( ) = Thoughts
Italic = Whisper/Singing
Bold = Yell/ Comm. Device
Underlined = Emphasized Words
Italic Bold = Store Signs/Titles (Read Aloud)
Volume 1- Episodes 6 & 7: The Emerald Forest
~Present Time: With Bill, Rodger & Gray~
"God, what is taking them so long? I at least expected Ruby to be here by now." I grumbled, spinning Oblivion on my finger.
"Yeah, I'm honestly shocked that it's been nearly two hours and nobody has shown up." Bill added, tinkering with his weapons. "You think something happened to them?"
"I doubt it. Ruby & Yang are tough, I've seen them take on bigger things." Gray said, still flipping his coin. "If something happened to those two then we're all screwed."
"I'd say the same with Pyrrha, Weiss and Blake." I said, agreeing with Gray. "It's going to be tough to choose the teams I want to teach, so many choices… yet I can only take four." I muttered to myself.
~Present Time: With Yang~
"Helloooooooo?" Yang called into the forest. "Is anyone out there? Helloooooooo?" She continued, wandering through the forest. "I'm getting bored here…" She muttered, until the bushes began to rustle. "Is someone there? Ruby is that you?" She called, shoving the bush aside to see… something she didn't want to see. Two adult Ursa, hungry ones at that.
"(This shouldn't take long.)" She thought, activating her gauntlets. She charged the Ursa, firing shots to disorient them. The larger of the two tried to swipe at her, which ended with a searing uppercut to its jaw and a hard kick to its chest. They began backing up, seeing this Yang decided to have a little fun by saying…
"You guys wouldn't happen to see a girl in a red hood would you?" She asked, earning a roar from the two of them. "You could've just said no!" She cried, cartwheeling to avoid the smaller Ursa's claws. "Geez." Yang said, joking with her assailants again. "You two couldn't hit the broadside of a b-" She cut herself off as a single yellow fell from the top of her head.
"You…" She began angrily, sighing. The Ursa cocked their heads in curiosity, not noticing her eyes turning a bright crimson. "YOU MONSTERS!" She yelled, launching herself towards the beasts at a near unmatchable speed. Upon making contact with the larger of the two an audible assortment of bone cracking was heard as she began to pummel the Ursa. Breaking every part of its back, ribs & chest-plate, killing the beast in seconds. As it faded away she turned to the smaller one and yelled, "What, you want some too?!" The Ursa roared in challenge, until a black blur dropped from above, cutting it in half. After sheathing her weapon, Blake gave an cocky look towards Yang, she simply replied. "I could've taken him."
~Back with Weiss~
As the pack of Beowolf began to enclose around Weiss she blocked the initial strike and readied herself for another attack. "(Remember your training Weiss.)" She thought to herself, while readying her rapier. "(Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward… not that forward. Slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike…)" She watched as the Beowolf in front of her charged.
"And… Now!" She cried, switching the active dust to 'Fire' and dashing toward the beast. At the same moment a blur of red rose petals dropped down killing the beast in a flash of red metal.
"Gotcha!" Ruby called, looking down at her kill, not noticing Weiss charging behind her. After seeing her partner drop down in front of her Weiss halted her charge, sending the attack meant for the Beowolf into a tree nearby, causing it to erupt into a column of flame.
"Hey, watch it!" Ruby called, dusting the ash of her hood. "Excuse me?!" Weiss replied, sounding both shocked and insulted. "You attacked out of turn, I could've killed you!" She said, scolding Ruby for her reckless action. "You'll have to try a lot harder than that." Ruby muttered to herself. As the pack began to howl, trying to call for more reinforcements, Ruby & Weiss readied themselves. As soon as Ruby was about to charge another tree fell beside them, burning very quickly. "We have to go, now!" Weiss said, pulling Ruby away from the massive forest fire they caused.
After escaping the massive inferno they finally stopped and caught their breath. After a solid two seconds of pausing Ruby cried, "What was that?! That should've been easy!" As soon as Weiss was breathing normally she replied, "Well perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby asked, scoffing at Weiss's insult.
"I'm just surprised someone who could talk so much would communicate so little during an encounter." Weiss replied, continuing her assault against Ruby. "Well I'm sorry you needed my help to win a fight." Ruby said, trying to counter Weiss. "I'm just fine on my own!" She finished, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"Well, congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak into Beacon, bravo." Weiss concluded, walking off. To relieve a small amount of pent up rage Ruby drew her scythe and cut a nearby tree in half, after deactivating her weapon she followed Weiss. Not noticing the giant, black feather floating down behind her.
~Back with Jaune & Pyrrha~
"Did you hear that?" Jaune asked, following Pyrrha as they trudged through the bushes.
"Gunfire." Pyrrha replied. "It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy." As they trekked onward Pyrrha was brushing branches away with her shield, which ended with one hitting Jaune in the face. Hearing him grunt & groan in pain she quickly turned and said sorry, again…
"Heh. It's okay, just a scratch." Jaune replied, showing the small cut he earned.
"Why didn't you activate your aura?" Pyrrha asked, helping Jaune off the ground. "Huh?" Jaune replied with honest confusion.
"Your aura." Pyrrha repeated, sounding slightly annoyed. "Gesundheit." Jaune replied, still completely oblivious to what Pyrrha was talking about. "Jaune, do you, actually know what aura is?" She asked, using the same annoyed tone.
"Of course I do… Do you know what aura is?" Jaune asked, cleverly hiding his complete lack of knowledge on aura. "Aura is the manifestation of our soul." Pyrrha began. "It protects our beings and shields our hearts…" She continued.
"Do you ever feel like someone is watching you without knowing that someone else was there?" Pyrrha asked. "Uh, yeah." June replied bluntly.
"With practice, our aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals have aura." Pyrrha continued.
"What about monsters?" Jaune asked curiously. "No, the monsters we fight lack a soul. They are Creatures of Grimm." She answered. "The manifestation of anonymity. We were made to combat them. They are the dark, while we are the light."
A/N: Ok this is going to be a bit weird to write, I will try to type exactly what is happening in this scene. Which means I'll be typing Ren's fight & Pyrrha's explanation on aura. So if it's looks a little choppy, I'm sorry. A perspective or dialogue flip is performed when this symbol appears '~X~', this is a one time thing, I will never do anything like this again. Also they may seem a tad out of sequence so, shoot me if I got something wrong.
~Meanwhile~
As Ren continued his semi-peaceful walk through the forest he felt the air shift, he listened as a King Taijitu slithered behind him.
The Taijitu continued to strike at Ren, trying to knock him off balance. After regaining his combat stance the Taijitu began to encircle him, attempting to crush him. Seeing the Ren drew his twin bladed-auto pistols, which he called 'Stormflower', he lept from the coil and began to assault the serpent. Firing shots and striking the head to disorient it. After landing several strikes at its head the large serpent Grimm tried to strike him again, Ren simply jumped over, driving his blades into the creature's head in an attempt to put the beast down.
~X~
"Right. That's why we fight them." Jaune replied, making his first conclusion.
"It's not about why, it's about knowing." Pyrrha replied, countering Jaune's assumption. "Understanding bot dark and light helps us manifest our aura. Everyone has some of both, some may have more light than dark or vice versa however." She added, remembering the darker aura that Rodger gave off. "You project your aura outward as a force to deflect harm, allowing you to take much heavier injuries and still fight."
~X~
After removing his blades Ren heard a second Taijitu slither up behind him, after dodging its strike he noticed the first Taijitu raise its head, completely unfazed by his attempt to kill it. Seeing this he dashed towards the serpents, sliding along their bodies and barraging them with a mass of projectiles. After nearly emptying his clips the second Taijitu headbutted him off, knocking his weapons out of his hands. Seeing this the first Taijitu went for the killing blow. Ren raised his hands, preparing to somehow counter the serpent's attack.
~X~
"It's like a forcefield!" Jaune cried, summing up Pyrrha's explanation.
"Yes, if you want to look at it that way." Pyrrha replied, turning towards Jaune with an amused smile on her face.
~X~
After opening his eyes, Ren pushed against the serpent's attack, using the pink-tinted barrier he summoned. Using his aura he gripped the fangs of the Taijitu and ripped the straight from its mouth, he quickly sidestepped, drove one of the fangs into its eye and forced his entire aura to force it through the serpent's head, causing it to explode into a cloud of red mist. After doing so he grabbed the other fang & his weapons charging at the second Taijitu, attempting to perform the same technique.
~X~
"Now close your eyes and concentrate." Pyrrha said calmly, pacing her hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Uhh… ok?" Jaune replied worried, closing his eyes as Pyrrha instructed.
"... For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee." After finishing, and exiting her trance like state Pyrrha began to pant slightly.
"Pyrrha?!" Jaune asked, sound very worried for his partner's health.
"It's alright, I used my aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own." Pyrrha explained, smiling as Jaune's cut healed in a matter of seconds. " And you have a lot of it." She finished, watching as Jaune looked in awe at the white glow that permeated from him.
~Back at the Temple~
"Hmm?" I grunted, looking around. "That was weird, I just felt a massive aura dump… nothing to worry about I guess." I concluded, continuing to draw in the small notebook I had with me.
~Back with Ren~ (For a moment.)
Ren panted, standing atop the two King Taijitu corpses. He quickly hid his guns, dusted his coat and hopped down from the bodies. To be met with an orange haired girl hanging from a tree branch.
"Qrrraaww! Qrrraaww!" Nora called, swinging in front of Ren's face.
"Heh." Ren chuckled slightly. "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like." He concluded, as Nora poked him on the nose saying. "Boop."
A/N" Holy shit! I'm doing two episodes in one chapter! Yeah, I personally find it a lot better for me to type both episode 6 & 7 in one part. I will do this a few times when I find a chapter can fit two parts and still look clean enough for my standards.
Enough of my rambling… Back to the Story!
~Back at Beacon Cliff~
"The last pair has been formed, sir." Glynda began, scrolling through the list of names. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy. I can't possibly imagine those two getting along." She continued, until she reached Jaune & Pyrrha. "Still, he's still better off than Ms. Nikos." Ozpin grunted in response. "I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. No where near the requirements for Prof. Mayson's class, he'd be eaten alive!" She exclaimed, sighing as she powered her scroll off. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace they should reach the temple within a few minutes." She continued, walking towards Beacon. "Speaking of which, what did you use for relics this year? … Professor Ozpin?" Glynda asked, seeing the deep concentration her supervisor was in.
"Hmm…" He grunted again, watching Weiss & Ruby struggle to find their bearings.
~Back with Ruby & Weiss~
"It's definitely this way." Weiss began, trying to guess the direction of the temple. "I mean… this way! It's definitely this way." She continued, until stopping in front of Ruby and admitting. "Alright, it's official, we passed it!"
"Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we are going?" Ruby asked, sound slightly annoyed.
"Because I know exactly where we are going!" Weiss replied, not realizing that she already admitted to being lost. "We're going… to the Forest Temple!" She replied, sound slightly proud of herself while Ruby groaned in response. "Oh, stop it! You don't know where we are either!" Weiss replied snarkily.
"Well at least I'm not pretending like I know everything!" Ruby replied, in the same snarky voice that Weiss used.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked angrily. "I-it means you're a big stupid jerk and I hate you!" Ruby replied, in a very childish manner. "Ugh! Just keep moving." Weiss half commended.
"Oh, just keep moving! Hurry up! Wah, watch where you're going!" Ruby mocked, following her partner. "Why are you so bossy?!" Ruby asked, sounding nearly to the point of pissed off.
"I'm not bossy! Don't say things like that." Weiss replied, sounding shocked at Ruby's comment.
"Stop treating me like a kid!" Ruby demanded.
"Stop acting like a kid!" Weiss demanded.
"Well stop acting like you're perfect!" Ruby added.
"I'm not perfect!" Weiss countered "Not yet." She added. "But I'm still leagues better than you." She finished, walking away.
"You don't even know me…" Ruby muttered, watching her partner walk off without her.
~Back with Blake & Yang~
"Think this is it?" Yang asked, somehow not noticing me lying above the ruin. Blake just rolled her eyes and slid down the hill with Yang following shortly after.
"Hey, is that Rodger?" Blake asked, seeing my white sweatshirt stick out like a sore thumb.
"Yeah. Why is he still here though? Shouldn't he be back at the school?" Yang asked following her partner up to the temple.
*sigh* "So bored…" I grumbled, continuing to improve my drawing. " Am I going to be here for the rest of the day, or is somebody else going to show up?" I asked himself, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Hey Rodger! Down here!" Upon hearing this he looked down and saw Yang & Blake standing in the middle of the temple, looking up at him.
"(Huh, oh! Blake and Yang are here, cool.)" I thought, sliding down the ruined wall to meet the other two. "Hey girls, how's the forest been treating you?"
"Pretty well, we've both got a kill under our belts too." Yang said, walking past me and glaring at the relics.
"Chess pieces?" Blake asked, looking at the white queen. "Some of them are missing." Yang added.
"Yeah, you two weren't the first ones here sadly." I said, putting my notebook back in my pocket. "If you guys came a little earlier you would've caught Gray and Bill, but they headed out so they wouldn't run into anything too dangerous."
"Really? Well I guess we'll see them at the ceremony then." Yang commented, continuing to browse the relics.
"Well… I guess we need to take one, right?" Blake asked, turning to me. I nodded as Yang grabbed the white knight.
~Back with Jaune & Pyrrha~
"Think this is it?" Jaune asked, staring into the dark cave before them. Pyrrha simply shrugged as Jaune walked in, grabbing a (somehow) lit torch to lead the way.
"I'm not sure this is it…" Pyrrha finally replied, looking at the claw marks and punctures littering the walls. Jaune sighed and simply continued on, ignoring the damage Pyrrha was inspecting.
"Pyrrha, can I ask you to humor me for about five more feet?" Jaune asked, sounding slightly annoyed. Pyrrha sighed and followed her… stubborn partner, after another five feet Jaune tripped on a large claw gash in the cave floor, causing the torch to fall into a small puddle.
"Do you feel that?" Pyrrha asked, trying to find the source of… whatever she was sensing.
"Soul crushing regret?" Jaune asked, currently expressionless due to lack of light. "No it's… warm?" Pyrrha replied, sounding slightly curious.
~Back w/ Blake, Yang & Rodger~
"How about a cute little pony?" Yang asked cheerfully, I snickered to myself while Blake just shrugged. "Sure." She replied, lacking any emotion, yet still smiling at her partner's sense of humor.
"That wasn't too hard!" Yang said boldly. "Well, it's not like this place is very hard to find." Balek replied.
"Was even easier for me. Found an old trail that lead me and my previous group straight here." I added, pulling my scroll out and marking the first white knight off the list.
"What'cha doin'?" Yang asked curiously, looking over my shoulder. "I'm marking off what relics have been taken, so Oz will know who will be on the same team." I replied, putting his scroll back into his pocket.
Meanwhile…
"That's the relic!" Jaune exclaimed, looking at the giant golden stinger before him. He attempted to grab it and it simply backed away, just out of his reach. "Hey! Bad… relic!" Jaune said, continuing to grab the giant golden object. After several failed attempts he lunged toward it and finally grabbed on, as it slowly began to raise him up…
"Jaune…" Pyrrha began, sounding very worried.
"Yeah?" He asked, as he began to glow with red light as ten blood red eyes locked onto him.
Back with our current group…
*Loud, girlish scream echoing in the distance.* "Who or what was that?!" I yelled, rubbing his ears slightly. "'Cause whatever did that has some serious pipes!"
"I think some girl's in trouble!" Yang deciphered, turning back to her partner. "Blake did your hear that?" She asked, while Blake's attention was locked on something in the sky…
This is just getting annoying…
Jaune continued screaming as Pyrrha dashed out of the cave, being chased by a large scorpion-like Grimm, a Deathstalker. "Ahhh! Why? Pyrrha, help!" Jaune cried, trying his damnedest to hold on to the stinger.
"Jaune, whatever you do, don't let-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence as Jaune was propelled towards the temple. "..go." She finished, after turning back to the Deathstalker and an awkward head scratch, she dashed in the direction Jaune flew.
Yay… more jump cuts…
"Blake did you hear that? What should we do?" Yang asked her partner again, while Blake still stared at something in the sky.
"Do you guys hear something?" I asked, looking around. "Heads uuuUUPPP!" As a familiar voice called, falling at tremendous speed towards us.
To be continued…
A/N: Also, it wasn't me who was writing the jump cuts. It was Rod, he really hates skipping out on details.
It's true… But the boss forced me to do it. Otherwise his eraser would have me sent back to my world in seconds.
Yeah, I'm still going to have to do that at some point… not now, but later. Anyways, thank you for reading! We'll see you guys in the last episode of initiation.