Chapter 2- Acceptance
Breakfast time at Beacon, the time of the day where students usually try to plan ahead, except for Team SMG. After their long rest, Team SMG and Team RWBY sit together for breakfast, while Team SMG heavily eats their breakfast.
"Looks like you guys haven't eaten ever since you got here." Blake commented.
"Well," Gavin said, "it wasn't such a short trip from Sphere all the way to Beacon."
He was right; Sphere is located in farther kingdom, seven hundred and thirty miles away from Vale. It takes about a four hour trip to get there and in those four hours, Team SMG hasn't eaten since. Stephen looked at his watch. His eyes suddenly widened and he choked on his coffee.
"Oh, crap!" he said, "Prof. Goodwitch told us that our initiation begins at 10! We have fifteen freaking minutes!"
As soon as they heard this, the three began to eat a lot faster. From another table, Team JNPR looks over at Team RWBY's table and awkwardly watches Team SMG eat.
"Who're those guys?" Jaune asked his friends.
"I think they're the new students from Sphere." Pyrrha answered.
"They seem awful jumpy today." Ren said.
"Let's go and see what they're like!" Nora said.
She skips merrily to the table as her teammates reluctantly follow her.
"Hi there, Nora." Ruby said as soon as she saw Nora.
"Hi guys!" she said, still putting her attention on Team SMG.
"I see you haven't met them yet." Ruby said, "That's Stephen, Marco and Gavin. They're new here in Beacon."
"Ooo..." Nora said as she grabbed Stephen's weapon. "Hey!" he said, trying to get it back from her.
"Forgive her," Ren said, rushing in, "She just gets very jumpy around new people."
"It's okay, bro." Stephen said, "Just stop her!"
"Nora!" Ren yelled. In an instant, Nora returned Crusher and stood by Ren.
"I guess you guys must be the other team Ozpin mentioned." Marco said.
"Yeah." Jaune said as he came, "We're Team JNPR. I'm Jaune Arc; the red head is my friend, Pyrrha Nikos. The girl you just met is Nora Valkyrie and the guy in green is-"
"Lie Ren." Gavin said, interrupting Jaune.
"Oh, Gavin." Ren said, "I wasn't expecting to see you here. New teammates now, huh?"
"Whoa! Wait, guys!" Jaune said, waving his hands, "You know that guy, Ren?"
"Yeah." Gavin said, responding to Jaune's question, "We used to be duo back in Sphere, before I met Stephen and Marco. He then graduated ahead and I filled the gap with Stephen and Marco, booting him from our old team. Right, Ren?"
"Right..." Ren said, scratching his hair.
"I didn't notice you two knew each other." Ruby said.
"It's been a year since I left the old gang back at Sphere," Ren said, "and I can hardly remember what happened during my graduation. All I know is that Nora and I both got to Beacon at the same time."
"And I was so happy that we both graduated on the same day and entered Beacon together!" Nora said, softly punching her best friend's arm. Stephen checked his watch again and choked on his coffee again.
"We only have five minutes to get to the cliffs!" Stephen said.
With blurring speed, the three boys dashed out of the cafeteria.
"They seemed time manageable." Pyrrha said as they watched.
"Want to go see how their initiation turns out?" Ruby asked her teammates.
"Sure, why not." Yang answered. They then follow Team SMG to the cliffs.
At the cliffs, Team SMG overlooks the gorgeous scenery of The Emerald Forest. Even though the forest itself is beautiful, the forest floor is crawling with the Creatures of Grimm. Even from the area of the cliffs, they can hear the roars of the Grimm, signifying that it won't be easy to conquer what lies below.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Blake said from behind the guys. The guys yelled, surprised by Blake.
"You know you could just walk over to us instead of sneaking up on us!" Marco yelled.
"Sorry," Blake said, "but I don't really do the straight forward kind of approach. Sneaking up on people is more of my thing."
"Right..." Gavin said, giving her a firm look, "Anyways, we have to prepare. Ozpin will be here soon."
Blake nodded then went over to a rock where she could read her book. As Marco was creating a new ammo belt for Edge Shadow and Gavin was busy sharpening Bakunawa, Stephen went over to a somewhat lonely Blake.
"Shouldn't your teammates be here?" he asked, trying to break the ice once more with her.
"They'll be here." Blake said, still reading, "I just got here first."
"Well," Stephen said, "I couldn't help but notice how lonely you are. Is there something that's troubling you?"
"No." Blake said, still reading, "It just helps me think when I'm alone."
"Yeah," Stephen said, sitting beside Blake, "I know how you feel."
She suddenly looked up from her book and turned to Stephen.
"You do?" she asked.
"Yeah." Stephen said, "Back then I used to be quite lonely. It always felt hard to socialize with other people and I had to wait for them to socialize with me. It wasn't long before I started to impress them with my skills and it never failed to amuse them." He turned to Blake, "Weren't you like that before?" he asked.
"No..."she said, looking down at the ground, "I was a very different person back then and my past is too grave to talk about. Explaining it to one person was already tough, even though he couldn't see how tough it was for me explaining. Doing that a second time... I don't know what it'll do to me."
Stephen placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Blake," he said, "the past is an old photograph. It becomes very controversial at first, but as time goes by, the photograph becomes less of an importance and eventually, everyone forgets it, sometimes even the photographer. Blake, whatever happened in the past, no matter if you were in the photograph or the photographer is of no importance anymore. Just put it behind you or better yet, learn from it."
Blake was touched by Stephen's words. For once in her life, she met someone who shared her sentiment of loneliness and was able to learn from it. She never learnt enough from her past deeds, but because of Stephen, she will finally be able to put her past behind her.
"Thanks..." Blake said, slightly shedding a tear.
"I'm sure you can put this advice to good use." Stephen said, smiling, "Also, I'll be looking forward to great year with a girl like you."
He went back to regroup with his team. Blake blushed at the thought of what Stephen said, but she shook it off and continued to read her book. In the nick of time, Ozpin and Glynda show up.
"Gentlemen," Ozpin greeted, "your initiation begins today." He then gestures to a row of metal platforms. "Please place yourselves on any of these platforms." he said. The trio arrange themselves according to their team name. Marco puts on a ninja mask and Gavin sets up a gauntlet on his arm.
"Today," Glynda said, "you'll begin the initiation that will help you three be accepted into Beacon. During the time of your initiation, various Creatures of Grimm will not hesitate to kill you three. Use any tactic necessary to stay alive, even if it means destroying the forest." Ozpin then takes over for Glynda.
"In a marked cave," he said, "I have placed an untaken relic during the previous initiation, which is the White Queen Chess piece. Once you've taken the relic, you are bound to take care of it until you return to the cliffs. As for landing into the forest, that'll be up to you to decide how you're going to land. Good luck."
Suddenly, the trio are launched into the air via the metal platforms. After the launch, Ruby, Yang and Weiss appeared into the fray.
"Aw, darn!" Ruby said as she panted, "We missed the launch!"
"Do they have a landing strategy?" Weiss asked.
"We'll see." Blake said, smiling.
Team SMG's descent continues. Marco readies Edge Shadow as he comes to an incoming tree. He stabs the tree and safely rides his way down to the ground. Gavin on the other hand, throws Bakunawa downwards and goes after it with his semblance. Stephen fires Vorpal forward, carefully not trying to shoot his friends. He then fires it backwards as neared the ground, giving him a much needed speed boost. He lands safely and gracefully on the ground, regrouping with his friends. In front them, glowing red eyes illuminated the dark undergrowth of the bushes. They prepared their weapons as the creatures lunged at them.
From the cliffs, just thirty minutes after Team SMG landed in the forest, Team RWBY watches the carnage unfold at the forest floor. Smoke arose from the trees as the howls and cries of dying Grimms echoed around the forest.
"Sheesh!" Ruby said, overlooking the carnage, "Do they have to create all that carnage?"
"Maybe." Weiss said, "Besides everyone has to do what it takes to survive, even if it means burning down the entire forest."
"Hey!" Ruby retorted, "What happened last time was no accident."
"Guys." Yang said, stopping Ruby, "Let's not fight. Besides we're suppose to cheer them as they fight for their lives!"
"You know they can't hear us from all the way here, Yang." Blake said.
Meanwhile, Ozpin and Glynda watch the carnage on their Scrolls.
"That's the fortieth Beowolf they've managed to decapitate." Glynda noted, "So far, they have killed forty Beowolves, thirty Ursa, twenty Boarbatusk, five King Taijutu, two Death Stalkers and a Nevermore in no more than thirty minutes."
"I see." Ozpin said, overlooking the carnage.
Team SMG soon arrives at the cave, barely exhausted from the previous killings they just did.
"If we keep this up," Gavin said, observing the extreme damage they just did, "there'll be hardly a single Grimm in the forest."
They fist bump each other and enter the cave. Inside the cave was nothing but an empty, rocky floor. There were no stalagmites on the ceiling and a large hole overlooked the cave from the ceiling. On the other side of the cave was a large abyss and standing on the edge was a small pillar where the relic is standing.
"Careful, Stephen." Gavin said, "There could be something underground, so be careful with each step. Don't let your guard down."
Stephen nodded and took a step forward. He slowly moves towards the pillar, carefully observing his surroundings. He loads Vorpal and studies the pillar. It seemed old and mossy, but looks can be deceiving and he convinces himself that the pillar is a trap. He reaches out for the Chess piece, sweating as his heart beated like a drum. Gavin and Marco ready their weapons in anticipation as Stephen's hand reaches out for the relic. Stephen closed his eyes and grabs the relic. He opens them again to see that nothing happened. The pillar didn't sink into the ground, the cave floor didn't give away and no Grimm appeared in front of their faces.
"Well that seemed easy." Stephen said, looking at the relic in his hands.
"Let's go, bro!" Gavin said gesturing to the exit.
Stephen placed the relic in his satchel and begins to walk towards his friends. Then, from the abyss, a large robotic arm ascends from the darkness and crushes the pillar. Stephen turns to see a giant mechanical droid reveal itself to the three. It stood tall, very tall, it carried two gattling cannons on both of it's shoulders and a large plasma cannon on it's back. It was designed very futuristically, but it had enormous details of rust and cracks, signifying that it had been used before and was left to rust here. But it didn't make any sense to the trio. How did this mechanical abomination end up here? That was the question in their minds, but it didn't matter. In front of them was just another pile of junk waiting to be destroyed and dismantled. Gavin and Marco went closer to Stephen looking up at the droid's face.
"Grimm..." it said, trying to form a sentence.
"Grimm...Grimm...Grimm... presence detected!" it said, "Kill Grimms! DESTROY GRIMMS!"
"Why is this hunk of junk mistaking us for Grimms?" Gavin asked Stephen.
"I have no idea." He answered.
"Let's just destroy this thing and get back to the cliffs!" Marco told them. He then started to cough a bit.
"Dude," Gavin said, "remember your illness, try to keep yourself under control."
Marco gestured an okay sign and looked back at the droid. The droid started to use his gattling cannons to try and kill them. The trio parries al the bullets and charge at the large droid. Gavin switches Bakunawa to it's trident form and throws it to the droid's chest. The trident runs through the chest's tough armour and deeply penetrates the chest. Gavin uses his semblance to pull the trident, but the robot punches him, sending him flying onto the cave wall. Marco pulls off quick and powerful slashes at the droid's only arm, but they kept bouncing off. Stephen tries launching Crusher's spikes, but they do very little effect as they just bounced off. It seemed that the droid was built to withstand the might of the Grimm, making it almost invincible. The droid fires it's plasma cannons and sets off bolts of explosions all over the cave floor. The team looks up at the droid's glowing red eyes, signifying that the team has met their match.
"Ozpin!" Glynda said, watching the battle unfold in her scroll, "Call off your robot! I don't think those three are ready for this kind of combat." "Yeah!" Ruby said, who was also watching the battle on Ozpin's scroll, "They won't survive! Call it off professor!" "I can't." Ozpin said, with much anxiety in his voice, "I don't even know where this droid came from. How can I call off something I do not own?" "What should we do?" Weiss asked, showing concern. "All we can do is watch and wait." Ozpin told them as Ruby and Weiss exchange a worried look.
The robot menacingly stood over the trio, displaying great power and defence against the trio's attacks.
"Crap!" Stephen yells, just after he banged Crusher at the robot's arm, hardly making a dent at all. Gavin, on the other hand, was still trying to pull off Bakunawa from the droid's chest, but the droid kept knocking him off and stopping him from reclaiming his weapon. Marco used up already up to three ammo belts just trying to pierce the droid's thick armour and so far, no bullet holes.
"None of this is working!" Marco said to Stephen, who was standing next to him.
He coughed for a bit as Stephen observed the droid. Gavin then jumps over to the chest in which he tries to pull off Bakunawa manually. The droid tries to crush him, but he pulls out his weapon in time just as the giant mechanical fist was about to hit him. As Gavin jumps off, the droid hits it's chest, creating a much needed dent in the center.
"Guys!" Stephen said, as his teammates regrouped with him, "Did you see that?"
They nod as the droid struggles to get itself back into the game. They ready their weapons as the droid continues to pin it's focus on the trio. The droid fires his Gattling cannons at them, but Gavin uses Bakunawa's special attack in which he activates his gauntlet and Bakunawa starts spraying out thunder and lightning from the tip of the trident. The droid is enveloped with lightning to the face as Marco and Stephen near the dented chest. Stephen throws himself upward and starts banging the dent with Crusher. He continues to bang the dent until a hole appeared on the droid's chest. The droid flicks Stephen off it's chest and tries to crush him, but is countered by Gavin thunder blast and Marco striking the arm using Edge Shadow. Marco then focuses his attention on the hole Stephen made. The droid sees his advance and fires his Gattling cannons at him, but Marco parries the bullets and jumps into the hole. Marco switches his weapon's mode from katana to minigun form. In the middle is barrel where at the end, was a hole. Marco clipped a gas tank filled with red Dust at the end of the barrel and pulled the trigger behind the tank. Edge Shadow now started to emit flames all over the droid's body, burning it's circuitry, but to the droid, it just seemed like tickling it's insides. The droid reaches inside it's chest, pulls out Marco and throws him to the floor. Marco gets up to see that his recent action barely damaged the droid's innards and circuits. "None of our techniques our working!" Stephen said. "Damn right, bro." Gavin said. Stephen looked up at the droid. He noticed that the plasma cannon was falling off and that the twin Gattling cannons were from the side of the head. He also looked at the hole; there, he noticed that the core was deep within the droid's body and it seemed to be connected to the head. "Guys!" he said, as his comrades came to him. Stephen turned to Gavin.
"Gavin," Stephen said, "aim for the head. The droid's miniguns are connected to the head, meaning they're controlled by the head's sensors. If you pull down the head, the wires could jam the guns and, therefore, deemed useless."
He then turned to Marco.
"Marco." Stephen said, "The droid has only one arm, but it always uses it to counter our assaults. Try to cut off the arm through the wires, that way, it can't harm us anymore."
Stephen reloaded Vorpal with a different colour magazine and looked at the droid.
"I'll aim for the core and finish off this bitch once and for all."
Stephen said as his teammates nodded in unison. They charge at the droid, weapons ready. The droid fires more rounds off his miniguns, but is quickly parried and blocked by Stephen and Marco. Gavin throws Bakunawa at the droid's head, but it didn't go all the way through like the last time. He brings himself up there using his semblance, grabs hold of the trident and jabs it deeper into the droid's head. He leaps off and uses his semblance to pull the droid's head downward. As what Stephen said, the droid's shoulder cannons deactivate and start spewing out black smoke. Marco creates one huge strike at the rusty wires and they eventually snap, detaching the arm and deemed useless. The droid couldn't attack anymore and tried to struggle to break itself free. Stephen jumps into the huge, gaping hole on the droid's chest. Inside, he runs into the deeper mechanisms of the droid until he finds the core. Stephen fires Crusher's spikes at the core and electrocutes it while he's firing Vorpal around the core. Outside Stephen's view, the droid's plasma cannon falls off and explosions start to appear around the droid. The miniguns on his shoulder begin to explode while sparks fly from the wires and it's rusty skin begins to fall apart. Before the droid can fall into the abyss, Stephen escapes through the hole and lands in front of his teammates, who're exhausted. They watch the droid fall into the abyss as they pant.
"Sayonara, Rust Bucket!" Gavin yells as the droid falls into the abyss. They look at each other and gave themselves a thumbs-up for finally killing that hunk of junk. "Well," Marco said, "that was something."
"Agreed, bro." Stephen said.
He looks in his satchel to see that the Chess piece is still okay and untouched. They exit the cave, leaving nothing but a crumbling ceiling, a ruined floor and a pile of rubble.
"Well done, boys!" Ozpin said.
Team SMG returns to the cliffs, where they greeted by cheers from Team RWBY. Marco removes his ninja mask and wipes his forehead and sighs in relief that they're finally done.
"You three," Ozpin said to the boys, "have shown truly remarkable skills that definitely qualify you three to be accepted in Beacon. This is truly an honour for you three to be in this prestigious academy."
"Thank you, professor." Stephen said, smiling though he's incredibly exhausted.
"Yay!" Yang yelled as she jumped enthusiastically, "We have a new team in Beacon!"
"Last one to the cafeteria is a rotten egg!" Ruby said as she ran. They followed her, trying to keep up with her pace, especially Team SMG.
'This is it,' Ruby thought to herself, 'A new has arrived. I won't let my plan fail mom. I promise.'
-End of Chapter 2-
Author's notes: Hi guys! Right now I'm just trying my best to finish the rest of this fan fic, but right now, trying to finish chapter three is the only thing on my to-do list so yeah, it's gonna take awhile. I appreciate reviews, bad or good. It helps me decide whether to continue with this fic or not. Thanks and happy holidays every one :)