(Taro pov)
"Ruby! RUUUBY! Oh, where could she be?" I said, worried for her safety. Besides Ice and maybe Weiss and Yang, Ruby is my only friend here. If something happened to her, I don't know what I'd do. Suddenly, Ruby swung upside down from a tree branch right in front of me.

"Boo!" She said. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I fell backwards onto my back. Ruby began laughing harder than ever. I dusted myself off.

"It's only funny when it happens to someone else!" I grumbled. I then heard something snap. "Did you hear that? It sounds like something broke." I looked up to see Ruby falling through the air from the now broken branch. I quickly ran under where she was to hit the ground, catching her before she did. "Don't worry! I got ya!" She squirmed in my arms with her eyes closed.

"Don't let me fall! Don't let me fall!" She squealed. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Ruby, it's okay! I've got you! You're not gonna fall!" I said, trying not to laugh from how cute she was being. She opened her eyes and looked around to confirm that I was right.

"Oh. Thanks..." she said, staring directly into my eyes. A slight red tinge appeared on our cheeks as Ruby disappeared in a flurry of rose pedals once again, appearing right beside me. She awkwardly scratched the back of her head as I rubbed my arm. We stayed silent and awkward like that for about ten seconds before I decided to break the silence.

"So how do you move so fast? And why do rose pedals appear every time you do it?" I asked. Ruby looked at the ground, obviously trying to avoid eye contact. Understandably so, because every time we look at each other, we blush like crazy.

"It's my semblance!" She said happily. Oh... those. Every one of us has a semblance completely unique to us. For example, Ice can create... ice. Dur hey. However... I haven't unlocked my semblance yet. I've yet to push my aura past its limits and unlock it. I sadly slumped against the tree Ruby was hanging from. She noticed this and sat next to me. "What's wrong?" I took my sunglasses off, revealing I didn't have my contacts in.

"I... haven't unlocked my semblance yet. Everyone else I've met has! Even you have your unlocked!" I could feel the tears beginning to roll down my face. "My brother would be so disappointed in me if he were here! He was the best of the best and I haven't even unlocked my semblance! I'm a joke!" I sobbed. My vision slowly began turning to white. Before it completely changed, Ruby put her hand on mine.

"You're not a joke. At least... not to me." She said. My vision slowly turned back to normal.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, sniffling. Ruby smiled.

"Besides Yang, you're the only person whose been nice to me here. You're my only real friend. I know what it's like to not feel right about who you are. I've been that way my whole life. Especially after I came to Beacon. Everyone looks at me like I'm some snot nosed brat who got pushed up two years! Everyone... except for you and Ice." She said sympathetically. I wiped my tears away and smiled. Suddenly, Ruby wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. I returned the hug, only now realizing how small she was. We released the hug, looking at each other. We both smiled warmly as Ruby helped me back up.

As she held her hand out to me, the wind picked up, swirling rose pedals around her. She looked beautiful. Even more beautiful that she did before. I took her hand and stood back up. I smiled. I reached into my pocket and clutched the piece of Summer Rose's cloak.

"Ruby... there's something I want to say." I said, about to pull out the cloak piece. She put her hand over my mouth, jumping into my arms again.

"Shh! You can tell me later. Do you hear that?" She asked. I was kind of annoyed that I didn't get to say what I wanted, but I can wait. I heard a low growling coming from the bushes.

"Yep. Whatever that is can't be good." I said quietly. Suddenly, a pack of Beowolfs emerged from the bushes. Ruby and I stood back to back, our weapons drawn. "You have a plan?"

"Nope."

"Great. Neither do I." The Beowolfs charged at us as Ruby and I began to fight. Ruby used Crescent Rose as a vault to leap over the Grimm before converting to rifle mode, blasting their heads off just like that night in the woods. I got up close and personal with one, stabbing the sword blade into its mouth. I then changed Crimson to Melee mode, pumping the pump handle and blasting the top of its head into oblivion. As I retracted the sword, I noticed Ruby was having some trouble. Searching my pouch I kept for ammo, I pulled out a Red Dust filled shell. I flicked the shell into the air before backflipping into the air myself. I reloaded the fire shell in mid air, changing to slugger mode and firing a fireball at one of the Grimm fighting Ruby. It burst into flames and turned to ash. I landed on the ground, fishing out a White Dust filled shell. Loading it and firing behind me, I rocketed forward on a gust of wind. I changed Crimson to sword mode, stabbing it into the back of the Grimm. I stood on it's back, pulling up as hard as I could. Ruby seized the opportunity, slicing the monster in two even halves. I backflipped off of the corpse and looked at Ruby. She had a big goofy smile on her face.

"You see? A joke wouldn't be able to do half the stuff you just did!" She said. I crossed my arms and smiled.

"Okay, maybe I was short changing myself a little bit." I said. Ruby walked next to me.

"So... what did you want to say?" She asked. Alright, here we go.

"Well..." Suddenly, explosions rang out behind us. Ruby looked in their direction and began running towards them.

"What was that? We should check that out!" She said, running into the forest. I stomped my foot as hard as I could.

"OH COME ON!" I yelled, chasing after Ruby. When I caught up to her, the scene was incredibly strange. Grimm pieces were everywhere. Icicles were lodged in the ground.

"What happened here!?" Ruby asked. We quickly got our answer. Weiss and Ice descended from the sky, Ice using the Kaioken.

"I love you." They said in unison. Ruby and I just looked at each other and shrugged. I cleared my throat. Ice turned around and the both of them looked at us.

"So... it looks like we missed a lot." I said. Ice gave me a smug look.

"You, sir, owe me a pie." He retorted. He set Weiss down as Ruby and I walked over to them.

"Yeah, yeah Romeo. Let's just focus on not getting eaten first, okay?" I said. Ice punched me in the arm.

"You just love ruining the moment, don't you?" He asked. I shrugged and pulled a goofy face.

"Eh, what can I say? It's what I do." I said. The girls followed close behind before I held up my hand to stop. Thankfully, they all stopped. We were in another clearing. "Okay, here's the plan. Weiss and Ruby, you two stay here. Ice and I will find the temple and come back. You ready Ice?" I asked. Ice wasn't paying attention. Instead, he was talking to Weiss.

"I'm sorry, what?" He replied. I grabbed the hood of his hoodie.

"Come on." I grumbled. He waved goodbye to Weiss.

"See you later, Snow Angel!" He chimed. I groaned.

(Later)

"Dude, we've been walking forever!" Ice groaned. "Don't you have some kind of survival technique to help us get there?" I released his hoodie.

"Actually, I think I do. I need to borrow Emerald Death for a moment." I said. Ice formed Emerald Death and handed it to me, where I stabbed it into the ground. I licked my finger and held it up, sensing where the wind was blowing. It was blowing Northeast. I flicked the weapon, sending vibrations in that direction, carried by the wind. A few seconds later, a large vibration came back. There was a building in that direction. I grabbed Emerald Death and tossed it back to Ice, pointing in the same direction. "It's this way. Go back and get the girls. I'll scout ahead." I said, walking towards the source. Sure enough, there was a large abandoned temple. I ran up to the pedestals, seeing the relics.

"Chess pieces?" A voice said behind me. I turned to see Yang and her partner Blake Belladonna.

"Gah! Yang, Blake! You scared me half to death!" I complained, clutching my heart. Yang grabbed a yellow knight piece. I took the one black knight piece still there. Suddenly, a girly shriek was heard in the distance.

"Some girl's in trouble! Blake did you hear that? What do we do now?' Yang asked. Blake simply pointed up.

"HEADS UP!" Ruby screamed, falling through the air. Thinking fast, I loaded a White Dust shell and fired directly at my feet, launching me into the air. I grabbed Ruby as she fell and dropped back to the ground, setting Ruby gently on her feet. Ruby smiled.

"Thanks." She said.

"Anything for you, Rubes." I replied. Ruby began blushing, covering her face with her hood.

"Did your sister just fall out of the sky?" Blake asked. Suddenly, an Ursa roared and collapsed as Nora Valkyrie rode it down.

"Aww. It's broken." She complained, examining the body as Lie Ren breathlessly leaned on it.

"Nora? Please, don't ever do that again." He wheezed. When he looked up, Nora was gone. I immediately spotted her near the pedestals.

"Hey Ren! She's over here!" I yelled. Nora grabbed the white rook piece and began to sing. Ren eventually caught up with her.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked. Before she got an answer, Pyrrha ran through the trees chased by a Grimm I had never seen before.

"Woah! That's a big scorpion!" I said.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked. I chuckled.

"Deathstalker? Subtle." I joked. Yang looked like she was about to explode. I back up a little.

"I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again!?" She yelled as fire erupted behind her. Ice quickly ran up, out of breath.

"Couldn't... find... the girls..." he wheezed. I pointed to Ruby.

"Found one of 'em." I turned to Ruby. "Speaking of which, where is Weiss anyway?" I asked. Ruby pointed up. "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of." Sure enough, Weiss was dangling from the talon of a Nevermore.

"Why did you leave me!?" Weiss screamed. Ice glared at Ruby.

"I said 'jump'!" Ruby replied.

"She's gonna fall." Blake commented.

"She'll be fine." Ruby said.

"She's falling." I said. Ice tapped my shoulder.

"Taro, throw me! I know you can! You've done it before! Throw me so I can save Weiss!" He begged.

"Right! KAIOKEN!" I yelled, picking up up Ice and tossing him in the air. He rocketed through the air, catching Weiss as she fell. Jaune flew out from under them. Instead of catching Weiss, he dropped like a stone. He landed face first in the dirt with Ice and Weiss landing on top of him.

"My hero..." Weiss said, in reference to Ice.

"Thanks for the soft landing, Joane!" Ice said. Jaune groaned in pain.

"It's... Jaune." He groaned. Blake dragged Jaune back to the rest of us as Pyrrha was knocked over by the Deathstalker.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang said sarcastically. Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose.

"Not if I can help it!" She said, running straight at the Deathstalker.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang and I both shouted. Ruby fired a shot, rocketing towards the giant scorpion, only to be knocked back by the beast. I could feel my heart start to break.

"Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby said, standing back up. She slowly turned around and fired at the Grimm, only making it angrier. She stored Crescent Rose on her belt as she ran away from the Deathstalker. Yang and I both started running towards her. The Nevermore flew overhead, firing gigantic black feathers at us. One of these feathers pinned Ruby's cloak to the ground. Yang and I stopped just as the feathers reached us.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang yelled. I could see Ruby was trying her hardest to escape.

"I'm trying! She replied. The Deathstalker finally reached her, preparing to strike. I could feel anger bubbling inside me. Pure rage boiled under my skin.

"Let it go, Orka. Release your anger and transform." A voice said in my head. I cut loose my ties to rational thought. I have to save Ruby.

"RRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH! YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!" I screamed, rocketing through the feathers. I appeared before Ruby and caught the Deathstalker's tail. I pushed back with all my might, grunting from the weight of it.

"Taro? You saved me..." Ruby said behind me. I didn't listen. I have a job to do. Pushing back, I screamed as loud as I could, pushing the Grimm's tail back. I pulled as hard as I could, ripping its tail off completely. It shrieked in pain before I buried its tail into its head, killing it. I then spotted the Nevermore. I spun on my heels, the Deathstalker's tail in hand. With one loud scream, I threw the tail at the Nevermore. It severed the giant bird's head as its body fell to the ground. I was breathing heavily. Steam was eradiating from my body. I saw Ruby, still pinned by the feather. I grabbed it, pulled it out of the ground and snapped it in two with my bare hands. Ruby got up and shielded her eyes from a bright light. Before I could say anything, I felt extremely weak. I fell onto one knee, exhausted. Ruby and Yang helped me back to my feet.

"Taro... what was that? Your hair... it was yellow. And your eyes... they were green." Yang said. I looked at her as we reached the group.

"To tell you the truth... I have no idea. I just couldn't stand the thought of Ruby getting hurt." I said. Ruby smiled.

"Thanks for saving me." She said.

"No problem." I weakly replied. As we made it back, Ice came running up to me.

"Dude, that was so cool! You were like zoom! And the Grimm was like bleh! And we were like 'whaaa!?' That was incredible!" He said. I weakly smiled. The group began walking towards the cliff as Ruby and I stayed at the back. She was still supporting me as I felt too weak to stand. Now's my chance.

"Hey Ruby, remember when I said I wanted to talk to you earlier?" I asked. Ruby nodded.

"Yeah. What did you want to talk about?" I reached into my pocket and pulled out the piece of Summer's cloak.

"I also wanted to give you this. This is a piece of your mom's cloak my brother gave to me. I figured she's your mom, so you have more of a right to have it than I do." I said, placing it in her hand and balling it up. Ruby looked at me with a smile on her face. "I was also wondering if you'd like to go out sometime?" I asked. Ruby began tearing up.

"Of course I would."