Get past the first chapter and the second one will be better.
Dry and hot. That's Vacuo. At least that's how everyone describes it nowadays.
There used to be a time when it was like a paradise. An oasis. That is what the elders and scholar taught to the children over in the western continent. Those from the furthest west to the heart of the desert. This land of the previous paradise is gone. Just like the government system. Now, there is one place of law and peace.
Shade Academy.
Parents hope for their children to become hunters and huntresses in this school. To have a sense of order and control for their future. It was better to be in school than to be left alone in the middle of the harsh land.
Vacuo wasn't all that bad when you go further west. However, the people living there avoid the desert society and live in their agriculturally-rich land. Only hunters and huntresses end up traveling the desert if they went to Shade Academy because it's the nearest and accessible.
One of those hunters' names was "Nolan Porfirio."
He stood at the school's front, carrying only a pack. His eyes were looking around the school's surroundings. Running a hand through his reddish hair, he let out a sigh. Scanning through the school, he saw that a majority of students, with their luggage, were walking into a building.
"I guess that's where we'll be starting." He said, making his way to the large building.
It was much cooler inside. The air-conditioner blasted in the room of diverse students. Both fauna and human. They all had their "luggage" with them. Usually a bag or a single trunk where they treasured their personal belongings. There was no need for a stack of suitcases in a place like this. However, some students could be found with more luggage.
He stood near the back of the crowd, not wanting to stand face-to-face with the headmaster. He looked at the crowded room of students. All of them were loudly talking with their friends and laughing. Boys were yelling and boasting. Girls were gossiping and screaming when they saw their friends. His hands reached for the pair of aviators hanging from his shirt. Putting on them on, he stayed silent and looked around the room, waiting for something to happen.
Soon enough, a foghorn was blasted throughout the room. Everyone was startled by this and slowly ended their conversations, causing the noise level quieted down. The redhead saw a figure walk up to the podium, but couldn't make out their physical appearance. The headmaster sounded the airhorn again, so the students would turn their attention to him. When Nolan thought that the chaos was over, a toilet paper roll flew across the stage and everyone laughed. A smile spread across his face as well.
"Ah yes, I see that we're excited to be here." The speaker said, looking down at the toilet paper roll trailing across the stage. "I'm loving the energy here- But I suggest that you save it for tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" The redhead whispered.
"That's when we go through initiation." Someone whispered back at the redhead. He was startled that someone heard him, but acted to seem unsurprised. His attention went back the speaking headmaster.
"It's great to see everyone alive!" He announced as everyone laughed again. When the laughter died down, everyone waited to see what he would say next. Despite not being able to read his face, Nolan could hear the sudden change of tone.
"..."
"Does anyone know why they're here?" He asked. The room was murmuring answers, but they came to an agreement that it was to become hunters and huntresses.
Silence fell and the headmaster began talking again, "We've all heard it, 'Shade Academy is the only place of law and order.' It is true. But Shade Academy is more thanthis. I want to create a place that will teach society to have each others' back. It sounds really 'stupid.' I know what you teenagers are thinking. However, you will learn more than fighting and defending. You will learn to connect. To help the fallen. To build relationships and friendships. To care about the ones who you would least expect."
"Imagine if you have fallen. Who will be there to help you?" A woman took the microphone from the headmaster. This caused the students to whisper amongst each other in confusion and discomfort.
"We are not expecting you to be heroes." He said. "We expect you to do better than what you have done. To avoid the path of guilt, crime, and darkness. Learning to rise for others who will rise for you. Then you will learn to understand that Shade Academy is a two-way road."
With that being said, he took a megaphone from the podium and handed it to his assistant. She announced that the girls will be headed to the north gym and boys will be in the south gym for tonight. Slowly, the crowd began to walk out of the auditorium and into the halls. Nolan looked around, unsure of what to do next. It was too early to sleep and he wasn't sure where to explore. He began to walk out of the auditorium, passing by students with a smile on his face. Behind his aviators, he never had to make eye contact and could hear every conversation. He waited for someone to have an opening spot within the conversation.
"What's with the whole North Gym and South Gym thing? Vale doesn't do that." Someone said out loud.
"It's because of the fact that they have a ballroom." A girl answered. Soon enough, this slowly evolved into a friendly conversation between the two. Nolan thought for a moment and saw he could easily talk with them.
"...So are we saying this school is smaller than Beacon?" He looked at both of them.
"No, it's just that Beacon has a different way of using their space in Vale." She explained. "We have more facilities that train us to be in different environments actually."
"Differents environments?" The guy said. His brown hair was styled in cornrow dreadlocks with golden clasps. He wore a green buckled vest and rolled-up, white pants.
"You know, like a swimming pool." She answered. "That way, we could be taught swimming lessons and cool down from the heat."
"I see." Nolan took off his sunglasses and hung it on his shirt.
"I'm Nebula." She took out both of her hands to shake with the redhead and brunette. Her dark hair was cut short and puffed up. Her eyes color matched the other boy's. Olive.
"Roy Stallion." He said. Then they both looked at Nolan.
"I'm Nolan." He shook both of their hands.
"New here?" Roy asked.
"Yeah, I'm new here." He answered. "No friends yet, I suppose."
"C'mon we just met and shook hands." The brunette rolled his eyes. "Isn't that enough for you?"
"I guess so," The redhead give a laugh and shrugged. They looked at the girl they just met.
"I already have some friends. But I'll be mutuals with you guys." She smiled.
"Roy, I was looking for you." Someone yelled from behind. Nolan looked to see the person. His muscular build was visible from the tank top he wore. A purple handkerchief was tied to his right knee. His pants were adorned with bronze kneecaps and multiple belt straps. He threw an arm around Roy. His eyes went to Nebula, then Nolan. He looked at them back and forth a couple of times and looked back at his friend.
"Dude, we have plenty of time to find a spot to sleep at." Roy made a gesture to the other two. "This is Nebula and the redhead is Nolan."
"It's nice to meet you..." Nebula began.
"Brawnz." He held out both hands to shake with the new people. After that, Nebula said that one of her friends was calling her over and walked away from the small group.
"You excited for tomorrow?" Roy asked.
"I don't really know," Nolan answered, putting his hand into his pockets. "I'm new to this hunter thing."
"Are you saying that you're a late bloomer?" Brawnz joked.
"Nah, it was just unexpected." He shrugged.
"You have a lot of catching up to do then." The two friends looked at each other. The olive eyed teen nodded and looked at Nolan. "Want a tour around here? I could explain everything to you in a nutshell."
"Heh, thanks." The new hunter said. Both Brawnz and Roy started to walk ahead. As Nolan began to follow them, a person brushed right past him. He looked back at whoever ran past him and quirked an eyebrow at the person. "A beanie in this heat?"
O~O
The next morning, the headmaster had been yelling through a megaphone through the hallways to wake up students. At one point, a student stole the megaphone and blasted ridiculous songs throughout the school to annoy everyone.
Last night was... long. Roy gave a crash course on how hunters and huntresses worked. While Brawnz had a good night's sleep, Nolan had some trouble with containing the new information.
He woke up tired, but he knew that he would be better prepared for this day. After a daily morning routine and breakfast, he went to the school's rooftop where the other students were told to wait. Before he could go up, two teachers were giving each student a ring to attach on their clothes' waistline. Meanwhile, another pair of teachers were giving out sports sacks that contained water and sunscreen. Each student was assigned to stand on a square, metal platform.
When all of the platforms were taken, the headmaster looked at his students before averting his gaze towards the dunes.
"You're all going to be launched into the desert, everyone." He stated and everyone's mouth practically dropped. "In Beacon, you would have to do a fancy landing. But because this is just sand, the only fancy landing you'll get is by landing on a big rock. Anyways, you will have to collect relics in the abandoned dust mines and return here before sunset."
"With a partner of course." His assistant walked with a megaphone and scroll. She turned to face the students. "Everyone here should be aware of the dangers of the desert. Because of this, we require that you wear these rings on your clothes. The moment that you make eye contact with your future partner, these rings will activate and you'll be attached to each other by a line."
"Not only that, but it also means you'll be with your partner for the next four years!" The headmaster added. He gave a look at his assistant and she tapped on the scroll. Soon enough, multiple students were screaming as they were being launched into the vast desert.
Up in the air, Nolan wasn't sure how far he would have been launched. Although, his eyes immediately spotted a cliff. He ended up landing on the flat terrain with his shoes skidding against the rough surface. Regaining his balance, he looked around the area.
Empty.
Seeing that no one there, he put on his aviators and began wandering around.
You can't make direct eye contact with someone if they don't know where you are looking at.
Walking towards the cliff's edge, he looked down to see black dots on the rocky walls. Taking a closer look, the black dots became hollowed-out caves. A sense of realization struck him as he looked into the canyon's walls.
It was going to be impossible to find relics in these hundreds of caves.
"Don't have much of a choice, do I?" He sighed and made his way to the nearest path to the caves. Each cave was just a duplicate of the next one. He finally gave in and entered the third cave he saw.
Inside was cooler. It may have been pitch black, but it was better than staying in the hands touched the tunnel's cold surface. Only the sound of his steps could be heard. This environment made him feel... unsettled. There was no life in these caves. No feeling.
It wasn't like the countryside peace... Slowly he reached for the baton on his side— Wait. No. He stopped and thought for a moment. He didn't want to expose himself in the caves. He didn't want someone random as his partner. He began to walk further into the tunnels without light. He wondered if anybody else ended up with a partner. If they did, then he would get stuck with someone who would probably poke fun at him for having a ridiculous weapon. His back leaned against the walls as he slid down to sit. Drinking the bottle of water, he saw the weapons that everyone had.
All of the weapons were either giant swords or machinery powered by dust. At least those could do serious damage.
Step.
That sound got him standing up again. A student was in the same tunnel as he was.
If he stayed quiet, then he would be unfound. From there, he could continue his search for an artifact and hopefully not end up with a person he couldn't see.
However, the redhead knew that he couldn't stay there forever. The person could end up walking towards the cave's exit. Because of this, he ventures further into the tunnel, hoping to find a different exit. The sounds of footsteps disappeared and he grinned to himself. He saw the light of a different exit and began to walk out into the sunlight.
That's when it happened. A student from the cave above him jumped off the ledge.
Nolan turned around, but it was too late. Someone accidentally kicked him in the chest. He fell and his upper body went off the ledge. His breaths deepen as he looked up at the blue sky. The kick didn't hurt him, but he didn't want to see the ground below him.
A hand grabbed him and tried to jerk him back up. As he was being pulled up, his aviators loosened and he hoped that they didn't fall off yet. With a final jerk, the other student got him sitting up at the cliff's path.
Suddenly, they ran into the cave before Nolan saw their face. He blinked in confusion.
It seems that he wasn't the only one avoiding partners.
Now he was curious.
He walked back into the cave he previously left. Hoping to hear a sound from the other student, he tried to stay quiet with his movements. However, they were good at hiding their presence.
Finally, he slumped against the way. He didn't understand why he was suddenly interested in finding the person because that was the last thing he wanted during this initiation. Was it because they were on a similar page of avoiding people? Whatever it was, he knew that the other person wanted the same thing as he did. However, neither of them could see each other and communicate this idea.
He needed to talk.
"Hey, thanks for the save back there- even though you kicked me in the chest." He called throughout the tunnel. No response was given. "Anyways, I know that you don't want to be partnered up right away. I don't either."
A shuffle came from the silent cave. At least he wasn't talking to himself.
"That's all I wanted to let you know basically." He kicked the ground. "Feel free to talk back to me because it looks like I'm talking to myself in an empty. cave."
"You're welcome." A voice breathed softly. Nolan found himself smiling at the voice and he started walking again.
"You're pretty good at being stealthy. I'm impressed." He commented, tracing his fingertips across the walls.
"Thanks." The person paused. "I'm sorry for kicking you in the chest back there. It was an accident."
"It's alright." He said. "I get kicked in the chest a lot."
"Really?" Curiosity mixed with the person's voice.
"Both animals and people." He explained. "It doesn't hurt as much after twelve years."
"Twelve years?" A snicker came from her. "Are you sure that you aren't lying?"
"I'm being totally honest." Nolan stopped in his tracks for a moment. "Where do you think the relics are?"
"Probably somewhere in the tunnels..." She trailed off. "Judging from his personality, our headmaster would put the relics in ridiculous places."
"No kidding." He agreed with the voice.
"But I guess he's okay as a person." She stated. A silence had fallen between them and their footsteps echoed throughout the dust mine. The redhead wasn't sure what to say next. He bit his lower lip, wondering about the person who was walking with him. Finally, he stopped and took a deep breath.
"My name's Nolan. What's yours?" The girl was silent for a long moment.
"You can just call me 'May.' It's easier than my first name." She sighed, clicking open her water bottle. They continued to walk through the darkness without talking.
"Do you ever wonder how everyone else is doing?" He asked.
"They might be doing better than us," May answered. "I keep on seeing a bunch of people finding relics and getting out of this place right away."
"I could relate, I don't like this place either." Nolan said. "It feels off."
"I guess, but this must be home to Grimm." She paused. "I'm surprised that we haven't come across any..."
"Well, Grimm will only go towards darkness and negative feelings." They took a turn in the tunnel. "Maybe it's because neither of us feel scared."
"Scared? There's more to it than that. There's also anger and grief." She pointed out and quickly changed the subject. "Have you ever fought one of them?"
"It's how I got into this school too."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"..."
"Have you ever faced a Grimm?"
"To be honest... not yet." May answered. "It's why I'm here as well."
"Wow." He laughed. "We're both here because of Grimm AND we're trying to avoid partners."
"Heh, that's kinda weird." She stifled a soft laugh. "But it's not all bad. I prefer the silence, but these tunnels are something else..."
Suddenly, they heard two voices coming ahead of them. Immediately, Nolan recognized those voices. Both Brawnz and Roy ended up as partners because of the light that glowed from their line. Seeing this, he didn't have to worry about making eye contact with them. They stopped when they saw the redhead.
"No partner yet?" Roy commented and the other boy nodded.
"You can't make eye contact when you have these babies on." He pointed to his aviators. "Anyways, have you gotten any luck with the relics?"
"No, not yet." Brawnz replied. "But we just overheard that some student was going to explode part of the dust mine."
"So you're waiting to hear something go 'boom' and run over there?" Nolan folded his arms at them.
"Basically... yes." The brunette stated.
"Alright—"
"That's seriously dangerous, though." May spoke up in the darkness. The partnered duo was surprised by her sudden voice and looked at Nolan.
"Hey look, there's a student. Why don't you guys make eye contact so you could have a source of light?" Brawnz suggested.
"No can do. May and I made an agreement not to make eye contact with each other." Nolan shook his head at them. For a moment, the tunnel was utterly silent.
"That is the most stupid thing I've heard today." He stated in annoyance. "You are supposed to bring the relic back with a partner."
"And?" Nolan lifted up his aviators.
"YOU NEED TO FIND A PARTNER IF YOU WANT TO FIND THE DAMN RELIC!" Brawnz throws his hands downwards.
"What he means is... Our headmaster had a catch to finding these relics." His partner spoke up. "The relics will only appear when you've been partnered up, you see."
"That's stupid." May immediately stated.
"I'm with her." Nolan pointed at the direction of her voice.
"If you're with her, then why not be partners?" Roy said in a slow voice. "It seems that you're getting along with each other—"
BOOM.
Suddenly, the ground cracked. The four of them backed away from the growing fissure. Walls crumbled from where they previously stood. A beam of light entered from the collapsing mine. Dust flew into their tunnel. Taking cover from the wind of debris, it took an entire minute for the crushing rocks to stop. After a long silence, the flying dust had stopped and light entered where they were.
The tunnel before them had disappeared. Light exposed in their direction.
Slowly, the boys walked towards the cave's newly created ledge. Looking down, they saw that a quarter of the canyon was in rubble and debris. There was a moment of silence. One moment, the partnered boys were walking from the direction of that tunnel. The next moment, it collapsed in a matter of seconds. The tunnel's structure turned into a mountain of rock chunks and dust bits.
This moment of silence didn't last forever.
A loud hiss came from May's direction. Brawnz looked at his friend they made a jump towards the bank of rock. Quickly, Nolan made a jump for the outside as well. Landing on the ground, he felt a concern for the girl back in the cave.
He didn't hear her jump onto the rocky mountain. He gave a look towards Brawnz and Roy. They noticed that she didn't jump off like they did.
However, they didn't have the time to focus on her because a black creature shifted from beneath the rubble. Its legs were climbing onto the rocks' surface. The boys were taken aback by the monstrous size of the Grimm.
"I'm guessing this is why she said exploding the canyon was stupid." Nolan said.
"You think?" Roy said in a harsh voice. He watched as Brawnz started to close in towards the Grimm. As much as they didn't want to fight it, there was no escape within the mountain of rocks. The duo started fighting the Grimm in a close range as Nolan could only watch. He wanted to take out his weapon, but he knew that this wasn't the best time to use it when it was a three-on-one fight.
A feeling of alarm rushed through him as more Grimm crawled from beneath the rocks. They were much smaller with their three-part bodies. However, they were crawling fast and trying to attack the three hunters.
This was a fight that he could do one-on-one. He took out the cattle prod from the side of his belt. Charged up with electricity, he jabbed at the ant-like Grimm crawling towards him and the other two boys. He focused on taking out the smaller Grimm, but his thoughts wandered off to the girl back in the cave. Was she still there?
The words from yesterday echoed into his mind. Should he have grabbed her and jumped onto the ground of broken rocks? But that wouldn't be a good idea either... There was a swarm of Grimm attacking him and the other two. Yet, she told him that she's never fought a Grimm face-to-face.
He remembered the day that he was forced to defend himself from a Grimm.
His grip tightened as he shook himself from those memories. He glared at the black creatures and continued to just stab them with electricity. Taking a quick look at Roy and Brawnz, they were struggling to fight the larger Grimm.
Being distracted for only a moment, one of the smaller Grimm reached his leg and another was snapped at his foot. Trying to regain his balance, he frantically tried to fend them off.
In the blink of an eye, a light shot at towards the Grimm near him. Turning around, he tried to see who was shooting at the Grimm. However, they were not visible from his point of view. In the back of his mind, he had a feeling of who may have shot the dust bullet.
The dust bullets kept on coming. Shot by shot. Each one landing an accurate hit on each Grimm. Eventually, the other two noticed the pattern of shots coming from above them. However, they need to keep their focus on the Grimm that they were facing. As the three were fighting off the Grimm, a whirl of sand flew by and carried off the small creatures. The boys looked up to find a quartet of girls who were already partnered up.
"You guys need a hand?" Nebula jumped from the ledge with another girl in a green dress. Following after them were another pair of girls. The one with long red hair carried a jagged dagger and Nebula's partner carried a large spear.
"Yeah, we need to get rid of this Grimm." Roy chucked his spinning saws towards its stinger.
"First, we need to wipe out these ants! They're everywhere!" Brawnz jumped back to dodge the Grimm's pincers.
"Dew, this is your cue." Nebula looked at the blonde next to her. Dew rolled her eyes at the rhyme and dug her spear into the rocks. A small tornado formed, picking up small rocks and dirt. She repeated this action until there was were enough tornadoes to carry the ant Grimms away from the battle.
The only opponent left was the giant Death Stalker trying to claw at the two teenagers. While Nolan backed away from the group match, everyone else went to fight the sharp creature.
"Hey, Gwen!" The noirette nodded at her partner. They stretched out their line with Gwen spinning it towards herself. When she was done wrapping the line around her skirt, the redhead jerked the line. As result of this, Gwen twirled in the air to throw multiple knives at a closer range. After that, she was reeled back to where her partner stood.
"Looks like that didn't work." Nebula sighed, running a hand through her hair. She looked at back at the other duo. Pointing over to them, she said, "Octavia, lend your dagger to Gwen! Gwen try to stab the Death Stalker's eyes!"
"We'll hold down the Grimm." Brawnz yelled as he shoved his claw weapons into the its walking legs. He looked at his friend. "Roy! Keep its attention away from the girl!"
"Right!" He yelled back. While they were distracting the Grimm, both girls carried out Nebula's orders. Gwen wrapped the line around her waist again and took she dust-powered dagger from the redhead. She spun into the air again, stabbing the dagger into one of the beast's eyes. However, its stinger was immediately aiming for the girl with brown eyes.
Without hesitation, Brawnz jumped up and held back the aculeus. He made a motion for Gwen to get off the black creature. Seeing this, Octavia pulled on the line to get her partner off. Now, Brawnz had been left with pushing against the beast's pressure.
Jumping onto the Death Stalker, Nebula took out her sword and struck it into the Grimm. As a result of this, it let out an ear-piercing screech and shook off the students on it.
"My sword!" Nebula reached a hand toward the silver handle, but Brawnz took it instead. They both landed away from the Grimm. They looked to see that the Grimm was heading towards Nolan's direction. Immediately, Roy tried to run to Nolan and failed when his line with Brawnz wouldn't go any further.
"Hey! Someone's up there!" Octavia pointed out to a student climbing off the higher ledge. The girl with dark hair saw this and ran to Brawnz's side. Grabbing back her sword, she changed it into a crossbow and focused on the upper ledge that the girl was coming down from.
As this was happening, Nolan was trying to fend off the Grimm that he faced alone. He attempted to tase the Grimm for a long period of time. Hoping it would get paralyzed eventually, he looked up at the ledge again.
A pair of legs were dangling from the ledge. The person was above the other one that he previously jumped from. A thought came to his mind about May getting past the Grimm she faced alone. She might have snuck past the hissing Grimm and made her way to the upper level of the tunnels.
Nolan wanted to find out. However, the Grimm could stab him at any given moment. He continued to electrocute it. Concern was written all over his because the person above him was losing grip. They could fall towards the Death Stalker and end up getting tased as well. Or worse. Stabbed by the golden stinger filled with deadly poison.
Finally, the person above him fell. His grip on the baton loosened and the no longer charged. His eyes widened when they were about to fall into its pincers. Jumping up, he closed his eyes tightly and tackled the falling person into the tunnel.
Nebula saw this as her chance. With Nolan and the other student out of the way, she shot her crossbow at the Grimm from the ledge and jerked it back. But the Grimm didn't even budge. Because of this, Brawnz took the crossbow from her.
"Grab on! Let's pull this Grimm down!" He commanded. Hearing this, everyone took hold of the bow and dragged it off the rocky ledge. Gravity got the best of it and the beast crashed onto the blinded Death Stalker below.
A cloud of dust dispersed from this action. Everyone coughed, shielding themselves from the dirt and debris. When it had cleared out, both of the Grimm were still. The group of students looked at each other, not knowing what to do next. However, Nebula's eyes stared into the cave nearby. The last thing she saw was Nolan and the other student getting thrown into the darkness.
"Do you think that those two are alright?" She questioned, lowering her eyebrows.
"I don't know how to answer that..." Roy replied and they all waited. The aura from Nolan and the student would have let them survive the landing.
It took a minute for them to them to see a familiar redhead running from the darkness. He ran to the group with a smirk on his face. His pink sunglasses were gone, so they saw his expression. Everyone looked at each other in relief to see that he was okay. When he reached to where they were, Nebula gave a solemn look.
"Is the other student okay?" She asked.
"She is." Nolan smiled. "But you see, we had an agreement to avoid eye contact with each other."
"Huh?" A mix of confusion and respite filled her voice.
"She's going to follow us when we enter the caverns you guys came from." He added. Both Roy and Brawnz rolled their eyes at him.
"That's right." Dew said to her partner. "We need to find the relics soon."
"I found out that there's writing on the walls in each cavern." Gwen explained to everyone. "They were like directions. However, the light emitting from our partner lines don't last long enough. Octavia and I need to constantly charge them in the sun."
"Directions." Roy said in a deadpan voice.
"That's our headmaster." The redhead nervously laughed.
"I think that I have an idea." Dew looked directly at Nolan. Particularly at the weapon he had. "Why don't you charge our partner lines? That way, the light can last longer while we walk through the cave."
"I guess that this means we might as well work as a group." Brawnz commented.
Everyone agreed on the blonde's plan to power their partner lines and walk into the tunnels. Gwen and her partner led where they found the directions. From there, they took the route that led them deeper into the tunnel's system. Finally, they were at a two-way path. Each one having a dead end.
"It looks like this is it." Nebula stated. Each team went to choose their respective relics.
Nolan didn't see any of them. When they got there, the lines from their lines stopped glowing as they ran off to grab a relic. At first, he was just speechless. Everyone was shouting in and deciding what relic they should get. They did this without a light. The redhead boy was confused how they could see the relics in the dark.
"Hey, isn't the redhead suppose to get a relic?" Dew's voice echoed.
"Yeah... Nolan, why aren't you getting one?" Nebula agreed with her partner.
"I can't see them." He replied.
"It's because he couldn't get a partner!" Roy called out at him.
"What?! Don't you know that you need a partner to see the relics!" Octavia gasped.
"Well... no." The redhead answered as he turned back from the room of relics. He groaned and knocked his head on the wall repeatedly. He heard the footsteps coming from behind him and stopped.
"...So did you find the place?" May's voice entered the room.
"Yeah, but you need a partner to see and grab the relics..." He sighed and an awkward silence fell between them.
"I guess that'll just go then..." She started to walk away.
"May, hold up." Nolan said to her. Her footsteps stopped.
"..."
"You can be partners with me." He said with a smile in his voice.
"Are you really sure?" She quietly asked.
"Yeah." Nolan answered as he reached for his baton. When he could feel her presence to close his, he lit a spark of electricity between them. The flash was only for a moment and they made eye contact for barely a second.
O~O
After retrieving their relics, everyone walked out of the dust mine caves. Then all eight students started heading back in the eastern direction. During the trip, they were talking about the recent events that happened that day.
"I wonder who blew up that part of the canyon…" Brawnz recalled. "I thought that is was just a fake rumor."
"Whoever it was, they must have taken advantage of the dust found those abandoned mines." Nebula assumed. "I hope that they're the last ones to find a relic because that was such a low move."
"I'm surprised that a giant Death Stalker was hiding underneath that entire structure!" Octavia exclaimed as she spoke with Roy and the other two girls. While the six students were involved in their own conversations, Nolan and May walked behind them in their own conversation.
"Hey, Nolan." May began. "Why didn't you want to find a partner during initiation? You look like the type to make friends easily."
"I didn't want anybody to end up with me. I use a cattle prod as a weapon and who wants a teammate like that?" He answered, looking at the shorter girl. "Why didn'tyou want to partnered up?"
"Because I knew that no one would give me the chance." She replied, taking in a deep breath. "And then, you were the first person to give me that chance. You're great."
"You're pretty awesome, too." He continued. "You're like a professional sniper who had my back when I was fighting off those Grimm. Plus, you kept your cool when facing that Grim by yourself. I don't deserve to be your partner honestly."
'You sure about that?" May said in a sarcastic voice. "We ended up being partners in the end."
"Okay. You got me there." The redhead gave her a smirk. Looking up at the sky, the sun was starting to set. A gradient of warm colors and the night sky met each other. The daylight went west of the cascading mountains with streaks of pink clouds. As they were traveling east, the sky had faded to a soft magenta color.
After walking for forty-five minutes, they reached the school grounds. There, they raced up to the roof to find the headmaster by a bonfire and roasting marshmallows. They walked up to him and showed their relics from the abandoned dust mines. He nodded at them and encouraged everyone to take a seat by a bonfire to roast marshmallows and wait for more partnered students to arrive. While students were waiting, teachers came by to deactivate their partner lines.
When the sun had finally set, their headmaster got up to announce teams and team leaders. All of the students waited anxiously to hear whether they would be with their friends or rivals. Soon enough, Nebula went up to be team leader.
"Nebula Violette, your teammates are Dew Gayl, Gwen Darcy, and Octavia Ember." He announced as the crowd of students clapped. "You four will be known as Team NDGO."
"Nice!" All four of them cheered because they knew each other. After them, Brawnz was called up.
"Brawnz Ni, your teammates are Roy Stallion, Nolan Porfirio, and May Zedong." He announced. All of the students looked at each other in surprise. The three went up and seemed happy that they already knew each other. While Brawnz gave a fist bump with his friend and Nolan struck a pose, May just gave an awkward smile. The headmaster just looked at them, continuing. "I already like you kiddos, From now on, you'll be known as Team BRNZ!"
And that was how both teams were created that night of bonfires and marshmallows.