Final White

Ozpin overlooked the Emerald Forest from Beacon's Cliff, and Gylnda Goodwitch was keeping track of the students from the surveillance system in the forest. The strict teacher frowned as she alerted the old wizard.

" Ozpin, I can't find Silva Branwen anywhere on the camera for the last several minutes."

" Where was he last seen, Glynda?"

Ozpin asked with a curious look, and Gylnda's grimace deepened as she looked over the footage and answered.

" He has not shown up at all in the first place, plus another student is missing, Mr. Nyx Rosé from Mistral."

" Hmm... Keep looking for now. If they don't show up by the end of the initiation, we will search for them."

The strict teacher nodded and kept an eye on the cameras as teams started to finish forming.

***

Ruby was desperately running through the Emerald Forest to find a partner.

" Yang! Yaaang!"

The little cookie monster cried out in hopes of partnering with a familiar face. Ruby went over the people she knew internally.

" Aside from Yang, there is Silva. We could hang out and talk about weapons and mods all day! He also likes books and comics, especially the Gundam manga! Oooh, the new Zeta Gundam manga is so good right now. I can't wait to see more of it coming out soon. Focus Ruby! After Silva, there is Emerald, who also likes books; Blake and Ilia, whom I met at the picnic along with Luna and Argint, that live with Silva. Pyrrha seems nice, and Ren and Nora are also okay. Then there's..."

Ruby came to a sudden halt as she skidded across the ground and met with Weiss. The cookie monster awkwardly smiled at the snow princess. Weiss had a complicated expression as she was deciding how to feel about Ruby, and in the end, she huffed with exasperation and said.

" Let's just find the ruins."

" Okay, teammate!"

The little cookie monster exclaims with a bit of happiness over the snow princess' acceptance of teaming up. Weiss sighed as she complained.

" It's going to be a long day, isn't it?"

***

Yang wandered the forest looking for a teammate and heard rustling in the nearby bushes.

" Ruby?"

A pair of Ursa instead appeared and growled at the blonde then swiped at her. Yang jumped back with a backflip and then launched herself back at the nearest Grimm after accounting for their positions. The blonde rapidly punched the bear-like monster with a fierce combo, then sent it flying with an uppercut and grinned as she joked.

" What's the matter? Can't BEAR to stand me? You look pretty GRIMM there. Maybe I can help you out?"

The other Ursa fell down, revealing a blade in its back, and from behind, it showed Blake as she pulled back her kama-like weapon. Yang greeted her with a smile.

" Hey there! Your name's Blake, right?"

" And your Yang?"

" Yep, so I guess we're teammates then?"

While Blake knew Yang from yesterday's picnic, she would've preferred Ilia because of their shared background of being formerly from the White Fang. Still, she decided to deal with the situation professionally.

" I suppose so..."

" Oh, come on now, let's start things off with a YANG!"

At the blonde's terrible pun, the ninja cat girl just looked at her dryly and wondered if Ilia was nearby or not.

***

Pyrrha surveyed the surrounding with the scope on her weapon before coming down from the tree she was in to see if she could partner up with Silva or at least someone who would not put her on a pedestal. After coming down, she heard some movement above her and looked up to see Emerald and the mint-haired girl looking down from the branch she was on at the polite spartan. Pyrrha greeted her new teammate with a friendly smile and wave.

" Hello~."

" Hey."

Emerald curtly replied as while she was familiar with the polite spartan, she wasn't her preferred teammate, but she would live with it.

***

Ren and Nora soon met and formed a team after running into some Grimm. The thundering girl was chattering away.

" Hey, Ren, how do you suppose we could wind up on the same team as the big guy?"

" I am not sure, Nora."

" Oh, maybe we can bribe the headmaster? No, he has the academy. Or we see if Silva can hack Beacon's systems to get us together. Well, not together-together, not that you and the big guy aren't good-looking... Oh! Maybe Silva can get us unlimited free pancakes from the cafeteria by hacking the system!"

Nora continued to talk as Ren had a wry smile on his face as they tried to reach the forest temple.

***

Neopolitan continued moving stealthily through the forest, with her Semblance feeling a bit annoyed with her friend Pyrrha for conning her into attending Beacon but also proud that she was such a bad influence on the polite spartan. The sweet cinnamon roll redhead is now a more morally flexible girl, all thanks to her and Silva. Ah, it brings crocodile tears to her eyes but joking aside, the tri-colored girl searched for some familiar faces to team up with but spotted Ilia wandering around, looking nervous.

Neopolitan decided to prank the girl by sneaking up on her and using Overactive Imagination to create something nightmarish. Silva often encouraged the tri-color girl to express her more creative side through drawing, and he even taught her how to draw well enough to the point that if she wanted to, she could draw her own manga or comic. They even did compete against each other through various themes, from scary monsters to adorable animals. They did a lot of drawing to fuel Neopolitan's imagination and the occasional prank war.

The tri-colored girl used her Semblance to form a horrid monster that looked like it was made out of pure molten darkness with thousands of eyes and mouths full of sharp teeth. Neopolitan sneaked up on Ilia and tapped her shoulder. The chameleon girl turned to face the monster the tri-colored girl made with her Semblance. Ilia's skin and hair changed colors out of fear which surprised Neopolitan and earned her interest.

The chameleon girl immediately attacked, which broke the solid illusion and the tri-colored girl grinned at the new toy-, I mean, the teammate she got.

***

Luna and Argint met up almost immediately after being launched into the air and went to the forest temple at a casual pace through the tree line. The white wolf girl asked her teammate.

" Why do you think my lord wanted us not to look for him?"

" Master Silva has his reasons, I'm sure, but for now, let's focus on the task ahead and try and get on the same team as him."

" True, I wish to continue sharing a bed with my lord."

" On that, we can agree on."

Luna and Argint continued to move through the Emerald Forest to reach the temple and wait for Silva.

***

Cinder walked through the forest and kept her eyes open for any potentially useful pawns to team up with to get Ozpin's attention to infiltrate his inner circle to complete her power. The fiery woman smiled as she felt her Maiden Power burn within her and briefly thought back to her mentor Rhodes that trained her to become a Huntress. Here she was now, getting ready to enter one of the four Huntsmen Academies to get the power she felt she deserved.

Cinder went through a mental checklist of the best possible pawns for her to acquire. The Schnee girl easily being the top of her list in terms of wealth and influence, with a versatile hereditary Semblance. The redhead, Mistral Cup champion, was a close second as there was no way Ozpin was not going to keep an eye on her for her talents. Then there was the blonde bimbo that looked like the type to punch first and ask questions later; she would be easy to manipulate. After that, there was the silver-eyed girl who was her junior by two years which meant she was talented enough to skip ahead a few grades and seemed innocent and naive, another easy target to manipulate.

Another that drew Cinder's eye was the giant snow leopard faunus that towered over her. While he seemed strong, for some reason, the fiery woman felt nervous around him and she did not like that, especially with her newfound under her control. While she would love to have him under her, Cinder felt it would be hard to control the snow leopard man as he gave off an air of maturity and wisdom that hinted he would not fall for any tricks easily. As the fiery woman wandered through the forest, a portal of kaleidoscope colors appeared in front of her.