A/N: Ugg. Initiation. Well lets try this the shall we? Who knows, maybe I could write a proper fight scene for once XD
The More the Merrier
Westlyn was not having it. She didn't know how this boy 'Shiro' managed to sabotage the launch pads but that was one step too far. She knew he was up to no good. How did he do it? He must have deceived her in some way. She'd have to 'politely' ask him later. As soon as she tied him up and put him back behind the bars she saw in the police station.
Her launch pad seemed to wind up normally. That was relieving at least. Its hard to keep a straight face when you suddenly explode or go sideways. Shiro just got released. She was two down from his. Far enough away that it wasn't suspicious but just close enough to be an influence on how he would land if she needed to interfere with his plans. His plate didn't seem to malfunction at all, as she expected.
The pad threw her forward out over the expanding forest. Tracking the boy in question was easy. He flew along in front of her, his hair and jacket flapping in the wind as they got farther into the forest. The wind was annoying and slowed Westlyn down, keeping her from getting closer as it pushed them down.
She had to keep him from ruining initiation. If the pads meant anything it was that he was against this initiation. Some of them exploded, others just not being functional. Maybe he meant for them to all explode? Even with aura it could knock out somebody who was unaware of the coming danger.
She prided herself on keeping those that were under her safe. She was a light of hope, her father said so himself. This was no different. Thinking of her father renewed her confidence. It reminded her of Jaune as well, giving her a 'good luck' and an 'I believe in you' from the sidelines.
With a smile she waited until she was next to one of the trees that stuck out of the forest. She kicked off the tree, using it like a bounce pad to crash into Shiro. It must have surprised him because he struggled. The extra weight and the change in direction crashed both of them through the canopy, Shiro's body talking the brunt of the several tree branches they crashed through, rolling to a stop as they hit the ground. Westlyn opened her eyes and shook her head, getting rid of the nausea.
Only then did she realize where she was. Shiro was underneath her on the ground. She was surprised that the landing didn't hurt as much as she expected. Her head had been on his chest when they landed. It was the first time she'd seen him this up close. His white hair framed his face well. He had no blemishes or scars, with his face being younger looking up close then when they were fighting. He seemed….peaceful.
Shiro's face scrunched up. Letting out a slight grunt of disapproval, he opened his eyes. They met her's and she was transfixed for a second. They were a deeper blue than she saw before. Last time she saw the ocean. This time that ocean went deeper, maybe because she was closer. She felt like she could dive into his eyes and never come out.
Those eyes suddenly turned to ice, "Look as much as I like a girl on top of me, get off"
That snapped her back to reality. She felt heat rush up her along with a flair of regret and anger. She jumped back and stood up while Shiro got up, rubbing his face and eyes. Several pops could be heard from his body.
"Do I get to know who just landed on top of me, or do I have to guess?"
"Don't act like the other night didn't happen!" When Shiro just raised an eyebrow and got a smirk she knew what he was thinking. "Don't you dare you know what I meant!" He brushed her off saying 'low hanging fruit' which just made her more irritated. "I'm Westlyn. Westlyn Arc"
The Arc name was big in Valean history. One of the first noble families of Vale created by the King of Vale himself after the war. She may not be head of the family, but the name should have given her some credibility, maybe some respect….but not even a second glance….
"So what made you decide to interfere with my plans?" He finally said sharpening his eyes, "My old man put you up to this? Or Ozpin he'd do it too, to try and 'teach me a lesson or something'"
He had plans! She knew it! "Ha! I knew I was right. I'm here to stop you from doing your evil deeds here. I don't know how you got out of police custody, but you are not stopping me from getting into Beacon!"
"Getting into Beacon is my plan! I have to prove to my old man that I'm strong enough. I have to prove to Old Oz that this opportunity he gave me won't be wasted. Then you came in and mucked it up. Accusing me of robbing stores! Getting me in trouble with Glynda!" His voice got more quiet, "I don't want to...I can't let him down"
"You already let Ozpin down. What happened at the launch pads. Did you feel the need to sabotage others just so you could have a chance?"
Anger, then confusion, then more anger. "That wasn't me! You think I'd need to do that? I could beat half the people I saw in a fight!"
While his words sounded foolish, those eyes. He believed it. He wasn't lying. He would be fiercer if he wasn't shorter than her. She remembered how well he fought despite his size.
A howl and several running sounds cut off her thoughts. She grabbed her shield from her back. Shiro seemed to understand as well. He had taken his sword out and was slowly stepping over towards her, his eyes scanning the trees around them.
She was doing the same. Whatever made those sounds weren't friendly. She had her suspicions, but it was better to know what you were dealing with than to assume and be wrong.
The rumbling sound stopped. A skitter to the left. Something moved the bushes to the right. In front of them two glowing red eyes appeared. It was a beowolf grimm with a large frame. It wasn't an Alpha yet, but it was on its way. Thick bony plates came out from its legs, and a large plate covered its face. It didn't attack. It stood there growling at them before letting out a ghastly howl. More shuffling from all around them, with more beowolves coming out of the bushes, behind trees and the like. There were seven in total. The ones that came out after the call were all smaller than the first one, but no less deadly.
"Please tell me you have something more than a shield," Shiro said next to her, not sure which way to face. He wasn't scared which showed he'd been in battle before.
She concentrated her aura in her hand, drawing out her aura to longsword length. A golden glow came out of her hand, wrapping around it forming a grip and guard. It then extended out into a sword, becoming razor sharp on the edge.
"Neat trick, have any more?" he said with a smirk.
"Do you always have to sound so condescending?"Westlyn got tired of him constantly circling. She grabbed Shiro and pulled him behind her, facing away. "Look we can talk later but for right now, If we want to make it out alive, we have to trust each-other. Uggh, sounds gross in my mouth"
"Weird, I was about to say the same thing. Just don't get me killed"
She smiled, the beowolves started approaching, several of them having saliva dripping from bone-white teeth, "Weird, I was going to say the same thing"
The large one in the front charged, the others following suit. It tried to cut her open with its right claws. Her shield flashed up catching the claw, its weight making her sink a little, but she managed to push it off to the left, its arm crashing into the other beowolf on that side. That gave her enough time to stab her sword into a small opportunistic beowolf that decided to attack her while her shield was moved. It died with a whimper and evaporated quickly.
This was just the first battle of many. She would make it out. She would protect everyone. Then she would come back a hero. Her brother flashed through her mind. He was smiling and telling her he was happy. It made her smile too, even while in the midst of battle.
She had people to fight for.
-0-
Shiro dodged, managing to cut the arm off the beowolf before it hit Westlyn. He finished it with a cut to the neck. He'd been in fights before. Large grimm and small alike, as well as the occasional spar with Tai, but it had always been against one enemy. Go figure that he starts failing as soon as he has to split his attention.
A glaring hole in his training.
The beowolf to his right jumped up after getting hit by something, circled around him and attacked from the front. Bouncing back he crashed into Westlyn, who was unprepared for the sudden hit from behind. Westlyn fell down and rolled over, her shield in front of her as Shiro managed to backroll, jumping in front of the downed Westlyn. He blocked a claw before finishing off the one that tried to gut him.
The large beowolf stood their growling at them. Its burning red eyes showing death to the foolish humans that wandered into its territory. A bark and a snap in one direction and its three subordinates spread themselves out.
Shiro signaled to Westlyn, who was getting back up slowly. They needed more room, more space to respond to attacks. "How much aura do you have?" he asked not willing to assume a strangers aura strength when his life was in danger.
She seemed to take it personally. "One hit isn't going to bring me down, especially not from just falling down. Give me more credit"
Shiro smirked and shook his head, "You really make this too easy"
"Excuse me?"
"Never mind. You have a big shield and I have my sword, so wanna game?" Shiro looked back to an observant but clearly confused Westlyn. "Do you understand? Switching tactics? We work together."
"I have a sword too"
"Made of your aura. Do you really want to waste it at the start of initiation?" Shiro looked back at the beowolves. They were going to attack any second. He had a dumb idea. A stupid idea, especially trying to pull it off with someone he barely knows and has only ever fought with.
"Okay fine we can-"
"No time" The beowolves jumped at them. He slashed at the right one while grabbing Westlyn with his left hand, throwing her shield first at the enemy. There was a gasp and some yelling as she crashed into one of the beowolves.
Shiro used the momentum to spin, delivering a hard, cutting slice towards the rightmost one. The victory was short lived when pain from his back sent him crashing into a tree. The leader of the pack went after him. Maybe it was his lack of shield or that he was smaller, either way it decided he was going to die first.
It was disorienting but he managed to pull his sword up to defend against another attack. Luckily it wasn't needed. Westlyn cut one of the bony plates on the almost-alpha's leg. It was shallow, but it made the beowolf jump back.
"Never underestimate an Arc!" She had her aura sword pointed at the beowolf as she stared it down. The threat was for the beowolf and the words for him.
"Fine. Do what you want" Shiro got up from the tree carefully. His aura had taken the hit, but he bet he would have a bruise in the morning. "But don't expect me to save you if you run out of aura"
Westlyn smirked, "Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"
The beowolf snarled. White foam and saliva came from its black mouth. Shiro thought that it was going to run at them, make a last ditch effort to destroy the humans that killed its pack. Suddenly it stopped. Its ears perked up like it was listening for something.
A huge gust of wind blew over Shiro, threatening to knock him down. Talons came out from behind him, encompassing him body. "You've got to be kidding me!" he yelled as he stabbed at them with his sword. It didn't seem to phase the large nevermore that had just swooped down.
Looking over he saw the Westlyn wasn't in much better of a situation. She was crushed in between the talons and her shield, hacking away at her own captors with her aura blade. It tightened its grip, making Westlyn yell out in pain before finally pulling them off the ground. Her strikes seemed to do some damage though, as the talons loosened some after a few well-placed hits.
He struck again,"This just isn't my day"
"Oh, you think?" A disgruntled Westlyn said from the talons next to him. "We need to get out of here! I need to pass initiation so I can get into Beacon"
"What you need is to think about your priorities. If there's one thing my father taught me its survive first, then worry about the small details"
"Of course survival is your top priority. Probably living on the streets, robbing shopkeepers with that mentality!"
"It was a misunderstanding and stupid, stop bringing it up!"
A flash of red and white flew out of the treeline beneath them, followed by the sound of a rifle blast. Shiro thought at first that someone shot at the nevermore. His smile widened as he recognized that red anywhere.
"Shiro? Hey! No fair! I had this idea first!"
Westlyn looked over at him more confused that this girl thought this was their idea over the fact the girl just jumped this far into the air. The passenger, the prissy heiress Weiss Schnee, which Shiro did not expect to see here, Ruby was carrying didn't seem to register they were there. It looked more like she was going to puke.
Shiro smiled, "Who says? Find your own nevermore"
-0-
Hahaahahahahahahha, oh that was soooo good! Like she had done her fair share of pranks and all but with how quickly she got that variety of functions in just one night...it was glorious. Still hard though. Trying to have a little fun here and there never hurt anyone.
This forest was beautiful. She held out her pen, ready to be turned into her sword at a moments notice. Hopefully if any grimm did try to attack her, she might get a surprise hit in, not that she couldn't handle the grimm that are out here. If the professors thought that a bunch of rag tag teenagers could make it out here, then there shouldn't be anything too bad.
She still wished that she could sit down under a tree and sketch. Especially that view from the cliff! Has to be one of the first things she does once she got into Beacon. Thinking about a sunrise over the forest, it would be breathtaking. Still, walking through the underbrush of a forest filled with grimm was not how she wanted to spend her newfound freedom.
A rustle came from one of the bushes beside her. A faunus came out of the bush. She wore mostly black with blue highlights on the sides of her jacket. Her black ears were pointed up, breaking out of her long grey hair and she had a bored look on her face. Her weapon looked to be just a sword that was slung over her back. Olivia know this girl had tricks up her sleeve. "Hey weren't you the one that poisoned me at the bar!?"
"…" The girl had a face that said she was going to answer, but never spoke
"Well are you going to answer me?"
Another look went over the other girl's face. "Technically no"
Her voice was soft, like it had been a long time since it had been used. Sweet. It had a strength behind it though. The way she said 'no' sounded like she was intentionally holding back information.
"Don't give me that! You switched our drinks!" It was annoying. She was just trying to have a good time and everyone kept ignoring her. She would say serves them right if she wasn't on the end of it.
"Yes. You poisoned yourself then...right?"
This total...ergg! "Fine, but I don't need you. You can go that way" With that she moved past the girl. She didn't need somebody that was a stick in the mud. It would remind her too much of Atlas, of the militaristic doctrine she hated and confined her, of her empty room and gray scaled walls.
She kept walking towards her goal. She had to be going in the right direction because she was going the same direction they launched them in. Only a matter of time before she had another slice of freedom.
"You're from Atlas"
Olivia stopped. She had been walking for a while. There was not a single crunch of leaves, no rustle of underbrush to tell her that girl was following her. She turned around to see the girl was right behind her, following her path. "How did you? Nevermind….I thought I told you to go away"
She waited a little bit. This girl seemed to be a little slow. "I am but I can't"
"Huh?" That was a confusing response. "What do you mean you can't? There's an entire forest, go get lost in it. Go find your partner or something"
"I have" She pointed to Olivia. "My name is Naomi, nice to meet you" She said it with boredom in her voice.
"Oh no, no no no. I am not your partner. I want to have fun in Beacon. I want to enjoy my life. Party and draw. You look like the mindless drones I saw at the military academy. No personality. I'm sorry but I can't do that. Not again" It was harsh but she had to make her understand. Her name was unique, true, but the rest was a no.
"Because I'm a faunus?"
That stopped her. She didn't know what to say. The race relations were heated in Atlas but it didn't really affect her. Why should it? The faunus never hurt her. Well, the only faunus she was ever close to was Marrow and he was fun! "Are you saying that because I'm from Atlas?"
The answer was instant, which for this girl seemed different than usual,"Not entirely. Just curious"
Olivia continued forward, not hearing the girl but knowing she was behind her. "I don't care that you're a faunus, that's not the issue. I wanna have fun. I wanna surprise people, put a smile on their face, maybe shake up their boring life so they can enjoy it. Keep them from being sad," Her mother's grave flashed through her mind, along with the empty four walls of her old room, "To keep them from being alone"
"You've had it rough haven't you? You know I-"
Olivia just realized what she said, "Just forget what I just said please. And don't bring it back up!" Her cheeks were red, she knew it. Embarrassment radiated away from her. What was that? What was she thinking? This was initiation, a place and time where you had to be strong and show that you had the metal to make it into Beacon and she was here chatting like it was a therapy session!
Focus, that was what she needed. That and maybe something to take the attention off of herself. Why were there no grimm? There should have been grimm by now. Grimm please!
A girls scream cut through the silence. Not exactly what she was hoping for but it was better than this. Before she could speak a crazy sight broke in front of them. The scream seemed to get louder before going softer again. Then a woman dressed in bronze armor, sporting fiery red hair, ran by chased by a large deathstalker who was smashing through trees.
The deathstalker must not have seen them, or it was too focused on its prey to care about them because it kept chasing the girl. "What just happened?" Olivia said stunned. The professors wanted to test them, but that was ridiculous.
Another scream cut through the trees, deafened this time by a shriek as a giant nevermore flew over the canopy. This thing was HUGE. Nevermores came in all sizes, but she'd never seen one this big...though that may be because she'd never been in the field. Simulations were one thing and actual experience were different after all.
Naomi grabbed her hand and started dragging her forward, startling her. "What are you doing!?"
""You didn't hear the hissing?" Naomi said in a monotone voice, "It was right behind us. 'Probably woken up by those large grimm"
"What was?" She turned her head, slowing down just a little. A giant head came out of the forest where they just were. It was a King Taijitu. A giant serpent covered in black and white scales, known for their one black head and one white head able to swallow cattle and unsuspecting huntsman whole. This one was normal size, but that didn't really matter for something that was a snake the size of a house. Its eyes unlike the last grimm were focused on her. Naomi grabbed her hand again. This time she didn't resist.
The large grimm hissed behind them, either not happy that they were running or relishing the chase. Either way Olivia didn't plan on being dinner. She looked to Naomi, all the Atlas training coming into her head, "We need to lure it somewhere we have the advantage, or we need to get away from it"
A contemplating look passed over Naomi's face as they ran. "Open field? It would have less cover and we could see both heads"
"Maybe...but I have an idea. I've never done this with someone else before so don't panic"
"What?" she grabbed Naomi in a bear hug, throwing themselves to the ground. The shadows became darker around the two and they began to sink into the ground. Her semblance seemed to be working, though it took much more aura with two people.
The snake slithered past, hissing louder as it lost sight of its prey. Olivia almost released her semblance before she saw the second head go past, scanning the woods behind itself just in case some would-be human tried to give it the slip.
Once the trees covered the second head, she released it. The aura drain was incredible. Much more than she thought it would be. She had plenty left though, so it wasn't too bad. Definitely something to note for the future though. Light shadows plus a passenger equals very taxing.
Naomi underneath her let out a gasp of breath. Her ears were twitching and her eyes were wide, but they went back to normal when Olivia stood back up. "Please warn me if you do that again. That was…."
"An experience?"
"Intense. You knew that would work?" Naomi calmed herself and got back up, padding off her jacket and pants.
"I hoped it would work?"
Naomi stopped and raised an eyebrow at her, one of her ears outright flicking in displeasure. In the commotion Olivia noticed that Naomi's tail popped out. Apparently she had a black tail. Olivia didn't point it out. "Look I thought it would work and it did, so we're even"
"How do you plan to take that thing down?"
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Why do we need to take it down? We just got away from it. Lets find these relics that we need to get and get out of here. After this we are do for some R and R. Maybe a party?"
Naomi's eyes narrowed, "Do you really want to let that thing attack other students unaware?"
Morals why!? "No...I guess not" She said with a sigh.
For the first time Naomi cracked a small smile, "Not all Atlesians are metal men after all"
"And what is that supposed to mean?" She took some offense to that.
"It means, I have a plan"
-0-
Shiro spun in the air grabbing Westlyn in the air before rolling onto the ground. "Did you really have to shoot it Ruby!?" He yelled as the girl landed in the clearing. There were several others their already, including Yang who was watching everything in disbelief. On seeing the relics on the dais behind them Shiro ran over and grabbed two, one for him and one for Westlyn.
"Hey, I got it to let you go didn't I?"
"Sassy brat" He wanted to give Westlyn her piece but stopped short when Westlyn went pale white.
"Jaune!?" Westlyn stood open-mouthed staring at a blond guy that looked suspiciously similar to her. He was in white light armor with a black shirt underneath it. He had brown fingerless gloves with jeans and two belts around his waist. On his hip was the only thing that seemed valuable, a sword with a blue leather wrapped handle with two crescent arcs on its sheath.
He seemed to back away for a second. He rubbed the back of his head, "Hi sis"
That explained a lot.
"What are you doing here!?" Westlyn looked more scared than when they fought the beowolves. "Is that? That can't be the family sword! Please tell me you didn't!"
"Its coming back around!" Someone said. Shiro pocketed the crystal chess pieces that he grabbed, pulling out his sword instead. There was the nevermore that was coming back. There were enough people here to handle it, even if they were only in training. He would need to use some dust for this, thanking his past self for stocking up.
A deathstalker came breaking through the trees as he saw Ruby run headlong into the nevermore. Shiro's heart stopped for a second when he thought Ruby was hit, but it seems Weiss Schnee, of all people, saved her. She dashed in, right behind Ruby when she saw Ruby was pined to the ground by a nevermore feather and stopped an opportunistic stinger attack from the passing by deathstalker.
The deathstalker seemed fixated on a different girl. Pyrrha Nikos, a girl that Shiro recognized from watching the Mistralian academy tournaments. That's another person he was surprised to see here.
"We don't need to fight these things" A girl in black with a bow on her head said.
"Run and live, that's something I can get behind" Jaune said earning an earful from a very angry Westlyn.
They ran. More ruins sprang up from among the forest in front of them, leading the group towards the cliffs that would be the end this initiation. The nevermore flew above them and the deathstalker skittered behind seemingly fixated on Pyrrha and Jaune, which did not go unnoticed by Westlyn.
There was a growl as they passed through the ruins. A beowolf jumped out, pinning him to the ground as the rest ran past. "What am I a beowolf magnet or something?!"
This one was larger than the other, definatly an alpha, but seemed familiar. The veins and cracks in its bone plated mask. It was the one from last time! "Came back for r-r-revenge huh?" Shiro said grunting, his sword being the only thing keeping him from its massive claws.
"Not today!" Shiro threw his weight to one side, causing the beowolf claws land on the dirt next to him while he rolled in the dirt before jumping up, ready to fight.
He looked around, not liking the idea that he would have to fight an alpha alone. He knew he could do it, but he wouldn't come out without being ruffed up. It would be inconvenient to look like he was getting mauled, especially since he didn't know who was watching. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but himself, but he could really use a partn-
"Hah!" Westlyn yelled as her blade came down on the flank of the beowolf, her aura blade sinking in enough to have the beowolf roar and swipe her away.
"What are you doing here?" Shiro asked more surprised than thankful.
"I figured it might look bad for me if I left my partner to face an alpha alone. You can thank me later"
The beowolf attacked, jumping in between the two and swiping at them. They both jumped away, Westlyn on its right and Shiro on its left. After a second of hesitation it went after Shiro, swiping and biting at him while he blocked with his blade.
"I had it handled" he said as he blocked.
"You were just rolling on the ground!" Westlyn responded hitting the beowolf in the side with her shield before stabbing it with her blade.
It growled, attacking Westlyn for causing it pain, pushing her back as its paws landed blows on her shield.
It seemed that this beowolf had problems fighting more than one enemy as well. It also didn't like surprises. That gave Shiro an idea. He switched his blade to fire dust, seeing a red glow come over his weapon. He attacked, swinging his sword now drenched in fire. The beowolf jumped to the side to avoid the flames, his attention flipping back to Shiro.
It deflected a couple blows off its arms, but continued to be pushed back. Its eyes squinted when Shiro did a large overhead attack. Instead of deflecting the blade, it grabbed it with its claws. The bony plate on its paw keeping the fire from reaching its flesh. It raised its other claw to attack his head.
Shiro smirked. He pushed the dust barrel on his blade up, quickly switching his blade from fire to ice. The dust shot up the blade, coating it and the beowolve's arm in a thick ice. What was going to be a slash quickly became a roar, it forgetting about the attack and trying to yank its arm out of the ice.
Shiro could hear the ice cracking,"Do it!" he yelled.
Westlyn came in from behind Shiro, ducking under a hasty swipe from the beowolf before plunging her aura blade into its chest.
The beowolf stopped, almost like the rest of his body froze, before falling backwards and starting to dissolve. The weight of his entire body falling shattering the ice that surrounded his arm. "See I told you I had it covered" Shiro smirked at Westlyn.
"I finished it off while you held it" She said in anger, "If anything I would get the credit for killing it!"
"Please, a few more cuts from my blade and it would have ended the same"
"Oh really?" Westlyn said this time getting a smirk of her own.
"Yes, really"
"Well then, why don't you check your sword Mr. Perfect"
Shiro looked over at his sword. His blade had chipped a long time ago in a spar with Tai, but despite that chip the blade always seemed to last another fight. Not anymore. A long crack now ran from the chip to the other side of his blade. That wasn't good. He knew what that meant. A knowing look from Westlyn changed that.
"It may look bad but my blade is fine!" He shut off the dust, the blue glow around the blade disappearing, before he knocked on it as if he was knocking on a door, "See". As if on cue the blade broke apart like glass, leaving only a small piece of the blade and the handle left.
Westlyn was about to say something. "Not a word! Not a single word!"
He heard a screech from where the others were running. The deathstalker was dead already, and he looked over just in time to see Ruby running up the cliff with the nevermore's head in her scythe. He was a little more speechless than Westlyn who looked over just as Ruby cut its head off, landing on the top of the cliff.
"Wow. She's strong" Westlyn said slowly.
The ground started shaking. A rumbling could be heard as the two snapped their heads in the other direction. Two girls were running towards them with a King Taijitu behind them.
"Why was this part of the plan!?" Shiro heard the one that looked like she was in an Atlesian battle suit yell.
The other, a black and blue themed faunus with gray hair didn't respond, but keeping her eyes focused on moving forward, dodging rocks and pieces of the ruins that might have trapped her with the grimm.
"We have to help them!" Westlyn said running towards the pair, ignoring his 'but I have no weapon!' response.
The girls split up when Westlyn came near, the snake hissing as one of its heads went after one and the other went after the other, both failing in the process. Westlyn stabbed at its eyes before getting swatted away by a head bash from the snake. The faunus girl jumped in before it could attack again, slashing at it with a sword before pulling out a pistol and shooting one if its eyes, earning a loud popping sound from the exploding eye and cry of pain from the snake.
"You wanna get in on this too?" The Atlesian girl said getting close to Shiro. She pulled out what looked to be a pen before clicking a button on it and it turning into a sword.
"I don't have a weapon?" Shiro said.
She laughed before realizing it wasn't a joke. "What idiot takes initiation without a weapon?"
He held up what was left of his blade, earning an 'oh' from her. It just wasn't his day. His father always did say that bad luck ran in the family, but this was ridiculous.
"Well stay back then. I don't want a civilian hurt" The way she said 'civilian', like he was helpless without his weapon, hurt his pride.
The faunus girl jumped into the air, aiming at the other eye on the black side of the snake, while Westlyn kept the white side distracted. She missed and got bashed back into one of the ruin pillars. The snake went to swallow her when a bubble appeared in the snakes mouth, keeping it from shutting. A strain could be seen on her face
"I've got to help her. Even with a semblance like that, she won't be able to hold that for long". With that the Atlesian girl was back into the fray, surprising the dark snake with a stab and kick to its side.
He stood there. There had to be something he could do. He may not have his sword, but he still had aura. Semblance! What about his semblance! They were disks, rotating disks of energy and aura. An idea popped into his head. He never used them before, but if it worked…
He ran towards Westlyn, who was surprised to see him there. "What are you doing here!?" She dodged out of the way as the large mouth crashed down in front of her. "You're a liability without a weapon!"
"I have a plan! Try to get the heads as close together as you can. Buy me time"
"But why!?"
"Trust me!"
"Trust YOU!?"
"Just do it!" He ran a little away from the battle and stood still. Concentrating on his aura, that familiar feeling he got when he summoned it during training. It was harder with the noise and time constraints, but he felt it. A ring of intricate symbols popped up below his feet.
No that wasn't right.
He pushed into his aura. The aura concentrated around his body, forming a different circle with different patterns above his head. It kicked up dust, whipping his white hair around his face as the ring started spinning. Using more power he willed it to spin faster and faster, until it was a blur of blue and white.
Westlyn was trying. She must have told the other two girls because they were helping, all three of them grouped together as they dodged and swiped at the two massive snake heads. Every once in a while the two heads would swipe from either side, moving away from one another, but the girls kept them from moving too much with their counterattacks.
He ran forward. The strain on the ring was immense, draining most of his stamina and running through the rest of his aura quickly. He would only get one shot. Both snake heads crashed down next to each other, trying to consume the pesky humans.
There!
He threw his aura forward using the same feeling he used to put aura into his blade. This time however, the disk above his head went with it. "Everyone DUCK!"
Westlyn hit the ground fast, the faunus girl didn't so much as duck as she was tackled by the Atlesian. All three girls were just in time before the spinning disk crashed into the heads of the snakes above them. The disk cut through them, stopping only for a second on the bony plates before continuing to cut. The disk itself wasn't large enough to sever them completely, but both heads had holes cut through there sides.
The snake hissed and recoiled, its movement making the disk disappear. For a second Shiro though that it wasn't enough, as the snake heads came crashing back down towards the girls. When the girls dodged though, the heads didn't go after them. Long plumes of smoke started coming off the snake heads.
He stood there panting, not daring to move his body yet as the girls put their weapons away and moved towards him. "See, I told you I could handle it myself" he said to Westlyn as she rolled her eyes at him. He went to step forward, and felt himself falling. Westlyn caught him on her meager chest.
"What the" She said going slightly red before realizing that he was falling. She got a caring look on her face as she held him there for a second. He could feel her rub the back of his head.
"So are you two partners or something more?" He heard the Atlesian girl say. Suddenly he was on his back on the ground.
"We are not like that! Why do people keep saying weird things!" Westlyn protested.
The faunus girl came over and poked his face. "Thank you" she said softly before standing back up.
The ground felt nice, or at least while he was laying down he no longer felt like he was going to faint. His aura was gone though, that he knew. It had taken a beating from the Beowolf so he had thrown all he had into that disk to make sure it worked. It still surprised him that it worked.
"Thank you for your help", the faunus said to Westlyn, getting in between her and the teasing Atlesian.
"Yea thanks" the Atlesian said, "maybe we can hang out once we get into Beacon. Now where are these relics we are supposed to find?"
"In this area" The faunus said
Westlyn winced, "The rest were destroyed by a grimm attack earlier….sorry"
That reminded him. He took out the two chess pieces he picked out earlier. "Westlyn come get your piece" He held out one of the crystal queen pieces he grabbed. "With this you can get into Beacon, your welcome"
She bent down a little to grab it out of his outstretched arm. For a second while she bent over Shiro swore he sensed bloodlust from somewhere, but he was too tired to figure out where. "I can't believe you can't just hang onto it"
That confused Shiro, "Don't you need one to get in?"
"One per pair, not one per person. Since we're partners we only need one.
"Well then we have an extra one" Shiro smiled, "If only we knew another pair that needed a piece" He said sarcastically. The bloodlust seemed to go away as he spoke.
Westlyn smiled and turned back around to the two girls that they fought beside. "For the trouble" She put the chess piece in the faunus's hand. The girl looked confused for a second, like she wasn't expecting it, "Welcome to Beacon"
-0-
The raised platform was perfectly lit to show the splendor of each new team that walked upon it. It sat in the center of the room, a large screen on one side of the wall holding the Beacon logo, only changing to highlight the teams as Ozpin called them.
Team CRDL. Team RWBY. Team JNPR. Teams full of expectation. Teams full of wonder. The future of the kingdom.
"And last but not least. I need Shiro Branwen, Naomi Torin, Olivia Iris, and Westlyn Arc" The four came up to the platform slower than the others, or at least Shiro and Westlyn did. Shiro was on guard, Ozpin could tell, because a certain Schnee heiress hadn't taken her eyes off the boy since the battles in initiation.
Likewise, Westlyn couldn't stop watching her twin. At least there he could understand a bit more the motivation behind her worry. Jaune had never been trained and his poor excuse for forged transcripts didn't help him earn his spot. Something in his gut though, maybe it was because he was as old as he was, told him to give Jaune a chance. Of course if anyone actually asked him he had excuses in place. Many in fact.
Ozpin watched them line up. "You four recovered the Crystal Queen pieces. Now you will be known as Team SNOW, lead by...Shiro Branwen"
Naomi and Olivia seemed to accept it, but Westlyn opened her mouth as if to say something, disbelief in her eyes.
"Congratulations"
"Knew I'd be leader" Shiro said with a smirk.
"You did not!" Westlyn shot out at him, "You don't even deserve it! You're the youngest one, the most inexperienced, and your arrogance knows no bounds!"
"Guaranteed you'll love serving under me" Shiro said wiggling his eyebrows while smirking, hoping to get a rise out of Westlyn.
It worked. Olivia giggled and even Naomi cracked a smile when Westlyn who was at least a head taller than Shiro went red and started to protest.
"Ah, young love" Ozpin said while turning and walking off the stage, his own mirth hidden so it looked completely serious when he said it. It was just loud enough for the team to hear it, bringing another round of giggling and protests.
When he got out of the room, Glynda stood next to the doorway. It was back to business it seems. "Once they have found their rooms bring Olivia Iris and Shiro Branwen to my office. I'll need to speak with them"
"Of course" Glynda said without hesitation, "I understand Miss Iris, but why Shiro as well? Did he take part in the pad sabotages?"
He started walking towards his office, Glynda following right beside him, "No, his is for a different reason, but an important one. He may play a bigger role in the future than he wants"
"Qrow won't like that" Glynda said with a sigh.
They stepped into the elevator, Glynda clicking the button for the top floor, his office. "Qrow will understand as he always has, even if he disagrees with it. We all need to make sacrifices sometimes, and he has made his. If anything though, he may like this one because it means he'll be able to spend more time with his son"
The elevator rang showing that they made it to the office. Qrow was already there, looking like he just woke up, if not for the bruises and cuts all over his arms.
"Qrow what happened?" Glynda asked maybe wondering if some new threat had emerged to harm her new students.
He looked at Ozpin, "Never tell me I can watch initiation from above again. And as for what happened, I either have the worst luck, or my niece has one hell of an aim"
-0-
A/N: That wraps up initiation. Ah, the start of a budding team. Who knows where this journey will take them.
Sorry it took so long. Initiation is tough to make fun. Many writers I've seen either skip over it entirely or just give you the spark notes, but I think its great for character interactions. Still hard to write though. Also many things have happened since the last chapter IRL. I transferred jobs, moved, had some falling outs with some people and the like to the point where I stopped writing for a while because I lost confidence.
And thank you for all those that have read my stories. I write these for fun in my off time. I'm glad someone other than me gets to read my stories and likes them. It shocked me at first NGL.
Read and Review please! Comments help!