Chapter 4

Theodore woke up refreshed after a good night's sleep. Heading to the bathroom he changed into his usual attire, brushed his hair and then followed the other students to where he was supposed to go. While looking for his locker he was constantly distracted from his search by a hyper active voice. Search for the source he found it was a girl his age following a boy the same age. She had orange hair and light blue eyes. Her wardrobe consisted of a white short shirt with some black in it and a small, heart shaped hole above her chest. The collar of the shirt had a Dracula look to it. Her arms had cut sleeves on them and her hands had pink, fingerless gloves. She also had a pink, short skirt that reached halfway, past her thighs. On the whole outfit looked like metal to keep everything in place.

Guess there is a thing about going into battle with style. Theodore thought to himself and continued to search for his locker. His search was interrupted again when he heard the girl talking again.

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal. Like a distress signal." The girl paused and took a gasp of breath "A secret signal so that we can find each other in the forest. Can you imitate a sloth?"

"Nora." Said a new voice that made Theodore pause his search and look at who just talked. It was a boy his age, the same height, purple eyes and black hair with a small strand of pinkish/purple in it. He wore what looked like a Chinese combat suit from one of the Jackie Chan movies he used to watch, only it was green with black and gold trims. The only thing that looked normal for a Chinese movie were his white pants. In his hands were two guns colored green with knives on the bottom.

Green must be his favorite color. Theodore thought.

"Yes, Ren?" The girl now known as Nora asked. Ren held up his arms, with the guns still in his hands, and somehow made them slip into the sleeves of his shirt without any trace of them being in there.

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." He answered. This caused a confused look on Nora's face which then turned to happiness.

"That's why it's perfect!" she exclaimed "No one will suspect we're working together."

"Come on Nora," Ren said while closing the locker "let's go."

"But not together, together." She replied while giggling and following Ren with a skip in her step.

Well that was weird. Theodore thought while finally finding his locker. Opening it with the code he was given, inside was his trench coat. Grabbing it, his put it on and then closed the locker. Looking around he saw Yang and Ruby a few steps away. He started walking over to them, getting their attention by waving and shouting "Morning."

"Morning." Both said with smiles on their faces. Theodore stopped in front of them.

"How did you sleep?" he asked.

"We slept fine." Ruby answered with a happy tone.

"Yeah, I needed the sleep for today." Yang said then turned to her sister "So, Ruby, you seem awfully jibber this morning."

"Heh, yup, no more awkward small talk or getting to know you stuff." She replied while pulling out Crescent Rose "Today, I get to let my sweetheart do all the talking."

Theodore looked a little creeped out to see Ruby hugging her weapon like it was the most precious thing in the world.

I feel sorry for the poor soul who would dare break that weapon. He thought.

"Well, remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation." Yang said, "If you want to grow up you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together."

Ruby gave a growl of annoyance before replying.

"You sound like dad." She said while putting away her weapon "OK first of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk."

"I don't think Yang means growing up physically Ruby." Theodore said, "I think she means growing up emotionally."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Growing up emotionally means you learn new things from other people. Whether it be from friends or total strangers."

"Exactly!" Yang exclaimed "Thank you, Theodore. Besides, Ruby, how will you be when we form teams?"

Teams?

"I don't know." Ruby replied, "I'll just be on your team…or something."

"Maybe, you should try being on someone else's team." Yang said nervously while playing with her hair.

Why do I get the feeling an argument is about to start?

"My dearest, sister Yang, are you implying you do not wish to be on the same team as me?!"

"What?! No, of course I do. I just thought…I don't know. Maybe it would help you break out of your shell."

"What the-?! I don't need to break out of my shell! That is absolutely- "

"Ridiculous!" Jaune interrupted, unintentionally, while walking past the girls and Theodore with a sheet of paper "There is no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday. I would have remembered having to count that high. Why does this have to happen today?"

"Hey Jaune!" Theodore called while walking to him "Need some help?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Theodore." Jaune replied "Sure, I could use some help. Just looking for my sword. Can't believe I lost it when initiation is about too- "

"Found it."

"You did?!"

"Yeah, locker 636."

"Thank you." Using the key, he was given Jaune opened his locker for his sword. Right as he grabbed his weapon, however, it slipped out of his grasp and started sliding on the floor.

"Oh, come on!" Jaune exclaimed.

"I got it!" Theodore stated and ran for the sword. Using his foot, he stopped the sword and grabbed it. While he was picking it up, however, he saw a pair of combat boots that he recognized. Standing up, he was met with the last person he wanted to run into.

"Ice princess." He said.

"Coinstritane." She replied.

"It's…Con-stan-tine."

"Constantine? As in Theodore Constantine?" asked a new voice.

Theodore looked past Weiss and saw another girl staring back at him with a look of surprise. She had red hair, that was tied into a bun and eyes as green as rubies. She wore a gold head piece that sort of looked like a crown. Her armor consisted of a bronze and gold breastplate, left arm guard and gold leg guards complete with dark red boots. She had a red mini skirt that stopped half-way past her thighs.

She could pass for an Amazon. He thought.

"Um…yes." He answered.

"Wait. You know him?" Weiss asked the girl.

"From the news." She replied "Haven't you heard of him? Last year when crime was on the rise in Vale it suddenly came to a halt. Criminals were being dropped off left and right at police stations. It was on every news channel."

Weiss gave a surprised look at Theodore.

"I honestly find that hard to believe." She said.

"Believe what you want. I don't care." Theodore replied then looked to the girl behind Weiss. "I'm sorry, I don't think we met. Hey, Jaune! Get over here!"

"Sorry, Theodore. What did I miss?" Jaune asked while running to Theodore's side. Turning his direction, he saw someone else next to Weiss and stuck out his hand to her. "Hello, I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

Really Jaune? Really? Theodore said while face palming himself.

"Hello, I'm Pyrrha Nikos." She replied while taking his hand and shaking it.

"So, how does this team thing I've been hearing about work?"

"From what I've heard, I think the teams are comprised of four students each. So- "

"You don't say." Jaune interrupted "Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you can join up with the winning team."

Please make it stop. Theodore pleaded. Luckily and sadly one person decided to stop the conversation but not in a nice way.

"Jaune, is it?" Weiss asked getting between the two "Do you have any idea who you are talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, ma'am." Jaune replied

"This is Pyrrha."

"Hello again." Pyrrha said.

"Pyrrha graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum." Weiss continued.

"Never heard of it." Jaune replied.

"She's won the Mistral Regional Tournaments four years in a row. A new record."

"The what?"

Weiss now supported an angry look on her face.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" she exclaimed while waving her arms around. Jaune let out a gasp of surprise from hearing this.

"That's you?!" he asked while pointing at Pyrrha "They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." Pyrrha replied "Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"So, after hearing all of this," Weiss asked Jaune "do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?"

"I guess not." Jaune said hanging his head down. "Sorry."

This girl is trying my patience! Theodore thought to himself. Before he could step in, however, Pyrrha beat him to the punch.

"Actually, Jaune" Pyrrha said while walking up to him and putting her right hand on his left shoulder "I think you'd make a great leader."

"Oh, stop it!" Jaune said immediately perking up. Theodore was about to head back to Ruby and Yang, with a smile on his face, when he saw Weiss walk up. The smile immediately turned into a frown.

"Seriously?" Weiss said "Please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged."

"Sounds to me like someone is jealous." Theodore said while walking up to Weiss and getting in her face "You bash Jaune simply because you think he is incapable of being a leader. I believe that with positive attitude like that, he could be a lot better than you."

"Alright, that's a bit too close." Weiss said than looked behind her "Pyrrha, a little help, please."

Pyrrha, out of instinct, immediately pulled out her weapon, which looked like a red and golden javelin and threw it at Theodore. She expected it to latch onto either his shirt or coat and pin him to the wall or one of the lockers. What she didn't expect was Theodore putting his right hand into the left part inside his coat to pull it out quickly, swatting the spear away, making it clatter to the floor and land right in front of Pyrrha. Looking at her weapon and then back at Theodore she was surprised to see what he had used to block it. It was a claymore sword. It had a shiny silver color to it, and it was big. The measurement was precisely 6'1" ft. What surprised her the most, however, was that he was holding it with one hand.

"Please," he asked while pointing the sword to her "be more careful where you throw that thing."

"O-o-of course." She stuttered "I'm sorry."

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation?" the speaker with Glynda Goodwitch's voice sounded. "Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"Well, good luck out there." Pyrrha answered while grabbing her weapon. Theodore just answered with a nod while holding his sword onto his shoulder. Weiss quickly walked out of there mostly from fear of being near Theodore with that weapon in his hand. Pyrrha shortly followed, but not before turning to Jaune and saying, "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise." Jaune replied while smiling. Once she was out of side, he immediately turned to Theodore.

"How did you do that?" he asked, "And with a weapon that big no less."

"Lots of practice." He answered casually. He then saw Ruby and Yang walking up to them with looks of surprise on their own faces. Ruby's face, however, immediately switched from surprise to fascination.

"Is that your weapon?!" she asked excitedly.

"Yes, it is." Theodore replied, "I'll give you the details later."

Pulling the leftmost of his coat open, Theodore positioned the sword at the middle pocket of three and to everyone's surprise put it completely in there. The three soon to be students had looks of shock on their face.

"Oh, by the way Jaune, here's your sword." Theodore said breaking Jaune out of his stupor to take his sword and put it in its sheath.

"Uhhhhh…thanks." Jaune replied.

"Well, let's get to the cliffs. We don't want to be late." With that said Theodore left the locker straight to where the initiation would begin. It took a total of five seconds for the three to process his words before chasing after him, their heads full of questions.

The cliff side to where the initiation would take place was to say a long walk. To Theodore, however, the view once someone got there was breathtaking. The forest was plain view and it showed mountains and the sky had almost no clouds.

Wish I had my camera. He thought to himself. Once he got to the cliff, he was told by Professor Goodwitch, who was waiting for all the students with Professor Ozpin, to stand on what looked like a memorial stone. It had two olive leaves facing away from one another and two axes crossing each other.

This must be Beacon's emblem. He thought. He was chased out of his thinking, however, when Ozpin spoke.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors." He started, "Today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

That's a nice name. Theodore thought.

"Now, I'm sure many of you had heard rumors about the assignment of teams." Glynda continued, "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."

Theodore heard an uncomfortable 'what' from Ruby. He was on Jaune's left while Ruby was on Jaune's right, so sadly he couldn't assure her she was going to be fine.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin spoke, "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Ruby gave out a groan of discomfort.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Oh shoot. Theodore thought I hope I don't get paired with Weiss Schnee, the Ice Princess.

"What?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"See, I told you." Nora said to Ren.

"After you've partnered up," Ozpin continued, "make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

"Well, that's comforting." Theodore said to himself sarcastically. Jaune chuckled nervously and then gulped out of fear.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation," Ozpin went on, "but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple with the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We'll regard that item, as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, um sir…" Jaune said while raising his hand.

"Good." Ozpin said not hearing Jaune, "Now, take your positions."

Positions? Theodore thought, what does he mean by…oh shoot. Looking down at where he was standing and seeing everyone take positions he figured out how they were getting down the cliff with a look of horror on his face. These aren't memorial stones…They're launching pads! Is he crazy?! This cliff must be at least a 600-900 ft. drop!

"Uh…sir?" Jaune said nervously "I've got a…a question."

One by one each student was being launched into the forest, Weiss being the first.

"So, this…landing strategy thing. Uh, wha…what is it? You're like…dropping us off or something."

"Jaune, are you really that dense?" Theodore asked quietly.

"No." Ozpin answered Jaune, "You will be falling."

Falling?! Theodore thought That's what he says?! Catapulted is the better word! The next student was launched.

"Oh, I see." Jaune said "So, like…did you hand out parachutes for us?"

That would be nice. Theodore hoped. Nora was then launched shouting for joy as if she were on a roller coaster. Only four more students and then Jaune would know exactly how this works.

"No." Ozpin answered, "You will be using your own land strategy."

"Uh-huh. Yeah." Jaune answered. The next student was then launched. Yang was then catapulted to the forest, shouting 'WOO-HOO', followed by Ruby who smirked in Jaune's and Theodore's direction, the look saying, 'I'm going to beat this initiation,' Before being launched.

"So, um, what exactly is a landing strateGYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Jaune finished the last part screaming as he was launched into the forest. It was now Theodore's turn.

"Here goes nothing." He said and shouted right as he was launched, "GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"