The entrees all lined up atop the large cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest. Somewhat off to the side were massive waterfalls that made Beacon such a beautiful place to visit. Though the entrees were too busy with the fact that there were multiple launch pads set up at the cliff's edge to appreciate the natural beauty around them.
"Good, it seems everyone is here." Ozpin stated, lowering his mug from his lips while Glynda made notes in her scroll.
"You might be wondering about your teams and what this test might be about. Well, I'm happy to tell you that your teams will be decided during the test here. You'll be retrieving a special item within the ruins in Emerald Forest down there. Your goal is simply to traverse the Grimm-infested forest and retrieve said item. The first person you see after you land will be your partner. As long as they do not consist of a four-person team already, that is." Ozpin explained before nodding to Glynda and taking a long sip of his favorite coffee.
"Please step on the platforms. There's enough for everybody so don't squabble over one." Glynda ordered, prompting the entrees to all stand on the launch platforms.
Jaune, Yang, Pyrrha and even Blake noticed someone missing. Jane wasn't there, having already moved away from the group for her own task. Yang clicked her tongue, having come up with a one-liner that would have made Jane do that particular smile she gave that made Yang get butterflies.
"Be advised that during your task, you will likely be hunted by a skilled Huntress. Should she attack you and get your aura to red, you will fail the test and nearby staff will escort you out of Beacon. If you had partnered with anyone at that point, they will still have the chance to join anyone that has no partner yet or an incomplete four person team. Are there any questions?" Glynda asked, immediately seeing Jaune's hand rise up. But before she could ask, she heard an obnoxious laugh from Cardin Winchester.
"Pfft.. A Huntress? What's she gonna do, cook for us?" Cardin mocked, getting a few snorts from nearby likeminded teenage boys.
The rest? Everyone else looked at him like he were retarded.
Hoshimi Miyabi was one of, if not the best Huntresses in the world. So capable that she had singlehandedly stopped three different Hollows from forming into real threats and had significantly shrank Hollow Zero with the help of her comrades in Section Six. And she wasn't exactly an outlier either. There were plenty of incredibly strong Huntresses or Huntress adjacent women fighters throughout Remnant. Yixuan, the sect master of Yunkui Summit. Evelyn Chevalier, the capable bodyguard of Astra Yao.
To look down on Huntresses wasn't just ignorant. At that point it was just a denial of reality.
"Er.. so how are we getting down? Like a ladder...?" Jaune asked, coughing awkwardly after everyone ignored Cardin's comment.
"No. You'll be launched into the forest." Glynda replied, already setting off the launch button and sending the entrees flying one by one.
"So do we get parachutes or..-OHHH MY GODS!!!!" Jaune screamed as he was catapulted through the air.
"Hmn.."
"You really do seem to enjoy this part of the exam, don't you Glynda?" Ozpin noted, seeing the small smile on her face.
Glynda said nothing, simply enjoying the panicked teenagers' yells as they soared over the sea of trees below.
Meanwhile, Jane stood on a branch a good fifty meters from the cliff side. Over three hundred entrees were descending above her, ready to make their landing. While she stood atop a branch, she spotted Yang, who had been hooting and using her gauntlets to propel herself onward. While Blake, Pyrrha, Alice and Weiss all decided to make tactical landings.
Ren, Nora, Yuzuha, Manato and Ruby executed special and flashy moves that played to their skills.
*THWACK!*
And Jaune hit a tree.
"Well he's alive at least.. Guess I was right about no Pyrrha to save him. She seems focused." Jane muttered as she moved across tree branches like she was in Naruto.
She had already spotted some entrees with subpar skills and immediately started moving toward them. She'd spare Jaune but around a hundred of these unprepared teens needed a little humbling.
Pulling out her blades, she loaded lightning dust cartridges into the handles to amp her strikes and incapacitate. Her usual combos would shred through aura and cut most to ribbons so she had to hold back.
"What the heck was-"*BZZZZT!!*
One particularly unlucky teenage boy felt a gust of wind before two blades stabbed into his back, thankfully not piercing through his aura but still delivering a painful shock that had his muscles seize up.
He panicked and swung his dagger/pistol behind him, hitting nothing. He hadn't even seen Jane until she kicked out his legs and hit him in the chest with another kick that smacked him into a tree.
*BZZZT!*
His scroll buzzed, indicating his aura had gone into the red. He could hardly believe it. Just three attacks and he had been eliminated with barely a glance of his attacker before she moved onto her next target.
Next was a girl who was streaming on her scroll, treating the test like some sort of party.
"Hey heeeey~! Emerald Forest's poppin' OFF huh?" The girl shouted, bouncing her sizable chest and holding a saber/SMG mechashift weapon like it was a prop.
She was blissfully unaware of Jane standing above, watching her display with an almost incredulous smile.
'I guess anyone with a weapon can sign up huh? Guess that explains Jaune. But seriously.. are you actually shouting? Look, there's a pack of Beowolves coming.' Jane thought to herself as several of the lupine Grimm slowly encircled her.
Even her chat was trying to warn her.
[Dude you gotta lock in. There's Grimm in this forest, right?]
[Bounce in place again.. I'm close 🥵]
[Bro this bimbo's cooked. All her stats went into her looks. 💀]
[I can't watch this shit 😨]
As soon as the Beowolves leapt out, they were met with a red blur. Jane kicked into one's skull plate, piercing through with her boot blade before spinning and decapitating two more. Then she landed and kicked off the ground and spun, lashing out with her bladed tail and twin blades, severing the last three Beowolves into dissipating chunks with a flourish of Lightning Dust. She came to a stop right in front of the streamer girl, who stared at her in awe.
[AYO! Who is THAT?]
[Naw fuck Lavender_Huntress I wanna see more of this girl]
[Step on me Mommy 🗿]
[First time catching a stream why tf y'all gooning this hard to a 17 year old? 🥀]
The girl frowned when she saw the amount of attention Jane stole from her. But, thinking she was also an entree, she cleared her throat and offered her hand.
"Hiii~ I'm Lavender! You must be my new partner!" She greeted in a high pitched, almost too eager voice.
Jane looked at her like she grew two heads spontaneously.
'She thinks I'm an entree? Ah, as much as I wanna play along, I have so many to eliminate..' Jane shook her head with a sigh and moved.
Her lithe, flexible body moved around Lavender before striking her waist, back and leg with her lightning Dust enhanced blades, plummeting her aura into the red.
"Aaaah!! What are you doing!?" Lavender yelled, shrinking back as her scroll buzzed.
"I'm the Huntress. Stay put, the teachers will come get you soon." Jane stated before taking to the trees once more and moving out.
Lavender blinked, her mouth forming into a pout.
"D-Did I fail..?" She whimpered as her chat started mocking her and trying to cheer her up at the same time.
Ten minutes pass and the Emerald Forest had come alive with the yells of battle between Grimm and those who had been found by Jane. Truthfully, not every entree had been like the first two she encountered. Some had some modicum of skill or a particularly interesting Semblance.
One boy she found had a semblance that made him nearly invisible. Jane might have left the boy alone if not for his fighting skill, which was only somewhat better than Jaune's.
Before she left him to be picked up by the teachers she gave him some advice to try and sign up with the NVDF (New Vale Defense Force) or NVPF (New Vale Police Force).
With about fifty-three entrees eliminated by her alone, she finally encountered the most capable person taking the test this year. Or, she was found by her.
"Miss Jane!" Pyrrha called out from below, her eyes glowing briefly as she looked up into the tree Jane had hid within.
"You're confident. You knew it was me before you even saw me. Your semblance?" Jane guessed, though she knew Pyrrha's semblance was polarity, so she truly had no idea how Pyrrha figured it out.
"Ah.. actually I was looking for you. I even thought some Beowolves sneaking in the brush might've been you.." Pyrrha admitted with a blush.
Jane tilted her head as an amused smirk blossomed on her face.
"Really now? Why would you be looking for me? You should know I'm hunting those mainly unfit to pass, right? You definitely don't fit that category."
Pyrrha nodded and took a deep breath before asking, "I know.. I have a selfish request, actually."
"Can you fight me?"