I'm not usually one for counting stats, but I just wanted to note that this story has broken 2,000 views. So that's cool. :)

At The Rakiat: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Anyway, I understand Emerald's portrayal in the previous chapter may have been a bit off-putting, but hopefully this one should shed better light on her. We get a lot of different viewpoints in this chapter!

WHOMP

Emerald Sustrai had seen it coming, being near the end of the line. Was she scared? Definitely. Was she ready? Probably not. But when she found herself soaring hundreds of feet in the air, it was with a strange sense of calm that she readied her weapons, blades snapping forward in preparation for the landing. She could take care of herself, just as always, and so she would.

As the trees rose to greet her, she pulled a secondary trigger on each weapon, and the blades launched forward, trailing behind them a pair of long chains. She could feel the impact as they sunk deep into wood, and hit a switch to begin reeling herself in as quickly as possible. Acceleration became deceleration as she passed just beneath the branch she'd latched to, and she let her chains loose again to turn a dangerously sudden halt into a gentler stop. Moments later, the girl landed on her feet in the middle of the forest, unlatching her blades and drawing them back into position.

It was just like base-jumping, really, but with the wood of trees instead of metal streetlamps to catch her fall. And no police, either, which was a nice change.

What wasn't so nice was the sudden roar from behind that interrupted her self-congratulatory reprieve. Whipping about, the thief found herself confronted with a dark beastly form, the white mask with red markings atop its narrow snout identifying it as some variety of Grimm. She didn't have time to examine it any closer, however, as it lashed forward without warning. The girl had no time to dodge the hit, and while her Aura was enough to prevent the raking claws from piercing her, she was still sent crashing into a nearby tree trunk.

As she stumbled upright, the thief ignored the way the world spun around her in favor of readying her weapons once more. Even through her dizziness, she saw the creature's next attack coming, ducking and rolling beneath its swinging arm and bringing up her left gun to slash and then shoot it in the back. The Grimm only growled in response, spinning on a dime and dropping into a ready crouch.

The two leapt at the same time, the Grimm forward and the thief straight upward to let it pass below. Touching down one foot on the tip of one of its bony spines, she let herself fall forward before kicking off, to put some distance between them. She then loosed a chain to swing around a tree, the change in direction slowing her enough for her to come to a smooth landing, while she was already bringing her other gun up to fire at the charging Grimm. A lucky shot hit it right in the eye, causing it to rear back in surprise more than pain and providing the opening she needed.

Emerald launched herself at the beast, whipping out her chains to wrap around its neck - the blades embedded themselves deep in its flesh, and with a quick tug in opposite directions, its head was neatly removed, rolling to a stop at the girl's feet. Emerald spat off to the side as it instantly began to dissolve.

The distinctive bang of a shotgun behind her had Emerald spinning about again, only to find a boy dressed in black and silvery blues standing there, one heavy-booted foot still resting on the shattered bone mask of another Grimm. Strangely, he was holding up a hand to cover his eyes. "Thought you could use some help." He said, no small amount of smugness in his tone.

"I had it covered!" Emerald rebuked. She didn't need to put up with this guy's crap.

The boy simply chuckled. "Didn't look like that from where I was standing."

Emerald huffed and crossed her arms, looking away. "Says the guy with his eyes covered in the middle of a deadly forest. Seriously, what's up with that?" It made him look ridiculous. Or at least, more ridiculous than he already did.

"Hey, I want to keep my options open, okay? Don't need to get stuck with someone I hate for the next four years, just because of this stupid test." The thief hated to admit it, but he had a point there. She already had a partner in mind; that girl she'd 'accidentally' fallen on yesterday evening hadn't had anything in her pockets, but had offered to let the stranger take the spot next to her. Someone nice and gullible who bought her 'helpless klutz' act easily.

Aloud, she only said "You're such a tool."

Strangely, he smiled at that, throwing his arms wide as he proclaimed "I aim to please."

They stared at each other for several moments before they realized his mistake, and spoke simultaneously. "Aw, crap."

Melanie Malachite ran through the forest as fast as she could, fueled by a potent mix of single-minded determination and desperate worry. Anyone else would have had trouble making their way through the thick undergrowth and foliage, but the tireuse was an expert in balance, and easily instinctively found the right places to set her feet down even with her hurried pace, and letting her bladed heels take up the slack when the going got particularly tough. Truthfully, this was new to her, being more accustomed to the more urban, hard-floored environs of Vale, but experience with many an expensive imported rug had taught her to keep her weight on the balls of her feet and not to stop long enough to settle back, when working with softer ground like this.

Gotta find Millie, gotta find Millie ran through her head repetitively, driving her onward. Miltiades (or Militia if you were close family, Millie if you felt like taking risks, Mills if you were outright suicidal) could take care of herself, Melanie knew, but still she worried. Despite having been born only three minutes earlier, the protective older sister instinct was strong within her, and she needed to make certain with her own two eyes that her sibling was safe. Plus, I don't want her to end up partnered with some tall creepy guy…

Up ahead, a creature of Grimm was prowling past with its back turned to her, and without breaking stride, the white-dressed girl leapt up and sunk her heels into the middle of its back before it could noticed. Unfortunately, it instantly reared up at the contact, catapulting her into a tree. Surrounded by thick, leafy branches for the second time today, the tireuse let out a long sigh. It had taken an embarrassingly long time for her to get down the first time, and that had been without the added complication of an angry Beowulf clawing at the trunk. As good as she was with her boots, they made climbing rather more difficult than it needed to be. She didn't even move for several moments, just listening to the grunts and snarls below, and hoping against hope that her sister would be okay.

Then suddenly, she heard the sound of running footsteps. Shink! A dull thud and a wet squelch. Shink! Another, larger thump. Pushing aside a smaller branch, she saw some boy in black and red standing over the dissolving Grimm, hand still on his sheathed sword. With its back to him, the creature had been caught unawares as he stabbed it through the middle and then pulled up to cleave it in half. Before the girl could hide herself again, he glanced upward, most likely curious as to what had attracted the beast's attention, and their eyes met.

"Um, hi-" She was interrupted as he drew his sword again, making a single aura-infused slash upwards, and several of the tree branches around and under Melanie were left to fall to the ground - bringing her down with. Leaves fluttered and wood crashed around her head, and the girl landed in an undignified pile in front of the boy. Climbing to her feet shakily, she stretched an arm out to shake hands with her new partner. "Thanks for that, I guess." Inwardly, she was wondering who in their right minds would wear a belt made of domino tiles.

He seemed to be sizing her up as well, brown eyes roving across the top of her head and then down to her legs as though he was looking for something. Whether he found it or not she didn't know, but his scowl told her he didn't like the result. "Let's get this over with." At that, he spun on his heel and began walking away, not bothering to check if she would follow.

"You really know how to make a girl feel good about herself…" She muttered, trailing behind. His pace was sedate, forcing her to fight her way through the thick undergrowth this time, and her frustration rose. She'd been afraid for her sister, but now she was the one stuck with some tall creepy guy. Even with this, though, she couldn't help but worry for her sister. Militia was probably lost, scared, and lonely…

Militiades Malachite was on-course, unafraid, and was perfectly content with her company. The moment she'd landed, using her claws to spiral down a tree trunk, a short girl had casually floated on by with a parasol, landing on the ground with a lackadaisical spring in her step. Sure, her silence had been off-putting at first, but a few quick hand gestures had helped the red-hued girl realize her new partner was mute, even if she didn't actually understand the sign-language. It didn't take long to find the main path the Headmaster had alluded to, and while there were plenty of Grimm, the two dispatched them easily enough. Indeed, their silence was a companionable one, the two of them simply enjoying the forest's natural beauty in between adrenaline-pumping but all-too-brief fights.

Her partner had an interesting appearance to her, with her long hair separated into two distinct colors; the left half pink and the right half brown. Her eyes were heterochromatic, but inverted, the left one being brown while the right was pink. She wore knee-high white boots over brown pants, and a strange white-and-pink jacket with the lower half of the front cut off to reveal a brown corset beneath, so the back served as something of a cape. Over one shoulder rested her weapon, a dainty-looking parasol that Militia had seen blocking crushing blows from the Grimm, and which could become a lance to spear them through.

The comfortable mood was spoiled for Militia by one thing, though - her sister. She knew Melanie could take care of herself even on this uneven ground, but she had no doubt her elder twin (by a mere two minutes) would be running herself ragged to find and partner with her sister. Part of her felt guilty over it, but on some level she was glad she wouldn't be stuck with her sister for the next four years. She loved her sister, she really did, but having a life outside of that, a sense of individualism… it had been something she dreamed of for quite some time now, and Melanie's overprotective tendencies only exacerbated the issue. That was part of why she had cut her hair short. That was part of why when she locked eyes with someone completely unfamiliar, she let out a sigh of relief.

Though it looked like she'd need to learn some sign language.

Her pondering came to a close as the duo arrived at the top of a ledge overlooking what could only be the forest temple. The ruins of a rotunda, it consisted of a large round stone slab carved with an intricate radially symmetrical design, surrounded by a brick wall - though most of it had tumbled away to provide easy access. Inside of that was a handful of tall pillars holding up the remains of a stone circle, and inside of that a much larger number of shorter columns.

"Think this is it?" Militia asked. It seemed too easy, really. Her mute companion simply glanced at her with a grin, the message clear. Obviously, she seemed to say.

"Think this is it?" Melanie asked. The cave entrance before them was thoroughly uninviting, but the narrow path they'd stumbled upon led here.

"Obviously not." The tall boy said, speaking for the first time since they'd met up. "Look at the indents there and there," he waved an arm at the forest floor; Melanie couldn't tell the difference, "and the marks on that rock." This she could see, one of the large stones positioned by the cave mouth covered in a crude illustration of many small figures fighting against some sort of giant scorpion with spears and bows. "It's a deathstalker, and from the looks of the carvings, an old one. I'm sure you at least understand that Grimm get smarter and stronger the longer they live. There's the possibility it's been slain by now and the cave is empty, but that's not a chance I'm willing to take. Only a complete idiot would go in there."

Melanie had to shake off a sudden feeling that the universe was laughing at some strange inside-joke. "Okay, so this isn't it. Should we, like, try the other way, then?"

The boy just rolled his eyes. "Are you going to keep asking stupid questions? Of course we will. Try to keep up." Once again, he was already leaving, not bothering to check whether the tireuse was following.

Stamping her foot in frustration and accidentally stabbing her heel deep into the ground, she let out an enraged shriek. "I HATE you!" After pulling herself free again, she set off after him. She was still so busy fuming over this injustice that she missed the sound of shifting stones echoing from deep within the cave...

Roman wore his customary smug grin, but internally he was fuming over this injustice. His first few moments after landing among the trees had been miserable, and it had all been topped off with the girl he vaguely recalled fruitlessly trying to rob a couple of months ago stumbling into into him, yelling at him and nearly revealing his secret to the observing Beacon staff, while locking him out of a partnership with Neo. Now after cooling down and introducing herself as Cinder Fall, she was walking in front of him, acting calm yet still passive-aggressively insinuating that he was the one who had wronged her by being present. After a while, he'd entirely tuned her out, having no patience for the gratingly conversational tone she used to insult him. Not long after that, she had fallen silent, but the tension between them was still palpable.

Fortunately, respite was provided as an enormous black form burst through the trees. Roman wasn't familiar with the types of Grimm, but the bulky shape and clumsy swipes of this one made him think of some kind of bear. It roared loudly, its bluster backed up by the strength of its blows as it rushed them.

Roman dodged to the right, Cinder to the left, and he brought up his cane to fire several screaming flares against its side. The fireworks were flashy, but still powerful enough to shatter concrete… yet this thing seemed barely phased. Cinder grabbed one of the capsules from her bandolier, uncapping it and tossing a red powder over their attacker's snarling face. Then, to his shock, she flicked her fingers to summon a ball of flame over one hand, and hurled it at the beast. The Dust, as it was wont to do, ignited spectacularly, creating a massive explosion that threw all three backward away from the blast.

Roman found himself lying flat on his back, looking at the blue sky visible through small gaps between the green tree canopies. Perhaps he should just stay here. This stupid mission had turned out to be far more effort than it was worth, and it was starting to feel like the universe was out to make him suffer. Was Oum up there somewhere, having awakened from his slumber just to laugh at the criminal?

Such existential ponderings would have to be left unanswered, however, as the broad white bone-mask of the bear Grimm came into view on his left, snarling at him. Roman rolled over and leapt to his feet, Melodic Cudgel at the ready - only for a burst of fire to nearly take off his head as it spun toward the monster.

Now that he could see that the explosion had done some damage, after all; it was missing an arm, leaving it lopsided, and the bone mask was covered in hairline cracks and stained with soot. Cinder launched herself past Roman, a cold rage in her eyes as she threw a flurry of fireballs at the beast, but it hardly flinched, the dark fur seeming to absorb the flames. Roman knew what he had to do, firing off a single flare at the beast's head.

This time it did the trick, shattering the already-weakened bone-mask. Shards flew everywhere, but one particularly large chunk went straight downward, tearing through the bear's head. After a moment, it slumped, red eyes going dark as it collapsed to the forest floor and began disintegrating into smoke.

"That could have gone better." Was all the criminal offered, slumping downward as he panted. He was no fighter, and the sudden onset of exhaustion left him unable to provide his usual wit.

"I'll need to use less Dust next time…" Cinder muttered to herself, already setting off again. "If I could find some way to regulate how much I expend…" Without looking at him, she grabbed Roman by the collar, all but dragging him behind as she headed on northward. Shortly after, they emerged into a wide clearing, to behold a scene of pure madness.

Not long after meeting with his… prickly partner, Mercury had finally found his way to the main pathway that led to the supposed temple. Now the pair walked along, easily beating back the occasional Beowulf or Boarbatusk that tried to challenge them. Feeling no hurry, he'd decided to start a conversation.

"So… I don't believe I caught your name." He said, putting his arms behind his head to stretch a bit.

"Emerald. Pleased to meet you." was the dark girl's succinct response, sounding anything but.

"Wait… your name is Emerald…" Mercury began. She glared at him, promising pain if he continued, but he kept on. "And we're in…"

"Don't you dare."

"Emerald's forest!" Mercury flashed a grin in her direction, and she looked to be visibly restraining herself from throttling him. She didn't respond, turning back forward in silent anger.

That hadn't been the desired effect.

But after a while, she spoke up. "And you? What's your name?"

Mercury let his arms down, turning to her in genuine surprise. "You mean, you don't recognize me?"

Emerald just crossed her arms. "Was I supposed to?" She resentfully glared forward, refusing to even look at him.

"Well, I'm just surprised. People usually know my name before I get to learn theirs. It's honestly kind of refreshing to meet someone who hasn't at least heard of me in passing." If Mercury was honest with himself, he didn't wholly mind the fame and recognition that came with his achievements. The press's apparent inability to understand the concept of privacy was annoying and the occasional fangirl (or boy) a menace, but the perks that came with it made up for that, for the most part. So long as he didn't dwell on the contrast between all of that and what had come before…

He shook his head to dispel those thoughts, turning back to Emerald. "What humility you have there," she was saying in a deadpan tone. "I tremble in my boots, knowing that I walk beside such a god among men and faunus." Mercury wasn't sure whether to give a bitter chuckle or take the joke in stride, his ego conflicting with other thoughts. Before he could decide on a response, however, everything went batshit insane.

It began with a blur of white streaking between them, followed by a stream of expletives. Turning around, the duo saw an edgy-looking faunus rush out of the treeline into the path. Not a second later, the trees he'd emerged between toppled over to reveal a massive black-and-white scorpion with a golden stinger - a Deathstalker, if memory served. The thing paused long enough to let out a bone-chilling shriek before surging forward again, snapping its pincers at the boy. Emerald reacted instantly, swinging one of her chains out to wrap around the Faunus, yanking him toward them just a moment before the stinger plunged downward into the spot he'd been running. Whipping the boy past them before letting go, it was Emerald and Mercury's turn to run as the giant Grimm rushed to catch up.

For his part, the boy stumbled to his feet and stopped himself with his blood-red blade right before he would have collided with a stone pillar. Indeed, up ahead was a wide open area with a small half-broken roundel at the opposite end, clearly the forest temple. A white-dressed girl, the one who had passed them a few seconds ago, stood in the middle, gaping back at the monstrous Grimm like a deer caught in the headlights.

Mercury turned back for just a second, aiming the sole of his boot at the oncoming arachnid and firing. The blast caught it in one eye, causing it to recoil, buying the pair enough time to cross the meadow and into the temple. As they did so, the faunus boy passed them, rushing headlong back toward the deathstalker with his weapon sheathed. Was he insane?

If that wasn't enough, Mercury turned around to see two other students; some guy in a bowler cap and the girl who he'd met in the auditorium yesterday, firing at the Grimm from the tree-line. The boy's cane was shooting off a stream of screaming fireworks that impacted against the monster's many many legs, slowing it down. The girl was like a living flamethrower, letting out a massive burst of flame from her palm, throwing in Dust powder to increase the potency of the attack. Still, they didn't seem to be doing too much to it…

The faunus reached the Deathstalker and was instantly swatted aside, but he easily used the momentum to roll backward and land on his feet. His sheath was held out, sword only half drawn; it was glowing red, as were the highlights in his hair. He snapped his sword down into the sheath, and the glow ceased. He instantly rushed back toward the arachnid, only to get knocked to the other side again.

Emerald decided to take action now, running back toward the monster and letting out her chains, swinging around herself to build up momentum before launching them at the tail. "Have we all turned into a bunch of idiots?" Mercury rhetorically asked the girl still in the temple, before taking off as well.

What happened next was the most perfect example of accidental teamwork seen in that forest yet, everyone doing their own thing in just the right combination, with just the right timing, for everything to go perfectly. Emerald cut off the amber stinger, which crashed down on the spot where the base of the tail met the body. Mercury was passed by the unfamiliar girl, who used her bladed heels to force one flailing pincer aside, while Mercury used the other as a springboard to pass over the Deathstalker's head and land right atop the golden stinger. A sharp downward kick boosted by a pair of shotgun blasts sent him rocketing upward while the stinger stabbed through its bony protection and into the ground, pinning it in place.

Then the Faunus rushed into the opening created between the sets of pincers, and gave a single diagonal slash across its face. That was all that was needed. Time seemed to slow down, the light from the sun dimming as reality was colored in black and red. The Deathstalker split in half down its length, then began to dissolve, the motion passing outward from the cut. Instead of the customary smoke of most Grimm, though, it was turning into rose petals…

Then reality returned to normal, time resuming as normal, as the boy slammed his sword back into its sheath. All traces of the Deathstalker were completely gone, rose petals and all, and Mercury was suddenly falling onto nothing but open grass. Fortunately, it just took another blast from his boots to slow his fall, and he landed gently right next to the shallow hole made by the scorpion's stinger.

The two who had been in the treeline came forward, joining the group in the middle of the clearing. Everyone was looking at the faunus with a mixture of awe and perhaps a touch of fear, but he merely stood silent.

"Well, that was… a thing." Mercury said, recognizing the awkwardness that came from suddenly being recognized after an unexpected feat. After all, that was how he'd felt after his first time winning the tournament. Well, awkwardness and a few… other emotions, but those were less applicable here. "Listen, we've found the temple. Why don't we grab our relics and go, before anything else like that shows up."

The black-haired girl fiery girl nodded at this. "Let's not waste any more time out here than we need to." With that, the six began walking back toward the stone roundel.

Atop the shorter set of columns arrayed around the edge, they found a variety of chess pieces. Some were black, some were gold, but the black ones were nearer to them. Mercury and Emerald got there first. "What do you say to a pony?" He asked, holding up a black knight. Emerald simply shrugged, but her eye-rolling seemed somehow less hostile than before.

The other kickboxer of the group picked up a black rook. "This okay?" She asked the faunus, tone subdued. He simply grunted, and she took that as a yes.

The pyromancer and the bowler-hat boy arrived last, having held back to exchange words. She looked unhappy about something, not even stopping to look as she snatched the other black knight off the next pillar over before turning to leave.

"I can tell this has been a real bonding experience," Mercury commented. Glancing upward, he was surprised to find the sun still high in the sky; it somehow felt like a week or two had passed since his arrival at Beacon yesterday.

Then his eyes went wide as the sun was blocked out by a large shadow. He pushed Emerald away, just in time for both of them to avoid being impaled by the sudden rain of enormous feathers over the clearing...

Tireuse: female practitioner of Savate, a french martial art that combines elements of western boxing with graceful kicking techniques.

I hate research. I hate research. The fact that I looked up a bunch of stuff about kickboxing to find something like this should tell you how much I like the Malachites and wish they would return in the actual show and oh god I'm making myself sad again.

The brief fight scene with Emerald and the beowulf was completely unplanned. It just occurred to me when writing Emerald's fall that nobody had encountered any Grimm yet, and it would be a bit before they would, either, with the way I initially had things planned. Thus, I decided to fix that, and simultaneously show of Emerald's abilities in such a way as to hopefully thoroughly disprove the misconceptions from her introductory scene. That also indirectly caused me to write more Grimm encounters into the following scenes.

The Deathstalker fight wasn't originally part of the plan, with Adam and Melanie stopping by the cave just long enough to obliviously mock canon!Jaune and moving on, but I realized I actually needed them to fight it to set up for what I have planned next chapter.

It's also worth noting that I originally planned for there to be playing cards or domino tiles instead of chess pieces, but I quickly realized there was no way to match them to each other like the chess pieces, and there was no in-universe justification for the change. As lazy and unoriginal as it felt to me, I stuck with the chess pieces.

On a different note, I wanted to recommend a pair of really good fanfics. Weiss vs Atlas is the single best post-vol-3 fic I've read; unlike many of the reaction fics that go too saccharine or too dark, it takes the new developments from this volume and spins its own story off of them, chronicling Weiss's experiences returning to the politics of Atlas. Plus, Neon, Flynt, and Ciel play a huge role, so that's fun. The other one is Arc of the Revolution, an AU where Jaune's transcripts into Beacon are discovered, and through a very long and strange series of events, he ends up creating his own faction to bring a necessary change to Remnant. It is at once absolutely hilarious and still capable of being deadly serious when needed, and takes an in-depth look at a lot of the things about the setting we take for granted, and the realistic consequences of such, even as Jaune blunders his way to the top.

It also brought up an interesting point that jives pretty well with my planned backstory for the Twins, which is at once fairly straightforward and also kind of not. I'll get into that more when it comes up in the story, though.

Oh yeah - along with the initiation arc, which is drawing near its close, I have now better planned out what I want to do with the chapters following that. The Badge And The Burden, the Jaundice arc, and The Stray are all very character-driven installments, and without those characters in those positions, I'm left both with an absence of guidelines that might help my planning, and the presence of lots of opportunity to work with these characters relatively unrestricted. I plan to take advantage of that, and I hope you'll let me know how that turns out, for better or for worse.