Chapter 3: The Emerald Forest

"The last pair has been formed, sir," Ms. Goodwitch told Professor Ozpin, tapping the screen on her Scroll, "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Miss Nikos..."

As Ozpin let out a sound of acknowledgement, Glynda changes her screen to show to Pyrrha and Jaune's trek through the woods, "I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat."

She then switched the scene on her Scroll to the camera watching Dante and Walker, "At least these two seem to be able to get along. Surprising, considering Mr. Elliot's background... And as for Mr. Williams' friend..."

She then switched to Skyler and Hazel, "He seems to have found a decent partner. Though she claims to be a skilled fighter from Mistral, I'm still skeptical, seeing as how she got into this school."

Glynda then deactivated the tablet, turning around and walking away a little, "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?"

When she was met with more silence, she turned back to the Headmaster, "Professor Ozpin?"

Ozpin didn't answer, watching his Scroll with a contemplating interest as it showed footage of Ruby sitting in the grass and picking stray leaves while her partner, Weiss, paced around, seemingly scolding her. He then switched over to Skyler, focusing in on the young man.

Only then did Ozpin reply, though he seemed to be speaking mostly to himself, "Perhaps we shall soon see what these chess pieces can do..."

As Skyler and Hazel, the two came across a small clearing, where a few trees were bent and broken, the latter looking around before saying, "What the heck happened to this area?"

Hazel then turned to see Skyler crouching down, "Uh, Skyler?"

Skyler picked a small strand of golden hair and paled at the realization of whose hair it was, "Whatever happened here... well, something died."

"Um... okay? Elaborate, please?"

Skyler gently set the hair back on the ground and looked forward to where there was a barely visible, but still noticeable path through the woods and pointed at it, "One of my childhood friends was here earlier, and probably fought with some Grimm. Judging by what I can tell, she took care of them and went that way. While I don't think she has the best sense of direction, I at least trust in her instincts and that she probably has a partner by now. So I say we follow the trail they left."

When he was met with silence, he turned his head around to see his partner with a bewildered look on her face, "What?"

"Nothing," she answered, "Just... didn't expect such an in depth explanation. You're smarter than I gave you credit for."

Skyler smirked, "Well, more like I know just as much about my childhood friends as I know about myself. Call it a sixth sense. Especially with this one. So, let's get moving and hope that she knows what she's doing."

Hazel just grew a blank expression, "Now I'm just oozing with confidence-"

She suddenly flinched and her green eyes flashed blue for a short second before she warned, "Duck."

Skyler looked at her, puzzled, "What?"

She leaped at him, "Get down!"

The dark-skinned girl managed to grab him by the back of the head and send him to the ground. Just when he was about to ask why she did that, he caught a glimpse of a large, black silhouette flying over them before landing on the ground a few yards away. The two Hunters-in-training managed to swiftly get to their feet and saw exactly what they were up against. And at the sight of it, they both gulped. A Beowolf. And not just any kind of Beowolf, but an AlphaBeowolf.

Skyler looked at his partner and managed to say, "How did you kno-"

"I'll explain later!" Hazel replied, getting into a battle stance with Arachne, "We have more pressing issues at the moment!"

Skyler pulled out Kasai and morphed it into its sword mode, "Fair enough. But it just had to be an Alpha Beowulf, didn't it?"

The Grimm responded with a loud howl before gunning it for the two. It swung both of its arms at the trainees as if it was about to give them a killer hug, but they both ducked under the arms, Skyler proceeding to slash the Alpha in the side as he did. The Beowolf howled, but it seemed like all the blade did was scratch it. It swiftly turned around to grab at him, but the spearhead of Arachne shot at it, impaling the Grimm's paw to a nearby tree. It howled, but again, only seemed annoyed. Hazel pulled back the spearhead and it reattached to her spear.

"Okay, so normal hurting methods aren't gonna cut it," she muttered to Skyler, "We need something a little more unorthodox. Any ideas?"

"Well, Plan 1 was to cut it until it died," Skyler admitted, "But as a you stated, that isn't gonna work as well as we want. So we'll have to go with Plan 2."

"Which is?"

The Alpha charged at them again, and they dove out of the way as Skyler replied, "Run until we can come up with a Plan 3!"

The two began to run in a circle around the Grimm, not giving it another chance to charge at the both of them. The enhanced Grimm then chose to swipe at Hazel with one of its paws, the girl barely managing to slide under it, its claws cutting off a small bit of her hair. But thanks to this distraction, Skyler jumped onto the Beowolf's back and firmly implanting Kasai into it. He was about to pull the trigger, but unfortunately, the Grimm shook wildly, knocking him off with his sword still in its back.

Skyler landed flat on his back (for the second time in less than an hour), and managed to get off his back just in time to see the Alpha prepared to maul him. But fortunately, the spearhead of Hazel's weapon suddenly shot through the front of its throat, and the girl yanked the cable, pulling the Grimm to the ground on its back, causing Skyler's weapon to be pushed further into its body. But somehow, the Alpha hung on, managing to get on all fours and let out a weak growl.

But then, Skyler jumped on its back again, grabbed Kasai's handle, and pulled the trigger. Flames burst out, the sword catching the Alpha on fire, and thus the howls of pain died down until the Grimm disintegrated into black smoke. The two Hunters in training bent over in relief, breathing hard and relishing in their victory for a short second.

"I suppose..." Skyler gasped, walking over to his partner and raising his fist with a grin, "That's Plan 3."

"I guess so," Hazel grinned back and the two fist bumped before walking away, "Why were your plans numbered, anyway? Usually it'd just be 'Plan A' and 'Plan B'."

"Bold of you to assume I'll only come up with twenty six plans."

Dante and Walker trudged through the forest, Dante finishing up a story to pass the time. Throughout it all, Walker just had an amused smile on his face. It was an... odd feeling. He hadn't exactly grown up with friends. Just mutual acquaintances from classes he took back in Signal. Even at home... Walker shook his head at the thought. It was unfair to think that it was anyone's fault about what his home life had been like. With his twin sister being the way she is, he couldn't exactly blame his parents for not being there for him. Still, that didn't stop him from wanting their attention.

"Hey!" Dante's voice shook him out of his thoughts, "You okay there? You blanked out on me."

"Huh? Oh, sorry," Walker replied, "Just... spaced out for a second there."

"Yeah, that's one way to put it," Dante's face grew oddly serious all of a sudden, "You alright, man?"

"Uh... yeah," Walker said, not being convincing at all, "Why do you ask?"

"Trust me, I know that look. Skyler wears that same one all the time when he's reminiscing on... well, unpleasant days, to say the least. You want to talk about it, or save it for another day?"

Walker was a bit taken aback, "You're... willing to wait?"

"We're gonna be partners for the rest of our time here, aren't we? I got four years to wait. Maybe even beyond that. Whenever you feel comfortable, just tell me!"

Dante gave a goofy grin, back to his not so serious mood, but Walker was struck with an odd feeling, and he muttered to himself, "Is this... is this how friends work?"

Unbeknownst to him, Dante heard and answered, "Well, duh! What, you've never had friends before?"

"...No."

Dante blinked at the straightforward answer, and grinned again, "Well then, Walker, it's an honor to be your first friend! Now, let's keep walking in this random direction until we find those artifacts that we have no idea what they are or where they're at! Surely, this is the greatest plan."

Walker snickered a bit, surprising himself, and responded, "Well then, I suppose staying an extra year at Signal was worth it."

"Wait, that was you?!" Dante exclaimed, "Dude, I knew I recognized your name from somewhere! I never met you then, so I never got to ask why you did that!"

"Uh... that's... well..."

"INCOMING!"

Reacting quickly, Dante and Walker dove out of the way just in time to avoid getting run over by... a bike? Sure enough, two girls on a bike, which had spikes on the wheels and other extensions that neither of the guys could get a good look at. On top of the bike were two girls, one with dirty blonde hair and a bright blue and green color schemed clothes was driving it, looking like she was having the time of her life, while the other girl, who had dark brown hair and a pink and black color scheme was hanging on to her partner for dear life, comedic tears gushing out of her eyes.

"AURIEL, SLOW DOWN!" the second girl cried, "WE ALMOST HIT SOMEONE!"

"OH, CALM DOWN, TATIANA!" the first girl, Auriel, yelled out in response before they hit a sudden bump and she looked to see what it was, "OH... UH OH!"

She quickly turned her head to the boys she nearly ran over, "I'M SORRY!"

Walker and Dante blinked a few times before getting back to their feet, the latter saying, "Uh... why do I get the feeling she wasn't apologizing for almost running us over?"

The question was answered by a loud thump that shook the ground. A large, black and white figure rose up, its head nearly rising over the tree line. Then, the thing made a loud trumpeting noise, shaking the two boys to their core.

"Oh... Uh oh."

"Hold up," Skyler said to Hazel, not believing his ears, "You're telling me that your Semblance allows you to look forward in time?!"

"In short bursts and I only see a few seconds," Hazel explained, "And I don't exactly have control over them either. Like, I can activate it at will if I wanted to, but it's not like it helps that much in a battle scenario. I mean, I'm working on it, but manually activating it is useless if I can't react in time. Thankfully, it really only activates without my consent when I'm about to get sneak-attacked, so it's pretty useful for specific situations like that."

"Even so, that's really cool," Skyler complimented.

"So, now that I've told you mine, how about you tell me yours?"

"Oh... well, uh... I... don't have a Semblance yet..."

"Wait, seriously? Then how'd you get accepted into Beacon?"

Skyler rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "Hard work? I don't know, maybe the Headmaster took pity on me."

"Why would he take pity on you?"

Skyler flinched as unwanted voices flooded his mind.

"We have to go, NOW."

"I can't believe they found us this quickly!"

"You won't be free of us, Skyler Yin! Do you hear me?! YOU WILL NEVER BE FREE OF US!"

Skyler was silent for a few more seconds before shaking his head to try and clear his head, "It's... not important."

Hazel put a hand on his shoulder, "Look, clearly you've got something going on, but I'm not gonna force you to tell me about it. We've still got plenty of time for that. Besides, look up ahead."

Skyler looked up and saw a very large opening up ahead. Just a grassy plain in the middle of the forest, but in the center of it all, there was what looked to be a small, ruined altar. And at those ruins, the two spotted another pair already there, and Skyler grinned, glad that his instincts were right about Yang and her partner. And when Hazel and Skyler were about halfway there, the two girls spotted them, and Yang let out an excited cry and dashed over to them, leaving her partner temporarily in the dust.

Skyler had far gotten used to Yang's tackle-hugs, so he wasn't too bothered when she practically attached herself to him on his side, "Hey, Sky!"

The boy couldn't help but crack a smile and wrap one arm around her shoulders to return the hug, his previous mood now lifted, "Sup, Firecracker?"

Hazel glanced back and forth between the two as they chuckled, getting a sneaking suspicion there was more to these two's relationship than her partner had let on. And she began to grin mischievously at that suspicion. But it was then that Skyler then saw who Yang's partner was as she walked up. It was the familiar looking black-haired girl from last night, dressed in black and white, had amber-colored eyes, and a black bow was tied atop of her head.

Skyler's smile dropped as he looked at her, that sinking sense of familiarity ringing throughout his body. All kinds of signals were going off in his head, none of them good. Those golden eyes seemed to pierce right through him, and he was struck with the realization; she recognized him too, and was experiencing the same problem he was. They had met before, but the details were completely lost on both of them.

Thankfully, this entire thought process didn't last as long as it seemed, since Yang spoke up, "Oh, where are my manners? Skyler, this is my partner, Blake!"

The two snapped out of their strange trance, and Blake extended her hand out to him, "Belladonna. Blake Belladonna."

Skyler took her hand and shook, "Skyler Yin."

Heck, even their name sounded familiar to the other. But the two managed to keep their composure as Yang's attention switched to Hazel as she stretched out her own hand, "And you're his partner?"

Hazel smiled and the two shook hands, "Yup! My name's Hazel Tikal. And you must be Yang. Skyler's talked about you."

"Oh, has he?" Yang smiled mischievously, looking back at her friend.

Skyler blushed a bit before replying, "Kinda had to, considering we arrived upon the aftermath of one of your skirmishes in the woods."

"Talked more about it than he should have," Hazel added with a grin, now with the fuel she needed to add to this fire.

Skyler shot his partner with a look that said 'You are not making this better!'. Thankfully, a loud, high-pitched scream ripped through the air, causing them all to get startled and look around.

"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang exclaimed, "Guys, did you hear that?"

"Uh... Yang?" Skyler replied while looking up, causing the others to look up as well.

And they saw one Ruby Rose falling out of the sky towards them.

"HEADS UUUUUUPPPPPP!"

Man, this chapter was actually longer than expected... Oh well, I don't think anyone's complaining. So many character interactions and making a fight with an Alpha Beowolf. As well as a cameo from two of characters, who will get a larger role later on in this story. But if this is how long this chapter got, I cannot wait until next chapter! Till next time guys!