Okay. Just... be calm. Everythings fine. Everything is -
"Soo cooooool!" Ruby squealed into my ear, having rushed up to shake me excitedly within mere moments of my Aura becoming safe again.
"How did you do that? Is it your semblance?! Ooh! Is it just fire? Can you use any dust?!" She asked in rapid succession, running around me too fast for me to accurately be facing her when I attempted to make my reply.
"It's just something I can do with dust!" I cried sticking my hands in the air in a gesture of surrender.
"So it's not your semblance? Can you teach me?!" She shrilled happily, stopping directly in front of me, her face an uncomfortable distance away from my own.
Oh boy, I was in trouble now. Ruby was apparently extremely excitable. So much so that she had actually managed to make me forget about my more pressing problem.
'What do I do!? Are they going to cast a spell at me? Should I running!?' I asked Archer. To Ruby though, as calmly as I could manage given my extreme state of panic, I said;
"Sorry, it's a... family secret?"
"Aw. You can't even teach me a little?"
I thought about it. I mean... it couldn't hurt to teach some other people Magecraft. They could help me study dust, late into the night until it's just the two of us awake, she with her clothes sticking to her from sweat and -
Nope. No. Absolutely not.
Well maybe.
Wait no!
"Sorry I - " I started when Archer answered my question.
'You need to move. The wards should only tell the enemy that someone in the first year group is a Magus. You need to stay with them or it'll be too easy to determine who the odd one out was when the ward was tripped.' Archer advised though he sounded distracted when he did so.
'Should I be looking out for an attack?' I asked him anxiously even as I shook my head once and returned to my conversation with Ruby.
'No. Just hurry.' was his only answer. Great. Super reassuring Archer. Man, I was right, this is exactly what having a big brother must be like. Constant insults, bossing me around when it's convenient and never bothering to explain anything until it was absolutely necessary. I had just about given myself a concussion back in the hotel when Archer finally explain to me why Saber was so sure I wasn't a master.
Command Seals. Archer had said the phrase once or twice in passing, and I had never thought anything of it, and now that I knew what they were I could understand why he wasn't eager to explain. Command Seals were the mark of a master. They literally allowed a Master to force their Servant to do something three times - even if that something would bend reality. Things like instantly teleporting a Servant to your side or forcing them to perform an act they found unsavoury. Heck, it explained Roman and Sabers little argument over helping me. Saber had been hinting that if Roman didn't play ball he was going to find himself in dire need of those three red marks.
And I didn't freaking have any of them - despite clearly being a Master.
"Why don't we catch up with everyone else." I offered awkwardly changing the topic and dying a little inside when Ruby looked forlornly at me for just a few seconds. Of course, this being Ruby - she was immediately happy again, hopping back and putting her hands on her hips like red hooded Peter Pan.
"Sure! Lead the way!" she said magnanimously, point a finger forward like a captain commanding his crew to go to ramming speed. I looked around and realized our conversation had ended up going on long enough that all the other students I had arrived with had long since vacated the area - leaving me with no clue which direction to go in.
"Er. Which way?" I asked, plastering the smile on my face that I knew Jas preferred I use when stalwartly refusing to play along with her nonsense.
"I thought you knew," Ruby said slowly, a look of dawning horror appearing on her face. Oh, come on. How is this okay? After having it explained to me, I now knew how to see a Servant's stats - and I was sincerely beginning to think I had inherited Archer's luck stat.
Closing my eyes and counting to ten, I took a deep breath, then exhaled.
"Ooookay. How about... this way?" I tried, pointing desperately in the direction I was pretty sure the rest of the students had gone in.
"Sooounds good." Ruby chirped.
And so we made our way through the school - Ruby chatting endlessly in a manner I was well accustomed to from Jasmine, and me... well I pretty much jumped at every loud noise like a scared rat. But Ruby was a good sport about it, clearly assuming it was just nerves from the first day at school. And you know, being hopelessly lost and maybe missing our chance to even get into the school.
No pressure though.
After several minutes of wandering, we came across a familiar blonde woman, who I felt I should remember but whom I couldn't quite place. It felt recent but...
"Miss Rose? Mister Arc? Might I ask what you are doing in this wing of the school? Orientation is in a few minutes and it would reflect poorly on you should you miss it." The woman said tersely, her grip on the stack of books under her right arm shifting imperceptibly as she stared us down.
"H...Hi Miss Goodwitch," Ruby said by way of greeting, stepping back slightly so that I was standing in front of her. I recognized that one too, and I wondered how many times the sister she said was at the school with her had gotten the brunt of a tongue lashing because of its use.
"We're lost," I said, trying for honesty. When Goodwitch turned her baleful gaze from Ruby to me I almost tried to rear back so far my head would have receded into my body. I felt like I was being judged on a scale that only went up to adequate, with way more degrees of failure than success.
"Very well. Follow me." She said perfunctorily after a few moments, spinning on one heel and striding away. Ruby and I followed dutifully, not willing to risk the woman's wrath by arguing or asking any questions.
As we approached a giant set of doors that hung open, leading to what appeared to be an empty auditorium, I kept my gaze focused on her. I knew I recognized her. The way she walked was even kind of familiar. It wasn't a sashay, or mince, or sway like you'd expect from someone dressed like they were on their way to a magazine shoot as a sexy teacher. It was stride. It had purpose. And god help whomever that purpose happened to be at the time.
Wait.
"Oh!" I exclaimed, hitting an open palm with the fist of my other hand, just as Miss Goodwitch stopped at the double doors and motioned us inside.
"The sexy teacher!" I said, happy I recognized her. She had been the woman Saber had been leering at two days ago. The one who had run past us as we left to see Roman.
Too late I realized the area around me had grown silent, even the students at the back of the auditorium near the door going quiet. Ruby was staring at me like I'd grown a second head, and Miss Goodwitch -
Miss Goodwitch was looking at me like I had just attempted to eat a live baby whole.
"...Shit." I moaned, then winced and stepped away from the woman who was probably actually a teacher and not just a strippergram. Before my back foot fell I felt myself lift off the ground as though hefted by an immense invisible hand, and Miss Goodwitch's frigid voice hissed out like steam from a volcanic vent.
"Language, Mister Arc. Language." She intoned before I felt hurled forward and through the double doors to the auditorium. I could just barely make out Ruby bowing profusely to the blonde teacher in my headlong tumble. Students all over the auditorium made a point of dodging out of my way or merely stepping to the side to allow my passing. It was in this way that I found myself careening towards a strawberry blonde girl in a cropped brown jacket that was zipped so far down that the orange shirt barely covering her cleavage. Unlike everyone else in the room - who had evaded my passing like it was a mere afterthought, this girl raised an eyebrow - and a foot - slamming the latter into my chest and pinning me to the ground in one swift movement.
It hadn't been an overly aggressive action - I could tell that she had barely put any effort into the kick because if she had I would have simply gone flying back in the other direction. But even still, I ended up going cross-eyed trying to look up at the girl who had stopped me.
"Hey! It's the vomit kid! Finally, end up erupting?" the blonde said cheekily, a shit eating grin on her face.
"Please... Don't call... me that..." I panted, not wanting to be 'vomit kid' for my entire school career in addition to a relationshipless wizard.
"Eh, do something more impressive and I'll think about it. Like 'em?" She said, waggling her eyebrows at me, and drawing my attention to the fact that I'd mostly just been staring at the toned leg resting on my chest the entire conversation.
"Gah! I - Uh - But you - Cus - " I said, jamming every sentence I had been trying to formulate in response together into one useless lump.
"Yang!" someone yelled behind me, and I let my head roll back to see Ruby rushing through the no longer dispersed crowd towards us. She emerged from the spectators that had fallen in around us, one finger pointed in accusatory fashion at the blond who still hadn't taken her foot off me.
"Get your foot off him! He's my friend!" Ruby charged, pausing briefly to look at me for confirmation when she said, friend. I nodded once - anything to get out of this extremely awkward situation. Half the auditorium must have been watching me splayed out on the ground.
The blond - Yang - rolled her eyes and grinned mischievously at Ruby.
"Yang on there a sec Rubes - it's not my fault guys are throwing themselves at my feet." She chided jokingly.
"Yang!" Ruby pleaded again.
"Fiiine." The blond - Yang I guessed at this point - acquiesced. She raised her foot off me, and I roll over, pushing myself to a standing position.
"This is Jaune!" Ruby said, shaking an open palm in front of me in an excited fashion, apparently already having moved past this most recent demeaning experience. Which I suppose made sense. She wasn't the one who got stepped on.
"Jaune this is Yang. She's my sister I told you about." She continued, doing the same thing in Yang's direction.
"Hey," Yang said pleasantly, smiling like a cat that had just found a mouse.
"Hey...So..." I answered, not really sure where to go with the conversation from here. The last time I had gone with dads advice I had inadvertently alienated the prettiest girl I'd ever seen and then proceeded to let another Magus know I was here as surely as if I had sent a postcard. I tried to run down the list of my family members for advice but came up blank. Most of my sisters had been of the impression that I probably wasn't ever going to have a girlfriend, and Rosemary - who I loved dearly but was, in all honesty, kind of insane, had suggested alcohol. Just that one word. Alcohol. Not actually advice by my reckoning - or by my mothers apparently, because I hadn't had to do the dishes for two weeks after that.
Before I could drag my mind onto something resembling a track, the lights in the auditorium dimmed, and a gentleman in a black suit, with aged grey hair and a forest green turtleneck sweater, stepped onto the stage - the only area of the room where the lights had not dimmed. He was carrying a mug of coffee like this entire ordeal was just his way of getting ready for the day, and he smartly adjusted the dark tinted glasses as he looked about the room in apparent boredom.
At least... it looked like boredom. There was something decidedly ancient in his bearing and demeanour, something old and world-weary that I would never have been able to recognize if I hadn't spent my entire summer vacation around Archer - who claimed to have lived a thousand lives or some other similarly mystical crap.
"Welcome. You are the newest, students to the hallowed halls of Beacon Academy. And for that, you have my deepest thanks. For simply by being here, you have proven that you have the drive, the dedication, necessary to become Huntsmen. Proven you have what it takes to be among the last bastion against the growing dark.
"But it is important, now more than ever, to remember that no one among us truly stands alone. It is my hope that just as I have placed my hopes for the future in you, that you will gaze upon your fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses, and see in them a kinship, and a continuation of the dream that all Huntsmen hold dear. To be free of the Grimm." The man's gaze turned momentarily sharp at the last part, before fading back into blissful apathy. He took a sip of his coffee before continuing.
"My name is Professor Ozpin, and I am the Dean of this Academy. Know that while I have the utmost faith in each and every one of you, I will not be kind. The road to graduation will be long, and painful, and arduous, but you will travel it. Because you must. Because you are Huntsmen." He said, raising his coffee mug slightly in salute, and pausing to wait for the cheers to end. For a guy who said everything in a slow-paced deadpan, he was oddly good at motivational speaking. But then again, he was a teacher at a school explicitly for raising heroes. I guess it would be a fairly important skill to cultivate.
"Now, I hope you will enjoy resting for the remainder of the evening in the auditorium, because initiation will begin tomorrow. In the morning, one of the Professors will lead you to the cliffs, where your education will truly begin. Thank you." Ozpin finished, taking a long sip from his mug and stepping away from the podium, before disappearing backstage.
"Mmmmm I can't wait!" Ruby yelled the minute Ozpin left the stage. She practically vibrated with energy, hopping from foot to foot like she had to go to the bathroom.
"Right?! Come on Rubes, let's go change and get some beauty sleep." Yang agreed heartily, eyeing me as she stretched an arm around Ruby's shoulders to lead her away.
"Catch ya later vomit boy" She called over her shoulder at me, as the two disappeared into the crowd. For a moment I thought it pretty rude that they just abandoned me - and then an overwhelming number of the people in the auditorium began to start undressing. I started to feel a twitch developing in my eye, and opted to ignore the apparent mass swap to pyjamas. I didn't have anything that could qualify as sleepwear since I mostly just slept in the buff - or in boxers if I was expecting someone to explode into my room in the morning, which was pretty much always.
And there was no way my scrawny ass was getting undressed around these people. All around me toned, muscular bodies were moving around preparing for sleep. I wasn't fat by any means, and the last month of getting myself beat up by Jasmine had definitely helped with my overall physique, but there was no reality where I was going to match up favourably against people who had probably been pumping iron all their lives.
So instead I retreated to a corner of the room that no one was in, and pulled my hood up to cover my eyes, resting my head on my backpack as best as I could manage.
'Archer? Updates?' I called into the ether.
'I got nothing. I'm not an Assassin or a very good Magus. There are bounded fields all over the school, but they're mainly in areas students traverse like hallways and classrooms.' Archer told me.
'So the other Magus is a student?' I said, relaxing. Sure it would still suck, especially if they were a Master - but it'd be better than having one of the staff gunning for me.
'Don't count on it. There's a bunch of weird crap going on in this school. There are fields around the classrooms for detecting Servant's in astral form by the way.'
'So what? It's not like I need you for history class. I can do math just fine thanks.' I sniped at him.
'Jaune you idiot. This is a combat school. Half the classrooms are just concrete boxes with bloodstains on them.' Archer informed me, and I instantly blanched.
'Wait so...'
'I won't be helping you in your combat classes no. Not even by giving you advice.'
He said it so smugly it made my teeth hurt. I knew he had no intention of helping me fight the other kids - that wouldn't really help me get better. The point of school was to learn after all. But he still managed to phrase it in a way that made me want to punch him in the face. I briefly considered revisiting my plan to throw myself down a flight of stairs and swap with him at the last second but decided in the end to table it. There was no telling if something like that would draw the attention of the other Magus on campus.
Assuming it was just one.
'Oh and there's something else you should know. It looks pretty hush hush so don't tell anyone about it but...' Archer trailed off, and I was immediately curious. There wasn't much that could leave Archer at a loss for words.
'Well, there's a dead girl frozen in the basement.' He said nonchalantly.
'...What?'
-ooo-
The next morning found me standing on a cliff overlooking an immense forest. The trees stretched as far as I could see, and the sea of green was broken only by a jagged mountain sticking out of the center of the foliage like the tooth of a great beast left to rot where it had fallen.
"The rules of initiation are simple. You will descend to the Emerald Forest, where you will proceed to make your way towards the ruins in the heart of the wood. There you will find a relic, which you must then bring back here to complete your initiation. Upon landing in the woods, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the rest of your time at school." Ozpin was explaining, standing a ways back from the line of students that stretched from one end of the cliff to the other. Each student was standing on top of a square gray platform.
Except for me.
I was staring down at the thing with a wariness that was more appropriate towards a snake than a differently coloured patch of ground.
"Mr. Arc, is there a problem?" Glynda Goodwitch said, a hint, no a promise of trouble in her voice. She had been introduced to us by Ozpin mere moments after most of the students had awoken that morning as the teacher of our sole combat class. I could feel a tiny part of my soul shrivel up and die at the realization that this woman was going to have an excuse to punish me violently almost every day for the rest of the next four years. Needless to say, I had done my level best to stay out of her line of sight as the students were trekked out of the school and up to this ledge.
Which made the fact that she was standing not two metres away from me despite the gargantuan line of students here absolutely maddening.
'This is your fault somehow you know.' I complained to Archer before turning to Miss Goodwitch, a fake smile on my face.
"I'm just naturally cautious?" I tried, giving a half-hearted shrug.
"Ah, I see. Well, then Mr. Arc allow me to assuage your fears. There is nothing to be worried about - please - step on your pad so that we may continue." The witch answered me, waving her handed in a dismissive shooing motion at me. There was something decidedly malicious in her tone of voice when she spoke, and I found myself significantly more hesitant to step on the pad.
"Stop being such a baby and get on the pad before she starts using that riding crop on you." Archer drawled from where he stood behind Ozpin.
'Easy for you to say - she doesn't hate you.'
'Come on Jaune she's a teacher, she doesn't hate you.' Archer said, even as Goodwitch stomped forward, readjusting her grip on the scroll in her left hand and raising the riding crop in her right. Like lightning she viciously swung the riding crop down at me, forcing me to involuntarily step backwards - on to the pad.
With a slight upturn of her lips at the edges the only sign that she was capable of experiencing the emotion known as joy, Goodwitch tapped a button on her scroll - and the pad I was on, which turned out to be on top of an enormous spring - flung me through the air and off the cliff.
'She despises you.' Archer finished - and I could just barely make out his red-clad form marking a tally in the air as I sailed away.
"Craaaaaaaaap," I yelped as I flew through the air. The ground zipped by below in a blur, and I found a small part of me trying to figure out exactly how fast I was going before basic self-preservation kicked in and I instantly reinforced myself, enemy Magus be damned. Not being able to use any Magecraft wasn't going to fly for me. Well. I was technically flying without it but...
Damnit. Now I'm shutting myself down. Stupid Archer.
Frantically I unsheathed Corcea Mors, flailing my legs and weapon through the air. I very quickly found myself approaching the treeline - and therefore the ground, and despite knowing I could probably survive impact fairly easily I still closed my eyes when I finally hit. Tree limbs slapped at me dozens of times over as my Aura clad form crashing through them, tearing the limbs apart and leaving a swathe of destruction in my wake that must have been audible for quite a ways around me.
This had the effect of slowing me down though, and so despite the pain (an aspect of an Aura defence that confused the hell out of me since I wasn't actually suffering any damage), I eventually tumbled to the ground in a densely packed section of the woods.
Right on top of a Beowolf. Oh, the thing evaporated pretty much instantly - the speed I was moving at turning me bodily into a missile that nothing as simple as a Beowolf Grimm would be able to survive. However, the rest of its pack - which looked to be at least 12 members strong, did not seem to appreciate that fact.
The first came at me with a growl, charging in and bouncing off my shield. I stepped back to keep my balance as it threw its weight against me, grunting with effort as it threw itself at me again, catching its torso on my shield but being too off balance to push it off. A sharp pain struck me from behind and I leapt to the side, rolling away from the lunging attacks of two more Beowolves in addition to the one that had managed to strike my back.
I took stock of my situation and tried to remain calm. I had trained for this. I had spent a month getting wailed on by Jaz, a month of getting laid out over and over and over, to make sure I could defend myself in situations exactly like this. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see yet more of the Beowolf pack circling back behind me, and I began a steady retreat to ensure that they couldn't completely encircle me.
The minute I stepped backwards, three of the Grimm charged at me and it was all I could do to ram my shield forward into one, and swipe my sword outward in a wide arc at the other two. It scored a glancing blow against them, but despite my obviously superior strength it didn't seem to give them any pause. They charged at me as though I hadn't wounded them at all, leaping at me like mindless well... mindless Grimm.
The combined weight and force of the two creatures pushed me to the ground, and I raised my sword arm to bat ineffectively at the white masked forms of the wolf-like Grimm, only barely managed to put my forearm between the yawning maws of the two creatures and my throat. Unfortunately, the distance was such that I couldn't really swing Crocea Mors at them, and nothing I did seemed sufficient to lever them off. I began punching furiously at the Grimm atop me, even as more and more of them piled on - leaving me with a rapidly draining aura in a cacophonous storm of tooth and claw.
Shit, this wasn't working. I could deflect or defend against on or two of them, and probably even kill them with time, but for all my strength I just wasn't that good at sword play. If Hunstmen could be compared to trained surgeons that I barely knew first aid. Panic flooded my body with new strength, and without thought I found myself stretching my Prana out towards the one solution that would see me through this alive. With a crackle of energy, I converted my aura, actualizing it as lightning itself, and was rewarded by the momentary flash of energy discharging into the handful of Grimm pounding on me. Several of them evaporated instantly, their black forms fading into motes of nothingness, and those that didn't stumbled away from me as though stung.
I quickly rolled to my feet, making a note of my depleted lightning dust vial. I would have to replace it with a new one that I fortified and strengthened later. My Aura was severely depleted - easily down to half capacity, and there were was still at least half the pack of Grimm remaining, stalking around me with wary snarls.
Shit, I couldn't do this, not without using my Mystic Code - which at this range would probably kill me just as surely as it would them.
'Archer! I'm Surrounded! Options!?' I begged the Servant of the bow. I knew he could probably see me from the top of the cliff, he'd been pretty candid about his eyesight being good enough to pick out targets from far enough away that he might as well not even be in the same city. I also knew that if he didn't have a good answer for me I was going to have to switch with him, which would not only look extremely weird on any camera's that might be in the forest - but would guarantee the other Magus in the school detected him.
'Turn left and sprint. There's someone else in that direction that Ozpin won't shut the hell up about.' Archer instructed me. Oh yeah, he was literally just spying on the Headmaster right now, wasn't he? He could probably see all the cameras too...
'Got it. Thanks.' I said, taking his advice to heart and turning to sprint into the forest at top speed. There was a Beowolf in the way, and so to break the encirclement I raised my shield and plowed through the thing - not killing it by any means, but launching it out of my path with an upward swing of my shield that hurled it away at the exact moment it jumped for me.
The sounds of trees being shredded behind me became the soundtrack to my escape as the other half of the Beowolf pack gave chase, determined to get their pound of flesh. And with a start, I realized that these things were somehow way faster than me. What the hell? I had been able to run away from a single Beowolf back home just fine so why -
Ah. Right. Beowolves. They get stronger and faster the more of them there are. Because they're pack animals. Or... based on them anyway. No idea why things that don't eat or sleep exhibit pack behaviour.
Lurching forward I narrowly avoided a clawed hand that swiped at my head, and focused on my Prana, temporarily running it through my Aura unaltered and coating myself in the new energy that resulted.
I'd like to say I rocketed into the upcoming clearing like a hero, slid to a stop in front of the red-haired and golden armoured woman that was watching me with sudden interest and then whirled on the pack to begin mortal combat with my new ally at my side.
Unfortunately, there was a pretty big ass tree in my way when my head came back up, so what actually happened, was the force of my leap sent me through said tree. Shards of wood and bundles of leaves flew out in every direction, and I instantly lost my balance, spinning through the air to land on my face only a few feet away from the girl. It was a landing position that would have probably broken my neck if I didn't have my aura - which was down to about thirty percent at this point.
The girl peered down at me as I righted myself with a relaxed curiosity that belied the six or seven Grimm bearing down on us. Actually, for a moment I thought she was just going to ignore them entirely, but our eyes met brilliant green eyes gazing down at me, beautiful in their coldness. They -
"I ask of you - "
My world fuzzed over for a moment, static filling my vision. When it cleared, the redhead was sprinting ahead towards the oncoming Grimm, her lithe frame drawing a shield and a spear that she immediately piercing the first Grimm in the group with by ducking under its charge and expertly jabbing upwards into its exposed belly. The thing evaporated instantly, and she continued forward as it had never been there, hurling her shield to the left at one and sweeping her spear right at another. The shield bounced off the head of the first creature, stopping it mid-flight, and then returned to the girl's outstretched hand, which immediately came back around to drive the hard edge of the defensive armament into the throat of another Beowolf that likewise disappeared into nothingness at the ferocity and precision of the attack.
Holy shit. She wasn't fighting the Grimm, she was dismantling them. She didn't even look all that put out by the exertion. Hell her hair was still perfectly held in place.
Faster than I thought should have been possible for a non-Servant, the Beowolf pack that had given me such trouble had been entirely vanquished, and the golden armoured warrior twirled her spear back into a resting position like she had merely been dancing and was now done with the activity. When she turned to me, I was still on the ground, kneeling where I had pushed myself up to stare at the insane feat of skill she had just displayed.
"Are you all right?" She said jogging easily over to me, a hand outstretched to help me up.
"Yeah. Sorry about that." I stammered out, taking her hand and rising to my feet. Instead of immediately releasing her hand though, I shook it once and nodded at her in appreciation. Once I was standing I realized how much taller than her I was - not that that really meant anything. It was just so amazing to me that such a small woman could be so powerful. I mean, it really shouldn't given my family history but -
"Are you, my master?"
Her lips were moving, and I knew she was speaking, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what she was saying. I felt like I was having a stroke or something. I frowned, blinking away the lingering disorientation of my landing.
"So. Guess we're partners now. I'm Jaune." I said, secretly pleased that I was going to be partnered with a cute girl. Actually, if I thought back, most of the students I had seen had been cute girls. What was up with that?
"I'm Pyrrha." She said simply, but her eyes searched mine for something as she said them, searched and searched, and searched. I got the impression she was waiting for me to say or do something, so after a moment of watching each other I said;
"Nice to meet you Pyrrha. Do... I mean, do you know where the ruins are?" I asked her stupidly, grasping for literally any topic.
Stupid stupid stupid. Now she knew I didn't know where the hell we were. Not only did that make me look dumb as hell, it meant I couldn't cheat and ask Archer without having to explain why I suddenly knew where we were going. Damnit.
"No, but I had assumed moving towards the mountain would be a wise decision." She answered, a contented smile popping up on her face as though I had asked the right question. Okay. This was good. I was off to a good start.
"Shall we partner?" I said, motioning towards the mountains with confidence - even though inwardly I was cringing. The emphasis I had put on the word partner was weird. She was going to think I was weird. Damnit Dad how did you even get tickets to watch the gene pool let alone get in!?
"After you." She answered me playfully - either not catching, or not minding my weirdly intimate inflection.
Thank god for small favours.
It wasn't too much later that Pyrrha and I found ourselves exiting the forest to find a cave entrance, with a sign in front of it that I couldn't really make heads or tails of. I already knew we were going in vaguely the right direction, even if we were on the right side of the mountain yet, and I eyed the cave with some trepidation, more than a little hesitant to wander into an unknown location in the middle of a forest.
"Hey Pyrrha, check this out," I said, pointing at the sign I had been standing in front of and stepping aside so Pyrrha could get a better look at it.
The sign was childlike in its simplicity. Part of it was faded and hard to make out, but the part that was clear was of a stick figure walking towards something.
"Maybe it means we're going in the right direction?" Pyrrha said hopefully.
"Good enough for me I guess," I said, not meaning a single word of it.
"Jaune, your shaking." Pyrrha pointed out with a girlish giggle that nearly made me forget she could probably kill me with one hand.
"I don't like dark caves okay!?" I defended, not willing to admit that I was actually just worried the next set of Grimm we fought was going to take what remained of my Aura and kill me before I ever started my first class at Beacon.
"Come on, I'll go first," she said, still laughing at me. It felt... comfortable. Like we'd known each other for much longer than we actually had. Or rather, like both of us were so unused to being around people that finding out neither one of us was secretly a serial killer or something had torn down some barrier that would normally have been present when meeting someone new.
Then again, meeting in the middle of a life or death situation will do that, won't it? I guess this is why partners are picked this way.
Carefully I followed Pyrrha into the cave, keeping my shield raised and my sword overhead like Archer had taught me. Pyrrha mirrored the movement, sliding in next to me in a way that placed some of her shield in front of me and left her spear hand open to thrust. Pyrrha's movements and execution of the stance were drastically more practiced than mine, so good in fact that I found myself unconsciously trying to copy her. Of course, I'm not very good at sword stuff, so all this resulted in was me fidgeting as we walked further into the cave - but I tried.
Pretty soon, we got far enough into the cave that the light from the entryway was no longer enough to illuminate our surroundings. Not long after that, we found it. Glowing orange light in the center of the cave. The glow was curiously contained, somehow not shedding light on any of its surroundings despite its obvious brightness, and I stepped towards it without hesitation. I was ready to grab this thing and get the hell out of this forest.
"Jaune wait-!" Pyrrha called too late. Because as I put my shield out to touch the orange thing, eight smaller dots of red light appeared ahead of me. And the orange thing began to move. Suprised I jumped forward to grab the relic I was immediately punished for it as the orange thing whipped backwards, pulling me off my feet to the accompanying sound of rocks crumbling underfoot.
In the murky darkness I could just make out Pyrrha as she stared aghast at me, but then everything was moving and it was all I could do to hang tight to what I was beginning to think probably wasn't the relic we were looking for. Whatever it was I was holding on to, it sped forward, chasing after Pyrrha who lobbed her returning shield at it once before opting simply to sprint away towards the light and presumably, a greater ability to tell what the hell was going on.
The minute the thing I was on exited the cave I immediately felt regret grow in my heart. I didn't know how - but this was Archer's fault. No wait I knew exactly how this was Archer's fault, he was literally watching this all go down, he should have seen it coming and warned me!
The thing I was grasping, was not an ancient relic. It was a scorpion stinger easily as big as my entire body, with an orange glow tinging its middle. I had grabbed and was now hanging from the tail of an enormous scorpion. I could see Pyrrha below me, leaping out of the way of the giant Grimm scorpions snapping claw attacks. She almost didn't seem bothered by the attacks, her upturned gaze spending more time tracking me as I hung from the swaying tail than it did actually watching what her opponent was doing. She had a panic-stricken look on her face, as though she was unsure how to react given the situation.
The creature made the decision for her, it's stinger rocketing down at her in a stab that Pyrrha easily deflected, pirouetting past it to strike a glancing blow against the thick armoured hide of the beast. Unfortunately for me, the stinger reared back just as fast as it struck, and with a jerk I once more found myself sailing through the air over the treeline.
Only this time with much-reduced Aura capacity.
"Daaaaamnniiiiiitttttttt" I screeched, my voice reaching an octave I hadn't been able to hit since before puberty.
Once more I reinforced myself, but this time for lack of a Beowolf to land on, I careened through the air and then into the ground, only barely managing to get my feet under me before I touched down. I tore a rent in the earth where I passed, leaving a meter long pair of gouges in the dirt where I had attempted to slow my forward momentum.
A quick glance around told me there weren't any grim nearby - which was good because that landing had drained my aura down into the twenty-five percent range. It also showed me that I was now standing in what looked like a stone ruin, surrounded by pedestals with chess pieces on it. Yang was there, and to my surprise, so was the black haired girl from the train. I wondered why they hadn't made any move to say anything to me, but then realized tiredly that they were staring straight up at something. Something that was yelling.
"Incomiiiiiiiiing!" A shrill voice called from above me, and before I could do much more than turn around a black and red missile crashed into me, sending me bowling end over end until I was sprawled in a heap at Yangs feet - again.
"Ah Jauney boy, you really know how to remind a girl that shes still got it." Yang crooned at me, nudging me with one foot so I would roll over. When I did so, Ruby crawled out from beneath me and was quickly pulled to her feet by her sister.
"Hey, Rubes. You okay?" Yang asked, with perhaps more seriousness than I was expecting from the flippant girl.
As the two sisters caught up, I was left with nothing better to do than turn to Blake - at least, I was pretty sure it was Blake. She had a huge black bow where her cat ears would have been, but it had only been a few days since I'd last seen her... hijacking a train?
We stared perplexed at each other for several seconds, until I mouthed the words 'ear canals' at her, gesturing loosely at the bow atop her head. Her eye twitched and she scowled at me but continued to say nothing as we exchanged looks. It's been said that people can have whole conversations with their eyes. If that was so, ours was going something like this;
'What the hell?'
'How the crap?'
'Why!?'
It wasn't a very sophisticated conversation.
Thinking of sophistication brought my attention to another feminine form that had literally dropped into our midst during the conversation. The white-clad girl I had so recently embarrassed myself in front of drifted to the ground like a leaf on the wind, gently landing and immediately spinning to Ruby.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?! Are you trying to get us killed?!" She yelled at the smaller girl.
"Come on Weiss, we made it here didn't we?" Ruby argued back, in a subdued tone. I could actually see Yang's posture change from shameless gawker to protective big sister. It was a posture that both I - and the majority of the Ansel police force - were immediately familiar with. It was a posture that spoke of violence. And I wanted nothing to do with it. And yet I found my feet dragging me towards the oncoming conflict...
Is it brain damage? Is that why I'm like this? Too many blows to the head?
Before I could sate my apparent death wish, a loud booming crashed echoed in the distance, the sound drawing closer and closer until an orange haired girl riding an Ursa, one of the more common but still huge, and dangerous, varieties of Grimm, exploded into the clearing around the ruins. When she did, the Grimm she was riding abruptly gave up the ghost, plowing face first into the ground and allowing the girl to step off its head and fully into view just as it died. She had a white shirt one, and a frilly pink skirt that could not be very effective for battle. She also had a hammer as tall as she was slung over one shoulder with casual ease - which is why I chose not to mention my observations about her attire up. Honestly, I was getting the feeling that years of dealing with my sister's foibles was going to be more of an asset than I'd really like here at Beacon. There seemed like a disproportionate number of stupidly strong women here. In fact, I had yet to see a single other guy in this forest.
As though summoned by my thoughts, and a man with black hair and pink highlight sprinted out of the woods after girl, coming to a halt right behind her panting for breath.
"Nora! Please, slow down!" He begged I mean really begged. It was the type of desperate plea you give when you know no one is going to answer your prayers but feel compelled to try anyway.
"Aw come on Renny, You wouldn't be so tired if you'd just listened to me in the first place and jump on the other one~" she crooned at him.
"Uh. Hi, Nora and... Renny?" I tried, speaking for the group who was watching with slack-jawed amazement. That was something at least, even if it meant I wasn't going to get to watch Yang and... Weiss? Get into a huge catfight. I'm sure that would be entertaining to watch. Aura doesn't protect clothes... right?
"It's just Ren." the man said, dusting off his green outfit and holstering the two machine pistols he was carrying. He said it like he was used to having to make the correction, and my heart went out to him. This poor guy was going to have to deal with this girl for the next four years. Bummer.
'Heads up. There's a thing Ozpin called a Deathstalker running right for you.' Archer called out to me.
'What the hells a Deathstalker?' I asked with some exasperation.
Just at that moment, Pyrrha came charging out of the woods, a determined set on her face. Behind her, the lumbering form of the giant scorpion Grimm raced to catch up, pincers snapping aggressively. For something that big it was really, really fast.
Ah. So that's what it was called.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called to me, relief evident in her tone. The inhabitants of the ruin had already scattered, each of them grabbing a chess piece off the pedestal and sprinting for cover. I followed suit, yanking a white rook off its pedestal and shoving it into my pocket, then turning to run just ahead of Pyrrha.
Only, the slim form of Ruby slipped from Yangs grasp as I dove for the collapsed pillar they were hiding behind. She raced towards Deathstalker, leaving a streak of rose petals in her wake. I temporarily filed that curiosity away for later, then turned to Yang just as Pyrrha slid into cover next to me.
"What's she doing?!" I asked.
"Fighting, duh!" Yang growled leaping from the sweet, wonderful safety of cover I had only just managed to reach. Blake and Weiss were nearby and seemed to silently agree on something before they too ran back towards the damn thing.
"Should we help them?" Pyrrha asked, seemingly hesitant to leave my side again so soon after finding me.
"I mean -"
"Caw!" an avian cry rang out, drawing my attention upward to where a huge crow like Grimm was bearing down on the currently engaged group of Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang.
How the hell is this just initiation? What the hell were they going to do in class, make us fight Beowolves naked with sticks?!
Not willing to waste any more time than was necessary I charged out of cover, grumbling the whole way about my low aura, and lower self-preservation instincts. The truth of the matter was, I liked these people. Well. Ruby and Yang anyway. I wasn't just going to sit back when I could help them - not when every bit of help could make the difference.
Not when I finally had the chance to be the Hero.
Before my brain could even consciously register what was happening, I was in front of Ruby, my shield raised to defend against a barrage of razor-sharp feathers that further whittled my Aura away. The bird Grimm zipped by overhead, wheeling back around to make another pass, and I noticed it constantly angling its head to keep itself locked firmly on the scythe-wielding girl.
"Split up! It's after Ruby!" I hollered, hoping the simple instruction would be enough to get everyone moving in the right direction. We couldn't fight these two Grimm at the same time. The Deathstalker's armour made it more durable than a main battle tank, and there was no way we could track and avoid the attacks from the bird Grimm while trying to also deal with its stinger and claws.
The second the first four girls began to disengage, I saw Pyrrha, Ren and Nora rushing out of cover after me, their weapons each shifted into range combat forms - although Ren's seemed to only have a ranged combat form. A hail of bullets whipped past me, hammering into the shell of the Deathstalker for little to no effect. Then the grenade came down, detonating in a cloud of smoke that obscured the beast from view.
Quiet suffused the clearing after the explosion, and I relaxed, only for the armoured Grimm to fly free of the smoke, one closed pincer already en route to hammer into the ground. Time slowed, and I realized I didn't have enough Aura to take this hit. But it was too late, and the Deathstalker was too close. I couldn't evade, I couldn't block.
I was going to die.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!" Roared the giant, one hand swiftly swinging its massive weapon down on me. I had nowhere to run. No way to dodge. This was it. This was the end. Still, I cried out for her, who had sword she would protect me -
"Saber!" I yelled, Crocea Mors falling from my hand.
And then she was there. The red-haired king of knight appeared in front of me, grunting with effort as she jammed her shield into the downward swinging claw, sending it careening to the left of us.
Red... red...
Pyrrha!
"Pyrrha!" I gasped, quickly bending to pick up Corcea Mors and leaping away from the oncoming Deathstalker's attacks. Pyrrha remained firmly in front of the thing, her lance and shield arcing out in perfect time to its attacks, deflecting and countering them with absolute surety. Even a single mistake could lead to death, and yet there she stood, between me and it, like a guardian angel, resolute in her drive to protect.
Something clicked, and my mind whirred back to life, driving out the confusion and distress that had coloured my thoughts since landing here. I had to focus. I wasn't a good fighter or even a good Hunstmen - I couldn't even scratch that things armour with my attacks let alone kill it. And from the looks of things neither could Pyrrha.
So I wouldn't come at this like a Hunstmen. Just this once, I'd come at it like a Magus.
"Ren, Nora, flank it!" I roared, surging to my feet and rushing to Pyrrha's side. With her there, I could at least make the most of my absurd reinforcement enhanced strength. No longer in immediate danger, I gave up on defending myself, allowing my shield to drop and gripping Crocea Mors with both hands. I swung furiously at the things claws every opportunity I got, the force of my blows sending the Deathstalker off balance, and providing that much more time for Pyrrha to recover between attacks.
Meanwhile, Nora and Ren ranged out to either side of the thing, peppering it with blows.
When finally, it grew tired of the annoyance, it made to turn away, swiping wildly towards Ren who flipped over the attack. But I had my opening. With all the remaining strength in my body, I cleaved at the joints of its legs, shearing them away and causing the great beast of Grimm to fall over. It could still move and attack, but that absurd speed it had boasted when chasing Pyrrha was lost to it.
"Nora, legs!" I screamed, withdrawing my Mystic Code from the pouch at my side. Nora quickly accepted the order, her grip shifting on her hammer so that she could trigger a blast from the grenade launcher that accelerated her swing and smashed the remaining legs on her side of the Deathstalker to pieces.
"Fall back!" I called, channelling my Prana into the obscenely large dust crystal I had pulled from my bag. It was of the force affinity and was of military strength - easily capable of powering a Bullhead for days on end. On it, I had scrawled in painstaking detail, magical formulae that I had been researching and testing over summer. The result was a much, much stronger Force Crystal than should have normally been possible.
So that's what I threw under the struggling form of the Deathstalker, before pivoting and running after my allies. I mentally counted to distance, knowing exactly how close was too close to safely survive the blast I was about to create. See, I hadn't made much progress on my Jewelcraft. I still couldn't really store Prana in the things. But Archer's 'Broken Phantasm' had given me an idea. One that I hadn't expected to ever have to use on anything smaller than a building.
Still running, I spoke the aria I had only just now come up with under my breath. A stabilizing agent that would help me consistently recreate the phenomenon I was about to force upon the world.
"For it is by walking in the wake of giants, that we achieve immortality." I intoned and instantly felt what remained of my Prana slip from me across the distance to the Dust Crystal currently resting under the Deathstalker. Dozens of thaumaturgical equations triggered at once, dispersing every iota of the energy throughout the crystal until the final inscription was touched upon. The inscription that would turn that energy back in on itself, creating a chain reaction that would 'break' the crystal, releasing all of its energy, all that potential outward in a single, deafening blast.
I was physically picked up and thrown by the blast wave. There was no heat - because this was not a fire stone. There was no sound - because this was not technically an explosion. It was simply a wave of pure, unrestricted force. There was a dull thump behind me as I tumbled onto the ground next to Pyrrha, nearly all my aura, and all my Prana drained from me.
Weakly, I stood and turned to find all three of my allies staring blank-faced at the area we had just vacated. To call it a crater would be being generous. Rather, it looked as though a giant had stomped on the exact spot the Deathstalker had once existed in, leaving a perfectly circular footprint in the ground.
Nora turned to me slowly, stepping over the stones that littered the ruins with a strange amount of care. She carefully clasped my hands in hers, raising them between us.
"We are going to be like, the best of friends." she squealed, immediately breaking the solemnity of the situation and breaking the spell that held Ren and Pyrrha in place.
I was bloody, beaten, and tired as all hell. I had no aura, and no prana to speak of. I had wasted my one Mystic Code - my singular trump card.
But at least I had made some friends.
-ooo-
Damnit, you know I actually wanted to write a chapter closer to the 4 to 6k range than this. Im finding my word counting going up every chapter even though I'm not actively trying to do much more than reach certain story beats Im hype to write. I'm on my two week vacation now, and I'm trying to make editing passes at this stuff as I post it now, but as always, I'm kind of stupid and probably missed a ton of mistakes. This is the first real chapter with more than like... two characters in a scene at once really, and I'm kind of anxious to see how I did in the initiation - I realize there wasn't a whole crap top of dialogue in that respect, but alot of that I feel is because its all from Jaunes perspective, instead of jumping to whatever character happens to be talking at the time.
Still looking for a Beta Reader (seriously guys, message me if your interested).
Other than that, not much to say.
Oh and as always
Thanks for reading.
