Chapter 3: Beacon
'Ok, I'm going to Beacon, I'm gonna be a Huntsman, I'm… gonna throw up.'
Angel was boarding the airship that will soon be taking him to Beacon. He was nervous about attending his new school.
'Alright, calm down. No one knows you, you're gonna be a new person, you've even got new clothes.'
He looked at the clothes he was wearing, curtesy of the lien given to him from Professor Ozpin. His old torn up clothes have been replaced by newer cleaner ones. He was now wearing black and red Sky Michaels shoes, black cargo shorts, a dark red t-shirt with a black scorpion, and an opened black zip-up hoodie. The only remains from his old outfit were his sword and holster as well as the small pack he kept on his left leg.
After calming down, he waited as the bullhead had started its departure.
'This is the first time I've been in a bullhead, it's actually kinda cool.'
Angel looked at his surroundings. Inside the bullhead he saw many other students eagerly awaiting their arrival to Beacon Academy, one of the best combat schools in Remnant. As he looked around the giant air ship, he noticed a huge difference between him and the other students.
'I am really short.' He then had a down cast look on his face with his head drooped down. 'Even the girls are a lot taller than me.' Considering he was four years younger than the other students, it should be expected that he would be the shortest.
"Hey kid, why the long face?"
Angel looked up to see who was talking to him. He was 6'3 with pale white skin, blonde hair and golden-yellow eyes. He was wearing yellow and orange Sky Michaels shoes, black jeans with gold shin guards, and an orange dress shirt with an open yellow coat jacket over it. On his back was a spear holder with spear in it and he had a small wrist mounted shield on his left wrist.
"Nothin, just contemplating my very existence." Angel said in a depressed voice.
"Whoa, heavy." The boy said as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Anyway, I'm Helios, Helios Solaris, but call me Hel." He then extended his hand to Angel.
"Sup Hel, names Angel." Angel said as he shook Hel's hand. "Sorry about that, I'm just a little nervous about attending Beacon."
"No offense dude, but you look kinda young for Beacon." Hel said as he looked and Angel questionably.
"Nah, you right. I'm actually thirteen."
"You're thirteen?" Helios then proceeded to look around at his surroundings. "Wait, am I- am I on the right bullhead?"
"Probably, I'm actually a student at Beacon to, well a possible student. We still need to pass initiation."
"Wait, your thirteen and you're gonna be going to Beacon?"
"Uh, yeah." Angel said as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.
"Damn, you must be hardcore or something."
"Or something, yeah. Long story short, Ozpin allowed me to enroll after meeting me at jail."
Hel then looked at Angel with a half amused half confused look. "You live a strange life don't you?"
"Meh, if we become Huntsmen, none of us are going to have normal lives."
"Fair point. How'd you get roped in jail?"
"The usual, group of punks were picking on a little girl. I beat them up. Cops came and got me."
"Ah, yes, the usual." Hel said as he smirked at Angel.
"You're very sarcastic, I like you." Angel said as he smirked back.
"I try." Hel said as he did a mock bow. "You're cool and all, but I should probably look for my cousin Oak."
"He easily lost or something."
"He's very impulsive and liable to start a fight with someone." Hel then proceeded to put on a thinking face and rub his chin. "Actually, he might have already pissed someone off."
"I know the type, alright, well see ya later." Angel said as he walked pass Hel.
"Yeah, peace." Hel said as he walked the other way.
'He seemed cool. Alright, now all I gotta do is get through the rest of today and tomorrow I can show what I can do.' Angel was walking, lost in his own thoughts, when he accidently bumped into someone and fell.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." A famine voice with a slight accent said.
"No, it was my fault." Angel said as he picked himself up off the ground. "I wasn't really paying attention." Angel then saw who he bumped into.
She looked about 5'9 with a slender build and had pale white skin with long brown hair and equally brown eyes. She was wearing black combat boots, black pants with a vertical gold stripe on the outer side of each leg, brown V-neck zip-up shirt with mid-length sleeves that exposes her mid-section and a stitched heart logo above her right breast. She also had a black quiver on her back that had gold stripes on the side and a brown bow in her left hand. There also appeared to be a pair of brown bunny ears at the top of her head.
'Huh, rabbit faunus, haven't met one yet.'
"It's not entirely your fault, I've been walking around and fidgeting the entire time." The girl assured Angel.
"I'm assuming you're nervous too?" Angel asked.
"Is it that obvious?" The girl asked embarrassed.
"The fidgeting gave it away."
"Right." The girl then tried to collect herself. "I'm not usually like this, I'm just nervous thinking about tomorrow's initiation.
"Meh, I think that's gonna be the easiest part." Angel said nonchalantly. "Just me, my sword, and a bunch of soon to be dead Grimm."
"You sound confident." The girl said with a small smile.
"Excited is more like it, haven't done anything like this for a while."
"Really?" She asked, a little surprised. "I know most junior combat schools don't let their students encounter Grimm much, but didn't you fight some before graduation?"
"I actually didn't attend a combat school."
"You didn't!?" The girl screamed surprised.
"Ow, my ears." Angel said as he winced.
"Oh, sorry. I can be a bit over reactive." The girl said embarrassed.
"I just noticed we haven't even introduced ourselves."
"Oh, you're right. My name is Charmeuse Scarlatina." Charmeuse said as she introduced herself.
"Angel."
"No family name?"
"I don't really wanna talk about that." Angel said as he had a crestfallen look.
"Oh, um, I'm terribly sorry." Charmeuse said as she tried to apologize.
"It's ok, you didn't know."
"Um-
Before she could finish, a hologram of Glynda Goodwitch popped up. "Hello and welcome to Beacon."
"Wow, that scared the hell outta me." Angel said as he put his right hand over his heart.
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and as future Huntsman and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is "our" turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."
"That doesn't put any pressure on us at all." Charmeuse said sarcastically.
"Depends on how you look at it."
"How do you look at it?"
"I don't."
"Hmm, good point."
The bullhead then proceeded to descend over Beacon Academy.
"It looks like we're getting ready to land."
"Looks like it."
The bullhead was hovering just above the school as it slowly started to descend. After landing, Angel and Charmeuse and the rest of the students exited the bullhead.
'This place is soo huge!'
"Wow, I didn't expect Beacon to look this….big." Charmeuse said as she looked nervously at the school. "Kind of intimidating isn't it?"
"A little, but it kinda looks like a theme park."
"Huh, now that you mention it, it sort of does." Charmeuse said as her eyes sharpened only to go back to normal after a few seconds.
Angel then looked around and noticed that the other students had already left as he and Charmeuse gawked at the school.
"Hey Charm, where'd everybody go?"
"Oh, they must have already gone to courtyard for orientation."
"Do you know where that is?"
"Of course, don't you have a map?"
"No, where'd you get a map? Were they in the bullhead?"
"No, they were in the Beacon Handbook."
"Handbook?" Angel said as he looked confused. "There's a handbook!?"
"Uh, yes?" Charm said as she started to look confused. "Are you sure that you're enrolled here. Because I've had my handbook for a month."
"Well that explains it, Ozpin snaked me."
"Well, let's go to the courtyard. If you want, you can read my handbook later."
"Oh, thanks. Remind me to do that later."
Angel and Charm made their way to the courtyard for orientation.
"Made it kinda early."
"It'll probably start soon, I heard that Professor Ozpin is very casual about orientation."
As Angel and Charm were talking, someone noticed the two and made their way towards them.
"Ange!"
"Hm?" Angel said as Charm and himself turned around to see who called him.
"Hey Ange, it's been a while." Hel said as he approached Angel and Charm, while another boy his age followed him.
"Oh, Hel, what's up?" Angel said as him and Hel fist bumped.
"Nothing much, oh and this is my cousin, Oak Pyro." Hel said as he introduced his cousin.
He was 5'9 with an athletic build, he had pale white skin with orange spikey hair and matching orange eyes. He was wearing orange and black sneakers, black cargo shorts with two orange belts(one regular and another half hanging off his waist), an orange muscle shirt, and a black sleeveless open jacket with two fireballs about to hit each other on the back. He was also wearing a black collar and a pair of black and orange headphones on his neck, along with black and orange gauntlets on his hands.
"So you're the kid that Hel told me about, nice to meet ya Ange." Oak said as he extended his fist to Angel.
"Yeah, same." Angel said as he fist bumped Oak.
Oak then noticed Charm standing next to Angel.
"I think my heart just stopped, what is your name beautiful?" Oak asked as he extended his hand out to Charm.
"Uh, my name is Charmeuse Scarlatina, but call me Charm." Charm said as she nervously shook his hand.
"Charm, what a name fitting of such beauty-
Hel then used this opportunity to hit Oak on the top of his head with his spear.
"Yeah, that's enough of that." Hel then nervously rubbed his neck as he introduced himself to Charm. "Sorry about my cousin, he's an idiot who thinks he's a gift to woman. I'm Helios Solaris by the way, call me Hel."
"Nice to meet you Hel." Charm said as she shook his hand.
"Dude! Why are you busting my game!?" Oak said as he started arguing with Hel.
"Game? You have no game. That grumpy dude that almost kicked your ass has more game than you."
"I could take that guy and you know it."
"Sure, he was this close to turning you into a human popsicle."
"He wishes, I could take anyone here."
"Is that why I win every spar we've been in?" Hel said as he smirked at Oak.
"I never fight serious and you know that."
"Really?" Hel said as he put his hand on the spear on his back. "How about we go at it right now?"
Oak then took a boxing stance and showed that his gauntlets had different dust on the back of each of his knuckles. "I could use a few good practice swings before tomorrow."
"Um, shouldn't we do something about this?" Charm asked as she looked at Angel nervously.
"Probably, but I wanna see how it turns out. 50 lien on Hel, his spear will probably give him much better reach." Angel said as he watched the two cousins continuing their argument.
"No, we can't let them fight, especially hear in front of everyone." Charm said as she noticed some of the other students looking at the fighting cousins.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Angel sighed as he approached the boys. "Girls, girls, you're both pretty, but why don't we save it for the poor grimm that we're gonna slaughter tomorrow."
Unfortunately Angel's words did not stop the two cousins from preparing to fight one another. Just when they were about to strike, they were interrupted by an announcement via speakers.
"Ahem, to the two young gentleman in the back, please do not start a fight or the two of you will be kicked out of Beacon without even taking the initiation test."
The two boys then turned and noticed the voice belonged to Miss Glynda Goodwitch, who was currently glaring daggers at them.
"She looks like she could kill us with her eyes alone." Hel whispered to Oak.
"I'm both terrified and attracted to her right now."
"Stop talking."
The two then lowered their weapons and apologized to Miss Goodwitch.
"Thank you, now please direct your attention to Headmaster Ozpin." Glynda said as Ozpin approached the mic.
"I'll…keep this brief. You have travelled 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, in need or purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of 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."
Ozpin then proceeded to take his leave as Glynda approached the mic.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Glynda then took her leave, as did many of the other students.
"Why do I feel like he says the same speech every year?" Hel said as he the others followed the other students to the ballroom.
"I don't know, I think that whole 'wasted energy' bit was about you tow." Angel said as he pointed at Hel and Oak.
"How come I haven't punched you yet?" Oak asked as he glared at Angel.
"I don't know, I'm pretty?" Angel shrugged.
"I think we should focus more on tomorrows test." Charm suggested, trying to change the subject. "What do you think is going to happen?"
"Not sure, but I heard that of the eighty of us here, only sixteen of us are going to pass tomorrow." Hel said nonchalantly.
"Only sixteen!?" Charm practically screamed.
"Well that's concerning." Angel commented.
"Dude that's like, a third of us or something." Oak added.
"It's actually twenty percent, but yeah the odds aren't good." Hel said.
"Meh, I'll pass for sure." Angel said as he put his arms behind his back.
"What makes you so confident brat?" Oak asked Angel.
"Because I'm awesome, duh."
"Seriously, why haven't I decked you yet?"
"I'm charming?"
Oak then shook his fist at Angel, until he got an idea. "So, Charm, any idea on who your partner's gonna be?" Oak asked Charm as he stood in front of her. "Because I am currently available."
"Um, I haven't really thought of it, but I doubt that we get to choose our partners or teams." Charm said as she nervously backed away from Oak.
"You're probably right, but I'm sure that fate will bring us together."
"I don't think it will."
"Well, he's persistent, I'll give him that." Angel said to Hel as they watched Oak attempt to hit on Charm.
"It's like watching a puppy chase a ball that was never thrown." Hel said as he covered his eyes in an attempt to not see the train wreck before him.
"Well, might as well get ready for tomorrow, it's gonna be a long day." Angel said as they entered the ballroom.
"Yeah, should be fun though." Oak said.
"You're probably gonna fail." Hel told Oak.
"Enough fighting, tomorrow's gonna be the biggest day of our lives. Aren't any of you taking it seriously?" Charm asked the three boys.
Angel, Hel and Oak then looked at each other, before turning back to Charm, each with their own smirk.
"Nah, I'm gonna pass easily/ Piece of cake/ Where's the fun in that?"
I know I haven't been updating this as often as I originally stated, it's due to a combination or personal problems, character creation and laziness. Thank you to the few people who are actually reading this, the next few chapters might be slow, due to character development, but the next chapter is the initiation test so there will be a lot of grimm killing. I do have artwork of the characters, but they are cheap chibi characters I made with a chibi maker, because I do not have any artistic skills whatsoever. I will not release them until both team ARCH and HALO have been revealed. Also, I want to give a shoutout to SpinLord, who is writing a great Naruto/Angel Beats crossover called "Place to Try". It's a great story that I've read about 6 times, he's also given me some advice on my own story, so check him out, he's pretty cool.