Disclaimer, as it can probably be assumed, i own nothing here expect my oc's everything else is property of Rooster Teeth and Mounty Oum, thank you for reading this chapter.

The day after finally rose, morning sunlight had already awaken the to-be students of Beacon Academy, after their preparations they were instructed to the locker rooms, there they would equip themselves with their weapons and any other necessary tools they found needed for the upcoming trial, a mix of emotion trailed across the room, excitement, anxiety, confidence, fear, soon enough they would be tested for their capabilities as huntsman, and not all of them would be staying.

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal! *gasps* A secret signal so we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?" Nora Valkyrie was addressing her best friend, Lie Ren, she had spent the whole day up until now making plans with him on how they would manage to end up together on a team, even including blackmailing at some point. Lie Ren took his weapon, Stormflower, from his locker before addressing his overly energetic friend who had just eaten 4 plates worth of pancakes earlier in the morning.

"Nora?" he said calmly.

"Yes Ren?" Nora said back to her friend, with a big grin across her face.

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." He told her, as he sheathed his weapons in his sleeves, Nora was left cranking her brain gears for a while before the metaphorical lightbulb glowed in her head.

"That's why it's perfect! No one will suspect us!" Nora said, cackling to herself like some children book villain. Ren could not help but smile at his friend's shenanigans.

"Come on Nora, let's go." Ren said as he closed his locker and made his way out of the locker room, with Nora following not far behind.

"Not like, together-together." She muttered, giggling to herself, the duo passed by another group of two as they left, Gunhilda was standing by the side, watching Raelza taking her weapon off her locker, she saw her taking out a large silver gauntlet, the backside of the gauntlet was concave, and inside that concavity was a dust crystal, but this one was unlike any she had seen before, it was completely transparent, as if devoid of any power.

"Is that your weapon?" Gunhilda asked, mentally slapping herself, of course that was her weapon, what else was it supposed to be? Luckily Raelza didn't really mind, she merely nodded affirmingly at the girl "What's that part for?" she asked pointing at the concave part of the weapon, Raelza chuckled at the faunus's curiosity.

"It's a secret." She winked at her companion before she closed the locker, turning to the side to exit the room. "Are you coming?"

Gunhilda nodded as she followed the crimson haired girl out of the locker room, passing by Ruby and Yang having their own conversation.

"You're awfully chipper this morning." Yand commented on her sisters happier mood compared to yesterday.

"Yep!" Ruby expressed her excitement, reaching for her locker, she pulled out her signature weapon, Crescent Rose. "No more awkward small-talk or "getting to know you" stuff. Today I let my sweetheart to the talking."

Ruby sighed happily, caressing and hugging Crescent Rose as if it was her own flesh and blood.

"Well Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation, if you wanna grow up you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together." Yang commented, to which Ruby groaned in response.

"You sound like dad!" She frowned as she put her weapon back in her locker. "Okay, first of all; what does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly; I don't need people to grow up, I drink milk!" Ruby announced to her sister, crossing her arms and pouting, but Yang wasn't amused.

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang pointed out, Ruby suddenly grew nervous.

"I…I don't know, I'll just be on your team!" Ruby said, her eyes darting around anxiously, a huntsman team was made up of four individuals, that would still be two complete strangers Ruby didn't know, but with her sister by her side, it was far more manageable to her, just let Yang do all the talking, as she usually does.

"Maybe you should try and be on someone else's team?" Yang played with her hair, her tone sounding hesitant, much to the latter's dismay, be on a team? Without her own sister? It was almost unthinkable for Ruby, be on a different team without Yang there to back each other up? It was almost as if she was trying to ger rid of her… No….

"My dear sister Yang, are you trying to imply that you do not wish to be on the same team as your little sister!" Ruby said in an appalled tone, stomping one foot into the ground in a similar fashion as the Ice Queen.

"What? No! Of course, I do! I just thought… I don't know, maybe it'll help you… break out of your shell!" Yang told Ruby, carefully choosing her words to not further upset her easily impressionable little sister.

"What the-!? I don't need to break out of my shell, that's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune walked past the two sisters, currently he was in the process of finding his locker, which was easier said than done, he had seemingly misplaced his gear and was driving circles around the locker rooms trying to find it. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today?"

Jaune despaired as he walked by two other individuals, Weiss Schnee had made a goal out of befriending Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl she was currently tying her waist length red hair behind her back, curling slightly into a loose ringlet.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on?" Weiss sparked the conversation, her plan was to convince Pyrrha to be her partner for the next years, with the smartest girl in class teaming up with the strongest girl in class, she was sure there would be no competition. "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual as yourself!"

"Hmm…" Pyrrha hummed to herself. "I'm not quite sure. I was planning on just letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well, I was thinking that you and I could be on a team together." Weiss said, hopeful that those chips would fall in her favor.

"Well, that sounds grand." Pyrrha responded.

"Great!" Weiss says innocently, hiding an inner mischievous smile.

"This will be perfect! The smartest girl in class combined with the strongest girl in class! Together we will be unstoppable! I can see it now! We'll be popular! We'll be celebrities! We'll get perfect grades! Nothing can come between us now!" the heiress told herself before her train of thoughts was interrupted by a sudden voice causing to focus her attention on the source of the noise.

"It's really you! You're the Pyrrha Nikos!" Ragni who had just appeared out of nowhere exclaimed; star struck at the sight of meeting the champion of Mistral herself. "I've seen all your tournament performances! I'm a big fan! Can you please sign my axes."

Ragni asked Pyrrha, his eyes now in the form of stars, his hands clapped together and head bowed down, Weiss was seemingly taken aback by the giants sudden request, while Pyrrha, probably already used to requests like these, nodded and reached to her locker for a pen, always keeping at least one around for occasions like these.

"Umm, excuse me? Me and Pyrrha were talking. it's quite rude to interrupt a conversation between two people!" Weiss told Ragni, looking quite annoyed at the sudden wrench thrown at her plan. "Besides, aren't you that giant oaf that made fun of my last name at the courtyard!"

Ragni shrank at the heiress's scolding, Pyrrha in the meanwhile had just finished fetching a pen from her locker.

"Oh, it's quite alright, I always try and make time for a fan." Pyrrha said, with a dazzling smile, Ragni already had both of his weapons out, two black metallic axes that were identical, he showed them to Pyrrha as she began signing the weapons.

"There you are! Where the hell did you go!?" the voice of Kane rang out, with the three of them looking to the side to see the wild boy looking at Ragni with a tired look, stretching both of his arms up in the air as he yawned, not used to the change of waking up so early in the morning, considering he spent a lot of his life as a night owl, suddenly his expression dropped to dread as he spotted the heiress, Weiss quickly recognized Kane from their argument at the courtyard.

"Oh great, it's you!" The two said at the same time, they both groaned at the sight of each other.

"What are you doing here Schnee?" Kane asked bitterly.

"Oh geez, I wonder what a huntress in training would be doing at a huntsman academy, it's truly a mystery." Weiss retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm, one hand holding her cheek as she faked a shocked expression.

"I thought you were just gonna have your servants do the exam for you, meanwhile you'd be sitting on your high throne sipping on some fancy tea or whatever rich people drink." Kane responded with a smirk, but his eyes were still emitting frustration.

"Oh, trust me, I'm well used to people underestimating me." Weiss said, paying more attention to her nails than to Kane. "Honestly, I'm more surprised you're here, I thought you were just some poor helpless soul that got lost and accidentally stumbled upon Beacon, they really ought to put a leash on you."

"What did you say!?" Kane growled as he got closer to Weiss, the latter not giving up a single inch, whether she meant it or not, that last part stung more than she may have realized. "I can handle myself perfectly well, Schnee, meanwhile if you didn't have daddy's money, you'd be crying to go back home."

"Tsk, this again? Don't you have anything more creative?" Weiss asked, despite trying to maintain her composure, she also grew more annoyed, whether Kane meant it or not, he too had struck a nerve.

Kane's look of anger was suddenly replaced with one of utter confusion, as his gazed was aimed past the heiress, Weiss who noticed this sudden change turned around, only to recoil at the sudden sight of Jaune Arc, leaning towards a locker giving his best, albeit poor, impression of a seductive smile.

"Hey Weiss, name's Jaune Arc, smooth, cool, rolls off the tongue, all the ladies love it." He winked at her, Weiss physically shivered, even Kane groaned, utterly shocked at the knight's terrible attempts at flirting. Pyrrha meanwhile approached Jaune with surprising hurry, she who had just finished signing Ragni's axes, as the latter was staring at the signatures in awe.

"Nice to meet you Jaune!" She greeted the knight, but he casually pushed her away, Weiss looking at him completely dumbfounded.

"Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you too." He hurried Pyrrha, as he once more turned towards Weiss, resuming his flirtatious attitude. "So, Weiss, I couldn't help but notice your fondness for tall, blond and scraggly boys like me."

"Oh, you have to be kidding me." Weiss sighed as she recalled what she had said to Ruby yesterday at the amphitheater, her sarcasm coming back to bite her.

"Don't worry, no need to be embarrassed. So, been hearing rumors about teams. I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?" Jaune said as he flexed his muscles and posed a bit.

"Actually, I think the teams will be compromised of four students, so-" Pyrrha introduced her self back into the scene, before Jaune approached her.

"Well, you don't say hot stuff, well, play your cards right and you might just have the chance of joining up on the winning side." Jaune told her, shooting her a smile, Pyrrha looked away and covered her mouth to hide a giggle.

"Jaune, was it?" Weiss asked, as the knight nodded affirmatively. "Well, do you have any idea who you're talking?"

"Not in the slightest clue snow angel." Jaune said, still dedicated to his attempts at charming the princess, much to Weiss's annoyance.

"This is Pyrrha." She told him, Kane's ears twitched at the name.

"Wait, wait, wait, you are Pyrrha Nikos? The Invincible Girl? The Pride of Mistral?" Kane asked, now turning his attention to Pyrrha.

"Yep, hello again!" She said, her tone a bit wavier, as she waved at Kane and Jaune.

"Well, this was definitely worth coming to Beacon, I can't wait to get a chance to scrap with you." Kane said, cracking both of his knuckles, Weiss groaned.

"You can't possibly believe you of all people stand a chance against Pyrrha." Weiss told him, unamused by the wild boy's claims.

"Of course I do, besides, you can never know if you don't try it you, I might just give you a fright princess." Kane said, Weiss rolled her eyes at the bravado, meanwhile Pyrrha looked impressed at the confidence being displayed by the wild boy.

"Well, I'll be looking forward to that day." Pyrrha told him, Kane nodded, mutual respect gained from each other.

"That's cool and all, but that does not ring a single bell." Jaune interrupted the moment, looking at them confused.

"Graduated top of her class at Sanctum Academy!" Weiss told him.

"Never heard of it."

"Consecutive winner of the Mistral Region Tournament, for four years in a row!" Ragni suddenly exclaimed from the background, his tone seemingly more of a fanboy than someone trying to inform.

"The what?"

"…Hey, weren't you in the cover of that one cereal brand about Pumpkins?" Kane said, Pyrrha immediately blushed at the memory of her time as the mascot of a cereal brand, Jaune gasped in realization.

"You are the mascot of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!? But they only do that for star athletes! And cartoon characters!" Jaune said, looking at Pyrrha like a celebrity.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool, sadly the cereal isn't very healthy…" She informed, looking nervously at the ground, remembering all those dumb lines she had to memorize and the retakes that took hours to shoot.

"So Jaune, knowing all of that, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be part of your team?" Weiss interjected between the two of them.

"No… I guess not." Jaune admitted, losing his confident persona, Kane put an arm around the knight's shoulders to comfort him.

"Geez, way to put someone down Ice Queen." Kane told Weiss. "Can't go one second without demeaning anyone?"

"Oh, shut it you, you knew that as well as I did." Weiss responded. "Besides only reason you're backing him up is to spite me." Kane was about to respond but he didn't, she wasn't 100% wrong.

"Actually, I think you'd make a great leader Jaune." Pyrrha told the knight, laying her hand on his shoulder, Weiss looked dumbfounded at the champion, while Kane smirked at the heiress's expression.

"D'oh, stop it you!" Jaune giggled, immediately brightening back up.

"Seriously, stop, this behavior should not be encouraged!" Weiss said, annoyed at everyone's attempt at hyping the knight up.

"Looks like Pyrrha is Team Jaune, spots are filling out quickly, hey Kane, want to join Team Jaune?" Jaune turned towards Kane with a grin on his face.

"Sure." Kane shrugged.

"One spot left, better take it while you can." Jaune flirted, leaning closer to the the heiress, the latter leaning back.

"Okay, that's a bit too close. Pyrrha? Some help, please?" Pyrrha responded to the cry for help by throwing her spear, catching Jaune's hood, the momentum carried him all the way to the wall, pinning him in place.

Kane, who was caught surprised by the sudden throw rushed to Jaune's aid, trying to pull the spear, he found himself surprised at how well stuck it was to the wall, barely able to move the weapon, he was also distracted shorty after by the sound of the intercom.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately." Glynda's voice echoed throughout the locker room.

Weiss walked past both boys as she exited the locker and made her way to the cliffs, Pyrrha followed shortly after, but not after grabbing her spear and pulling it off with ease.

"It was nice meeting you Jaune, and you too Kane." She waved to the two of them as she exited the room.

Jaune slumped down the wall, looking quite dejected, his head hanging low and a sigh leaving his mouth.

"Likewise…" he said, muttering to himself.

"Don't tell me that out of all people, you decided to go for the spoiled brat." Kane told the knight.

"Can you blame me? I mean look at her! She's beauty personified! Don't you think?" Jaune gushed, Kane looked back at the few memories he had of the heiress, her fair and smooth skin, her white flowing hair, her mature yet youthful expression, her beautiful array of clothing, her honey voice, Kane could only mutter one word in response.

"Nope." Jaune frowned, slumping further down, looking even more defeated than before.

"Are you two, okay?" Kane turned to see both Ruby and her sister Yang.

"Jaune tried to flirt with Schneeze, emphasis on tried." Jaune groaned, as he slumped even further down. "Hey, still it, took bravery to do what you did, you can be proud of that much at least."

Jaune mustered a weak smile towards Kane, the wild boy giving him a sympathetic look.

"Having trouble with the ladies, Prince Charming?" Yang asked the knight.

"I don't understand, my dad always said that all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" Jaune lifted himself back up with the help of Ruby and Kane.

"C'mon Jaune let's go, see you at the cliffs Kane." Ruby said her goodbyes, Yang waving at him, and Jaune, using Ruby as support, led himself out with his self-esteem bruised.

Looking at the three of them leave, he realized something, Ragni, Ruby and Jaune, they were easily the three people he got along with the most, including him, that would be a full team, if he lucked out, he could probably get all four of them on the same side.

"Speaking of teams, where is Ragni?" Kane asked himself, looking for his companion.

Suddenly, he bumped into someone, looking up to see Ragni standing over him. Kane yelled as the tripped and fell flat on his back, surprised by the giant's sudden appearance.

"Sup?" Ragni asked.

Meanwhile at the cliffs

It was still morning when all the students had arrived at the cliffs, per instructed, each one of them occupied one of the many silver tiles that were lined up, Ragni was situated just before Yang, Raelza was situated just after Ren and Nora, Kane was between Ruby and Jaune, and Gunhilda was situated after Jaune, being the last one. Ahead of all of them was the Emerald Forest, the large forest where their examination would take place.

Ozpin was watching closely at the side, holding his trusty mug that he seemingly carried everywhere, Professor Glynda was standing next to him, her attention diverted to her tablet, containing all video feeds of the many surveillance cameras around the Emerald Forest, and information about the initiates, mainly their aura levels.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin told the to-be students.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams."" Glynda stepped up, taking charge in informing the students "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

Ruby groaned nervously at the thought of getting her teammate in such a hurried manner.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ozpin informed the students, soliciting yet another groan from Ruby. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"WHAT!?" Ruby yelled out, shock painted all over her face, many students also had similar expressions, including Kane, any eye contact, and it would seal his fate for the next four years, if he made eye contact with Schnee, then she would… he shuddered at the thought of being forced together with her.

"See, what did I tell you?" Nora said to Ren in the background.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Ozpin warned them, that last phrase setting everyone on high alert, their expressions hardened, it was sink or swim, and one mistake could cost them dearly, Kane amused at the situation he was being thrown at, the headmaster was far more ominous than he had initially thought. Jaune laughed nervously before gulping.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Ozpin concluded, awaiting any questions the students may have, Jaune was the only one who raised his hand.

"Uh, yeah sir?"

"Good. Now take your positions." The headmaster ordered the students, everyone strikes a pose, taking out their weapons and preparing themselves for what was coming.

"Uhm, sir?" I've got a um… question." Jaune continued.

Weiss Schnee was springboarded off the tile.

"So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?" Jaune asked, oblivious to what was happening.

Ren and Nora were springboarded off the tile.

"No. You will be falling." Ozpin said bluntly.

Raelza was sprinboarded off the tile.

"Oh, I see… So, like, did you hand out parachutes to everyone?" Jaune asked, his nerves starting to show.

Ragni looked over to Kane, the two meeting gazes, both smirking and nodding at each other.

"See you on the other side!" Ragni said as he was springboarded off the tile.

"No, you will be using your own landing strategies." Ozpin continued informing Jaune, though the Knight didn't look much more at ease.

Yang winked at her sister as she put on a pair of shades she was carrying around, as the tile springboarded her off into the forest, she yelled out in excitement.

Ruby takes a glance towards Kane, the latter nodded and smiled, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay, she smiled in response, feeling more at ease, hopefully she would get Yang as a partner, thought Kane, Jaune and Ragni were not bad options as well.

Ruby was then springboarded off the tile.

Looking at the vast green in front of him, Kane took a deep breath, finally pulling out his bat, he smiled and took a couple of practice swings, he wondered what his sister would think if she saw him now, she too had left to become a huntress, so maybe she'd be happy, that would be nice, maybe that was his purpose.

Was this the culmination of all his struggle? Of all the fighting he had been through? Was being a huntsman his calling? He chuckled to himself. Probably not, he was no hero.

"Nervous, Mr. Valdos?" Ozpin suddenly asked Kane, snapping him back to reality, it took a while for the question to settle in, but in response, Kane smile at the headmaster.

"Nah." he told him.

"See you soon, big sis." He muttered to himself.

Kane was springboarded off the tile.

Jaune meanwhile was still talking about the proper landing procedures, even though those didn't exist, Gunhilda this whole time had been looking at everyone getting catapulted into the forest, she felt her knees buckle and her legs shake in fear.

"So, what exactly is a landing strateg-"Jaune didn't have time to finish his sentence, as he was springboarded off the tile, screaming the whole way down.

Gunhilda was last, and what was a few seconds felt like hours to her, as she slowly heard the tile creak, signaling lift off, she hopped off it, just in time as it activated.

"I can't do this! I'm not brave enough! I'm sorry!" She ran away as fast as she could, but while running, she failed to notice that she had stepped on the secret camouflaged tile that was hidden for cases like these, she let out an "eep" as Gunhilda was springboarded off the tile.

Ozpin looked at the students flying above the forest, as he took a long sip of his mug.

"I told you installing that secret tile was going to pay off." He said to Glynda, the professor merely rolling her eyes.

"Hard to think that was the girl that he recommended to us." Glynda commented.

All the students were now sky high, but they were descending at alarming speeds, distracted at observing everyone else Kane collided against a random bird, the poor critter exploding in a burst of feathers, and Kane spitting out said feathers.

"BIRDIE NO!" Ruby yelled out in the distance.

Kane looked at the red hooded girl's direction, she was using her rifle for speed control, firing off a couple of rounds so that she would decrease in speed, as she fell through the tree's, she switched her weapon to scythe mode, catching one of the branches and using it to fall at a slower pace.

Weiss had summoned circular glyphs under her, in the shape of a snowflake, as used them as platforms as she comfortably descended into the forest, Kane guessed that was her semblance.

Nora blasted ahead of Ren utilizing her grenade launcher, Ren spun around the air, eventually using his weapons to catch the trunk of a tree, descending in a spiraling motion.

Yang was letting her excitement known, as she soared over the treetops, using her gauntlets and the force they emitted to push her further into the air, eventually crashing into the ground, rolling, and continuing her path.

Pyrrha managed to land on a branch atop one of the taller trees, she caught sight of Jaune, still screaming for help, switching her weapon to its spear mode, she took aim and threw it at the knight's direction, a long pause settles in before a loud *THUNK* was heard.

"Thank you!" Jaune yelled from the distance.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologized.

Raelza, equipped with her own gauntlet, reached for the transparent crystal in the middle, the crystal then changed color as it turned cyan, she extended her gauntlet downwards, and a barrier formed under her, she utilized this barrier to surf through the trees.

Ragni, who was already deep in the forest, utilized his axes to swing from branch to branch, eventually catching the trunk of a tree and stopping to a standstill as he safely descended.

Kane was nearing closer and closer to landing, utilizing his bat, he smashed through any branch in the way, at the same time decelerating in speed, he was eventually able to find his footing against a trunk, bouncing from tree to tree until he safely rolled to the floor, quickly standing back up, brushing off any foliage that got caught in his clothing.

As he looked around, he made sure to access the overall terrain as best as he could, unfortunately, a heavy fog surrounded him, only able to see a few tree's ahead of him, even if the fog wasn't a factor, the heavy amount of vegetation would have greatly hindered his vision anyways, remembering what direction he crashed from, he decided to head north, or at least what seemed like north to him.

Another issue however reached his mind, in these unfavorable conditions, the Grimm would have the ambush advantage against him, this rushed him to find a partner, as it would heavily decrease his odds of getting caught off guard, he started to think of suitable people, the Schnee was off question, he'd rather jump into an Ursa's mouth than having to deal with her for the next four years, Ruby's sister, Yang, was a solid choice, she seemed like a good fighter, but she seemed like the kind of person that could not help to butt into other people's business, the three more favorable options for him were, Ruby, Jaune and Ragni.

Ruby was friendly, and apart from her obsession with weapons, she seemed tolerable enough, she did tend to act childish however, that and her "hero" attitude would probably end up clashing with his more non-caring attitude.

Jaune was similar, he was nice, friendly, easy to talk to, and probably easy to get away with plenty of stuff, but he didn't seem like the best of fighters, that and he was still a bit traumatized by the Bullhead Incident.

This made his choice clear, he smiled to himself deciding on the person he would seek out to be his partner for the next four years.

"Alright, I gotta find Ragni!" he said, sprinting off to his decided direction, on his way he just so happened to hear voices, sneakily making his way through the bushes, he peeked his head out to spot Ruby and Weiss, who had just made eye contact, the heiress quickly turned away, not wanting anything to do with the girl.

"H-hey! Wait!" Ruby yelled out, Kane sighed in relief, he didn't have to worry about the princess anymore, but he felt even more pity for poor Ruby, she was practically a magnet for annoying pompous brats.

"Man, you got some bad luck, you know?" Kane emerged from the bushes, Ruby yelled in surprise as she took out her weapon and aimed it at Kane's throat, he gently grabbed the blade and pushed it aside.

"Sorry…" Ruby apologized, looking embarrassed. "Haven't found your partner yet?"

"Nope." Kane responded. "Looks like you found yours, though I don't know if that's a good thing considering who you got partnered with."

"Yeah…" Ruby sighed in defeat. "Honestly, I was hopeful I would have gotten Yang, but I would have been happy if I got you as well."

Kane looked surprised and even blushed a bit, feeling a sense of satisfaction that someone actually thought highly enough of him that they would accept him to their team, it was an awkward feeling for him, but a nice one, nevertheless.

"Besides, I can make this work!" Ruby brightened up, mustering her positivity and cheerful attitude. "I'm sure Weiss is actually a really sweet person inside, I just got to crack her shell! Look there she is! She's probably here to apologize."

Weiss, who had also emerged from the bushes didn't say a single word, taking a quick glance at Kane, she sighed in an annoyed manner before she grabbed Ruby by her hood and left with her, leaving him behind.

"Gods bless that girl, she's a better person than me." Kane commented at the red hooded girl's attitude before he continued his path.

At another area of the forest, Ragni carefully made his way through the thick foggy forest, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of the Grimm, of course the heavy fog that covered the forest meant that it would be incredibly hard to spot any attackers, his currency objective was to reach the temple as fast as possible and grab a relic, then he would wait there, it would probably be safer in the ruins then out in the forest, the first person without a partner that arrived would be his partner, if he found anyone while in his run, then they would be his partner, skipping the waiting part, at least that was the plan for him.

Suddenly he stood to a still, he carefully looked around him, something felt wrong, faint rustles throughout the bushes could be heard, something was close, eventually he was able to pinpoint where the rustling was coming from, carefully taking steps towards the source of the sounds, his axes out.

"Hello? Someone there?" He would feel a tad stupid if he had just called out to a grimm that was waiting for the perfect moment to strike, but if it was someone, then that would cross the partner issue out of his list, as he stepped closer and closer, another noise could be heard, it was a bit hard to describe, like the sound of stone grinding itself against the ground, suddenly, a circular object came flying at Ragni, despite being caught surprised, he was not caught off guard, intertwining his axes, he was able to catch the object with his weapons, he mustered his aura to amplify his strength, and after a brief clash he was able to throw the object away, as it landed it finally dawned to Ragni, it wasn't an object, it was a creature, a creature of Grimm, a gnarly Boarbatusk, who was now dazed at the throw from earlier, had charged at him, his stance got more serious as he waited for the creature to make its move, soon enough, after regaining its sense, it tucked into itself to form the same circular shape it had used to try and cut Ragni in two, Ragni knew that Boarbatusks had hardy armor, so he would have to aim at the underbelly.

As it charged at him once more, Ragni rolled out of the way, one knee planted to the ground as he turned towards the creature, it returned to its normal posture, looking around it, before finally noticing Ragni.

"It probably can't see while tucked in, not only that, but the fact that it had to return to its normal posture, indicates that it probably can't make sharp turns." He said to himself, he smiled, having now a proper idea how to conduct this skirmish.

Once more, the creature of Grimm charged him in its circular form, Ragni once again rolled to the side, this time as the Boarbatusk was finished with its charge, he struck the ground with one of his axes, causing a fracture to appear and spread towards the creature, this fracture widened before it stopped just below the Boarbatusk, the Grimm, who had now noticed Ragni again, was about to charge once more, but before it was able to make its move, a sudden geyser of energy emerged from the fracture, striking the Grimm from bellow, splitting it in two with ease.

As he watched the fractured form of the creature dissipate in a dark smoke, he relaxed his posture, but soon another noise was heard, he raised his axes and turned around, just in time to see another Boarbatusk charging at him, he raised his axes to defend himself, but before the creature could reach him, a sudden blast of ice struck the creature, sending it towards a tree, it slowly got up, shaking its head, before two more blasts struck it, the attacks slowly freezing its body, Ragni, while surprised at the sudden intervention, didn't hesitate to throw one of his axes towards the Grimm, they easily shattered it into multiple pieces.

Ragni's eyes darted around, scanning for any further threats, he soon heard footsteps to his side, he raised his remaining axe towards his would-be assailant, but he didn't find any enemy, instead he found a familiar face.

"Normally, this is the part where you say, "thank you" for saving your ass." Raelza, who walked towards Ragni with an indifferent expression, was clutching the top side of her gauntlet, where the dust crystal was located, it was currently emitting a light blue color, but soon after she removed her hand from it, it went back to its transparent state, Ragni looked at the sight with awe and curiosity.

"Thanks for having my back, every bit of Aura matters here." He expressed his gratitude towards the scarlet haired girl, in response she let out a *humph* as she turned her back to the giant and resumed her journey across the forest, Ragni was left still in slight awe at her ability, before her voice interrupted him.

"So, you coming or what?" She asked the giant, "We're partners now, so you better not slow me down. Got it?"

Ragni snapped back to reality, chuckling at the girl, he stretched his hand at where he threw his axe, his glove glowed a black color before the axe flew back to his hand. He fastened his pace to catch up with Raelza.

"Don't worry about me slowing you down, I can keep up pretty easily." Ragni told his new partner. "By the way, that thing you did with the crystal, you did the same thing at the landing, is that your semblance?"

"Yep, I can change the properties of dust crystals, including making them null of any energy." She explained to Ragni, who looked at her with his full attention, Raelza allowed herself to smile at the giant's curiosity. "So, for example, if I touch a fire dust crystal, I can turn it into a ice dust crystal, or even something more complex like hard-light, but I can't change the properties of dust if it has already been refined into powder."

She finished explaining to Ragni, the latter looking amazed at such an ability, she was basically able to harness the power of any dust element at will, an incredibly versatile ability that would undoubtedly serve their team very well.

"So, what about you? That geyser thing was pretty cool as well." She asked Ragni, now looking at her partner.

"Oh, it's not as cool as your ability, but its pretty handy for a sneak attack, thought it doesn't work as well if your opponent knows it's coming." He started his explanation. "My semblance allows me create fractures, then I can expand these towards any linear direction I choose, up to 5 meters (16ft4in), then a burst of energy appears from it, it works on the Grimm pretty well, they aren't very bright, but on other targets, it can be easily dodged it they see it coming, its better used as a surprise attack."

"Still, that's a cool semblance, besides you seem pretty handy with those axes of yours." She told Ragni, the former allowed himself a smile, he did pride himself of his training and prowess with his weapons, it was nice having the years of training he went through be acknowledged.

"By the way, know where we're heading?" Ragni asked Raelza, she stopped in her tracks, looking around her.

"Well, if I still remember correctly, there is an area to our north that is clear of trees and fog, I don't know if the temple is located there, but it seems like a good place to relocate and formulate a plan." She told him, pointing towards the direction of where they should be heading, Ragni nodded to her, letting Raelza take the lead.

The two of them took off, oblivious to the large bird-like shadow that had just crossed from where they were standing just moments ago.

Kane found himself still traversing through the dense forest, barely able to see even his shadow in the ground, the immense amount of trees provided a natural roof where barely any sunlight came through, not only that, but the thick fog was still an issue, but by luck he had yet to still come across any grimm, which was starting to bore him, not that he wanted to face a dozen monsters at once, but a few encounters along the way would have kept the exam lively for him.

He yawned as he walked, his arms raised over his shoulders and resting behind his head, scanning the area around him lazily, his eyes closing from time to time, he was still adjusting to waking up so early, at least early for him, he halted as he let out a sigh of boredom.

"Hey! Anyone? People?... Monsters?... Hello?" He yelled out, at this point he had given up on his search, he just wanted to find someone, get the objective and get out, the exam was being tediously easy, he had started to think that the headmaster had said all that cryptic and ominous stuff just to scare the students.

Suddendly a rustling could be heard from from a nearby bush, Kane immediately took a stance, holding his weapon tightly in his hands, finally some action, he thought to himself, smiling at the thought of finally getting to fight something.

Then out of that very bush, came out a creature, it was small, it was furry, it was brown, it had a long puffy tail, it was a squirrel, looking up at the wild boy, the animal gave out a high pitched noise as it scurried back to where it came from, Kane loosened his stance, arms dangling, his face expressing his gloom, feeling ridiculed at the thought that he had gotten so serious over squirrel, now he was happy he hadn't found anyone yet, but then he heard a small chuckle, very faint, but enough for him to notice, he turned to the source of the noise and heard an "eep!" as a figure scurried away, he quickly ran towards the source, pushing away any foliage blocking his view, but when he arrived no one was present, he allowed himself to sigh, one person saw him ridicule himself.

Then Kane noticed something, the fog, it had lifted, he was able to better see ahead of him, the forest was still incredibly dense, and sunlight barely shined, but now he wasn't blinded by the fog, and the grimm had less chance of ambushing him, but when did this happen? It lifted so suddenly, Kane pushed these questions back as he once again saw the same figure from before running through the woods, from its frame he could conclude it was a woman, and she was carrying with her a long polearm, without wasting a breath he went after the figure, he didn't break out in a mad sprint, he didn't want to scare the live out of her, but he picked up his pace so he could keep up with her.

He pushed branches out of his way as he traversed the forest, but one branch that he pushed just smacked him straight in the face when he let go of it, stumbling back, Kane shook his head and caressed his nose that had been hit, as he looked around for any sign of the woman he grumbled in frustration, he had lost track of her, then he heard footsteps, powerful ones, then a shadow loomed over him, he turned around, and stood face to face with a Beowulf, shaking off the initial shock of standing right in front of this monster, Kane took a leap backwards, just as the creature smashed the area where he stood with its clawed hands, Kane smiled as he took out his bat.

"Finally! Something I can hit!" He said to himself, he charged at the creature, swinging his bat to its side, the strike connected as the monster let out a enraged roar, it attempted to swipe at Kane once more, but he was able to dodge out of the way, jumping up to the creature's head level and striking it's skull from above.

The monster roared and stumbled backwards in pain, Kane didn't relent, he charged once more and dug his foot into the grimm's stomach, the creature leaned forwards, Kane used it as leverage, as he did a flip backwards, hitting the grim's head from down below with his other leg, the creature once again roared in anger, it charged at Kane, widening its jaws, going for a bite, but Kane wasn't planning on becoming a lien value meal, he jumped above the creature, and he stomped on its head, as it landed flat on its face, Kane raised his bat and began to channel heat into it, the weapon glowed brightly before he struck the grimm's head as he landed, causing a loud crunch sound to be heard, he has split the creature's skull, no blood or anything came out of course, only the black ooze that these creatures had.

Soon enough however all of it turned into a black smoke, Kane coughed at the sudden appearance of it, he took a few steps backwards, getting off the rapidly vanishing corpse of the creature, he looked at his handywork with a smile, if this was the best this forest had to give, this was easier than he thought.

"Ah, I knew the headmaster was exaggerating, this exam is gonna be a bree-" suddenly a force struck him from behind, sending him crashing upside down against a tree, he allowed himself to fall flat before getting back up, turning towards his assailant, he found yet another Beowulf, but this one was larger, not Alpha levels of large, but still significantly larger than the other one, the blow took him by surprise, he didn't raise his aura fully, he held the left side of his torso, the blow had cause some damage, but nothing broken thankfully.

Kane looked once more at the creature, readying itself for another attack, he raised his bat to defend himself, the creature lunged at him, but as it lunged it him, something flew between Kane and the monster, a wall of clouds it seemed, but apparently instead of going through these clouds, the grimm crashed against them, then three orbs shot out from the bushed behind Kane, they seemed like they were made of wind, they crashed against the monster and sent it backwards.

"Are you okay!?" he heard a worried voice from behind him, as he regained his composure, he looked behind him and recognized the woman the had helped him.

"It's you!" He recognized the figure of Gunhilda, standing just a few steps apart from him, the two made eye contact, the faunus girl allowed herself to smile, the wild boy still looked at her with widened eyes. "You're the stalker from yesterday!"

"WHA-!?" Gunhilda yelled out, her expression taking a 180 turn as she blushed violently, flustered at the accusations. "I'M NOT A STALKER!" she said, waving her arms up and down in a panicked motion.

Behind Kane, Gunhilda was able to spot the grimm getting back up to its feet, locking its eyes at the two of them, the creature prepared to charge once more.

"B-behind you!" Gunhilda warned Kane, she took a couple more steps back, raising her staff defensively, Kane looked behind him to see the creature, he once again took his stance, raising his bat to his mid-section and preparing for a strike.

The creature charged at him, but Gunhilda had summoned some clouds forwards, they were sent to cover the ground from the grimm to Kane, then the clouds seemingly entered the ground, turning it into ice, this caused the monster to slip and slide all the way to Kane, the latter had already raised his bat above his head, and swung it with tremendous strength, the strike separated the head from the body, as it was sent flying across the sky, a homerun, after a pause a girly scream could be heard from afar, one which Kane was able to recognize as Jaune's, at least he now knew where he was.

"Are you hurt?" He heard the faunus ask, he turned to face her, she wasn't his first choice, but she would have to do for these next four years, he sighed as he walked past her and resumed his journey.

"Alright Hilda, let's go." He told the girl, she looked at him with a confused expression.

"Now? Like, "now" now?" She asked him, he stopped and turned around to face her once more.

"Uhhh… yeah? We still have a objective to take, better take care of that as quick as possible." He told her as he walked away.

"But we should at least introduce ourselves." Gunhilda said, but Kane didn't listen as he continued to walk through the forest. "Well, re-introduce ourselves, since we already met during the ceremony, and technically once at the garden, oh, and I'm not a stalker, that was just a once time incident, I wasn't actually trying to- HEY! WAIT UP!"

She yelled out to the wild boy as he was starting to get very distant from her, Gunhilda ran towards him, attempting to match his pace and catch up to him, the two of them disappearing through the dense foliage, yet the managed to miss a giant black feather that had just dropped from the sky.

Meanwhile, Headmaster Ozpin continued watching the exam on his scroll, he was currently watching the team of Kane and Gunhilda walking through the forest, he switched his view to another team, the team of Ruby and Weiss, they were currently bickering about directions.

"Our last team has been formed." Glyda told the headmaster, she also carried a scroll of her own where she was monitoring the teams that had formed. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, they are quite opposites, it's going to be quite… interesting to see them try to work together."

The headmaster nodded in acknowledgement, focusing his attention once more to the silver eyed girl.

"Still, they will probably be better off then Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc." Glynda commented, her scroll currently showed Jaune, who had jumped into Pyrrha's arms a few moments ago when the head of a grimm dropped from the sky.

"I don't care what the transcripts say, Jaune Arc is simply not ready for this level of combat." Glynda commented further, part out of frustration at the sub-par skills the knight had shown so far, and part out of worry for his wellbeing, concerned that he would end up seriously wounding himself, or worse.

"By the way, what did you use as relics this year?" Glynda asked the headmaster.

"Professor?" She asked once more, but Ozpin was fully distracted looking at the exams, fully paying attention to the teams and their attempts at cooperation.

He switched his view once more, now he was looking at the team of Kane and Gunhilda, they were traversing the forest still, the two were silent, not making any conversation, Kane marched on, paying no mind to his partner, Gunhilda stood a few feet behind, keeping up with the batter, but fidgeting around nervously.

"That is quite the duo." Ozpin commented to himself, his gaze fixated on the faunus.

Jaune and Pyrrha were standing at the mouth of a dark cave, several primitive drawings could be seen, depicting people fighting against a large scorpion, the two shared a look of unease.

"Think this is it?" Jaune asked.

Hi, it's me again, so i actually wanted to post this chapter a few days earlier, but i'm also in the process of finishing exam season, so i had to delay this for a few days, but tomorrow im fully done, and i should have more time free, i definitely want to finish this fic, at least until the Fall of Beacon. Im debating if i continue the fanfic after V3, or if i create a sequel fic, thought that might lead to some confusion initially, im leaning towards just doing all the volumes here.

With that out of the way, the semblances of all the OC's have been revealed, im not explaining Raelza or Ragni's since i already did that in this chapter, but i will be explaining Gunhilda's, basically her Semblance is weather manipulation, she can control the weather around her, as seen she can also summon clouds that can take on multiple properties and have different effects, if this semblance sounds op, its because it is, the whole idea of it is that it's incredibly powerful, but its restrained by its user, altough who knows, that might chance through out the story.

Also yeah, quick warning, i'm a dirty Metric system user, my apologies. I'll be converting all the measurements when i can, for the sake of understading.