The Emerald Vale

Raishun didn't know how much time had passed before he awoke, but as his eyes fluttered open, he was relieved to see that the sun was still in the sky. Suddenly he sucked in a sharp breath and scrambled away from the sword that lay beside him. Tentatively, he reached a trembling hand out towards the sword, giving it a quick and light tap on the blade before quickly whipping his hand back towards his body. When there was no pain, he firmly took the sword in his hand and raised it so that it shone in the light.

"You're pretty creepy you know…" He murmured, noting how it seemed weightless in his hands. As if reacting to his words, the gem began to glow brightly once more, "IM KIDDING!! YOU'RE PERFECT!!" He shouted in panic.

The gem stopped shining abruptly, as if satisfied with his answer. The blue-haired boy sighed with relief, and with his new weapon in hand, made his way through the small opening in the wall and out into a large forest clearing. The ruins of a temple sat in the center of the clearing, with pillars strewn about, some of which were half-buried in the earth. But what caught his attention the most was the expensive-looking chess pieces sitting on a semicircle of pedestals. Jogging over to it, his stomach dropped when he noticed several of the chess pieces were missing.

"Damn, seriously how long did it take me to get here." He sighed, "I'm almost disappointed in myself."

"I wholeheartedly agree. Now please don't move." A refined feminine voice said from behind him, followed by the sensation of cool metal against the back of his head.

Raishun sucked in a shaky breath, "Goddamnit Alisa, what is up with you and putting guns to people's heads. If you want me to pay you for doing this, then I'd rather just die." Squeezing his eyes shut, he turned and pressed his forehead against the object, "I want it now god, take me. I don't wanna see another wolf or crazy-"

"Didn't I tell you before that my name isn't god?"

He paused, "L-Laura?"

He heard the sound of the girl laughing, causing him to open his eyes. Before him was a familiar white-haired girl, her lips were curved upwards into a cute smile as she giggled. Instead of a gun, she was pressing a small metallic square to his forehead.

"My my, that girl certainly wasn't kidding when she said you disliked that." She stowed the object her coat pocket, and looked up at him apologetically, "Please forgive me, I simply had to try it out for myself."

Stepping past him, she happily ignored his pouting and grumbling as she inspected the different relics surrounding them. She hummed a soft tune as she moved from pedestal to pedestal, until she stopped in front of one with a satisfied nod. "I believe the gold queen would be an appropriate choice for us. Don't you agree?"

"Hm? Yeah sure, I'll let you pick first as thanks for the bread yesterday."

"First? I believe there's been a misunderstanding." Turning on her heel, Laura placed a hand on her chest and looked into his golden eyes with her violet ones. "The rules state that the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the rest of your time at Beacon." She stated calmly, before walking forward until the two were less than a meter apart. "You are the first person I've made eye contact with in this forest; thus, you and I are partners from now on."

She smiled at him brightly, and he felt his cheeks begin to grow warm. "Then as your partner, I'll leave choosing the relic to you." He blurted awkwardly while doing his best to avoid her gaze.

"As I said before, the gold queen is my choice." The white-haired beauty held up the chess piece for her partner to inspect. "I believe it suits me, I am very royal-like after all."

[I guess you could say that. Plus I guess you do dress the part,] He had to bite his tongue to keep from remarking that her attire made her look like a princess, for fear of making things awkward.

Thankfully, before he could make things awkward, a shrill scream rang out from the forest. The pair pulled free the weapons at their waists and turned their attention towards the vast forest that surrounded them, standing shoulder to shoulder.

Catching the confused look from Laura when she noticed the rusted state of his weapon, he put on his best smile, "Don't worry, I'm just having a bad sword day is all. It happens to everyone once or twice-" His smile quickly turned into a scowl when for the second time that day, his head exploded with pain.

Falling to his knees, he raised a hand to clutch his forehead. "GAHH… W-why again--ngh!!..." He could feel his armlet growing unbearably hot again, though it paled in comparison to the migraine he was experiencing.

"Raishun? Please speak to me, what's happening?" The white-haired girl sheathed one of her twin silver blades and helped him to his feet with his arm around her shoulders. The blade in her free hand pointed towards the forest, as the screaming grew closer and closer. She started to back up towards the relics while keeping her eyes focused on the forest.

The steely look of determination on Laura's face quickly melted away as the same man Raishun had met at the opening ceremony burst out of the trees.

"RUN!! GO, GO!! SHE'S A MONSTER!!"

The tall boy hid behind the duo, though he was still clearly visible behind the shorter girl. His chocolate-coloured eyes frantically darted around the edge of the forest, as if he were looking for something.

"Pardon, but who would be the monster?"

"Yeah, I think he's talking about me, pal."

"BWAAAAAGH!!!" The boy turned and scrambled backwards, fearfully looking up at the pink-haired sniper known as Alisa, who sat comfortably atop a pillar, "How the hell did you know I was here?"

"Aww, come on Gil, don't be so mean to me. It wasn't too hard to follow ya with all the noise you were makin'." She cooed, batting her eyelashes at him, "After you heroically saved me from that pack of Grimm ya just ran off. Even though you're the perfect partner for a maiden like me."

"You gave me a bill for: 'Damsel in Distress Experience' after I saved you! That thing had more zeros than my tuition for this school!"

"Yeah I got one too!" Raishun slurred through his headache.

"But didn't you feel like such a hero saving such a defenseless maiden? You even carried me bridal style after I hurt my ankle."

She stared at the Gil with glee, expecting him to become flustered by her statement. Instead he kept staring at her cautiously while trying to hide behind Laura.

Defeated, Alisa let out a small sigh. "I guess ya like tougher girls huh. Fine, I'll let this one slide, everyone gets a free one after all." She nimbly jumped down to join the group with a cheshire smile, "Besides, you're all gonna make big splashes this year anyways, and as an up and coming businesswoman, I can smell the sweet aroma of money coming off all of ya.

"What makes you say that?" Raishun said as he let out a long breath. The pain in his head had finally faded, and he shifted away from Laura to stare at the sniper. "We're just huntsmen in training after all."

"Gil and his lovely cousin here are two of the biggest mysteries at this school!" Tapping her finger against her lips, she slowly circled the group as she spoke, "Both of them are EASILY considered to be in the top ten fighters at Beacon since they beat the instructors during the combat exam. But they have no combat records from their previous school."

Both Laura and Gil seemed to pale. Gil's eyes narrowed into thin slits, and Laura put on a frightening scowl as the two reached for their weapons. Alisa ignored their threats, abruptly she stopped her pacing in front of Raishun.

"And you… Oh, you are just the juiciest piece of info ever!" She pinched his cheek playfully, "No one knows anything about you! You're a blank slate, but you still got accepted into the best school in Vale even with your empty file." Her eyes stared into his amber ones hungrily, he could practically see a bit of drool coming from the corner of her mouth. "You're gonna be the biggest cash cow of all!"

With a hesitant look at the sniper, Gil quickly snatched up a second gold queen piece from the semi circle of pedestals and pulled the sniper away from the foreigner. "My partner everyone… Let's get out of here before any other headaches show up."

"The extraction, let's see…" Laura impatiently tapped away at a metallic device in her hands, a troubled frown quickly appearing on her face, "Urgh… No, I don't want to buy something… AH! No, why are you playing a video now!?!"

Gil calmly moved over to his troubled cousin, towering above his short relative, he poked at the device in her hand several times. "Just press here ... here… then here… and we're done." He smiled, and patted her head proudly, "See, that wasn't so hard. I'm surprised you still don't know how to use your scroll after all this time."

"It's not my fault, these things just keep getting more complex with each passing year." She shrugged off his hand with a huff and moved to stand beside her partner. "And I'm not a child anymore, I'll have you know that I have full mastery over my scroll!"

"Fine, I understand. Would you mind checking my aura levels then? I'd do it myself, but my scroll's out of battery."

Laura opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, her mind racing as she tried to come up with something to say. "Let's start moving, if we're too slow we'll fail the exam!" She said hurriedly, before storming off into the forest, with the rest of the group following closely behind her.