Akito: "C'mon Setsuna, it's not that bad..." He deadpanned, staring at his trembling, arctic wolf companion who was just clutching onto his side as they rode the airship towards their destination, Beacon Academy. All the female did was quickly shake her head and bury her head into his side, causing him to sigh and shake his head. His eyes briefly flashed through 4 different colors, green, magenta, orange and blue before he hummed. "Nope... Seems like she's still afraid of flying..."

He said as he began to pull the Faunus along with him. The airship was filled with many different Huntsmen in training, all wanting to try at getting into Beacon Academy to start their studies. The majority were human, but he did notice that there were a few Faunus, which did make him happy to see.

Lisa Lavender: "Today is the day when a fresh crop of new students arrive at Beacon Academy. Let's all hope they become excellent Huntsmen who can protect the peace for our people. Now for our next story."

???: "Outta my way!"

Akito: "Huh?" He quickly stepped out of the way, pulling Setsuna with him as an orange-haired girl ran between him and a white-haired female. She quickly ran up towards a guy with black hair and a florescent pink stripe.

???: "This is crazy, Ren! The bus is actually flying!"

(Lie Ren)

Ren: "We've already been flying for two hours, Nora. And I keep telling you that it's an airship, not a bus."

(Nora Valkyrie)

As their conversation continued, Akito and the white-haired girl looked on, while Setsuna glanced over and saw a blonde male, covering his mouth with his hand as he looked like he was ready to throw up.

???: "Does anyone have something for motion sickness...?" He asked while stumbling around.

Akito: *sigh* "Well that's one way to kick off the experience..."

???: "I've never been anywhere this noisy!" The white-haired girl complained before she looked towards the two wolves, who were just staring at her. "What??"

Akito: "... Nothing." He said and turned around before quickly leaving the area with Setsuna while the girl just looked confused. As for why Akito chose to leave, well he could feel the tightening of Setsuna's grip on his arm, showing that she was doing her best to contain herself from throwing herself at the girl. That pure-white hair and the logo that was on the back of her outfit were all too familiar to them...

Akito: "Great... now we have to deal with a Schnee here..."

???: "Hey! Akito, Setsuna!!" The two were startled at first but quickly turned around and spotted Yang Waving to them, with Ruby by her side. Seeing as those two were the only ones they recognized, they decided to go over to them.

Akito: "Yo, Ruby, Yang." he greeted as Setsuna merely waved at them. The two sisters greeted back instantly. "Where's Ace?"

Ruby: "Oh! Ace applied for Haven, so he's not gonna be here for our time in school."

Setsuna: "... Haven... Mistral..." She mumbled as she slowly looked down.

Yang: "Yeeeah. I scolded him heavily for ditching me, but that doesn't matter anymore!" She suddenly hugged Ruby from behind. "I get to go to Beacon with my favorite sister! This is the best!"

Ruby: "Please stop..." She groaned.

Yang: "But I'm so proud of you! It was incredible! You skipped two years, so I bet they're gonna start to think you're the 'bee's knees'~." She teased while the argent eyed girl merely pouted.

Ruby: "I don't want to be the 'bee's knees' okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees..."

Yang: "What's with you? Aren't you excited?"

Ruby: "Of course I'm excited. I just don't want to stick out that much. And I enrolled without knowing anyone here aside from Akito and Setsuna..."

Akito: "Well I don't think it's that much of a bad thing." She looked at him. "Sometimes in order to evolve into a stronger person, you need to stray away from the pack. I'm sure you'll do fine, Ruby. That old fart didn't allow you to skip ahead for no reason." He spoke. Ruby was at first a bit surprised by this, but soon smiled and nodded.

Ruby: "Right. Thanks, Akito." The black-haired Wolf Faunus merely gave a small smile and nodded.

Yang: "Anyway! Why don't we start making you some friends?"

Ruby: "E-Eh!?" All of a sudden, the blonde began to pull her sister by the hood along, while she was squirming around. "W-W-Wait, Yang! I don't think I'm ready yet!!!" Akito watched as she was dragged off, with a slight shake of his head.

Akito: "Well we might as well stick with them for now at least." He said as he was about to walk forwards but felt resistance on his arm. He looked behind him and saw Setstuna, whose expression displayed that she wasn't too keen on staying in their company. "Setsuna?"

Setsuna: "... Is... it really wise to stick around those humans?" he understood where she was getting at. They have met humans in the past that looked all nice on the outside but were devious on the inside. He simply gave a gentle smile to his partner and rubbed her head.

Akito: "It's alright, Setsuna. From a glance... I can tell that those two in particular will be good friends with pure intentions. You can trust me, right?" The white-haired female looked up at him.

Setsuna: "Setsuna always trusts Aktio." he smiled and nodded before he led her in the direction of the sisters, who had stopped in the middle of the crowd to look for some people to talk to.

Yang: "Let's see, who's by themselves and looks bored?" As she looked around, her eyes landed in a particular corner. A young woman with long black hair and beautiful amber eyes, reading a book in her hand. And on top of her head, was a black bow. "Over there. Let's go!"

Ruby: "H-Hey, Sis!"

She instantly began to drag Ruby towards the ravenette. Akito was about to follow but his eyes widened as they landed on her. He didn't believe that he'd run into her of all people in this kind of place and neither did Setsuna as her expression also displayed shock. There was whispering coming from inside the male's mind as he muttered the name...

Akito: "Blake...?"

>Chapter 2: The Emerald Forest Part 1<

Yang: "Hello! Got a minute?" She happily greeted the ravenette, who's eyes were fixated on the book in her hand, named 'The Man with Two Souls'. Her eyes then trailed up as she lowered the book, to meet with the Blonde. "I'm Yang, and this is my cute baby sister, Ruby. What's your name?" The mysterious female looked back into her book.

Blake: "Blake." She answered simply.

Yang: "Blake! Isn't the weather lovely today?"

Blake: "Almost as lovely as this book that I'll continue to read as soon as you both..." She slowly paused as she looked back up to look at them, but her amber eyes would slowly begin to widen as she spotted two familiar figures standing behind the two sisters. Two wolves that she couldn't forget even if she wanted to. "A-Akito...? Setsuna...?"

Yang: "Oh?" She looked between the wolves and the ravenette. "You guys know each other??"

Blake: "U-Um..."

Akito: "Well..."

Setsuna: "Blake!!!" She yelled out, the happiest and most excited she's sounded all day as she leaped towards the ravenette and tackled her down into a hug.

Blake: "S-Setsuna!?" She yelped in surprise, her book falling onto the seat but even when she was startled like this... this filled her with a sense of familiarity and... happiness. A genuine smile formed on her face as she hugged the arctic wolf female back. "I missed you too..."

Akito: "Well... I certainly can say I didn't expect to see you here of all places." He said, approaching them as the embrace ended, with Blake looking up at him.

Blake: "I could say the same thing about you. But... I guess this is quite the fortunate occurrence, right?"

Akito: "Heh... Yeah." He chuckled as the faint voices in his head seemed to be cheering now. "Uh... Anyways..." He cleared his throat and turned to the two sisters. "This is Blake Belladonna, a friend of Setsuna and me. We go way back." he said, to which the female nodded. Though in her eyes, there was a faint look of relief from the male's way of introducing her.

Ruby: "Nice to meet you!"

Yang: "Oh? Way back huh~?"

Akito: "Stop it..." He deadpanned at the blonde and flicked her forehead, causing her to yelp and whine in pain.

Ruby: "Hey, what book is that?" She suddenly asked the ravenette, pointing to the book she just had.

Blake: "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body." she said before closing the book.

Yang: "Huh. Weird."

Ruby: "I like books, too! Reading stories about heroes was what made me want to be a Huntress."

Blake: "Because they all have a happy ending? The real world isn't the same as a fairy tale." All Ruby did was give a gentle and honest smile.

Ruby: "Well that's why we're here. To make it better."

Yang: "Nice one, Ruby! I'm so proud of my baby sister!" She exclaimed in excitement and began to hug her sister.

Ruby: "Cut it out, Yang!"

While Blake was taken by complete shock from what the young teen said, she slowly smiled in approval of her words.

Akito: "Maybe this world isn't so doomed after all with someone like her in it."

Blake: "Hah... Yeah. Maybe." Just as they said that, Lisa Lavender began to speak through the news broadcast again.

Lisa Lavender: "Now for our next story. A riot broke out when members of the White Fang forced their way into a recent Faunus rights protest." Blake's smile instantly turned to a pained frown as Setsuna looked down and clenched her fists. Akito merely placed a hand on Blake's shoulder as he silently looked ahead. "Suspicious of the White Fang's involvement in a series of Dust robberies, the Schnee Dust Company industry leader in the Dust trade, is considering fortifying its security division and is increasing precautions."

Ruby: "The Schnee Dust Company is really well known, huh? Rumor has it they're the most corrupt in the world."

Yang: "And they treat their workers like slaves."

Akito: "It's not all rumors..." He muttered while slightly gritting his teeth, but soon felt a hand on top of his. He looked down and saw it was Blake, who's expression told him to try and remain calm, which he internally agreed with. The last thing he needed was to start a commotion on the ship.

???: "What did you just say?"

An arrogant voice called out, catching the group's attention as they turned to face the one who spoke; a white-haired girl standing behind Ruby and Yang. The same one that Akito and Setsuna ran into earlier. Weiss Schnee, the current Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company.

(Weiss Schnee)

Setsuna: "Not her..."

Akito: "The Schnee..."

Weiss: "What do you two think you know?"

Yang: "Who are you supposed to be?"

Weiss: "I'm Weiss Schnee, the company's heiress." While Ruby and Yang looked surprised, Akito and Setsuna looked more irritated than anything and Blake only looked away.

Yang: "Seriously?"

Ruby: "Um, we didn't mean to say anything bad about you! We just heard those rumors..."

Weiss: "Rumors?" She approached them, causing Ruby to flinch. "You're swallowing every lie the anti-human Faunus and their lowlife group of thieves, the White Fang, are feeding you."

Setsuna: "Can I kill her?" She asked in a whisper to Akito while scratching her own arms to try and contain herself, but he just held her back.

Akito: "We're not trying to go back into Jail, Setsuna." He whispered back.

Yang: "Come on now, take it easy." She tried to diffuse the situation, before Blake suddenly spoke up.

Blake: "The White Fang used to be a pacifist group. At least until your company started exploiting the powerless." Weiss instantly glared towards the ravenette.

Weiss: "Are you on the Faunus' side?"

Blake: "You're totally ignorant if you think every Faunus is evil. Look at these two." she pointed at her two friends. "I've known them longer than anyone else here and they've already done better than your company ever hopes to do." That really hit a nerve in the heiress as she gritted her teeth.

Weiss: "Them!? Why, how dare you...!"

Akito: "And what are you going to do about it, Ice Queen?" He said, stepping in front of the female as he had his arms crossed.

Weiss: "Y-You're the one from earlier!"

Akito: "So you think all Faunus are evil right? You wanna test that theory?"

Weiss: "Are you threatening me!?"

Akito: "Only if you want it to be a threat." He replied. The two glared at each other intensely, before Yang quickly stepped in between them.

Yang: "Wait, wait! We just got off on the wrong foot! Why don't we start over? We're all Beacon students, so let's try to get along."

Ruby: "Well said, sis!" She clapped her hands before beginning. "Hi, Blake, Weiss. My name is Ruby! Wanna go shopping? We could go looking for school supplies."

Weiss: "Yeah!" She instantly replied with a big smile. "Wanna, like, get all dressed up and go shopping and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, scraggly over there?" She pointed to the Blonde male behind her, then pointed at Akito. "Or like tall, dark and wolfie here?

Jaune: "Hmm?"

Setsuna: "Did you just call Akito cute...?" she deadpanned as behind him, Blake seemed slightly annoyed at this.

Ruby: "Wow, really!?"

Weiss: "NO!" And with that, she began walking away, with Blake getting up and soon leaving as well, leaving the four back with each other. Akito merely sighed as he managed to cooldown from almost blowing up at Weiss earlier.

Ruby: "I'm so bad at making friends..." She sighed.

Yang: "Don't worry, Ruby." She smiled. However, everyone's attention was soon brought to the center of the airship, where a hologram was projected of none other than Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch.

Akito: "Yo, check this out." he said as the three girls followed behind him towards the holograms.

Glynda: "Welcome to Beacon." She started out with.

Yang: "Who's that?" She asked

Glynda: "I'm Glynda Goodwitch, one of your instructors."

Yang: "Oh."

Akito: "There's your answer."

Glynda: Professor Ozpin has something to say to you."

Ozpin: "You have all trained to become warriors. Today, the true worth of your training will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest test."

Ruby: "A test? Already?"

Yang: "Dad told us, remember?" A light shined underneath them. Everyone looked below to see a map of the Emerald Forest now before them, mapping the location of where they need to go.

Ozpin: "Make your way to the old temple and eliminate any Grimm that gets in your way. If you don't, your life is forfeit."

Glynda: "In the forest, partner with the first person you make eye contact with. Two pairs will combine to form a four-person team."

Ozpin: "These will be your teammates for your four years of study. Hopefully, you can get along with each other." In an instant, Akito swore he could hear glass shattering as Ruby's expression displayed one of pure horror and shock.

Ruby: "Partners? Teams? Nobody told me about that!"

Yang: "Dad told you..."

Ozpin: "The temple contains several relics. Choose one and bring it back to Beacon Cliff. We will monitor you but will not intervene. You must make it through on your own."

Glynda: "We will arrive at the test starting point shortly. Please prepare yourselves before then. May you be victorious."

Weapon Lockers...

Within the weapon Lockers, Akito opened his locker to reveal... 'his weapon', an arm-mounted blade that can also function as a gun when needed that he called Alpha. But in reality, its real name was the GN Sword, one weapon of the Exia that he took from Atlas when escaping. Just seeing it brought many memories to his head, but he also remembered how now his file was completely wiped clean thanks to Ozpin's work.

Akito: "New page huh..."

(Alpha aka GN Sword)

Mounting the weapon on his arm, which proceeded to collapse into the blue shield segment, he looked to his right as Setsuna was already waiting for him. Her weapons were already on her from the beginning, with them being those brown bands around her wrists that have Ice Dust stored into them, allowing her to create her Ice Wolf Claws.

Akito: "You ready?" He asked, to which she nodded. The two of them began to make their way through the locker room, in hopes of finding Ruby and Yang, but Akito suddenly stopped as he heard something. It was Weiss' voice, but what she said took him by surprise.

Weiss: "Pyrrha Nikos. Right?" Setsuna's eyes also widened. The two looked around and spotted the legendary invincible girl, her bright red hair standing out amongst the crowd.

(Pyrrha Nikos)

Akito: "So not only Blake's here, but also Pyrrha? Huh..." he said but smiled. He looked at Setsuna. "Wanna go say hi?" For once, the female gave an eager nod. The two began to make their way over, but as they did, the situation began to become clearer to them.

Weiss: "So Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you would like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual, such as yourself." The red-haired spartan merely let out a slight wary laugh.

Pyrrha: "Hmm... I'm not too sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

Weiss: "Well, I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together."

Pyrrha: "Well, that sounds great!" She said, with a smile that seemed slightly forced. But Weiss didn't notice this as she just heard the answer the redhead gave.

Weiss: "Great!" She turned around with a calculating expression as evil music began to play. *thoughts* "This is perfect! The smartest girl in class combined with the strongest girl in class! Together we will be unstoppable! I can see it now: We'll be popular, we'll be celebrities, we'll get perfect grades! Nothing could come between us now!"

???: "You know what else is great?" Asked the same blonde male from before as he came between Weiss and Pyrrha. "Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." Weiss' expression instantly deflated while Pyrrha's seemed to brighten up a bit.

(Jaune Arc)

Weiss: "You again?"

Pyrrha: "Nice to meet you Jaune!" She greeted, however, the blonde seemed more focused on Weiss than anything.

Jaune: "Yeah, yeah." He pushed her out of the way. "So, Weiss! Couldn't help but overhear your fondness for me the other day.

Weiss: "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Jaune: "Don't worry, no need to be embarrassed! So, been hearin' rumors about teams! I was thinking you and me would make a good one. What do you say?"

Pyrrha: "Actually, I think the teams are comprised of 4 students each, so-"

Jaune: "You don't say. Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

Akito: "The fuck's going on over here?"

Weiss: "That's what I would love to-" She paused as she spotted him and Setsuna approaching. "Oh not you again!"

Akito: "Yes, me again. What's up, Ice queen, blonde guy-"

Weiss: "Hey!"

Jaune: "It's Jaune Arc."

Akito: "-and Cherry Blossom." He stopped next to Pyrrha; his arms crossed as the redhead seemed surprised.

Pyrrha: "Akito? Is that really you?"

Akito: "In the flesh. What you thought I was-woah!" He yelped as the invincible girl suddenly pulled him into a tight embrace, nearly squeezing all the wind out of him and taking Weiss by complete surprise.

Pyrrha: "I never thought I'd see you again!"

Akito: "A-Ahaha... well if you wanna have a chance to see me after this, then let me breathe!" He managed to get out, instantly triggering the redhead to let him go and quickly apologize.

Pyrrha: "I-I'm sorry!"

Akito: "Hah, it's all cool! And besides, Setsuna's here too." He said, as the arctic wolf tackled her into an embrace. In an instant, Pyrrha hugged her back with a big and happy grin on her face.

Setsuna: "Pyrrha!!"

Pyrrha: "Setsuna! Oh, if this day couldn't get any better. I can't believe you two are here too!"

Weiss: "Wait, you know those two!?"

Pyrrha: "I do!" She exclaimed happily. "I met them back in Mistral a while ago. They're always on the move, so I didn't think I'd run into them here of all places. This is wonderful!"

Weiss was just completely bewildered, unable to comprehend the fact that THE Pyrrha Nikos was friends with two random... lowlife Faunus. But aside from that, she had her own problem to worry about, and that being none other than Jaune himself.

Jaune: "So, what do you say?" She sighed deeply.

Weiss: "Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you were talking to earlier?" She asked, referring to when he was talking to Pyrrha earlier before Akito and Setsuna interrupted.

Akito: "Here we go again..."

Jaune: "Not in the slightest, Snow Angel."

Weiss: "This is Pyrrha."

Pyrrha: "Hello again!"

Weiss: "Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

Jaune: "Never heard of it." He shrugged.

Weiss: "Ah! She won the Mistral Regional Tournament 4 years in a row... A new record!"

Jaune: "The what?" Frustrated, the white-haired heiress exclaimed.

Weiss: "She's on the front of EVERY Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" With that, Jaune gasped and held his head before pointing to the redhead in a state of pure bewilderment.

Jaune: "That's...you!? They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

Pyrrha: "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

Jaune: "Yeah you're not wrong there..."

Akito: "Yeah, I never really liked it either." He agreed, with Setsuna nodding in agreement. But instantly, Weiss popped up again and began to speak.

Weiss: "So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?" the blonde's expression deflated as he hung his head and slowly shook it.

Jaune: "I guess not... sorry."

Pyrrha: "Actually, Jaune." She walked up to him and patted his shoulder, causing him to look up again. "I think you'd make a great leader."

Akito: "I can agree there. I may not know you, but just looking at you, I see the qualities of an amazing leader in you." He said with a nod and a smile.

Pyrrha: "See? Even Akito agrees and he rarely compliments anyone!"

Akito: "Oh shut up." She slightly laughed while Setsuna snickered at him. Jaune felt a bit bashful as he looked off, trying to contain his inflating ego.

Jaune: "D'oh, stop it!"

Weiss: "Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"

Jaune: "Sounds like Pyrrha and Akito's on board for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quickly." He approached the heiress again. "Now I'm not supposed to do this, but, maybe I could pull some strings. Find a place for you. What do you say?" He began to slightly corner her which in turn began to make the white-haired female feel slightly uncomfortable.

Weiss: "Alright, that's a bit too close! Pyrrha, a little help please!?" With a woosh, a red and gold javelin flew by and pinned Jaune to the wall via his hoodie.

Pyrrha: "I'm sorry!"

Akito: "That was not needed, and you know it." He looked at the redhead, who scratched the back of her head with a slight sheepish laugh.

Setsuna: "Pfft..." She merely laughed.

It wouldn't be long until the large airship began to touch down on Beacon Cliff, which overlooked the insanely dense and dangerous Emerald Forest. Upon landing and with its boarding ramps lowering, the students began to exist, where they were all met by Ozpin and Glynda standing on the edge of the cliff, with multiple different metal pads in front of them in a row.

Ozpin: "Before we start. Any questions?"

Jaune: "Ah, yes sir...-"

Ozpin: "Good. We will now begin the initiation. Take your positions." Everyone stood on each of the metal pads, which all also had their names on them. Akito and Setsuna's pads were in between Ruby and Jaune's.

Jaune: "Sir, I got a question..." The first student was launched off into the forest. "So, this landing strategy thing, what is it? Are you like dropping us off or something?"

Ozpin: "No. You will be falling." The next student was launched, then soon after, the next.

Jaune: "Oh I see. Did you hand out parachutes for us?" Then another...

Ozpin: "No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

Jaune: "Uhhh... Yeah." Setsuna looked over at Akito who winked at her, causing her to giggle before she was launched off too. Akito got into his stance; his weapon mounted onto his right arm before he too was launched off. But not before hearing... "So, um... What exactly is a landing strateGYYYYYYY!!!???"

Glynda slightly sighed but watched as the students flew off into the distance.

Glynda: "I wonder what kinds of teams we'll get this year..." She said before her tablet beeped. She looked down at it and sighed while shaking her head. "Professor, we've seemed to run into a bit of an issue. Two applicants backed out at the last second, meaning two students will end up not being a part of any teams." The gray-haired man hummed at this.

Ozpin: "Hmm... Well, how about we make an exception for this year?" He asked while smiling at her. She was taken aback but sighed, knowing that she wouldn't get anywhere trying to argue otherwise. He merely chuckled and took a sip of his coffee. "Besides... Having them here with us will always be beneficial to not only Beacon, but to the world as well."

Akito just continued to let himself freefall until he got close to a tree. He unfolded Alpha into a full handheld sword, detaching it from his arm before stabbing the bark of the tree and sliding down it, jumping off it and touching down on the ground. He reattached Alpha back onto his arm before its blade folded back up. Then he began to walk in the direction he knew the Temple was.

After walking for some time, Akito halted his movements upon hearing rustling behind him. He turned around, only to see five Beowolves, growling and snarling at him. He rolled his eyes as Alpha's blade flipped forwards before he pointed it at the small pack.

Akito: "Alright then... Let's dance."

With that, he dashed at the Beowolves, two of them charging at him as well. One of the Beowolves swung its claw towards him, which he easily and effortlessly blocked with Alpha. Then he slashed at it once, killing it instantly before flipping the blade backwards and firing off two Dust shots that killed two more Beowolves. He prepared to kill the remaining Beowolf, before suddenly a familiar arctic wolf girl pounced on it, growling and snarling as she brutally clawed it apart with her Ice Wolf Claws, before eventually the Beowolf disintegrated into nothing but black particles.

(Ice Wolf Claws)

Akito: "You know you didn't have to steal my kill, Setsu." He said, crossing his arms as Alpha's blade collapsed on itself. Setsuna just grinned cheekily at him.

Setsuna: "Setsuna thinks you were too slow." A small tick popped up on his head before he sighed.

Akito: "Whatever. Come on, let's get this initiation over with." The Arctic Wolf Faunus just giggled slightly as she watched him walk past her. She began to follow him before her wolf ears twitched as she heard something, but she suddenly winced and rubbed her neck. "Hmm? What's wrong?"

Setsuna: "I think... something stung Setsuna..." She mumbled, looking at the area that she was 'stung' which was a light shade of red. "But Setsuna's fine now." She gave him a small smile. While Akito was a but curious about this, he shrugged and decided that they'd deal with it later.

>>Meanwhile<<

In another part of the Emerald Forest, Yang had been wandering through it, looking for a partner and the temple, though she would be happy if she found Ruby or Ayato. It was very quiet in the forest, aside from Yang's voice calling out to anyone.

Yang: "Hello?" She continued walking as a dark figure sped past here in the bushes. She arrived in a somewhat open area surrounded by bushes and trees but there was nothing else... "Is anyone out there? Hello... I'm getting bored here!"

Her arms fell in boredom until the sound of leaves rustling behind her could be heard. She quickly turned around upon hearing the sound...

Yang: "Is anyone there?" She rushed up to the bushes and slowly peeked over them. "Ruby, Akito, Setsuna, is that you?" The response she got was definitely not Ruby, Setsuna or Akito, but was growling. Yang, however, didn't even seem fazed. "Nope!"

She jumped away as a Grimm known as an Ursa jumped out from the bushes. Excited, she equipped her Ember Celica, dual golden shotgun gauntlets on her arms and got ready for combat. Then a second Ursa charged at her, clawing at her but she rolled out of the way without any effort. Both Ursai stood next to each other. One of them charged the golden haired brawler, only to get punched in the stomach, getting flung back. The second tried to attack her but she uppercut it then kicked it away from her.

Yang: "You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, hot guy with black wolf ears or a cute shortie with white wolf ears and a tail, would you?" The Ursai only roared at her aggressively, to her disappointment. "You could have just said no."

One of the Ursai lunged at her clawing at her but Yang ducked and back flipped out of the way, narrowly missing the Ursa's claws

Yang: "Geez, you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba..." Her eyes widened slightly as she saw a strand of her hair, slowly fall to the ground... "You..." Her eyes swapped to a dangerous red as the Ursai looked at each other, growling in nervousness. "You MONSTERS!"

She exploded in fiery golden energy and aggressively rushed an Ursa, absolutely loading it with punches, kicks and bullets from her Ember Celica. Then she punched it so hard that it flew right through a couple of trees. The second one ran up to Yang before the angered golden-haired girl looked at it, with seething rage.

Yang: "What, you want some too!?"

The Ursa stood up and roared before a stabbing sound could be heard as it whined in pain. It just fell face first into the ground, revealing a familiar girl with long black hair and bow on her head, holding a sickle that was on a ribbon; it was none other than Blake Belladonna. As she whipped her weapon out of the Ursa and back onto her back, she smirked at Yang.

Yang: "I could have taken him."

>Later<

The duo of Yang and Blake continued to make their way through the forest, killing any Grimm that got in their way before they finally managed to make it out of the forest where they both saw a broken-down temple, with black and gold chess pieces on pedestals.

Yang: "You think this is it?"

Blake just eyed her before walking down towards the temple. Yang shrugged soon after before following her. As they neared it, they noticed that the 'Relics' looked awfully a lot like...

Blake: "Chess pieces?" Yang looked around but noticed that some of them were missing.

Yang: "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

Blake: "Well... I guess we should pick one." Yang looked around, carefully pondering about what piece to pick before, picking up a golden knight.

Yang: "How about a cute little pony?" Blake just rolled her eyes in amusement as she smiled at the blonde.

Blake: "Sure."

Yang: "This wasn't so hard."

Blake: "Well, it's not like this place is difficult to find." Just as she said that, some rustling could be heard coming from the forest. The two looked on to see Akito and Setsuna exiting the forest.

Akito: "Hmm... Seems like we aren't the only ones who made it." However, his attention was immediately brought to two girls there. "Oh, what a coincidence. Blake, Yang." He called out to them with a smile as Setsuna waved at them.

Yang: "Yo! Glad to see you two made it!" She exclaimed while Blake only seemed to let out a small sigh of relief, as she was thankful that her friends were still here. However, the reunion would soon be interrupted by a sudden loud and high-pitched scream from the distance.

Yang: "Did you guys hear that?? Some girl is in trouble! What should we do??"

Akito: "Or someone just got their nutsack absolutely wrecked..." He sweat dropped, not knowing that Blake was just staring up in silence. She nudged his arm, causing him to look at her. She just pointed up and he looked up. "Oh..."

Yang and Setsuna looked at each other confused before also looking up only to see Ruby falling face first towards them...

Ruby: HEADS UUUUUPPPPPPP!!!!!!

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Next Chapter: Red Like Roses

Akito's thoughts: "Been a while since I've used it.... Now would be the best time... So let's go..." He glowed a bright blue color before his eyes shot open, glowing white.

"Gundam Exia, Akito Zara, eliminating the target!"