Hiss.
"T-those are a l-lot bigger in person." Azura stammered. It was huge, a lot bigger than it seemed in the books. The white half of the King Taijitu suddenly lunged at me and my best friend.
"Move!" Nila called out. Azura and I both jumped out of its way just in time as it slammed into the ground. I was about to activate Janus when the black half lunged at me. I wasn't able to avoid it in time and it slammed into me, sending me flying right into Nila.
"Sorry." I moaned. Azura and Lloyd rushed over to us, Lloyd helping Nila up and Azura helping me up.
"Taijitus," Lloyd muttered, "I hate Taijitus."
You don't have a whip or a fedora, you have no right to say that.
"W-we need to get out of here!" Azura urged.
"Good idea." I replied. We turned around and ran away from the Taijitu when the white half shot passed us and coiled up, blocking our escape. I began looking around trying to figure out what to do when I realized the black half of the Taijitu was about to lunge at us.
"Sorry guys." I said, using my semblance to push the other three out of the Taijitu's path. I barely managed to dodge the Taijitu as it lunged at me. As the serpentine slammed into the ground I activated Janus and slashed upward, slicing through the Grimm's eye. The black Taijitu shot up and let out a cry of pain, shaking its head around. Seeing a chance to get away from the Taijitu I deactivated my weapon and started running over to the rest of the group, who were getting back on their feet.
"Ash watch out!" Nila shouted. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the white Taijitu lunge at me. The Taijitu was too close to me so I had no time to dodge. Just before the Grimm slammed into me something else hit me and send me several feet opposite the direction I was running. I flipped myself around mid air and landed on my feet, coming to a grinding halt. I reactivated Janus and looked around to see what hit me but could not see anything other than the Grimm and my friends. Both heads of the Taijitu were focused on me which gave Azura, Lloyd and Nila a chance to run, a chance I knew they wouldn't take. We were going to take the Grimm down. I had to come up with a plan before one of the Taijitu's focused back on the other three.
"Azura! Nila! Take up positions behind the Grimm! Attack on my signal! Lloyd get ready to shoot their eyes out!" I called out. They complied and ran into their respective positions, Azura positioning herself just behind the black Taijitu whilst shifting her weapon to bow form, Nila moving behind the white Taijitu, and Lloyd moving to a fallen tree partially in the blind spot of the white Taijitu.
The white Taijitu then lunged at me, to which I responded by diving to the right and rolling onto my feet. The Taijitu slammed into and then shot up out of the ground and lunged at me again, taking me by surprise. I barely managed to dodge it once again by diving to the left onto my stomach. I heard a loud crack and rolled onto my back just in time to see the Taijitu shoot up from the ground and let out a cry of pain.
"Nila, Azura now!"
Azura fired an arrow at the black Taijitu and made a quick dash to a tree to hide behind, while Nila activated her semblance and manifested three wolves beside her that immediately charged at the white Taijitu. Azura's arrow hit the black Taijitu just behind its good eye and exploded into a ball of fire. Nila's wolves started clawing and biting the white Taijitu's body, which started thrashing around trying to shake off the wolves. I quickly got to my feet and charged at the white Taijitu and sliced through its body. The Taijitu let out another cry of pain before falling to the ground. I ran to the head of the fallen Taijitu and thrust my weapon into its skull. It made one final twitch before becoming completely still.
I removed Janus from the Grimms skull and turned around just in time to see the Black Taijitu staring at a tree that Azura happened to be hiding behind. The Taijitu coiled up ready to strike Azura, who was drawing a new arrow from her quiver. I threw my weapon at its head, barely slicing into its neck but drawing its attention. The Grimm then quickly turned its head to me.
"Come get me!" I yelled, calling Janus back to my hand.
The Taijitu stared at me with its one good eye before darting to my right and lunging at me. I dived forward onto my stomach and rolled over just in time to see the Taijitu move its head above me to strike me directly. I barely managed to roll over before its head came crashing into the ground I was just laying down on. I shot up onto my feet and ran towards Nila. I looked behind me and saw the Taijitu coil up into a striking posture and barrel towards me. I quickly spun around and held both of my hands up at the Grimm, using my semblance to hold it in place only feet away from me. It took so much effort for me to hold it in place I could feel my aura weakening.
"Lloyd now!"
I called out with all effort I could spare. A loud crack filled the air again as the Taijitu's remaining eye exploded into a red mist. Upon hearing the Grimm cry out in pain I forced it down onto the ground with my semblance then collapsing onto my knees, exhausted. Nila ran up and knelt down beside me, making sure I was alright. I looked up at the fallen Taijitu to see Azura thrust her weapon into its skull. Our first battle was over.
"You good, Ash?" Lloyd asked as he jogged up to Nila and I.
"I'm good." I tried getting back to my feet but as I stood up I fell back to my knees. Nila grabbed my arm and put it over her shoulder, helping get back onto my feet. "Thanks."
The girl and I smiled at each other for a second before my attention was caught by the cloaked figure from earlier standing next to a tree less than two dozen feet away from us. The figure realized I was looking at them and turned to run before I could make out any visible part of their face.
"Hey wait!" I called out, the figure stopping in their tracks, their back turned to me. "Who are you!? Why were you watching us!?"
The cloaked figure remained turned away from us, only moving their head enough for us to hear her voice.
"You don't need to know, Ash. Just don't trust Ozpin or his group."
The cloaked woman then ran as fast as she could, leaving us confused at her warning, me especially. How did she know my name? Why did she tell us not to trust Ozpin? And why did she not want us to know who she was?
"Oh don't you fuckin' leave now!" Azura yelled, drawing one of her arrows. I used what little of my semblance I muster could to pull Azura's weapon down to the ground. As Azura looked at me I shook my head, denying her from pursuing the cloaked woman any further.
"We've got out relics and the Taijitu isn't a threat anymore, we should just get out of here." Lloyd stated, mostly towards Azura. The girl reluctantly agreed, picking her weapon off the ground and sheathing it. Our group made way for the cliffs where Ozpin was waiting, and where the other eight students had taken down two other Grimm in spectacular fashion.
The new students who took part in the day's initiation all returned to the school, with no new student seriously injured. The new students, as well as current students, gathered in the amphitheater for the formation of the new teams. So far teams KHKI, CRDL, CCYN, CRMN and AERO were formed, and there were still four more teams to make.
"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie," Ozpin said, reading off the names of students who retrieved the same two pieces, "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Juniper, lead by Jaune Arc."
As holoprojector displayed the faces of the four students and the initials of their names to form the team name JNPR, Nora jumped onto Ren, forcing him into a hug he could not escape, and Pyrrha smiled at a confused Jaune. Pyrrha attempted to give the confused Team Leader a supportive punch to his shoulder but instead set him off balance and down to the grown by accident, causing some laughter from the crowd. JNPR walked off the stage and Ruby's team came up to the stage.
"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. This day forward you will work together as Team Ruby, led by Ruby Rose." A confused Ruby was enveloped into a hug by her older sister, while an angry and confused Weiss just stared at Ruby. Team RWBY walked off the stage and we came forward.
"Ash Krieger, Azura Hood, Lloyd Hayha, Nila Rolfe. The four of you retrieved the white king pieces. From this day forth you will be known as Team Alizarin, led by Ash Krieger."
I could not hide my surprise as I was announced as the leader of Team ALAN. Not once since we returned from the forest did I think I would be selected to lead my team. I was snapped out of my shock by a nudge on my arm from a smiling Nila.
"Congratulations, team leader. " The wolf faunus said.
"Thank you, and welcome to team Ash." I returned the smile as Nila giggled before we walked off the stage with our team. Then the final team came up.
"Arya Junius, Russell Arnold, Bayard Petain, Midori Toguri." A platinum blonde girl, a bright red-haired boy about Yang's height, a reddish-brown hair boy my height, and a green haired girl took to the stage. "The four of you retrieved the white pawns. From today onwards you will be known as Team Amber, led by Arya Junius."
The team name formed on the holoprojector and Team AMBR left the stage. As they did I could have sworn I saw Ozpin mutter something to himself, but even if he did I could not make out what he said.
"All of the teams from today's initiation have been formed," Glynda announced, stepping forward on the stage, "New students may go to their new dorms or get themselves familiar with the campus if they wish."
With that everyone in the amphitheater began to leave. Before our group of friends started to leave I felt my scroll vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the message I received. It was from Ozpin. The message read:
Meet me in my office in five minutes. Bring your team.
I didn't have any clue why Ozpin wanted to see me, let alone my whole team, in his office. It might have had something to do with the mystery woman we encountered, or maybe something new regarding Azura and I came up.
"Hello? Yang to Ash!"
I was snapped out of my thoughts by the blonde brawler as she tapped my shoulder a couple of times.
"Yeah what's up?" I replied, slightly startled.
"We're all gonna go around the campus for a bit to see where everything is," Jaune said, gesturing to RWBY, JNPR and the rest of ALAN, "Wanna come along?"
"Actually, Ozpin wants to talk to me and the rest of the team for some reason." My teammates perked up and gave me confused looks, Nila and Lloyd both looking at each other. "I'm sure it'll be quick so we can catch up to you guys."
"Oh, uh- ok. We'll let you know where we are." Jaune replied. With that RWBY and JNPR left the amphitheater, leaving us to go to Ozpin's office.
As we took the long elevator ride up to Ozpin's office the team and I discussed why Ozpin wanted to talk to us. I was more relaxed than Nila and Lloyd, leaning up against the elevator wall
"Any idea why he wants to talk to us?" Lloyd questioned.
"I have a couple of ideas," I speculated, unsure of what to tell them, "The first has to do with that cloaked woman from the forest. The second has to do with me and Azura."
Nila and Lloyd gave me confused looks at my second idea.
"Why would he want to talk about you two?" Nila asked, confusion present in her voice. Azura, on the other hand, knew exactly what I meant, and the look of concern she gave me meant she was afraid of what would happen when we let Nila and Lloyd in on our secret.
"There's something we need to tell you guys, and I have a feeling that's what he wants to tell you."
At that moment the elevator came to a stop as we reached the office of the headmaster. The doors opened to reveal Ozpin sitting at his desk, with Glynda standing next to him. The office was very spacious, with mechanical gears in the floors, the ceiling, everywhere. It was as if Ozpin was really into gearpunk and was not afraid to show it. The four of us walked into the headmaster's office, unsure of what was about to happen.
"Team ALAN, I'm sorry to take you away from your friends in your moment of celebration but there is something urgent we must discuss." Ozpin's gaze shifted to Azura and I. "Ms. Hood, Mr. Krieger, I'm sure you both know why you're here."
"If it's about the body in the closet I swear it was Ash." Azure spurted out, probably to delay Ozpin telling Nila and Lloyd our secret.
"Your statement is completely unnecessary, Ms. Hood." Glynda rebuked, none too pleased with Azura's statement.
"Moving on..." Ozpin said, ignoring Azura's outburst. "As you know the both of you are now on a team. If one keeps secrets from the rest of their team then how can they trust that person? If there is no trust in one another then they cannot function as a cohesive unit. I hope you both know where I am going with this."
I looked at Azura to see how she would respond. Clearly she did not want anyone to know where we were really from, so she was more hesitant to reveal the truth. She continued to give me the came look of concern but nodded in approval to let me know I could tell them.
"We do." Azura said hesitantly. She looked at me again and seemed to mouth the words go ahead, before looking away from me at the ground and closing her eyes, ready for the response from our partners.
"Nila, Lloyd," I said, turning to face the two, "Azura and I are not from Remnant."