All for One, One for All
Part 2: Heroes United
Chapter 6: Graceless Flight
By the time Ventus woke up, Solis, Thor, and Nadiya were all awake and getting ready for the day just like everybody else. Jaune, on the other hand, was having a hard time waking up, so he just started getting ready in an effort to wake himself up. In a rush of wind, Ventus redressed in his silver-blue armor and slung Hurricane and Typhoon on his back. In a sense, he did everything faster than everyone else except for eating, which he took longer than most in doing. He totally skipped the locker room and headed to Beacon's cliff right away, weapons already on his back.
(Minutes later)
"Why do I get the feeling that you're planning something bad," Jaune asked Weiss, noting her strange nightmarish grin while she was speaking with Pyrrha Nikos. Weiss snapped out of the trance and scoffed at the blond teen.
"Who let you jump in," was her response. He glared at her menacingly, letting one eye flash with Sentinel's help.
"No one, but I shouldn't need it when talking with other students," Jaune reasoned.
"He does have a point, Weiss," Pyrrha noted. Weiss just huffed and turned her head away from Jaune.
"Well, I'm not just any student," Weiss argued, making Jaune roll his eyes.
"She's persistent," Sentinel popped out of nowhere. He appeared as a red-eyed shadow of a Roman Centurion, shield and all.
Apparently, both Weiss and Pyrrha saw Sentinel and backed away from his form.
"Aww, they're scared of you, Jaune," Sentinel teased.
"No, I think that's them seeing you, buddy," Jaune responded, not sure how to explain Sentinel to the girls.
"Err, Jaune," Pyrrha stuttered in fear. "Who is that? The shadow beside you?"
"Long story short," Jaune sighed, "that's my darker side. Apparently, he can manifest himself as a shadow, almost like a Grimm." Jaune shot a glare at the figure.
"Wait, what do I look like right now," Sentinel said worriedly.
"A Roman Centurion, except almost like a Grimm," Jaune answered to Sentinel. The figure gasped and, in a tornado of red particles, transformed into a normal Roman Centurion with inverted eyes like Jaune's. Sentinel knelt before the girls as if to apologize.
"My apologies, ladies. I am Sentinel, the manifestation of Jaune's Centurion heritage. He labels me as his 'dark side' because I am prone to take over his body at times when he is most frustrated or in grave danger."
Sentinel almost immediately disappeared into Jaune's subconscious, making him sigh in defeat.
"What on Remnant was that," Weiss demanded. This made Jaune facepalm and Pyrrha laugh.
"Did you hear him explain it or not," Jaune returned. "Besides, I can't explain all of it, simply because a lot of it is classified. I can't say much of it."
"Oh, so you're some sort of Captain in the military, huh? I doubt it. Pyrrha, get him out of here."
"Can it, shorty," growled a husky voice, gruff from the morning hours. Solis entered the conversation with his unusually usual gait. "Scrappy here's telling the truth. Consider me a witness."
"Who told you to barge in," Weiss griped at the Grimlock. "And for the record, I am not short."
"Me, myself, and I," he answered. "Besides, there's not a soul who can't hear you with all that shouting. And quite frankly, you're way shorter than I am; therefore, I can call you 'shorty', Shorty."
"Well, please stop calling me short; it's far too demeaning. Perhaps not for the likes of you."
"You say that as if I'm like this for no reason, which is just not the case. You, on the other hand, have no excuse to be half as rude."
"I do too!"
"Then give it."
"NO!"
"Why?"
Weiss was silent for a moment or two before answering.
"Personal reasons," she answered shortly before marching off to the cliff.
"Well, that happened," Jaune mumbled, not quite sure what just transpired.
Solis huffed and walked off to the cliff, which was when Jaune noticed that the weapon on his back was not the shotgun he had last night; in its place was a strange-looking sword, with two 5-foot curved red blades protruding from the edges of the guard and inwards to a near point. What confused Jaune most was the fact that Solis explicitly stated that he brought no other weapons.
"Hey, Pyrrha? Have you noticed that his weapon is different?"
"I have," she responded. "Perhaps his weapon can transform like mine."
"Maybe so, but I haven't seen him doing that."
"Well, we should head to the cliffs like he and Weiss."
"I'M LATE," Thor yelled as he stumbled between the two with his massive Warhammer strapped to his back. "NADIYA'S GONNA KILL ME!"
"Well he was in a hurry," said Yang from behind. "Nearly made roadkill out of Ruby, almost sent me through a wall."
"Speaking of which, we should probably get a move on before someone else does the same," Jaune agreed.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors," began Ozpin. "And today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."
"Now," Goodwitch cut in. "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion: each of you will be given teammates. Today."
Ventus literally fell off of his seat in the air, landing on one of the platforms. Thor sneezed when a fly landed on his nose. Solis, having lifted his foot to keep blood flowing, set down his foot on an unseen banana peel and landed on his tailbone. Nadiya, on the other hand, couldn't contain her laughter at the sight of three young men screwing up with perfect timing.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon," Ozpin continued around the interruption. "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."
Ruby made a small 'aww' noise, as if to say the idea terrified her.
"That being said, the first person you make eye-contact with will be your partner for the next four years."
Jaune could almost hear Ruby's world shatter as Ventus, while playing with a wind snake, overheard this and let it go—right into his face, sending him crashing to the ground with insane speeds. He was still whimpering when Ozpin continued his instructions.
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way; do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."
Being rusty in terms of combat experience, Jaune let loose a nervous chuckle and swallowed. He did not want to be the unlucky shmuck that got to prove Ozpin's point right.
"You will be monitored for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics; each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"
"Well, maybe one or two—," Jaune started, feeling queasy from his acrophobia. Ozpin ignored him, starting the process. While Jaune asked Ozpin those questions, Thor saw the other students being vaulted into the forest via the launch pads. One by one the spring traps activated, flinging each student almost a hundred feet into the air at high speeds. He kept his mouth closed, instead grinning mischievously as he took a sturdy stance. Solis was the one to speak about it, more afraid of flight than heights.
"Err, Jaune," Solis shouted, cutting off his query. "The platforms are spring-loaded."
"Indeed, Mr. Occasum," responded Ozpin. "What a clever inquiry. Most students only find out after they've been launched."
"Oh, God," Jaune whined. "Do you have any parachutes I can borrow?"
"That's a good question," Solis responded. "Is there any way for me not to have to FLY?"
He was launched just as he said the word 'fly', to which Jaune just swallowed and pushed his fear behind him as he prayed the flight wouldn't last long.
Ventus was a ways down from Jaune, with Thor, Nadiya, Yang, and Ruby between them when Jaune went flying. Still, the master of the skies was slightly nervous himself. He'd never been thrown into the air once in his life, much less launched by spring-loaded platforms. He pushed that fear behind him as he remembered something Ben taught him about fear and courage.
After Yang took to the skies wearing a silly pair of sunglasses, Ruby gave Ventus a small smile before she was sent skyward. A wildfire lit inside Ventus's eyes as he moved his right foot behind him and summoned several thousand PSI worth of air underneath him. The wind started spinning slowly before the pad exploded forward, then blasted forward as Ventus beat the pad to the punch with a massive leap. Ruby saw him flying faster than her and looked at him with awe; as he passed her, he gave a small wink and a flash from his blue eye lasting less than a second.
"It seems as though he took fate into his own hands," Ozpin commented as Ventus blasted from his platform before it could launch him, the last student to go now gone.
"That reckless demeanor could get him or someone else killed," Glynda noted.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," said the Headmaster as he watched the students disappear into the horizon. Their fate was now in their own hands.
All the students had landing strategies except for Ventus, who didn't intend on landing in the first place. Ruby used Crescent Rose to slide down a tree effortlessly, her sister Yang used her gauntlets to keep her flying, and Weiss used her Glyphs to hop down to the forest floor. There were five strategies that caught Ozpin's attention: Solis Occasum used his iron knuckles to cling to a tree, then slid down with relative ease; Ventus Zephyro used the same wind that shot him up to allow for a safe landing and danger-free landing zone; Thor Lochlannach used his bioelectric Aura to summon a reverse gravitational field to slow his descent; Nadiya Luchnik went with a more agile approach, swinging from branch to branch like an acrobat before landing in a high-up branch to search for Thor.
Then there was Jaune Arc, who did the unexpected: instead of finding a safe way to land, he put Death in a choke hold by slamming into the earth at terminal velocity. This made Ozpin very interested in the former soldier/farmer, as his transcripts said nothing about such strength. As a matter of fact, not even his commanders said a thing about it, nor did his parents. Right then and there, the Headmaster decided to speak with Jaune about it, especially after seeing a familiar sight: the bright blue pupils and orange irises on black backgrounds. The all-telling sign of a Centurion.
"Professor, if I may be so bold," Glynda spoke, bringing Ozpin out of his thoughts, "But I feel it would be appropriate to wait until we're certain he is here to stay. I would hate to spook Mr. Arc out of the Academy, wouldn't you agree?"
"I do," Ozpin agreed. "However, we are currently in desperate times right now; we cannot just sit around and do nothing."
"But we can't act too soon," added a familiar voice.
"It's good to see you too, Qrow. Would you care to watch the initiates with us?"
"Nah, I've got a good view where I am. And as I was saying, we've gotta time it right. Act too soon, she'll anticipate it. Too late, there won't be a world to save. Besides, we've got a Silver-eyed Liaison who knows his power, my niece has Silver eyes, we've got a Grimlock on campus, and a Dwarf and Elf who fought together in a labor camp are in attendance. On top of that, there's the Mars Insider Project on our side, so even if someone hacks the Atlesian military drones, we've still got a fighting chance if we get it wrong."
"And if she unleashes it," Ozpin asked Qrow Branwen after a moment's pause.
"We can tell him right before the Vytal festival or in the middle of it, if you want. All I'm saying is we can't just rush it." Qrow dropped a hand-written letter at Ozpin's feet. "That's what I came here for. Now I gotta fly."
Glynda sighed after he was gone.
"I really don't get him," she muttered, still uncertain whether he could hear or not. "He's a master Huntsman one moment, messenger boy the next, and somehow finds time to get drunk in the meantime. I hope neither of his nieces turns out like him."
End
A/N: That was one of those few chapters that take a while. I have a tiny excuse: I was busy recording for about 40 minutes, editing for 10 or 12 (no thanks to Movie Maker, dammit), and uploading to YouTube for about 50. On top of that, FF throws a hissy fit and makes me have to edit each chapter before I post. Video Title: Civ V LP Ep. 1
I hope you readers enjoyed the hilarity while it lasted, because pretty soon that hilarity will transform to physical comedy packed with violence (or vice versa). I've already hinted at Volume 3, so things are about to get seriously serious. Hopefully I won't go overkill, as I don't want to change this fic to my first M-rated story.
My parents are currently begging me to come and say prayers, so I'd better rush in before they go psycho on me. Texas, out.