Glynda Goodwitch stood on the cliff overlooking the forest below, standing side by side with the academy's illustrious headmaster. The school's Initiation was almost always a tumultuous time for her. From the ever increasing anxiety which came from seeing the children who would eventually become her students, to the annoyance due to the very man standing right beside her. Who, no matter how many Initiations he had planned or witnessed, always seemed to care very little for the goings on of the event and was more focused on watching those who were failing in beyond spectacular ways.
According to him, it made for truly amusing entertainment.
"Glynda, it looks like a Mister Von Braun has impaled himself on a tree after evading Professor Peach," Ozpin remarked lightly, taking a long drink from his coffee, as if witnessing the impalement was the most normal of things.
Glynda sighed, "I will have a med evac sent to his location."
"No need," Ozpin chimed in. "He still has some aura remaining. Besides, it was just through a shoulder. I have a feeling that another hopeful will run into him eventually."
"Yes, eventually." Glynda's mutterings were a constant of Initiation, no matter the year. "How is my daughter doing?"
"Hmm," Ozpin swiped along on his scroll, bringing up the camera which held the young Goodwitch. "She has yet to be captured by any pair of partners. She is doing remarkably well, all things considered. Her aura levels still remain high, though there was a dip in it a few moments ago-"
"Is my baby alright?!"
"Professor Goodwitch. Ruby is quite alright. She ran into a tree."
"Oh, okay. That's fine then."
It was no uncommon occurrence for Ruby to run into something so stationary, after all. The headmaster and deputy headmistress continued to watch the young girl swap between walking and skipping through the forest, resting occasionally to smell some flowers or watch smaller animals play. Seeing her smile brought a similar one to Glynda's own lips.
Her daughter was still doing well.
"This is quite a challenging Initiation your daughter conceived of," Ozpin said slowly, allowing time for Glynda to pick up his words after having been so invested in her daughter's safety. "You should be very proud of her"
"I always am."
There was a buzz on his scroll. Holding it up to his ear, he said, "how is your mission going?"
"Fairly well, so far, Headmaster," came the voice on the other end. Ozpin had left the scroll on speaker so Glynda could listen in as well. "We are bordering on capacity in our section, but no need for any reinforcements as of now. I'll call in again if it looks like we're having any trouble."
"That's good. Keep careful vigilance. There is still much time before your mission is over."
"Any clearer ETA than 'sundown'?"
"Not as of yet. We should have a clearer picture in a few hours. Things should start increasing in pace soon."
"Roger."
The scroll call ended and Ozpin flipped back to watching the cameras and the student hopefuls.
"What was that?" Glynda asked.
"Just a check-in from a team away on mission. Pay it no matter." Ozpin said, brushing off Glynda's question.
"Alright," Glynda eyed the headmaster for a moment, then returned her attention back to her own scroll and the camera which currently hovered over a one Jaune Arc. The boy was still shouting out loud to thank someone for saving him with a spear.
"Why was this Arc even granted an admissions letter? You do know that his grades are all fakes, right?"
"Indeed." The headmaster confirmed, his eyes not leaving his own scroll and the ensuing fight going on between two pairs.
"He could have very well been killed by the fall into the forest. Let alone by the other student hopefuls."
"I had faith he would survive."
"Why was he even let in in the first place!"
Ozpin shrugged, "nobody has attempted to cheat the system before. I was curious to see what would happen."
Glynda felt a vein in her neck pop. She scowled and rolled her eyes.
"Hey! That's my spear. And I thought I struck you in the stomach. Darn, my aim was off." Came a voice from her scroll.
"Oh, wah? So you weren't trying to save me?" Jaune's voice was high-pitched and laced with too much fear.
"Now give it back so I can pummel you into the dirt."
"No! Someone save me!"
"Arc's going to get severely injured, sir," Glynda said with little emotional interest.
"He will be alright." Came the headmaster's lackluster reply.
"Ow! Why would you do that? It hurt!"
"Get back here! I haven't stabbed you enough!"
"It doesn't look like he has any aura. Or at least, he holds onto it very loosely." Glynda continued.
"I have faith that the universe will protect him."
"Heeeelp!"
"He does not look to be doing so good."
A flash on screen was followed with the entrance of another boy. The one in all green with long black hair, save for a small tuft of pink.
"Oh thank you. You saved my life!" Jaune reply, clearly out of breath.
"See Glynda? You should have had faith in the boy." Ozpin smirked, taking another long drink of his coffee.
Glynda could only roll her eyes.
"I guess we're partners. The name's Jaune Arc."
"Lie Ren," came the other boy's reply.
Glynda truly felt sorry for this Lie Ren. To be stuck with someone like Jaune Arc. It would make the next objective of this Initiation that much harder to complete. Glynda could only wonder who Mister Ren could have partnered with, if not for Jaune Arc's intrusion.
Another nice and short chapter! And we got our second pairing!. Anyways, with quarantine still ongoing and me feeling a little more stir-crazy than normal, I though to give myself a challenge: Write one chapter of anything, everyday for a week (starting today). That means, from now until next Friday, I will be writing a new chapter of Goodrose, Rhodopis or Reaper. Of course, that won't matter to much for anything other than Goodrose, since I will continue my tradition of posting Goodrose chapters as soon as I complete them! So stay tuned for most likely many more chapters of varying length (and quality) in the coming week!
Darknight2124 - You will just have to wait and find out soon!
Zapper Frost - I haven't even finished deciding on pairs, let alone the teams. Team leaders are so far into the future.
merendinoemeliano - Hopefully some more battles will appear quite soon!