Trailer: Nepal

Today was the practical exam to Beacon. Getting there was her biggest wish. Even though her parents hoped that she would become a government official and she even enjoyed quite a bit of studies in that field, she wanted to change the world in more ways than simple words.

Now she was awaiting her turn on a bench at gate to the exam arena. She was the last one to be examined today. Despite her calm surface, she was actually quite excited and hopeful that her training would pay off and she'd become a Huntress one day.

She adjusted the fringe and bangs of her bright blue hair. She then reached for a pocket in her vest and pulled a simple pen from it: her weapon.

"Nepal, Nicandra," a man's voice called. It was rather quick then in previous instances.

Nicandra stood up from her seat, fixed her skirt and entered the arena. In the center there was a man in wavy green hair and glasses, his shirt was untucked and his tie loosely hanged from his neck: a truly strange-looking examiner.

"You are here to apply to Beacon Academy," he stated the obvious. "Today your resolve will be tested, that you know what it take to be a Huntress." He then sipped some drink he had in his thermos. "The test will be done in three rounds, if you're successful that is. Win the first two battles and the final match for today will follow. Are you ready?"
"Yes," Nicandra replied.

The examiner then suddenly appeared in the audience.

"Get ready, Miss Nepal!" he warned her. "Round One!"

From a dark corner of the arena a Grimm emerged. This was a simple Boarbatusk, nothing to worry about. The Grimm charged at Nicandra only to miss her after she dodge-rolled on her side. The the girl waved with her pen, blue and yellow emblems appeared joining into a white one, and an icy spike shot from her enemy's under sending it flying. The Boarbatusk fell on the ground shortly after and once again charged at Nicandra. She once again used her pen and conjured a shield-like glyph with which the Grimm made contact with. It was stunned by the impact and the girl simply stepped on its side with one of her heels which suddenly ejected a nail which pierced through the creature. The Boarbatusk dissipated in black fog.

"I never thought that I'd use that mechanism," she silently said to herself.

This was only the first round, two more were to follow. There was something odd about that Boarbatusk, like it had stronger armor than your average Grimm. Nonetheless, Nicandra couldn't drop her guard down.

"Round Two!" A voice from behind her rumbled. The examiner was in a different seat in the audience. A thought crossed Nicandra's mind, Who is that man? Is speed his semblance?

From another dark corner of the arena another Grimm emerged, roaring loudly: it was a Beowolf. It started its attack by a flurry of wild slashes with its front paws, but Nicandra simply back-stepped. The Grimm then punched the ground, the shaking caused by it resulted in girl's fall onto the ground. The Beowolf scratched Nicandra's hand who was trying to reach for her pen causing her some pain.

Now the Grimm was standing above her, ready to strike her down. If I'm going to make it to Beacon, I need to be more agile, the girl thought.

Just as the Beowolf was to strike her down, no doubt ending her life even with the examiner watching, she rolled on her side and performed a low kick causing her opponent to fall. Not a fair move, but Grimm weren't known to be noble either. She quickly run to her pen and drew another shape with it. A hot steam engulfed the Beowolf resulting in it going berserk. The Grimm charged in a random direction, smashing a part of the audience. However, it quickly retained its senses and went straight for Nicandra.

Now the girl conjured red and green emblems which joined into a bright yellow one and a dark cloud formed above the Beowolf. The Grimm looked up and was struck down by a series of lightning bolts. This creature has also dispersed in black smoke.

"Very well, Miss Nepal," the man was now on the arena.
"Thank you, sir," the girl replied, unsure of what her next trial will be.
"You're one of few candidates who managed to pass the second round, I'm impressed," he said. There was a note of sincerity in his voice, although his words somehow spoke of the man being shocked with her display of abilities. "But now the hardest trial awaits you." The man sipped some of the drink from his thermos and suddenly turned it into a torch-like weapon and pointed it at the girl.
"I am to fight you?" Nicandra asked. "I thought that—"
"My dear, Grimm are not the only enemy you'll encounter," the man interrupted her. "There is darkness in everyone, including those who may appear flawless. That's the nature of this world."
"Is this truly necessary?"
"The choice is yours," he replied simply and assumed a battle-ready choice.

Nicandra now stood between two options: fight her examiner and win her place Beacon or abandon the fight. Why would she ever need to battle someone to death? Grimm were the real danger to Remnant and they wouldn't hesitate to kill. True, there are also Faunus but all they wanted was recognition as a 'person', a cause she understood. Even with several situations where Faunus grew aggressive and killed a human or two, she saw little reason to fight a being that was pretty much the same, even if it would be someone with animal traits. However, if she chose to fight the man before she'd be able to shape the world in more ways than from a warm seat of an office surrounded by four walls. Her choice was obvious.

Suddenly a cloud of dust covered the entire arena, the result of her fusion of earth and wind emblems. The man was coughing, caught by a surprise. The girl was waiting in a safe distance, preparing another spell. Just when a pool of magma was to hit her target, the man leaped into the air and shot a projectile straight into Nicandra. The girl was hit and flew few yards away, but quickly got up. The man was already charging at her and swung with his weapon just when got close enough, but the girl evaded the attack with a roll. She quickly got up and waved her pen releasing few drops of ink which turned into ice needles midair. The man simply knocked them with his weapon and shoot a projectile. Nicandra conjured red and yellow emblems which joined into a bright red one and a shield appeared in front of her. She quickly conjured two other emblems: blue and green which joined creating a grey emblem. A dark cloud surrounded the man and shots of water emerged from it striking the man multiple times. She decided to finish the battle with a series of lightning bolts.

However, a pair of legs attempted to knock her off the floor as their owner performed a jump attack propelled by his weapon impaled onto the ground. The unexpected move from her opponent's side succeeded and she landed on a wall.

"Interesting display of skills, Miss Nepal," he said. "Reminds me of one of my colleagues."

The girl struggled to stand up but somehow she managed. She looked at her weapon: the hook was cranky. She wouldn't be able to cast spells as powerful as before for the rest of the battle. She would need to improvise. She could...

"Do you still have what it takes to become a Huntress? Or have you changed your mind?" he asked.
"Allow me to show you, sir," the girl replied.

She charged at the man and slashed him with her pen, much to his surprise. Just when he was about to deliver a punch at her, she performed a back flip kicking him in the face and she also managed to conjured four different emblems which joined into two and each of them imbued itself on each of the heels. The man quickly recovered in the air and attempted to strike his opponent with his weapon. Nicandra performed a diagonal upward kick sending a stream of water from her heel his way and performed a second, front flip, where from her other heel a magmatic whip-like stream was sent. The attacks hit the man and their remains collided creating a steam covering her opponent's eyes. She then cast a large sphere above him and several lightning bolts shot out from it striking her target. The man yelped. The girl was certainly a decent improviser.

When the last lightning bolt struck the man ran to a desk which stood on the lower level of the audience. He swung his weapon at the item and send it flying towards the girl. She managed to avoid the collision with the desk, but still got a nasty scratch on her arm. The man was worn out a bit by the last attack he did and Nicandra saw this as her chance.

The girl conjured a dome of white emblems around her opponent, effectively sealing him away, but she felt like he could break out of it at any moment. Nicandra concentrated the remaining Aura on her final attack.

"Diamond Cage!"

An ice pillar shot out of each emblem and hit its target in rapid succession, each pillar disappearing after delivering an attack. The final pillar fell from above and knocked her examiner out. The girl was now bearly standing, using most of her Aura on the attack.

Nicandra swept dust from her uniform, "I do hope that he'll recover quickly."

"Well done, Nicandra," suddenly another man appeared from the shadows, holding a cup in one hand and a walking stick in the other. The girl drew her weapon pointing it at the newcomer. She wasn't sure if her exam has ended or yet another round would start. "Now, now," he slightly nodded. "There is no need to remain wary now." The girl lowered her weapon. "Bartholomew, how fared this lady here?" The girl's opponent, now named 'Bartholomew', stood up.
"B-," he said. "Miss Nepal requires technical training with her combat style. She is still rough at the edges, but can certainly change her tactics when the situation requires it."
"Thank you," the man with the walking stick replied sipping the drink from his cup. The girl gasped. She realized she had just fought against a teacher, and she was sure it was one from Beacon!
"I am sorry for any internal damage, professor," she apologized. She did use quite a lot of Aura on her final attack.
"I've had worse, child," the green-haired man replied. He then turned to the other, silver-haired man, "So what do you make of her, Ozpin?"

Ozpin? That's the name of Beacon's headmaster. Nicandra was surprised to see the headmaster himself during the exam. She thought that someone of his position would mostly tend to paperwork, meetings, and such, not personally engage with his students, even call them by their first name.

"I'm sure Glynda would enjoy someone with similar taste as hers in the student body," he replied. "They certainly would get along just fine."
"May I know what is to become of me, sirs?" Nicandra asked.
"I'm pleased to say that you passed the exam, and with flying colors nonetheless." The girl's face turned red a bit. "No other participant was able to bring Professor Oobleck's Aura to even a quarter of the gauge." He motioned to the large screen which now showed her and Professor Oobleck's Aura levels: the man's gauge was actually a bit more than half, but the girl's gauge was nearly at the finish. "However, I would advise you to conserve your energy: sometimes going all out will not result in your victory and may spell your doom."
"Thank you," Nicandra bowed down.
"That is all for today. You are free to go," Ozpin said and the girl exited the arena.

Bartholomew sipped a drink from his now thermos, "There was something unsettling about her."
Ozpin turned to him, a curious look in his eye, "Hm?"
"Her resolve. It's like she knows what she wants to do, but at the same time is hesitant."
Ozpin put a hand on Bartholomew's hand, "Then we will help her with it."

Author's Notes

Okay, I managed to write third character trailer. Her appearance and personality are slightly based on Vera from Tales of Xillia 2, however her battle style is not based on any particular character: she's more of a magic user. You may ask: "why introduce a character who's pretty much Glynda and besides, you already have another spellcaster in team, that girl Rouge?" Rouge is more versatile, able to use her weapon and spirit artes in battle, while Nicandra is like 93% magic user, she doesn't have much power and at times has to rely on her heels. She's terrible with close combat and has to rely on her semblance: "Element Fusion". The drawback of her semblance is that she requires a small, straight weapon to channel her emblems; any other conduit for her spells would lenghten the fusion time. Also, Rouge can put quite a fight even without her semblance in use which Nicandra can't because of how picky on weapon choice is her semblance.

Also a reason why I wanted a Glynda-like student was that I was interested on how one becomes such person: formal, elegant, no-time-for-your-shit, and all that. I will need some serious input on this character since I'm not sure I can pull a decent growth of a "teen Glynda". I'm sure there people here with Glynda-like personality who'd be willing to direct me the good way.

That leaves me with one final character for the team. I'm considering to make him (yes, I consider having even propotions in my team: 2 boys, 2 girls) something akin to Yang, with all the attractiveness and fan service (he would be wearing quite a ridiculous outfit too). I want to hear your input on it; it would help greatly to have some input outside of my own ideas.

Yesterday (January 15th, 2015) I updated the second character trailer: I changed the girl's name from "Robelia/Rubelia" to "Rouge".

Over and out.