Chapter Three: When they Go
All of the new students stood on the edge of Beacon cliff as Ozpin and Goodwitch were explaining how initiation will work. "For years you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin says, looking over his students.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… today." Glynda says looking at her scroll.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well with." Ozpin says as Ruby lets out a nervous moan.
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next 4 years." Ozpin finishes and Ruby let out a saddened 'What?!' "See, I told you!" A young girl with ginger hair said to another young man with distinct green eastern clothing.
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing figures of monsters. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. That will be what you are graded on. Are there any questions?" Ozpin asks.
"Yes, I was wondering what kinds of monsters we will see out there," James said raising his hand. "Sorry but that will be a surprise," Ozpin said, looking at him. "I understand," James says lowering his hand.
"Now, take your positions." Everyone gets into a stance as to help them when they launch and land. James only put his left foot forward and bent his knees slightly, gripping his cane. "This school has an interesting way of testing students. Sure I could do this easily with my magic but I need to keep it low for now and stick to Ice."
One by one everyone was launched into the air. James was flying through and making sure his hood didn't fall off. As he came closer to the ground James used his magic to create a slide of Ice that he surfed down to the ground before melting it. "That was rather fun, I could go for another round." He joked, straightening his cloak.
James looked around taking in the environment. "If I had to guess Kobolds, Trolls and a few other forest creature should be local to these kinds of wood. That is if they exist." He said taking a step forward before noticing a patch of lavender.
Kneeling down to it he pulls a small empty glass vial and plucked some of the lavender; putting it in the vial before putting it away in his bag. He hears the rustling of the bushes and he turns his head slightly to see Pyrrha walking through.
"James?" She asks walking closer. "Hello Pyrrha, looks like we are teammates." He says drawing his attention back to the lavender. They hear the sounds of two girls arguing and see Ruby and Weiss who then take notice of James and Pyrrha.
"James?" Ruby says, "Pyrrha?" Weiss says looking at the two. "Hello, ladies," James says taking more lavender and putting it into another small glass vial. "Um, what are you doing?" Ruby asks looking over his shoulder.
"Picking Lavender, I like to make incense with it. Helps provide a nice calming environment and wards against bad spirits." He says standing up. "So are you and Pyrrha partners?" Weiss asks, with a slight tone of desperation.
"Yes we are, I can see you and Ruby are as well. Congrats." He says looking around. "Not how I'd put it…" Weiss mutters under her breath. "We should go to the Temple. I'm sure whatever we run into we can all take care of together." Pyrrha says with a cheerful smile.
"Which way is the Temple?" Ruby asked as everyone looks around. "We came from the South, that way," James says pointing with his cane. "So I would think it is that way," He says pointing North.
"Are you sure? I don't want to get lost." Weiss says with a worrying look. "If you think you saw it another direction we can go that way," James says looking at Weiss. She looks around for a moment before looking back at James. "I guess we don't have that much of a choice…" She said disappointedly.
"Let us go then," James said walking with the girls following. "So James, do you always wear that hood? I can't see your face." Ruby asked walking beside him. "I find the stares everyone gives me to be distracting. I tend to get self-conscious with the looks they give me. " He said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Are you ok? Were you in an accident?" Pyrrha asked. James let out a small chuckle. "No, nothing like that. It's not that anything is wrong with my face." As they walk through the forest they hear what sounded like crying.
"Do you hear that?" Ruby asked. "Sounds like crying." Pyrrha responses and they walk through the bushes to see a small scaly creature crying. "It's a Kobold," James says looking at it. "I heard they are terrible tricksters. I say we ignore it." Weiss says. "It might be a trap," Pyrrha said looking around for other Kobolds.
James ignores them and walks up to the Kobold and sees it is a child. "Are you ok little one?" The small Kobold turns and jumps crawling back into a tree and closes its eyes, terrified. James walks up and kneels down. "It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you. Here, are you hungry?" He says pulling an apple out of his bag and holding it out to the Kobold.
The Kobold looks at James then to the apple and slowly takes it before biting into it. "See, your ok. Where is your tribe?" James asked. The small kobold child looks at him confused. "I don't think he understands you," Ruby says as the others come closer. "Yea, let me see."
James rummages around in his bag and pulls out a book titled. 'Yipping of a Kobold.' After flicking through the pages he finds what he is looking for. "You Hurt? Where Tribe?" He said, speaking Kobold. The child looked at him for a moment. "Cave Beast! Smash Home!" The little Kobold said. "Where Cave?" James asked and the young child pointed towards the cliffs only a good 30 yards away.
James smiles and pats the kobold child on the head before standing up. "There tribe was attacked by a Beast in the cave over there," James said looking over to the cliffs. "What do you want us to do about it?" Weiss asked crossing her arms.
"I plan to go and stop this creature. You can all come if you want." James said walking over to the cave with the Kobold following him. "James are you sure about this?" Pyrrha asked. "I'm very sure," James says. "But what if it's a trap?" Ruby asked.
"I'm sure if it was a trap all of us could take on a few kobolds. But in the case, this child is telling the truth I want to stop whatever is attacking them." He says as they all reach the cave entrance as the small Kobold hides behind James pant leg.
"So who is coming with me?" James asked, looking at the girls. "I'm not going in there!" Weiss said crossing her arms in defiance. "I don't have a good feeling about this," Pyrrha says looking at the entrance. "I'll go, but won't it be dark?" Ruby asked.
James looks to the ground and notices a pair of tracks different from a Kobold. Inspecting them his eyes widened. "Oh, no…" Everyone looks at the track. "What is it?" Standing back up he looks at the cave. "It's a Wendigo…" Pyrrha and Weiss looked shocked but Ruby was confused. "Whats a Wendigo?"
"You Dolt?! A Wendigo is a powerful monster! It's a hunter who fights and kills for sport!" Weiss said frantically. "As much as this Monster needs to be stopped, I don't think we can take on a Wendigo," Pyrrha says trying to talk James out of going into the cave.
"Wendigos are also nocturnal which means it should be asleep right now. This is the best time to stop this before it kills anybody else." James said walking to the entrance. "As much as I try and give monsters chance Wendigos are more animal than human. Killing it would be a mercy."
"Do any of you have Fire Dust or anything that can burn it?" James asks looking at the girls. "I have Dust but I'm not going in there! It will kill us!" Weiss said in protest. "James lets go and finish our initiation. We can get the teachers and they can handle this." Ruby said begging.
"I'm going in, you can all stay here. But I plan to stop it." James said walking into the cave without hesitation or any semblance of fear. "He's crazy!" Weiss says. Pyrrha looks at the little kobold and smiles. "I'm going in," Pyrrha said walking to the entrance. "Pyrrha?! Are you crazy!? You could die in there!" Weiss says trying to get her to stop.
"We came here to become Huntsmen. To help people and keep the peace. This child needs our help and James is willing to risk his life to help. So I am going to be there and help him." Pyrrha says walking in. "They're crazy! All this for some Kobold?!" Weiss said crossing her arms.
Ruby looks at the kobold child and then to the cave. "James seems like the kind of person who gives everyone a chance. Doesn't matter if you are Human, Faunus or Monster. So if he is doing this to give someone a chance then I will be there to help him too!" Ruby said running into the cave.
"Ruby!" Weiss yelled before looking at the kobold. The child had finished the apple and had started to bury the apple core in the ground. It was smiling like any other child and Weiss stared at him. "All my life I wanted a chance as a kid… and here I am not willing to do it for someone else…" She said in a rather sad tone.
She gripped her sword and marched into the cave. "Fine! You win!"
Flashback
'Chop, Snap, Chop, Crack' The sound of wood being chopped for the fireplace. A young man had tied his hair back into a long ponytail that went down to his lower back. He wiped the sweat off my brow due to the hard work and summer heat.
Grabbing as much as he could he carried it inside the cabin and set them over by the woodstove. Dusting off his hands he sat down on a small wooden stool to take a short break.
"Hard at work, I see." He looked over to see a black cat resting on the window sill. "Yea, I think we should be good for the next month." He said in response. The cat jumped down and in a puff of smoke transformed into a tall woman with short red hair.
She wore a dark purple leather corset that was rather revealing. Her breasts were a size Double D. To match the Corset was a thong, and straps that helped keep what little clothes she had on together.
She had a very flattering figure with curves and the right amount of muscle tone. Her hair was short but kept into a twin ponytail that went down to her neck. The color was that of a light cherry red along with lavender eyes that could lure almost any man with a single look.
"So are you all done for the day?" She asked walking up to the young man. "Yes, I plan to take a short break before preparing something for Karin and I." He said, sitting down on a nearby wooden stool.
"You know, I could help you relax." She said crawling on all fours over to him. "Lucy, for the hundredth time no." He said tiredly yet firm in his words. "Oh pretty please? All my usual sources of fun are busy and I need something fun to keep me entertained." She said giving what could be best described as puppy dog eyes.
"I said no you troublesome Succubus. I will not succumb to your painful attempts to satisfy your own Lust." He said looking at her as she pouted. Lucy stood up and went behind him to massage his shoulders.
"Come on, pretty please with a cherry on top? You know deep down you really want to." She pushed, pressing her large breast into the back of his head. "It is rather hot out, maybe you should cool off." He said tapping his foot as a cold chill crawled up Lucy's spine.
"Whoa, ok ok no need to turn me into a block of ice; I just want to have a little fun." She said with a playfully saddened tone in her voice. "Why Karin puts up with you I will never understand." He said standing up.
"Oh, speaking of Karin, she has a message for you. Another monster has moved into this area, she would like you to take care of it without her." She said hugging him from behind. "What Monster? Just about everyone from Vampires to Trolls knows not to move into this territory without permission."
"It's something that could care less of what a Warlock thinks. A Wendigo." He froze upon hearing those words. "What is a Wendigo doing here? And why was I not informed sooner?" He asked turning to her and pushing her arms off him.
"This was news to me." She said, putting her hands behind her head. "One of your jobs is to keep an eye out for anything that may go on. Obviously, you have been whoring around too much to do your job."
"Hey that's not fair! I do a lot of work around here!" Lucy said in defiance. "If you were my familiar I would-" "Oh please punish me, master, I have been a really bad girl." She said bending over to show off her rather well-rounded ass.
"Agg!" He yelled in frustration. "I'm only kidding, now I think it best to take care of the Wendigo now before it attracts Witch Hunters here." She said as he calmed down. "Alright…" He said going to the door and grabbing his Cane.
"Just so you know James, I do a lot of work around here and the Underworld. Sex is the one thing I can do to relax after a long day." Lucy said walking next to him. James sighed, "Yes, I know. I guess I am just not particularly happy with the way you do it."
"Aw, are you jealous?" She said jokingly. "And if I was?" James said looking at her. Lucy looked at him with wide eyes. "Wait don't tell me that-" "I'm joking, Lust is all that your good for." He said taking a step outside. "Oh, you flatter me." She said with a smile.
Deep in the Emerald Forest was Blake and a young blonde girl making there way to the Temple. As they walk they stumbled across two others. One was a bubbly ginger girl and the other was a young man wearing traditional eastern clothing with long black hair and a strip of pink in the front.
The two groups looked at each other. "Hey." The blonde said waving to them. "Hey, it's nice to meet you! I'm Nora!" The peppy ginger said waving back in delight. "I'm Yang and this is Blake." The blonde said gesturing to her teammate.
"I'm Ren." The young man said very dismissively. "Do you know where the Temple is?" Nora asks. "Should be through those trees," Blake said, pointing. They all heard what sounded a growl and turn to see a pack of deformed black wolves with a skull-like face that radiated a dark glow. "Beowolf's…" Blake said, unsheathing her katana on her back.
They all draw their weapons, Yang had a pair of gauntlets that had a built-in shotgun. Nora unfolded her grenade launcher into a large Warhammer. Ren pulled out two pistols with small blades at the end.
"Looks like its only a few," Yang said looking at the three in front of her before more started to crawl out from the bushes. Blake, gave Yang a look, almost to say 'You Jinxed us.' As more came out the total number they could see was 30 of them.
Yang jumped into combat and attacked with a volley of punches, each punch exploding with a shotgun slug going off. Nora performed an overhead swing with her hammer, smashing the Beowolf's spine and moving onto the next. Ren fires his handguns in 3 round bursts towards the few Beowolf's attacking him and slicing them with the knives on the guns when they got close.
As one attacks Blake it fazes through her, but another Blake had appeared above it and sliced the Beowolf in half. The copy of Blake had disappeared and another Beowolf attached to the surprise of another fading copy.
As the battle went on they all hear a defining scream of a monster off in the distance. When the battle was over they all look at the direction of the scream."What was that?!" Nora yelled with a hint of excitement in her voice.
"It a Wendigo… but they are Nocturnal so they shouldn't be awake at this time." Blake said with concern. "Wendigo? When do we go to find it?" Yang said with a goofy grin. "If their Nocturnal then someone must have woken it up," Ren says and everyone's eyes widened.
"Ruby!" Yang said running in the direction of where the noise was. Blake followed her and Ren and Nora looked at one another and nodded before running after them.