Chapter 2 - Initiation

Beta Reader: WhiteNightBlade

Jaune awoke from his slumber, thankfully this time not from a nightmare. He dreamed of nothing during the night, and that was far more preferable than nightmares. He rose up and looked out the window above him and found that the sun had just recently risen. His gaze turned to the room and saw that most everyone else still slumbered. He rose from the corner and carefully stepped between each the sleeping forms of those around him. Once he was past everyone, he grabbed his bag and made his way to the boy's bathroom. No one else was present as he set his bag down on the tile floor and pulled his clothes out.

He peered into one of the many mirrors as he washed his face. His hair was a bit disheveled, but that was nothing new. It came down to his shoulders, and he was tempted to tie it behind his head. He chose against it though. He had no stubble on his face as he had shaved before arriving, but he could see faint signs of it starting to grow back. He then turned and began to put on his clothes. First came his white pants with his black belt which bore the Arc crest on the buckle. Next was his black and gold combat boots that came up to the middle of the lower part of his legs. His white shirt was next, followed by his black jacket with the inside of it being red. Finally was his black fingerless gloves. All that remained was his blade, but he could only retrieve that once initiation was about to begin. He stuffed his sleeping clothes back into his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

He made his way out of the ballroom and made his way out into the courtyard. Being that it was still early morning hardly anyone was up. Those that were either conversed with one another were currently jogging around the school grounds, or they were reading. Jaune decided to take a look around the school, as he hadn't gotten the chance to do so the previous day.

He soon found himself back in the central courtyard, once more standing by Beacons statue. As he did, the sight of a nearby patch of trees caught his eye. It was situated close by one of the many rivers that flowed off the cliffs in front of Beacon, making it look like a perfect place to relax. The sounds of birds chirping leaves crunching, and the wind whistling was all too familiar to him as he entered the small patch of forest. He found the perfect spot by the river, under a giant oak tree. He took his place beside the tree's trunk, taking a deep breath as he did.

'With such a tranquil setting such as this one would forget how dangerous the world is today.' the voice said to him.

Jaune turned to his left and found a middle-aged man standing by the trunk of the tree. He had short golden hair, wore ancient-looking armor, and had a long scar over his right eye. 'If only all the world could be like this; peaceful, tranquil, without conflict.'

"Is that not why we are here? To ensure that all the world will look like this one day?" Jaune asked as he looked back to the field in front of him.

'True. Though, such a thing is not easily accomplished.' the man said as he sat on the other side of the tree.

"If it was then it would have already been achieved, and we would not be here," Jaune said as brought his right knee up to his chest.

'Fair enough, Jaune. I only hope, for your sake, that you will be able to see such a time as that.' the specter said as he leaned his head back against the tree's trunk. 'Are you prepared for today?'

"Yes. I just hope I'm able to avoid some of the more powerful Grimm during the initiation." Jaune said.

'That is unavoidable, Jaune. They will be drawn to you like moths to a flame.' said the man.

"I know! You've said that to me over a hundred times now." Jaune said with a heavy sigh. "I just hope no one else gets dragged into the fight."

'That's all we can do; hope.' the man agreed. 'Though, I highly doubt any ancient Grimm reside in these forests. I'd question the staff of this academy if that were the case.'

"Fair enough," Jaune said with a laugh. He got back to his feet as he looked to see the sun now fully shining in the sky. "I should head back to the school. Initiation should begin soon."

'Indeed.' the man said as he watched Jaune walk past him. 'Believe in yourself, young one. Do that, and you shall not fall astray.' The man vanished then, leaving no trace of himself.

"Thank you, Victor." It did not take long for Jaune to make his way out of the small forest and into the cafeteria. Without much time he simply grabbed himself an apple and then headed towards the locker room.

As he entered he pulled out a piece of paper that told him the name of his locker. Inside he would find his sword and then be on his way to the cliffs. Two other students passed by him as he entered and seemed to be having a one-sided conversation as they walked beside one another. 'An interesting pair, those two.' he thought to himself as he looked for locker 636.

"Oh! Hey, Jaune!" Ruby said as he began to walk past her and Yang.

"Hey, Ruby. You ready for initiation?" he questioned.

"Yep! No more awkward small talk or 'getting-to-know-you' stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." she told him as she grabbed Crescent and hugged it.

"Well, remember Ruby, you're not the only one who's going through initiation. If you wanna grow up, you're gonna need to meet new and learn to work together." Yang added.

"Uh, you sound just like dad!" Ruby complained as she placed her weapon on her waist. "I don't need to meet new people to grow up! I Drink Milk!"

"Well, what about when we form teams?" Yang questioned.

"Teams?" Jaune asked as he turned his attention to Yang.

"Yeah, we'll be forming teams today after initiation. You didn't know that?" Yang asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Nope."

"They didn't tell you that at your previous school?" Ruby asked with an arched brow.

"I never attended a combat school. I just took the entrance exam and was able to get in," Jaune told them as he scratched at the back of his head.

"Wow. You must be pretty good then, Definitely a good partner." Yang told him.

"Hope so. Well, guess I'll see you two at the cliffs. I need to get my sword." Jaune replied as he turned and continued to look for his locker. Turns out it was just another row over from where he was previously. The only problem was that the girl in white from yesterday stood in front of his locker. She currently seemed to be lost in her conversation with a girl with red hair and bronze armor listened uncomfortably to her. "Excuse me, can I get by, please? I need to get my stuff."

The white-haired girl was broken out of her trance as she turned to look at him, sending him a glare as did so. "Excuse me?"

"Umm...my locker?" Jaune said as he gestured to locker 636. The girl took a few steps back as he approached and retrieved his blade, buckling it onto his back. He then closed the locker before turning back around and seeing the white-haired girl still glaring at him. "Look, I think we may have gotten on the wrong foot yesterday. I'd rather us not have any bad feeling towards one another," he said with an outstretched hand. "I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc."

The girl looked at his hand for a moment before letting out a sigh and shaking it. "Weiss Schnee."

"Pleasure to meet you, Weiss," he said with a smile before turning to her companion. "And you as well miss...?"

"Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos. And the feeling is mutual, Jaune." Pyrrha said as they too shook hands.

As they let go of one another Weiss stepped closer to them and looked to him. "Wait, are you telling me you don't know who she is?!"

"Should I?" he asked as he looked at Weiss and then back at Pyrrha who currently bore a small smile on her face.

"She's THE Pyrrha Nikos! She graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum Academy!" she told him.

"Never heard of it," he told them.

"She won the Mistral Regional Tournament four times! A new record!"

"Congratulations," Jaune said as he looked to Pyrrha who now bore a wider smile.

"Thank you!" she said with a slight bow.

"She's on every box the Pumpkin Pete Marshmallow Flakes!" Weiss screamed as she threw her hands up in the air.

"I've...never eaten that," Jaune said as he looked back at Pyrrha again. "Sorry?"

"Don't be, it's not that healthy for you," she told him.

"Attention, all first-year students head to the Cliffs for the entrance exam. I repeat, Attention, all first-year students head to the Cliffs for the entrance exam."

"Well, seems we should get going," Jaune said as he began to leave the locker room.

Pyrrha and Weiss followed him, and they all raced to the cliffs. He could see for miles once he finally reached the cliffs. He stepped past the others, past the professors, and stood upon the edge of the cliff. The forest seemed to stretch on forever, even unto the mountains that lay far off in the distance. A gentle wind blew past him as he stared down into the forest. Part of him was tempted just to lean forward and let gravity do the rest, to be the first to take the plunge into the woods. But as he stared down into the depths of the forest, he could see the monsters that resided within look back at him.

They were waiting for him.

"Mr. Arc?" the voice of the headmaster called, making him turn to face the older man. "Please, stand beside your fellow initiates, we are about to begin."

"Yes, sir," Jaune said as he did as requested.

"Hey, you ok?" Ruby whispered to him worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm good," he whispered back.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin told them all.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." Glynda told them.

"What?! Ohh..." Ruby said.

"Partners will be decided by the first person you make eye contact with. That person shall remain your partner shall remain so for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin said before taking a sip from his mug.

"What?!" Ruby questioned.

"After you've partnered up make your way towards the northern edge of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Ozpin told them in a serious tone. "You will be monitored and graded upon your performance. Once you reach the northern part of the forest, you will find a temple that will contain several relics. Each pair must retrieve one of these relics and then make there way back here. Miss Goodwitch and I shall be waiting." One by one everyone began to be flung into the air by the by the plates they were instructed to stand upon. Jaune took a deep breath and shut his eyes, waiting to be tossed forward.

He felt the wind rush past him, faster then it did before, and opened his eyes to find him soaring through the air. He scanned the forest in front of him for something, anything, that could aid him in his landing. The thought of stabbing his blade into a tree entered his mind, as did using his semblance, but those thoughts were swiftly cast to the wayside as the sound of something began to fly towards him. He looked back to find a bronze and red spear racing towards the air.

Shifting his body slightly the spear just barely missed him before his hand took hold of it. The spear carried him into the canopy of the forest, as though it was being controlled, and embedded itself into a large tree. He gripped the spear firmly before pulling it out of the tree's trunk and landing down on the forest floor. After his landing, he looked at the spear in his hand. He knew he had seen this weapon, but could not remember to whom it belonged.

The crunching of leaves caught his attention as he whipped around to face some Grimm, but found only Pyrrha as she walked towards him. "Hello again~," she said as she waved at him. Her eyes then widened as Jaune pulled his arm back and threw the spear at her. Using her semblance, she brought her shield up to block but watched as her weapon flew by her head before it impaled in a Beowolfs neck, sticking it to a tree.

Her emerald eyes widened as she realized what had occurred and then looked back to him as the Grimm began to turn to dust. "You know, it's probably not the smartest idea to throw away your weapon in the middle of a Grimm infested forest," he told her with a smirk.

A laugh escaped her at his joke. "Yes, you are right. I had not thought of that beforehand. I assure you though, it will not happen again." she then pointed her right arm out and her spear flew to her hand.

"Your semblance, I'm guessing?" he asked.

"Polarity, yes. What is yours?" she asked.

"You'll see soon. I'd prefer not to use it when we're not in a fight." Jaune said as he looked around the area. "So, which way now, partner?"

"As I was descending, I saw a large clearing that way." she pointed in the direction of it.

"Think that's where the temple is?" he asked as he looked in the direction she pointed.

"Possibly. It is all we have to go on," the young spartan said as she looked back to him.

"Well then, let's get moving," Jaune said as he drew his sword.

"Right behind you, partner," she said in response as they began to make their way through the forest.

Deep within the Emerald Forest, a great beast awoke. It raided its massive head from where it lay between its front legs and looked out to see the light shine at the entrance to its lair. It had dwelled in these forests for over a century now, claiming it as it's own. Its blood red eyes opened as its form rose up from where it rested. Two more sets of eyes opened as it walked out of its den and into the light. It could sense something, something new.

Something had entered its territory, something strong and powerful.

Its instincts told it to stay where it was, to wait for the day when humanity was weak. But something else compelled it forward, almost as though it was being commanded to do so by the dark mistress herself. It sniffed the air, searching for this new threat. A deep growl escaped it's jaws as it found what it sought. The ground quaked slightly as it pressed through the forest, shaking and knocking down tree's as it did so.

"I... don't think this is it," Jaune told her as they stood outside of a cave. "We're looking for a temple, aren't we? Not a cave?"

"True. Plus, these drawings look like a warning to me." Pyrrha said as she looked at the paintings that adorned the wall of the cave.

Jaune peered into the cave as she examined the wall. No light shone at the caves end, nothing but pitch black darkness lay before them. Jaune too made his forward, peering into the almost endless shadow. He then looked down at the floor of the cave and quickly halted his movement. "Pyrrha, I don't think we should go in here."

"Jaune, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly as she turned to him.

"Look," he said as he pointed to some tracks. "Somethings in there. Something big." As if on queue ten pairs of orange eyes started to appear in the cave. And they began to get bigger. "Pyrrha, run!"

The two of them jumped away from the cave as the giant Deathstalker emerged, destroying the entrance of the cave. "Jaune! Are you okay?!" Pyrrha yelled as she raised her shield to block the debris that flew towards her.

"I'm fine!" he yelled back as he shielded his eyes with his arm. 'Damit, I knew this would happen!' It was as though he constantly radiated negativity; the Grimm never failed to find him. No matter where he seemed to go.

'You should probably find another area for this fight. You and your partner have no room here to fight.' Victor told him.

"Pyrrha, I suggest a tactical retreat!" He yelled as he started to run away from the Deathstalker.

"Good idea!" the champion yelled back as she chased after with the Deathstalker hot on their heels.

The two of them ran between tree's hoping that they would slow the beast down to some extent. It proved to be fruitless, as the Deathstalker simply destroyed the tree's in its way as it grew closer to them. To try and give them some distance between them and the Grimm Jaune began to cut through the trunks of tree's he ran past, hoping they would injure or at least hinder it. Pyrrha did the same, but their actions only seemed to anger it more as it grew ever closer.

Thinking on the run, Jaune split from Pyrrha and began to run in another direction. "Jaune! What are you doing?!" she yelled out to him.

"It can't chase us both! I'll meet you at the clearing now just go!" he yelled back as he continued to run, the Deathstalker following right behind him.

He continued to run until he knew he was far enough away from Pyrrha and turned to face the monster. 'This isn't much better from the last location.' Victor told him.

'I know! But at least I don't have to worry about Pyrrha getting hurt.' he said in response. 'Plus the tree's here will hinder its movements more then they will mine.'

'Fair enough.' Victor said

It stared at him as he readied his blade. It attacked with its stinger first, breaking two tree's as Jaune dodged the attack. Stabbing his sword into the tail Jaune was lifted into the air as the Deathstalker let out a deep hiss. He then withdrew his blade and fell onto it's back, stabbing the blade into one of the scorpion's eyes. Another hiss escaped the monster as it grabbed at him with its pincers. Leaping over the pincers, Jaune left his blade within the monsters eye. As his feet touched the ground again, he lunged for his blade, aiming for the trigger under his blades guard.

A smirk made it's way onto his face as he gripped his swords handle, but that smirk quickly vanished as one of the Deathstalkers pincers made contact with his chest. He was sent back by the attack, crashing through several trees as before he was able to plunge his blade into the earth and stop himself. When he finally came to a halt, he found he was no longer within the forest but rather a somewhat large clearing. He looked around briefly as he drew his sword out from the dirt.

"Jaune!" he heard from behind him as Pyrrha began to run in his direction. Scanning the tree line, Jaune found no sign of his foe and turned to meet Pyrrha.

"What were you thinking?! You could have been hurt!" she said as they stopped beside one another.

"I'm fine, Pyrrha. I knew that if we split up, we could lose it more easily. Sorry if I made you worry." he said with a smile. "But we should probably go and get one of the relics. I'm pretty sure that Deathstalker will be here soon."

"Smart!" she said quickly as the two of them ran towards the temple where several of there other initiates watched them run up.

A yell caught Jaunes attention, making him look up to see who it was. He found Ruby falling towards him. He stopped in his tracks and positioned himself beneath her, catching and holding her bridal style. Ruby's face became as red as her cape as she looked at Jaunes smiling face. "Th...Thanks, Jaune," she said as she averted her gaze.

"No prob, Ruby. How did you get here though?" he asked as he set her down. The young reaper simply pointed upward towards a large Nevermore.

"How could you leave me?!" Weiss screamed as she still held onto the Nevermore.

"I said to jump!" Ruby yelled back.

Weiss' grip then slipped, and Jaune watched as she too began to plummet towards the ground. "Are people just making a habit of this now?!" he asked as he once more caught a girl who had fallen from the sky. "Please tell me you guys aren't gonna make a habit of this?"

Weiss immediately squirmed and writhed in his grasp as she realized what kind of position they were in. "Let go of me!" she yelled as he placed her down.

Before either could say anything, further everyone else ran up to them. "Ruby!" Yang yelled. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, Yang. Though I don't know how much longer we will be with that Nevermore up there," she told her sister as the giant bird let out a loud shriek.

The Deathstalker then crashed through the tree's as it let out a deep hiss.

"Greeaat, now we can all die together," Yang said in an unamused tone.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said as she charged the Deathstalker.

"Ruby, no!" both Jaune and Yang yelled as they watched her run forward. Shifting Crescent Rose into its scythe form she swung at the scorpions head, but its armor deflected the attack. She fired a round into it, but it too did not affect it. Realizing she could not do this on her own, she began to run back just as the Nevermore started to do so.

"Damnit!" Jaune said as he began to run towards Ruby with Yang quickly following after him. The Nevermore fired several of its feathers at the three of them, one embedding itself in Ruby's cape and the rest blocking Jaune and Yangs path. The young reaper tried to free her cloak. With a growl, Jaune pulled the trigger on his blade and coated his blade in fire before he began to cut his way through the feathers towards Ruby.

The Deathstalker reached her first however and raised it's stinger up to attack her. Ruby closed her eyes to not see the oncoming attack. Before Jaune could do anything to stop it a white blur zoomed past him and Yang. Re-opened her eyes to see her partner standing before her, her blade stabbed into the ground as she had made a wall of ice to block the Deathstalkers attack. The two of them conversed for a brief moment before Yang ran up and hugged her sister. "Not to ruin the moment, but right now's not really the time for hugs!" he told them as he looked between the Deathstalker and the Nevermore as it began to make another pass.

"He's right. We need to go!" Ruby said as the two of them began to make their way to the others. Before they could the Deathstalker lunged at them with its pinders, and Jaune pushed them out of the way as the giant claws grabbed hold of him. "Jaune!" Ruby screamed as she looked up at Jaune, but her eyes widened as she saw what had happened.

Jaune held the pincers apart with his forearms and began to force them apart. Miló then became embedded in one of the Deathstalkers eyes, resulting in another hiss to escape the Grimm as it pulled it's pincer back.

"Run!" he yelled as he helped both girls up and made their way back to where the others waited.

"Jaune, how did you-?!"

"Not now, just go!" he ordered as the sound of ice shattering sounded out. Jaune looked back to find that the Deathstalker had once again begun to chase him, forcing him to whirl around and ready himself.

Before he could devise an idea, the girl with orange hair blast forward and slammed her hammer into the beasts head, sending her back to where he now stood. Miló was then brought back towards him as Pyrrha took her place beside him as the boy in green stood beside her.

"Ok, names. Now," he told the two newcomers.

"I'm Ren, that's Nora," he said as he readied his pistols.

"Nora!" Nora said energetically as she readied her hammer.

"Alright. I'm Jaune, this is Pyrrha," he said in response.

"Hello," Pyrrha said.

"So, what's the plan?" Ren asked as they watched the Deathstalker. Jaune looked for an opening on the beast. Its eyes were the most obvious pick, but he would need to get in close to drive his blade in far enough to kill it. He spied the stinger, picturing cutting it off and having Nora hammer it through its armor.

He then spied the scorpion's stomach. It didn't have armor down there.

"Get its attention, I have an idea!" he told them as it began to charge at them. Ren nodded in agreement as he ran forward and began to shoot at the Grimms eyes. Nora shifted her hammer into its grenade launcher form and began to unload on it as she kept her distance. Jaune and Pyrrha then charged together.

The Deathstalker snipped at Ren as he ran around it, but the boy proved to be too fast. It then saw Jaune and Pyrrha running at it and stung at them with its tail. Pyrrha blocked the attack and slashed at the stinger itself. A grenade soared and blasted into the right side of the scorpion's face, blinding it even more then it was previously. Jaune took his moment then and slid underneath the beast, stabbing his blade into its underbelly as he slid all the way under it till he emerged behind it.

The deathstalker shrieked in pain as it fell to the ground, it's limbs and tail falling limp as it did so.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as their foe had fallen before them. They then turned to find the other four having difficulty with the Nevermore as it soared out of there reach. "We need to go help them!" Pyrrha said as she began to run to their aid.

Jaune followed after her but found himself being gripped by the Deathstalkers pincers as he ran past it, it's few remaining eyes training on him as it held him in its grip. He let out a pained yell as it squeezed him, causing the others to turn back to him. "Guys! The stinger!" he yelled in a strained voice as the pincer began to crush him.

He tried to activate his semblance again but found that it wouldn't activate now that he was being crushed. As the Deathstalker brought him close to its mandibles, Ren leaped forward and latched onto the tail. He then began to fire at the stinger until it hung by only a few strands of flesh. The Grimm swung it's tail from side to side, sending Ren hurling into a nearby tree. Nora yelled out to him as Pyrrha threw her shield and severed it completely. The stinger lodged itself into the scorpions head, piercing right through its armor. He watched as Nora shot upward with Pyrrhas aid and then came crashing down and sending the stinger straight through the Deathstalkers head.

This time it began to fade and turn to dust, letting them know it was truly dead now. Pyrrha rushed over to him and helped him up off the ground. "Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, my aura took most of the damage," he told her as he stood up-right. Before they speak anymore the sound of gunfire rang out through the clearing. Yang and Ruby stood on top of two of the pillars of the fallen temple. Their bullets didn't seem to be doing much damage as the Nevermore circled around the temple. The Nevermore descended toward the two sisters with its beak opened wide. Yang leaped into its mouth and fired into it the monster's mouth.

The Nevermore cried out as it crashed through the pillars of the temple and crashed into the ground. Yang was flung from the bird's mouth, crashing into a tree. Weiss sped forward and stabbed her sword her blade into the bird right wing, encasing it in ice. Yang then sprung forth, and her hair glowed golden as her eyes were now red. With a punch she smashed the ice, destroying the Nevermores wing in the process.

The girl with the bow was sent flying forward after a shot from Cresent Rose. She stabbed into the Nevermores neck, leaving a deep wound there. The Nevermore screeched in pain as it pecked at her. The girl disappeared and then reappeared in another place as Yang upper-cutted the bird's beak. A red blur then zoomed forward, leaving rose petals behind as it grew close to the Nevermore. Crescent Rose was placed o the freshly made wound. With a glyph and shot fired from Crescent Rose the Nevermores head flew into the air, leaving it's decapitated body behind.

"Impressive," Jaune said as he watched the Nevermore begin to fade away.

"Very," Pyrrha added.

"They make a good team," Ren said as his he put Stormflower away.

"Not as good as us, Renny!" Nora added. Jaune couldn't help but chuckle as he walked back to the ruined temple. "You guys were awesome! Not as awesome as us, but still awesome!" she told them as Ruby and the others met them at the temple.

"You all did very well." the girl in the bow told them.

"Thanks. I didn't catch your name." Jaune said as he put his blade back into its sheath.

"Blake, Blake Belladonna."

"Jaune Arc." the two shook hands before Jaune walked over to the temple with Ruby following after him. He looked between the two remaining relics, a knight and a rook. Ruby took the knight as Jaune took the rook, flashing one another a smile as they put the chess pieces away.

"We should start heading back to the cliffs now," Ruby said as she and Jaune rejoined the group.

"Indeed. We should make haste; we should not stay out here in the opening." Weiss said as she began to walk back towards the cliffs.

Everyone began to head in the direction that had flown from, but a sudden, all too familiar, rumble in the earth caught his attention. Pyrrha looked back to with a worried look on her face. "Jaune? What's wrong?"

Everyone turned to see what was wrong and watched as Jaune grabbed the hilt of his blade as he whirled around. The forest on the other side of the clearing began to disperse as the rumbling in the ground began to grow louder and more intense. Everyone readied their weapons again as their foe presented itself, causing them all to feel a chill run down their spine.

The first thing they saw as it came into view was the head of a lion. It's mask covered the entirety of its skull, and a thick mane that was stained red grew from its neck. The head of a goat rose from it's back, one horn was broken, and the left side of its mask was shattered leaving it one eye. Its third head rose up from behind it and looked down at them as it opened its jaws. It's long fangs dripped with venom causing the grass it fell upon to wither and die.

It rose onto its hind legs as it came to a stop. It's six eyes locked onto Jaune as he glared at the monster and drew his blade. A loud roar echoed throughout the forest, letting all who could hear it know that the King of this forest had awoken.

AN: Let me know what you all think in a review. Hope you're enjoying it so far.