'You got this,' Automne assured himself as he popped his knuckles. 'You totally got this, there is no doubt you got this.' He took a deep breath, stepped onto the steel launch pad, and slowly exhaled. 'You've been training for years; there is no way you're gonna fail.' His heart steadily pounded like a drum as he gazed out at the sea of trees that stretched on for miles below the cliffs. 'The weather's nice, not too windy, no fog, you'll be out of there in no time… unless… noooo you got this.' Automne lowered his goggles over his eyes and pulled his scarf up over his mouth.
"…Each of you will be given teammates, today." Professor Goodwitch finished sharply; Automne was just going to pretend like he caught the rest of her monologue while he continued to mentally prepare himself.
'Alright, well that's good, I guess. Makes sense, of course they'd want me to work with someone.'
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you can work well."
'Oh, we're choosing. That's fine, totally fine, I guess I can pair up with Eve or-'
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
'… Wait… What? So am I actually choosing or does it all depend on who I run into first? Am I supposed to stare at the floor if I don't want to be partnered with them?' Automne continued to ponder this obscenely confusing contradiction as Ozpin went on with the briefing.
'Alright, I guess it doesn't matter. I'll just meet someone; we'll grab the artifact and get out… Just don't get paired with someone who sucks… And I have to do this quickly for a good grade… And I can't die.'
"Are there any questions?" Ozpin asked calmly, a blonde haired guy towards the end of the line raised his hand, and from where Automne was standing, it looked like he said something, but instead of actually answering his question Ozpin concluded with a loud, "Good,"
'Not sure why he asked, but once again I guess that doesn't matter.'
"Now, take your positions!"
Automne took a deep breath and drew two thick metal escrima sticks from holsters on his back. He rotated his wrists a little to re-accustom himself to their weight and slowly exhaled. 'I got this. I have my boys and I have the skills to get through this forest without a problem… well,' Automne set his right foot forward and loosened his shoulders as the sounds of launch pads flinging students into the air began to grow closer.
'I haven't actually tested this new landing strategy though.'
The sound of curled springs releasing tension continued to grow closer.
'And at this trajectory I probably won't have enough time to build up air resistance,'
The roaring of the launching pads didn't yield as beads of sweat began to trickle down Automne's face.
'This is going to fail! Maybe I can switch to my other one… The one that resulted in three broken bones…' Automne's launching pad let out a loud click.
"I'm going to die." Automne quietly muttered in horror as the pad sent him soaring into the air.
The wind howled through his ears in one long continuous note as Automne tried to calm himself. He spread his arms and legs out as far as he could, the unyielding torrent of wind blasting against him ruthlessly, 'Alright, now all I need's a tree. Where's a tree, where's a tree, tree tree tree,' He thought in a panic as his ascension came to a stop and he began to fall.
'There!' And there it was a few hundred yards away, a tall, thick, lumbering tree with wide, strong branches. Automne folded his arms against himself and dived in its direction.
The blistering wind whipped against his face like a ruthless assailant as he honed in on his target. The only thing he hated more than the draining dry air was the sound of the wind bellowing in his ears, almost completely drowning out all logical thought. It filled his head with fear and anxiety; that was its poison and Automne knew it could kill him.
'Now!' electricity ran through Automne's body as he spread his arms and legs out wide once again and gave a light flick in both his wrists to bring out the secondary forms of his weapons; Twilight Harmony and Dawn Tranquility. The one in his right hand gave a loud metallic whir as the pistol grip for Twilight Harmony unfolded and the long, suppressed barrel turned into alignment. In his other hand Dawn Tranquility gave a loud pop, Automne quickly smashed his wrist down against Dawn Tranquility, binding its light metal sheath around his wrist like a band and leaving a thin, sharp ninjato blade behind.
Automne began to wildly fire his pistol down in the direction of the tree as he turned his blade downwards and curled his knees up close to his chest. He channeled his aura down into his blade and his feet as he hurtled towards the fast approaching tree.
'Please don't kill me!' He hoped through gritted teeth seconds before colliding with the tree, sending splintered wood and debris into the air. His spine was rattling and the tree swayed back and forth treacherously as Automne breathed heavily in disbelief.
"I'm alive?! I'm alive!" He shouted in joy as he loosened his grip on his sword and looked for a near-by branch to swing to. "And no broken bones, that's a first." He mumbled with a small smile as he yanked Dawn Tranquility out of the tree and leapt onto a branch.
The branch suddenly gave a loud ominous crack and emitted a loud moan. "What the-" Automne looked over the branch and saw two large bullet holes. "Oh Dust nooooooooo," Automne trailed off as he plummeted down to the forest floor below, hitting every branch on the way down.
"Uhhhhh," Automne moaned as he rustled around in a bush as hundreds of healthy leaves slowly drifting down from broken branches and landed atop his body. "Well at least this bush saved me." Automne groaned into his scarf, cutting his cheek on the thorns of the bramble bush he had fallen in.
'Well I feel, and probably look, like crap, my face is bleeding, I'm covered in bruises and cuts, I'm pretty sure I broke a rib and I definitely dislocated my shoulder; I'm off to a wonderful start.' Automne thought miserably as he pulled himself onto his feet and limped out of the bush.
"On the plus side I have a snack." He mumbled half heartedly as he reached into the bush and plucked a couple of berries.
"I'm a ninja. I'm a scarfie ninja. I'm a ninja. I'm a scarf guy ninja. Eating berries 'cause I am a ninja! Eating tons of berries, hwaaa!" Automne shouted like a spazz as he shuffled through the forest doing karate chops into the air with one hand while his other arm hung off of him like a dead palm frond.
Automne stopped abruptly and turned to a bush. The bush gave a small rustle and Automne drew Twilight Harmony and aimed it at the center of the bush. He steadied his breathing and locked his iron sights onto the thick leaves. He dared not blink in fear that he would lose his opportunity for a quick, clean fight. He was in no condition for an open fight and he knew he'd probably lose his arm if he wasn't quick enough.
The bush rustled furiously, "Come on," Automne growled from behind his scarf. The bush continued to sway while Automne's blood only boiled hotter, "Face me!" He taunted with furious anticipation as he moved his finger onto the trigger.
The beast swooped out from the bush like lightning and flew for Automne's face, cawing and flapping its wings madly as Automne shot a single round into the chest of a small Nevermore.
Automne stared down at the quickly decomposing monster, "Huh, well that was a bit anti- whoa!" Automne dove to the floor as a large object swooped through the air and cleaved through a nearby tree.
"What was that?" Automne whispered as he crawled into a nearby bush. He pushed some leaves out of the way and was presented his answer in the form of a fellow student swinging a large shuriken through the air as a few large Nevermore's swarmed him in a small clearing between the trees.
The young man grunted and swung his open shuriken furiously as the Nevermore's pecked at his arms and tried to claw at his face with their razor-sharp talons. The hunter made to run into the forest, but quickly pivoted and sliced clean through one of the Nevermores, the sun gleaming heroically off of his thick rectangular glasses.
'I should probably help him.' Automne began to tighten his grip on his handgun, but before he could pounce out of the bushes like a crippled puma the hunter in training flung his shuriken through the air. Its four large blades ripped clean through a Nevermore and spun through the air like a windmill until it landed in the bushes next to Automne kicking up grass and dirt as it spun in the ground.
The student in the clearing gave a tugging gesture towards the shuriken and somehow pulled it from the ground and returned to swinging it through the air at the remaining Nevermore.
Automne gave a heavy sigh, 'You know what, I think he's got this.' He thought bitterly as he began to brush dirt off of his face and goggles.
And so he left him to it, he didn't leave him to deal with it on his own or anything selfish like that though. He just sat idly by in the bush and watched patiently as his fellow student swung his giant shuriken around with the hope of killing the pestilent Nevermore.
'I'm almost tempted to just shoot that damn thing.' Automne thought to himself after another five minutes of watching the student throw his shuriken, miss the Nevermore, shout a little bit, and repeat the process. Surprisingly it didn't look like Automne was the only one who had had enough of this because the student suddenly lowered his shuriken and collapsed it into a thick single blade and started to walk away. 'Well it's great to know someone like him will be protecting all of us very soon. Thank you random person I can sleep peacefully at night now.'
The Nevermore however didn't seem nearly as discouraged and dived at the seemingly unmotivated student only to be sliced down in one fell swoop; the student gave a small flourish with the curved blade and hooked it onto his belt by its large circular handle.
'Huh well I guess that wraps that up.'
"To whoever's in the bush, thanks for doing absolutely nothing!" The purple and green hunter shouted sarcastically as he glared in Automne's direction.
Automne slowly rose out of the bushes, and lowered his scarf "Heeeeeeey, so… how're you doing?"
The student furrowed his brow and crossed his arms, his vambraces clinking together lightly as a broad frown spread across his face. "Why didn't you help me?"
Automne exhaled heavily, "Well, it kind of looked like, to me at least, that you kind of had it covered. I mean you took out those other two easily, it should have been no problem to take out one more, right?" Automne finished with some forced laughter as he attempted to talk himself out of this mess.
Unfortunately smooth talking wasn't exactly his forte and the irritated student seemed to agree. His spectacled dark green eyes watched Automne with contempt as he stood there silently. His tidy black hair and a light purple sash hanging off the back of his leather belt swayed lightly as a breeze blew through the clearing. Automne couldn't tell what was more off-putting; the student's clear lack of humor, which could be seen by all the lines on his face, or the fact that he was dressed like he was from some sort of formal ninja army and he was very capable of breaking Automne like a pencil.
He was wearing a dark purple and black chest plate over his short-sleeved dark green collared shirt. His shirt was buttoned all the way up and it was tucked in neatly to his black pants that had a single purple stripe running down each leg.
Automne cleared his throat, "Sorry," He muttered shamefully as he was barraged with the student's soul-piercing stare. "So… I guess we're teammates now."
The irritated student gave a sigh, "Yeah, I guess we are." He said in an obviously less than thrilled tone.
"My name's Automne." Automne said shyly as he extended his hand.
"Ty," The other student responded dryly as he shook Automne's hand. "So, let's get going, we need to get to the relics and we've already lost a fair amount of time." Ty added flatly as he turned back towards the forest.
"Right ehm, before we go do you think you could help me relocate my shoulder?" Automne asked politely as he waved his limp arm in Ty's direction.
Ty let out a sigh, "Alright, let me see it." Ty grumbled as he walked back over to Automne and took a hold on his arm, pushed his elbow against his side, and started to turn his forearm outwards.
"Alright so how're we going to do this? Are you going to say when you're going to do it or should I count and the-" Automne let out a loud shriek as Ty shoved his shoulder upwards into its socket.
"There, you're good, now let's go." Ty asserted as he quickly walked into the forest.
'This could be going better.' Automne thought to himself as he trudged along slowly behind Ty with tears in the corners of his eyes.
Automne gave a sigh, lifted his goggles to brush away the tears, and broke into a short jog to catch up with Ty, his new teammate.