Author's Note: Okay, I just found out that the mother's name is actually "Willow." Thankfully, I only ever mentioned her by name a handful of times so it isn't much of an edit. On other news, I've finally figured out teams, partners, and I have finalized the semblances on all my characters. Also happy new year.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.
Routine Training Exercise
It was the morning of the Initiation and all potential students were currently lined up at the Beacon Cliff. The school headmaster, Professor Ozin stood before them, coffee mug in hand, judging their every move.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors," Ozpin lectured, "And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."
His Vice-headmistress, Glynda closes her tablet before meeting the eyes of the students.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today," she announced.
"What?" Ruby anxiously whispers, "Ohhh..."
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," Ozpin continued.
Ruby lets out a long groan as her anxiety continued to build.
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years," Ozpin.
Ruby grabs the sides of her head and hysterically cries "Whaaaat?!"
Ruby could feel her whole world shattering around her like glass.
"See?" Nora nudges Ren and playfully sings "I told you-!"
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path…" Ozpin adjusts his glasses before adding "Or you will die."
Jaune lets out a nervous laugh before loudly swallowing a gulp.
"Just another routine training exercise hm?" Streicher jokes to Kowalski making him roll his eyes.
"Stay calm, remember what you were taught, and I'll see you at the rendezvous," Anderson tells his men as they all take position on their pads.
"You heard the man, boys!" Seneviev bellows enthusiastically, "Time for some hazard pay!"
"Ho'ah!"
"Ho'ah."
"Ura."
"Ura!"
"NORA!"
"Wait ...what?" Kowalski murmurs.
Ozpin adds one final note saying "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"
Jaune nervously raises his hand.
"Yeah, um, sir?" he calls out.
Ozpin turns to the others and says
"Good! Now, take your positions," he says to them before turning back to Jaune and nodding.
Malarkey, Kowalski, and Seneviev were the first to get ready as their arms let off a cosmic blue glow as they each powered up their semblances. Anderson was next as he simply crouched down and made a couple quick calculations for his double-jump. Streicher unspooled his rappel line and gave it a few good swings before whipping it out with a loud crack. Lastly was Basuda who summons a massive, pearlescent condor which gracefully lands on his stretched out arm.
"Uh, sir?" Jaune tries again, "I've got, um... a question."
Jaune completely misses the tile under Weiss rising up into a springboard, rocketing her into the air and over the forest. He also fails to notice as the other platforms activate down the line.
"So, this landing... strategy, thing... Uh, wha-what is it?" he asks nervously, "You're, like, dropping us off or something?"
"Well that dude's fucked," Malarkey sighs as he and Streicher observe the poor blonde.
"Well you never know," Streicher reasoned, "He just might surprise us."
"Mm, maybe," Malarkey shrugs before looking over and watching as Senviev gets launched. "Looks like you're up."
"I'll see you on the other side," he says to Malarkey.
Malarkey nods as Streicher gets launched. Streicher closes his eyes briefly as he once again felt the familiar feeling of vertigo as he went into free-fall. He opens his eyes and gazes upon the massive trees below him. Conveniently, the majority of the trees in the forest are made up of giant redwoods easily averaging heights of 250 ft and greater. To Streicher, this meant they were tall enough to safely bungee jump off of. He hastily readies his shock cord as he eyes one tree in particular which looked to be around 350 ft tall. His world begins to slow and he hurls the chord at the taller one, successfully snagging the cord around its massive trunk.
With the chord secured to his ankle, Streicher calmly enters into a swan dive as he plummets towards the ground. He felt a slight sense of discomfort as he saw the ground rushing towards him and he instinctively closes his eyes just as the cord reached its end. As he didn't have any form of power or control for the duration of this moment, he let himself bounce a few times before he opened his eyes again. Quickly regaining his bearings, he estimated the distance between the end of the cord and the ground was around 10 ft and unsecured his MPX. He gets a tight grasp on his weapon before quickly reaching up to his ankle to undo his screw-lock carabiner.
He falls to the ground, landing on his feet before dropping to a crouch and snapping is smg up as he clears the area. He quiets his breathing as he listens to the sounds of the forest, constantly checking his peripherals for any sign of movement, friendly or otherwise. When nothing came forth, Streicher slowly stood up, he gazes up at the cord still hanging from the tree before he pulls out a small device and presses the button.
With a loud, electronic click, the cord unfastens itself from the top of the tree and falls down to the ground before him. After quickly respooling the cord, he places it into his bag and secures his smg to his side before pulling out his rifle. Without ever taking his eyes off the forest, he chambers a round and closes the dust over. Streicher suddenly freezes, eyes wide and alert, trusting his gut, he snaps his rifle onto the bushes behind him.
A decently accented voice calls out the word "Texas."
"Ranger," Streicher responds instinctively before lowering his rifle.
Out from the bushes steps Basuda with his condor still perched on his shoulders.
"Good to see you SGT," he greeted.
"Likewise sir," Streicher respond politely.
Basuda whispers something in Russian to the bird and petted its breast gently before it takes off into the sky and disappears in a flash of light.
'Always with the birds,' Streciher internally grumbled.
Basuda must have known what he was thinking judging by the cheeky grin he threw his way.
"Arlight, let's get to the rendezvous."
"You know the way?" Streicher states more than asks.
Basuda nods "Da, I spotted it while flying in."
"Lead the way sir," Streicher glances at their rear while the two make way for the spot.
Anderson's breathing quickened as the ground came closer. The free-fall barely lasted five seconds, but to Anderson it was an eternity. He had to time his jump to just three to four feet off the ground, if he got it wrong then he could seriously injure himself. Even after numerous successfully jumps, this was still something that made him uneasy.
As he fell closer, at the last moment, he used his aura as a trampoline propelling him further and slowing his velocity just enough before….
*blink*
Anderson is suddenly transported from the air onto the ground where he tucks and rolls to cushion the fall. He lands on his forefoot and snaps his rifle up pulling security as he observed the forest for any signs of danger.
*snap*
Anderson immediately swung his rifle over in the direction of the noise and stops at a group of bushes. Anderson was not known for having an itchy trigger finger, "Rules of Engagement" exist for a reason and the last thing Anderson wanted to do was blow away an innocent teen who had the stupidity to sneak up on him.
In a loud commanding voice, he calls out "Halt! Advance be recognized!"
After the line was delivered, Anderson waited for a response of any kind. Instead, he was greeted with a dark silhouette rising from behind the bush. It was too buried in the shadows to quite make out what it was.
In one final attempt, he calls out once again "Step out of the bush and identify yourself or I will open fire!"
No response. The figure instead stood there and he good feel its gaze boring deep into his skull. Without further hesitation, Anderson lets off three rounds into what he believed was the torso. A pained bark and growl was heard and the silhouette stumbled forth out of the shadows to reveal and ursa minor with three bullet holes in its chest. He quickly fires off two more round this time into the throat of the beast and it plops down onto the ground before him slowly choking on its own blood. He then started hearing more growling, this time it was louder. He glances back at the bushes and sees a pair of red eyes glaring back at him. The eyes move forward into the light revealing another ursa, this one looking much angrier than the last.
With a slight turn of his head, he could see another one entering into his peripherals. The ursa in front of him narrows its eyes as if challenging him. A challenge which he was happy to oblige. Anderson fires off a good burst of automatic fire before swing the rifle behind him and dropping onto his knee, firing off the rest of his magazine. His rifle let out a familiar click just as he heard the footsteps of a third ursa. He drops his rifle to his side before ripping his sidearm out of his holster. His Burnt Bronze Desert Eagle was revealed in its full glory as he brings it to bear on the last ursa.
*slice*
Before he could fire, the ursa limps forward a step and falls over revealing a man with a sword that was still dripping with the ursa's blood. The man wore an asymmetrical black, long-sleeved, double-breasted stylized high-collared blazer with slit sleeves along with red thorn sigils adorned with a white crest that lined up on his left shoulder. He also wore a white mask which hid his eyes, Anderson took note of the two reddish-black horns sticking out from either side of his head. The man's gaze lowered to the pistol aimed at him, neither moving.
"Down!" Anderson calls out.
The man immediately ducks and Anderson fires at the ursa that had managed to sneak up behind him. The man looks at the corpse before turning back to Anderson, who by now was holstering his massive pistol.
"Nice shot," the man complimented.
"Thank you," Anderson responded politely. "So who are you?"
"My names Adam," the man responds.
"Anderson," he responds in kind, he on instinct reaches his hand out.
Adam looks at it for a moment before slowly accepting.
"I guess this makes us partners," Anderson comments.
"I guess it does," Adam smirks.
"I spy with my little eye…." Penny places her hand under her chin as she thinks of her next response, "Something colba-"
"My eyes," Kowalski answers.
"How did you know?" asks Penny, slightly surprised.
"What else is cobalt around here?" Kowalski snorts.
"Oh," Penny hummed thoughtfully, "Your turn."
"Daddy's back," a voice calls out.
Penny jumps up and shouts "Salutations SPC Malarkey!"
"Hey," Kowalski waves. "How'd it go?"
"I just got off the air with SGT Streicher," Malarkey grunts as he sits down on the rock besides Kowalski, "He said he's just a few minutes out from us, he and the LT are close to us."
It had been ten minutes since Kowalski had landed. In that time, he had met up with Penny, made a decently lengthed trek to the spot, and found Malarkey there waiting for them. So far it has been a rather uneventful day, other then being launched off of a cliff of course.
"Texas!" another voice announces.
"Ranger!" they all reply as Streicher and Basuda emerge from the bushes.
At the moment, the group had taken refuge in a small cove as they awaited the rest of the group.
"How's it going?" Basuda asks.
Streicher steps aside and starts setting up a TUGS.
"Nothing happening yet sir," Malarkey yawns. "Sensors are clean for the moment."
"Sir," Kowalski calls out, "CPT Anderson is on the line."
Basuda pauses for a moment and sniffs the air.
"What is it?" Malarkey inquires.
"That stench," Basuda says grimly, "I've smelled it before."
Basuda walks over and Kowalski hands him the sat-phone.
"Something wrong?" Malarkey asks as he watches Kowalski mess with the radio.
"Radio's getting a lot of interference," he murmurs.
"Just now?" Malarky asks, his smile fading.
"Yeah, just came out of nowhere," Kowalski replies. "No idea what's causing it, it was working just fine a moment ago."
Malarkey picks up his tablet. For a moment, he sees a handful of contacts gets picked up by the sensor. He confirms with the TUGS that they are indeed real.
"Sir," Malarkey calls out to Basuda. He gets up too turns to see Basuda still Basuda still on the radio. "Sir!"
Basuda turns and looks back but before Malarkey could say anything, a loud high-pitched noise filled everyone's head throwing them all off balance. Basuda was on the floor grabbing his ears in pain due to his more sensitive ears.
"Sir!" Penny cries before rushing to his side.
"Wait!" Streicher cries.
They all stop and watch as the wind around them starts to pick up and a thick fog starts to build around them.
"Incoming!" Streicher screams.
Everyone instantly ducks and covers their heads as the wind builds up into a full blast knocking everyone into the ground before another sonic blast hits their ears making Basuda black-out.
"Sir, sir!" a voice calls out.
Basuda's eyes snap open and he shouts "I'm alright."
He looks up to see Penny worriedly holding him.
"Status!" he barks.
"We were just hit sir!" Penny reported. "I suspect a High-Frequency-Sonic-Pulse!"
"Sir, TUGS down!" Streicher reports.
"So is the heart-bet sensor," Malarkey adds.
"Radio's out too," Kowalski adds.
"Nosalises!" Basuda growls.
Basdua unslings his AK and switches off the safety. Everyone else snaps into action each brandishing their weapons with their backs to each other.
"This much electronic interference with fog this thick, its gotta be an entire fucking den!" Kowalski worriedly cries.
"Sir, we can not stay here," Streciher hisses.
A cacophony of roars surrounded the group as they scooted slightly closer to each other.
"We don't have much of a choice right now," Basuda says simply.
"Man I can't see shit," Malarkey grumbles. "How 'bout you SGT?"
"No," he shook his head.
"Stay calm!," Basuda warns, "Watch your backs, boys."
The barking and grunting grew louder as the horde closed in on the group. They may not have been able to see it, but with the noise they were making, it really didn't matter.
"Okay, okay…." Basuda mutters, "Looks it's going to be tougher than the library."
The snarling grew even closer.
"On my mark…." Basuda whispers.
Kowalski was the first to fire. From the edge of the fog he watched a lone nosalis leap up into the air. Kowalski raises his shotgun and fires directly into its face, almost decapitating it. Streicher entered bullet-time, he watched the muzzle blast from the shotgun push a good chunk of the fog out of the way, revealing an entire group climbing on the walls and trees above them.
"Cyka blyat!" Basuda shouts. "Fire at will!"
From there everyone let loose as the fog cleared revealing the cove which was crawling with the creators.
"Let's rock!" Malarkey cries and lets loose at full automatic spraying into the droves.
Kowalski and Penny sliced and blasted any got too close while Basuda and Streicher used their rifles to pick off the ones on the walls of the cove. Soon, a pair of plated ones closed in on Kowalski. Kowalski fires off the last of his mag, blasting the guts out of one of them while the other tackling him to the ground. They wrestle for a bit as Kowalski struggles to unhook his hammer while trying to stop it from biting him.
A bullet suddenly rips through the back of its skull and Kowalski pushes it off of him. Kowalski watches as a group descends down on Streicher. Streicher fires off the rest of his rifle before slamming the butt of it into the snout of an unfortunate nosalis that had managed to get in behind him. Streicher pulls out his Glock and cuts an additional two that managed to get too close before sweeping up his smg and firing off into the crowd. A roar draws Kowalski's attention as a creature charges him. Kowalski swiftly bats it aside with his hammer before slapping a fresh mag into his shotgun. He fires several shells into the group approaching Streicher whie Penny uses her Floating Array to slice a nosalis in half.
Kowalski looks to Streicher and sarcastically asks "Routine, right?"
Author's Note: I am leaving it off there if an attempt not ruin the pacing. Writing Streicher's landing was the most fun part about this chapter. I drew inspiration from the opening scene in the movie Goldeneye, it is arguably one of the best James Bond movies and is a personal favorite of mine. Nosalis is obviously not a Grimm type from canon, it is from a book/game series that I grew up with and it holds a close place to my heart. The teams will be formed next chapter. Until then, goodbye and remember, Big Brother is watching.