Chapter Two: The Initiates Part One
Ruby winced as she saw yet another of the thirty initiates have to be helped by Ironwood's men. The initiates were first launched into Emerald forest, where they basically had to walk along until encountering a Grimm. Then they would dispatch said Grimm and be escorted back by Ironwoods men who were spread out all along the forest. Of course only one initiate had succeeded in doing this thus far, and just by the skin of his teeth. The girl who had asked Ironwood how tough the Grimm's were immediately screamed and dropped to her knees crying at the site of one. Either they had a bad batch of initiates or there was some sort of flaw in the planning.
The initiates were being filmed by multiple dust powered camera's, John's chirpy commentary trying to add some water to the dry performance's of the initiates. Yang had a sour expression on her face, muttering "This was supposed to be exciting". Weiss held her head in her hands, wondering if it would be better if she just freezed her body with Myrtenaster and have Yang unfreeze her when this pitiful performance was over. Even Nora's excitement seemed dimmed. She now sat glumly next to Ren, occasionally whining about the lack of "kick-butt-action". Ren on the other hand was inwardly celebrating, happy that Nora was finally quieting down. Pyrrha sat patiently, seeming neither pleased or displeased by the sloppy performances of the new initiates.
"Wow, one initiate has made it through, quite impressive planning on your part, Ironwood" Glynda said sarcastically, glaring daggers at Ironwood. Ozpin looked just as disappointed but decided against saying anything.
"Patience, Glynda, I have confidence that some will make it through" Ironwood reassured, a suppressed laugh could be heard in his voice.
"Oh I sincerely hope you're taking this seriously James" Ozpin said, narrowing his eyes. Ironwood only raised an eyebrow in response, turning back to the screens.
Ozpin turned to Glynda who had a worried expression on her face. He gave her a reassuring smile, she rolled her eye's, returning her gaze to the screens, Ozpin didn't see the small smile on her face.
Two hours later everyone was just about at their wits end. Out of a whole twenty six initiates that had gone thus far, only four had made it through. Weiss had asked Yang to knock her unconscious, to which Yang said only if Ruby did the same to her. Ruby refused, saying she didn't want to watch it all alone. Blake had disappeared in a book, she hadn't looked at the screen for the past hour an a half. On the bright side she was probably going to have this book done by the end. Nora at this point had fallen asleep, to which Ren was rejoicing. Pyrrha donned a disappointed look while Juane had fallen asleep on Pyrrha's shoulder.
"Okay, I'm calling this off" Glynda said, storming up from her chair and towards one of Ironwood's captain's. Ironwood grabbed her by her hand, his eye's hard and serious.
"This separates the soldiers from the weaklings Glynda, you willthank me for this later" his voice just as hard as Jace's. She wretched her hand from him, giving him an icy glare before cooly sitting back down.
"They are children, James, not soldiers" Ozpin said quietly.
"That much is becoming apparent" Ironwood said harshly.
"Alright ladies and gents, don't lose hope yet! We still have four more initiates, four more possible students of Beacon Academy!" John cried. No one shared his excitement.
"Next up we've got a Theo Aylen, who hails from the Madiki kingdom!" John introduced, this announcement catching more than a few eyes. Blake finally looked up from her book, "Aylen means happiness in Pion language" she murmured, her Amber eye's catching a spark of interest. Weiss knew about the Mediki kingdom, her daddy's friends had often complained about not being able to mine dust there due to the "hostile natives". This might actually be interestingWeiss thought, her eye's now glued to the screen. Pyrrha shrugged Juane awake who snorted and looked around wildly before realizing where he was. "Ah this isn't over yet?! Why'd you even wake me up?!" he cried angrily, to which she simply pointed at the screen and said "Watch". Nora, seeming to sense the excitement filling the room immediately burst awake, beginning to fire questions off one after another at Ren. He sighed before saying, "Just watch the screen, Nora".
Theo stepped onto the grassy outcrop, stopping just before the launchpad. What he wore probably seemed strange to the onlookers, after all he wasn't dressed in his tribes unique apparel. He wore black dress shoes and pants, matching the black vest and bow tie he wore. Beneath the vest was a white button up shirt, it's sleeve's were rolled up to reveal two arm crossbow's loaded with what looked like drum magazines. His brown dreadlocks were kept in a tight ponytail, the one feature, other than his dark skin, that showed his heritage. He took off his small purple,lensed glasses, revealing white milky eyes, tucking the glasses into his vest pocket. He took one deep breath before stepping onto the platform, being launched into the air with an audible whoosh.
Meanwhile in the amphitheater chatter was becoming louder and louder. Weiss silently admired how well dressed the guy was, while Blake narrowed her eye's, those eye's, could it be?..."You're not going to believe this ladies and gents but we were just informed that Theo Aylen is blind!" John cried dramatically, an audible gasp broke the chatter in the theater. "Are you serious?! He's gonna get wrecked!" Juane cried, Pyrra furrowed her eyebrows before raising them in realization. He must use his aura to outline the objects and things around him!she realized, turning to Ren who she saw was having the same exact thoughts. "I think this just got a lotmore fun" Yang said, all traces of sourness gone. "Yay, time for some action!" Ruby cheered, leaning forward in the bleacher.
"He's what?!"Ozpin exclaimed, shooting to his feet. "Calm down Oz, can't you see he's using his aura to see?" James said, nodding towards the screen. James was right, Theo landed in a leafy clearing with practiced grace. Ozpin sighed in relief before sitting back down, glancing at a scowling Glynda. She was going to get those boys later for not telling her about his apparent blindness.
Back on the battlefield Theo walked along slowly, his head moving from side to side surveying the area. He stopped when he heard rustling, the crunching of leafs stopped with him. Then he heard a cry of inhuman rage, a Boarbatusk charging from the bushes. It was no more than ten feet away when Theo sprang into action. He shot off four crossbow bolts, the Boarbatusk roared in pain and stumbled. Theo's brown aura was now leaking off him like smoke, even giving his eye's a brownish tint. Two bone knives seemingly appeared out of no where and into his hands, both stabbing into the Boarbatusk's neck. With a heave Theo lifted the grimm over his head smashing it to the ground with a deafening crack. He straightened, the knives gone from his hands.
The apmhitheater was silent before erupting into cheers and shouts of victory. Weiss was open mouthed, her battle with a boarbatush hadn't gone nearly as smooth as this. Blake was fully reeled in now. The knives were especially interesting, considering they appeared to be made of Grimm bones. "He didn't even have to go for the belly" Ruby murmured, Yang only cheered in enthusiasm. Nora cheered similarly, though much louder and demanding more. For once Ren was too interested in something else to be annoyed by Nora's banter. He'd come to the same realization as Pyrrha had but built upon it. To keep from bumping into things and "see" he most likely had to use his aura 24/7, which meant he had a tremendous amount of aura. Like, the kind of aura that grimms could sense from fifty miles away. Just who is that guy? Ren thought, his magenta eye's narrowing in curiosity. Juane sat, mouth agape, looking completely stupefied by what he'd witnessed. Pyrrha sat back with a smile, things were finally starting to heat up.
"Haha! I knew we'd have some good ones!" Ironwood exclaimed, Ozpin shook his head at the outburst but smiled as he did so.
"He shows exceptional ability, I think putting him in year two would be best" Glynda remarked, already typing away on her scroll.
"Yes, he is certainly very capable, I wonder how his three other companions will fair?" Ozpin questioned.
"Oh wait! The battle isn't done yet my fellow students, looks like he has three more Boarbatusk to dispose of! Will it prove too much? Or nothing but a walk in the park for our very skilled Theo Aylen!" John yelled, the adults whipping their heads back to the screens.
John was right, three boarbatusk now circled Theo who stood very still, a bone sword now hanging his right hand. It looked to be part of a Grimm's spine, the two knives had looked like Ursa major teeth. One leaped up, rolling toward Theo at top speed. With lightning fast reflexes he flipped over the rolling grimm, shooting back down with a burst of brown aura. The monster was run through with a sickening slice. Another yelled in rage, ramming it's head in the ground before charging. Theo pulled the elongated triggers six times, the unfortunate grimm getting two bolts in the eyes and front legs. It tripped over a tree root and launched into the air, Theo cutting it in half with his sword as it passed over head. It exploded in a smokey spray, leaving Theo with only one opponent. Despite it's hunger the Boarbatusk knew when to run and began sprinting out of the clearing, away from the killer of his kin. He only got five feet before two bone knives turned his vision black, one hitting his leg and tripping him up while the other stuck in his now face up belly. Theo stood still for a few more moments, deciding that the area was now safe. He put on his glasses, allowing Ironwood's men to escort him back to the start, though he clearly didn't need it. The bone weapons were mysteriously gone from the now dissipating carcases, the darkness swept away by the breeze.
The amphitheater was once again stunned with silence before going more berzerk than they did before. "Can you believe it ladies and gents?! Theo Aylen took out four boarbatusk without any help and without a single scratch! And he's blind for god's sake! Talk about a revival to today's initiation, something tells me the shows just getting started!"
Blake's mind was racing with suspicion and awe. There's no way just a normal initiate can be that good, there has to be something i'm missing!Blake decided she'd keep a close eye on him, to determine what his purpose was at Beacon. Weiss on the other hand was in complete awe, but she'd be lying if she said the whole bone sword thing wasn't a bit creepy. "Nowhe hit the belly!" Ruby cried in glee, Yang cheered even more furiously than she did before. Nora had made a flag out of a ruler and a piece of paper, waving it around while yelling "More bloodshed! More fun!More!". She then turned to Ren, asking if there was any food she could munch on, or if they could go get some together, but not together together, just together in the friendly kind-of way. Ren wasn't listening to a single word, thinking about another revelation. Grim bones can penatrate grimm armor! But wait, usually their bones melt into smoke before you can even touch them, how does he have three weapons made of them? Ren realized he had a lot of questions to ask this Theo character. "Well, that was unexpected" Juane said with a fearful undertone, Pyrrha's smile of satisfaction grew even wider. Humanity, no, Remnantwas in desperate need of light, and it seemed Theo had plenty of it to go around.
"Now if only all the soldier's in my army were like that, grimm wouldn't even exist today!" Ironwood exclaimed, the admiration in his voice hard to miss.
"Yes because your army kills so many grimm" Glynda muttered sarcastically, though sharing the same admiration.
"You know, this may not have been completely worthless, James" Ozpin said with a smirk, James grinned.
"You know Oz, I think you might be right" Ironwood agreed, excitement in his eye's as he looked back to the screen.