"Thoughts"-Italics
"Speech"-Regular
"Past/Flashback"-Bold
Shining Beacon
Ash watched in bemusement as Yang chased Ruby around the ship in a desperate attempt to rid herself of some of the barf that had just fallen on her shoe. The view of Vale was beautiful, they were so high up it felt as if you could touch the clouds. Ash gazed at the academy in the far distance with a wistful gaze. He remembered the words Ozpin told him when they were alone.
"If you want to become a huntsman you will have to discipline yourself, your path will be hard one Ash."
Ash frowned, "The hell is that supposed to mean? I sure as hell don't know." He thought rubbing his temples vigorously, "Stupid cryptic bastard."
Two footsteps pattered to his right, turning his head he saw dark red hair next to him, then two silver orbs staring through him.
"Lien for your thoughts?" Ruby said nudging him slightly, she was cute, a bit awkward but she meant well.
Ash let his head drop down, the locks of his hair covered his face before he threw his head upward, "Don't know. Guess I'm nervous! Hehehe..." He let his laughter trail off, "It's weird, I'm always alone...Guess im not used to being around so many people."
Rubys head seemed to tilt to the side in confusion, "You don't act it, you seemed so confident before."
"Im confident in myself sure but I have never really needed to rely on anyone before you know?" Ash said turning his back to the railing to better face Ruby.
"You have to trust people sometimes! No one can do everything, that's why you have friends right?" Ruby said with a frown.
Ash snorted lightly, "Yeah that's why you make so many friends huh?"
"Shut up...Im not good at making friends..." She said quietly.
"Then lets be friends." Ash said placing his fist in his palm as if he had made the perfect plan.
"I would like that." She said with a small smile. The had stood in a comfortable silence, an odd occurrence for the both of them before they felt a slight shake from a sudden stop.
"Attention all passengers we have arrived at our destination, please come to the main deck." An intercom announced overhead. Ruby turned to her left heading towards the deck before she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Ash smirked at her, "Let's have some fun."
Ruby raised her brow, "How much fun?"
Ash created a hair pin from dust and undid his handcuffs before placing his hands on his feet, a familiar orange hue overtook him and his scarf reformed into his skates, "How about a race?"
Ruby stared down at his skates in awe, "How did you do that?...you did the same thing with crescent rose!"
Ash scratched his nose, "Well it's one part of my semblance, I call it Tracing."
"What's that?" Ruby said her nose scrunching up in confusion.
"Anything I see or touch I can imitate to a point. A lot of my creations are imperfect and a lot of the weapons I can create I don't know how to use but if you show me a weapon I can recreate it from dust given enough time. Although the crescent rose you saw was just a cheap imitations only similar in its aesthetics." Ash said looking down at his skates with a half smile.
"Do...do you have anything that you used originally?" Ruby asked.
"No, even these skates are just a copy of an old friend of mine but unlike your scythe I have a much better understanding of how these work, their weight, material, mechanisms, etc." Ash drawled listing parts of the skates, "Er sorry I must sound like some kind of weird...um weirdo?"
Ruby smiled and shook her head, "Not at all, actually I am sorta glad to see someone as weapon crazy as I am!" She said sheepishly, "But what kind of skates are those, they aren't like anything I have ever seen."
"They're called AT's or Air Treks. High-end, customizable, motorized inline skates. So yeah not your ordinary everyday skates, but enough techno-babble lets race!" He shouted before taking off in a streak of fire.
"W-what!? No fair!" Ruby shouted inadvertently activating her semblance and taking off in a line of rose petals.
The potential students of Beacon all stood quietly awaiting the large vessel to land and awaiting orders from an authority. Quiet murmurs littered the crowds as the teenagers all waited patiently for the ship to stop until a shriek was resonated through the air.
"SORRY!" Ash shouted as he tried to gain ground on the trail of roses which just passed through the crowd of people, chaos erupted through the crowd as rose petals weaved between person to person followed by a hot streak of fire that began to pick up in size.
"HA! I WIN!" Ruby yelled victoriously as she stopped at the bay doors, a whole 2 seconds later the flaming streak that was Ash skidded to stop, "REMATCH! I DEMAND A REMATCH!" He shouted flustered, "Man I knew she was fast but I had a pretty big lead on her..." He thought as his AT's transformed back into his scarf. Ruby laughed and stuck out her tongue in a child-like manner, "So sad, too bad." She said making a funny face, Ash would have retorted had he not heard a forced cough behind him. His eyes widened before he slowly turned around whilst placing his hands behind his head.
"Eheheheh Glynda! Wonderful weather today isn't it?"
"Fire. You set a streak of fire through half a ship." She said with scowl.
"...Well-AH!" Ash tried to defend himself but Glynda had already grabbed him by the scruff of his scarf and began to pull him past crowds of people.
"A-AH! Would you relax!" He complained as she dragged him into a corridor and towards the main office. Ash gave up his struggle and simply slumped as Glynda seemed to effortlessly drag him across the floor.
A moment of silence passed before Ash spoke up, "...Where are you taking me?"
"Ozpin." She said curtly.
"For?" He said annoyed with the lack of explanation. Glynda didn't comment allowing them to continue in silence until arriving at Ozpins door, after a light knock and a call to enter Ash felt himself pulled into a chair. The office was rather plain it was just a regular room filled with wooden boards and book-shelfs, the only the that particularly stood out was the chess board in the middle of the desk with a game the seemed to almost be finished set up.
"Afternoon." Ozpin greeted whilst taking a sip from his mug, "So what have you done?"
"Nothing." Ash said poking his fingers together.
"Ash." Glynda chided.
"Okay okay may have started a bit of a fire around your ship..." He muttered looking at the chess board. Ozpin stared at Glynda who gave him a look, shifting back into his chair he sighed before moving a piece on the board.
"Find mate for white." He commanded. Ash raised a brow before examining the board more critically, he frowned.
"White is down a lot of material..." Ash commented.
"I didn't ask about material, find checkmate, think, focus."
Ash sighed before rubbing his temples, a whole 5 minutes passed before he moved a piece, "Check." he said moving his knight.
"So far so good" Ozpin said moving his king,"What next?" He asked.
"Check with bishop, sacrifice the knight." Ash said moving the bishop.
"Very good" Ozpin said moving his king and taking the knight, "This is the most important move, what do you do now?"
Ash bit the bottom of his lip before cautiously moving his pawn up, "Promote to queen."
"That allows for fork." Glynda said looking at the move, Ozpin nodded forking Ash's king and queen with a knight.
"Sacrifice the queen and move king." Ash said moving the piece, "You have to take queen." He said moving Ozpins piece, "Now I move one step closer with the king, your king is frozen and my bishop will inevitably checkmate..." He said concentrating hard on the board, "Er I think that anyway..."
Ozpin smiled at Glynda the same way he did when they brought in Ruby and Ash in, as if repeating the past she rolled her eyes.
"Ash do you know why I brought you here? Why I gave you amnesty for your crimes? There were many people that wanted me to bring you in but I chose to give you a chance, do you understand why?" Ozpin said tipping his king over.
"You have a heart of gold?" Ash joked trying to lighten the mood but judging the look on both Ozpin and Glynda's face it wasn't the time for jokes, "Sorry...but no I really don't know why you gave me a chance, im a theif, you have no reason to help me."
It was quiet, the only thing that filled the silence in the air was the ticking of the clock on the wall above them.
"Potential Ash. I see potential in you. This chess puzzle that you solved required you to focus, think in many different ways, and look several steps ahead. Your name isn't unknown to people such as myself, you're in headlines, stories, people on the street know your calling card. Some people see a young thief that causes trouble and they may be right for thinking that way. But what I see is a young talent, wasted talent, a boy that has no focus. I invited you here to give you a chance to put your focus into something. You have proved me right so far, so do not make me regret this decision. Do you understand?" He asked with a firm voice.
Ash didn't flinch, "Yes sir."
"Good. Now another question, im curious about your semblance you said that you could replicate weapons but I feel as if you're telling half the story."
Ash laughed, "I didn't really wanna talk about it too much but there are two parts to Tracing, the first part is copying a weapon, the second part is imitating the fighting style."
Ozpin hid a small smile, "Interesting...so how many weapons have you copied?"
"Besides Ruby's weapon? Three and I would like to keep them private until absolutely necessary."
"Understandable but only three? I figure you would have made much more."
Ash frowned, "It's not as easy as just looking at it...I could make tons of crappy swords but I only go after quality and even then I see if it would help my purposes; besides learning a whole new style of fighting is hard and it took me awhile to get as good as I am with these three weapons." Ash crossed his arms, "I probably won't even be able to use crescent rose right until I watch Ruby more."
Ozpin smirked, "Interesting...well for now here is your scroll and please try not to cause trouble for Miss Goodwitch, she already has her hands full Mr. Mimic."
Ash threw up a mock salute, "Yes sir."
"Good, now try not to burn anything else." Ozpin said resetting the chess board.
"Whoooooa." A Ruby said in awe, "Ohh haaa sis! That kid's got a collapsible staff! and she's got a fire sword!" She squealed to her older sister. Pulling her down by the hood she shook her head, "Easy there Ruby, they're just weapons!"
"Just weapons?! They're extension of ourselves they're apart of us oh they're so cool..." She said bringing her hands to her chin in glee.
"Well why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?" Yang asked.
"Of course I'm happy wit crescent rose!" She said quickly pulling out her scythe and hugging it happily, "I really just like seeing new ones! It's like meeting new people...except better."
Rolling her eyes Yang pulled her sisters hood over her head, "Come on, why don't you try to make some friends of your own?"
"But why would I need friends when I have you?" Ruby asked in confusion.
"Welllll actually myfriendsareherenowgottagocatchupbye!" Yang said rushing off with her friends.
"W-wait! Where are you going? Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms?" Ruby said in dizzy daze before falling backward, "Ugh...I don't know what I am doing..."she said before knocking into a cart of luggage.
"What are you doing!" A white haired girl yelled, she was dressed primarily in light blue, white, and some red. She wears a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. The inside of the bolero is red and the sleeves turn blue as they get closer to her wrists.
"Ruby quickly sat up, "S-sorry" She said apologetically.
"Sorry?! Do you have any idea the damage you could have caused!" She yelled.
Ruby turned around and quickly grabbed one of suitcases to hand back to the temperamental young woman who snatched it up quickly, "Give me that!" she scolded, This is dust! Mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!" She lectured shaking vials of dust around. Ruby nose quivered as the vials of elements swirled around her face.
"Are you even listening to me?! Is any of this sinking in?! What do you have to say for yourself?!" The white haired girl yelled before Ruby's head pulled back to sneeze and a explosion echoed throughout Beacon.
"THIS IS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF THING I WAS TALKING ABOUT!?" she screeched.
"I-im sorry..." Ruby tried to apologize.
"You dolt! What are you even doing here anyway? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?!"
"Well um-"
"This isn't your ordinary combat school! It's not just sparring and practice you know, were here to fight monsters so...Whatch where you're going!"
"Hey! I said I was sorry princess!" Ruby bit back to the crabby girl.
"Heiress actually, Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee company. The same company infamous for it's controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." A girl with long, wavy black hair said. Her eyes are amber, complemented by light-purple eye shadow flaring backwards. Her eyes are slightly tilted upwards at the ends, giving her a somewhat catlike appearance. She wears black low-heeled boots and stockings that start off black at her hips, but gradually fade to purple as they near her shoes. On the outside of her stockings, there are white symbols that are most likely belladonna flowers. She wears black ribbons on both of her arms, with a black detached sleeve and a silver band on her left arm. She wears a black buttoned vest with coattails, and a white, sleeveless undershirt that exposes part of her midriff with white shorts that may be connected to her shirt, although it is partly obscured by the vest. Her shorts have a zipper on the front of each leg, but it is unknown if these zippers serve a purpose or are simply decorative.
Weiss scowled in anger, "W-wha! H-how dare! The nerve of UGH!" She huffed before grabbing her things and stomping off. Ruby feeling a bit guilty called out at the last moment, "I promise I'll make it up to you!" She yelled before slumping, " I guess Im not the only one having a rough first day...So whats-" She said turning to see that the young black haired girl was gone.
Falling down onto the floor she sighed, "Welcome to Beacon." she mumbled before feeling a hand on her head.
"If it makes you feel better I got lectured for the fires I started." Ash said with a weak smile from above her.
"It doesn't." She mumbled,burying her face into his hand mumbling about explosions. Ash gave her a sympathetic smile before he heard rustling from the bushes close to them.
"U-um do you guys know where the dorms are?" A boy with short blonde asked. He wears a white chest-plate and shoulder armor. Under the armor, he wears a black hoodie with reddish-orange sleeves and a symbol hidden underneath the chest-plate. He also wears blue pants with a white patch on the left knee, as well as black shoes with a symbol on the soles. He has two belts crisscrossing his waist, both different shades of brown, with a pair of small pouches on them and brown wrist-length gloves with exposed fingertips and a small metal plate on the back.
Both Ash and Ruby looked at one another before laughing sheepishly, "Nope." They replied simultaneously. Ruby looked closer at the young man before snickering, "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"
"All im saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" The blonde haired boy argued.
"Hehehe im sorry Vomit boy was the first thing that came to mind." Ruby laughed.
"Oh yeah?Well what if I called you crater face!?" he retorted with crossed arms.
"Heyyyy that was an accident!"
"Yeah? well the names Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." He said with cheesy smile.
Ruby gave him a suspecting look, "Do they?"
"T-they will! Er at least I hope they will...I mean my mom always says that...er nevermind..." He finished awkwardly.
Ruby laughed awkwardly as they was a brief moment of silence, "Um well I got this thing!" She said pulling out crescent rose in all its glory scaring Jaune in the process, "Whoa! Is that a scythe?"
"It's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle." Ruby grinned.
"..uh wha?"
"It's also a gun." Ash commented from ahead of the group pointing to the barrel.
"So what do you got!?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Well I got this sword!" Jaune said pulling out a double sided blade with dark gold guard and blue handle.
"Ooooh" Ruby said looking closely.
"Yeah I also got this shield too." Jaune said raising up his arm before it released into a shield.
"So what do they do?" She said grabbing at the shield causing it to shift back into it smaller form and jump around. Jaune fumbled around with the shield before gaining control over it again.
"T-the shield gets smaller so when I get tired of carrying it I can just...put it away." He said sheepishly.
"But wouldn't it still weigh the same?" Ruby asked puzzled.
"Yeah it does..." Jaune mumbled seemingly depressed.
"Yeah well Im a bit of a dork when it comes to weapons so I guess I did go a little overboard with designing it."
"Wait you made that?" Jaune said in shock.
"Of course! All students at signal forge their own weapons, didn't you make yours?" Ruby asked.
"It's a hand-me-down...my great great grandfather used it to fight in the war..."
"Sounds like a family heirloom to me! Well I like it! Not many people have an appreciation of the classics these days." Ruby said with nod. Ash turned his head to inspect the weapon with a furrowed brow, "Jaune hold on for second?"
"Uh oh okay?" Jaune said standing still, letting Ash turn and walk back towards them. Grabbing Jaune's sword his eyes glowed a light orange, orange lines started running through Jaune's sword then in a violent snap the lines broke leaving nothing but the sword in Ash's hand. Ash stared at the sword for a few moments then threw it back to Jaune, continuing forward once again.
"That's a pretty special sword you got there. Don't lose it you hear?"
"Uh...thanks?" Jaune said in confusion.
Ruby stopped and looked around, "Um...Ash where are we going?"
Ash looked around in confusion, "Wait were you two following me?
Jaune and Ruby both looked at one another before laughing, Ash seemed somewhat annoyed at the two, "What? Seriously though do you guys know where were going?
Ruby and Jaune kept laughing as the trio wandered aimlessly around the campus looking for a directory...maybe a food court...some sort of recognizable landmark.
Eventually the trio made their way to the to amphitheater where all the students were congregated. The room was buzzing with conversation, students meeting one another as they waited.
"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Yang called out from the far left side of the theater.
"Oh! Hey! I gotta go! I'll see you guys after the ceremony!" Ruby said running over to her sister. Leaving Ash and Jaune alone together, Ash eyed the stage and placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder, "Don't worry there are plenty of quirky girls around here buddy, anyway Im gonna get a better spot." He said moving up through the crowd.
There was a low hum as the mic picked up, Ozpin stood at the center of the stage next to Glynda, "I'll keep this brief...You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills and when you finished, you plan to dedicate your life to protection of the people...But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy...In need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge and only take carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." He said heavily.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow you initiation begins. Be ready. Dismissed." Glynda informed them.
Ash frowned slightly, "Way to light up the room Ozpin..." He mumbled underneath his breath.
"He seemed kinda off..." Yang commented.
"Yeah almost like he wasn't even there..." Ruby agreed right before Jaune leaned in next to Weiss, "Im a natural blonde you know."
The sunset quickly and day turned to night, Ash sat quietly near the window but sighing and getting up, he was used to silence but he was usually allowed to amuse himself in more...exciting ways. Sitting up he saw Ruby and her sister not too far away, he smiled, "Gotta rely on friends huh?"
On far right side Yang dropped down next to Ruby, "It's like a biiiiig slumber party!"
Ruby was lying on her stomach, writing on a piece of paper, "I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though..."
Yang smirked, "I know I do." She said before letting out a light growl before looking over at her sister, "What's that?"
"Just a letter to the gang at Signal, I promised to them all about Beacon and how things are going." She said scribbling away.
"Awwww that's so cute!" Yang cooed before being smack in the face by a pillow.
" ." Ruby said irritated, "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school, it's weird not knowing anyone here..." She frowned.
"What about Jaune? He's...nice. There you go plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!" She said positively.
"Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to Zero..." She grumbled.
"There's no such as negative friends, you just made one friend and one enemy!" Yang argued before being hit in the face by another pillow.
"What am I chopped liver?" Ash said startling Ruby from her sleeping bag.
"A-Ash! Don't sneak up on me!" Ruby said throwing another pillow at him which him aptly dodged. Ash stuck his tongue out at her, "So were not friends then?" He said in a mock-whiny voice, "I'll sneak up on you as much as I like. Save a person from being shot at doesn't mean much these days huh?" He said sticking his nose up in the air haughtily.
"Noooo im sorry!" She said holding his leg, "You're my friend! Were friendsssss!"
Ash looked down at Ruby with a grin, "Well maybe i'll forgive you...on one condition."
"Okay sure!" She said hopping up next to him, Ash had a sly smirk on his face. Ruby froze has she felt a hot breath on her neck, Ash smiled at her reaction, "A small kiss would work~" He whispered quietly in her ear. Ruby blushed, "W-what?"
Ash sat down next to Yang with his hands behind his head, "Just kidding~" He said with his tongue out.
"..." Ruby tackled Ash to floor, placing him in a choke hold, "Say uncle!"
"UNCLE! UNCLE! LET GO!"
" ." She commanded holding him in a vice-like grip.
"THERE YOU GO RUBY! PIN HIM! PULL! PULL!" Yang cheered as if she were at a wrestling match. Ash who was currently tired of his situation pulled Ruby overtop of his body making her go into a flip, landing gracefully next to him.
"Sheesh take a joke..." He said rubbing his neck. With quick jab to his ribs Ruby turnt her nose to the air, "Wasn't funny." She replied.
"Know whats funny? Me and Yang are gonna make you a new friend." Ash said grabbing her arm.
"W-what? No!" Ruby said looking at the two.
"Too late." She said snatching her sister up and dragging her to girl she had met this morning. Ruby struggled to break free of her sisters grip but before she knew it she was in front of her.
"Heeeellloooo I believe you two may know each other?" Yang said pushing Ruby in front of her. The raven haired girl looked at the pair with a bit of curiosity and a bit of disdain, "You were arguing with the Schnee girl right didn't you explode?" She said recollecting the events.
"Oh um yeah! My names Ruby but you can call me crat-...um yeah just Ruby...hehe..." She said awkwardly holding her hand out, which was promptly ignored.
"Okay?" The girl responded rather disinterested. Yang meanwhile grabbed her sister and whispered rather loudly, "Psh what are you doing?"
"I don't know help me!" she said before smiling brightly.
Yang quickly took the initiate and decided to keep the 'conversation' going, "Soooo what's your name?"
"Blake." Said staring into her book.
"Well Blake i'm Yang! Im Ruby's sister, I like your bow!" She complimented.
"Thanks."
"It goes great with you pajamas."
"Riiiight." She said trying to avoid conversation.
"Nice night huh?" Yang said reaching at straws at this point.
"Yes." She drawled, "It's lovely. Almost as lovely as this book...Which I will continue to read...As soon as you leave." She tried to emphasize.
"Yeah this girl is a lost cause." Yang said shaking her head.
"What's it about?" Ruby said looking at the book curiously. Blake seemed surprised and then shrugged, "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body."
"I love books." Ruby said enamored, "Yang used to read to me every night before bed, stories of heroes and monsters. They're one of the reasons I wanna be a huntress."
"Why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" Blake said amused.
"Well im hoping we all will. As a girl I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. A person that fought for what was right and protected people that couldn't protect themselves." Ruby said courageously.
"That's very ambitious for a child," Blake said with a bit of admiration, "Unfortunately the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."
"Well that's why were here, to make it better." Ruby said simply. Ash smiled at Ruby before yawning tiredly, "Well Im gonna go sleep, i'll leave you to your business~" He said throwing his hands over his head but before he could leave Blake called out to him.
"Why is your arm bandaged?" She asked staring at the covered arm.
"Why do you wear a bow?" Ash bit back a bit too sharply. Blake's mouth opened before she said nothing and looked back into her book. Ash headed back to his sleeping bag alone and sighed, "That was a bit much..." He thought before closing his eyes, "Ill apologize tomorrow..."