GIANT AXE!~ Alright everyone, this chapter puts the cap on everyone's teammates for the time being. Don't worry about Jaune though, I've got quite an interesting team in mind for him no doubt.
Now, I know I got really ambitious with these pairings, but I wanted to go far and beyond and allow some characters who didn't get to shine a chance to prove themselves in my story. I also have the teams set and named, and will announce them in the next 1-2 chapters.
With that, I hope I didn't upset anyone too much with the partner's thing, and as usual happy reading everyone!
With the elder son of the RDI now partnered, his younger sibling struggled to keep her temper in check.
Neo was the opposite of a happy camper. Not only did she fall far from her meeting spot with Roman, but she also tore the cuffs of the coat that her pops bought for her initiation. With a sigh, Neo unbuttoned the damaged cuffs and shoved them in her pant pockets before tilting her head at her surroundings.
Nothing but thick patches of trees and endless grass, the little girl puffed her cheeks and began her long journey through the forest. She hated walking alone and with her being a mute and all, she could do little to fill the boring silence around her.
"Growr!" Snarled a Beowolf. Her boredom solved, Neo squinted at the source of the malevolent growl.
The obsidian-skinned monster peeking through a patch of bushes, the Grimm bore its fangs at its short prey. Her eyes shifting between pink and brown, Neo grinned at the thought of releasing her pent up stress and anger. The Beowolf lunged with its arms outstretched and teeth bared.
Pivoting on her heels, Neo dipped to the side and gripped the handle of her new weapon. While harmless in appearance, the umbrella dubbed as 'hush' was quite the potent tool. Doubling as a sword cane, Neo withdrew her blade in the blink of an eye and thrust its tip straight into the charging Beowolf's eyes.
The Grimm shrieked in pain, but the huntress in training wasn't finished just yet. With the steel of her blade lodged in the monster's skull, Neo twisted her weapon's handle sending an absurd amount of agony through the Beowolf's body. The Grimm fell to the ground in a whimpering mess, its carcass sending a thick puff of black haze while leaving behind a few boney remains.
Neo pouted, the smile on her face on the verge of sadistic, she sheathed her blade and continued to walk. Her scroll still forced to offline mode, Neo glanced at the very first gift her pops bestowed her. Simple in design, it was a bracelet with a glass orb sitting on top, with a needle hanging from inside the orb by a thin piece of wire.
Neo's pops called it a log pose, but seeing the needle within failed to react to the magnetic pulls of the islands in Remnant, Crocodile had the item modified and turned into a compass instead.
The needle in the glass orb pointing north, Neo sighed and fastened her steps. As much as she liked to impale weak Grimm, she didn't want to stay in the wilderness for too long. That and her tummy was craving a few scoops of vanilla ice-cream.
"Weee!" Squealed a nearby feminine voice.
Neo curled a brow and scuttled behind a tree. She didn't want a partner who wasn't her brother, but remembering how far she was thrown from desired landing spot because of that stupid ginger-haired girl... the chances of Roman being her devoted comrade was probably null.
Neo cupped her chin. Who else did she want as her respected equal if Roman was off the table? There were the Hawkins siblings that's for sure. While the daughter of the RDI didn't socialize with the children of her pop's business partner too often, she knew them enough to consider them tolerable acquaintances.
Hm... then again, maybe that dunce named Jaune could be considered a friend? Though a tad awkward, and rough around the edges, the blonde boy at least made the attempt to interact with her and Roman when they visited Vale.
Emerald, on the other hand, was nothing more than someone Neo knew. A secluded sort who depended on her older brother to do introductions and speak for her when they were out in the public, the mint-haired girl didn't possess the same friendly aura that Jaune emanated.
Lost in her thoughts, Neo was brought back to the world of the living when the dirt beneath her feet began to jump up and down. The source of the quakes breaking through the trees, Neo covered herself with her parasol to protect herself from falling branches and leaves.
"Look out people! Valkyrie train coming through!" Cried the same voice from earlier.
Bursting past the fallen trees and tattered shrubs, Neo was thrown into the air by a running Ursa with a ginger-haired girl atop it.
"Where are you Renny?!" Giggling like a maniac, the jolly student dug her heels into the Ursa's shoulders and looked toward the sky when a shadow crossed her face.
"Ah, I finally found you Re-"
Reaching her arms out to catch the bewildered projectile, the valkyrie curled a brow and bit her tongue when the person in her embrace was not the boy she was searing for. Instead, she carried a tiny girl with ice-cream themed hair in an awkward bridal style.
Blinking in alarm, Neo thrashed around in the grip of her captor, but the damage was done when a set of exciting turquoise pupils met with a pair of mismatched brown and pink.
"Partners formed.~" Chimed a tune riddled with static.
Her skin now matching the color of vanilla, Neo paled as she glowered at the person responsible for her poor initiation experience.
"Oh, I know you, you're the girl I crashed into after I accidentally slapped Jauney!" The boisterous teen lowered her voice and offered a nervous apology for her prior antics.
"Neo Politan Crocodylus and Nora Valkyrie.~" The scrolls finished with a roar of applause then locked themselves back to offline mode.
Neo's glare soured to one of disgust, and Nora did her best to smile while whistling nonchalantly.
"So I guess we're partners now huh, Neo?" The valkyrie chuckled and hopped off the panting Ursa with her new ally still in her arms.
Wriggling free from the ginger head's clutches, Neo turned her back on the girl then stomped her feet and pulled her hair. She didn't want this crazy girl to be her partner! Then a dark idea wormed its way into the little girl's mind.
Maybe her pops could arrange Nora's death? Her uncle Mr. 1 did say he used to be an assassin from the west blue, wherever that is...
"Um, is everything okay Neo? I already said I was really sorry for crashing into you..." Nora gulped as her partner snickered mischievously while rubbing her gloved hands together with a deadly glint in her heterochromatic eyes.
"Growr!" Roared the Ursa who'd been patiently waiting on the sidelines.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about the naughty Grimm!" Nora spouted, eager to divert Neo's attention away from her person.
The bubbly girl pulled out her trusty weapon, Magniled, a devastating war hammer that doubled as a grenade launcher and slapped on a crazed grin.
"After you partner!" Nora shouted.
Well, at least she's eager to do the dirty work. Neo hissed under her breath.
Despite her elaborate plan of imitating sloth speech to attract her best friend Renny, the boy in question happened to find himself in the sights of a rather large Grimm. A King Taijutsu, known for their serpentine bodies and deadly fangs, among the vast species of Grimm many could argue that Taijutsu's were the most hostile.
His duel pistols drawn, Ren skidded across the grass while unloading several magazines at the snake monster's scaly hide. This proved inefficient and left Ren vulnerable from behind. Another monstrous head baring its fangs, the second half of the King Taijutsu made itself known and rammed the young hunter from behind.
His body crashed to the ground, and he lost his weapon Storm Flower in the process. Shaking his head, Ren swung his legs into the air and propelled himself back on his feet. He could deal with a fair amount of Beowolves and maybe an Ursa Major or two, but this deadly duo of two-headed Grimm needed some extra force to be subdued.
His hands glowing a vibrant magenta, Ren took a firm stance and stared straight at his target who was now charging towards him.
"Eight Impact Fist: Palm Thrust!"
When the trembling palms of reverberating aura collided with one of the Taijutsu's heads, the entire upper half of the beast felt the powerful shockwaves and flew back into a cluster of trees as a result. The second head, having witnessed the spectacle, retracted and raised its head in caution.
While his mentor Chinjao stated the boy could not utilize the power of the eight impact fist to its full potential due to him lacking the quality known as haki, Ren made do with aura manipulation and taught himself to copy his mentor's techniques through rigorous training.
However, as a drawback, applying the eight impact fist in combat took a great toll on Ren's stamina and his aura reserves. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths to emphasize this point.
Hissing, the Grimm Ren palmed shook its head and narrowed its beady eyes on the human responsible for its pains. Snarling at its white counterpart to take action, the two Grimm lunged in repeated rhythms with their fangs.
Ren managed to divert the impacts with his elbows and fists, but the combination and endless assault forced him back with each hit. Seeing a window of opportunity, the young hunter dipped his head down at the last second and gripped the dominant fangs of the blake obsidian beast.
Wrenching the boney fangs from the Grimm's mouth, it seethed in pain, but Ren did not allow it to gather its bearings. He leaped upon its skull and drove both of the fangs down the Taijutsu's red sockets. His hands flaring with aura once more, Ren delivered a fatal blow that imploded the Grimm's upper half.
Specks of bone and black blood littered the earth, and Ren turned toward his second opponent. Beads of sweat trickling down his face and neck, the young hunter sighed as the white Taijutsu hissed at him.
"Hmph, no breaks for me huh..."
Ren dug his heels in the dirt and raised two fists.
"Graaawwwr!" Howled a wounded Beowolf.
Both Ren and the Taijutsu titled their gazes toward the disturbance. The sound of falling trees and shattering stone echoing in the distance, it didn't take long for a Beowolf skull to speed past the plantations and whack Ren's Grimm across the face.
"Iron Body!" Yelled a masculine voice.
Breaking through the bushes came a pale, young man with gray eyes and gray hair, that was partially slicked back while unkempt at the front. He sported a gray jacket and jet-black pants which cuffed around his ebony combat boots.
Forced to perform a barrel roll, the boy grit his teeth when more Beowolves along with a small pack of Ursa joined the fight. Though when his stone-colored irises landed on a boy in a green combat robe, the stranger ran over to his fellow student with a sigh of relief.
"Hey there, I've got a few of those Grimm bastards behind me and you seem to be in quite the pickle. How about we lend each other a hand and kick some ass?" He said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Well, I-" Before Ren could finish his sentence, both his and the stranger's scroll beeped.
"Partners formed.~"
The gray-haired teen scratched his cheek.
"Ah, crap, I forgot I was supposed to make Cinder my partner..."
"Lie Ren and Mercury Black.~"
Their message complete after a few buzzes and confetti emojis, the scrolls returned to offline mode and allowed the boys to return to their savage Grimm opponents.
"Well, I can't do anything about this now, so how about it Ren, you have enough energy to fight?" Mercury smirked at his partner's lazy nod.
"It would be my pleasure." Ren sighed. He'd have to apologize to Nora for not being her comrade later.
"Hm, no sign of Rubes, or anyone else for that matter..." Yang sighed.
She fiddled with the gauntlets on her wrists and sighed. She didn't know where she was going, and her scroll wouldn't say where she needed to go next until she found a partner. To be honest, she was hoping for a girl. It's not that the blonde hated boys or anything, but she didn't like the idea of having a perverted first year ogling her assets at every chance he got.
Her combat boots trudging through the mud, Yang quirked a brow when she arrived at the entrance of a deep cave. She knew the forest was riddled with Grimm, and she didn't want to test her luck if she didn't have to.
Turning away from the stone structure, Yang hesitated when a sudden explosion erupted from the patches of trees behind the cave. Her protective instincts taking hold, Yang rushed to the scene with a loaded Ember Cecelia.
In a wide clearing, a muscular teen with burnt orange hair and adorned in a suit of armor, wielded an explosive mace as he bashed an Ursa over the head. The beast staggered to the ground, but by the grunts and snarls, it was still alive.
Occupied with the monster in front of him, the boy's face paled when another Ursa, even larger than the one he was fighting, emerged from the thickets.
Content with her analysis of the situation, Yang sprung into action and charged towards the Ursa Major with an adrenaline-filled smile on her face.
"Duck if you want to live!" The blonde brawler shouted and fired two dust rounds aimed for the Ursa Major's head.
Doing as told, the orange-haired student kneeled and covered his eyes as the explosive rounds met their target. Its sights blurred, the Ursa Major flailed its arms around in an attempt to ease its injuries or land a lucky strike on its prey.
With a window of opportunity before him, the male student gripped his mace's handle with both hands and swung its head straight into the Grimm's chest. His thumbs clicked the mace's button below the hilt, and a discharge of red dust blew the Ursa's head clean off its shoulders.
The detached limb evaporated into a thick smog cloud along with its body, leaving only a few boney plates behind.
With the larger Ursa dealt with, the boy veered his sights to the Grimm he was fighting prior to the fellow student's interruption. Only to find an attractive blonde girl with her hands on her hips smirking at him.
A pair of healthy lilac staring at a set of bewildered indigo, a chirpy tune rung from both Yang's and the stranger's scrolls after a few seconds of silence.
"Partners formed.~" Dinged the scroll right on queue.
Yang held up her hand for a high five, and the boy forced up an awkward palm and clapped his hand against her's.
"Yang Xiao Long and Cardin Winchester.~" Whistling a merry tune, their scrolls dinged back to offline mode after relaying a message that ordered the pair to head north now that they were partnered.
"Hey, aren't you the guy who got into trouble with that Jaune kid at the ballroom?" Yang curled a brow and her smile drooped slightly when Cardin scoffed.
"Bah, never mind that loser cutie. I guess you're pretty lucky to be paired with a strong hunter like me, eh?" The orange-haired student puffed his chest and flexed his raised arm with a smirk.
Her eyes shifting from lilac to blood red, Yang punched her new partner square in the chest depleting his lungs of all their oxygen. Forced to a knee, Cardin put a hand on his wounded pectorals and coughed for a good bit.
"Let that be a lesson to ya." Yang flicked a few strands of hair behind her ear.
"Hey, are you guys okay over there?!" Called a male voice in the distance.
"Man, that guy already looks more like a gentleman than my partner..." Yang sulked and forced a smile and wave toward the blue-haired boy.
"Huff... Huff... I'm glad I finally found some other people instead of Grimm. The name's Sky Lark by the way." The armored boy had some sort of halberd strapped on his back and greeted Yang with an extended fist for her to bump.
"Yang Xiao Long," The brawler sighed and gestured her acquaintance's attention to the orange-haired boy on the ground.
"Cardin... Winchester..." He wheezed.
"Um, is your partner going to be okay? He looks pretty beat." Sky curled a brow at Yang's devious grin.
"Yeah, he's just got his first dose of manners, courtesy of yours truly." She said with two thumbs pointed at her face.
Sky stepped back, a hint of caution in his brown eyes, but Yang swung an arm around his neck before he could escape.
"Don't worry Sky, I don't bite unless you piss me off." The blonde chuckled and Sky forced himself to laugh along with her.
Now in a team of three, Yang, Cardin, and Sky agreed to travel north together, and hopefully, Sky would find himself a caring partner on the way. Little did the young hunter know, his partner would be quite the conundrum...
"Where is that stupid idiot?" Cinder growled. Her ponytail, dark as night, swished back and forth as she fruitlessly searched for the partner Carmel ordered her to pair up with.
Dressed in a Chinese style, low cut dress, with golden lining on the edges, a feathered accessory dangled off her hip. Tan stockings and black high heels completed her attire, along with a black choker wrapped snuggly around her slender neck.
"He should have been here hours ago. I'm sick of waiting." Cinder huffed and sat on a fallen log near the entrance of the cavern.
Truth be told, the young huntress in disguise didn't know much about Lucci's disciple. She only caught glimpses of him when she went to meet Salem and her inner circle on special occasions. Given Lucci's serious demeanor and his killer instincts, the boy known as Mercury Black was most likely a hardened killer. Something Cinder could appreciate.
The impatient teen rolled her eyes when she stared at the empty sky. Not a single cloud in sight, Cinder's temper was on the verge of blowing up.
"Where is that moron?!" She stood up and stomped her foot. She didn't want to waste time here in this deserted forest, but until she found a partner she had no choice.
A shriek echoing in the dark depths behind her, Cinder curled a brow when stones near the cave's top shook then fell to the ground below. Cinder assumed the cry of pain came from a Grimm, a deathstalker if she were to place a bet.
The sounds of gunfire and bright dust flashes bursting in the darkness, a loud scream followed that of the Grimm's, but this one sounded human.
"I told you, Cardin, that this so-called shortcut was a stupid idea!" Yelled the voice.
"Why don't you shut up and swing that fancy halberd you're so proud of?! Or better yet, maybe you could actually land a shot for a change?!" Snapped another student.
"Can you guys quit your yapping and help me with this pincer?! If even a single strand of my hair is ruined because you two couldn't stop arguing I'm going to kick both your asses after everything is done and over with!" Shouted a female voice.
Cinder covered her giggles with her left hand. Ah, the strife of an idiotic troupe was just what she needed to uplift her spirits. Despite the free entertainment, Cinder needed to flee the area immediately. If she were to meet the eyes of any of those fools, she'd come to regret it in the long run.
However, fate had other plans in store for the hot-headed huntress.
"Eat dust you bloody scorpion!" Shouted a girl with long golden locks as she and her two male cohorts burst from the tunnel while riding a young deathstalker.
Pittered with scratches and bruises, the three students combined their efforts and delivered one fatal blow to the Grimm's head by means of an explosive mace, sharp halberd, and a pair of battle gauntlets which doubled as a shotgun. The beady eyes of the boney monster fading, it let out one last screech before biting the dirt and dissolving into a hazy smoke cloud.
"Aw yeah! We ended that fight with a Yang!" The blonde huntress cheered as the two boys beside her groaned at the pun.
"Don't tell me I'll have to get used to this stupid pun crap for the next four years..." The teen with orange hair grunted.
"You'd better believe it, Cardin, think of it as a merciful blessing after you tried to hit on me." Yang fist pumped.
The armor-clad student winced and raised his hand to a large bruise on his cheek. His new partner, named Yang Xiao Long, was not afraid to emphasize her points with her fists. Both on and off the battlefield mind you.
"Haha, think on the positive Cardin, at least you have a hot partner for four years." A boy with straight, dark blue hair shrugged.
Yang curled a brow at the snarky comment, then by unfortunate chance, her lilac pupils landed on an attractive figure who seemed to be observing the three from afar. The individual also appeared to be alone. Slapping on a mischievous smile, Yang snagged the blue-haired boy by the collar and threw him over her shoulder.
"Well Sky, there's a beautiful partner waiting for you right there!" The blonde laughed.
Cinder's face paled at the incoming projectile. She ducked to the side to avoid the yelping boy, and his face landed flat on the grass as a result.
Cinder tried to escape her inevitable fate, but she underestimated the boy's endurance as he shot up to his feet in no time. Wiping the dirt and weeds from his face, the boy turned to meet the person Yang threw him in front of.
"Damn it, Yang, if I wanted this stranger to be my partner I could have just walked over to her." The boy now dubbed as Sky sighed as his brown eyes met with a pair of fiery amber.
To his shock, the beautiful girl in front of him tried to run away, but Sky reached out a hand on instinct and caught her by the wrist.
"Don't touch me, you idiot!" Cinder scowled but turned to address the blue-haired dunce as a result.
Too late. The damage done with, the scrolls of the two new partners sang in unison with a dazzling display of confetti.
"Partners formed.~" Chimed the scrolls.
Cinder's eyes grew hot, to the point where you could literally see flames protruding from her sockets. All Sky could do was rub his neck and slump his posture under such a scrutinizing glare.
"Sky Lark and Cinder Fall.~"
With the final toot of a horn, their scrolls blinked back to offline mode.
"Well, aren't you happy now Sky?" Yang strutted over with her partner Cardin in tow.
"Um..." Sky winced as Cinder's expression shifted to a visage of absolute indignation.
"I want my mommy..." The bluenette mentally screamed.
"Come on, I don't care who my partner is, as long as it's someone who I won't grow to hate..." Jaune sighed as his loyal elephant patted his head with his trunk for comfort.
"Say, are you tired Funkfreed? You've been walking around for a good while. How about you get some rest? There's still plenty of the day left and I might need your energy in a pinch."
Funkfreed nodded and Jaune hopped off his back. The blonde could manage the rest of the way on his own two feet, as the chances of him encountering his sister in the northern hills were 57%.
The percentage may have been lower than what he desired, but at least it was positive unlike many of his other tarot readings. Tall hills in the distance, Jaune ran a hand through his golden locks as he squinted toward his objective.
He turned to the three brick bats that fluttered beside him and read what his cards foretold. He didn't want to consider such a negative possibility, but given his poor luck over the last few hours, he felt that he needed to at least consider the idea.
Jaune's body froze and blinked several times.
"What... WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE CHANCES OF ME GETTING A PARTNER TODAY IS ZERO PERCENT?!" He wailed.
Little did Jaune know, he wasn't the only flabbergasted blonde in the area. Scrolling through the entries of information and new partners formed in the forest below, Glynda curled a brow and turned to her headmaster for clarification.
"Hm, is something wrong Glynda?" Ozpin sipped his mug and peered over the professor's shoulder to look at her tablet's screen.
"Hold on, why is there an odd number of first years?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you Ozpin," Glynda grumbled.
"Who did the last section of entries for this year's initiation?"
Ozpin tapped his cane and furrowed his brows. He made sure all his teachers submitted their forms a week prior of the first year's initiation, but he was sure he counted a grand total of sixty students.
"Wait a minute, Glynda, could you go back to that prior page?"
Flicking to the desired page, the list of first years under professor Heracle's name had a total of eleven students instead of the usual ten.
"Heracles, could you come here for a minute?" Ozpin sighed.
The jolly beetle warrior politely excused himself from his conversation with professor Peach then strutted over and saluted his friends with a heroic pose.
"Yes, Ozpin-un?"
"Didn't I explicitly say that you could only accept ten students prior to this initiation?" The headmaster asked.
"Ah, you, but then I received a last-minute entry a few days ago. I couldn't just leave a potential forest champion behind, so I added her name to the list-un!" Heracles' declared with his chest puffed out and his hands on his hips.
"Crack~" A bulging vein pulsed in the corner of her forehead, the tablet in Glynda's hands succumbing to the raging emotions within her, she veered her sights to Heracles' feet.
"Kachank!~"
"Whoooaaa! I'm a flying beetle-uuun!" The forest warrior yelled as he propelled through the sky at high speed.
Ozpin looked at his subordinate with concern.
"Um, I know he made a mistake Glynda, but you didn't have to-"
"What was that Ozpin?~" Though she wore a smile, there was an unmistakable torrent of malice behind the woman's emerald eyes.
Perhaps Ozpin needed to make some extra time to emphasize the rules and regulations of the school so Heracles would behave himself in the future... That is when the armored teacher made his way back to the cliff that is.
