CHAPTER III

Meat for the Grinder

"Good morning," Headmaster Oscar Pine greeted the first-year students as they gathered at the top of a cliff before sunrise. Assistant Headmaster Glynda Goodwitch was with him. "Today marks your first day as students of Beacon Academy. This initiation will determine who has what it takes to be a protector of the light and who does not. There are a hundred of you standing here right now. Statistically speaking, half of you will not make it through this first phase. You all remember the waivers you and your parents filled out? Well, that was so that the Academy cannot be held liable should you die during your stay here."

Some of the murmurs were nervous. Others were excited.

"Needless to say, I wouldn't want any of you dying out there. Do make it out alive. If you find yourself in a situation where your opponent is too great to challenge, do not rush in blindly. Assess and strategize, and do not be afraid to retreat and get help if needed. You will be scored not only on your combat abilities, but also in your judgment and tactical thinking."

"Your objective today," Glynda began, "is to secure the artifacts located throughout the Emerald Forest ruins. You are expected to work as a team."

Leon raised his hand. "Who exactly are our teammates?"

"All of you are one team," Oscar said. "However, the first person you make eye contact with upon landing is your training partner for the remainder of your courses here at Beacon. I hope you all got to know each other well last night. Your partnership will last all four years."

"You mentioned landing?" Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses. "How do you expect us to do so?"

Oscar smiled. "Use your creativity."

"Oh, hell yeah," Leon said.

Everyone readied themselves for the springboards to launch them. Lilly wasn't the only nervous one, but she figured she was the most nervous. She had no idea what in the world she was going to do. Landing? After flying? She would have packed a parachute if she knew this was going to be the first exam!

"Try not to die, little brother," Athena said.

"Try not to break a nail, sis," Leon said.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Ingrid said to Lilly, who was visibly shaking.

"Y-Yeah," she said. "I'm g-good."

"Hey. I believe in you."

Lilly looked over at her friend. Beyond her, students were already being launched one by one. Athena was next, followed by Leon. Ingrid would launch seconds later. The last one remaining was Lilly.

"Miss Schnee," Oscar said.

She turned to him.

"I believe in you as well."

She managed a small smile before turning back to the front. The force of the springboard launching her into the sky made her dizzy. Everyone else now in flight seemed to be enjoying themselves, but not her. She had never flown before, at least not with the power of her own body, which was not exactly correct because it wasn't her body at all that gave her flight. How she would control her movements, let alone the landing, was a complete mystery to her.

Crap, crap, crap, crap, she thought. What do I do?

She reached for Myrtenaster without a clue as to what to even do with it. Her mother never showed her how to use it. She just handed it to her the day she left Atlas and off she went. She glanced around. Other students were using whatever they had at their disposal to slow their descent, some even redirecting their movements in midair using the recoil of their weapons.

At the very least, she knew that her weapon was capable of projecting some kind of Dust power, but specifically what, she didn't know. She was familiar with some of the basics, like red for Fire, white for Air, blue for Ice, yellow for Lightning, brown for Earth, and black for—

"Gravity!" she said, switching the revolving cylinder to the black-colored module and pulling the trigger. The blade turned black and started to emit a dark purple light. She felt the weapon lighten and begin to float. No, it wasn't floating. She was falling. Faster than her weapon was falling.

"Crap!" she said aloud as she nearly lost her grip on Myrtenaster. She was holding on to it for dear life now, but her descent started to gain speed. Thinking quickly, she pulled the trigger again and the weapon's gravity decreased once more. She repeated this process, using Myrtenaster as a parachute, stumbling as she landed in a small clearing in the middle of the forest. She panted, dropping her weapon and stooping over.

"I'm alive!" she said, throwing her arms up in triumph.

Ingrid used her staff's built-in firearm capability to direct her movements in midair. Both ends of her staff were loaded with Explosive Dust today in anticipation of this test. The recoil afforded by each shot was enough to change her direction while in flight. Landing was a breeze. She was up in a tree, surveying her surroundings when she spotted Lilly awkwardly floating around, hanging on to her weapon for dear life. After determining her trajectory, Ingrid dashed in her direction.

"Woohoo!" Leon shouted as he used his own sword-gun hybrid weapon to direct his movements in the air, but he had another trick up his sleeve, one that made this landing easier for him than for anyone else. Of course, he wasn't going to show off that ace in the hole just yet. For sure there were others watching him right now, some already on the ground observing everyone else while others were still in the air.

He wouldn't use his Semblance to land today. He would use pure technique and finesse. Of course, there was Athena flying by, using her shield as a makeshift surfboard.

"You showoff!" he yelled to her.

She stood up straight, giving him a mock salute before making her own landing some distance away.

"Oh, an Ursa!" Leon said as he brought his sword up for battle. He fired his gun once to make a minor trajectory adjustment before swinging down as hard as he could, cleaving the giant monster in half.

"That was awesome," he said, standing up and dusting himself off. He turned around to face another Grimm he sensed was approaching, but before he could engage, someone had already stabbed it through the chest. When the Alpha Beowolf disappeared, he looked at his new ally, his lavender eyes making direct contact with jades.

"Hey, you're that guy Lilly was bugging at lunch yesterday," Leon said, walking up to him. "You partner up yet?"

He shook his head.

"I guess it's you and me, then." He held out a hand. "Leon."

"Yuan."

Athena landed more gracefully than anyone else thanks to the power of her Semblance. She pulled her shield back up with her left hand, spear ready for battle in her right. She looked around. Of course it would be just her luck to land right in the middle of a large pack of Beowolves.

"Twenty-four of you, huh?" she said, glancing around. "I guess this is my handicap for being the best of this class."

Three roared before dashing at her, but she made quick work of them. Her speed and technique, coupled with her raw strength and perfect form with her spear and shield made this fight far too easy.

"C'mon," she said with a smug grin. "Is that all you've got?"

Two more attacked and she dodged, parried, and stabbed, taking them all down with ease and, most importantly, style. She posed with her spear resting against her shoulder, shield hand on her hip, as the remaining Beowolves circled her.

"If you guys don't wanna die," she began, tossing her golden ponytail over her shoulder, "you could just let me walk away."

One roared at her. She was about to stab it in the throat when an arrow pierced its head from the side. Athena couldn't help but smile as she commenced her own offensive, trusting in her unseen ally's expert aim. Mere minutes and every single Beowolf Grimm was dead and decaying.

Athena looked around to make sure there were no more enemies before walking over to where the arrows last came from. She noticed that the trajectory changed with each salvo. Her ally was skilled. Whoever it was had moved from location to location, probably to keep from being tracked or to get better angles of fire.

"I had a feeling you were in the trees," Athena said, looking up at a girl hiding behind some leaves high up on a branch. Her brown and green clothing enabled her to camouflage almost perfectly.

The girl stood up on her branch, but she quickly grabbed onto another as the branch she had been on snapped. Athena noticed the girl's reflexes. She was good, but her grip on the new branch wasn't perfect and she began to fall. Quick thinking resulted in Athena catching the girl before she hit the ground, not that the fall would have hurt someone who projected an aura.

"You all right?" Athena asked the girl as she let her down onto the carpet of leaves and dirt.

She nodded, captivated by this strong girl's midnight blue eyes.

"I guess we're partners, then, huh? Unless you've already got one lurking around here."

She shook her head.

"All righty, then. Name's Athena."

"Echo."

"Cool name. Hey, wait a minute, you're the girl Lilly was trying to make friends with last night."

She nodded.

"That was some slick bow work, by the way."

There was rustling behind them. Athena noticed that Echo had already been facing the direction of danger even before any sound reached them.

"I guess break time's over!"

Lilly found herself surrounded. She recognized none of these Grimm. All she knew was that they were incredibly scary. She couldn't figure out if there were only three types here or three hundred. All she knew was that any number greater than one was too many.

"Ahh!" she yelped as she dodged an attack from one of the Grimm. She managed to roll away before running. Another attack came from the side. Her evasion that time was pure instinct and she was alarmed by her own counterattack, having sliced at its head with Myrtenaster. She looked at her weapon momentarily, stunned by her own skill, before another attacking Grimm woke her up from her reverie.

"Lilly!" a familiar voice sounded before something struck the Grimm hard enough to cave in its skull.

"Whoa!" Lilly said. "Ingrid?"

"You find a partner yet?"

"Yeah! You!"

She smirked. "Let's kick some ass, then."

"B-But, I don't actually know what I'm doing!"

"But you just killed, like, four of them."

"Did I?"

"Yeah. I watched you stab one and slice up two before you slashed at that last one."

Ingrid was right. Lilly had done those things. But how? She had no experience fighting Grimm. She had no experience fighting, period! But something about her mother's weapon in her right hand like this made sense. It was exactly where it belonged.

"Okay, you ready?" Ingrid said.

"Yeah," Lilly said, switching over to Lightning Dust. "I'll zap 'em first."

"Go!"

Lilly pulled the trigger, swinging Myrtenaster at her enemies and projecting bolts of lightning, which had the effect of stunning them in place.

"I'll finish them!" Ingrid said as she struck them hard enough with her staff to kill them with the blunt force alone.

A few more coordinated attacks like that and they were able to exterminate all of the Grimm around them.

"Creeps aren't that bad at all," Ingrid said, meeting up with her partner.

"Yeah, they are kinda creepy," Lilly said, tucking Myrtenaster under her belt.

"No, I'm talking about the Creep Grimm."

"Huh?"

"Those things that look like lizards with only two legs?"

"Oh. Right. Creeps."

Ingrid examined her for a bit. "You...have never seen any of these Grimm before, have you?"

"Grimm never came near Oasis. Whatever it was that kept the snow away, it kept the Grimm away, too. I only ever saw them online, on TV, and in books and stuff, but I never got to know the specific types."

"Hang on a minute. What combat school did you go to?"

"I didn't go to combat school. I went to a regular high school in Oasis."

"Huh? But, how are you here right now? In Beacon, I mean?"

She shrugged.

"You have to have gone to a combat school and scored really high grades and stuff to even be considered for the Huntsman Academies, let alone get accepted into the school year."

"I told you, I don't know. My mom just said for me to get on the shuttle and I did. And now I'm here."

"Huh. So, you didn't go to combat school, and yet you have a weapon, and you can kick ass. What the heck?"

"I'm just as lost as you are, Ingrid."

"Well. Okay, you're keeping this a secret."

"Huh?"

"We can't have anybody know that you got in through a recommendation."

"Through a what?"

"That's the only way you could have gotten into the school without having gone through a primary combat school first. It's either you got a recommendation or you're just so friggin' good at killing Grimm that they overlook your grades."

Lilly drew Myrtenaster again, looking at its ornately designed hilt. Was it mom? she thought.

"I mean, I get that the Schnee Family is well-connected, but—"

"I have nothing to do with the rest of my family," Lilly snapped.

Ingrid didn't respond.

"S-Sorry. I didn't mean to blow up at you like that."

"No big deal. C'mon, let's go after these artifacts already."

"We've already made the first cuts," Glynda said to Oscar as she looked through the information on her scroll. "We're down to forty-eight students. The projected final count is thirty-six."

"This year doesn't have very many with the proper skill," Oscar said, drinking from his mug. "But we do have a lot of high-quality students coming in."

"Yes. The twins are especially skilled in combat. That's not surprising considering who their parents are. The same goes with the Faunus girl and the Schnee, and the two from Mistral. Not to mention others of high pedigree. I feel like you're more interested in the odd ones out, though. For instance, that other girl who has no combat school experience."

"Of course. I myself was an 'odd one'. I went from farm boy to Beacon's Headmaster. But before that, I was Beacon's Headmaster."

She chuckled. "To an outsider, that would be quite confusing."

"What's the status on the existing students?"

"Down to forty-four," she said, looking at her scroll. "Forty-two, no, thirty-eight."

"No casualties?"

"Not yet. Recovery teams have managed to get everyone out."

"Good. I was starting to worry about the students."

"You're different from how you used to be, Ozpin."

He drank his hot cocoa. "That's because I am fully integrated with myself. The part of me that was once called Oscar Pine is much more empathic than the part of me once called Ozpin."

"Thirty-two remaining."

"That's not good."

"But it looks like these are solid performers. I don't expect it to go down any more than this. Your predictions have proven to be correct as always. Their auras are still very strong, even Lilly Schnee's."

"That's not surprising at all. You know who her mother is."

"Yes. It's terrible what she's had to go through these last eighteen years, but I suppose it can't be helped. It looks like your star pupils have reached the ruins first."

Oscar pulled out his own scroll to observe the video feed.

"Sweet," Leon said, placing the fourth and last of the artifacts, which looked like chess pieces, onto the pedestal in the middle of the circular ruin.

"So, the other groups should have gotten their artifacts to their own ruins, right?" Lilly said.

"Probably. I mean, we all got gold artifacts. There's probably different colors for different ruins and stuff."

"We got the queen piece. So did you guys."

"I've always wanted to be fabulous."

Lilly couldn't help but giggle. She looked around. Among them were Ingrid, Leon, Athena, Echo, Xanthus, Xanthus's partner, and the boy from the cafeteria.

"Do you think this is a good sign?" Xanthus asked Athena as he straightened up his glasses. "We got the knight piece."

She grinned. "I do have aspirations to get into the school's Knight Program," she said. "They only accept four students every year, though, so you guys better not hold me back."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Oh, I forgot to introduce my new buddy," Leon said, gesturing to his partner. "Everybody, meet Yuan. Yuan, meet everybody."

"Hi, Yuan!" Lilly said, extending a hand out to him with a big smile.

He returned her smile, shaking with her.

"And this is my partner," Xanthus said, "Perseus."

"Hey, everybody," Perseus greeted. "Hailing from Vacuo. Anyone else representing?"

"Signal," Ingrid said.

"Signal," Leon said.

"Signal," Athena said.

"Sanctum," Yuan said.

"Wait," Xanthus said, "you went to Sanctum?"

He nodded.

"I don't remember you from...oh, wait, you're the one with the interesting Semblance."

"Interesting, huh?" Leon said, turning to his partner.

"From what I remember, he can bend his aura."

"Whoa, seriously?"

Yuan shrugged.

"Dammit, I'm the only one from Shade here?" Perseus said, turning to Lilly and Echo, both of whom shrugged.

"I didn't attend any primary combat school," Echo said, shrinking into herself the moment she said those words.

Athena caught her timid body language and instantly went to work. "You must've gotten in through raw skill, then," she said. "And I can see that with your expert bow work."

"Were you a hunter?" Xanthus asked her.

Echo nodded.

"Ah, perfect. You'll make a great team member."

"Hey, hey, don't go trying to change contracts on me, now," Perseus said.

"Of course not. Rules are rules, my friend. Now, go and advertise yourself to everyone."

"Oh, yeah, heh." He whipped out his sword and shield. "My sword doubles as a shotgun, as you can see. My shield doubles as a Dust magazine, which I use basically as an extra Dust reservoir in addition to the rest of my gear."

"What about your Semblance?" Ingrid asked.

"That's a secret," he said with a grin.

"Perseus," Xanthus said, "don't be a jerk."

"Okay, okay. Check it out." He walked up to a rock before punching it with enough strength to break it into countless pieces.

"Whoa," Leon said. "Your Semblance is holy shit level of strength?"

"I dunno if they'll accept that on my declaration," Perseus said with a grin.

Ingrid chuckled. "Holy shit level of strength. That's friggin' great."

"Uhh, guys?" Lilly said as she and Echo looked over to the distance. Something large was approaching them from above.

"Nevermore!" Athena cried out. "Take cover!"