Chapter 6: Welcome to Beacon

It didn't take long for the shuttle to arrive at the academy, and we slowly felt the craft shift as it began its descent. Once Ruby and I had regained our composure from Yang's comments, she began to tell me all about her old school, Signal Academy, and how she had designed her own weapon, Crescent Rose.

"Wait, you designed that?!" I was amazed at how expertly crafted it was, and the fact that someone her size could actually fight with such an oversized piece of equipment.

"Yeah!" She cradled the collapsed weapon in her hands. "I put a lot of work into making it, with the help of my uncle Qrow, of course."

Feeling comfortable, I leaned back in my seat and kicked my feet out slightly. "Your uncle sounds like a cool guy."

"He's awesome!" She squeaked in response. "So, where did you go to school?"

I stiffened up; Ruby's question caught me off guard. I forced myself not to panic as I tried to come up with an answer. I mean, I couldn't just let it slip that I was going to the most prestigious combat school in Vale without any previous training.

"W-Well, y-you see..." LIE. THROUGH. YOUR TEETH. HIRO. "I was home schooled!"

She looked at me quizzically. "Really? So you're from around here?"

"Yes. I-I mean no! I mean-" Calm down, Hiro. Just make a believable story. "I-I'm not FROM here, but I moved to Vale and was taught by a friend of my dad's. He runs a cafe downtown." It took all of my willpower to give a straight face to her as I told my lie.

Ruby tilted her head, wrapping her mind around my story. "A cafe owner home schooled you?"

I nodded hesitantly. "Yeah. I helped him run the shop from time to time as well. He was a great guy." Ruby looked at me skeptically for a moment. Shit the jig is up-

"That's pretty neat!" WHAT.

"W-Wait, what? Really?" I was shocked. 'I can't believe that worked...'

"Yeah, it's different in a kind of interesting way." 'Thank you, brain. You really pulled through for me there.' (HNinja: Actually you can thank me for that one.)

Before anything else could be said, a loud tone rang throughout the ship before an announcement was heard over the speakers.

"Attention passengers, we will be docking at Beacon momentarily. Please stand back from the boarding ramps until they are completely extended. Thank you."

I stood up along with most of the passengers, stretching my arms slightly.

"Looks like were here." I grabbed my bag and slung it across my back like before, when I caught another strange look from Ruby. "What?"

She gestured to my belongings. "Why didn't you put your bag with the rest of your stuff?"

"The rest of my... Huh?" I looked around and realized that I was the only one on the airship with any sort of luggage. Everyone must have put all their stuff somewhere else before the flight, but since I only had the items I had purchased from yesterday, my bag looked like some type of carry-on. "Umm... No real reason."

Ruby looked like she was about to say something else when her sister ran up to us. "Come on, guys, were here!"

She proceeded to grab onto both of our arms, and practically dragged us to the ramps, Ruby yelling at her all the while. "Yang, let go! Hiro and I are perfectly capable of walking!"

Yang yanked us along after her, careening past several students before reaching the loading dock, where we were released.

Once free, Ruby and I began rubbing our sore shoulders. "Your sister is strong, Ruby..." I groaned.

"Yeah... I know... Just be glad she doesn't hug you." The thought of my ribs cracking to pieces from a Yang-hug made me shudder.

Once we had recovered, the two of us followed along after Yang, who was busy making her way towards the front of the school. Ruby skipped along next to her sister while I tagged along behind. That is, until something caught my eye, causing me to pause mid-step.

"Hey, you guys go on ahead. There's something I want to check out."

The two girls turned around and Yang held her hands behind her head. "Okie dokie. Catch up with us later then, Hot-Shot." I felt blood rush to my cheeks after Yang's comment.

As they continued on towards the school, I quietly walked towards the side of the walkways. I had noticed someone sitting in the grass on the other side of the walkway railing. Someone with mouse ears.

Leaning close, I whispered, "Boo." The reaction was immediate.

"WAAHH!" The mouse girl jumped up to face me but tripped over her own feet, falling back into the grass. "Ow..."

"Whoa, I'm sorry." Worried, I swiftly vaulted over the railing and lent a hand to help her up. "You okay?" She brushed her short auburn hair out of the way and adjusted her glasses to look at me, then blinked in shock.

"Y-You're that boy from the other day!"

I grinned reassuringly."The one and only." I replied. She hesitantly took my hand and I helped her up to her feet. "What's you're name?" Her mouse ears flattened against her head; clearly, she was nervous about talking to me.

"M-My name is Ema. E-Ema Terrawood." She clutched the rather large book she'd been reading tightly against her chest, creasing the white dress shirt she was wearing.

"Nice to meet you, Ema. My name's Hiro Colton."

"H-Hello." She shifted around nervously.

A few moments of silence passed before I decided to try my best to make conversation. "So, are you a new student here, too?" She looked at me before shaking her head in response. Confused, I tilted my head to the side. "Really? Then why are you here?"

She cast her eyes downward before quietly speaking. "I-I'm here researching information about H-Huntsmen and Huntresses... F-For my class..." Her whole body was trembling as she spoke.

I put my hand on her shoulder, causing her to tense up. "Hey, there's nothing to be nervous about. Trust me, I don't bite."

Her emerald eyes caught mine for a second as she began to relax a little. "I'm sorry..."

I smiled. "Don't worry about it." Releasing her shoulder, I put my hands behind my head before continuing. "So you're doing research, right?"

She nodded. "Yes. I'm taking private classes at Signal Academy and wanted to learn more about what a real Hunter or Huntress does. You know, scientifically." She adjusted the glasses on her face as she spoke. "My instructor is an associate of one of the professors here, so I was allowed access to the school grounds and library."

"You're going to Signal, right?" She simply nodded. "You wouldn't happen to know a Ruby Rose by any chance, would you?"

Ema looked off to one side before responding."I don't know her personally, but I've seen her around the campus. She's one of the top students in our year, from what I've heard."

I stuffed my hands into my pockets. "I don't doubt it, she's going to Beacon this year as well."

Her face lit up as she looked back at me. "Really? She's so lucky!" I saw a smile spread across her face- possibly even a twinkle in her eyes- as she gripped her book tighter. "All of the knowledge this school has to offer... I can only dream of coming to a place like this!" She closed her eyes dreamily as the idea of herself being a student at this academy seemed to dance through her mind. I couldn't help but laugh a little at her cheerful musings.

After a minute or so, she snapped out of her trance, her face resembling that of a ripe cherry. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to trail off like that!"

I just chuckled. "No worries. I hope you achieve your dream of getting here one day." I gave her a thumbs-up.

She hesitated before shyly returning the gesture with a small smile. "Thanks..."

*KABOOM*

The sudden explosion caught both of us off guard as we looked towards the source of the sound.

I let out a sigh, almost positive of who had caused it. "Well I guess that's my cue to leave." I hopped up onto the railing and looked back at the mouse girl. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Ema. Don't be a stranger okay?"

She looked at me and nodded. "Okay. Thank you again, uh, Hero."

I smiled and shook my head. "It's Hiro, but thanks for the compliment." Giving a two-fingered salute, I dropped down onto the ground and hurriedly made my way over to the blast site, which was further than I had anticipated.

As I got closer I was able to see Ruby standing in the middle of a small crater, though there wasn't as much damage as I had initially thought, with only a few cracks here and there. Ruby gloomily sank to her knees as I approached, before completely lying on her back. Not seeing Yang, I could only speculate that things were not going so well for the hooded girl. Luckily, another student stopped and helped her to her feet.

I walked over to them in the middle of Ruby speaking. "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?" I could see the embarrassment creep onto the blonde's face as she said that.

I just rubbed my eyes. "I can't leave you and your sister alone for two minutes, can I Rose?"

The girl placed her hand on her hips. "You two are the ones that ditched me, you know!"

I crossed my arms in response. "I came back though, didn't I?" I shook my head before I continued. "Look, we can talk about what happened on the way to the school, we don't want to be late." I gestured for them to follow me. "You too, Vomit Boy!"

"H-Hey, not funny!" The two of them ran up next to me as we began our walk through the campus.

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on."

"Look I'm sorry, Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind." The three of us walked along through the academy grounds. While looking for the auditorium, Ruby and our new companion had gotten into a bit of a conversation over what happened upon arriving to Beacon. The boy had light blonde hair and was about my height- if you don't count my red hair spike- and wore some lightweight armor over casual-looking attire consisting of a black, sleeveless hoodie and jeans. He wore two brown leather belts- similar to my two black ones- and carried a long, sheathed sword on his left side.

"Oh yeah, what if I called you Crater-Face?" The boy replied.

Ruby waved her hands in rebuttal. "Hey, that explosion was an accident!" It was all I could do to keep from laughing at their little 'back-and-forth'.

The boy pointed a thumb to his chest before continuing. "Well the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!"

I looked at him, skeptically. "Really now...?"

Seemingly flustered, Jaune raised his hands in front of him, reassuring me "Hey, they will! Well I-I hope they will. I think my mom always says tha- N-Never mind..." Jaune continued walking, albeit slower after the discouraging first conversation. Ruby and I looked at each other, unsure of what to say next.

Finally, Ruby spoke up. "Sooooo, I got this thing." She pulled out her scythe, extending it completely before slamming it into the ground, mere inches from my feet. Seeing the shock on my face from nearly losing a few toes, she apologized sheepishly. "Ehehe, Sorry..."

Jaune, also taken off guard, jumped back a bit. "Whoa! I-is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle." Ruby proudly proclaimed as she held up the heavy weapon seemingly with ease.

Sadly, Jaune didn't appear to understand a word of it. "...A wha...?"

I sighed and did my best to translate for him. "A gun, Jaune. It's also a really big gun."

Clarity dawned on him. "Oh, that's cool!"

Ruby nodded before speaking. "So what've you got?"

The enthusiasm on Jaune's face faded quickly at the question. "Oh..." He reached down and unsheathed his weapon, a metallic thrum resulting from the motion. "Uh, I got this sword," he said sheepishly.

"Oooooh!" Ruby lit up, happy to see another weapon close up. I actually thought it was pretty cool, myself. Hell, it was better than my dinky little knife.

"Yeah, I've got a shield, too." He held up the sword's scabbard, extending it into a white shield bearing a crescent moon across the front.

"Nice emblem." I commented.

"So, what do they do?" Ruby reached out to touch the shield, but it immediately proceeded to extend and retract repeatedly. It jumped out of Jaune's hand, bouncing uncontrollably around me and the 'knight', hitting our heads in the process.

"Whoa!" "Yikes!" "Watch it!" "Yah!" "Grab it!" Jaune and I stumbled around trying to catch the shield. With much difficulty, I was able to grab hold of it long enough for Jaune to slide his hand in and grasp it again. I released it and began to rub the new bruise on my head as he continued his explanation.

"T-The shield gets smaller... So, when I get tired of carrying it... I can just... put it away..."

"But," Ruby questioned, "wouldn't it weigh the same?"

"Yeah, it does..." Jaune replied dejectedly.

Trying to cheer him up, I added, "At least it's easier to carry like that. So you don't have to hold it constantly, you know?" Jaune looked to me with a trace of a smile.

"Well, heheh. I-I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, I guess I did go a little overboard in designing it," Ruby said, caressing her scythe fondly.

Jaune's eyes widened with amazement. "Wait... You made that?" I smiled, knowing exactly how he felt from when Ruby first told me about it as well.

"Of course!" Ruby exclaimed. "All students at Signal forge their own weapons. Didn't you make yours?" The boy looked at the weapon in his hands unenthusiastically.

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me." Ruby smiled. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days," she nodded.

"Yeah... The classics." He repeated thoughtfully, before looking over at me. "What about you?"

I was taken by surprise. "Huh? Me?" I hesitated a moment, then reached behind me and unsheathed my own blade. " I have this Dust-Blade." Compared to the size and flashy designs of the other weapons, my little knife looked like a joke.

Jaune examined it closely. "Nifty." The two of them inspected the blade. Ruby was the first one to say anything.

"What's that design on the side?"

"The green one on the blade?" I tilted it towards me to get another good look at the shield-and-sword engraving. "I-It's nothing really. It sort of just came with it," I sighed. "I got it at a second-hand store, no real story there."

"Well, did you give it a name?" Ruby inquired.

"Huh?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms irritably, clearly frustrated at me. "A name! Your weapon is an extension of who you are! You have to name it!" I stared blankly at my weapon for a moment.

"Hmm... I never really thought about it." I looked back up at her, sheathing the knife. "I'll think of a name. Don't worry."

She smiled approvingly, then glanced upwards in thought and opened her mouth to speak again. "Didn't you have another weapon, too?"

I pointed a thumb over my shoulder at my bag. "What, that gun? It's just something I picked up during that robbery. I'm not even sure how it works, to be honest."

"Well, make sure you name that one, too!" she added quickly.

*Sigh* "Alright..." I agreed, mainly because I was sure she wouldn't let it slide. I shook my head as we continued walking.

Ruby turned her attention back to Jaune. "So why'd you help me back there, in the courtyard?"

"Eh, why not. My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'" It seemed like a good enough reason to me. 'At least he has morals. Wait a second...'

I stopped. "Hey guys... Where are we going?" The three of us exchanged glances.

"I don't know. I was following Ruby."Jaune and I looked at Ruby.

"W-Well, I was following Hiro." They looked at me, I just pointed to Jaune causing a group sigh. Luckily Jaune was there to break the silence.

"You think there might be a directory...? Maybe a food court? Some sort of recognizable landmark?" Ruby let out a giggle. "Is that a 'no'"?

"That's a no."

Another chapter complete! Thank you SakuraNights01 for helping proofread this chapter, it helped out a lot! The next few chapters may take a bit longer to get out due to time constraints, but since this weekend is a holiday I will have at least a day to work on them without problems.

Flamewing98: Hiro isn't very skilled in combat, so it is safe to say he would rather fight in a group than by himself. However, he is not above fighting solo for his own reasons, like with Cardin in the park. Also, WOOO! VOLUME 2! :D

Jacklyn Frost: I felt like I needed to put that at the bottom. It felt right. (Also, no... You don't have to say it. :P)

This chapter had a lot of canon moments in it as well as a couple of non-canon ones. The next chapter is planned to be a bit of half-and-half in this aspect. Hopefully it will answer some of your questions and raise even more. Stay Gold Internet! HiroNinja out!