Disclaimer: I've already made my point regarding these, and so I won't bother with any more.
SHOWTIME!
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Chapter 4: Into the Semi-Forbidden Woods
XXXX The Dream XXXX
Like many nights before, Jaune came to the Dream to visit Marie, and to uncover more information. He would have also invested echoes, but he had not acquired any since his last visit.
The time that Jaune spent here seemed inconsistent. Sometimes, he could spend hours poring over tomes and chatting with Marie over tea, and others would only feel like a few minutes before 'dawn was approaching'. It seemed like only Marie, formerly known as the Doll, the permanent resident of the Dream could properly keep track of time. For each night he visited, he would reluctantly leave on her call, and would awaken at the same time each day.
"Welcome back, Jaune."
Greeting his nocturnal companion, Jaune was still unsure about how he felt about her. As he grew stronger through the Dream, so too did Marie to a certain degree. Her form was slightly more life-like. The lines that signified her joints had faded, looking more like fingers with odd tattoos than jointed wood and porcelain. Her complexion had gained some color; a pale tone due to lack of sunlight instead of painted porcelain. But what had changed the most was her expression, meaning that she could have more than one.
As Marie and Jaune spent more time with each other, Marie learned how to express more emotions more freely, although it was still a work in progress. Overall, her personality reminded Jaune of a more curious version of his eldest sibling.
Together, the two went into the workshop to have a cup of tea. It was a surprise that the flavor changed every night, usually a good quality, but sometimes not to their tastes. It would have become a game between the two, had Jaune's refined palate and superior sense of smell not have been an overwhelming advantage.
"So… Jasmine today? Haven't had that for a while." Jaune said to break the mildly awkward silence as they sat at the table as she poured into two glasses.
"Indeed. It was after you had killed your first C-class, how you say, 'solo'. You were quite excited about that." Marie remarked as she took a sip.
Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah. It felt like an achievement." Rubbing his right side, "Though that bastard did give me a present to congratulate me."
With her now customized faint smile, "Well, it must have been very proud of you to kill it. It is most unfortunate that you could not send it a…what did you call it… a card? As thanks."
Chuckling, Jaune replied, "It's still a bit strange to see your sense of humor, given how you were when we first met. Strange, but welcome."
"Indeed, Jaune. Though this-, I am not ungrateful, but why do you come here so often? Do you not wish to dream normally."
"I know that I should, but I told you why I'm hesitant to do so."
A week after Jaune accidentally unlocked Beast and Beast's Embrace, Jaune took the time to research, which meant check the in game description and usage of the two runes. Needless to say that Jaune was not calm about his theories.
In Bloodborne, Beast allowed the character to hit harder with a higher Beasthood level, and when it hit maximum, it allowed a transformation into a beast-like form, similar to Gascoigne. Coupled with that, Beast's Embrace allowed a permanent Beasthood state. 'Truly a case of bad luck made doubly worse when I unlocked both. But they're so close together on the altar that I don't think that even if I wanted to unlock one I would have been unable to refuse the other.'
But to the back to the issue Marie pointed out, his hesitation to dream. After a few weeks of training and killing, his dreams grew more sanguine. Blood, carnage, and chaos were becoming more common until about half of his nights were what most considered nightmarish, and they only grew more violent as he grew stronger. Deciding not to flip that coin, he spent every night that he could in the Hunter's Dream. When he woke up, his body would be well rested, so it seemed like a no brainer. 'Until I got all 16 runes.'
Agreeing with his companion, "You're right. I should at least dream for a few hours. I wouldn't want to be rude."
"Very well. Take care, and good fortune tomorrow."
With a nod, Jaune stood up, walked to the field of flowers that he had first 'awakened' in a year ago, and laid down on the ground to dream.
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XXXX Flashback, 1 year into training XXXX
As Jaune dripped echoes into the last available basin, several things happened at once, most of which Jaune had expected. The basin flattened out as smooth as the rest of the altar, leaving the top surface flawless for the first time. The rune grew darker in color, and faintly glowed gold in the center. A now familiar burning on indicated that the rune was now being inscribed on his scalp. 'Ha, Eye on the back of my head. Someone does has a sense of humor.'
All of that was expected, but what Jaune did not anticipate was a small book of a size similar to a journal materializing upon the altar, directly over Moon, prompting the logical "What the fuck?"
Jaune picked up the book to take a closer look. It was bound in a naturally white leather that was, which made the red Moon rune really pop on the cover, as well as its title, which was also in red. 'The Codex of Oedon? So is this like a manual or something, because I really hope so. I liked the cryptic mystery when it was just a game. When it's real life… not so much.'
Opening up the book to skim, Jaune felt some excitement and disappointment. One the one hand, it seemed like he could read every word on its pages, which was very much appreciated when most books in the Dream were still gibberish.
The disappointment came from the contents of the codex. It was not, as Jaune had first thought, a manual that would guide him and answer most of his questions regarding the changes he had undergone. Instead… 'A religious and or philosophy text, really? Why would a portion of my soul construct this for me?'
Flipping through some pages, the layout reminded Jaune a bit of the 'Scriptures of Oum'. It was mostly the usual poetry and vague phrasing, until one phrase at the beginning caught his eye.
You who read this have received the Blessing of Oedon, beloved goddess of the moon and of the Hunt. Through your resolve and through her medium, you have gained the favor of the Great Formless One. But beware the frailty of men, for more of yourself than you realize has been awakened. Only through your dedication to Oedon's path may you tame what lurks beneath.
"Starting with the fear mongering right away, I see, but at least I have a better name for my semblance than Bloodborne. I might have been sued for what little copyright Gomez has."
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XXXX Spring M1 W1 D4 XXXX
'Memory dreams might be a bit annoying at times, but I'll take pretty much anything over… those.' It was early the next morning when Jaune woke up in the ballroom, so early in fact that dawn was a few minutes away from beginning. But because of his training and other reasons, Jaune awoke before the sun nearly every day for his routine.
After he had found the codex in the Dream, he awoke the subsequent morning to find an identical, physical copy in his hands. Needless to say, Jaune took the idea of Oedon quite seriously after that point, especially after Jaune asked his brother-in-law about it.
As it turned out, there was once a prominent religion that worshipped Oedon. The difficulty in proving its existence was that it was so ancient that it had died out when the moon shattered, an theorized event that predated almost every historical record found to date. 'After all, it's hard to hold on to faith in a deity symbolized by the moon when the moon suddenly shatters. But now's not the time for that.'
Not only that, their civilization was discovered in the darkest corners of the world, where few dare to tread.
Jaune looked around and saw that he was not the only early riser. A few others had the same idea as he did to mentally prepare for Initiation in a few hours. After getting dressed and practicing his daily hygiene, Jaune walked outside to the courtyard's statue and began his routine with a few stretches. After that, Jaune sat down cross-legged, facing and looking at the still visible fragmented moon, and focused intensely on it to begin meditation.
While most forms of meditation had the eyes closed to facilitate an inward focus, Jaune learned this method from the Codex he kept in a pouch on the backside of his waist belt. Technically, it was another form of prayer, but that was just semantics, as to Jaune, they accomplished the same goal of providing a calm center and to focus his mind like a whetstone for a blade.
When dawn finally broke, he made his way for some breakfast.
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In the dining hall, Jaune saw that most people were now awake and in various states of dress. Looking around, he spotted a rather energetic, orange-haired girl focusing her attention on a black-haired boy clad in green who looked like he was an inch away from sleep's sweet embrace. 'She's like Rouge before we forbade her from drinking coffee. And is she slurping pancakes like noodles? I must admit, that is impressive.'
Continuing his search, he found the two siblings he met yesterday. Ruby seemed wide awake and was eating energetically, while Yang looked half-dead chugging an iced coffee. Walking until he was behind them, he leaned forward with a wicked smile and spoke next to the other blonde's ear, "Good morning sleepyhead~!"
The sisters jumped with a high-pitched yelp and turned to glare at whoever had surprised them. Seeing their newest friend, Yang asked him with a complaining groan, "Why, Jaune? Just… why?"
His smile not dropping an inch as he sat down across the table from them and began consuming his own breakfast, "It was funny, well for me anyway. I'm guessing you're not a morning person?"
Frowning, Yang replied, "Not at all, and it's all her fault. Ruby, why would you wake me at this unyangly hour?"
After a near obligatory groan at the pun, Ruby regained her cheerfulness and answered, "Good morning Jaune! I'm so excited for today. I get to let my fighting do all the talking for me."
Jaune, finishing his second of four breakfast burritos, "I would hate to kill your good mood, but… You are aware that we are formed into teams, right?"
By her horrified look, Ruby had been unaware. Yang, in an effort to help her out, changed the subject, "So Jaune, you put on a good show last night."
"But I didn't… Oh, you mean the body enhancements?" Jaune realized after a brief moment of thought, referring to his scars and ink.
"Yeah, those. Why all the ink?" Yang wanted to focus on those marks, as it was more likely to be a lighter topic to ask about. Tattoos are usually from positive experiences, proud moments, and happy reminders, that sort of thing.
"The better question is why not?" Not really an answer, but thought provoking all the same. "They are rather fetching, aren't they?"
"Trying to compensate for a lack down below by looking pretty?" Yang asked suggestively.
"Care to find out?" He responded straight-faced.
They both turned to the youngest of the trio, who had been blushing ever since the reminder of last night, and it only worsened with their suggestive dialogue. With her on the verge of blowing steam out of her ears, the two blondes laughed in good jest.
Jaune was the one to try and calm her down, "Relax, Ruby, it's all in good fun."
With her face looking less like a lobster, Ruby asked, "Do you two have to talk like that? It's so embarrassing having to hear that."
"All right, we'll tone it down a bit for now. It's time to gear up anyway. Initiation starts soon." With that, they finished their meals and walked to the locker rooms. Or at least they would have, had a familiar voice not called out to them, "Excuse me."
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Since coming to Beacon, Weiss was having a terrible time. First, almost a fifth of her Dust supply had exploded. She knew now that it was an accident, despite what she had said earlier, but she had raised the funds on her own in an effort to achieve some financial independence, and it was frustrating so see such a large chunk of it immediately go to waste. Then that blond haired boy came in and defended the other girl, worsening her mood.
That doesn't even cover how much shame she had felt and still feels after their second confrontation. That boy, Jaune she remembered, had utterly destroyed her in front of quite a few people.
Weiss was aware of several issues and personal flaws due to her friend, Bianca, and she had put in significant effort to be the better person that Bianca said that she could be, but it seemed that it wasn't enough and now she had lost whatever positive reputation she might have had with her future peers.
Worst of all, she had lost her friend. Bianca had helped her through a lot during her employment, and she missed her dearly. After she had left to go back home, though, the role of primary influence went back to her father, and that reversed much of the progress that the seamstress had made.
She had barely gotten any sleep last night due to the maelstrom of emotions that was a result of yesterday. Barely able to eat her breakfast, so deep in thought, she completely missed the interactions of the three a few seats down from her. 'I really must apologize. At least I'm able to recognize that I was in the wrong yesterday. But when that boy compared me to my father… No. It won't do any good alienating myself anymore than I already have. But after what I did, what can I possibly say to show that it'll be my honest?'
Getting up to go gear up, she saw the two that she wanted to talk to the most at the moment walked past her without even noticing her. 'No time like the present, one thing I agree with my father on.'
Raising her voice to gain their attention, though carefully to not imply aggression, "Excuse me."
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Jaune turned around and saw Weiss Schnee behind them, wanting to talk to them. But something about her was off, namely the fact that she looked terrible. 'She looks like hell. She likely didn't get much sleep after what had happened. Did I go too far?'
Jaune put aside his concerns for the girl's well-being and asked in a neutral tone, "What do you want now, Miss Schnee? I would think that you would want nothing to do with us lowly peasants, after what had occurred yesterday." Yang merely observed, while Ruby looked at Weiss with pity.
She seemed to look even worse after that, "It's just… I wanted to apologize to the both of you. I was completely out of line yesterday, and there's no excuse for that, or for anything I had said yesterday."
After a few moments of silence, Ruby replied with concern, "Are you all right, Weiss? You don't look so good."
"Not really, Ruby was it? I had almost forgotten what my best friend was trying to tell me, and it cost me dearly. I had hoped that… we could start with a clean slate, since we'll be colleagues for the next few years, and possibly after."
Jaune looked to his two companions, "Could you give us a minute, you two?"
With both of them nodding, they took a few steps away in an effort to give the two a bit of privacy. Jaune turned back to Weiss, "You know, you insulted my family, and I'm not a fan of bullies. I do not forget that sort of thing."
"I know, Jaune. Bianca talked a lot about her family. She was kind to me, and helped me a lot through-" Jaune raised a hand to interrupt her.
"You don't have to say any more if you don't want to. We've only just met yesterday after all, and not in the best of circumstances. That being said, this really wasn't my idea to do this."
Confused, Weiss asked, "What do you mean, not your idea?"
Jaune continued, not answering her question. "However, I see that I might have been overzealous in my execution, and I do regret that to some degree. I can have a bad temper at times, and I absolutely despise bullies, but what's done is done. I have a gift for you."
Reaching into a pocket, he handed Weiss a folded slip of paper, which she saw contained a scroll number and the phrase, 'Sometimes there's too much white'.
Jaune held out his hand, "I'd wait until after Initiation, if you want my advice. But I think that she'll answer."
Weiss rubbed her eyes, and shook the offered hand "Thank you, Mister Arc."
"It's Jaune, and good hunting today."
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Arriving at the locker room, Ruby had some trouble with Jaune's explanation of what had just happened, "So, just to make sure I get it, your sister asked you to do that in order to help her?"
Jaune nodded, "If I deemed it necessary, yes. She told me what to look for, and I might have been a bit quick to judge, if an apology the day after is any indication, but better safe than sorry."
"But why do it at all?" Yang asked.
"It was my price for the outfit."
Whatever answer they were expecting, it hadn't that, "Your outfit?"
Jaune nodded to assure them that what he said was indeed what they had heard, "Sure, my sister made it, but I'd never ask her to work for free. So I owed her a favor, and she cashed it in with her request." Changing the subject, "I need to go to my locker. I'll catch up with you later."
Both girls replied, "Bye, Jaune! Good luck today!"
"Well he's not as mean as I thought." Ruby remarked after he walked away, opening her locker for her weapon and ammo.
"He must put a lot of stock into family. I can respect that… Shit!" Yang remembered that she had forgotten something as she equipped Ember Celica gauntlets.
Worried that her sister forgot something important, Ruby asked frantically, "What is it, Yang? Did you forget your favorite hairbrush?"
Yang scoffed at the idea. "No, I'm good with that. He deflected my asking about his body decorations, and I didn't even notice."
Ruby smiled at her sister's persistence, "It's okay, it's not like we'll never see him again. We can ask him later. I'm a bit curious too."
"Oh-ho! You admit that you're curious about a boy's body. Dad would have kittens about your crush."
Ruby blushed yet again, "YAAAANG!"
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The interaction between Weiss and the others had not gone unnoticed to her and likely a few others. Blake was torn between her first impressions and her preconceived notions of the Schnee family, and what she had just seen in regards to the heiress. 'A Schnee apologizing is not something I expected to see today, but at least she seemed genuine. Now as for the other…'
The blond man intrigued her. Going so far for his family, and holding others accountable for their actions, regardless of their status. 'For humans, at least. I'll have to wait and see his opinions of Faunus.'
With that, the disguised Faunus gabbed her weapons and headed out.
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After her apology and tentatively gaining forgiveness from Jaune, Weiss felt much better, like a weight had been lifted. She was a bit worried about her mild sleep-deprivation, but she had gone through worse in training. Walking to her locker and grabbing her Multi Action Dust Rapier, Myrtenaster, she spotted a familiar figure close by inspecting her own armor.
Walking up to the redhead, she asked, "Excuse me, are you Pyrrha Nikos?"
"Oh, hello. Good morning." The identified redhead named Pyrrha responded after turning around.
"Hello, I'm Weiss Schnee. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The two prospective Huntresses shook hands. Weiss asked, "So, if you don't mind me asking, why did you come to Beacon if you're from Mistral?"
Smiling politely, Pyrrah responded, "Well, actually, it was recommended to me by my mentor."
"Vermil 'Red Viper' Martell, right?"
"That's right. How did you know that?"
"I'm… actually a big fan of yours. I was very impressed with your tournament fights." Weiss looked a bit embarrassed at the confession, with a dust of pink on her cheeks.
"Well thank you, that's very kind of you. Anyway, my mentor told me about how important new experiences were. I believe his exact words were, 'Most people only see, live, and die in the tiny corner of Remnant that they're born in. Don't be most people.' "
Weiss, blinking in surprise, "That's quite inspiring. I had a similar thought instead of going to Atlas Academy."'Although it was for less positive motivations.' "So I've heard rumors about teams. What are your thoughts on the matter?"
Pyrrah, maintaining her civil disposition, "I'm not sure. I think I'll just wait and see what happens."
"Well, I was hoping that-"
Before Weiss could finish her offer to be teammates, a familiar face interrupted her.
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Jaune looked around for his locker. He was late in line for the lockers, so his locker was almost on the other side of the room from the entrance. He passed by the amusing duo of the straight man and the energetic girl, who was going on about sloths for some reason. 'They must have come here together for him to be so comfortable with her antics. Never mind that, I need my weapons. I don't feel like being underprepared today.'
Going by the locker numbers, Jaune's gaze shifted to where his locker should be. He found it, and it was right behind two girls chatting, one of which was the Schnee girl. 'Seriously, how many times am I going to run into her today? This is just painfully awkward, even for me. Might as well get this over with. Who knows, this might even be a somewhat positive encounter. The law of averages demands it. Who is she talking to? She seems familiar for some reason.'
The one talking to Weiss can easily stand out in a crowd, with her waist-length, vibrant red hair, above-average height, and vivid green eyes. Unlike most students Jaune had seen recently, this girl wore armor. A top that's brown on the top layer, split vertically in the middle to show a bronze colored V-neck.
The rest of her armor consists of were thigh-high bronze greaves, a gorget around her neck, a bronze circlet hairpiece, and a bracer on her left arm, likely for the shield on her back. She completed her outfit with an elastic red miniskirt, high-heeled boots that reach her mid-calf, and brown opera-length gloves. Around her waist was a belt with a red sash that draped from her icon of a spear bisecting a circle.
Her weapons, an elaborate red and bronze short sword, as well as a bronze shield, were resting on her back. 'Don't see many who use a shield nowadays. Most prefer speed and/or strength than to utilize a defensive option. A spar would be an interesting experience.'
He approached his locker and the two girls standing right in front of it. Deciding to be more civil for the moment in front of someone he didn't know, Jaune politely asked, "Excuse me, could you both move a bit? This is my locker." Pointing at the aforementioned locker next to them to emphasize his point.
Both did a little jump and began to reach for their respective weapons before remembering where they were, relaxed, and silently complied with Jaune's request as he went to his locker.
Pyrrha was inwardly nervous, 'How did he approach us without either of us noticing? I didn't hear a single footstep from him. He almost has a complete lack of presence right now. Wait, this is the man that had that scene with Weiss here, and the guy with…'
She faintly blushed at remembering Jaune from last night with his appearance, not to mention all of the scars and tattoos. 'But why does he have so many scars? Doesn't he have aura to protect him?'
"Sorry about that, you just startled us." She put her musings aside as she apologized for her jumpiness.
"It's all right. I tend to have that effect." Opening his locker, and after a brief moment of consideration, decided to carry all of the tools and weapons that he had equipped yesterday, as well as a dagger that rested on the small of his back under his coat.
Both girls were intrigued by all of the weapons and other things that Jaune seemed to intend to bring to Initiation. Briefly looking into his rocket combat locker, they were stunned to find more weapons before he closed the door, including a folded spear.
Focusing his attention back on them, he raised an eyebrow. "Something I can help you with, ladies?"
Pyrrha, again, was the one to respond, "Sorry, it's just that I've never seen one person with that many weapons."
"I get that a lot as well. What I carry is my personal preference, but I practice with the others just in case I need them. I'd rather have something and not need it, than need it and not have it, you know."
The redhead nodded, "I can see that. Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Pyrrha. It's nice to meet you." She reached out for a handshake.
"Likewise, and I'm Jaune. Ready for Initiation?" He returned the gesture with a firm grip.
"Indeed."
Throughout this exchange, Weiss stood there bewildered. This was the Pyrrha Nikos, and the two were just chatting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. She had to muster a considerable amount of courage to talk with who's basically a celebrity, and Jaune just strolled up like it was nothing. She was too curious to not find out why.
"Jaune, do you know who you are talking to?" She made sure that her tone carried no hostility or waspishness.
After a brief glance at Weiss to show that he acknowledged her question, he studied the face of the girl in front of him like an interesting puzzle for a few brief seconds. Not bothering to turn to Weiss, he answered, to the surprise of both of them, and to hidden relief, "This is Pyrrha. We just gave each other our names, and you were here for that. Should I know her from somewhere else?"
'Why did this redhead suddenly look relieved? Is she a celebrity or a criminal or something? Likely the former, since they seemed amicable.'
Regaining and adding to her composure, Weiss took it upon herself to formally introduce an icon of their generation. "This is Pyrrha Nikos."
"Hello again" Pyrrha said while briefly waving and gaining a slightly stiffer posture. "She won the Mistral Regional Tournament four times in a row, a new record."
"Huh. Congratulations, but I didn't watch any of them. I was too busy in other pursuits to watch others fight."
"Thank you, and that's quite all right." Pyrrha smiled, but not at all offended by his honesty.
Bewildered once again, Weiss continued, "She graduated Sanctum Academy at the top of her class."
"Didn't go there, or any of the other academies for that matter."
Putting that revelation aside due to her growing frustration aside at not getting the response she anticipated, she raised her voice and waved her arms, "She's on Pumpkin Pete's Cereal and was personally mentored by the 'Red Viper' himself. How can you or anyone not recognize her?"
'Wonderful. Looks like I came to Beacon for nothing. Now he's going to be like everyone else in Mistral. Why can't fame just leave me alone?' As Weiss and Jaune looked at each other during their conversation, they did not notice Pyrrha become more and more dejected, though carefully hidden, as Weiss continued, tuning out Jaune's responses as she had and internal monologue.
Unexpectedly, no such eureka moment occurred. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell. I've heard of Vermil, though. Perhaps we could spar sometime?"
"I'd like that, Jaune. Good luck to you."
"Likewise, and a good hunt for you as well Weiss."
Taking a brief pause to refocus, Weiss replied, "Right, Initiation's starting soon. Thank you, and to you as well."
The PA speakers crackled to life as an announcement came with Goodwitch's voice. "All Initiates must report to the cliffs within five minutes. I repeat, all Initiates must report to the cliffs within five minutes. Tardiness will result in dismissal."
As Pyrrha and Weiss left in a rush, Jaune did a final check on his gear, and found that he had forgotten something. Going back into his locker, he pulled out sword, Orion. The blade was 22 inches long. The hilt differed from most katana, and looked to be made for a longsword with its waisted, double-handed grip. The guard was also in a longsword style, formed like a small bar, but it was only extended on the bladed side with the end hooking up. There was also a thick, round pommel with the Moon rune etched in red on both sides.
Holstering the sword on a magnetic-like clasp, as he did not have or need a sheath for it on his hip, he made haste to the cliffs.
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All of the Initiates were standing by the cliffs on square metal platforms, and all were focused on Headmaster Ozpin standing before them, awaiting his instructions.
In the same flat tone as before, "You have all trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest, where that training will be put to the test. Usually, you all would be tasked to find an artifact in ruins north of here and return with said artifact."
Pausing for a moment to take a sip of tea out of his mug, "However, today marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of the founder of Beacon, my father, Gehrman. To honor his memory, I have decided to use his original idea for Initiation. This year, it will be more difficult than any other year. Instructions will be sent to your scrolls as you complete certain tasks. Your first task will begin as soon as you land."
Taking another sip, and adopting a more serious tone "Professors and other Beacon staff will observe you all, but we will not interfere until your Initiation is complete. Remnant does not offer a safety net, and so neither will we. Do not hesitate to destroy all obstacles on your path… or you will die. And so, in the words of my father, 'the night will be long, and it will be dark. So go out and Hunt; it's for your own good.' "
And with those… inspiring words, all of the platforms the aspiring students were standing on shifted in position, revealing them to be launching pads. They took ready positions, and were launched one after another into the air with a rapid-fire staccato. Goodwitch pulled out an enlarged scroll to observe the students as they landed; while Ozpin turned to watch the temporarily flying students prepare their various landing strategies, and even a few enjoying the experience. 'Ah…to be young again.'
As Jaune was launched, a feral smile grew on his face with a large rush of adrenaline coursed through his veins, both from his flight and the anticipation of what will come after landing. "Let the Hunt begin once more!"
As Jaune reached the apex of his flight, he pulled out Orion to pinch and twist the pommel. Acting as a switch, an inner mechanism in the pommel split the blade into two equal halves, with one side rotating on two different axes to form a twin-blade. Once settled, the pommel also split in twain and each half slid along the hilts and blades to stop at the points. When they stopped, a red string shot out and connected the two gear mechanisms. In a split second seconds, what was once a katana had become a bow-blade, revealing the origin of the name as being based off of a Huntsman that had fought alongside Jaune's father. 'Good thing I practiced with this so often. I almost cut my leg off the first time I tried.'
Reaching into a pouch on his belt with his right hand, he pulled out a marble sized, silver-colored metal ball that had flakes of red on and in it. With Oedon Writhe and Formless Oedon, Jaune had gained the knowledge and ability to create and use what he liked to call 'quicksilver bullets'.
Reaching to the sharp point of the arrow rest, Jaune pricked his thumb and partially coated the bullet in his blood, causing it to lose its solid state. Quickly pulling back, the bullet formed an arrow as he drew back the bowstring. As he waited to fall closer to the tree line, Jaune took aim and released the bowstring, sending the arrow with a thin red string to sink deeply into a thick tree limb in front of and below him.
Grabbing the string, Jaune shifted Orion back into its katana form and placed it back on his hip. When he reached the end of the swing, Jaune released the string and after another moment in the air, landed on another tree limb, luckily thick enough to support his weight. Jumping back to the arrow, he saw the red line had lost its form to become a few drops of blood on the forest floor.
Grabbing the arrow, it lost its structure again and returned to its original form of a small sphere. Jaune then loaded it into Evelyn, preparing for a situation where he might need to quickly fire it. 'Waste not, want not.'
In Jaune's mind, quicksilver was much better than Dust-propelled and/or infused ammunition. While it may not be as diverse, it certainly packed a punch in its own right.
When Jaune had unlocked the two Caryll runes associated with quicksilver in the game together, a book jumped from its place on the bookshelf to the altar. Opening it, Jaune had gained a rush of insight. After skimming the pages, he confirmed the information dump and had learned a few things that had expanded his knowledge and skill set, such as the arrow retrieval and the blood-line, for lack of a better name. However, the latter was only discovered after investing more in blood quality, but they were echoes well spent. 'I wonder what my landing strategy would have been had I not learned that. Now's not the time for that though. It would seem that I have a welcoming party.'
Said welcoming party was a dozen beowolves, led by a larger Grimm of the same type. As the normal, smaller Grimm were stalked on four legs, the one that was twice their size seemed more comfortable with a hunched over, bipedal walk. It had more armor than the decade-class beowolves, especially around the shoulder and rib-like chest armor. Its paws also had bone gauntlets with cruel, sharp claws. The mask had the red markings that denoted it as a century class (C-class), and the leader of this pack. Drawn by the scent of blood, they were searching for the source, but none of them looked up for the Hunter in the tree. Ignoring the brief vibration of his scroll, Jaune began to formulate a plan of attack. 'I should get the big one first, disorient its pack. Easy pickings.'
With a rudimentary plan, Jaune took out Orion in its bow form. Pulling out another quicksilver bullet, he formed an arrow and fired it. Jaune's aim was true and it went almost clean through the C-class's shin. He could have gone for a headshot, but that would not have been as fun.
As it roared, the rest of the pack all turned to address the sudden noise. Jaune grew a feral grin at the Grimm's pain, and jumped down. As he was falling, he shifted Orion back into its sword form and jammed the sword into one of the longer, flatter sheath on his back. As the blade locked into place with a click, the sheath expanded to become a greatsword almost as wide as a kite shield. 'It's Ludwig's turn.'
Unlike Ludwig's Holy Blade in the game, this iteration of Ludwig had no ornamentations on the blade. With the metal gleaming silver and red, Jaune held the blade facing down and impaled the first Grimm through the neck, decapitating the Grimm due to the blade's size. One down, ten more to go and then it would just be him and the big guy.
At the sound of Jaune's landing, the two closest Grimm turned and snarled at their 'prey', quick to charge recklessly at the Hunter. With an invigorated battle craze, Jaune charged in kind, swinging Ludwig with a horizontal slash to catch the pair, slicing both of their heads clean at their eyes, the fresh corpses quickly evaporating. Some of the vapor drew close to Jaune as he inhaled the refreshing scent of rot. If Grimm had any visible organs, brain matter would have splattered everywhere. 'Likely for the best that they don't. I don't want chunks all over my new threads.'
Another peculiar trait after increasing his blood quality and arcane stats was that every attack he landed created a bloody splatter as if he was attacking beings of flesh and blood, rather than Grimm or aura-shielded warriors. After seeing that, his father told him that semblances sometimes passively manifested aura constructs as they were used. Jaune had yet to see another person use their semblance actively, so he took it with a grain of salt.
Mildly distracted by his thoughts and the 'blood', he was unable to completely avoid a claw swipe. Instead of shearing his face of, two thin gashes formed on his cheek. Snapping out of it, he quickly retaliated with an angry stab through its chest, and then spun the blade in a circle to throw the added mass at the nearest Beowolf, staggering it. As the Grimm projectile evaporated, the Guidance rune briefly glowed under his clothes and the wound disappeared, leaving a virtually invisible scar to show that it was ever there.
Deciding to prioritize speed in this scenario, he spun Ludwig to eviscerate a Grimm that tried to flank him as he attacked its brethren, ending the spin with Ludwig on his back and Orion in his right hand. Reaching behind him, Jaune unsheathed his dagger, a Bowie-style 9-inch blade.
Jaune spread out his arms to the circling pack that had just received an injured 'Alpha' and had sustained four casualties. Four of them stayed in place between the Hunter and their injured leader as it ripped the arrow out of it leg and slowly began to heal, and the other four began to charge in until a gunshot came from the trees above them. Taking advantage of the Grimm's distraction and leaving half of the pack to his unexpected reinforcements to go after the Alpha, Jaune went on the offense. 'I'll thank them after this is over.'
His first attack was a thrust of his dagger under the left-most Grimm's jaw; it quickly went up and pierced its 'brain'. Quickly sidestepping a claw swipe from the nearest Grimm, Jaune dashed again but towards it and stabbed Orion through its 'heart'. Viscerally tearing out his sword through its chest with a satisfyingly large amount of 'blood' painting the forest floor, Jaune dashed again between the two remaining beowolves and spun with his blades making quick work of the last two of the 'Alpha guard'. Jaune, observing his next prey, saw that the Alpha was almost fully healed and glaring at him with the unquenchable hatred and hunger commonplace to them.
Noticing that the gunshots had stopped, he briefly looked back and saw that the other Grimm were evaporating from a sudden case of death, Jaune looked back, and saw a glimpse a red on the other side of the clearing. Taking a closer look, Jaune saw Pyrrha begin to run. 'She has very convenient timing. Oh well, now that the warm-up's done, time for the fun part. Let's see if I can kill the big guy before she gets here. Challenge accepted!'
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The Spartan huntress was one of the first to be launched, and was the first to land on a thick tree limb. Quickly climbing as high as she could, she scanned the sky for the one who had caught her interest. Finding Jaune beginning to descend, she used the scope on Milo's rifle form to observe his landing strategy from a few hundred yards away.
As the tree Jaune had hit was on the edge of a clearing, she saw the silver arrow, formed seemingly out of nothing, embedded into the tree limb and the red string retract enough so that Jaune would not slam into the ground. With a solid landing, he jumped back to retrieve his arrow, with his back to her as he did so. He turned around, and the arrow was gone.
Feeling her scroll vibrate, she grabbed it and read the text that had arrived. 'Your first task is to find a partner. The first person that you make eye contact with will be your partner and teammate for your entire time at Beacon Academy. -Headmaster'
Hearing a loud, feminine scream, "WHAT!" echo in the woods, Pyrrha made a quick and easy decision. 'I should go meet up with him. I definitely wouldn't mind him as a partner. He seemed like a nice guy during our brief meeting.'
Focusing her attention back on her potential partner, she saw that he was about to engage a pack of Beowolves with a C-class leading it. They hadn't noticed him yet, and he seemed to be formulating a strategy. 'I'd better hurry over there, give him some back up.'
Using her aura to enhance her body, she rapidly leaped from tree to tree with little noise to avoided attracting any more possible Grimm below her. Reaching the opposite side of the clearing from Jaune and the pack, she pulled out her weapon in its rifle mode as she saw Jaune calmly stand with a smaller pack than before circling him.
Taking aim, she fired into the Grimm directly behind Jaune that was about to attack him. Taking advantage of the pack's distraction, he charged the 'Alpha guard', giving her three more clear shots as she defended his back while at the same time evaluating his combat skill.
BANG! 'Offensive oriented, proficient in dodging and parrying'
BANG! 'Able to use agility and strength-oriented weapons with a clear mind.'
BANG!'I definitely made the right choice.'
As they both eliminated their half of the remaining pack, she hurried over to assist him kill the Alpha.
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"We have an audience, vermin, so let's put on a show!"
The Alpha, enraged by the loss of its pack, howled with fury and bloodlust and charged Jaune while the Hunter stood still, taking out Evelyn with his left hand. At 10 feet away, Jaune raised his firearm and fired, hitting it directly on its mask between its eyes. As the facial mask of a Grimm is the toughest armor it has, the shot did not do much damage. However, the force was enough to stagger the Grimm. As it fell to its knees, Jaune dashed forward. As he did so, his right arm began to glow red.
Forming a knife hand, he thrust his arm and pierced the Grimm in its 'heart'. Clenching that same hand into a fist while still elbow deep in the Alpha, Jaune ripped out his arm, tearing the chest cavity of the Grimm apart. Deeply inhaling the rotten stench that he had quickly grown accustomed to, he exhaled with a very satisfied look on his face as he approached Pyrrha through the vapor.
"We meet again. Lovely day for a walk in the woods, is it not?" He greeted his new companion.
Clearly impressed by his display, she responded, "Hello again, Jaune, and indeed it is. So it seems like we're partners now."
Jaune agreed to a spar, but was confused about the comment about partners. "What the hell do you mean by partners?"
"Didn't you read the text sent out a couple of minutes ago after you landed?" She asked confused.
"Now that you mention it, my scroll did vibrate. I was a bit distracted with prey in front of me."
Pulling out his scroll, he read the text that confirmed that they were partners with their eye contact, and then suddenly the scroll vibrated again.
'Congratulations on finding your partner for the next four years. Your next task is to find another set of partners to form a team of four. This will, once again, be determined by eye contact. -Headmaster'
Jaune mildly scoffed, "Headmaster? Sounds more like shitty Dungeons & Grimm dungeon master to me."
Hearing his newly minted partner giggle, he looked back at her instead of his phone. "Well Pyrrha, care to go for a walk?"
"Indeed I do, Jaune. Lead the way."
Heading in a random direction, the two set off deeper into the forest.
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Back where they had began, Ozpin and Glynda looked at the enlarged scroll now resting on a portable stand as they observed the newest batch of potential students.
"Well, it seems like everyone has now found a partner, with Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie as the last pair. I hope that they can work together cohesively. Their personalities seem to be complete opposites." Goodwitch conferred to her boss/mentor/colleague/friend.
Finishing the last of his tea, Ozpin replied, "If you had read their files, you would know that they came here together. They've likely worked together for some time, and may have some of the best teamwork right now of any pair. What of Hans and Julie's son?"
"Let me see… Jaune Arc? The first apprentice to pass the entrance requirements in over a decade, he has been paired with Ms. Nikos, and has just finished an C-class Beowolf in a rather… visceral method."
Looking at a replay of the footage, he agreed with her choice of words. "Indeed. It would seem that we have many interesting students this year. I look forward to see how they do tonight."
"Headmaster, why did you really change Initiation this year?" She didn't believe that it was just for his father's memory.
After a brief silence, he stopped staring into the beautiful forest and looked at Goodwitch. "It was the request of a few friends of ours."
"Who?" She asked, wanting a clearer answer.
"Ah, but that would be telling." He gave her a faint, enigmatic smile. "You'll see them as they call after the team commencement ceremony. But for now, let's watch the next generation prove themselves. Oh, and please call Bart for some more coffee. I seem to have run out."
"Very well, sir." She replied curtly before temporarily departing.
With her walking away to fulfill his request, Ozpin turned back to the scroll hooked up to the surveillance throughout the forest, focusing on the few students who had the most potential in his eyes.
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Chapter End
I changed the initiation because I feel like it would give the observing staff a better idea of each student's capabilities.
For the quicksilver bullets, I imagine this is how it works in game. I mean, as all ranged weapons use the same 'bullet', they must change form to fit the weapon in use. Besides, quicksilver, or mercury, is a liquid in room temperature, so that fits.
Bestiary:
Beowolf: Century class
The difference between decade and century class beowolves is drastic in both appearance and attack pattern. They average around twice to three times the size of decade class, depending on their age. They adopt a bipedal stance and grow bone gauntlets with long claws. They also grow more armor, namely thicker spiked shoulders similar to pauldrons, and strips of armor along the chest that resemble ribs. Like every other C-class, red markings form on their facial masks, and are able to regenerate at a rate quick enough to recover from minor injuries in battle in a short amount of time.
They are more cautious and cunning in battle than the younger brethren that accompany them in packs, and prefer to use them as distractions to land fatal blows with their claws. If debilitated, it will temporarily retreat behind its pack to heal.
What truly makes them dangerous is the pack around them. Packs with an Alpha exhibit more teamwork and a pack mentality than without one.