To The Enchanted Forest

Part 1:
The amphitheater was filled with students, gathering and chatting with each other as they waited for professor Ozpin to annouce the next mission. With the tournament ended and the exchanged students going back to their school, Beacon Academy wasn't as packed as it used to - even with the new group of first year students.

"New mission~ New mission~" Hummed a certain redhead as she skipped around her teammates, looking rather excited. While Idina and Tianee didn't say anything (other than the amused look on Idina's face), Sirce reached out and lightly yanked on her dress - pulling her away from bumping into another person.

"I don't think I've seen you getting excited of new mission, Crystal. Any reason why ?" The teal haired girl crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow at her leader.

"She gets to skip the history test next week." The brunette snorted and pinched Crystal's cheek lightly - and was returned with a sheepishly grin from her.

Attention, students.

They looked up to see professor Glynda was speaking through the mic as headmaster Ozpin casually walked out from the left wing. The two teachers exchanged a look, before Glynda stepped away from the mic for Ozpin:

"Greeting students, and welcome back to Beacon Academy." He spoke in a clear, but slow tone.

"Now that you've gotten used to the way Beacon works, after you've finished the first year and advanced to your second one, I'll save you from the introduction..." Ozpin stopped and looked at the students from where he was standing, "Your next mission will begin shortly. However, there has been a slight change to second year missions."

Some of the students started whispering, guessing what the change would be, but the whispering quickly died down as the headmaster continued:

"You and your teammates will work with another second year team, to ensure that no team will end up with a mission that will be too overwhelming for them to finish."

"Team leaders are responsible to find another team for this mission, and the mission must be registered by tomorrow. That's all." Professor Glynda finished the speech, before following Ozpin to the backstage.

---

"Another team, eh ? This sounds fun~" Idina commented, before she started toying with her Scroll - checking through the list of teams in Beacon, "How about team MLIT ?"

"No, I think we should go with team ARSC!" Tianee chimed in, trying to reach the Scroll for the list - which Idina returned by raising the tablet higher from her reach. Sirce snorted at the two of them and continued to look at the students leaving the amphitheater - chatting (some even start arguing) with their teammates of which team they should work with. The brunette quickly glanced at her team leader - wondering which team she would pick.

Only to find Crystal looking completely dumbfounded. With Idina and Tianee yelling next to her of which teams they wanted to work with.

"MILT!"

"ARSC!"

"MILT!"

"ARSC!"

"Both of you, stop!" The brunette reached out to pull on their ears in order to get their attention, "Crystal's the leader. She will pick which team to work with. Go back to the dorm!"

"But Crystal~" The purple haired female quickly turned to her partner - about to throw her arms around Crystal, but Sirce was quicker and grabbed Idina by the collar.

"No but, heiress."

And she dragged both her and Tianee to the exit, leaving the redhead alone...

Part 2:
"Aww, even team CACD has paired with another team." Ended the call, Aero sighed quietly as he put away his Scroll, "Anyone else has any ideas ?"

"Viola already found a team to work with." Zinc replied, and the brunette boy groaned in disappointment. It wasn't even a full hour after headmaster Ozpin announced this, and almost every other teams have paired up with each other. They just hope that their team won't be the odd one out - or worse, having to go on a dangerous mission on their own.

"Well, let's go over the list again and see if we missed anyone." Said Kage, before he turned to Emeraude, "How about your sister's team STAR, Emer ? Then we won't be complete stranger in the mission."

"Ah." The Faunus scratched his head, "Saphir and I've talked earlier, and we both agreed that she could make some new friends by working with other team. She and her teammates will work with team ZOMP on their mission."

There was a moment of silent between team KAZE, with Kage and Zinc continued to search in the list of teams and Aero looking completely defeated.

"ARG! At this rate we will be left out!" There was a loud explosion from the jetpack he was wearing as Aero jumped up to see Kage's Scroll, and the boy was sent a couple of feet up in the air, before he fell down and crashed on a certain redhead floating by...

---

"Aero!"

"Are you okay ?!"

There was shouting and smell of smoke, before whatever - or whoever, on top of Crystal was pulled up and allowed her to see what was going on. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a guy dressed in dark blue reached out to help her get up on her feet. The impact left her head spinning, and it took Crystal a moment to finally register what was going on

"You really need to get it fixed, Aero." Said the guy in white to a familiar looking person.

"Miss, are you alright ? Did it hurt ?" Another one leaned over and carefully examined her - checking to see if there was any bruises or cuts.

"Ah... I'm fine. I think..." Stumbled backward a little, she groaned and touched her forehead - the grip on her arm slightly tightened, to prevent the redhead from falling back down, "W-what happened...?"

"It was my fault... Jet Angel has this glitch and I..." As Aero looked at the person he just crashed into, the boy gasped and jumped away from Zinc, "Oh my god! Crystal! I'm so sorry!"

Both the redhead girl and his teammates were taken off when the brunette rushed over and gripped on her arms, completely freaked out:

"Did you get hurt ?! I'm so sorry!! I didn't mean to crash into you!" He gently brushed the bang from her forehead to check if the crash has hurt her, before looked at the girl again, "Do you feel dizzy ?! How about I carry you to the infimary ?!"

"Aero..." Replied Crystal in a calm manner, as she placed on the hand he placed on her forehead and grinned "I'm fine, don't worry about me. You crashed yourself pretty hard too, are you alright ?"

"A-ahh..." There was a faint blush on his cheek, before Aero quickly pulled away and scratched his head nervously, "I'm o-okay. This has happened all the time before, so I'm used to it!!" He exclaimed, grinning sheepishly.

---

"We're glad that both of you aren't seriously injured too, lovebirds!" Commented Kage at the scene, before he regretted it when Emeraude lightly elbowed him on the side. The comment startled Aero, and the boy quickly rushed over to his team leader - arms waving up and down, as his face flushed red.

"Aren't you Aero's partner to the dance last year ?" Emeraude spoke up and broke the awkwardness after the fuss between his teammates died down, "My name is Emeraude, it's nice to meet you."

"I'm Crystal~" Grinned the redhead as she shook his hand, "It's nice to meet Aero's friends too~ He said a lot of nice things about you guys!"

Aero's cheeks flushed some more as both Zinc and Kage chuckled - Zinc even patted him on the head. The ninja suddenly realized something and walked over to the girl.

"This is sudden, but is your team still looking for a partner for the upcoming assignment ?" Turned her attention to him, the redhead slightly tilted her head to the side, before she gasped.

"Ah! I almost forgot about that!" Crystal exclaimed loudly, completely freaked out now that she remembered what she was suppose to do "I haven't thought of who to ask yet! And I haven't registered the assignment either!"

"That's great! We haven't gotten very lucky finding another team either." Kage smiled, feeling relief at the chance, "Would you like to pair up with team KAZE ? Since you already know Aero, we won't be complete strangers working together."

"Ah..." Stopped at his words, Crystal stopped to think of the offer: She wasn't sure what her teammates would say, but at the same time, if she come back without finding another team, they would be very disappointed... ''No, I'm the leader! I have to make the decision!''

"Sure thing! We could go and sign up for the mission now, if that is okay with you~"

"Of course, you can go on ahead. We'll catch up!"

Nodded enthusiastic, the girl turned on her heels - her wings actived as she did, and flew straight back to the amphitheater, wasting no time to enter it. Looking at Crystal as she left, Kage chuckled:

"Yep, she and you are perfect for each other, Aero."

"Hey!"

--- "There you are, Crystal!" Exclaimed Tianee as soon as the door to their dorm was opened, "Where have you been ? We need to figure out which team to go on a mission with, and our leader is nowhere to be found!"

"Oh~ I already found a team and signed up for the mission~" Crystal grinned and reached out for her Scroll in her backpack, "I paired us up with team KAZE, and we already signed up for the mission."

The rest of team CIST took a look at her Scroll as she opened the profile of team KAZE up. There was a moment of silent as Sirce narrowed her eyes, Idina looked at it with amusement on her face and Tianee looking surprised. They all looked back up at the redhead, before Idina chuckled:

"Finally decided to use your advantage to your favor, didn't you ? I'm very proud of my little fairy~"

"Hehehe~" Crystal grinned sheepishly, before putting her Scroll away, "According to the mission, we'll leave tomorrow at dawn, and fly to a place called Enchanted Forest."

"And it's a good thing that me and Sirce has already packed up everything, right ?" Tianee smiled and gestured to the pile of bags at the corner of the room, "So now we just need to get some rest early."

"Sound good to me." The brunette nodded.

---

"Team CIST, eh ? Crystal is the leader" Slided his finger across the touch screen, Kage slightly tilted his head as he skimmed through their profiles, "...-Idina Caliber, Sirce Marion and Tianee Musk."

From his bed, Zinc perked up at the sound of a familiar name, but made no comment about it. The world does indeed go round, but the assassin shrugged, knowing that there wasn't much he could do about it - other than completing the mission as soon as possible...

"Oh, I've met Tianee Musk before." Emeraude spoke up, "We talked once outside the library before the dance, but I believe she has been very busy lately."

"Cool, at least we aren't completely stranger now. Especially since Aero has went to the dance with Crystal before."

The brunette boy grumbled quietly, but made no protest to it. Flipped through the mission's information, the ninja narrowed his eyes.

"Hmm, the mission is fairly simple. Collecting some herbs for professor Peach."

"But...?" Zinc continued, waiting for him to finish it with something that make the mission dangerous.

"But," Kage threw a glance at him, "The forest - Enchanted Forest, is filled with high class Grimms. There might be a S rank Grimm as well."

Nodded at the information, the assassin lied down on his bed and threw the cover above him, as his teammates glanced at each other. They didn't say anything to each other, and eventually lied down to rest, preparing for tomorrow's event...

Part 3:
It was a bright and sunny day, with little to no cloud on the sky. Usually, it would be the sign for a great day, however, it wasn't the case.

As the two teams waited inside the airship to take them to the location, there was a rather awkward silent between the two teams: Other than Aero and Crystal who were too busy chatting with each other - the brunette boy showing her the new tech he was working on, the rest just glared at each other. The tension was high in the air - especially when Kage saw that Zinc and Idina was glaring at each other.

"Oxide."

"Caliber."

"Jeez, tough crowd." He commented, before turned to smile to the brunette girl standing next to him, "The name's Kage. Nice to meet you!"

"Sirce." She replied - without even looking at him once. The ninja was a bit shocked, but he can't say that he was surprise - after all, he was partnered up with Zinc. Sighed quietly, Kage decided to play with his yoyo instead while waiting for the jet to arrive.

Not too far away, Tianee and Emeraude were looking nervously at their teammates, with worry written all over their face. This is going to be a long mission... Both of them thought at the same, as the airship finally arrived...

"Alright, guys ?" As soon as they were dropped off in a small field in the middle of the forest, Kage quickly called out for everyone, "Since this mission is easy, but dangerous, I suggest that we should finish it as quickly at possible."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Zinc shrugged and started heading toward the forest, didn't bother waiting for the rest to follow him. The corner of his left eyes twitched as the ninja chased after him and grabbed the assassin by his arm.

"You can say that in the last mission, but definitely NOT this one!" However, Zinc only swung his arm up to push his partner away, with the hidden blade activated. Growled lowly, the assassin glared at Kage.

"Or else what, you'll make me ?"

"Damn right I will! I will make you listen to me if it's the last thing..." Kage shouted back, but dropped midway when he noticed team CIST started running forward - with Sirce leading them. For some reason, Aero and Emeraude followed them as well, and it didn't seem like it was a good sign...

---

"Guys! Grimm!" Shouted Crystal while she was hovering in midair as she pointed at the opposite direction: From behind the lush green leaves, dozens, possible hundred of squirrel-like creatures started rushing out from the tall branches.

"Shit!" Both of them quickly picked up their pace and followed the rest through the forest - which Crystal right behind them. The redhead started casting several wheels of flame and directed them to the Grimm, but she only managed to kill a small numbers as the rest of the creatures nimbly dodged her attacks.

"Save your Dust!" Shouted Kage, before he stopped and pulled out his shurikens. Waited for the redhead to flew past him, the ninja jumped up - a trail of darkness followed him as he dig, before started throwing the shurikens toward them and controlled them with the string attached to it. Several similar shadow appeared around him as his weapon spinned around him, slicing most the Grimms into half when they approached him, "There we go!"

A loud gun shot went off, and two of the Grimms from a tree branches nearby had their head torn open. Lowered his rifle, Zinc looked up to see more of those squirrels appeared out of nowhere. With Kage quickly hopped down, the three of them continued to run through the forest - catching up with their teammates.

"Any plan ?!" Shouted Aero, gripped his shot gun tightly: The forest was too thick, with too many obstacles for him to properly take off...

"Lure them up! Above the trees!" Sirce shouted back. Nodded, the redhead fairy switched to her wind Dust and started moving her fingers in circle above her head, creating a tornado at the same time. One by one, they jumped in and allowed the wind to carry them up, before they reached the lowest branches, "Keep it up!"

Swiftly jumped from branches to branches, Idina occassionally stopped to send a bolt of lightning at the ongoing swamp of Grimm that targetted them. However, they just keep gathering, with enough to block them from even see the ground below.

"Emer, use your Semblance!" Shouted at the Faunus, Zinc fired off his hook to above to pull himself up - barely avoid one of those Grimm from digging its fang into his cape. Nodded, Emeraude spreaded his fan up and swung it to push himself up above the tree, before he began charging for his Semblance.

The party ascended higher and higher, using whatever it took - their weapons, their semblance, even Dust, to go upward. It wasn't until that the last person reached above the tree - followed shortly by those Grimm, that Emeraude gritted on his teeth before gave the fan a wide swung, sending blast of wind at every direction around him.

"Brace yourself!"