Today was the day. I was finally going to Beacon Academy. I had been waiting for this day for years. I went to all of the preliminary schools to learn to fight, to craft my weapon, and to discover all of the hidden abilities I had. Now I was driving up to the school that would bring it all together. The school that would make me a Huntsman. As soon as I walked through the doors I knew I would love it here. My hope was to get a good team for these next four years. Also I wanted desperately to be a leader, even more so if I could be the leader of my own team.
I found some people who I knew from some of my earlier schooling, like Coco Adel, and Velvet Scarlatina. I also met some new people and some of the teachers including Professor Port, and Professor Oobleck. I had my outfit; which was boots, jeans, knee pads, a t-shirt, cloak, chest armor, elbow pads, shoulder armor, and my weapon hostlers. My weapons were two swords in sheaths on my back. Each sword could turn into a pistol, or I could combine them to form a powerful bow that shot dust powered arrows.
Suddenly a voice started talking over the intercom system. It told all first year students to head towards the auditorium. I got some directions from a teacher and started over there. Once we were there, a woman named Glynda, who spoke over the intercom, led us to a cliff. There we were directed to some metal platforms near the edge. There was also a man standing off to the side who now addressed us.
"Hello, students," he said. "My name is Ozpin. I am the headmaster here at Beacon. Today is your initiation into my school. We will launch you off of this cliff with these metal launch pads, and it will be up to you to make and execute a landing strategy. After you land, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years. Once you meet your new partner, you are to head to the edge of the forest where the temple ruins are located. There you will find a relic that you are to bring back to me at the school. Be wary, for there is danger in the forest and you will need to fight to survive. Good luck."
Well that's one way to start the day. I didn't even have time to process it all when I was suddenly flying through the air. A quick glance around showed me that all of the students had been thrown off one at a time after me. I was really hoping to get a good team and be the leader for my time here at Beacon. That was all I wanted, and then I found out that the process for getting a team was completely random!
At least I could choose my partner, and at least the landing strategy would be easy, since I'm a fanus, a person with animal attributes. I spread my black, raven wings and spun around to look at all of my classmates. I picked out a couple of people who I had met previously. Coco and Velvet were already falling into the same area and would probably become partners. Ray, a friend from my childhood, and a girl I didn't recognize were also falling towards the same spot. And then I saw Emily, Ray's sister. Emily was my best friend from my childhood. I knew she was a great fighter and an even better person. I also might have had a little bit of a huge crush on her. I decided then and there that I wanted her on my team. Then I saw another person falling to the same place she was. I knew I had to get to her first. I angled myself towards her and started flying for the ground. I landed just seconds after her but outside of the clearing she was in. As I landed I also sensed Grimm all over the forest with my semblance, which increases my spacial awareness and allows me to sense things all around I stepped into the clearing, I made sure to make some noise so that she would look at me.
"Oh!" she said, somewhat startled by my sudden appearance in the clearing she had landed in.
"Hey there, stranger," I said. It was sort of an inside joke between us.
"Hey there, yourself," she replied with a smile.
"Got a partner yet?"
"Nope. Looks like you're the lucky winner," she said.
"Well what can I say? I am a lucky person."
"Whatever, you dork."
"Hey, what did I do?!"
"Just messing. We'd better get a move on,though."
"Yeah, c'mon. It's this way."
"Wait. This will take us to Ray," she said as she created a portal. "He isn't much closer to the ruins but it will be better to stay in a group."
"Emily, how did you just, make, a portal?"
"It's my semblance. I discovered it over the summer. I can make openings and Ray can make exits."
"Oh." I said. I was a little freaked out still but Em had always had my back, and I trusted her, so I decided to go through the portal. "See you on the other side, I guess."
"See ya."
I stepped through and at the same time I was stepping out in a completely different section of forest. I sensed Ray and another person behind me. I turned and saw Emily step out of the portal. The portal closed and Ray and his friend walked up to us.
"Hey, Em!" Ray said
"Hey!" Emily said, pulling her brother into a hug.
"This is my new partner…?" Ray said, as he looked to his partner
"Beck," the girl standing behind Ray said.
"Nice to meet you, Beck. I'm Emily, Ray's sister. This is my partner, and good friend, Mark."
We all smiled and shook hands as we introduced ourselves. Ray, Emily, and I all knew each other already so it was mostly Beck meeting us all and vice versa.
"Well, we had better get moving soon," I said after we were done introducing each other. "I'm sensing a Beowolf pack heading in our direction so we can either meet them head on or go around them towards the ruins," I said
"Wait you can, sense, them?" Beck asked.
"Yeah, my semblance allows me to sense things even if I normally wouldn't."
"Oh that's cool." Beck said, with a hint of sorrow in her voice.
"Yeah, by the way what's your semblance?" I asked
"I… haven't really, discovered it…"
"Oh that's fine. Me and Ray only discovered ours a couple of months ago." Emily said, in a reassuring tone.
Beck smiled at Emily's kindness. "Yeah I'll figure it out eventually, right?"
"Of course you will." Ray said,smiling at her.
"Yeah, so are we gonna fight or go to the ruins?" I asked, bringing us back to the problem at hand.
"We should go around. No sense in fighting when we don't have to." Emily said.
"Alright." Beck and Ray both agreed.
We started out in the direction of the ancient ruins. We went wide around the Beowolf pack and they walked past us without even realizing we were there. I knew we wouldn't, and shouldn't, avoid all of the Grimm in the forest but like Emily had said, no point in fighting if we don't have to. We walked for a while without much excitement or talking. Then I sensed a pair of Ursa's right between us and the Ruins. I ran in front of everyone, turned around and gave them a signal to stop walking. Then in a whisper I said "There's two Ursa's in our path. We can go around again but it would be out of the way and I don't know how far we would have to go to avoid all of the Grimm."
"Let's fight. If we take out both of the Ursa quickly then we can run and avoid the rest of the Grimm. Right?"
"Yeah." I said
"Okay let's do it." Ray said, and Beck nodded in agreement.
"Alright. We have an advantage with the wind blowing towards us. They won't be able to tell we're there until we're on top of them. So Ray you take on one of the Ursa and Beck you have to follow up right away to take its counter attack with your shield. Me and Em will handle the other one."
"Sounds like a plan." Beck said.
"Okay move on my signal." I said.
We snuck up to the crest of the hill we were hiding behind and peeked over to spot the Ursa. I pointed to Ray and Beck then to the Ursa on the left. Then to myself and the Ursa on the right. Beck and Ray nodded understanding and then Emily pulled out her sniper. She took aim on the Ursa on the right and glanced over to all of us. We nodded to her and she nodded back. As soon as she shot we would charge the Ursa.
A second of silence passes and then the explosion of noise from her gun shattered the silence. We were up and running before the Ursa even got hit. Ray pulled out his shotgun and turned it into his long sword as he was running and with one clean sweep he took off the Ursas right arm. It screamed in rage and pain then swung at Ray with its left hand. Beck was already there and brought her shield up and took the hit for Ray. Ray quickly swung his sword again, this time taking off the Ursas head. At the same time I was running to the Ursa that Emily had shot. I drew my swords as I got to the Ursa and while it was still recovering from the shot I slashed at its back. Before I could deliver a finishing blow Emily came running up, holding her sniper. I slashed one more time to keep the Ursa's attention on me. Emily switched her weapon to it's battle axe form and swung at the Ursa. Right before her axe hit she pulled the trigger and a shot rang out as her axe hit. The shot increased the momentum of the axe and allowed Emily to cleave the Ursa in two at its waist. Both of the Ursa started to disintegrate, like all Grimm do when they die. I was starting to tell everyone good job but Emily beat me to it.
"Nice work everyone," she said. "That was very clean, but we have to keep moving if we want to avoid more Grimm."
"Yeah let's head," Ray said.
We started out again this time running to keep the Grimm off of our trail.
"I'm gonna head up and make sure we are still on the right path," I said as I spread my wings and jumped into the air. I caught a glance of Beck's face at seeing my wings for the first time. I couldn't help but smile at the shock I saw on her face. As I cleared the tree line I spotted the ruins a couple hundred yards away. If we ran for a little bit we would get there in about 20 minutes or so. I also circled around and saw that the Grimm we had left behind weren't chasing us. I flew back down and told the others what I saw.
We reached the ruins with only a couple of other fights. Once we were there we found the relics. They were chess pieces. Ozpin told each group to grab their own so Emily and I chose the black knight piece. I didn't get a look at what Ray and Beck grabbed. After we had our relics we headed back for Beacon. On the way we discussed who we thought would be in our teams. None of us knew the process of how Ozpin chose teams but we all agreed that it would be nice for us to be in a team together. We encountered a few Grimm on the way back but not nearly as many as we had on the way to the forest temple, and we fought through them with no problems. It was close to midnight when we got back and we were still some of the first. It looked like some students were going to be spending the night in the forest. Ozpin greeted us when we returned and personally showed us to our rooms. Since Emily and I were partners we shared a room. When we got to the door Ozpin let us in, but before I got all the way through the door he grabbed my arm.
"May I speak with you in my office?" Oz asked me.
"Sure, just let me tell Emily," I replied
"I would rather speak with you now."
I could tell by the way Ozpin had said it that he didn't want me talking to Emily about our meeting. It wasn't so much a threat as a discouragement. But either way I decided to follow him without talking to Em. When we got to his office at the top of Beacon tower he told me to take a seat.
"Well Mark, as I understand it, you want to be a team leader."
"Yes sir I would."
"I saw you during the initiation and you're very qualified."
"Thank you."
"However, there seems to be a problem."
"What?" I had no idea what was happening and I didn't know what to do.
"The only team I have right now that needs a leader is not with Emily, or Ray, or Beck. It's with Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai."
Mercury and Emerald were two people who I absolutely loathed. They were basically convicts except they had never been arrested. They always had good lawyers and got out of trouble by loopholes in the legal system. They were also strong anti-fanus supporters. I wanted to be a leader badly, but did I want it this badly?
"The choice is yours, and I am sorry to have put you in this position," Ozpin said.
"It's not your fault. It's just the way the dice landed." I didn't know what to do. This was my chance to become a leader, and as a leader I would have the power to control Mercury and Emerald. I could keep them from harassing anyone else. But they could also ruin my time at beacon. On the other hand, I could join a team of people I was already friends with. I could be on a team with Emily. It was the two things I wanted most in life, but I could only have one.
"If you would rather sleep on it and speak with me tomorrow morning that is fine aswell," Ozpin said, pulling me from my thoughts.
"No it's alright. I've decided… I want to be on Emily's team."
"Are you sure? I won't be able to change this once I name the teams tomorrow."
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Very well." Ozpin said in a dismissive tone.
I turned and headed for the door but Ozpin called my name before I was all the way through.
"I want you to know I'm proud of your decision," he said.
"Thank you, sir." And with that I walked out and back to my room. When I got in, Emily was already asleep so I laid down and fell asleep too.
The next day all of the students who had slept in the forest returned to Beacon. Once everyone was back and had some time to take showers and such. Glynda came over the loudspeaker and asked all students to go to the auditorium. When we got there all of the first years were moved off to one side and grouped with their partners. All of the other second, third, and fourth years were standing with their teams. Once everyone was with their partners or teams, Ozpin walked up to the microphone and started the ceremony. He didn't waste any time. He started naming the teams. When he got to our team he called up Emily and I first. Then he called up Beck and Ray. Once we all got up on the stage he announced our team. Team EMBR. Lead by Emily Starr. It was official. I was on a team with my best friends, and my crush. I knew now that these next four years were gonna be great.