"And even though I spent the whole time running for my life with my Aura up, it still took days for the bruises she gave me to go away. And that's why you never tell a waitress your full name, no matter how cute she is."
"Ten… minutes…" Pyrrha growled out, both her eyes and hands twitching as she focused every fiber of her being to keep from strangling Qrow. "That's how long you've been rambling about nothing while we've been waiting for our friends to show up." She looked over at Raven, who had the sheer audacity to look bored at this as she leaned against the dance hall's wall with her arms crossed.
"You think this is bad, he's usually much worse. He must be holding back something fierce." Raven's words did nothing to calm Pyrrha down, her whole body shaking as she narrowed her eyes at Qrow as he shrugged. Raven pushed off the wall and looked down the path they had came from. "Speaking of holding back, where the hell is Summer?" she asked scratching her head, "She was supposed to be right behind us."
"Maybe she got lost," Qrow said flatly.
"There's no way. We've been here for how long now? She couldn't possible have gotten lost." Suddenly a heavy guitar riff started playing and Raven pulled out her scroll and flicked it open. "Well, look who it is," Raven said showing the picture of Summer to Qrow and Pyrrha before she answered the call, shutting off the music.
"Summer, where are you?" Raven listened for a moment before her eyes dropped in annoyance and she crossed her arms. "We're in front of the dance hall… what do you mean you're lost?" Qrow laughed once before covering his mouth with a hand. "It was a literal straight line Summer, you just had to follow the path. What do you mean you lost the path?! Tell me what you did!" Qrow laughed again and looked to be close to breaking down.
'I-is this normal here?' Pyrrha thought as Raven listened to Summer, her foot tapping faster and faster as it went on. Then her eyes narrowed as a horrifying thought came to her. 'Wait, this won't happen to me will it?! Oh please no…'
"I've heard enough! You've been here for a year and you still can't get the basic layout of this place memorized! I remember where the dance hall is, and I haven't been there since our first day! It's a wonder you can even make it to classes without our help!" Raven listened for a moment before shouting, "I don't care if there's a fight going on! You get your ass over here now! I had to listen to Qrow's waitress story again, and I think he actually added details this time!" She listened for a little longer before she quirked an eyebrow.
"Who's he fighting? Seriously?" Raven smiled widely and added, "I'm always down for seeing him get his ass kicked by her. We're heading your way, get somewhere open." Raven closed her scroll and chuckled as she put it away.
"What was…?" Pyrrha started.
"Tai's fighting Velvet. We gotta see him get trounced." Raven snapped her fingers and a portal opened next to her. Pyrrha jumped a little at the sudden appearance, though Qrow only casually walked forward.
"I was wondering where he was. Let's see if he loses some teeth to Velvet." Qrow then walked into the portal and disappeared from sight. Pyrrha followed carefully and slowly poked the portal with a finger, watching it disappear into the blackness.
"I-It is safe right?" She asked looking to the side where Raven used to be.
"Stop wasting time!" Raven shouted and kicked Pyrrha from behind, causing the redhead to stumble and trip into the portal with a scream. A second later she emerged from the other side and fell to the ground, managing to at least raise her arms to shield her face. When she heard people cheering she saw a small crowd in front of her watching what she assumed was the fight Raven had mentioned.
"Look out," Raven said walking out of the portal and stepping over Pyrrha. The portal shut just as Raven started pushing her way through the crowd to the front.
"Hey Pyrrha, you ok?" Pyrrha blinked and looked up at Jaune reaching a hand out to her. She nodded and took the hand so Jaune could lift her up to her feet. "Well that's good. Sorry about all that, we got a little lost."
"I heard," Pyrrha said checking her clothes. There was a sound of something heavy getting hit and the crowd roared in excitement. "How did that happen anyway?"
"I don't know and neither does Summer. Hopefully you had a better time than me hanging out with Qrow and Raven," Jaune joked with a small chuckle.
"I'd rather be lost in a desert with a canteen of salt water," Pyrrha replied coldly with a look of anger that Jaune didn't know the girl was capable of. It passed as quickly as it appeared though and she looked over at the crowd as more sounds of fighting echoed from the other side. "Shouldn't we stop this? They could get in trouble for fighting like this couldn't they?"
"I actually asked about that," Jaune said walking over to the edge of the crowd with Pyrrha following, "and I guess spars like this are allowed as long as 'nothing important is damaged' and 'they abide by all tournament dueling rules', whatever that means. I have to say though, if this is what a spar is like, I'd hate to see an actual fight." Once Pyrrha could see the fighters, she saw what he meant.
On one side was an older boy with blonde hair, dressed in a white shirt with a brown vest over it, cargo shorts and boots jumping away from his opponent. She was a Rabbit Faunus with a brown ensemble of a long sleeved jacket, shorts, and boots over a black body suit. She had just missed a kick and settled back into a wide stance while he did the same a few feet away.
"Come on Tai, make us proud!" Pyrrha looked over at the sound of Summer's voice and found the hooded girl bouncing excitedly at the front of the crowd with Qrow and Raven on both of her sides.
"Break his nose Velvet!" Raven shouted shooting a fist in the air and grinning like a madwoman.
"Whose side are you on?!" The boy (Tai, Pyrrha figured) shouted and glared at Raven.
"Come on, clock's ticking!" A different girl nearby shouted at the fighters. When Pyrrha saw her, she couldn't help but stare at her wardrobe which simply screamed fashionable, especially the beret and sunglasses. "Either hit each other or just quit!"
'She must be the referee,' Pyrrha thought to herself when she saw the two scrolls in the girl's hands. 'I… suppose it'll be ok if someone is keeping an eye on their Aura.'
"Alright, Rebel two!" Velvet shouted and ran toward Tai. She reared a hand back and threw a straight right at his head, which he managed to dodge at the last second. Velvet gasped as her arm was grabbed and Tai flipped her over his body and onto her back, dodging back once she was on the ground to get some space.
"I wasn't ready yet Vel!" Tai shouted in annoyance as Velvet rolled to her feet.
"You snooze you lose Taiyang," she said and rushed forward again, this time going for a low kick at Tai's legs. He jumped over the kick and threw a punch as Velvet spun on the spot, which hit her shoulder and flared an orange Aura over her body. She countered with a kick to his side, landing squarely and sending Tai stumbling to the side with a yellow flash of Aura. The stumble didn't last very long before Velvet was on Tai again with a flurry of punches.
Pyrrha couldn't help the building excitement as she watched the two fight, with every punch, kick, dodge, and counterattack flowing into each other like a heavily practiced dance. She glanced over to see Jaune was mesmerized by the fight. Still, at least he was far more composed than some people.
"Go for her eyes Tai, they're her weakness!"
"Aim low Velvet, you know you want to!"
"Shut up!" Both Taiyang and Velvet shouted as they both threw a punch that connected with the other. Along with the flaring Aura from both of them, Pyrrha thought she saw a sonic boom from the impact.
'Nah, that's silly.'
Taiyang and Velvet reared back their other arms for another punch when a small blue flash appeared on Velvet's arm. She realized something had gone wrong when her punch slowed enough for Taiyang to move his head out of the way. His punch hit its mark, slamming into Velvet's cheek and sending her airborne for a moment before landing face first on the ground. Her legs dangled in the air for a moment before they fell down so she was laying fully on her front.
"Oh crap!" Taiyang shouted with a flinch while the crowd 'oohed' in sympathy.
"Her Aura's in the red now, fight's over," the referee said and walked over to the still Faunus and bent over her. She slid her glasses down her nose a little to glance over the frames and asked, "Are you ok Velvet? Still conscious?" After a few seconds Velvet slowly lifted an arm up and gave a thumbs up. "She's good everyone, the show's over now!" There was some muttering from the crowd as they dispersed, leaving only Pyrrha, Jaune, and a couple others including Summer and friends.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Taiyang asked worriedly as Velvet started picking herself up. "I swear I didn't mean to hit you so hard!"
"I'm fine, really," Velvet said pushing herself to her feet and brushing her clothes off, "Seriously, every time I take a slight hit you guys worry."
"What happened?" Summer asked walking over with Qrow and Raven behind her, the later breaking off to stand next to Taiyang.
"I lost power," Velvet replied tapping a box strapped to her side with a hand, "there must be a few more kinks in the power supply I didn't catch. Well, catching these safely are what these spars are for right?" She turned to Taiyang and held a hand out. "Thanks for the help Tai, I can always count on you to help with dirty work."
"Yeah, he's pretty whipped isn't he?" Raven said slapping the blonde's shoulder, "at least with pretty girls."
"Shut up Rae!" Taiyang said waving the girl off and walking to Velvet, slapping her hand once then backhanding it and ending with a fist bump. "And don't worry Vel, anything to help an old school rival."
"Oh, is that what I am now?" Velvet asked with a grin. Then she noticed Jaune and Pyrrha standing to the side and tilted her head. "And you two are?"
"O-Oh… um," Jaune stuttered at the sudden attention.
"They're a couple of newbies we got roped into babysitting," Qrow answered flatly.
"Roped? How did that happen?" the girl in the beret asked, tilting her sunglasses down again as she looked at Summer.
"Well, we were bored and Raven brought a carton of eggs, so-" she started.
"Never mind, that explains everything. Seriously, only you guys…" Beret shook her head and moved over to Pyrrha and Jaune. "Bad luck for you guys getting mixed up with this carnival on your first day here."
"Hey!"
"She's not wrong," Taiyang said with a sigh, "Seriously, didn't I tell you guys to not do something to get us in trouble?"
"Us he says, while deliberately avoiding us for the day," Qrow said shaking his head slightly.
"For a good reason, as it turns out!"
"…Like I said, tough luck," Beret said and held out a hand to Pyrrha.
"They're not that bad, when they're not talking about waitresses," Pyrrha said taking the offered hand and shaking and trying very much to ignore the snickering Summer and Taiyang. 'It's not worth it Pyrrha.' "In any case, it's nice to meet you. My name is Pyrrha Nikos and this is Jaune Arc." Pyrrha motioned to Jaune, who waved at the group. "It's nice to meet you miss…?"
"Coco Adel, and I think I'm going to like you," Coco said pushing her glasses up with a smile. "And since we're doing introductions, you already met Velvet."
"Hi, and eggs huh?" Said girl asked shaking her head, "You got lucky, usually they're a lot worse than that."
"How… do you mean?" Jaune asked.
"Well, last time they did something the cafeteria had to be evacuated from the smell."
"Oh yeah, the stink bombs from Atlas," Raven said with a chuckle, "They were expensive, but worth it. Taught you guys to mess with my laundry."
"Wait, that's why you did that?!" One of the other boys, a redhead with white eyes, said.
"Would it really surprise you Fox?" Coco answered, "That's Fox by the way, and the big guy is Yatsuhashi." The now named Yatsuhashi nodded at Jaune and Pyrrha, who both decided independently not to upset him. A sudden burst of white rose petals drew Pyrrha and Jaune's attention to Summer leaning against Taiyang.
"And rounding out my retinue is Taiyang 'three for three' Xiao Long," Summer said with a small hint of pride, even though the blonde's eyes widened and face palmed. "He may look scruffy, but you won't find a more dependable guy than him."
"Three for three?" Jaune asked, looking around in confusion as most of the others started laughing under their breaths.
"It's a dumb joke, don't look too far into it." Taiyang shook his head and dragged his hand down his face before pulling away from Summer and Raven and walking up to Pyrrha. "That aside, you said your name is Pyrrha Nikos?" Pyrrha nodded and Tai hummed and rubbed his chin in thought. "So you ended up coming to Beacon huh? I would have figured you go to Haven."
"I… had my reasons," Pyrrha said carefully.
"Everyone does, but you won't hear me complain. Welcome to Beacon!" Taiyang held out a hand to Pyrrha, who took and shook it.
"Thank you," she said trying not to flinch from Taiyang's grip. 'He's a lot stronger than he looks, and he already looks pretty strong.'
"You know her Tai?" Summer asked.
"Of course I do," Taiyang said turning to the assembled crowd. "Pyrrha Nikos placed top of her class at Sanctum Academy and won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row! No one our age has ever done that." Taiyang's gushing however was met only with silence and blank stares from everyone that lasted an uncomfortable few seconds. Pyrrha was about to say anything to break the silence when Taiyang expressed his outrage. Loudly.
"REALLY, NOTHING?! None of you know what I'm talking about?!"
"You're the only one here who actually follows that stuff Taiyang," Fox said scratching his chin.
"Are you serious?! She made the news when it happened! NONE OF YOU SAW THAT?!"
"In case you forgot, we were all busy with our own thing at the time Tai," Qrow said ruffling his hair. "You know, the massive thing that took up literally all of our free time?"
"Plus," Raven added crossing her arms, "You're the only one who actually cares about any sports at all."
"Speak for yourself Raven, I like to watch a sport," Summer said glancing at the brunette.
"…Right, except for that one. How is the League doing?"
"The new season is starting soon. And you know me, I'm still rooting for Team-"
"SHUT UP YOU MORONS!" Taiyang shouted and pointed at Pyrrha, ignoring the glares the girls were giving him. "You're in the presence of a documented badass! Fucking acknowledge her!"
"Language," Yatsuhashi said sternly.
"Yeah, you're usually much more creative with your swears when you're angry," Raven added with a smirk, "You're losing you're touch."
"Listen, you little-!" Taiyang started.
"Stop!" Pyrrha shouted, getting everyone's attention. "It's fine! Really, I don't mind them not knowing me! Just stop fighting!" Pyrrha took a couple of breaths and only now realized just how loud she was just being. "Um… sorry."
"No, it's alright. Sometimes my temper gets away from me," Taiyang said before looking over at Raven and growled out, "We'll finish this later."
"Bring it bitch," Raven answered with a smile and punched a palm, "We both know who'll win that fight."
"Language," Yatsuhashi said again, which got him a soft pat on the arm from Velvet. Then a chime sounded in the air, followed by Glynda's voice.
"Attention all second year students, please report to the Assembly Hall. I repeat, all second year students please report to the Assembly hall."
"What is that about?" Fox asked as the closing chime sounded.
"Didn't something like that happen last year?" Summer asked looking over at Coco.
"Yep. I guess we're going to find out what it's about now." Coco started walking and motioned for her team to follow. Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi followed after her, with Velvet giving one last wave to Jaune and Pyrrha.
"We should get going too," Qrow said and started walking away, "I don't want to push my luck anymore today." Summer, Raven, and Taiyang shared a look until Raven shrugged and followed her brother.
"S-so wait, are we done?" Jaune asked scratching his head, "Like… the tour is over?"
"Beacon's not that hard to get around in, despite my mess up," Summer answered, "You can feel your way around the rest of the academy by yourself. So, yes, the tour is over."
"Mostly by virtue of there being something better to do," Taiyang said with a nod, "Not like I was involved mind you. Still, it was nice to meet you two. I look forward to seeing you again… if you survive tomorrow." Taiyang chuckled and ran off to join Raven and Qrow.
"I'm getting sick of everyone saying that to us," Jaune said with a scowl.
"So am I," Pyrrha replied and looked at Summer, "Does that have to do with the exam we have to do?"
"I can't tell you that," Summer said with a shake of her head, "It would skew your results and I could get expelled for it. But don't worry, you made it this far on your own merits so you'll be fine. Just… don't die. That should be easy." Summer couldn't help the grin she shot the pair as she vanished in a flurry of petals, leaving them suitably annoyed.
"Really getting old. Oh well, nothing we can do for it I suppose." Pyrrha turned to Jaune and clasped her hands in front of her, "But she is right. If we just do our best tomorrow I'm sure we'll be alright. Right Jaune?" When Jaune didn't immediately answer she called out his name again.
"Huh? Oh yeah, you're right. Hey, where is the dance hall?"
"Oh is that all? I was just there, so it's right over…" Only then did Pyrrha realize the problem with her plan. "Um… where are we? Maybe we should look for it."
"Sounds good to me."
Summer caught up to Taiyang just as he found the Qrow and Raven and the four of them toward the assembly hall in the middle of the campus. It was not a quiet walk thanks to Taiyang.
"I still can't believe you guys! Who throws eggs at incoming students?!" Taiyang pointed at Summer next. "And I especially can't believe you would let that happen!"
"I got caught up in the moment," Summer defended tugging on the edge of her hood, "but the fun was worth it."
"God," Taiyang rubbed his forehead, "you're all lucky that you just got saddled with grunt work instead of getting suspended or something."
"They wouldn't dare," Qrow said simply.
"Professor Ozpin can only protect us from small infractions Qrow! Even he admitted as much! We have got to be careful!"
"Chill out, we all know that, and it was just throwing eggs anyway," Raven said shaking her head. "I hope this meeting isn't about something that'll ruin the rest of my day. I've had enough of that."
"Oh yeah, so busy you had to take time off to throw eggs at people," Qrow replied snarkily as they reached the doors to the assembly hall and walked inside. "Still, I wonder what this will be about."
"We'll find out soon," Summer said and started looking over the crowd of second year students. At the moment no one was on the stage, so whatever this assembly would be about wouldn't start for at least a couple of minutes. That did nothing to abate their growing curiosity.
"Hey STRQ!" Summer perked up and looked around until she saw the girls of Team CFVY waving at them. Summer fought down a smile as she lead her team over to them and settled in for the wait while trying to ignore Coco's smirk. "Good to see you guys didn't get into trouble again on your way here."
"Up yours, at least we're having fun here," Raven replied with a small glare, which did nothing but make Coco and Velvet chuckle.
"I guess that's a word for it. I'd still rather have the kind of fun that won't land me in 'Hell Camp' for a second year."
"That was actually kind of fun in retrospect," Taiyang commented, "and it was still miles better than everything else we did last year."
"Yeah," was the collective response from the SRQ portion of the team.
A couple of minutes later small talk was starting to run dry and there still wasn't anyone on the stage. Any kind of joviality was being replaced by a tense anxiousness throughout the crowd. Summer kept kneading the hem of her cloak as her mind raced with all kinds of possibilities for what was going to happen soon, and nearly jumped when Yatsuhashi broke the newly formed silence.
"I still remember how some of our upperclassmen looked last year. It was like they had been put through the wringer."
"I didn't think it was that bad," Taiyang said crossing his arms, "but maybe it was for some of them."
"We'll be ok, right?" Qrow asked leaning forward to look at Summer.
"We will," she answered tugging on a stray strand of hair, "Whatever this will be, we've scraped through far worse. All of us."
"That's true," Fox agreed with a nod and turned his head slightly toward Summer. "You know, you never did explain what happened with that airship crash."
"Ozpin's here," Raven said suddenly and straightened her stance. STRQ and CFVY turned their attention forward as the headmaster walked up onto the stage and toward the lone microphone on there. Silently the former team was glad that the topic Fox had brought up had been shelved for at least another day; that had been way too close for any of them to want to talk about yet.
By then Ozpin had reached the microphone and tapped it twice with his cane, letting the feedback get the attention of the assembled students, and started carefully going through the second speech he had planned for the day. "I thank you all for assembling here today. It's hard to believe that it's only been a year since you've all first assembled here. Hopefully you're all just as proud of your progress as I am."
In the crowd more than few students smiled, both widely and softly, in agreement. Summer was glad to have her hood up to hid hers.
"You've all had your ups and downs, every challenge unique to every one of you that helped shape you become what you are today." The air echoed with the sound of a door opening. "This year you will all will encounter the same challenge. And thank you for joining us Team MRGD!"
Try as he might, not even Ozpin could keep the slight annoyance out of his voice at the chronically late Team MRGD (Marigold). Though he at least had more tact then most of the other students who turned and stared at the team, or more specifically their leader who was wide eyed and staring out at the crowd at her failed attempt at sneaking in. To her credit, Maribelle only leaned forward in silent annoyance at being called out like this and slowly led her team toward the back of the crowd out of the spotlight.
'There's always at least one,' Ozpin mused to himself. Once they were settled in he continued his speech. "Like I was saying, this year you'll all be sharing the same challenge; offering guidance, both academically and in the field, to new Huntsman as upperclassmen. While I'm certain you will excel at this, we still need to see for certain that you are well prepared for both that and all of the additional responsibilities that come with it."
"Oh no…" Raven whispered already knowing where this was going.
"So, in order to decide that, you are all having your own exam… tonight." Naturally most of the assembled students groaned loudly at this unwelcome surprise. "Yes, I'm well aware of how you feel about unexpected exams, but it's important for many reasons. And who knows…" Ozpin leaned closer to the microphone and scanned the crowd. "This may give you all some appreciation for your immediate upperclassmen."
"…Well that gave me chills. Anyone else?" Qrow asked and was thankful that the rest of his group nodded as well.
"The exam will take place at the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest at 11 tonight. Be prepared for heavy combat. I'll explain the exam in detail then." Ozpin then walked away from the microphone, more or less signaling that the assembly was over and leaving the students to their own business. As the various teams filtered out of the hall to prepare, STRQ and CFVY left together to speculate.
"Heavy combat huh? What exactly does he expect us to fight?" Coco mused.
"He's going to toss us into Emerald Forest and have us fight our way through Grimm again," Taiyang said with a groan, "as if we don't do that enough."
"That's not good enough," Summer said rubbing her chin. "If this is supposed to be a test to see how far we've come then hunting Grimm won't be enough."
"Then there's that 'appreciating our upperclassmen' comment," Fox added, "so it's something that's already been done before and has affected us in that respect. That narrows it down a bit."
"It's certainly interesting," Coco said before smirking and lowering her sunglasses. "Hey Summer, wanna make a side bet to this exam? You know, spice it up a bit?"
"Why don't we wait to see what the exam actually is before that?" Summer said before shaking her head slightly and added, "Though we probably will end up doing that."
"It's a deal then. I look forward to kicking your asses again." Coco gave a chuckle as she pushed her glasses back up and walking down a path away from STRQ, Yatsuhashi and Fox waving goodbye and Velvet stared at Taiyang and drew a line across her throat before jogging after her team.
"And they're at it again," Taiyang said crossing his arms behind his head and smirking, "Still, it's good incentive to push ourselves. I don't want them to get bragging rights over us right?"
"Agreed," the twins answered simultaneously.
"Then we better be ready for anything," Summer said turning and leading her team to their dorm room. "So what's the weather going to be like tonight?"
"Hold on," Qrow said taking out his scroll. After a moment he groaned and said, "Just our luck, it looks like it's going to rain. Heavy rain at that."
"For I am a rain dog too," Summer said with a quick giggle. "Let's not worry about that, a little rain in the field never hurt anyone. Let's get what we can together for tonight and then-"
"Speaking of, did you ever get the Dust and bullets we sent you out for last night?" Raven asked suddenly, bringing their leader to a sudden halt. "I didn't bring it up earlier, what with the robbery and all, but now that we're free…" Raven stopped when she noticed that she was walking by herself and looked back to see Taiyang and Qrow looking at Summer, who wasn't moving, or speaking, or breathing.
"Oh that's a loud silence," Qrow said carefully putting his scroll away. A few more seconds passed before Taiyang moved forward and tapped Summer's shoulder.
"Uh… Sum… are you ok?" he asked and was relieved when his leader took a deep breath.
"DAAAAAAMMMMIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!"
The rest of the day passed by without incident (aside from some students being treated to the interesting sight of Team STRQ rushing to the airship pads for emergency shopping) and before long night had settled over Beacon. While the faculty prepared for the tests tomorrow and the students of all ages were either bedding down or preparing for their own exams, no one was watching the Emerald Forest.
This forest infested with all manners of the Creatures of Grimm made it the perfect place to both new Huntsman to cut their teeth, the veterans to practice the fundamentals, and for one particular individual to spy without being detected. Ruby looked at the lights of Beacon from her mount as it flew around the defensive perimeter that kept the Grimm away. She silently ordered the Griffon into a dive and, when it was low enough, let out a breath and leaned to the side until she slipped off and into a freefall.
She scanned the treetops from her fall and, after settling on particular tree, held her right arm out and focused its essence into the shape of her scythe and solidified it. She flipped forward and swung the weapon down on the thickest branch of the tree, swinging her under the branch and using the momentum to launch back up into the air. She closed her eyes as she backflipped in the air before landing in a crouch, a couple of small craters forming where her feet landed.
Ruby slackened the grip on her scythe, the weapon vaporizing into the air, and she stood up straight. Her red eyes scanned the surrounding forest for any movement, and when she was certain she was alone she started walking through the forest.
'I'd better get away from the landing site in case some Huntsman gets too curious,' she thought and ran the cold gauntlet down her cheek. 'As if anyone would be out here anyway. Still, better to stay unseen.' After a minute of walking Ruby found a particularly thick grouping of trees and walked toward them, leaning against the one closest to the center. She absentmindedly brushed off her dress before lifting her right arm and focused intently on the palm of her hand.
After a couple of seconds three bubbles formed on the black skin and grew a little before bursting and releasing a Grimm fly from each one. They turned in her hand and stared up at her as she pointed at two of them. "You two investigate everyone in the academy; the students, new and old, and the faculty. Keep your distance and listen closely." They buzzed their wings in acknowledgement and took flight toward the academy, while the last one skittered a little. "You look for the Parcel. It most likely will be close to Ozpin in some way. That takes priority over anything else you may see."
Ruby watched the fly take off toward Beacon when she felt a drop of water hit the top of her head. She blinked and looked up as another drop hit her forehead. "How did I not see the clouds?" she wondered aloud as more drops hit her skin as the storm picked up. She spent a minute savoring the feeling of the raindrops hitting her skin before shaking her head and crossing her arms. "What does it matter, the rain will help hide me." Ruby closed her eyes and focused on one of her spies, willing herself to see though its eyes just as it made its way past the defensive perimeter.
The fly she was looking though was flying next to Beacon Tower before it set its sights on one of the larger side buildings at her insistence. The dance hall, if she remembered correctly, should hold the latest batch of students for tonight. All in all, a great way to see if there's anyone to worry about for the year. She guided the fly under the front doors and up along one of the walls until it could see the whole room.
Once again Ruby couldn't help but notice how many of them had already formed into their own little groups despite probably only met in the last few hours. She counted at least three groups of girls gossiping among themselves, a few reading by themselves in a corner, a group of shirtless boys inexplicably flexing for anyone who happened to look their way.
'Once again, Queen was worried for nothing,' Ruby thought as she focused on a girl with long red hair in golden pajamas straightening the sheets of her cot. 'This should be… what?' The girl she was watching looked up and waved at a blonde boy who had walked up and sat down on the cot next to her. If she could have shot fire at him through the fly's eyes she would have. 'Footie pajamas? What are you, five?'
"I have to say Pyrrha, it's kind of weird sleeping in the same room as so many people," Jaune said rubbing the back of his head and looked around again. "And is it just me, or are people looking at me? Why do you think that is?"
Pyrrha, who was red faced and shaking as she desperately tried to hold her laughter when she had seen Jaune's pajamas, could only answer, "I can't imagine why. Maybe they… see something in you?"
"You think so? I suppose that makes me feel better about my chances here." Poor Pyrrha squeaked and started shaking even harder when he said that. Then she saw that the feet of his pajamas had little rabbit ears, leaving her with no choice but to crawl onto her cot, slowly grab her pillow, and press it against her face so she could (hopefully) let out her laughter quietly. Jaune failed to notice this as he looked around the hall at the others around him.
"You know Pyrrha, I heard some of the other guys in the locker room mention something about teams," Jaune said climbing on the cot next to Pyrrha's. "I think they might be right, given Summer and Coco's friends."
"Oh really?" Pyrrha managed to say through her pillow.
"Yeah, apparently we're going to get sorted into teams to help with our education or something. At least that's what the guys I asked about that said. I hope they're ok."
"Why?" Pyrrha asked.
"I think they might have got food poisoning or something. When I was leaving the locker room a minute ago they all ran to the bathroom stalls holding their mouths. I feel fine though, what about you?"
"I'm fine."
"But your face is all red."
"I said I'm fine!" Pyrrha managed to recover enough to peek over the pillow, only to see Jaune kicking his feet making the little ears wag and forcing her face back into the pillow. "C-can you stop kicking your feet like that?"
"I can't help that, I kick my feet when I'm nervous! Though, if a certain someone promises to be on my team it might help with that. It might even help you with your nervous fit you seem to be having."
"That's a word for it," Pyrrha whispered getting her giggles under control again and looking back at Jaune. 'Just don't look at his feet.' "I would be happy to be on your team Jaune, if we know how they'd be sorted."
"Well, we could ask Summer. She seems to know a lot."
"She'd probably just deflect the question again and say-"
"-You'll find out if you survive tomorrow," both Jaune and Pyrrha finished together, and then sighed together. "Why do they have to dodge around like that? It's not like we're going to die or something tomorrow right?" Jaune asked.
"Um…" There was a flash of light outside followed by a crack of thunder, which caused both Jaune and Pyrrha to jump and look outside the large windows as the rain pelted against it at a faster rate.
"Wow, it's really coming down out there," Jaune said scratching his cheek. "Hey, you don't think that'll last to tomorrow right?"
"I hope not. If it lasts that long, we'll be having more than our fair share of problems."
"What, like pneumonia or something?" Pyrrha blinked and glanced at Jaune just as a white pillow sailed into the back of his head.
"Shut up in here, we're trying to sleep!" a female voice shouted out.
"NORA!" A male voice shouted right after.
"…Sorry Ren…"
"…She does have a point though, out of place as that was," Pyrrha said and gently laid down on the cot, "We have a long day tomorrow, so we better rest up."
"Yeah," Jaune agreed and tossed the pillow that hit him back where it came from and started settling down as well. He had gotten under the covers and looked back at the window, the raindrops hitting it harder and faster. "Still, I hope this rain stops soon."
"Mhmm, but you'd have to be crazy to go out in that weather," Pyrrha agreed before closing her eyes, the sound of rainfall lulling her to sleep.
"Oh man, this rain is just getting worse," Taiyang said looking up at the skies and adjusted the hood of his rain cape. STRQ had only barely managed to get to Vale and got what they needed from a Dust Shop before it had closed early (they owed Shopkeep big time for holding onto their order.) and got back to Beacon with only two hours to get ready. Then the rain started and they added that to the preparations.
"You think it's possible Old Oz will cancel because of the rain?" Taiyang asked looking at his teammates, who had all individually prepared proper clothes for the rain. Taiyang himself had switched out his short sleeved shirt and cargo shorts with a thick sweater and jeans along with the rain cape.
"Not a chance," Raven said with a sigh, "When has he ever cared about inclement weather?" Raven hadn't changed her clothes that much, just a thicker material of leggings and a rain cape. If the clothing was too thick it would only hurt her mobility.
"He never does and probably never will," Summer answered annoyed and tugged on her hood. Summer's usual attire was more than suitable for the weather, though she had decided to add a set of fingerless gloves for extra grip, just in case it was needed.
"Just our luck, right? Well, not much we can do about that in any case." Qrow said shaking his head. Qrow had decided not to change a single part of his outfit, opting instead to wear the same thing he had put on that morning. His team was suitably annoyed.
"You're going to get pneumonia like that you know," Taiyang said with a glare at his partner.
"Pfft, who cares? I would probably get it anyway even if I did dress better anyway." Summer and Raven shook their heads, but otherwise kept their mouths closed as they approached the Beacon Cliffs and other seconds years that were already gathered there. It took a bit of searching before they had found Team CFVY and joined them mid discussion.
"And the Ursa that came out of nowhere only to get shot dead didn't make sense to me," Velvet said shaking her hood covered head. "It's like they made things up to be edgy or something."
"It made sense to me," Yatsuhashi said adjusting his straw hat, "It only got weird in the later episodes."
"…Are you just saying that, or do you really mean that?"
"What on Remnant are you talking about?" Taiyang asked once with a quirk of an eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing important," Coco said waving a hand. She adjusted the strap of her purse/weapon as she added, "Just our luck to have to do this in the rain huh?"
"Yup," Qrow said flatly.
"Are… you going to be ok?" Coco asked seeing how Qrow was dressed.
"Yup."
"Qrow aside, I'm just glad to see everyone learned the same lesson that we did about weather," Summer said looking around at the surrounding students wearing capes and coats. She tugged on her hood and smiled a little when she said, "I wonder if this is how you feel Coco, always being on the forefront of fashion."
"This… isn't quite the same thing, but I'll take the compliment," Coco said pushing up the sleeve of her rain coat (different from the one provided by Beacon, no doubt one she had picked out herself) and checked the time on her watch. "10:30 huh? We still have some time. So, what do you think we'll have to do out here?"
"I haven't really thought much on it. We've… been busy shopping all day."
"Ran out of Dust again huh?" Fox asked, the rest of his team looking at Raven.
"What?" she asked glaring back at them.
"Nothing," Velvet said with a shrug, "I shouldn't be the one to judge on Dust consumption. Anyway, what else-"
"I'm not late!" The sudden shout drew the attention of the two teams as they looked at the leader of Team MRGD ran through the rain and stopped out of breath near the crowd. "I swear I'm not-" the sheep Faunus stopped when she looked up at the crowd and saw several of them staring at her, but not the one she had dreaded seeing. "Wait... I'm not late. Am I?"
"Nope, you're actually early," a voice called out.
"Are Boarbatusk going to start flying now?" Another said. Maribelle only blinked a couple of times at this sudden news before standing straight up, putting her hand on her hips, and laughing happily.
"Ha, I'm a genius! You all thought I couldn't do it, but I can! So you can all suck it!"
"You still almost over slept you know," one of her teammates, Redd, said walking up beside her with the rest of the team.
"Details!" She cried out and waved the words away as she led them to STRQ and CFVY, her confident expression falling into one of confusion. "But, I really am early? Isn't Professor Ozpin usually here about now?"
"You are correct." Maribelle, and a couple of the other students, jumped a little at the sudden appearance of Professor Ozpin behind MRGD. "Sorry for the delay, I had some trouble finding my umbrella."
"Oh boo, what about the rest of us?" Raven complained quietly.
"You never get to choose the weather of your jobs Miss Branwen." Raven flinched a little as Professor Port walked up next to Ozpin, wearing a bright yellow rain coat and dragging a small covered wagon behind him. "Why, when I was a young lad, this would be considered good weather for hunting monsters."
"Wow, it must have been awful a thousand years ago." Summer had to try her hardest to hold her laughter in at that.
"Very," Ozpin replied with a small scowl before nodding to himself. "In any case, since it seems everyone is here, why don't I explain your exam?" Ozpin looked and nodded at Port, who nodded in return and turned to start digging through the wagon while the students formed around to hear better over the rain. When they were done Ozpin continued.
"If you'll remember your initiation last year, you were sent into the Emerald Forest in search of relics. There you paired up and retrieved a relic, with the two pairs who found the same relic got formed into the teams that stand here today." Ozpin waited a second as the students looked among themselves before he continued. "Tomorrow the first year students will be doing the exact same initiation, with the same results. Your exam tonight is to help set up that initiation."
By this point Professor Port had managed to pull something out of the wagon and handed it to Ozpin, who took it and held it up for the students to see. Summer was a little confused when she saw it was a chess piece, a knight and gold in color. 'It's not flowers this year? They must change it every year.'
"This is one of the relics that the first years will be collecting tomorrow. Every team here will be responsible for seeing one of these relics to its specified ruin for collection. That's your objective for this exam; simply escort your relic to where its partner is. When that's done, come back to the academy and you'll have finished your exam." Ozpin walked over to Maribelle and placed the Knight piece in her hands before pacing slowly in front of the students. "Are there any questions?"
Summer raised her hand and asked, "What about Grimm? Do we avoid or engage them?"
"I will leave that to your discretion," Ozpin answered. "Since you are all second years now, one of the new responsibilities you have is the ability to go on missions without supervision. On those missions, just like in this exam, the only assistance you can be provided from the academy will be given before you leave. In the field, you'll only have yourselves to rely on.
"If you think the best way to accomplish the goal is to avoid Grimm and complete your task as fast as possible, then by all means do so. If you wish to destroy every monster in your path, for its own sake or to protect others, that's viable as well. Of course you will be evaluated in line with your chosen strategy, but no matter what you do there is one thing you all have to keep in mind."
"A time limit?" Coco ventured.
"Correct Miss Adel. When the exam starts at 11 you will all have six hours to complete it; that should be more than enough for all of you. However if even one member of your team isn't out of the forest when time expires, then your whole team fails. And…" Ozpin paused a moment at the nervous second years before he smirked and said, "well, let's just say the first years will have some… unexpected classmates."
Judging from the wide eyes from the students, it had the intended effect. "Are there any other questions?" No students raised their hands or asked anything. "Good. Now will all the team leaders come collect a relic from Professor Port, then you may make any last minute preparations you need. If you need clarification on anything, both me and Professor Port will be happy to provide it. And be sure to check the underside of your relics, that doesn't happen nearly as often as I would like."
Slowly the leaders of the various teams stepped forward, Summer and Coco just behind the front of the pack. Coco glanced over at Ozpin, who true to his word was explaining something to a few of the students, and nudged Summer with her elbow.
"So, you think he was bluffing about that?" she asked the smaller girl.
"Probably," Summer answered and stopped next to Port's wagon. "And even if he wasn't we should be thankful it isn't worse. He could have set the whole year back for one team failing."
"There's no way anyone would do that," Coco shook her head and took a gold Bishop piece out of the wagon.
"You never know." Summer grabbed a gold Rook piece before turning to Professor Port. "So Professor, are there any Grimm to keep an eye out for tonight?" 'Please don't say Goliaths!'
"Nothing extreme tonight, just the normal stock it seems," Port answered and ran a finger over his mustache. "Still, be wary. Grimm are more aggressive at night and the rain probably won't help in that matter." Summer nodded and started walking back to her team with Coco, the latter brushing some stray strands of wet hair out of her eyes and looked over her relic.
"Map coordinates, a diagram of the ruins, that should be easy enough to figure out," Coco said putting the relic in her purse, "well, at least for some of us."
"You're just trying to egg me on Coco, and it's working," Summer said when they got back to their group. "So about that side bet, what did you come up with? Grimm kills or what?"
"We were thinking something a little more sporting. You know, give you guys a chance," Fox answered with a chuckle.
"Funny," Qrow said shaking his head, "and what about you? Will you be ok in this rain?"
"It helps more than you'd think. The forest may be a different story, but I'll manage."
"If you say so," Taiyang said, "So what did you have in mind?"
"Grimm kills plus mission time," Velvet said and started counting her fingers. "We divide the Grimm into small, medium, and large categories and tally those up per team. It means we'll have to keep track of kills, but we've already done that several times before right?" Everyone nodded in answer and Velvet continued. "When we tally those up we subtract that from our mission time, I'll figure that out later, and when it's all said and done the team with the lowest score wins. Does that make sense?"
"Not in the slightest," Raven said shaking her head.
"We can either complete the mission quickly with less kills for a good score, or kill a lot of Grimm and hope that offsets the longer mission time, but run the risk of overstaying in the forest. Either way, we don't want a high number," Summer said and turned to Raven. "Is that better?"
"…I'm just going to kill everything I see with red eyes, is that ok?"
"Yes Raven, that would be perfect." Summer shook her head slightly and looked back at Coco. "And what would the prize be?"
"Pizza party, and the loser has to pay," Coco answered. Summer looked at her teammates, who each nodded in answer. Summer nodded in return and held out a hand to Coco.
"Deal," she said and let Coco shake her hand.
"Great. Just so you know, Velvet has been on some weird food kick lately. So be ready to spend a lot of money." Coco laughed and led her team away, Velvet giving STRQ an apologetic look and shrug before following.
"We've got to win this," Taiyang said darkly. "I've seen Velvet in one of those moods and it puts any horror movie to shame."
"Let's get to planning then," Summer said holding up the relic in her hands, "Did anyone remember to bring a map?" Raven nonchalantly pulled out a map and held it out to Summer, who took it with a large smile. "Thanks Rae, you're the best."
"Yes, I know. So where are we going?" Raven asked as the team huddled around Summer as she opened the map. After marking both their starting location and their destination with a pen (which Qrow had provided, unlike an answer as to why he had it in the first place) they started working out a rough plan through the forest that would probably have to be improvised once they're in. You can't really control where you land, as they learned last year.
"Hopefully we'll land close enough together that we can move as a group," Taiyang pointed out drawing a line on the map.
"If we're lucky," Qrow said sarcastically.
"Right, so if it looks like we aren't, let's at least try to maneuver to pair up," Summer said looking up. "That's should be easy for all of us, right?" Everyone nodded and Raven held up a hand. "You're going to ask about that, aren't you?"
"Yep, and I assume the answer is no?" Raven asked.
"Absolutely no, and that's the same for you Qrow." The twins both gave a thumbs up while Summer checked her watch. "Ten till. Unless anyone's got anything else to bring up we should probably double check our equipment." Taiyang couldn't help but smirk and crack his knuckles in response, which Summer rolled her eyes at. "Well, most of us anyway."
"Five minutes until 11! When I call your team name, come up to the launchers," Ozpin called out. "First, Team KHKI."
"Almost show time," Raven said rotating a shoulder and looked over at Summer who was checking the ammo in Soleil. "Are you nervous Sum?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" she replied replacing he magazine and turning it back into a dagger before sheathing it. "But I'll be fine once we're out there. I hope…"
"You hope?"
"I don't know, maybe I'm just being overly superstitious. It just… feels like something's different tonight, you know? Like… something's about to change."
"You've just cold from the rain," Qrow said with a wave of his hand.
"Says you!" Summer glared at Qrow before sighing and brushing some hair out of her eyes. "But I hope you're right anyway."
"Team CFVY!" Ozpin called out. Coco waved her team forward, they stood on the launch pads, and lowered into ready positions.
"Good hunting guys!" Taiyang called out to CFVY, with Coco and Velvet giving them a thumbs up before being launched into the forest.
"You know we're technically working against them because of that bet, right?" Raven asked.
"Pfft, I don't care."
"…I can't argue with that, I guess."
"Team STRQ!" They perked at the sound of their name and moved to the launch pads. As soon as Summer was on her pad she rubbed her arm under her cloak and drew her sword a little to check its sharpness.
"Hey, relax Sum," Taiyang said tapping her shoulder before he stood on his own pad, "we got this. It can't be harder than what happened last year, right?"
"You're right," Summer nodded and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "It's basically a delivery mission. How hard could it be?" Summer braced herself, along with the rest of her team, as the pads clicked and shot them into the dark forest in front of them.
I don't know what the name of the trope is, but serious villains getting genuinely offended by minor things is one of my favorite things. And yes, Pyrrha still is very fun to write.
