Chapter 5

Cargo helicopters could be seen transporting students between the academy’s docking zone and an unknown location, with each of the students being sent in waves. There was planned to be 2 separate waves for the initiation ceremony, with Ruby and Yang being picked for the second wave, something expected to start in only a few minutes. A few hours have passed since they were awoken and rushed to the landing zone, Ruby feeling refreshed after managing to get about an hour long nap in while waiting. As the helicopters returned and dropped off the first wave of students, each of them walking in pairs back inside the building, the pilots of the helicopters would announce for the second wave to begin boarding. Ruby stepped up from her seat alongside Yang, the two of them stepping inside of the aircraft, watching as about a dozen more students entered behind them. Once the vehicle was full, the entrance to it began to shut, the entire vehicle tilting forward as it began to take off into the air. Ruby could hear a gagging sound across from her, looking over to see Jaune struggling to keep his breakfast in his stomach. He met eyes with her, giving a slight smile before covering his mouth with his hand. Ruby giggled, strapping herself in her seat. Once the helicopter began flying through the air, a monitor from the front of the cabin flickered on, it showing live footage of Ammolite standing at attention within his office. “Good afternoon, second wave. If you haven’t already figured it out, you’re gonna be undergoing the Beacon Entry Ceremony today. It is in this ceremony where you will find the partner you will be spending the next 2 years of your life with.” Ammolite took a drink from what looked like a mug of coffee, readjusting his tie before he continued. “Your partner is decided by the first person you make eye-contact with. Not your best friend, not the hot guy or gal you’ve been ogling since you got here, the first person you make eye-contact with. So better keep your eyes closed ‘till you can find someone you won’t be butting heads with.” The screen changed to a map of the Emerald Forest, with two things circled in; one being the Landing Strip, circled in yellow, and the other being the Relic Temple, circled in red. “Your objective, after you find your partner, is to obtain one relic from the Relic Temple, then return it to the Landing Strip. Keep in mind that while you’re doing this,” The screen changed to a picture of various different kinds of grimm, varying from simple beowolves and creeps, to death stalkers and nevermores. “You’re gonna have a bit of company. As per tradition, the place is up to its neck in genu-wine grimm beasties, all of which can and will maim, or even kill, you. We keep ‘em locked up in cages until this day, so whether that pacifies them, or just pisses them off more, you get to find out.” Ruby looked over at Yang, her older sister looking back towards her as she spoke. “Do you wanna partner up, Yang?” Ruby asked, Yang hesitantly shaking her head, Ruby visibly flabbergasted while Yang spoke. “I… really want to, Ruby, but I feel like you need to put yourself out there.” Ruby frowned, bowing her head down towards the ground while Yang continued. “A big part of this academy’s learning teamwork. And, yeah, we get along, but you’re gonna have to work with other people, too. And being around me all the time’s only gonna hurt you in the long run.” Ruby pouted and turned away from Yang, crossing her arms. “Fine. Whatever.” Ruby spat, Yang chuckling, leaning towards Ruby while whispering. “You’ll thank me later, Ruby.” Yang reassured, giving her a wink while turning back to the television. “...so make sure you’re nice and strapped in.” Ammolite finished, licking his lips as his finger hovered over what appeared to be a control panel. “Because the ceremony starts… now.” Narrowing her eyes at the screen, Ruby was confused for a second, before her seat suddenly was ejected out of the aircraft, Ruby’s face going white as she was sent hundreds of feet into the air. She could feel a small jet engine firing under her seat to soften the fall, Ruby not able to control it as it steered itself into a large gathering of trees. Her seat-jet engine was moving so fast that she couldn’t even see where everyone else was landing, the only thing keeping her from flying off of the seat being her seatbelts.

A few heart-rending seconds passed before she landed, her seat smacking directly into the top half of a tree, Ruby flopping off of it and falling onto her back. Groaning out, Ruby rubbed at her head while checking her surroundings, taking out her Crescent Rose and turning it into its rifle state while treading around the forest. It was eerily quiet, Ruby speeding up her pace while checking each of her corners. She looked desperately for her older sister, the idea of having to pair with some random person inflicting her with a deathly fear. She worried of someone who would judge her for her music taste, or for her weapon hyperfixation, or for her birthmark that everyone kept calling a tattoo, or… “No.” Weiss stated, shaking her head as she turned around from Ruby and began walking away. “W - Wait!” Ruby called out, Weiss power walking away from her as she spoke. “Go away! I’d rather be alone than have to partner with you!” Weiss yelled, Ruby frowning as she stood still, holding her weapon limply in her hands. As Weiss stormed away from Ruby, she looked up to see Jaune, the boy pinned to a tree with a javelin, the jet engine on his chair still blowing above him. “Oh, uh… hey.” Jaune said with a wave, Weiss eyeing him with her arms crossed, her patience rapidly growing thin as he talked. “You see, I - I kinda had an early exit from the chair, but someone was nice enough to, y’know… stick me up here.” Weiss sighed, turning back around towards Ruby, shaking her head while she talked. “Come with me.” Weiss spoke, Ruby’s face brightening up, her quickly going to walk alongside Weiss. “Look, I’m super sorry about yesterday, but trust me, I can - I can make it up! I can go scout ahead, I can run and grab the relics, I can - ” “Don’t flatter yourself. I only picked you because somehow there’s people here more idiotic than you.” “Oh, okay. Well, what’s your name, partner?” Ruby asked, Weiss checking her surroundings for a moment before answering. “Weiss.” “Hi, Weiss! I’m Ruby. Do you think I should go ahead, though? We can maybe even be the first to get a relic.” Weiss groaned, shaking her head as she responded. “No, don’t run off. We need to stick together to ensure we’ll stay safe.” “Oh, but I can just go up in the air and find the grimm before they can find us! See, watch!” Before Weiss could interject, she watched as Ruby petal bursted up into the air, propelling herself further with rounds for her weapon. “Ugh…” Weiss droned, taking out her weapon in preparation for whatever was about to ambush a lone human. “I knew this was an awful idea.” Keeping watch over her surroundings, Weiss slowly stepped throughout the forest, looking up to the sky while she yelled out. “Ruby!” Weiss called out, hearing some rustling in the bushes around her. What Weiss saw wasn’t Ruby, though. She backed up, preparing her weapon as the pack of beowolves approached her.

Jaune watched as Weiss walked off with Ruby into the distance, sighing as he let his body hang limp under the javelin. With him both falling to the ground at high speed, and having a javelin just a handbreadth away from turning his head into a kebab, Jaune wasn’t sure what to be more afraid of. His fears went away when he saw a feminine figure walking towards him, his eyes lighting up while she reached to grab her javelin back. “Thanks.” Jaune spoke, falling onto his feet and standing before Pyrrha. “You’re welcome, partner.” She said with a wink, Jaune laughing while going to walk alongside her. “Hah… yeah. Hey, I uh, didn’t really catch your name as you, y’know… threw your - threw your spear at me.” Pyrrha raised her eyebrows, looking at Jaune with some disbelief. “You… don’t know my name?” Pyrrha asked, Jaune tilting his head while he replied. “Am I supposed to - I mean, no offense, if I… if I am, it’s just,” Pyrrha laughed out, inhaling deeply before answering. “It’s no concern. My name is Pyrrha. And yours?” “Jaune.” “Well then, Jaune,” Pyrrha looked over to a temple in the distance, preparing her javelin and shield. “We’ve got some work to do.”

Walking throughout the forest, Yang rested her hands at her hips, looking around curiously. Despite having been moving around for a good few minutes, she’s yet to see another student or grimm, the strange quiet starting to unsettle her slightly. That was, before she heard a voice yelling “Ruby!” in the distance, Yang chuckling to herself while imagining the trouble her sister was getting herself into. Passing a row of trees, Yang walked onto what looked like a flattened road of dirt, seeing two ursai standing idly in the middle of it. They quickly turned to her, not even a second passing before they began barreling towards her. Grinning, Yang held her armor-covered arms up, her gauntlets whirring to life with an electric, yellow current running through them. She then lunged to meet the first ursa’s attack, slamming her fist into its face and letting off an explosive blast, sending Yang sliding backwards while the ursa collapsed down onto its back. The second ursa made its attack, rapidly swiping its claws towards her, Yang’s grin still on her face while she lined up the knuckle of her gauntlet towards the grimm. A shell then ejected from her gauntlet, Yang punching it and sending an explosive concentrate of dust into the ursa’s chest, leaving a yellow tracer in its trajectory. While she was distracted with loading another shell in, the first ursa ran around and swiped its claw over her head, Yang quickly ducking under it and rolling out of the way. She boisterously laughed, pumping the shell into her gauntlet while she spoke. “C’mon, dude, I wasn’t even paying any attention! How’d you miss that?” She taunted, her initial playful attitude wilting away when she noticed the ursa’s claw had a small clump of blonde hair. “You…” She began, a faint yellow flame beginning to build around her body. Her hands gripped into fists while the flame grew around where her aura would be, the ursa not paying it any mind while it got back on all fours. “You stupid asshole! You’re gonna regret the day you crawled out that fucking tar pit!” Yang yelled out, pointing her gauntlet behind her and launching herself at the ursa. The slower creature failed to react as Yang began unleashing a flurry of punches into it, the ursa falling back in hopes of getting out of her reach. This was met by her grabbing its jaw, using her other hand to point her gauntlet’s muzzle into its face. The other ursa watched as its brethren was beheaded by the attack, backing up when Yang turned to it. Just when Yang was about to attack it, she saw a shotgun blast tear through the creature’s stomach, the ursa slowly turning to see Blake swapping her Gambol Shroud to its high-caliber pistol in one of her hands, and a shotgun in the other. The ursa went to swipe its claw as Blake, over for her to fire a point-blank pistol shot into its head, blasting its black bio-matter across the nearby trees. The body spilled forward to reveal Blake, her walking over its corpse towards Yang. The two nodded towards each other, Yang snickering to herself while the two headed towards the temple. “Coulda killed that thing by myself.” Yang pondered, the thought leaving her once the temple was in vision.

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Deflecting the claw of an approaching beowolf, Weiss steeled herself, looking around in hopes of an opening. Ruby could be seen through the brush shoving the blade of her scythe through the chest of a beowolf, before firing her weapon, the blast from the muzzle ripping apart the grimm’s innards and splitting it in half. Weiss cringed a little at the gory sight, shaking her head as she took in her surroundings. Despite Ruby’s efforts, the beowolves only grew in number, all paths of retreat cut off by the dozens of creatures. With a sigh, Weiss readied her rapier, reading her finger on the trigger built along the hilt. Switching the revolving mechanism on her weapon to its fire setting, she brought the blade of her rapier in front of her face while turning towards the closest beowolf. She stepped forward, drawing her weapon back and preparing to lunge at it. Once the beowolf jumped towards her, Weiss quickly swiped her weapon forward, pulling the trigger and releasing the dust. The blade turned fiery red, a column of flames headed straight towards the grimm. That was, before Ruby landed down onto the beowolf’s back, hooking her scythe’s blade into its skull and firing a bullet. This attack ripped its head from its body, gushing black blood into Weiss’ eyes and causing her to whip her weapon forward in a panic, nearly striking Ruby with a column of fire. “Ah!” Weiss yipped, bringing her weapon back down as quickly as she could manage, leaving a line of growing flames in its wake. “Hey, be careful!” Ruby shouted, furrowing her eyebrows as she dodged out the way of the fire. Coming up behind her was a beowolf, Weiss not able to notice it while she tried to clean the blood off of her face. Ruby managed to dive forward and block with her weapon, managing to stop its claws, but not the momentum of the rest of its body. She was knocked into Weiss, the latter shoving her out of the way, before thrusting her rapier forward and skewering the beowolf’s head. Panting, Weiss turned to a standing up Ruby, her face flushed with anger while she wiped the remaining blood from her cheeks. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? I - I could’ve accidentally killed you!” Weiss shouted, Ruby rubbing at her neck while she stood back up. “Sorry.” Ruby weakly replied, Weiss drawing in a sharp breath before speaking again. “And is it really necessary for you to gruesomely butcher and maim the grimm instead of simply killing them? Not only are you wasting precious time, but it’s extremely lacking in - ” Weiss was cut off when a burning tree collapsed between her and Ruby, spurring the two to quickly dodge backwards. “Damn it all. Run!” Weiss commanded, the two getting away from the rapidly growing wildfire, the chasing beowolves being caught in the flames before they could reach the two.

After a couple minutes of running, the two managed to find a proper hiding spot underneath a larger tree, Weiss exhaling deeply as she sat back down. “I’m - ” “Don’t even talk to me.” Weiss demanded, Ruby frowning while standing over in front of Weiss. “I just wanted to apologize, I know I’ve been - ” “You’ve been what? As hard to work with as possible? You’re a prime example of why they shouldn’t let children here, you’re so foolhardy you’ll get the both of us killed!” Before Ruby could reply, Weiss continued to talk, standing up and pointing a finger in her chest. “You have literally been doing the opposite of everything I’ve asked you to do! I say stop touching it, you throw it at me, I say stay together, you fly off into the sky, I - ” “I’m sorry I’m not following your every order, princess!” Ruby retorted, Weiss bringing her palm up against her chest, listening with an ever-deepening scowl while Ruby continued. “It’s - it’s already super nerve wracking being here, and you - you’re being a dick!” Ruby said with extra emphasis, Weiss balling her hands into fists and wincing in anger. “You’re calling me names, now? I’m sorry, who went up to me, and threw my luggage all over me, completely unprovoked?” “It was an accident! You’re acting like I’m doing everything on purpose, then you get mad at me when I try to help!” “I’m not arguing any further with a child. I doubt you’ll last a month here, anyways.” Weiss spat, turning around and running off. Ruby groaned, shaking her head as she followed after Weiss.

Stalking along the forest was a sleek, white mechanical humanoid, its body covered in a plasteel-looking armor. Its face was nothing more than a black visor, a flat, cylindrical camera in the middle of it. It turned to see a horde of beowolves running towards it, some of them caught alight and scurrying around in random directions. The android lowered its head, spreading its arms out, its forearms splitting into several blades as if it were a pocket knife. It ran with impossibly high speed towards the grimm, none of them able to dodge out of the way before it rapidly swung its blades into each of them, spraying black viscera on the nearby flora while its several weapons tore apart the beowolves. Once it finished eviscerating the first batch of grimm, it turned to pick off the stragglers, instead watching as green-hued levitating blades sliced through each of them. It detected another android nearing it, walking over to meet Penny, her casually stepping out from the trees.

“Unit 7 of Project Steel, alias ‘Zephyr’, requesting communication access with unknown wetware unit.”

“Granted. Let’s team up!”

“Calculated chance of success is already 99.998%. But there is a measurable increase with your addition.”

“Oh okay. Are you from Atlas?”

“Correct.”

“That’s interesting. I didn’t know Atlas was sending androids here.”

“Ending communication feed.”

The two had the non-verbal conversation in under a hundredth of a second, Zephyr and Penny turning and running over towards the forest’s temple.

His weapons drawn, one Lie Ren navigated the forest, wincing his eyes while he looked at what was happening around him. There were gunshots, yelling, androids scurrying, but most prominently, there were tens of other students rampaging throughout the forest. He wasn’t sure whether to be more wary of the grimm or of crossfire from the other students, him looking over at the other side of the road he was walking along. He watched as Alex, having two cylindrical cannons mounted onto his arms, proceeded to fire a revving chainsaw from the both of them at the same time, both of the blades landing into the flesh of a King Taijitu. Lie watched in a mixture of awe and discomfort as Alex reeled his arms back, a line connecting between the cannons and the chainsaws somehow not splitting as they pulled the King Taijitu to the ground. Leaping up, Alex then spun his whole body around, the chainsaws following the rotation and slicing both of the grimm’s heads off simultaneously. Shaking his head, Lie turned around, hearing what sounded like a garbled bird call coming from the trees over him. “Nora,” Lie began, the aforementioned girl hanging down from the tree over him, a wide grin on her face while she spoke. “Partners.” She simply spoke, Lie chuckling to himself. “Was that your ‘sloth call’?” He asked, Nora nodding her head with a smirk. “I don’t know if that’s a… very accurate recreation, of what a sloth sounds like.” Nora pointed her finger forward, poking it against Lie’s nose with a “Boop!”, the both of them sharing some laughter as they left towards the temple.