Author's Note: Well, a couple people liked the first chapter, and that's all I need to keep going. Thanks to everyone who fave'd and followed, and special thanks to Alien Red and DarkLord98, my first two reviewers on this story.
Disclaimer and Warning still apply from chapter one.
Chapter 2: Greased Lightnin'
The next morning, Orville woke up blessedly headache-free and sans cotton-mouth. He allowed himself a long, lazy stretch before popping to his feet. After sparing a moment for a cursory sweep of his surroundings, he began to pack up his bed roll and get ready for the day.
As he worked to clean up after himself, Orville's mind wandered back to the day before and all that occurred. It was probably one of the most eventful days he'd had since he and Roman took that trip to Vacuo's famous Casino District, and the less said about that the better.
The staff at the school seemed normal enough, barring the headmaster's short and somewhat unsettling welcome speech. Something about the gray-haired man set his gut on edge, though he was the principal of one of the best Hunter academies in the world and had a reputation to match; perhaps it was just his instincts reacting to such a dangerous individual.
The egalitarian sleeping arrangements were interesting as well, especially since there was at least one Faunus girl going through her annual Heat. From what he remembered, it wasn't anything too major (just a week of increased libido and symptoms that made the worst menstrual cycle look like a day at the beach), but his heightened sense of smell ensured that getting to sleep was rather...hard for him that night.
Ruby and Yang had gotten into some sort of altercation with Weiss and Blake, too, but he'd been too far away to really care.
Eventually, he found himself in the locker rooms where he'd stored the Dynamic Duo (he always kept his Dust belt on him at all times), and suited up after a quick shower. Today was initiation, after all, and wouldn't it be a spanner in Roman's plans if Orville flunked out before he even got on a team?
He passively listened in on the students chatting around him, content to simply take in the ambiance.
"Ren, can you imitate a sloth?"
"Nora, I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."
A beat, then: "That's why its perfect! No one will suspect we're working together!"
"Unless they happened to overhear this conversation," Orville said casually as he pulled on his jeans.
Two sets of eyes (one light blue, the other dark pink) snapped onto him, and he gave the pair a friendly wave. For some reason, he was feeling incredibly open this morning. The girl with the turquoise eyes had short orange hair and a sunny disposition, while her male companion's hair was dark with a magenta stripe on the left side of his head that matched his eyes.
Both of them regarded him quietly for a moment before the girl, Nora, let out a sudden (and painful) wail. "Oh, no Ren! This guy's onto our scheming! How will we execute our master plan now that it's been compromised?"
"I don't think he really cares much," Ren murmured calmly before turning his gaze toward Orville. "Do you?"
"Not particularly," Orville admitted. "And for the record, a sloth sounds like this." He let out the squeaking sound he'd heard so often in the sloth-infested tropical forests of south-western Vacuo.
Nora's eyes widened so much that Orville was worried they'd leap from her skull and mug him. "That is the cutest thing ever!" she proclaimed, turning to her friend. "Ren, we need to get a sloth!"
Ren gave Orville a look that promised retribution. Orville grinned unrepentantly in response.
"Come on, Nora," Ren sighed in resignation.
"Good luck, you two!" Orville called after them. Ren simply ignored him while Nora waved energetically back as she was pulled away.
"Orville!"
He only had a moment's notice before what felt like a mid-sized cannonball slammed into his back, crushing him into the open locker in front of him.
"Hey, Little Red," he grunted, carefully extracting himself from the enclosed space with a repressed shudder. "Sleep well?"
Ruby looked more hyper and full of energy than anyone had a right to so early in the morning and Orville made a vow to keep her as far away from that Nora girl as possible (he doubted Remnant would be able to survive the two of them working together). She beamed at him as she replied, "Sure did! Me and Yang haven't been bed buddies since before she started going to Signal, it was just like old times!"
Yang, whose appearance was more appropriate for the time of day, gave him a sleepy smile. "All we were missing was a nice pair of dog ears between us."
Rolling his eyes, Orville chuckled. "While it woulda been nice to sleep with a pair of sexy sisters, I don't think I was allowed on the girls' side of the room."
"I was actually talking about our dog, Zwei," Yang corrected with a devious little twist of her lips even as Ruby's face burned red, "but I like the way you think, Corndog."
"Great minds and all that," Orville shrugged on his hoodie and gave another stretch. "Anyways, I think I'll go bother Edelweiss some. If you lovelies will excuse me?"
Yang gave him the 'go ahead' gesture looking thoroughly amused, but Ruby protested. "Don't antagonize her even more than we already did yesterday," she pleaded. "She hates me enough as it is."
"No one could hate you, Little Red," Orville assured her, ruffling her hair. "I'm just trying to draw her ire towards a more deserving target."
Thus he ambled toward the pale girl, who was currently having a conversation with another student. Her outfit and general appearance made it seem like she was Mistrali, with bloody-red hair pulled into a high ponytail and eyes greener than any emerald. On her back was a round shield and a short sword, both the same bronze color as her armor, and she had a vaguely forced smile plastered on her face.
"...so I was thinking we should team up," Weiss was saying to the girl.
"Well, that sounds grand," the redhead replied with very little enthusiasm. Orville felt a wave of sympathy for the poor girl; he'd only encountered Weiss once and already he was exhausted by her.
So, Orville to the rescue.
"You wanna know what else is grand?" he asked, sidling up to the two women, oozing nonchalance. "Not Schnee Dust."
A vein throbbed in Weiss' temple, and Orville grinned internally. It was terribly easy to rile the poor thing up. "You again," she hissed with enough venom that a King Taijitu would have been envious.
"I keep hearing about teams," he continued, heedless of her interjection. "How about you and I join up? I'll show you what real quality Dust looks like," he tapped his utility belt with a conspiratorial wink.
"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each," Big Red piped up helpfully, and Orville gave her a thankful smile.
"Well there we go!" he said joyously. "Three down, one to go. Let's ask Ruby if she wants to be on our team, too."
"Absolutely not," Weiss growled forcefully. "Get out of here before I go looking for a newspaper to whack you with!"
Orville used his fine muscle control to cause his ears to droop forlornly and put on a mask of utter heartbreak. It was the most secret weapon in his arsenal; he didn't exactly enjoy weaponizing his natural cuteness, but he'd make an exception for Weiss.
"Okay," he sniffed, turning dramatically for effect (if he'd been born with a tail it would've been tucked between his legs for added effect). "I'll just get out of your hair, then." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the briefest flash of contrition flicker across Weiss' face and chalked it up as a win.
"Wait," the as yet unnamed redhead's hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked up to find her presenting him with a more natural smile than what he'd seen her present so far. "You can still be on a team with me, if you'd like?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Orville watched smugly as Weiss' jaw unhinged. He offered the girl a crooked grin. "Thanks," he mumbled. "That's awfully sweet of you. I'm Orville Doyle, by the way."
He offered his hand, but before she could take it Weiss swept up between them, pushing him away. "Listen, Orville is it? Do you even know who it is you're speaking to?"
Orville took a moment to look Big Red over for anything familiar, then shook his head when he couldn't. "Nope."
Oddly, while Weiss' face became disbelieving, Red's expression turned almost hopeful. "This is Pyrrha," Weiss sighed, looking as though she wanted to rub the bridge of her nose.
"Hello again," Pyrrha waved brightly.
"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum," Weiss boasted in the redhead's place. Orville, having only been to Mistral once, held out his hands palms-up with a helpless shrug. Weiss shot him an angry glare. "She won the Mistral Regional Championships four times in a row, a new record." Again, Orville was in the dark. Traveling around so frequently (often fleeing the local law enforcement) didn't leave him much time to catch up on the latest fighting champs. Weiss must have seen his confusion because she sort of flipped out, flapping her arms as quickly as a caffeinated hummingbird as she cried, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"
"I don't like pumpkin flavor," Orville said obstinately, mind straying to a certain orange-haired dick-head. "And even if I did, I'm not much for eating cereal; it expires too quickly, and it's just too much of a hassle to bring milk on long hauls." Turning to Pyrrha, he gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry I don't know who you are. Congratulations on the winning streak, though. And for getting your face on a cereal box, I guess?"
"Thank you for saying so," Pyrrha replied with a strange gleam in her eyes. "And it's quite alright that you aren't aware of me. It's actually somewhat refreshing, not being known by everyone in sight."
Orville could somewhat relate; most of the wall-guard details in Vacuo and Vale had memorized his face in order to try capturing and convicting him of his 'heinous crimes' against the Kingdoms. It got a bit tiresome after the first few dozen arrest attempts.
"I bet that sucks sometimes," Orville sympathized. "Must be kinda lonely at the top." His eyes strayed to Weiss for a moment before hastily clearing his throat and pasting another grin onto his face. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Pyrrha. Edelweiss, always a pleasure."
"Good luck today," Pyrrha offered. Weiss was examining his face with a not-quite glare, looking halfway between angry and speculative.
"I'd say the same, but I doubt you ladies'll need it," he teased. With a final wave, Orville began to make his way back to Ruby and Yang. Before he got halfway, a cool female voice echoed out from the PA system. "All first-year students, please report to the Beacon Cliffs for Initiation. Again, all first year students, please report to the Beacon Cliffs for Initiation."
The two sisters beat him to the punch, now fully suited up and ready for action. "So how'd it go with Frosty?" Yang asked as they exited the locker rooms.
"I think I figured out what crawled up her ass, at least," Orville replied. "But I'll need to do more investigation."
"And by 'investigation' you mean 'bugging the shit out of her until she snaps and strangles you', right?"
"Essentially, yeah."
"So who was that other girl?" Ruby inquired, likely in order to head him and Yang off before they could lay into Weiss some more. "I swear, I recognize her from somewhere..."
"Oh, some famous fighting champ from Mistral," Orville said. "Her name's Pyrrha. Apparently, she's on the front of a cereal box or something?"
"That's what it was!" Ruby looked like she was about to bust a gasket. "I love Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes!"
"Haven't I told you not to eat those, Ruby?" Yang scolded, an incredibly out-of-place frown marring her features as she gazed sternly at her sister. "Those are bad for your health. Do you want to be that short your whole life?"
"You should eat rabbits," Orville piped up helpfully. "Good source of protein and B12."
Ruby's horrified glare told him that he should probably hold off on offering culinary tips for a while.
Standing at the edge of the Beacon Cliffs, Orville tried to ignore the wave of melancholy that rose up within him. The forest spread out below with an understated majesty as the canopy swayed in the westerly wind, reminding him of simpler times (like, oh say, two days ago?) when all he had to worry about was which wall official was stupid enough not to take the bribe offered to them or how much lien his buyers would try to short-change him out of.
He really kind of hated Roman.
Orville was so caught up in his moody thoughts that he failed to hear a single word the headmaster had said. Probably some dumb-ass pep talk for the new recruits.
"Are there any questions?" Ozpin concluded, taking a bracing sip of...whatever was in his mug. He'd overheard some of the other students remarking on the man's famous love for coffee, but there was a distinct alcoholic burn mixed in with the caffeinated beverage's robust aroma.
"I do," Orville said. "What's going on again?"
The platinum-blonde cougar next to him (Professor Goodwitch, if he wasn't mistaken) shot him a lethal glare while Ruby and Yang snickered in the background.
"If there are no questions, I would suggest you get into position," Ozpin continued on, completely ignoring Orville.
Feeling a little rebellious, Orville kicked at the ground and pulled a hoverboard-shaped piece of stone from the earth before sitting down on the engraved launch pad, resting the construct on his lap.
"What are you doing?" Ruby asked from beside him.
"Getting into position," he replied simply.
The students were hurled off the cliff one by one, each with their own level of enthusiasm. Yang shot her sister a grin and a wink as she equipped a pair of aviators before being launched, and Ruby offered him a supportive smile before she was tossed into the air as well.
Orville felt the mechanism click into place and the platform flipped upward, sending him flying through the air at high speed. He spared a moment to howl at the sky as adrenaline flooded his system before taking hold of the stone platform with his Semblance, keeping it aloft as he swerved around branches and leaves.
As the other initiates dipped down below the canopy, he decided to do the same, slipping down while he dodged the trees until the make-shift hoverboard touched down on the forest floor. Distant gunfire began to drift through the cathedral of greenery, and Orville figured he should hurry up and...
...come to think of it, what was he supposed to do?
Further pondering on the subject was interrupted by a trio of Boarbatusks rolling toward him at ramming speed. Orville's foot crashed down onto the ground, reaching through the layer of detritus to the earth below, and three blocks of rock punched upward.
The Boarbatusks were caught totally off their guard and flung into the air, uncurling in order to regain some semblance of equilibrium. As soon as their soft underbellies were exposed, three Fire Opal needles sank deep into their jet-colored bodies and detonated, sending Grimm chunks everywhere.
Orville, who had ducked behind a tree, smirked to himself. If this was what an initiation was like, he might not have such a bad time here after all.
Once he made sure no other creatures of Grimm would roll up on him, Orville picked a direction and started walking, occasionally sending Roman invites on DustBook to play Cookie Crunch for giggles (Roman hated those). The only response had been a picture of Roman's hand flipping him the bird with a caption full of poo emojis.
Eventually, Orville ran into another student.
"Hey, Champ!" he called out when he spotted the long fiery hair of the Mistrali girl. Pyrrha spun quickly, a rifle in hand as she drew a bead on his chest. When she saw it wasn't a threat, the barrel dipped and she smiled.
"I'm glad it was you I found first," Pyrrha said, shifting her rifle into a spear form.
"Why?" Orville asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.
She gave him a strange look. "Didn't you listen to the headmaster's instructions?"
Orville snorted. "Pfft, no. I'm not very good at following directions; I just sorta go with the flow, y'know?"
Pyrrha frowned dubiously, but shrugged. "Well, everyone has their own approach, I suppose. Headmaster Ozpin said that the first person we make eye contact with after launch will be our partners for the duration of our stay at Beacon."
"Oh." Orville grinned. "Well, I'm glad, too then. It's a lot better than being stuck with sweet Edelweiss." Though she tried to hide it, Pyrrha couldn't fool Orville's excellent hearing as a chuckle escaped her mouth.
"Please don't tell her I laughed," Pyrrha pleaded, looking guilty.
"Why not? She could stand to get knocked down a few pegs, if you ask me," Orville said.
"Do you have something against her?" Pyrrha was now the curious one. "You seemed intent on irritating her this morning."
"Well someone needs to crack that icy shell of hers," Orville replied. "Otherwise, she'll never become a good Huntress. I don't particularly mind if I have to be the one to do it. Being lonely sucks."
Pyrrha's gaze sharpened as she inspected him. "What do you mean?"
"She's obviously super-lonely," Orville explained. "I figured you'd have picked up on that. Must be tough, being a Schnee, especially if she's the heir to the whole company; probably puts a lot of pressure on her."
Pyrrha didn't reply, her face scrunched up cutely as she fell into her thoughts. "I figured you were just bothering her because you fancied her or something."
"What am I, eight?" Orville snorted. "If I ever develop feelings for you, should I just tug on your ponytail to let you know?"
"I'd prefer a more romantic approach should that happen," she replied dryly, though a dusting of pink announced her embarrassment.
"Gondola ride it is," he noted. "Now, what else did Ozzie say about initiation? Is there some sort of goal, or do we just go around beating the black off Grimm 'til nightfall?"
"We're supposed to collect a relic from some ruins," Pyrrha explained. "He said they were somewhere north of us, so we should figure the cardinal points first."
"North's that way," Orville pointed behind him. Pyrrha looked askance of him, and he elaborated. "Moss is growing on that side of the trees, the wind's coming from the west, and the sun is just about overhead right now."
"You must have some extensive survival skills to be able to pick up on that so quickly," Pyrrha commented as they started heading in the direction Orville had indicated.
"Few years in the Grimmlands'll do that," he agreed off-hand. "So, what's your weapon like? We're gonna be partners for a while, or so I'm told. Might as well learn about our combat styles to see if they're compatible."
Pyrrha nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. My weapons are called Miló and Akoúo," she offered, pointing to each as it was named. "Miló can shift from a spear to a sword to a rifle, and Akoúo's edge is incredibly sharp, so I can use it as a weapon in a pinch."
Orville watched as Miló was transformed, fairly impressed at the versatility. "Do you normally use Dust rounds in the rifle?"
"I don't actually fight with the rifle function all that often," Pyrrha admitted. "Usually, the ammunition I spend is used to increase the spear's speed and distance. I'm more of a close-quarters combatant."
"Birds of a feather, you and I," Orville quipped, pulling out the Dynamic Duo. "These guys used to be more mid-range exclusive weapons before I modded them for more personal encounters."
He went on to explain his Dust crystals and how he used them, which then led into a conversation about his Semblance.
"I can handle most of what would be considered earth matter," he said, pulling a clump of dirt out of the ground and letting it float over the palm of his hand. "Dirt, mud, rock, crystals, I can dig it." With a flick of his fingers, the dirt clod shrunk, hardening into a perfectly round stone before shattering into thousands of sand particles and slipping through his fingers. "But my favorite part is that I can do the same thing with Dust."
As the last of the sand trickled off his hand, he drew sphere of Alexandrite out of its pouch.
Pyrrha's eyes widened. "That's an incredibly useful Semblance," she complimented. "And you can manipulate any form of Dust?"
"Nah," Orville shook his head with a grin. "If that was the case, I'd have taken over the world by now. I can only handle raw Dust that hasn't been refined or purified in any way, just like I can only handle metal that hasn't been processed in factories or forges. Can't do a thing with cement or asphalt, either."
"Still, it's an amazing ability," Pyrrha countered. "My own Semblance deals with polarity. In some ways, it's very similar to your own in that I'm able to move metallic objects, though I can't shape it like you, only direct it."
"I can see how you became champ," Orville said. "A lot of ring-fighters use steel armor and weapons, don't they? Must make you a terror in the arena."
"Actually, I normally use my Semblance to enhance my own limitations," Pyrrha answered. "Though I'm not above redirecting or slowing down swings when I have to."
Orville smirked. "You've got some sense then. Now I'm really glad I found you first." He caught sight of a cave in the cliff wall between a gap in the trees and pointed it out. "Think we should check that out?"
"Might as well," Pyrrha shrugged. They readied their weapons and cautiously approached. Orville's eyes were unable to penetrate the inky darkness that clung to the cave's interior, but his nose and ears could pick up the acrid scent of venom and clacking that could have belonged to some sort of arthropod if it had been of a lesser pitch. The cave paintings on the outside of the cavern only confirmed it.
"There's a big-ass Deathstalker in there," Orville said, matter-of-fact.
"So I surmised," Pyrrha responded.
"Wanna poke it with a stick?" Orville suggested, and Pyrrha shot him an incredulous stare.
"Are you joking?" she asked uncertainly.
Orville, who had already begun hunting for a properly-sized branch, making an aha noise when he found a decent one and swished it around experimentally. "Not in the slightest. Who the hell keeps such a dangerous Grimm so close to a school? I mean, I get that training to fight these things is the whole point, but I doubt that many first years are capable of handling a fully-matured Deathstalker. It's practically our duty to dispose of it."
Pyrrha pondered his words for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "You're right," she said. "Let's do this."
"Alright, let's see..." Orville cast his senses further out as he jabbed the stick against the stone wall, searching for a weakness in the cliff side. He found several appropriate fissures that led into the cave, and slowly exerted force while whacking his branch against the rugged face. The rock protested loudly, but under the unrelenting pressure of Orville's Semblance, it eventually gave way.
The cliff seemed to implode, crashing in on itself as an avalanche of stone filled the cavern in seconds. Orville managed to push all of the debris which would have crushed him and Pyrrha off to the side so when the rumbling finally ceased, they were standing in a rough semi-circle of fallen rock.
Orville turned, giving Pyrrha a thumbs-up, but hesitated when he saw her jaw hanging down past her chin.
"That...that was..." she struggled for a moment, "How did you do that? It must have taken an incredible amount of energy!"
"Why work hard when you can work smart?" Orville argued. "I just sniffed out some cracks in the cliff and opened 'em up a little. Slow and steady wins the race, right?"
Before Pyrrha could respond, though, the sound of shrieking stone filled the air, followed by a great crash of dust and rock chips flying out of the area where the cave entrance had once been.
The pair of Hunters-in-training dove away from the positively massive Deathstalker that barreled out of the rock slide like it was simply struggling to get out of the bed sheets in the morning.
It loosed a terrible, chittering screech, claws flailing and tail swaying. Orville would have gaped if his instincts hadn't taken over; it was one of the biggest Deathstalkers he'd seen, and the damned buggers could get truly huge in the Grimmlands. How the hell had this thing been allowed to stay here so close to Beacon, with Vale right next to its lair?
"Think we should make a strategic retreat?" Orville asked as he dodged a claw swipe and rolled closer to Pyrrha.
"That sounds like a good idea," she agreed, and the pair turned tail and booked it. The loud crash of falling trees told them that the Deathstalker was hot on their trail, and didn't particularly care about the environment either.
Every other step, Orville would shove a row of pointed spikes into the Deathstalker's face. It didn't work as well as he'd hoped (and just what the hell was this thing's hide made out of?), but the rearguard actions slowed the rampaging Grimm down just enough to keep it from snapping its tail forward to impale one of them.
He and Pyrrha burst through the treeline into a wide, open clearing. Further ahead were the ruins they were likely trying to find, while Yang and Blake stood on a grassy knoll over Ruby, who was sitting on the ground. Behind them, he could just make out large stone plinths with huge chess pieces resting calmly upon them. Looking closer, Yang and Blake each had knight pieces clutched in their hands.
The sound of wind rifling through feathers alerted him to the Nevermore before its sun-concealing shadow passed overhead, and the familiar shriek and a streamer of white near the gargantuan bird's talons almost made him do a double-take. Before he could even wonder how the hell she'd gotten up there in the first place, an Ursa crashed through the trees a little way down from the spot Orville and Pyrrha had entered the clearing before collapsing to the ground looking thoroughly defeated.
Orville realized that he probably shouldn't have been surprised when the girl from the locker rooms, Nora, leapt lightly off the dissolving creature's back, whining, "Aw, it's broken."
"Nora," panted her friend Ren as he jogged to a halt next to the decomposing corpse. "Please don't ever do that again." Whether or not Nora heard was up for debate, as she'd noticed the chess pieces and started singing about queens and castles as she zipped over to them. "NORA!"
The girl, who had been balancing the rook piece she'd chosen on her head, allowed it to drop into her waiting hand before snapping to attention, "Yes, Ren?"
Orville caught Pyrrha's attention and pantomimed launching them away from their pursuer. She nodded, and he held up three fingers before dropping them steadily. When the last one fell, he yanked on the earth beneath them just like he had the Boarbatusks earlier, only he and Pyrrha had the advantage of knowing when it was coming.
The blocks of stone jutted out of the ground with enough force to propel them all the way to where the other students were slowly grouping together, leaving the Deathstalker in their dust.
Pyrrha stuck a three-point landing like the champ she was, but Orville simply dove right into the ground, using his Semblance to swim through the land before popping back up next to Yang and Blake, shaking the dirt out of his hair.
"So, how's initiation going for everyone?" he asked conversationally as he crawled out of the ground.
Yang growled deep in her throat, and Orville shrank away from her; apparently even the blonde shotgun shell had a breaking point. "That's it!" she shouted as her eyes turned red and flames licked out from her hair alarmingly. "Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something else crazy happens!?"
Orville knew he should probably just shut up, but he hadn't been lying to Pyrrha when he'd said he didn't take orders well. Especially since a glance upward showed that Weiss was slowly but surely slipping off the Nevermore.
So he gathered his Aura under him once again and launched himself skyward with a, "Sorry-not-sorry!" He rocketed up toward the huge black shape above him, readying some Tiger's Eye darts, and called out, "JUMP!" as he neared the apex of his flight.
"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" the heiress shrieked back hysterically. The obvious answer was yes, in fact, he was crazy. It was hard not to be when one spent any extended amount of time with the likes of Gin and Roman. But Orville didn't get the chance to reply since the Nevermore made a sudden, sharp turn that ripped Weiss right off her ride.
Luckily, she only dropped a dozen feet before she slammed into Orville, who had by then begun to fall as well, pushed back by the turbulence created by the Nevermore's passing.
"What's the plan now, hero?" Weiss snapped, eyes wide and focused on the fast approaching ground.
Orville simply grinned in response, showing her several Moonstone darts before tossing them to their estimated landing zone. They struck perfectly, creating a wide (slightly lopsided) circle that began glowing a soft, cool blue as soon as the last dart was in place.
The falling pair began to slow down significantly until they were floating back down to Remnant as gently as a feather. As soon as they were on the ground safely, Orville pulled the needles back toward him and smirked at Weiss.
"Care to criticize my rescue attempt some more, Edelweiss?" he asked, setting her on her feet. She merely huffed in annoyance and began to walk away, but paused mid-step.
"Thank you," she mumbled, not turning to meet his eyes. Orville beamed.
"That was super-heroic, Corndog," Yang said with false cheer. "Now we all get to die together!"
"Not on my watch," Ruby piped up wearing a determined smile before taking off toward the Deathstalker in a headlong charge, trailing what looked like...rose petals?...as she wound up with Crescent Rose.
She took her swing with all the force and speed of a cannonball behind her, but the Deathstalker (likely hundreds of years old and therefore more crafty than most run-of-the-mill Grimm) swiped its claw, disrupting the attack before it was fully executed. Ruby was sent skidding backwards and by the time she'd recovered, the Deathstalker was looming above her ominously.
"Ruby!" Orville hadn't noticed it was his voice that rang out with Yang's until he realized that his legs were moving, running full-tilt alongside the worried blonde as Ruby turned tail and booked it toward them.
He was never the fastest on his feet (Roman took advantage of that at every opportunity), and he had never hated that fact more than when he watched as the Nevermore pinned Ruby's cloak to the ground with a salvo of massive feathers. Several crashed down directly in his path, and in response he tore the earth apart in his effort to shove them aside.
But he still wasn't quick enough to reach Ruby in time to stop the rampaging Deathstalker just behind her. Thankfully, the pale streak that shot past him was. A pale blue glyph materialized in the air right in front of the Deathstalker and spewed forth a torrent of ice that trapped the scorpion's sting just inches from Ruby's face.
"You are so childish," Weiss said through gritted teeth as she straightened from her lunge, "and dim-witted, and hyperactive." She turned, pinning Ruby with a fierce scowl. "And don't get me started on your fighting style." Her face softened almost imperceptibly as she continued. "And I suppose...I can be a bit," she faltered as her frown gained an embarrassed slant, "difficult. But if we're going to do this, we're going to do it together."
Orville was close enough to hear Yang let out a little, "D'aww, my sister's making friends!"
"So if you would quit showing off, I'll be...nicer." The last word seemed to cause Weiss actual physical harm.
"I'm not trying to show off," Ruby muttered, eyes downcast. "I just want to show you that I can do this."
Weiss gave a put-upon sigh, but offered Ruby the faintest of smiles nonetheless. "You're fine. Now come on."
Orville waited until she was out of earshot to whisper, "I totally ship it," to Yang. The blonde grinned and sent him a thumbs-up in response before hurrying over to Ruby to check her over for injuries.
He excused himself from such an intimate family moment to inspect the Deathstalker's bindings. The Ice Dust glyph Weiss had used was much less contained than the one Winter had nailed him with, but it was definitely effective in stopping the scorpion's tail. Orville added some stone shackles to hold the beast's legs fast before clamping it down to the ground with several rocky rings around its body.
"Guys!" he called, and the others headed over with Pyrrha in the lead. "We should finish this guy off before Big Bird up there has a chance to interrupt us."
"Its hide is too strong," Ruby said. "Even Crescent Rose couldn't puncture it."
Orville's eyes darted up to the golden stinger still trapped in ice. "I've got an idea. Jammies, what's your weapon like?"
Ren took a moment to realize Orville was addressing him. "Jammies?"
"Yeah, you wore those same clothes to bed last night," Orville explained. "Keep up, man." Ren coughed into his hand awkwardly, then withdrew a pair of machine pistols with long dagger blades attached to them. "And you, Blitzen?" Judging by the bright smile, Nora liked her new nickname. She withdrew a massive hammer that seemed to have a rocket launcher embedded into the head.
"Ooh, I like it," Orville said, turning to Ren and Ruby. "Right, Jammies and Little Red, do as much damage to the base of the stinger as you can. Champ, I need you to use Akoúo to cut it free. Edelweiss, can you keep it still with like a gravity glyph? Me and Blitzen'll do the rest, but you two keep watch for that Nevermore." Blake nodded while Yang offered a lazy salute. Weiss hmph'ed, but didn't start spewing insults, so he took that as agreement.
Ren's lips thinned, but he nodded and took aim alongside Ruby, who drove the point of her scythe into the ground to counteract the recoil from her sniper rifle. Orville reinforced the stone imprisoning the Deathstalker just in time as it writhed in agony from the high-caliber shot that tore into its tail, courtesy of Crescent Rose. Ren's bullets shredded through the weakened armor further. He then leapt forward, slicing deep gouges into the chitinous exoskeleton.
As soon as he was clear, Pyrrha tossed her razor-edged shield, scoring a direct hit and chopping the stinger clean off the rest of the Deathstalker's tail.
That, however, had the unfortunate side-effect of enraging the Deathstalker into a furious frenzy. The shackles that bound its legs shattered and the rings holding it down cracked and splintered along with the black glyph beneath it. The scorpion freed itself and swung its massive armored claws back and forth, forcing the initiates to scatter. Orville, though, stood his ground as he lifted the sting in a cocoon of dirt.
With less than a second to spare before he was crushed by the Deathstalker's rampaging bulk, Orville fired the impromptu projectile directly into the creature's face. The golden point speared through the Grimm's mandibles, and its utter surprise halted it for just a moment.
Nora took the opportunity to leap forward and smash her hammer directly into the stinger's base, striking it so hard that the sting drilled straight through the creature's body and out the back, killing it instantly.
The six combatants traded triumphant looks as smiles bloomed on their faces.
"Blitzen, that was awesome!" Orville praised. "I've never seen anything like it!"
Nora blushed at the praise, but took it much better than Ruby had the day before. "Well, I am pretty awesome," she allowed, a cheek-stretching smile on her face.
"You guys, too," Orville continued, looking at the others in turn. "Nicely done."
"Don't be modest, Corndog," Yang said, punching him in the shoulder. It was likely meant to be a friendly nudge, but it still knocked him off balance. "It was your plan."
"Anyone could have come up with something simple like that," Orville countered. "Shove the big pointy bit into its body? Yeah, real intricate plan."
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Ruby pointed out.
"Now we just need a way to deal with that," Blake interjected, eyes still on the Nevermore. It's circling back around."
"We should take cover somewhere while we come up with a plan of action," Pyrrha said, glancing around.
"Gotcha," Orville nodded, lifting his arms wide. Four large pillars rose from the ground in a square around them as dirt flowed across them to form a large pagoda-like structure low to the ground. "Now what, Champ?"
Pyrrha, looking somewhat startled, turns her gaze on him. "I was actually hoping you'd have something," she admitted awkwardly.
Orville waved his hands in front of him to ward off the responsibility. "Oh, no. I bend rocks, not wind. The only reason we were able to take out that Deathstalker so easily was because Edelweiss trapped it in the first place."
"Well, you hit it with some of your Dust when we were falling," said Weiss accusingly. "The green and brown one. What does it do?"
Ruby grinned at him. "You got it with some Tiger's Eye?"
Orville sighed, shooting Weiss a dirty look. "Yeah, I suppose I did. But definitely not enough to put the big bastard to sleep. It's movements'll be sluggish for a while, though."
"Dust that acts as a tranquilizer?" Weiss' eyes narrowed as she pinned him with an assessing stare. "I've never heard of something like that."
"I think we have more pressing matters to deal with," Ren said from his spot at the edge of the pagoda's protection. Before he even finished speaking, several pinions crashed into the roof of their shelter,two of them even piercing through before stopping. "This thing's not going to hold for much longer."
"What about the cliffs?" Ruby suggested. "If we can get to the cliffs, we might be able to get above the Nevermore and figure out a way to ground it."
"Nice thinking, Rubes," Yang ruffled her sister's hair fondly.
"Everyone, show me one of the bullets you use for your weapons," Orville said, pulling out the block of Tiger's Eye and letting it hover in front of him. With little delay he had an assortment of rounds in a variety of calibers (including a grenade from Nora), and he set to work, pulling matching rounds from the Tiger's Eye and handing them off to each of them.
"These will slow the Nevermore down," he explained. "Choose your shots wisely 'cuz I'm not gonna be giving freebies out like this all the time."
The other Initiates accepted the offering gratefully. Then he turned to Weiss and said, "You got an extra vial?" Weiss deliberated a moment before reaching into her bodice. She thrust the empty container at him, and in short order it was filled with green Dust striated with lines of brown. "I'm curious to see what kind of glyphs your Semblance'll make with that stuff."
"You'd better hope it doesn't put me to sleep," she warned.
"Right," Ruby clapped to get everyone's attention. "So the cliffs are...uh..."
"That way," Orville supplied, pointing it out helpfully.
"Exactly," Ruby agreed. "The cliffs are that way, which means we need to get to the trees as fast as possible. Suggestions?"
"We could have our fastest go first out to either side as a distraction," Ren mused.
"Plausible," Blake admitted, glancing out to check on the Nevermore's position. "I can make copies of myself with my Semblance. They're short-term, but they can do the same thing going the other direction."
"Why don't we just blow it up?" Nora asked guilelessly. "Quick and easy."
"Or we could take the tunnel I just made," Orville said, gesturing to the wide hole in the ground. "It's deep enough that the feathers won't reach us, and it goes all the way past the trees. Chuckles can still do her shadow-clone thing to confuse the Nevermore and force it to focus all its attacks on an empty bunker."
Blake wasn't amused by her nickname, but seeing as how all the other ones he'd come up with involved her Faunus heritage, she'd just have to deal with it.
"Sounds like a plan," Ruby said. "Everyone agree?"
The others nodded and started heading down into the tunnel with Yang up front to provide light with her...hair. Orville waited until everyone except Blake was in before turning to her.
"So how long do your shadows last?"
"The longest I've sustained one was thirty-eight seconds," she replied.
"Have it go out then double back here," Orville said. "It'll keep the Nevermore in one place, more or less."
"Right." Blake took a steadying breath, then split apart. One Blake, more colorless than the other, shot out of the shadow of the pagoda, and an ear-piercing cry from above let them know the decoy was working. "Let's go."
They rushed down into the tunnel with a Sunstone lantern floating ahead to guide them. By the time they were back out in the open, Ruby and Nora were up in the trees taking aim at the Grimm. The others were nowhere to be seen.
"Orville, make us some ramps to get down quickly," Ruby ordered. "We're gonna grab its attention from here and take off toward the cliffs. Everyone else is waiting for us there with an ambush."
Nodding, Orville pulled up a pair of stone slides. "Anything else I can do?"
"Try to come up with something that hits hard enough to knock the Nevermore out of the sky," she answered steadily. Orville blinked; this side of Ruby was a lot more forceful than the weapons dork he'd met the day before.
"On it," he said with a nod.
He and Blake raced through the woods, trailing the others with the help of Orville's nose. A sharp report followed by a thunderous blast signified Ruby and Nora gaining their adversary's attention just as they came across a large structure built in the middle of a massive chasm that separated them from the Beacon Cliffs. Stone bridges spanned the gorge in a delicate interplay between nature and civilization, but the building was old and crumbling. Like the ruins in the forest, this was a monument to those who had come before, and Orville spent a moment marveling at the sight.
"Orville, Blake!" Yang called, waving to catch their attention. She and the others were laying in wait behind a tumble of what had probably once been walls of a guard station set next to one of the bridges. "Where's Ruby?"
"And Nora," Ren added.
"They're on their way," Orville assured them before focusing on his partner. "Champ, you said your Semblance deals with Polarity, right? Can you affect this with it?"
He held out a piece of Pyrite for her. She raised her hand, which gained a darkling luster that transfered to the metallic Dust as it rose from his palm. "Apparently so," Pyrrha commented. "What did you have in mind?"
Before he could reply, a rumbling quork that sounded like thunder pierced the air, followed by the Nevermore flying toward their location with Ruby and Nora fleeing before it.
"We're gonna make fried Nevermore on a stick," Orville bit out sharply. He drew a long pole from the Pyrite block and shaped it similarly to Miló's spear mode before activating it with a powerful surge of Aura. As the make-shift javelin was wrapped in a corona of crackling electricity, he floated it out so that it was between himself and Pyrrha. The redheaded Mistrali cottoned on to his idea in a moment, and dark gray overlapped his even brown Aura.
"Three," Pyrrha said, settling into a thrower's stance even though she wasn't physically touching the spear.
"Two," Orville chimed in, bringing every ounce of focus to bear as the Nevermore approached.
"ONE!" they shouted in unison and let their projectile fly right when the Nevermore flared its wings to take aim at Ruby and Nora.
The Pyrite javelin tore through the sky, trailing a bolt of lightning as it roared across the distance. It pierced straight through the Nevemore's chest and shattered into millions of shards that ripped primary flight feathers to shreds. The airborne Grimm began to fall while witch-fire blazed across its body, and with an almighty crash it struck the ground with force enough to cause Nora and Ruby to stumble as they ran. There was a moment of breathless silence as they watched the Nevermore for signs of life, and when tendrils of smoky Grimm essence began to rise from the body all of them let out a collective sigh of relief.
Ruby slammed into Orville in a cloud of rose petals, hanging off his neck as she attempted to squeeze the life out of him. "That was amazing!" she squealed while Orville desperately tried to break her incredibly strong grip.
"Why aren't you strangling Pyrrha?" he gasped, and Ruby relinquished her hold on him, chuckling in embarrassment.
"Sorry," she murmured, though the massive grin on her face detracted from the apology a bit. "Still, you did it!"
"We did it," Orville corrected. "Group effort and all that good stuff." He pulled out the block of Pyrite, which had shrunk down to about a third of what it had been. "Gonna have to cut back on using Pyrite for a while, though," he added mournfully.
"We make a great team," Pyrrha offered, resting a hand on Orville's shoulder, "Partner."
Orville nodded. "Hell yeah we do. Team OP, for the win! We'll call that our finishing move, Greased Lightnin'."
"You'll have to start stocking up on Pyrite, then," she said with a smile.
"We should head to the cliffs before we run into any other Grimm," said Ruby, whose smile had gained an oddly strained quality.
Orville coughed, glancing at Pyrrha. "We might need to go back and get relics really quick, though..."
Ruby's expression blanked before she smacked herself in the forehead. "Oh, man. I can't believe we forgot about that!"
Orville stood next to the other initiates upon the stage in the auditorium while the rest of the student body watched on as they were split up into teams by the headmaster. After that run-in with a pair of giant Grimm, he really wished the gray-haired man would just hurry it up already. He was about dead on his feet after expending so much Aura, and though they were given a meal after they'd returned to the cliffs all he really wanted was to find a nice soft bit of ground and curl up for a nice kip.
Unfortunately, Ozpin seemed to enjoy drawing out his words in a low, lazy drawl as he called out the first-years' names.
"Cardin Winchester," he intoned with all the speed of a runaway snail. "Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark, Russel Thrush. You retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. From now on, you shall work together as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester."
The four guys walked off the stage as Ozpin continued. "Orville Doyle, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos." They stepped forward, falling into parade-rest when they halted a few feet away from their headmaster as instructed. Well, Orville's parade-rest involved his hands resting firmly on his hips, but it was close enough. If Ozpin had any problem with the breach in protocol, it didn't show on his passive expression. "You retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forth, you shall work together as Team ORNP, led by Orville Doyle."
Nora clapped happily before glomping Ren. Pyrrha beamed at Orville, who kept his face in a vague smirk while his heart plummeted. Not only was he now officially in a Hunter Academy (entirely against his will), but he'd also be responsible for these three. Admittedly, it could have been worse, but he didn't exactly feel too comfortable in a position of power.
He was a lone wanderer by nature, and when he did feel the need to team up he preferred it to be an equal partnership, rather than one being beholden to the other. His friendships with Roman and Gin were a testament to that, and to suddenly have a team to guide really grated on his nerves.
Well, it wasn't like he could change any of this, short of going to Ozpin and ratting himself out. And with his luck, the old bastard would probably end up strong-arming him into serving as a double agent against this Cinder bitch.
He and the rest of Team Orange Peel (and God, the name was almost worse than the situation) made way for the last quartet, and his forced expression melted into a more genuine smile as he passed Ruby, giving the nervous girl a thumbs-up.
"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee," Ozpin said. "You retrieved the White Knight pieces. Henceforth, you shall work together as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose."
The poor thing looked about as shocked that she'd been chosen for leader as Weiss looked furious. Yang gathered her sister up in a bear hug that'd put most Ursai to shame, and the newly-minted Team RWBY joined them behind the curtains while Ozpin wrapped up.
"Nice work scoring leader," Orville said, pressing his fist against Ruby's shoulder bracingly.
"You, too," Ruby replied, looking like she'd be sick to her stomach. "I just hope I'm up to it."
"Ah, you'll do great," Orville grinned reassuringly. "Besides, it was fate that you'd be team leader; Ruby, RWBY? Can't be coincidence."
That seemed to perk her up, and she gave him a quick hug as thanks. Orville fought the frown that threatened to come to his face. She was becoming awfully friendly after only a couple days of knowing him.
In short order, the new teams were assigned dormitories and offered scrolls programmed to act as keys to their rooms. As it happened, Team RWBY and Team ORNP were dorm neighbors, and after bidding the all-female team goodnight, Orville unlocked the door and entered.
It was decently proportioned for its purpose, with white walls and red carpeting. It was furnished with a bed, a desk, and a chair for each of them, and their individual luggage was set at the foot of the beds. Orville's lips thinned when he spotted his own meager pile of black trash bags and silently cursed Roman for what had to be the hundredth time that day.
"Should we get everything sorted now?" Pyrrha asked, moving to her own baggage.
"You do you," Orville said. He headed to his own bed and flopped down bonelessly. "I'm hittin' the hay. Sleep tight, Team Orange Peel."
Two minutes later, Orville cracked his eyes open and frowned at Nora, who was singing (loudly) to herself as she put away her things. He glanced toward Ren, who simply smirked at him while pointing at the bright orange ear-plugs he'd shoved into his ears before crawling into his own bed.
"Probably shouldn't have done that sloth impression," Orville realized. It seemed like Ren could hold a grudge. Sighing, Orville reached down and jabbed himself with a Tiger's Eye dart. His last pessimistic thought before conking out was that he'd probably be doing that a lot more often.
After-Action Report: This was originally going to be two different chapters, but I didn't want to disappoint anyone with such short chapters after the first ended up being 10k+. This one still fell about two thousand words short, but it's better than a couple 4k updates, right?
So now you know that Orville has taken Jaune's place as leader of Team JNPR, or ORNP now. And yes, I could have gone with Team PORN but I am above such trite foolishness. I could have also done their last initials and got LVND (Lavender), but I've seen that one a few too many times already in the fandom when Jaune's cut out of the JNPR picture. Plus, I like oranges.
Speaking of Jaune, though, he's going to show up likely in the next chapter, and we'll see just how different big, bad Huntsman Jaune Arc is. I bet a few people will be able to figure out what the deal is once he appears, since it's not exactly that difficult. I'm a poor author who relies heavily on those who have come before me. If you don't like it, tough teats.
We also got to see Moonstone, Tiger's Eye, and Pyrite in action. If it seems like Orville's a little over-powered, it's 'cause he is, and there is a definite reason for that. When Jaune and his replacement meet for the first time, things will become much clearer.
I don't think there's much else. Anything I failed to address can be brought up in a review or PM, and if you want a reply to a question, please log in so I can message you back. I'm starved for human interaction, even if it's over the Interwebz.
Anyways, have a great day!