Hello everyone and all, Melody here with another chapter. Glad to see people enjoyed the previous chapter. This one won't include much Six or Leon really so I hope that doesn't upset people. Also, sorry about this being later than I promised but I post this it'll have been a year since my great granddad died and it's getting to me once more. Anyway let's get to the chapter.
Sincerely, Melody
Normal P.O.V.
The first people to wake up the day of the initiation were Mercury and Sally. Sally always woke up early in the morning and she'd wake up Mercury. It usually resulted in him yelling at her and trying to kick her for dragging him by his leg. Quickly running to the cafeteria, the pair ate then went to the bathrooms to get ready. Once they finished, they met up in the locker room and got their weapons out.
Sally smiled as she looked down at her weapon. As she trained in Beacon with Mercury, she learned how to modify and create weapons. Her weapon was one of Leon's old laser rifles. She modified it to use a combination of ice dust and energy cells to fire blue lasers that had multiple settings. Two of the settings could either freeze things with ice dust or burn them with lasers. She dubbed it her Cozmo Cannon. The only problem with it though was the fact that it didn't have a melee weapon form; For that she had Dogmeat, Zeus, and Jupiter.
Speaking of her pups, she went and collected them from her usual room. It was a bit larger than the normal dorm rooms and had a small fenced-in backyard specifically for the pups. When she and Mercury arrived, the trio of canines went crazy and started to run over to the entrance to the fence. Opening it up, Dogmeat and Jupiter tackled Sally while Zeus ran over to Mercury.
"Oh who're my good babies?" Sally cooed as she leaned up and scratched behind their ears. The two dogs simply barked and licked her face.
Mercury just leaned a bit and scratched Zeus' ears. "Good boy." He simply said then started to walk to the cliffs where the initiation will start. Zeus followed at his heels and barked happily.
Once Sally noticed him walking off, she quickly got up and chased after him with her pups following behind. Eventually, the rest of the others woke up and went about their morning. When Emerald woke up she saw Fianna already awake and struggling to wake up Lothur. She simply giggled a bit and went to get ready. As she walked around she noticed a guy as tall as Lothur with black scales on the back of her arms. Looking at him, she felt something tug at her memory. Walking over to the boy, she smiled.
"Hey there." She greeted casually with a wave that got his attention.
He looked over and offered a smile. "Hi. Do I know you?" He asked as he put his hands into his pockets.
Emerald shook her head. "No, but I think you might know my older brother. A few years ago he was on a mission on an island and he said he found a boy that looks kind of like you. Is your name Drakon Marvos?"
Drakon was taken back a bit but nodded. "Yeah, that would be me. Your brother was that guy that shot the pale dude in the chest?"
"Yep. Glad to see you're doing well." She said as her smile grew.
"Yeah, I'm doing a lot better than I was back then. Next time you see your brother tell him I said thanks." He told her then started to walk off.
"Will do!" She replied then started to make her way to the cafeteria for breakfast.
When she entered the cafeteria she saw some guy with rusty red hair wearing shiny armour with a white coat underneath. That wasn't a strange thing of course, oh no, it was the massive stack of pancakes he had. Emerald could feel her eyes practically bulging out of her skull. Shaking her head, she just went into the line and got her food. As she walked down the line she was confused once more as she saw Leon through the kitchen doors; Cooking while wearing a frilly pink apron and helping out the cooks.
She just got her food and tried to ignore that sight. Looking around there weren't many people in the cafeteria but some were already in friend groups. Deciding she might as well make friends she went over to the table with a ginger girl and her friend. Said girl was talking animatedly about sloths or something like that while the boy just listened.
When she approached the table, the boy looked up to her. "Is it alright if I sit here with you two?" She asked which only got a silent nod in response. "Thanks."
"Hey there! Question, do you know what sounds a sloth makes?" The ginger asked as she looked up at Emerald.
Emerald just raised an eyebrow. "Um, I got no idea. My name's Emerald though." She awkwardly introduced herself before starting to eat.
"Nice to meet ya Emerald, I'm Nora." Nora happily introduced herself before diving into her pancakes.
"My name is Ren, it's nice to meet you too." Ren introduced himself before going quiet again.
The conversation stopped after their greetings. Well, for Emerald anyway, Nora continued to babble about some dream she had. Emerald would've talked with them but she couldn't quite find a way to get into the conversation. It just seemed weird to her. Eventually, the pair finished eating and left with a goodbye, leaving Emerald there. Lothur and Fianna eventually arrived in the cafeteria and got their own food and sat with her. Once they were there she felt relaxed and they talked for a bit before they had to get ready.
Eventually, everyone was either getting ready or making their way to the initiation start point. Emerald, Fianna, and Lothur got ready for the initiation and overheard Weiss talking to Pyhrra and Jaune. Lothur laughed his ass off at the blonde's flirting attempt. As they got ready, Lothur dug into his weapon case and pulled out two items. One was a rather large double-barreled, over-under, silver hand cannon with a wolf engraving along the barrels. The other weapon was an oversized kriegsmesser with a dust slot in the handle. Fianna simply took out a seven-foot-long spear with a silvery spearhead.
Looking around the lockers, Emerald noticed everyone had interesting weapons. While she wasn't obsessive, she did have a fondness for weapon design because of Six showing her engineering. Across the room, she saw Drakon take a broadaxe out of a case. It had two small exhaust vents facing towards the blade edge and what looked like a small engine. Beside him was a tall dark-haired girl who just took out twin handguns and a set of knives and slipped them into holsters on her belt.
It took a while but eventually, the group made their way to the starting point. Once everyone arrived, Ozpin started to explain the initiation. Everyone looked excited except for Jaune who was worried. Lothur rested his blade on his shoulder, Fianna had her spear at the ready, Emerald had two of her revolvers ready, and everyone else got ready in their own ways. After about a minute, the first person was launched off. There was about a fifteen-second delay between every person and eventually Emerald was in the air.
As she soared through the sky, she deployed the blades on her revolvers. As she neared the forest below she caught herself on one of the branches. She spun around on it then jumped to the ground in a small clearing. Looking up she watched to see who was going in a direction near her. The figure nearing her though, caused her to look away while covering her eyes; Said figure was shining brightly, it was even noticeable in the daylight.
The person quickly disappeared into the thicket. Looking back she saw Fianna and Lothur soar a bit farther than she did. Turning around, she started to run through the forest to find one of them.
Mercury was launched into the air with Sally following shortly behind him. The sound of an anomalous whoosh drew his attention to his left and he saw Sally right beside him. Smirking, she extended her hand to him which he took. Once their hands were clasped together, Sally looked down towards the ground and aimed her left hand. Firing it like a gun, a small tear opened in front of them and a second later they were on the ground.
Looking around Mercury noticed they were in the middle of nowhere. "Damn, why couldn't you have put us closer to the relics?" He complained lightly as he started to walk towards said relics.
"I wasn't able to see them, how would I place us near them when I can't see'em? It really sucks though that Ozpin said I could bring the dogs with me." She replied with a frown. "Well at least you weren't too far from me, you can make sure nothing gets too close."
"True, I coulda been stuck with some random asshole that I don't care about." He noted with a shrug. "Come on, if you lag behind I'll leave ya."
"Alrighty." She replied as she caught up with him and got her Cozmo Cannon at the ready.
Above them in the sky the pair could hear cackling. When they looked up they saw a dark shape rapidly flinging past them through the sky. Shrugging, the pair just continued walking along. Occasionally a Grimm would near them but it was quickly decimated. After around a half hour they arrived at the relics' area to discover they were the first to arrive. Deciding to wait to see who else would arrive, they sat down against a crumbled wall.
Over in a different part of the Emerald Forest, Emerald walked upon the boy with rusty hair from earlier. He was just finishing cutting through a group of Beowolves with his greatsword when he looked over towards her. He offered a polite smile before walking over.
"Hello there." He greeted soft-spoken while sheathing his blade on his left hip. "I presume introductions are in order then, my name is Soleil Rouge, at your service. Charmed to meet you, Miss?"
"The name's Emerald Sustrai. Pleased to meet ya." She replied and extended her hand which he shook. "Guess we're partners now. Let's try to get along and do some good work." When she pulled her hand away she noticed how his eyes weren't the same colour; One was a rusty red and the other was a sunny orange.
He simply nodded then the pair started to walk through the forest. While he was in the air, Soleil was able to see where the ruins were so he led the way. As they walked Emerald noticed a barrel going up the length of the blade and a trigger at the handle. It seemed interesting to her but she chose not to comment on it now. Turning a corner and around a tree, the pair saw a large group of Ursa; a dozen in total. Slowly the pair came to a stop and the Grimm turned to them and let out a tremendous roar; Then they charged.
With a literal flash, Soleil drew his blade and slashed the first one in half. Wrapped around his blade was a silvery-white light that seemed to disintegrate the Ursa shortly after. He dashed into the frey shortly after. Emerald just took out her revolvers and started to fire on the group, careful to avoid aiming near Soleil. The pair worked decently together but it was pretty sloppy; Emerald was used to not being so close to Grimm when she fought while Soleil's fighting reminded her of Lothur's in a way. The speed and footwork to be precise but due to the light shrouding Soleil's blade it was somehow graceful while Lothur's was just downright vicious. If she was lucky enough, they'd all be on a team together and the duo would befriend each other.
The entire fight altogether only took about four minutes but it left Emerald a bit winded, bent over with her hands on her knees, and breathing heavily. She just wasn't used to having to dodge so much, normally Fianna and Lothur were there to keep the attention off of her. Flicking his blade, the light dispersed from Soleil's blade and he sheathed it once more. Reaching to his hip he pulled off a canteen and offered it to her which she thankfully took. After taking a long swig, she screwed the cap back on and handed it back to him.
He just offered a small smile then the pair continued on their way. After another half hour of walking, they finally arrived at the ruins. Stepping out of the forest they saw everyone else there, ranging from Ruby to Drakon. When Lothur and Fianna saw them they walked over and held up the black king pieces. Tossing one over, Emerald caught it and looked down at it.
"You were only supposed to grab one of them." She commented and looked up at Lothur with a smirk.
"Well let's consider the following, a team has four in it, your partner is the first person you lock eyes with meaning you're now a duo, why only have two of each piece other than to pair up the people with each piece?" He explained as he smirked back only to be hit in the back of the head with a small rock and the shout of the name Mercury.
"He's lying to try to make himself sound smart. I just told them what Ozpin had planned since they were the first people here after us." He explained as he got up to his feet and walked over. "Well Sally did at least, that's too long of an explanation in my opinion."
Lothur looked back and glared at the cyborg boy who just smirked. "I mean, Flynt used to throw rocks at the back of your head to get your attention when we were training. How's Neon doing by the way?" Fianna speaks up which draws his attention.
"She's doin' alright, nervous about it all but generally alright." He replies as he rubs the back of his head.
As they were talking their attention was drawn away from their conversation to an argument going on between Weiss and Ruby. The group of six just watched the small amount of chaos unfold. They watched until they heard the Nevermore circle back and saw Ruby running to push Weiss out of the way of the attack. In an instant, a black blur appeared in front of them all and pulled both away while dodging the feathers impaling the earth. Everyone gasped in surprise at what could've been the near-death of two potential classmates. Looking up at their savior, they saw a pair of grey snake-like eyes with heavy bags staring at them with an accompanying grin.
Letting go, Mindy chuckled, "You two should be careful, don't wanna get any injuries on your pretty faces." She chuckled some more before noticing Weiss' scar. "Or it can work in some cases I guess."
The pair pushed her away, a slight blush of embarrassment on Ruby's face and a scowl and glare on Weiss'. Weiss was about to give the serpentine Faunus a piece of her mind until they noticed the others running past them.
"Run you fools! Run!" Sally screamed as she pointed behind them at the Deathstalker currently charging them with the Nevermore high above.
Then, the trio started to run like bats outta hell. Far ahead of them they could see Blake and Drakon currently sprinting the fastest; Surprising considering Drakon was wearing armour. That lasted a little under a moment until Ruby sped up to them. Eventually, they all arrived at the ruined bridge and as luck would have it, there were now also a couple of groups of Ursa and Beowolves chasing them.
For some reason, Sally felt like Leon told her a story about something just like this happening to him.
The groups diverged at that point to have the Grimm go against different teams. Divide and conquer, right? Ruby and her future teammates went against the Nevermore while Jaune and his future teammates went against the Deathstalker; Emerald and Mercury's future teammates went against the smaller Grimm.
Emerald stood in the center of a triangle with Fianna, Lothur, and Soleil at her side. Around them were the horde of Beowolves rearing for their attack. The first to jump at them had its head blown off by Lothur's Gackernder Teufel, his hand cannon. Then the rest charged. Light wreathed itself around Soleil as he started to hack and slash. Fianna simply swung her spear and it transformed into a whip and she slapped away any that got too close. Emerald just shot between her friends, occasionally reloading and letting the shell casings fall to the ground. Letting the enemy rush towards seemed like the best strategy for them since they didn't completely know Soleil's fighting style.
While they had some kind of synergy, Mercury, Sally, Drakon, and Mindy didn't; Well not quite, Sally and Mercury did and Drakon and Mindy did too but their styles didn't completely mesh. Drakon mostly cleaved his way through the Ursa while Mindy dodged and usually only had to fire one perfect kill shot in each. Sally and Mercury, on the other hand, were working swimmingly. Sally would work as bait then use her Semblance to swap spaces with Mercury so he could beat the creatures to death. The problem was whenever the two pairs crossed paths it would usually result in one person having to jump out of the way of a kick or an ax swing or bullets or claw swipes.
A wide swing caused by Drakon made Sally duck to miss being decapitated. Looking up at him she gave him a stern glare while he sheepishly apologized before turning back to the frey. Seeing the cliffside over the mass of bodies Sally fired off two portals; One at the top of the cliffside and the other at her feet. Dropping through she flipped up onto the ledge. Raising her rifle it was quickly lowered once she noticed Ruby dragging the Nevermore up by the throat with her scythe. A second later, the beast was decapitated and rose petals flew around in the air.
Shaking her head, Sally looked down to the dwindling hordes of Beowolves and Ursa. Flicking a couple of switches and a turn of a dial caused a smile to form on her face. Aiming her left hand and firing off a few portals the others appeared behind Sally, all falling on their asses. A series of "What the hells?" and ouch were heard and a moment later Sally pulled the trigger.
A large mass of energy formed; Flames and icy cold air somehow mixing and melding. With a second pull of the trigger, she fired off the massive orb into the crowd. Before it reached she whipped her right hand around and fired off another orb. This tiny orb was a spiraling void that pulled the air around it as it traveled to the Grimm. Once it was near it pulled them all together and when the shot from her rifle hit, they were all destroyed rather quickly.
Slowly standing up to her full height Sally turned to see the others with their jaws dropped. "What?" She asked while panting heavily.
In an instant she was nearly tackled off the cliff when Ruby ran over. "Where did you get your rifle?!" She practically squealed with hearts in her eyes.
A few hours later the new students of Beacon stood in the auditorium waiting to be assigned to teams. Emerald had been assigned earlier in the ceremony to Team FLER which consisted of herself, Fianna, Lothur, and Soleil. Ruby had just been assigned her team and the last ones to step up were Sally, Drakon, Mercury, and Mindy.
"And finally, Team SDMT led by Sally Skyfire. I wish you all luck during your time at Beacon." Ozpin announced lastly, his tone still even but the look in his eyes revealed he was rather bored.
Applause filled the auditorium for the final time that evening and people slowly started to trickle out and leave. Shortly after she was announced as a team leader, Sally had rushed out of the building to find Leon as the rest of the students started to make their ways to the dormitories. Most of the students were excited for the year but some were worried of course.
Mindy slowly followed behind her teammates as a large grin formed on her face. "This is going to be an interesting year." She muttered to herself under her breath.
"Hurry up Mindy! Mercury is gonna show us to our dorm!" Drakon yelled to her as he followed the silvered teen. She just nodded and caught up.
And that's the chapter. Sorry if it ain't the best but like I said, one year anniversary of my great grandfather dying so it's fucking with my head a bit. Anyway, let's get to the reviews.
ILikeHotDogs: Glad you liked it, hope this chapter is decent. Send me a message next time you live stream by the way, it was fairly entertaining watching ya play Dark Souls 2.
Rio Skyron: Yes, yes they are and I already love how I'm gonna have them play out in the story.
Now let's get onto the Semblances introduced.
Sally Skyfire: Spatial Manipulation: This allows Sally to manipulate space in two limited but powerful ways. The first is to cause distortions that allow her to practically teleport by swapping the space between two or more locations. The second aspect is her causing small near singularities that causes gravity to pull things in, the majour downside is that it exhausts her relatively quickly and drains her Aura just as fast.; She can typically only use this once before being taken out of commission. The portals are only limited by her line of sight while the singularities are limited to a couple hundred feet.
Soleil Rouge: Sunlight: This allows Soleil to absorb ambient light and use it as a powerful weapon. He's able to store it up but during the night he quickly drains of any stored up light. During the day he has no limit other than shadowy areas and his Aura levels.
Anyway, as I said I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. The next one should be out soon but that depends on my work schedule. I don't really know when I have days off or if I'm getting off early on some days. Please leave a review because I'm always curious to see what y'all think. Have a good evening, morning, afternoon and etc.