This was my winning entry for Baguio FanCon 2018! -C
"Choose your landing strategy well, students." Professor Ozpin looked at each of the prospective Beacon Academy students. Boys and girls of all backgrounds and sizes and skills, ready to become the world's weapon against the creatures of Grimm.
Velvet gulped. She broke away from Ozpin's prying eyes and braced herself. The early morning air was cold and crisp; Velvet could imagine the frost eating away at her skin. Beyond the cliff everyone stood on was the site that the initiations would take place: The Emerald Forest.
Velvet never knew that she would get this far.
From the moment she was born, to when she left for Beacon, the people around her always used the same words to describe her. Shy. Skittish. Weird. Weak-willed.
And even though it wasn't an adjective, Faunus.
That Faunus girl. Bunny-ears.
She had gotten used to being called such names, but the bite, already dulled with the passage of time, still was there.
The platform engaged and flung each student over the edge of the cliff. Velvet, upon being launched, soared through the air, her slim body angled in such a way that she maximized her vertical and horizontal momentum. The chill air quickly turned bitterly cold as the wind whirled about her. A few other students by her flopped about like rag dolls, but a few had already landed in the forest below.
The greens and browns of the landscape below rushed by in an abstract blur. The wind rushed downward, brushing Velvet's bangs out of her face, fluttering her rabbit ears behind her head.
After only a few seconds, Velvet reached the peak of her flight. Velvet stayed motionless for a moment, feeling a bit of her nerve fail as her momentum shifted. Slowly, gravity pulled back its invisible thread, and Velvet descended.
She reoriented her body, twisting so that heels faced the ground, ready for the moment of impact. Her Aura would take the brunt of the impact, keeping her body from being crushed by gravity and her own momentum, but she couldn't feel a bit of unease.
She looked down, watching the ground rush up to meet her. Her heart pounded in trepidation, noting how fast the ground seemed to want to crush her… not if she could help it. She just had to time it right. She hoped she could time it right.
Three, two, one.
Her heels hit the ground. Velvet felt a shockwave travel from her heels to her toes, and through the rest of her body as her Aura redirected the force. The shockwave kicked up dust and shook the nearby foliage, Velvet's heels digging into the earth.
Some of the dust got in Velvet's eyes and nose.
"Aaaah… aah-CHOO!"
A nearby flock of birds flew off, startled by Velvet's sneeze.
For all her shortcomings, Velvet did have a rather powerful sneeze.
An hour had passed. Scarlet carefully plodded around the woods, her camera out. The wind rustled the canopy, but nothing, not even a Grimm, came out to greet her. This would have suited Velvet fine, but the initiation required her to find a partner.
Friends weren't Velvet's strong suit. Her unique Faunus heritage didn't invite many friendly faces. She was also shy and timid to begin with, and even her Semblance wasn't something to gawk at. If anything, her ability to copy motions and expressions almost flawlessly gave her strange looks from others. What was mimicry next to Semblances like immense strength, or pyrokinesis? Velvet seriously doubted that her soon-to-be partner would be too pleased to have someone like her on the team.
The second problem was her camera.
With the flash of a camera, the unassuming box and camera could replicate any weapon, registered or unregistered, bladed or ranged or otherwise. However, each copy lasted for a few strikes, and she couldn't properly mimic other people's Semblances. More importantly, she needed to see people using their weapons in order to copy them.
And there was no one around to mimic.
Until now.
Velvet heard a rustling in the grove behind her.
Someone else was there.
Velvet tensed up, holding up her camera. Whatever was in the trees was huge. With every step, the ground rumbled. The trees themselves swayed. The footsteps drew nearer, and nearer. There was a guttural growl, a predatory rumble so deep that Velvet felt it deep in her chest. She felt her heart rate rise as she prepared to press the button on the side of her camera-
"Looking for a fight?" A voice called out from the distance
Startled, Velvet pressed the flash button and closed her eyes.
The sound of heavy gunfire crowded the air.
Her eyes shut, Velvet scrambled backwards, still clutching her camera tightly. The stones and grass in the ground threatened to make her lose her momentum, a particularly sharp pebble cutting into her leg. The ground shook as whatever was in the trees rampaged in agony and fury.
She felt a cooling of the air, indicating that she had retreated into a copse or the shade of a shrub. Feeling the heavy footfalls again, some distance away, Velvet slowly opened one eye.
Another student stood by the edge of the grove, wielding a chain-fed gun the size of a cannon. The gun peppered out bursts of light, sharply framing the other girl's heart-shaped face. Velvet couldn't see the other student's eyes; she was wearing a pair of dark shades.
Her bullets riddled a beastly Grimm on all fours full of holes, small shards flying off with every bullet. The Grimm writhed, screamed, but couldn't get past the hail of bullets. Its eyes quaked with animalistic hunger, emtting a red glow-
And the Grimm fell to the side. It started dissipating into a cloud of dust, first flaking off, then its disappearing into nothing.
Velvet looked at the other student. Her gun folded itself into what looked like a designer handbag. Once it had compressed itself (how did other students' weapons always manage to fold themselves so neatly? Velvet thought.) the other student approached Velvet, a distinct, swaying sashay in her step. She stepped into a patch of light, and Velvet noted that she was in the latest Huntress fashion, full of hardened leather and subdued, yet comfortable colors. She could have blended into a grove of tree trunks, and even Velvet would have had trouble spotting her.
"You don't seem like much of a fighter," the other student commented dryly.
Velvet flinched. The other student was looking directly at her. She had adjusted her shades to get a better look, presumably. The other student didn't look angry or annoyed, but she did look a little bit smug. A perfectly plucked eyebrow rose quizzically over a brown eye.
Like coffee, Velvet mused.
"I'm sorry. I… never really got much practice."
"Is that so?" The other student tilted her head, enunciating every word with a hint of skepticism. Velvet imagined all the words this other student could be attaching to her person, sitting meekly under a shrub. Shy. Skittish. Weird. Weak-willed. She could feel the other student's coffee-brown eyes scanning her personage. "Well, at any rate, you don't seem to be a front-liner. How would you like to be-"
"Look out!"
A dark shadow swooped over them both. The other student was knocked off her feet, her handbag flying into a nearby tree.
Velvet grabbed her camera. Standing over the other student was what looked like a winged Grimm, except its "wings" extended from its arms and attached themselves to its stubby legs. It resembled a cross between a bat and a flying squirrel. Its white gleaming skull stood out, like a marble stone in the middle of a black grassy field. Its glowing red eyes brightened as it let out a shriek.
Without thinking, Velvet activated the first copy she could think of.
Out of the camera box came a beam of light. It split and bent, folding itself into barrels, chains, and the like, until the other student's chain-fed gun materialized. Unlike the real thing, Velvet's copy was made of blue light, and felt weightless. At the back of her mind, her Semblance tugged at her muscles, lowering Velvet into the other student's same stance..
Copycat.
Velvet dug her heels down into the ground, mimicking the other student's stance as she aimed the gun at the flying Grimm...
Copycat.
Bullets went flying.
The Grimm rose into the air as hard-light projectiles threatened to cut into its flesh. A few clipped the leather that aided its flight. The Grimm let out a shriek, wobbling and teetering in the air as bits of light pierced its wings.
Velvet felt the light copy get slightly pliable, like melting plastic.
Only a few seconds left.
She took a step forward, still supporting the gun as though it had full weight. Some bullets seemed to be veering off course. Velvet felt sweat drip down her forehead, but kept the same phrase on repeat in her head… Just a little more… Just a little more...
The moment that Velvet's light-gun faded, the Grimm fell. A black blur dropped, dissolving into a comet of ash. The remnants of the light bullets fell, and faded into nothingness.
Velvet's arms dropped. She got down on her knees, afraid that this person would judge her for copying her again, instead of just making her weapon and finding her own Semblance like a normal person…
"Well, one of us has to change weapons," the other student huffed.
Velvet dropped her gaze. She felt her shoulders sag in defeat. Copycat.
"You do need to work on your originality. And maybe working with other people, I guess."
Shy. Skittish. Weird. Weak-willed.
"At least now I know you have good taste. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, after all."
Velvet looked up, confused. Good taste?
The other student had her hand out, ready to help Velvet up. She had carefully folded up her shades in her left hand, revealing both coffee-brown eyes.
"I'm Coco Adel. Nice to meet you."
Velvet took her hand. Coco's grip exuded a firm kind of confidence, a grip that didn't just give up. She lifted Velvet to her feet.
"I'm… Velvet Scarlatina. It's… nice to meet you too."
"Velvet." Coco repeated the name, slowly. "Now that's a name I can remember."
"You can…?" Velvet felt a warm, bubbly feeling well up inside her chest.
"To be honest, you kind of stick out from the crowd." Coco grinned. "Now come on. We've got an initiation to complete… partner."
Velvet repeated the word in her head. The warmth spread, filling her Aura with life and vibrancy.
Partner.
Partner.
Partner.