The screen flickered for a bit before the author appears, reading a book. Before noticing it and closing it.
*Hey guys Hakuorofan7 here and welcome back to another chapter of Twilight Over Remnant.*
*I wanted to get this chapter out in August, but I hit a spot of trouble for a while. Either way as I said last chapter, life happens and here we are now.*
*Anyway in this chapter has Penny and Roxas bonding a little more, him training with Twilight Rose, some more time with Xion, and the first half of the enterance exam. With the introduction of the final member of the team before the second half of the exam begins. Anyway I hope that you all will enjoy this chapter.*
"So lets begin the chapter, but lets get the disclaimers out of the way first.*
*First off I do not own Kingdom Hearts, RWBY, and JPDE.*
*Secondly just sit back, relax, maybe put some music on, and enjoy. I will see you all at the end of the chapter.*
The author snapped his fingers as the screen turns to static as the chapter begins.
Enterance Exam
Last night Roxas found it difficult to fall asleep, and even more so waking up in the same room with Penny and Evelyn. Especially with him technically sharing a bed with Penny, something Evelyn teased him over. Which increased even more when the Nobody tried to keep keep his gaze off of the rabbit faunus.
It seemed that it was going to take him quite a bit to get used to this new perspective as he hard a hard time not noticing the features of his future teammates.
At least he was getting plenty of practice in learning to ignore them at the moment.
"So just put this back here on the both of them and wipe the outsides with this cloth?" Roxas asked Penny as held two pieces of Twilight Rose in his hands, the Dust distibution system lying on a desk in their room.
"That is correct Roxas, that at least matches the instructions Ruby left us." Penny said, getting Roxas to nod as he put the gauntlets back together and started to wipe them down.
Currently it was just him and Penny in their dorm room, waiting for word on either Ruby or Evelyn.
The leader of Team RWBY had shown up awhile ago and had given Roxas a few pages dedicated to the maintenance of Twilight Rose before leaving in order to schedule for them to use the amphitheater. Alongside enough training dummies to test Twilight Rose Which Roxas was thankful that Ruby had done so. Both for all of the help she had done for him, that and he was starting to notice details on her that he had been trying and failing to ignore with Penny and Evelyn since last night with mixed results.
He was also thankful that Evelyn left, saying that she had a few things to take care of real quick. Roxas was glad for that as he could barely handle being in a room with her constantly messing with him.
Leaving just him and Penny, who suggested that he learn how to maintain his Dust distribution system while waiting to hear back from either Ruby and Evelyn.
Something which he was thankful for alongside her help. Besides getting a better control of his hormones, Penny's help was invaluable in caring for the intricacies of Twilight Rose. She had a keen eye for detail and a better understanding on what Ruby had written down for the Nobody to get a better grasp on how to take care of the Dust distribution system. He was pretty sure that without Penny there was a possibility he could have damaged it the first time preforming maintenance on it.
This was pretty much his first time preforming maintenance on anything really.
He never really needed to with his Keyblades and all members of the Organization was capable of summoning their weapons at will and in peak condition all the time. So this was another new experience for Roxas.
One where he might have Penny help him out again until he was sure he could confidently preform maintenance on Twilight Rose without fear of accidentally messing it up.
"Thanks for helping me out Penny." Roxas said as he began to wipe down the gauntlets.
"It's no problem. Besides it would be insufficient for Twilight Rose to fall into disrepair. Especially with all of the effort Ruby put into making them." Penny said happily.
The gynoid was happy to at least have sometime alone with the Nobody and away from Evelyn, especially after last night. Penny calculated that things would not have turned out the way that they did if the eccentric rabbit faunus had not brought up all of those unecessary details including positions.
And the awkwardness that ensured was also not her own fault as well, none at all.
Still Penny noticed that as the morning progressed Roxas had made a significant progress of trying to avoid staring at her and Evelyn less and less. Before now he was interacting with her as he was before his first sex ed lesson. Much to their shared relief.
Although Penny didn't mind him staring all that much, well mostly anyway…
Still Penny was at least just enjoying her time with her friend.
"True, but still Penny thank you for helping me out so much. I would probably be wandering Vale or who knows what else if it wasn't for you." Roxas said with a smile, getting Penny to nod.
"It's what friends do after all." Penny said, before a serene smile graced her face. "But I never did get to thank you for helping me out last night. For purposely hurting yourself when I was uncomfortable with what Evelyn and Ruby were stating."
Roxas thought about what she said before sighing.
"Actually Penny that was an accident." Roxas said, surprising Penny.
"Really? The probability of such an occurence is low." Penny said.
"Well I guess it happened cause I was try to think of what to do as I saw how uncomfortable with what they were saying was making you upset. I guess it did work, but it only things way more uncomfortable for us except Evelyn." Roxas said as his face flushed, remembering the 'talk' last night.
Dear Kingdom Hearts he would rather go through being flattened by the Infernal Engine again before having to go through that talk again.
"I guess you are right Roxas, but it still worked." Penny said, trying her best to keep her face from turning red once again.
"True, just wish that it didn't have to involve what happened next." Roxas sighed out as he shook his head. "Still at least they should have seen how uncomfortable they were making you?"
Penny smiled at his words before shaking her head.
"You were in a position to be the first one to notice my expression at the time. Even if they did notice, they probably just thought I would not know how to process or react to their teasing." Penny said, before she sighed out. "Which is only half truthful a statement I suppose. Still I am happy to consider you a friend."
"Same here Penny, and we will always be." Roxas said, surprising Penny before she smiled.
"We have only known each other for two days and you are already confident enough to make such a statement." Penny said while giving him a megawatt smile, her cheeks a flush.
Something which the Nobody had to admit look adorable, just seeing how happy she looked.
"Of course, although despite still being upset with Axel I still consider both him and Xion are my best friends. I suppose I can consider you along there with them." Roxas said, surprising Penny once again. With him continuing with a smile on his face. "You have been such a big help for me and you are practically the nicest person I have ever met on any of the worlds I have been to. So I consider you to be my best friend."
Penny processed his words, making sure to keep them recorded before hugging Roxas from behind. Going into 100% effort and squeezing the life out of the Nobody.
"Sensational! I am so ecstatic, especially with how I am going to Beacon with my best friends Ruby and Roxas!" Penny said happily as Roxas struggled to breakaway.
"So am I Penny…but can you please let go…" He said while trying to breathe, getting a flustered Penny to put him down.
She laughed a little awkwardly as the Nobody refilled his lungs with air and Aura healing the pain from his ribs nearly breaking.
"I got carried away again…" Penny admitted sheepishly.
"It's alright Penny. But we still have the entrance exam tomorrow." Roxas said, getting Penny to nod.
"True, although I still have no knowledge of the full capabilities of our teammates I still say that statistically there is a good chance we will pass! Though I hope that whoever is our final teammate will be nice." Penny said, hoping for such a possibility.
That was all she was hoping for as their future team was already the most diverse team in the history of the Four Academies with their current roster. With the first artificial being who can maintain and generate an Aura, a Nobody who lacks a heart and wouldn't exist with Remnant's logic with him possessing magic and his friends soul, and a rabbit faunus who Penny could best describe as possibly the textbook definition of eccentric.
Still she couldn't help but wonder what the results for this team will be.
"Agreed, although I could work with anyone who isn't like Xemnas and Saïx honestly." Roxas said with a shrug.
"I suppose so." Penny said as Roxas finished cleaning up Twilight Rose. "Roxas there is something I want to ask you?"
"What might that be?" The Nobody inquired as he put down the Dust distribution system.
Penny debated the results of what she had to say to Roxas for a few moments before deciding to speak up.
"What it there was something about me that I want to tell you, something that is different about me than everyone else. But I am not that ready to tell you about." Penny said shyly. It was so much easier to run this scenario in her head. "I know that you would accept it, but I am-"
"It's alright Penny." Roxas said while cutting her off. "I already told you enough about me anyway and I'm pretty sure I am different from most of Remnant anyway. I trust you enough to know that you can tell me when you feel confident enough. It would take nothing short of a total betrayal to shatter that, and I can't see you doing anything like that as you are my friend Penny."
Penny processed his words before she beamed in happiness.
"Then let's make a promise!" Penny said happily.
"What promise would that be?" Roxas asked as the gynoid extended her right arm, her pinky outstretched.
"That I will never betray you or your trust!" She said happily.
Roxas looked between Penny and her pinky in confusion for a few moments to sighing.
"You don't really have to do this Penny." He said, getting Penny to shake her head.
"I want to do this, so please Roxas." Penny said, almost pouting.
Roxas tried to resist, he really tried to. But eventually he caved in.
"Alright and I promise to never betray you as well." Roxas said as he hooked her pinky with hers.
"Along with promising to always being friends!" Penny said, getting Roxas to chuckle.
"Always." The Nobody said as they continued to have their pinkies intertwined. With Penny starting to look a little bashful.
"Uhm, I don't have the proper knowledge on how this particular pledge proceeds from here." Penny admitted with an embarrassed blush, getting Roxas to shake his head with a smile.
"I don't know as well, but who cares. We both know that we meant every word of it." Roxas said with a smile, getting Penny to nod as they separated their hands.
While she wanted to tell Roxas the truth, she deduced that it might be best on the oft chance they actually fail the entrance exam. Besides she determined that even then it probably wouldn't matter for the Nobody, he would accept her for who she was anyway.
But at least now she had undeniable proof that they were friends forever now! For while she didn't know the full details on the 'pinky promise,' but she did know that breaking it would be disaterous.
Perhaps she should do the same with Ruby later.
Yet Penny could do that in just a little bit. Right now she just wanted to spend sometime with one of her best friends right now before finishing preparing for the exam.
"So how are you liking your two prospective teammates, Miss Damerot." Ozpin said as he took a sip of his coffee and continued to look between her and more reports on the Kuchinashi incident. Even months later they were still gathering more details on what happened there.
Right now he was just checking up on Evelyn to see if she enjoyed her current accommodations.
Or at least she hadn't done anything truly drastic to Penny and Roxas.
"They are both interesting, Roxas in particular. I mean Penny is a scrumptious cookie too, but come on there is so much out there! Why didn't you tell me more about other worlds. I know you know!" Evelyn said excitedly, getting Ozpin to gain an amused expression.
"Miss Damerot you severely overestimate how much I know about the subject on other worlds. Alongside the subject being forbidden to talk about my knowledge is outdated compared to what Roxas does know." Ozpin said.
Evelyn just pouted at his words.
"Mou, where is the fun in that." She said before grinning. "Besides I know you! You know more about Roxas than you are letting on. Or at least have an idea!"
The Headmaster of Beacon thought over what to tell her for a few moments, knowing that Evelyn for keep trying to gather details until she got something she wanted. Which Ozpin decided that he would give her.
"I'm afraid that I can't share that piece of information with you." He said, getting Evelyn to pout once again.
"Meanie." She said, sniffling for effect.
"Would it please you to get some information about your last teammate instead?" Ozpin said.
This caught the rabbit faunus by surprise, but only briefly as she grinned and leaned forward.
"I know you're trying to distract me, but damn if I'm not curious. Shoot!" Evelyn said excitedly, with Ozpin smiling at her eagerness.
"Like yourself Miss Damerot, they are someone whose services I have used many times in the past." He said.
"Oh, another of the Orphans? I feel an affinity already!" Evelyn said.
"It's a little more than just an affinity, since you've already met her before." Ozpin said, getting Evelyn to bounce in place.
"Familiarity, then! Who is she! Who is she!" Evelyn said, barely containing her excitement.
"Well…let's just say you met over dinner." Ozpin said with an amused expression.
Watching as Evelyn's excitement quickly melted away as she paled. Looking aghast at the news before turning to the Headmaster with a furious expression.
"You grey haired asshole." Evelyn said, glaring at him.
Ozpin just took another sip of his coffee, his amusement still not fading.
Later that day Roxas, Penny, Evelyn, and Ruby where in the amphitheater testing out Twilight Rose. Currently he was looking over the Dust distribution system, his Keyblades in hand.
"Hey Ruby." He asked the red hooded girl, who was currently sitting on the remains of a trashed test dummy.
"Yeeees?" She asked with a tilted head.
"Does anyone ever say that you make the coolest gear?" Roxas asked honestly, getting her to grin.
"Not enough!" Ruby declared proudly.
"Well, you do." Roxas suggested, getting Ruby to beam happily as the Nobody went back to inspecting Twilight Rose.
Seriously though, the Nobody had to admit that the gauntlets where pretty cool even if he was still getting used to them. The piles of downed training dummies were an indication of that. Though a few were broken, but Ruby said it was alright.
The girl had honestly lost count of how many dummies both her team and Team JNPR had broken over the past semester alone. Let alone from what she heard about the amount Velvet's teammate Coco had destroyed during her time here at Beacon.
Anyway it had taken about an hour to fully get used to the weight on his arms, but now he can comfortably swing around Oathkeeper and Oblivion like he would without Twilight Rose now.
Wish he could say the same about the other features of Twilight Rose. He was still getting used to changing the settings of the Dust cartilages and being able to properly use the built in gun, but Roxas could say he has more or less gotten a hand on the grappling function.
It just seem to easily come to him.
But this is what they were here to do anyway, to train on how to use Twilight Rose. At least enough on where he can use it decently tomorrow alongside his Keyblades.
"Roxas can you try to use Twilight Rose on these dummies, without your Keyblades being thrown or using magic." Penny said as she finished setting up several training dummies a little ways from Roxas and Ruby.
"I see, any other conditions?" Roxas asked, having already been presented with multiple different scenarios to test out Twilight Rose.
"Once you finish off this dummy, stay in place and finish off the last two at a distance from that spot." Penny said, getting Roxas to nod.
"Alright." The Nobody said, flexing his fingers and deploying the grapple line.
It hooked onto a nearby dummy and reeled it in close before Roxas cut it down with Oblivion as he got in close.
He then rushed forward towards the rest of the dummies, channeling lightning Dust into his Keyblades. They cackled with electricity as Roxas cut a pair of them down with Oathkeeper and Oblivion, the dummies left sparking afterwards. He reeled himself over to another one with the grappling line before knocking that one down and cutting off the lightning Dust.
Rushing over to the forth testing dummy, he knocked it over with Oathkeeper before and turning towards the last two dummies and deployed both grappling lines at one of the two dummies. Pulling it towards the other one before letting go, smashing it into the other one before the Nobody deployed Twilight Rose's gun feature and landed a shot on one of the dummy's shoulder.
At least he managed to actually hit it this time…
"Incoming Roxas!" Penny called out, getting the Nobody to turn to see her to throw a training dummy at him at breakneck speeds. Roxas quickly changed the dials on Twilight Rose, channeling fire Dust into Oathkeeper and ice Dust into Oblivion.
As the testing dummy was about to hit him, Roxas blocked it with Oblivion. Before flinging it back up into the air and cutting it down with Oathkeeper. The testing dummy fell onto the floor cut apart and singed.
"That should be enough for today Roxas." Penny called out, getting him to nod as he dispelled Oathkeeper and Oblivion.
"You sure about this Penny we still have some time left? That and there is still plenty of Dust we didn't get to use." Ruby said with a pout, pointing towards a small pile of different Dust crystals.
Penny had brought them with her to further test the functionality of Twilight Rose. True to what Ruby said yesterday crushing the crystals did last only for a short time, but the power in comparison was much more explosive.
Currently they were only experimenting with the fire, lightning, and ice variants of Dust as they were the ones that Roxas had the most experience with at this point.
"That might be true, but don't we have to clean all of this up?" Roxas asked her.
"Besides I figured that you would have wanted some time to make some calibrations to Twilight Rose. I do notice that the rate of fire for the gun feature decreases with each reload. I thought that you would like to be notified as soon as possible." Penny said, getting Ruby eyes to widen as she rushed towards Roxas.
"Roxas hand me my babies!" She said, getting the Nobody to nod as he handed the gauntlets to Ruby.
He watcher as she cradled them for a few moments before inspecting the gun barrels and ammo before sighing in relief.
"Is everything alright Ruby?" Roxas asked.
"Y-Yes everything is alright. Just need to fix a few things with my baby. No need to worry about them overheating and exploding or anything!" Ruby said, her tone sounding a little nervous and saying the last part mainly to herself. And sighed internally as it seemed like Roxas didn't hear her say that.
She really did not want for her latest creation to be destroyed or Yang to be right.
Given it would have taken a while as Roxas continued to use Twilight Rose, but best to take care of this issue here and now.
Ruby didn't want to risk either of them happening. Or what Weiss would do if she knew of such a risk in a Dust distribution system she built. Ruby was sure she would never hear the end if it.
"So Roxas domyou believe that you have gotten a handle on Twilight Rose for tomorrow? You seemed pretty adapt at using the grapple function?" Penny inquired as she walked over to the two, Ruby thankful for the change in topic.
"I will take some getting used to, but I believe that I have at least gotten grappling and channeling Dust down. Although turning the dial feels a little clunky. If that is how I would describe it." Roxas said, getting both Penny and Ruby to nod.
"I will take care of that as well, shouldn't take longer then a few minutes to take care of everything. Still I was just happy to see my babies preform so well." Ruby said as she clutched Twilight Rose closer to her.
"Still it would be advisable for us to clean up the amphitheater of the training dummies we appropriated." Penny said, getting Roxas and Ruby to nod as gynoid looked away from them."Minus the one Evelyn is currently using."
Both Roxas and Ruby turned towards the rabbit faunus, the latter a little surprised.
"She is still doing that, I thought that she would have done at least something else." Ruby said looking on in shock.
"Though why is she using a fork?" The Nobody pondered.
"I agree Roxas, it is quite the ineffective weapon." Penny replied.
For the past several hours while Roxas had been practicing with Twilight Rose, Evelyn had been at this part of the amphitheater by herself the whole time. Just blankly staring at the dummy with an expression Roxas could only describe as emotionally dead like a Nobody.
Repeatedly stabbing a training dummy with a fork. Which she decorated it with a blond wig.
Which no one knew where she got it.
Along with her barely being responsive to anything they said or did the trio mainly left her alone. Yet for Penny and Roxas it was a stark contrast to how she usually was.
Penny for her part was still processing a valid reason for such behavior while Roxas might have had an idea for what she was doing.
"So which one of us should tell her we are about done here?" Roxas asked, looking at Ruby and Penny.
"I'll be working on fixing up Twilight Rose. I want my babies in top shape for tomorrow!" Ruby said before becoming a red blur and leaving rose petals in her wake. Before reappearing on the other side with some tools she brought to fix her newest creation just incase.
Ruby always has some lying around incase she immediately needs to fix up Crimson Rose if any new improvements she had done to her baby could turn damaging or anything needed a little maintenance which rarely happened.
That and she tried talking to Evelyn earlier.
It was awkward to say the least.
"If Ruby is predisposed then it is between you and me then. You want to tell her Roxas?" Penny asked, getting Roxas to shrug.
"Sure." He said not caring either way.
He walked over to Evelyn. If she had noticed that he was approaching then she didn't show it. More preoccupied with stabbing the dummy with her fork.
"We are about done for the day, are you about done?" Roxas asked.
"No…" Evelyn droned out.
"I see, then are you going to help clean this up?" The Nobody asked as Evelyn kept stabbing the dummy.
"Nope…" She said, getting Roxas to sigh.
"Alright then, we'll see you later then." He said before walking away.
"Whatever…" Evelyn said as she continued to stab away at the dummy.
Roxas had to wonder whoever the rabbit faunus hated that much was not their final potential teammate or it could be a rocky start during the exams possibly.
Still he had to wonder why did she use a fork?
It was late into the night that Roxas was updating his journal of the day's events.
Even now Evelyn still hadn't shown back at the room. Roxas and Penny had checked up on her after dinner and she was still stabbing the testing dummy with her fork. Along with her still insisting stay there with the same dead sounding tone in her voice.
So the two of them decided to let her be for now, though they should probably bring her back to their dorm soon.
"Are you all ready for the exam tomorrow Roxas?" Penny inquired.
"i am. And I take it that you are as well?" He asked while closing up his journal.
"I will be fully functional and combat ready for tomorrow." Penny said happily.
"That's good to hear." Roxas said with a smile. "Anyway, do you have any idea on what this entrance exam might be like?"
"No idea, from records I can gather the exact methods of the Beacon inititation exam change yearly and are different than the one required for Atlas. Factoring that we are taking the exam this late into the academic year and there are already enough participants for a team, this exam will most likely test our aptitude as Hunters." Penny said, getting Roxas to nod.
"So they are going to test how skilled we are and how well we work as a team." The Nobody said.
"Exactly." Penny said with a nod as the door opened.
"I'm back." A still dreary sounding Evelyn said as she closed the door.
"So are you done testing the effectiveness of cutlery on that testing dummy?" Penny inquired while tilting her head.
"Nope, just venting. More or less in the tolerance zone right now." Evelyn said.
"I see, anything we can do?" The gynoid asked.
"Nothing you or Roxas can do." The rabbit faunus said.
"And what would that be." Roxas said.
Evelyn looked between both him and Penny before letting out a loud sigh.
"I would like nothing more than to tell you, but I can't. Not yet." She said, getting Roxas to look at her in confusion.
While he was trying to figure out what she meant, Penny beat him to it.
"It has something to do with the exams doesn't it. You have information pertaining to the exam that myself and Roxas do not have access too?" Penny said, getting Evelyn to sigh again.
"I do. As much as I would like to vent, it would be unfair so don't bother asking. So can we please change the subject? I don't really want to not-talk about it anyway." Evelyn sighed out.
Both Roxas and Penny did want to know what Evelyn considering how tired she looked and how frustrated she looked to not tell them about it made both the Nobody and gynoid that it was best to leave the topic alone for now.
"It's alright Evelyn." Roxas said.
"Thanks, I think I am just going to crash right now." Evelyn said as she walked onto the bed she had claimed.
"Speaking of which Roxas, I believe that you might want to get some sleep as well." Penny said as the rabbit faunus had flopped down onto her bed.
"Alright, but don't you mean the both of us? We both have the exam tomorrow." Roxas said, getting Penny's face to flush.
"O-Of course that is what I meant! To be completely functional carbon based beings we should go to bed." Penny said with a hiccup. "Besides I would have thought that you would have preferred to go to sleep first after what happened last night."
The Nobody sighed and his face flushed at this. He swore he heard Evelyn let out a little laugh while she buried her head in her pillow.
"Fine, but you should really do something for those hiccups." Roxas said.
"Okay." Penny said, letting out a sigh of relief as he began to prepare for bed. With herself preparing to enter rest mode anyway.
After all it was best to be fully operational for the exam tomorrow.
"Are you sure about this Ozpin. This seems a bit excessive for a group of first year students." Glynda said as she and Ozpin were currently finishing up paperwork.
Both for the next semester and for the deployment of the Hunters and Huntresses going to investigate the possible point of origin for the meteor.
"First years with at least six months of training behind them." The Headmaster of Beacon corrected. "The evaluation is supposed for that level of skill."
"It is still an exam that specifically aims to place them in danger. Especially with that Grimm you brought into the Emerald Forest." Glynda said as Ozpin took a sip from his coffee.
"I wonder about that Glynda. Especially considering the experience of each of the participants." Ozpin said as he took another sip. "Like many things in life, danger is a relative concept. What is dangerous endeavor for a first year student would be a mere annoyance to a second year student. And nothing to a seasoned Huntsmen. So this test that we prepared being a danger…I wonder about that."
Glynda pondered his words for a few moments before letting out a sigh.
"You have a lot of faith in this team." Glynda stated.
"Faith has nothing to deal with it Glynda it is knowledge." Ozpin said while taking another sip from his mug. "We both know of the skills and experience that Miss Damerot has under her belt. While James didn't disclose much about Miss Polendia's combat prowess, but with that there was no opposition or worry from him about her being thrown into a combat situation speaks volumes."
At this Glynda just sighed as he had a point.
"Of course, add in Roxas's previous experiences, magic, and weapons alongside unlocking Aura I suppose that he holds the greatest chance of completing the exam alone. But you never did say who was the finale candidate for this team?" She said, surprising Ozpin for a moment before he went back to taking a sip of his drink.
"I thought I did. Well either way we both know the capabilities of Miss Ivory. While our young Key bearer might hold a chance of completing the exam on his own, we both know that Miss Ivory would definitely clear the exam if she took it on her own." Ozpin said, this time causing Glynda's eyes to widen in surprise.
Because she knew very well that the Headmaster's words were correct.
Roxas found himself back at the Station of Awakening he quickly looked around to see Xion bent down, looking at some kind of indent was in the stain glass floor.
It wasn't here last time, so the Nobody was wondering what it was.
While also trying his best not to stare at Xion.
Once again silently cursing Evelyn as he shook his head to clear those thoughts away.
"Do you have any idea what that is Xion?" Roxas asked, getting her attention.
The Replica quickly shot up and turned to face him, her face heating up a little but she managed to get herself under control.
Along with also silently cursing the rabbit faunus in her head.
"I do, from what I can tell it is the beginning to a door." She said as Roxas approached her to get a better look at the indent.
While it looked like some kind of rectangular indent in the floor, at a closer inspection it did look like something was inside of it. The best he could describe it was that it was like a block of wood had been lit on fire and was slowly being restored to it's original shape. Most of it was blackened and covered in embers while other parts looked like they were being reformed from ashes, but it did look like it was slowly turning back into wood.
The Nobody stared at it for a bit more before he felt a sudden warm sensation flow throughout his body before he turned away to face Xion. The image of the door burned into his mind.
"I can see what you mean, but do you know where it leads?" Roxas asked her, getting Xion to shake her head.
"No idea, there was something similar during Sora's time in the Dive to the Heart. Yet those doors were fully formed, either leading deeper into the Dive the Heart or some kind of memory. Honestly I am just as confused as Sora is of how this place truly works. But what I do know it will take quite a bit to reform." Xion said with a sigh.
She had spent practically the entire day looking over the indent and the forming block of wood, only to get the exact same results as when she first discovered it.
"Then I suppose that we will have to keep an eye on it then. But I could care less about that at the moment." Roxas said while shaking his head. "How are you doing Xion?"
"I'm alright, but I could really do without that talk last night…" The Replica said, getting the both of them to blush and to face away from each other.
"Agreed, Evelyn could have not gone into so much detail." Roxas said with a shudder.
So many positions.
"Still why didn't at least Axel tell us about this? I mean I can understand most the Organization not telling us, but you would think he would tell us." Roxas said, getting Xion to sigh.
"Honestly I have no idea. It's just one of many things that I have been trying to figure out. But I did figure out a way to communicate with you whenever I want." Xion said with a smile.
"Really, that is good news." Roxas said with a smile, before noticing that the Replica was now starting to frown. "But there is something more to it isn't it?"
"Not really. But I just wish to use it when I figure out a way to communicate with others." Xion said with a sigh while shaking her head. "Not that there is anything wrong with that Roxas, it's just that it just feels really drearily just being in here by myself. I can't really do anything and all I can pretty much do is listen, see, and feel what you experience. Just so close to reality, but far enough way to feel nothing. An existence further away then what we already experience as Nobodies Roxas…but closer to nonexistence while existing if you can imagine that."
Roxas was thinking about what Xion was saying, and it sounded like something out of a nightmare.
Xion was existing inside himself safe from fading away, but unable to actually experience the outside world again.
Only able to experience like it through himself, at least until he could find a way to separate themselves and get Xion a body of her own.
And thinking of how she existed also brought up a disturbing thought to the forefront of his mind,
If Riku was successful with what he originally had planned, than Roxas could have possibly experienced the very same fate within his Somebody. Unless he was already absorbed back into his Somebody and faded away.
And the Nobody could not tell which fate sounded worse to him.
"Xion-" Roxas tried to say, but was cut off by the Replica.
"Roxas don't blame yourself for this, we don't know what caused it in the first place. That and what happened was because of Xemnas did and myself wanting to protect my friend from fading away from existence. Considering that you were thinking of potentially willing an entire world out of revenge for me it seems like we both need to work on some stuff…although I might do it again to save you." Xion stated heat fully before turning embarrassed at the end.
Something Roxas was feeling a little as well.
"I would do the same, except I would plan on living afterwards. But hopefully I will not have to do something like that again or intend to do so again." The Nobody sighed out, getting Xion to nod.
"Good otherwise I would have to find someway to convince you how much of an idiotic idea that is. Although I still appreciate the sentiment behind it." Xion sighed out before smiling. "I wouldn't want anything like that to happen again to either of us Roxas. And while I might not entirely happy with this arrangement, but I am happy to at least knowing that your safe from the Organization and looking for a new body for me."
"Which hopefully I will be able to find something soon." Roxas sighed out with a smile, getting Xion to shake her head.
"Take your time Roxas, I have no intention or means of going anywhere soon. Just be sure to explore more of what this world has to offer us for now. Especially with the exam tomorrow." Xion said.
He had to admit that Xion was right about that. So far she was not going anywhere and it was best to learn more about Remnant. Perhaps he could find a way to get her a new body soon enough.
But right now he would prefer to not to discuss anything else relating to Remnant or the exam tomorrow.
"I plan to Xion, but right now I would just like to catch up with my friend. Even if I can't think of anything at the moment." Roxas said, getting the Replica to giggle a little.
"That sounds like a good idea." Xion said as she pondered for a few moments on what to talk about, before she grinned. "How about you tell me what happened with Saïx while you escaped. I wasn't able to gather much before…they sent me after you I do know that whatever you did certainly angered him."
At hear this Roxas could only grin.
"Gladly." He said, beginning to tell her about his escaped from the Organization.
The Nobody and Replica just enjoying each other's company and catching up with one another.
The next day about two hours after dawn Roxas finds himself on a cliff with Evelyn and Penny that was overlooking a sprawling forest as far as the eye can see. Not that far away from them Ozpin was siping his coffee and Glynda standing right besides him.
Today was the day of the entrance exam, and Roxas felt everyone here was more then ready.
Even Evelyn had managed to snap at out of whatever had caused her to act so despondent yesterday.
"This is the Emerald Forest, this will be the location of your exam." Ozpin said once he was sure that the examinees were prepared for their trial ahead.
"What are our objectives for the exam Headmaster." Penny inquired.
"Objectives Miss Polendia." Ozpin corrected. "Your first task is to locate and regroup with your final teammate. She is already in the forest waiting for you."
Evelyn just groaned at that and once again the Nobody wondered what their final teammate was like to get her react like this.
Curious to know more, Roxas tried to see if he could grab a sense of her heart. Honestly he wasn't really expecting anything, but aside from the hearts of everyone on the cliff he could sense a human forest in the forest.
It was faint and at the edges of his limits, but Roxas had enough experience to know that this heart was a particularly powerful one.
"Afterwords the four of you are to locate a specific target." Ozpin said.
"And I presume that this target is a type of Grimm. Along with that is all that you are going to tell us." Roxas said.
He had been on plenty of missions like this to hunt Heartless. Little to no details on whatever world he was heading too other than to expect either a powerful or unique Heartless lying in wait. Meaning he should be prepared for anything and he supposed the same principal should apply to the Grimm as well.
"Correct. Your target is a type of Grimm that normally doesn't nest or appear in the Kingdom of Vale. It is also stronger and bigger than most of the Grimm that resides in the Emerald Forest. Your task is to track it down and eliminate it." Ospin said, getting the three of them to nod. "Now then Ms. Goodwitch will show you to your positions."
Glynda pulled out her ridding crop and used it to gesture to three discolored patches of grass, making sure all three of them were into position.
Roxas was trying to figure out how these panels where going to get them to the forest below before deciding that it was best to prepare for anything.
"There are two more rules that you all should be aware of before the exam can begin. Roxas you are forbidden from using this Corridor of yours during the exam. Doing so will disqualify you from the exam." Ozpin said, getting the Nobody to shrug.
That seemed fair enough.
"Finally as it is customarily at Beacon, the first person in the forest that you meet eyes with will be your partner for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin said, surprising Penny.
"What?!" She said in surprise. "But headmaster I thought…"
"Thought what Miss Polendia?" Ozpin inquired as the gynoid looked towards Roxas as she processed how best to proceed from here.
This aspect of the exam did not match the records she had of Atlas. Which was only a minor grievance in comparison to the fact that she had hoped that she could have Roxas as her partner.
Now that chance was now one in three.
While Penny could calculate the benefits for this aspect in the traditional exam, she still wanted to be Roxas's partner. At least this way she still stood a chance.
"Nothing headmaster." She said sounding a little sullen, getting Ozpin to nod.
Roxas saw that Penny looked a little disappointed and guessed that she wanted to be his partner. Something that he hoped for as well, but it seemed like he would have to wait. It might be best to either partner up with her or whoever their final teammate will be.
Better them than Evelyn.
The way she was looking at him and grinning unnerved the Nobody a little.
"And to make things fair we are going to be launching you all at the same time." Ozpin said with an amused smirk.
Penny looked at him in shock as she quickly began to calculate a last second landing strategy, Evelyn began to laugh, while Roxas just sighed at that new.
"Well then fire away-" Evelyn tried to say, but was cut off by all three of them being launched into the air. "You grey haired asshole!"
Ozpin just took a sip of his coffee as he Glynda started up a scroll to monitor their progress.
Roxas was in mid air and over a good portion of the forest before straightening himself midair and started to glide in the air.
Looking down below into the distance he could see Evelyn disappear into the treetops and Penny quickly descending into the tree tops. Having deployed her Floating Array and using her blades as makeshift thrusters. Letting out bursts of energy to slow down and control the direction of her descent before Penny vanished into the tree line as well.
From up in the air he could get a good grasp of where everyone was by the feel of their hearts.
And now being up in the air he could get a better grasp of his final teammate's heart. And he was right as it was pretty powerful.
Her heart was around as strong the two hearts he had sensed in the amphitheater two days ago, except that her's was near perfectly balanced. Along with both sides of her heart felt for the lack of a better term cooler than most hearts he had sensed.
At least that was how he could describe it.
Anyway Roxas began to glide towards a position in between where he could sense Penny's and their final teammate was in order to make sure he would have either of them was his partner. Although he was hoping that it would be Penny.
Along with looking for a place to land.
Yet he could not see any openings in the trees below.
And he was being able to sense where his teammates where, but not anything else. Considering that the Emerald Forest was supposed to have a lot of Grimm in it then just like Nobodies his senses couldn't pick them up.
Which given the task of tracking down the targeted Grimm a little more difficult, but he had plenty of experience tracking Heartless down so this shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Right now he was more focused about finding a good landing spot before gravity started to take an effect like him. Considering he had never glided from this height even in Neverland or for longer than a minute or two he had no idea how much longer he could keep this up.
Ozpin just looked at the gliding Keyblade wielder in the distance with a raised eyebrow before shrugging.
He had seen stranger things during his tenure as Headmaster of Beacon, but he could only assume that this gliding was some form of magic as their had been no drop in his Aura. So it wasn't a Sembalance.
Still it was a curious thing to see for him.
In anothe part of the forest Evelyn rushed through the forest, acrobatically bounding off of a few branches as she tries to slow down the momentum from her launch before landing in a combat roll and hand springing to her feet.
"Damn you, Oz! First Jack is here and now you launch us clear away from each other!" Evelyn curses as she runs in what she hopes was Roxas still at. She didn't have long, but she knew that he was still gliding around somewhere to the northeast of her position.
And considering what she glimpsed from his memories that he probably wouldn't be airborne for long.
"Just wait, Roxas, I'm nowhere near done getting to know you better, my part-" Evelyn said with mischievous grin before noticing movement from her left and jumps back.
Activating her Sembalance as she dodged a spinning mass of white and black as it rammed into a tree. It uncurled itself to reveal a black boar like Grimm with red eyes and white bone armor that covers it's back and sides. Even the head was well guarded with fangs and massive curled tusks jutting from it's lower jaw. I let out an loud growl as it glared at the faunus with pure hatred.
"A Boarbatusk huh? Well I could use a light warm-" Evelyn smirks as she is about to bring out her weapons, only to see a vision playing before her mind.
A ghostly image of another one coming at her from behind, and trusting her Semblance side steps to the left. Making the incoming attack miss by a hair's breath as she spins out of the way.
"Hehehe, close, but not good enough~" Evelyn sing songs as two devices pop out of her sleeves, unfolding into twin tonfas. The he grips and the hosi to the zen atama were a black color while the rest was a metallic silver. She grips the nagiri tightly before a gun hole opens on the ends of the barrels facing the Grimm and fires. Making the two Boarbatusks squeal in pain and annoyance as the bullets mostly bounce off the armor, but a few shots hit one of them on its feet. Blowing a chunk of it's legs off and causing it to fall on it's side.
Making it easy for her to strike its vulnerable belly with multiple strikes of her tonfasto kill the first. Before jumping over the other as it spun toward her.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" Evelyn teased the Grimm as the creature turned around still spinning at her, only for Evelyn to hop upand land on top of it. Running on the boarbatusk like it was a log on water. "This trick never gets old."
She activated Sembalance, seeing an event of it uncurling itself trying to catch her ankles with its tusks played in her head.
Taking the warning from her visiom she leapee off as it begins to try to uncurl itself by leaping to the left. Forcing the now partially uncurled Boarbatusk into an uncontrolled crash into a nearby tree. It growls as it tries to pull back, but it finds it's tusks stuck to the tree.
"Game over, piggy! Shouldn't have messed with this bunny!" Evelyn says as she charges the Grimm with a grin as she kicke the creature in the side and deliever a few strikes in with her tonfas before firing into it's underbelly.
Killing the last Boarbatusk.
"Ah yeah, still got it!" Evelyn said in cheery tone as she mentally patted herself on the back at taking out such easy kills. At least in her mind at least. "Well, now that warm ups are fine, I best catch up with dear little Roxas, I got so much to teach him~"
With the Grimm dead she merrily bound off into the last direction that she saw the Nobody was still in the air.
In another part of the forest below a blonde haired woman looked through an opening in the canopy above.
"What in the blazes is that?" She asked while trying to get a better look.
Only to sigh as she heard growling and turned to see a snarling Beowolf approaching her.
"When will you vermin learn when it is the smart thing to stay down." The woman sighed out before she rushed forward. Quickly closing the distance between them and punching the Grimm in the head.
Causing it to be sent flying headfirst into the closest tree trunk, making a sickening crunch as it's body went limp.
The blonde turned away from the fading Beowolf to see the object in the air was a human. whose descent seemed to be speeding up a little.
Considering what she saw this was probably the young bloke Ozpin had told her about. She had a hard time believing what he said at first, but considering who the Headmaster was there was possibly some truth to it.
Especially with how he was gliding in the air like that, although judging by what she could see he was starting to struggle up there.
At least she was relieved that despite him being younger than a first year student, that he was far from a complete amateur. So he should be experienced enough to land safely.
Still it might be a good idea to check, just in case.
Penny scanned though the underbrush of the forest, looking for any traces of Roxas.
While she was still trying to figure out the logic of Roxas being able to glide without the apparent use of a Sembalance as she could sense his Aura hadn't depleted at while while he glided down.
Perhaps it was some form of magic or something a Nobody could do on their own power. It would be best to inquire about it to him after the exam.
So far Penny had not encountered any Grimm nor any of her sensors had picked up any nearby. Still she had Floating Array deployed at the ready just incase a Grimm did show itself.
Right now she was headed up to where she predicted a general area of where Roxas could have been. Based on the trajectory from where she could see him gliding before her vision was blocked by the thick foliage above. Judging by his last recorded position and the difficulty he had sustaining his gliding through the air the last time she observed him through the tree tops there was a great possibility that he should have landed a minute ago.
Penny continue to scanned through the underbrush until she picked up the sounds of branches snapping and something running towards her.
She lowered some of Floating Array's blades, but kept one deployed in it's gun form incase it was a Grimm. And judging by the sound of the what was approaching her it was a one in four chance that it was either a Roxas, either of her future teammates, or a Beowolf.
The gynoid got her answer when a disappointed looking Evelyn emerged from the underbrush, putting away her tonfas.
"Mou… I'm glad you're not her, but why couldn't it be Roxas locking eyes with me." Evelyn said with a huff. With Penny silently disappointed about these turn of events as well.
"Maybe we can try to find Roxas and just say one of us locked eyes with him first?" Penny suggested, hopefully they can do so as she couldn't identify any cameras nearby.
Only for those hopes ti be dashed as Evelyn just shook her head at that.
"Ozpin isn't stupid, just look up the tree, he knows." Evelyn states as she pointed to a nearby tree. Penny follows Evelyn's finger to see a carefully hidden camera watching them from inside a tree trunk.
How did she not notice that?
Perhaps it was best to request for her scanners to be updated…that and rescan their dorm room just incase.
"How did you notice that?" Penny inquired the rabbit faunus.
"Let's say I learned a few things about the grey haired asshole over the years. While loving to be a troll at times, is cryptic more than needed, and really loves his coffee.. Ozpin doesn't like leaving things to chance unless it amuses him and for the sake of less paperwork to deal with. He uses cameras to catch when people make eye contact." Evelyn sighed out before smiling. "So any idea where Roxas could be partner?"
Penny while coming to terms with the knowledge that Evelyn would be her partners looked up through the treetops to try and get a glance of Roxas. Which she did, seeing him make a quick, controlled descent before he disappeared out of her line of sight once again.
In her head she redid the calculations before figuring out a new general area of where he could land. Which only took a few moments to do so.
"He should land in that direction soon, I have already calculated in where he should land." Penny said.
"Then what are we waiting for, lead the way partner." Evelyn said before taking off. Penny merely shook her head before following after her new partner.
At least she didn't have to worry about her being Roxas's partner now. She just hoped that their final member is nice.
It turned out he could keep up gliding in the air from such a height for about three minutes before he began to fall. It was rapidly causing a small strain on the Nobody's magic to keep himself from plummeting down into the forest below.
He didn't reach the tree line before Roxas felt gravity take full control and fell into the canopy below.
As Roxas fell he quickly activated the grappling features of Twilight Rose, the grappling line catching on a strong branch. Using his momentum he launched the grappling line from the other gauntlet mid swing before letting go of the first branch.
He repeated this same sequence of events as he traveled through the trees and towards the forest floor, once again thankful that Ruby had installed the grappling lines into Twilight Rose.
While swinging from branched there had been a few near misses of the grappling line. But he had always been able to grab onto the next branch.
Until he misjudge the strength of one and it broke while he was mid swing.
Causing him to fall the rest of the way to the forest floor, crashing back first into the ground.
Roxas groaned out in pain as he felt his Aura immediately going to work and quickly causing it to subside. Though the Nobody felt that it was going to take a few more moments before he was going to be able to move again. Still that did not stop him from struggling to get up.
Before collapsing back onto the ground with a groan.
Okay he might just rest here for a few more moments.
"Thank the gods your alright. How are you feeling, anything broken?" A nearby voice asked him, sensing that it belonged to his final teammate. It sounded like it belonged to a woman's voice, but the tone was lower and a bit more mature then the likes of Evelyn's and Penny's.
"Hurt, but nothing my Aura isn't fixing yet." Roxas said as he tried to look at the source, but stopped as his neck twinged in pain briefly.
"Considering the fall I would not be surprised. You need any help getting up?" The voice asked again as Roxas just nodded.
"I do." Roxas said as he tried to get up, seeing an outstretched hand with a black fingerless glove with a metallic plate reaching towards him and grabbed it. "Thanks."
"No problem." The voice said as the Nobody had a good look at her.
And once again Roxas mentally cursed Evelyn as he tried not to stare at his third teammate.
She was a tall woman with who he could guess was around Zexion's height with light blue eyes and long blond hair, two long bangs framing her face and most of it done in a ponytail that stretched to her upper back. Her skin was slightly tanned, akined to what the Nobody could best describe as a golden bronze. She was wearing an ivory color shirt with drawstrings, a black jacked with the sleeves folded back just past the elbow with the insides being ivory as well, black gloves with metallic plates on both hands, ripped jeans with the right pant leg looked like damage from something clawing at it, and black boots.
But the most striking feature he noticed was besides her features where between his other teammates, something he was once again trying not to notice was that her features were more defined. From where he could see while the woman was still had a slender frame still had quite a bit of muscle behind it.
"Grimm got your tongue." The woman said with a smirk, getting Roxas to break out of his thoughts. Along with realizing that he had been staring at her for a while. "So are you going to be staring or are you just going to sit there all day."
Roxas really hoped that he could get a handle on this thing.
"Sorry about that." He said as she pulled him up and the Nobody tried to make sure to not fall back down as the pain faded away completely. "So I take it that you are our final teammate and my partner then?"
"That's right, and your the mysterious boy Oz has told me about." The woman said, getting Roxas to nod as he let go of her hand.
"Correct, my name is Roxas." He said.
"Jacqueline B. Ivory, but just call me Jack." She said with a smile before giving Roxas an inquisitive look. "So I know that you are from another world and that is still hard to believe as you using magic. Still how the heck did you manage to fly over the Emerald Forest for so long before nearly crashing?"
From what he could guess Ozpin had told her the same details as Evelyn, minus what the rabbit faunus had gleamed from her Sembalance. That and he also realized that Jack was the person that Evelyn had been envisioning while stabbing that training dummy with a fork.
It would explain the blond wig, but he still didn't know why she did that.
Jack seemed nice enough, still he would keep an eye out just incase. Along with waiting to disclose the full truth, especially since they were in the middle of a exam.
"I can't really fly, but I can glide. Ozpin used some kind of launch pads on a cliff overlooking the forest to send us into the forest." Roxas said, surprising her.
"He did, Grimm on a pike that's crazy." Jack said before she grinned and shook her head. "That does sound just like him." He said
"At least if that is the case than things would be easier under him than with the higher ups in the Organization." Roxas said honestly. "How did you get to the forest anyway?"
"I just walked here." Jack said, getting Roxas to nod before they tensed up at hearing something approaching them in the underbrush.
Summoning his Keyblades Roxas turned to survey the surrounding area with Jack doing the same.
They were surrounded by what looked like to be at least a half a dozen lycanthropic monsters with inky black skin, bone spins growing out of the arms and back, a boney plate with red markings covering their faces and snouts, and all of them glaring at them with pure hatred and apathy from their glowing orange eyes.
These were the Grimm, at least a species of them from what the Nobody could gather.
He couldn't sense anything from them, but from what he could hear past their snarling and howling that there was probably a lot more just behind the ones they could see.
"Never seen a Grimm before?" Jacks asked as she tightened her gloves.
"Nope, I have seen worse with the Heartless. But it doesn't make them any less dangerous." Roxas said, getting his new partner to nod.
"From what Oz told me then they react just like the Grimm with how unrelenting they can be. How is your Aura?" Jack asked as Roxas heard the sound of machinery activating coming from her gloves.
Perhaps that those were her weapons.
"I have more than enough, how about you?" He asked as the Grimm started approached them, snarling and with a few of them clawing at the ground.
"More than enough to deal with several Beowolfs. I already know you are experienced enough to handle these things, but make sure to keep aware of your surroundings as these things have a nasty habit of attacking where you least expect it." Jack said with a grin.
"I already am." Roxas said as the Beowolfs closed in on them even more. With him making sure that he was keeping an eye on the Grimm behinds the ones he could see and hear.
"Good, just remember." Jack said as she bumped her fist on his right arm with a grin. "We are in this together alright partner."
Roxas looked at her curiously for a second before smiling and staring down the closest Beowolf down.
"Got it." He said, getting Jack to nod before she glared at the Grimm in front of her.
"Hey you pseudo-fleabags!" Jack yelled out, causing the Beowolfs to howl and snarling at her with even more anger. "That's right you heard me you fur coat rejects! Come and get some!" Jack said as she rush forward to a pair of Beowolves while one of them rushes forward to claw at Roxas.
Who blocked it's attack with Oblivion while channeling some lightening Dust into Oathkeeper and swung the Keyblade into the Beowolf's side, causing it to howl in pain before trying to bite the Nobody.
Roxas just stepped back to avoid it's jaws before slashing at it with both Oathkeeper and Oblivion. He dodged another claw strike before hitting it both Keyblades and slamming Oblivion on top of it's skull.
The Beowolf collapsed to the ground, lying unresponsive for a few moments. Roxas watched as it started to fade away just like Penny described and went to move on to another Beowolf. But had to block one that had tried to attack him from the back.
With Jack she had rushed towards the pair of two Beowolves in front of her that try to flank her from both sides. Deflecting one claw swipe from above above her head before getting low to the ground to sweep the feet of them both and avoid a second claw that had barely missed her head. Jack leapt back up and stomped down hard on one of the Beowolf's head. Caving in it's skull.
The second Beowolf tried to claw at her, but Jack ducked out of the way as the Grimm struck another of it's pack that had tried to pounce at her. The third Beowolf clutched it's face while Jack punched the other one underneath it's jaw, causing a sickening crack as the Grimm fell dead.
Jack took a quick look back to see how her partner was doing. Seeing Roxas being attacked by a pair of Beowolfs. One of them trying to take a snap at him with it's jaws.
And Roxas to freeze it shut with what she could guess was a spell from the white Keyblade.
The other one tried to claw at him, but Roxas deployed the grappling line of Twilight Rose to latch onto it's arm and pull it to the ground before reeling in close to it. Killing the Beowolf by slashing it's chest with Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Before turning to the other Beowolf as it broke the ice off it's jaw.
Seeing that Roxas was handling things, Jack caught a Beowolf's arm as it tried to claw at her. Pushing it back before delivering a kick to it's side and into another pair of Beowolves that tried to pounce on her.
She jumped back as one of them attempted to claw at her, but missed and clawed into another Beowolf. Only for her to deliver a devastating hook that caved it's skull in. Jack ducked under one of them that tired to lunge at her and lashed out with a harsh uppercut at it's neck. An audible crack is heard from it's corpse as Jack moved out of the way from being run through by the final Beowolf's claws. Sweeping it's legs from underneath the Grimm before delivering a kick to it's neck, and kicking a chunk of it's head off.
Jack saw a another pair of Beowolves charging towards her, only for them to crumple into a heap as a third one was blasted into them by a wind lance.
Looking over she saw Roxas channel lighting Dust into Oathkeeper and trained at the snarling Grimm began to untangle themselves from each other.
"Thundara!" The Nobody casted, launching a curtain of lightening bolts towards the Grimm. Shocking them and causing one of the Beowolfs to collapse to the ground as a charred corpse.
The other two Beowolves pick themselves up, only for one to hit in the head by Roxas throwing Oathkeeper and the other one being slugged in the jaw by Jack. Roxas rushed forward as he retrieved his Keyblade before cutting the Beowolf down with Oathkeeper at the same time Jack killed her Grimm by punching it into the ground.
Both Roxas and Jack then turned their attention to more snarling as the rest of the pack closed in on them. Finding themelves surrounded by seven Beowolves. Three of them snarling and clawing at the dirt at Roxas while the other four where doing the same for Jack.
"You getting tired partner?" Jack asked, staring down the closest Beowolf.
"Nope, what about you?" The Nobody asked, getting her to chuckle.
"Not at all, these light weights are just boring me that's all." Jack said as she looked at Roxas with a grin. "So how about we finish this."
"I couldn't agree with your more." Roxas said with a smile as the Grimm charged at them all at once.
Roxas rushed towards the charging Grimm, ducking under a Beowolf that tried to lunge at him. Channeling ice Dust to block another one another one from trying to claw him.
"Blizzard!" Roxas casted, freezing both of the Grimm's arms completely with the Dust enhancing the spell before shattering them and downing the Beowolf by slamming Oathkeeper into it's skull.
He barely had any time to react before dodging another of the Beowolf lunged at him. Soon followed by another of which Roxas instead spun around and swung Oblivion at it's claws. Breaking the Grimm's fingers and finishing it off with smashing Oblivion under it's jaws and blasting it's skull with a silent Fire spell.
The Nobody turn towards the final Beowolf with the Grimm charging towards him. Roxas countered by throwing Oblivion at it's head, stunning it briefly as he deployed the grappling devices of both gauntlets. Using one to grab onto Oblivion and used it as a makeshift whip while the other began to reel Roxas in as it caught onto the Grimm's arm. The Beowolf snarled at him as Oblivion was reeled back, yet was silenced with a slash from Oathkeeper.
Roxas looked down at the fading remains of Grimm, thankful he had trained so much with Twilight Rose yesterday otherwise he wasn't as sure that the Dust distribution system would be effective as it has been.
Although there was still a lot of work that needed to be done before he could integrate it into his fighting style.
He turned his attention to Jack to see if his partner need any help.
Only to stare in shock as she nearly punched a Beowolf's head off, two fading and broken corpses of it's pack mates lying not that far from her.
She clearly didn't need his assistance.
The final Beowolf pounced at Jack from behind, leaping in the air to eviscerate her.
Jack just looked behind her and spin kicked the Grimm into a nearby tree while it was mid air. Rushing towards it and killing the Beowolf by punching it's head into the tree trunk with an Aura covered fist, leaving an indent in the bark.
Roxas was safe to say that Jack had the best hand to hand skills of anyone he had ever met. Considering she just decimated a bunch of Beowolves with just her gloves, the Nobody was impressed with her skills.
And it seemed the feeling was mutual.
"That was the last of them. I have got to say that your fighting skills are a lot better then I thought they would be." Jack said with a nod of respect as Roxas did the same while dispelling his Keyblades.
"I can say the same about you as well, never seen anyone fight like that before so skillfully." Roxas admitted, getting Jack to smile.
"Thanks partner, I just hope the rest of the this team aren't amateurs. You were the only one Ozpin really told me about." Jack said.
"Well I at least know one of them can definitely put up a good fight. Still I think that with all of us there is more than enough to handle whatever Grimm Ozpin wants us to hunt." Roxas said with a shrug. Before he looked off into forest as his senses picked up something.
It was Penny and Evelyn, and the two of them were closing in on him and Jack.
Meaning the second part of the exam was about to begin.
"So that's what we are supposed to be doing?" Jack asked, getting Roxas to nod.
"We are supposed to track down a Grimm that isn't native to the Emerald Forest once-" Roxas tried to explain, but was cut off once Evelyn and Penny emerged from some nearby bushes.
"Meeting up with the last member of our team." Evelyn said with a downcast expression while Penny half hid behind her looking shyly at Jack. Who was staring at Evelyn in shock. "And you of course find Roxas before either of us and become his partner. Mou…"
"Hi, I'm Penny." Penny introduced herself shyly.
It was nice to be reunited with them, but Roxas could tell that both of them were somewhat upset about not becoming his partner. He was too, but mainly at being Penny's partner. However there was no changing that now.
But right now…
"You!" Jack yelled as she glared at Evelyn.
"We meet again, murderer!" Evelyn shouted to her with a glare as Penny took a few steps back from her.
"I told you to stop calling me that!" Jack shouted.
"Never poisoner!" Evelyn yelled out.
It seemed like he might need to prevent two of his new teammates from possibly killing each other.
The screen flickered for a bit before the author reappears.
*Hey guys Hakuorofan7 here and I hoped that you all enjoyed this chapter.*
*Now let's move onto business shall we.*
*First off we have Penny and Roxas growing closer, especially with the Nobody still trying to get through what happened last chapter. With Penny coming close to telling him the truth, but feeling like it would be best to do so after the exam. Happy at least to know her friends trusts her so much.*
*Secondly with Roxas and Xion the former is learned about the door forming in the Station of Awakening while checking up on the former. With Xion not exactly happy with her conditions since she is effectively trapped without a physical body and can only communicate with Roxas. But is otherwise content as she knows Roxas is alright and wants him to adjust to Remnant while she tries to figure out a way to communicate with others. While Roxas will continue to seek out a way to give her a new body soon.*
*Finally we get to the exam we see Roxas's ability to glide more or less work against him. Along with a display Evelyn's abilities with her weapons and the second facet of her Sembalance. With her and Penny now being partnered up other.*
*Both wanted to be with Roxas, but I think that it is better for Roxas's sake that Evelyn wasn't his partner. Oum knows what she would try to do. That and she and Jack being partners at this time is not a good idea…*
*Finally is the introduction of Jacquline 'Jack' B. Ivory as their newest teammate and also from JPDE like Evelyn. Although some of you might recognize her from another story or two on this site.*
*Compared to the rest of her team Jack is the more ground personality wise compared to Evelyn eccentricities and the fact both Roxas and Penny are a lot younger than them. She is also one hell of a fighter as you guys and Roxas have seen, with her gloves being her main weapon, they are nothing really too special about them except for one feature I will show next chapter.*
*Speaking of which next chapter the bad blood between Jack and Evelyn causes things to heat up and bring down a particularly nasty Grimm down upon them as the enterance exam draws to a close. I hope that you all will enjoy the next chapter as it will be the last one of this arc and the story for this year when it comes out.*
*So with that out of the way let's bring this to a close.*
*If you have any questions leave a review or PM me and I will get back to you when I can. So until next time ciao.*
The author waves goodbye as the screen fades to black.