Before we begin, I've decided to start a side ship poll. Send in any side ships you want to see, and if two of them interfere with each other (an example being Lancaster VS Dragonslayer), then I'll use that poll to see which one will be in the story. Otherwise, if it works, your side ship will end up in the story as well.
Chapter 5: Fear is the Enemy, Part 1
"It's OK to be a little broken. Everyone's broken in this life."
-Jon Bon Jovi
The first thing Makoto did after being flung into the air by a springboard was scream like a little girl for five seconds.
The second thing he did was unstrap his shield and hold it under his feet horizontally.
Bracing his feet on the leather strap, he had just enough to make minute adjustments to the angle, before bouncing off a treetop and essentially shield-surfing along the tree canopies, whooping as he did so. Looking up, he saw the others cheering and laughing...or in Chihiro's case, screaming and flailing around for a bit, before he righted himself. They disappeared under the treetops soon after, and below, he could hear Mondo riding Acheron. Because of his weapon being a motorcycle, apparently, Mondo was given a free pass and allowed to ride down the cliff into the forest, via a route that didn't lead him to the relics.
As he pulled a perfect midair 360 turn, hopping from one treetop to the other, he noticed that he was beginning to slow down, and jumped off the shield, quickly taking it with him before he scaled down the tree he had been on, swinging from branch to branch like a monkey.
Say what you wanted about Makoto Naegi, but he apparently had a knack for parkour, though not enough to be an Ultimate.
Who knew?
As he landed on his feet at the bottom of the trees, he rolled his shoulders, loosening his muscles, before there was a rustle from a nearby bush. Quickly, he prepared to draw his sword, cautiously watching the shaking bush.
Out burst Junko Enoshima, eyes wide and sparkling...before they landed on Makoto Naegi, and the sparkles died a slow and painful death.
Then his brain clicked, and he realized that he had made eye contact with Junko Enoshima.
Oh shit.
He had made eye contact with Junko Enoshima.
He had made eye contact with Junko Enoshima, and they would be working together for the next 4 years.
Looking at Junko, he saw that she had reached the same conclusion.
In a rare moment of unison, the two screamed their thoughts out at the same time.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
Sayaka looked up at the sound echoing throughout the forest. Odd. For a second there, she thought she heard Makoto and Junko screaming in anger.
Shaking her head, she walked along a beaten dirt road, looking for any signs that would lead her to the relics. There was a thump, and a crash nearby, and she turned in surprise. A few seconds later, and there were howls of rage, before a brief series of shinkks and the sight of Grimm dust floating into the air. Sayaka tensed, realizing that the footsteps were headed her way.
'Pleasedon'tbeLeonPleasedon'tbeLeonfortheloveofallthatisholydon'tbeLeon' She frantically thought.
Mukuro Ikasuba stepped out of the bushes and looked her in the eyes. They froze.
'…...On second thought, I'll take Leon.'
Mondo missed his gang.
He missed riding alongside them down the streets of Tokyo. He missed joking with them, having wild parties at abandoned warehouses, and leading them into turf wars to gain control of the streets of Japan.
He missed the Crazy Diamonds. He paid homage to them as the...former leader with his uniform and emblem, now that he couldn't lead them like he used to.
Riding Acheron brought a certain familiar thrill to his heart, one caused by adrenaline and high speeds and the absolutely delicious feeling of freedom. But now, without anyone to ride with, it just felt...off.
His thoughts were disturbed by the sound of feet landing on dirt over the sound of the motorcycle engine, and he stopped Acheron, unsheathing a knife from one of the holsters, and walking towards the source of the sound. Reaching over, he pushed aside some undergrowth and looked.
The hazel-colored eyes of Chihiro Fujisaki looked back in surprise.
They froze, both feeling their heartbeat spike.
"...I'll go find someone else..." Mondo mumbled, turning away with a guilty look in his eyes. As he headed back to Acheron, he felt a subtle tug on his sleeve.
"I-I...I forgive you..." He heard Chihiro say under his breath.
It took Mondo all his willpower not to break down sobbing, as Chihiro hugged him from behind, pressing his face against his back.
"T-Then let's go look for the relics...partner." They both ignored the way Mondo's voice cracked just the slightest at the last word.
And for a single second, as he and Chihiro rode down the beaten dirt road on Acheron to look for relics, everything felt right.
Ishimaru flew across the air, a wide grin on his face as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch like a ninja, eventually slowing down and stopping before climbing down the tree. For once, he could see the psychological merit some people found in adrenaline. The rush he had felt was damn near intoxicating.
Checking to see if Innocence and Guilt were loaded, he cocked the gloves, and went on his way. After all, the headmaster did say to find them as soon as possible, and he was still a prefect, among other things. He still had duties to perform, and rules to enforce.
His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar shriek of terror, before Hagakure burst out of the bushes, a pack of Beowolves hot on his trail. Hagakure would alternate between running and blasting shotgun shells at the Beowolves, while Ishimaru just stared in shock.
"Ishimaru, a little help here!" Hagakure yelled as he tried to lose the Beowolves. Some of the pack turned and saw Ishimaru, who immediately readied Innocence and Guilt, blasting away Grimm, and socking the ones that got too close.
"Hagakure, I must know what you did to cause this!" Ishimaru yelled over the sound of gunfire and howling.
"I didn't! I just walked past a couple of trees, and they were all grouped up there!" Hagakure replied, before he turned and kicked a Beowulf so hard in the face that it's head imploded.
"And you led them here?!"
"What?! NO! I was trying to lose them, dammit!"
"So let me get this straight! You ran into a pack of Beowulves, ran away, and somehow managed to antagonize them enough to keep chasing you! Not only that, but you've been taking potshots at them, and angered them even more!"
"Can we please just concentrate on killing the Grimm?!"
Ishimaru wondered if he had managed to offend one of the Brothers. It really felt like he did.
Hifumi cackled madly as he flew through a few trees like a cannonball. Swinging Wishmaker, he plowed through anything in his way, before descending and crashing to the ground like a meteor.
On Earth, Daisaku Bandai nearly had an aneurysm.
Popping up, looking perfectly, Hifumi looked around for Grimm, before slowly climbing out of the small crater he had inadvertently created. Dirt poured into the crater as he stepped out, stretching and cracking his neck. He hadn't been paying attention while he was in the air, so he honestly didn't know where he was in the forest.
A gunshot rang out throughout the forest, and Hifumi turned. Soon after, the roars of a bear could be heard, and more gunshots rang out. Then there was loud cursing, and a familiar figure dragged herself out of the bushes.
Even with her dress torn, and her hair extensions gone, Hifumi instantly knew who it was.
"...Miss Ludenberg?"
Celeste Ludenberg's face momentarily twisted into a guilty frown for a split second, before she regained her apathetic face often seen in her poker games.
"Hifumi. I trust we can work together adequately as partners." She said in a clipped tone, her movements borderline mechanical as she nodded, before turning away and heading back the way she came. Hifumi started to say something, but hesitated. Clearly, Celeste was still emotional over her actions, and now wasn't really the best time to do psychotherapy.
Sighing, Hifumi hefted Wishmaker over his shoulder, and followed Celeste.
Neither of them noticed a slight rustle behind them. Not that it would matter for now.
Kyoko Kirigiri was poised and calm, an image of cold apathy and uncaring logic.
Kyoko Kirigiri was also sweating out of her palms, and hurtling through the air at a speed of 50 kilometers per second, trying to suppress the urge to whoop in excitement.
As she sailed along the verdant treetops of the forest, she whipped out S1 and began swinging around, hitting a tree so hard S1 embedded itself into the trunk and completely stopped her momentum.
Which should have been impossible, but hey, physics could kiss her ass at this point.
Yanking S1 out of the tree trunk and hopping down from branch to branch, she heard growling around the tree, and looked down.
There was a pack of Beowulves surrounding the tree. Every Beowulf was also currently glaring up at her and snarling. A more muscular Beowulf, with numerous bone spikes and plates howled at her, and the Beowulves tried to scale the tree to get to her. Kyoko made a note of the one who howled being the Alpha.
Shifting S1 into it's handgun mode, she quickly shot some of the Beowulves in the eyes, the bullet piercing their brains and killing them. Of course, she was dealing with a whole pack alone, and a girl with a single handgun would do little to even dent the amount of Grimm in the pack. For every Beowulf she killed, three seemed to appear. Furthermore, they were rapidly climbing the she was on, getting closer and closer by the second. For a split second, Kyoko was genuinely fearful for her life.
And then a grenade smacked the Alpha in the face and blew it to kingdom come. Not even a torso was left behind.
Kyoko paused.
The Beowulves paused.
The Alpha's remains, which were basically it's legs alone, slumped over, before dissipating into black motes of dust. Kyoko ignored it.
A disgruntled Leon Kuwata pushed his way out of an increasingly stubborn bush, hefting Grand Slam over his shoulder like he was walking to home base. In a snap, a baseball-shaped grenade flung itself into the air, and he smashed it into a Beowulf at the base of the tree.
The resulting explosion blew up a dozen Beowulves, set another two dozen on fire, and blinded Kyoko for five seconds. As she blinked the spots out of her eyes, she could vaguely make out the shape of Leon absolutely clobbering the Beowulves, and she heard some of the Beowulves resume their climb.
Damn it, she wanted to conserve ammunition, and the handgun wouldn't be enough to kill them.
Then she got an idea. A really stupid idea. An idea that the logical part of her brain instantly was a completely insane, borderline-suicidal idea that she should never do.
She did it anyways.
Leaping off the tree branch, she made a vertical descent, smacking any Beowulf in her way in the face. Just before she was about to become the world's first human tree, she flipped herself and prepared to land on her feet.
Coincidentally, a Beowulf ran underneath her just as she pushed her legs out forcefully. The result was an event so painful for the Grimm that a fellow Beowulf gave it a mercy kill. It was borderline animal abuse in the fact that the only reason it wasn't was because the Grimm did not qualify as actual animals.
As the Beowulf's anguished cries were viciously stopped, Kyoko gazed at Leon, who looked back with a pale face.
"I do hope you behave yourself in the future, if we're partnering up," She drawled, and Leon nodded frantically, tensing and looking like he wanted to run away.
"Y-Y-Yeah! Right! Partners! I'll behave!...Please don't hurt me." Leon replied. Kyoko just raised an eyebrow, but turned away, brandishing S1 at the remaining Beowulves.
"Well, first things first. We eliminate these Beowulves, then we discuss the partnership terms.
"Y-Yeah, yeah...Stupid bushes..."
Sakura Ogami was many things.
She was strong. Being the most powerful woman on Earth hasn't changed, and she had grown stronger during her time on Remnant.
She was brave. She would take on Monokuma, Junko, and any other threat, no matter how big or small, to protect her friends. It was practically written into her soul.
She was smart. Being the strongest in the world didn't come from merely powering through everyone and everything. One had to learn weaknesses, strengths, and use every advantage they had in a fight.
Yes, Sakura Ogami was many things.
She was not, however, prepared for being launched towards a forest at 50 kilometers per second.
Her mind went blank for a few seconds as she hurtled towards the treetops, before suddenly filling itself with plans upon plans of strategies to safely land using Richter Palm. As she neared the canopies, she pointed Richter Palm downwards and fired a pulse, the kinetic energy shooting her up a bit, before she repeated the process over and over, slowing down drastically until she was able to simply step onto a tree branch and climb her way down.
Sighing, she took a moment to take deep breathes and appreciate the beauty of the forest around her.
Without even looking behind her, she punched a Creep that was trying to sneak up on her. The Grimm didn't even get to howl in agony as it dissipated into black dust. Noticing the dust of their comrade, the Creep horde slowly began to burrow their way out from the ground and try to surround her. Shifting Richter Palm into combat mode, Sakura readied herself to fight.
And then a beam made of high-pressurized water blasted through an emerging Creep, and Aoi Asahina leaped through the horde and shifted into a fighting position besides Sakura. She looked Sakura in the eyes.
"Hey, partner~" Aoi sang out, and Sakura couldn't help but grin.
"Hello, partner." Sakura replied, before a brave Creep snarled at them, reminding them of the current situation.
They both punched the Creep so hard it exploded without looking.
"So, after this, wanna regroup with the others?"
"Yes. I would love to."
And then the two leapt at the Creep horde, smiles on their faces.
"I can't believe I got stuck with you!" Junko yelled, angrily stomping through the shrubbery and cursing to herself, "If all the people who I could have been partnered up with, it was you! You hopelessly optimistic son of a bitch!"
"Stop acting like I'm happy about it, Enoshima! I'd rather be partnered up literally anyone other than you right now!" Makoto yelled back from behind her, "You think I'd want to be your partner after what you did?!"
"Hah! It looks like the naive little boy can speak for himself after all! Did you drag your head out of your ass long enough to see what the world was like?"
"Shut the hell up, you despair-obsessed megalomaniac!"
"Oooooh, big words from a naive baby!" Junko whipped out her fake crown, "Does the peasant require big boy pants now?"
Before the two could continue throwing insults at each other, a shimmering golden shape appeared over their heads, and they looked up in shock.
"What the-?!"
"Kin?!" Junko's exclamation was far more surprised, and she quickly ran in the direction of the shape.
"W-Wait up!" Makoto called running after her.
AS they (barely) followed the shape, making sure not to lose track of it, Makoto saw Junko's face seem to grow brighter in joy as she ran after the shape. Weird. She had heard that Junko displayed a lot of emotion around Kin, but this was his first time seeing it. It felt a bit strange. The shape seemed to dip into the treetops, and Junko ran faster.
"Hurry up, Hope Boy!" She called out, and Makoto picked up the pace, not wanting to lose sight of Junko. Brothers knew what kind of chaos she could cause even out here...
As the finally caught up to the shape of Kin in the air, Makoto saw that there was a nearby Beowulf pack that had noticed the sound of them running. He opened his mouth to shout a warning to Junko, for some reason not even he could fathom.
And a black sneaker with gold outlines smashed itself into the Beowulf closest to Junko, causing the Beowulf to fall onto it's back before the Beowulf was forced forward from the momentum. With the momentum grinding the Beowulf's head into the ground and forcing it's body forwards, it acted like, impossibly, a skateboard, as the figure on the Beowulf drew something short (a knife?) from their pocket and moved almost impossibly fast, quickly slitting the rest of the Beowulves' throats as they passed by. When the Beowulf under their feet began to dissipate, they jumped onto another Beowulf, repeating the process until they had fully stopped. By then, all but two Beowulves were left.
Two Beowulves out of twenty-five.
The two Beowulves hesitated, growling. Their animal instincts screamed at them to run, but they stood their ground, then lunged at the figure, who just stabbed one in the eye and jerked left as it past, before grabbing the second's claw and redirecting it into the Beowulf's own throat. The two faded away as the figure flicked away the last of the Grimm ichor from their blade, and only then was Makoto able to see what the figure looked like, as they had been moving a bit too fast for his eyes to focus.
Black sneakers with gold outlines, and painted koi on the sides. A white short-sleeved v-neck that exposed just the tiniest bit of collarbone, and denim jeans that fell just the slightest. A bob cut of golden hair, curling just below the ears, on top of a heart-shaped face, with fat in all the right places. Slender fingers were curled around the leather-bound hilt of a makeshift knife, and molten-gold eyes closed as the figure panted in exhaustion, stretching their legs and arms and loosening themselves up.
"Kin! Over here!" Junko called out, waving her hand. The figure perked up, and looked Junko in the eyes.
"Junko! Yay, we're partners!" Kin Sakana cried, making to run over to Junko...and stumbling and falling onto his stomach, groaning, "I think I strained my legs a tiny bit too much..."
Junko giggled, giggled, and went to help Kin, "You shouldn't have shown off before, Golden Princess," She teased, laughing Kin's squawks of protest, "Now come on, we should go."
Makoto just stared with a blank face as Kin and Junko walked towards him. His brain sputtered and choked on it's own thoughts as he tried to process what was happening before him.
"Huh? Junko, who is that?" Kin asked, pointing at Makoto, he snapped out of his stupor just in time to notice Junko pout a bit.
"That's nobody you need to-"
"Junko..." Kin whined, giving her a puppy-eyes look, and Junko flinched.
"I-I...Fine. That's Makoto Naegi. I might have made eye contact with him before, and we...might have to be partners." Kin wilted at her words, and grumbled.
"W-Well, I didn't hear anything about not having two partners in the rules, and you made eye contact with Junko, so..." Makoto offered, mouthing 'You owe me for this' to Junko when Kin brightened up almost instantly.
She just flipped him out covertly, before smiling and hugging Kin, the two cheering in joy.
Makoto desperately tried to ignore the sight of a joyful Junko.
The Future Foundation meeting room was silent, it's occupants in shock from both the newcomer's combat prowess, and how Junko expressed an emotion normally around them.
"...What the fuck." Juzo murmured.
"LET ME GO, SONIA! LET ME GO!" Tsumiki shrieked, having leaped out of her Junko Enoshima-patented blanket to lunge and claw at the television, while the rest of Ultimate Despair, Kamakura excluded, tried to hold her back, still half in shock from the sight, "THAT FUCKING WHORE! SHE'S LURING MY BELOVED AWAY FROM ME! SHE'S STEALING JUNKO-SAMA! I HAVE TO KILL HER! KIIIIIIIIIIIILL!"
"Tsumiki! Tsumiki, calm down! It's only the TV, you won't actually be able to do anything, Mikan!" Fuyuhiko gritted out
"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME VENT MY ANGER, BABYFACE!"
"B-BABYFACE?!"
Souda sighed to himself as he heard Hiyoko taunt Mikan even more, with the sight of 'Kin'. Sometimes he wondered if this was worth the glorious despair he kept gaining.
The Warriors of Hope stared at the screen, their eyes wide.
"...Big Sis Junko's acting like a kid again." Masaru said.
"...Well, at least we know she's not turning into a demon anytime soon, right?" Nagisa asked.
"Eh. She's fine. She's Big Sis Junko, after all!" Kotoko exclaimed, "But, can we change the topic to that super-adorbs girl that's with Big Sis Junko right now?!"
"...I wish I was that pretty..." Jataro murmured.
"Yeah, that girl looks super cute! I wonder how she keeps her looks?" Masaru wondered out loud.
Monaca stayed silent, and a dark look flickered on her face.
"...Monaca?" Masaru asked, and she perked up, "Are you OK?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah! It's just nice to see Big Sis Junko making friends!" No it wasn't, she told herself. She wanted to be the one good thing in Big Sis Junko's life besides despair. Heck, before Big Sis Junko's death, that was what she was, as the successor. And now this girl, this hussy, was stealing her Big Sis Junko from Monaca, even if it was in another world. Damn this useless girl, coming out of nowhere and wooing her Big Sis away.
As the rest of the Warriors of Hope watched the vision with rapt excitement, Monaca's face grew darker and more twisted as she grew angrier and angrier.
Almost none of the others noticed.
Almost.
"So, which way is north?" Kin asked, as the trio walked along the forest, "I kinda wanna explore the forest a bit, but I think the Headmaster is watching us..." Kin looked around, a cautious look in his eyes.
"Hm? Oh, he actually is. He has cameras installed in fake trees all over the forest," Junko replied, casually checking her nails, before noticing Kin's panicked gulp, "Don't worry. I doubt he'll do anything to stop us unless it gets super serious. He'll probably let us explore when we can and stuff, no punishments."
"Yes~" Kin immediately brightened and pumped his fists, grinning, "I bet there's a bunch of cool places to check out around her, like a cave filled with gems, or a hidden treetop society, or..." He kept throwing more andmore fantastical ideas, his eyes gleaming with the promise of exploration, and Junko couldn't help but snicker at Kin's rambling, prompting Makoto to glance at her oddly.
"What? You gotta admit, his ideas are kinda funny." She said. Makoto couldn't really deny it, so he conceded her statement.
"...Or, or maybe there's a—who the hell is arguing?" Kin cut off, and Makoto and Junko both heard something like voices arguing. The voices seemed to be heading their way, and they sounded familiar, Makoto thought to himself.
"We should have turned left back there!"
"If we turned left, we would be going deeper into the forest! I have more experience in this stuff than you, so stop trying to correct me!"
"Oh, really? We've been lost for half an hour now, and we haven't run into anybody ever since I decided to listen to you!"
"When you're in my field of expertise, you tend to learn this stuff! Besides, what did you do, prance in frilly skirts and belt out pop lyrics all day? What's that got to do with survival?" Makoto raised an eyebrow, and he pulled a couple of shrubs aside.
Sayaka Maizono and Mukuro Ikasuba, still bickering and looking at each other, promptly walked into Makoto and fell backwards, with small 'oof's.
"What the-Makoto!" They said in unison, practically leaping to their feet and hugging him, while glaring at each other behind his back.
Behind the three, Kin mouthed to Junko, 'They've got it baaaaaaaaad."
"M-Makoto! Hi! Hey! Hey!" Sayaka blabbered, while Mukuro just stammered and cleared her throat, trying to come up with a good reason for what she was doing.
"I...what were you two talking about?" Makoto asked.
"Oh! Mukuro here insisted we turn left at an intersection in the forest, when I said we should turn right! I listened to her, and we've been wandering around for the last half hour, because she got us lost!~" Sayaka answered, finishing with a bubbly tone, as if trying to convince Makoto she was right.
"My fault?! You got a Beowulf a pack chasing us after you stepped on a few dozen sticks!"
"What? I wasn't the one who decided to shoot at a Beowulf pack and piss and them off, you were!"
"Why you-"
"G-Girls! GIRLS!"
Junko mouthed back, 'They've got it REAL bad.'
"A-Anyways, why don't we go look for relics together?" Makoto hastily said, in an attempt to defuse the volatile situation, "We'd like you two with us, if you're OK with it!"
"Yes, please!" The two girls chirped in unison, nodding enthusiastically.
Junko snickered at the potential blackmail material she was getting. Maybe this could work for instigating fights, too.
"So, I guess we wander around for a bit? The path's pretty long, and maybe we can find a shortcut or something," Kin suggested, and the five of them all nodded. They wanted to finish this initiation as soon as possible.
They walked around the forest for a bit, eventually settling in walking along the edge of a massive rock formation near the center of the forest. It helped that it would lead them towards the North if they face the right direction. As they walked along the stone wall-like formation, Junko noticed drawings begin to show up along the wall.
"Hey, check it out," Junko murmured, pointing to the drawings. Various Grimm were depicted in the drawings, from Beowulves, to Ursa Majors, to enormous Deathstalkers, and Nevermores flying around the wall. The drawings showed shadowy silhouettes of humans holding a red crystal over their heads, and pushing the Grimm back.
"What the hell..." Kin muttered, staring at the cave murals as they walked, "This stuff must be centuries of years old..." He thumbed the rock, hitting a small niche with his nail, that cracked...something. It seemed to be some sort of hidden dry clay, and the clay flaked off the wall, cracking and unveiling a mural of a massive Grimm-like being, people dead or mindlessly walking around it. It seemed like a massive four-legged mushroom-like construct, with a simple wheel-shaped structure supporting the body and allowing for movement. Distorted eyes were painted all along the body, and head-sized spores seemed to pour from the gills of the construct. The entirety of the 'stem', if it could even be called that, had a macabre depiction of countless beings, humans, animals, anything that 'was alive', assimilated into the column and covered in spores. The very bottom of the stem had what seemed to be fibers attached to humans by their necks, making it look like they were hanging, and at the very top of the 'mushroom cap' was a humongous flower bud, surrounded by four smaller buds. It was a hideous, twisted depiction, and those who had hidden it must have been terrified of the thing.
"What is that thing...?" Mukuro breathed out, her face set in a horrified expression. Good lord, not many things scared her, but the painting was so realistic it was frightening. Before they could say anything, there was a mighty crash, and a girly shriek, and the five turned to see a red-haired girl running from a gigantic Deathstalker while a blonde boy hung from the stinger.
"Help! Whoa-ah-ah-ah-ah! Why?! Pyrrha! He-e-e-elp! Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not! Do something!" The boy yelled, as 'Pyrrha' ran from the rampaging Grimm.
"J-Jaune?!" Makoto stuttered, watching the scene.
"Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let-" The Deathstalker flung the boy away, as Pyrrha stared in shock, "...go." She turned to the Deathstalker, who glared at her balefully, "...Oh shit."
The Deathstalker shrieked angrily.
Pyrrha turned tail and ran, the Deathstalker running after her.
Makoto stared at the empty clearing in front of him, trying to process what had just happened. Sayaka and Mukuro stayed where they were, blank-faced. Junko and Kin...they were running. Towards the cave. With excited grins on their face.
"Hurry up, slowpokes! We have an awesome cave to explore!" Kin yelled, while Junko licked her lips.
"The number of Grimm that could be inside...Oh, it makes me shiver~" She crooned, as the two zipped into the cave.
"W-Wait! Shouldn't we go help those two?!" Makoto called back.
"They can handle themselves, they got accepted for a reason!" Kin's voice echoed from inside.
And then the two were gone, their footsteps having disappeared into the cave.
"...Should we...go after them?" Sayaka hesitantly asked.
"...I, uh...yeah, let's go."
The cave was pitch-black, light only shining through the cave entrance, as the three walked down the passage. Mukuro was hard at work making a torch from a snapped tree branch, and some Fire Dust, while Makoto and Sayaka were 'scouting' the area by feeling along the walls for obstacles. They had lost sight of Kin and Junko soon after, a bobbing torch light that quickly disappeared from their sight as they entered the cave.
"So, you really think there's anything worthwhile in the cave?" Sayaka asked, yelping as she poked a sharp stone. In all honesty, this Initiation was going far worse than she thought it would. She got partnered up with her rival in love, stuck on a team that would almost certainly have Junko in it, and now here she was, scouring a pitch-black cave for two troublemakers, one of which caused the fucking apocalypse from where she came from.
Yeah. She had some protests to make.
"Well...Not really, I guess. It's a cave in the middle of a forest. Unless you're a massive Grimm with a hoard of treasure or some crazy bandit, there's nothing you'll really find out here." Makoto replied, "But we do still need to look to Junko and Kin...Lord knows what the two can do together..." Sayaka made to continue, but was interrupted by a sudden light coming from behind her.
"Got it!" Mukuro's voice piped up, and she walked on past them, "We should be able to see everything now. Come on, let's go find Junko and Kin."
As they walked down the passage, they saw more and more paintings, some depicting skulls, while others depicted dead humans, and Grimm standing over them. The passage got notable more and more jagged as they walked. It must have been because of the giant Deathstalker from before, they reasoned.
"The paintings...They like like they're from before mankind found Dust..." Makoto murmured, staring at the drawings as they and Mukuro could only nod in awe, as the torch gave the paintings an ominous look. Eventually, they reached a small alcove where the broken stone just stopped, revealing a large smooth dome of stone. Kin and Junko were nowhere in sight. "Where the hell are they...?"
His answer came in panicked footsteps coming from a small passage at the very back of the dome, an ethereal glow coming from within, where Junko and Kin popped up, carrying a figure in a white cloak and constantly looking back.
"RUUUUUUUN!" Kin howled, "RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIVES, RIGHT NOW!"
10 minutes earlier...
"So you see anything in here?" Kin asked, as he waved the torch a bit, trying to see the more far-off parts of the dome. The two had arrived at the stone dome a few minutes ago, and were currently exploring it. Apart from a few Fire Dust Crystals Kin had immediately taken and handed some to Junko, and a few scraps of armor, there wasn't much.
"...There's something here." Junko replied, feeling a part of the rock wall in front of her.
"Hm? Really?"
"Yeah. See this part of the wall here? It feels different from the rest of the dome. It's rougher, and a bit grittier than the rest of the stone here."
"Hmmm...Wow, you're right. It's flaking off, too. I think whatever this is is dried and brittle as hell...Wanna break it?" Junko grinned, and held up Gray Zone.
"Only if you join in with me~" She replied. Drawing his knife, Kin grinned, and the two punched the brittle material with their weapons. The stuff cracked, like a stronger version of plaster, and they punched it again, breaking through, and the rest of the material broke into large flakes and fell onto the ground The hole revealed a small passage leading into the formation, with Dust Crystals glowing dimly enough to provide light lining the walls.
"Oh holy shit." Junko said, before she could stop herself. But who wouldn't say it with this sight before them? The Dust Crystals were beautiful, sparkling into what should have been a pitch-black tunnel. The glow from the Dust created an ethereal white light, like light underneath water.
"Whoa..." Kin gasped, "This is awesome...I'm gonna go see what's at the end of this tunnel, wanna come with me?" His expression turned to childish excitement as he looked at the dark passage, "Honestly, it's kinda like something's...calling me to the end of this tunnel..." His eyes went a bit dull, and he began to walk down the tunnel itself, being called by whatever was at the end.
"K-Kin. Kin, wait up! Where are you going?!" Junko yelled, running after him. Kin seemed to ignore her, walking down the tunnel, as his eyes searched constantly for something. She didn't know what, but there seemed to be a hint of the normal Kin, seeing as he kept motioning at Junko, beckoning her to follow him.
At the end of the tunnel was a large cavern, filled with jagged stone. In the middle of the cavern was an extremely deep chasm, that didn't seem like it belonged in the cave. The Dust lined the cavern where the chasm was from the floor to the ceiling, fully illuminating the sight before them.
Corpses.
Corpses piled upon corpses..
There were corpses stacked on top of decaying skeletons, rotting in the corners of the the cavern, fused to the very walls themselves, and more. Corpses that that should blocked off the light of the Dust, if it weren't for the fact that some of them had holes going through them. Corpses upon corpses upon corpses. But there was one thing all the corpses shared. They all had black mushrooms growing on them, whether it was on their hands or face, etc, they all had mushrooms on their body.
And all the while, Kin walked aimlessly towards the chasm, his eyes beginning to clear up, as he regained his mind.
"Wh...what the actual fuck...?" He breathed out, "What the actual fuck is this place...?" His face turned green, and he began to gag at the sight, and the smell, the sickly sweet smell of rot and decay, so overpowering in this little cavern. A groan came from the direction of the chasm, loud enough to alert Kin and Junko, who turned.
There was a woman in a dirty white cloak, groaning. She had no mushrooms growing on her, and appeared to be near-skeletal. She was bound by rotten vines that seemed somewhat strong, her head lolling from one side to the other, as her silver eyes moved around the cavern blearily. She was tied up a few feet away from the chasm, and kept upright, for some odd reason..
"What the...?" She grumbled, as Kin and Junko cautiously walked over to her, her silver eyes barely managing to focus on them, "H...How did you...find this place...?"
"Miss? What's going on? Where is this place?" Kin asked, his excitement having long since left him. Now, there was only fear and disgust.
'No despair...' Junko absentmindedly noted, as she paid attention to the woman.
"Y-You two...run...leave me and...save yourselves..." The woman gasped out, coughing, "Before it's too...late..."
"What? No! Damn it, my knife should cut through these vines!" Kin drew his knife and put it close to the vines, and the woman gasped.
"Wait, don't-"
Kin cut through the vines, and they fell to the woman's feet, useless. The woman stared at them in horror.
"...What...have you done...?" The woman gasped.
The ground rumbled.
The woman let out a panicked gasp.
And, as Junko watched in abject horror, the corpses began to get up.
"Run..." The woman wheezed. Acting impulseively, Kin grabbed the woman and lifted her up, before staggering. Junko went to help, the two lifting the woman and running back into the tunnel.
"Pape...Pape...Papeeeeeeeeeee!" The corpses screeched, before they all took off after the three.
And now, back to Makoto and the others
"What the hell are we running from?!" Makoto yelled, the five running as fast as they could, while Mukuro had taken the mysterious woman from Kin and Junko, and was carrying her bridal style. They exited the cave, as Kin and Junko looked back frantically.
"More importantly, who's this woman?! Where did you even find her?!" Mukuro asked, panting from the extra burden of carrying the woman while running at 20 miles per hour, "I know for sure she wasn't in that dome back there! Goddammit, Junko, did you somehow kidnap her or something-"
"SHUT UP!" Junko screeched, running her hands her hands through her hair, "GODDAMIT, EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP FOR A SECOND!"
Everyone paused, shocked. Even in the final trial, Junko had never sounded so desperate, so terrified in her life. She was frantically looking at the tunnel, while mumbling words under her breath. Meanwhile, Kin was checking over the woman, who had been breathing shallowly, but not too shallowly so that she seemed to be dying. She was still fine, it appeared.
"Kin!" Junko suddenly shouted, looking at the aforementioned Faunus angrily, "When we get back, you are so dead!" Kin gulped, but glanced at the tunnel.
"That can wait for later! Are any of them coming up the tunnel?" Kin asked, eying the tunnel, and Junko stayed silent, listening, before paling quickly.
"...We have to go. Now." She said, "Get that woman up, we have to go now! They're almost here!"
"What?! What's almost here?!" Sayaka asked. Before either of them could answer, there was a resounding crack that echoed from the cave. They all slowly turned towards the cave.
"Pape...Pape...PapepapepapepapePAPEPAPEPAPEPAPEPAPEEEEEEEEEEE!" A rotting corpse, covered in mushroom emerged from the cave, and Makoto gagged. Then another. And another. Corpse and after stalked out of the cave, staring balefully at the group of Hunters-to-be. Some were whole, and had a few bloodstains on them. Some were in pieces, dragging themselves towards the group. Some were partially fused into stone, using their hands to scrabble for them. All were dead. All had mushrooms growing on them. And all of them were very, very angry. As one, they opened their mouths and screeched.
"PAPE MYCOPHOBIA, ALEPPE!"
In a deep chasm in a cavern that did not belong, at the very bottom, far away from the forest, a single mushroom began to wriggle.
A/N: Yep. Splitting the Initiation into two parts, because I'm a lazy bastard. And because the Grimm Makoto and the others encounter is...well...
Let's just say even the white-cloaked woman who fought it wasn't able to beat it (Kudos to anyone who knows who she is.) But yeah, the Grimm I picked for Class 78 to fight is officially named 'Mycophobia'. Three guesses why, first two don't count. I'll make a little Omake detailing it's abilities in the next chapter, to avoid spoilers.
But this is it! Everyone's met up and partnered together, we have little mini-fights here and there (read: Class 78 slapping the Grimm around like fucking punching bags), and a unique five-man team due to a loophole in the rules. Hah! Suck it, Fanfiction, I managed to come up with a legit reason why there could be a five-man team in RWBY! *cockblock dance here*
Ozpin and Glynda are observing the students, and their reactions to Mycophobia will be...er...They'll be in the next chapter. Fuck you, procrastination. Fuck you.
Initiation was really a bit of filler, in my opinion. It was used to showcase everyone's combat abilities and teamwork, and there really wasn't any difficult fighting to be shown there. No challenges, or hardships, Hell, the Giant Grimm they fought, which are supposed to be B-rank, got absolutely trounced!
I'm changing that.
I'm giving Class 78 one of the hardest fights they'll ever have, divided into three 'stages', so to speak, and it's going to take up the entire next chapter. It's going to be a bit epic, there's gonna be lots of ass-kicking, and...Oops. Saying anymore would be spoiling it. But it'll be awesome. Count on it.
The shipping poll is still open, and the side ships I have are currently:
-Lancaster
-Dragonslayer
-Arkos (Pyrrha deserves some appreciation too)
The side ship poll will be made soon. Still waiting on more side ships, so suggest some, people!
And does anyone have Team names for the teams I'll make? I have MN, SM, MI, JE, and KS, for one team, and I'm still not sure who's teaming up with who other than those five. They have to be colors, as per Monty's color rule. Good luck. You'll definitely need it. If I can't get any colors, I guess I'll resort to my Plan B...
Anyways, with all that out of the way, you know the drill by now! If you have any questions, PM me or put it in the reviews, and I'll answer you as soon as possible! And if you find any mistakes in the chapter, please tell me so I can revise them! I hate having typos in my stories!
With that being said, this is Gold Magikarp, signing off! Peace!