Chapter Four: The Initiates Part 3

"Alright everyone we're back! This last initiate will be the last of the batch, ending phase one! His name is Mason Maniger who comes from Atlas but graduated Signal just last year!" John introduced, a helper suddenly dashed on screen. After whispering in his ear and darting back off screen John faced the audience, his face a mix of surprise and shock. "Alright-oh-oh my! Everyone, Mason Maniger is also a half-grimm!" John announced effectively setting the amphitheater on fire with nervousness and fear. Ruby wracked her brain for what her uncle Qrow had taught her about half-grimms. There weren't many of them, and the ones that existed were normally man made. Did that mean?..Oh no Ruby thought, feeling empathy for the half-grimm that had yet to appear.

"A half-grimm?! Jesus Ozpin what're you playing at?!" Ironwood exclaimed, Ozpin giving him a look of pure confusion.

"Excuse me? James, I have no idea what you're talking about" Ozpin looked to Glynda for an explanation.

"Marco Polo is his liscensed caretaker, Ironwood" Glynda explained, Ironwood slowly settling back in his seat.

"If he makes one wrong move, I'm calling my men on him" Irownwood, Glynda only rolled her eye's.

"No, you'll let Marco Polo handle it, and if he can't handle it,then you may you take action" Ozpin said with finality, Ironwood sighing with resignation.

"You're gonna be fine Mas, I promise, if anything happens I'll be there, alright?" Marco comforted, a nervous Mason standing just before the threshold.

"What if I mess up?" Mason mumbled, his eyes staring straight ahead. Jace snorted, "Then we'll beat the shit out of whoever points it out" he said, making Mason smile.

"This place is for making mistakes and learning from them, be at peace, Mason" Theo reassured, his rich voice seeming to finally convince Mason. He stood up straight, walking through the door to the darkened skies.

He stood before the launch pad, seeming to take in his surroundings. The sky was dark, stars twinkling down at him. He smiled at them, the brightness reflecting in his red eye's. A light rain began to drizzle down, to which Mason closed his eyes, allowing the rain to run down his pale complexion. He wore a black trench coat, a black tank top under it, black pants, and old black boots which were completely untied. With a sigh of pure contentment he stepped onto the launch pad, flying silently into the darkness of early night.

Back in the amphitheater the lamps had been turned on, giving it a cozy, almost sleepy kind of look. Staff members handed out food, as well as blankets and pillows for those who requested them. Ruby munched on a drumstick, her thoughts turning over what she'd seen thus far. He seemed like an incredibly nice individual, also looking like someone who enjoyed nature and the things around him. She also liked the fact that he had her color's, red and black.

"Kinda seem's like ah hibbie to meh" Yang remarked, her mouth full of food. "A hippie?" Ruby asked, Yang nodding before taking another bite of chicken. Ruby snorted, "Just 'cause he's not going out guns blazing like that Marco guy doesn't mean he's a hippie" Ruby countered, Yang swallowed before speaking. "Ten lien you're wrong" she bet, Ruby spitting in her hand and holding it out, Yang spit her in her own hand and shook it. "Barbarians" Weiss muttered, only to get a chicken drumstick in the face. "That was uncalled for!" she proclaimed, accidentally tripping over Blake at an attempt to swat Ruby. Ruby started giggling, and before they knew it they were all laughing .

"Wow, talk about a carefree guy, kinda wish I could be like that with my homework" Juane joked, Pyrrha looking thoughtful with a drumstick in either hand. Juane burst out in laughter, wishing he could have taken a picture of the moment. She looked confused but then turned ashen when she realized he was laughing at her. He finally stopped laughing, wishing he could take a picture of her cute, embarrassed face. Wait, did I seriously just think that? he wondered, a light blush dusting his own cheeks. Ren had now covered his sleeping childhood friend with a pillow and blanket, digging into a nutritious salad of his own design. He decided he liked Mason's air of serenity, it reminded him a fraction of himself.

Mason walked along, hand's in his coat pockets, humming a soft tune to himself. The forest seemed to be get even darker, the floating dust powered cameras switching to night vision mode. Mason continued to hum, all signs of apprehensiveness having disappeared. He then saw a glowing ball of light, stopping in his tracks. He heard the Deathstalker's thoughts, Defend! Defend! Defend! Mason tuned out the grimm, he knew Deathstalkers were territorial creatures, not going out of their way to kill a human unless they had an overpowering aura. He lifted his right hand out of his pocket, small golden like orbs slowly bleeding out, surrounding the area with soft glowing light.

"Weiss look at the sparkles!" Ruby cried, Weiss couldn't help but smile at her friends excitement. "Yes, Ruby, I'm not blind you know" she sassed, Ruby only got more excited, "Look theres more they're so cute and awesome and-oh" she stopped mid rant, seeing as the globes of light had exploded all around the Deathstalker. Nora snorted before awakening, "Fireworks!" she exclaimed, the bowl of soup Ren had saved for her spilling over him. "Nora!" he yelled, the said troublemaker running with glee as Ren chase after her.

"Well he's intruiging" Ironwood stated, Ozpin and Glynda nodded in silent agreement.

"An interesting semblance as well" Ozpin added quietly, observing Mason closely, one hand on his cane and the other holding his chin. Glynda watched along, hoping that Mason would keep himself in control.

Three white spikes appeared on his left forearm, some sort of cannon formed in place of his right arm. The death stalker immediately honed in with its stinger, Mason catching it in his right arm. Three shots of the cannon and the stinger was off, Mason drop kicking it football style. Orange light shot from his feet, propelling Mason onto it's back. With another burst of light he jumped off, the force crushing the grimm into the ground. He blasted off several more shots, rolling down with increasing speed. Like the sound of clay breaking Mason landed on the things spine, his spikes deeply impaled in it's armored back. He once again let out a spew of golden particles, lighting his walk back to the locker rooms. He frowned, noticing that he'd forgotten to pull up his sleeves, three gaping holes in his left sleeve.

Ruby started giggling when she saw him frown at his coat, Yang had handed her ten lien. "That was "a-mas-ing" Yang joked, pausing for a moment. She was only met with silence, sighing in defeat at her failed pun. Weiss was celebrating inwardly until she realized there was still phase two, making her groan. "Was the ice cream too much?" Blake joked, only getting a glare in reply.

"Alright ladies and gents time to give a warm welcome to our successful initiates, wooo!" John cheered, the dust powered screen moving away to reveal the raised stage. On it stood the eight successful initiates, Ozpin stood behind them, a cup of coffee in one hand a cane in the other.

"Thank you all, for being patient with this procedure, it seems we didn't realize how much time it would take" Ozpin apologized, giving a pointed look at Ironwood.

"First things first, teams must be decided" Ozpin started, taking a sip of his coffee. "Carlo Ras, Ariel Clo, Rango Kan, Darren Mathews, you will be known as team CARD, your leader being Carlo Ras" Ozpin announced, the four tired looking initiates nodding in thanks.

"Initiates Marco Polo, Jace Snider, Theo Aylen, Mason Maniger, you will be known as team MJTM, Marco Polo being your leader" Ozpin finished, Marco grinning wide. Marco slapped Mason on the back, a whispered "Good Job" making him smile. Jace did not remove his hood nor Mason his sunglasses. "Team MJTM will also be moved to the second year" Ozpin added, Glynda nodded approvingly.

"Yay new friends!" Nora cheered mid-run, Ren only shook his head, having become too tired to catch her. "Please go back to the locker rooms and wait for phase two" Glynda directed, team CARD walking in a hurried pace towards the large oak doors of the amphitheater. Team MJTM took their time, walking slow, exchanging bits of chatter, seeming oblivious to the many stares directed to them. Weiss moved over on her bench, trying to listen without being detected. It turns out her team had the same idea, feeling the weight of her three friends on her shoulder. "What are you-" she was shushed by Blake, who had a finger to her lips.

"-why is Ironwood here-"

"-that was fun-"

"-reminds me of the old days-"

"-what's phase two going to be like?-"

"-nothing we can't handle-"

"-you never know, Ironwood did pull a fast one on you-"

"-just like the old bastard-"

The group of four then left the amphitheater, leaving the girls with more questions than answers.

After a half an hour break a lot of the students were asleep, seeing as they'd been in the amphitheater all afternoon, it was nearing seven o'clock and the feast hadn't even begun.I would think being a general, Ironwood would be better at planning and time management! Weiss thought, wishing her growling stomach would just be silent. "It's okay Weiss, we're almost done!" Ruby comforted, as if sensing her discomfort. Well they all could look better.

Ruby's hair was sticking out in all directions from short naps she'd taken in between breaks. Yang had unbuttoned her white shirt, her jacket discarded as well. There wasn't really anything noticeable about Blake other than the tired look adopted on her fair features. Weiss on the other hand was slouched, holding her chin up with the palm of her hand. It wasn't proper but she didn't care, she almost wished she had as much energy as Ruby or Nora.

Blake couldn't read, she was too tired, plus her thoughts were milling about, formulating a way to gather information on team MJTM. Meanwhile Yang had finally made what she thought was a solid plan to get Marco's scroll code, even if he didn't have one yet. That detail was unimportant. With this body and, well, me, he'll find the offer irresistible!she thought, Ruby raising an eyebrow at her sister's confident smirk. She really wanted to know more about them. She played with the idea of calling a team meeting to discuss a plan of action. "They seem nice enough" Pyrrha commented, careful to not let Juane hear the excitement in her voice. One thing that she was sure that even her team didn't know about her was that she liked a challenge. Putting all of your skills to use and stretching your brain to it's limits, it reminded her of her treasured memories back home.

"Jace should have been leader" Ironwood remarked quietly, the sealed off stage silent. Ozpin was now on his third cup of coffee, meeting Ironwood's opinion with silence.

"Why's that?" Glynda asked, curious of his reasons.

"He has military experience" Ironwood stated, Glynda about raised an eyebrow. She was about to lecture him, saying how military experience didn't mean he'd be a good leader, when Ironwood continued.

"The village he grew up in Vacou was a highly militarized compound, he was raised on our ethics and values" Ironwood continued, Glynda still not seeing where he was going with this.

"Or did you shove them down his throat?" Ozpin asked, Ironwood only cleared his throat before keeping on.

"In multiple missions he's always been the team leader, every time he would complete the objective with outstanding results, I feel as if he would have been the wiser choice" Ironwood finally finished. Ozpin sat a moment in thought, taking a sip of coffee before replying.

"While you do have good points, my insticts tell me Marco is fit to lead. Did you not see how he drew them in like moths to a flame?" Ozpin inquired, Ironwood thinking back to just a few minutes before. Ozpin was right, despite Marco's obvious strength the three always stood in a protective circle around him. He also noticed how much they enjoyed each other's company, exchanging laughs and light banter as if no one else was there.

"I suppose you're right, Oz" Ironwood conceded, Oz smiling in victory, tapping a much happier tune on his cane.

"We did it guys!" Marco exclaimed happily, entering the locker rooms. "Half of it" Jace corrected, taking a seat on the bench. He noticed team CARD, who stood as far away from them as the room would allow. Too bad, he would've liked a challenge. Mason also noticed, taking off his sunglasses he walked over to them. "Hello, I'm Mason Maniger, I wish you the best of luck" Mason introduced, the rival team being caught completely off guard. "Huh?" Carlos said, dumbly shaking Mason's outstretched hand. "Get away from him, freak!" the girl, Ariel, screeched in fear. Without missing a beat he turned on his heel, giving a short wave in farewell, and a particularly sinister wink in the girl's direction.

Jace let out an angry breath, eyeing the girl from under his cloak. "Fear makes people desperate, keep an eye on her" Jace advised. "That won't be too hard for you" Marco joked, receiving a playful swat from Jace. Mason ran his hand through his bright hair. He fondly remembered when he and Marco had first met, Marco giving him the name "lil red" until Mason had told him his real name. He was nervous and shy when he was younger, Marco had helped with that, among many other things. "Teams, please make your way to the clearing" one of Ironwoods captains commanded, the two teams making there way to the now rainy battlefield.