"When the Grimm menace reached the human settlements in the Northern continent, settled in a country named Atlas, there were no survivors. They were all slaughtered as the black death spread across their cities, butchering every last man, woman and child. In time, the neighboring settlements came up with ideas to survive both the unrelenting cold and the merciless horde. The few who survive today have cut themselves off from the four other Kingdoms and the Kingdom of Atlas was named in their honour. Of course, that did not prevent people from fleeing the human presence in the Kingdoms and settling in the North again. Of course, a Kingdom that was once destroyed can never again come into being."
"So technically, the first person to have reached the temple was completely without a partner?"
"Yes."
"Was that intentional?"
"I wouldn't know."
"I believe you are lying to me."
"You flatter me, Miss Goodwitch."
Glynda wasn't exactly amused by her colleague's behaviour. And Headmaster Ozpin understood that perfectly; he wasn't there to amuse people. That was just an unfortunate side-effect of his presence.
But it seemed that everything he did annoyed the blond professor standing next to him and he knew that if it was up to her, he'd be kicked of Beacon the very moment an opportunity arose.
But ultimately the decision was up to him. And while the Adamant family has been known for their…somewhat eccentric habits, they produced very fine Hunters each generation.
Ozpin softly sipped at his coffee, eyeing the camera feed from his scroll. Something interesting happened at the temple. A lone figure was hanging from the side of the main structure. "What is he doing there?"
Glynda glanced over his shoulder and took a look at his footage. "It would appear that he is doing something to the wall of the temple. Sabotage for the other students, perhaps?"
Headmaster Ozpin noticed that his newest colleague was suddenly trying to act very casual. He failed miserably and that gained his attention.
"The wall you are speaking off…" the man said, in a very forced nonchalant manner. "Is it by any chance…positioned to the east side?
"Why, yes it is." Ozpin replied.
"Then I might know what our black-clad warrior is doing up there…clinging to the wall of the temple on the outside, halfway up the Beacon Cliffs."
"Awfully specific, wouldn't you agree?" The Headmaster said and raised one eyebrow.
"Well, yes I agree. It is very specific. Especially when you take into account that I have visited that place once…"
"What does you blundering about near the temple has anything to do with-"Glynda started, but she cut her own sentence of while she was speaking. "Don't tell me... please say that you weren't so stupidly brash as to…did you sabotage the temple?"
Ozpin was standing with his back towards both him and Professor Goodwitch and was just about to take another sip of coffee when his colleague spoke her mind.
"No!" He said, as if the mere idea of sabotage was preposterous. "I didn't sabotage the temple at all! That would be silly."
"Good!" Glynda sighed and returned to monitoring her scroll. Ozpin proceeded to take another gulp of his coffee- which had to run out sometime.
"I merely installed an anti-air cannon armed with four hydraulically driven two-barrel flak-cannons firing high-explosive thirty millimeter slugs at three hundred rounds per minute."
"YOU DID WHAT!"
"Why am I not surprised…" muttered Ozpin. He had personally taught at least two Adamants in his time and they were both equally mad. Genius, gifted and talented, but utterly unpredictable. It was a dangerous combination between the ego of a prodigy and the brashness of youth that made for the foundation of the Adamant Clan, after which experience and wisdom would take over.
Glynda looked ready to strangle the young man to death judging by her glare, but Ozpin merely sighed and took his scroll out again. "I presume that you didn't leave it operational when you left there…"
"No. I only placed it because I had grown tired of all the Nevermore's flying around trying to disturb me. Don't worry; I locked the thing down tight. Our new students won't be able to get it operational again."
"Then why is this one trying to get it working again?" Glynda said, having calmed down.
"Idle hopes?" He looked over Ozpin's shoulder and took a look at the footage. "He doesn't seem to be chased by Grimm at that moment…let's just see what happened, shall we?"
Ruby had never seen a giant nevermore before. Of course she knew that the giant avian was a problem, but. A nevermore was a problem. A big nevermore was a big problem. But a giant nevermore? That could be counted as a giant problem. She was not going to give up here though; no Grimm could withstand overwhelming firepower.
And as the two newly-formed teams charged through yet another section of the large forest, the giant bird was still flying overhead, never letting them out of its sight. It looked ready to pounce every single time she saw it. Which it probably was.
"We're in big trouble!" Ren yelled as a large feather pierced the air one meter to his left.
"Just. Keep. Running." Ruby replied.
"I. Hate. Running." An exhausted Jaune yelled in return. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he tried to get air into his lungs.
"Remember…your…recent…breathing…exercise!" Pyrrha said to him.\
'Breathe through your belly!' He had said. That had helped the blonde intensely; perhaps it could help him here? She wasn't exactly the best runner of the students, but with the tactic of breathing through your stomach she could endure this.
"Nose…and…belly?" Jaune replied.
"Yes!"
After that his complaints lessened and she really hoped that his discomfort had turned for the better.
The area in front of them gradually expanded until they reached another open area. A large network of ruins could be seen in the distance; there were multiple abandoned structures and other creations. Perhaps there they could lose the giant Grimm tailing them?
"Take cover in the ruins!" Ruby yelled and then quickly ran up to the nearest pillar. The rest of her team quickly followed her example and the eight students dispersed amongst the ruins.
Yang, Weiss and Blake followed her into a small building with only one room and several windows. The large shadow of the Nevermore raced over the ground, coming closer and closer.
"If he sees us we're goners!" Weiss whispered. She was right; a building as old as their current hideout would most likely crumble and collapse when a large Grimm smacked into it.
"Then be quiet!" Yang replied.
The shadow reached their piece of cover –and moved on. Good, the bird hadn't spotted them and it was moving on. But they still needed to get to the top of Beacon Cliffs –a long journey between many ruins and buildings with a giant Nevermore on their tails.
Ruby softly sighed and wondered whether their situation could get any worse. Almost as soon as she had thought about it, she heard Jaune Arc scream at the top of his lungs and then she heard the unmistakable ruckus of an old building collapsing.
"Death Stalker!" Nora yelled almost simultaneously with her blond teammate.
Good thinking Ruby…way to jinx it.
"Move out!" She yelled and jumped out of the window in front of her. She didn't check to see if her teammates followed her, but immediately continued their charge towards the large complex. If the Nevermore could hear the screams of the other team, it would most likely circle back to attack them again. And with the giant scorpion chasing them, they couldn't afford to keep hiding.
"Is everyone alright?" Yang yelled.
She turned around and saw her teammates running after her, followed closely by Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren –who in turn were chased after by the Death-Stalker. It had caught up with them somehow and now it was ready to continue what it had tried to start –which probably had something to do with cutting them into small pieces and then smashing them into a thin past.
"Yeah just great!" Weiss replied in turn. "Playing cat and mouse with a giant bird and a big scorpion! Nothing can be better!"
"Shut up and keep moving…" Blake said. Weiss opened her mouth again and was most likely thinking of a mean comeback, but Ruby quickly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away.
"We need to head towards the main complex!"
"Ruby they aren't going to make it!" Yang yelled and she turned around again to see what was going on. The other team had somehow managed to get the attention of both Grimm and they were boxed in between the monsters.
"Forget what I just said, we need to help them!' The redhead replied and unfolded her Crescent Rose. If their new friends were in trouble then it was their job to assist them.
The Death-stalker crawled towards Nora and Ren and the two of them turned to face it.
"Nora distract it!" The male yelled and his companion was eager to comply. She grabbed the weapon on her back and promptly turned it into a grenade launcher, which she then proceeded to fire at the approaching Grimm. She didn't notice that the Nevermore had effectively turned around to attack them a second time. While she was jumping and rolling around, the monstrous bird swept down to crush her with its body.
Then both Ren and Blake interrupted its dive; using their weapons to attack the beast in a cross-slash and chase it off temporarily.
Weiss ran up to Nora and placed another Glyph on the ground, allowing the girls to jump to safety. Both of them advanced towards the large bridge which divided the ruined remains of another temple and the scattered buildings.
Now it was the turn of Blake and Ren to retreat before the approaching Grimm. The Death-Stalker had focused its attention on them and it was chasing them towards the old bridge as well.
"Go! Go!" Pyrrha yelled and stepped in-between them. Then she unfolded her weapon and fired a few shots at the large scorpion, allowing her friends to advance without having to worry about getting eaten by a Grimm.
Now that all eight of the students had reached the bridge, Ruby noticed that the ground underneath them was rather…not there. The bridge and the multiple platforms that suspended it were hanging above a large abyss.
"I hate heights…" She whimpered and tried to steel her stomach against the lurching sensations. She and Jaune had something in common, it seemed.
But they weren't safe yet; as they tried to cross the bridge in an attempt to escape the approaching Death-Stalker, they failed to notice the Nevermore appearing once again to take them down. It crashed into the bridge right between the two teams and completely obliterated the old structure.
Ren, Pyrrha and Blake were stuck at one side with the Death-Stalker bearing down on them while Ruby, Yang, Weiss were stuck together with Nora and Jaune…and the raging Nevermore.
She grabbed her weapon and unleashed a few shots at the giant bird, but either she missed or the creature evaded her fire because none of her shots actually hit it. She could see Blake taking several hits from the scorpion and groaned in desperation. This situation was spiraling out of control rapidly!
"Man, we need to get over there!" Jaune said when he ran up to join her at their side of the platform. "They need help!"
Nora appeared virtually out of nowhere next to them and yelled: "Let's do this!"
Jaune and Ruby looked down at the misty abyss below them and then looked at each other. The two of them quickly held up their hands and engaged each other in a deadly game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Ruby won using paper against Jaune's rock and quickly stepped away from the edge.
She wiped her forehead in relieve and looked at the small play unfolding itself before her eyes. Nora turned her weapon into a large hammer and approached Jaune with a diabolical look in her eyes. She knew what was going to happen and she felt sorry for Jaune. The kid had no idea of what was coming.
Nora slammed her hammer into the weak segment of the bridge, launching Jaune into the sky. Then she stepped onto her weapon with one foot and fired off one of her grenades, literary firing both herself and Jaune towards the other side of the bridge.
"I hate flyiiiiiiiiing!" The kid screamed with fear as his body tumbled through the air.
"Join the club!" Ruby yelled after him.
While Nora engaged the giant scorpion, she witnessed the girl accidently knock into Blake and send her crashing into the Abyss.
"Blake!" She yelled, but then the dark-haired girl launched her whip into the air and let the bladed edge of her weapon sink into the stone bridge. Using her remaining momentum, she swung through the air and landed on top of the giant bird –which had just come around again to see what was going on.
It opened its maw in surprise and its visage appeared rather amusing. It was as if it was coming back to say "Oh hai guys!"
Of course, if Ruby added the series of dashed and slashes that Blake performed while on tis back the amount of humour significantly dropped. She realized the urgency of their situation once again and made way for her teammate, who had been swung off of the Nevermore and almost conveniently landed next to her.
"Welcome back!" She greeted the bow-wearing girl, who then responded that it was tougher than it looked.
Yang joined up with them and readied her Ember Celica's. "Then let's give it everything we got!"
The redhead watched with rising levels of glee as her entire team gathered to unleash all of their powerful ranged attacks on the abomination.
"None of it is working!" Weiss screamed and Ruby detected a certain amount of stress and panic in her voice. What was supposed to kill an enemy as tough as this? Their munition couldn't pierce its skin and the closest thing they could do was temporarily confuse it.
What would work? How was she supposed to-what was that?
Ruby just happened to glance to her left, eyeing the remaining platforms and the ruined frame of the suspended temple. She noticed something sticking out of a wall…or more accurately, four things. Never in her life had she imagined that she could actually see what she thought she saw. If it was real –if it wasn't some kind of mirage or lie- she might have an idea.
"I need to check something!" She yelled and readied her weapon. Can you get me up to that wall?"
She pointed at the large temple and hoped sincerely that Weiss and Blake could help her.
"What are you planning?" Yang asked her, but before she could answer her big sister the two other girls jumped up and landed next to her.
"What do you need?" Blake asked. It was actually very heart-warming to see how her team completely trusted her, in both her idiotic ideas as her naturally-assumed leadership. She had never intended for the group to be led by her; it had merely happened.
"This is what I need you to do…"
This was seriously the worst thing that had happened during this Initiation. It was completely stupid and it would not work.
It wouldn't…right?
"Are you sure about this, Ruby?" Weiss asked. Even though she didn't have any faith in her idea, it didn't neccesarily have to mean that she wouldn't completely go through with it. And she was seriously worried about the consequences for the young girl if her idea were to fail.
The other team was still fighting the giant scorpion, so they wouldn't be able to assist her when she overshot or if the Nevermore would grab her.
"Don't worry Weiss! I'll be fine!"
Right. Blake had fired the pistol portion of her weapon over to a column on the other side of the bridge. There, Yang had helped her tighten it between the two structures, forming a tight elastic band. Ruby had grabbed her weapon and jumped on the center, preparing to get launched by the make-shift catapult.
"Remember!" The girl said. "I need you three to get its attention while I check the temple. If I am right…there is a means to win this fight hidden there."
If she was right.
"Of course you would come up with that idea!" Weiss bit back, trying to hide her worries about the wellbeing of Ruby. Even though the girl was annoying and very weird, she had secretly grown to care for her. It wasn't something she completely understood herself. Ruby looked over her shoulder and her eyes locked with her own. And then Weiss knew. She knew that Ruby understood –even though she acted so mean and angry towards the younger girl- that she really cared for her wellbeing.
"Don't worry about a thing Miss Schnee! I will be fine!" She jokingly said.
Yep. She totally knew. Her ability to understand people by looking at them was…very scary.
"Can you make the shot?" Rose than said, taking the situation to a more serious level.
She smirked. "Of course I can make the shot!"
Yang nodded to them and Ruby gave them a thumbs-up. Weiss then used her weapon to create a glyph that would propel the girl towards the temple –the rest was up to her.
"Give that bastard everything we have!" The blond girl then yelled and slammed her fists together.
"Again?" Blake replied after she reassembled her weapon.
"Yes again!" Weiss rebutted. Ruby would get the job done and she was counting on them to cover her. They wouldn't let her down!
Yang smiled at her and then started looking around. Why was she looking at the approaching Nevermore like that? What was she going to do?
…
"She is insane!" Weiss yelled thirty seconds later and crossed her arms.
The fact that Yang was currently standing on top of a very thin pillar, unleashing blast after blast of intense fire at the flying monstrosity was so completely crazy that it didn't even make sense to her! How had she gotten up there! How was she getting the munition to keep blasting the Grimm like that!
"That's a bit extreme to say…" Blake said when she landed next to her.
"Yeah?" She responded and pointed at the blonde again. "How about that?"
The Nevermore was charging straight at the lone girl burning through her ammo. It opened its maw in an attempt to eat her alive and in doing so, crashed into the large pillar. But instead of being consumed by the monster, Yang held its jaw open with one arm and proceeded to empty her remaining reserves of munition.
Down its throat.
"I! Hope! You're! HUNGRY!" She screamed at it all the while firing her shots.
Weiss crossed her arms and glared angrily at the girl standing next to her. "Hmmm?"
Blake laughed nervously and then quickly refocused on the Nevermore, which had crashed into the large Cliff's looming over them. Wait a minute…yes! An opening presented itself to her now and she'd be damned if she didn't take it!
She readied Myrtenaster and activated another glyph, which then send her flying towards the giant Nevermore. Swinging her weapon while activating the Dust canister inside of it, she created a large piece of ice which froze the tail of the bird to the rocks. Now it couldn't get away!
She landed on another piece of debris and watched Ruby on the side of another large temple, clinging to the stone wall with her scythe. What was that crazy girl doing?
"Hit the switch!" Yang screamed at her sister as she landed on top of the large structure.
So she was standing on top of the temple…Ruby was hanging at the side of the temple and Blake and herself were standing at the lower part of a hanging segment. If the Nevermore were to charge at anyone of their team, they would plummet to their deaths.
It was even more embarrassing when she considered that the other team had already dispatched of the giant Death-Stalker.
What was Ruby even doing? Did she really have an idea or was she just desperately trying to come up with some form of attack, disguising the fact that she had completely no idea on how to deal with the situation?
"Thanks Yang!" The redhead yelled and pulled a hidden switch. A large installation suddenly unfolded from the wall of the temple. It looked like a chair…surrounded by giant guns. There was no way in HELL that could be planned!
Ruby quickly jumped into the leather seat and grabbed the controls in front of her. The device was shaped like a general dome, complete with crosshairs in the central piece of glass. There were a total of four large guns; two on either side of the dome. That was a complete monster! Each gun had two barrels, which meant that there were a total of EIGHT barrels being controlled by Ruby at the moment. There was no way that Weiss was the only one who was worried about the consequences.
"It worked!" She then yelled. "It totally worked!"
"I told you it would!" Yang smirked and walked up to her.
"Did you?" Blake interrupted them.
"Well…"
The Nevermore immediately refocused its attention on the redheaded girl, but by then it was far too late. The attacks aimed at the Grimm by Ruby's teammates had succeeded in disorienting and trapping it long enough for her to zero in on the target and pull the trigger.
"Take this!" She screamed and activated the installation. The eight barrels roared to life and eight streams of bullets cut through the air and sailed towards the Nevermore. The thundering noise was so overwhelming that both Weiss and Blake placed their hands at their ears and sought cover between the rock columns.
Weiss half expected the bird to be resistant to the bullets and continue on its way to crush both her and the temple underneath its mass, but that didn't happen.
"Woohoo!" Yang cried as she watched the giant Grimm getting torn apart by the many hundreds of rounds fired off by Ruby. It simply exploded underneath the hail of projectiles and Weiss realized that the bullets must have been explosive.
The turret clicked empty and the barrels stopped their deadly ballad of fire. Now that the remaining parts of the black bird weren't getting squashed against the rock wall by the intense barrage of death anymore, they became the prey of gravity and fell down into the misty abyss below.
"You did it Ruby!" Weiss yelled before realizing what she said. Then she quickly clasped a hand in front of her mouth and checked if anyone had heard her slip. She had been the first person to call out the redhead's victory and that would focus a lot of unnecessary attention on her.
"Well…" Yang muttered. "That was a thing."
Once they had assembled at the top of Beacon Cliff, Yang noticed that they weren't the first ones there. Another team was sitting near the edge of the cliffs; four boys who didn't really look like the nicest of people. But looks could be deceiving right? For all she knew, these guys could be the silent, strong types just waiting to be socialized by people.
"We did it!" Ruby yelled and jumped around on the grass, a downright beaming expression on her face. She was so happy with how she had dealt with the Nevermore and she had every right to be. Her plan had worked without a doubt and it was only because of her inspired teamwork that they had managed to fight through the Initiation.
Weiss let herself fall down a few meters behind the redhead, looking utterly spent and Blake had sought out the protective shade of a lone tree standing on the hill. It would be a long way back to the castle, seeing as most of them were pretty much exhausted, but for now they could relax in the sunlight. Headmaster Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch were still standing near the edge, holding their scrolls and paying rapt attention to the progress of the other students.
At least Miss Goodwitch was. Ozpin was merely drinking his coffee with a satisfied expression on his face. Had he been doing that the whole time or had he actually done something worthwhile?
And who was the third person standing there? Yang hadn't seen him before…had she? He looked vaguely familiar to her…was he a teacher at the Academy? He was very good-looking for a professor. This year would be so much fun if he got to teach them.
"That is the guy who nearly got killed using the dropship!" Ruby whispered to her
He was? This was the man who had torn off the leather strap designed to keep people standing upright in a dropship? What was he doing here, standing next to Ozpin and Goodwitch? Weren't the professors meant to be at the school when the students arrived?
"Any idea why Glynda Goodwitch hates him so?"
Seriously? Where did her little sister pull that idea out of? "How do you mean 'she hates him'?"
"Well…" Ruby started. "Judging by the way her eyes contract everytime she looks at him…everytime he says something and even when he moves towards her general direction, she isn't very fond of him. Combine that with the tension in her body and the constant clenching of that peculiar little muscle in her jaw and…you get hate." Ruby giggled nervously. "Or intense dislike."
Wow. She was good. "He doesn't look too bad to me though…"
Ruby simply stared at her with an annoyed expression and then Yang realized that she must have said something weird. "I meant that he doesn't seem like a jerk; so why does Miss Goodwitch dislike him then?"
"Ooooh!" Ruby said as she realized what Yang meant. "Well, I like his bowtie so…"
What? A bowtie?
Yang took a closer look at the rambling man and noticed that he was indeed wearing a bowtie. How silly. What did a handsome man like him do with something as…dorky as a bowite?
"Hey Ruby…" Weiss softly muttered, walking towards them with her expression aimed at the ground. "Can I ask you something?"
Whoah that sounded personal. Maybe Yang should go ahead and join Blake, who was sitting against the tree reading her book…looking very dull…and not ready for company.
Perhaps not.
The blonde took another look at the people standing in her vicinity, hoping that Beacon Cliff's had something or someone interesting to show her.
The four boys sitting in the grass a few meters away from her –who were giving her weird right now- didn't seem like the interesting kind of people to talk to. She was a pretty social person, but she wouldn't go as far as to join a random group of guys on her own. That wasn't a very attractive idea.
And their perverted stares were even less attractive.
Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren had also caught up with them, but they were currently talking with the Headmaster and the professors. So they were out of the picture too for the moment.
"Hey blondie! Wanna join us?" One of the guys yelled at her and his friends started to laugh and grin at her. He was wearing his hair in some sort of ridiculous Mohawk and his outfit didn't really work wonders in making him appear like a nice sort of guy.
And if anyone would call her blondie again she would rid the world of some potential fathers.
Then her eye fell upon another figure standing on the Cliffs and somehow, her interest was piqued once again. This time she knew she recognized the guy: he was the one who she had accidently bumped into the evening before the Initiation…before proceeding to ignore the hell out of her. And the morning after that he had picked up his stuff out of a locker next to her, acting like an asshole. Even now he was acting like a jerk, what with his rifle still at the ready and all that.
Though Yang supposed that he didn't really look like a bad guy. But why was he standing all alone? Where was his team? Had he failed the Initiation and had his teammates left already? That was sad…maybe he could use a little distraction; something to get his mind off that depressing thought.
And Yang was all about meeting new people and she didn't even know his name. She might as well get started with that. It would save the quartet of morons sitting in the grass a lot of pain if she had someone else to focus on and this guy virtually owed her an explanation.
She straightened her hair and walked past the four jerks, ignoring another remark and ignoring her rising bloodthirst.
"Hey!" She said as soon as she was close enough for the suited male to hear her. "Where did your team go?"
He looked at her with that same blank, emotionless expression he had on his face the two times they met before. And he didn't respond. Again.
What, had they all died or something like that? Well…if they had, Ruby would have picked up on the tense atmosphere and she would have told her so. Deaths were out of the question so…the only option left had to be her previous theory. They had failed to get the artefact.
"So…how did the Initiation go?" She asked him, desperately trying to ignore the rising sense of awkwardness. She didn't usually feel weird around people, but this guy was just plain strange. He was giving off some very bad fibers. "Did you find a suitable partner?"
"Irrelev-"
Yang gritted her teeth. Not this time. "Stop it right there you douche!" She snarled at him, shutting him up. "I don't know what your deal is, but you can answer me properly! I asked you a simple question and you can give me a simple answer!"
She hadn't meant to shout like that, but he simply pissed her of that much. His behaviour was completely unacceptable, at least in her eyes. Why couldn't he simply act like a normal person? She hadn't asked for his deepest darkest secrets or something! What was with the whole jerkass-atmosphere this year?
Yang was pretty sure that everyone could hear her, but she chose to ignore that. Everyone could have heard the insultingly weak attempt of mister Mohawk to flirt with her as well and they didn't comment on that either.
During her angry rant, his expression never changed and his eyes remained focused on a point several inches next to her eyes. But after she had said that last sentence, his eyes finally met hers and he even raised his head ever so slightly. He remained silent for a second or two before finally responding.
Or something like that.
"I work alone."
Damn, that sounded ominous. Did he even get one of the artefacts or had he simply failed? And where was his team? He was a student like the rest of them, right?
But for all her frustration, her curiosity won over. "You what, work without a team or something?"
"Yes."
That made no sense whatsoever. She had come to him because she wanted someone not perverted or stupid to talk to, but while he was neither of those things, this guy was even worse.
But she'd be damned if she would give up now! She had gotten him to shut up with his stupid 'irrelevant' and he had actually answered her, which was something.
Another team had managed to traverse Beacon Cliffs and they too were walking up to Ozpin. One of the girls in that team gave the unknown man a high-five and then demonstrated their white bishop piece. There was another girl, however, who caught Yang's attention. She had long, white hair like Weiss had, but her hair had blue highlights weaved throughout it. And she was wearing a blindfold. How sad! She had gotten wounded during a fight and her eyesight was impaired! That was just the worst; just when you thought that everything was over, a sudden ambush could take a great many things away from you.
Yang ignored the fact that the blindfolded girl was still perfectly capable of walking around and thought about the recent events. The struggles for life and death in the forest; Ruby's brilliance as a leader and the sheer luck with which they had encountered a hidden gun-turret.
She sighed and concluded that everyone had their own odd and weak sides. All of the students who were going to attend Beacon together would have to come to some sort of mutual agreement; it wouldn't do anyone good if there were fights and other nasty pieces of interaction like that. Perhaps this boy was just very nervous around people?
"But you did recover an artefact?"
He didn't answer her but he did slowly nod. Alright, taking things slowly. That was fine with her.
"Yang!" Ruby suddenly yelled and shook her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah?" She yelled in return.
"We're going back to Beacon, come join us!"
"In a second!" Then she turned to her conversational partner. She didn't want to leave this suddenly, but she also didn't want to stay behind. After a brief moment of hesitation, she decided to follow her sister. "Next time then?" she asked, referring to her unanswered questions.
The student glanced in the general direction of Ozpin and then looked back at her. His expression still hadn't changed but…there was something different now. Yang couldn't exactly see what it was, but…
"Hurry up!" Weiss yelled too.
"Next time." The boy said. Well, that was good enough for her. Next time she saw him, she'd get a name out of him. The nice way…or the violent way.
"Russel Trush. Cardin Winchester. Doze Bronzewing. Sky Lark."
A large screen at the auditorium showed the faces of the persons called forward by Headmaster Ozpin as they lined up for the honorifics.
"The four of you recovered the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will operate as team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester!"
The present audience cheered and waved as the newly formed team CRDL bowed and then left the stage.
"Jason Mauve Cho, Allesa Nocti, Grace Auburn and Lisa Adamant. The four of you recovered the white bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will operate as team LACG, led by Lisa Adamant."
The four people on the stage bowed and waved at the people sitting in the audience, cheering and shouting at them with glee. Then the four of them left and the next four students stepped forwards.
"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you recovered the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will operate as team JNPR."
The crowd applauded again and Nora pulled her friend Ren in a tight embrace.
"Led by Jaune Arc."
The blonde kid nearly choked when he heard that announcement. "L-led by…?"
"Congratulations young man." Ozpin said with a vague smile. Pyrrha reached over to give her new leader a friendly pat on the back, but she overestimated her strength and she send the boy sprawling to the ground. Jaune landed butt-first on the stage and gave the audience a laughing fit to remember. Miss Nikos placed her hands in front of her mouth, probably feeling quiet shocked.
After team JNPR has left the stage, there was one more team that needed attention.
"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose. The four of you recovered the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will operate as team RWBY. Led by: Ruby Rose!
Miss Schnee looked to her right, obviously surprised by his choice. Yang merely yelled: "I am so proud of you!" And hugged her little sister.
The teams had successfully recovered and then delivered their artefacts, not a single one of the students had failed the Initiation. But there were going to be problems with the new teams; Ozpin could see that. Not everyone would be happy with his decisions as to who would lead their teams. Team RWBY was one example –he could see how Weiss Schnee was shocked and surprised with his choice. She had never expected Ruby to be their new team leader.
"It looks like things are shaping up to be a…interesting year. "
He turned to leave the stage and left the auditorium through one of the exits. He desired coffee. The day's events had truly been interesting, but the entire journey from Beacon Cliffs to the announcement of the teams had left him…rather lacking.
So when he arrived at his office, he longed to simply open the door and pour himself a new steaming cup of coffee. But as soon as he heard footsteps behind him, he realized that his dear hot coffee would have to wait for another few minutes.
"Headmaster Ozpin. I think it is time we spoke again."
So soon after the events of Beacon Cliffs?
"What for?"
"I think it would be better if we discussed this in your office. This is a…sensitive matter."
The way the guy spoke was very different from how he usually did. He was being serious now –actually serious. This could get interesting.
"I understand."
The two of them entered his office and while Ozpin started making himself another cup of coffee, his conversational partner opened up.
"I have done some…digging…" The consultant started. "There are a few cases worthy of noting in Vale right now…one of them is Roman Torchwick."
"I am aware of him." Ozpin replied, still busy with his beverage.
"Most likely, yes. But I found out that our person of interest is most likely not working alone. According to my sources he…" The man started searching through his pockets until he gave a startled "Ah!" and took out a piece of paper. "Yes, according to my sources, Torchwick is most likely not working alone. Take a look at this picture!"
He took the piece of paper from the man's hands and sighed when he realized what was on it. He sighed and handed the thing back. "This is a doodle of a Beowolf."
"Is it?" He replied with obvious confusion and grabbed the paper out of his hands. "It is! How silly of me! Here is my Intel." Then Ozpin got an envelope of paper pressed into his hands. "The pictures in there identify at least two persons affiliated with Torchwick. According to my sources and the information in these pictures, they seem to be higher-ups. They are his superiors. We don't know who they are or what they want, but seeing as this is Torchwick we are speaking about."
"Yes, considering history it might be wise to take action." The Headmaster concluded.
"So…" Ozpin then said and let his eye glance over the contents of the envelope. The photos in there were…mildly disturbing. "What do you suggest we do about it?"
"The way I see it, there are two possible ways we can handle this. We either send a team of Huntsmen and Huntresses in and risk ruining the one advantage we currently have, or we try to find out more information."
"And how do you suppose we do that? We are living in a time of peace. You don't intent to…squander that, do you?"
The Adamant looked at him for a while before sighing. "I suppose you are right. So we do nothing for now?"
"I wouldn't say nothing…we just choose to not act for the moment. I think you can leave."
The young Professor inclined him with a small nod of his head and then turned around to leave.
"I hate small offices…" the Professor muttered, walking down the hallway. "I need big offices. Big ones."
He was just about to turn around the corner and figure out where he was supposed to go next, when he nearly bumped into someone.
Both he and the student who had appeared stopped in the middle of their movement and stared at each other. Wait a bowtie-fixing minute…he recognized that girl! "Ruby, wasn't it?" He said and moved to the side to let her pass.
"Ehm…yes?" She replied, but kept standing where she stood, obviously wanting a conversation of some sorts. He noticed how her eyes were moving all over his face; looking him in his eyes, glancing at his features and even taking notice of how his shoulders were standing. Was she eyeing him up?
"Aren't you the girl who-"
"Exploded in the courtyard, yes I know-"
He raised his eyebrows at that. That was totally not what he was going to say. "-who used my gun?"
She blinked twice at his remark and then blushed when she realized what she had said. "I mean- I- damnit!"
She stopped screening his face. She wasn't eyeing him up, no, she was way too young to do that –he might suspect her big sister to do something like that, but not Ruby. So why was she doing that?
"Y-your gun? What are you talking about?" She then said.
He smiled at her. Her childish innocence at having murdered a giant Grimm using what had to be the largest gun she had ever touched was cute. "Oh you know, back in the forest at the temple? You used my anti-air installation to kill that Nevermore?"
"That was yours!" She said and suddenly her entire attitude changed. Her eyes became big and she brought her hands together like she was begging for something. She immediately took a step closer and looked up at him with a pair of very nasty puppy-eyes. "You made it! That is awesome! How did you do it? What munitions did it actually fire? How did you get that there? Please tell me!"
Her enthusiasm concerning big ordnance was very good; not enough kids her age appreciated guns enough. And she didn't call him sir…or mister…or weird man…which was good, considering how he was only twenty-three years old. Everytime somebody called him sir, he felt a few hairs turn gray.
"Well Ruby…" He said. "If you can tell me how you activated it, I will tell you what munition if fires. Deal?"
He knew that he had locked down the turret before his departure and the lone figure at the temple-wall had been tinkering with it for some time. So if it was activated before little red Rose came along, someone amongst the students had managed to override his gun-locking skills. And that was very troubling. And promising.
"Well…" She said and nervously scraped the ground with her left foot. "It was active when I got there…I only had to unfold it using a lever."
So the partner-less and team-less student had managed to get his gun to work. Ruby would have been able to kill it without that big turret, he had no doubts about that. It just made her job a hell of a lot easier but…it was a bit strange.
"Okay, thank you. Now, the munition reserves concerning the anti-air turret…"
And then he lost himself in doing the one thing he loved the most. Talking.
"And like that, the disagreements between the Kingdoms grew too large to handle without violence. In the end, most of them cut themselves off from the others. As traveling was already a difficult thing to do due to the never-ending presence of the Grimm, the isolation grew. Each kingdom chose to govern themselves in their own way, with Vale's government being situated in the city of Vale. Yet there have been more and more instances where the official councils reached agreements with their counterparts outside of their own Kingdom. Whether we must encourage or smother this remains unclear."