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Chapter 12 - Questions, Answers and Team Selections
Beacon Initiation Test, Croftlan Colony
After cleaning up the Grimm swarm at Croftlan Colony's walls to the point that the Beacon fourth years would definitely be able to handle what remained, Glynda Goodwitch immediately piloted the boulder that she was carrying telekinetically down towards the gorge containing the colony's Airfield. All told, the amount of damage that Glynda and her fourth years had managed to do to the Grimm in only fifty minutes time was nearly miraculous, but that didn't make her feel any better about the situation as she floated herself in the direction of the hard besieged little Airfield.
fifty minutes was far too long a time for a smaller, less fortified, less offensively capable location such as Croftlan's Airfield to hold off the absurd number of Grimm that she'd seen back-flowing towards it...
Needless to say, Glynda was extremely concerned about the devastation that she was about to find within the Airfield's subpar barrier walls...
Boom!
Very suddenly, a massive column of roiling steam and billowing dust spilled out of the gorge following a rapid but intense ball of white hot flames, Glynda's mouth hung open and her movement slowed to a crawl as she took in the violently churning, superheated conflagration below. Had the Airfield's entire stockpile of red Dust just caught fire and exploded? Was she about to find a crater in the earth where the Airfield used to sit?
Moving a little higher to avoid the massive column of hot air and dust that was rising up into the sky, Glynda floated herself down towards the end of the gorge and then approached the situation from the opposite side.
What she found at the bottom of the gorge was unexpected enough that the situation became completely surreal for her.
The Airfield was, for the most part, intact... The Airfield had weathered the siege.
It was incredible.
Floating her boulder down towards the noticeably dented barrier fortification to park it atop the sole remaining machine gun emplacement, Glynda assessed the situation with a professional eye. Someone, somehow, had set off a massively powerful explosion down in the kill zone outside of the barrier wall that had created an enormous bowl shaped creator in the earth, and the Grimm that had been outside of the blast radius were only now managing to fill that crater up to ground level. There were still one or two A and B ranked Grimm that were down there amongst the rabble, but they, along with the rest of the surge, would need several minutes to climb back up to the height of the ramparts, and in the meantime Glynda would be able to crush them all with impunity.
"You two," Glynda suddenly called out to a black haired boy and an orange haired girl that were the only two people currently manning the wall. "Did one of you organize and execute that explosion?"
With eyes growing wide in sudden recognition, followed quickly by relief, the black haired boy immediately started shaking his head. The orange haired girl, likewise rapidly shook her head in the negative. Then the Black haired boy was pointing down to the Airfield's tarmac, where a group of teenage girls were lifting and carrying a boy towards the nearby terminal.
Judging by the way the girls were treating the boy's body with a great amount of care, Glynda surmised that he was still alive and that they were attempting not to damage him any further than he already was. Then Glynda suddenly recognized who that boy actually was, and she instantly knew exactly who had engineered the explosion.
What Glynda didn't know was how John Freeman and the rest of his companions managed to defend forty meters of barrier wall against a surge this size for the fifty plus minutes that preceded the explosion.
Glynda was beginning to anticipate the reviewing process that she and the students would soon be performing together using the video footage on their HUD glasses. She had a great many questions, and the reviewing process was going to be the manner with which she finally acquired the answers.
Beacon Academy, 1 Hour after the Beacon Initiation Test came to an end...
While Ren managed to remain outwardly calm the entire time the Beacon staff watched his and Nora's actions on a large holographic monitor, Nora was visibly fidgeting in her seat the entire time as if sitting still was just moments away from killing her. Of course, Ren was well aware that it usually took his lifelong friend several hours to calm down after a fight, and that this siege had been far bigger and more stimulating than most, but he still felt a growing desire to physically restrain the girl when he saw her bouncing back and forth in her chair.
"So after meeting up with each other and beginning to move towards Croftlan colony, you two decided to ride on an Ursa, fell off a cliff, made contact with Ms. Polendina and Ms. Rose when you landed on the Eagle Grimm they were riding, saw the emergency flares up in the sky, and began moving back towards the Airfield," Professor Oobleck summarized for Ms. Goodwitch, Mr. Port and Ozpin.
"What made the four of you decide to head towards the flares," Goodwitch asked just as soon as her co-worker finished his summary.
"They were Red Dust flares," Nora immediately responded as if those few words were an explanation all by themselves.
"I completely agree with Nora," Ren quickly added. "If you see Red Dust flares, you offer what assistance you're capable of giving. It's as simple as that."
"After diving down into the gorge to enter the battle, you immediately coordinated with the people who were already fighting on the wall," Professor Port interjected with a wide and happy smile on his face. "What led to this nearly unheard of amount of cooperation during a test where every partnership is supposed to be in it for themselves?"
"We had bigger, far more important things to worry about than the Initiation Test," Ren replied with a simple shrug of his shoulders. "Civilian lives take priority... always..."
"Johnno, the boy that was already leading the defense of the wall, he knows his stuff," Nora added almost immediately after.
"We agree, and are very pleased with your decision making process throughout that entire ordeal," Professor Oobleck immediately replied. "The way that you two helped take down those Death Stalkers was wonderful and the way that you took custody of a section of wall was superb. We're all extremely impressed."
"Thank you," Ren and Nora both replied in unison.
"What do you know about the explosion that followed," Ozpin suddenly asked from way off in left field.
"Only that John was planning it all along in order to eliminate the three A ranked Goliaths, and that he was having to coordinate everyone's movements without moving around too much himself," Ren explained in a slow and thoughtful voice. "Mr. Freeman never intended to leave the Testing area, and it'll be a grave injustice if he's failed as a result of his heroics."
"Yeah! Failing Johnno would only mean that he's better off attending somewhere that still cares about doing the right thing," Nora added with an almost menacing glint in her eyes.
At a glance from Ozpin, Glynda delivered their prearranged dismissal of the students in front of them. "Your Initiation review is now complete. Please return to your guest rooms until dinner is served in the dining hall."
Beacon Academy, 2 Hours after the Initiation came to an end...
Ruby and Penny stared at the recorded holographic footage happening in front of them with a mixture of both elation and embarrassment running across their faces. On the one hand, they were obviously quite capable young Huntresses as they'd managed to reign in an Eagle Grimm without any trouble and then they'd forced it to fly them around. On the other hand, the hijinks that they'd managed to get into just minutes after their Initiation test started were a little bit hard to watch after the fact.
Both Penny and Ruby were blushing.
Finally, the footage arrived at the really good part, where Penny slammed the eagle Grimm down into the side of a Death Stalker, and the two of them joined the defense of the barrier wall. Over the next ten-fifteen minutes, they all watched the desperate defense of the wall, as things seemed to get worse and more congested with every single second that passed, until finally John had them all retreat off the wall so that he could blow up the killing zone.
"You ladies cooperated with several other teams during the testing," Professor Goodwitch pointed out. "Why?"
"Because it was the right thing to do," Ruby immediately responded.
"There's also the fact that prioritizing civilian lives was an unstated secondary objective of the test," Penny continued.
While Ruby's eyes immediately swiveled towards Penny, nobody else in the room reacted to the girl's words at all, which only served to confirm her theory.
"You followed Mr. Freeman's lead during the siege," Professor Oobleck pointed out next.
"Of course I did," Ruby announced in a cheerful voice. "John's my friend, and he was already leading just fine when we arrived."
"I trust my elder brother's judgment," Penny added in a no nonsense tone of voice.
"Is Mr. Freeman actually your older brother Ms. Polendina," Professor Port asked when he simply couldn't control his curiosity anymore. From what I've seen in your very short and black line covered personnel file, you're a very unique individual..."
"Well no. John's not actually my biological sibling," Penny explained as a dull pink flush grew across her face. "I call him big brother because the only alternative is to call him my soul mate, and that would be far, far too embarrassing."
Everyone in the room waited for Penny to continue her explanation, but the girl was clearly finished saying everything that she had to say on the matter.
"Near the end of the incident, you quickly explained to Ms. Schnee how Mr. Freeman was splitting a large amount of water into a volatile mixture of oxygen and Hydrogen gasses," Ozpin announced into the silence. "I'm an aura specialist rather than a chemist. I've never had the time required to learn such an obscure branch of science. Do you believe that Mr. Freeman could cause that explosion again? Is his Semblance capable of that kind of widespread destruction?"
"John converted well over two hundred tons of water into those two different gasses," Penny immediately replied. "He could only recreate that explosion if he could make physical contact with that much fresh water again, and that outcome is extremely unlikely during a fight. There are other ways that John can do similar things with the elements present all around us, but they'd never be as large scale or anywhere near as dramatic."
"John's not dangerous and he didn't mean to leave the testing area," Ruby suddenly belted out in a newly impassioned voice. "Please, please, pleeaase don't expel him! He saved everyone in that Airfield. If you don't believe us, just ask them. Ask any of them!"
"If John gets expelled for doing what needs to be done in the act of preserving innocent lives, I'll take him back to Atlas Academy with me where we'll be welcomed with open arms," Penny added, both her voice and her expression made of steel.
"Your Initiation review is now complete. Please return to your guest rooms until dinner is served in the dining hall."
Beacon Academy, 3 Hours after the Initiation came to an end...
Weiss Schnee sat as straight as she possibly could as the holographic footage recounted her and Pyrrha's deeds during the Initiation test. At her side, Pyrrha appeared to be critiquing her own fighting form throughout the Test, evidenced by the small but rapid tensing and relaxing of her hand and arm muscles against the armrest of her chair.
"You two managed to form an especially capable partnership, evidenced by the fact that you'd already completed all of the test's objectives long before you saw the Red Dust flares in the sky," Oobleck pointed out. "With that being the case, why did you decide to risk entering the red testing area at the bottom of that gorge?"
"I'm sorry if we weren't supposed to enter that more dangerous area, but I just don't have it in me to ignore Red Dust flares," Pyrrha quietly replied before falling silent again.
"We would've disgraced ourselves if we'd done anything less," Weiss furthered with a small smile towards her partner.
"You immediately asked Mr. Freeman what was needed from you in order to help defend the wall," Mr. Port added with his eyes resting upon Weiss. "What makes you so willing to follow the orders of a man in a much lower social class than you? I'm aware of how strict and unbending Atlesian customs are, and I know that you made many concessions in that moment."
"Those Atlesians that believe their social standing and customs are more important than human lives aren't suited to having authority in the first place and should be shown some humility as soon as possible," Weiss declared with pure conviction dripping from her every word. "I want to be different. I will be different."
This time it was Pyrrha's turn to smile aside at Weiss.
"You believed that following John's orders would safeguard human lives," Goodwitch suddenly announced. "What would you have done if his orders were wrong?"
After tilting her head sideways at Goodwitch as if the woman's question had never even occurred to her, Weiss steepled her hands in her lap and then drew in a very deep breath. "I don't know really, except that I know I'd be very, very surprised. I wasn't around to see it happen, but I'd bet my entire bank account that those ingenious Anti-Gravity barriers were John's idea. I know from past experience that he uses every single available resource to reduce potential risk for the people fighting with him. I... I trust his judgment... I trust him... I'll be enormously upset if he's expelled from Beacon over a ridiculous technicality."
Pyrrha immediately started nodding her head in a silent but somehow intense form of agreement.
"Your Initiation review is now complete. Please return to your guest rooms until dinner is served in the dining hall."
Beacon Academy, 4 Hours after the Initiation came to an end...
Blake wasn't a huge fan of how every word that she and John said to each other before and during their Initiation Test was being scrutinized by every single one of her teachers...
As Blake had expected, John was right and the Initiate class had already started getting judged even while they were still within the safety of the VTOLs. Even as she watched the holographic footage roll by, she could see that those children who were jerks to each other were being noted down by the Professors and their test scores were being reduced.
What Blake hadn't expected was that the Professors would study every single interaction between herself and John for the entire duration of the afternoon.
It was embarrassing...
"I... I want to help those people... I think you might actually have a way to pull it off... I'm going to choose to trust you... Please don't make me regret it."
"Are the two of us about to die, John?"
As the schmaltzy dialogue between John and herself was replayed in super high definition for everyone's enjoyment, and an image of John filled the entire hologram to reveal that she'd been staring up at the man's face from an extremely close angle, Blake found herself sinking further and further down into her chair. If she could've done it, she might even have curled up under the table, but she was currently sitting across from all of Beacon's senior faculty so that option wasn't available.
After watching John pull off a miracle with all of the random machinery that was just laying around unused across the Airfield, Blake finally got a chance to see what their fighting looked like with eyes that weren't a blur of adrenaline and movement. The two of them fought like mad up and down the length of the wall, and while Blake was definitely the damage dealer of the two of them, John's eyes never stopped moving, his mind never stopped turning, he was making plans and giving directions to Bernadette the entire time that they fought and they moved
It was just as obvious now as it had been back then. John, not her, was the one that made it all possible...
At the tail end of that thought, the hologram footage suddenly arrived at the moment when John began channeling his aura directly into her body, and Blake found herself immensely grateful that the camera in her glasses couldn't capture what had been happening inside of her mind.
Blake was trying very hard not to dwell on just how much she'd enjoyed what that had felt like...
Almost instantly after John started supplementing her aura with his own, Blake was rendered into a limp noodle of powerful physical sensations, blissful euphoria, and a sense of sharing so profound that there was no room left for fear or doubt. For the length of time that her new partner had pressed a seemingly never ending ocean of aura deep, deep into her body, Blake had felt as if she knew the man, knew his cares, knew his concerns, understood his core values and how strongly he held them. She'd felt as if John Freeman was completely laid bare to her, in a way that mere words or even the most sincere of deeds could never hope to convey...
And then, with a yelled out five to one countdown, the moment came to a very sudden end, and Blake had felt like a million Lien again as if she'd just woken up from the best night's sleep in her whole entire life...
Blake never wanted to do that again... but only because she'd enjoyed it waaaaay too much...
After watching herself get crushed by the Centinel, and then getting thrown towards the lookout tower like luggage, the holo-footage eventually arrived at John's massive gas explosion and then Professor Goodwitch's arrival just a few minutes later. Blake's recollection of the Initiation Test had finally come to an end.
Since they'd all watched Yang's footage just a few minutes before watching Blake's, now all that was left was whatever critique or questions the Professors intended to press upon them.
"You never had a partner until after most of the fighting was completed," Oobleck pointed out to Yang with a small knowing smile upon his face.
"Uhhh yeah, but Blake was kind enough to follow me as I destroyed some Ursa and stuff, so I do have enough kills to pass," Yang offered with an awkward little laugh. "I really did think that someone that wasn't already paired up would be down in the gorge helping..."
"In a better world you would've been right, but most of your classmates never even considered turning away from Croftlan Colony and complicating their tests," Mr. Port explained with a small, sad, shake of his head.
"Thankfully, Blake will be receiving all of the credit for every kill that both she and Mr. Freeman made before her partnership transferred over to you, which means that the two of you will be among the top percentile of your class," Oobleck added with a grin.
"So it really is happening then," Yang breathed out as she shook her head in sudden disgust. "After sitting down here and watching that holographic footage right in front of Blake and I, you jokers still intend to fail John."
"Surely not," Blake picked up right where Yang dropped off. "They couldn't possibly condemn a young Huntsman for putting everything on the line to do what's right. To do so would go against everything that this school is supposed to stand for."
"Your Initiation review is now complete. Please return to your guest rooms until dinner is served in the dining hall."
Day of the Beacon Initiation Test 11:00 Pm Beacon Guest Chambers...
When next Jaune managed to crack open his eyes again, it was to find himself laying in a bed under an unfamiliar ceiling... again. This whole 'being rendered unconscious by violent trauma' thing was a rather disturbing trend that Jaune would be quite happy to put an end to. Then again... when he thought back to all of the events that transpired within that gorge, he wasn't sure if he'd change anything...
Everyone pulled together when things got tight and everyone did their part. The whole experience had been just as moving and meaningful as Jaune had always imagined that it'd be and more... Not only that, but judging by the fact that he was alive, help must've arrived in time to sweep up the rest of that surge...
No. After giving the matter some serious thought, Jaune became more and more certain that he wouldn't have changed a thing, even if he had the opportunity.
Now, all he had to figure out was where he was going to go from here...
He'd failed the test... He'd need to move on...
"Good morning Mr. Arc... or perhaps I should say good evening. I don't think the clock has struck midnight quite yet," a familiar man's voice drawled out from across the room.
"Ozpin," Jaune croaked out as he moved to prop himself up in the bed. Now that he was taking in his surroundings, he saw that he wasn't actually in an infirmary or hospital at all, but more like a guest chamber with some IV equipment brought in from somewhere else, and there were two people watching him from different places throughout the room. Ozpin was sitting in a chair at the foot of his bed, and Glynda Goodwitch was sitting in another chair off to his right.
"I have some business with you Mr. Freeman," Ozpin began in a very calm and congenial tone of voice. "Of course, I'm well aware that I won't be able to get you to focus on any of the items on my agenda until we plow through all of your questions. With that in mind, please go ahead. Ask away, and we'll get you up to speed."
"The Grimm have a leader of some kind coordinating their efforts," Jaune suddenly stated as a matter of fact, not even bothering to pose his words as a question because of the strength of his newfound certainty.
"That's... definitely not a question... nor is it the direction that I was expecting this conversation to head in," Ozpin mused to himself with a hand pressed up against his chin. "My, my, my... You really are an interesting young man... Will you please tell me what led to this belief of yours?"
"You sent three of your strongest Professors, the best of the fourth years, and the first year Initiates to help defend Croftlan Colony from a full fledged Grimm swarm," Jaune began as he carefully studied the Headmaster's face. "I don't believe you would've sent the relatively untrained Initiate class into such a dangerous environment, even with all of the control measures that you put into place, unless you were stretched to your very limits... Which of course begs the question... Where were you Headmaster? Where did you take all of the students in the fourth, third and second year classes?"
"We were defending another colony," Ozpin slowly admitted with a small, almost begrudging, nod of his head.
"Defending another colony," Jaune slowly repeated in an extremely meaningful tone of voice. "Helping put a stop to a second, much larger Grimm swarm, on exactly the same day, at exactly the same time..."
"Coincidence," Ozpin rebutted, his tone of voice almost but not quite sarcastic.
"According to the Freelance Guild's records, Grimm Swarms happen about four times a decade on average," Jaune continued when Ozpin's extremely weak denial came to an end. "Not only are they relatively uncommon, they're almost always a result of some cataclysmic error in a Colony's defenses or widespread negativity so profound the Dust barriers fail to conceal it all. Grimm swarms don't just happen twice on the same day for no apparent reason..."
"I have no control over the conclusions that you reach in response to the events that happen around you John, but I expect you to keep that kind of... conjecture... to yourself in the days to come," Ozpin replied with just the slightest amount of edge to his voice.
After nodding his head in understanding because he really did understand why something so frightening would need to be kept a secret, Jaune caught on to something else that Ozpin had just revealed and his face took on a curious expression. "In the days to come you say... Am I not expelled for failing Initiation?"
"You know John," Ozpin replied in a very long suffering tone of voice. "I think I need to hire a PR representative to fix an image problem that I appear to be experiencing... Do I perhaps look like a complete asshole to you?"
"No sir," Jaune immediately responded for lack of something more eloquent to say.
"Do you think I created the boundary lines of the test arbitrarily or just to be a jerk," Ozpin asked next.
"No sir. I actually appreciated the placement of the boundary lines, because they were designed to keep us in relatively safe locations," Jaune assured with an immediate shake of his head.
"Well I wish that that fact were as obvious to everyone else, Ozpin sighed out somewhat melodramatically, "Let me assure you Mr. Freeman, I'm not so willfully ignorant that I'm going to fail you for leaving the test area by accident. Nevertheless, I have spent the lion's share of the afternoon being verbally abused by a never ending series of very concerned young women..."
"Oh... I think I know which women you're alluding to sir, and I can empathize with how you're feeling," Jaune said with his hands steepled in his lap. "There is a reason that I thought you might have no choice but to fail me though... I lost my partner when I left the testing area, which technically means I failed one of the two objectives of the test, and I can't just laugh and ignore the question when I'm asked how that happened. How will you avoid the appearance of making exceptions or even blatant favoritism when you pass me?"
"Very good question," Ozpin immediately replied. "You've passed your Initiation, but due to your failure to stay in the designated testing area and the subsequent forfeiture of your partner, your efforts won't garner you any extra resources for your future team. All of your points have been given to Blake and Yang..."
"Ah...ohhh," Jaune breathed out as a crestfallen expression that he couldn't quite conceal grew across his face. The last thing he'd ever want to be to his future team was a burden...
"Thankfully for you, you're about to become quite the wealthy man," Ozpin continued into the newly oppressive silence.
With eyes that were suddenly widening in realization, Jaune bolted up straight in the bed. "The Gravity Barriers! Are they efficient enough?!"
"This is actually part of the business that I had with you," Ozpin explained with a newly amused smile on his face. "The military wants to improve upon your Gravity Barrier idea for the purposes of widespread installment across all of Vale's defenses, but since you designed those barriers on camera during a battle, you have incontrovertible evidence that you are, in fact, the inventor."
Jaune nodded his head because the laws regarding the development of new Grimm defense techniques were extremely specific. He, as the first person to ever retrofit a gurney into a Gravity barrier, would be owed a certain amount of money for every Gravity barrier that was created and installed from that point forward.
"Of course, the military attempted to claim that you owed them the patent to the Gravity Barrier in payment for damaging the Airfield's barrier wall and for all of the resources that you used up," Ozpin drawled with a small, amused, shake of his head. "I've taken the liberty of paying off all of the debts that you managed to accrue with your very ad-hoc brand of extreme genius. I've also opened a bank account under the name John Freeman for you. Please feel free to pay me back whenever you start receiving those fat royalty checks..."
"I... I will sir. Thank you sir," Jaune gasped out in his extreme surprise and elation.
"No, don't thank me," Ozpin responded with a small shake of his head. "You forget John. Glynda, the other Professors and I, we all spent the entire afternoon watching the video footage collected from your classmates' HUD goggles. Then, after watching young Ms. Belladonna's experiences, we also retrieved your glasses so that we could enjoy watching you work. What you accomplished earlier today was no small matter."
"I saved a copy of your video to use as reference material in my third year siege defense class," Glynda suddenly added, breaking her silence for the very first time. "As a combat instructor, I find your martial arts completely mediocre, but... your intelligence and forethought throughout that entire ordeal was... commendable. Of course you ruined it for me with your supremely reckless behavior at the end there."
"While I'll grant you that my plan was extraordinarily risky, at the time I was suffering from both a severe lack of options and a trio of stampeding Goliaths," Jaune defended as he pulled an IV line out from within the crook of his elbow.
"I suppose I do have to give you that," Glynda sighed out, her voice an odd mixture of reluctant acceptance and something else, something almost wistful...
"I have a question," Jaune added as he turned on the bed and dropped his feet onto the floor. "What did I do to myself out there? I know that I injured myself in that explosion, but I was awake and aware and then I suddenly fell unconscious. Rather than the physical injuries that I sustained, I think I might've done myself some damage with my Semblance."
"That's actually the second matter of business that I have with you," Ozpin admitted with an odd glint in his eye. "I've been curious about this all day because I've never seen someone's aura level go from fifteen percent to one-hundred and twenty percent before and that's exactly what happened to you. Can you tell me what you were doing with your Semblance at the time?"
"I was about to incinerate myself with my own explosion because I didn't have the aura required to use my reactive armor," Jaune began as he thought back to earlier in the day. "Then I started thinking about how my Semblance can bond or divide objects such as the different atoms in particle matter. With that in mind, I tried to just divide what I started thinking of as the aura particles contained inside of my body. I did it once, then twice, then three times, until I knew that I had what I needed, but by the time I was done, I felt like my body might explode from the inside."
By the time John was finished with his explanation, Ozpin looked very amused, and was shaking his head as if Jaune was a particularly stupid puppy dog. "Well to start with, there's no such thing as half an aura particle. After a lifetime of meditation and study I have a very close relationship with my aura, and I can tell you that there's no such thing as size variations in aura. They're all perfectly uniform and regular in size and shape with no deviations whatsoever."
"What did I do then," Jaune immediately questioned.
I suspect what you did when you divided your aura particles in half over and over is you forced these new half sized particles to expand back to full size by pulling the energy that they required directly from your soul," Ozpin brainstormed out loud. This theory would account for your aura skyrocketing up to one-hundred and twenty percent like it did because by dividing your aura in half three times you multiplied fifteen times two times two times two. The reason you felt like you might explode at the time is because you were holding twenty percent more aura than your current max capacity."
"And my soul," Jaune whispered in a newly terrified voice. "Have I broken my soul?"
"You can strain a soul, you can bend a soul, you can injure a soul, you can pervert a soul, you can tarnish a soul, but no force in the entire universe has the raw power required to actually destroy a soul," Ozpin quoted as if he'd read the line from a book. "You might feel fatigued for a time, but you'll bounce back soon enough. If you manage to strengthen your spirit through things like Zen meditation and mindfulness, you might even find that your soul can handle some of the abuse that you just put it through without rendering you unconscious... Then again, maybe you won't... Either way, don't divide your aura until you go way beyond your current limits, because tearing your body apart from the inside out is definitely a possibility."
"Duly noted sir," Jaune breathed out in relief.
"Aaaand now that my curiosity's been assuaged, I'm going to bed," Ozpin suddenly announced.
"Wait sir, Jaune called out towards the man's back. "About my future team..."
The team formations will be announced tomorrow at ten Am in the Auditorium," Ozpin called back without ever turning around.
And then with the loud click of a closing door the man was gone.
"Nobody knows the makeup of their teams yet," Glynda quietly offered as she slowly rose from the chair next to Jaune's bed. "The Headmaster appreciates showmanship to the point that it's become a character defect. That's also the reason why he didn't bother reassuring any of the girls that were concerned about whether or not you passed your test. When you enter the dining hall in the morning, you will be reunited with a very relieved group of young women."
"I... see," Jaune replied while drawing in a very deep breath.
"I wanted to thank you for your actions earlier today," Glynda offered into the newly thoughtful silence filling the room. "I wasn't strong enough to protect everyone on my own... I was hardening my heart to better cope with the bloodshed and devastation that I thought I was about to find within that Airfield. I never imagined that a first year trainee would manage to pull together such a remarkable siege defense. I know you didn't do what you did for me... but I'm grateful that circumstances landed you where they did."
"As am I," Jaune agreed with a heartfelt nod. "I was actually thinking that exact thought just before I realized you and Ozpin were in the room."
Glynda smiled for the very first time in Jaune's presence. Jaune smiled back without reservation.
"I have a question for you before I leave you to your sleep," Glynda suddenly announced in a voice that may have held just the slightest amount of embarrassment.
"Go ahead," Jaune offered, pulling his feet up to sit cross legged on the bed.
You're an emitter type Semblance, but you're unlike any emitter that I've ever seen before, because you can cast your aura inside of yourself just as much as you can cast it outside of your body." After taking a single step away from her chair, Glynda looked down at her hands, fussed at her skirt a bit and then finally looked back up at Jaune. "I've never been able to use my Semblance upon myself. I want to fly without having to carry something to stand on. I want to know what moving your aura inside of yourself feels like from your perspective."
"Personally, I find it easier to use my Semblance within myself, because that's where all of my aura is," Jaune began after a quiet moment spent thinking on the matter. "You keep using the word cast as if you're sending out a line of your aura, but within myself it's more like I'm visualizing what the aura filling that entire area of my body can accomplish for me. I don't need to cast it into the area to get it there because it's already there. It's when I'm trying to do anything outside of my body that I begin feeling both my aura and my concentration waning..."
"I will think on what you've said, and if you manage to expand on that description, then I promise to set aside some time to teach you how emitting is best performed outside of the body," Glynda slowly replied. "In the meantime, do try to get a good night's sleep, and I'll likely see you among the student body tomorrow morning. Oh, your uniform is in the dresser, and I've placed a map of the school in the right pant pocket."
"Thank you very much Professor," Jaune expressed while trying to contain the rising excitement that he was feeling from showing on his face or in his body language.
After nodding his head in thanks again and watching the exceedingly beautiful Professor quietly exit his guestroom, Jaune dropped his hands palms up atop of his knees so that he could begin trying to develop a meditation practice.
There was no time like the present when it came to zen meditation...
The day after the Beacon Initiation Test, 7:00 Am...
After donning a rather eclectically interesting school uniform consisting of a white shirt, red tie and blue vest under a black suit with small amounts of golden embroidery, Jaune checked himself out in the nearby mirror just to make sure that no blond roots were poking out through his jet black hair. With no yellow in evidence on his scalp yet and a stomach that was rumbling in need of a meal, Jaune pulled the map of the school out of his pants pocket and unfolded it in his hands.
The school was big. In fact, the school was a colony all on its own, with shops, restaurants, and parks aplenty. It appeared to Jaune that the only reason someone would actually need to leave the school mid semester was simply to curb a growing feeling of restlessness...
Unfortunately, what Jaune needed most at the moment was the Dining Hall, and according to the map in his hands that was a ten minute plus walk away...
It didn't take long for Jaune to decide that the walk wasn't a burden after all once he actually started moving across the campus. The buildings were old and gothic but in excellent repair, the scenery was picturesque, and the people were all young, fit, and noticeably beautiful. Aura empowered people do tend to be good looking because they grow faster and with better physiques and their metabolisms are far more powerful. Even forewarned with that knowledge, Jaune still found himself straining to avoid gawking at some of the ladies that were walking around, what with their blazer skirt combos somehow accentuating their bodies far more than they concealed them.
Jaune was a gentleman so he would behave like a gentleman, but that didn't mean that he wasn't a boy and a teenager to boot. He noticed. By the maidens did he notice...
Sooner than he expected, Jaune was walking into the Dining Hall of Beacon Academy, grabbing up a plate full of eggs, some cereal and a sliced up avocado, and taking a seat at an unused table at the side of the room. Of course no sooner had he seated himself, then a large and complex shadow grew into place behind him, and a pair of arms wrapped extraordinarily tightly around his stomach.
"They didn't expel you after all," Penny breathed out in relief as she rested her chin atop his shoulder and pressed her cheek into the side of his jaw. Then she was giggling as Jaune reached back to tickle her ribs and break free from her stranglehold.
"From what I've had explained to me, for the most part Ozpin's a very reasonable man, but he suffers from a sense of dramatic timing and showmanship that can make things difficult for the people around him," Jaune explained as he slowly turned around. Then his eyes widened as he found that he was speaking not to just Penny, but to Ruby, Blake, Yang, Weiss, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora as well... "Good morning everyone," he spoke into the silence that everyone was allowing to grow longer and longer. "Would you all care to join me for breakfast?"
Ruby was the first to move, which made sense given her Semblance and personality. Dashing close within just a split second, she instantly had her arms wrapped tightly around Jaune's back and was squealing happily directly into his diaphragm. "This is soooo great John! We're all alive and we're beacon students and everything's going to be awesome!"
With a happy nod of his head, Ren walked around the table with his food and then sat directly across from Jaune. As if the boy's actions were a cue of some kind, everyone else moved to take a spot at the table as well, patting Jaune on the shoulder as they walked by as if reassuring themselves that he was okay... Well... Yang actually punched his shoulder rather than patting it, but the emotional context felt the same. The girl was trying, and Jaune could feel that through the aura shielding of his shoulder.
By the time the dust settled, Penny was on Jaune's left, Ruby was on his right, and the rest of the table was filled with the very best that Beacon had to offer. At the very least, these were the people that were willing to risk themselves to do the right thing, and it meant a lot to Jaune that he was being included among their numbers.
"I'd be interested in finding out what the school intends to do about the fact that you no longer have a partner," Weiss announced as she used a tiny little spoon to carve out the meat of a grapefruit.
With an understanding nod of his head, Jaune spent the next few minutes explaining how the school was avoiding the appearance of favoritism by penalizing him for losing his partner. Then, when everyone was outraged on his behalf (which actually felt pretty good) Jaune explained how Ozpin had arranged for him to begin receiving an extraordinary amount of money for his invention of the Gravity Barriers.
"I knew that those barriers were your idea, John," Weiss called out with a very self satisfied smile on her face. "You're the mind behind one of the biggest steps forward in Grimm defense in the last decade!"
"Running the risk of making you angry again Weiss, I have a pressing need to stay as low profile as I can for as long as I can," Jaune carefully began to explain. "While I don't mind becoming rich, not at all, I have no desire to become famous. I'd appreciate it if we could all conceal my contributions from the other people at this school."
Leaning forward over the table, Blake suddenly locked eyes with Jaune and then arched her eyebrows meaningfully. "I have a concern regarding what you just said."
"Oh.. Do tell," Jaune replied, fearing that he already knew exactly where their current role reversal was taking them.
"Do you really intend to spend the next four years locked in a constant state of distrust and secrecy," Blake asked with a level of severity in her voice that she was visibly struggling to maintain. "Do you really want to graduate from this school just as socially isolated and jaded as you are right now?"
"No. No, I really, really don't," Jaune immediately replied with a small shake of his head. "But on the other hand, I actually do want to graduate from this school with all of you, and if I'm too loose with my secrets I won't get that chance."
Jaune's reply was thought provoking enough that everyone lapsed into a long moment of silence and he managed to finish his breakfast before the conversation picked up again. By the time the breakfast period was coming to an end, everyone was wondering what the team formations would look like and what would happen to Jaune.
Since Jaune had no idea what was going to be done with him within the next half an hour, he merely listened to everyone chatter and attempted to have some optimism about his current situation. It was a little bit hard... Jaune's mind was a spiraling nightmare of different inconvenient possibilities revolving around him not having a team at all or having a team comprised of the outcasts that refused to partner up with anyone. He pictured having to work with that boy with the nasally voice from back in the dark recesses of the VTOL and a shudder wanted to run up and down his spine...
Regardless of the pessimism of Jaune's inner musings, the time finally came to head to Beacon's Auditorium. Everyone in his group immediately popped up to their feet and started walking across the campus with visible excitement on their faces.
As soon as everyone entered the Auditorium, they saw that it was extremely different than it had been the day before. The large hall was rimmed with a huge ring of hydraulically lifted stands that turned the entire massive room into a concert hall or an arena. With a hushed and yet almost festive air, everyone piled into the Auditorium and then found a ring of benches to sit down in. As a matter of practicality, everyone sat down with their partner, which of course made Jaune feel like the odd man out even as he was flanked on both sides.
Finally, when the entire first year class had piled into the Auditorium and were sitting in the first ten rows of benches, Professors Port, Oobleck, and Goodwitch preceded Headmaster Ozpin out onto the stage. Unlike yesterday, Ozpin strolled onto the stage with an ultra confident and almost lackadaisical attitude.
Good morning," The man began as if they were all just going to have a normal conversation.
No one responded. They all just stared at the man...
"Before I move into the team assignments, I have a presentation of sorts that I need to give you all," Ozpin finally announced. "But first... Raise your hands up high above your heads if you've been scouted to come to Beacon specifically because your colony has been attacked, damaged or outright destroyed?"
All around the Auditorium, hands rose up above people's heads. About seventy people altogether...
With a nod of his head Ozpin depressed a button on a stylus sitting on his podium and an extremely large hologram filled the air in the central portion of the room. In this hologram was a map, and on this map were red dots that designated over a dozen small, outlier colonies. As everyone watched this map, several red crosses grew into place around more than half of these colonies, indicating that they've been destroyed and evacuated.
"All of the colonies on this map have experienced massive Grimm swarms within the last year alone," Ozpin revealed in a deadly serious tone of voice. "While the world has been experiencing an unprecedented time of peace for almost a hundred years now, that time of peace is coming to an end..."
All around the Auditorium, people gasped and murmured to each other in their rising fear and astonishment.
"With this new, more tumultuous time that we're heading into, comes a few changes to how Hunters operate," Ozpin continued into the din of freshly frightened silence. "The establishment of four person teams is useful and will continue, but your individual teams will also be expected to act as a squad in a larger team comprised of two squads called a Platoon. Every Platoon will have a Platoon Captain that will be under the direct supervision of a mentor Professor. These Platoons will eventually be expected to operate within a loosely regimented but very real military chain of command. Of course, the teams with the best scores during their Initiation Test will get first pick of their Professor mentor and can pick their Platoon Captain from among Beacon's second year class, or any student that doesn't currently have a team."
With a wave of his stylus, Ozpin changed the hologram to show Beacon academy and a large series of different rather large houses. "These are the houses that have been built all over Beacon's campus to house every new student that we've brought in this year. The higher your score in the Initiation Test, the sooner you get to pick your accommodation and the more convenient your location will end up being."
Once again Ozpin waved his stylus and the hologram zoomed in to see a floor plan of the average students housing arrangement. "In the basement and ground level of these houses will be a wide open area designed for training equipment, sparring, and whatever VR rigs you manage to win with your Initiation score. On the second floor will be the kitchen, living room, bathrooms, lounge and dining room. Then finally, on the third floor will be two large barrack style bedrooms for the two different teams to use, and a lone bedroom for a Platoon Captain to use."
Finally, Ozpin gestured for Ms. Goodwitch to join him at the podium, and he stepped back to let her work.
"In order to make the selection process the most streamlined that it can possibly be, we will be calling up the four pairs of students who scored the highest in their Initiation test, and will be finding out their preferences for housing, Professor mentor and Platoon Captain before moving on to the next four pairs." After looking down at a large data scroll that she was holding, Glynda looked back up at the amassed students and cleared her throat. "Will Ms. Nikos, Ms, Schnee, Ms. Valkyrie, Mr. Ren, Ms. Rose, Ms. Polendina, Ms. Belladonna and Ms. Xiao Long, please join me up on the stage."
With varying degrees of excitement, happiness, chagrin or embarrassment on their faces, all of Jaune's companions rose to their feet and shuffled down the stairs to join Ms. Goodwitch up on the stage.
When the group of eight students were all up on the stage, Ms. Goodwitch turned her attention on both them and the scroll in her hand. "From this point forward, Ruby Rose, Penny Polendina, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long will make up the members of team RPBY under the leadership of Ruby Rose... Pyrrha Nikos, Weiss Schnee, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie will comprise team PWRN, under the leadership of Pyrrha Nikos. These two teams will comprise a Platoon together and will share the same house... Now... I have several questions for all of you in regards to the different accommodations that you want."
The newly minted teams RBPY and PWRN nodded their understanding and acceptance, but almost all of them found their eyes trailing up to a lone man sitting in the bleachers, where he was visibly happy for them and their good fortune.
"Which Barracks house do you want among these choices," Goodwitch asked first as the hologram in the middle of the room highlighted several different houses all over the campus.
After huddling up for several moments, Weiss stepped forward as the chosen representative of the two teams and pointed up at a house that was wedged between a park area, the Auditorium, a shopping district, the Dining Hall, and the Gym facilities. "We have decided that we want house number seven."
"The obvious choice," Glynda agreed as she ticked that property off and it disappeared from among the options available. "Next, what Professor Mentor do you wish to have overseeing the direction of your Platoon's training?"
While Weiss did turn around to look back at everyone, they all almost immediately mouthed the same name, causing her to nod and turn back around. "We wish to train under you Ms. Goodwitch."
"Ah, I see... I can see the sense in that as well," Goodwitch allowed with just the slightest amount of chagrin in her tone of voice. "Finally, it is time to choose your Platoon Captain from among the ranks of my second year Leadership course. All of these students have been vetted by me and I can guarantee their quality. Nevertheless, I will bring them all up to the stage and superimpose their stats over their bodies for you to peruse."
Over the next minute or two, about thirty-five very capable looking Huntresses walked up onto the stage, where their stats began floating above their heads in the form of holograms. Without exception they were all quite formidable, with good grades, excellent physiques and Semblances that gave them increased strength, speed, agility or even raw offensive power.
For the next five minutes, everyone on teams RPBY and PWRN walked slow laps around the amassed Huntresses, staring at their grades, stats, leadership experience, and Semblances. Finally, when everyone was finished with their tour, they all gathered back where they started and huddled up next to each other.
After what felt like a very long time but was really just a minute or two, Weiss finally broke away from the huddle and walked over to stand next to Ms. Goodwitch. "Professor Goodwitch... It has occurred to us that Ozpin said we can have any student that isn't a current member of a team..."
"Yes, that's right. The Headmaster did say that," Ms. Goodwitch immediately replied in a somewhat knowing and meaningful tone of voice.
"If that's the case, then we would like our Platoon Captain to be among the students that we already know and have worked with in the past," Weiss finally announced in a very calm and professional tone of voice. "We want to train with a student by the name of John Freeman as our Platoon Captain."
A rash of murmuring and muttering grew around the entire room as the first place platoon rejected all of the Huntresses that were hand picked by Ms. Goodwitch in favor of a first year student and a boy to boot. No one knew what to make of it...
The Huntresses that were lined up on the stage looked visibly miffed...
By this point, Jaune was sitting in the bleachers with his mouth agape and his eyes growing wide.
Finally, the commotion died down as everyone stared down at Ms. Goodwitch and waited to hear what she'd have to say on the matter...
"Excellent decision," Ms. Goodwitch finally announced into the almost deafening silence that had settled around the room. Then the Professor was ticking off a name that had already been cued up on the screen of her data scroll, and was gesturing back at the Platoon as a whole. "From this day forward, the eight of you, plus your newly assigned Platoon Captain Mr. John Freeman, are Platoon number one. It will be up to you to choose a more appropriate Platoon name around the time that you finally go on your first frontline mission.
"Yes Professor. Thank you Professor," Weiss replied before beckoning for Jaune to join everyone up on the stage.
By the time Jaune managed to walk down the stands and move up onto the stage to join his friends, his senses were a blur of adrenaline and excitement, and he was barely aware of the dozens and dozens of stares that were boring a hole into his back.
End of Arc 1