Not ten minutes later, we found our way down to the twenty-fifth floor. The only thing waiting for us at the halfway point was...a door.
Actually, calling it a door is presumptuous. It was a slab of pure metal, sitting in what appeared to be a doorframe, without any handle or mechanism that could possibly indicate that the "door" could be opened.
For a second, the four of us stood silently, staring at the door as if we were each separately trying to open it through will alone. It stood defiantly still.
"...This is a shitty puzzle." Shuichi grumbled out. I sighed and stepped forward to take a look at the door. "Were we supposed to pick up a key or something?" I said. "I don't think we missed anything…"
Then, seemingly in response to my closer proximity, a red line came alight just above the door. A robotic voice sounded, "NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS AT LOWER GATE: ONE." and I jumped in surprise. Flynt snickered at me as he came to my side, and our attention turned to a red light shining just above the door, likely a scanner of some sort. "I think it was just waiting for us to get closer. Shuichi, Kazuki, come up here with us."
As Shuichi and Kazuki took their spots next to Flynt and I, the voice spoke again, "NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS AT LOWER GATE: FOUR. SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS ARE PRESENT TO PROCEED TO THE SECOND HALF OF THE INITIATION EXAM. NOW BEGINNING IDENTIFICATION." The four of us turned to each other after hearing that, momentarily acknowledging the red light's expansion as it scanned us up-and-down a few times. "We were supposed to group up? Why didn't Professor Yoshioka say anything about that?" Kazuki wondered aloud. Shuichi scoffed at her questions. "Where was your head at earlier? She didn't say anything about the lower floors." Kazuki made a pouty face at him while he ignored her and continued to glare at the scanner. I took the opportunity to speak up, "This is just an assumption, but...I think the point of the second half is for us to not have any expectations so we can react to things as we're confronted with them." Flynt grabbed my shoulders after I was done speaking. "No way! You actually came to the same conclusion as me, Judy~! I just knew we were on the same wavelength!"
"Please stop touching me."
"IDENTIFICATION COMPLETE." the voice spoke. "THE FOUR INITIATES PRESENT AT THIS GATE ARE FLYNT BLANC, SHUICHI NORIKER, JUDAS ARANY, AND KAZUKI MUNSELL. INITIATES WILL NOW BE GIVEN A SCORE BASED ON THEIR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES ON THE HIGHER FLOORS. SCORES WILL BE ON A SCALE FROM ONE TO TWENTY-FIVE. SCORES LOWER THAN FIFTEEN WILL HAVE THEIR ABILITY BE SUBJECT TO SOME SCRUTINY FOR CONTINUED ENROLLMENT. SCORES LOWER THAN TEN WILL AUTOMATICALLY FAIL INITIATION. YOUR SCORES WILL BE COMBINED FOR A CUMULATIVE SCORE OUT OF ONE HUNDRED, WHICH WILL DETERMINE THE COURSE PRESENTED FOR YOUR GROUP."
It sounds harsh, but I understand why a Huntsman academy would be so strict. Part of the curriculum is hands-on experience with Huntsman duties, after all, so anyone who can't make the cut in a controlled environment like this is probably destined to become a statistic out on the field.
As I think of the words "controlled environment", the image of Professor Yoshioka flashes in my head. She had an awfully scary air about her...maybe the initiates aren't so safe here after all…
As we wait for our scores to be given to us, I look around at my companions. Flynt and Shuichi both look rather calm, the former having a more relaxed posture while the latter's looks more impatient. Kazuki was having trouble standing still, rocking on her heels and fidgeting with her hands, a pensive expression on her face all the while as she stared nervously at the scanner. I feel my chest get a bit tighter as I look at her, so I quickly look away, wondering if I should try and comfort her.
"SCORING HAS FINISHED. YOUR SCORES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
KAZUKI MUNSELL: 11
JUDAS ARANY: 19
SHUICHI NORIKER: 22
FLYNT BLANC: 25
THIS TEAM'S CUMULATIVE SCORE: 77"
Seventy-seven out of one hundred seems like a pretty respectable score for the group. Nineteen as an individual score isn't bad, either, though my pride is a little sore that both Flynt and Shuichi managed to score higher than me. I turned to look at Kazuki again, who seemed awfully downtrodden at her low score. She managed to clear instant failure, sure, but a low score still reflects pretty poorly on her. She's probably worried about how this will affect her school life.
The butterflies in my stomach can screw themselves, I decided. I made my way over to Kazuki to try and cheer her up-
Only to have Flynt barrel past me and throw an arm around her.
"Oof, low number, huh? Well, don't sweat it, at least you're not getting kicked out for it!" Flynt boisterously told her, any semblance of tact seemingly lost on him. "But, hey, it'll
be okay anyhow! Your perfect-scoring partner's got your back, no matter what! Oh, speaking of which," He began looking between Shuichi and I expectantly. "Perfect score, eh? Well, Judy, Shuichi? Which one of you is gonna admit to underestimating me first, huuuuuuh? Don't be shy, really, I won't be upset!"
"YOUR PATH THROUGH THE LOWER FLOORS HAS BEEN CURATED TO YOUR CUMULATIVE SCORE. PLEASE ENTER THE ELEVATOR."
The three of us stared at Flynt's goofy smile as he looked between my partner and I, waiting for a response. Shuichi and I shared a look.
"...At least you'll never be as annoying as this guy, brat."
"I was thinking the same thing about you, hotshot."
Kazuki removed herself from her partner's hold with an apologetic smile, and the three of us stepped into the elevator, ignoring Flynt's stock-still form.
The calm atmosphere of the Headmaster's office was interrupted by one Guiscard Orenstein, strolling through the door drinking from his water bottle, towel slung over his shoulders, seemingly having no idea how much noise he was actually making. "Hey, hey, Yoshioka! Kaneko! How's the exam going?"
The small, frail-looking old man known as Kaneko, the Grimm Studies instructor, was the first one to acknowledge the newcomer. "Ah, Guiscard! Returning from your evening workout, I see. Do you ever take any rest days?" Guiscard only laughed as he took a seat on the opposite end of the couch where Yoshioka was currently sitting. "From time to time, yeah, but I like exercising! Enough of that, though, any promising students in this year's crop?"
Yoshioka adjusted her monocle, not looking away from her scroll. "A good handful. We're only barely approaching the seven-hour mark, and about...three sets of four have made it to the lower floors." She informed the combat instructor. "Three sets of four, huh? You think they fluked their way there?" Guiscard asked, but the Headmistress only chuckled at the question. "Definitely not. Each group has their own ace or two pulling the others along." Yoshioka then pressed some buttons on her scroll and showed it to Guiscard. He instantly recognized three of the students on screen, and the pairing of two of them made him cringe internally. "Take this group for example. Kazuki Munsell is the lowest-ranking of the four of them, only barely avoiding instant expulsion, but it didn't adversely affect the other three since their scores were all above average."
"She really lucked out, getting partnered with a guy who scored perfect." Orenstein commented, feeling uneasy as he looked at the other two students. "Can't say the same for Arany and Noriker, though…"
"Yes, I heard from Professor Kaneko that you had to keep them from causing trouble at the ceremony yesterday. They seem to be more than capable of holding their own in a fight, at least. Let's hope they don't end up holding each other back." The Headmistress pulled her scroll back and began looking through the exam roster again. "There are a few others. Although I was a little rough with him, Carmine Salei has proven to be quite skilled in combat, and his partner Magro excels in long-range combat that covers his weak points. There's also a Sun Wukong, who scored near-perfect at the mid-point. Perhaps by a miracle, given his recklessness, yet he's still worth keeping an eye on nonetheless."
Guiscard leaned back and drank from his water bottle. "Well, either way, it's rare for more than one group to make it half-way before the nine hour mark. Maybe we've finally found a class where the usual booby-traps aren't cutting it." Kaneko began stroking his beard in thought. "Hmm, it is true that we've been using almost the same obstacles for the past several years. Maybe it's time to change things up?"
The two men in the room felt a chill run down their backs as Yoshioka chuckled again. They slowly turned towards her to find an amused smile on her face. "It's possible, I suppose, but I'd hardly consider the higher floors to be the part with substance. These three groups have made good on time, but their momentum is about to face a sharp decline."
Guiscard gulped. For as long as he's known her, Blanche has had a rather unique sense of humor that most normal people would be appropriately unsettled by, which coupled rather poorly with the strict work ethic that she even enforced on her students. Half professor, half Atlesian drill sergeant. Honestly, Blanche was the one who really put in the time to run the day-to-day operations at Haven.
Just as he thought that, a certain absence in the room finally became apparent to him.
"Hey...where's the Headmaster?"
Yoshioka and Kaneko both groaned at the question. "He said he was tired and left about an hour ago, after barely doing any work at all." The Headmistress said, visibly annoyed. "That man became so drained from speaking in front of the new students, he can't even be bothered to follow their progress…"
"...How'd a guy like that even become Headmaster?"
"It's beyond me, Guiscard. It truly is."
Just then, a ping from Yoshioka's scroll caught her attention. Seeing a spark of something he couldn't quite place flash in her eyes, Guiscard looked over her shoulder at her screen. "Something interesting?"
Upon seeing what exactly she was looking at, the combat instructor felt a dread set deep in his gut, only reinforced by the realization as to what the headmistress was feeling:
Blanche Yoshioka was utterly displeased, and her reaction to things that displeased her was quite drastic.
If anyone had told me before all this that I'd be fighting Alpha Grimm before I'd even had a single class at Combat School, I'd probably have laughed and told my parents to stop trying to ice me out, I'd made my decision, I'd gotten accepted into Haven, I was going.
Then, who would've guessed? I'm fighting an Alpha Beowolf. During initiation, which last I checked, is before I've had a single class.
But then again, maybe I'm overreacting a little bit? I have a bit of a bad habit of being caught up in everything everyone else is feeling, so I'm probably only freaking out because Agni wouldn't stop screaming the second it dropped in from the ceiling. Actually, the fight's going pretty smoothly, isn't it? Eth is certainly doing a good job at keeping the thing's attention while Carmine hits it when it leaves itself open, meanwhile I'm alternating between taking shots at the legs to slow it down and picking off any straggler Beo's that wander in from time to time. Even Agni, even though he won't stop shouting, is managing to kind of pull his weight by picking off the stragglers I miss. Isn't this the way video game encounters are set up? Are we supposed to be playing a game?
Before I have any time to think on that anymore, the Alpha Beo drops and struggles to get up for a bit before Carmine takes his sword and slices down right on the thing's jugular...or, whatever a Grimm has instead of a jugular. As the Alpha's corpse disintegrates, the rich kid looks back to the rest of us and scans each of us over one by one. Eventually, his eyes set on Agni again, and Carmine points at him.
"You," he begins, "Are far too noisy. Did you ever stop to consider what manner of things you could attract to us due to your incessant wailing?"
"Waitwaitwait, there's no way you're blaming me for all the other little Grimm! The room's gotta be designed like that, right?!" Now Agni was getting really worked up, and he looked between me and Eth for help. "C'mon, back me up here guys, that was definitely not on me!"
"Sure, yeah, I can believe that." I said. It was annoying, and he set me way on edge for no reason, but the extra Grimm definitely weren't because of him. "Though I gotta say, man, you got some pipes on you! Is one of your girl-bagging strategies gonna be serenading them with your lovely soprano notes?"
Agni, poor guy, looked at me like he couldn't believe what I was saying, blushing and sputtering in embarrassment. Eth actually laughed pretty loud, probably the loudest I've ever heard him till now, and even Carmine let a smile through, even if he tried to hide it with his hand.
"...Right. At any rate, I'm willing to overlook your blunder just this once." The rich boy said after he got his composure back. "Next time, though, at least try and contribute more to the fight if you're going to make yourself into a sound signal for everything that could kill us from ten miles out." Agni pulled himself together and looked a bit upset at Carmine. "I totally did fight though! I helped with the little ones, at least!" And again, he turned back to me for help.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, totally not wanting to have to deal with this before the exam is even over. "Well…I appreciated your help, don't get me wrong, since I missed some of the little ones here and there. Still, it could've gone better for the rest of us if you tried hitting the big guy, even just a little." I don't wanna go too hard on the guy since he's obviously not experienced in combat, but the guy's definitely gotta learn to take an L when he needs to. "Listen man, we're not holding your lack of experience against you or anything, but 12 ain't exactly a good place to start at this kind of academy. You're gonna get a lot of criticism 'cause of your position, so maybe...learn to learn from it?"
I petered off at the end of my little spiel in an uncertain way, and Agni looked at me kind of strangely. "Have you…I mean, are you used to giving critique like this?"
"It doesn't matter." Carmine cut in, thankfully. "The way is open. We should keep moving."
Suddenly, a loud rumble came from above us and we all stopped. As the rumbling passed, everyone looked between each other in confusion. "W-what was that? Are we in danger?!" Eth started freaking out, but Carmine replied, "Doubtful. If it ends up being our problem, then we'll deal with it. For now, we move on. " And he kept walking towards the exit. "At any rate, we're almost to the bottom. Come along." Agni and Eth looked back to the ceiling before following after him, but I took a second longer.
After all, I hadn't seen Judas since the rooftop, and that guy seems to be a magnet for explosive characters. What if he was…?
"Reading! C'mon, let's go, Carmine isn't gonna stop for you!" Eth called out to me. "Ah, coming!" I said, and caught up with the rest of my group.
As I lie on my back, trying to catch my breath after having it all knocked out of me, I find myself cursing Shuichi's emotional volitilaty once again, after so many times in the last hour that I've actually lost count.
To recap: after we exited the elevator, we came into a room where the layout told us in no uncertain way that we had to solve a puzzle. The mechanisms were plenty easy to point out, admittedly, but so was the fact that the puzzle required all of us to cooperate in order to pass. An hour in, we'd figured out how the pattern we were supposed to follow was supposed to start, but how we were to proceed from there was evading us.
The fact that we were having trouble was only made worse by Shuichi losing his temper, so much that it felt like he came dangerously close blowing up every five minutes. Actually, five minutes is probably an overestimation.
Another two hours passed and we hadn't made much more progress. An hour after that, we were still at a standstill.
Then, Shuichi's last nerve snapped, and now there's a considerably large hole in the wall where an elevator door used to be that's slowly coming into focus as I stare at it from an upside-down angle. Kazuki poked her head through the hole just as another loud boom sounded, likely Shuichi breaking another wall. The tailed girl made a frustrated sound, and jumped down the elevator shaft after him...hold on, that can't be safe, right?!
"Hey, Judy, you good?" I lift my head a bit to look at Flynt, a concerned look on his face as he looks me up and down. "Ye-*cough*-yeah, I think I'm good." I respond while standing up with Flynt's help. "Well, that's a miracle. Being in the line of fire like you were, I'm more surprised that maniac didn't take an ear off or something."
I rubbed at my left ear, which was still ringing from the blast that went off, quite literally, right next to it. "Definitely feels like he did…" I trailed off as I looked to the elevator shaft, then back to Flynt while I pointed to it. "Is it...safe to go down there?" Flynt looked where I was pointing and stood silent for a bit. "Should be? At least, it's probably less dangerous to us than it is to someone without Aura, I think." Hearing that, I walked over to the broken wall and looked down. There was, fortunately, a wire that could be used to slide down, and I could clearly see the second hole I heard get made about three or four floors down, with murmurs that sounded like frustrated arguing from Shuichi and Kazuki coming through.
It's not that I want to get in the middle of their disagreement...no, that's a lie. I do, actually. I have more than a few words for that headphone-wearing prick.
"Perfect." I said before jumping down the shaft. Landing on the next open floor proved to be pretty easy, which worked out well enough for me, since it left me with more energy to unload on the asshole that almost blew my ear out.
The room was completely empty when I dropped in, likely since no one was actually supposed to be here at the moment. About fifteen feet from the entrance, I could see Shuichi and Kazuki staring each other down, both more than upset with each other. Normally, I would opt to stay out of other people's business, but between yesterday and today, I've spent too much time keeping my cool to care anymore.
"Well, nice to see everyone's still in one piece!" I shout sarcastically. "You know, dickhead, if you were trying to take a limb off anyone, you certainly weren't trying hard enough! Would you like for me to paint a target on myself next time?!"
Shuichi didn't respond well to that, though I wasn't exactly expecting him to. "Oh, shut the hell up! You've got your damn arms-as a matter of fact, you're still alive! You've got nothing to be bitching about-"
"I've got plenty to be bitching about, actually!" Honestly, I don't even remember the last time I let myself get this angry. "It's one thing that you keep acting impulsively without thinking about what might happen to the people around you, but you also have the temperament of a godsdamned child! We were doing just fine working through the puzzle before you lost your cool!"
"You call that fine?! We'd be lucky if we got out of that room with two minutes to spare at the rate we were going!" Shuichi moved inches from my face at that point. "If that's your idea of 'fine', your sense of time is about as fucked up as the wolf bitch's self-protection instincts!"
"Wha-why the hell are you making me part of this?!" Kazuki shouted, exasperated. After that, I heard Flynt land at the entrance and start walking towards us. "Okay, okay, it's fine guys, let's just get through the rest of this test-"
Following my better judgment for the first time in the past few days, I pointedly ignored him in favor of arguing with Shuichi. "At least anything I have wrong with me is nowhere near as screwed up as your communication skills! You'd forgive me if I mistake you for an impudent toddler stuck in a teenager's body, what with the way you like to throw such explosive tantrums all the time!"
Shuichi's eyes narrowed into angry slits as he grabbed me by the shirt. "Alright, dirtbag, you've proven you got a big mouth. If you're gonna talk big, how about you try putting me in my place? Huh?!"
Honestly, that's the best idea he's had all day. I grabbed one of Cuervo's hilts, ready to draw.
"Don't mind if I do."
Before either of us had any time to make a move, a Grimm far, far bigger than I'd ever seen before appeared inches from both mine and Shuichi's faces. We stood in shock at the sight of it before being thrown back with violent force.
Guiscard and Kaneko stood behind the couch where Yoshioka was seated, watching as Judas and Shuichi's group forced their way out of a room without solving the puzzle, jumped down the elevator shaft (extremely unsafe!), and began bickering in the next empty room. After watching for a moment, Guiscard looked to Kaneko, who continued watching while tapping his left temple, either still wrapped up in the novelty (or, perhaps the absurdity) of it all, or possibly coming up with a suitable punishment for the four when all was said and done.
The fact that punishment didn't even cross his mind until now made him wonder if he was a bad teacher.
"...Well, there's no getting around it. I would say this counts as cheating." Kaneko eventually said. "These four are facing a strict punishment, indeed…" These words shook Guiscard out of his head and, going against everything he told himself made a firm and fair authority figure, rushed to the kids' defense. "Hold on a sec! It didn't look like they all went ahead like that just to finish the test faster! If anything, it looked like Shuichi lost his temper and now he and Judas are fighting over it. Can you really say all four of them are cheating?" Kaneko thought about that for a moment. "I agree with that assessment, of course, yet even before the acceptance ceremony, those four are now a single unit. Even if it's just one student's actions, they reflect on all of four of them equally.." The elderly professor looked Guiscard in the eye. "Furthermore, even if their intention was not to cheat, they still have gained an advantage due to young Noriker's actions. I cannot, in good conscience, let them go unpunished."
Well, that was it, wasn't it? This group showed some promise, too. Guiscard genuinely believed, in some deep part of himself, that Judas and Shuichi could've gone far. Still, Kaneko seemed set on his course, and all the guidance counselor could do was sigh in resignation-
"I believe I can."
The other two professors, thrown completely off their trains of thought, slowly looked to Yoshioka with confusion and trepidation. "You…aren't upset?" Guiscard opened, doing his best to tread lightly. "Oh, don't be mistaken." Yoshioka didn't once lift her head to look at either of them, and from where Guiscard and Kaneko stood they couldn't see her face properly. Still without tearing her sight from her scroll, the headmistress stood.
"The tower is an architectural marvel, you know. A man-made structure that Grimm choose to inhabit. Man's greatest enemy, they who cease to live as soon as they've been trapped, has been lured to a place where we may use them to test the mettle of the young minds who would enter these halls and hone their craft. That fact alone makes it such an extraordinary construct, and yet, it is only one single detail out of many that make the tower what it is."
Yoshioka finally let her scroll drop. "I dare not bore you with all the details. After all, those children aren't going to stay in one place forever. My point is…this tower is a marvel of man's ingenuity, and Noriker has torn down its walls with force." She didn't turn to face her colleagues, and they didn't see the expression on her face: one of rage mixed with excitement.
"Not once, but twice. A fact which fills me with fury and elation all at once."
"Ah." Kaneko eventually got out. He turned to Guiscard and quietly supplied, "I suppose it's no secret that the tower is a bit of a pet project for the headmistress, yet I never expected her to react quite so…joyously, that a student would be able to destroy parts of it."
"Uh-huh…" Guiscard replied. He didn't really get it, but he there were a lot of things he didn't get about Blanche, even after almost ten years of knowing her. That didn't make the situation any less weird for him, though. "So…does that mean…you're not going to punish them?"
Yoshioka did turn to face him at that question, having retained an even expression. "Three out of four, at least, show a considerable amount of promise. I would not let them go so easily, of course…"
"If my feelings about the tower were irrelevant."
Oh, that doesn't sound good. Guiscard gulped. "H-Headmistress, what exactly are you planning?" Kaneko asked.
Yoshioka looked back down to her scroll and tapped a few buttons. "I'm giving them the challenge they really want. The Alpha Ursa that crawled in a few days ago has been itching for some confrontation, anyways. Two birds with one stone, I'd say." Guiscard paled at the headmistress' words. "Alpha?! Doesn't that seem a bit overkill?!"
"Perhaps, but the fast track will inevitably lead those who take it to situations they aren't prepared for." Yoshioka grinned as she set up an audio feed to the room she was monitoring.
"Now, hush, you two. These four need to know their situation."
When I came to, I was lying on the floor next to the wall. I couldn't have been out for long, since the massive Grimm still stood where Shuichi and I just were, staring down an equally immoblie Flynt, hand on his hammer, poised to strike, and remarkably unsurprised by the whole situation. As my sight came back into focus while looking at him, the faunus boy glanced at me. "Nice to see your head's still on straight, Judy. Now c'mon, we've got a rather big skull to crack." If it weren't for the fact we were practically in a life-or-death situation, I would've complained about that damn nickname again, but due to the matter at hand I ignored it. Getting up, I scanned the room for Shuichi and Kazuki, but I couldn't see either of them. Where are they? Damn it, I hope they aren't hurt too bad-wait, why am I worrying about Noriker of all people-
"U-Um…Judas, right…?"
A voice to my right caught my attention, and I turned to face Kazuki. Oh, we were right next to each other the entire time? "There you are, Kazuki! You aren't hurt, are you? You don't look so well." It's true, she looks awfully rigid. She must be hurt somewhere-
"I-I'm fine…just, can you…please move your hand…?"
My hand?
I looked down between us, and lo and behold, my right hand…was currently on her tail. And I was conscious, at that moment, of how I was currently putting most of my weight on my right hand.
Oh.
I removed my hand as quickly as I could. "I'm really sorry!"
"Hey, hands to yourself over there!" Flynt shouts at me, more aggressively than he usually speaks. "Quit screwing around and help me out over-"
Flynt was cut off by the sound of an engine revving up, and Shuichi launched himself at the Grimm from the other side of the room and kicked it in its shoulder. The beast staggered from the impact, but recovered quick enough to swipe at Shuichi, who only barely dodged it. Seeing the action had started again, I pulled myself out of my stupor and went to join the fray. Moving towards the Grimm, which I identified as a particularly large Ursa, I unsheathed both of Cuervo's blades and turned one to gun form. I aimed and fired at the Ursa's knees, hoping to impede its movement, but I found I only succeeded in gaining its ire when it moved in my direction and swiped at me. I managed to jump above the sweeping paw and sliced at the nape of its neck, though I didn't manage to cut very deep.
I was planning on using the beast's back to jump back to a safe distance, but when I pushed off, I collided with something and went tumbling down, my orientation but a distant memory. When I got up to look at what I hit, who else would I see but Shuichi Noriker?
"Do you mind?! I was trying to hit the damn thing!" Shuichi shouted at me. "Do you mind?! I was trying to get a good distance from it when you-" My sentence was cut off by the Ursa's roar, which let me know it was going to attack again. I made to dodge the downward swipe, but Shuichi and I were tangled in such a way that my movement was impeded. It turned out not to matter so much, since the monster's claws made contact with a translucent barrier instead of me or my partner.
"Do either of you mind?! Less bickering, more fighting!" Flynt shouted at us. While Shuichi and I untangled ourselves from each other, Flynt struck the beast in the side with his hammer, drawing its attention. "Kazu, can I get some help over here?!" He shouted back to his partner, who stood and loaded her wrist crossbow. "I'm on it…!" she replied, taking aim and firing a bolt into the monster's spine. The electricity that coursed through the beast on impact told me the bolt was dust-infused, and though we couldn't tell for how long, the beast seemed to be immobilized.
Seeing an opportunity to end this, I positioned my blade to strike at its neck and charged forward-
Only to collide with Shuichi again as we both closed in on it.
The Ursa, while it didn't move its legs, managed to control its arm for long enough to almost swipe and sufficiently maim, if not kill, both of us with its claws. Seeing that we left ourselves open to a potentially fatal attack, I grabbed Shuichi by the back of his shirt and activated my Semblance, the boost to my reflexes granting me enough time to get both of us to safety before the attack could land.
As I stopped and my Semblance wore off, I felt a wave of fatigue hit me and my head swam for a moment. Damn it, that's the second time I've used it today, and I probably didn't have as much aura as I usually do after a second use because of the Ursa throwing me back earlier. I definitely can't use my Semblance again if I'm going to get out of here on my own two feet, but with the situation as it is, can I really get away with that?
"Judy! Shuichi! Are you guys okay?" Flynt asked as he and Kazuki came up to us. I managed to stand up as I felt my lightheadedness subside, and gave them a thumbs up. "I'm okay, for the moment. Though, I don't think I can use my Semblance again, so I'll have to take care not to put myself in any compromising positions."
Flynt went to respond before Shuichi cut him off, "Well, you can stay out of 'compromising positions' by staying the hell out of my way! I don't need you stumbling over me and screwing up my flow any more than you already have!"...Gods above, he's getting on my nerves again, at the worst possible time! I was about to fire back at him, but Kazuki actually beat me to the punch. "Shut up already, Shuichi! Now is not the time for you to be going all 'lone wolf' on us!"
Shuichi looked like he was about to argue back, but he stopped when the sound of a speaker crackling to life took over the room.
"Blanc. Noriker. Munsell. Arany. I'm sure the four of you expected some kind of punishment for destroying school property and essentially cheating on an exam."
That voice-the headmistress? Did she let this thing loose on us?
Wait, did she say cheating on an exam?!
"Perhaps you've already deduced this, but that Grimm you're facing is an Alpha Ursa. Usually the most dangerous Grimm we put first-years against are Alpha Beowolves, but as long as we can lure them here, these deadlier specimens can prove useful for things from time to time. Such as punishing unruly cheaters."
"Knock it off with the cheating thing, already…" Flynt said dejectedly. "We didn't all decide together to bust down the wall like that, okay? Maybe it would take us a long time to finish the puzzle, but that's what we were trying to-"
"The actions of one reflect on the group. Your pleas fall on deaf ears, Blanc." The headmistress' statement left no room for argument, and Flynt only glared at the ceiling instead of arguing further. After a moment, Yoshioka continued, "Typically, Haven Academy's initiation administrators such as myself have zero tolerance for the actions your group has taken. However, because of your collective score, and because I recognize your potential, I present to you this Ursa as a compromise."
Wait, what? "What do you mean, 'compromise'? This is our punishment?" I asked. "Just so," the headmistress replied. "This test, more difficult than we would ever think to put initiates through, is both your punishment and your chance to redeem yourselves. Defeat this Alpha, and you will all instantly pass initiation. Fail, and you will all be expelled."
I can barely wrap my head around what I'm hearing. Is she really offering us an instant pass, just for beating this thing? Sure, it sounds easy, but I can't get my mind off the way Shuichi and I just keep getting in each other's way. If we could only work together, the four of us could probably make short work of this thing, but the whole cooperation thing seems to be the real challenge of this whole ordeal. Are we really up to this?
As my mind raced, Kazuki raised a question to the headmistress. "Professor Yoshioka…we are fighting a real Grimm, one that you said yourself is usually too dangerous for initiates. What…I mean, if we fail…the staff will stop the Ursa from hurting us too bad, right…?"
Yoshioka didn't respond immediately, but the slight smile in her voice when she did made my stomach drop.
"You four cheated your way into a room you weren't supposed to be in. Myself and the rest of the staff, of course, cannot guarantee the safety of students who would cut corners in a Grimm-infested structure like the tower. In other words, you brought the danger on yourselves, and it is not my responsibility to make sure four rule-breakers escape the consequences of their actions in one piece."
"...But enough of this. Overcome this challenge, or begone."
Update more than a year after the last chapter lesgoooooo
Honestly, the thing that kept this chapter in the oven for so long was that I had pretty much convinced myself that I had to adhere to my own rules and create a puzzle that four people needed to work together to solve, like an escape room. Whenever I go back and seriously re-work and re-write these early chapters, I do want to actually build a puzzle and detail the four protagonists piecing the solution together bit by bit...before Shuichi just breaks the wall down anyways.
Anyways, working a full-time job and general fatigue aside, it's my hope that starting with the next chapter, I can get a little more wind in my sails and write more consistently. Including the initiation exam in the story is more of a formality than it is something I really wanted to do, so wrapping it up with a big fight and heading into the things I'm really excited to write will hopefully make for swifter progress.
But enough of that. If you've taken the time to read this, please let me know what you think. I know I could stand to improve as a writer, so any insight you all can give would be valuable, so long as it's not rude just for the sake of it.
I hope to see you next time!
