The wolf couldn't help but smirk as the pieces of his plan fell into place. The lantern boy was another dust caster, though he seemed more suited to support and backline casting than his own offensive application. Even so, this other caster displayed an understanding of his craft that surpassed his own, with a near effortless and instantaneous gravity cast that trapped half of their targets within range of Prometheus. The dog faunus seemed more of a frontline skirmisher, bullying more targets into his trap with devastating hits and the assistance of a shotgun. And Prism... Not only an effective sniper, but also an effective dust caster, as she froze all remaining targets in place, opening them up for his final strike. It was clean, methodical, and efficient.

He could work with this crew for a while.

“All yours, Juno!”

Right. He was ready, like shooting fish in a barrel. His seal burned, actively setting the grass alight as he released his sword and raised his left hand, stepping back just enough to avoid the direct blast of his own seal.

"Step back." He warned, reaching to hang onto his hat a mere moment before he snapped his fingers. The seal flashed white before igniting into a brilliant pillar of magenta fire, the force and heat of the ensuing detonation immolating the horde of Beowolves trapped within. Terrified and pained howls filled the air, only silenced as the twelve beasts were reduced to ash. When the pillar subsided, Juno remained still, brow furrowed as the formerly wet grass underfoot turned to singed, crunchy brush. Too much more of that could start a wildfire. He'd have to keep that in mind. His gaze moved from the ashy clearing to the bushes and treeline surrounding them, studying for any further signs of Grimm.

Nothing. His ears didn't pick up anything unnatural either. His posture relaxed, a hand moving to his pocket as he rolled his shoulders back, cracking his neck. This was his team for the next four years. He could work with this.

"So." He started, taking a moment to acknowledge the other two students, waving them all over to his position. "Roll call?"

As Iris began her trek through the woods, she reached into her pack with both hands, fishing for a small container and a pocket knife. She continued to walk forward while stabbing holes in the container's lid along the way. If she was going to catch herself a new pet out here, she was going to take damn good care of it. Now that she had something to put it in, the search was on. Iris started to turn over every large stone and fallen branch she could find, systematically checking every possible location for small critters. As the minutes went on, Iris was quickly reminded why she didn't like the wilderness in the first place. No cool spiders or snakes to be found, just worms and crickets.

"This is some bullshit," she muttered to herself as her hopes started to fade away. Just as the words left her lips, she flipped up one last rock. Her eyes lit up as she finally spotted something different. A tiny lizard began to scurry away, but Iris' reflexes were just as sharp as the reptile. She placed the container precisely overtop of it, catching the little critter before it could escape. "Got ya!" Careful not to hurt it, Iris scooped up the lizard and sealed the container, a smile creeping over her expression as she inspected her catch.

"You... You so damn cute. Have no fear, little guy. I promise I will keep you safe." Iris pulled off her purple scarf and wrapped it around the container, giving it a bit of padding before carefully placing it in her bag. Now that her first objective was complete, she could move on to the next item on her list: Finding herself a partner. That would be far easier than catching a lizard.

Iris went to sit down on the wilderness floor, closing her eyes and focusing her mind. After a few brief moments, her semblance activated. Slowly but surely, she felt the presence of other souls creeping into her perception, making her vaguely aware of where some of her fellow classmates were located. Iris attempted to conjure a vision of the nearest individual, but they were a bit too far away for her to make anything out. Lame. With a groan, she stood back up and started to walk once more, heading straight for the nearest person that she had sensed. Hopefully it would be someone friendly that didn't have a problem with street punks such as herself.

Standing on the cliffside and looking down it seemed quite clear that landing strategies would be tested today. In preparation, she pulled back the bolt of the heavy barrel of her rifle and chambered a large gravity dust crystal. She had done a fair amount of reading about Beacon before deciding to try becoming a huntress again after her rough start at Atlas, so when the tall figure of headmaster Inverno approached she recognized him immediately. While listening to his speech she pulled the bolt of her rifle back, just to double-check that the right crystal was loaded.

She was a bit surprised that Beacon seemed to be setting up pairs of two rather than teams of four as they did at Atlas. She looked around at the other students, it was the first time she had really considered any of them as she had been far too nervous to force herself into any real social interaction today. She pulled the bolt of her rifle back, just to dou.. triple-check.

She was jolted back to her senses as the first student was launched into the air, and as the headmaster approached she tried to meet his gaze but chickened out after a fraction of a second. As she was launched through the air she tried to keep track of where the other students were landing, as she really wanted to find someone to pair with quickly. However it was too difficult to track and she needed to prepare for her landing, her hand went towards the bolt again, but this time she stopped herself.

Whilst the lower barrel of her rifle could impart some momentum it was nothing compared to the top one, and she only had one shot there so she tried to stay calm and waited. Just as she was starting to approach the tree canopy she aimed in the direction she was falling and fired. The intention was to kill any horizontal and most of her vertical momentum but she was slightly off vector. Without enough time to think clearly, she let the rifle section of her weapon spin to the opposite side of the blade and shot with the lower barrel, imparting enough momentum to dig the blade into the trunk of a tree. She let out a frustrated sigh while looking down the tall tree she had to descend, but at least she had more or less landed.

Iris didn't like the wilderness. Almost everything about it sucked. Dead silent, no streets to walk on, and nothing to offer her other than shade to hide in and animal shit to step on. Worst of all, there were no people out here. At home, Iris could usually sense the presence of others nearby, a feeling that she had grown incredibly comfortable with. As for the wilderness, her semblance detected almost nothing. A massive void, with only the faintest sensation of danger lurking within. It might have been enough to scare her if she were alone, but the presence of her fellow classmates nearby kept her from losing her cool. The first thing she'd do after landing would be to find a teammate so she could get the hell out of the forest as soon as possible... However, she did suddenly realize one potentially exciting factor about this place... There could be a lot of interesting wildlife out here. Change of plans: The first thing she wanted to do upon landing was turn over some rocks and look for a small critter to catch. Yeah. She didn't care to consider whether or not her future teammates would want a pet spider in their dorm. If she had to be in the wilderness, she would at least try to get something cool out of it.

Iris had been standing there totally spaced out for a while, but she suddenly snapped to attention upon realizing that she was about to be launched. Bang! Iris was in the air, a rush of adrenaline hitting her just as hard as the sudden blast of wind. Without hesitation, she yanked her rifle from her back and pressed the button to activate its secondary function. The mechanism worked as flawlessly as she had hoped, shifting the weapon into the form of a climbing pick in about one and a half seconds. She had jumped off enough buildings to feel confident making a tough landing like this. Her eyes scanned the canopy, aiming for a thick branch that could withstand her weight. Upon finding her target, Iris held tightly onto her weapon with two hands, bracing for impact with both her body and aura. The pick hooked around the tree's appendage, allowing her to swing forward and redirect her downward momentum. As she soared through the air, she returned her weapon to its place on her back, the dust-powered mechanism of its holster securing it to her back with a gravitational pull. Iris took note of her trajectory, heading directly for a large tree. She twisted her body midair and reached out with her limbs to latch onto it, channeling gravity dust through her steel-reinforced gloves to tightly grab the tree. Her aura absorbed much of the impact, stopping Iris in her tracks.

Without a moment of hesitation, the young woman began to scurry down towards the ground, casually leaping from branch to branch with ease. She eventually landed two feet on the ground, where she immediately started to walk forward and scan the area in front of her. Primarily for small and cute critters, but also for someone that would make for a passable teammate. For the time being, she held off on using her semblance to scout, as her mind was currently dead-set on the bizarre objective of finding a little creature to call her friend. In all likelihood, she would sooner run into something that wanted to kill her.

As the students had been lined up at the edge of the Beacon cliffs a tall and well-built figure approached the podium, Alban Inverno, the headmaster of Beacon. While he did not introduce himself the sense of authority emanating from his movements was enough to inform those who did not recognize him.

“Adaptation” he let the word hang in the air as silence fell on the students “is perhaps the most fundamental quality of those who survive in our profession. It is a trait that is rarely tested through education, whether at school or at home, and one you can no longer afford to be ignorant of." He spoke in a calm, dispassionate tone. "When you land in the forest, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for your time at Beacon. They will be your partner until you graduate, drop out, or die. We will not entertain any requests to alter partners. So, adapt.”

He gestured at the forest before continuing “Below us is the Emerald forest, for your initiation each pair is required to venture into the ruins within it, claim a jade relic and return to the cliff. There will be opposition along the way, and you will have to fight for your survival. We are monitoring you, but our instructors will not be in a position to intervene. Remember that huntsmen and huntresses are not simple exterminators of Grimm but protectors of the people, today you will only be protected by your peers.“

A slight tone of excitement could be heard in his voice as he concluded with “Prepare yourselves.”

Slowly the professor studied each student individually, some were focused on the forest, others meet his eyes, and just as his gaze moved to the next student the previous one was launched into the air.