Hey there guys, now this is my second attempt at this chapter since my flash drive wanted to screw with me, so I had to reformat it to get the darn thing working again. Son of a… let's just get started, maybe it will look better than what I originally had planned.
Chapter 6: Initiation Pt.2
High in the skies above the Emerald Forest, two black birds were gracefully flying through the air. As one of them began to lazily veer to the right, it was suddenly smacked to the side as Ruby dives pass.
"Birdy no!" she said apologetically as she continued her fall.
As she neared the tree tops, she pulled out Crescent Rose and while it was in its Gun form, fired several shots, using the recoil to slow her fall. Once she saw a nearby tree branch, she switched Crescent Rose to its Scythe form and used the blade the swing off of the branch and land safely on the ground.
'Okay, now I just have to find Yang, and fast!' the silver-eyed girl thought as she sprinted into the forest.
Back in the sky, the second black bird that was flying with the first one, had safely thankfully avoided crashing into Ruby and had started flying to the left.
But just as it was, it too was knocked to the side as Marco barreled passed.
"Sorry about that!" Marco yelled in apology to the bird he slammed into as he continued diving.
As he saw the trees quickly coming closer, Marco hastily started thinking of how he was going to land safely. He then suddenly got an idea, a very crazy and dare he say… Star-like idea.
'I just hope this works,' He thought as he got ready to implement his plan.
Marco quickly scanned the ground and saw a small clearing passed some trees.
"that should work," he said as he pumped his gauntlets, causing the arrowheads to start glowing a bright red. He brought both his arms back and then thrusted them forward, firing off several flaming, arrow head shaped projectiles at the trees in his way instantly setting them on fire. He then pumped his gauntlets again causing the arrow heads to change color from bright red to white.
"Now step two," Marco said as he swung his left arm and then his right, launching off slash waves of wind that not only put out the flaming trees but also cut them down, clearing a path for Marco's landing.
"Alright, now, the part that honestly has me worried."
Marco then pumped both gauntlets, changing the color to dark blue. He then stuck both his arms out in front of him and started rotating. As he spun faster, a cone made of ice began to form in front of him as neared the ground. A rocket-shaped cone soon formed around Marco as he came crashing down and slide to a stop across the ground. Once he felt himself stop, Marco punched through the ice and dusted himself off as he stood up and looked around.
"Okay, phew, thank goodness that worked." He said as he deactivated his gauntlets and wiped his forehead. "I got a say, these gauntlets really are something else. I wonder what else I can do with them?" Marco said as he looked over his weapons with amazement in his eyes. "Well for now, I should start heading for the forest temple and hope Star doesn't cause the whole forest to burn down."
Marco pulls out a compass from his pants pocket.
"Good thing I decided to bring this with me and that it didn't go flying out of my pocket while in the air. Ok, so north should be… ah, this way." Marco says as he starts making his way into the forest.
'Really hope I can find Star before someone else does.' Marco thought. 'or before she accidently burns down the forest.'
Meanwhile in a different part of the forest, Star was walking on her hands and feet sniffing the ground with her eyes closed.
"Hmm where are you right now Marco?" she said to herself as she continued her tracking. Shortly after she landed in the forest, Star quickly began trying to catch Marco's scent, wanting to find her friend first before doing anything else.
As Star continued further into the forest, she started to hear rustling coming from around her.
"Huh? What that sound?" she said as she opened her eyes and stood up. "Hellooo? Is anyone there?" she asked but got no answer back. "Hellooooo? Whoever's out there could you please come out with your back facing me? See, I'll looking for a friend of mine and-"
Before she could finish speaking, Star quickly rolled to the side as something came lunging out of the bushes at her.
When she got back to her feet to see what had attacked her, she saw that it was a werewolf-like with black fur as well as white, bone-like spikes on its arms, legs, back and knees. It had a bone-like mask with red markings and had sharp white claws on its hands and feet.
"Ooookay then, I'm guessing you were the one making the rustling noises huh?" Star said as she quickly jumped to the out of the way as the werewolf creature lunged at her again.
As Star tried to ready herself, she jumped back when another werewolf like monster suddenly jumped from her left side.
"Oh great, you brought a friend with you. Well that's fine, I'm going to guess and say that you two are Grimm right? In that case, I hope you guys are a lot tougher than the monsters me and Marco usually fight." Star said as she took her wand out and got ready to fight.
The first werewolf Grimm ran towards Star and raised its claws to try and slice her in half. But Star quickly jumped over its attack and kicked the Grimm square in the face causing it the falter backward. The second one rushed passed the first and jumped at Star from above.
"Rainbow Blast!" she shouted as a multi-colored beam shot from her wand blasting the Grimm out of the air. However to Star's surprise, the Grimm quickly got back up and charged at her again along with the first that had recovered from her kick.
"Wow, you guys really are –whoa! Tougher aren't you!" Star said as she dodged their charge. But just as she did, the second Grimm quickly turned back around and swung it claws down at her. Star hastily jumped back just as the claws came inches away from her face, but the wolf Grimm then swung its other at her. This time the attack connected and knocked Star into a tree.
"Ugh, okay, you guys are… also faster too." Star said as she tried to get back up. But when she did, she hissed in pain and kneeled back down. She then looked and saw three claw marks on her leg as well as another three on her left arm.
As she struggled to get back up, the two Grimm began to slow approach her.
"Argh, not good," Star said in as the Grimm drew closer to her.
"Hey fur balls! Over here!" A voice yelled from behind getting Star's and the Grimm's attention.
Star looked passed the Grimm and saw Tomoko standing there grinning.
"Tomoko!" "Hey Star, need a little help here?" "Uh yeah, if you don't mind. I kind of can't move right now." Star said.
The Grimm soon charged at Tomoko. She side-stepped the first one, then slide under the second and ran over to Star.
"Ouch, those look like they hurt," Tomoko said as looked at the claw marks on Star's leg and arm. "Yeah, they do. It's kind of my first time fighting Grimm so I don't that much about them. I don't even know what kind of grimm these guys here are." Star said as she held her injured arm.
"Well first, their called "Beowolves", they're a very common type of Grimm. Some can range from the size of an adult to twice that." Tomoko explained. "Also Star, how come I can't sense your aura? Did it runout or something?"
"Oh right, that. You see, me and Marco don't… really know how aura works." Star said.
"Ooooh, I see. I figured you two were new at being Huntsmen, but I didn't think it was that new to you." "Uh yeah," "Well… don't worry too much about Star," Tomoko said smiling at the young mewman girl. "You can't expect to know everything about something new. Although, not having an aura could be a bit of a problem. So how about I-" just as Tomoko was about to say something, Star saw one of the Beowolves try to attack her while her back was turned.
"Look out!" "Oh for the love of- you back off!" Tomoko shouted as she spun around and roundhouse kicked the grimm as it got close sending it flying into the other one.
"Star give me second okay? This shouldn't take too long." Tomoko said as a bluish-green light soon enveloped her. Then all of a sudden, eight glowing bluish-green ethereal swords appeared around her.
"Aaaaand… fly!" Tomoko shouted as the eight swords instantly launched towards the two Beowolves at incredible speed. "And a little something extra for ya!" she said as she raised her arm into the air, summoning ten more swords into air above before bringing her arm down causing the swords to rain down.
Star looked on in completely shock as the sounds of the grimm crying out and the swords impacting the ground rang out.
When the swords stopped falling and the dust from the continued impacts cleared away, Star's eyes widened in shock at the motionless bodies of the grimm that had multiple glowing swords sticking out of them.
"There we go, all done." Tomoko said in a satisfied tone as the glow surrounding her faded and she dusted her hands off as she turned back around to see Star with a stunned look on her face.
"What was… how did you… with all the…" Star stammered out still in utter shock at what she just saw as Tomoko grinned.
"I take it seeing my semblance blew your mind right?" "T-that was your semblance!?" Star shouted in shocked as she tried to get up, but quickly sat back down remembering her leg injury.
"Whoa, easy Star, first let's take care of those wounds. To start, I'm going to need you to close your eyes and concentrate for me." "Huh? Uh… okay then." Star said a bit confused as she did what Tomoko asked.
Tomoko then placed her hand on Star's head and was soon covered in the same bluish-green glow as before. While at the same time, a golden glow soon started to envelop Star.
"… 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 she finished, Tomoko took her hand off of Star's head.
"Okay Star, you can open your eyes now."
When Star opened her eyes, she was surprised when she saw the golden light covering her now.
"Wow! Look at me I'm glowing! Hey what did you-" Star stopped mid-sentence when she saw that Tomoko looked a little bit tired. "Are you okay? You look tired all of a sudden." Star asked concerned for her friend.
"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry." "Okay. So, what exactly did you just do?" "Well I was going to ask if I could unlock your aura for you. Which I just did, hence why your glowing right now. Also, check out your arm and leg now," Tomoko said.
Star looked and was surprised to see that the claw marks on her arm and leg were disappearing.
"Yep, pretty cool huh? I used my aura to unlock yours, so you should be able to take on Grimm a lot more easier now." Tomoko explained. "But geez, you've got a lot of energy in you. I knew there was something interesting about you."
"Ha, thanks. But… man, this didn't go the way I wanted it to." Star said as she got up and dusted herself off.
"What didn't go the way you wanted?" Tomoko asked. "Sigh, well it's just… remember how I said I was going to track Marco so me and him could be partners?" "Yeah, … ooooh. Your upset cause you got attacked while you tracking Marco." Tomoko guessed with Star nodding her to confirm it.
"So… I guess me running into you kind of messed up you and Marco being partners huh? Sorry about that Star." "Oh no it's okay, it's not your fault. If anything I'm glad you showed up when you did, I kind of wasn't expecting Grimm to be that fast and strong. Plus, I got to see your super cool semblance!"
"Haha, well if your cool with this, then how about we get moving then?" Tomoko said. Who knows, we might run into Marco on our way to the temple." "Yeah, your right. Okay then , let's get moving!" Star said as she raced off into the forest with Tomoko quickly following behind her.
Meanwhile, Marco continued following his compass north.
"I'm kind of surprised I haven't run into anyone or anything yet, hmm… maybe I got lucky and landed in a quiet part of the forest." Marco said as he walked. "Still, better keep my eyes and ears open for anything, never know when-"
"ROOOAAAARRRR!"
"What the heck was that!?" Marco said as the loud roar cut him off from what he was going to say.
He then heard what sounded like fighting coming from further up ahead of him.
"Sounds like I found someone, and from what I'm hearing sounds like they found trouble." Marco said as he ran towards the sound of the fighting. As he kept running forward, Marco began to hear the voice of who was fighting.
"My apologizes, but I really don't have time for all you right now!" a female voice said.
'That voice, I know I've heard before from somewhere. But where?' Marco thought as he continued running.
As he kept moving, Marco saw he was approaching a clearing. But before he could reach it, there was a sudden scream as someone came flying through the bushes and collided into him, sending him and the person crashing to the ground.
"Ugh, okay, that hurt… a lot. What just slammed into me? And… why is everything… white all of a sudden?" Marco groaned as what looked to be white fur filled his vision.
"Ow, I wasn't expecting to be flung like that, and from a Ursa of all things." The person who crashed into Marco groaned.
"E-excuse me, kind of having trouble breathing here." "Huh? Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't see you there!" the person who was clearly a girl said in a frantic voice as she quickly got up off of Marco chest.
When she did, the white occupied Marco's vision was removed too.
"I'm so sorry about crashing into you like that, are you alright?" "I should be the one asking you that, are you-" Marco stopped mid-sentence when he saw who had crashed into him.
Standing in front of him right now was Ryoko, the Fox Faunus he meet last night.
She was wearing a traditional Japanese style sleeveless white top, detachable white sleeves with red lining that stopped at her wrists and a red rope belt tied in a large knot behind her back. She was wearing red hakama shorts, long white socks and Japanese wooden sandals. In her right hand she was carrying what looked like a large lance, it had a golden spike with two smaller ones on its sides. At the base of the lance was what looked like a revolver chamber and above that was an gold dragon head ornament with a long, red spiral lance point coming out of its mouth.
"Wait, your… Ryoko from last night right?" Marco asked. "Ah! Your… Marco right? From the night before? I wasn't excepting to run into you here. I-I mean I knew you would also be taking the initiation test too, that is to say I'm in no way undermining your abilities, he-he." Ryoko said in a nervous tone.
As Marco was going to ask her to relax, the two heard a deafening roar passed the bushes that Ryoko came flying from.
"Uh, what was-" before Marco could ask, he and Ryoko jumped to the side as two large bear-like creatures with black fur, bony spikes on their bodies and skull-like masks with red markings came charging through the bushes. They were followed by two more creatures that looked similar to them.
"What the heck are these guys!?" Marco asked as he activated his gauntlets. "Ursas, their a type of Grimm and are very strong, but they aren't very fast." Ryoko said.
"So these are Grimm huh?" "Yes, this is your first time seeing them, right?" "Yeah it is, but I'm not too worried, I've fought monsters before." Marco said as he got into a fighting stance.
"Still, please be careful, and try to avoid taking any direct hits. Especially since you haven't had your aura unlocked yet." "My… aura? What's that?" Marco asked confused.
But before he could get an answer he and Ryoko had to jump back as two of the Ursas tried to attack them again.
"Actually, how about we deal with these guys first, then maybe we can discuss this afterwards okay?" "Agreed," Ryoko said as she and Marco prepared themselves.
Two of the Ursas ran up to Marco and swung their clawed hands at the same time, but Marco quickly jumped up and performed a split kick on both grimm while also avoiding their attacks. The one on his left got back up and lunged at him, but Marco quickly pumped his left gauntlet and when Ursa got close, he struck it in the face with an flaming punch sending it skidding across the ground until it hit a tree were it slumped over with a scorch mark in the middle of its face. Marco then turned around quickly brought his right gauntlet up to block an incoming attack from the second Ursa that had gotten back.
"Back up buddy!" Marco said. He then swung his left gauntlet up which caused it to rotate until the back end of it was facing the front. He then shoved the Ursa back and swung the swapped gauntlet upward diagonally into its head stunning the grimm and forcing it to stumble back. Marco then swung the gauntlet back to its original position and then pumped both of them causing the arrow heads to glow yellow as electric sparks danced around.
"Now try this one on for size Smoky!" he shouted as he ran towards the stunned grimm. As the Ursa snapped out of its dazed state, it saw Marco quickly running towards it. It raised its left arm and swung at him as he approached, but Marco duck underneath it's strike just barely dodging it. He then jumped up and struck the Ursa with an electrified uppercut to its head, then followed up with drop kick which sent it to the ground. As Marco landed, he cocked his left arm back and slammed his other electrified gauntlet into the Ursa sending it crashing through several tree.
"Whoa! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Marco cheered in excitement. He then stopped when he heard something. He looked behind and saw the other Ursa charging at him and quickly closing in. Thinking fast, Marco brought both his gauntlets up as the Ursa rammed into him sending him skidding until he hit a large rock.
"Argh, okay… lost my focus there. Got to remember not to do that while fighting." He groaned as got back up and readied himself as the Ursa ran up to him again.
While Marco was busy fighting, Ryoko was skillfully dodging, side stepping and parrying the other two Ursas's attacks while also keeping watching of how Marco was doing.
'Amazing, it's his first time fighting grimm and he's able to hold his own very well. He tends to let his guard down a bit when he thinks he's won, but still…' she thought as she parried an attack from the right and jumped back as the other Ursa tried to ram into her from the left.
'If he's capable of this much, I can only imagine how well his friend must be doing.'
"A-CHOO! Geez, excuse me." Star said as she and Tomoko were making their way through the forest. "I wonder where that sneeze came from?"
"Hmm, maybe someone's complimenting you. My dad says that if you sneeze that means someone's talking about you." Tomoko said.
"Huh, well if someone is talking about me, it's more than likely Marco. He always says how amazing I am sometimes." "Oh does he?" Tomoko said in a teasing tone. "H-hey! It's not in the way you're thinking about okay!?" Star said while trying to hide the light blush that was on her face.
"Okay." "I'm serious, it's not." "I didn't say anything Star." "You were thinking it! I know you were!" Star said as her partner was trying not to laugh as the two kept walking.
Back with Ryoko's fight, she was currently blocking two attacks from both Ursas with her weapon. She then shoved them back and leapt back to get some distance.
"I would really like to see how my friend is doing right now, so…" Ryoko lifts her lance over her head and starts to twirl it a little before stopping and holding it in an underarm position. "I'm going to need you both to move."
She then twists the shaft which causes the revolver click and turn. Soon the eyes of the dragon head of her weapon start glowing green as wind starts to surround the lance head. She then dashes towards the grimm and thrusts her lance forward firing off a burst of wind, launching them through the bushes into the clearing. She quickly followed after them and then swung her lance upward launching a mini tornado which soon caught the dazed Ursas sending them into the air. She then jumped into the tornado herself and allowed the current to carry her upward until she flew passed the Ursas.
When she was high above them, she twisted the shaft again causing the dragon's eyes and the lance head to glow blue. She then swung downward releasing a blue slash wave into the tornado freezing it and the Ursas. She then twisted the shaft once more as the dragon's eyes and the lance head glowed yellow as electricity crackled around it.
"Now vanish!" Ryoko shouted as she threw the lance into the frozen tornado. When it the ground a massive amount of electricity discharged vaporizing the tornado and the Ursas.
Ryoko then landed near her lance and pulled it out of the ground.
"Sigh, I wonder if I went a little over board with that move?" she said aloud.
"That was amazing Ryoko!"
Ryoko quickly turned around and saw Marco running up to her. She noticed he had a small scratch on his cheek, but overall he looked okay.
"O-oh, t-thank you very much." She said nervously as a blush came over her face. "A-are okay Marco?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got nicked a little while fighting that other Ursa." He said hissing a little as he touched the scratch on his cheek.
"I think I can help with that." "Really?" "Yes, but to do this… I'll need you close your eyes for a minute." "Close my eyes? Uh… okay." Marco said as he closed his eyes like Ryoko asked. "Now what?" "Now concentrate please?" Ryoko asked.
Marco did as she asked and focused his mind. Ryoko then placed her hand on his chest and started glowing yellow while Marco started glowing red.
"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."
She then took her hand away from his chest and told Marco he could open his eyes now. When he did he saw that he was glowing and started to panic a little before Ryoko explained.
"Don't worry Marco, I just unlocked your aura for you." "So me glowing right now is because of that? What is an aura anyway?" he asked. "Aura is the manifestation of someone's soul, and can be used in many different ways. It's primarily like a shield from huntsmen and can even heal some injuries. For example, the cut on your cheek." "Huh?"
Marco then felt his cheek and sure enough, the cut that was there moments ago had vanished.
"Whoa, that's amazing. So, a person can do different things with their aura?" Marco asked. "Yes, although it depends on the person. Also one can discover their semblance from using their aura through training." Ryoko said.
"Wow, guess me and Star have got a lot of learning to do then." Marco said.
"Yes, but I believe you and your friend will have no trouble in that regard. Seeing at how well you handled yourself just now with the Grimm." Ryoko complimented which made Marco blush.
"Haha, uh yeah, so, we should get going now. Come on," Marco quickly said as he grabbed Ryoko's hand and began leading her in the direction he was previously going, unaware that the Fox Faunus's face was glowing bright red from him holding her hand.
'ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness!' she said over and over in her head as the two walked into the forest.
A/N: Finally, after a screw up with my flash drive, I got this chapter out! Phew, that was literal hell! Anyway, sorry for the wait guy, this chapter had a bit of trouble to be honest. Originally it was going to be longer, but I felt that you guys had waited long enough so I had to shorten it. the next chapter will included everyone meeting up at the temple and I know there may be some people who ask why I didn't include everyone else. reason for that is I wanted to show how Star and Marco handled their first encounter with Grimm and what my Oc's can do as well. Ruby and the gang will be in the next chapter guys, okay?
Okay, I need to rest my brain now, also the update message while be taken down once this chapter goes up. Alright, See ya! ;)
FYI, I'm not shipping Marco with anyone from RWBY. But there will be moments where it seems like. Yep, I just feeling Trolling some people like that ;D