Chapter 2 : Initiation Mayhem


A young Cera was panting heavily, her white shirt and brown shorts stained with grass and dirt as the sword in her hand felt like heavy lead to her. Aoi held an identical sword in front of him, his breathing steady as he looked down at the girl.

"Come on Cera. You can do it, I know you can." Grace had walked out of the house, her hands covered in oven mitts as she looked on with a worrying gaze. She was wearing a large shirt and sweatpants, most likely due to the ever growing bump that was her stomach.

"Aoi, dear. Maybe you should stop for now. It's been a week or so and she's only getting even more tired than before." Cera only shook her head, determined to get this done with so she can move on with her training. It felt like centuries before Aoi gave her a small nod, which was the signal for Cera to begin.

Cera ran forward, slicing upwards as Aoi had easily blocked it. She then sliced downwards diagonally to her left, sliced upwards again, then downwards. This pattern continued for a while, to which it had no effect on Aoi who was effortlessly blocking each and every slice. It wasn't until Cera's eyes sharpened that Aoi's had widened.

The redhead jumped right after doing a downward slash, rotating her body before using the force of gravity to pull her sword out from under her to deliver another slash, although this was in mid-air. Aoi had quickly jumped back, Cera unceremoniously dropping her sword on the ground as she fell over face first.

Grace had gasped, quickly running over to the child as she scooped her up in her arms. Cera's eyes slowly opened as she let out a loud yawn.

"I'm tired, mummy…" Aoi walked up to the two of them as he had given her a soft smile. A chuckle escaped from his lips.

"Get all the rest you need, baby girl. You've earned it."


"Gooooood morning, Lizard!" Cera groaned as she walked to her locker, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. She clearly remembered the warning about how Orel's sugar high worked a bit differently than others; it starts right after he wakes up in the morning. Judging from how many sweets he ate last night, he'll be hyper for a long while. "So Lizard! Are you going to join our team? Huh? Well? You know you want to say yes! I can just feel it!" She opened her locker, taking out her nodachi before slamming the door shut. Unfortunately, Orel already had his giant weapon with him, so she couldn't get him to go away no matter what.

"Goldilocks, I swear to the four maidens if you're going to-"

"Students, you are now going to be heading out to begin your initiation. I repeat, students, you are now going to be heading out to begin your initiation." The voice through the intercom was loud and clear, increasing Cera's already growing headache. Nonetheless, she filed out of the locker room and began heading outside to what appeared to be a cliff with stone tablets in a straight line. There were already some other students there, although Yukio and Nero were still able to stand out from the small crowd.

"Yukio! Nero! When did you two get here? Boy, you two are fast! Can I be as fast as you guys one day? Oh, but that's only if I break apart my weapon into-" Cera slapped a hand over Orel's mouth as the rest of his sentence was reduced to muffled noise. The principal, Norwen, had cleared his throat as he began to talk.

"Your initiation will begin after you stand on these squares, but first, I'll clear up some rumors that have been floating about." The students looked up at the bluenette, clearly curious. "There will be teams. But, the first person that you make eye contact with when you land in Emerald Forest will be your first team member. There have been cases here and there about students dying in the forest, so do your best to be careful. Do you understand?"

Students began to stand on the square stones, excited about the fact that there will be teams but also pressured to do their best as to not get mauled or murdered by any Grimm. Cera walked up until she stood on a square of her own, her toes lightly tapping against it as she adjusted her shoes. She glanced over to her left, seeing a girl with black and red hair wearing a white cloak. Next to her was Yukio, who had given her a small wave to which she returned a nod. Past him, she saw Nero who was looking down at the forest below them.

The redhead looked to her right, Orel standing on the square next to her. On his right was a man with black hair and red eyes that was wearing a gray shirt and black pants. As soon as they had made eye contact he winked at her, to which Cera's eye visibly twitched at. Past him was a girl with the same black hair and red eyes, although she was wearing red and black armor and had a weapon that was identical to her own. She wondered if her and the man in the gray shirt were related. A few people away, Cera saw a blonde haired and lilac-eyed man wearing multiple shades of brown. To her, the one thing that stood out was the cloth that was tied around his upper left arm.

Her gaze wandered to the forest below the cliff, a few birds flying about here and there. It seemed dense, but if you looked farther ahead you can see a few clearings here and there, along with what appeared to be old ruins of some sort.

"I trust that everybody's ready?" Norwen questioned. Not one sound came out from any of the students as they all got into their ready positions.

Yukio had out his weapon; a slate blue and silver double bladed staff that was being slowly spun in his right hand. Nero's weapon was a pair of pistols that were attached to each other by a chain at the end of their butts. His knees were bent as one of the pistols was held in his left hand while the other was dangling near his feet since he was holding onto the chain itself with his right hand. Orel was grasping onto his weapon with both hands, holding it up in front of him as he was crouching down, waiting for something to pop out right in front of him from the forest. Cera held onto her nodachi, keeping it parallel with her forearm as she fully crouched down onto one of her knees, her right palm flat against the stone with her left arm spread outwards.

"The initiation will now begin." With that, students one by one were flung into the forest. A few of them had screamed, to which Cera winced at while she was waiting to be launched. She looked around the forest, aiming for a suitable landing spot. It was then that she saw Nero flying through the air, his trench coat billowing behind him. She glanced at Yukio, watching him before he was launched in the same manner. Her eyes followed his figure, watching his weapon twirl in front of him.

Cera closed her eyes, slowly breathing as she waited. It wasn't until she felt a change in gravity and the feeling of flying through the air that she opened her eyes. She looked at her surroundings as she began to descend, finding a suitably large enough tree to land on. Cera turned her body slightly, both of her hands grasping onto the handle of her sword as she stabbed it into the trunk of the tree. Her feet followed right after it, landing on either side of the nodachi. A few cracks were heard at first, but then it turned into the full out sound of the tree falling onto the ground due to how much power was behind the landing.

The redhead pulled her sword out of the tree as she surveyed the area around her, until she heard a familiar voice right above her.

"Catch you on the flip side, Lizard!" Cera only shook her head at Orel's antics before running forward. She didn't get far as she had roughly bumped into someone's chest, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

"You really need to be more careful, Ms. Vermilion." She slowly lifted her head at the sound of Nero's voice, making eye contact with him. He had a light smile on his face as Cera grumbled.

"You're just too tall to see me, Scarecrow."

"My apologies, then." She slowly got up, ignoring how close they were as she dusted off some dirt on her jacket. Nero followed suit, doing the same with his trench coat. "Are you alright, Ms. Vermilion?" Cera looked up at him, glaring.

"If we're going to be on the same team, then stop calling me by my last name. My name is Cera, not 'Ms. Vermilion'." She turned around, walking off towards where she hypothesized the ruins were at. Nero trailed behind her, letting out a small chuckle.

"Of course, Ms. Cera." Cera only groaned quietly at that. It was better than her last name, at least. Now all he had to do was get rid of the 'Miss' part and she'll most likely be able to have a few somewhat normal conversations in the near future. She continued walking until something moved in the bushes, to which she stopped mid-step and held her arm out to her side. Cera quickly unsheathed her nodachi, deflecting the large black claws that swiped at her.

The blade of her nodachi had multiple parallel lines in the blade, which made Nero curious. Was her sword just like Yukio's? He had no time to dwell on it as more movement happened in the bushes around them. His chain clinked about as he spread his arms out in front of him, his fingers on the triggers. Beowolves and a few Ursai surrounded them on all sides, their throats emitting low, deep growls.

Cera stood with him back-to-back, easily holding onto the handle of the sword that was as tall as her. Clearly the thing looked to be heavy. But here the Faunus was, using it as if it was a normal one-handed sword.

"Have a plan?" She mumbled, her eyes taking in the number of Grimm that surrounded them.

Twenty four.

Nero chuckled before he shot at a few, the bullets piercing through their bodies as if it was a hot knife cutting through butter. "We cut them down."

The two broke apart from each other, dancing to their own tune yet they moved to the same fast paced rhythm that most of the Grimm couldn't decipher. Cera swiftly dodged a claw from a crouched Beowolf by doing a quick split in mid-air. She swung her sword down, chopping the paw off before landing on her feet to decapitate the monster.

Nero was slowly breathing as he continued shooting, small, steady streams of dark gray smoke seeping out of his mouth. He began swinging his pistols about as blades protruded from the guns, the pistols now resembling twin sickles. Smoke continued billowing out of his mouth as the sickles moved faster. With each passing moment, his swinging accelerated bit by bit, although if one could slow down time they could see that the same dark gray smoke was also seeping out of his weapons. Bullets were shot left and right as limbs and bone flew in the air, cleanly sliced off with no effort.

The makeshift duo regrouped, the human reloading his empty bullet chambers with the Faunus adjusting her hand on the grip of her field sword. They surveyed the area that was now littered with the dead, smoking bodies. No movement was made as they waited for a sound. The rustling of a bush or leaves falling, anything of the sort. The two visibly relaxed as Cera sheathed her nodachi. She glanced over at Nero's mouth, the smoke now fading into wisps before it disappeared altogether. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"What was that?" Nero looked down at her with a questioning gaze, wondering what she was asking about. "There was smoke coming out of your mouth. Black smoke." His eyes widened just a fraction as he registered what she was talking about.

"My semblance?"

"Semblance..." She clearly had never heard of it before. In her years of training as a young child, her father had never spoke to her about… Well, whatever semblances are. A light chuckle escaped from Nero's lips.

"Something that is fueled by aura. Every living thing has an aura, all you have to do is find it. Maybe you'll figure it out one day, Ms. Cera."

"Lizard! Nero! Oh god wherever you guys are HELP! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET DOWN!" Cera's eyes widened at the loud yelling as she dashed to where it most likely came from with Nero in tow. After a few moments of running through bushes she came into a clearing with broken stones and pillars scattered about. Most of them had caught her attention, such as the multiple silver pocket watches on the large slab in what seemed to be a stone temple. But what had really caught her attention was the fact that Orel was in one of the talons of a giant black bird with a crested white headpiece that resembled bone.

Yukio ran towards them, panting heavily as he wiped some sweat off of his brow.

"I've- I've been chasing that thing ever since we landed. While Orel was still doing his landing the giant thing suddenly snatched him up and flew off towards here." Cera just stared at the bird flying about with blank eyes. For him to get snatched up by a bird without hearing the wings flapping or a large caw…

"Was he doing something in the middle of the air?" Nero cleared his throat.

"In the past, Orel was known to… Do flips and tricks in the air when he was jumping on his trampoline." Her left eye visibly twitched at the new information. That explains why he couldn't see the bird.

He was busy messing around.

Rustling leaves were heard as the redhead glanced to her left, finding the black and red clad woman and the man with the gray shirt hopping backwards with their weapons out. Running out of the bushes was the girl in the white cloak and the blonde haired man, with the latter yelling something about a giant snake.

Behind them, a gigantic snake had emerged from the dense forest, its tongue slithering out every now and then to taste the air around it. The body was black, its piercing red eyes locking onto the white cloaked girl as it continued slithering towards the group. More rustling was heard, as suddenly a white version of the snake appeared. As the snakes had fully left the bushes, Cera saw that they were connected in the center.

Orel's yell reached her ears as her attention turned back to the giant bird. Her eyes narrowed as she unsheathed her nodachi, her knees bent as she was preparing to run in. Yukio and Nero followed suit, their gazes lingering on Cera.

"So, what should we do, Ms. Cera?" Her eyes watched Orel's figure flailing about, questioning where his weapon was. She looked around the clearing until she had found the damned thing, Yukio also noticing it.

"We'll clip its wings." With that, she ran in, hopping on the ruins to get even higher in the air. Nero did the same, although he had taken a different path. The white haired male landed on a tall cliff, aiming his pistols at the bird as it continued flying about. His eyes sharpened as he began pulling the triggers, the bullets flying straight and true to their target.

The bird let out an inhumane shriek as it turned in the air while flying upwards. The bird nosedived towards the cliff, forcing Nero to jump off as it slammed headfirst into the rocks. The bird shook its head before flapping its wings at Nero, multiple sharp feathers whizzing through the air. Nero clicked his tongue as he continued shooting, knocking a few of the feathers off course.

Meanwhile, Yukio had ran straight to Orel's weapon, grabbing it by the handle with one hand effortlessly. He then jumped up onto the ruins, hopping over to Nero's location. His free hand reached behind his back to grab his staff, smacking one end of it against a broken wall. Blades popped out of the sides as it had multiple sections resembling a long, toothed sword.

Nero landed on a large boulder, his pistols already out of bullets. He covered his face with his arms as he waited for the pain to arrive, only to see Yukio jumping towards him out of the corner of his eye.

The black-haired man slashed his sword multiple times in front of him, the sections of the blade extending far enough to reach Nero. His bladed whip got rid of the rest of the feathers before it retracted back into its sword form. He then lifted up Orel's weapon behind him, letting out a low growl before flinging it with great force to Cera who was standing on the talon that held Orel.


"Oh! Hey, Lizard! Who'd you run into and make into your partner?" Cera nonchalantly looked down at Orel, who had a large grin on his face.

"Scarecrow."

"Nero?" She only let out a small hum in reply, which Orel had taken as a 'yes'. "See? We're not that bad! You'd fit right in with us!" Cera quickly froze at what he had just said, a look of surprise on her face as she stared at him. "You know, you look pretty cute like that, Lizard." Her eyes narrowed as she lifted her hand high above her head, tightly grabbing onto Orel's weapon that was thrown at her from afar.

"Shut up, Goldilocks." Cera swung Orel's weapon at the bird's leg, cleanly slicing through it as they fell onto the ground beneath them. The redhead slowly stood up as Yukio and Nero had reached them, their gazes locked onto the bird. Cera held out the giant crescent blade towards Orel, who had climbed out of the severed talon and thanked her before resting the weapon over one of his shoulders.

"Yukio! Nero! You two have showed off enough. Now it's my turn!" Orel slammed his weapon into the ground, hiding behind it as the Nevermore nosedived towards them. The other three jumped out of the way, the bird's beak making contact with the gigantic, curved blade. Orel bashed his shoulder against the other side, bracing himself as the sheer weight of the avian pushed him back.

His eyes began glowing, a thin ring of light forming around his feet with the light rising upwards. Orel let out a shout before grabbing the handle of his weapon, lifting it up to smack the Nevermore's head to the side. The ring around his feet faded away as he leaped onto the rocks, passing by Cera who was slowly breathing with her eyes closed.

"You're up next, Lizard! Keep him in place for me!" The horned girl paid no mind to him as her eyes slowly opened. She jumped down, pulling out her nodachi before landing on the back of the Nevermore. Cera stabbed the bird in the back mercilessly, gripping onto the handle tightly as the thing shrieked and flitted about in the air.

The Nevermore looked up at the sun, seeing a silhouette of a man. Orel was descending downward, his bandaged hands and fingers wrapped in what looked to be a never ending length of very thin golden thread. Most of it trailed behind him, as if it was a makeshift cape. Orel flipped, moving some of the thread in front of him as he barely nicked the sharp beak of the Nevermore. The thread grabbed onto the beak before the large trail practically surrounded the giant bird's body.

Cera took that as her cue to get off, ripping her sword out of the bird before jumping down. Yukio came in from the side, cradling her in his arms as they landed safely next to Nero and Orel. He gently set her down, giving her a polite smile. Orel looked up at the back of the bird, a smirk on his face.

"Ready to see some raining chicken?" The redhead only shrugged her shoulders as she watched the thread. The golden thread visibly tightened as Orel harshly pulled, the thread wrapping around the avian while ceasing its movements. He pulled the strings one last time, the sound of what seemed to be a horrible screeching noise from a violin piercing through the air. The thread sliced through the body of the bird, leaving nothing else but a pile of smoking Nevermore chunks that plummeted to the ground beneath it.

The string retracted to Orel as he unwound it from his fingers, moving as if it had a mind of its own to take on the shape of his giant crescent blade. The blonde swiped his arm over it, having it magically turn back into the weapon he had when he met Cera.

"Well? How was I, Lizard?! Was I cool, or cool? I'm pretty sure I was cool." A corner of Cera's mouth turned upwards as her arms crossed underneath her breasts. She walked towards the stone slab that had the pocket watches, grabbing one for herself and three more. The Faunus threw one at Yukio and another at Nero. Cera walked back to Orel, nonchalantly looking down at the extra pocket watch she had as he waited for an answer. Her arm stretched out towards him, the chain of the pocket watch laced around her fingers as it slowly spun in the air.

"You weren't that bad, Goldilocks." A grin was plastered on his face as he accepted the relic from her before wrapping an arm around her neck, pulling her towards him as if he was going to give her a noogie. A grunt escaped Cera's lips. "Never mind, I take it back. I take it back!" Yukio and Nero only laughed at Cera's predicament, fully knowing that this is what Orel usually does whenever a compliment was given to him. It didn't matter if it was big or small, he just enjoyed bathing in them.


"Were they to your liking, Norwen?" The principal turned his head ever so slightly at the sound of the feminine voice as the feed cut off from the many cameras placed in the Emerald Forest. A hand was placed on his chin as he quickly thought it over.

"...I suppose." He pulled out a scroll, the basic information of the four students clearly visible as he read the names.

Orel Glorea.

Cera Vermilion.

Yukio Arashi.

Nero Nightingale.

He then slid a finger across the screen, four different students shown that were also included in the initiation;

Summer Rose.

Taiyang Xiao Long.

Raven Branwen.

Qrow Branwen.

Clearly this would be an interesting four years.


Trivia hour~ :

- From shortest to tallest, it would be;

Cera at 5'5" [165.1cm]

Orel at 5'9" [175.26cm]

Nero at 5'11" [180.34cm], and

Yukio at 6' [182.88cm].

- To get a perspective of how long Cera's nodachi is, it is 5 shaku. Shaku is a Japanese unit of length, and it's traditionally varied by location or use. Now, it's standardized as 10/33 meters [which is 30.3 centimeters or 11.9 inches].

1 shaku or less is for tanto [knife or dagger], 1 - 2 shaku is for shoto [wakizashi or kodachi], while 2 shaku or more are for daito [or longswords, such as katana or tachi].

Since Cera's nodachi is 5 shaku, that makes it approximately 151.5cm.