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Chapter 05: Initiate
Felix was brought unwillingly from his sleep by the feeling of someone shaking him. Shrugging the hand from his shoulder while muttering a slew of barely intelligible curses he pulled himself into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes. It took a few moments for his sleep addled brain to remember exactly where he was and why, however when he did a broad smile formed across his face
"Show time" he chuckled
"Well someone's in a better mood this morning" Arctus noted dryly. Felix had been frankly insufferable throughout the entirety of their orientation, adding snide comments under his breath as the professors gave them a tour of the campus and explained various important rules and procedures to them; eventually being overheard when during an explanation of the protocol in case of a fire on the campus he had muttered 'I was honestly just going to sit in the middle of it and get a tan' suffice to say the professors had not been pleased.
"Still think some of the health and safety rules are bullshit considering where we are. And don't get me started on the fact we slept in the hall" the Lion Faunus countered as he tried to work out a crick in his neck from sleeping in an awkward position
"Okay I'll grant you that one" Arctus sighed with a bemused shake of the head; he agreed that giving them a tour that including showing the student dormitories and then not allowing the prospective students to use them until after the initiation process seemed a little like mocking. Putting that thought aside he slung his oversized sword into its' customary place over his shoulder and sat on his suitcase wringing his hands nervously while waiting for Felix to get dressed
"What's up with you?" Felix asked, taking in his cousins apparent discomfort as he fastened the harness that housed his swords
"Like you said" Arctus breathed out "It's show time. All the training we've done for the last few years has led up to this, you can't tell me you're not a little nervous"
"Why?" the blonde snorted "I'm good at fighting Grimm, we both are….I mean we look pretty at home here" he gestured around the hall to the other prospective students who were in various states of preparation; Arctus's eyes roved across the room pausing momentarily on a teen with tied back glossy black hair that had an odd greenish sheen, clad in ripped black jeans and a short sleeved charcoal grey hoodie with armoured padding on his knees and elbows, spiked boots and a sleeveless leather jacket adorned with several patches and insignias, several chains hung from the belt loops of his jeans and Arctus was taken aback slightly when he noticed that the teen was seemingly tuning an electric guitar. The Bear Faunus looked around, spotting Felix's friend Nyanza trying to flirt with a pair of girls who were clearly more interested in each other if the fact they were currently holding hands was anything to go by. He couldn't help but grin at the sight of a truly miniscule would be Huntress situated in a corner, dark skinned and less than five feet tall with a large afro and prominent lavender coloured eyes, she wore a two piece faded green jumpsuit that had seemingly been worn while she maintained her weapon if the amount of stains and burns were any indication, the jacket hung open revealing a white tank top bearing the phrase 'Don't worry, be happy' in bold lettering, her right arm was fitted with what appeared to be a rather bulky cybernetic frame, made of components taken from a prosthetic like his fathers' a gleaming steel cylindrical case hung from a strap on her shoulder like a duffel bag and a pair of green tinged goggles adorned her head. His stomach inexplicably dropped when he spotted Diamond chatting animatedly with a gaunt and broad shouldered young man with naturally spiky hair of a deep red colour and somewhat haughty features who was in the process of donning gleaming golden armour which Arctus noticed featured an impressive amount of etched detailing on each individual plate; being a native of the echelons of Upper Atlas Arctus knew quality when he saw it and his potential classmates' armour was exquisite.
"Hey guys" a voice that was far too chirpy and enthusiastic considering the hour greeted them; Felix and Arctus turned and were greeted by the smiling face of Eagle Arc "It's finally happening, by the end of the day we're going to be students at Halo Academy for real. This is awesome"
"See Arctus, she gets it" Felix couldn't help but grin at the other blondes' boundless enthusiasm
"Okay you called the professors your Aunt and Uncle yesterday….surely you know how they pick teams?" Arctus gave her a hopeful look, only to be disappointed when Eagle shook her head
"I wouldn't let 'em tell me, I want this to happen the way it's supposed to. No tricks, just our own abilities"
"I'm from Atlas, having tricks up your sleeve is an ability" the Bear Faunus grumbled, earning himself a wry smile from Eagle
"Yeah my Mum actually lives in Atlas, I get that"
"Wait" the Bear Faunus cocked his head in mild confusion "Arc? And your Mum lives in Atlas….Are you related to-"
"OKAY PEOPLE GET ON YOUR FEET!" he found himself interrupted by a voice that could only be described as menacingly enthusiastic. The trio turned to the source of the noise and were greeted by the small ginger professor from the night before, currently wearing a manic grin as she continued "Follow me outside and you'll receive the details of your initiation. If anyone wants to back out this is your last chance to speak up 'cos THIS! IS! HAPPENING!"
Eagle Arc followed the other students out of the main entrance of the academy, the bright smile she wore not hiding the way her hands trembled slightly; she put that to rest by clutching tightly on the hilt of her sword and murmuring to her shield
"Okay Sentinel, today you get a real field test"
"Talking to your weapon?" an amused voice that she soon realised belonged to her first possible new friend, Felix the Lion Faunus, his cousin walking silently beside him wearing a tense expression
"Just psyching myself up" she admitted with a nervous chuckle as she rubbed the back of her head "I'm more worried about partnering up. I don't wanna end up stuck with someone I can't work with for the next four years…..how about me and you try and partner up?" she suggested, enthusiastic grin quickly crumpling when she saw Felix's guilty wince
"Sorry, kinda been planning on coming to Halo with Arctus for years" he admitted "If I get any say in who I partner up with it'll be him"
"It's four to a team though" Arctus chimed in, in an attempt to remove the crestfallen expression from Eagle's face. She managed a small smile as the group of students led by her honorary Aunt exited the main gates of the airborne Academy into the docking bay and landing pads that they'd arrived at yesterday where her honorary uncle was waiting for them, alongside an older woman with golden hair that was beginning to grey and a piercing gaze which her vibrant green eyes peering at them from behind her glasses did nothing to detract from. She regarded the group of soon to be initiates, conversation between the teens fizzling out as they noticed her staring at them, then she spoke
"Good morning students. My name is Professor Goodwitch, I am the Headmistress of the Halo Academy of New Vale" she paused seemingly for effect, gauging the responses in her new batch of students' body language before continuing
"For years you have trained to become Hunters and Huntresses, the protectors of the Kingdoms and today your abilities will be put to the test in the ruins of Beacon and Old Vale. Today is the day you will find your partner and team-mates for the next four years" A few nervous and excited murmurs could be heard among those assembled before Goodwitch spoke again "You will be deployed into the ruins below where several sets of four matching items to be retrieved have been placed in various locations, your objective is to retrieve these items and make your way to an extraction point, the location of which you will learn upon finding the items. Your partner, as is tradition will be the first person you make eye contact with. Any questions?"
"Yeah" a white haired feline Faunus whose name Eagle didn't know raised his hand "What if the first person you make eye contact with is a jackass?"
"Then they're stuck with you but I'm sure they'll learn to love you eventually" Felix interjected, earning a few assorted laughs and eye rolls; the professors behind Goodwitch among them
"If there are no serious questions?" the Headmistress asked with a glower
"Um, yeah" the miniscule girl with the duffel bag raised a hand "I don't see any Bull-Heads here? How are we getting down there?" Eagle was more than a little concerned when she saw her Aunt Nora trying to hide a gleeful smile that threatened to devolve into a fit of outright cackling, she was downright terrified when she saw the edges of Goodwitch's mouth curl upwards into the faintest smile
"I assume everyone here is familiar with the concept of a landing strategy?" at her words part of the floor behind her seemed to peel away, mechanical panels sliding back as what appeared to be a gyroscope large enough to fit a person formed and hovered in the centre of the hole, its' rings temporarily locked in place, Goodwitch continued "This device will not be accessible during term time and it would be unwise to attempt to activate it. For the purposes of the initiation however, this will be the means by which you reach the ground and the way of assuring a level of randomisation. Now Miss, what was your name?"
"Olivine" the small teen beamed, revealing a gap toothed smile "Olivine DeGrasse"
"Well miss DeGrasse, care to be the first?" Olivine all but sprinted forwards, clambering into the Gyroscope and finding herself suspended by air currents produced by Gravity Dust. After a few seconds the rings began to rotate, picking up speed before the students eyes widened when they locked again and launched Olivine DeGrasse downwards at a seemingly random angle with a cry of sounded suspiciously like "Yippee!"
The initiation process had begun.
Nyanza Angora hurtled downwards at a speed that would terrify any sane individual. Thankfully as most outside of the Hunter community often noted, the sanity of those volunteering to fight the Grimm was questionable at best. An expression that was equal parts manic glee and derisive smirk crossed his face
"Landing Strategies" he sniggered to himself as he saw the roofs of buildings that had been abandoned for decades rushing up to meet him. Strategy and planning was for lesser people, Nyanza had something they didn't; a perpetual supply of luck. He activated his Semblance, with little outward sign other than a faint white glow emanating seemingly from behind his eyes as he began to cause the flow of probabilities around him began to warp and bend to the felines' needs. He noticed as the already damaged slates on one of the roofs directly below gave way and revealed the rotten wooden beams below. Nyanza flipped one of his tonfa in his hands and curled himself into a ball as he fell at an angle, the handle of his tonfa caught against the rotten roof beam and Nyanza was swung back upwards at an opposite angle allowing him to plant his feet against the chimney of the building and launch himself to the ground. As he rolled the alabaster haired Faunus span his weapons the 'Pharaoh Mafdet' in his hands, shifting from their tonfa form into a pair of large pistols with elongated barrels and silencers; without needing to pause and aim he let off a pair of shots through the shattered window of a nearby store front, a dark mist billowing from the building proving that their had indeed been Grimm hiding within.
"Well that was offensively easy" Nyanza muttered as he strolled along the remains of what had been a street, spinning his pistols in his hands "Now I just need to find someone cool to partner up with-" it seemed his Semblance of almost impossibly good fortune had once again provided for him as something fell towards the ground ahead of him, seemingly slowing as it did so. Nyanza squinted as the sunlight being reflected from the falling object nearly blinded his sensitive eyes. As he approached he saw that the object was in fact a fellow initiate who had landed in a crouch, with spiky crimson hair clad in golden armour, Nyanza sauntered over fighting the urge to laugh out loud at how easy his Semblance made things
"Sup?" he extended a hand to his now partner "Name's Nyanza, didn't catch yours during orientation yesterday
"One of the irritants" the teen growled under his breath before taking the felines' hand and pulling himself to his feet, at his full height he was an even six foot tall. The golden armoured Hunter glowered at Nyanza for a moment before realising that they were officially partners and that the matter was settled, then he simply shook the hand he was still clutching and introduced himself
"My name is Helios Nikos"
Eagle Arc hurtled through the air clutching her shield close to her chest while uttering a mantra that grew more frantic with every repetition
"I wish I knew my Semblance, I wish I knew my Semblance, I wish I knew my Semblance!" raising her shield in front of her face she braced herself, she may not have a flashy Semblance yet but she was an Arc and she had the guts and Aura that went with the name….at least that was what she told herself as she tried to mentally prepare herself
"LOOK OUT!" Eagle barely had to time to rotate herself in the air and catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a small golden comet rushing towards her. Seconds later the fiery object connected with her shield sending her spiralling out of control as it blasted past her; Eagle ploughed through the roof and wall of a nearby building before rolling to a stop in the parking lot of what appeared to have once been a supermarket. Taking a few moments to remain on the ground and assess herself for injury she then sat up, the primary concern in her still reeling mind being 'What in Oum's name just happened?'
Felix hit the ground and rolled to his feet, the golden light fading from his body as the flames wreathing him dissipating after a few moments. Looking down he saw that the ground he had impacted against was cracked and scorched and allowed himself a slight wince
"Might have overdone that" he muttered to himself as he brushed the remains of a crushed Fire Dust crystal from his hands. His impromptu landing strategy had relied heavily on the use of his Semblance, dubbed 'Brimstone' Felix had the ability to absorb thermal energy from his surrounds and use it to increase his strength and stamina for a limited amount of time as well as making him nigh unstoppable; the late summer sun would most likely have given the Lion Faunus the temporary power boost he needed to land safely but he had opted to be extra safe after seeing a handful of students terrified expressions before they were launched
'And speaking of terrified expressions' he grimaced as he realised he needed to find whoever it was he'd hit on the way down, he had only the briefest of glimpses before the collision the most noticeable feature was a white shield-
"Ah fuck!" the blonde Faunus spat as set off in the direction the individual he now realised was probably Eagle Arc had fallen, he wasn't sure what the academies' protocol was regarding injuries during initiation but he was also fairly sure that if anything happened to her then the professors she had called her Aunt and Uncle would probably hunt down the person responsible. Breaking into a full sprint as the sound of gunfire reached his ears he drew Hack and Slash and brought the chainsaw blades screaming into life, spitting sparks as they began to rotate. No sooner had Felix reached the parking lot that commotion was coming from than he was forced to leap into cover behind a burned out car which rattled and shook under the impact of several bullets
"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SHOOTING AT ME?" Felix bellowed furiously, he was instantly answered by Eagle Arc's voice, confirming his suspicions
"Crap, sorry! Sentinel stand down"
"Doot-da-doot!" Felix was left dumbfounded when following the triumphant chirping the hail of gunfire slowed to a stop. Waiting until he was sure he wasn't about to be shot Felix emerged from behind the now thoroughly destroyed car and was baffled at the sight that greeted him. Eagle's shield was missing from her left arm and her sword was drawn. Beside her, surrounded by the fading bodies of defeated Grimm was something that almost defied description, a sturdy looking robot whose boxy construction was offset by the angular white armour plates fitted over its lower body to protect the tank treads it used to move; it's upper body featured a pair of stumpy arms ending in small hydraulic claws, its' head was a long thing rectangle housing a single light that was oddly expressive in the way it blinked and adjusted its' lens while regarding Felix. On the machines' right shoulder, currently angled back was the weapon it had attacked him with, a compact Gatling gun. The things' head reached up to Eagle's waist and Eagle herself gave Felix an impossibly bright smile when she saw his expression
"This is Sentinel, isn't he cool? I made him"
"Why and how?" Felix dead-panned, Eagle's grin somehow managed to widen before words began falling out of her at her usual breakneck pace
"Well I made him because I needed a weapon and I've always wanted a pet and my Grandpa is actually allergic to dogs and why….well, I never had many friends growing up in New-Hope. I just wanted to make sure I had some sort of company in case the whole team situation didn't work out" hearing this Felix's heart went out to young woman in front of him until he picked up on a small detail
"New-Hope? As in kind of local? I thought you said you were from Atlas?" New-Hope was a settlement incorporating several small villages that had existed outside of Old Vale's walls which had formed one of the earliest parts of New Vale to be constructed alongside the renovations to the various extensions to the Kingdom that had been halted after the destruction of Mountain Glenn.
"No my Mum lives in Atlas, I live with my Grandparents in Vale….I've never actually met my Dad. Basically it's because my Mum couldn't realistically raise a child and run Poly-Tech at the same time; but I still see her on holidays, usually" Felix's eyes widened in realisation
"You're Mum is Antonia Arc?"
"Yeah"
"Well that explains the droid" he snorted as gave Sentinel a wary glance and realised that the droid actually formed Eagle's missing shield when not in use. Poly-Tech was what had become of Professor Polendina's life's work following the old mans' passing of old age. His former assistant, a respected genius in her own right had bought out the shares of the company Penny had inherited making her the largest shareholder and going into the robotics industry with their main clients being the Atlesian military and various construction firms, especially those working on the settlements of New Menagerie. Learning that these advancements may have been made at the expense of the childhood of the Huntress in front of him left a taste in Felix's mouth. Eagle shrugged
"So I guess that makes us partners now?"
"Huh?" Felix was taken aback for a moment before realising that in his haste he had forgotten his original plan to land and wait for Arctus, his cousin having still been waiting for his deployment when Felix was launched
"Well you're the first person I made eye contact with, I mean I know you had a plan and someone else you wanted to team up with but-"
"It's cool" Felix cut her off with a soft smile, noticing that her speech was beginning to take on a nervous, borderline frantic edge "Seriously it's cool, we're partners now. Let's go find that idiot cousin of mine and then go look for whatever these items are" with that the two smiling blondes readied their swords and set off into the ruins, Sentinel the droid trundling between them chirping and beeping enthusiastically.
Arctus was one of the last handful of potential to students to be launched and a confident smirk found its' way across his face as he fell; whatever happened when he reached the ground and whoever he ended up on a team with may have been almost entirely out of his hands, but as the son of Weiss Slate, formerly Schnee and inheriting the Schnee Semblance emergency landings could be considered something of a speciality. A glowing white Glyph manifested beneath the Bear Faunus as he curled himself into a ball and landed on the conjured platform in a crouch before using his momentum to spring forwards to another hastily created Glyph, drawing Gefroren-Erbe as he descended the oversized sword shifted into its' equally oversized plasma pistol form, the barrel glowing with a pale cyan light before snapping off a single shot at a lone Beowolf that had slunk around a nearby corner to investigate the noise, it fell to the ground with a whole bored through its' chest as it faded away.
"Okay, easy part done" Arctus muttered to himself as he swept his surroundings, finger tightening around the trigger of his weapon as he rummaged through his pockets with his free hand for his Scroll. Pulling up his cousins' contact details he dialled and waited, only to be disappointed when the call failed to connect
"Suppose that was too much to ask for" he sighed to himself, communications in the ruins were obviously being jammed to prevent initiates from contacting each other. He replaced his Scroll and took a deep breath before picking a direction at random and setting off sensitive Faunus senses straining to pick out any trace of company, friendly or otherwise.
"HOLY SHIT!" the exclaimed curse reached his ears and he searched for its' source eventually locating a student falling through the air on what appeared to be a collision course with what had once been an apartment block. He was left stunned when the individual, whom he realised with a start was Diamond impacted against the wall and began to simply run vertically down its' surface until a window shattered without warning several stories above her, giving way to the head of a monstrous King-Taijitu
"LOOK OUT!" he called up and he could have sworn Diamond flashed him a grin as she reached behind her back and produced her weapon from its' hidden compartment within the sash on her shoulder and extended 'Lex Talionis' into its' a melee form, a double ended glaive with a single blade curving from one end of the shaft to the other. As the second head of the serpent Grimm burst from another part of the tower block, this time below her. Diamonds' inexplicable grip on the sheer surface failed at the exact moment the first head lunged, she plummeted downwards avoiding the attack and used the added momentum to cleave neatly through the second head as she passed it before managing to plant her feet on the wall of the building once again and run down its' surface unhindered by mere trivialities like gravity. Arctus moved instinctively as the remaining head went one the attack once more, casting a Glyph between it and Diamond while simultaneously unloading his plasma pistol; the King-Taijitu began to dissipate as its' remaining skull was immolated in glowing blue flames. Arctus in his brief moment of triumph failed to notice the sound of several pairs of paws approaching
"Dude behind you!" heeding Diamond's yelled warning he span only for her to take matters into her own hands, the pack of half a dozen Beowolves that had almost taken him by surprise were felled in quick succession. Turning his attention back to his fellow initiate he saw that she was crouched in a firing position and had converted her glaive into a sniper rifle, the shaft forming the barrel while the double ended blade had collapsed in on itself and now sat on the underside of the stock
"Well, that went pretty well" Arctus noted dryly as he approached the building Diamond was still clinging to
"Yeah except now I'm stuck with you as a partner" she sighed as she dropped down from the wall
"Ouch"
"I didn't mean it like that" Diamond assured him with a roll of her cherry red eyes "I just saw an old friend that I didn't realise was gonna be here"
"Oh the guy with the gold armour?" Arctus asked
"Yeah….wait, were you watching me?" a silvery eyebrow raised
"You're kinda hard to ignore" the words slipped out of Arctus faster than he could filter them, taking a deep breath he decided to extract the proverbial foot from his mouth and change the subject "So how do you do the whole running on walls thing?"
"Semblance" she shrugged before shifting Lex Talionis back into its' glaive form with a flourish "I call it 'Free Runner' basically I can treat the laws of physics like a rough guideline….Not as versatile as the famous Schnee Semblance but its' got its' uses" she finished with a grin that was equal parts proud and teasing that managed to distract the Bear Faunus for a moment
"It's cool" he told her earnestly "So now you're stuck with me, what's the plan?"
"I'm sure I'll manage big guy" Diamond snorted, nudging him playfully "Well we can either look for these items and hopefully find the people we wanted to partner up with on the way or we can look for them directly. Any preference?" Arctus paused and considered for a few moments
"Let's go look for these items, hopefully Professor Goodwitch marked them out clearly because I don't remember her actually saying what they were" Diamond's face dropped
"You're right she didn't….fuck it, come on let's go" she set off in the direction Arctus had approached her from, following the street "By the way, the ruffled and windswept look suits you" she noted with a smirk; Arctus was left confused until he realised that he hadn't had chance to style his hair and complete his usual immaculate look and that the fall had probably not helped matters. He trailed a few steps behind his partner, running his hand through his ivory coloured hair in an attempt to ruffle it further.
Authors Notes:
So Team FADE has partnered up, the teams will be officially formed next chapter.
Now let's summarise:
'I was honestly just going to sit in the middle of it and get a tan' sounds like a smart-ass comment until you realise what his Semblance is.
Quick look at some of our secondary and background characters.
Eagle Arc is a dork an I love her, that is all.
This is happening, if the idea of being woken up and taken to your initiation by Nora doesn't terrify you then your opinion is wrong.
I like the idea of making the newbies do their initiation in an annexed off part of Old Vale, just to give them a clear idea of what the cost of failure really is.
Also this initiation tests students abilities to search and retrieve/rescue (Finding items) and take and hold a position (Get to extraction point and defend it until help arrives)
Nyanza is going to be a smart-ass, get used to it.
Launched off a cliff? Ha, peasants. Here at the Halo Academy of New Vale we launch you through the floor of an anti gravity platform using a high powered sci-fi gyro-gun.
A good luck Semblance would probably make you a cocky little shit as well, let's be honest.
Helios Nikos, if you read Downward Spiral you may be scratching your head right now. All will be explained.
Felix's Semblance looks a bit like Yang's (In that he's surrounded by fire) yet actually functions closer to Nora's. He can also crank it up a notch as we'll see next chapter.
Yes, Eagle Arc's shield is a fucking Gatling gun toting droid that has more attitude than vocabulary.
Eagle's parentage will be revealed and it will surprise you honestly less than it should.
Easiest way to explain how Diamond's Semblance works is "Down is a relative concept for her, wherever her feet are touching is the direction gravity works in for her"
Arctus's instant crush on Diamond is fun to write.
Thank you to Ferrous, Shadowalex2000 and MarianTheLibrarian22 for their reviews on the last chapter.
Qrow is 100% confirmed for this story.
I hope Eagle and Diamond didn't disappoint.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.