The next day happens and the students go to their lockers to get their weapons ready for the big day.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Lie Ren slowly opens his eyes to see Nora telling him to wake up. Nora cheerily talks about how wonderful it is that they spent the first 24 hours at Beacon, as Ren does his morning routine, as Nora drones on. She keeps going until they are at the locker room where people can't help but eye on them.

Aiden though, bumps into Nora, as she wasn't paying attention, and he apologizes, "S-sorry ma'am!" He says as he tries to pass.

"Huh? Oh no biggy! I can be a bit scatterbrained." She points to herself and laughs.

Ren sighs. "Sorry about Nora she's… Well, you know."

"Oh no, it's fine! She seems very cheery anyways! We need more of that around in such a dark world!" Aiden turned and says as he heads to his locker, almost running into another person, before reaching his locker successfully, and opening it.

Ren seems to know what he means, "Hm." He nods.

Nora jumps on him. "Oh hey! You just made a friend!"

"Nora…"

As Aiden goes into his locker, Ruby had seen the whole situation, with Yang noticing her.

She was smiling to see him be so good at making friends. She does envy him. Yang notices this. "Like what you see?"

"Shut up!" Ruby replies.

Aiden then waves at Ruby when she looks back at him after getting onto Yang, and he walks up after putting on a sash that could carry his sword on his back. "Heya Roob, excited to showcase your amazing skills today?" He said with a smile.

She brings out her Crescent Rose and rubs it. "You know it!" She was clearly excited.

Aiden shrugs a bit to show that he has his sword, "Can't wait to show off mine!" He exclaimed, "Hey, it'd be awesome if we became a team, you and I. Then it'd be just like old times, huh?" Aiden says as he chuckled.

Ruby jumps. "Oh yes!"

Yang nods. "Sounds awesome."

"And you, Yang?" Aiden ask curiously.

"Oh I'm just rolling with what I got."

Ruby overhears. "Why can't you be on my team?" Then she realizes something. "Wait a minute...Yang are you saying you don't want to be on the same team as me?!"

Yang nervously replies. "What? No! Of course I do! But...I don't know. Maybe it'll help you… Break out of your shell?"

WHAT THE-?! I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely-"

"-ridiculous!"

Juane said as he walked in between the girls and Aiden, seemingly lost, "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?" As Jaune goes through his dilemma, he passes Weiss and Pyrrha as they ready themselves at their lockers.

"So Pyrrha, anyone you have in mind to be on your team? I'm sure everyone would be eager to be with a strong and well-known individual!"

The red haired girl thinks on it. "I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well I was thinking we can be on the same team."

"Well that sounds grand."

"Great!" Weiss smiles, as she secretly plots to be on top of the popularity of school while united with the prodigy, knowing nothing will get in the way.

"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." The blonde slyly swooped in.

"You again?" Weiss is getting tired of him.

"Nice to meet you Jaune!" Pyhrra having interest of this silly boy in blonde.

"Yeah, yeah" Juan says as he pushed Pyrrha aside, "So, Weiss, couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day. " He said casually, posing to try to look cool

Weiss was not having his crap now as she head palms. "Oh you got to be kidding me..."

Jaune continues. "Don't worry. No need to be embarrassed. So I been hearing rumors about teams. So what do you say?"

Pyrrha steps back in, "Actually, I think the teams comprises of four so..."

Jaune continues to act confident. "Well hot stuff, play your cards right and you might be a part of the winning team."

Weiss gets in his way. "Um, Jaune is it? Do you have any idea who this is?"

"Not at all, snow angel."

She happily introduces her. "This is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Hello again!" She happily waves.

"Pyrrha graduated top class in Sanctum."

"Never heard of it." Jaune admits.

Weiss scoffs. "She won the Mistral Tournament four times in a row! A new record!"

"The what?"

Weiss just had enough. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Petes marshmallow flakes box!"

This gets Jaune to gasp. "That's you?! They only have star athletes and cartoon characters in them!"

Pyrrha nervously smiles. "Yeah… Sadly the cereal is not good for you..."

Weiss finally gets to the part she wanted to reach. "So with all that said, do you really think your in the position to ask HER on your team?"

Jaune realizes the difference of classes. "I guess not… Sorry..."

Pyrrha would feel bad and walk up to him. "Actually Jaune. I think you would make a good leader."

This brings up his mood. "Duh stop it!"

Weiss couldn't believe this. "Seriously? This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"

"Sounds like Pyrrha wants in for Team Jaune." He gets close. "Spots are coming out quick. But I can find a place for you."

Weiss backs away. "Okay! Too close! Pyrrha? A little help?"

Out of instinct, Pyrrha would throw her spear that sends the blond away from Weiss.

"I'm sorry!" She calls out to him. Soon, it's time for the test to begin. Weiss leaves in disgust as Pyrrha gets her spear back from Jaune's jacket.

"It was nice meeting you." She said

"Likewise..." Jaune said in defeat.

An announcement would then ring, informing all first-years to report to Beacon Cliff for their initiation. Everyone gets in position, waiting in anticipation; Ruby most of all. Ozpin and Glynda is there with them.

Yang speaks to Juan as she approached Ruby, "Having some trouble there, lady-killer?"

"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" He says as Ruby helped him up, with Yang following with,

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start."

"Come on, Jaune, let's go." Ruby exclaimed. Ruby leads Jaune out of the locker room by supporting him and his damaged self-esteem. They reach the cliff, overlooking the forest... Many students were gathered; old, new, unseen, stood over the silver tiles, as Ozpin holds his mug and Glynda doing something on a tablet.

She would activate the catapults ready for the young warriors on their test. Yang bringing in her glasses in confidence.

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

Glynda continues. "I'm sure you all were wondering about the four team rumor. Well, allow us to clear out this rumor. You all are getting teammates. Today." This gets Ruby even more nervous.

Aiden puts a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder. She looks at him, and he gives her a reassuring warm smile. She blushed a bit at this attention, but went back to listening, as Ozpin continued, "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."

With this, Ruby groaned, as Ozpin continued on, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What?!" Ruby was completely crushed hearing this.

Ozpin continues, "After you partnered up, make your way to the northern part of the forest. You will face opposition. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path: or you will die." This gets Jaune to gulp in fear. "You will monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple in the end of the path containing relics. Each pair will choose one and return on the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raises his hand. "Yeah uh...I-"

"Good. Now, take your position." Everyone does so.

Jaune asks how are they going to go to the forest down below. Although he'd get his answer after being catapulting towards it.

Everyone plummets into the emerald forest, everyone executing strategies to land safely, except Juan. We see Aiden flipping through the air, catching a large branch, and landing on his feet, as he slowly rises up and checks his surroundings, it seems he is alone... He looks around and begins to walk. "Hopefully I find Ruby before it's too late... Just hope she'll stay out of trouble." He says to himself as he begins to wander.

Ruby uses her scythe and soften her landing, Yang shoots her way to bushes. Pyrrha landing on a branch. She notices Jaune frailing around uncontrollably. Considering this easy, she throws her spear to where Jaune would fall down to, and hit his jacket once again, safely to the nearest tree. She could faintly hear him say thank you.

"I'm sorry!" She shouts, hoping he heard her.

When Ruby had landed, she was dashing to find Yang, or Aiden. She thinks to herself that no matter what, she can't meet with the mean girl she met. Only to lock eyes with Weiss.

"Um…hi?" Weiss would merely ignore her. She would try to find someone else more worth her while. Until she sees Jaune dangling alone. She would reluctantly go back to Ruby cause as annoying as Ruby is, she is better than Jaune. Weiss would exclaim that by no means does it mean they were friends, as she pulls her by the hood, and Ruby is overjoyed. Back with Juane, he had given up trying to get out by himself, and was found by Pyrhha

"So… How are you?" Pyrrha sheepishly asked.

"Oh just… Hanging around..." A silence befalls after the pun. "Please help me down..."

Pyrrha helps Jaune down, then asks, "Jaune? Do you... Have any spots left on your team?"

The blonde would cross his arms and pouts in response, "Very funny..." Pyrrha personally finds it amusing. Meanwhile Weiss trudges through the forest, with Ruby behind her.

"What's the hurry?" Ruby asks. Weiss walks faster in annoyance.

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow! I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your-" A smiling Ruby suddenly appears next to her "What the...?"

"I'm not slow, see? You don't have to worry about me!"

Weiss was baffled with her speed. "When did...?"

Ruby continues. "Weiss, just because I don't exactly know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters! You're about to see a whole different side of me today, Weiss, and after it's all over, you're going to be like, "Wow! That Ruby girl is really, really cool... (she sheepishly said) and I wanna be her friend!" She then disappears in a shower of rose petals, which Weiss waves away from her face just as she hears crackling and rustling in the bushes around her. The ice queen looks around to see where her partner is.

"You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" There was no response. Just more bushes rustling. "Ruby?" The forest darkens, forcing Weiss to lean in to try and find her new partner as a pair of red eyes are seen glaring behind her. "Ruby...?" Behind her, multiple pairs of red eyes stare at her from the bushes and a deep growl is heard. She turns around until she spots a large, jagged Beowolf emerging from a bush and approaching her. "Ruby!"

Yang walks alone the woods. "Hello?! Getting bored here..." Just then the bushes move. "Hello? Ruby is that you?" Just then she meets a Grimm. "...nope." She would dodges a bear like Grimm and then gets her gauntlets ready. Another shows up and swings its paws hard which she narrowly avoids with a backflip. Landing on her feet, she laughs. "Man. You couldn't hit a broadside of a-" She stops once she notices a strand of hair falling in front of her. Her hair. "You..." The bears were confused on the sudden change of tone. "...MONSTER!" She explodes in fiery rage and her violet eyes turn red eyes. She goes berserk, punching one of them countless times before it was engulfed in flames and incinerates after she punched it to death. That leaves one more. "What?! You want some too?!" Yang angrily rants. The bear roars back in anger. Only for it to be swiftly killed by Blake by behind. After taking some time, Yang calms down. "I could have taken it."

Weiss would focus herself to face the overwhelming Grimm force that surrounds her. She makes a dash for her attack, until Ruby kills it first, causing her to slip and burn a nearby tree. She tries to control herself and bumps into Ruby.

"Hey watch it!"

"Excuse me! You attacked out of turn! I could have killed you!"

Ruby rolls her eyes. "You'll have tot try harder than that..."

The duo wield their arms as the pack of Beowolves whine and growl around them. Ruby reloads her scythe, but both were shocked when they saw a shadowy figure storm in, slicing the air, creating shockwaves that cut into the beasts, as he, with precise movements and fast speeds, weaved and dodged their attacks, and was slicing at them. It was the raven haired boy, Aiden Green.

Both girls stood in shock, unable to process what they witnessed.

Weiss didn't expect this from the guy who kept on getting on her nerves. "What?"

Ruby was most of all shocked. "So cool!"

Aiden would then switch out dust cartridges in his sword, before cutting the air, releasing slashes of fire to scare the remaining, and just arriving grimm away, "I'll keep them occupied, you two go on!" Aiden ordered.

Ruby shakes her head to refocus. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. There are others ahead, just be aware of your-" Aiden dodged an attack, and sliced off a grimm's arm, before kicking another aside, "Just go!" Aiden says "I'll catch up with you later. Stay safe, Ruby and Weiss!" Aiden says as he keeps them busy

Weiss pulls Rubys arm. "You heard him! We have to reach the relics!" She sounded concern there, until she shakes it off, assuring herself she doesn't care.

They leave, as Aiden deals with the grimm, Ruby looking back with a sad expression, hoping he'll be ok, before following Weiss.

Weiss wonders how did he got this good. But she refocuses. "Come on! You said you were fast right?"

Ruby didn't reply. Only follow. But not as fast as she normally would. She was still thinking about her friend.

Ruby wouldn't pay attention, and she would trip over a root, and fall on her stomach. They were a bit far from the fight, luckily, but Weiss still wanted to make haste

"Did you just trip?" Weiss was annoyed. "The Grimm is not just gonna wait around while your down!"

Ruby gets up. "Guh! I only tripped!"

"One trip is enough to be a fatal mistake!"

"Hey! I'm doing just fine without you tripping me and messing me up!"

"Well congratulations for being the strongest child to sneak her way in Beacon. Bravo!" Weiss begins to walk off on her partner yet again. Ruby, with an agitated shriek, unfolds Crescent Rose, and slices a tree down to the stump, then refolds her weapon again, and follows her partner as the tree crashes behind her. Neither notice the large dark feather floating onto the fallen trunk behind them.

After some time following Weiss, Ruby couldn't tell if she was going the right way. She would doze off, thinking about Aiden and where Yang could be. Then notice a black feather.

"Hm?"

"Come on! Stop dozing off!"

Ruby then follows. "I'm coming! I'm coming!"

Weiss would notice how much this girl persist. If she is gonna stick around, she might as well know more about her.

"So why is it a little girl like you doing in this academy?"

Ruby replies with no hesitation.

"To be a Huntress of course! Like the ones in the stories!"

Weiss was baffled. "Stories? Unbelievable..." She stops and turns to confront her personally. "I came here to learn. To get stronger. I strive for perfection! Not for fun and games! If you want to be a part of some stories, then go home and have your Mother read you in bed."

This really offends Ruby. "You… Don't know anything..."

Weiss crosses her arms. "I know enough that your a girl who likes fairy tales."

"You think you know everything huh?" This gets Weiss to glare, wondering what else can this snot nosed brat can say. "I...lost someone important to me. That's when I learned that reality doesn't always have happy endings. No one will always save you in time. So instead of being sad about it… I decided that I will be that hero." Ruby went from being on the verge of crying, to now determined. "I will turn tragedies into happy endings!" For a moment, she had wings on her back. This shocked Weiss. Although her eyes adjusted and it turned out this wasn't her wings. It was a huge bird Grimm.

Weiss was intimidated by the sheer size. *"This is bad! Our mission is not to fight it. We should retreat..."* Ruby then jumps towards it. *"No! That reckless idiot!"* Ruby would shoot it straight to the mouth, causing it to shake in pain. She uses this chance to grab one of his feathers.

"What are you doing?!"

"Grab my hand!" Ruby shouts.

"Huh? Wha-?!" She grabs her hand as Weiss is hanging on a to a flying leviathan of a bird. "WHY WOULD BE YOU TAKE ME WITH YOU?!" Clearly freaking out by being way too high.

Ruby however is smiling optimistically.

"This is way faster than walking in circles!"

"I NEVER SHOULD HAVE MET YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!" Her scream can faintly be heard across the forest.

Meanwhile across the Forest, Pyrrha, whom is armed with Miló and Akoúo̱, and Jaune are making their way through the bushes. Jaune hears a noise far away and turns his head.

"Do you hear that?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha hears it too. "Gunfire. Our comrades are already in a battle." She walks more faster, swaying a branch out of her way, which it hits Jaune square on the face. "Oh! Sorry!"

Jaune winces, then smirks. "Just a scratch..."

Pyrrha notices his scratch in his cheek. "Why didn't you activate your aura?"

"Say what now?" Jaune tilts his head.

"Jaune. Do you know what aura is?" Pyrrha asks.

Jaune snorts. "Of course I do! Do you know what aura is?" He asked, clearly not knowing what aura is.

"Aura is the manifestation of the soul. It bares our burdens and shields our hearts. With training, our aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals."

"What about monsters?"

"No, they don't. They are the darkness, while we are the light. Understanding darkness and light helps us manifesting our aura. Everyone has a bit of both. By baring your soul outward off, you can deflect harm."

Jaune then realizes it. "Oh! Like a force field!"

Pyrrha would be a bit baffled by the simplicity of his conclusion. But then chuckled. "Yes. I guess you can say it like that."

They then hear someone speaking in a distance… It was a dark voice, and it sounded almost like a chant, and they could hear what sounded like a serpent hissing, as if it's in pain.

Jaune was startled. "What was tha-"

"Ssssh." Pyrrha cautiously approaches with weapons at hand. She has a bad feeling about this.

When they hide in bushes, and peek where the voice is coming from, they see a hooded figure, holding a hand out, and the grimm serpent recoils. Pyrrha could sense extremely dark aura from the individual, as he seems to be manipulating the dark aura of the grimm, as if changing it somehow into something darker. "Now you will obey me…" The figure said, as he laughed.

Jaune was confused, but as soon as he would say something, Pyrrha puts her finger on his mouth. She observes and begin to sweat. This person is evil. She can tell.

The figure slowly turns his head, only the side of his mouth being visible. He smiled, showing his sharp teeth, "Well… I didn't expect to have 'guests' over…" He says.

Pyrrha and Jaune flinch. "He knows we're here!" Jaune whispers in fear.

"Run. Now." Pyrrha orders.

"Run?!"

"Run!" They run away.

Their path is blocked by the serpent, whom has purple glowing veins around its body, and purple eyes.

"Now now, that isn't very nice..." The man said in a mock hurt tone, as he ominously approached.

He smells the air, smelling Juans fear eminate, "Mmm... Oh- the smell of fear always smells so delicious..."

Pyrrha brings out her weapons. "Leave him be. I'm your opponent!" She said bravely.

He smiles, "Sadly, I don't have the time to play with you... But I'm sure my little toy could suffice... Fun fact: did you know serpents are the embodiment of the devil? They were cursed by God to slither the ground, and are purely evil… And they are one of the most venemous beings known to man." He says with a wicked grin, as the serpent slowly rises from behind them, ready to strike while they had their attention on the man. "Now then... Have fun!" He says laughing as he sinks into the ground in a portal of darkness and disappears, leaving the serpent to fight them, which tries to strike Juan, but he evades

The serpent then spews out dark acid, burning trees and shrubs, then roars ferociously.

(Battle Theme: https/watch?v=BpE841Tfrgg)

Pyrrha blocks the acid with her shield. Jaune would feel compelled to run but seeing Pyrrha in danger, he felt like he needed to do something. He would out of passion just throw his sword towards the snake and it stabbed through it, to the surprise of everyone. Even Jaune.

The serpent screeched as it was cut, and it used its new razor sharp tail to try to cut Juan, but he blocked the attack, with Pyrrha following up with her own attack, Juan and Pyrhha working as a team to bring it down. The serpent tried its best to kill the duo, but it kept being driven back, blow after blow. Pyrrha, being blown back after blocking the serpents acid while in the air, hits a tree, and was dazed. Juan, angered that it hurt his friend, would then strike, cutting the beasts tail off where the blade ended, then would go on to cut the beast's throat, making it spew black liquid, as it shrieked in pain.

Pyrrha would recover and notice Jaune is still too close on the serpents dying body. She then uses her Semblance to pull him out of the way and throws her shield towards a boulder nearby to crush it.

The body splat, and the dark liquid stained the lower part of the boulder. The threat was now eliminated.

Juan would just be panting, as that was a really intense fight.

Jaune was unsure what happened. "Wh-What happened?!"

Pyrrha was out of breath, but still smiled. "You handled him on your own..."

"I did?!" Jaune was unsure. Just then they hear the bushes and they get their weapons ready. "EEP!"

"Who's there?" Pyrrha was ready this time.

A man with brown hair, and is dressed in a white trenchcoat, with a blue undershit and gray pants, and armed with a halberd comes out from the brush,

"Thank the good Lord you survived! I thought I had to jump in for a moment there!" The older man said.

Jaune's jaw dropped, as he looked in awe at the individual in front of them. As Pyrhha inspected, she sensed no darkness in his aura, as Juan went crazy,

"This is the famous Olmotack! One of the most skilled self-made hunters around! I've always looked up to you, sir!" Juan goes off, listing Olmotack's feats, as Olmotack seems nervous due to the attention.

Pyrrha was surprised by Jaune knowing him since he doesn't seem knowledgeable, but also impressed by this one. "Well, I'm glad your around. But are you a part of this test?"

"Well I was trying to keep an eye on someone here... But I found traces of a dark being, and had to-" Jaune would then ask for Olmotack's autograph, "Erm... Ok?" he says as he signs something for Jaune. He'd then go back to speaking, "Anyways... I was tracking down this man until I saw he was interacting with a Grimm serpent: and I was about to engage, but... You two got involved, and I didn't want you in harms way, so I waited for the right moment. It seems Beacon got some good ones from the patch." He says, impressed. "And Jaune, very good form on your attack. I'm impressed with how well you two work together. Heck, if I were at Beacon, I'd want to be on your team immediately, ha!" He said jovially.

Jaune was just about to faint hearing this, as Pyrrha catches him in time. "Jaune?"

The brown haired Hunter scratched his head, not knowing what the big deal is... But he brushes it off, "I gotta go, I've been here long enough... I don't wish to cause trouble with the higher ups at Beacon, nor do I wish to interrupt your test any longer. Just head that way." He said pointing to a direction to the right, "And you all should be able to get where you need to be. Good luck, Ms. Nikos, and do take care of this one, he has potential." Olmotack says, before springing into the air by his halberd, which boosted him when he fired a beam. And just like that, he was gone, leave Pyrrha to attend to a dazed Juan. As he leaves, she would carry Jaune for a bit until he wakes up.

We see Professor Ozpin, whom was watching the students on his Scroll, as he stood atop Beacon Cliff that overlooked the forest. Glynda walked up behind him, holding her own tablet, as she stated the last pairs were formed, and was about to inform on the matter of the strange figure being in the forest, when Ozpin raised his hand, stating he already knew. Glynda questions him, but Ozpin is unworried. He lets things play out to see how the students handle this.

Yang and Blake walks together towards an ancient looking area. "Think this is the place?" Blake doesn't respond, only proceed. Yang didn't seem to mind at the moment.

The black clad huntress then notice something presented. "Chess pieces?"

"Some of them are missing." Yang noticed. "Looks like we're aren't the first ones here."

Blake walks up to one that's a black rook. "I guess we should pick one."

The blonde finds a golden knight piece. "How about a cute little pony?"

"Sure..." Blake rolls her eyes. Yang's eccentric behavior wasn't something she was used to.

Elsewhere in the forest, Jaune and Pyrrha are standing at the mouth of a dark cave, cave drawings are seen to the side involving armed men against giant beasts.

Jaune would lead as he makes a torch for them to proceed. "You think this is it?"

After some walking, Pyrrha speaks up. "I don't think this is it."

Getting annoyed by her lack of faith, he replies.

"Pyrrha, I'm the one who made the torch. Could you at least humor me for the next 5 meters?" Then he trips and the torch hits a puddle. Now its completely dark.

As Juan gets up and grumbles to himself in regret, Pyrrha feels something in the air, noting that it felt warm. They continue to walk, feeling something warm close by. Also bright. Jaune notices its golden radiance and assumes it to be their target.

"That's the relic!" But then it moves out of his reach.

"Hey!" It keeps on dodging him. Until he jumps and grabs it.

Pyrrha begins to realize its not what they are looking for. It's far worse. "Jaune...?" Jaune immediately also came to the conclusion as soon as he goes face to face with multiple glowing red eyes. Out from the distance, a screech can be heard. Yang jolts into its direction.

"Some girl is in trouble!" Blake doesn't answer, as she sees something in the sky.