CH6: Building Family Ties
Inside the student armory at Beacon Academy, twenty minutes before everyone shows up.
"Because we're students, Kluá," Shieri begins to say. "We need to act like students, in the sense of having weapons and collaborating as a team."
The Mistralian boy snorts and turns his head to look at his Atlesian brother. "Easier said than done soldier boy."
Shieri regards his brother with a small smile in response.
At that, the four brothers continue putting on their gear that they wore on the cruise-ship coming to Beacon.
Just as Ritsu had only his armbraces to put on, a thought popped up into his mind, making the Titanist turn to his brother, Shieri.
"Exactly what kind of weapons did you get us, Atlesian war-junkie?" Ritsu asks.
Just then the other two brothers, Fang and Kluá, turn to their Atlesian brother with the same curious looks that their Titanist brother has.
Once he was fully dressed, Shieri beelines to his locker while completely ignore the other twins' stares, which was located in the opposite corner of the entrance to the armory, only several feet away from his brothers. The Atlesian boy then taps on several holographic keys on his locker.
After typing in his passcode, the locker beeps and opens, revealing the contents inside.
"Here," Shieri reaches into his locker and tosses a scroll to each of his brothers. "I have already saved the passcodes for each of our lockers in each scroll, as well as their locker numbers. You three just need to find the lockers and enter the passcodes that are labeled with your name."
At that, the three brothers look to one another for a brief moment. A secret message being sent across the three brothers has left Shieri puzzled.
Several heartbeats passed before the Atlesian boy decided speak up about the awkward moment.
"What is it?" Shieri finally asks. Though he suddenly realizes that the three chose not to respond.
Just then, Ritsu removes himself from the bench, just as Kluá and Fang remove themselves from leaning against the wall and lockers. Now in the same instant that the three started moving, the brothers had are already started searching through their scrolls.
Once they found their lockers, which were all side-by-side with Shieri's locker obviously, they opened them to retrieve their weapons with which would then complete their guise as students.
Ritsu whistles. "Daaamn. Look at this sanjigun."
At that, Ritsu pulls his weapon out of the locker and performs a few twirls with his weapon, without touching any of his surroundings. Once he was done, he grabs the outer sections of the three-sectional staff, and gazes upon its perfect form.
Looking at his sanjigun, Ritsu realizes that it's not made in its original design. Instead, the sanjigun is colored red and black, with mace heads at the ends of the outer sections of the staff in the shape of lion heads, and is made with an unrecognizable metal. The sanjigun also has hand-grips on the ends of the center section of the staff, and one on the electrically-chained end of both outer sections of the staff—closer to the center section.
"I think I might love this weapon as much as I love Ruby's sis' sexy body."
Kluá laughs at his brother comment. "At least we know you won't be lonely every night."
"Ha! You wish brother." Ritsu replies.
Just then Kluá pulls out the very first weapon that he has ever owned.
"uhh…what kind of weapons are these, Shi?" Kluá asks in complete and utter confusion. "…Uh, Shieri?"
Shieri completely ignored his Mistralian brother, only to focus on Fang's reaction to what his new weapon is now.
To Fang's surprise, once he wrapped his hand around the hilt of his new dai-katana—which also has a grappling hook-blade on the bottom of the hilt—the blade of the weapon sparked to life with an all too familiar feint purple electricity.
It seemed as though a whole minute has passed since Fang has stared at his weapon, just as a flood of memories and emotions have drowned his thoughts.
Jitseen...
Just then, the Silver Knight appeared by Fang to stand by his side.
"I took the liberty of taking your blade to an old contact of mine to smith the remains into this new weapon." Shieri says as he approaches his Faunus brother. "The old man was extremely ecstatic to see that the oscillators and the Aura adapter were made with a unique design and were still intact."
Fang smiles at his brother, "Why assume that I did not design the weapon myself."
"Because your skills are in stealth and assassination, not architectural blacksmithing." Shieri answers, with a smile.
Fang snorts, "Then I must thank you for saving what was left of Jitseen."
Shieri nods in response to his brother's comment, "You're welcome."
Before the two assassins could get any more emotional, the obnoxious voice of the Elementist grabs their attention.
"Yo, Shieri. I'm serious, what am I supposed to do with these?"
As Kluá asked his question again, all the students that were assigned to Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch to supervise their exams started pouring into the armory.
"They're arcane armbands. Put them on your upper-arm and wait until we take our exams." Shieri finally replies, as he pulls out his own set of weapons and equipment to prepare for the exam.
Shieri almost forgot that—the same day he had his old contact make all three of his brothers' weapons—he also used his contacts equipment to redesign and tune-up his pistols, making them several inches longer and have far more stopping power than a cannon ever could. Then he also remembered that in order to hide the fact that he's the Silver Knight, he had that same contact make a jetpack that is thin and built for quick horizontal and vertical boosting, and traveling speeds that are far beyond the speed of sound. And with all of these new upgrades, the Atlesian boy could rely less on his Aura armor.
"Woah…" A familiar voice gasps.
The unexpected, yet familiar voice caused Shieri to feel slightly panicked, though when he turns to where the sound of the voice came from, he soon realizes now that it's the young dark-red haired girl, Ruby Rose, dressed in the same outfit when he first met her. Though when he turns to face her, the young girl's entire body language expresses complete and utter excitement, for reasons he was slowly starting to realize.
"Those pistols are huge!" Ruby exclaims. "And is that a jetpack!?"
Shieri couldn't help but smile, yet under his happy expression he knew to be careful of what to say next about his new equipment.
"Yes and yes." Shieri responds, "I figured it was time to start fresh, here at Beacon."
At that, the Atlesian boy holsters his long pistols on his hip and then clamps the jetpack on the small magnet on his back. Shieri then reaches into his pocket and pulls out his HUD monocle and sets it over his eye, just as he starts to walk past the young girl.
Shieri puts a hand on Ruby's shoulder and stops in mid-step.
"I'll see you outside by the cliff." The young boy replies in Ruby's ear.
Ruby gawks at the Atlesian boy as he continues to walk towards the entrance and then disappears behind Yang, who just then enters the armory.
At that, the young dark-red haired girl turns to her own locker to grab her own weapon and equipment. Then with a warm feeling starting to rise in her stomach, a smile splays all across the young girl's face.
Unbeknownst to the Silver Knight, Yang eyes the Atlesian boy carefully in her peripheral, as he passes her in the door way. Though once he made it out of the armory, the blonde-haired girl stops and stares at the back of the young boy as he continues to march across the combat training arena and up the stairs to where she thinks is to the cliffs by the forest. Yang soon also realizes that the Atlesian boy has long dual pistols at his sides and what looks like a metal backpack.
Okay, this guy's taking things a little too seriously, the blonde-haired girl thought. But then again, he is from Atlas.
"Yo, Goldilocks!" a voice shouts.
Immediately, Yang turns to face the direction the familiar voice came from.
"Oh. Ritsu." Yang says, suddenly.
Just then, the blonde-haired girl watches the Titanist make his way toward her, while maneuvering pass the other students. One of them being her sister, Ruby.
"What's the matter, little lady," Ritsu says, "Goldilock's getting old for you?"
At that, Yang rolls her eyes just as Ritsu approaches her. She then puts a hand on her hip once the muscular boy stands before her.
As the Titanist stands in front of her, Yang couldn't help but look at the tattoos that aren't hidden under the vest.
Woah, Yang thought. These are some crazy tattoos. They definitely gotta mean something. And I definitely haven't seen anyone from Vacuo with those before.
When he realizes that the blonde-haired girl was staring for too long, Ritsu couldn't help but grin as he looks down at the girl.
"Like what you see?" Ritsu asks, feeling overly confident in every way possible.
Almost immediately, Ritsu's question breaks Yang out of her reverie.
"Pfft. You wish I did." Yang says, sharply.
"I know you do, Goldilocks." Ritsu replies confidently.
"Okay, that is starting to get old."
"Alright," Ritsu holds his hands up, feigning surrender. "I'll stop calling you that," Now the muscular boy has a sly look on his face.
"As long you go out with me after these exams." The Titanist adds.
For a second, Yang's jaw drops, for she couldn't believe what the muscular boy just asked him. And neither could everyone else that's around, who knows what's actually going on.
"Y-You're kidding me right?" the Blonde-haired girl manages to spit out.
"Hey," Ritsu shrugs, "I'm just trying to get this sexy lady before any other guy can, after today."
At that last part, Yang rolls her eyes, folds her arms across her chest, and leans to one side of her body.
"Please," she says. "You would have to do something incredibly insane, if you want me to say: yes."
The muscular boy sighs. "Alright," Ritsu says as he decides to walk pass the blonde-haired girl. "If that's what it takes. Then you're gonna be all mine very soon, little lady."
"Pfft, keep dreaming, lover boy." The Blonde-haired girl says all of sudden.
Just then, Yang surprisingly stops Ritsu's hand in mid-reach as he tried to make a sneaky motion to cup her chin. Though in the moment, the young girl's heart starts to beat faster, when she only then realizes that the boy's hand was actually closer than she anticipated.
"Not," Yang manages to keep her voice steady, "until you do something crazy, muscles."
Ritsu only snorts in response and then grins at the young girl for a second before walking passed her, and out of the armory.
Once the Titanist left the armory, Yang took a deep breath before turning back around and then making her way to her locker once again.
"Jeez, he's so cocky" Yang finally says under her breath, as she opens her locker to prepare herself for the day.
Just as Kluá finally figured out how his weapons work—no thanks to his Atlesian brother; he hears two familiar voices.
Holy crap, Ruby's here.
Once the Elementist recognized one of the voices as being Ruby, the almost ecstatic young boy closes his locker and decides to make his way towards the young red-haired girl.
…
"My dear sister, Yang," Ruby says sounding almost shock and frustrated. "Are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"
"What!?" Yang starts, "No, of course I do. I just thought—I don't know, maybe…"
For quick second Yang paused before choosing her words carefully, "…it will help break you out of your shell."
"What the!?" Ruby cries out.
Oh, no. Kluá thought in dismay.
After hearing Ruby's outrageous cries to her sister's response, the wide-eyed Elementist quickly realized that this is not the perfect moment to go say hello. Thus, the Mistralian boy decides to walk around the two arguing sisters, to avoid any mayhem. Though as the Elementist made his way past two other girls and a guy, one being the famous Weiss Schnee—heiress to the Schnee dust company; the other being that Jaune Arc guy who puked after getting off the airship, and the last person being—
Wait a sec! Kluá thinks to himself as he stops in mid-step. He then turns back around, only to make sure that his mind wasn't playing any tricks on him.
Now as the Mistralian boy continues to stare at the armored redhead with the utmost shocked looked possible for him, only one name comes to mind.
"No way." Kluá manages to spit out, "P-Pyrrha?"
Hearing someone say her name, the young red-haired turns her attention away from the heiress—who is completely occupied bickering with the Jaune guy—and locks eyes with the Elementist. Though when their eyes focus on one another for more than a mere second, the young red-haired girl couldn't help but share the same shocked expression that Kluá had only seconds before they made eye contact.
"Kluá!" Pyrrha says happily, as the Elementist approaches her, while avoiding the heiress and puke-boy. "What a surprise to see you here. It's been too long."
"Hey! It has!" Kluá says, "I thought you were going to Haven, like I did."
At that, the two hug one another quickly, before they both stood back and held each other's hands at full arms-length.
"I was going to," Pyrrha starts, "but the headmaster of Beacon came to my home and invited me to come to this academy.
"And I accepted" Pyrrha adds.
"Woah, he went all the way to Mistral to give you a proposition, which you said yes to." Kluá says feeling astonished.
"Why yes." Pyrrha replies happily.
"But Beacon isn't as great as Haven when it comes to learning about combating Grimm."
"That may be true, but what Professor Ozpin has said, had me convinced to come here."
As soon as she said that, the Mistralian boy let go of the armored girl's hands, while remembering what Ozpin has told him, with which he too was convinced to enroll in Beacon Academy.
Now hesitantly, Kluá turns away from his best-friend and makes his way towards the door leading out of the armory, where his brother, Fang waits for him patiently.
Kluá?
Once Pyrrha noticed the sad and distant look on the boy's face, she made a motion to put a hand on his shoulder to stop him but as soon as she made the motion, she was interrupted by the boy who was currently flirting with Weiss Schnee.
"So hot stuff," Jaune starts…
On Beacon Cliff, east of Beacon Academy.
Standing in a line side-by-side on top of metal plates in the ground with the Beacon Academy symbol on them, the students that were selected to be monitored by the headmaster, Professor Ozpin, and his assistant, Glynda Goodwitch, wait patiently as the two instructors fiddle with their scroll tablets.
"Yo, Professor." Ritsu says aloud with his arms crossed over his chest. "Are we gonna fight Grimm yet? I'm getting bored just by standing here."
Fang, feeling annoyed as always with his Titanist-for-a-brother, turns his head to look at the muscular boy.
"If you were to learn to become patient, all your questions will be answered."
Ritsu sighs, "Yeah, no one understands you wolf-boy. Speak proper."
"He is speaking proper, Ritsu." Kluá says.
The muscular boy only snorts in response, to mock his Mistralian brother.
It is surprising to see that this is the only time when the three ever speak to each other, whole heartedly. Shieri thought, without having to look his three brothers and their reactions to one another's responses.
Though, just when Shieri—who has been ignoring all three of his brothers for the remainder of their bickering—was nudged on his arm by the girl standing next to him on his right, he couldn't help but sigh over the fact that, ever since he came to Beacon, he could never earn some peace and quiet.
Once he turns his head to face the girl standing next to him, the Silver Knight continued to maintain his expressionless facial expression, as he immediately recognizes the girl to be Weiss Schnee.
Shieri quickly notices the young girl's attire today, with which is all white on the outside, and red on the inside, and contains a pair of high-heels that are designed to reach just below her knee; a short sleeveless combat dress with a black camisole underneath, and white ribbon tied around the waist, and an upper chest long-sleeve coat. Now as far as accessories go, the heiress wears a small pouch on the small of her back; a large hair-tie; and a necklace with a blue gem.
"Excuse me, but can those three be any louder?" Weiss asks, feeling annoyed by Shieri's brothers' bickering. "At this rate, we'll be stuck here all day."
The Atlesian boy regards the young Schnee heiress in silence as he glances in her direction for a split-second, only to see her annoyed facial expression. And hear her make a frustrated sigh.
Just then, Shieri watches Ms. Goodwitch glare at his three brothers as their arguments slowly develop into a scene in which everyone has started to take notice in them.
"Ritsu, you're a fool who could not even hit his own reflection in water."
"…and you're too stupid to insult, wolf-boy" Ritsu says half-angrily.
"And the both of you are seriously acting like littles kids." Kluá retorts.
Ritsu turns to his left to stare at his Mistralian brother, "You wanna fight about it, nature boy?"
Just then, the Titanist steps off the metal plate and moves closer to his brother, with clenched fists at his side.
Before Ritsu could close the distance between him and Kluá, the sound of someone clearing their throat stops him.
The muscular boy averts his eyes to the direction of the cliff only to see the headmaster gaze intently at him, while the assistant glares.
"Ritsu, if you may…" Ozpin says calmly while letting the words hang in the air, and making a gesture to the vacant metal plate on the ground.
"I wish to complete this task as eagerly as the rest of the students attending the exam today." The headmaster then adds.
Ritsu snorts aggressively in response, though he admittedly takes a few steps back and stands on top of the metal plate in the ground.
"Now," the headmaster starts, "for years, you have trained to become warriors. Today, your abilities will be evaluated, in the Emerald Forest."
As Professor Ozpin finished his sentence, not a minute too soon, Glynda Goodwitch chimes in on-beat.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard the rumor about the assignment of teams." The assistant huntress starts, "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion…Each of you will be given teams…"
The huntress pauses for a second for dramatic effect.
"…Today." The woman adds.
Once Ms. Goodwitch was done speaking, two students over to his right, Shieri hears Ruby moan in disapproval.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon-"
Shieri glances to his left, just in time to notice his three brothers looking directly at him.
In response to their stares, the Atlesian boy nods before turning his attention back to the two huntsmen.
"—So it is in your best interest to pair with someone whom you can work well. With that being said, the first person you make eye contact with, after landing, will be your partner for the next four years."
Just then Ruby makes a loud outburst with which, the Silver Knight could not help but smile wryly.
Seems like working with other people isn't Ruby's forte.
"See, I told you!" a girl Shieri doesn't know exclaims.
"Once you have partnered up, you will make your way to the northern end of the forest."
"You will meet opposition along the way." The headmaster continues, "Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path…or you will die…"
At that Ritsu pounds his fists together.
"I'd like to see that happen." He utters quietly. Yet, although he kept his voice low, both Kluá and Fang couldn't help but smile wryly, for they too felt the same way about what lies within the Emerald Forest.
Once again, the Beacon headmaster continues his speech, as the agitation in all the students begin to build.
"You will be monitored, and graded, for the duration of your initiation…but our instructors will not intervene." Ozpin continues, "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics…Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of cliff."
The headmaster then adds, "You will guard that item—as well as your standing—and grade you appropriately…Are there any questions?"
At the end of the group to his right, Shieri hears one of the students speak up.
"Yeah um…sir—"
"Good. Now. Then. Take your positions." The headmaster says without missing a beat.
Just then, all the students that were lined up quickly get into battle-ready positions.
Finally! Some action! The Titanist thought, as he crouched low into a jumping position, just as his brothers do the same.
Then slowly, one-by-one, each and every student, starting from the left and then moving to right are now being launched into the air at high speeds, by the metal plates on the ground with which were actually launching pads.
As the number of students on the ground dwindle, Shieri couldn't help but listen to the nervousness in the last student's voice as he tries to comprehend what is going on.
Hmph. Shieri thought, Looks like someone is afraid of heights.
At that last thought, the Atlesian boy turns to his left, just in time to see his brother Kluá grin in his direction. It only took the boy a split-second to realize that the Elementist was actually looking at him.
"Wanna race, Shi?" Kluá asks ecstatically.
The Silver Knight, as he puts on his half-mask, couldn't help but smile. Now once his mask was on, the young boy's smile turned into a grin, for he never had this kind of happy feeling before, as an assassin. Especially for something like this.
Now all of a sudden, Shieri couldn't help but chuckle, as he says, "You're on" Before looking into the sky ahead of him.
Slowly, the Silver Knight counts down from three once the only people left on the left-side of the line-up are him and his brothers.
Three…
As Ritsu launches into the air, a loud battle-cry roars in his wake.
Two…
Fang reaches around his back to grip the sheath of his dai-katana—which sits horizontally on his back—tightly, before getting launched into the air.
One…
Kluá couldn't help but shout Woohoo! Just as he too gets launched into the air.
Once his last brother was in the air, Shieri swiftly puts on his HUD monocle, and then with his mind, activates his jetpack, while setting it into Over-Boost mode.
Just as Shieri heard the click of the release mechanism for his launch pad, his Over-Boost system activates. With which a white light illuminates out of the exhaust at the bottom of the pack, and wings—similar to his own—protrude from the sides of the jetpack.
Now, just as the launch pad reached its full extension, the jetpack on Shieri's back then release an enormous amount of Dust-exhaust with which completely scorches the ground into a deep jet-black color behind the launch pad, just as far as fifteen feet.
As always being amazed by the Atlesian boy's skills and weapons…and equipment obviously, Ruby couldn't but gawk as her eyes quickly look out into the blue-sky as she sees two figures race out towards the northern end of the forest.
"Woahhh…" was all the young dark-red haired girl could muster, as the reasoning for why her heart races changes from the excitement about her starting the initiation into Beacon Academy, to the pure admiration she feels towards this mysterious boy who flew her home that one night so long ago.
"Grrr-aahh!"
Shouting a large battle-cry, Ritsu continues to fall from the sky, where he lands in a large clearing within the thick Emerald Forest. Though as the muscular boy lands directly in the center of the clearing, he unnecessarily slams his fist into the ground, where the strength of his punch causes the ground underneath him to sink in and create a very large and deep crater. With which reaches sixty feet in diameter, and as deep as forty feet.
Once the rumbling and the deformation of the ground was over, the Titanist slowly rises up from his crouching position, where he dusts off his hands and then the rest of himself.
"This could've been bigger." The Titanist says, with a hint of disapproval in his voice.
At that, Ritsu slowly walks up the sides of the deep crater while at the same time he opens one of his four small pouches that are on his pant legs, and pulls out two small-thin—and round—dust canister. One filled with just water, and the other one being a mixture of protein powder…and a combination of pure, and unstable Dust.
Now with the two canisters, Ritsu pops the lids open and raises both to his lips so he can chug them both.
Boom!
"The hell was—"
As the Titanist gazes up into the cloudless sky, he manages to catch a blur of something yellow fly overhead, while being followed up by exploding Dust.
Just then, Ritsu's jaw drops for a quick second before he starts to grin widely.
"I'M COMING GOLDILOCKS!" Was all the Titanist shouts into the sky, as he puts away his canisters and then charges up the crater after Yang Xiaolong.
As he sprints like a maniac up the crater, a figure silhouetted by the shades of the trees, watches the Titanist carefully, from behind him. Though, once the muscular boy reaches the top of the crater he made, the silhouetted figure decides to step out of the shadows, silently and carefully.
"Ritsu!" Fang shouts sharply.
Ritsu was only able to take two steps away from the crater when the sound of his Faunus brother's voice stopped him.
"What, Fang!?"
In reply to his response, Fang only leaped into the air to scale across the large crater that his brother made. Once he landed next to his brother, the Faunus boy took a quick glance at his brother slowly once he rose to a stand, and then started walking north.
"We need to make haste." Fang says calmly, "For we must meet up with our brothers to gather our relics."
"And not chase some girl who has no need for you." The Faunus boy adds.
Ritsu snorts. "You're just jealous that Yang wants to be with a Titan and not some lost puppy, who was picked off the street."
At that the muscular boy follows his brother as they walk deeper into a certain section of the forest, while moving north.
"I have no need for a relationship, at this point in time." Fang says.
"God, Fang" Ritsu breathes. "Can you talk like a normal person?"
Knowing that his brother can't see his face, Fang smiles wryly.
"If you want me to talk like a normal person," Fang starts. "Then understand this: You are my partner for our entire stay at this Academy. So I wish you luck in finding Ms. Xiaolong to be your partner."
Just then Ritsu's eyes when wide for a split-second, as the rules of how teams were formed came to his mind.
"God dammit, wolf-boy," the muscular boy face-palms himself. "I can never get away with anything, while you're here."
Fang chuckles, "It's only for your safety little brother."
At that, the Black Fang leaps into the air and disappears atop of the surrounding trees.
"HEY!" Ritsu shouts, "WHO YOU CALLING LITTLE!?"
Feeling frustration by his brother's so-called insult, the muscular boy charges after his brother, while bashing down nearby trees, and heading north…more or less likely after his brother.
"So," Kluá starts. "Exactly how long do you think it's gonna take for them to get here?"
At the ancient relic site, the Silver Knight had actually found it to be a meditation circle for Dust-archaic users, with which seems quite ironic, especially since the Atlesian is here with someone who is an archaic user.
Now as the Atlesian boy continues gaze around the circle, he quickly realizes that there are multiple stone pedestals with a single chess piece on each one.
So this is Ozpin's game, huh. The Atlesian boy thought, I wonder what his true intentions are, by assigning students with these game pieces.
"Hey, Remnant to Shieri." Kluá says mockingly, "is anyone there?"
Being broken out of his reverie, Shieri quickly feels a hint of frustration but suppresses, so as to keep his calm, as per usual of his training.
Shieri sighs before looking up into the sky, where his brother looks like he's lying on his side as he hovers in the air.
"For most of the students, maybe an hour or two, if they have not been trained to track and locate. Though the others, I expect them to be here soon."
By that last part, Kluá knew exactly which particular group of students his brother would be talking about. Though he couldn't help but ask another question.
"Ookay…" Kluá says, "how 'bout Ritsu and Fang? You think they'll get here in time?"
"So we can all choose the same chess piece." The Elementist adds lastly.
As Shieri makes his way to one of the pedestals, he studies the details and designs of the small stone piece, though it's the chess piece on top of the small structure that gets his attention. A Black Knight chess piece.
"As long as—" the Atlesian boy grasps the chess piece and holds up high and examines it in all directions, "—Fang keeps Ritsu on track, they should be here shortly."
Once the Silver Knight was done inspecting the Black Knight piece, he pockets it in the small pouch on one of his pant legs. The young boy then scans the surroundings of the ancient relic with his HUD monocle, looking for any signs of the other students, or the creatures of Grimm.
Through the view of his monocle, Shieri changes views from x-ray; to thermal;
Kluá sighs. "Shieri," the Elementist starts, "you do realize it's gonna be like an hour or so until anyone shows up."
The Silver Knight turns his gaze once again to his brother as he floats down to land. "The timing it takes to get here is not my concern."
"Okaaaay…Then what is?" Kluá asks.
"The types of Grimm that Ozpin has not told any of us." Shieri answers.
"Well, it would kinda be cheating if the professor told us what's out there." Kluá replies back.
"Hmm…that's true." Was the Atlesian boy's only response to his brother before he folded his arms across his chest and then leaned against one of the pillars that still hold the structure outlining one side of the meditation circle.
As the Elementist watches his brother walk towards the pillar on the farthest right, he sighs and gazes around at his surroundings.
Kluá takes in the fact that the meditation circle is more than partially destroyed, and that two-thirds of the pillars that surround the circle still stand. As well as the stone-wall that outlines the rest. The young boy then notices that directly in front of the opening of the mid-sized structure is a very large open field that's about half a mile long and a hundred-fifty meters wide, that ends with a large hill.
Once the Elementist was done observing his current environment, he turns to face his brother.
"Hey, Shi."
Shieri—who's head was down—opens his eyes and lifts his head up. The Silver Knight then looks directly at his brother as he speaks.
"What?" the Atlesian asks.
Kluá opens his mouth to respond but closes it as he ponders his thoughts a little longer.
When his brother didn't respond immediately, the Atlesian boy only looks at his brother with a furrowed brow.
The silence had only lasted a minute before Kluá finally spoke.
"Exactly, what did the Atlesian general do to you, before you came to Beacon?"
Shieri closes his eyes momentarily as he sighs.
"Enough to make me disband myself from his services." The Atlesian boy finally says.
"That must've been rough." Kluá replies.
Shieri snorts, "It was bound to happen sooner or later."
Another though comes to the Elementist's mind. "So, if you're not working with the general anymore, what does that make you…as a Knight I mean."
For only a moment, Shieri stares at his brother with a puzzled expression, while pondering his thoughts, and choosing his words carefully. Yet before he decided talk, the Atlesian boy first scanned his immediate surroundings with his HUD monocle.
While turning a full three-hundred and sixty degrees, the Silver Knight switched his HUD vision to Electromagnetic vision, in which he was able to find all of the surrounding visual and audio equipment hidden within the tree lines that the Academy uses to monitor the activities in the forest; as well as the ones embedded within the stone structure of the meditation circle.
Once he was able to find every last device that are close by, Shieri only highlighted the audio listening devices via his HUD, and by using his mind and aura to create a launch command inside his monocle, send a wave of invisible distorted electricity that would only disable the devices for a set amount of time.
I give'em five minutes before they turn back on. Shieri thought, indicating to the audio devices that are around him.
Now then…
The Silver Knight turns back to face his brother, who had the utmost bewildered expression on his face. Although, it didn't last long once the Atlesian opened his mouth to speak.
"As a Knight of the Round…" Shieri starts, while keeping his voice leveled. "it means I am an independent mercenary."
"Which is not uncommon for most Knights," the Atlesian boy then adds.
"Would that mean, it'll be harder for you to find jobs and you know…" Kluá pauses before moving closer to his brother so he can whisper the last part in his ear. "do some cool assassin stuff."
Once the Mistralian boy took a step back to see his brothers face, Shieri couldn't help but glare at him.
This idiot can't be serious.
"Hey," Kluá exclaims, "I was just wondering, you know."
Shieri sighs. "Yes, I know." he says "Yet, is that all that piques your interest."
Kluá shrugs, "Somewhat."
"Then this is a conversation best dealt with someone who's maturity, far exceeds your own." Was all Shieri said before he turned away from his brother, with his arms folded across his chest.
"Wow, rude much?"
"That doesn't matter right now."
Kluá sighs, "Geez you and Fang are such happy campers…everyone's gonna love you guys."
Shieri, whose facial expression remains emotionless, only snorts in response to his brother's comment.
"Damn," Ritsu starts. "Looks like we missed the party."
At that, Ritsu and his brother Fang, tread carefully through a large black, and charcoaled, section of the forest that looks like it was set ablaze quite recently. The smell of burnt grass and trees still fresh in the air.
Though as the two brothers walk through the charred land mass, Fang stops momentarily to kneel down and brush a hand over burnt grass.
"It seems as though this was made destructively…and not naturally."
Ritsu turns his torso far enough to see his brother behind, as he continues to walk.
"Geez, I wonder what gave you the first clue genius…the fact that someone sucks with fire? Or the fact that the land is charred black."
As the Faunus boy slowly rises to a stance, he dusts his gloved-hands clean while making his way towards Ritsu. Fang then also reaches behind the small of his back and clasps his right hand around the hilt of his dai-katana.
"It seems as though your sarcasm remains aggressive." Fang replies.
Ritsu sighs and interlocks his fingers behind his head. "Only to you, brother."
For some reason, once Ritsu said that, Fang couldn't help but have a weird feeling creep into his body, with which has started to make him smile.
"Is that so?" Fang asks, a wryly smile on his face. Though it was only short-lived since the Faunus boy did not want his muscular brother to see any expressions that look remotely close to being happy.
"Yup." Ritsu starts, "And that's because you have a higher tolerance level than Shieri."
"And Kluá?"
"Nah, Kluá enjoys it…Only because he can show off some of his knowledge."
"So it gets annoying really fast." The muscular boy adds.
"I see," was all Fang said before the two brothers continued to walk in silence all the way to their destination.
About an hour later…
As she paces back and forth, Glynda Goodwitch swiftly swipes her finger across the screen of her scroll-tablet, with which the motion would change the camera monitor to another camera, thus showing the progress of another student. Now with several more swipes of her finger across the tablet's screen, the huntress notices that many of the cameras are offline.
Strange. The huntress thought, I wonder if the cameras are down because of Grimm activity.
As Glynda made that last thought, another one immediately came to mind.
Or it could be that hot-headed Titan boy, Ritsu.
At that, the huntress then remembers the boy's attitude towards his brother, before he was launched with the other students. As well as the fact that the boy caused what looked like a minor earthquake in the distance.
Now as more time passes, Glynda continues to pace in an oval-like path, when finally, she reaches the last camera monitor on her tablet, with which she notices the last two students have now paired with one another. The huntress then moves to stand by the headmaster to confirm her recent observation.
"Our last pair has been formed, sir." Glynda starts, "Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie."
The huntress sighs in disappointment as she taps on the screen to zoom in on the two students.
"Poor boy. I can't possibly imagine those two getting along." The huntress adds, "Still. He's probably better off than Ms. Nikos'."
For only a second, Ozpin quickly glances at his assistant before looking back down at his own tablet.
"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat."
At that, Ms. Goodwitch taps the circle at the bottom left of the screen, with which has tablet revert itself to a blank screen.
"I guess we'll find out, soon enough," Glynda then says before turning on her heel to walk away from Beacon Cliff.
"At their current pace," Glynda says, "they should reach the temple within just a few minutes."
After taking a few steps, the huntress stops and turns to look at the headmaster as a thought occurs to her.
"Speaking of which," Glynda says, "What did you use as relics this year…?
"...Professor Ozpin?" Glynda asks.
Being completely occupied, Ozpin ignores his assistant as he continues to monitor a certain pair of students. One being the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee; and the other being the silver-eyed girl, Ruby Rose.
"Please tell me this is where we're supposed to go now?" Ritsu asks, as he tosses a dead Beowulf to the side.
Slowly, Fang rises to stand as he pulls his dai-katana out of the ground, with which he flicks his wrist to remove any dust, or debris from the blade.
"If the presence of Grimm are strong here—" The Faunus boy sheaths his sword, "—then this must be the right direction."
Ritsu sighs as he puts his hands on his hips and gazes around at the aftermath of him and his brother's little skirmish with the creatures of Grimm.
"Or it could be that there's too much negative energy floatin 'round." Ritsu replies.
Fang nods, "That is another possibility."
Now without saying another word, Fang turns his gaze away from his brother to the large hill that the two had intended to climb if it weren't for the ambush by the creatures of Grimm, and starts to move towards it.
Noticing where his brother is going, the Titanist follows suit, and the two start moving up the base of the hill.
"Say, Fang." Ritsu starts, breaking the silence after the two had already climbed for several minutes.
The Faunus boy makes a terse hmm noise in response.
"So what's your deal?" the muscular boy asked, his voice unsteady because of the large strides he has been focusing on, this entire time.
The Black Fang glances back at his brother and takes notice in the muscular boy's lack of proper breathing…which is probably due to his lack of a well exercised cardiovascular system.
"I do not understand your question." Fang says calmly.
"I mean," Ritsu starts, "how was it growing up…did you—you know: live life like a normal kid? Or did you always play ninja your whole life?"
Instead of answering directly, Fang answers his brother's question with another question.
"Why is my life in the past, matter?"
"Cause I wanna know what kinda person my animal brother is?"
Fang sighs, "your racism never seizes."
"Dude, it's only been you this whole time that I've been racist towards."
"Is it so?"
"Yes. You idiot." Ritsu starts, "I've been doin' it because I want u to fight me."
Once the Faunus boy reached the top of the steep hill, with his twin brother at tow, Fang turns half-way to look down and watch the muscular struggle for the last ten strides he has left.
Fang snorts, "Why should I fight a barbarian who cannot climb a hilltop with ease."
"Listen smart ass…" Ritsu could not finish his sentence, for his exhaustion had finally taken over, causing him to drop to his hands and knees.
"To hell…with it." Was all the Titanist could say before he started to bear-crawl the last few strides.
Once at the top, several minutes passed when Ritsu was able to level his breathing once again. Now whereas, during this time, Fang folded his arms across his chest and gaze intently down at the other end of the hill.
From atop the hill, the Faunus boy can see the derelict temple with which his Atlesian brother has informed him to be the exact location where the relics are kept.
Words from Shieri's instructions to Ritsu, Kluá, himself come to the Faunus boys' mind.
Remember, we need to rush this so we can grab two of the same relics before the other students arrive at the assigned destination.
Fang also remembers his Mistralian brother asking about what would happen if they failed to, and the harsh—but realistic—response the Atlesian replied with.
Then we would be forcing ourselves to sacrifice more lives for our mission to succeed.
Just the bare thought of their mission and the Silver Knight's behavior towards it has suddenly made Fang feel discomforted, but only slightly. Since he would have given a similar response as well.
"Hey check it out," a voice confirms "Shi and Kluá are already there."
Only for a nanosecond was Fang startled by the sound of his brother's voice. The Faunus boy averted his gaze from the bottom of the hill to his right where his Titanist brother stands with his hands behind his head, looking all too relaxed.
The Black Fang's eyebrows furrow only for a second.
Exhausted huh? Fang thought, either he is quite deceptive, or he has consumed his mixed Dust while I was distracted, which would have given him an unbelievable amount of energy.
Instead of pushing further on the subject, Fang—without a word to Ritsu—looks back at the derelict temple notices that what his brother said was true.
Fang, with his keen Faunus wolf-eyes, he was able to make out to figures with long black hair, and with a strong medium build. As well as the outfits the Elementist and the Silver Knight chose to wear as their battle gear for the entire stay at Beacon Academy.
"It appears you are right." Fang finally says.
"Well d'uh, idiot."
Before the Faunus boy could reply back with an insult of his own, the Titanist smacks him in the back.
"Now, quit standing there like a silent creep and let's go already."
Just then, Ritsu bends his knees and leaps surprisingly high in the air.
When Fang was able to recompose himself, he watched with almost wide eyes as his muscular brother practically glides through the air all the way to the derelict temple.
With those last words Ritsu said before he jumped, Fang remembers the Titanist being the real creep since he was staring at Yang's butt for the entire walk to Beacon cliff.
Fang snorts, "and a creep he says I am."
At that, the Black Fang follows suit and leaps into the air after his brother.