The feeling of wind on her face was almost too much for her to handle. Rio had always had a fear of heights, so jumping out of a plane was not her forte. As she dropped to the ground, her heart beat out of her chest as she frantically looked around for some sort of way out. The earth below her seemed to grow closer as she activated her weapon: A long, flat, but wide whip with jagged edges. 

She needed to deploy her landing strategy or she was going to meet a painful end. Deciding that a fear of heights was much more manageable than being a bloody puddle in the forest, Rio sprang into action. Drawing ever closer to the ground, Rio sent out her whip to wrap around the trunk of a tree, allowing her to pull herself up and change the trajectory of her fall to be as parallel to the ground as possible. She then pulled the whip back towards her and sent it down to the ground, its spikes tearing through soil as she used it as a proverbial brake. 

Eventually, she came to a screeching halt, completely intact. Rio let out a shaky sigh as she took a few moments to catch her breath before heading to the massive stone structure that lied in the distance. 

"First and foremost, I'm going to need a partner,"  Rio thought, "Apparently, I won't survive without one." 

Unlike the previously met Eleanor and (y/n), Rio had boarded an entirely different shuttle and thus found herself on almost the exact opposite side of the forest. For now, she was alone. Rio decided that it would be best to make her way to the maze and see if any other stragglers were approaching to partner up with. Despite her still-present worries, Rio couldn't help but feel excitement rising up within her. This was her chance to prove herself. 

As she arrived at the stone maze, she saw someone waiting there at the entrance: A woman with messy brown hair and sporting a highly customized Atlesian rifle.

"H-Hello," Rio said, introducing herself with a small wave. 

"Hey. I was beginning to think that I'd have to go in the maze alone," said the girl.

Her voice held obvious sarcasm as she fiddled with her rifle. 

"I suppose we're partners now?" she asked. 

"I... suppose so," Rio replied, "I'm Rio." 

"Violet," the girl responded, shaking her hand before turning to the maze, "Let's get going." 

Rio nodded as she entered the maze with Violet in tow. The two made their way through stone labyrinths, navigating through the maze and killing Grimm as they went along. The deeper they went, the more they realized that something was off about the maze. 

Previous paths often were suddenly blocked off and new, unexpected routes would appear in once closed off places. It didn't take them long to realize that the maze was actively shifting. 

"Shit... I should have known that it wasn't going to be so straightforward," muttered Violet. 

"Getting to the middle of this place is going to be a lot harder now that any mapping or navigation we do will be overturned," Rio sighed as she evaluated her options. 

The sound of sudden rumbling rang out around them as the right wall next to them slowly slid open, revealing a whole host of snapping Grimm. Violet instantly dropped down to a knee and opened fire, the bullets ripping through the charging Grimm. As she ejected the empty magazine and jammed in a new one, Rio's long weapon flew past her head as it hit the ground, ricocheting and killing the rest of the Grimm. 

Violet let out a small chuckle as she pulled back the charging handle of her gun. 

"You deal with them at a long range," Rio smiled as she walked down the newly revealed path, "I'll handle them at close range." 

She nodded as she followed Rio through the maze. They walked for at least another half hour before Rio stopped in her tracks. 

"We're not getting anywhere with this. I don't even know how close we are to the center," Rio sighed. 

"By the sound, I judged that the maze shifted another four times in the last 30 minutes, so who knows where we are," huffed Violet. 

Rio took a moment to look up at the cloudy skies above them before an idea popped into her head. 

"What if we go over?" 

"W-What?" stuttered Violet, "You mean just skip the maze and go over the top?" 

"Yeah," she nodded, "The only two rules were to find a partner and to get to the center. They never said that we had to stay within the confines of the maze to do so." 

Violet let out an amused chuckle as she considered it. She was so focused on playing by the maze's rules that she never considered breaking them entirely. A part of her wanted to navigate legitimately as a way to prove her own skills, but her skills clearly weren't cutting it here. 

"Let's do it," Violet smiled. 

Rio tossed up her whip and used it like a grappling hook as she pulled herself up the wall. Violet took a few steps back to get a running start. A dark purple portal appeared in front of her as a matching second one appeared halfway up the wall. Violet sprinted into the first portal, spitting her out halfway up the wall. The momentum from her sprint shot her up in the air a slight distance as she began to fall back down. In the blink of an eye, the first portal at the ground disappeared and reappeared at the top of the wall. When Violet fell through the portal at the middle of the wall, she was spat out at the top. 

Violet had honed her semblance to be able to switch her portals on the drop of a dime, leading to advanced mobility on her part. 

Rio and Violet stood atop the maze, looking at the vast stone structure that lied before them. They were nowhere close to the center, watching as the stone walls moved and shifted. The two gave each other a nod as they hopped across the top of the maze, leaping from wall to wall as they made their way to the center. 

Drawing closer to their goal, they could hear the sound of the Grimm roaring near the center. As the two hopped over the stone walls, they stopped to find two individuals locked in combat at the center of the maze. 

"Hey... I know those two!" pointed Rio, "I met them before the initiation started! We have to help them!" 

"We do?" Violet asked in a sarcastic response. 

"Yes!" exclaimed Rio as she leapt down to assist. 

Violet took note of the clear exit path to the maze nearby, but it was swarming with Grimm. She followed Rio, joining the fight. Eleanor seemed relieved when backup arrived, cutting down another Grimm before giving them a small wave. 

"Hey! Rio!" she smiled, "You made it!" 

"What's the situation?" Rio asked, wasting no time. 

"That button over there opens the way to an exit, but it also opens every other path here, leading the Grimm straight to us!" 

Rio nodded as she tore through another group of Grimm with her spiked whip. Violet planted her feet in the ground as bullets ripped through the air, taking down any foe unlucky enough to be caught in her sights. Grimm continued to pour out of the revealed stone paths like blood flowing openly from a wound. They were effectively pinned down. 

"We're not getting anywhere with this!" cried out Eleanor, "They just keep coming!" 

"I agree. We need to move! Make your way to the exit!" yelled Rio. 

As the group slowly began to shift their way to the only way out, (y/n) decided to take matters into his own hands. Finally activating his weapon, the purple blade of Gemini Dream jutted out from the staff. 

"Nice," Eleanor grinned as he leapt into battle. 

Breaking the small formation that they had, (y/n) leapt into the sea of Grimm and started slashing away, much to Rio's dismay. 

"We have to stick together!" she called out to him, "Come back!" 

(y/n) ignored her request, opting to turn the Grimm into mincemeat while the others tried their best to move forward. Darting around the area erratically, (y/n) killed Grimm wherever he could find them. He had no concept of anyone else around him, so he barely noticed Rio's weapon ricocheting towards him. He quickly dodged before giving Rio a look. 

"Pay attention!" groaned Rio, "Stop running around like a maniac! Eleanor, cover our rear!" 

"A-Alright!" she said, shifting her position. 

"The rear doesn't matter," commented Violet, "We should make a full sprint for the exit." 

"The Grimm will swarm us instantly," shot back Rio, "Moving slowly is safer." 

The time for orders and debates were cut short as another loud rumbling rang out in front of them. The wide exit that had been presented for them slowly started to close. 

"H-Hey! It's closing!" gasped Eleanor. 

"Damn it," growled Rio, "Run!" 

The girls ran as fast as they could to the exit while (y/n) lagged shortly behind. The Grimm, however, significantly slowed them down as they were forced to defend themselves. As every second passed, the path got smaller and smaller. Soon, there wouldn't be a way out at all. 

"These damn Grimm are slowing us down," huffed Violet as she stabbed a beowolf in the throat, "I don't think we're going to make it." 

"We're going to make it! Just keep moving!" reassured Rio. 

They were only halfway down the route and the walls were closing in. Things were not looking good. (y/n) looked around as spun his scythe around, looking for more options, but finding none. 

"Go back!" 

"We can't!" 

"Damn these Grimm!" 

A silver light burst out from behind them as all the Grimm in the area faded to dust. Violet and Eleanor looked behind them to see an out of breath (y/n) clutching his left eye. 

"How did..." 

"Run for it!" yelled Rio as they all took off. 

Sprinting as fast as they could, they all barreled out of the maze, falling to the ground as their chests heaved. Eleanor was about to cheer, but (y/n)'s cries of pain stopped her. Holding his left eye, a searing pain shot through his entire body as he writhed in agony. Eleanor was quick to wrap her arms around him and pull him into her chest as she tried to soothe him. 

As Rio dropped to her knees to try and assist in tending to (y/n), Violet just layed on the ground and looked up to the cloudy skies. 

"We did it..." she muttered as a small smile of satisfaction found its way to her face.