We now see an overhead view of Emerald Forest. A forest filled with natural wildlife where you can hear the natural sounds of birds chirping, squirrels chattering, leaves rustling, guns blazing… well, if you can call that last one natural.

We see the giant Nevermore as it flaps its wings, shooting razor sharp feathers at the already skewered trees where Toby and Simon are hiding behind one each.

"I hope there's an easier way to kill this pigeon!" yelled Toby.

"None that I'm aware of!" replied Simon.

"Think you can bring it down?"

"With our weapons, I don't think it's–"

"Not that, I mean as bait!" he clarifies as his irises turn red, activating his semblance as he charges both his arms.

"Oh yeah," Simon said in understanding, "That's my specialty."

With that, Simon runs out from behind the tree into the clearing and calls out, "Hey, Tweety! You want me?! Come and get me!"

As if the Grimm could hear him, narrowing its eyes, it swoops down with talons ready.

Just as it's about to reach him, Simon activates Ghosting, allowing him to phase through the surprised giant bird at the same time Toby jumps on its back.

With a roar, he slams his palms on its back, discharging millions of volts on the Grimm as it screeches in pain while thrashing about, successfully throwing him off its back a few feet away only for Simon to catch him.

With its feathers already smoking from its latest assault, the Nevermore retreats into the sky.

"Yeah, you better run!" yells Simon who frowns at his sentence, "... or fly! Away! Whichever works!"

"I think we've already wasted time," said Toby as he got down, "We ought to pick up the pace."

As they begin walking, Simon starts singing 'Everything is awesome.'

"What are you doing?" Toby asks with disbelief.

"Singing, you know, just to kill time rather than just walk in the woods in dead silence.

Toby exhales, "Fine. But don't do anything annoying."

The ghost holds up his hands in defeat, "Okay, no need to be so grumpy."

They then continue trudging through the forest.
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In another part of the forest, Yang is seen walking and looking around.

"Helloooooooo?" she calls out, not seeing a shadow quickly pass by, "Is anyone out there? Helloooo?" she stops and raises her arms, "I'm getting bored here!"

She then hears a rustling in the bushes behind her and turns, "Is someone there?"

The rustling continues as Yang comes over and peaks inside, "Ruby, is that you?"

A low, inhuman growl is heard, and Yang's head rises up as she stares at the creature.

"Nope."

Yang quickly rolls to the side as a Grimm resembling a bear known as an Ursa charges out of the green. She gets up and activates her Ember Celica, staring at the monster before another Ursa runs out behind her. She leaps over it, and its companion runs at her again, only to get knocked back by a fiery punch. The other Ursa and Yang charge at each other, and Yang manages to get under it and deliver several punches and a kick to send the creature back.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?" Yang asks, with the response being a mere growl from the Ursa, "You could just say 'no'."

One of the Ursai stands on its legs and swipes at her twice, Yang barely dodging the attacks.

"Geeeez, you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba…"

Before she can complete her insult, a single strand of her golden hair falls in front of her face and lands on the forest floor.

"You…" She closes her violet eyes, then opens them to reveal red, making the Ursai look at each other confusedly before Yang screams, You MONSTER!!!

An inferno surrounds Yang for a moment, and she rockets forward, unleashing a devastating combo of flaming hits and blows on the offending Ursa, making it fly through several burning trees. The other monster runs over, but stops short at Yang's gaze while a tree falls to the ground behind her.

"What! You want some, too?!"

The Ursa rears up and prepares to strike... right when a whirring noise is heard and the monster makes a befuddled noise, falling down a second later to reveal Blake Belladonna with her weapon which is a mix between a gun, a katana and a kusarigama in the beast's back.

Yang pants in exhaustion while Blake recalls the weapon back to her hand, sheathing it on her back and smiling to the side. Yang, now purple-eyed again, speaks to her new partner over the smoking remains of the monster.

"I could've taken him."
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Somewhere in another part of the forest, Daruna was walking through the woods while keeping his hearing active.

He can actually hear things in a distance but it's his semblance that amplifies that.

He can hear fights going on, screams of terror, conversations of other huntsmen and huntresses, singing of one particular individual, heartbeats…

Wait.

Heartbeats slower than an average person, heartbeats of an animal perhaps, heartbeats belonging to three not-very-nice-looking creatures moving in his direction. Confirming his suspicion, he hears a deep growl, urging him to turn to the source for him to stare at a Grimm bearing a resemblance of a boar staring at him.

"Oh great, a Boarbatusk.".

He then hears another growl and he turns to see a second Boarbatusk appearing a few feet next to the first one.

"That's two."

He then hears something fast approaching him and wide eyed, he leaps high at the last second out of the way of a third Boarbatusk that just demolished a tree next to him in a spin dash motion and after a flip, he lands on his feet.

"Now it's three little piggies," said Daruna as he pulled out a fire dust arrow while observing the three porcine Grimm circling him as they let out grunts.

Daruna takes a deep breath as the first Boarbatusk charges towards him, as that happens, he turns to the boar and activates his semblance as he lets out a whistle which is amplified in form of a purple soundwave as it crashes into the Grimm, sending it flying.

He then takes the opportunity to shoot the arrow with precision which hit the Boarbatusk dead in the belly as the tip is buried inside.

"This little piggy exploded," he says just as it lands, the arrow sets off in an explosion from inside the Boarbatusk, killing it.

The remaining two are not too happy with what happened to their comrade and they charged towards him. Daruna jumps out of the way of the Grimm but it doesn't stop them from once again attacking as Daruna takes the initiative and targets the second Boarbatusk.

"This little piggy…" As they run towards each other, Daruna slides under the giant pig at the last second and while doing so, activates Snarl in its naginata form, lacerating the Boarbatusk as it squeals very loudly and then there is silence.

" … got gutted."

The third and final Boarbatusk rolls into a ball and spins forward along its spine and as Daruna prepares himself, unexpectedly, an ice ramp appears in front of the Grimm, changing its trajectory as it goes upwards in the air.

"And this little piggy went wee wee wee," said a female voice and Daruna turned to see Nilak with her irises blue as she makes hand motions, creating a very big ice spike that impales the Boarbatusk through the torso as it crashes, " … all the way to being a shish kebab."

"Nilak," greets Daruna, surprised.

"What's the matter?" she says teasingly, "Oh wait, don't tell me. You didn't hear me coming."

"Very funny," said the wolf faunus sarcastically, "I had it under control."

"And would have taken all the fun? I don't think so."

"I guess this makes us partners for four years."

"Yeah," says Nilak as the two of them share a fist bump.
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Weiss deflects a swipe from a beowolf with her Myrtenaster which is a rapier and getting pushed back into the middle of the beastly circle. She holds out her sword as she goes through her dueling motions and practices.

'Remember your training, Weiss. Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward — not that forward! — slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike, and…' she brings her rapier up, the revolver spinning, "Now!"

Weiss dashes forward with her loaded weapon at the Beowolf in front of her, just when Ruby suddenly appears between the two in a blur of rose petals and a swipe of her Crescent Rose scythe, landing a hit on the monster.

"Gotcha!"

Weiss widens her eyes and screams as she quickly has to stop, swinging the sword in a random direction and creating a line of fire that sets a nearby tree ablaze, followed quickly by the rest of the forest around the clearing.

Ruby, distracted by Weiss' mess-up, is barely defended when the same Beowolf scratches at her weapon, knocking the younger girl into the heiress.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Excuse me? You attacked out of turn! I could have killed you!" Weiss shot back.

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that…"

The duo wield their arms as the pack of Beowolves whine and growl around them. Ruby reloads her scythe just as a flaming tree falls near them.

Weiss grabs Ruby's arm, "We have to go!"

She leads Ruby out of the blaze as it engulfs the grass and sets the Grimm to running back the way they came or suffering in the fire.

Ruby and Weiss stop in safe ways from the smoke and flames. Weiss leans over and pants as Ruby looks behind her.

"What was that?! That should've been easy!"

"Well perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!"

Ruby scoffs, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just surprised someone who talks so much would communicate so little during an encounter!"

"Well, I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!"

"Well, congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak your way into Beacon. Bravo!"

Weiss begins to walk off on her partner yet again. Ruby, with an agitated shriek, unfolds Crescent Rose, slices a tree down to the stump, refolds it back, and follows her partner as the tree crashes behind her. Neither notice the large dark smoking feather floating onto the fallen trunk behind them.
______________________________________________

Meanwhile across the Forest, Pyrrha Nikos, armed with Miló and Akoúo̱, and Jaune Arc are making their way through the bushes. Jaune hears a noise far away and turns his head.

"Did you hear that?"

"Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

They keep moving forward, Jaune still staring in the sound's direction as Pyrrha raises a branch to pass by and accidentally releases it right at Jaune's face, flooring him instantly.

Pyrrha looks behind her, "Jaune! I'm sorry!"

Jaune laughs, lowering his hand from his cheek to reveal a gash from the wooden recoil, "It's okay. Just a scratch."

He gets back up when Pyrrha approaches him.

"Why didn't you activate your Aura?"

"Huh?"

"Your Aura."

"Gesundheit."

"Jaune, do you... know what Aura is?"

Jaune waves the question off, avoiding eye contact, "Psch! Of course I do! Do you know what Aura is?"

Pyrrha smiles at him and gets ready to explain…
______________________________________________

… as we see Lie Ren trek through the forest.

"Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

"Uh... yeah."

Ren stops and narrows his eyes, looking around him while a huge black Grimm serpent rises up from the grass behind him and quickly surrounds him with its large, hissing body. Ren adopts a fighting stance as the snake coils together in front of him and attacks with its long fangs.
______________________________________________

Pyrrha walks around Jaune, "With practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals."

"What about monsters?" Jaune asks.

"No."
______________________________________________

Ren leaps out of the way, the snake's mouth hitting the ground and instantly coming up again to hit a jumping Ren back with its snout.

"The monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity."

Ren lands in a crouch when the serpent encircles him again, and he unleashes his StormFlower before jumping up and firing at the creature.

"They are the darkness, and we are the light."

"Right, that's why we fight them!"

Ren kicks the snake's snout and slashes at its head

"It's not about why; it's about knowing."

The snake flows around Ren and tries to bite him again, but he flips over it and drives his weapons into its head, pausing a moment without sensing the serpent's white head behind him.

"Understanding dark and light helps us manifest our Aura. Everyone has some of both."

Ren turns and looks up at the white head as it launches itself at him, dodging it and landing just in time to see the head slither towards him. As it gets closer, he runs at it and leaps onto the black head, sliding over its body and blasting the other head.

"By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting."

Ren is unprepared for the white half to hit him with its head, knocking him off as he drops his weapons, and leaving him to merely raise his arms and distantly cry "No!" to the mouth of the black head.
______________________________________________

Jaune opens his eyes with the revelation, "It's like a force field!"

"Yes, if you want to look at it that way."
______________________________________________

Ren is now holding the front fangs of the colossal snake in his hands, glowing a faint, pulsating pink as he grips the teeth and yanks them from the monster's mouth, causing it to flail away. It attempts to bite him again, but Ren spins to the side and stabs a fang into its eye, rotating his arm to deliver a final blow that drives the makeshift weapon into its skull, which ripples, expands, and blows apart in a dark mess as its headless body falls over its fellow creature. Wasting no time, Ren runs right at the white head.
______________________________________________

Pyrrha walks to Jaune and touches the side of his head, "Now, close your eyes and concentrate."

"Uhh... Okay," he complies.

Pyrrha smiles and closes her own eyes, opening them as her skin glows and her irises shrink before shutting them again. The two stand there, now with Pyrrha glowing a faint red and Jaune a bright white.

Pyrrha mentally speaks, "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death," she places a hand on his chest, "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

Pyrrha stops glowing red and hunches over in tiredness

"Pyrrha?" says a concerned Jaune still glowing.

The Spartan gets back up, "It's all right. I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own," she grins as she watches the scratch close up and vanish, "You have a lot of it."

Jaune smiles and looks at his hands as the glowing stops, "Wow…"
______________________________________________

At the same time, Ren stands atop of the body of his enemy, sliding the weapons into his sleeves and brushing them off before a strange, animal-like noise is heard above him twice. He looks up and meets the upside-down eyes of Nora Valkyrie.

Ren chuckles, "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."

In response, Nora gives her friend a "Boop!" on the nose, causing him to smile.
______________________________________________

Professor Ozpin watches the students on his Scroll at the Beacon Cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest when Glynda walks up behind him, holding her own tablet.

"The last pair has been formed, sir," she says as she taps the screen to show the encounter between Ren and Nora, "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."

The video changes to Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc's trek through the woods.

"Mmmm…"

"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat," she deactivates the tablet, walking back a little, "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes."

She turns back to Ozpin, "Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" She's met with silence, "Professor Ozpin?"

Ozpin doesn't answer, watching his tablet with a contemplating interest as it shows the footage of Ruby sitting in the grass and picking stray leaves while her 'partner', Weiss walks in random directions.
______________________________________________

Weiss walks right, "It's definitely this way," She stops and starts walking left, "I mean... this way! It's definitely this way," she stops in front of Ruby, "Alright, it's official: We passed it."

Ruby stands up, slightly annoyed, "Weiss, why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?"

"Because I know exactly where we're going! We're going... to... the forest temple!"

This causes Ruby to sigh, frustrated.

"Oh, stop it! You don't know where we are, either!"

"Well, at least I'm not pretending like I know everything," Ruby shot back.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a big, stupid jerk and I hate you!" she scoffs, "I guess Nilak was right about you."

"Don't bring her into this!" Weiss snaps.

"Why not? Wasn't she your friend? Or did you have a lot of enemies because of your attitude?"

That really struck a nerve.

Weiss sighs to herself, spinning around and walking in another direction, "Just keep moving!"

"Oh, just keep moving! Hurry up! Waaaah! Watch where you're going!" mocks Ruby, imitating Weiss and then goes back to her normal voice, "Why are you so bossy?"

Weiss turns back around to face Ruby, "I'm not bossy! Don't say things like that!"

"Stop treating me like a kid!" Ruby yells, getting face to face with the heiress.

"Stop acting like a kid!"

"Well, stop acting like you're perfect!"

"I'm. Not. Perfect! Not yet... But I'm still leagues better than you," Weiss says and continues to walk away.

"You don't even know me…" says Ruby, dejected.
______________________________________________

"Hail (Hail), what's the matter with you feel right

Don't you feel right, baby

Hail, oh yeah, get it from the main vine, all right

I said-a find it, find it, go on and love it if you like it, yeah

Hail (Hail), it's your business if you want some, take some

Get it together, baby,"

Simon is seen emerging out into the clearing, dancing as he breaks into the chorus of 'Come and get your love'. Toby on the other hand follows behind, a bit bored but just as he looks up, he sees a circular stone temple, broken and decrepit but for the platforms around its inside, holding several black and gold objects.

"Simon, heads up," he calls out to Simon who stops what he's doing as he turns to the direction of the temple.

"Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about! We made it!"

"You can save the ground kissing for when we're back at Beacon," says Toby, walking to him, "That is after we're done having a heart-to-heart conversation with any Grimm we face."

"Yeah, we can invite them over for hot chocolate– wait a minute, you were being sarcastic, right?"

Toby shakes his head and heads down the hill, his partner following. They walk across the floor and observe the items on each pedestal, now shown to be familiar shapes.

"Chess pieces?" questions Simon.

Toby holds what seems to be a black knight in his hands, "Think this will do?"

"Yeah, l kinda liked the horse in chess," said Simon.

Suddenly, they hear something emerge from the forest. As they turn, they see Yang and Blake emerge from the forest and walking towards the temple as the girls take notice of the two boys.

"Hey, guys," greets Yang, sending a wink towards Simon who turns a good shade of red in embarrassment, "I guess you made it here first."

Simon, who is still staring, tries to speak but it comes out as gibberish, "Eh doobeeday shoolah eh koobeeday?"

His hands flew towards his mouth the moment he realized what he had said while Toby facepalmed.

Yang raises an eyebrow while Blake asks in confusion, "Gesundheit?"

Toby shakes his head and speaks up with an excuse, "My friend here speaks ancient mistrali. He's saying we're not the first. Some chess pieces have already been taken."

"Chess pieces?"

"Yeah, I know. Real creative from the professor."

Yang and Blake soon join them.
______________________________________________

Jaune and Pyrrha are standing at the mouth of a dark cave, where drawings are seen to the side involving armed men against giant beasts.

"Think this is it?" asks Jaune.

Later, they're seen walking inside the cave, Jaune holding a short, burning torch to light their way.

"I'm not sure this is it," said Pyrrha.

Jaune sighs, "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for, like, five more feet?"

Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, Jaune trips on the ground, and the torch flies into a small puddle, extinguishing the flame so the two are cast in darkness with only their eyes visible.

"Do you... feel that?" Pyrrha asks as Jaune gets up and grumbles.

"Soul-crushing regret?"

"No, it's... warm."
______________________________________________

Back at the temple, Yang approaches one of the relics.

"Hmmmm…" She studies the golden knight, then picks it up and shows it to Blake, "How about a cute little pony?"

"Sure," Blake smirks.

They then join the boys at the center of the temple floor.

"That wasn't too hard," said Yang

"We kinda figured out that part," said Simon meekly.

"Oh so now you can speak english?" teases Yang.

"Sorry about that," he replies sheepishly.

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find," cuts in Blake.
______________________________________________

Jaune and Pyrrha continue onward through the cave until they see a large glowing point of gold right in front of them, illuminating Jaune's excited features.

"That's the relic!" He beams as he slowly reaches out to grab it, but it moves away from his swipe, "Hey! Bad... relic!"

He tries to get it again, then jumps forward and hangs onto it as the object raises him above the ground, "Gotcha!"

"Jaune…?" said Pyrrha, worried.

Jaune's catch lowers itself so he is dangling right in front of the now-glowing red lines and eyes of a Death Stalker, a giant Grimm resembling a scorpion.
______________________________________________

Nilak and Daruna are seen trudging through the forest as they both hold up a conversation when they hear Jaune's scream from a distance.

Nilak whistles, "Damn. I wanna know what kind of trouble this girl landed herself in."

"I don't think that was a girl, Nilak," said Daruna.

Then suddenly, Daruna's eyes widen as he hears something else as he turns to his partner, "Speaking of trouble, we need to run. Someone nearby is in trouble."

"Lead the way."

They both break into a sprint.
______________________________________________

At the cave entrance, Pyrrha rushes out right before the monster crashes through the hole, roaring and waving its grass-encrusted claws as Jaune hangs from the stinger, calling from help and continuing to scream.

"Help! Whoa-ah-ah-ah-ah! Why?! Pyrrha! He-e-e-elp! Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not!" Jaune continues to cry and get shaken around, "Do something!"

Pyrrha wields Miló in front of the creature, "Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let-"

Before she can finish, the Grimm hurls its tail back and launches a still-screaming Jaune across the forest as she watches in dismay.

"… go."

She turns back to the scorpion as it continues to snap its claws at her, and she smiles embarrassedly before turning and rushing away in a burst of green leaves.
______________________________________________

Blake is seen staring at something above them, but Yang is focused on the forest.

"You guys heard that, right?" says Yang as she turns to them, "What should we do?"

"We don't exactly know where the sound came from, but maybe–"

"Shhh…" He's cut off by Toby who seems to be hearing something.

Finally, the faint-but-growing-louder scream of "Heads uuuuuuuup!" is heard as they slowly look up only to see Ruby falling from the sky and presumably crash landing to the ground.