Here we go.

The forest burned.

The smell of smoke filled the air while the flames slowly ate away the forest around them.

Not that Yang cared to be honest. She was too angry to stop unless Weiss apologized. Which seemed unlikely as the heiress was just now summoning her Glyphs and loading them with Fire Dust to use as ranged weapons against Yang. They were doing that dance for quite a while now. Yang dashed to keep the fight close and not give Weiss any room to use her rapier nor her Glyphs, with Weiss dodging and using ranged attacks against Yang, who dodged or hid behind the trees so they could take the hit.

Yang was getting more and more angry and knew they couldn't keep that little game of tag forever.

However, before she could ready the attack that would have changed the entire game, she felt suddenly tense when she heard the snarl.

"Grimm." She said simply and she could feel the way Weiss herself stopped right on her tracks, her Glyphs dissolving into the air.

A couple Beowolves appeared. Nine to eleven at best.

"Can I trust your royal majesty to hold her own against a pack?" Yang said as she reloaded Ember Celica. Weiss scoffed.

"I bet I can kill more than you." Weiss said, arrogantly.

"I dare you." Yang rebuffed.

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Fine. Let's see if your bite is as vicious as your bark!"

Yang's eyes turned red as she slammed her fists against one another and inferno briefly surrounded the bombshell. Weiss was surrounded by her glyphs.

And both rocketed toward the Grimm.

\-\

Jaune and Ruby were running. Seemingly the giant scorpion that screamed "death" with its sheer appearance wasn't intimidated by... Jaune's manly scream and decided to play tag.

Only that Jaune and Ruby would die instead of becoming 'it' if they were caught. Ruby, however, tackled Jaune and used her Semblance to take them away from the route of the Death Stalker, with the monstrous Grimm ravaging the forest on its path.

"We must do something, Jaune!" Ruby screamed, breathing heavily.

"The forest is too thick for us to fight, Ruby!" Jaune yelled. "We wouldn't be able to outmaneuver it! And that thing can just bulldoze us if we stop now!"

"T-then what's the plan?!"

Jaune gulped for a second.

"Ruby… I'll need you to go get help!"

Her eyes widened. "No! I won't leave you, Jaune!"

"Don't worry!" He replied. "I know what I'm doing! And… My Semblance is too strong! I can hold this thing, but you might get hurt if I use it near you!"

"B-but we can go together!" Ruby protested.

"No! Someone must stay and be the bait! Don't worry about me, I have lots of Aura!"

"There must be another way!" Ruby protested. "I-I can be the bait!"

"No!" Jaune's sudden anger surprised Ruby, who flinched. "I won't let you get hurt, Ruby! You're the fastest from the two of us and you can go get help faster than what I ever could! Plus, you need room to properly swing Crescent Rose, and we don't have this room here!"

"But…"

"No buts." Jaune said, uncompromising. However, after seeing her expression, he seemed to deflate and hugged the girl, sofast and sudden he might have been magnetically drawn to her. "I promise I'll… I'll give you whatever you want after we're done here."

"Cookies." Ruby said with her face buried on his shoulder as she hugged him back.

"Huh?"

"Cookies." She repeated. "I… My mom… She always used to give me cookies after she came back from her missions. She… She was a huntress. She would always bake me cookies after missions… Until one day… She didn't."

Jaune was going to ask what happened but noticed the words and that they meant. "Oh… I'm sorry, Ruby…"

"It's okay…" Ruby said. "It's… It's not like it was your fault… Plus… If something happens to you, I won't forgive you even if you give me a mountain of cookies!"

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle as he kept the hug for some time before letting it go. "I'm trusting you, Ruby."

"And I'll trust you not to die on me on this Jaune!" Ruby said before giggling. Jaune giggled back.

"Take care Jaune." Ruby wished before going, using her Semblance to dart, leaving behind a trail of rose petals.

"Jaune, I hope you do have a plan."

"Don't worry." Jaune replied, as he drew Crocea Mors from its sheath with his right hand and activated The Long Memory with his left, with the black shaft erupting from the handle. "I have good news and bad news."

"Good news are…?"

"I have a plan."

"And the bad?"

"You'll hate it."

\-\

"Last." Yang said after the last of the Beowolves was gone. "I'm actually surprised at you." She said to Weiss, turning to face her after Weiss' rapier finally got back to its default form after finishing the last of "her" Beowolves. "Who'd say you'd actually got that much fight into you?"

"Hmph." Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Of course I do. Every moment I had for training was honing each and every of my skills to its utmost. My fighting style is absolute perfection!"

"It's stuck-up and lacks creativity." Yang rebutted before choking a laugh. "Amazing how much someone's fighting style can tell about them."

"Well, at least I'm not a relentless savage whose only fighting move is to punch everything into oblivion!"

"What did you just say?!" Yang said, clenching her fists before the two of the heard more snarls. Weiss closed her eyes briefly before breathing in and out deeply.

"Our… Our negativity attracted the Grimm. And we lost a lot of time here. We… we must work together to reach the temple. We can work out our differences later. But for now, peace." Weiss said offering her right hand to Yang. The bombshell thought about it for a second.

Even if she couldn't be Ruby's partner as of now, they could still end up in the same team. Plus, even if they could take a number of Beowolves by optimizing their combat styles to "victory in three seconds", they were still able to get tired and hurt in a moment of carelessness.

Grimm didn't have such hindrances. All they needed was to overwhelm them with numbers, wear out their Auras and they would be done for.

"Okay." Yang nodded. "We got a deal. Besides, this won't last. We will sort this out. We are just… Working together until we get out of this mess."

"Yes." Weiss said, with some of her snooty attitude coming back. "It's merely a temporary arrangement."

"Cool, because this way I won't feel bad when I take down your attitude a couple pegs down, Ice Queen." Yang said as she started walking, with a not-so-happy Weiss going right after her.

"W-what do you mean 'Ice Queen'?! And who put you in charge?! Hey! Don't you dare ignore me!"

\-\

Pyrrha wasn't good at starting conversations.

She tried to get her partner, Blake, to talk, but Blake would mostly answer in normally one-word answers like "yes", "no" and "whatever". The redhead knew the feeling: many of her answers during interviews were like that, at least until her family managed to hire coaches to teach her what should be said and, more importantly, what shouldn't.

After all, Pyrrha had an image to keep. One bad press conference and her career would be done for. She didn't care for her career all that much.

Her family did.

"Pyrrha." Blake called snapping the redhead out of her line of thought. "Do you have any Dust available?"

"Uh? Yes, I do." She replied. She, like nearly every Huntsmen in Remnant, used Dust when her weapon was with its ranged form on. "Why the question?"

"I think I might know a trick to guide us." Blake replied as she produced a cup from her belongings. "Would you happen to have Water Dust?"

"Yes…?" Pyrrha said raising an eyebrow as she got the Water Dust cartridge from her pouch. Water Dust wasn't exactly popular specially when compared to Fire, Ice, Electricity or even Gravity, but Pyrrha used it a couple times for the sheer surprise element of it. A couple matches were won with this little trick.

At least the ones where she refused to use her Semblance.

"Thanks." Blake said as she got a couple of objects that Pyrrha struggled to understand: a magnet, tape, a needle. Blake then proceeded to, without a word, use the tape to stick the needle into the magnet and then put it into the cup. The needle spun for a couple seconds before pointing to their right. "Now we can keep going."

"B-Blake… What is this?" Pyrrha asked as she jogged a bit to keep up with Blake before reducing her speed until they were walking normally side to side.

"It's a homemade compass." Blake explained. "All you need is a magnet, a needle and a bit of water. Due to the North and South Poles, the needle will always point to the north. So all we gotta do is go in a straight line until we reach the temple."

"Where did you learn to do something like this…?" Pyrrha asked, sincerely impressed. And she was even more impressed when she saw what could have been the first hint of true emotion in Blake's face when she averted Pyrrha's gaze.

"I… I used to go camping a lot with my parents when I was little…" She replied. "My father… He taught me these things." Blake shook her head, as if to steer herself back into her silent persona. "But this isn't important now. We must go for the temple."

Pyrrha was going to voice her agreement when a flash of rosy petals bumped into her.

"EEK!" Was the sound Pyrrha made when the girl in red came crashing and they both fell, rolling for a good two seconds before they hit a tree and stopped, protected from harm thanks to their Auras.

"Pyrrha!" Blake called as she ran towards them. "Are you fine? Is everything alright?" She seemed worried, judging by her voice and how her eyes seemed to be wider.

"I… I am, everything's fine, Blake." The Invincible Girl smiled. "And are you fine? Something happened?"

"I need help!" The girl with black hair and silver eyes said, getting on her feet at a ridiculous speed. "My partner… He stayed to try and fight a Death Stalker! We need help!"

She got the seriousness of the situation and got up as fast as she could. "Let's go help him!" The Mistrallian said while Blake was seemingly aloof as always, but Pyrrha could see how she straightened her posture and kept her weapon, Gambol Shroud, ready.

"Take us to him." Blake said.

\-\

"Jaune, this isn't a bad plan. It's a horrible plan!" Ozpin's voice said on his head for what seemed to the be eleventh time while Jaune gritted his teeth.

"I know Ozpin." Jaune said simply as he struggled to keep his hold. "You said that a couple times up to now you know?"

"Then I'll repeat again and again!" Ozpin almost squealed. "FIGHTING A DEATH STALKER ALONE WITH A BODY LIKE YOURS IS A TERRIBLE PLAN!"

"I KNOW!" Jaune yelled. "All I gotta do is keep it occupied until Ruby can come back with help! All she gotta do is follow the destruction!"

"And you do trust yourself to keep up with it? When I designed this year's Initiation, I prepared the Death Stalker to be fought by four people!"

"We already are two in one." Jaune joked. "We just need two more!"

Ozpin rolled his eyes, if that was even possible while Jaune narrowly avoided the Death Stalker's sting.

"I'll take control, Jaune." The Headmaster said and, before Jaune could protest, he saw the wheel of his body swiftly taken away from him. The Death Stalker tried grabbing Jaune with its pincers, but Ozpin jumped and struck it right into ints skull with a strong downward strike from The Long Memory, pulling the shield to his face to defend himself from the stinger that rose and came down at a lightning fast speed.

Jaune felt like he was hit by a truck at full speed when he flew in the opposite direction, until he finally crashed, rolling a couple times before his body finally lost the impetum and he stopped. He breathed heavily, trying to get on his feet as soon as possible… Which Ozpin did.

Jaune still felt horrible.

"It's getting closer." Ozpin said as he held Crocea Mors and The Long Memory. The Death Stalker could be easily heard as it got closer, closer, closer… The Grimm was soon in range, with the former headmaster charging towards it. Jaune could feel different. It was like everything around him was going slower. He understood right away. Ozpin was using his magic again.

And so, while he darted at a seemingly impossible speed towards the monstrous scorpion Grimm, Jaune could hear a faint whistle that made him instinctively notice two things: there was something really bad going his way and he should avoid it as soon as possible.

Thus he dodged… Right in time when something red, black and brown crashed into the monstrous Grimm, making it tumble and roll down until it crashed against the trees down below.

"What the…" Ozpin started before nearly falling when he was suddenly tackle-hugged by a black-haired girl.

"JAAAAUNE!" She chimed while hugging him with surprising strength for her size. Then again, Ruby WAS physically strong, after all it isn't for everyone to wield Crescent Rose like she does and take the recoil like it isn't nothing at all… "I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!"

"I believe this is for you, Jaune." The immortal mage said with a light chuckle as Jaune was now the one being hugged by Ruby, and now who had to calm the little girl in red. Damn Ozpin.

"Ruby… Please… I-I can't breathe…"

"O-oh… Sorry…" Ruby said, letting Jaune go with a little, awkward smile. "But I'm so happy to see you in one piece Jaune!"

Me too, Jaune thought to himself before smiling to Ruby. "It's okay Ruby." He chuckled patting her on the head. The little girl in red seemed ecstatic.

"So uh… Oh yeah!" Ruby seemed to remember something. "Those are Pyrrha", she pointed to the beautiful woman with red hair, green eyes and clad in bronze armor, "and Blake!" She pointed to the girl with yellow eyes and black hair. Her face seemed a tad bit too indifferent for his taste. "And Pyrrha, Blake, this is my partner, Jaune!"

"It's a pleasure". The redhead girl, Pyrrha, smiled.

"Hi." Blake said in her indifferent, aloof voice. She seemed almost bored.

"Ah, Miss Belladonna. I remember interviewing her… It was… Peculiar, if I might add."

"Peculiar how?"

"Let's just say she has something else going for her, Jaune. However, that is hers to keep. If she decides to share with you, it's okay, but I won't reveal it."

Jaune knew it would be useless to ask Ozpin unless Blake would first reveal it herself so he let it go. Plus, it was her privacy and it wouldn't be right of him to snoop without her permission. That was one of the many things they both agreed.

"Saw something interesting in my face?" Blake's voice snapped him out of his train of thoughts.

"O-oh…" Jaune gulped. "I, uh… I just thought I'd seen you somewhere and was trying to figure out where I've seen you before…"

Blake's eyes widened for an instant, with a clear emotion Jaune managed to catch before she got back into her aloof facade: fear. But fear of what? What has she done that she would strive actively to not be recognized?

His mind soon considered that lie of thought as uninteresting while he briefly nodded. Pyrrha, however, noticing the tense atmosphere, chimed in.

"Hey Jaune… Blake and me have something to guide us to the temple!" She said before showing the makeshift compass Blake had made. Jaune was impressed. That seemed truly ingenious.

"Woah! This is amazing!" Ruby said. "This way we can reach the temple in no time!" The black-haired girl said, cheerfully. Jaune gave a short laugh with Ruby's liveliness.

"Well, if that's it let's go! We might even be the first team to reach the temple!"

"Aye aye!" Ruby said, with Pyrrha laughing. Her laughter was musical and clear, like a wind bell.

"Let's go! All of us, together!" The red haired girl laughed, with the three of them raising their hands to the air. Blake sighed as she seemingly gave up and raised hers to the air too.

And so, together, the four journeyed towards the temple, always going north. Jaune felt particularly happy and ecstatic. The Death Stalker was probably away and, even if it came close, they could deal with it now!

After all, now that it was the four of them, what could hope to match their joint power?

\-\

After the four of them left, none of them noticed the large black feather that silently fell behind them, touching the ground with little to no sound.

"Amongst far-away haze, arises the dawn,
The hyaline dew slowly exhales,
the afterglow harrows.
The ebony cathedral of my dream
appear, in the peaceful sky's merry scream,
all white from sunshine.

And the bell sings in dismal responses:
'Poor Alphonsus, poor Alphonsus!'"

(Alphonsus de Guimaraens, "The Cathedral")

Sorry for the delay. and shorter chapter. My week was hectic and I was trying to figure which scenes should go when and where. Don't worry, I plan to develop properly the new relationships in future chapters but for now, my focus is to properly write the Initiation. Probably it'll be over by next chapter because I feel like it'll drag if I have it go for two or three more chapters. I could but I won't because I don't want to drag you guys and kill you with boredom. You can say this is the First Act of the greater story, but I won't reveal much because I want to see your reactions to some of the surprises I have planned.

Yeah, the poem this time was translated by me. It isn't a good translation, but if someone happens to find a good English version of it, please DM me. My DM's are open and I'll answer as soon as I can, I guarantee!

Oh, and about Blake? Don't worry, there is a reason for why she wasn't recognized. A good reason. But you'll find out in future chapters. Hope you enjoy!