Warning! This chapter contains scenes of epic, descriptive, action-packed violence. This is not recommended for the faint of heart. Proceed at your own risk.

Serrah walked into the assembly hall. They had already been here before for the opening ceremony, but its grandeur still impressed her. After all, it was the largest hall in the entire campus.

As she stood near the entrance of the hall, a few other students bumped into her, apologizing as they hurried through the crowd towards their friends.

There was still a growing crowd formed around David Aureolin Jr. in the far corner. He appeared to be fine from the encounter on the airship, but his face was still a bit deformed from the girl's uppercut to the jaw. More students greeted him as they joined the group, expressing their concerns by asking him whether he was okay, what was he going to do with the girl, and other questions of the like.

On the other side of the room, it was the exact opposite. Unlike the extremely dense area of students orbiting around the ever-so popular Aureolin Jr., the other side of the room was almost empty. The only people there were a few smaller groups of friends and then there was the girl, the same one from the incident on the airship. She was alone for the most part, except for a couple of daring of students who challenged her in a duel, to which her response was disinterest. They eventually drifted away after realizing that she wasn't going to fight them any time soon, leaving her all by herself.

Serrah decided to join her. She noticed that the girl's eyebrows were furrowed, arms crossed, and a slight look of distaste, but she seemed completely fine being alone. As Serrah got closer, she was able to fully view her, unlike when they were on the airship. She had beautiful silky silver hair, falling all the way down her back and to her waist. She was really well built, especially her arms that had a stronger bite than a bark. Her face was near flawless and she stood menacingly and proudly. When Serrah approached her, she only acknowledged Serrah by simply raised an eyebrow.

"Hello!" Serrah said to the girl, trying to make a friendly impression.

The silver-haired girl still had her arms crossed and looking forward, only keeping Serrah in the corner of her eye. She grunted in response.

"What's your name?" Serrah said, trying to prompt a proper conversation.

"Ledo. Nalythia Ledo. What do you want?"

"Well… I'm Serrah Jade, nice to meet you. I just-"

"Wanted to challenge me to another one of those silly duels?" Nalythia asked, now turning towards Serrah, now overshadowing her.

"No- I just- I don't want to challenge you to a duel-" Serrah started.

"Good. Now what do you want?" she asked sternly, but relaxed her shoulders.

Serrah took a deep breath, slightly annoyed with Nalythia, but nether the less she continued.

"I thought that the uppercut you gave Aureolin was well executed," she started, "Where did you train?"

"Altar Academy."

"Oh, that's not too far from here. I went to Crystal Academy."

Nalythia flinched when Serrah mentioned the name.

"I knew someone who went there. That's not near here, is it?"

"No, no. It's far out in Eastern Vytal."

"What made you come to Beacon?"

"My brother. He came here many years ago." Serrah said, carefully.

"Hah…"

All of a sudden, Jake rushed in.

"What'd I miss?" he asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Nothing much," Serrah replied," Oh, this is Nalythia Ledo. Nalythia, this is Jake Kohle."

"Hello!" Jake said cheerily and she nodded in turn. Then Jake gasped, "Oh-my-god-is-she-that-girl-who-knocked-that-guy-out-and-destroyed-his-face!"

"That's one way to put it," Serrah said, while Nalythia frowned. Changing the subject, Serrah asked Jake, "So what did Ozpin want from you?"

"Oh, he just asked whether I had a weapon. I told him I didn't, so he brought me to the armory and gave me this awesome gun," he said, pulled out a pistol from his newly obtained holster.

The pistol was one of the standard issued guns for the Vytal's military force. It had a metallic blue sheen with a greenish-yellow neon stripe running down the side of the barrel. These guns were preferred by the VTSF, the Vytal Tactical Strike Force, since they were easy to carry and packed a punch for its size. The BME-45 (Burst Multi Elemental) was also popular because it was easy to disassemble and modify.

"Cool, huh?" Jake said, admiring his new weapon.

"That's it?" Nalythia asked, unimpressed.

"Uh Jake, that gun doesn't do much against-" started Serrah, before a loud tap on the microphone interrupted her.

Glynda Goodwitch was standing on the stage with Ozpin at her side, with a microphone in hand.

"First Year students, today is your initiation test," she announced, her voice echoing throughout the entire hall. "It will be held in the Forest of Forever Fall this year. Further instructions shall be given upon arrival. Now, if you would like to make your way towards the Port, we shall be embarking on airships."

The airships they took were much smaller than the ones that they took when they first arrived at Beacon; a Bullhead, Jake remembered ever so vaguely from his time at Rutherford. He never flew in one before and was surprised to find it to have quite a simplistic interior. It wasn't exactly luxurious, but it met their needs, consisting simply of two benches facing each other.

No one talked throughout the flight. Most of the students were getting ready, making sure that they all had their gear and their weapons combat ready. Jake sat across from Serrah and Nalythia, both of which had their eyes closed. They had identical expressions on their faces; calm, yet fierce.

Next to him was another boy; Pierre Gris, he said was his name. He didn't seem to be quite as prepared as the other students on their Bullhead. Apparently, he forgot to bring dust for his weapon and spent the rest of the flight cursing to himself under his breath.

Fifteen long minutes later, there was a moment of static crackling on the internal speakers in the airship, and then the voice of Professor Goodwitch.

"We are now five minutes away from the drop zone in the Forest of Forever Fall. You will be traveling at an altitude of 500m and are to airdrop in twenty second intervals."

On cue, the Bullhead started its slow descent. There was a silence for just a second, but then was interrupted by another voice, this time Ozpin's.

"Today's test consists of two parts."

Holographic map appeared on the front wall, showing the geographic location of the area. A red blip traveled slowly across the screen, which represented their airship.

"First, you must locate one of the many creatures of Grimm on which we have attached a tracker. Each of you are provided with an indicator, which will sound at an increased interval as you near your target."

Nine new red dots appeared on the map, some motionless and others slowly milling around.

"Second, you will retrieve an artifact that each creature guards and proceed towards the designated pick up zone."

A large circle appeared on the map, sitting in the epicenter of the red dots.

"It is also to be noted that the first person you meet will be your partner for the next four years at Beacon. Good luck."

There was a barely audible click and the speaker went dead. A few seconds later, there was the sounding of an alarm. The pilot started to shout from the cockpit.

"All right! We are now at 500m. There are indicators near the end of the ship. Don't forget to pick one up before you drop. Thirty seconds before the first drop! Get ready!"

Pierre Gris, who was sitting next to Jake started to panic.

"Where are the parachutes?" he shouted, scrambling around the ship.

"They said you didn't need any!" the pilot shouted back.

The boy stopped dead in his tracks. "What!"

Jake started to get sweaty palms and the Gris's panicking wasn't any help to calm his nerves. He looked over at the two girls sitting across from them. Both Serrah and Nalythia already had their indicators and were ready. The Bullhead's door started to open and the alarm intensified. The ship's hull reverberated a loud roar, as a large rush of air entered the ship.

"Go! Go! Go!" shouted the pilot, beckoning the students out by waving his arm.

Nalythia was the first to jump out. It was more like she just walked up to the door and instantly vanished.

Two minute later, it was just Serrah, Jake, and the boy who were left, from the ten people who were once on board.

"Go!" shouted the pilot.

The boy refused to jump, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Frustrated, the pilot got up, leaving the copilot in control of the ship, and pushed the boy out. Unfortunately, Gris had forgotten his indicator that was still sitting on the bench.

Serrah looked over at Jake. "I'll see you soon!" she shouted over the roar of the wind.

Serrah made her way towards the door and right as she reached the edge she turned around and saluted Jake. A second later, she disappeared.

"Last one! Get ready!"

"Fifteen… Fourteen…" he counted to himself.

He pulled out from his pocket his makeshift grapple hook he made during his years at Rutherford. It wasn't designed to sustain an airdrop, but it was better than falling face flat on the ground. Thousands of thoughts ran through Jake's mind, but he pushed them aside and concentrated on the task at hand.

"Five… Four… Three…"

He clipped the hook onto the rope, which was attached to his harness.

"Two… One…"

Jake ran out the door at full speed and was sucked out of the ship. For just a moment, it felt like he was floating, but he was then met with a mighty rush of air. Adrenaline pumping, he focused on his target: a group of trees next to a small clearing. Jake reached for his grapple hook. He would have to fire it at just the right time to break his fall.

"Five… No- Three… Two… One…"

He fired hook, but it was too late. Jake missed his cue by just a second. Instead of hitting the tree branch, it stuck to the trunk of the tree. He sped downwards beyond the treetop line and swung around the tree in a counterclockwise motion. He was about to come full force into the tree when all of a sudden the wire snapped, sending Jake tumbling towards the ground at an alarming rate. He was heading right for a bush when a girl walked right out of nowhere and into his collision.

"Watch ou-" Jake tried to shout. The girl was only able to turn her head when Jake came crashing into her.

Jake opened his eyes. Was he dead after falling out of the sky? Nope, it didn't seem like it. He was still alive and whole.

"Hey!" said a cute voice.

Jake looked around and realized he was off the ground.

"You were coming at like a mile an hour!"

Jake was still disoriented from the fall, but only then understood that he was being carried.

"What happened?" Jake asked, dazed.

"Well… let's say that you survived the first test; reaching the ground alive. But I did catch you, so you're safe and sound."

He stood up and stretched his back. He looked at his arms, and then moved down to his legs. Nothing broken, barely any scrapes or bruises, and no pain at all.

"How…?"

"Aura. I'm really good with my aura, so I cushioned your fall. But it was really close. One second later and you would have been a pancake. But-" she raised her finger in the air, "There's no time to fool around now. Welcome to the team! I'm Myrilly Flare! Pleasure for you to join us!"

She extended out to shake Jake's hand, to which he complied.

"Jake Kohle. Thanks… for everything."

"No problem! So where are we heading off to?" Myrilly asked, pulling out a map.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Hmm? Didn't you get one from the airship?"

"No… They gave us this," Jake told her, pulling out the stick shaped indicator.

"Interesting… Hmm…" she muttered, closely inspecting it from Jake's hand. "Could it be… A magic wand!"

"Um no. It's supposed to beep when the target monsters are nearby."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure," he said, handing it to her.

She took it, exchanging it for the map that she got on their airship. They walked over towards the nearby clearing and Jake perched himself on a rock, then started examining the map. Based on where he dropped from the ship, they were some few kilometers southwest of the pick up area. He considered their options. The first option was to head straight to the pick up zone and hope that they'll come across a target monster. That was certainly a good idea, but there would be other pairs who were hunting for the targets, lowering their chances for an encounter. There was also the option to hunt for the Grimm. Also another great idea… in theory, but they didn't know where to start.

"Uhhh Jake?!" Myrilly shouted to him from a distance.

"One moment!"

"The thing's beeping!"

"Give me a sec!"

"The things beeping faster!" she shouted, now running towards Jake.

"I said just give me a se-!" he said, finally turning towards her.

The indicator was sounding really fast, almost at a solid tone.

"Oh shoot! The Grimm, they're nearby!" Jake blurted out, scrambling for his gun.

It took a second for Myrilly to register, but then a huge smile crept onto her face.

"Is it time to fight?" she asked, almost innocently.

Jake turned his head slowly towards Myrilly.

"Yes?" he replied, slightly confused.

"Whoo!" she cried in excitement.

The beeping suddenly stopped, Jake's head whipping to look at it. It was dead cold; not a sound was made.

Suddenly, a large beowolf tore into the clearing, pausing for a second, and then let out a loud howl, which echoed throughout the entire forest. One by one, more and more beowolves entered the clearing until there were seven in total, the last one to enter was the largest of them all, presumably the alpha of the pack. Apart from being twice as large as the other beowolves, it sported a playing card that was precariously taped on its forehead, the ace of spades.

There was a moment of tension and everything was still. As if on cue, the indicator sparked to life, breaking the silence and aggravating the beowolves. The alpha beowolf let out a long howl and the pack began to encircle the two students.

Jake held his gun with both his two hands. He was shaking as he aimed it at one of the beowolves. Unexpectedly, there was a booming rev of a motor and then the sound of a chainsaw. Jake looked behind him to see Myrilly holding a two handed greatsword, that had menacing saw teeth spinning along the edge of the blade at very fasts speeds. There were four exhaust pipes acting as the hilt, which sputtered out the occasional flame.

The beowolves were taken aback for just a moment, buta single growl from the alpha returned the beasts to their original ferocity.

The beowolf who leapt first at Myrilly was not well met. He was sliced in half mercilessly by a swift swing of the chainsaw-greatsword.

"Whoo!" shouted Myrilly in pure ecstasy, rolling back her shoulders.

She took the offensive, cocking back her sword and dashing at the nearest beowolf. She delivered an undercut, which sliced off the front paw of the beowolf. A quick side slash caught the bipedal beast in the shoulder, completely taking off its arm with complete ease. Trails of blood and the flying limb soared through the air, following the arc of the blade. Myrilly finished the helpless beast with a downward smash; its head ripped into two, grey matter propelled into the air from the vicious sawing of the blade.

Perhaps it was the merciless disembodiment of their pack member or the psychopathic aura given off by Myrilly that demoralized the rest of the beowolves. But it was needless to say that she did not have much more trouble fighting the rest, even against greater numbers.

Another beowolf thought it would be brave to charge towards Myrilly, where it encountered a downward cut. The blade caused a large gash in the beast's shoulder section and then halved the beast with a side cut at its abdomen.

Myrilly was still in mid-swing when another beowolf charged towards her with a slash that should have taken off her head, but was instead stopped dead. There was a flash of red light that emanated atop of where she would have been stuck; it was her aura. She recovered from her last strike and stabbed the unguarded stomach of the beowolf. At first, nothing happened, as its armor seemed to have protected it from the blow.

But then there was loud rev, slowly and steadily increasing. The blade revved faster and faster, digging slowly but surely into the hide of the animal. Bits and pieces of flesh and blood splattered on the ground from where she was sawing the Grimm. There was a pause, until finally it gave to and the blade, still revving, pierced through the abdomen of the beast, blood and flesh flying into the air and onto the other beowolves.

At this point, the alpha male decided that Myrilly was too big of a threat and that it has lost too many pack members to her. Spotting Jake, who was concentrated somewhere else, snarled and then pounced at him.

During the entire time that Myrilly was butchering the beowolves, Jake did his best to support her. It was the first time he was using this type of gun and the bullets were a higher caliber than what a normal pistol would shoot, increasing the amount of recoil for Jake to handle. After a few misfires, he began to concentrate each shot so he could reduce the recoil and improve the accuracy of his shots. Using the non-elemental piercing bullets, he aimed for the eyes. After three or four misses, he finally hit his target: a stray beowolf who seemed mildly interested in attacking, instantly killing it as its brain matter coated the trees behind it. At that point, Myrilly just began to drill through the beast having already killed three others.

Jake's stomach churned; it was more than what he had expected. He heard a snarl and from over his shoulder saw the alpha male bouldering towards him. He took aim and fired a quick succession of shots: one to its chest, another grazing the beast's arm, and the last one buried itself into its thigh. But that didn't stop the alpha beowolf. Instead, it just infuriated it even move. Jake dived out of the way from the collision path; only his jacket getting caught, which was torn to shred from the sharp claws of the beast.

The alpha beowolf turn around and was about to charge once again, when Myrilly stepped between the two, revving her chainsword. Seeing that it was a lost cause, the beowolf howled for the last time and resigned into the red gloomy darkness of the forest, followed by the remainder of its pack members. Something fluttered down from the sky. The ace of spades that was once carried proudly upon the forehead of the alpha beowolf was deposited at the base of Jake's feet.

"Whoo!" Myrilly let out, stretching her arms into the air, "Great job Jake! We got them good!"

"Well you were a one man army."

"True, very true. But that was some nice shooting you had there. When did you learn to shoot like that?"

"My uncle used to take me hunting, until he was devoured by an ursa major. He would have easily won in a straight on fight, but he caught by surprise one night, when he stayed out a bit too late after sunset," he told her, followed by a sigh. " We found his bloodied boots in the morning; everything else was gone."

"Oh… that's too bad."

"So enough about me, let's head off to the pick up zone?"

"Lead the way!"

OP delivers! I hope you enjoyed the third chapter of this series. This chapter was much longer than the last two and finally incorporated some action, hopefully nothing too gruesome for you to handle. Also, I would like to apologize about the delayed posting of this chapter. My "editor" and "ex-friend" was too lazy to read through and left me to my own device. Either way, the only thing that matters is that it's here. By the way, this isn't the end of initiation; there's more of it to come (just one more bit). I'll see you next week with Chapter 4!