So last chapter I said that the ships were Shiro/Echo/Blake, Iris/Ruby, and Aqua/Weiss. Somehow, past me checking the chapter over, I put Blake and Ruby in the wrong spots, the ships are actually Shiro/Echo/Ruby, Iris/Blake, and Aqua/Weiss. Sorry about that, but it's here now, so yeah.
Chapter 2: Initiation.
We were sitting in the corner of one of the airships that were set to take us and all the other students to Beacon. I was tuning everyone else out while Iris was watching the news that was on. Beacon slowly came into sight as the news shut off and was replaced with what looked like a blonde teacher. "Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of attending this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntresses and huntsman, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect this world." Her hologram wavered then dissipated.
The airship started to descend to the school, and people started moving towards the windows to get a view. I tapped my sisters arm to get her attention, "Hey, is my hood covering my ears?" She pulled my hood a little to the side.
"There, just keep them flattened and you should be fine."
"Thanks." She nodded, and looked over towards the door of the airship, which was starting to open and kids were standing huddled together to leave the ship. "Well, here we are for the next four years." We stayed back and waited for everyone else to leave before getting off ourselves. We looked around at the large towards and buildings that made up the school, and everyone rushing off to do whatever they were doing.
"Right, sooo. Where do we go?" Iris said turning to look at me.
"The auditorium. Ozpin is supposed to be giv-" An explosion cut me off.
"The hell?" I turned to see a girl in white standing over a girl in red, and they seemed to have slight scorch marks. I started walking over there and heard Iris following me, "Hey Shiro, isn't that a Schnee?"
I looked closer at the one in white and saw the Schnee family crest on her luggage. "Yeah, she is."
We walked over and started hearing the one in red start apologizing, "I'm really, really sorry."
"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"
"Well, I-I"
"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know. Were here to fight monsters, so, watch where you're going."
The one in red started getting angry, " I said I was sorry princess!"
The Schnee looked like she was about to retort, but Iris jumped. "She's not a princess, she's actually a heiress. Of the Schnee dust company to be precise."
Schnee got a smug look on her face, " Hmpf, finally some recognition."
But, Iris wasn't done, "Also known for enslaving faunus, and forcefully taking dust mines from smaller companies."
After Iris said that, Schnee's face started to turn red and she started stomping away. I walked up to the one in red and helped her up, "You alright there?"
"Y-yeah. Maybe she was right, I am a little young to be accepted into Beacon." She said, looking down.
"Ah, don't worry about people like her, she's probably had everything handed to her on a silver platter. Anyways, Names Shiro, that's Iris. "I gestured towards Iris, who gave a little wave.
"I'm Ruby. Nice to meet you."
"Well, Ruby. Do you have any idea on where were supposed to be going?" Iris asked with hope in her voice.
"Uh, nope. Do we have dorms or something we need to go to?"
I chuckled, "We head to the auditorium." The three of us started walking towards said building. "So Ruby, you said that you were a 'little young' to be attending Beacon. What did you mean by that?"
"Well, I'm only fifteen. I attempted to stop Roman Torchwick from robbing a dust shop, but I failed. Apparently Professor Goodwitch was nearby and helped me, and then Ozpin offered me place in his academy." She said cheerfully.
Suddenly a loud bell sounded off, "Well, then that would be our cue." The three of us hurried towards the auditorium. When we got inside, Ruby ran off after seeing someone, so we just stood there waiting among the crowd for the speech. We weren't waiting for long until Ozpin stepped up to the mic. "I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy." When he said that he seemed to focus his eyes on me and Iris. "In need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you from this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.
He stepped away from the mic and the teacher introduced as Goodwitch stepped up. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She turned away and started following Ozpin.
"Well, that was certainly... Inspiring." Iris said from my right.
"Yeah, I can see that he really isn't the most motivating of teachers." We headed off to the ballroom with everyone else and headed to the corner where one of the couches were.
"Right, so we made it through the first day, and didn't make any enemies. That's good for us."
"But there's the heiress, and I'm pretty sure she wanted to stab me with her toothpick back there."
Iris chucked, "Well, it doesn't really surprise me." Suddenly Ruby showed up and a blonde with a small brown jacket and black short was following her. "Oh, you're the one that exploded earlier."
The blonde deadpanned, "Holy crap you really did explode."
Ruby turned and raised her arms exasperated, "That's what I said earlier Yang!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm not quite sure what's going on now." I said, getting the three girls attentions.
"Oh, Sorry. I'm Yang, and this is my little sister Ruby!" The blonde, Yang, introduced herself and Ruby to us.
"Well then Yang, pleasure to meet you, I'm Shiro, and this is my sister Iris." Iris gave a small wave.
I saw Ruby's eyes look above my head out of my peripherals, and saw her eyes widen. "You have wolf ears." She said in an awed tone.
My eyes widened and I felt the top of my head, and my ears were still flattened, and my hood should still be covering them. "How? I thought I hid them well enough."
"Well, you hood moved back slightly, and I normally have good eyesight, so I was able to see them. Not that there's anything wrong with being a faunus. They're really cool, having ears and tails and stuff, it's just not every day that you get to see one in person, given how much hate they get, but I think it ju-"
She was silenced by Yang putting her hand over her sister's mouth, "Sorry about her. But, I don't think She's ever seen a wolf faunus before."
"It's fine, we aren't very common after all." Iris walked up to me but didn't have her sweater on of the candy in her mouth. "When did you even?"
She sat on the arm of the chair next to me, "Magic." She pulled out another candy and proceeded to eat it.
"So, Why did you two come to Beacon?" Ruby said, obviously trying to start conversation.
"Training. We wanted to get stronger, and this was the best option. Being trained by professionals makes it easier to learn. What about you?" Iris said, not completely telling the truth but not completely lying at the same time.
"Well, I've always wanted to be a huntress. I read fairy tales when I was younger, and I want to be like those heroes and protect everyone. I want everyone to get their own happy ending." She said while looking down.
"That's a good reason, but this world isn't exactly kind to those who dream. The ones who dream normally get left behind, living in their own fantasies. However, there are those who pull ahead and achieve their dreams, and it seem you are on that path."
"Shiro, never get that philosophical again, it's not natural." I pushed Iris off the couch and onto the floor.
"Well, it was nice talking to you two, but I think we are probably going to head off to bed now. After all, we want to rest up for initiation tomorrow." Yang said, dragging Ruby away by her hood.
"That was, something."
"Go to bed Iris." I said before laying down on the couch and drifting off to sleep.
The Next Day.
"Iris, Wake up already." I said as I was flipping my sister with my foot.
"Mmm... Fine" She sat up and glared at me, "Next time, don't kick me."
"Next time you should wake up the first time I tell you too."
She sighed, "Right, what time is it?"
"30 to 9. we have half an hour before initiation." She pulled herself out of her cot, and I helped her up. "Let's' head over to the lockers. I'd rather get there before it gets too crowded." We walked through a couple of halls and reached the lockers. "So, mine is 183 and yours is 257. Well meet at the entrance and head to the cliff."
Iris chuckled, "No need to take this so seriously." She headed off to the row her locker was in as I went to mine. I grabbed my belt that held my blade and pistol, along with some rounds for my sniper. Speaking of my sniper, I grabbed it and aligned the small magnet with the magnetic dust lined in my sweater. Iris walked up to me, with different colored vials of dust around her waist, along with some raw ice crystals on her left side. "Ready?" I nodded and we proceeded to head to the cliff, where all the other first year students were required to go for initiation.
About 45 minutes later, we were all sanding on separate tiles in the cliff, with Goodwitch and Ozpin in front of us. "For your initiation you shall be dropped off in the Emerald forest, with nothing but you own selves and your weapons. If you refuse to fight, you will die."
Goodwitch stepped up, "As you have probably heard, there will be selected teams. However, you will also be assigned partners, and they will be your partner for the next 4 years." People were looking back and forth at each other, already forming teams in their heads. "However, you will not get to select your partner. Your partner will be the first person you make eye contact with in the forest. There will be no changing. I hope you all have prepared your landing strategy." When she finished speaking, the person farthest left, a girl with light blue hair in a ponytail and fox ears, was launched off the tile she was standing on. "So that's what they mean by landing strategy, hm" one by one, other people were launched, with Iris on my left being the last one, and with me next. I felt the gears turn underneath me, and was suddenly thrown forward.
As I was sailing through the air, I held my ears to my head as closely as I could. As the ground grew closer to me, I used my semblance to coat the ground that I was going to land at in a thin sheet of ice. When I hit the ground, I started to slide along the ice, and eventually hit dirt. I let my ears stand freely, and sniffed the air. I could smell grimm in the air around me, but I couldn't hear them. 'Shit, I think I landed in a nest. This could suck.' I grabbed the hilt of my wakizashi, and heard something rustle the bushed behind me. I drew my pistol and fired two shots, and seeing blood in response to it. Now that there was actually grimm and not just their smell, I could tell that there was about 10 beowolves and an ursa. I put another two shots into where I guessed another beowolf was, but was gives the sound of hitting armor. 'Well shit, things just got much worse.' Out of the bush came the ursa that was nearby, more specifically, an ursa major.
When the ursa revealed itself, the other grimm around me revealed themselves as well. I activated my semblance, creating icicles that impaled the heads of the beowolves around me, killing them instantly, leaving me with just the ursa. It roared at me, then charged forward at a surprising speed for something as large as it was. I dodged to the left, and left some ice on the floor, slipping it up. I went in to attack, but the ursa already got it's footing back and swung at me. I parried it with the flat of my blade and slashed at it, but I only hit it's armour. I jumped back and used my semblance to throw some icicles at its face, with one hitting it's eye and partially blinding it. I was about to make the ice spread, but suddenly chains wrapped around the ursa and it's head rolled off.
When the Ursa's body fell, there was a small girl with rose pink hair holding a kusarigama, or a chain scythe. "Did you just? How did you?" She walked around the corpse and looked up at me, "...Your ears, you're a wolf."
My ears flattened against my head as I growled, "Your point?"
"...They're kinda cute."
Her saying that caught me completely off guard. I was expecting some racist remark, and here I am, being told that my ears are cute. "Uhh thanks? Anyways, I guess were partners then?" She nodded, "Right, names Shiro."
"Echo"
"Right then. Have any idea where were supposed to be going?"
She pointed towards her right, "There." We started heading off in that direction, when I started picking up the scent of my sister.
"Wait, slight detour." I turned to the left and started following the scent, hearing Echo follow behind me.
"Hey, watch where you swing those things, you might cut my arm off!" I heard my sister exclaim from behind the trees.
"You do realize I just saved your back, right?" A calm voice that demanded authority replied to her.
"Whatever, we just have to walk in that direction and were good."
I decided to make myself known. "Iris, get your ass over here." I said as I was walking out of the trees, with Echo on my tail.
She turned and smirked, "About time you showed up, I've felt your aura for the past 5 minutes."
"And I've smelt you for the past 5 minutes. Not smelling cat all the times really nice."
She shrugged, "You know you love me."
"Sure, whatever you think Ris."
The other girl standing next to Iris just gave me a blank look. "I'm confused here."
Iris perked up, "Oh Right, Aqua, this is my twin Shiro, Shiro, this is my partner Aqua."
"Nice to meet you, Shiro." The girl with blue hair and fox ears nodded in my direction. "It's surprising to see two other faunus here, especially a wolf."
"Ditto, Anyways, this is my partner Echo," I gestured to her behind me, " And now that introductions are out of the way, can we please leave this forest, it smells like grimm."
"We need to get the relics first, otherwise we would fail our initiation."
"What is with fox faunus always pointing out the obvious." I grumbled under my breath and saw her ears flick in annoyance. "Anyways, the relics should be that way." I pointed in the direction Echo said they were in. We walked for about 5 minutes before seeing a large amount of chess pieces on different pedestals in a circle, or well, Iris saw them.
"Hey guys, The relics are chess pieces, and it looks like knights and queens are missing."
"Well, lets go get our pieces and get out of here." He ran towards the circles and looked around. "Hey, we should probably grab the same relics, that's probably how teams are assigned."
The other nodded, and Aqua went and grabbed a White Bishop and threw it to me. "There, now both groups have the same pieces."
Iris walked up holding the other White bishop, "Right, so how do we get back?"
I sighed, looking back to the forest, 'We walk, again."
30 minutes later
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." The four boys lined up. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!" The crowd cheered as they walked off the stage, and new four took their place.
"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR. Led by... Jaune Arc." One of them pushed the other, knocking him down, causing the crowd to laugh. They left as the next four walked up, which consisted of the Schnee heiress, Ruby, Yang, and a raven-haired girl who smelt suspiciously like cat.
"Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"
Ruby looked shocked, Yang looked happy, the heiress looked pissed, white the fourth, Balke, looked on with a small smile. When they stepped down, the four of us stepped up. I was on the far right, with Echo on my left, Aqua to her's, and at the far left was Iris.
"And Finally. Shiro Shirayuki. Echo Sakura. Aqua Natsuho. Iris Shirayuki. The four of you retrieved the white bishop pieces. From this say forward, you will work together as Team SEAI. Led by... Shiro Shirayuki." I heard the crowd cheer and saw Ruby and Yang clapping. I looked to my left and saw my other three teammates smile approvingly at me. We walked off the stage towards Team RWBY.
"Well, congrats on becoming a leader Crimson." I said in Ruby's direction.
"Oh, so you're nicknaming us now?" I heard the heiress speak up.
"Yep, and I'll call you bitchy." Iris, Yang, Echo and Ruby started giggling, and I couldn't help but let the smirk on my face widen as bitchy's face started turning red.
"Well, we should catch up later, we have to get to our dorms," Ruby said, ushering her team away, as three of them waved goodbye at us, and the other one was busy fuming. This is going to be an interesting year.
Well, the longest chapter I've written for a fic, and I cut a decent amount out. Anyways, if you want, go ahead and review, follow, favorite, and all that stuff. This has been TheExoticCake, Signing off.
