Hey guys, Flipkicks here and today I bring you new chapter for The Reaper of Beacon, thank you guys for checking out the story and letting me know what you guys thought go the previous chapter. I was able to finish this chapter rather quick (thanks to being on Spring Break).
It's time for the second semester's Initiation!
I do not own neither series.
Initiation
Part 2
Emerald Forest: 11:00 A.M.
It has been one hour and everyone of the students were all waiting patiently for one particular student, Ichigo Kurosaki, who decided to take his time walking towards the designated area. Everyone of them was also waiting for the instructors to arrive as well.
"So, who do you think might pair up?" One female student asks her peers. She is currently wearing a tank top with a cross shape spaghetti strap with the mark of the brand stamped on the front, a mini skirt and a pair of knee-high boots with lighter colored edges and a "V" shaped figure on the center. She also wears a belt which holds her tonfas and an armband, resembling a small flower, circling her right arm. Around her neck, she carries a necklace that takes the figure of a heart. She currently wields a tonfa weapon that also acts as a gun. Her name is Elie.
"Who knows." Said a young woman with long, scarlet hair and brown eyesThis armor sports a breastplate now composed of a single piece of metal, decorated by curved lines and by a deformed version of Cross shape mark like Elie, with the cross' right arm extending to the right part of her chest, and the added mark of Fairy with a tail located under the cross itself. Her name is Erza Scarlet. "They did say that eye contact are to be partners for the next four years." Erza is considered to be one of the best female swordsmen in the Academy and is also a recent new student of Beacon, much like her peers here.
"Luck of the draw if you ask me." Said a man in a black body armor made from a special material that has yet to be discovered by mankind as of the present time. He wears metal plated shoes, which appear to be attached to his trousers. His signature red overcoat is a type shroud, which covers his arms and upper torso, and is fashioned and tied with an agemaki knot. His name is Emiya, perhaps one of the most skilled young hunters and he earned the nickname 'Archer' for his archery skills.
"But the main question is, where is the so called 'legendary student' Ichigo Kurosaki at?" A blue haired female teen questions the group. She was in a similar outfit like Erza's but a little bit different with a shield that resembles a butterfly. Her name is Lucina, and like Erza, she is one of the strong female swordsmen in the Academy.
"Sorry for being late." The group of students all turned their heads towards the back of them, seeing Ozpin, Miss Goodwitch and Ichigo arriving. "We had to clear somethings up with Ichigo by himself so, let's proceed to the Initiation."
All the students began taking their stance in their spots and they begin to fly one by one and finally Ichigo was the final one to fly.
"So, you think she'll be the first one to be Ichigo's partner?" Ozpin asks Glynda as he takes out his Scroll.
"Let's hope so. She is more suited in terms of skill wise but we have to see it first hand. Hopefully Ichigo is more open to this idea." Glynda replies back casually.
With Ichigo
This was the first time Ichigo was tossed into the air, feeling like he was a bird in the sky. No...he didn't feel like he was a bird, he was launched couple 100 feet in the air for the initiation. He mostly feels a bit heavy as he is free falling into the forest.
'Show time.' His right eye begins to turn bright blue as he manifested his third arm towards a nearby tree branch. He uses his momentum to swing branch to branch, until he was close enough to the designated area, the ruins of the forest temple. 'Too easy...' Ichigo walks into the center of the ruined temple, were he sees the items him and the other items as well. They were all chess pieces, black and white respectively to his left and right.
Ichigo decided to take the one in the middle, the black King. He lets out a deep sigh per the order of his teachers.
1 hour ago: Beacon Academy
"Hang on Ichigo..." Ozpin wanted to say something before Ichigo went towards the Emerald Forest. "There's something we need to clear up for you." Ichigo looks at him curiously and confusingly.
"What's up?"
"As you are aware that the school's allow a 4 person team with a partner but that's not the case here." Ichigo continues on looking at the headmaster confused.
"O...kay?"
His mother decided to step into the conversation as she clears her throat, "What Ozpin is trying to say is that you have this unique charisma around you. He saw your old records of being the teams co-leader with Kitana and how this charisma of your is able to lead your team to win consecutive wins in tournaments and some mock battles in the school. Your charisma is something Ozpin wants to see if multiple people are influenced by you in a unit." Glynda explained to her son.
"Wait a unit? As in not a 4 person team?" Both of them nod their head from his question, "But why?"
"This is only a test and your skills are perhaps rank number 1 overall in the Academy based on examine your skills from 5 years ago to the recent 'incidents' here in Beacon. Looking through the charts, your skills are beyond the average and skilled hunters/huntress here but your leadership skills are in need of some help so Ozpin and the rest of us decided to make you a leader of a group."
"Does the other Academies know about this?" Ichigo questions the headmaster, who nods his head.
"They do Ichigo and I know that you are concern but the reason why we're doing this for you to be something besides being this bad boy image you got right now. You have the influence to be something great and perhaps be the 'icon' of your generation of Hunters and Huntresses."
"Be a symbol of hope?"
"That's right. You are already know the four Maiden exist from meeting Amber and you being a Soul Reaper and Quincy hybrid can bring hope to the Hunters and Huntresses. Everyone believe that the Maidens are something that of a myth and people want to know if that so called myth are real and some of them are inspired to be like them." Glynda started, "Some of the students heard of the Soul Reapers and Quincies from one of the students writing an essay of both the Quincy and the Soul Reapers."
"Some aspire to achieve greatness Ichigo. Work hard and one day, that student might achieve greatness." Ozpin places his hands on Ichigo's shoulders, "There is greatness in you, Ichigo. You just don't know that. You'll be a hero Ichigo."
Ichigo only chuckles as he shakes his head, "I'm no hero. Never was nor will ever be. I'm just a kid with a bad past. Whenever I do or not pass, I'm dead anyway." Ichigo stated to his teachers, "Don't know if I'll make it after this initiation, the coming weeks or months ahead. I don't see why I should lead them. Doesn't make sense for a guy who is going to be a deadman soon."
"Don't such things Ichigo." Glynda stated to her son, "Just because you are dying doesn't mean you can't still live your life that you originally wanted!" Glynda said in anger towards her son's 'depressed' tone of his. "You aren't going to die under my watch! I lost 5 years without you Ichigo. You are my son no matter what and I do not plan on losing you again."
"You aren't going to be dying under our watch Ichigo." Ozpin said to his student, "Since we took some of your blood, we are doing our best to find a possible cure for your current condition. We do whatever it takes." Ichigo sighs since he knows that his teachers are right. He does need a cure as he needs figure something out that has been plaguing his mind; this so called 'government corruption' that he's trying to figure out.
"Fine." He stated bluntly as he looks at the headmaster, "What else?"
"We need you to take the center piece of the initiation. It can be either the Black or White King. Each of them are going to be based on a specific role." Glynda replies first.
"Like the old days before. I'm the king that leads the army, along with a Queen, Knights, Rooks, Bishops and the Pawns."
"Precisely. This is only a test Ichigo. These students under your wing are specifically picked to be part of this experimental test. Of course this is only formality to the rest but in secret, we'll of course tell them." Ozpin said to Ichigo, "Come on, we must not keep the others waiting."
1 hour later
"Well...guess that's it..." He spins the black king around his index finger until he hear something moving in the bushes behind him. He quickly turns around and aims his revolver at the bushes. "Come out, now." He ordered until he felt the presence behind him. Ichigo quickly turns around and tries to fire a round at the 'thing' until it was revealed to be a female's leg, kicking the shot at the pillar and destroying it in the process. Ichigo quickly retracts his gun as he sees the scarlet haired teen in front of him.
"Watch where you are aiming at." Said the scarlet haired teen as she points her sword at him.
"Erza Scarlet, nicknamed 'Titania', the Queen of the Fairies." Ichigo places Blue rose back into its holsters, "My partner for the next four years huh..."
"That depends, if you are a friend or a foe." She stares daggers at him, which Ichigo places his hands in the air as a sign of peace.
"Trying to turn a new leaf. Thought you were a Grimm to be honest." Ichigo said as Erza places her sword her sword on her back, "Sorry."
"Well at least you apologized, so I'll take that." Ichigo the shows the piece he has taken, the black king.
"Come on, rather get this over with." She nods her head as the two of them were about to leave the ruined forest temple as about 20 Ursa Majors appear right in front of them. "A major pain in the ass." Ichigo takes out Ebony and Ivory from their holsters as Erza took out her sword. "Split 10 and 10. Fair game?"
Erza smirks as both of them begin their assault against the Ursa's.
Back at Beacon
Both teams were astonished that both Ichigo and Erza were taking them with ease. Ichigo was mainly using his guns while Erza was taking the Ursa's with her sword.
"I'm still wondering why Ichigo hasn't used his swords." Jaune has been observing Ichigo's previous files during his years in Signal, thanks to the permissions of his teachers, and was amazed he was this amazing. He clears wishes to have Ichigo as a 'master' in a way so that he can be able to fight properly. 'Wish Jeanne wasn't here though...'
Before the Initiation started, Jaune was surprised to see his older sister here. He hasn't gotten much time to talk to his older sister as she was in Signal Academy then ended up 'missing' for awhile. He was of course sad that his older sisters was considered was missing but in reality, she was in Mistral for some mission that required about 3 years (He was still in his hometown training with their dad).
"He's probably not in the mood?" Ruby questions herself as she does wonder why Ichigo's isn't using his two large broadswords.
"He probably faced them multiple times and found it easier to use his guns over time." Weiss suggested.
"I looked up the parts Ichigo used to create his twin pistols." Blake decided to show the blueprints of Ichigo's guns. "If you look at the inside of the chamber, the barrels of the guns was made by out of a tank missile. He put a lot of time into those guns as they can fire through anything if he used a specific fingerprint here." She pointed out the handles, "By pressing the handles tightly, there's something that can amplify the power from shooting blanks like how he hit Cardin without any brain damage to shooting a heavy tank round."
"That's a bit overkill!" Jaune was actually afraid if Ichigo decided to shoot him with Ebony and Ivory.
"There's nothing yet on Blue Rose though besides the fact it's a double barrel revolver with a 6 bullet chamber."
"I'm still wondering about that beam attack he did couple days ago." Ren pointed out, "He said...Getsuga Tensho I believe and he was able to unleash a devastating beam attack that either destroyed or cut vertically."
"He's way to OP."
"But why didn't he killed us?" Blake questions as she added, "He's way to skilled for us and we can all agree on that but he has the power that can easily kill all of us but he didn't."
"You say there's something in his head that's clouding his head." Pyrrha said, "And some of us do believe that there's something clouding his mind during that time and now, he looks normal. Beside's yesterdays incident with Cardin."
"I'm still wondering why he went easy on Cardin. Jerk should had knocked him out before all of us could see if." Yang said uninterested in the conversation as she was way to focus on the battle.
Back with Ichigo and Erza.
"That was way too easy." Ichigo said the same thing like before as he places Ebony and Ivory back into their hostlers.
"Easy? I hardly broke a sweat from that." Erza replies a bit cocky.
"Actually you are sweating." Ichigo pointed out a drop of sweat on her forehead nonchalantly, "But anyway, let's head back." They again heard something in the bushes towards their right but they didn't act as they see two females from before their launch and it was Caeldori and Lucina.
"So those sounds came from you both?" Lucina looks at the two of them with a stern look on her face as she then looks at Ichigo, "The 'Legendary Student' Ichigo Kurosaki huh. You sure do look like a troublemaker from the permanent scowl on your face and the orange hair."
"Yeah yeah heard that before. Who are you both?"
"I'm Lucina." She introduced herself to Ichigo and Erza.
"And I'm Caeldori. It's nice to meet you." Caeldori bows her head in respect to her fellow peers. The next thing they heard was more sounds from the bushes and this time, it was the other students with their specific partners.
Ichigo sees another red haired teen a teenage girl with a pale-white skin, silver hair and silver eyes. She wears a gothic lolita dress with corset, a black boots and 2 black hair pins on her hair in twin tails. Followed by the white haired male in red with a teenage girl with pale-white skin, blonde hair flowing down her back and blue eyes. She has a 'religious knight' theme based on the her appearance.
Next was a young woman in her late teens with a slender physique and soft, white skin. She has "finely textured" golden hair that seems "as if sprinkled with gold dust." Her face shows some signs of naivety and displays elegance. She is more muscular than someone like Jeanne, leading her to believe her body is unappealing, but Erza believes her to be very feminine. She normally wears shining armor with an old styled dress, made from old-fashioned blue cloth, underneath with Elie behind her.
And finally there was two young male teens, one with blonde hair, green eyes, in a a tunic and leggings with a belt and sheath (sometimes on their back) for their sword. The other male had dark blue hair with grey eyes and a strange symbol on his right eye. He was mostly covered in armor besides his head. The blonde haired teen is Owain and the other is Inigo,
"Seems the gang's all here." Emiya stated as he grabs the White Rook.
"So it would appear." Caeldori places her lance in her back as she grabs the Black King and soon the others would grab their respective pieces from the pedestals.
With Goodwitch and Ozpin
"And the teams are set." Ozpin says as he looks through the Scroll, "Ichigo Kurosaki and Erza Scarlet. Caeldori and Lucina."
"Designated as Team C.I.E.L. Both of them took the Black King." Glynda replies as she looks through her Scroll, "You sure Ichigo is up for this?"
"I'm sure of it. This is something he can embrace quickly." Ozpin answers back, "Emiya and Jeanne Arc. Forgot that Jaune had a sister."
"Jeanne was in Mistral under the orders of Ironwood. Her skills are highly above Jaune's so she can be worked as a suited training partner for her brother and both of them are descendants of the known heroine, Joan of Arc." Glynda scrolls down her tab, "Artoria and Elie. Their skills are perfect for each other as Artoria is suited for close quarters while Elie is suited for medium range based on her guns. Artoria is a descendant of the Hero/King of Astral many years ago: King Arthur." She again scrolls down her tab, "Inigo and Owain. Known as the Exalt brothers even though they are cousins with Lucina being Inigo's older twin sister by 2 minutes. All three of them has this birth symbol that's passed down their bloodline for generations."
"Seems we got quiet the gathering of descendants in this group of his" Ozpin chuckles a bit, "Rias Gremory and Ciel Anderson. Rias is from our friends in Astral, part of a royal family. Just like Artoria and Elie: Rias is suited for long range while Ciel is great for close quarters."
"Seems we got our team." Glynda was about to close her Scroll but before she did that, she heard someone throwing up and she sees her son on the floor, spitting out something.
With Ichigo and Co.
He doesn't know why he was coughing up. Everyone of them was wondering why he was coughing. Ichigo ended up throwing up some chunks in my body and he spotted some blood coming out of his mouth.
'Damnit...why not?' He clinches his chest, feeling his heart beat increasing by the second, 'Fuck me...' He rolls up his right sleeve on his pants as there was a needle with a medicine for this. He places the needle into his neck, injecting himself with his medicine.
"Hey man, you okay?" Inigo asks the orange haired teen.
"Yeah...just fine." Owain and Inigo both help Ichigo up, "Just give me a minute. You guys go on ahead." Ichigo says to the them as they all began heading towards the rendeviouz point but only Erza stayed behind. "You not going with them Erza?" He questions the scarlet haired teen.
" 'Fraid you might get lost if you don't know our way back to the teachers. They informed me of the rendeviouz point and I think you have no idea where that is." She replies to him as she the help guides Ichigo to the rendeviouz point.
1 hour later
After the teams manage to head back to their teachers, they all went back to the Academy's Amphitheater to make the teams announcement.
"Rias Gremory, Ciel Anderson, Inigo and Owain, you are here by to be designated as Team RICO and Rias Gremory is appointed as team leader." There was a round of applause for the team's formation. Soon, the next group came in, " Jeanne Arc, Emiya, Artoria and Elie. You are here to be designated as Team JEAE (Jay) with Emiya the team's leader." A second round of applause came for the team's formation as the third and final group started walking towards the center stage, "Caeldori, Ichigo Kurosaki, Erza Scarlet and Lucina..." There was some booing from the crowd for Ichigo, who did cause quiet a stir with the students here, "Are designated as Team CIEL with Ichigo Kurosaki being the team leader."
Everyone was surprised to see Ichigo being the team leader of his newly formed team. Some thought that he wasn't fit to be a leader (Weiss mostly) while most of the think that this is the best way for redemption for Ichigo. He does want to find a way to make something work with him being the team leader of team CIEL. Ozpin walks up to the orange haired teen and whispers something to him.
"Ichigo, I want to explain something tomorrow, along with the other teams of JEAE, RICO about something."
"Is it about the unit thing?" Ichigo whispers back as Ozpin nods his head, "Alright, send us a notification on the meeting. Hopefully things will turn out smoothly."
Ichigo's Room
10:19 P.M.
After a exhausting day and learning he would be the leader of a small group of people and they are considered to be the best of the best of new/transferred students all across the region. This was something else for him as he never had to be a leader of the students he was participating in the Initiation process. After the initiation, Ichigo was given a record of his unit's records from academic achievements, tournaments, etc via permission of the headmaster. He spent the next couple of hours looking through each of their files and begins to think of way making them all work together from those who prefer long-type fighting to close quarters combat and looking over many videos on his private Scroll.
Ichigo decided to call it a day as he heads back to his room for peace and quiet.
Once he is in his room, he unclips the holsters from his sides and back, releasing his 3 guns from his waist and he grabs his swords from his back and placing them on the wall. Ichigo would go onto taking off his coat and places it on the coat on his coach. He was beyond exhausted from the testing he was placed on and learning his role as the leader of the group of people.
Summer would appear next to him as she places herself on his bed.
'You okay Ichigo?' She asks her partner.
'Just dandy...' He stretches out his back, cracking some of the bones on his vertebrate. 'Crazy ass day...' He then proceeds to walk towards his little keyboard that the staff decided to give him after he did the initiation. During his years in Signal, Ichigo was a bit of a pianist. He would time from time play on the piano or keyboard that would sound like a piano. This was the first time in 5 years since he last played the keyboard and there was one familiar song he played.
(Maxence Cyrin: Where is my Mind)
Summer begins to smile as Ichigo was playing the song. She never heard something that was this beautiful and yet sad. She knew the Ichigo was facing a very difficult life from his 5 years traveling with Amber and see her lose her powers has plagued his mind. He wanted to do whatever it took to get her powers back to her and months later, Ichigo would from there be possessed by his inner darkness and once he was able to be his normal self once more, Ichigo knew that there wasn't much time left for him to be messing around.
Unknown to him, Ichigo was being heard playing his keyboard as his team along with teams RWBY and JNPR were all listening along to this beautiful and sad song. While each of them couldn't believe that he was this talented, they never knew he was this great on a keyboard.
'So much sadness in himself...yet he still faces the dangers up ahead.' Ruby thought to herself as she listens to this song. She saw his fight against the multiple Grimm during his and saw him clinching his heart for some reason and thought that there was something hurting him. 'Maybe I can ask if there is something wrong with him.'
'So...Ichigo's willing to put everything on the line huh...' His current partner Erza thought to herself was informed of his condition and was ordered to make sure he didn't stumble or fall from his condition. Before they did the announcement, Ozpin wanted her to be his current partner on his 1st team: CIEL. She wonders why Ichigo is doing this but even Ozpin doesn't know why Ichigo was pushing himself to his limits but that is what her main objective is under his orders.
'Ichigo...' Yang actually feels bad from the way she was treating him just from hearing this song. While sure it did get out of hand but she was being abrasive from their first interaction and now she wants to make things up to him from hearing this song. 'Guess I should be the one to apologize to him.' Yang doesn't know the hardship that he had to endure for the past 5 years but she can imagine what he went through based on reading the file, even though there wasn't much but his eyes on the other hand can tell the stories of a past she is intrigued to know.
'Such a beautiful melody...I didn't think Ichigo was this good.' Blake and Weiss thought the same idea. They know that they got out of hand during their first interactions with each other but just listening to the song can summarize the sadness in Ichigo's life.
'He has my symphony...' Caeldori frowns from hearing such a beautiful yet sad song. 'He's our leader but...can his body take it?' She recalls seeing him down coughing up something and saw blood coming out of his mouth, not even from the fall. 'I have to make sure that Ichigo is in perfect condition. He must not fall...' She tightens her grip as she wants to see her leader still standing tall on whatever he might be facing.
Everyone of them felt bad from hearing this song as they are now trying to make sure that Ichigo is able to a hunter, hopefully within the next fours years if he is able to stay alive until then.
As he was still playing the song, Ichigo manifested his other arm and begins to write something down on a sheet of paper on his desk and it said:
Ichigo Kurosaki
The Perfect Student
Risking it all for my own liberals for the sake of Justice
I guess that's how they know me...how they'll remember me
But that's not who I am
No one knows, not even him, knows when that time is going to happen; the day he dies. This is the first chapter of Ichigo's memoirs, short and sweet. Just the way he is.
Ozpin's office. Same time.
As Ichigo continues on playing the keyboard in his room, he was also being watched by Ozpin, Goodwitch and Ironwood were listening to his music. They, just like the students, all felt it was a beautiful song but there was much sadness from hearing it.
Glynda smiles sadly that Ichigo remembers this song from his youth but the song was meant the path of those who play this song is destined to face something dangerous that might cost him or her their life. The song was also to commemorate the life of that person who faced such a dangerous life.
"Did he learned this song from you Glynda?" Ironwood questions the female huntress.
"That I did." She begins to remember the good times of raising him as the memories started flooding her mind, "He was always an adventurous type of child. Wish I was there 5 years ago."
"His life was destined to be something. Just listening to this song is filled with such hatred and sadness in him. He must had bottled those feelings years ago." Ironwood crosses his arms as perhaps there was something he can do to make sure Ichigo can survive.
"Whatever might happens to him, we must make sure that they don't get his body at all cost." Both Glynda and Ironwood nod their head from Ozpin.
Outside of Beacon.
"Gotta hand it to him Cinder, he sure knows how to make a sad but amazing song." Emerald was listening to the song via placing bugs in his room.
"Didn't think he was into this sad song..." Mercury wasn't really into listening classic songs such as the song Ichigo is playing. "When did boss learn that anyway?"
"Perhaps his youth." Cinder walks towards the railing and looks through the window, seeing her beloved boss playing this sad song. "While there is some rust for not playing the piano, Ichigo still knows his way on the keyboard." Cinder knows that Ichigo is also dying from examining his blood couple years ago and she felt drawn to him as she does indeed love the person she calls 'Big Boss' but there was something conflicting within her being, she doesn't know if this is real love or she is just toying the Soul Reaper/Quincy Hybrid for his power.
"I'm still wondering why you want him so bad ma'am. Then again; I know not to question something personal." Mercury then decided to call it a day as he heads back to his room. "G'night."
"You coming along ma'am?" Emerald asks her leader.
"In a bit. I'll see you guys back in the room." Emerald nods her head as she goes back to their room with Mercury, leaving Cinder alone; listening to the song that her beloved Ichigo is playing.
And that ends the chapter guys! Team CIEL is his team and I plan on doing something in the next chapter as to why Ozpin wanted to talk to Ichigo and the others for a reason. It's something that I was thinking on after putting the team ideas on. The teams will be part of Ichigo's character development as he is the team leader and opening up to the others and no they aren't going to be the main cast of the story, as they will be supporting characters.
Ichigo's Unit
Partner's List:
Ichigo and Erza
Caeldori and Lucina
Rias and Ciel
Emiya and Jeanne
Artoria and Elie
Inigo and Owain
The end part of the chapter was meant to be sad based on watching the Uncharted 4: A Thief's End trailer: The man behind the treasure. Since most of the cast don't know Ichigo personally, the memoirs are for them to understand what he went through for the past 5 years until his 'death'. Since this story is all about Ichigo's character whenever he is good or bad, I felt like he can fit as a tragic hero if you know how to write it properly (I'm not saying I can) but I think there is a way for it to work in this story. Also this story is somewhat based out of the upcoming Uncharted 4 game where Nathan Drake is going to star in the final game and in this story, I'll be 'pushing' everything about him (Ichigo) and everything he does care about, what he is willing to sacrifice to make sure he can 'die' peacefully for the world he saved.
I did want to bring something of a start with the teams (RWBY and JNPR) of a connection to Ichigo and why he played a sad song, as well as bringing some memories of Ichigo's past with Cinder (even though there wasn't much) but this is the first step towards a peaceful relationship for them (Both teams and his) with Ichigo.