Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.

Ballroom, Beacon.

8:52 AM.

Lima dragged himself out of his sleeping bag, fighting the desire to go back to sleep as best he could.

Teak’s worried voice helped a bit.

“Oh god, were going to be late!” Teak said nervously, “Lima!”

“Okay, okay.” Lima whined, “I’m up.”

“We missed breakfast!” Teak squeaked, looking around at the mostly empty room. “and-”

The PA System crackled to life, interrupting him.

“Will all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for Initiation.” Glynda Goodwitch said over the speakers, “Again, will all Beacon first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff immediately.”

“Alright, let's go grab our stuff out of the lockers then,” Lima said sleepily, “There is plenty of time, man, relax.”

“We have less than five minutes!” Teak cried.

Lima yawned.

Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.

Beacon Cliff, Beacon.

9:00 AM.

Lima strode towards where the other first-years were lined up on a series of square grey platforms, the Academy’s insignia was carved into the face of each.

Ozpin caught sight of them before Glynda did, and Teak immediately cracked.

“Sorry, sir!” Teak squeaked. “We-”

Lima placed his hand on the shorter boy's shoulder.

“Morning, Sir,” Lima said easily, “It took a bit longer than I expected to put my face on; we aren’t late, are we?”

“You’re cutting it a bit close,” Ozpin said, amused. “Not to worry, please line up on the platforms.”

Goodwitch looked over at the comment and frowned at them but didn’t say anything. Weiss gave them the evil eye when they wandered passed. There were more platforms on the cliff then students, which was curious. There had been a lot of first-years in the ballroom last night, he hadn’t gotten a full count, but there might have been a couple missing.

Early drop-outs? It didn’t matter, either way, Lima planted his feet on the platform, bouncing on the balls of his feet to see if it had any give, but it didn’t move an inch. Were they elevators platforms? Or perhaps they had a cut of gravity dust beneath them, and they would float down to the base of the cliff.

Ozpin and Glynda spoke quietly for a few more moments before they both turned to face the line of students.

“Good morning,” Ozpin said simply, before clearing his throat. “For years, you have trained to become warriors, Hunters. Today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest.”

Glynda nodded before speaking.

“Now, I'm sure that many of you have been hearing rumors, from family members or friends, about the formation and assignment of teams.” Glynda said pleasantly, “Well, allow us to put an end to your curiosity; Each of you will indeed be given teammates today.”

Ozpin spoke up once she had finished; they had clearly rehearsed this.

“The teams that you form today, and the individual teammates will remain with you throughout your entire stay at Beacon.” Ozpin said solemnly, “Thus, I am sure that you all realize that it is in your best interest to be paired with someone who you can work well with, someone who you can place your trust in.”

Ozpin paused for a moment.

“With that being said.” Ozpin said wryly, “The first person that you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years.”

There was a wave of alarm from the other students as they digested the news; the short girl in the red cloak looked particularly overwhelmed.

“After you have found your partner,” Ozpin continued easily over the muttering, “Make your way to the Northern end of the forest, but beware, you will encounter opposition along the way.”

Ozpin gave them all a searching look, and Lima wondered what the man was thinking.

“Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path,” Ozpin said seriously, “Or you will die.”

Lima grinned, a forest filled with enemies that could only be Grimm. Destroying everything in his path was something he could get behind. It had been a stressful few days leading up to this mysterious test, but it was looking like it was definitely something he could handle.

“You will be monitored throughout your journey through the forest, and graded based on your showing,” Ozpin said calmly, “Keep in mind that our instructors will not intervene under any circumstances.”

No saves from the teachers, huh? That was pretty ruthless.

“You will find an abandoned temple at the North end of the forest, containing several relics,” Ozpin continued, “Each partnered pair must select a single relic to represent them, and then return to top of the cliff; That is your objective.”

Head North, kill Grimm, grab a relic, kill more Grimm, kill more Grimm, return to the top of the cliff; Certainly seemed straight forward enough. Glynda took a moment to give them a piece of advice of her own.

“Losing the relic will mean failure, so take care of it,” Glynda warned them, “We will be taking the chosen relics into consideration along with your actions within the forest during the grading phase.”

Ozpin nodded at the comment.

“Very well, are there any questions?” Ozpin said with finality.

Lima turned his head to observe Jaune as he called out from his place on the first platform.

“Yeah.” Jaune said hesitantly, “Sir? I have a question-”

“Good!” Ozpin said cheerfully, completely ignoring the guy. “Now, go ahead and take your places on the platforms.”

Lima lowered his stance on the platform, getting ready just to jump off the cliff to get a head start in the forest. The platform dropped an inch and then flung up, sending him up into the air and straight over the cliff.

He started laughing; they weren’t elevators, after all; they were launch pads.

Beacon was awesome.

Teak’s terrified shout caught his attention a moment later, and he twisted in the air until he was falling backward. Teak’s arc was a bit higher than his own and angled slightly away from him, so he adjusted his own path with his semblance until he was back on an intercept course for his friend.

Teak caught sight of him barely a moment before he collided with him, and he hooked a hand around the guys back and slowed there fall until they dipped beneath the tree line.

“Thank you.” Teak said, relieved, “I thought I was going to die.”

They touched down lightly on the grass, and he let the short boy go. The trees were pretty tall here, and some of the trunks were thicker around, then he was tall. Lots of shadows and leafy camouflage from the smaller, more densely packed bushes.

“No worries,” Lima said cheerfully, flipping the folded up bow into the air a few times. “Have you learned how to use your Aura defensively yet?”

“The instructors that awakened our Aura showed us how. I’m not at the point where I can do it unconsciously yet.” Teak said embarrassedly.

Teak followed his example and quickly expanded his sword.

“It becomes second nature after a while, just keep it up as often as you can to speed it along,” Lima said idly, before blinking. “Hey! We're partners now, and you thought you were finally getting rid of me.”

Lima started North along one of the more open areas in the trees, and Teak followed.

“I wasn’t trying to get rid of you at all.” Teak said honestly, “You’re the only person I really know anyway.”

Lima tilted his hand back and forth a few times.

“You know Pawpaw and Jaune.” Lima pointed out easily.

Teak shook his head at the nickname.

“I’ve only spoken to them once.” Teak said nervously, looking down under one of the nearest bushes. “There's a snake.”

Lima waved it off.

“You met me yesterday, so it’s not like we know each other that much better.” Lima grinned back at him for a moment. “Hah, you could have ended up on Weiss’s team, imagine that.”

Teak pouted at him.

“That’s not funny,” Teak complained, before freezing in place. “Lima, what’s that feeling-it’s like somethings watching us?”

Lima raised an eyebrow at him; he must be pretty receptive to his Aura if he was already picking up on the hostile intent of nearby Grimm.

“There's a Grimm nearby, not sure what yet,” Lima said easily, pointing off to his left. “Over there somewhere.”

Teak stumbled to catch up to him as he kept on walking.

“You don’t sound very worried,” Teak said hesitantly, eyeing the direction he had pointed.

“I’m not, I've been killing these things since I was, uh-” Lima tilted his head in thought, before waving his hand. “Seven? Something like that, it’s been a while anyway.”

“Seven?” Teak asked, concerned, “You had to have had you’re Aura back then-”

Teak swung around to face where the small Grimm was emerging from between two large trees. He held his sword up nervously, but the Beowolf gave it no mind as it leaped at him. Teak swung out at it desperately, and his longsword lodged in its upper shoulder, pinning it to the ground.

“Nice, pull your sword out,” Lima said cheerfully and stomped on it’s back, holding it down. “Lima’s Life Lesson: The bone plates that cover most Grimm are quite durable; thus, its best to aim for the places that aren’t covered in armor, like the neck, or the limbs.”

Teak looked terrified as he yanked his sword out of the Beowolf and took a hasty step back as it clawed desperately at him from beneath Lima’s unmoving foot.

“Go on then, give it the pointy end,” Lima said easily, gesturing at its neck.

Teak circled around it until he was almost behind it, and he brought his sword up. Teak looked at him for a moment, almost as if to ask for permission, before he chopped it’s head off. The Beowolf stopped struggling and started evaporating a moment later.

Lima clapped his hands once, and Teak jumped at the sudden noise.

“Congratulations! You’ve killed your first Grimm!” Lima wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and sniffled. “I’m so proud of you, baby boy!”

“Stooop.” Teak pleaded, still eyeing the decaying Grimm. “The Beowolf, it was um-weaker than I expected?”

“That was a young one; it leaped straight at you, didn’t even try to flank, despite the weapon.” Lima said easily, “They get a lot smarter than that, start to group up with others, and can get a lot bigger as well.”

Teak listened intently, and Lima felt a bit awkward that the guy was looking at him like he was an instructor or something.

“Anyway!” Lima said gleefully, striding northward once more. “Let's go find some more!”

Teak fell in step beside him, they fell in a small silence for a while, with only the sound of twigs snapping beneath them until several minutes later, Teak spoke up.

“Why did you want me to kill it?” Teak asked quietly.

Lima hummed for a moment.

“Well,” Lima said thoughtfully, “We are getting graded based on what we do here in the forest, who knows what the metrics they use to decide that, but we can probably weight it in our favor if we stick to the good old combination of teamwork, willingness to learn and making good choices, right? Besides, if I just killed everything we came across, you wouldn’t get a chance to show off.”

Teak met his eyes for a moment before looking away.

“Because we are now partners, if I fail, we both fail.” Teak said weakly, “I don’t want to be the reason you fail, Lima.”

“Then, there's your motivation to kill this Beowolf.” Lima said cheerfully, “I’ll pin its leg, flank it; right side.”

Lima expanded his bow and dashed to the left as the Beowolf cleared the trees, aimed for where he was just standing. He dragged his bow around and fired the spike straight through its front leg, staking it to the ground.

Teak was already following his directions, sword raised as he came in from the right flank. The Beowolf howled in anger as it struggled to rip its leg free, but its call was cut short as Teaks sword decapitated it a moment later.

“Nice one,” Lima said happily. “That was a lot cleaner than the first one; you learn pretty fast, man.”

The Grimm started disintegrating between the two, and Teak watched it for a moment before looking over at him.

“Thanks,” Teak said sheepishly, “It would have been a lot harder if you hadn’t pinned it.”

Lima waved him off again.

“Give yourself some credit,” Lima said, amused, “Lima’s Life Lesson: Fighting is just finding the best opportunity to do the most damage to the opponent while taking the least amount in return. You’re strong enough to kill a Grimm of that size with a well-placed swing, just keep an eye out for those moments, and you’ll be fine.”

Teak nodded firmly.

“I will,” Teak said seriously, before hesitating. “L-lets go find some more?”

Lima grinned at him.

“We are getting married, Teak,” Lima said cheerfully, “We will have a horde of little Teak-Lima hybrids and train them all up into Grimm killing machines, it will be swell.”

“Swell isn’t really the word I’d use when describing an army of little Grimm killing machines.” Teak squeaked out, faintly red.

“You’re right,” Lima said seriously before nodded firmly. “I misspoke; What I meant to say was that it would be wholesome.”

“That’s even worse!” Teak cried. “Is that smoke?” Teak asked, sniffing the air, “Did someone start a fire?”

Through a gap in the leaves, a thick column of smoke could be seen to the north-east.

“It is,” Lima said thoughtfully, “We should probably get a move on if we don’t want to get caught if it spreads.”

The feeling of being watched was slowing creeping up on them both once more, and Teak fell silent.

“You want to take the lead on this one?” Lima suggested, “Toss me some directions, bossman.”

“U-um, okay.” Teak said nervously after a moment. “I’ll distract it this time, and you kill it from the side?”

“Yes, sir!” Lima saluted.

“Stooop,” Teak complained but moved closer to the treeline.

The Beowolf lunged out of the bushes and headed for the closest target, Teak. The Faunus managed to block its swiping claw attack, and Lima circled around to its side in an instant. He lifted his bow and put a spike straight through its head a moment later. The spike lodged into a tree on the other side of the clearing, and the Beowolf dropped to the forest floor dead.

“Wow, it went straight through the bone plating.” Teak said, surprised.

Teak stepped back from the vanishing monster and looked over at where the arrow had struck. Lima used his Aura to manipulate the cut of gravity dust in the quiver, and the strip along the bottom of the spike lit up purple. The spike spun through the air; when it came into his range, he caught it out of the air and resheathed it in the quiver.

“Good planning on the fly there; you’re getting better even time.” Lima said easily, “You don’t really seem like the tanking type though, so drawing its attention and then evading, instead of locking it into a power struggle, is probably a safer bet next time.”

“Yeah,” Teak agreed immediately, “It was a lot stronger than I thought it was, and I’m not really good at the Aura thing yet.”

“It’ll come in time, don’t worry,” Lima said cheerfully. “This smoke is starting to get annoying, lets up the pace a bit; see if we can’t circle wide of the worst of it.”

“Okay.” Teak said happily.

They took off through the trees, angling more Northwest to get around the worst of the smoke, before striking back out to the east, and eventually, they started to come across numerous stones that had clearly been shaped for building. None of the structures were intact, though, and they littered the forest in small pockets.

“This was a settlement of some kind, a long time ago,” Teak said quietly, “It must have been abandoned for thousands of years.”

“Really,” Lima said curiously, “Must have been a pretty big place, there are even pillars all the way over there, past the clearing.”

“If we pass the test, I’ll look it up later,” Teak said easily, “I like this kind of thing.”

“History guy, huh?” Lima said pleasantly, “That’s pretty cool, I’m a fan of myths and heroes, the great warriors of each age have some pretty awesome tales.”

“It’s a shame so much of it was lost in the war,” Teak sighed, “It’s all just guesswork and attempts at recreation now, well that’s what it seems like at least. Being able to see old places like this, though...”

“Finally decided that being a Huntsman is pretty cool after all? They grow up so fast.” Lima teased, holding his hand up to the guy's normal height. “Why I still remember when you were this big!”

Teak huffed before smiling.

“Come on then, mother,” Teak said snootily, striding off. “We have a relic to find; we can’t spend all day pottering about in the woods.”

“Oi!” Lima said, offended, “I’m the funny one in this partnership, get your own schtick.”

“Yes, yes, mother, we’ll get some on the way home.” Teak said distractedly. “Don’t dawdle now, or we’ll be late.

Lima pouted. The stumbled upon the relics sometime after, most of which were already gone.

“Guess we were a bit late, huh?” Lima said cheerfully.

“Its because you wanted to stop and kill every Grimm in the forest.” Teak complained, “My arm hurts in a way I've never felt before.”

“Swinging that sword around,” Lima snickered. “It’ll get easier.”

The relics turned out to be a series of black and white chess pieces, all lined up on stone pedestals. Someone had already taken both of the Kings, the absolute bastards, how dare they.

Lima pouted.

Teak watched him hesitantly, wondering what was wrong.

“Lima?” Teak asked worriedly.

Lima snatched the Black Queen off the pedestal, spinning to stare at Teak.

“Fine, if I can’t have a king,” Lima declared solemnly, before shouting at the top of his lungs. “Instead, we will have a Black Queen! Beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Tempestuous as the sea, and stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love us and despair!”

“U-um.” Teak said, bemused, “I don’t think that’s quite how it went in the movie.”

Lima was to busy cackling to himself to hear him.