Chapter One
"The Occasion"
Matthew
The airship was cold and dry. And a little bit too cramped. The hard steel wasn't exactly conducive to warmth or coziness, and neither were the packed quarters. Being in a tight space with many people you'd not met before sounds like a bad idea overall. Well, I guess I'd have to get to meet them sometime or another. I'd be stuck, again, in dormitories of four, with three of them for the upwards of three years. Sounds like a hellacious experience if you ask me. I hope I get caught with some decent people at least. And hopefully they enjoy wordplay. That stuff? My jam. Puns for days. The ship came to a shivering stop, hovering above the grounds I'd now call home. Maybe not the launchpad, but Beacon! An exciting new chapter of my life began to unfold before me, absolutely incredible and so immense in the scheme of my life's drea-
What the fuck is that godawful sound. It sounds like a guy screaming aggressively like possum caught in a combine. Kinda rhythmic though. The perpetrator of such noises was entertaining a small group of people with his guitar and horrendous screeching. The dude was odd. Looks like he'd belong in Vacuo, with his tanned skin, dark brown hair, and similarly coloured eyes. He wore a jacket that appeared to be made of a thick fiber, black and stretched taut like a wind breaker. His jeans were blue and ripped, with two sets of metal leg coverings that covered his calves and the tops of his boots. The dude was still screaming. Sarcastically, it would seem, to an amused crowd. Whether their amusement was was in awe or horror was to be debated. I strolled over, bemused. He'd seemed to have set down the guitar for now, giving everyone's ears a rest. Placing a hand on his shoulder, I spoke.
"Honestly, what the fuck."
"What, no ear for music?", he replied smugly. His grin was highly evident in his pleasure with his antics.
"Who let you have a guitar?", I asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"They wouldn't let me bring my banjo!" He laughed loudly, a little too loudly, if you ask me. In response, I put my head in my hands and responded in a bored tone.
"Keep playing, see if I care." He smirked in lavish entertainment, breaking out the guitar immediately. I reached for my weapon, but pulled my hand away when I realized that he didn't seem to be that bad of a guy. He had a decent sense of humour. I sat down beside him and he reflexively tucked his guitar away to make space.
We began a long and rambling discussion that lasted throughout our landing, most of our orientation, and the long lines of the schools storage room, where we placed our bags for now. His name appeared to be Asa. Weird name for a weird dude. Interestingly, we had a lot in common and many mistook us for old friends. As we were going through the motions of a new school environment, we'd noticed some of the characters abounding in the school. Everything from faunus to giants to the most bizarrely dressed people I'd ever witnessed. There were a couple of students that stood out. Many were in pairs, old friends evidently. A pair of girls, one with shorter redder hair and one even smaller than her with darker hair. Asa had scuttled away from me for a moment to break into conversation with the redhaired one. He returned presently, regaling me with the names of the 'lovely ladies' who had given him the time of day. Jillian Misner and Jasmine Teel, apparently were from Vale, like me, and Asa too. Seems he had moved at a very young age. He really does never shut up.
The lights turned down and the headmaster appeared. Professor Masamune was a meager man, at least less intimidating than expected, what with his weird cane that looked like a combination of a cane and a forging hammer. Not to mention his lame outfit. Anyway, he prattled on about the school and traditions, nothing out of what the brochure had prepared me for. After a long presentation, we were shown to communal dorms. There we were bunked with a large variety of… unique individuals. It was a long night, filled with more off-key singing. One of these days Asa… POW. Straight to the moon! You and your guitar. I chuckled to myself, prompting a raising of Asa's eyebrows in bemusement. As I fell asleep, I knew a long couple of days were ahead me.
Waking up, I snapped upwards with my hat already on and I was ready for the day. Asa had spotted me doing as such and he gave me a quizzical look wondering why I slept with my hat on, but he was distracted by his own terrifically messy hair. The shaved sides were the only part not shooting up in a random direction. When the call came down for breakfast, that kid was up in a shot, the promise of food calling him. He and I ate in a flash, Asa making sure we sat near the few people he had interacted with the night before, leaving them in a confused daze. Our pace was dizzying as we prepared for our strange new partnering assignment.
As the day dragged on, we moved to our partnering assignment. Professor Ozpin was there, prattling on about the logistics. Asa had distracted me, but as we stood on platforms facing out to a forest, I knew I was missing something critical. Suddenly, we were launched into the air. Sailing chaotically through it, I spied Asa, again, screaming as he retrieved his weapon. A strange baseball bat-like contraption, all metal. It had a bazooka tip, well not really. More like a giant single barrel of shotgun and spikes. It was painfully dangerous. He used the barrel as a sort of fire to propel himself forward, aaaaaaand directly into a tree.
Way to go Asa, I thought to myself. I realized that we were getting a little too close for comfort to lower trees, I thrust out my arm and sent out my jet black aura. It hooked onto a high tree branch and I swung through the forest for a more gentle landing. I extended my "rope" and had a running finish on the ground of the forest. I love my semblance, it had gotten me through some really bad situations throughout my life. I heard a muffled song that sounded like screaming coming from a bush beside me. I walked towards the rustling pile of leaves and pulled him out of the shrubbery by his scarf. He flashed a cheesy grin at me as he continued to sing like a banshee. God dammit… I'm going to be stuck with him. I thought to myself as he cheerfully sang the night away. I reached into my pockets and grabbed my weapons, two dust tipped brass knuckles I called Hi-ken and Aisu-ken. I looked at Asa and noticed the cuts and bruises on his body were fading. I raised my eyebrow. Asa grinned, shrugged his shoulders back.
"Just happens sometimes. I don't stay hurt for too too long, just long enough to gripe about it!" He laughed, very jovial for someone who nearly got a concussion.
"Well, if we're going to be stuck together we should get to the objective, so we can get out of this god awful forest."
"I think that was the whole purpose of the exercise. I dunno, I wasn't super listening." He laughed again, what a fucking nerd.
"I heard it was near the ruins. Which are… um… Dammit I'm lost too!" He closed his eyes and spun around. When he stopped, he pointed forwards.
"That a way!" He yelled as he marched into the bush again.
I debated whether I should follow him or not. After a moment I decided that was the best plan. After all he will be my partner for the rest of my time here. We walked for what felt like hours, when we heard a roar in the distance.
Asa
Don't you hate when you're going along, blindly marching into oblivion for several hours in a confusing direction with no formal knowledge of what the purpose of this exercise was, and you suddenly hear a rumble that could knock a grown man off his feet? Yeah, me too.
Me and this Matthew guy, were in the long run together. Apparently we're partner buddies for life now! That's okay with me, he seems to be a decent enough dude. I mean he tolerates my puns and everything. That aside, I was up for this fight. Kinda. I readied my bat. I'd never quite known what to call it. Everyone had a cool name for their weapon and stuff but I'd always had difficulty settling on its name. I usually referred to it as it's stock name, Klubba. Some sweet Norse word meaning "bludgeon." That's dope right? I cocked Klubba and sent a warning shot towards the sound, hearing a loud thud and a second roar.
Charging forward with Matt in close tow, we spotted the Grimm. THE GRIMM WAS MASSIVE. It was one you might refer to as a Creep, one of those bloodthirsty giant ostrich looking things that normally live in the mountains. Gee, how off track were we? Meanwhile carnotaurus-ostrich-jackass-terrifying-toothy-foreleg-less jerk was terrorizing two other students. Or, it would seem that way from a distance!
It turned out to be quite a close match, two familiar female faces holding their own against the beast, though it continued it's brutally charged attacks. The smaller, dark-haired of the two fired a quick volley of dusty ice-infused bolts from her compact bow, nailing the beast in it's flank. Simultaneously, her compatriot was firing bolts of similarly powered dust shots from a small wand-like telescope, aiming for the soft underbelly. Though they could've likely handled themselves given unlimited supplies, they were markedly finite. As their dust reserves began to dwindle, Jill noted our presence and waved, hollering loudly.
"Hey guys from the initiation thing! Do you want to come and give us a fucking hand here I mean come on!"
Her tone left little to the imagination; we'd need to help them out if we hoped to stay in good graces and also help someone kill cool shit! Matthew charged forward, metaphorical guns ablaze. His brass knuckles skidded into the jaws of the beast, sending it shuddering backward, shaking it's maw and roaring ferociously. His assault gave me an idea, and I jumped to smack the Creep as Klubba tore into its exposed jaw, cracking its lateral incisor and sending the bucktooth skidding across the forest floor.
Our brutal assault continued, our co-ed fighting force launching fluid attacks. As the terror slowly began to weaken, it let out a burst of feverish energy, seeking to harm us. It came running towards us, claws scraping and jaws snapping. We dived out of the way, and I ducked out of the way with Matthew. I turned to him, confused and a little dazed - I'm the slowest, physically. He grabbed me by the shoulders and shouted a plan that made little to no sense, but y'know, when in Rome!
As per his instruction, I ran back a few meters, changing Klubba into a purely launching striking powerhouse. Matt curled his back and legs lower, appearing almost congruent with a baseball, or a terrified armadillo. And I did what you do with a baseball. You fucking hit it. I smacked that man in the spine and sent him flying straight into the air. Apparently, we really trust each other now! Good job us.