Chapter 19
Into the Fire
"All right everyone, listen up!" Coco Adel bellowed, her half-thigh boots pounding out a firm cadence as she stomped onto stage while plucking a twig from her hair. "Sorry it took a little while for us to get back, but now we can kick things off properly," she announced from the central podium of Beacon Auditorium, gazing over her sunglasses to regard the crowd. The student body, minus the aspiring freshmen at least, had been assembled in full battle gear, and were now focused on the charismatic third-year student.
"As has been tradition since the second freshman class began initiation, we, their elders gather to watch over them, to see how they follow in our footsteps. Yadda yadda yadda, all that tradition crap, right?" Coco began solemnly before she changed gears, tossing the prepared note cards aside to flutter to the floor. "Yes, we're here and ready to intervene if they need it, but we all know it's just an excuse to hang out, do a little meet and greet with any new transfers, and get reacquainted with each other."
"And the side bets!" one of the newly-minted seniors shouted from the back of the auditorium.
"Yes! And the side bets. Thank you, Thom," Coco fired back with a smile. "You all have the pool sheets in your Scrollmail, those are fifty lien a person, payable to Thomas Blackwell over there," she said, pointing in his direction and getting a raised hand in response. "Proceeds benefit the Amundsen Huntsmen's Orphanage this year, by the way. Anything else is between you all, with only one rule; we don't bet on survival or failure. I catch anyone doing that, and we'll be having words," she threatened solemnly, patting Gianduja as it dangled from her shoulder and pulling her sunglasses back up to convey a no nonsense facade.
"So anyway, have fun, and don't wander off. The team ceremony starts right after the last initiates get back, so don't forget about it," she added, the last bit casually, as if it was an afterthought for her.
"I can't believe this is actually a tradition," Weiss huffed, looking at her Scroll. "First kill, most air time, first to pass," she listed off several categories as she read.
"It's just harmless fun, Weiss," Yang countered, already ticking boxes and selecting names from the dropdown menus. "And it's for charity!" she added. "Ooh, yeah, Mountain Boy is a shoo in for first on the ground. Bet he flies like a brick," she said softly to Blake, who was busy reading to absolutely no one's surprise.
Ruby was engrossed in her own Scroll, though whether she was in the betting pool or just playing a game, Jaune couldn't tell. He glanced over to his own team, seeing Nora and Ren going over her sheet. She was babbling excitedly while Ren offered the odd word of advice, or correction, here and there. Pyrrha was close at his side, smiling at the camaraderie of their two teams but offering little verbal feedback as yet. "Whaddya say, Pyrrha? Wanna help me with mine?"
"I suppose I could give you some advice, Jaune," she said, resting her chin on his shoulder to look down at his Scroll, "I've seen him fight, and he's far better suited for combat in an arena than against the Grimm," she said of one selection he'd almost made for kill total.
"Good call, thanks, Pyr," he said, favoring her with a smile that she returned with a slight blush on her cheeks. Jaune made some more fairly arbitrary choices in the categories he didn't know enough about, and hit the randomizer for partnerships before tapping the send button. "I'm gonna go pay up. Be right back, okay?"
"All right, Jaune. We'll be waiting here," Pyrrha replied. "I might grab a drink from the punch bowl over there," she added, the tables and chairs set up for their comfort during the wait not dressed, for ease of removal later in the day.
"Do me a favor?" Yang asked, waving her entry fee in his direction.
"Yeah, sure. Anyone else?" he asked, having to leap to grab the lien card Nora tossed absently in his direction.
"Well, if it's for charity," Weiss began, slipping him a card as well.
"Me too!" Ruby chimed in. "Do you have fifty lien, Weiss?" she whispered to her partner.
"Of course you don't," Weiss grumbled, pulling another card from her well-concealed pocket. "Here," she said to Jaune, who stacked the cards and ambled off towards the fourth-year section of the unofficially-segregated room. The upperclassmen were, for the most part, familiar to him, though there were a few transfer students he didn't recognize. Jaune took his place in line, waiting patiently while Thom collected money and checked off names on his Scroll. When his turn finally came, he got a flinch out of the gregarious senior.
"Damn, I've never met a zombie before."
"Me either," Jaune replied with a scowl. "That's mine, Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie."
"Done, done done done, aaaand done," Thom replied, checking a box for each entry on his Scroll. "Welcome back to the land of the living," he added with a smirk.
"Thanks," Jaune replied, trying to keep from being surly about things. Returning to the table, he found Yang and Nora arm wrestling, Ruby acting as the entire cheerleading section while Blake read and the rest of the two sister teams watched with varying degrees of amusement.
"I got you a snack, Jaune," Pyrrha said, drawing his attention to the small plate of finger foods sitting next to a cup of punch.
"Thanks, Pyr. Yang hasn't been around the punch bowl, has she?" he asked, regarding the beverage with suspicion.
"Hey, there's a...hnngh...code to that," she shot back, trying to power through her stalemate with Nora.
"Which is?" Jaune asked.
"Never before sunset, duhh," she replied, rolling her eyes.
"Easier to get away with it?" Pyrrha asked, genuinely curious.
"Less people wanting to wander off for drunken hookups."
"Of course it was that," Weiss growled softly.
"Hey, everybody, how's everything going?" Coco asked as she walked up to the table, taking her role as Master of Ceremonies to heart.
"The food is delightful, Coco," Weiss began, "but the entertainment is...subpar," she added, cutting her gaze over to the struggle between the two girls.
"Five lien on Yang," she said with a mischievous grin.
"Ha!" Yang barked through a grunt of effort.
"To lose," Coco clarified.
"What?" Yang asked, her eyes going wide a split second before the back of her hand was slammed into the table.
"Gotta keep your concentration, kiddo," she reminded her, Yang and Nora both flexing the feeling back into their hands, Nora beaming with pride. "And you, Arc. Good job getting everyone worked up over you."
"Yeah, tell me something I haven't heard," Jaune groused.
"I hear ya. Still, don't do that again. I'd hate to have to kick your ass."
"Get in line," he replied, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, Coco, have you…" Cardin Winchester began, trailing off the second he saw Jaune. He'd walked up behind them undetected during their conversation, which was an accomplishment considering his size. "Jaune?" he asked in genuine surprise.
Jaune simply shrugged. "I lived, bitch," he deadpanned, throwing a hush over the entire table. "What? Is that not a meme anymore?" he asked, having been out of the loop for nearly the entire summer.
Cardin was the first to break his silence, a snort of laughter escaping his nose as a cocky smile bloomed on his face. "Not dead, and your testicles finally dropped. Good job," he said sarcastically, tapping him lightly in the shoulder with a closed prosthetic fist.
"Hey, Coco," Velvet Scarlatina chirped, taking up station next to her partner, her hand over her scroll to briefly mute her end of whatever conversation she was involved in. "Neon's doing a detailed teardown of her legs to get everything running right again and Flynt is helping her, so they're sidelined until further notice."
"Crap. Well, we should have enough people here if anything goes sideways," Coco replied, patting the large olive green Mistrali-style pauldron Velvet was now sporting on her left shoulder as part of her combat gear.
"Yeah, I guess we do. Hello, everyone," Velv added with a smile for the table before taking a step back to resume her call, pinching the bridge of her nose as her eyes squinted, ears drooping slightly. "Damn it, Mum. She's not Dad; never was! It's been ten years!"
Coco's eyebrow ticked up a moment, worrying about her partner before she reminded herself to not treat Velvet like a porcelain doll, returning her attention to the one thing she knew she could do something about. "Did you need something, Cardin?" she asked, still not entirely trusting of his motives.
"Got what I came for, actually. Later," he said before wandering off to find the rest of his team.
"He's got some kind of balls just walking up to this table like that," Yang complained, forking over a five spot to Coco who slid it into a pocket on her nearly painted-on trousers.
"He's made amends," Coco volunteered, getting wide-eyed blinks from nearly everyone at the table. "Velvet visited him while he was in hospital, and he apologized for everything. Well, the Faunus-related stuff at least," she amended.
"Huh. I wonder what finally got it through his thick skull," Weiss opined.
"Probably when she saved his life, Weiss," Jaune offered, getting a soft hum of agreement in reply.
"And get a load of you all, looking sharp this year," Coco said with a smile, yanking Jaune's collar back to inspect the tag. "Thought so," she added smugly.
"It was on sale," Jaune replied with a shrug, unashamed.
"So last season, but it looks nice on you. Elegant, nice, very nice, spunky," she added, taking in Weiss, Ruby, Ren and Nora in turn. "And you two," she said, turning to Blake and Yang, "stand up, lemme see," she demanded, the both of them seeing no harm in indulging Beacon's resident fashion maven. "This is some quality work. I might have to give this shop a looksee some day," she added, feeling the fabric of Blake's new coat between her fingers.
"Oh!" Yang exclaimed. "I almost forgot." She began checking her pockets, finally plucking out a printed business card and handing it to Coco. "Deal's a deal," she added, getting a curiously raised eyebrow in response.
"Going high end now, I see," she began, a mischievous grin forming for a brief moment before it vanished, replaced by a flat look of disdain over her sunglasses. "I should've known," she said softly, a rough growl in her voice. "No matter, looks decent enough on you, despite the pedestrian taste in designers," she said, affecting a bored tone as she casually flicked her brother's business card into the crowd.
"Oooh, Blake! Coco liked our outfits!" Yang squealed in sarcastic glee.
"Don't push it, kid," Coco replied, rolling with the joke. "Are all the cameras still checking out, Velv?"
"Yes, thank God. I really don't want to have to fix any more of those things."
"You and me both," Coco replied. "We had to do the last minute camera repairs in the Emerald Forest before initiation. Kind of a test run for the new team," she explained.
"Team?" Ruby asked, knowing the two girls had both lost their partners.
"Team CFVN, baddest team in Beacon," she said with a cocky smirk. "Just glad we could stay on brand."
"I bet Doctor Oobleck loves it," Yang quipped.
"Believe it or not, he drinks decaf," Coco answered.
"What!?" Ruby squeaked in disbelief.
"Friend of mine TA'd for him two years ago," she reassured them. "He's allergic to the stuff."
"That can't be possible," Jaune mumbled in disbelief.
"You calling me a liar?" Coco asked, an edge in her voice, an eyebrow cocked in challenge.
"What? No!" Jaune tried to deflect, looking around for an ally at the table and finding none.
"Good," she said with a predatory smile. "Well, I've got more people to check on, and I need to run final checks on all the cameras before they start, in...crap, seven minutes?!" she said in alarm, spotting the time display on her tablet. "Catch ya later, kids," she added before ambling off to the next table, Velvet in tow.
"It's good to see they're not getting held back by everything that happened," Pyrrha said with a smile.
"Yeah, I'm happy for them too. Especially after everything Velvet's been through," Jaune echoed.
"Hate to break it to you, champ, but they're an item," Yang interjected.
"And why would I care?"
"Ehhh, thought maybe you were into the cute, quiet ones?" she asked hypothetically.
"I thought maybe we were past this?" he said, growing annoyed with the exchange.
"Where's Professor Goodwitch?" Ruby wondered idly, the camera feed from the launch platforms flickering to life on the large screen behind the podium. The audience could all see Ozpin standing there like they all remembered him, mug in hand a ward against the morning breeze, but with Doctor Oobleck standing next to him, a large tablet in hand as his fingers swept through the camera feeds for a final check. The initiates were still filtering out of the locker room, weapons and attire running the gamut from formal to utilitarian, from plain to gaudy, and from functional to just plain weird.
"Ozpin mentioned something about her being busy and a promotion," Jaune said, picking at his food and finding a golden brown deep fried egg roll and downing half of it in one bite. "Oh, hau I'hff mished you," he mumbled with his mouth full.
"You really were out in the wilds the whole time, huh?" Pyrrha asked, smirking at the simple joy Jaune was taking in his food.
"My diet would have bored a monk," he declared flatly before stuffing the rest of the egg roll in his mouth, chewing and swallowing before continuing. "I swear, if I never see another soybean, it'll be too soon."
"While they are quite nutritious, I would agree that being forced to eat them for three months straight would be unsatisfying," Ren piped up, idly going through the various camera feeds on one of the tablet Scrolls that had been provided to each table. "Huh. Why is this one named 'idiot hole'?" he asked, showing the tablet to the rest of the table. A large cave entrance, with what appeared to be petroglyphs scrawled in charcoal around its mouth showed no activity, but was monitored regardless.
"I'm sure it's nothing," Jaune said quietly, a nervous smile on his face. "Hey, didn't know Coco had a brother," he added, swiping back to the entirety of this year's initiate roster.
"Guy in black, pad twenty-seven," Yang pointed out, falling for the misdirection.
"Huh. I drew him for first launch," Jaune muttered, one of the categories that had been randomly assigned on their pool sheets. "And it looks like we're starting," he added, the feed showing Ozpin beginning to address the initiates as a group.
Roy shifted on the launch platform at the far right end of the line, nervously eyeing the other students and almost tuning the Headmaster out. Something didn't seem right, and the fact that all these hotshot initiates from their hoity toity combat schools failed to show any signs of noticing was unnerving in the extreme. Additionally, the looks Roy's combat attire had received ranged from curious to disdainful, like full cargo pockets were the mark of the Grimm or something. For not the first time since Sunday, Carlos Marron was silently cursed for having had a convincing argument and enough pull to wrangle an admission out of what was supposed to be the premier Huntsman academy in all the Kingdoms.
"Right. Landing strategy, whatever that is, find a partner, fossick about for a relic, get back 'ere, don't die," Roy muttered, more a mnemonic aid than anything. "Piece o'piss. So, 'ow are we…" escaped chapped lips before the majority of the students left and right dropped into a crouch, most with weapons at the ready. Roy's gaze swept the area for nearby Grimm, finding none in the relatively open clifftop. The honey badger Faunus' heart started to hammer away in its bony prison, panic setting in at an unseen threat before an initiate at the far end of the line vaulted high into the air.
"Someone's eager," Roy remarked to the young Mistrali man next in line, garbed in a loose kimono and wielding a traditional daisho. He barely gave Roy a sidelong glance before the next initiate took to the air, followed by two more even closer to their end, the deployed position of their platforms visible now. "Oh you 'ave got to be shittin' meeeeeeeeee…" trailed off into the Emerald Forest.
A soft chime could be heard at the JNPR/RWBY table, Weiss checking her personal Scroll for the notification. "Hmm, looks like I won first launch. Ten lien," she commented, popping a petit fours into her mouth and chewing like a prim and proper princess.
"And you didn't want to enter," Yang chided her.
"It's still barbaric, but it's for charity," she justified.
"Ooh, haven't seen form that bad since last year," Nora said of a platinum blond Faunus tumbling through the air, giving a cackling laugh and looking towards Jaune. "At least he's got good taste in weapons," she added upon spying the large sledgehammer the initiate clung to for dear life.
"Ugh, don't remind me," Jaune grumbled, Pyrrha's gloved hand patting his shoulder in reassurance.
"You've come quite a ways from that first day, Jaune."
"Uhh, yeah. Sure. Let's go with that," he muttered, remembering his landing on Patch scant days before.
Eyes of a blue so pale as to appear white squinted against the fierce wind as Luz sailed through the air, her shoulder length ebony hair stinging when it whipped against her neck. The trees below were a green blur, one that she was headed into with alarming speed. Weighing her options, she unslung Okichmiki, the massive macuahuitl catching air like the oversized boat oar it resembled and altering her course momentarily before it was brought to bear. Channeling her Aura through the central entropy Dust crystal, Luz activated a second, slightly less black crystal and an aura of purple-tinted ebon energy wreathed her form, her velocity decreasing sharply.
An Ursa paid her no heed as she sailed silently past, just above the treetops before she reached a small clearing and pulsed another trickle of Aura into her weapon to change her vector again. Her knees barely bent as she touched down, dark brown leather boots under her long combat skirt crunching softly in the leaf litter. The quiet of the forest was unbroken save for the scattered reports of gunfire from all around her as initiates utilized their weapons to keep from becoming a stain on the forest floor.
Pale eyes scanned the forest in the direction she'd come, hoping that the Grimm hadn't picked up a trace of her apprehension. The size of the oak and maple trees around her wasn't helping, the arid reaches of her homeland not having trees in any sort of abundance, and even then, they were usually warped and stunted by the perpetual drought they subsisted in. Relaxing at last, she reslung her weapon, pulling her hood back into place to shade her eyes and shield her painted face.
Luz flinched and spun around as a sizable explosion tore a chunk out of a tree a short distance behind her, tendrils of smoke trailing from a few of the smaller splinters of wood sticking out of the hole. Thanking whatever divine providence had kept her out of the direct path of the round her apparently xylophobic classmate had fired, she turned around again at the snap of a small branch in the direction of the Ursa. Luz' right hand returned to the hilt of her weapon, preparing to draw until she froze. A horrible, groaning sound came from behind her, paralyzing her with its unfamiliarity, her brain scrambling to interpret the crackling moan.
"Hey, Bun Bun, you okay?" Coco asked, taking a seat next to Velvet, whose gaze was fixed on the scroll she held in her lap. "Who called?"
"Huh? Oh, it's...it's nothing. Family business."
"Doesn't look like 'nothing', Velv."
She sighed in response, shoulders slumping slightly as some of the tension left them. "It's just… You ever have something come up you never thought you'd have to deal with again?"
"Occupational hazard when you play the field," she answered honestly.
"Well, it's not an old girlfriend, if that's what you're getting at."
"I should hope not. You said I was your first, after all," she added, gently bumping shoulders with her partner.
"Have you ever known me to lie?"
"You did tell me you weren't into women," Coco answered, poking her partner in the ribs over that one.
"I didn't think I was," Velvet answered sheepishly.
"And you're avoiding the subject," she chided her softly.
"S'pose I am," Velvet answered softly, her rabbit ears drooping to either side a little more. "My sister's out there," she said at last.
"I thought you didn't have any siblings, Velv."
"Half-sister, actually. Turns out Dad was a bit of a cad," Velvet admitted reluctantly
"Oh."
"Yeah. Didn't help that Dad died six months after he'd brought her home to Mum and me."
"I take it things didn't go smoothly?"
"Is the sky blue?" Velvet asked with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "I haven't seen her in seven years. She ran away after I started at Pharos. Not a word from 'er since."
"That's...awkward," Coco stated, at a loss for words for once. "Wait a minute, you mean out there out there?" she asked, pointing in the general direction of the Emerald Forest.
"Yeah," Velvet replied, her gaze falling again. "Didn't even know she was interested in bein' a Huntress."
"Well, you've got access to all the cameras, see if you can't find her. I'd help, but I've got a brother to look after, okay?"
"All right." Velvet gave a melancholic smile. Coco draped an arm across her back, squeezing Velvet gently to her.
"It's gonna be alright, Bun Bun. Hell, maybe we'll get to be her mentor team." Coco patted her shoulder in reassurance.
"I didn't think they were going to do that with us," Velvet countered, their own, newly-formed team still needing to jell.
"We're pretty low on the list, I think, but if they have the full slate pass initiation, who knows? What, you want Cardin doing it?"
"I never said that, Coco."
"I should hope not. Now go on, find your sister and stop worrying. Okay, stop worrying as much," Coco quickly corrected, handing Velvet a tablet Scroll from the table before getting back to her own.
Okay, you get one shot at this, Nick Argento thought to himself, the flip-down shoulder stock and pistol grip of his weapon both deployed as he hurtled through the air. Nearly to the ground, he pulled the trigger, Timberfang barking harshly as the single round in the chamber detonated, sending a twenty millimeter slug downrange and a massive amount of recoil into his shoulder, greatly slowing his descent.
The reduction in velocity allowed him the leeway to strike the forest floor at the leisurely speed of fifty miles per hour. Nick rolled with the impact, grunting and tumbling fifteen yards in the soft loam before he clambered to his feet, massive felling axe at the ready. Finding his immediate surroundings clear, he relaxed a little, briskly snapping open the action of his rifle, the reload sliding into the breech before the empty casing had hit the ground. Breathing a sigh of relief, he shouldered Timberfang, looking about for a moment before spying the brass shell casing on the ground. Those things weren't cheap, after all. Bending to pick it up, his fingertips gripping the reinforcing band just forward of the case head, and he paused momentarily. The pattern of grooves cut into the band caused him to frown, the high explosive round not having been what he'd wanted to have had loaded during the launch.
"Damn," he muttered, knowing well from having to hand load his ammunition that what he'd fired was less than optimal for slowing his descent. No harm, no foul, I guess, he thought, until the horrid, plaintive groan of a wounded tree succumbing to gravity reached him from a hundred yards downrange. This was followed by the rustle and snap of leaves rushing through the air and branches being snapped out of the way before the crown of whatever tree struck the ground with a loud whumpf. Watching and later working alongside his father had made the sound almost music to his ears, surely enough timber to net several hundred lien once they brought it to the sawmill.
What wasn't musical was the very human shriek of rage he heard from the same direction, and he grimaced in dread, hoping his mistake wasn't the cause.
A brief jog later, Nick arrived at a newly-crafted opening in the forest canopy, an oak tree with a nearly two foot trunk having been dropped by his errant shot. He regarded the splintered, still-smoking stump briefly before hearing a rustle beneath the felled oak's crown. "Hello?" he called, readying his weapon again just in case.
Several grunts of frustration reached his ears before a wordless, womanly shriek of anger sounded from the leafy prison. "Hijo de puta madre!" she shouted.
"Okay, hold still and let me trim this down so we can get you out, okay?"
"Hurry up!" came the irritable answer. "I saw an Ursa just before I landed!"
"On it," he answered, his axe blows powerful and precise. Each one cleaved through limbs in a single stroke, some nearly a foot thick. Every few strokes he paused, tossing massive tree limbs aside like they were toothpicks and checking his surroundings before resuming his work, unwilling to be caught in an ambush. Once he'd cleared enough, he stopped, taking a step back before focusing on his Semblance, his father's trusted beast of burden foremost in his mind.
A billowing cloud of dark blue mist formed and coalesced into a massive ox nearly as tall as he was at the shoulder, Nick smiling a bit as he patted the simulacrum between the horns. "Need a little help here, buddy," he told it, getting a nod and stamp of the hoof in reply. With a grunt of effort, the blue ox joined Nick at the shattered end of the tree trunk, digging low with its horns and helping him lift and swing it out of the way. The crash as it rolled down the gentle slope was unavoidable, and Nick couldn't help but feel even more exposed, another perimeter check made before he heard the other initiate push their way through what was left of their prison.
Luz Martinez busied herself brushing the last of the debris from her body, growling irritably at the tear she'd picked up near the hem of her cloak. "A la chingada," she muttered before she stopped, remembering her fellow initiate standing beside her.
"Sorry about that; one in a million shot, really," he said with an embarrassed grimace. "Nick Argento," he added more confidently, extending a massive, hirsute hand.
"Luz Martinez-Rios," she replied, shaking his hand briefly. "Perdoname," she added almost as an afterthought, taking a step to the side before unlimbering Okichmiki, the nearly six foot long macuahuitl decidedly unfamiliar to his eyes. She stepped into a powerful, uppercutting swing that conjured a spike of ice nearly fifteen feet long, sharply angled to impale the charging Ursa square in the chest, stopping it in its tracks. Luz hadn't even registered Nick's movements before his axe whirled in multiple overhead strokes. The first hit lopped off a paw mid-swipe, the second took the rest of the foreleg just below the shoulder, and the third buried the axe head dead center of the Ursa's skull, silencing the snarling Grimm before it crumbled to ash.
"Was beginning to wonder if you were going to do something about that," Nick remarked jocularly.
"And I was beginning to wonder if my partner was deaf," she said, cracking a smile.
Nick was about to offer another joke when he finally got to see Luz fully, her hood draped back over her shoulders. He was certainly glad her height wouldn't make her hard to keep track of in a fight, but what brought him short was her face. Her eyes were so pale as to appear wholly white with black pupils, set in a face painted white with intricate patterns of black lines delineating an ornate sugar skull from Southern Sanusan folklore.
"Well, that's different."
"La cara de penitencia," she offered simply. "Perhaps one day I will tell you about it. Is this yours?" she asked, the ethereal ox nudging insistently at her hand as if expecting a treat.
"Yeah, he gets a little playful sometimes," Nick said, ruffling the blue headfur. "All right, Babe, naptime," he added, letting the thread of Aura he'd kept up maintaining the construct dwindle and die, the Semblance-fueled beast of burden evaporating into the breeze with a soft, plaintive moo.
"I was hoping for a ride."
"Takes a little too much Aura to keep it up for long periods," Nick explained, getting an understanding nod in return.
"If I tell you to cover your ears, do it. My Semblance is, how you say…?" she trailed off, her hands flapping as if to conjure the word out of thin air.
"Loud?"
"Pues, si, but, more like it doesn't tell Grimm from people."
"Indiscriminate," Nick offered for clarification.
"That's the one," Luz replied, raising a finger for emphasis. "Do you know where we're supposed to go?" she asked, looking about for signs of a trail or other initiates.
"I'd bet we were at least thrown in the general direction of our targets, soooo, that way?" he indicated with a nod of his head.
"Better than nothing," Luz agreed, swinging her weapon onto her back again before the two of them set off into the woods.
"Damn it!" Yang muttered, another of her pool bets failing to pay off.
"It's not that big of a deal, Yang," Ruby reassured her.
"Says the girl who's perfect on her partner list," she grumbled.
"That was totally random!" she protested. "Besides, there are still plenty of people left for that," she added, trying to lift her sister's spirits.
"I still don't see the logic behind completely random partnerships," Weiss said.
"Some would argue that it prepares us to see the best in each other, regardless of our origins," Pyrrha volunteered.
"Once we've graduated, we will likely be forced to work with other Huntsmen who we have little to no prior experience with," Ren added.
"Or the faculty couldn't be bothered with trying to play matchmaker and keep everyone happy. Sounds like a headache, really," Jaune countered.
"Maybe. Anyone at this table unhappy with their partner, though?" Ruby asked, glancing around the table at the rest of the two teams. Nora was beaming, with even Ren showing a soft smile, and Pyrrha and Jaune giving each other a knowing look. Her own partner gave Ruby a sidelong glance, a knowing smirk answering her better than words could, and Yang was eagerly hugging Blake to her, whose eyes were rolling in spite of the soft smile she wore. "Didn't think so," she pronounced with a sly smirk.
Mate Adel wasn't one for heights, to be sure, but he was managing to keep his breakfast where it belonged for the moment. More troublesome was keeping his hat on his head, given the roaring wind resulting from his trajectory into the Emerald Forest. He was thankful for his choice of blue-tinted glasses to match his ascot, as they were making it easier to see the rapidly approaching trees. Holding his hat in place with his left hand, Mate plucked his cane from the magnetic coupler on his belt with his right, swinging it back to point behind him. A flick of the thumb switch deployed six narrow spars like the limbs of an umbrella, vibrating slightly in the wind before a pale blue hardlight field flared to life between them, forming a barrier that a second button press expanded upon. The increased drag slowed Mate considerably as his vector transitioned from nearly horizontal to vertical.
Well-polished boots hit the ground with a generous bend of the knees, the impact dissipated easily through practiced form. Mate quickly stowed his cane back to its normal form, switching it to his left hand and drawing his beautifully filigreed revolver with his right, eyes quickly surveying the small clearing he'd managed to land in. "Almost a disappointment," he muttered softly at the absence of opposition, but he was smiling regardless. Reholstering Cimarron, he took a deep breath, channeling Aura into his Semblance, feeling a distant tingle just at the edge of his perception. "I knew you'd be watching," he remarked softly, his smile growing further as he tipped his wide-brimmed hat ever so slightly for the benefit of a nearby camera.
"You cheeky little…" Coco Adel muttered in half-admiration, her lips curling into a cocky smirk reflected in the tablet Scroll she held. Lowering the tablet, she continued her tour amongst the tables, her responsibilities as Master of Ceremonies something she took quite seriously, even in spite of her nerves. She'd never admit it aloud, let alone within earshot of Mate, but she did love her little brother. Rivalries aside, he was family, damn it.
For nowhere near the first time in his life, Mate was grateful for his hat, the only piece that had remained relatively static in his wardrobe for the last five years. The early afternoon sun was beginning to beat down on the Emerald Forest, and his choice of eyewear was more on the fashionable rather than functional side. Between the two, he was satisfied, his bleary eyes not having to bear the full brunt of the sunlight as he trudged through the forest in what he hoped was the right direction.
He cocked his head as he heard a soft, rumbling sound from the ground in front of him, before jumping back when a large, irregular slab of sandstone erupted from the dirt. Without a moment's delay, he grasped his cane, thumbing the release mechanism and drawing a needle-like blade from it to deal with whatever subterranean Grimm had decided to test him. What he got instead was a prolonged shout, growing rapidly in volume before the source could be identified behind him. Looking back, Mate could see a fellow initiate in freefall, headed straight for the rock.
"iiiiiiiIIIIIIIITTTT!" he made out before the plummeting student hit the sandstone with a sickening crunch before he could formulate a plan to stop them.
"Well, that is unfortunate," Mate remarked with a shocked grimace before he could hear movement in the small crater that had been formed. The sound of loose tiles moving against each other heralded a clawed hand bursting through the debris, which looked like thin sheets of pale orange stone. Blinking once at the seeming indestructibility of his new friend, Mate sheathed his blade before reinforcing the aura around his right forearm, reaching forth and grabbing the faunus' arm at the wrist and pulling.
The clatter of stones was near deafening for a moment, but soon enough, Mate had his new partner out of the hole, and looking like a literal mole. Miner's goggles were slightly askew but had still done their job, protecting the eyes through the flight and impact. His partner brushed themselves off vigorously, shaking chunks of stone, sand and dust off their body before reaching back into the pile of stone and yanking a large sledgehammer free. Testing the folding pick on the back side and finding it in working order, black-clawed fingers removed the goggles, allowing a look at the crater and then back towards the cliffs where they'd all been less than a minute prior.
"What kind of fuckin' nutter just chucks folk off a fuckin' cliff?" they asked. "And what in the nine 'ells is a 'landing strategy'?"
"You don't have one, I take it?" Mate asked, genuinely curious now. "We had to create one to even graduate at Pharos Academy," he added.
"What the hell do you need one for, aside from drongos like that Ozpin git? Is 'e off 'is face?"
"Officially, it's for getting airdropped into a hot zone when your transport can't land safely. Unofficially, it's for defying death and impressing ladies in one tidy package. Take your pick."
"Typical," Roy muttered before looking around. "Nobody else then?"
"It does not appear so, partner," Mate replied with a slight smile.
"Well then, put 'er there, mate," he said, extending a rather scary-looking hand, four inch long claws tipping each finger.
"It's Mah-tay, actually," he said, shaking his partner's hand regardless.
"What?"
"My name. Mate Adel," he said, his voice trailing off as he felt the rush of a new Semblance in his grasp. His partner was talking, but instead Mate was lost in the link that Sync created, every aspect of his partner's Semblance laid bare to him. "Well isn't that a peach?" he whispered before making eye contact again.
"...but you can call me Roy," he finished, letting go of the handshake. "Sorry about the mess, it was all I could think of."
"Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, I've been told. I was rather surprised you survived it," he said, brushing his dirtied hand against his trousers.
"Yeah, well, I'm lucky I thought of it. Sandstone is pretty fragile; just have to set it up in thin layers," Roy added.
"I'll keep that in mind if the chance arises. Shall we?" he asked, gesturing towards what he believed was their target with a smooth flourish of his hand.
"I reckon that works," Roy replied with a shrug, dislodging a shower of small pebbles from among the creases and pockets of a well-worn black leather vest.
"Is it just me or are there less Grimm than last year?" Ruby asked, having spent the last ten minutes impatiently flicking through camera feeds like a caffeinated weasel.
"Couldn't possibly be because someone hasn't managed to annoy their new partner nearly to death," Weiss reminded her.
"And we didn't have anyone awakening ancient Grimm by going into a clearly marked hazard zone," Yang chimed in quickly.
"Oh sure, bring that up," Ruby and Jaune said simultaneously.
"Hey, you two, it all worked out in the end, right? You didn't try and ditch her, pretending you weren't partners at least," Jaune said to Weiss, who only gave him a nervous smile in response.
"W..why would you say that?"
"Well, I mean, I guess the cameras are pretty dense out there, but we didn't know that when we were out there, right? There's gotta be someone who's tried to get a better partner at some point, right?"
"That's...preposterous! Against the rules, even!" Weiss protested vehemently.
"She totally tried to do that, didn't she?" Nora asked Ruby, her stage whisper a lower, conspiratorial tone.
"Well," Ruby began before Weiss covered her mouth.
"That doesn't matter! We're partners and best friends now! Anyone who says different is woefully misinformed," Weiss said to reinforce her point.
"My BFF!" Ruby chirped, happily throwing her arm over Weiss' shoulders and squeezing her firmly. Weiss only sighed, returning the side hug with calm dignity. "I knew you missed me."
"I...I did, Ruby," she answered softly, smiling warmer than anyone at the table had ever seen.
"I must say I'm surprised, Roy," Mate began as they walked.
"What about, mate?"
"It's…"
"Look, mate is just a term for a friend, alright?
"Fair enough, I suppose. But as I was saying, a Semblance like yours, you could be mining more Dust than the SDC, and yet here you are at Beacon."
"What?...How?" Roy spluttered in disbelief.
"My Semblance allows me to identify and copy others'," he stated simply. Seeing that they'd reached a small ravine, Mate closed his eyes and placed his hand on Roy's shoulder; focusing on actually copying a Semblance for the first time was never easy. With a gentle grunt of effort, a thin slab of basalt erupted from the ground on the opposite side of the ravine, angled roughly towards their side before gravity took over and dropped the end nearly at their feet. Their bridge built, Mate exhaled heavily, shaking his shoulders loose again. "Takes a bit out of you, doesn't it?" he asked the flabbergasted Roy.
"Holy shit." Gently, Roy tapped at the stone bridge with a heavy boot, testing it and finding no fault with the rough construction. "You gotta feel me up every time?"
"Initially, yes."
"Brilliant," Roy grumbled.
"Thank you, kind sir," Mate replied with a slight bow, missing Roy's eyes rolling as he regarded his handiwork.
"After you," Roy gestured, unwilling to trust something made by someone else, regardless of how solid the stone appeared to be.
"Much obliged," he said, the heels of his boots clicking an even beat as he crossed. "That still doesn't answer my question, Roy."
"What? Why I'm 'ere?"
"Indeed," he reiterated, hopping off the bridge onto solid ground again, only a few trees left before they transitioned into a large meadow, with stone ruins on top of a short hill in the distance.
"It was me da', really," Roy said after thinking in silence for a while.
"Huntsman?"
"Yep. Though honestly, it's more to spite that raging bitch of a stepmum. She'll bite your 'ead off soon as look atcha. She hated him, and me. Her daughter was always the perfect little princess to 'er, but me? Whatever beef she had with me da', didn't exactly endear me to 'er. Don't get me wrong; I've done my fair share o' diggin', but it's not in my blood like the rest of 'em. Good blokes mostly, 'specially the wildcatters," Roy added with a hint of admiration.
"Is that where you came up with this delightful ensemble?" Mate asked, gesturing to the rough and tumble outfit on his partner.
"Listen, you. Stands out like a dog's balls that you're really up yourself, but I've been looked down on by bigger and better than you, and I'm still standin' 'ere. So stop bein' a whacker and keep to business, all right?"
"Please do forgive me if I have offered offense, kind sir," Mate said smoothly, fully experienced with his tone seeming far more sarcastic than he'd intended.
Roy's mouth opened, presaging a facial expression of even greater offense, before it evaporated. "Not worth it," Roy muttered.
"My sister was always the one who could cobble together an outfit from nothing, but my talents lie with the actual crafting of fashion."
"Well...good on ya," Roy shot back, less than impressed.
"Even if you'd like to keep what you've got with just some subtle improvements, I'd be more than happy to help. Why, just give me a week, and you and I will be the two most dapper gentlemen in Beacon," he added with a smile, pulling up short when Roy wheeled on him, topaz eyes wide to go with an angry growl. "I sense I have offended again," Mate said, now deeply confused.
"I'm a sheila, ya fuckwit!" Roy screamed, knuckles white around the haft of Gobsmash.
"I...see," Mate lied politely, trying to remember if there was a famous Sheila family he'd ever heard of, and if they were known for an aversion to decent clothing.
"Just 'cause I'm not built like you think I should be, or because you think I dress like a dero, doesn't mean...oh, fuckin' brilliant," Roy added, fiery topaz eyes narrowed as their gaze went past Mate to the pack of Beowolves galloping out of the forest they'd come from. "I'll draw aggro, watch my ass," Roy ordered, immediately thinking better of it. "Not like that, ya perv!" Roy shouted, taking off at a lope, prodigious anger drawing the Grimm forward like a moth to flame.
Mate elected to remain silent, instead retrieving and unfolding a wire frame stock, clamping it onto the butt end of Cimarrón. Next came the cane, slotted and rotated into place over the muzzle, adding over two feet to the barrel length. Mate dropped to a knee, a pair of the cane's spars deployed as a bipod as he took aim, cocking the hammer of his weapon. A deep breath was all it took to focus on his Semblance, a connection older than any other forming in the blink of an eye.
Roy remained unaware of this until one of the flanking Beowolves tumbled forward and skidded to a halt, its head, neck and a good chunk of its chest simply gone. The situation would have called for comment but for the far more pressing matter of nearly a dozen Beowolves bearing rapidly down. A trickle of Aura was fed into Roy's Semblance, looking for potential weapons beneath the grassy meadow and drawing out a mischievous smirk when it was found. Reaching out, a sizeable chunk of obsidian was yanked to the surface between Roy and the Grimm. Bellowing with rage, Roy teed off on the mass of volcanic glass, a thunderous hammer blow converting it into a lethal cloud of razor-sharp fragments that turned seven of the Grimm into mulch, the assemblage of mangled bodies collapsing to ash even as they fell.
Another rifle shot echoed over the meadow, Mate's aim true as his fourth Grimm of the day came up missing a large chunk of its torso. The last of the pack's growl was cut short as Gobsmash, propelled by a jet of Dust-born flame slammed its pick end into the underside of the Beowolf's jaw, erupting through the top of the skull in a shower of bone fragments.
"Quite the show, Roy," Mate said smoothly as he approached, recoupling his cane on his belt and removing the shoulder stock from his revolver. He folded the metal brace, dropping it back into the inside pocket of his long coat. "I do believe we are going to do quite well as a pair," he added.
"You're not my type, I swear," Roy said flatly, a candor that Mate could appreciate.
"Nor you mine, if I catch your meaning."
"As long as we're in agreement then," Roy began, before they both froze at a sound that was eerily similar to the time the mining crew had had a massive hose rupture on the air compressor used to power the pneumatic drills.
Before Roy could turn, Mate was already shoving a considerable amount of Aura into Sync, firing the last two rounds in his revolver from the hip at wildly differing angles. Both struck true, catching the large Taijitu in each head, the Dust rounds detonating halfway through their target, showering them both with black and white chunks of Grimm. The rest of the now-headless snake body flailed briefly before flaking to ash before their eyes.
"Crikey," Roy whispered in awe. "What the hell 'ave you got in that damn thing?"
He calmly flipped the cylinder open to eject the spent casings, replacing them with the aid of a nickel plated speed loader. "Little of this, little of that. Old family recipe," Mate added with a smug grin and a wink.
"That sneaky little shit," Coco growled, watching the fight unfold on her tablet, seated at a small side table away from the rest of the students.
"What's the matter?" Velvet asked, lifting her gaze from her tablet and leaning in to take a closer look.
"He's increased his range on me," Coco clarified, pulling up a map to show the camera currently observing Mate to be over five miles distant from her current position. "Not bad, little brother. Though your people skills are still pretty hit and miss."
"Oh?" Velvet asked, aware of the younger Adel's reputation from her time as an upperclassman at Pharos.
"Yeah, not even an hour in, and he's already managed to piss off his partner." Coco flicked her finger over the slider at the bottom of the display, backing the camera up a bit to showcase Mate and Roy's dustup.
"Oh my," Velvet said with a gasp, her eyes wide in shock.
"Yeah, you remember what he was like at Pharos, right? Flowery words can only take you so far, Mate," she said with a smug smile on her face, before she glanced to her side and truly took in the stunned look on her partners face. "What is it, Bun Bun?" she asked softly.
"I...well…"
"Come on, girl, spit it out," Coco gently prodded her.
"It's just…" she trailed off, glancing back at the frozen camera feed before meeting Coco's eyes for a moment and finding the floor almost immediately.
"What?" Coco asked, worry forming in the pit of her stomach. "You don't have a crush on my baby brother, do you? Is that why you dumped me?" she asked playfully.
"That's not at all what happened, and you know it, Coco," Velvet pouted, her ears pinned back even as she blushed furiously.
"One, thank you for having good taste, and two, just tell me."
Velvet tried to form words, her mouth opening and closing several times before she leaned in to whisper in Coco's ear, her eyes going wide immediately.
"You're joking," Coco whispered.
Velvet merely shook her head, her rabbit ears flopping slightly.
"Velvet, my dear?" Coco began, chuckling mischievously. "This is going to be a very interesting year."
Mate and Roy both regarded a pair of adjacent stone pillars within the ruins, a half-sphere of polished white stone three inches in diameter resting upon each of them.
"You sure this is the right place?" Roy asked.
"Near as I can reckon."
"And we're only supposed to take one between the two of us right?"
"That was the instruction," Mate replied, mirroring his partner's uncertainty. "Is this one broken in half, perhaps? It doesn't appear that there are any others. Either we're the last ones here..." he began.
"Or these aren't the relic. Relics." Roy shrugged, plucking one and then the other from their pedestals. "They're matched, that's for sure. Look at the grain." Both hemispheres fit together perfectly, once rotated into proper alignment. "Broken in half or cut from the same stone, take your pick."
"Better safe than sorry?" Mate asked.
"Looks like," Roy answered, cramming one of the objects into an already-overstuffed cargo pocket and handing the other to Mate. "Not to be a piker, but I reckon we should head back."
"Seems prudent," he said, straightening his long black coat out of habit, cutting a dashing figure, if Roy was being honest.
"Lead the way, fancy boy."
"If you insist," he replied with a smile and a perfunctory tip of the hat, bootheels clicking against the stones as they made their way out of the ruins. "You don't suppose they'll still be serving lunch by the time we get back, do you? My Semblance does take a bit out of me, if I'm being honest."
"It's what, half past noon? Might be. Never went to any hoity toity school like this before."
"Tutored?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"If ya wanna call it that, sure. Got out on my own when I was eleven, learned what I could, when I could. Huntsmen are scarce enough where I'm from; they'll gladly take an ankle biter on."
"Well, hopefully we can rectify that, you and I," Mate said hopefully.
"Yeah," Roy replied almost absently, spying a pair of figures emerging from the forest they were now headed back into. Ebon claws drummed against Roy's thigh for a moment as they both examined the pair, a girl in a flowing grey dress and cloak combo, and quite possibly the biggest boy Roy had ever laid eyes on, aside from that beefslab back in Shion. The urgency of their travel became readily apparent, the girl's flowing garb flapping behind her as they headed towards the ruins at a dead sprint.
"Somebody's late to the party," Mate quipped before they heard a deep, echoing screech from just over the treetops. "That's not good," he added, drawing Cimmarón from its holster.
"Almost sounds like a bloody big Ravager, but you don't have 'em round these parts, right?" Roy added, gripping Gobsmash tightly.
"No, it's a...Nevermore," he concluded just as the enormous avian Grimm came into view, skimming over the treetops and clearly in pursuit of prey. "We need to find cover."
"No time," Roy replied, Semblance already seeking out a solution beneath the meadow grass. With a grunt of effort, a large slab of stone was tilted up, leaving a pocket of shelter beneath the edge closest to the pair. Roy and Mate both darted forward, hunkering down at either edge, where they could see the other students rapidly approaching them.
"Move your arse!" Roy shouted, holding a hand out and bracing between the stone and the ground, Mate quickly following suit. With a shout of effort, and a substantial expenditure of Aura to keep a straining shoulder joint intact, Roy managed to grab Nick Argento's wrist, spinning in place to slam him against the stone side of their makeshift fighting trench. Mate made his own retrieval look effortless, the spindly form of Luz Martinez requiring much less effort to wrangle into their bolt hole.
The Nevermore's foot claws ripped furrows into the meadow floor and then the stone Roy had ripped out of it, the shadow of the Grimm blasting by overhead before a shower of loose stone rained down upon the quartet of initiates. A shrieking caw of frustration was heard from the beast as it passed them by, nearly clipping the tops of the trees just beyond the ruins.
"Do we have time to get to the trees before 'e comes back?" Roy asked, the gigantic avian Grimm a delightfully new experience in a day full of them. As if it had heard the question, the Nevermore wheeled quickly about, gaining altitude before unleashing a hail of feathers at its quarry. "Shit!" Roy barked, gesturing to pull another slab of stone from the opposite side of their makeshift trench, the four initiates hearing the heavy impacts against the rock shield, several breaking through before being halted by a flickering cerulean energy field. Mate looked from his deployed but inactive cane to Luz' macuahuitl, the carved hardlight Dust crystal glowing fiercely and illuminating their ersatz bunker.
"Much appreciated, ma'am," he said with a tip of the hat. Life and death crises were hardly an excuse for forgetting one's manners, after all.
"De nada," she said with a curiously raised eyebrow.
"We have anything that can kill that blighter?" Roy asked. "I can't tunnel the lot of us all the way back to the cliffs, if anyone's wonderin'."
"It's already shrugged off a couple rounds, but if I can get a shot in in a vulnerable area, I can probably take it down, but it's not gonna sit around to let me aim," Nick volunteered. "And I'm almost out of ammo."
"And I'm running low on Aura as well, so I can't be taking a lot of shots at it either. Not if I want to guarantee the kill," Mate added, garnering a frown from Roy.
"Well, shit." Silence reigned for a moment, broken only by the drumming of Roy's claws against the rock before Luz was addressed. "Can you force it low? Right at ground level?"
"I...yes," she replied, nodding once.
"All right then, 'ere's what we do."
As the last remaining initiates in the Emerald Forest, Roy, Mate, Luz, and Nick had become the center of attention, the three cameras capable of seeing them now being projected on the main display for the assembled upperclassmen. Most were watching with rapt attention, some finishing off the last of their refreshments as janitorial staff went about the business of clearing the tables out, and several more continuing to bet on the action.
"This is gonna give us what, nine freshmen teams?" Jaune asked, trying to remember the count.
"Correct. Assuming those four make it back in time," Weiss added.
"They'll be fine. It's not as big as our Nevermore from last year," Ruby chimed in with a hint of pride in her voice.
"What was that thing's name again?" Jaune prodded her. "Oh right, it didn't have one."
"Fred's a stupid name anyway," Ruby grumbled.
"Keep telling yourself that. How many named Grimm have Team JNPR taken down in the last year, Pyrrha? I've lost track."
"Two," she replied succinctly, fixing Ruby with a smug smirk that was the closest thing anyone would ever call a shit-eating grin on Pyrrha's face.
"Whatever," Ruby retorted oh-so-maturely.
"It's okay, Ruby. We'll still let you all hang out with us," Nora added to rub it in.
Blake shook her head slightly, smiling at the antics that she'd missed for the last couple months before her cat ears perked up, golden eyes darting about the room before she pulled out her Scroll. Quite a few other students were doing the same, opening their devices to silence alert tones of varying composition.
"Looks like the CCT's up again," Yang remarked after a moment, slipping her Scroll back into a pocket like many others.
A slack-jawed Jaune, however, was an exception to the norm, staring blankly at his Scroll as it vibrated ceaselessly in his hand.
"What's the matter, Jaune?" Ruby asked, her mouth set in a worried frown.
"There's...a lot of messages," he answered, his voice unsteady.
"Since when did you get popular?" Yang asked, smiling quizzically when Pyrrha and Ruby's gaze cut harshly to her. "It's a joke?"
"I mean, she's not wrong," Jaune said quietly. "This is...wow," he sighed, laying his Scroll on the table, trying to think.
Nora pulled close to look at the device, gasping at the numbers she saw, which were still climbing as the message backlog cleared. "Holy… Seventy-two voice mails? Over two thousand texts?! I mean, yeah, I sent like, five hundred of those, but still!" Nora crossed her arms, as mystified as anyone else at the sheer volume of traffic directed at Jaune.
"I'm gonna have to figure out how to tell everyone else I'm alive. After all this, I guess."
"I could handle it for you," Yang offered with a mischievous smile.
"No!" was the near universal reply from the rest of the table.
"You sure you can get enough to do the job?" Roy asked, topaz eyes cutting nervously to Mate, whose own were following the Nevermore's wheeling turn above the treetops.
"We're about to find out," Mate deadpanned.
"If you've got a better idea, I'd love to hear it."
"Just because it's the only idea doesn't mean it's a good one," Luz added from behind them.
"Just stick to the plan, an' we all walk away grinnin' like a shot fox an' hit the pub for some grog."
"I'm going to pretend I know what that meant," mumbled Nick, checking the round in his rifle for the third time.
"Probably better that way," Mate whispered back, garnering a frustrated growl from Roy.
"Get ready, Luz. I'm gonna get that blighter's attention." Roy cautioned them, before striding forward.
"I thought we already had it?" Nick replied with a raised eyebrow.
"And piss 'im off," Roy shot back with a cocky smirk. A large ball of flame appeared at the business end of Gobsmash, building in size and intensity before Roy launched it in a lobbing arc at the Nevermore. The near miss appeared to singe some wing feathers, as the beast shrieked, trailing smoke for several moments as it began another dive at the group of initiates.
"Oi! Welcome to Get Fucked, population: you!" Roy bellowed before hurling another fireball at the Nevermore. Mate swore he could see hatred and anger boiling off the Faunus like heat shimmer on summer concrete. Roy's challenge was answered by another shrieking caw from the Grimm as it stooped, Luz contributing further to its irritation with blasts of fire and shards of ice.
"Shit, angle's still too high. Luz!" Roy shouted back.
"On it!" she called back, forcing a huge amount of Aura into Okichmiki, the entropy Dust crystal glowing a malevolent blood red as it converted Aura into energy, feeding it into the intricately carved hardlight Dust crystal. A gigantic planar field shimmered to life, just above the Nevermore's flight path, and Luz began to slowly will it into the ground. Already at a speed where maneuvers were difficult, and feeling little threat from the artificial wall, the Grimm skidded along the field as its course was altered. It still bore down on Roy and Mate, who had taken his place again, hand in hand with his partner.
"Say when," he stated, already beginning to Sync with Roy's powerful Semblance.
"Wait for it," Roy replied, trying to gauge speed and distance.
"Patience has never been a virtue of mine,"
"Why am I not surprised?" Roy muttered darkly. "Aaaand… NOW!"
Roy and Mate both flooded their Auras into Roy's Lithomancy, gripping hard at two slabs of granite beneath the meadow and yanking them to the surface. The two masses of stone erupted ten feet apart, rising to the height of Luz' artificial ceiling nearly twenty feet above before they stopped. Unable to maneuver, the Nevermore's head passed between them at nearly fifty miles per hour, a sickening, wet crunch heard as its wings...didn't. Catching both granite slabs edge on, there was precious little area to disperse the kinetic energy of the two ton bird Grimm, and so the bones in both wings shattered on impact, folding back against its body as it skidded head first through the grass.
"Luz!" Roy shouted once more, ducking to the side along with Mate as a flare of purplish black energy enveloped her macuahuitl. With a shriek of effort, she swung it in a wide, horizontal arc, Nick Argento balanced precariously upon its edge. She launched him at the Grimm, its beak wide in a thunderous scream of pain before it was cut short by the five foot haft of Timberfang wedging it open.
"Lunch time!" Nick cheerily announced before he pulled the trigger, the report of the heavy caliber rifle muffled by the soft throat tissue it was jammed against. The twenty millimeter armor piercing slug erupted through the top of the Nevermore's skull, which then crashed to the ground and lolled to the side. Nick almost lost his grip, but soon wrenched his weapon free as the Grimm began to dissipate into smoky ash on the wind.
Nick breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Glad I wasn't actually the lunch," he said, looking back to his fellows with a smile that evaporated when he spotted his partner. The tip of Luz' weapon was on the ground, its lanky wielder leaning heavily upon the haft, the death grip of both hands the only thing keeping her quivering frame standing, it seemed. "Luz!" he shouted in alarm, bolting to her side.
"I'll be alright," she said unsteadily. "That much dust usage can be taxing. I'll be better in a moment," she added, pushing herself to her full height with only the barest quiver of her arms.
"You sure, mate?" Roy asked skeptically, getting only a nod in return.
"All right, let me get up the hill and find us a relic, then. What?" Nick asked of the other two, seeing the apprehensive look they shared.
"Give it to 'im," Roy said after a moment.
"Are you sure? If we end up with only half a relic…" Mate trailed off, the implications clear.
"They both walked the walk, Mate. 'sides, we don't know one way or the other. And if this Ozpin git is gonna disqualify anyone who did everything 'e asked because of some stupid rock, he can take that fancy diploma and cram it straight up 'is date," Roy pronounced with grim finality.
Mate regarded his partner for a moment, impressed that Roy held a presence that transcended physical height. "Well, that is a rare treat," he said cryptically before digging into his pocket for the stone and tossing it to Nick. "Worst comes to worst, there's always next year, I suppose," Mate added with a rakish smile.
"Thanks," Nick said simply.
"Don't mention it. Now, I do believe I've worked up quite the appetite," Mate added, gesturing back towards Beacon with a flourish of his hand. "Dinner awaits, lady and gentlemen.
"Yeah, I'm a fair bit knackered myself," Roy replied with a deep sigh, too tired to correct him. "Soon as Luz is ready to walk, we can get going. No one left behind."
"Agreed," Nick responded.
"Agreed," Mate echoed. "Though I would ask that you not try and bring the rest of the Grimm in the forest down on us for some fun. I assume you do that intentionally?" he asked of his partner's obvious battle rage.
"Yeah," Roy replied, chagrined. "I'm used to fightin' with a lot of squishies around. Keeps 'em safe, and I don't 'ave to go chasing Grimm 'round the village all day."
"Fair enough, I suppose. Are we ready?" Mate asked, getting a chorus of nods in reply. "After you, partner," he added, from misguided chivalry or some other yielding of authority, Roy couldn't tell.
A raucous cheer broke out amongst the student body at the Nevermore's demise, especially amongst the minority that had taken 'kill' over 'evade' in betting circles, quite a bit of lien now making its way to the Amundsen Orphanage as a result of student pessimism. Thom Blackwell grinned smugly, having set the odds to properly draw the suckers in.
"Still not as awesome as decapitating it," Ruby grumbled irritably.
"I know, Ruby. You and your team were awesome, I promise," Jaune reassured her with a pat on the shoulder.
"Hell yeah, we were," Yang concurred, getting a high five from Nora.
"I'm just glad we got everyone through without any major injuries," Pyrrha added before her head cocked to the side at the two gentlemen in uniform that had just entered the room.
Jaune followed her gaze and was similarly struck with curiosity as Velvet was speaking to them and pointed in their direction. "What are the police doing here?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"Yang?" Ruby immediately asked, her rising inflection conveying both suspicion and disappointment.
"What? I didn't do anything!" she protested, getting seven sets of disbelieving eyes looking back at her. Well, six, in truth; Nora was simply trying to look as innocent as everyone else whilst racking her own brain for antics she hadn't yet been asked about.
Mate Adel brushed the last of the dust from his long coat with his hand, trying to put his best foot forward as he waited backstage with the rest of the new freshmen. Initiation had been eventful, but he was hardly a young man averse to a little adventure now and then.
"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," Coco said with a sly smirk as she stepped out from behind a stage curtain, Velvet following closely after.
"Why, dear sister, you sound actually happy to see me. If you get any more affectionate, I might positively swoon," he said with a playful tone. "And hello again, Miss Scarlatina. It's been a good while, hasn't it?" he asked, favoring Coco's partner with the barest hint of a hat tip.
"Hello, Mate. How have you been?" she said with a slight smile.
"I am rolling, Velvet," he said jocularly, giving her a slight bow at the waist.
"Easy there, Mate. You've got more than enough on your plate without chasing after my partner."
"Of this I am well aware, Coco."
"So anyway, before you get it into that big head of yours that I actually care, I'm not here just for you," Coco said with a haughty smile on her face.
"Perish the thought," Mate replied dryly.
"Have you seen Velvet's sister around? She passed initiation with you," Coco clarified.
"Truly? I didn't know you had a sister. Well, that's good news, I suppose. I didn't get a good look at everyone, but I can't say as I saw her. Does she have a tail, perhaps? Easily concealed by clothing?"
"No. No tail," Velvet answered softly, doing her level best to keep a straight face.
"Then unfortunately, no, I didn't recognize her. The only Faunus I've seen thus far has been my partner. A rather cantankerous gentleman, if I do say so myself."
"We saw," Coco replied, grinning like the proverbial cat that ate the equally proverbial canary.
"Yes. Most unpleasant, but I believe we've moved past it. Though perhaps you could enlighten me, dear sister. We don't frequent the same social circles, you and I, after all. Have you ever heard of a Roy Sheila?" he asked, cutting his eyes briefly to Velvet when she snorted softly before quickly covering her mouth. "Apparently the name carries some weight that I've not been made aware of," he added, pale green eyes darting about nervously.
Mate could only blink silently as Velvet Scarlatina burst into shrieking, giggling laughter, pausing every now and then to look at him before losing it once more. Slowly, Velvet ambled away, wiping tears from her eyes before disappearing behind the curtains, her cackling laughter echoing through the backstage area.
"This is the strangest day I've had in a dog's age, Coco," Mate admitted quietly as he watched her go.
"You'll figure it out," she reassured her brother with a knowing smile and an affectionate pat on the shoulder. "Now go on, they're about to start. And don't forget to call Mom and Dad afterwards!" she called back over her shoulder as she walked away.
"Seriously, bro, it's not a big deal!" Sun Wukong said with his trademark goofy smile occupying a large portion of Jaune's Scroll screen.
"But you're missing part of an ear!" Jaune countered, still dumbfounded that Sun could be so nonchalant about nearly dying.
"Scars are just tattoos with better stories, man. Gives you that tough guy image the girls love. Speaking of, is Blake around?" he asked with a hopeful look.
"Sorry, no. Vale PD pulled them aside before the ceremony started, something about victim impact statements from the Breach?" Jaune replied, having only gotten the briefest explanation from Ruby before she was called to join her teammates. "I'll tell her you said hi, man. All of them."
"Thanks, Jaune. Hey, are you guys doing this student mentorship thing at Beacon like we are? We got a pretty good team paired up with us, I think."
"Yeah, we are. Doubt we're getting tapped though. We're only second year students. Those guys are lucky to have Team SSSN. Really."
"Ha! Tell me something I don't know!" Sun shot back with self-assured confidence. "Well, hey, man, it's good to hear from you, but we've got an early start in the morning."
"Oh, crap, I forgot about the time difference."
"It's okay," Sun replied with a shrug.
"Still, thanks. For everything. Even if it didn't work out like we would've wanted."
"You guys would've done the same for us. I know you would."
"I owe you one," Jaune added, voice dropping into more serious tones.
"I know," Sun replied with a cocky smirk. "Pay me back next time you see us, okay?"
"You've got it, Sun. Make sure that happens, all right?"
"Oh, you haven't seen the last of me, count on it. G'night, man," Sun concluded, stifling a yawn.
"Good night, Sun."
Jaune closed the video call, stepping back into the theater and taking his seat next to Pyrrha again.
"What'd I miss? We get a team to babysit?"
"Not yet, no. CBLT, RAIN, NOIR, SAND; all third and fourth year teams."
"Good. I know it sounds selfish, but I don't know that we need that kind of distraction this year," Jaune said.
"Aww, I want someone to teach the Way of the Pancake!" Nora said dejectedly.
"Still not a secret society, Nora," Ren reminded her with a gentle smile.
"Well, it wouldn't be a secret society if everyone knew about it, now would it?"
"She's got you there, Ren," Jaune interjected, giving a beaming Nora a wink for good measure.
"And our final team," Ozpin began, "To be mentored by Vytal Festival Tournament silver medalists Team JNPR," he added, fixing a stunned Jaune Arc in place with a wry smile. The large display shifted one final time to display the portraits of Roy, Mate, Luz and Nick. "Mate Adel, Nicholas Argento, Luz Martinez-Rios, and Corduroy Scarlatina. You retrieved the alabaster hemispheres, and from this day forward, will be known as Team CMLN, led by...Corduroy Scarlatina."
Roy's brown skin somehow managed to pale as the news sunk in. Beside her, Mate blinked, his rheumy, pale green eyes gazing into the middle distance.
"I suppose that does explain quite a bit," he mumbled.
"Congratulations to you all, and the best of wishes for the coming year."
AN:
-Team CFVN: Caffeine
-Team CMLN: Chameleon
Team CMLN is a fully fleshed out team I was originally going to do a standalone, companion fic to Summer School with. Rather than divide my efforts, being a little sparse on ideas on what to do with it, and unsure how to pace the publishing so as to not spoil one story with the other, I've decided to roll them into the main story. They'll be around, and interacting with the canon cast from time to time, as evidenced by being JNPR's mentees. CMLN, like any good RWBY team, has a common theme with their literary allusions; five internet points to the first person to point them out in the reviews!
Regarding Luz' dust usage; the best analogy is that she's basically casting from HP.