When Yang woke up this morning, it was with yet another racket going about. Thankfully it wasn't an argument between two people, but a seemingly energetic girl talking with... no, talking at a man who just silently listened... maybe... Breakfast was served in the cafeteria where she and Ruby had sat down with Yuuka and Hifumi. Ruby was currently telling Hifumi about Zwei, to which the other blonde avidly requested to see pictures. Yuuka on the other hand, seemed to keep to herself, which was just fine with Yang as she didn't feel like talking just quite yet, as uncharacteristic of her as that was. Truth be told, she couldn't keep her eyes off the halos that hovered above the girls heads. She wanted to ask about it last night, but an opportunity to bring it up never presented itself. Perhaps if that wretched ice queen had never shown up...
Both their halos differed where Yuuka's looked like a traditional halo, albeit one that looked like it was made of metal, in which she could excuse it as just a part of her outfit, even if it would be strange that she wore it with her pyjamas. Hifumi's on the other hand looked to be a yellow circle inside another circle with wings and looked as if it was made of pure light. What was even more intresting though was when they moved their head or did something a simple as walking, the halo would follow a ways behind them as if it were attached to a string. She sure wanted to know how that was possible. Perhaps sometime during the school year, she could ask about it. Or maybe even during initiation if she ended up partnered with one of them. Either way, Ruby seemed to get along with them, which was more important to her at the moment. Maybe one of them could end up on her team, that might help brake her out of her shell and get to meeting more people.
"So... do you know what this Initiation is going to be like?" Hifumi timidly asks Yuuka as she retrieved her Assault rifle from her provided locker.
"Hmm. I only know that we need to gather at Beacon cliff for it." Yuuka tells her. "The logical conclusion is that this will be a test of physical ability of some kind."
"I'm guessing you don't know the specifics of this test?" Hifumi asks, to which Yuuka shakes her head.
"I've only heard rumours that this test will determine our partners for our stay here."
"I see... well I hope we get paired together." Hifumi says. "I'd be more comfortable with a fellow student from Kivotos. Its so strange seeing the people here don't have a halo. How are they protected?"
"They have their own version of a halo called aura." Yuuka tells her.
"They do?"
Yuuka nods. "You didn't have much time to memorize the material that Ozpin gave you, did you?" Hifumi gives a nervous smile while scratching the back of her head, confirming what Yuuka had said which only caused her to sigh in exasperation. "Yeah, its best that we are paired together than."
"Yeah. I was afraid someone was going to ask me about my halo. How do I explain it in a way that makes sense with this world?" Hifumi worries.
"Yes, someone asking about our halos is inevitable. If it comes to that, the only explanation I've prepared is it is a part of our semblances." Yuuka explains.
"Huh, semblance?" The girl from Trinity questions.
"Basically boiled down, its a persons super power that comes with their aura. A persons semblance is unique to them." The Treasurer answers her question. "My shield could be misconstrued as one, so thats what it'll be known as while we are here."
"W-What should I say my semblance is?" Hifumi nervously asks.
"You still have that "Peroro Pocket Party Device" thing?" Yuuka asks.
"Uh, yeah! I always have it." Hifumi bring out the disc like device.
"Great. With that, you could say you imbue an object with a bit of your aura and you can use it to force the enemy to focus on it as a distraction they can't look away from." Yuuka suggested.
"What?" The Peroro super fan got none of that.
"On the other hand, it would raise questions if you were asked to imbue another object..." Yuuka mostly mutters to herself. "On second thought, you could just lie and say its something that inhances yourself and has no visual cue. Like night vision or something."
"You want me to lie?" Hifumi questioned.
"For now. This is the best I can come up with that explains our halos." Yuuka states. "This is probably better seeing as my shield could also be considered a buff in some terms."
"O-Okay." Hifumi replied with a measure of uncomfotabiliry. Right... Trinity students really wern't big on lieing. "I'll meet you over at the cliff." With that, Hifumi walked to the exit while Yuuka had gone to her own locker to retrieve her SIG MPXs. She notices that right by her locker is the girl who watched their fight last night, retrieving what looked like a pistol with a large blade attached to the sights and a ribbon attached to where the mag would go, out of her locker.
"Good morning." Yuuka greets the girl. "I hope that argument didn't bother you too much."
"No. It wasn't too much of a bother." The girl replied as she placed the sword on her back.
"In anycase, I look forward to getting to know you through out the school year."
"Right..." the girl responded before walking away, prompting Yuuka to stare at her back questioningly before shaking it off. 'She just must be an unsociable type.' she thought before heading her own way to Beacon Cliff.
Before long, everyone was gathered on the cliff, standing on pads that had the schools logo on them, two axes crossed in a circle with some olive leaves adorning the circle. Ozpin and Glynda stood before them all, Coffe mug and tablet in hand respectivly.
"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin announced to them. "Now, I'm sure you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today. These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best intrest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first lerson you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
Yuuka and Hifumi shared a nervous glance with each other, though they were multiple people away. Further down, she could see Ruby also silently panicking.
"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."
'This is one hell of an initiation.' Yuuka thought. 'We never put anyone in Millennium in any kind of harm... though that doesn't stop them from throwing themselves headlong into it.'
'We could die?! Isn't this too extreme just to be let into a school?!' Hifumi inwardly panicked.
"You will be monitered and graded 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." Ozpin finished. "Are there any questions?" A blonde haired boy standing beside Ruby raised his hand. "Good! Now take your positions." And he was ignored. Hearing a mechanical sound, Yuuka and Hifumi turned to see someone being launched from their pad and into the forest.
'He's laumching us?!' They both simotaniously think. Not only that, but someone catches their eye down the direction they were looking.
'Is that...' Hifumi squints.
'Is that Aru?!' Yuuka exclaims in her head. True enough, the Gehenna student stood on a platform and exuded confidance... or at least, tried too. She was shaking like a leaf and she was sweating profusly, eyes darting to her left to see who was being launched next. She didn't seem to notice the other two.
'How did we not see Aru before?' Both other Kivotos girls though as it was soon her turn to be launched.
"Now wait a minute, I-" And before she could finish, Aru was sent screaming into the air.
'Okay... looks like we'll be improvising a landing.' Hifumi nervously thought. 'Please be safe, Aru.'
'Improvising? I hate that.' Yuuka groaned internally as it was her turn to be launched. At least she went up more dignified than Aru did.
As the people launched gradually got closer to her, Hifumi got a plan. She grabbed her Peroro party piece and held on to it as tight as she could. Loosing it now would spell her doom. Eventually, she went up in the air and for a brief few seconds, felt the weightlessness and freeness like she was a bird. However, that didn't last long as the forest made its way ever closer to her. As she neared the ground, she took her chance.
"H-Help me Peroro!" she activated an threw the device in front of her with all her might. Upon hitting the ground, the device inflated a somewhat large Peroro which Hifumi safely landed on. As she slid off the inflatable, it quick deflated and safely stored in its device. She then picked up the device and safly stored it in her Peroro back pack before taking note of her surroundings. At first glance, it just seemed like an ordinary forest, but she knew better.
'Ozpin said there would be opposition here, so I better be on my guard.' Hifumi thought as she readies her assault rifle. 'I need to find Yuuka or even Aru before i get paired with someone and say something that doesn't make sense for this world!' And with that, she hurried off in a random direction.
Yuuka meanwhile, had a harder landing. Her only option being her shield, she activated it, braced herself and hoped for the best. Eventually, she looked to be on a collision coarse with a tree.
'Guess this is the point where I find out if I live or die.' Thankfully, she lived as she snashed right through the tree, knocking it down, and suffering only from the minor shocks of the impact. Upon landing, she creates a small crater, but thankfully the shield protected her from that too. As she gets up, her shield deactivates and she stumbkes out of the crater.
'I hope we never have to do anything like that again.' She thinks to herself as she recovers. Shaking off the impact, the readies one of her SMG's and looks to the sky. 'Assuming this worlds sun functions like the one of our own world, that being rising in the east and setting in the west, north should be... this way!' And with that, she takes off north. 'I just hope Hifumi and Aru are okay and haven't run into any trouble.' As she makes her way north, she hears a booming noise in said direction.
"This is a Grimm?!" Hifumi exclaims.
"Y-Yes! Just get ready to fight it off!" Aru ordered as she readied her sniper rifle to fire at the blackened creatures.
Here you go JeaSonDash! They talked about the halos! He along with some of you were probably wondering why Yang and Ruby never brought it up last chapter. Reason is, I felt it would be real abrupt to switch perspectives from Hifumi and Yuuka to Ruby and Yang. With this chapter just starting out, I had planned that Yang would internalize it so as to explain that they DID question the halos, but looking back I should have done the sleep in the ballroom scene from Yang and Ruby's perspective from the very start. Oh well. I'll just chalk that up to a learning experience. You guys are also probably wondering how Aru popped up without anyone noticing. Well, that is for next chapter to explain.
On another note, when I was working on this chapter at work, something went wrong... my docs desynced or something and it deleted this chapter. Luckily it was just a local problem. Logged into a different device and everything was fine. Gave me a mini heart attack, though.