Chapter 2: Why You Shouldn't Make Stupid Deals
It didn't take too long for me to find the rest of the students and join in the tour of the academy. Most of the day was taken up by going around to the important buildings such as the dorms, the library, the classrooms and finally we ended up in the cafeteria for dinner. Currently, I was sitting at a relatively empty table with a hamburger and a plate of fries in front of me. I was surprised at Beacon's choice of food, because I would have expected a lot more healthy foods considering the training. Either way, I couldn't complain, because the food was incredible either from the great cooking or my tastes were better from being a Faunus.
"E-excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?"An Australian accented voice called out.
I turned to my left to see another young woman, this time with long hair down to her lower back. On top of her head was a pair of brown rabbit ears, that also matched with her brown eyes. She wore a short, long-sleeved brown jacket that came down to just below the chest with a golden zipper, brown shorts with golden detail and leggings that consist of two parts: a pair of dark-brown shorts and a pair of black form fitting leggings that come to just below her hips. She wears a black, form fitting shirt under her jacket, along with golden shoulder armor and vambraces, as well as a similar belt, with armor on her heels and toes. Attached to the belt at the back was a brown box with gold bordering and a handle at the top. An fan of the show would recognize the Faunus in front of me as Velvet Scarlatina, another future member of Team CVFY.
"Yeah, go ahead." I replied.
Velvet timidly sat down further down to my left and started eating her food which consisted of various fruits and vegetables. She seemed like she wanted to eat quickly and leave, possibly due to the fear of being picked on for being a Faunus. I can't say I could blame her. I continued to eat my food in peace as well... at least I was.
"I thought the sobakas ate outside." A thick Russian voice called out.
I looked up from my plate of food to see a young man standing across the table from me. The man had short, near buzz cut length dirty blonde hair, a pair of deep blue eyes with a pale complexion and built like a tank. He wore a pair of knee high black leather boots with a pair of brownish tan cargo pants with the legs tucked into the boots with a similarly colored short sleeve button up shirt with a white undershirt. The shirt had red shoulder straps with gold stitching and red cloth around his neck. He had a brown belt that had two batons attached to it as well as a few pouches of similar color.
At first I was curious to as to why this guy was so antagonistic, then I remembered that when I got brought to Remnant I had been turned into a Faunus. I took a breath to calm myself and went back to eating, trying to ignore this asshole. The aggressor scoffed before walking off. It seemed like he wanted me to say something back, probably looking for a fight. As he walked away, he seemed to be muttering something to himself.
"Was that man harassing you, Velvet?" A calm and stoic voice asked.
Looking back over to my left, I saw a towering mountain of a man; easily seven feet. The man had shaved short black hair, dark brown eyes with tanned skin. He wore a long short-sleeved robe, a 5-layer sode on the left shoulder, over a black muscle shirt. The robe was fastened at the waist by a leather armored belt with two pouches on it. He also wore brown pants and black boots with green armor over the shins as well as arm bracers with black gloves that had green armor on the top of the hand. Attached to his back by a brown leather strap was a giant bronze great-sword that had a hook at the tip. This behemoth of a man was Yatsuhashi Daichi, another member of the future Team CVFY.
"Oh Yatsuhashi! No, he wasn't bothering me." Velvet said as Yatsuhashi sat down next to her.
The two began to talk amongst themselves, as if they had known each other for a while. Which, could explain why Yatsuhashi seems protective of her in the show... or a year or so from now. This whole scenario was confusing and was making me regret this decision, but I guess there was no turning back.
"Hey there, cowboy." A familiar voice called out.
Looking back up, I saw Coco with a tray of food as well. Next to her was a man, easily about 5'8", with combed dark green hair and pale-green eyes and fair skin. He wore a pair of brown leather boots with a pair of khaki dress pants, olive drab dress shirt, tan tie underneath an olive green greatcoat. Over the coat was a black belt with a sword with a pistol as the hilt on his right hip. The man's posture was that of proper upbringing, however it was missing the typical smugness of most privileged people.
"Coco." I greeted with a nod.
"Is it alright if we sit here?" Coco asked glancing down at the table.
"Be my guest."
The two sat down and placed their trays of food on the table. "Thanks. Oh, I forgot! Jakob, this is Oliver Van Grun. Oliver, this is Jakob Liath." Coco introduced as she gestured to each of us.
I reach out to shake his hand, which he returned and exchanged greetings.
"You said this is the man with moderate fashion taste, Coco?" Oliver stated.
"Please, Oliver, I told him that when I first met him, so you can't get me in trouble." Coco replied with a smirk.
A sly smile came to Oliver's face. "Did you not call him, and I quote, 'cute'?"
Coco stopped dead and looked at her friend with an eyebrow cocked and sunglasses down. "Touche."
"Uh..." I let out in confusion and slight embarrassment.
"Oh, don't worry Jakob. It just an old game the two of us play." Coco said.
"What game is that? Make someone you met uncomfortable?"
"No."
"Yes."
Oliver and Coco answered respectively, at the same time. Coco again had a mischievous smirk on her face after replying. 'Great, I'll have to deal with her antics.' I sarcastically thought as I tried to finish my food.
"Are you okay?" Coco asked, eyebrow quirked.
I hummed in confusion as my mouth was full of hamburger at the moment.
"You seem upset." Oliver added.
"Oh, I'm fine. I was just in thought." I stated before returning to my food.
"Care to share your thoughts with us?" Oliver asked, after taking a bite of his food.
"Just thinking about tomorrow and what Professor Ozpin has waiting for us." While not necessarily a lie, it wasn't the whole truth either.
"I'm sure it won't be too hard, well maybe not for you." Coco joked.
To be honest, I enjoyed her attitude as it reminded me of some of my friends.
"Bet I'll kill more Grimm than you." I knew full well that wouldn't be the case, but I had to talk trash back.
"Want to make it an actual bet, cowboy?" Coco asked in a serious tone.
'Well, shit. Me and my big fucking mouth.'
"Depends."
"On the stakes?" She asked to which I nodded. "Oh, good question. How about loser is subject to ten questions, that way we get to know each other." She added with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
'Well, at least it isn't anything too embarrassing.'
"Deal."
After I had finished my food, I excused myself and left the cafeteria to go to the locker rooms. Once there, I found the locker I had been assigned, locker 216, and placed my gun belt and revolvers in there. As I was about to shut the door, I noticed something in the locker besides my luggage from earlier that looked like a small book. I grabbed the book and looked at the front cover: 'Starship Troopers'. I opened the cover to see a hand written note.
I figured you wanted something from home while you were at Beacon.
-Wednesday
At least Wednesday knew that I had wanted to read this book, but never found it at libraries in town nor did I find time to buy it. I placed the book back and changed into my sleepwear which was a pair of gray sweatpants and a black muscle shirt and grabbed the sleeping bag from the locker and walked to the ballroom which wasn't far at all. I quickly found a spot near the wall and unrolled my sleeping bag and started to turn in for the night. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the exhaustion of a long day to overtake me and I fell asleep.
Ozpin sat quietly in his office reading over student files with a cup of coffee in his hand. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he came across the file of Jakob Liath. Most of the file seemed pretty basic, however upon entering his name into the CCT Ozpin found nothing on the student. No birth certificate, no records attaching him to any of the institutions the file said Jakob attended.
"I take it this is your doing?" Ozpin looked up at the only other occupant in the room.
"Yes. Don't tell me you disapprove, Oz." Wednesday shot back.
"I am simply curious as to where you found him. According to the database-"
"You know full well where I found him."
Ozpin sighed while removing his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Wednesday."
"Don't 'Wednesday' me. You understand that this feud between you and Salem is reaching a boiling point and we need all the help we can get."
"This is true, however that does not make it moral to take someone from their home to fight for a cause that is not theirs." Ozpin calmly stated.
Wednesday walked up to Ozpin's desk and put both hands on the glass table top. "Since when did you ever care about morality, Oz? How many people have you lied to for your own goals? How many people have you gotten killed for your goals?"
Ozpin stood up, putting his glasses back on. "You understand what my goals are and how important they are."
"Which is exactly why I brought him."
The two stood in silence before Ozpin let out a sigh in resignation. "I hope it works."
"Believe me, so do I."
Forest. I was in a lush forest with tall trees and thick vegetation. I had to be in Northern Arizona as there was pine trees everywhere and was the closest place with pine trees. I walked around aimlessly, trying to find a way through the forest. However, there wasn't a sound made by anything, no birds, no animals, nor any sound from my feet crushing pine. Finally two sounds were heard, the sound of thunder and the neigh of a horse. I turned around to see that amongst the bushes was a reddish-brown horse rearing on its hind legs, then looked at me before trotting away.
My eyes slowly opened to be greeted by the bright orange light of the sun entering through the windows I was facing. Looking around, I was disappoined to wake up on Remnant and not back in my bed on Earth. I rubbed my face to wake myself up, before sitting up and stretching. Quickly, I got out of my sleeping bag rolled it up and walked back to the locker room to change. Once changed, I then headed to the cafeteria for breakfast knowing I would need the energy for today.
Thankfully, the morning had passed peacefully and I was back in the locker room putting my gun belt back on. I then took the revolvers, emptied them and checked the cylinders and the barrel before reloading the weapons and holstering them. I then closed the locker and waited for us to get called to the cliffs. As I waited, I had unconsciously removed one revolver from my holster and began to spin it and holster it over and over. It was something I did when I was younger with toys and with a prop Colt 1873 when I got bored. Realizing that I was doing it, I quickly did one last spin before finally holstering the revolver.
"You seem quite talented at that." A soft French accented voice called out from my right.
Turning to meet the new arrival, I saw a young girl with a rosy complexion, curly shoulder length auburn hair with similarly colored eyes and about half a foot shorter than me. She wore a pair of red laced black knee high boots, a knee length red and black checkered skirt with a crimson button up shirt. Over the shirt was a bandolier filled with large caliber rounds and a rifle attached to the back that looked similar to a repeating action.
"Eh, its nothing more than something to entertain myself with." I replied.
The girl giggled. "You remind me of that actor, Flint Eastwood. Except younger."
"Thank you."
"Ah, where are my manners." The woman mumbled to herself. "Annabelle Rogue, but I prefer Anna." She introduced as she curtsied.
"Jakob Liath." I said, giving a slight bow.
"Liath? You wouldn't happen to be from Solitas too?"
"No, my family was but I born in Vacuo." I lied after taking the time to think of a place similar to Arizona.
'Will all first year students please report to the cliffs.' The speaker crackled with the sound of Wednesday's voice.
'Odd.' I thought expecting to hear Goodwitch's voice.
"I guess I'll see you later." I said, waving.
"Adieu, Jakob."
The walk from the lockers to the cliffs took a little while and I did almost get lost but thankfully, I found some other students and followed them. Once there, we were instructed by Ozpin to stand on the metal squares which I knew were launching pads. I noticed to my left was Coco, Yatsuhasi and Velvet while on my right was Oliver, the big Russian idiot and Anna. As we stood around, I started to panic on the inside. I just realized that I didn't have my Aura unlocked and here I was about to be catapulted into a demon monster infested forest with centuries old firearms. That asshole Wednesday probably forgot about it or maybe he wants me to become a red paste on the forest floor.
"For years, you have been training to become warriors which will tested in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin opened after the rest of the students arrived.
"I'm certain by know you have heard rumors as to team assignments. Well, you're in luck as you will be given teammates today." Wednesday stated as he walked up.
"You will be with these teammates for the rest of the four years at this academy, so it would be smart to find someone you can work well with. With that being said, the first person you make eye contact with once your in the forest will be your partner." Ozpin further explained.
I heard a suppressed laugh from my right. Looking over to see a young man, just over six foot with dark skin and dark, messy copper hair and pure white eyes. He wore a sleeveless, orange vest with black lining and a high collar and a pair of black jeans, with brown shoes. He also had a pair of long black gloves and has several pouches attached to his belt. Attached to his arms were gauntlets that had long blades running up the arm. This was the final member of Team CFVY, Fox Alistar, and he currently was waving his hand in front of his face which was causing Anna to laugh.
"Once you have your partner, you will make your way to the northern end of the forest. There will be plenty of Grimm in your way so do not hesitate. There is a temple at the end of the road that has several artifacts; retrieve one and return to the cliffs. You are being monitored and graded on your performance, but you will receive no help from the staff." Wednesday explained while sending a pointed gaze my way.
"Any questions?" Ozpin asked but the line of students was silent. "Good. Now, take your positions."
Everyone got into some sort of stance and began to prepare themselves for the initiation. I heard the metal plates spring alive one after the other, and that further increased my growing anxiety. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Velvet was shot out. Then Yastuhashi. Then Coco. I quickly braced myself for being launched through the air.
…
I opened my eyes to see myself still at the cliff, but the other pads were still launching people.
"It appears there is a malfunction this your pad, Mister Liath." Ozpin remarked with a sly grin.
Wednesday walked up to me once the last pad catapulted the student underneath it and placed his hand on my chest. "Close your eyes and relax. For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee." Wednesday recited and I felt something wash over my body.
As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a faint gray glow move over my entire body. "Thank you, Wednesdayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
The platform shot me more than a hundred feet in a hand full of seconds. I was soaring through the air, nearly hundreds of feet above the tree tops. I quickly tried to keep my nerves in check and not panic as to not end up as a pancake. One thing I soon noticed was I had started to flip head over heels just as Jaune had, thankfully I knew the solution. I placed my arms and legs out to create drag to stop the flipping. As I had hoped for, I had stopped flipping and was sailing through the air at a reasonable rate. However, the ground and more immediate, the trees were getting closer. Before I could formulate a plan, I hit just about every branch possible being ping-ponged off of each branch I hit on to the next. Then, there were no branches and I landed on the ground back first, nearly knocking the air out of me.
"Oh, son of a bitch." I groaned, rolling over on to my stomach.
I pushed my self up into a kneeling position and inhaled deeply. As far as I could tell, there wasn't any major trauma to my lungs as they seemed to work like normal. Then, the next thing I thought about was my guns. Quickly, I placed my hands at my hips thankfully feeling both revolvers in their proper places. I let out a sigh of relief before drawing both and cocking the hammers. I looked up through the tree line to get an idea where the sun is; finding it in the direction I had landed from. Using the sun as reference, I began to walk to the left of my landing spot which should be North.
The forest seemed relatively empty of most wildlife as well as Grimm and people. It was rather peaceful yet also terrifying that I hadn't found anything. Either way, I continued on my way, eventually finding the path heading towards the temple. I still had both handguns drawn with the hammers cocked, waiting for something. A twig snapped behind me, causing me to whip around with both revolvers aimed at the source of the sound. I was met by red eyes, however they weren't the eyes of a Grimm; the pair of eyes I saw were human, and they had fear in them.
"Christ, Anna! You scared the shit out of me." I said holstering the weapons.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you." She said softly.
"It's alright, I guess I'm just jumpy." I said, trying to ease her. "I also guess we're partners."
"Qui, partners." She seemed calmed by that and started walking towards me and put her hand out for handshake, which I returned.
"I let you out of my sight for a day and you're already cheating on me." A new voice called out in the most overdramatic way possible. "I'm hurt Jakob Liath."
"Oh, its not like that." Anna quickly stated, waving her arms around.
I placed a hand on Anna's shoulder to comfort her. "Coco, can you not give my partner a heart attack, please." I said, turning to meet the fashionista.
"You're no fun." She stated plainly as she and Fox walked up to us.
"I-I don't understand." Anna admitted.
"Coco has a bad habit of teasing people." I replied, sending a pointed stare at the girl in question.
Coco seemed to catch on that Anna wasn't used to her kind of teasing. "I'm only joking around; nothing serious."
"Oh, okay." Anna stated, still confused by the situation.
"I think we should get moving." Fox stated as he began walking and we shortly followed.
"So, Jakob, how many Grimm have you killed so far." Coco asked.
I sighed. "I haven't seen any, yet."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Maybe you're all talk and good looks."
I scoffed at the remark and continued to watch the forest ahead of me. However, I could feel my body heat up by a degree or two by the second half of Coco's comment. Thankfully, it didn't last long and I refocused myself on the forest and drew the revolver on my right hip. As we made our way through the forest, there were several hissing sounds around us. Slowly emerging from the bushes, were twelve velociraptor-like Grimm that surrounded us.
Normally, I would have used the line "Clever Girl" but seeing demonic raptors had severely impaired my capacity for rational thought. I felt anxiety and trepidation rise in me as the Grimm slowly began to circle us. My hands slowly began to tremble as well.
'Deep breaths. You can't afford to panic now, you'll get these people around you killed. Maybe, I'll get them killed regardless. Stop! You've already committed yourself to this life so you need to fight for it. Even if this is the end, die taking as many of them with you as possible.' I mentally argued with myself.
Taking the deep breaths, I then slowly brought up both revolvers and aimed them at one of the raptors in front of me. I noticed my hands were slightly shaking, but after another deep breath and closing my eyes the shaking had subsided.
'Stay calm and you'll live.'
I reopened my eyes and slowly began applying pressure on the triggers until my hand kicked violently from the recoil. The two bullets stuck the bone mask of the raptor Grimm and did a small amount of damage. Quickly, I cocked the hammers again and fired this time, striking the beast's neck causing to reel back and scream. By this time the others began firing or in Fox's case slashing at the Grimm. Using the right revolver only this time, I pulled back on the hammer, aimed and fired. The raptor stumbled back and fell on to the ground.
The other two in my vision then started to run at me and I started to lift both weapons up, but I could tell they would be to fast for me to handle. They were coming from either side of me and would easily be on me in a matter of seconds. Just as I had started to apply pressure to the triggers, everything around my slowed down to a crawl. I saw that my right hand had electricity going up and down it, which caused me to turn my arm to inspect it.
What surprised me was that my arm was moving at a normal pace while everything else was a snail's pace. I quickly aimed at the raptor's neck and fired, being able to see the bullet fly through the air but only for a second before it struck its mark. I then turned my head to my left, which now had the electricity running over it, and aimed in the same spot and fired. Time then slowly picked up its speed and while the shots had killed the Grimm, they still kept their speed and both slammed into me, knocking me to the ground.
As I pushed myself off of the ground, I could feel slightly worn but not from being hit by two Grimm carcasses. I then grabbed my guns which had fallen out of my hand and aimed around to find that the other Grimm had been dealt with. As I started to stand up, a hand reach down to help me up. I holstered my weapons then grabbed the hand and got back on to my feet, thanks to Anna.
"Thank you." I said, smiling.
"You're welcome." She replied, returning the smile.
"I take back my previous statement. You did good." Coco stated.
"Thank you-" I stopped abruptly as Coco had slapped my ass.
"Good Hustle."