WOO! 2 AM! My favorite time.
I gotta stop doing this to myself.
Anyways, don't have much to say about this one. It's about the same length as the last chapter, and the ones after it will PROBABLY get shorter if I can manage it, like around 6,000-ish words, ideally.
Here ya go, chapter 2.
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The Emerald Forest
Click-click-click.
Click-click-click.
Click-click-click.
Judeau wiggled his fingers some more.
Click-click-click.
"How does this thing work, anyways?" Judeau flipped his hand back and forth, looking at the metal pieces covering it. Over top a slick black sleeve which covered the entire length of his arm, from the tip of his finger to the point where his shoulder met his torso, was an intricate series of gears, springs, and metal plates. At the top of his arm, right below his deltoid, the brace attached to a small metal plate that had been implanted into his arm.
The entire purpose of the brace had been explained to him the day he got it, but he had been more or less distracted by the noise the tiny gears made in the joints when he moved his fingers, which was something he was still distracted by now.
"It's like an external muscle," Professor Ozpin answered. He wa standing next to him at the window in his office, watching the bullheads-that was the name of the flying machines, Judeau had learned- shuttle incoming students to the school, "the plate in your shoulder receives electrical signals from the nerves in your arm, the brace is there to allow you to move it."
"Ah," Judeau nodded.
Though he had no idea what most of that meant.
"Are you sure it's durable enough for this… initiation thing?" Judeau asked.
"So long as you don't land on it," Professor Ozpin smiled, "I wouldn't recommend trying to punch anything either. I'm told the hand is much more delicate than the rest of it."
Judeau watched more droves of people step out of the bullheads. He couldn't really see what any of them looked like from so far up, some of the people at the farthest 'airship docks' looked like specks of whatever color was most prominent in their clothes.
"I wasn't planning on throwing any punches, anyways."
Judeau's new equipment was of a much higher quality than his old gear, including his clothes. He had opted for a similar outfit to the one he usually wore, with a few modifications. His ruined green tunic was replaced with a new, thinner, softer, and sort of shiny single sleeved shirt. There was no need for a right sleeve, since it would only get in the way of the brace. It was made of a material called polyester, which is where it's shine came from. The material was also far more flexible and stretchier than his old linen tunic.
Not much could be said about his pants other than the fact that they had really deep pockets. He had new greaves that covered just about everything below his knees, and were made of some matte gray metal. Gone were his sabatons, since his new boots were made of really thick leather, and he didn't really expect to get hit in the feet very often.
The rest of his gear, that being his new sword, belt of knives, pauldron, and a real fancy new breastplate, were already stashed away in a locker in the giant castle-school below. He had kept the greaves on because he found them comfortable.
His new breastplate was made up of three interlocked pieces: one that covered his chest, and two that covered abdomen to allow for maximum mobility. All three pieces moved around depending on how he moved his body. The chest piece also stretched out and covered part of his left shoulder, with a leather strap that connected to his new pauldron, which was big and round, and covered most of his bicep. All of it was the same matte gray as his greaves, which tied his armor together nicely.
His new sword was nothing more than a spare, something he would eventually replace-as well as his one remaining sword-with a new set. It was similar enough to his other sword that he could use them together without any trouble, but it's guard was rounder, and the blade was curvier, more like a traditional falchion than Judeau's sharp triangular tipped blade.
The thing he was most excited about were his new throwing knives. It was a bandolier of nine throwing knives that went from his shoulder to his hip; the bottom six were all regular throwing knives, but the top three sheaths had small vials of dust attached to the side, which would imbue the knives with the elemental powders he had seen in the shop. Sitting in the locker at the moment, all three vials were loaded with burn dust, so whenever he threw the knives, they'd burst into flames in the air.
His 'Aura' had also been activated by Professor Ozpin. As soon as the shimmering green light flashed around his body, he felt strangely rejuvenated, and the scrape on his face healed in a matter of hours. With a little practice, he was able to use it well enough to protect himself when needed.
"Well, I suppose it's time to begin preparations," Ozpin said, shaking him out of his thoughts, "you should probably get down there. Some of them may be your future teammates after all." Ozpin motioned to the crowd of people heading towards the school.
"Right…" Judeau stepped into the elevator and pressed the G button, "future teammates."
Judeau had been a unit commander for nearly 4 years in the Band of the Hawk, but truth be told he had never really built a close bond with his men like he was expected to do on a four man team at Beacon. He got along well with everyone who served under him, though none of them were permanent as his Auxiliary Support Unit were rank and file Hawks who were put under his command when a battle was planned, it wasn't anything like Guts' Raiders, who were, by all means, some of the best men the Band of the Hawk had to offer. In a regular siege Guts and his men would charge first, and Judeau's support unit would follow immediately after.
His real connections had always been with his peers in the upper ranks of the Hawks, like Pippin, Corkus, Casca, and Guts.
And Rickert. Shit… he hadn't even thought about him, or the rest of the injured Hawks. They hadn't been brought in with the rest of the Band during the Eclipse, so there was a high possibility they were alright, unless the Midland Regular Army found them, or that group of Kushan warriors.
There hadn't been any news of anyone else blinking into existence anywhere else, at least according to Professor Ozpin. That meant that, for now, Judeau was alone here. Hopefully once he got through this initiation he could get along well with his team. Not that he typically had trouble getting along with people, because of his attitude he could probably befriend just about anyone who wasn't trying to kill him, or vice versa.
On the topic of initiation: Ozpin had given him a 'landing strategy' for initiation that was essentially just "aim for a tree," he had seen where the initiation would be taking place, and knew how far he'd be falling from, and he wasn't particularly excited for it. The process after the landing was pretty simple, as long as he didn't die on the way down, all he had to do was head north until the forest cleared.
The elevator dinged open, and Judeau stepped out. There were a lot of things that were new and interesting to Judeau, and elevators were one of them.
Another new thing was the scroll. He had been given one by the school, but he could barely figure out how to work the damn thing. He knew how to take pictures—that was real interesting, and he'd take one of just about anything, and he knew how to call Ozpin, although he'd never actually done it. Apparently he could add other people to his list of contacts and call them, too.
He pulled the scroll out of his pocket, pressed the button which made the screen pop out, and just stared at the home screen as he walked out of Beacon Tower.
Now on the grounds of Beacon Academy itself, Judeau didn't stick out much within the hustle and bustle, even with the brace. Many of the people entering the academy were wearing weapons on their backs or hips, and some of them were wearing various sets of armor—even one man in full platemail clinking around. Judeau's stature also made him disappear in the crowd, since many of the students towered over him by at least two heads, including some women.
Being on his scroll when walking through a crowd was probably a mistake, because he ended up walking straight into someone, knocking them over.
"Ah-!" He stumbled over his own feet, "Sorry about that! Wasn't looking where I was going," he chuckled, and reached his hand out to help the person up.
"It's quite alright!" The person- a girl- responded cheerfully. Rather than accepting his hand, she placed her hands on the ground behind her head and sprung up. She had bright orange hair, similar to the man that robbed the dust store, Roman Torchwick, which was cut into a short bob, and she was slightly taller than him. A wide smile was plastered on her face, but Judeau couldn't really tell if it reached her eyes. They weren't lifeless or anything, in fact they were very bright green, but there was an unnatural glint to them. Or maybe it was the fact that they were open so wide, and the girl just smiled funny. "Sal-u-tations!" She greeted cheerfully.
Judeau wasn't really sure how he was supposed to respond, "Uh… hey there," was the best he could muster, "sorry again, are you alright?"
"I am fantastic!" She planted her hands on her hips and smiled even wider… somehow.
"My name is Penny Polendina! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Oh, uh, I'm Judeau, pleasure to meet you too, I suppose," he offered his hand to shake, which she accepted with mirth, and a vice grip on his hand.
"Wow!" She stared at the brace on his arm, "is this your weapon?"
"No, that's…" Judeau looked down at the girl's vice grip on his hand, "well, my arm doesn't work so well without it."
"I see!" She released his hand, "well it is very nice to meet you, Judeau."
"You too…" Judeau paused for a second, committing her name and face to memory, "…Penny."
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Judeau wasn't totally sure why she had decided to follow him around the campus. It wasn't like he minded, she wasn't annoying in any way, but she did talk a lot, and Judeau barely got a word in.
"Originally, I was going to enroll in Atlas Academy," Penny told him, "but my father thought it was too militaristic, and insisted that I attend Beacon instead."
Judeau hummed in response, like he had done for the last couple of things she told him, because he'd figured out that she'd just start talking again immediately after.
"What about you, Judeau? Why are you attending Beacon?"
"If I'm being totally honest, I'm not sure." Judeau admitted, "The opportunity just sort of fell into my lap recently, I guess."
"Very interesting!" Penny said, "Does that mean that you didn't always want to be a Huntsman?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that many people I have met have have always dreamed of becoming a Huntsman or Huntress." Penny explained, "Especially all of the people here for the entrance exam. I know I have, my father always wanted me to be a Huntress, and I want to make him proud."
"I never really dreamed of being a Huntsman, no," Judeau began, leaving out the detail that he hadn't even known what a Huntsman was until a week prior, of course, "I guess it's been a while since I really pursued my own dream. I don't really remember what my dream was before…" Judeau paused, and stopped walking, "Well, I guess for a while I've been a follower of someone else's dream—a good friend of mine, I suppose. He was… I don't really know how to describe him. Above everyone else. He really drew people in, y'know?" Judeau sighed, "He had one lofty goal, and he had everything figured out. It… all fell apart, almost all at once, so now I'm here." Judeau would admit that it was a hefty oversimplification of the whole story, but he figured Penny didn't want to hear his whole life story (although she had practically spewed hers out over the course of the last 30 minutes.)
"Oh…" Penny muttered thoughtfully, "well I'm sure you'll make a wonderful Huntsman!"
"You are?" Judeau cocked his head to the side, "You don't even know if I can fight."
"If you are here for the entrance exam, then I am positive you can fight." Penny smiled, "Oh! Speaking of fighting, if that isn't your weapon," she pointed to his brace, "then what do you use?"
"I've got two swords, and a bandolier of throwing knives," Judeau told her, "I'm pretty good with them, but I'm nowhere near the best. All of my equipment is already in a locker."
"Do the swords have any mechashift capabilities?"
"Uh… no, they're just regular swords. I don't really know all too much about mechashifting and all that." Judeau admitted.
"My weapons are swords, too!" Penny said, and then she hiccuped, "On wires." She added. "In my backpack."
Swords… on wires… in her backpack? Judeau looked at the bag she was wearing on her back. It was tiny and gray, and the only weapon you could fit in there had to be no bigger than a dagger, so her swords must have been able to fold up, which was a common functionality of mechashift weapons.
"That's very… interesting." Judeau said, "How… how does that work?"
The hilt of a sword popped out of her backpack, and a blade flipped up and pointed towards the sky, and it hovered in the air behind Penny's head, "I can control the swords with my Semblance," Penny hiccuped again.
Judeau watched the sword collapse back on itself and float back down into her backpack, "I've never seen anything like that before," Judeau told her, "How exactly do you fight with-"
BOOM!
An explosion resonated near the entrance of the school off to their left, a small cloud of smoke rising into the sky.
"Oh dear," Penny watched the smoke rise.
"Should we…?" Judeau began, and Penny picked up on it immediately.
"It would be very bad if someone got hurt!" Penny began moving in the direction of the explosion, and Judeau tagged along behind her.
"Unbelievable!" A girl shouted angrily, standing in the center of a stone circle right in front of one of Beacon's giant arches. Her face was covered in soot, and the ground in front of her was blackened, as if she was standing directly in front of the source of the explosion. "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" She continued to shout at the other girl on the floor in front of her, who's face was also covered in soot.
A vial of red dust rolled over towards Penny and Judeau's feet, so Judeau scooped it up off the ground. It had a tight wooden cork for a cap, and a white snowflake was etched into the glass.
"I'm really, really sorry," The other girl muttered.
Hey! Judeau recognized her! It was the girl from the robbery with the giant scythe!
"Ugh!" The other girl stomped her foot on the ground, "You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"
"W-well, I-"
"This isn't your ordinary combat school! It's not just sparring and practice, you know." She crossed her arms, "We're here to fight monsters, so… watch where you're going!"
"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess!" The girl in red jabbed her finger at her, "What's your problem?"
"Excuse me?" The girl in white recoiled, "Do you know who you're talking to?"
When the girl in red didn't respond, she turned on her heel and stomped her foot again, "That's what I thought."
"You're Weiss Schnee," Penny spoke up suddenly, "The Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Penny smiled proudly.
"Finally some recognition!" Weiss Schnee turned to them.
The girl in red gasped and pointed at Judeau, "You!" She exclaimed.
"Oh great! You two know each other." Weiss growled.
"Actually I don't even know her na-"
It was too late for Judeau to finish, since Weiss had already begun stomping off towards the school.
"Hey, wait!" Judeau called after her, but she ignored him. He looked down at the vial in his hand, "Ah, well…"
There was a beat of silence between him, Penny, and the girl who's name he still hadn't learned.
"She seems nice," Judeau joked, still watching her storm off towards the main hall.
Suddenly, the girl in red was up in his face, "It's YOU! You're the guy!" Judeau opened his mouth to respond, but she kept going, "They dragged me to the police station and you to… wherever you went before I could get your name! I-I'm Ruby, by the way—but you ran up behind that Torchwick guy and tried to hit him, and I was like 'Wow, that guy's got a pretty vintage looking sword!' and then you got thrown into the street and I was all like 'Wow, that really IS an old sword!' And it was so cool, because basically no one uses falchions like that any more-" she stopped herself, "sorry, I get carried away easily."
"That's okay," Judeau chuckled, "I'm Judeau," he motioned to the ginger next to him, "this is Penny."
Penny waved cheerfully, "Sal-u-tations!"
"Well it's nice to meet you guys," Ruby rocked back and forth on her feet, "Nicer than… y'know. Maybe she's just having a bad day."
"Yeah, maybe." Judeau agreed, "Think she'll get mad at me if she finds out I have this?" He held up the dust vial. "Maybe I can give it back after Professor Ozpin's speech."
"Yeah, when is that anyway?" Ruby asked.
"Uh, 2:30, I think," Judeau answered.
"Wait, 2:30? Isn't it…" Ruby pulled out her Scroll and turned it on. The clock on the lock screen displayed the time: "2:26?!?" Ruby turned on her heel and started booking it towards Beacon's main hall.
"Hey, wait up!" Judeau shouted, running after her.
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"How is it already 2:30?!" Ruby paced back and forth by the door of the main hall, "it feels like it was 12:00 five minutes ago! Oh man, maybe when I exploded I got knocked out for a while…"
Judeau and Penny knew that wasn't the case, but neither of them spoke up as Ruby continued on her anxious tirade.
"You!" Weiss Schnee growled, seemingly appearing out of thin air behind Ruby.
"Ah! She's back!" Ruby backed into Penny squeaking out a tiny 'sorry!' Before stepping forward.
"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"
"It was an accident!"
Weiss shoved something in Ruby's face. Upon closer inspection, Judeau could see it was a… pamphlet on proper dust usage?
"Huh?" Ruby stared at the pamphlet in front of her.
It was then that Weiss spouted off a well recited speech about the Schnee Dust Company and 'proper dust applications and practices in the field.'
And, based off of the looks on everyone else's faces, Judeau wasn't the only one who didn't understand a word she said.
"Uh?" Ruby sputtered.
Weiss lowered the pamphlet, "Do you really want to start making things right with me?"
Ruby nodded, "Absolutely."
Weiss shoved the pamphlet into her hand, "Then read this, and don't ever speak to me again."
"Is this really necessary?" Judeau spoke up, "Everyone messes up sometimes, you can't hold an accident against her."
"I agree with Judeau." Penny said, "Maybe you two should start from the beginning and try to be friends!"
"Yeah!" Ruby shoved the pamphlet into her pocket, "Hi, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Want to hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"
"Yeah," Weiss responded, her voice oozing with sarcasm, "and we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about boys like short, blond, and girly right there!" She hooked her thumb at Judeau.
"Really?!?"
"No."
Weiss stormed back off into the crowd.
"Girly?" Judeau scoffed, "Why girly?"
"I believe she was talking about your effeminate face," Penny clarified, "It could be easy to mistake you for a girl."
"Effeminate face?" Judeau pressed on his cheeks. He'd never heard that one before. Boyish sure, he did look a lot younger than most people his age, but he didn't think he looked like a woman.
There was a sudden ba-bump which resounded from the front of the room, which caught the attention of everyone in the hall, "I'll keep this brief," Professor Ozpin, who was standing on a stage in the front, began, "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." Ozpin looked around the room, "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." And with that, he stepped away from the microphone.
Miss Goodwitch took his place, "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins," she told the room, "Be ready. You are dismissed."
There was shuffling and murmuring throughout the room as people began heading for the door to make their way to the ballroom, but Judeau, and the other two, stayed in place for another moment.
"That wasn't a very inspiring speech," Ruby commented.
"No it wasn't," Judeau agreed, "I was expecting more."
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"I dunno why, but when I saw you at the dust shop I didn't really think you were a Beacon student—or candidate, is candidate the right word?"
Judeau shrugged at Ruby's question.
"Anyways, that was pretty stupid of me, 'cuz you've got nice weapons and armor, and you were in a dust shop, so duh, of course you were a Huntsman-in-training," Ruby said, "I am too. Obviously. I was actually s'posed to go into my second year at Signal—that's the combat school on Patch— but then Professor Ozpin invited me to Beacon. My sister, Yang, says it's 'because I'm so special,'" Ruby said, making air quotes, "but I'm nothin' special, really."
Ruby kicked her legs up and down, staring at the ceiling of the ballroom. She turned her head to face Judeau, "I'm really bad at small talk, aren't I?"
"Normally you do let the other person talk, too," Judeau smiled, "So you're not the best."
"Well why don't you start then?"
Judeau tapped his chin and hummed, "You said you had a sister, right? What's she like?"
"Oh, Yang? She's the coolest!" Ruby exclaimed, sitting up from her position under the covers of her sleeping bag, "She's the best sister ever, and she's going into her second year here, and her team is sooo awesome. Man, I hope my team is as cool as her's." Ruby sighed and turned her attention to Judeau again, "What about you? Any siblings?"
"Nope," Judeau answered, popping the P, "not that I ever knew of at least, I'm pretty sure my parents left me in a box on the side of a river, so if I do, I've never met them."
Ruby looked absolutely mortified, "Really?!" She gasped.
"No, no! I was kidding," Judeau waved his hands in front of him, "They both got real sick when I was young, so I was on my own." He explained, "Sorry for… sullying the mood."
"Would you two please shut up?" Weiss, who had appeared out of thin air again, complained, "Some of us are actually trying to sleep."
"Oh, sorry Weiss," Ruby mumbled, "She's right Judeau, we should probably get some sleep."
Judeau shrugged, "I guess it is getting late."
He grabbed the metal latch that plugged his brace into his arm, and pulled it out. Then, he pulled the brace off his arm by the glove, and placed it on the ground next to him. His arm went numb and fell back to his side as he laid back against the cool stone wall of the ballroom, shutting his eyes.
"Pssst, Judeau," Ruby whispered a moment later, "how can you sleep like that?"
"It's not that bad," he whispered back, "I mean, I've slept on a pile of rocks before, this is a lot more comfortable."
He shut his eyes again and went back to trying to fall asleep.
"Why?" Ruby asked.
"Huh?"
"Why'd you sleep on a pile of rocks?"
"…Because there was nowhere else to sleep?"
"Why are you two STILL talking?" Weiss hissed from across the hall.
"Right! Sorry!" Ruby apologized, "Sleeping now!" She flipped her eye mask back down and disappeared in her sleeping bag.
Judeau followed her lead, and clenched his eyes shut and leaned back against the wall.
Eventually, Judeau was able to drift off into sleep, but the dreams that awaited him weren't pleasant in the slightest.
Every night for the past week, his mind kept replaying the events of the Eclipse, and he could feel every last bit, see every last detail of it.
He felt his arm get torn apart by the fangs of the beast that had teeth in place of its eyes, and eyes on its feet.
He felt his horse galloping under him like it's life depended on it, right up until it got swallowed alive by the spider-like monster that was camouflaged with the floor.
The impossibly sharp whip-tendrils pierced straight through his back, and his blood dripped onto Casca, who was below him.
And then he would die again.
And some nights, like tonight, it would play all over again.
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Judeau felt sluggish and empty as he slipped his breastplate over his head and clasped the front and back plates together. The feeling didn't go away as he got the rest of his equipment in place. He slipped his bandolier of knives over his shoulder, which was attached to his back scabbard, and made sure all the knives were in place, which they were.
"Hey, Judeau!" Ruby called out to him as she approached. Standing next to her was a tall and scraggly blond guy, "This is Jaune," Ruby waved her hand to him, "He puked on the airship."
"Is that all you know me for?"
Ruby shrugged, "Well I just met you, vomit boy."
Jaune sighed, and his shoulders slumped, "Great, thanks…"
Jaune offered his hand to Judeau, "Nice to meet you, by the way. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." Jaune grinned, eliciting a 'do they?' from Ruby.
Judeau shook his hand and introduced himself, "I'm Judeau, nice to meet you, too."
"Judeau…?" Jaune motioned for him to continue.
"Just Judeau."
"Really?" Jaune tilted his head, "Huh. I'm guessing you're from outside the city, then?"
"Yeah," Judeau mumbled as he turned back to his locker to grab his greave, which he accidentally dropped on the floor.
"Yeesh, bad night's sleep?" Jaune asked.
"You could say that," Judeau said with a tired smile. He picked the greave up off the floor and slipped it onto his left hand. He the. pulled his original sword out of his locker and slipped it into the scabbard on the small of his back, before doing the same with his new sword.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep well either," Ruby said. She looked over her shoulder, "I was worried she might try and kill me." She nodded towards Weiss, who was talking to a very uncomfortable looking red haired woman.
"Who's she?" Judeau asked.
"That's Pyrrha Nikos!" Ruby exclaimed, "I really wanna tell her how big of a fan I am, but I don't think she likes attention so I'm kind of nervous to talk to her."
"Hey, isn't she on the front of Pumpkin Pete's boxes?"
Ruby nodded, "Mhm!"
"So… who is she, exactly?" Judeau piped up, "I mean, why's she so famous?"
"She's the Invincible Girl! She's like, the best tournament fighter ever." Ruby answered with glee.
"She must be pretty good, then."
"Of course she's pretty good! She's Pyrrha Nikos!" Ruby squealed.
Judeau didn't really understand Ruby's infatuation with the woman, but he also didn't really care to ask more about it.
He also realized that someone had been noticeably absent for a while, "Hey, have you seen Penny anywhere?" He asked Ruby and looked around the locker room.
Ruby shook her head, "She disappeared after Professor Ozpin's speech."
The top of an orange head of hair poked over a locker bay next to them, followed by a dainty hand waving, "Sal-u-tations, friends!" Penny greeted through the locker.
"Hey, Penny," Ruby waved back.
"She can't see you," Jaune told her.
Ruby lowered her hand, "I knew that."
Penny stepped out from behind her locker, wearing the exact same clothes she had been in the day before, including her sword filled backpack. "I hope you are as ready for initiation as I am!" She smiled cheerfully.
There was mumbling amongst the three of them, "I'm a little nervous," Ruby admitted.
"I don't really know what we're doing," said Jaune.
"I'm worried about the landing." Judeau told them.
"The landing?" Jaune gulped.
The rest of them looked at him funny, and then continued talking about the initiation.
"Does anyone know how the teams are assigned?" Judeau asked. He was pretty sure Ozpin nor Miss Goodwitch ever told him how it would work, and if they did, he wasn't paying attention.
"Oh! My sister said it was based on eye contact, so whoever you run into first is your partner, and then…" Ruby tapped her chin, "And then uh… you…"
"You go north and grab a relic." Judeau finished for her.
"Yeah! That." Ruby snapped her fingers.
"That doesn't sound too hard…" Jaune muttered.
There was a crackling from the speakers overhead, "Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff for initiation immediately," Miss Goodwitch announced over the speakers, so all the initiates in the locker room filed out the side door, and started down the path towards the cliff side.
"Seriously though, what's the landing?" Jaune asked, "Are we being dropped off somewhere? Is that the landing?"
His question went unanswered.
"No, really, what is it guys? Guys?"
Each of the initiates took their places on small platforms a few feet away from the edge of the cliff, there were maybe 30 people in total. To Judeau's right stood Penny, Ruby, and Jaune. On his left stood the red-headed girl, Pyrrha Nikos, and next to her was Weiss.
He looked back to his right. Penny and Ruby seemed capable-well, he hadn't seen Penny fight, but floating swords were either a really cool gimmick or a good weapon, and he was leaning towards the latter- and they would make good teammates, especially since they were easy to get along with. There was also Jaune but… something about him made him seem incompetent to Judeau, so maybe he wasn't as reliable as the other two. He also didn't know enough about the guy to make a full assessment of his character, either.
Professor Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch finished the private conversation they were having at the end of the row of platforms, and Ozpin cleared his throat, "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."
Miss Goodwitch stepped forward, a device that looked like a big scroll in her hands, "Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignments of teams. Allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."
Ozpin continued speaking for her, "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, making it your best interest to be paired with someone whom with you can work well," This caused a low murmur accompanied by nervous shuffling throughout the line of initiates, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years. After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way, do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."
Judeau already knew all of that, so he spent more of his time scanning the forest below him than listening to Ozpin's instructions.
"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene." Ozpin continued, "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff, we will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"
"Uh, I have one," Jaune raised his hand.
Ozpin clapped, "Wonderful! Now take your positions."
The platforms began springing up, starting from the left side of the line, and rapidly continuing towards Judeau.
"Wait, sir!" Jaune waved his hand frantically in the air, "What's all this about a landing? Are we getting dropped off?"
"No, you will be falling." Ozpin stated simply.
"Like, with a parachute?" Jaune was getting more and more skittish.
Before Judeau could hear more of Jaune's questions, his own platform rocketed him into the air, and he flailed and yelped as he soared into the sky. Damn! He probably should've been paying more attention.
Wind was rushing past his ears and stinging his eyes as he continued to tumble wildly through the air. He needed to right himself and fast, or he'd probably end up as pink paste on the forest floor, or skewered on top of a tree.
He stopped flailing his arms and legs, and straightened them out as best as he could with the wind pushing against him, and managed to flatten his body so that he was soaring through the air on a steady course. It was an uncontrolled course, but it was steady, nonetheless.
"Hey, this isn't so bad," Judeau thought as he looked down at the forest approaching him from below, "if I can land, I'll be fine!"
He didn't notice the white specks of dust drifting around in the air around him, but he was quick to notice the person who was using the dust.
"LOOK OUT!" Weiss shrieked as he barreled towards her. Neither of them had any way to change their courses to avoid a midair collision, so both of them braced for impact. Judeau clenched his eyes shut and felt his head slam into her's. They lost all momentum and started falling straight down into the forest below. His arms and legs were beat at by sticks on the way down, but he never hit the forest floor, since it seemed like his foot had got caught in something.
"You absolute idiot!" Weiss hissed at him, "You could have killed me!"
Judeau popped his eyes open. He was hanging from some sort of circle of dust a few feet above the forest floor, and Weiss Schnee was standing in front of him, looking royally pissed off. "It was an accident!" Judeau defended himself, "I'm really sorry, I swear."
"Well maybe next time you should control where you're going!" Weiss jabbed a finger into his forehead.
"Look, I…" Judeau sighed, "Can you just let me down now?"
Weiss scowled, but the glyph holding his leg in the air disappeared, and he dropped to the floor, hitting his head with an 'oouf!' She then tried to storm off into the brush, but Judeau called after her, "Hey, where do you think you're going?"
"To find a partner," she answered without looking back at him.
"Seriously?" Judeau thought, "You know they're watching us, right?" Weiss stopped, and turned to face him, "I get it, this isn't ideal for either of us, but rules are rules. I don't know if you have a problem with me, or something, but we can at least work together for now. My name's Judeau, by the way." He almost offered his hand before realizing she was about 20 feet away.
Weiss stood there for a moment, before stomping towards him in her heels, "Fine," she said, "but you better not be a hindrance."
"I won't be," Judeau assured her, "Oh! Also," he dug around through his pockets, "before I forget again…" he fished the vial of red dust out of his pocket, "you dropped this."
Weiss snatched it out of his hands and started walking into the trees again.
"Weiss."
"What!? What now!?"
"That's not north."
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Judeau slammed his sword down on the neck of another beowolf, sending it to the ground, where he then thrust his sword through the back of its neck, "There sure are… a lot of these…" Judeau said through heavy breaths. He shook the grimm's black blood off of his sword, and turned to Weiss.
Her rapier shot through the eye of another beowolf with well-practiced precision, skewering its brain and killing it. "Is that all of them?" She asked, pulling the sword out of the dissolving beowolf's eye socket.
A final lone beowolf creeped up and out of the bushes behind her, so, thinking quickly, Judeau reached for the knife in the top sheath of his bandolier, and whipped it forward with three fingers, straight towards the grimm.
The knife caught it in the shoulder and then bursted into flames, causing the beast to howl in pain and rear up on its hind legs. Weiss was quick to respond, and thrust her rapier upwards into its chest.
"Now it's all of them." Judeau grinned.
Weiss picked Judeau's knife up off the pile of Grimm dust that had formed on the floor, "Good throw," Weiss looked the knife over before tossing it back to Judeau.
Judeau recoiled, and slapped the knife around in the air with his hands. Luckily, he somehow managed to catch it without cutting himself. "Jeez! Careful with that," he held the knife up, "It's still sharp, you know."
"Right, sorry."
Judeau could tell Weiss didn't apologize often.
He spun the knife in his fingers and then placed it back in the top slot on his bandolier. There was a small whirring sound, so quiet that only he could hear it, and the amount of dust in the vial attached to the slot drained to about halfway, presumably coating the knife in another layer of burn dust.
Judeau looked back up from his bandolier and at the forest around them, "I think we're almost there," Judeau said, "the forest is thinning out."
"I hope so," Weiss grumbled, "if I have to fight one more beowolf I think I'm going to-" SHNK!
Weiss' eyes bulged out of their sockets. Just a hair's length away from her face, planted in the ground between her feet, was a giant, razor-sharp, black feather, nearly twice as tall as either of them. She took one step back, and looked at Judeau.
"Run?" Judeau asked.
"Run." Weiss nodded.
The two of them began sprinting away from the giant feather, in the presumed direction of the relics.
"How did that Nevermore spot us!?" Weiss shouted as more feathers began raining down on them.
"Like I said, the forest is thinning out!" Judeau shouted back, "The canopies of the trees are-" SHUNK! Judeau narrowly stepped out of the way of one of the feathers, "The canopies are more spread out here!"
The two of them crossed the edge of the forest, where they were met with a run down temple filled with pedestals.
"There they are!" Judeau pointed towards the pedestals.
"Grab one!" Weiss yelped as another feather nearly took her head off.
Judeau dashed up the decrepit stone steps towards one of the pedestals. The relics were… chess pieces? A few of them were missing already, so Judeau nabbed the one closest to him, a gold knight piece. He almost asked Weiss if she thought it was real gold, but when he turned around and saw her frantically erecting an arch of ice to protect herself from the falling feathers, he decided it wasn't the time.
More people began pouring out of the forest as the giant Nevermore continued to circle overhead. A ginger girl with a giant hammer came out of the forest riding a Grimm bear, or an Ursa if Judeau remembered correctly, which collapsed on the ground and died from the multitude of head wounds it had. "Aw, I broke it…" the girl muttered dejectedly.
A boy followed her shortly afterwards, he had long black hair with a bright pink lock in the front, "Nora!" He rasped through his panting breaths, "Please… never… do that… again…"
The girl, now known as Nora, ignored his pleas, and dashed up to the temple and toyed around with a golden rook.
Judeau looked back to the Nevermore in the sky, which was circling over a ravine to their west, and had briefly stopped its assault on them. That's when he noticed two specks of color clinging to the giant bird's talons.
"Hey, Weiss!" He called out, "Is someone riding that thing?"
Weiss peeked out from behind her ice shelter and looked up at the Nevermore, "You have got to be kidding me."
Just then, a tree collapsed at the edge of the forest, and another pair of people sprinted out frantically. It was Jaune and Pyrrha, who were being chased by a massive scorpion.
As if they were working together, the Nevermore decided that right then was the time to swoop back in and unleash a flurry of its feathers on the whole group. All six of them ducked for cover, and then frantically ran towards the temple once the assault was over, since the scorpion started going after them.
"HEADS UUUUUUUUP!"
A giant ball of red came crashing into the ground, followed by an equally fast ball of orange and green.
Penny shot up and off the ground immediately, but Ruby groaned and stared into space.
"Not the time to be dizzy, Ruby!" Judeau yelled. The giant scorpion changed targets, going for the defenseless girl on the ground rather than the group huddling in the temple, "Seriously, now is really not the time to be dizzy, Ruby!" Judeau shouted with more urgency.
Penny stepped in front of her partner, her arms stretched out in front of her.
Three swords appeared from out of her backpack, and zipped through the air, assaulting the gaps in the scorpion's tough exoskeleton.
"That just looks like it's making it angrier!" Jaune pointed out.
The scorpion slammed its stinger down in front of Penny, who hopped backwards and over Ruby, who was frantically rushing to get up and ready her weapon.
She held the giant red box at her hip and took potshots at the scorpion's eyes and face, but it wasn't doing much either. The scorpion's tail was wriggling around, like it was trying to dig the stinger back out of the ground, which gave Judeau an idea.
"Weiss! Do that ice thing!" He instructed her.
"What?"
"Freeze its tail!"
Weiss nodded, and readied her rapier in front of her. A spinning glyph appeared, and a flurry of ice and snow shot out of it and towards the scorpion's tail.
A giant block of ice now fused the stinger to the dirt around it, which distracted the Grimm enough for Ruby and Penny to make it to the temple.
Ruby scooped up a gold knight, which matched Judeau and Weiss' piece, while Jaune also reached over and grabbed another rook piece.
"We don't actually have to fight that thing, right?" Jaune looked around the group, "We just have to get out with the relics, don't we?"
Everyone looked from the struggling scorpion to the Nevermore in the sky. The scorpion was beginning to break through the ice holding its stinger, and the Nevermore was back to circling above the ravine.
"We should probably move fast," the boy with the pink stripe in his hair said, "once that Deathstalker is out we'll have to fight it."
"Good thinking, Renny!" Nora punched her palm, "Everyone, run!"
The girl took off towards the ravine, through a path of more ruined structures, which lead to a mostly intact bridge.
Everyone else followed her lead, and starting running for the bridge as well. The group didn't get a second of peace, though, since the Nevermore decided to start tailing them from the air. The feathers on its wings ruffled, which Judeau now knew was a sign that it was about to fire its feathers, "Everyone get behind something!" He shouted, running behind a broken pillar when the giant feathers started hitting the ground again, "Does this thing ever run out?"
The Deathstalker had broken free from the ice and was now stuttering towards the eight of them, "Keep running!" Jaune got out from behind his hiding spot.
"Wait!" Judeau called out after Jaune, "We need to divide and conquer—four and four, we can take on both at once!"
"Right!" Jaune turned on his heel, "Nora, right?" He called to the ginger girl, who nodded in response, "Can you use your grenade launcher to distract the Nevermore?"
"Haha, yeah!" Nora cheered, her hammer folding down into her hands, the head turning into a large cylinder. POMF! POMF! POMF! She fired off 3 large pink projectiles, which shocked the Nevermore when they hit. The bird screeched and shot off into the sky.
"Behind you!" Pyrrha shouted. The Deathstalker took a swipe at Nora, who jumped out of the way as her grenade launcher turned back into a big hammer. Pyrrha's sword quickly shifted into a spear, which she chucked at the Deathstalker's tail.
It bounces off its exoskeleton, but it got the scorpion's attention. The spear was suddenly back in Pyrrha's hands, and she readied herself for the Deathstalker's charge. "Go! Across the bridge!"
The eight of them started running across the bridge, with Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and "Renny" taking up the rear. "Alright! Now uh... everyone with ranged weapons attack the Nevermore!" Jaune said, "The rest of us try and... kill that thing."
That was when the Nevermore made its return, swooping up from the misty abyss below and crashing through the center of the bridge, separating the two groups. Judeau was right on top of the section of the bridge that had been destroyed, and his back foot slipped, and he almost fell into the ravine below. Weiss was quick enough to grab his forearm and keep him up, "I owe you one," he chuckled from the nerves.
"I think that makes two now, actually," Weiss corrected.
"Looks like they're dealing with the Deathstalker," Ruby pointed across the bridge at Jaune frantically instructing his group, "which leaves us with… that guy."
The Nevermore was circling the giant pillar that the bridge led up to. Jaune's plan to split the group in two had failed immediately, since the Nevermore did it for them.
"Does anyone have spare dust?" Penny spoke up for the first time since they arrived at the the ruins, "If there is enough, I may have an idea."
"How much is enough?" Judeau asked, "I've got," he pulled the 3 vials off his bandolier, "this much."
"No, I would need about… 8 ounces of dust."
"8 ounces?!" Weiss gawked, "That's half a canister! I've already used up most of mine."
"Would bullets work?" Ruby pulled a big cartridge off her belt, and tried to pull the bullet apart with great effort, "Never mind. Can't get it," she gave up.
"Hmm…" Penny watched the Nevermore fly overheard, "we may have to come up with something else, then."
Judeau started concocting an idea in his head, "Hey, Ruby, you know that flying thing you did at the dust store?" Judeau turned to ask her.
"Flying thing?"
"When you ran up the wall," Judeau clarified, "you could do that on the cliff face, right?"
"Yeeeees?" Ruby squinted.
"Okay, right…" Judeau looked around the ruins of the bridge, formulating a plan, "Penny, are the wires on your swords flexible?"
"Yes, I believe so," Penny nodded.
"Weiss, what else can you do with your glyphs?"
"What do you have in mind?"
"Could you… I don't know, launch someone with one?" Judeau was hoping the answer was yes.
"I… could," Weiss answered hesitantly, "Where are you going with this?"
"Those two pillars," he pointed to the two crumbling pillars on either side of the bridge, "we make a giant slingshot and shoot Ruby at the Nevermore."
"What?! Why me?!"
"Because when you hit the thing you're going to drag it all the way up the side of the cliff," Judeau said, "And you've got the best weapon for cutting its head off."
Ruby took a deep breath, and released it, "Alright."
"Okay, let's set this thing up," Judeau commanded, "Penny, wrap the sword around that pillar and… I guess wrap yourself around the other one."
"Right!" One of Penny's swords rose from her backpack and looped around the base of the pillar, while she spun around the other one and sat on the ground, pulling the wire taut.
"Ruby, get your scythe ready, it's coming around again. Weiss, do your thing."
Judeau expected Weiss' glyph to literally just launch Ruby like a cannon, but instead, it pulled Ruby and the wire back, caving in on itself and folding outwards in a cone shape.
"Can you make the shot?" Ruby asked Weiss.
"Hmph! Of course I can."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! Now shut up so I can concentrate," Weiss growled.
The Nevermore was directly above them, continuing its wide circle over the pillar. "It's almost around, now. Is everyone ready?" Judeau turned to the three of them.
"Ready," Weiss nodded.
"Ready!" Penny cheered.
"As I'll ever be," Ruby said with a shaky voice, but that might've been because Weiss was changing the angle of the glyph she was standing on.
The Nevermore was almost parallel to the cliff face, "Wait…" Judeau told himself, "Wait…"
"Now!" He shouted.
Ruby sailed through the air, a series of glyphs appearing around her to build her momentum. She hooked her scythe around the Nevermore's throat, and hit the cliff face running. More glyphs appeared along the wall as she sped up, and shot over the top.
She spun around the Nevermore in the air, fully slicing open its neck with her scythe, and slamming down into the cliff.
The Nevermore's head slipped from its body, and the two separate pieces fell into the chasm below.
"Haha! It worked!" Judeau cheered.
"You mean you didn't think it would?" Weiss asked.
"Well, I was hoping it would, that's for sure," Judeau grinned, "Now come on, we just gotta get up there."
"What about them?" Penny pointed to the group across the bridge, who had just managed to knock the Deathstalker into the ravine… by destroying the rest of the bridge under it. "Friends!" Penny called across the gap, "Do you need help getting across?"
The four of them spoke among themselves before Jaune responded, "No! Nora said she'd… carry us," he said, with very little confidence in that strategy.
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"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Juniper."
The hall erupted in clapping the same way it had for the previous sets of teams after Ozpin had announced them.
"Led by… Jaune Arc."
"Bwah-? Led by?" Jaune sputtered.
"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin smiled.
The newly formed Team JNPR stepped back to make room for the next team to be called up.
"And, finally: Penny Polendina. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee… Judeau. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Jasper, led by… Judeau."
Judeau's brow raised. He wasn't totally taken by surprise like Jaune, but it was a shock.
"Well done," Ozpin gave him the same smile he had given Jaune.
The newly formed teams appeared on a large screen above the stage, "J-N-P-R. J-S-P-R." Nora read, "Well that's a little confusing."
"Jasper and Juniper are different enough," Pyrrha pointed out.
"Yeah, but they're both Juh-per."
Everyone else looked at her.
"Juh-per? Starts with juh, ends with per?" Nora continued, "You all know I'm right!"
"Whatever," Jaune laughed and headed for the stairs at the back of the stage.
"You'll come back and face the facts, leader-boy!" Nora ran after him.
Ren let out a tired sigh, "I'll make sure she doesn't kill him." He headed for the stairs as well.
"I should… probably go with them," Pyrrha said, "It was nice meeting you all!" She added, as she walked down the steps.
That left the newly formed Team JSPR alone on the stage, with much of the audience already filing out.
Weiss approached Judeau, "I misjudged you," she stated simply, "and I suppose you'll… make an adequate leader…"
"Gee, thanks."
Weiss spun on her feet and walked off the stage.
"Are you gonna apologize for saying I looked girly last night too, or is it too early for that?" Judeau joked as he followed her towards the exit.
"I'll have to think about that one," Weiss shot back.
The four of them stepped out of the main hall, and into the orange glow of the setting sun on the horizon.
"When did it get so late!?" Ruby exclaimed. "Man, I have not been good with time recently." She turned to Judeau, "So what's our first mission, boss?" Ruby asked with a big grin on her face.
"I think we're supposed to find our room," Judeau answered, "there's not much else we can do today, anyways."
"Sir, yes sir!" Ruby saluted.
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"Ruby!" Someone called from behind them as they approached the entrance of the dorms.
Ruby spun around, "Yang!" She cheered.
A woman with a mane of golden blonde hair ran up to Ruby and crushed her in a bear hug, "Aaaaaaah! I'm so proud of you!" She shook Ruby around before setting her down, "Look at you!" Yang grabbed her by the shoulders, "I told you you're the bee's knees!"
"Yaaaanng!" Ruby groaned, "you're embarrassing me."
"That's my job, ya goof!" Yang flicked Ruby's forehead, "Now aren't'cha going to introduce me to your team?"
"Oh, right!" Ruby turned to them, "Guys, this is my big sister, Yang! Yang, this is Judeau, Weiss, and my partner, Penny!"
"I…" Judeau scratched his cheek, "I don't really see the resemblance?" Weiss elbowed him.
"Well I can assure you, this clumsy little idiot is my sister," Yang smirked and ruffled Ruby's hair, "you keep her out of trouble, alright?" Yang pointed two fingers at Judeau.
"I'll do my best," Judeau replied.
"You better," Yang patted Ruby's shoulder and pushed her back towards her team, "Well, Rubes, I gotta get back to my dorm, we've got class tomorrow after all, and Miss Goodwitch would kill me if I was late on the first day back… and then she'd probably kill Coco too for not keeping me in line. If you need anything, I'm always around." And with that, Yang zipped away, and off into the other dorm building.
"Isn't she the coolest?" Ruby said with stars in her eyes.
"She seems nice enough," Weiss replied, and Judeau nodded in agreement.
The four of them entered the building, and searched the halls for their room. It was on the second floor, there was a plaque holder in the door with a slip of paper taped to it that had JSPR written on it, and it was directly across from Team Juniper's room. There were four beds already set up in the room, one in each corner.
"Aw, man, I wanted bunk beds…" Ruby muttered.
"Why would you want bunk beds?" Judeau asked.
"It would save room," Weiss commented, "but we can't exactly make bunk beds, can we, Ruby?"
"No…" she sighed in response.
Unlike the rest of them, Judeau didn't have much to put in the room, so he just shoved a bag, which was only a few spare sets of clothes, under a bed of his choice, which was in the far left corner of the room. He slipped his brace off and placed it on top of the wide headboard. Weiss looked like she wanted to say something about it as she unpacked her own things, but she held her tongue.
Judeau collapsed on the bed, not even bothering to move the covers, kicked his boots off, and fell asleep on the spot.
For the first time that week, he dreamt of something other than the Eclipse.
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Aaaaand end.
Gonna try and work on the conversations in the next chapter. I feel like I used to be better at writing people, but then again I normally write at normal times in the day, so I should probably get back to that. My sleep schedule would appreciate it.
Now you've met the whole team! They're all slightly different from the original show, Ruby's a little more outgoing since she doesn't have Yang to cling on to, Penny's obviously going to be a lot more involved, and Weiss is Weiss. She'll get better quickly though, I promise.
Let me know what you think! If there's anything that's glaringly, disgustingly, laughably horrible about anything in this chapter (grammar, dialogue, etc.) just go "Hey, you dumb Bastard! Fix this!" And I'll cry and weep in my little chair and patch it up.
Seriously though if there's any errors that got through my extensive proofreading process (I skimmed through it in like 2 minutes) let me know, I'd really appreciate it.
Cool thanks see you next chapter
