Chapter 3: Special Initiation Part 2
The trio of Ruby, Weiss and Emin plodded along through the forest, with Weiss leading at the front, whilst Ruby stomped forward with a pout on her face at the back. Emin just walked in the middle, but his eyes would shift constantly to try and see anything unusual.
This current situation had been brought about by events just a few moments earlier, when Beowolves had attacked them. Ruby had diverted Weiss' attack, causing a small forest fire, causing the three of them to retreat.
"And furthermore, I still don't understand what your doing here if you seem to be so special." Weiss had been ranting at Emin for the past few minutes, he was ignoring her. "No partner, no help, no chess piece, what EXACTLY is the purpose of you being here?...Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
"No." Emin replied honestly, making Ruby stifle a giggle. "We're gonna be attacked again really soon."
"Oh, and I suppose you just know that." She asked.
"Yes." He nodded, causing her to growl in frustration.
"That's it, forget it! Do whatever you want. I'M gonna find my own way!" And with that, she marched off to the left.
With that, Ruby sat down. "Welp, I'm bored." She began picking stray leaves out of the grass.
"How can you be so relaxed?" Emin asked her. "We're going to be attacked again soon, I know it."
"Don't worry about it, we'll just take care of 'em." Ruby waved it off.
"It's definitely this way." Weiss said as she returned to walk the opposite way.
"Aren't you...scared?" Emin questioned.
"Nuh-uh." She replied, tossing the leaves around her. "Why? Should I be?"
Emin thought about that for a second. "...No, I guess not." He sat down. "Maybe it's just because I am."
"I mean...this way. It's DEFINITELY this way." Weiss once again turned.
"I thought you said you weren't scared." Ruby said.
"It's a...different kind of fear." Emin huffed. "The kind where...you don't want to mess up, or let anybody down."
Ruby pondered for a moment. "Well, your not messing up, or letting us down." She shot a childish glare at the passing Weiss, showing that those descriptions were placed on the white haired girl.
"It's not you, it's-" He began.
"Alright, it's official; we passed it." Weiss interrupted.
Ruby stood up, slightly annoyed. "Weiss, why can't you just admit that you have no idea where your going?"
"Because I know exactly where we're going!" Weiss cried. "We're going... to... the forest temple!" Ruby sighed in frustration. "Oh, stop it! You don't know where we are, either! How about you!?"
Emin stood up and shrugged. "I honestly don't know."
"Well at least we're not pretending that we know everything." Ruby defended themselves.
"What is THAT supposed to mean?"
"It means you're a big, stupid jerk and I hate you!"
Weiss sighed and spun around, walking off again. "Just keep moving!"
Ruby began to imitate her childishly, and Emin suddenly realised he was no longer alert. He spun around in every direction, expecting a surprise attack, but none came.
"...Why?" He could only ask himself. "Why aren't they...?" He realised he was being left behind, and quickly followed the pair.
As he caught up to them, he instantly noticed the depressing aura around them. He could sense both had become very sad, evidenced by the fact they were no longer arguing.
'Are they alright?' Emin thought, not daring to ask. 'Did something happen?...Is...is it my fault? Did I make them get so mad and hate each other? What if I did!? They...I...' He stopped walking, his whole body shuddered as he clenched his fist tightly.
Weiss looked over her shoulder and saw that Emin had stopped. "Hey! We don't have time to be standing around! I'm not gonna let you ruin my grade! In fact, I could just leave you here!" There was a pause as everything stopped. "...Are you listening?...Seriously, say something!"
"Emin? What's wrong?" Ruby asked.
Suddenly, there was a giant flash of black, a gust of wind, and he was gone.
"Emin!" Ruby gasped.
"What is that!?" Weiss yelled, looking skyward.
A Grimm that looked like a giant crow, wearing the same white and red mask that all of them had, was carrying Emin in one of its massive talons. This was a Nevermore, one of the few airborne Grimm, yet very powerful.
"Let go of me!" Emin thrashed around in its grip uselessly, with Eclipse Star attached to his back, there was no way he could get it right now. "Crud, this is all my fault!"
"We have to help Emin!" Ruby cried as she seized Weiss' wrist and dragged her along.
"What!? H-How!?" Weiss cried, taken by surprise at the events occuring within the last few seconds.
Ruby dragged the girl on top of a large boulder and held Crescent Rose out in sniper mode. "Hey! Big birdie! Over here!" She fired several rounds that exploded into the side of the Nevermore, making it turns towards them with a very angry look.
"This is a terrible idea!" Weiss screeched as the Nevermore charged towards them. "Are you trying to get us killed!?"
"Okay, on the count of three, we jump!" Ruby declared as she grabbed Weiss' shoulder.
"What did you say!?"
"Three!" As the Nevermore flew past them, Ruby jumped onto its back, dragging Weiss with her. The two of them clung onto its feathery back as the monster soared higher into the sky, the wind rushing past them.
"Ruby! I told you this was a terrible idea!" Weiss yelled over the wind.
"We're fine! Stop worrying!" Ruby replied. "Emin! Can you hear us!?"
"I am SO far beyond worrying!" Weiss argued.
Meanwhile Emin tried to look upwards. "Ruby!? Weiss!? What are you doing!?"
"We're here to rescue you!" Ruby replied.
"I'M not!" Weiss said.
"I'm sorry! All of this is because of me! Just let me fix it!" He shouted.
"No way! We're friends! Friends help each other!" Ruby replied. "Hold on!" Suddenly, she jumped off of the side, weapon in hand, and swung at the talon!
"Ahhhhhhhh!" Emin cried as the scythe slashed the talon, making the Nevermore screech in pain as it let go of Emin, causing the both of them to begin falling.
"Nonononono!" He panicked as he opened a portal below him. "It's not big enough for both of us to fit through!" Before he could panic further, somebody jumped forward and crashed into Ruby, sending both of them flying into a tree. "Ruby!"
Emin fell through the portal and was sent skidding across solid ground, face in the dirt, until he stopped. "Owwww..."
"Hey! Hey! Wake up!" Suddenly, somebody picked him up and began shaking him violently. "Wait...weren't you at the beginning? Emin, right?"
As his eyes stopped spinning, he recognised a familiar face with blonde hair. "Y...Yang...right?"
"Yeah." She nodded as she put him down. "And, please tell me, did you just fall from the sky, then fell across the ground?"
"Yes." Emin simply said.
"Wait, you were from the initiation, weren't you?" Emin looked to the left, and saw a girl he hadn't seen yet. She wore mainly white and black clothes, and had a distinctive black bow on her head. Just looking at her made him wonder..."Sorry I didn't introduce myself at the initiation. I'm Blake Belladonna...and, Yang, isn't that your sister?"
Both of them followed her line of sight to see Ruby and Jaune hanging from the tree. "Oh...hey, Emin..." Jaune waved weakly.
"I..." Yang gaped, dumbfounded at the situation.
They were interrupted by the cradhing of trees as another Grimm that looked like a bear, an Ursa, charged in...being ridden by somebody? A blast of pink energy suddenly hit its back, killing it and making it crash to the ground dead.
"YEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAW!" Emin recognised the rider as Nora when she rolled off of the carcass. "Awwwww, it's broken..." She groaned.
Then another new face appeared, wearing green martial art robes, with his hair tied into a traditional long male knot. "Nora!" He panted. "Please...don't ever do that again." But she was already gone. "Nora!"
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake thought aloud.
"I..." Once again, Yang was interrupted. This time by Pyrrha, who was being chased by a giant scorpion-esque Grimm; the Death Stalker.
"Jaune!" Pyyrha called.
"Pyrrha!" Said person called.
"Woah!" Ruby cried as she rolled off the branch.
"Ruby!" Jaune whined.
"Ruby!" Yang and Emin exclaimed.
"Yang!" Ruby cried as she went to give her a hug.
"Nora!" The girl interrupted the moment.
"Emin?" Pyrrha recognised him.
"Pyrrha." He greeted her.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake wondered.
"I can't take it anymore!" Everybody, especially Emin, jumped back as a burst of fire erupted behind Yang, with her eyes turning red. "Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
There was a pause, consisting of exactly two seconds. "Um...Yang?" Ruby tugged on the girls sleeve and pointed up, as Weiss was now hanging off of the talon of the Nevermore.
"How could you two leave me!?" She shouted down.
"You could've jumped too!" Ruby called up.
"She's gonna fall." Blake stated.
"She'll be fine." Ruby said.
"She's falling." The martial artist said.
"Ah!" Emin realised the situation and opened up a portal beneath her. Unfortunately, Jaune once again jumped in to save the day. "No!" The two of them were too wide for the portal, and broke straight through it on their crashcourse to the ground, with Jaune providing perfect support for Weiss to land on.
"My hero." Weiss said mockingly.
"My back..." Jaune groaned.
Meanwhile, Blake noticed Emin covering his face with his hands, shuddering violently. "Are you alright?"
"It hurts..." He whimpered as he took away his hands, causing Blake to gasp,
The entire left side of his face was crackling with violet and turquoise energy, and it looked like his left temple was glitching, unstable as it unformed and reformed violently.
"What's wrong?" The bow-wearer asked.
"My portal broke..." He hissed through clenched teeth. "The shock, it...I need to recover...I screwed up again!" He hit his face in frustration. "I can't do anything right!"
"Hey, hey, just, try to calm down, okay?" She tried to comfort him, but was distracted as the Grimm began to close in on them, with Pyrrha landing at their feet.
"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang cried.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby declared as she recklessly charged forward.
"Ruby, wait!" Yang tried to stop her.
Pyrrha had noticed the situation with Emin, and knelt down to him. "What's the matter with him?"
"I think it's something to do with his Semblance." Blake told her, trying to stay calm.
"I can't do this! I can't do this!" Emin screamed in frustration as he held out a hand, an unstable portal opening up which he fell into before it closed.
"Wait! Emin!" Blake cried, but he was already gone.
"Huh? Where did he go!?" Yang asked.
"That jerk! He just abandoned us!" Weiss cried.
"Um...guys?" Everybody looked at Jaune as he pointed forward.
Creeps had completely eclipsed the area in front of them, snarling viciously, but that wasn't the worst part.
Leading them was a large Grimm, about the size of the Death Stalker, with four black legs, the bottom half covered in white and red armour, with a completely black back and arms, with the same armour covering its torso. On the end of each arm was a long white scythe with blood red edges, and its armoured head had two big yellow eyes and blood red mouth pincers. This was a Hell Scythe, a praying mantis Grimm.
"Where did all of these guys come from!?" Yang cried.
"This is really bad..." Weiss admitted.
RWBY
A good distance away from the battle, Emin sat, hunched against a rock, his face slowly healing.
"I'm an idiot..." He said to himself. "What was I thinking...I could never be a Hunter...stupid, worthless moron..."
Tears stung his eyes. "I'm sorry, Viola...I'm not special..."
He could hear it, the sounds of them battling...he could practically see it. "It's because of me that they're in so much trouble right now...I just mess up everything I do..."
He took a deep breath. "And the thing is...I actually really liked all those people too..." His voice began to break. "They're gonna die because of me!"
There was a pause in his thinking, silent save for the explosions he could hear. "...I don't want them to die."
RWBY
The group had attempted to flee back to the cliffs, only for the Death Stalker, Nevermore, army of Creeps and Ursa to pursue them. The group had currently been seperated because of the Nevermore destroying the bridge, with the Creeps on one side and the Death Stalker and Hell Scythe on the other.
"This is looking REALLY bad!" Jaune emphasised.
"Just keep them away from us!" Weiss yelled at him as she, Yang, Blake and Ruby fired at the Nevermore, yet seemingly doing no damage. The advancing Creeps not helping the situation.
"I'll take these guys out!" Yang called as she went to jump down, only for the Nevermore to crash through the ruins, making all four of them jump away.
"None of this is working!" Weiss said.
"And now there's this." Blake muttered as the Creeps began to close in on them.
Just then, a portal opened up in front of them, and Emin walked out. The Creeps instantly focused on him, their snarls intensifying.
"Emin!" Ruby gasped.
"Where have you been!?" Weiss cried.
He didn't say anything as he pulled Eclipse Star from his back, and it extended out. "I'll fix this." He stated. "You take care of the Nevermore."
"Uh...sure! Why not?" Yang half-joked.
"I've got a plan! Cover me!" Ruby said before she dashed away, and the rest of them refocused their attention on the Nevermore.
Emin took several steps towards the Creeps, who gnashed at him as he held up his arms in a challenging manner. "Your here for me, aren't you!? Cmome on, then!"
The Creeps charged instantly, and he slashed straight through the front row, rolling away as more leapt down at him from above. He set the weapon spinning as more ran forward, he swung his arm in an arc, taking out a few, but some smarter ones ducked underneath the attack and jumped at him from behind, forcing him to run forward to avoid the sneak attack.
As more charged from the front, a large chunk of ruins became dislodged above him and began to fall towards him. "I...I'll use this!" He held his hand up, creating a very large portal both above and in front of him, making the rock fall through it, then immediately straight forward and through the Grimm's, crushing them all instantly.
"Arckgh!" The portals disappeared as Emin clutched his side in pain, the same coloured sparks flashing around the area. "That was...agh...really stupid..."
Down below, the Hell Scythe's attention was suddenly diverted as it was fighting, "Oi! What are you looking at!?" Nora yelled at it, yet failing to make it look at her. "Don't you ignore me!"
The Hell Scythe continued to pay no mind to any of them, as it crouched down, and jumped straight up to the other side. "Get back here, coward!" Nora raged.
"Where is it going!?" Pyrrha thought aloud.
At the same time, Emin jumped back as the Hell Scythe crushed the area where he previously stood. "I'll deal with you." He stated simply, holding Eclipse Star firmly.
The monster swung with its right scythe, forcing Emin to block with his weapon, the attack generating sparks as they grated against each other, before he was forced to jump back. It switched to a stab with his right scythe, and Emin created a portal both in front and behind him, making the attack go right past him harmlessly, and impaling the ground behind his feet.
He quickly backstepped away to put some distance between the two, then clicked the button on the handle to start it spinning. "Haaaaaaaaah!" Pulling his arm back, he threw Eclipse Star as hard as possible, sending it spinning forward, and stabbing itself directly inbetween the monsters eyes, throwing its head back.
Emin waited, until the Grimm slowly returned its head to its original position, definitely looking injured, but otherwise unaffected by the deadly shuriken stuck in its face. "...Okay." A portal opened up both in front of Emin and his weapon, reaching through he grabbed it and forcefully ripped it out of the Hell Scythe's head, making it roar in pain.
"Stubborn." Emin muttered, the Grimm fixing him with a hateful gaze. As it swung at him from the side, he rolled underneath the slice and ran next to its leg. He quickly spun the weapon around and stuck his arm in the hole, transforming it into its claw form, He grabbed one of its legs and opened a portal beneath him, falling through it and dragging the leg through with him, making the Hell Scythe fall off balance.
In the air above the monster, a portal was open, and Emin was hanging above, holding onto the monsters leg. He let go of the leg and fell straight down, smashing the monster across its head with the metal fist. It smashed into the ground, and its leg was released as Emin safely landed in front of it. "Time to end this." He switched Eclipse Star back to shuriken mode, and before the Grimm could stand up again, he slashed it straight down its face, causing it to spasm violently before lying still, and turning to dust.
He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he returned his weapon to its shrunken form and placed it on his back. He looked over and saw Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang talking, with the severed head and lifeless body of the Nevermore behind them. He nodded to himself, and began to walk away.
"Emin! Emin!" He stopped in surprise and turned around as Ruby ran up to him. "That was really amazing, what you did! You really helped us out!"
Emin looked a bit shocked at the thanks. "I...was just clearing up the mess. Besides, it looks like you all did a much better job then me."
"You were awesome!" Yang said as she playfully punched his arm (making him bite his tongue to stifle a scream of pain) "I gotta hand it to ya, your tougher then you look."
"Hold on a second." He took two steps back from them. "It's my fault you guys were attacked. Ruby, Weiss, you saved me, and then I abandoned you. Don't you...hate me for that?"
"You DID abandon us." Weiss muttered.
"But!" Blake blocked her off. "You still came back and fought alongside us, very strongly as well, you really helped."
"Plus, 'hate' is kinda extreme." Ruby smiled. "We're friends, right?"
Emin looked from one girl to the next, not believing that they could just forgive him so easily, it didn't make any sense!
But...it still felt really nice...and for the first time in a long while, he gave a genuine warm smile.
"Thank you..." He whispered, when the sound of cheering getting louder was heard, followed by a familiar voice.
...
Meanwhile, on the very other end of the Emerald Forest, a thick fog had begun to roll in, obscuring everything and anything it touched, choking the very air itself.
The shadow of a figure could be seen within this fog, a giant, towering figure, something as large as Beacon Academy itself! Two red eyes glowed at the top of this colossal being, the Beacon Cliffs within its sight.
However...it suddenly became disinterested. Slowly, it turned around, and silently began to walk away, taking its foul mist with it...
RWBY
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. 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 audience and initiates clapped as the new team, highlighted by the screen of the auditorium, stood together at the front.
Emin was with the rest of the initiates yet to be formed...but was also currently being trapped within a hug that refused to loosen.
"Strawberry, let him go." Azure sighed.
"No, I'm not letting my little Emin go ever again!" She refused.
"He made it out okay, didn't he? Give him some room to breath." He sighed.
"Not until I give him as much love as possible!" She refused.
Emin acted indifferent as he clapped for the unification of Team JNPR, with Jaune's obvious surprise and comedic fall as a bonus.
"And now; Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long." Professor Ozpin motioned the four of them over. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"
Weiss looked over at her in shock, with Ruby having the same look on her face as Yang hugged her. "I'm so proud of you!"
Emin deliberately clapped as hard as he could for this team, he was truly glad that they were a group. All four of them were...very kind.
"And lastly, I'd like to call Eminence Phlox up here." Azure wrestled Strawberry away from Emin so that he could hesitantly walk into the centre of attention. He looked to the back to see Velvet trying her best to wave at him, so he gave a sheepish wave back.
"I am sure most of you know Emin, him having been here for a long while." Professor Ozpin spoke. "From now on though, you are to treat him as an equal Hunter-In-Training. As for his team, it was agreed upon that when Emin passed the Initiation, he would be accepted into the team of his guardians; Azure Bolt and Strawberry Peach." The two of them went up and stood either side of Emin.
"Seeing as the both of them are a graduated and qualified Hunter and Huntress, I see no problem in establishing them as a three person team. They shall work together as Team SEA, with Emin as leader." Ozpin announced.
Weiss' jaw hit the floor as the audience had a mixed reception of enthusiastic cheeing to not-bothered clapping. Nonetheless, Emin shuffled nervously on the spot.
"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." Ozpin thought aloud.
It's a new chapter before Christmas! And wow, I really loved writing this one! I hope you enjoyed reading it, and it gave you a lot of foreshadowing to think on!
Also, I truly apologise about last chapter, it was awful in terms of how many mistakes there were. I've updated it and fixed all of them, so hopefully you guys can forgive me.
Thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate the support. And I hope to see all of you next chapter!