Chapter 4: The Emerald Forest, Part 1

"Birdies! No!" Ruby yelped as she smashed through a flock of black birds, leaving a trail of feathers behind her. She plummeted toward the Emerald Forest, trying to slow her flight with the recoil of Crescent Rose by firing shots from the gun in quick succession.

Eventually, she was able to see branches come rushing toward her face. She switched her weapon with expert dexterity from its sniper rifle form to its scythe form just in time to snag a tree branch. She swung all the way around the limb before she jumped into the forest below.

Elsewhere, Weiss aimed her rapier forward and focused, her eyes narrowed by the wind.

A circle with a snowflake-like design within appeared in the air before her, tilted to the side and slightly downward. She angled her feet to meet it, sliding across it harmlessly.

The glyph slowed her momentum, allowing her to create another parallel to the ground to jump on next. Weiss continued pointing her sword, creating more platforms until she was safely on the ground.

Ren held his bladed pistols out, looking for the perfect opportunity. Eventually, it came: a tall, thick tree that he was about to fly past. Bracing himself, he hooked the blades of his weapons into the trunk, pressing to gain purchase through the bark.

The trick worked; he skidded down the tree in a spiral, meeting the ground with a roll. He stood, dusted himself off, and then flinched at the sound of thunder echoing above his head.

Yang laughed as she flew through the air, propelling herself with blasts from her weapons: a pair of bright yellow gauntlets that she could fire shotgun shells from. The noise of each shot was deafening, and the recoil may have been able to take someone else's arm off, but it served her now as she raced toward a crumbled building over the sea of green.

Unfortunately, Yang wasn't able to reach the temple before the treetops started to graze her back side. Coming out of a dense tangle of leaves, she kicked off a series of trees until she was moments from the ground.

As she was about to land, her foot tripped on a bush, causing her to flip and come down in a roll. She tucked herself up, spinning twice before rushing out in a sprint, yelling "Nailed it!"

Pyrrha held her bronze round shield in front of herself as she crashed through several thick trees, finally latching onto a wide branch with her arms. She pulled herself up, standing and switching her javelin to a rifle to examine the sky with its scope. Soon enough, she saw a hapless Jaune flailing over the forest, screaming his lungs out.

Wasting no time, she flipped her weapon around again, returning it to its spear form as she aligned the shot with her thumb. She fired the rifle half as she threw the weapon, giving it additional speed. A long pause played until she heard an echoing thunk from her javelin hitting a tree.

"Thank you!" Jaune's voice carried through the forest.

Pyrrha shouted back with a wave, "I'm sorry!"

"You've gotta push, dammit!" Cardin yelled as he struggled to get some dumbass out of a tree. The other kid was scrawny and had managed to land in some kind of nest, getting stuck up to his waist. Reexamining the tree, he hefted his mace up and tore through part of the wood above where the guy had gotten stuck.

The idiot fell, landing on his rear. He had a strip of pale green hair running down the middle of his head with the sides buzzed, and he wore a sleeveless green hoodie with spiked shoulder pauldrons.

"Th- Thanks," he breathed, his voice raspy.

His savior gave him a cock-sure smile, holding out a hand. "I'm Cardin Winchester," he said, "How 'bout you?"

"Russell," the scrawny kid said, taking his hand, "Russell Thrush."

"Alright, Russell," Cardin said, turning to examine the forest, "Don't slow me down, and we'll make a great team."

Back at Beacon Cliff, Ozpin and Glenda were monitoring their scrolls, examining the state of the students.

Ozpin noted that Ruby Rose, rushing through the woods in a shower of rose petals, and Weiss Schnee, elegantly wandering through a glade, were quite close. With a thoughtful smile, he flipped to a new location and slid an onscreen bar.

Part of the scenery within the woods shifted on hidden mechanisms scattered throughout the land, changing the natural path.

Ruby took a sharp turn at that exact spot.

Ozpin's sport was interrupted when Glenda tapped his shoulder. She held up her scroll with a concerned look. Ozpin looked over her presentation before turning back to view the forest.

"Should we cancel initiation?" Glenda asked.

There was a long pause before Ozpin said, "No. Let us see how they handle this. But have the other instructors on stand by."

Ruby's mind raced as fast as her legs, only one thought playing on repeat: 'Gotta find Yang, Gotta find Yang, Gotta find Yang, Gotta find-'

"Yang!" she cried, searching the woods for her sister. "YAAANNG!"

She sighed internally, going on, 'This is bad! This is really, really bad! What if I can't find her? What if someone else finds her first!

'There's always Jaune,' another part of her whispered, 'He's nice. He's funny! A solid second choice, if he's any good with his sword.

'Oh! What about Blake! So mysterious, so calm… Plus, she likes books! …Then again, I'm not sure I'd be able to hold a conversation with her…'

Ruby shook her head, trying to focus, but her mind kept wandering. 'Who else do I know at this school? There's Yang, Jaune, Blake, and…'

Ruby saw a figure ahead and came to a screeching halt, looking down at her feet. She slowly looked up to meet the gaze of Weiss Schnee.

They both blinked.

Ruby started to smile, before Weiss turned around and walked off.

"Wait!" Ruby cried, "Where are you going! We're supposed to be teammates!"

Weiss trampled through the underbrush, furious at her luck. Not partnering with Pyrrha would have been one thing, but getting stuck with the child? No way. Not happening. There was no one worse than that stupid, prepubescent klutz.

As she pushed past some low hanging vines, she heard complaining from above her.

Looking up, she found Jaune Arc hanging from Pyrrha's spear, struggling to dislodge it from where it pinned his hoodie to the tree. He gave another unsuccessful tug before looking down at Weiss, waving to her with a weak smile.

The heiress gave him a flat look, then turned around to go find Ruby. She walked past the child, grabbing her hood and dragging her off while saying, "By no means does this make us friends."

"You came back!" Ruby shouted, elated.

"Hey, wait!" Jaune called from his tree as the two girls left. "Come back! Who's gonna get me down from here?!" He glanced up at the spear, dejected.

"Jaune!" he heard Pyrrha's voice call from below. He looked down again, meeting her eyes.

"Do you... have any spots left on your team?" she asked with a wry smile.

"Very funny," Jaune said, pouting for a moment before returning a warm grin.

"Hello!" Yang yelled into the forest, "Is anyone out there!?" She'd been walking for several minutes, not finding any other students. "I'm getting bored here!"

She heard rustling from the bushes in front of her, prompting her to become more cautious. "Is someone there?" she said, moving forward and pushing past the brush. "Ruby, is that you?"

Yang strolled into a small clearing as something large and black turned around. Two round bears growled at her.

"Nope," she said as the bears closed in.

One jumped at her, claws outstretched, forcing Yang to roll to her left. She came out of her dodge, activating her gauntlets that had folded down to form large bracelets. With a blast, she threw herself into the air just as the other charged her. The bear skidded on its paws before turning, joining its companion to face Yang, who landed with her fists ready.

"You haven't seen a girl in a red hood, have you?" the girl asked playfully. The bear on her right growled and charged again. Yang dodge left, landing a punch on its face and letting the bear fall to the ground behind her.

"You could just say no!" she quipped.

The other bear circled to her right, standing on its hind legs and staggering in to swipe with its claws. Yang moved left again to avoid being flanked, but the bear was too close.

It flailed a paw above her head, forcing her to duck, then brought its other claw dangerously close to her chin. Yang bent backward, kicking off the ground and into a flip, narrowly avoiding the attack.

She landed easily, laughing. "Geez, you guys couldn't hit the broadside of a ba-…" she stopped, noticing a lock of her yellow-blonde hair on the ground between her and the beasts.

"You monsters!" she screamed, her hair igniting in a yellow blaze; her eyes literally changing from lilac purple to a fiery red. With a blast of her gauntlets, she pounced at the bear on its hind legs and punched it in the ribs with her fist, releasing another blast the moment she connected.

With the cracking of bone, the creature was hurled beyond the clearing, snapping the tree it crashed into.

Still raging, Yang turned to the other bear, only to find it collapsed on the ground with a strange black knife sticking out of its neck. The weapon let off a gunshot, dislodging from the corpse and sailing on a ribbon back to Blake, who casually strolled into the clearing.

They locked eyes as Yang's hair returned to normal, the red from her irises fading.

Blake smirked at Yang as the blonde nonchalantly said, "I could've taken him."

Jaune and Pyrrha heard distant booms as they pushed through the underbrush. Jaune turned while Pyrrha kept marching on.

"Did you hear that?" the boy asked.

"Gunfire," Pyrrha said, turning in the same direction. "It seems some of our comrades have encountered enemies." They continued on, with Jaune's head tilted toward the noise.

Unfortunately, a branch Pyrrha had pushed aside snapped back, hitting him in the face. He flinched and groaned before skirting under it.

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said, turning at his outburst.

"It's okay," Jaune said, wiping away a fleck of blood from his face. "Just a scratch."

"Why is your aura off?" she asked.

"Huh?" Jaune gave her a puzzled look.

"Your aura," Pyrrha repeated.

"Gesundheit."

"Jaune," Pyrrha said seriously, "Do you know what aura is?"

Jaune laughed. "Of course I do! Do you know what aura is?" He pointed to Pyrrha playfully, who returned a smile.

"Aura is the manifestation of our souls," she explained. "An energy that can protect us from harm and strengthen us from within long after our bodies have been exhausted. Have you ever felt like you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

"Uh, yeah," Jaune said, raptly listening to Pyrrha.

"That feeling is your aura," Pyrrha continued, "anticipating potential danger and alerting you. With practice, we can make it our shield; projecting it outward to form a barrier."

"Like a forcefield?" Jaune asked excitedly.

"Sort of. Each soul manifests it in a different way, but everyone has it, even animals."

"What about monsters?"

"No, they can not," Pyrrha said, circling around Jaune. "The monsters we fight, the creatures of grimm, are soulless: manifestations of anonymity. We are the light, while they are the darkness."

Jaune frowned, looking at his weapons. "If we all have aura, then what's the point of armor and shields?"

"Our equipment acts as a conduit for our souls," Pyrrha explained, hefting her own weapons. "They become extensions of the self, empowering our auras."

"Okay," Jaune said slowly. "If that's all true, then why don't I have an aura?"

"It must be dormant," Pyrrha said. "Most people don't unlock it on their own, so there are methods to coax it out." She reached a hand out and cupped Jaune's cheek. "Close your eyes and concentrate."

Jaune did so, focusing on her hand as Pyrrha recited a mantra: "'For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee.'"

As she did so, a red glow emanated from her body. From where her hand touched his cheek, a white light began to spread across Jaune's form. At the end of her mantra, their auras pulsed before fading, and Pyrrha sagged, holding her knees.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune said, worried.

"It's alright," Pyrrha said as she recovered. "I used my aura to unlock yours. The energy protecting you now is your own." She smiled as the scratch on his face knit itself shut. "And you have a lot of it."

"Wow," Jaune said, feeling his face. "Wait, what does 'a lot' mean?"

Pyrrha gave him a thoughtful look before saying, "I meant that, your aura felt strong. You'll want to get it measured after we get back, so you know how tough it is and how long it will last."

"Will do," Jaune said with an appreciative nod. "Thanks a lot, Pyrrha."

"My pleasure," Pyrrha said, smiling. "Though, it is strange you didn't have it unlocked yet. Most people attending a combat academy already have their auras active."

Jaune shrugged. "Well, my dad always said I was a late bloomer."

"But-"

"Come on," Jaune interrupted, breaking away from their conversation, "I think there's a path over there."

"What's the hurry!" Ruby asked her partner, trailing behind Weiss as the pair marched deeper into the forest.

"I will not be delayed because you're too slow," Weiss said, "I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your-" she was interrupted when Ruby whooshed to stand right next to her, a shower of rose petals filling the air between them.

"I'm not slow, see!" Ruby said chipperly. "My semblance makes me faster than anyone, so you don't have to worry about me!"

Weiss looked over Ruby, reappraising her. "Well then, let's put it to good use." The heiress turned about, studying the forest before pointing in a direction. "You head that way and see if you can find the temple."

Ruby gave her a puzzled look. "But, we're partners. Shouldn't we stick together?"

"We can cover more ground if we split up," Weiss explained as she began walking again.

"But we just need to head north," Ruby objected, following after her.

"And which way is that?" Weiss asked flippantly. "Just do as I said, and we'll find the place in no time."

"Are you always so bossy?"

"I'm not bossy!" Weiss snapped, spinning around at Ruby's insult. "I just don't want to fail our first assignment!"

Ruby stopped, holding her hands up. "Alright, I'm sorry!" she said. "I don't really know how to deal with people…"

Weiss studied her partner for a tense moment, noting the remorse on Ruby's face. After a moment, she sighed and said, "It's fine. I hope you at least know how to fight."

"Of course I do!" Ruby said, perking up. She slid over and put an arm around the heiress. "You're about to see a whole different side of me today, Weiss! And after it's all over, you're gonna be like, 'Wow, that Ruby girl is really, really cool… and I wanna be her friend.'"

Weiss smirked, asking, "Is that so?"

"Yep!" Ruby said with a nod.

"Then let's split up and find that temple," Weiss continued, breaking from Ruby's hug.

"Alright," Ruby sighed, rolling her eyes. She sped into the woods, leaving behind a burst of red petals.

Weiss listened to her partner crunch leaves and snap twigs all around her, like she was running in a circle.

"Uh, Ruby," Weiss started. "You're supposed to be looking for the relics."

No response came, only more rustling from the underbrush.

"You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" Weiss yelled. The forest suddenly became quiet, then the sound of growling came from behind her.

"Ruby?" the heiress asked tentatively, slowly backing away from the growling bush. A large, gray wolf stepped out of the foliage, baring its fangs and fixing Weiss with a hungry stare.

The heiress turned and ran, shouting her partner's name as the wolf reared its head back and howled.