Roy yawned blearily, as he was disturbed from his dream world, the first rays of morning starting to pour into the auditorium. He rubbed his eyes, relieving them of the "ick" that had been collected over night.
He turned to his side to see that Louie was beginning to stir from his own slumber.
With energy starting to return to his body he focused on the room around him. Many of the students like him were waking up. Those who had already woken up seemed to be returning from the cafeteria with plates of breakfast or toweling off from a shower.
He refocused on Louie, his small sleeping form desperately fighting, but losing to the call of a new day.
"Pssp, Louie, it's time to wake up, we have to get ready for initiation". Roy whispered to him. His face grimaced, but Louie's eyes remained closed.
"No five more minutes…" Louie pleaded. Roy rolled his eyes before grabbing the smaller kids blanket and retching it from his form. Immediately Louie lunged after it, but Roy kept dangling it just out of grasp.
"You monster," muttered Louie. He started stretching causing a series of pops and cracks that resounded from his tiny body.
"Okay let's go get something to eat, something to renew our vigor". Roy declared before standing up.
As they made their way down to the cafeteria it was easy to differentiate the early birds from the nightowls.
Some students walked around with high energy nearly radiating off them like the short bubbly girl with an abhorrent amount of pancakes on her plate.
Other students droned down the hall in a zombie-like state of exhaustion. The vomit victim was currently being dragged along by little red riding hood to the cafeteria. Who herself rambling incoherently about scythes and hero nonsense.
After collecting their food from the line an assorted mix of waffles, pancakes, and pastries they search for a place to sit.
The short ginger girl and her tall raven haired friend were a no go. Roy knew not to mess with crazy and the condensed ball of theatrics was not a sign of anything normal. She seemed enraptured in spinning her illustrious tale to her single audience member. Who was he to interrupt?
They found a table that had room for them and was occupied by only a single student.
He was large and decked out in gray armor that seemed to cover up the vital areas yet still gave him access to his full range of motion. However the most discerning feature was how used the armor seemed to be: there were multiple chips, dents, and streaks scattered along its surface. It was obviously well maintained, but it looked long overdue to be replaced with newer gear.
"Hello there". Roy greeted as he and Louie plopped down across from the boy.
The boy looked surprised for a second, obviously he'd been spaced out, deep in thought about something, "Hey".
Looking directly at him Roy took in a few more of his features; dirty blonde hair and a crew cut. Along with two deep blue eyes adorning his face. His features were strong and sharp and only enhanced by the little nicks and cuts that were present on his appearance. Most of all he looked familiar, but Roy didn't know why.
"The name's Roy and this here is Louie" Roy flashed a smile. " I hope you don't mind us taking these two seats here".
"Oh no problem, the name's Mars," he said, returning the smile.
"You from around here?" Roy asked. "I swear I've seen your face from somewhere but I can't quite place it".
"I've been in a couple tournaments before and some of them have been televised. I'm surprised that you'd recognize me. I never won any of them I'm afraid". Mars answered.
"The only tournament I've ever watched was last year's Mistral Regional Tournament though". Roy pondered before his eyes widened. "That means you were in the same tournament as Pyrrha Nikos then, right?".
Mars' body seemed to cringe at the mention of her name, "Ahh yes… she was… incredible".
Louie took the moment to pipe up, "Oh then you most know her then right, wanna give us some insider info". Leave it to Louie to only become interested in a conversation when it involves a girl.
"I highly doubt that she'd remember me, I'm sure that she can't remember everyone she beats. Also I didn't get to know her, I was too busy getting my ass handed to me." Mars sighed. Roy noticed that the grip around his fork and knife had tightened considerably.
"Well that means you fought her then right?" Louie's eyes shined with curiosity; he clearly didn't notice the discomfort the subject had brought to the other boy.
"Yeah she was the one who eliminated me last time" He tried to keep his voice even, but Roy could hear some hurt and possibly anger leak in.
He elbowed Louie from under the table. "Oww, hey what was that for?".
"Well it was nice to meet you, but we must go get our gear for initiation" Roy made a move to stand and grabbed his empty plate. "Maybe we'll end up on the same team?".
"Yeah maybe" Mars seemed to lighten up at that and grateful for the subject of the champion to end.
With that the pair made their way back in the direction of the locker rooms.
Will all students please report to the cliffs for initiation the voice of Glynda Goodwitch rang out through the intercom.
Roy checked his gear while walking towards the cliff. He and Louie had split up when heading to their lockers to get their gear. Roy had on him his dustlock pistol Sparrow, his ranged option, and his saber Teach for close combat. Sparrow would be considered outdated by most huntsmen, but Roy preferred it, Sparrow could still fire standard dust rounds and be loaded with special dust caliber bullets that produced special effects. Teach was less special, merely a standard steel cutlass with a pommel that could be used for blunt force attacks if he didn't have room to fully swing.
As he gathered on the cliff like the rest of the students he couldn't find Louie, but that may have to do with the fact he was so short and hidden within the crowd.
After being assembled into a line on the platforms along the cliff's edge, Headmaster Ozpin briefed them on their mission. They would be sent to the Emerald forest to retrieve chess pieces that would form the basis of their teams. The first person they made eye contact with would be their party partner for four years.
This was news to him and he quickly went over his options for a preferable partner. Louie was atop the list being his first friend here at Beacon. Blake wouldn't be a bad choice either, she had the upside of being a girl. Mars who he had met earlier seemed nice and was probably capable if he had competed in tournaments.
Really as long as I don't get stuck with Mr. Stick up his ass, I'm sure everything will work out. Roy thought to himself.
Snapping out of his musing, Roy returned his attention back to the Headmasters speech.
"During this you will be expected to deal with any threat that would impede you on your mission." The Headmaster warned them as he turned away from them to overlook the Emerald forest. "Any Questions?".
"Yes, how will we be expected to land?" A nervous student asked. Roy remembered that he was the guy who had vomited on the bullhead. A loud twang rang out and Vomit Boy was no longer standing on his platform.
Instead Roy tracked his screaming and spiraling form being sent out towards the forest doing a series of flops and twists that made Roy wonder if the boy was going to vomit again.
What seemed to be in quick succession, more platforms propelled the students up into the air.
As Roy sensed the gears and mechanisms beneath his own begin to tighten and whirl, he bent his knees in preparation and with great force was rocketed up into the sky.
Ozpin watched as the last of his soon to be students were launched off into the Emerald forest. He sipped his mug as he started to walk over to the observation room where he could watch the camera feeds.
This year's batch of students was especially promising with many strong applicants. Among prodgies like Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose or those with strong connections like Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. There were sure to be even more who would establish themselves as fine huntsmen in the future.
As much as he hated to view them as tools, he would have to look out for those who could be most useful in his secret war against Salem. Ruby Rose and her silver eyes came to mind immediately. Was he doomed to send Ruby to the same fate that befell her mother?
A crow landed next him before the bird transformed into a tall, lanky, and rugged man with dark hair. "Qrow? To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Come on Oz I think you know that I'm here to see how my nieces go through initiation". Qrow made his way to stand next to Ozpin and Goodwitch.
Glynda's nose wrinkled. "You smell of booze Qrow, can't you ever show some more decorum, despite your bonus activities you are still a professor over at Signal".
"That's precisely why I drink though, dealing with kids is mentally taxing especially when half of them think themselves to have egos rivaling Yang's". He took another swig from his flask. "I'd suggest you follow my lead, you'd be more fun hammered". Glynda's eyes narrowed, cowling Qrow from continuing his train of thought.
"So Oz, how are they doing?" Qrow said with a hint of concern in his voice. As much as he wanted to play the calm cool uncle, he clearly still worried a lot about Yang and Ruby.
It was Glynda who answered him, "Their doing fine Qrow, Miss Xiao Long looks to be one of the top students and Miss Rose despite being two years her peers junior is probably still in the top half of her class".
"Speaking of Miss Rose, she has just partnered up with the SDC heiress". Ozpin spoke, but his eyes never left the camera feed. "And, Miss Xiao Long looks like she's about to make contact with Miss Belladonna".
"The SDC heiress and the daughter of Ghira Belladonna, huh" Qrow spoke. "Seems that you have quite the special class of incoming first years Oz".
"Yes it's been awhile since there's been a class as talented as this one". Ozpin smiled. "Aside from your nieces, Miss Schnee, and Belladonna, there's also Pyrrha Nikos who I'm sure you've heard of." Ozpin's eyes switched from one set of camera's to another. "Miss Valkyrie and Mr. Ren are also students of note". He looked to yet another feed "Finally despite his current skill Mr. Arc has incredible potential, perhaps even the highest."
"So you're saying Beacon is looking to win the Vytal Festival this year?" Qrow remarked.
"Not only are we going to win, we're going to wipe the floor with the other schools' ' Ozpin's smile turned sinister. "I plan on wiping that gloating smirk off Jame's face from last year."
"Get the old Tinman mad, now that's something I'd like to see" Qrow agreed. His eyes scanned the camera feed paying closer attention to the ones focused on Ruby and Yang. However, they came to a stop on one in particular.
"Hey, what about that kid?" Qrow asked. The kid in question had just landed and started sprinting off due north. "He knows exactly where he's going."
"Roy Rogers, age 17, born here in Vale, uses a dustlock pistol and a cutlass" Glynda supplied. "He has a semblance that can be used to increase his five senses."
Glynda seemed to think for a second "He probably heightened his vision to see where the relics were when he was in the sky or increased his ability to feel, allowing him to sense the slight tug of the magnetic poles telling him which direction is north, similar to a compass."
"You memorized every student's transcript" Qrow raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, unlike you, I actually take my job seriously" Glynda said with a small roll of her eyes.
"Oh really what about that one then" Qrow pointed to a random screen that displayed a small boy struggling to climb a tree and ascertain his position.
"Louie Vermillion, age 17, faunus from Vacuo, uses a mechashifting stave and flamethrower." Glynda paused before adding, "His father runs a small merchant trading group that travels around Vacuo and his semblance allows him to glow extremely bright."
"Kid didn't exactly win the semblance lottery there did he". Qrow muttered before harping again. "That one then". He pointed to a different screen. This one showed a boy dressed in pretty expensive clothes with a sword drawn advancing carefully through the underbrush.
"Arthur Tudor, Age 18, once again here from Vale, and as you can see swordplay is his main form of combat. His semblance is purification. You wouldn't like him Qrow, he can turn wine into water." Glynda smirked.
Qrow did his own eye roll before giving up. However, once again his eyes caught notice of a single student squaring off against four Ursa. "Hey Oz, don't you think that kid is in a little over his head? Incoming students are generally only expected to take on two of those".
Ozpin didn't look very concerned; instead he copied Glynda cadence, "Mars Agustus, Age 17, from Mistral". He took another sip out of his mug, closing his eyes to relish the tangy taste. "He is a student I feel most pity for".
"Why is that?" Qrow was perplexed. He watched as the kid albeit with some effort made short work of his grimm opponents.
"He is the two time runner up of the Mistral Regional Tournament, when it comes to skill in this upcoming freshman class he is second only to Miss Nikos herself." Ozpin mused. "He is above average in every major facet: aura size, strength, speed, and academics. However, he isn't truly great at anything."
"I still fail to see the problem," Qrow remarked. If anything it sounded like he'd become a very powerful huntsman especially if he already had the ability to possibly be a champion.
"Huntsmen are incredibly specialized; they take what they do great and focus on it, which propels them to even higher heights" Ozpin responded. "Having watched his matches I fear that Mr. Augustus sadly lacks the innate talent that most of his peers possess. He has also failed to discover his semblance." Ozpin added.
"Right now if skill alone ranked the students he would be top three, fighting with your niece Miss Xiao Long for the silver medal. However, when semblences are included he is eclipsed by many of his fellow students." Glynda said, pity in her voice.
"As the year passes the skill gap advantage he has will shrink and he will fall down to average, and then to below that". Professor Oobleck interrupted as he joined them in the room, adjusting his spectacles staring at the screens then back to his colleagues. "He truly suffers from the curse of the mediocre, where the best he can do is delay the time in which his peers will pass him."
Qrow felt a bit of sympathy for the kid, but in the end he could only find himself relieved that Ruby and Yang didn't have that problem. Both were immensely talented like Summer and he knew one day both would be even better than him.
Roy was making good time; he knew that because he took advantage of his time up in the air and had spotted where the relics were located, they were due north from his current position and that chances were he'd run into his future partner along the way.
He halted his sprint when thanks to his enhanced hearing, heard something coming from the underbrush.
Please be Louie
He cut some of the plants back with Teach and stepped through into a lower area.
Please be Louie
The person he turned to face was not Louie Vermillion. "Hello there Mr. Rogers, it appears that fate has decided to make us partners, unless of course you already have one, that is?"
Standing there in front of him was the boy from last night. The guy smiled and waved. "Remember me? It's Arthur."
You've got to be shitting me.
Well that concludes chapter 2 of the Average Joes. I'm trying to follow a schedule for release dates, but almost never know when I'm going to get enough free time to write so don't always count on it.