Ch. 40

"First day back and they're nowhere to be found!" Emma whined as she and Kathleen walked up to Beacon Academy. "I've called both Abby and Jurano, three times each, but neither of them have answered!"

"Well, if they miss our first class then it's their fault," Kathleen replied.

"Did Abby or Jurano tell you if they were doing anything yesterday?" Emma asked.

Kathleen nodded. "Jurano told me he snagged four tickets to a rave in downtown Vale. He said they were going to be back this morning."

"Hey ladies, how's it goin?"

The girls looked left as Mercury, Cinder, and Emerald strode up beside them.

"Hey, how was your summer vacation?" Emma asked.

"We stayed here in Vale, just chillin' and stuff," Mercury told them.

"I've been improving my fighting skills, but mainly resting from school," said Emerald.

"I've managed to finish a few of my favorite books and write a poetry book of my own," said Cinder.

"Interesting. May I read your poetry Cinder?" Kathleen asked.

"Maybe later," she replied. "I don't have the book on me right now. It's back in the room I claimed at the mansion."

"Oh yeah! I haven't been to the mansion before," Emma said. "What's it like in there?"

"What do you expect?" Emerald told her. "Beautiful décor on every floor, especially the ballroom, living room, downstairs den, and the individual rooms. There's also wide screen TVs, a massive kitchen, a sports room in the basement, and the view from the roof is amazing."

"Wow, I need to see all this! We all have access to the mansion, right?" Emma asked.

"We should since Abaddon has three keys to the building," Cinder answered. "You just need to let him know you're going there."

As the new students continued towards the auditorium, the returning ones all strolled to their new dorms. Being second year students now, Kathleen, Emma, and MNCE's belongings were transported to a different building nearby the first-year dorms. The building had ten floors; each floor housing four team rooms in a wide burgundy hallway connected to a kitchen and a massive oval shaped common room decorated with soft red velvet couches and two recliners enclosing a trio of rectangular wooden tables that formed a triangle in the middle of the room. The burgundy painted walls were adorned with a large wall mounted flat screen television, portraits of former student alumni and teachers, and a few replicas of weapons used by heroes from the old war. And to top it all off, the light brown carpet underneath their feet was adorned with the kingdom of Vale's signature emblem.

"Holy shit! Earlier, I felt like asking Professor Goodwitch if I could live off campus, but after seeing this I may change my mind," said Mercury.

Emerald read the nameplates above the doors in the hallway. "Not surprised that we're sharing this space with JNPR and RWBY."

The door to the kitchen opened and Neopolitan walked out, wearing a baggy light magenta short sleeve shirt and white shorts. She was holding a silver platter with three green steaming mugs.

"Hey guys, what took you so long to get here?" she asked as she put the platter down on one of the tables.

"Neo!" Emma teleported right next to the small girl and gave her tight hug.

"Did you miss me Emma?" She asked.

"Yeah," Emma answered. "Without you here Abby'll bother me about being the baby of the group."

"Of course. He acts like our older brother after all."

Emerald picked up one of the mugs and took a quick whiff of its scent. "Cinder, isn't this the cinnamon apple tea mix you usually drink?"

Cinder took a whiff as well. "Taking from my stash again?"

Neo frowned. "Don't give me that. It was for a good cause. Abaddon, Jurano, and Cardin are all drunkenly asleep in our room."

Everyone peeked into MNCE's room to find the three huntsmen: Cardin was curled around a pillow snoring, Jurano lay sprawled out on his back on the floor, and Abaddon was on his stomach, his torso hanging off one of the beds.

"Honestly, why did they think it was a good idea to get drunk at the rave?" Kathleen wondered as she went over to Abaddon. "Someone take a picture."

Emma, Cinder, Neo, Emerald, and Mercury all happily held out their scrolls and switched them to camera mode. Neo pointed to a small dresser near Abaddon. Kathleen opened the top drawer and found paint brushes with small paint tubs. Mischievous laughter ensued as the group went to work on the drunken, unconscious trio.

XXXXXXX

3 hours later….

"Damn, my head," Abaddon complained as he groggily stood up.

He didn't bother to check up on Jurano or Cardin and just went straight to the bathroom. He gripped the sink, groaning. Although, he wasn't ready for what he would see in the mirror. Abaddon looked up and saw his face riddled with drawings: pink whiskers on his cheeks, blue lips, a red nose, red circles around his eyes, his human ears were entirely green, and when he looked around his neck, he had two kiss marks. The one on the left of his neck was a glittering purple, and the one on the right was a dark red. Abaddon pulled out his scroll and saw that he had an email from Ozpin.

"Mr. Rizer,

If you wouldn't mind, I would like to acquire your assistance in the initiation of the new students in the Emerald Forest. It is of utmost importance. I will meet you at the school landing pads at fifteen minutes after three in the afternoon.

Sincerely,

Professor Ozpin."

The time on Abaddon's scroll read forty-five minutes after two.

"Fuck!" He screamed as he quickly grabbed a towel, wet it with hot water, and started wiping his face. It took almost ten minutes of fast scrubbing to get all the paint off. He then brushed his teeth and flossed before he rushed out the bathroom, stopping to gaze at Jurano and Cardin. Jurano's face was colored entirely green with a line connecting his eyebrows to make a unibrow, his neck was entirely blue, and eyes were painted onto his eyelids. Cardin's was the most original, as he was painted like a clown, with the all-white face, red nose, red lips, and pink circles on his cheeks. Abaddon stifled a laugh and shut the door behind him as he went into his team's room to change clothes. From the looks of it, Kathleen and Emma had been there only briefly as their packed suitcases were sitting on the floor near the door. Abaddon had unpacked the day before, so he went to the closet and changed from his pajamas into his usual outfit, grabbed his gauntlets, and ran full sprint out of the dorm building, through the campus, and to the airship platforms at the front of the school. Coincidentally, an airship was about to take off from one of them, with Ozpin inside as he was visibly standing in the rear of the cockpit. Abaddon waved for them to wait, which it did as Ozpin caught sight of him. One of the doors opened as the boy jumped into the ship, with it already three feet off the ground. He took a seat next to the headmaster and buckled up as the door closed and the ship took off.

"Well, hello Mr. Rizer," said Ozpin. "I take it you had a rough night?"

Abaddon gave Ozpin a questioning look. The headmaster took out his scroll and put it on selfie mode, showing Abaddon that his face was still red from his scrubbing and he had not entirely wiped off the kiss marks on his neck.

"Let's pretend like all this crap not there," Abaddon suggested.

"I didn't see a thing young man. Not a thing," Ozpin said with a coy smile.

Thirty minutes passed as the airship flew to the launch site. It levitated close to the ground, enough for everyone to jump off, then flew away. Ozpin, Abaddon, and the first years walked on a short manmade pathway until they joined the rest of the new huntsmen in training that had traveled with Glynda. Abaddon and Ozpin stood beside Glynda as the first years stood on the launch platforms and Ozpin gave them the short instructions for initiation. Abaddon looked at each student, noting their outfits, weapons, and attitudes, until he came to the last two: Riku and Anise.

"Oh yeeahhh, I'd forgotten they were coming this year," Abaddon thought to himself.

Anise was waving at him with a wide smile while Riku was giving him a thumbs up. Abaddon responded with a smile of his own.

"Good luck to all of you," Ozpin finished before the students began being launched into the forest one by one.

After the last student was sent flying, Abaddon asked, "So what is it you need me here for Professor?"

"While I am confident of my students' abilities to take on any Grimm traversing this forest, I'm afraid that is not the case with these new types of Grimm: The Ghouls. I have not encountered them before, and neither have some of the huntsmen I know. I have asked for assistance from some of these huntsmen, but they will not be here until later, and that's where you come in. You're the only student I know that has adequate experience with these creatures." Ozpin took a sip from his coffee mug.

"How do you know about that?" Abaddon asked.

"Your grandfather," Ozpin answered. "I've heard stories, all good ones."

Abaddon shook his head. "Of course, he wants to brag about me to his friends. He does it a lot. I'll go scout the area. Keep me posted on anything that needs my attention."

Abaddon then hopped onto a launch pad and was sent flying, arcing through the air into the forest below.

XXXXXXX

Riku smiled as he glided through the air, the wind coursing through his hair. As he dropped close to the tree line, he flipped in midair to right himself and then grabbed onto a large high branch. He used his momentum to swing back into air towards another tree and drew his sword, stabbing into the wood.

"That was a rush," Raiku thought. "Sometimes I wish I had Anise's abilities, would've made this a little easier."

He pulled his sword out of the tree and landed on the forest floor. Riku jogged east through the forest, hoping to find his sister, or a suitable partner at least. As he went, he caught a glimpse of a small figure darting past some trees to his left.

"The hell was that?"

For some reason, he felt compelled to follow it. He tailed the figure to a small clearing, getting close enough to see what it was: a little girl that looked no older than six years old. She had long straight blonde hair that reached all the way to her knees and wore a short sleeve white shirt that was three times bigger than her, acting almost like a dress.

"Hey kid, what're you doing out here by yourself? It's not safe!" Riku yelled.

The girl looked at him with big blue eyes, giggled, and then ran off. Wanting to know why she was here in the first place, Riku gave chase once again. No matter how quick he was, he could not get within five feet of the girl. He wasn't short on breath, but he was barely catching up. Raiku followed her on a random path for about a mile before coming to a stop. The girl stood with her back to him in a patch of forest with dead grass. Raiku slowly went up to the girl.

"Hey kid, didn't you hear me-."

He was abruptly cut off when the little girl suddenly turned around. Her once blue eyes were now a burning red, and her mouth was filled with jagged white teeth. Riku backed away from her.

CRUNCH!

He looked down to see that he was standing on the end of a sunken pit filled the partially buried bones of humans and animals alike. Riku brandished his weapon. The little girl's form began to shake violently as it changed. Her skin and hair turned black and her limbs began to elongate. Her dress disappeared and her size grew by five times. In no time at all, Riku was face to face with a Mother Wraith. This Grimm was a fifteen-foot-tall quadruped with five fingered claws, a lean body with thin limbs, an unruly mane of black fur with red tinted edges, and a long- forked tail. The Grimm's mask was white like all the others, but it covered the beasts entire head and had a myriad of swirling red markings on it. The Wraith growled at Riku as it slowly crept towards him, its six eyes fixated solely on him. Riku could tell that it had a meal not too long ago from the dried blood on its teeth, but he didn't care whether it was human, faunus, or animal. He just knew that he was not going to be its next meal.

As Riku raised his sword in front of him, the Wraith attacked first. It shot its tail forward, aiming for Riku's head. The boy barely managed to dodge as it clipped his right cheek. The forked appendage stabbed straight through a tree that was behind the huntsman, with its tip bursting out the other side. Riku reacted fast, cutting through the Wraith's tail. The beast screeched in pain as it recoiled its limb.

"That was a close one," Riku thought as he wiped the blood from his cheek.

He remembered reading about the Wraiths in his textbooks; fast and cunning hunters that could possibly challenge even a licensed huntsman. The Grimm turned back towards him, but its eyes were now glowing brighter, its hide spiked up, its breath was heavy, and it swung the remainders of its tail around vigorously. The Grimm was actually pissed, and every fiber of Riku's being was telling him one thing: Run!