Yavinus here, now this time is the moment when ABRN is formed! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing this chapter.

It was a nice day, the sun shining, birds chirping, and all those things that makes a day better and exiting in a small planet with a broken moon, in a solar system that was one of many in the galaxy, in a vast, beautiful and terrifying Universe. Much more if it was the initiation of a new year in the Haven Academy of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Many young teens were waiting for the airships at the skyports, some with visible excitement, others with controlled enthusiasm and a few were facing this particular day in this particular situation with solemn stoicism.

One of those particular people was a dark skinned woman with platinum hair sitting in her chair, wearing a very striking robe and a red necklace. Her partner that was at her left side was also wearing a very similar robe. This young boy was the only one between the presents that was visible bored.

"So, how long it will take until that flying turtle to come here?" Bolin yawned while he grabbed his scroll. It had already been an hour and a half since they arrived, but for some reason, the vehicle that was supposed to take them thirty minutes ago was taking its sweet time and the young teen was one that didn't like to wait.

"It will come sooner or later, being patient was one of our most important lessons that they though us in the Combat Academy, don´t forget It, and less on the first day," Arslan answered drily to his friend. Bolin left a snort and Arslan sighed. "Look its preferable to take things with calm and serenity, many moments like these that will test our own spirit and…"

Arslan couldn't finish her line when she heard the distinct screams of two people while running like if they were in a marathon.

"WE ARE GOING TO MISS THE SHIPS!" the voice of young girl reverberate in the skyport.

"IT'S BECAUSE YOU FORGOT AGAIN ABOUT THE NEW BUS SHELUDE AND I HAD TO RESCUE YOU FROM YOUR OWN CLUMSINESS, AGAIN!" another voice, a male one, responded.

The sliding doors opened to reveal the source of all the scandal, two young teens, one with green hair and another with intense pink, both clearly tired and sweating after running with their own bags all the way. Every one of the future Huntsmen looked at them for a moment before returning on their own matters.

The young girl with green hair walked a few steps before falling down to an empty chair at Arslan's right side, while breathing heavily. Her partner did the same thing. After a minute, the young girl looked at the mildly surprised dark skinned woman and her amused partner.

"So…did we miss it, isn't? She asked.

"Well…,"Bolin said while looking around "I believe that you're in luck today, you see, the ship certainly was worse than the two of you combined in dealing early mornings."

The new arrivals looked at each other before leaving a heavy sigh of both relief and shame.

"Ok, I don't know what class of entity or cosmic force helped us in this crucial moment," the green haired girl raised her hands to the ceiling "but the only thing I have to say is…thank you"

She finished her own personal prayer before her eyes shined with renew energy. "Oh, by the way, I'm Reese Chloris and my friend here is Nadir Shiko, nice to meet you"

Arlsan was about to roll her eyes, surely the Universe wanted to test her own patient, but she didn't expect nothing like that. Maybe it was her training, but seeing these two people, trying to be the defenders of humanity against the darkness, acting like this was…something else.

"My name is Arslan Altan and…," She resisted the urge to sigh, "I have to agree with my friend, Bolin Hori, about your luck. However, you can't count on it from now on."

Nadir nodded shyly in agreement while Reese rolled her eyes.

"She was always like that; I had to save her from situations like these since primary school"

"Well, I had to save your butt too on more than one occasion, like with the incident with the water Dust back at the Calypso Academy, didn't you remember Nadir?" Reese smiled to her friend.

"Don't remind me about, but I have to confess that it was kind of funny at the end" Nadir said while smiling.

Arslan looked at Bolin before returning to the two strange teenagers.

"So, by the looks of you two, maybe you went to the same Combat Academy?" Reese asked with curiosity.

"You are correct on that," Bolin said with a smirk on his face. "The Shaolin Academy is very different from any other one in Mistral"

Both Reese and Nadir made an expression of both surprise and admiration.

"The Shaolin Academy. THE Shaolin Academy?!" Reese screamed in surprise. "That…that is so cool!"

"But, it wasn't between the most exigent Combat Academies in all Remnant?!" Nadir asked with doubt. "I heard that only the best of the best are capable to pass it!"

Arslan simply shroud, occulting her own personal opinions. She didn't like to be praised or being elevated to a pedestal and she didn't gave her a dry look only because it wasn't the time or the place to provoke animosity.

"It isn't that hard," Bolin was taking another attitude. "If you only work hard, wake up on time and don't mess up, anyone could pass the Shaolin Academy"

"Well, you only said it," Reese commented "But, Shaolin, like; the place where the coolest Huntsmen came and can fight an army of Grimm with their own bare hands, without Dust!"

"Yeah, but that's all part of the training," Bolin said without changing his smile. "I was a chump when I entered, and I'm here alive and well"

Arslan ignored the conversation as she was looking at the panels, only to realise that a big figure in the sky was coming closer to them.

"Look, if isn't our lovely ship" Bolin said sarcastically while he grabbed his bag.

Arslan sighed and grabbed her own belongings as the massive aircraft was arriving. When she walked toward the outside, she felt that the others two behind her were following her closely. She didn't pay attention and tough that they wouldn't be such a problem later on.

Predictably, some hours later on, she could only swallow those words during the initiation in Haven Academy.

It wasn't that nobody knew that the initiation involved real Grimm (it was common that every Huntsmen Academy way to test students in their first day) and that they wouldn't receive any outside help after all.

Some people considered this method a little cruel, as the chances of dying were higher, but the Grimm that the students were forced to fight to pass the initiation weren't of the highest classes and neither their number weren't too. Another obvious thing was that the young teen involved had already trained and involved with Grimm in some way or another, so any tragic deaths during that time were thankfully pretty rare and minimal.

Therefore, Arslan wasn't worried about any of that, the Shaolin Academy way of training was specially harsh, involving things like meditating and fighting in the outside during winter without any class of an additional coat over her robe. It was the same with Bolin. The two of them managed to find the other one rather easily, as they both managed to calculated their landings with only an exchanged of glances. It was the benefit of being of being both friends and trained in the same place during four years and the next four together wans't going to be any different.

"So, we have only to collect the chess pieces and that's it," Bolin said while walking through the forest "Piece of cake"

Arslan simple analysed the terrain in front of her, while Bolin was looking for any Grimm footprints.

"I think some humans came over here recently, another pair, maybe they can guide us towards the relics or…" the young teen was interrupt when he heard something coming after them.

The two of them saw a couple of familiar figures, one of them with a pair of pistols and the other one following it while they were firing their weapons against a black mass coming after them.

"Damn Boarbatusk, we cannot walk two steps and there another pack of them!" Nadir screamed while his face contorted by anger and worry.

"Less talking, more running!" Reese responded.

Arslan and Bolin looked at each other and rapidly jumped to their aid, the dark skinned woman concentrating her Aura to liberate a small shockwave with her palm hitting the ground, sending several Grimm to the air while Bolin unleashed the blades of his staff, cutting through the soulless monsters.

Reese and Nadir stopped as they saw their saviours with awestruck expressions before returning to their fight.

"You guys truly are lucky, isn't?" Bolin said while fighting four Boarbatusks at the same time.

"Well, we appreciate your help, but…," Reese pointed out while dodging the incoming Grimm's attacks "I will prefer to talk after we have done with these pests"

Arslan nodded at her; at least the girl had her priorities right. There were thirty monsters after them and it was better to concentrate in the task of exterminate them first.

Nadir positioned himself in a corner, preferring to take down the monster from the distance, while Reese connected her two guns into a hoverboard that she began to ride it, cutting the incoming monsters with bayonets attached on its ends.

Arslan was occupied with a particular mulish Alpha Leader of the Boarbatusks when another one jumped from behind, as the young teen dodge see the another Grimm jumping to her with her hands literally holding the tusks of the bigger monster. Then, a lucky shoot from Bolin killed the monster. Arslan nodded in gratitude and procced to rip off the tusks of the Alpha and impaled them to the head of its owner, dying instantly.

After a moment, Bolin killed the last one and the four humans took a breath of relief of the short, but intense battle.

"Ok, so…you know where the relic is?" Nadir asked while cleaning the sweat of this face with his elbow "Because that's the third pack of Boarbatusks than I and Reese fought in this morning while we tried to decide between the three paths we should take"

"No, we don't know where it is," Arslan said thoughtfully "But I'm interested about the those "paths" you are talking about"

Reese's face changed into an expression of tiredness. "Well, there is a clear just near over here with paved with three paths on it, Nadir said that we could take the right one but it only lead towards a cave full of Grimm. After killing them of, we took the one central one and the result was almost the same."

"And then, when we returned, ANOTHER pack of Boarbatusks were waiting for us," Nadir sighed, "I know that the initiation is not a walk in the park, but come on!"

Bolin repressed a chuckled while Arslan maintained her neutral expression.

"We could take the only one path that it's left and see if the relics are there, we will accompany you." Arslan said while walking towards the clear with Bolin near.

Reese and Nadir shrugged and followed them. Nobody talked while they walked in the paved path; the four of them being attend about any sound that wasn't produced by their footsteps. After ten minutes of walking, they say a peculiar structure in a clear zone, with big chess pieces on some altars. Arslan stopped first and raised her hand in precaution.

"We have to be careful, there could Grimm preparing to ambush us at the moment we…

However, nothing prevented from Reese to rush with her hoverboard towards the relics while Nadir run after her.

"…walk towards it…" Arslan put her left palm in her face while leaving a heavy sigh. In her training, her teachers always pointed out that NOTHING looked like it was at first glance, but it was too late to apply the same to those two reckless children. Reese took one of the chess pieces while screaming with happiness and Nadir was laughing for the first time since they met him.

"They are like puppies," Bolin pointed out with a smirk in his face "Adorable, running a lot and getting into trouble"

"Please don't do that comparison," Arslan said while watching Reese and Nadir making some kind of celebratory dance "I…will prefer to reserve my opinion of them"

Bolin shrugged as they watched the lively pair dancing, Reese doing twirls with her hoverboard without losing balance as Nadir was awkwardly trying to imitative her, only to fall off to the ground. Her friend left a small chuckle and helped him to get up. The green haired woman screamed to Arslan and Nadir at them to come to them, when suddenly, her expression of joy changed towards one of horror.

At that instant, the pair felt something heavy behind them coming closer rapidly. Their reaction was to simple run towards Nadir and Reese, as the former was shooting against their persecutor. Arslan heard a heavy hiss, and by instinct, she jumped and saw an enormous snake's head hiiting the ground, making chunks of soil flying everywhere.

"A king King Taijitu!?" Reese screamed with anger and fear. Then, with a mighty roar, three Alpha Ursas came from the tress, ready to kill and devour their prey. At the same time, with a thunderous howl, a big flock of small Nevermores came from above, going rapidly to the small group. "Ok, this is the way the Universe way to balance things, isn't?"

Arslan was nervous, they were surround by the enemy by almost every angle, and worst, a little window that she closed long ago was opening again. Images of blood and desolation surrounding the place, alone, all alone…

She closed her eyes for a moment.

"Don't do it now, you are here now, not there" It was her personal mantra

She wasn't in the window's view, she was in the present.

"Bolin, take care of the Ursas!" she screamed to her friend. He nodded and jumped towards the Grimm.

"Nadir, shoot down those Nevermores and call their attention, don't let them go near any of us!" Nadir blinked twice in surprise and rapidly pointed his rifle against the flying monsters.

The second head of the King Taijitu opened its mouth and launched against the dark skinned woman. She dodged gracefully and changed her energy in her fist to hit the other head that also was coming towards her. The tactic worked, but the head only retreat a few inches, and the creature was still alive.

"Reese, I need you here to distract the Taijitu, now!" Arslan shouted.

The green haired woman made an expression of doubt, as she didn't want to abandon Nadir alone against the flock of Nevermores, but the young man gave her a reassuring smile. Reese nodded and came rapidly with her hoverboard. With a visible effort, she floated a few meters ahead of the reptilian Grimm while shouting loudly.

"Hey jackass, do you want some delicious meat to eat!" she said while she gave her own butt a few slaps, trying to catch its attention "Come here you double headed malformation"

They were lucky that this Grimm wasn't particularly intelligent or wise enough, because the two heads lifted their head simultaneously, trying to reach the new prey. Arslan gave a heavy breath and positioned herself, her body, mind and soul working in synchronization.

Meanwhile, Bolin was trying to fight against three enemies at the same time, attacking one Ursa while dodging the other two, while trying to make their own attacks hit their own fellows. However, for Bolin it wasn't the time to have fun with the creatures, if he coudn't dispatch them quickly, things could go ugly. He jumped a few meters from the Ursa and prepared his staff while concentrating his Aura.

"This will give me a headchead tomorrow…or maybe right now, but it's for the best"

The three Ursas charged against him at the same time, something that benefited Bolin greatly. A strange yellow light was surrounding Bolin's weapon. Arslan too was being surround by an auburn light while Reese was still distracting the King Taijitu. Then they heard Nadir's scream.

"I did it!" he said while rising his arms "I killed all the Nevermores!"

Bolin smiled as the three Ursas came closer. Arslan was ready for her attack, first by using her red necklace made of fire Dust to create a small fireball, throwing it against the abomination.

"Hey, over here you reptile!" she screamed to the twin snakes.

The Grimm refocused its attention towards the tall woman. Their heads launched at the same time with full force as the three Ursas raised their paws, their claws ready to rip and tear human flesh.

Bolin launched forwards and using the blades of his staff, he attacked the Ursa in the middle, with thee stabs in the throat, killing in it in an instant. Strangely enough, the other two Grimm suddenly had similar wounds and they too died.

At the same moment, Arslan threw a punch with her right powered by her Semblance directly into the dark head of the King Taijitu. Its skull exploded in small pieces and the following white head only managed to saw the small prey using the left hand to finish the job.

With that, the battle was over.

Bolin was the first to left a heavy sigh, followed by a grunt of pain while his left hand was holding his head. Arslan was the first to come to him, holding her friend, her face with a worried expression.

"Are you alright, we know using it can be bad for your head" she simple said with a whisper while Reese and Nadir were coming closer to them

"And that's why I don't use that while is possible, but the situation called it" he simple remarked while giving a weak smirk. "At least they didn't see it" The boy then immediately closed his mouth when the pair were close

"Guys, you were really AWESOME back there," the green haired woman shout while "And..are you ok Bolin?

"Yeah, only a little tired because of the extra effort," the young aspiring Huntsman simple replied "Nothing that a nice nap after this can't cure"

Nadir moved his head with worry, expecting any incoming Grimm.

"I think you still need to take your own relic" he remarked, "It will be better to hurry up, the sooner we finish this, the better"

Arlsan nodded and let Reese to take care of Bolin. She walked towards the structure, grabbed the relic, expecting some sort of trap or another wave of Grimm. After a minute, full of tension, the dark skinned woman left a breath of relief.

"We passed the initiation Bolin, we did it!" she said while her face was a wide smile.

The boy gave a weak thump up while Reese and Nadir did the same.

"So, we only have to wait for the bullhead to come out and…there is it" Reese pointed out the sudden appearance of the ship. They all jumped to the Bullhead, ready to return to Haven Academy.

"Arslan Altan, Bolin Hori, Reese Chloris and Nadir Hori," the headmaster announced while the rest of the students watched the ceremony. "as you retrieved the relic and demonstrated to be capable enough, from now on, you will be team ABRN"

The four people were in front of the headmaster of Haven Academy in different attitudes. Altan and Hori faces were in a stoic expression while Chloris was excited and nervous and Nadir barely controlled the shaking of his legs.

"Lead by…Arslan Altan!"

The cheers from the students and her new teammates was louder than she liked. Bolin gave a clap in her shoulder while Reese hugged her as she was her new best friend (they wans't, really) and Nadir gave a shy smile.

Arslan sighed, she didn't expected to be a leader and the burden of being one wasn't something that crossed her head during the many years training and preparing to being a huntress.

Regardless, she accepted her new position and duties with solemnity. Truly, the Universe wanted to test her own soul if she was worth it.

Author Notes: So, did you like it? This is quite a long chapter compared to others I must say...

Anyway, reviews and constructive criticism is always welcomed. See you next update!