Yang Xiao Long was glad that she and her partner were mostly unharmed from what she had come to start calling 'The Initiation to Hell'. To be fair, she had been wishing that Initiation was filled with Grimm and fighting. So she could not really complain about getting exactly what she asked for, even if it was a little bit of a slower start than expected.
But there she was. Standing alongside some five hundred plus fellow Initi-ees, and told that only eighty people passed. There were definitely more than eighty people in that final Grimm fight. Did somebody do so poorly that they would not even get in, even after achieving all their major objectives?
Wow, Beacon was hardcore as all hell.
Much tougher than she had come to expect, after all the many stories her father and uncle had told her throughout the years. She expected a challenging Initiation, obviously, but one where the final fight was truly finished off, not by huntsmen-in-training, but by professional huntsmen themselves? Well, that was something new for sure.
"Hello, are you alright?" Pyrrha gently said, placing a hand on Yang's shoulder, awakening her from her stupor.
"Ya, just thinking about how insane that Initiation was." She replied with a smile.
"That is good to hear. It was an honour to fight alongside you. Whether we pass or not, I hope to remain… friends with you?"
It surprised Yang that Pyrrha ended her response in a question. "Pyr, we fought together. It makes us sisters-in-arms. Of course we'll be friends. Passing or otherwise."
Pyrrha breathed out a sigh of relief. Something Yang quirked an eyebrow at. Deciding against asking her more too soon into their friendship, yang turned her attention back to the stage where the headmaster was listing this year's batch of students and student teams. There was some cheering, but it was becoming obvious that with every pair, the room was becoming more and more tense. She suspected, by the last few pairs, there would be next to no clapping.
"… Team Brownie."
Yang chuckled. She was enjoying the team names this year. Some of them were quite funny. With the mention of brownies, her stomach began to growl. She could have really gone for some grub right about then. A pizza would do wonders for her at that moment.
"You think I can order delivery to Beacon?" Yang whispered to her partner.
"The welcoming pamphlet says that there are a few licensed vendors allowed to deliver to campus," Pyrrha whispered back, leaning into Yang's ear.
"There was a welcoming pamphlet?"
"Of course. They were by the bullhead platform."
Yang hummed in response, listening to the next batch of names, and proceeding cheers. Yes, definitely quieter than before. The names continued and Yang grew more and more tense. Peering beside her, Pyrrha did too. Their names had yet to be called.
And thy were running low on teams left. Eighty students total, some twenty teams in all. ORNG, SPHR, CDNL, BWNI, the names went on and on.
"Jaune Arc and Lie Ren." The headmaster called out.
There was a loud cheer in the crowd, "go RENNY!" It was followed by a few chuckles of laughter, but Yang was deathly silent.
This was it.
The final pair.
Whoever was called would be numbers seventy-nine and eighty.
Yang could feel beads of sweat running down her brow, but she was too nervous to do anything about it. She was shaking in place. A dozen thoughts ran through her head going a mile a minute. What if she failed? But what if she passed? But what if she didn't? Would that mean she had to find a new job? A new path in life?
"Pyrrha Nikos and Yan Xiao Long."
Time seemed to stand still. Yang let out a slow deep sigh.
"Together, you will become Team APYL. Team Apple, lead by Jaune Arc."
There was no cheers.
What little claps there were, came from those who had already made it into the academy, but quickly died down leaving the room in silence.
"Thank you all for applying to Beacon Academy and partaking in our Entrance Examination. To those who wish to reapply next year may do so and Beacon's staff wishes you great luck and fortune. To those that have claimed a spot in this fine institution, be warned. Initiation is but your first step on the journey to becoming great huntsmen and huntresses. It is our duty to guide your path. To lay down the bricks and mortar which make the great staircase to your goals. It is up to you to start your ascension. You are dismissed."
With that final word, Beacon's illustrious headmaster left the stage and the room. Yang and Pyrrha went to do the same before feeling the buzzing of their scrolls. Taking a look at it, Yang saw a message from the deputy headmistress.
"It looks like Professor Goodwitch sent us our roommates contact information. Jaune Arc and Lie Ren. I presume we will be living with our teammates." Pyrrha stated, holding out her scroll for Yang to see.
A second later, there was a message from Lie Ren. "They are planning to celebrate with a quick meal in the cafeteria. They're asking if we would like to join them and their friends."
Yang smiled, "I'm always up for a little party. The boys better be cute."
As Pyrrha descended into a blush, Yang burst out laughing.
"You go on ahead, I'm going to go try and find the little girl's room. Catch up with you in a few!" Yang waved her partner and newfound friend off, running in a random direction away from the throngs of newly Initiated students and deeper into the campus.
As she searched around, complaining about the lack of signage directing her to the proper facilities, she stumbled upon a peculiar sight.
There, sitting in the middle of a small field of grass was the little Ruby Goodwitch. She wasn't doing anything particularly noteworthy. Just… sitting there. Legs crossed and back straight, she was breathing slowly, yet quick enough to know they were made deliberately. She was not asleep.
It was pretty late out, sometime around when she would usually have dinner and the sun looked just about ready to start descending below the horizon. Her body and her breathing gave away the impression that looked like she was calm, but her scrunched up cheeks and frown informed her otherwise. If she weren't so young and adorable, Yang would have guessed that guy had dumped her.
"Hey," yang tried, taking a slow step towards the little girl.
Ruby sighed, opening her eyes and giving Yang a small and most definitely fake smile. "Hello. Oh, you're the girl on Team APYL that I tricked with Uncle Porty- oh. Sorry."
Yang chuckled, "don't worry about that. Your job as a civilian after all. Watcha doing out here?"
Ruby shrugged, mumbling something Yang couldn't quite hear.
"What was that?"
"Grandpa always said that the best time to meditate when I was angry or sad. And since I'm both right now, I thought 'hey, why not try it out a little?' But I'm still not very good at it."
This made Yang laugh. "Don't worry, I'm not very good at the whole meditation thing either. The names Yang by the way. Yang Xiao Long. In case you forgot from earlier"
Yang sat down in front of Ruby, hands in her lap.
"I'm Ruby Goodwitch! Though I guess you knew that already."
"So its true that the professor's your mom?"
Ruby sighed, "Ya."
"Something's the matter with your mom?"
Ruby shook her head. "She's just really angry at me. She didn't know about the Grimm attacking at the end of Initiation and she was scared I would get caught by them. But I'm super duper fast and all the way away from the cliffs, just like Grandpa Ozpin told me to be. She's angry at Grandpa Ozpin too, but more angry at me, since I didn't tell her that I had planned the big Grimm attack at the end. But what can she be mad with me about? Grandpa Ozpin liked it and said it would be fun. He liked all my other ideas for Initiation too!"
Ruby continued to prattle on, relieving some of the tension in her neck and back as she spoke about Initiation and her mother and grandfather. Yet, even as she seemed to change topics on the fly, Yang was still stuck focusing on the last thing she remembered hearing.
Ruby Goodwitch, a ten-year-old, had planned out and organized her Initiation. An Initiation that was by far the most challenging she had ever heard come out of that academy. This girl had to be joking, right?
Shaking the thought away, she decided to return to their original topic, rather than admit she had not heard what the girl had been saying for the last few minutes.
"So, what were you meditating about?"
Ruby paused her mumblings to take a breath. "Grandpa Ozpin wants me to think about happy thoughts. He said that I should be able to get a clear picture in my mind of some of my happiest memories, but I don't know if I'm doing it right."
"Well, what are you thinking about?"
"Well, there was the time that mommy got me a chocolate chip cookie the size of my head! It was so yummy. And then there was when Mr. Noodles added soy sauce to my noodles and it was the best thing ever. And then the time Uncle Porty-"
"About food?"
"How did you know?" Ruby quirked her head and Yang could only let out a pleasant sigh.
"Maybe there's something else besides food that you are happy about. What about a time you spent with your mom and dad."
"I don't have a daddy. Just mommy."
"Oh," Yang paused, unsure how to continue. "I don't have a mom. Just my dad. Did he…"
Yang let Ruby's own mind finish that thought.
"Did he what?"
Guess not.
"Did he… die?"
"I don't know. I never met him. And mommy doesn't talk about anybody else. But that's okay. Mommy is the best mommy ever. Even if she's a little mad at me."
There was a loud bell, ringing out the turn of the hour. Ruby went to get up, allowing Yang to help her to her feet. "It's almost my bedtime. I should get back home now. Thanks for talking to me Yang."
"Ya, no problem."
"I'll see you in class tomorrow!" Ruby gave a big wave as she darted off, stumbling over her little legs as the grass transitioned to stone pavement.
"What a weird girl," Yang muttered, shaking her head as she watched Ruby's tutu skirt bob around as she ran. "Cute though."
And that is the last of the teams! Team Brownie and Team Apple. Blake and Jaune as our two team leaders, with some nice partner dynamics which are sure to create some lasting friendships. Or explosions. Most likely explosions. Thank you Zapper Frost for the second team name! 10 points for you!
Kivuntappaja - Stop stealing my ideas before I write them! Now I can't have Ilia being pinned by Blake. Or can I? And I didn't even think about JNPR being genderbent characters. That's so true. As for writing from a Grimm's perspective... well, now I'm curious about what I can do for that. Maybe a future chapter!
JackTheSpades - It is definitely going to be fun to have Ruby learning more about her real mother. And of course, all the rest of the mess that will come from Ruby being... well, Ruby.
Zander2212 - Oh classic Nora. That team dynamics is going to be a real fun one.
Darknight2124 - Thanks and you're welcome! Onward to teams and class shenanigans.
Therecklessone - oh boy. I'm just now imagining a ten year old Ruby as Beacon's headmistress. And why do I want to allow that so much?
merendinoemelliano - Thanks.
Zapper Frost - Probably next chapter... two tops.
chinaluv - The groups are mixed up enough to be interesting, for sure. And I had to have Ren and Nora on seperate teams. What better way to bring the two groups together!