Yang and Wisteria were walking through the forest looking around for a partner for Yang. And the blonde brawler was quickly losing patience with this task. "Uuuugh! This is taking FOREVER!" Yang complained, before stopping, jumping in place and waving her arms. "Hey! If anybody's out there, I still need a partner! Come on, I'm getting bored here!" She yelled.
"You're wasting more energy stopping and yelling than if you continued to walk towards the relic and put that energy to good use." Wisteria told her. With a metabolism so high, she was an expert on conserving energy and not wasting it recklessly.
"Well, I'm pretty sure Ozpin's directions were to find a partner BEFORE heading to the relic." Yang reminded her.
"True, but we're all heading to the same place, so odds are we'll run into more people eventually and you'll find someone who's not partnered up." The former Barbarous Beast reasoned.
Yang considered this and admitted the other girl had a point. "I guess. Still wish something exciting would happen, though." She said. Then, as if on cue, the two girls heard a rustling in the bushes behind them. "Is someone there?" Yang asked, walking up to the bush as the rustling continued. "Ruby, is that you?" She asked, peeking inside the bush to look for her sister.
"Not unless Ruby breathes like an Arzuros." Wisteria said suspiciously, lowering herself into a combat stance as she heard the low, inhuman growl.
Yang's head rose up as she stared at the creature. "Nope!" She declared while popping the "p", quickly rolling to the side as an Ursa charged out of the green. She got up and activated her Ember Celica, staring at the monster before another Ursa ran out behind her. She leapt over it and its companion runs at her again, only to get knocked back by a fiery punch. The newer Ursa rushed at Wisteria, who waited for the monster to come close enough, before impaling it in the stomach to keep it in place, then doing a scissor move with her arm blades to decapitate the creature.
The original Ursa and Yang charged at each other and Yang managed to get under it and deliver several punches and a kick to send the creature back. "You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?" Yang asked jokingly, only for the beast to merely growl at her. "You could just say 'no'." Yang teased the Grimm.
She was about to rush in and fight with the Ursa once again, but then a barrage of purple fireballs obliterated the beast. "Why waste time talking to them? They can't talk back and that's just using up time you could be using to attack them. All you're doing is giving them time to attack you." Wisteria said.
"Oh, chill out, Wis! It's all in good fun. I've taken on plenty of these things before, they're no big issue anymore. And I've fought bigger versions that make these ones seem like total jokes. Gotta do something to spice things up a bit." Yang explained.
As if on cue, two more Ursai emerged from the woods and swiped at the two girls, Wisteria jumping back and twisting out of the way while Yang NARROWLY dodged with a back handspring, laughing a bit. "See? Way too easy!" She said to her fellow student, before looking back at the Grimm. "Geeeez, you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba..." She began, before noticing a single strand of her golden hair falling in front of her face and landing on the forest floor.
Wisteria suddenly felt a shift in the air as Yang's mood clearly darkened. "I've got a bad feeling about this." She said, her animal instincts warning her of imminent danger.
"You..." Yang began, closing her violet eyes, then opening them to reveal red, making the Ursai look at each other confusedly. "You monster!" She screamed as an inferno briefly surrounded Yang for a moment, before she rocketed forward, unleashing a devastating combo of flaming hits and blows on the offending Ursa, making it fly through several burning trees.
Wisteria's jaw dropped at this. "Holy shit. So this must be what it was like for hunters when I fully charged my Hellfire." The Magnamalo girl said in shock.
The other monster ran over, but stopped short at Yang's gaze while a tree fell to the ground behind her. "What! You want some, too?!" She demanded.
The Ursa rears up and prepares to strike as Wisteria prepared to rush in and slash it with her arm blades... right when a whirling noise was heard and the monster made a befuddled noise, falling down a second later to reveal Blake with her Gambol Shroud in the beast's back. "Oh, Blake. Not bad, for a sneak attack." Wisteria praised.
"Oh, Wisteria! Nice seeing you again. And you, too, Yang." Blake said, smiling at her first friend and sort-of-friend at Beacon, who was now her partner as she recalled her weapon and sheathed in on her back.
Yang panted in exhaustion for a moment, before her eyes returned to their natural purple color. "Oh, you two no each other?" Yang asked.
"Yeah, we met before Ozpin's orientation speech." Blake explained, leaving out the finer details.
Wisteria, however, didn't feel the need to do so. "Yeah, we swapped clothes for a bit... Or, tops, anyway. Those shorts barely fit her big ol' butt, no way they can hold this ass." She said, slapping her own rear, both this action and the comment on her backside causing Blake to light up like a Christmas tree from blushing.
"Huh. Weird, but sounds fun. Maybe you're more fun than I thought, Blake." She said, then smirked a bit as she looked at the dissipating Ursa. "I could've taken him." She told the bow-wearing girl.
"Well, great. Now you've got a partner, so you can stop complaining about being bored." Wisteria said.
"Right. So, any idea where the relics are now?" Yang asked.
"Yeah. I got a good look at the ruins they're supposed to be at while I was in the air. Follow me." Blake told them, heading off into the woods, the two hot-headed girls right behind her.
A beowulf rushed in at Silver, but she folded her right wing in front of her, before swinging it outward to deflect the attack, leaving the monster open for her to impale it with her tail. Another small group of three Beowulves tried to rush at her from behind, but she turned and flung the impaled beowulf off her tail into the group to knock them down, unleashing a beam of Dragon Energy into the ground, creating a line of energy explosion until they reached and obliterated the trio and the already dead extra. Two more slightly larger ones- though still not as large as the Alpha- rushed at her, one slightly behind the other, but she did a front flip and slammed her tail down on the one in front, before thrusting it forward into the one behind it with enough force to rip the creature in half.
She then decided to check on how her comrades were doing
A Beowolf almost got Ruby with its claws, but she twisted out of the way, fired at the monster in front of her to make the weapon and wielder spin and kicked at the one behind her. She twirled the scythe and sliced the one in front of her- not enough to kill, but enough to make it flinch back- before she fired her weapon, causing her to spin again and slice the one she had kicked down as it got up and lunged at her. She then vertically twirled the scythe to cut down the Beowulf in front of her she had flinched back, before spinning and swinging the weapon at full length to catch another Beowulf by the back of the neck with the weapon, firing the gun part to make the blade jerk forward and decapitate it.
Silver smiled and nodded in approval at this, before looking over to Weiss, who was- what was she doing!? She was just standing around in the middle of a battlefield! "Weiss, what are you doing?! Don't just stand there! Attack!" The former Elder Dragon ordered.
"Be quiet! I am remembering my training!" She snapped, turning her focus to a Beowulf that didn't have its guard up. However, before she could engage in her attack, Ruby moved in and sliced it in half. "Hey! That one was mine!" She complained.
"You know a way to attack without moving? Cool!" Ruby said sarcastically as she continued to fight a solid number of smaller Beowulves that had surrounded her in a circle.
"Why you!" Weiss growled, but before she could berate the younger girl, she heard Silver call out to her again.
"Weiss, look out!" The winged girl cried out, Weiss quickly glancing to her, then following her gaze to the Alpha Beowulf that was now rushed in her, slashing relentlessly with its claws and forcing her to jump back repeatedly until she jumped back into Silver, knocking both girls down. The beowulf lunged towards the two girls, but Ruby- who finished off the remainder of the pack because they all focused her- managed to put a few bullets into the beast, weakening it as Silver got up, folding her wings like swords and swinging them in a cross slash to decapitate the pack leader. The former Elder Dragon sighed at this, before turning to the younger girl. "Thank you, Ruby. Your assistance was greatly appreciated." She said.
"I'd say that was a little more than assistance, I just saved both your butts! Seriously, what was that?! That should've been easy!" Ruby cried out.
"Excuse me! You deliberately attacked the beowulf my focus was on! I could've wound up attacking you, because you got in my way!" Weiss countered, before turning to Silver. "And you! I could have easily taken out several Beowulves if you hadn't constantly distracted me!" She snapped.
Silver growled a bit, but quickly calmed down. "Weiss, you cannot simply stop and go through proper form in the middle of a battle. Your enemies will not wait until you're ready. They'll take whatever advantage they can get to try and finish you. And if you continue to give them as many openings as you did now, it won't be long before that happens." She warned the heiress.
"I am fighting in the proper way! Calm, orderly, precise! The two of you recklessly rushing in and attacking without a second thought! That's how mistakes are made! And mistakes are fatal in combat!" The heiress ranted.
"Possibly, yes. But not if you know what you're doing. And clearly you don't know what you're doing it you have to stop and remember your movements, step by step. A fight isn't a planned, choreographed masterpiece. It's random, uncontrollable, chaotic and unpredictable. You need to know your movements by heart and choose your best option to handle th situation." Silver told her.
"And not yell at people who are busy fighting their own monsters!" Ruby complained.
I'm just surprised someone who talks so much would communicate so little during an encounter!" Weiss yelled once again, turning towards Ruby and briefly forgetting Silver.
"Well, I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!" Ruby insisted.
"Well, congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak your way into Beacon. Bravo!" Weiss snapped, starting to walk away.
But, at that moment, the trio heard what sounded like the shrieking of a bird, only much deeper and more menacing as a shadow began to cover them. And looking up, they were shocked to see a giant Nevermore descending towards them. "A Grimm!" Ruby cried out.
(Unbelievable! I know Professor Port said they can grow to that size, but it's still insane seeing it! And from human eyes no less. So this must be what it's like for hunters when a Rathalos descends on them!) Silver thought in shock.
"It's too much for the three of us! We need to retreat!" Weiss said.
But instead, Ruby rushed towards the monster, much to the shock of the other girls. She then loaded Crescent Rose up with Fire Dust rounds, aiming and firing it into the Nevermore's open beak as it attempted to devour her. She then ran towards the back of the beast, firing another round into its side. This caused the monster to retreat. But Ruby then jumped onto the monster's lower back and reached her hand out. "Weiss! Take my hand!" She cried out. Weiss was shocked at this, but with everything happening so fast, she didn't have time to think and just did as Ruby said, grabbing the younger girl's hand and allowing her to pull her onto the creature's back with her.
"Girls, wait! What are you doing!?" Silver asked as everything was happening almost too fast for her to process.
"Sorry, Silver! But I only had one hand free! But at least you have wings to fly after us! It'll be WAY faster getting to the temple this way!" Ruby told her as the Nevermore began to retreat.
"Damn." Silver said, about to take off and save the girls, before feeling a pain in her left tail fin. "Aah! Damn. I must have messed up my tail when Weiss fell on me. I'd be flying in circles if I tried to follow them like this." She realized, before sighing. "Be safe, girls." She told them both, looking for some wildlife to take down to get a quick bite and speed up the recovery of her tail fin.
Several more students dealt with issues of their own of varying intensity, such as Pyrrha explaining Aura to Jaune and even unlocking it for him [1], while Ren faced off against the mighty two-headed King Taijitu. The gunslinging boy stood atop of the body of his enemy, sliding the weapons into his sleeves and brushing them off before a strange, animal-like noise was heard above him twice. He looked up and met the upside-down eyes of Nora Valkyrie.
Ren couldn't help but chuckle at this. "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like." He told her.
In response, Nora gave her friend a "Boop!" on the nose, causing him to smile. However, Nora soon saw some movement behind him and gasped as something rose up. "Look out!" She cried out, pulling her rocket launcher off her back and smacking him off of the Grimm's body, before aiming it and blasting a second white-headed King Taijitu in the face, causing it to recoil, allowing her to drop from the tree onto the deceased King Taijitu and slam her grenade launcher down on the new serpent, sending its head to the ground, at which point she leapt down from the deceased Grimm while transforming her weapon into its hammer form just in time for her to swing it down and smash the white head into oblivion.
"Nice work, Nora." Ren praised as he walked up to her.
"Hehe! Yep! I saved you~" She giggled, booping him on the nose again. However, both of them forgot about the second head of the monster, which rose up behind them silently, letting out a shriek as it charged forward, only giving the pair enough time to look behind them and see the serpent Grimm... before its head was suddenly crushed by a giant slab of stone.
They then heard a smacking noise and turned behind them once again to see Onyxia walk up, slapping her hands together to get the dust and dirt off of them from ripping up and throwing the giant stone slab that crushed the snake's head. "And I saved you." She declared.
"Ooh! Onyxia! Thanks for the save!" Nora said as she skipped up to the former Fanged Beast, before smirking. "And maybe I could also thank you for some of that sap?" She asked hopefully.
"Ugh! Still comes out of my body, pinky!" She said, putting a hand on Nora's head to prevent her from getting any closer, while Ren could only facepalm.
Ozpin watched the students on his Scroll at the Beacon Cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest when Glynda walked up behind him, holding her own tablet. "The last pair has been formed, sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Although, Onyxia has also joined up with them, so he also has the most calm and level-headed of the monster girls with him. Hopefully that should serve to balance out their team a bit. He's probably better off than Miss Nikos." The assistant Headmistress informed him as she observed Ren trying to separate Nora from Onyxia, before observing Pyrrha holding onto Cerule's tail, trying to hold her back as she tried to charge ahead on all fours, so Jaune wouldn't be left behind.
"Mmmm..." Ozpin said simply as he continued to observe his own scroll.
"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. And Cerule certainly isn't making things easy for either of them as well." Glynda said as she deactivated the tablet, walking back a little. "At least they seem to be getting along well enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes." She informed him as she turned back to Ozpin. "Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" She asked the headmaster, only to be met with silence. "Professor Ozpin?" She questioned again.
Ozpin doesn't answer, watching his tablet with a contemplating interest as it shows the footage of Ruby and Weiss clinging to the Nevermore for dear life.
From the forest, Yang, Blake and Wisteria stepped out into a clearing that revealed the circular stone temple, broken and decrepit but for the platforms around its inside, holding several black and gold objects.
"Think this is it?" Yang asked.
In response, Blake gave Yang an incredulous look. "Yes, because there are just SO MANY abandoned ruins in the middle of a forest, it's so easy to get mixed up." Wisteria said as she and Blake headed down the hill, Yang following shortly after. They walked across the floor and observed the items on each pedestal, now shown to be familiar shapes.
"Chess pieces?" Blake asked in confusion as she looked over the Black King piece.
"Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here." Yang guessed.
"Damn. I was really hoping to rub it in Cerule's face. She thinks she's the fastest, but I would've had the biggest shit-eating grin on my face if I had a relic before her." Wisteria lamented.
Blake decided to ignore the tirade of the tiger-like girl. "Well, I guess we should pick one." She said, continuing to look over the pieces.
Jaune, Pyrrha and Cerule were standing at the mouth of a dark cave, where drawings were seen to the side involving armed men against giant beasts. "Think this is it?" Jaune asked.
"Yeeeaaahhh, not a snowball's chance in hell. It's in a giant temple, remember? Pretty sure that wouldn't fit in a cave." Cerule said.
"Maybe this cave is a shortcut to the temple?" Jaune theorized. But both girls looked unconvinced. "Look, I just REALLY feel like this is the way, okay? I've got the instinct of a warrior and the natural intuition of generations of heroes in my blood! I'm convinced this is the right way!" Jaune said, confidently marching towards the cave.
Cerule rolled her eyes at this. "Fine. See you when they send someone to retrieve the body." She said, turning to walk away.
However, she was suddenly stopped by a hand on her shoulder, turning to see Pyrrha. "Cerule, wait. We can't just leave him on his own. I'm his partner, after all. And I'd really appreciate it if you came with us." She said sincerely, looking almost pleadingly into the Moonlight Nocturne's eyes.
The former Fanged Wyvern let out a sigh at this, but nodded. "Fine." She agreed.
"Wonderful!" Pyrrha said with a smile as they turned back to the cave, where Jaune was in the process of making a torch. "Besides, he seems confident enough. Maybe this really could be it." She said.
However, inside the cave, with only a small torch to light their way and water constantly dripping down around them, Pyrrha's hopefulness was quickly running out. "I'm not sure this is it." The champion of Mistral said uncertainly.
"I don't want to say I told you so... So, I'll sing it instead! ~I told you soooooooo~!" Cerule said in sing-song, howling the last bit.
Jaune sighed at this. "Girls, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for, like, five more feet?" He requested. But suddenly- and COMPLETELY unexpectedly- Jaune tripped on the ground and the torch flew into a small puddle, extinguishing the flame so the three were cast in darkness with only their eyes visible.
"Wow. Lovely. Truly living up to that warrior lineage there, Arc." Cerule said sarcastically.
"Do you... feel that?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune got up and grumbled.
"Soul-crushing regret?" Jaune asked.
"No, it's... warm." The Spartan girl noted.
"Don't worry, I'm a Faunus, I can see in the dark. Just grab ahold of one of my tail prongs and we'll get moving." Cerule told them. Soon enough, she felt Jaune grab one of the points on the end of her tail. But she didn't account how close to her Pyrrha was, so she was actually standing near the base of her tail and wound up grabbing something else when she reached forward. "Eep! Pyrrha, that's not my tail!" She squealed.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha quickly apologized.
Back at the temple, Yang approached one of the relics. "Hmmmm..." She hummed to herself as she studied the golden knight, then picked it up and showed it to Blake. "How about a cute little pony?" She offered.
"Sure." Blake said with a smirk.
"Huh. There's a black one of those, too. Guess I'll take it." Wisteria said, snatching the black knight from its pillar.
They walked towards each other to the center of the temple floor. "That wasn't too hard!" Yang admitted happily.
"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find." Blake pointed out as they shared a smile.
"Yeah. You'd have to be a bunch of idiots to get lost in a place like this." Wisteria agreed.
Cerule lead Jaune and Pyrrha onward through the cave until they saw a large glowing point of gold right in front of them, illuminating Cerule's snarling face... and Jaune's excited features.
"That's the relic!" He declared, pushing past Cerule to get to it.
"Get back here, you idiot!" She snapped, reaching out for him, but tripping over a rock she hadn't noticed.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll say you helped get it! Even that you did most the work!" Jaune said as he slowly reached out to grab it, but it moved away from his swipe. "Hey! Bad... relic!" He scolded the supposedly inanimate object, trying to get it again, then jumped forward and hung onto it as the object raised him above the ground. "Gotcha!" He declared triumphantly.
"Jaune...?" Pyrrha asked worriedly.
"He's dead." Cerule said, shaking her head.
Jaune's catch lowered itself so he was dangling right in front of the now-glowing red lines and eyes of a Death Stalker.
Jaune's scream was heard all the way from the temple, where Yang turned towards the direction of its source.
"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang cried out.
"Nah. Not shrill enough. That's a guy." Wisteria said.
"Blake, did you hear that?" Yang asked her partner. But Blake didn't answer, staring at something in the sky.
At the cave entrance, Cerule rushed out, bounding on all fours, followed closely by Pyrrha, right before the monster crashed through the hole, roaring and waving its grass-encrusted claws as Jaune hung from the stinger, calling from help and continuing to scream.
"Help! Whoa-ah-ah-ah-ah! Why?! Pyrrha! Cerule! He-e-e-elp! Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not! Do something!" Jaune sobbed as he was swung back and forth.
"Just hang on, blondie! I got you!" Cerule said, preparing to leap forward and rescue the boy. But unfortunately, before she could even move, the Grimm hurled its tail back and launched a still-screaming Jaune across the forest. "O... kaaaay, maybe I don't..." Cerule said awkwardly as Pyrrha watched Jaune sail through the sky in despair. "Oh well, more fun for us. Right, Pyrrha?" Cerule asked.
However, Pyrrha said nothing as she turned back to the scorpion as it continued to snap its claws at them. All she could do at that point was smiled embarrassedly and scratch the back of her head, before turning and rushing away in a burst of green leaves. The Moonlight Nocturne simply sighed at this. "Fine. I always like fighting on my own, anyway." She said, starting to activate her ice armor in preparation for a real fight, before Pyrrha suddenly zoomed back, grabbed her arm and ran off again.
Blake was still staring at something above them, but Yang was focused on the forest. "Blake, did you hear that?" Yang asked again, turning to her partner. "What should we do?" She asked frantically.
"I doubt there's anything we can do. We'd never get over there in time to save whoever that is. The best we could do would be to see if there's a survivor and round up the other students to make sure they don't head the same way as that scream. At least, that's what I think. What about you, Blake?" Wisteria asked, turning to the monochrome girl, still staring to the sky. "What are you looking at?" She demanded, following Blake's gaze, which left her shocked.
Finally, the faint-but-growing-louder scream of "Heads uuuuuuuup!" was heard when Ruby fell from the sky, before everything went black.
[1] Yeah, I couldn't think of how to change that scene up, so I decided to cut it. Sorry, guys.