rush of wind flowed through her. She could also hear her sister's excited howling and blasts from Ember Celica.

Ruby glanced over and saw an open patch of land in the distance. The forest trees gave a stone-gray structure within a wide berth. That has to be where we're meant to go, Ruby thought to herself. Why else would we be launched in the air? It's so we can see where we're supposed to go. So, that's the easy part out of the way. Ruby glanced back down to the ground and watched as it grew closer. Now for the hard part.

Ruby activated her Semblance and became a spiral of red. She flew straight up, letting drag and gravity kill her momentum. She slowed down until there was a moment where she was frozen in the air like a stalling fighter jet, then realigned herself in the direction of the clearing while using her Semblance to gradually descend. Once close to the ground, Ruby shifted back into her normal form and brought out Crescent Rose in its war scythe form. She dug it into the dirt, placed her feet on the shaft of her scythe, and stood upon it once she ground herself to a halt.

As Ruby stood upon her scythe, her poise was almost reminiscent of a bird resting on her metal branch. This same branch had drug up a mound of dirt during the finale of her landing strategy. Before she moved to disembark from her perch, Ruby glanced over to the sound of one of the tree canopies rustling with movement. Ruby smiled when she saw the familiar sight drop from the tree.

"Hey again," Blake greeted. She glanced at the aftermath of Ruby's landing strategy. "I see you have a flair for theatrics."

"Um… Thanks?"

"Don't worry," Blake continued. "I meant that in a good way. I'm impressed."

"Oh! Thanks!" Ruby hopped down from Crescent Rose, pulled the blade from the ground, and folded her weapon into its standard rifle form. "My uncle taught that trick to me."

"Then I'm in capable hands." Blake spoke the truth. In fact, she was relieved was partnering up with someone she already knew.

Ruby smiled, then remembered she had to bring Blake up to speed on what she saw moments ago. "Did you notice anything when you were doing your landing strategy?"

"Well, I noticed a clearing. I think that's where we need to go since it's due north of here."

"I thought the same thing," Ruby replied before the two started walking in that direction. "So, what do you think the relics will be when we find them?"

"I'm not sure. Did you have any ideas?"

"When my family was going through initiation, they found dice with varying amounts of sides. So stuff like dee-twenties and all that. Hm… When this is over, I should ask Coco and Velvet what their relics were."

"Either way, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Otherwise, Professor Ozpin would've described them to us."

"That's true."

"WOOHOOOO!"

This excited Yang to no end! The thrill of being catapulted in the air and the speed at which she flew above the tree line gave her an adrenaline rush she'd been waiting for since touching down at Beacon. Of course, Yang wasn't letting this override her sense of survival. She understood how dangerous this was and even how badly her Aura would get damaged if she didn't execute a successful landing strategy. Yang only had so many shells loaded in her gauntlets, and stopping at any point to reload would be dicey. Plus, she planned on saving them for the Grimm that were in the forest, so the rounds currently loaded became a soft time limit.

Without firing another shot from Ember Celica, she let gravity bring her down until she was no longer above the trees. She swung from branch to branch, then bounced across tree trunks. Upon reaching the ground, she did a forward somersault and seamlessly went from tumbling to standing in one fluid motion. Satisfied, she dusted herself off and started looking around.

Yang brought her focus to the main task at hand: she had to pair up with someone and find a relic. She didn't know what these relics would look like but knew they were located north. So, after orienting herself to where she figured "north" was, she proceeded further into the forest.

"Hello? Hellooooo?"

Yang's continued walking as her mind wandered to who her teammate would be. Naturally, Ruby was the first one to come to mind. As an older sister and surrogate mother, Yang had the instinct to look after her and ensure life didn't beat her down too severely. But she knew Ruby was capable of looking after herself. Now was the point to let her spread her wings and fly. And if Ruby ended up on the same team as Yang or on a different one, she'd still be there for her.

Maybe she's gonna be on a team with Blake? They both got along with each other last night. Ruby always said she was more of an introvert, but I think she's finally coming out of her shell now that she has new friends to make. Aside from those two, there's one other person who I might end up with, but…

Yang stopped in her tracks when she heard a noise to her right. It sounded like growling from an animal too big to be a wolf. She lowered her stance and moved to the noise, using nearby foliage to conceal her approach until she saw where it came from. It wasn't just one Beowolf but an entire pack focused on one person.

Remember your training, Weiss. Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward…

Yang watched the stand-off between the Grimm and Weiss. Seriously? There's Grimm right in front of her, and she's taking this long to wind up an attack? She's screwed if she thinks this will work all when fighting against people, let alone Grimm! Yang put fresh shells into Ember Celica and readied herself to dive in.

… Slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike… NOW!

Weiss dashed forward to deliver her opening attack but was caught off-guard by gunfire and a streak of yellow slamming into the Beowolf's jaw, which knocked the creature aside. With nothing standing behind her intended target, Weiss attempted to slow herself down. Her feet tapped against the ground before her, but a misstep caused her to trip and trigger the attack she had prepared. A streak of fire erupted from Myrtenaster, igniting the tree in front of her and setting it ablaze. Weiss was about to get back up, but she felt a strong hand grab and tug on her arm as she was flung upright, just before gravity came back to her, and she landed gracefully back onto her feet.

"Looks like I almost missed out on the fun!" Yang quipped to Weiss. She raised both fists and adopted a fighting stance as she faced the pack of Beowolves. She watched, however, as the pack howled among themselves and retreated. Yang glanced over to Weiss and saw the dirty look on her face. "What's that look for? I thought you'd be glad I showed up to help."

Weiss said nothing but firmly pointed behind them. Yang's directed her attention accordingly and saw the forest fire she had a part in creating, which was already spreading. "… Oh." Whoops. Yang returned her attention to Weiss. "Maybe we should go…"

"Oh, now you want to use discretion?"

Weiss turned to run before Yang had a chance to respond. Yang ran to escape alongside Weiss. Like it or not, they knew they were partners now.

"Do you smell that?"

Ruby and Blake sat together within the green canopy of a tree. They agreed to use stealth and avoid the Grimm instead of taking them head-on. To do this, they used their Semblances to go from treetop to treetop. Ruby's ability to Petal Burst came in handy for this, as did Blake's use of her shadow clones to blink from one point to another, which doubled as a means of distracting Grimm they needed to get past. They took a break to not strain their Aura through repeated Semblance use, which gave them time to take in the scenery.

When she heard Blake ask the question, Ruby curiously looked around and sniffed the air. "… I think? What do you smell?"

"Smoke."

"Now that you mention it… I can kind of smell it too." Ruby looked back over to Blake. "Should we be worried?"

Blake shook her head. "I don't think so. So long as we keep moving."

And move they did. They eventually arrived at the clearing they had spotted earlier. Within it was a set of ruins, no doubt a long-forgotten oracle. Ruby reached into her pouch and pulled out box-shaped binoculars. Looking through them, she saw pedestals within the ruined structure. Atop them were either gold or black objects. Ruby zoomed her binoculars in and could identify their shape.

"What do you see?" Blake asked.

"I think we found the relics," Ruby answered with a smile, offering her binoculars.

Blake took the binoculars and brought them to her eyes. She recoiled slightly, however, as she didn't expect the number readouts within the lenses. There was a digital readout of which direction Blake faced (North-Northwest, in this case) and another that gauged distance based on wherever the binoculars were pointed. Another value changed alongside the distance readout, which she assumed was how long it would take for a bullet to travel to that distance (her assumption was correct). As Blake looked over the exterior of Ruby's binoculars, she noted the presence of a second, more analog compass built into the top of the chassis.

"I guess you're both a sniper and your own spotter, huh?" Blake remarked. She looked through the binoculars again, using them to examine each item on its pedestal. "… Chess pieces? A couple of them are missing, so I don't think we're the first to show up." Blake returned the binoculars to Ruby, and a curious question came to her. "Do you play chess at all?"

"Not really," Ruby answered as she put her binoculars away. "I remember being into it for a while, but I stopped playing."

"How come?"

"Well, chess is too rigid. It feels less like a strategy game and more like you have to memorize a bunch of moves to play. And then even more to counter those moves, and so on."

"Only in the beginning," Blake clarified. "And even then, you don't just memorize moves. It's about coordinating your pieces together to threaten your opponent while keeping yours secured by another piece."

"Oh! So kind of like a Cover and Move thing?" Ruby wondered, recalling a lesson from Signal's combat training curriculum. "That makes sense. Maybe I should give chess another try sometime."

Blake paused. "You also mentioned that the game is too… "rigid"? How so?"

"Well, I prefer games that aren't as mechanical as chess. Like Remnant: The Game! You draw cards and use them to take over the different kingdoms with what you have."

"Okay. What about Backgammon?"

Ruby excitedly answered, "Oh, I love Backgammon! I used to play that a lot when I was a kid!"

Blake smiled. "So you prefer games with a degree of chance behind them? I can respect that."

Ruby smiled brightly. "Pretty much! Plus, not every problem can be solved like a chess match. Especially not real-time combat. I mean, what kind of person has that mentality, anyway?"

"I didn't even need your help! In fact, I had the whole thing planned out!"

Weiss and Yang walked together to find the relics. The smokestack from the fire they created grew smaller and smaller as they got more distance from it.

"I was going to immolate the Beowolf at the front. And while it was still on fire, I—"

"That's not my point," Yang interrupted. "I'm trying to say that you have to improvise your way through battles. Nobody will give you time to think in a real fight."

"And in a real fight, you need to learn to be more careful the next time you try coming to someone's rescue. I swear, after seeing what happened with Ruby and then you, it feels like recklessness runs in the family."

Weiss tried to venture forward but felt a firm grip on her shoulder, pulling her back. She swung around and was forced to look at Yang. But what stood out most wasn't Yang's aggression but how her eyes were suddenly red.

"That isn't fair!" she argued. "What she did was an accident, and she's been doing her best to make it up to you! Don't you get it!? Last night, she felt bad that she made a bad first impression! So could you please take the stick out of your..."

Yang paused as she noted the stunned silence from Weiss. Yang realized Weiss was startled because her Semblance made itself known. She took a moment to close her eyes and calm down. And when she opened them, they returned to their original color.

"You want my advice? You aren't going to get along with whoever our teammates are if you keep acting like a brat. Especially if we end up with Ruby anyway. If it's one thing I learned from raising her is that if you want someone to change for the better, you have to be an example to them."

Weiss glanced down, frowning. "… I suppose I've been acting childish since I got here…" she conceded.

"I don't blame you for what happened. But what's done is done. What matters now is how we work together from here on out. And if we can't work together, we need to learn how to."

She's right, Weiss thought to herself. I've been acting so foolish and lashing out at other people. It isn't going to do any favors for me here. Her focus returned to Yang as she looked up again. "… How the hell did you do that with your eyes?" she wondered.

Yang glanced away sheepishly. "It's something that happens when my fight-or-flight instincts are triggered. Or when I get angry." She returned her focus to Weiss and smiled. "Either way, it lets me hit things harder. Especially when my Aura is running low. What about yours?"

"Huh? Oh… I can summon glyphs," she answered. "It sounds mundane, but there's plenty of utility behind them. Especially when I use Dust and let it interact with my Semblance."

"Right, that explains the Dust vials in your rapier," Yang commented. "I remember Ruby telling me about those weapons before we…"

Yang trailed off as she saw movement in her peripheral vision. She turned to see a black feather, easily bigger than either of them, gently floating to the ground. Even more worrying was the high-pitched screeching above them, which only confirmed what was happening: Yang and Weiss's negativity from earlier attracted a Nevermore here. Did it find its way into the forest? Or was it already roosting here? Whatever the case, it gave Yang a bold idea for a new strategy.

"Hey, Weiss? You used those glyphs of yours for your landing strategy, right?"

"Correct. Why do you ask?"

Yang glanced up at the approaching Nevermore with a confident grin. "I have an idea."