When Talan woke up, Emi wasn't in her bed as she should've been.
Still in his school uniform, he looked in the bathroom, then the closet. 'Where the hell is she?' he thought. When he returned to the main room, Ash had finished ironing her clothes and was packing up and folding her ironing board. Around the same time, Paz and Livio woke up next, wondering the same thing.
Yeah. I wonder why.
"Where's Emi?" asked Talan.
"Ah," Ash began, carrying the ironing board into the closet, "she's 'boutta have fun in the Emerald Fore—"
Talan immediately grabbed his metal staff and rushed out. "C'mon!" he shouted. "We have to get her out of there now!"
His teammates were confused at first, but they knew what to do. Ash watched them leave the dorm alongside him, grabbing their weapons in a mad panic to find Emi. They didn't imagine that she would enter forbidden school property, let alone this early. Now, they knew better than to expect less.
Just then, they received a text from none other than Emi.
[catch me by the forst suckers!] was all she said.
"Dammit," Paz muttered, "why is she doing this?"
Eventually, Team PLET had left the dormitory, and from there they started to approach the Emerald Forest where they would reunite with Emi. Of course, I pulled out one of my Scrolls so I could look at the campus map and not lose track of where they're going.
I just have to bide my time and then let loose. No more monotony; here on out, Ash and Emi will send Team PLET on many, many misadventures, and I can't wait.
It's all coming together now; I can almost taste the excitement... just a little further...
And what do you know? I'm right here now! Y'know, this forest looks just as beautiful as it did during Initiation, like, wow. The moment I stop to appreciate things, I can really take in just how good this place looks.
I mean, look at it: rich, if somewhat desaturated, greens that are aesthetically pleasing in their own special way. Just the ground with the lush grasses, ridges, hills, streams, and rivers—and whatnot—that almost look sculpted to resemble those of a national park. Of course, there's the occasional animal to populate what would otherwise be eerily empty scenery, along with birds.
Can't forget the birds.
Where was I? Oh yeah, Paz, Livio, and Talan looked left and right for signs of their friend Emi. Since they had met Grimm here before, they searched with as much haste as they could muster, determined to find their troublesome friend before anyone or anything could get to her.
'Emi,' Paz cursed to herself, 'why, oh why do you do the things you do?"
. . .
"La-dee-da, da-lee-la, la-dee-daaaaa!"
Emi skipped around with reckless abandon, brass knuckles in hands. She had already torn through half a dozen Grimm or so; sure, a Beowolf took out part of her Aura by smacking her into a tree, but hey, she got up and killed it anyway! Man, what a toughie I am! Err, I mean, for sure she was a tough girl for her size.
Almost got carried away. Anyhow...
Emi spotted two more Ursas that were sniffing for signs of intelligent life next to a Beowolf. She smirked, then charged straight at them, banging her brass knuckles together. She broke into a spinning high jump, arms outstretched, and landed on one of their heads.
"Hello!" She waved at the two Grimm staring at her.
The Beowolf roared before lunging at Emi, who launched from the Ursa's head. As she jumped, she released Aura energy that stunned that Ursa as she watched that Beowolf slash through it, killing it in the process.
"Killing your own friends already?" She let out a loud cackle as she rolled to avoid the other Ursa's charge. "Might wanna get your hollow brains checked," she exclaimed mockingly, "if you have any!"
She turned to face the Beowolf, which had swiped at her only to claw at nothing.
"Yoo-hooooo..."
Distracted, the Beowolf felt Emi sitting on its shoulders, but before it could shake her off, her hands wrapped around its neck and head, respectively, and-hrk–Gah!—twisted, snapping its neck for a quick end to its miserable life!
Damn, what strong necks they have. Well, all the better to snap 'em with, as they all say—
Woah! F–Forgot about that Ursa!
Okay, Emi, who thankfully dodged the Ursa's attack, reeled back her fist and swung up to give it a quick uppercut, making it recoil violently on two legs with a pained growl. Yeah, good. Aura helped. She stepped forward and landed a flurry of blows to its stomach, capped off by a powerful punch to its thick forehead.
Crack. With its skull caved in, the Ursa collapsed and disappeared.
Hell yeah.
Wait. I'm supposed to reunite Team PLET and get back to the dorms, correct? She started whistling. Not a specific song per se, just me, uh, her making up a random, downright cacophonic melody as she walked around. I want to make sure Paz and her friends can hear her from afar. I don't want to get caught by Glynda, Oz, or any of the other professors, so I may have to make it quick (unfortunately). After all, you do what you have to do.
"Oh, Paz!" Emi exclaimed excitedly. "Come out, come out, wherever you aaare~"
Hold on, did my other three bodies hear her? Well, if I'm not tricking myself, Emi and her begrudging friends must be very close. If so, I could theoretically pull out before any Academy faculty wises up.
Lemme try that again.
"Ohhh, Paaaaaaaaz!" Hey, I hear her alright! Begin Phase 3!
. . .
Somewhere in the Emerald Forest, Paz, Livio, and Talan heard Emi call out one of their names. They recognized her voice from their right—no, their left, their left! God, why do I let myself run on so little rest—so they turned to that direction and dashed there.
Yet, when they got there, they didn't actually see anyone, just a small waterfall that continued down a stream deeper into the forest.
"What the hell," Talan muttered, his hands shaking, "where the fuck is she?!"
"Talan, calm." Paz shouted.
"Paz, how am I supposed to calm down when family close to me disappeared after leaving for God knows where?! I can't let this happen again!" Woah, that... was emotional? I mean, since I really don't want to think about one of my pasts in this time and place, so I guess I'll skip ahead.
While the two argued, Livio saw a red glimmer from the left of a tree. "There she is!"
"Where?" Paz and Talan asked as they both looked in the direction Livio pointed.
Indeed, Emi emerged from behind the tree, whistling an indiscernible tune. She was no longer wearing her school uniform, but her usual outfit: blazer jacket with yellow epaulettes and brass clasps on her shoulders, pink Mistrali-style top, tiny black miniskirt, and thigh-high combat boots. I'll admit, I wanted to throw her uniform on the floor, but Ash wasn't about to have any of that, so I had to toss it in a laundry basket.
Right, onto the action. Team PLET started making their way out of the woods, but as they did, Grimm gathered around them. They stopped in their tracks and stood against each other's backs, prepared to hack and slash through the big bad Beowolves, Ursas, Griffons, and the like.
Already a dozen Grimm. Please let this be fun.
"Remember all the tools at your disposal," Livio stated matter-of-factly. Oh, I sure do, Livio. Thanks for reminding me, though.
It's just like Initiation again, isn't it? The Grimm are ready to rip me into shreds, body by body, but I'm ready to deny them these privileges. This time, it's not a Beringel and Goliath, but rather a rogues' gallery of Vale's most common Grimm spread across the grass floors.
I took out a Beringel and Goliath days ago, but... will I make it out of this?
Well, Paz picked up one of the Grimm, then slammed it into several of them like they were pins in a bowling lane. Livio swung with his double axes at an Ursa Major that was ready to strike. Emi then charged towards an Alpha Beowolf and unleashed a flurry of Aura-augmented punches that downright vaporized large chunks of its body. Elsewhere, Talan turned his staff into a sawed-off shotgun and slammed it into a Boarbatusk, then sent it flying at some of the Grimm with a click of the trigger.
Good. Good.
Just then a Griffon flew by, ready to deliver hell. Alright, you know the drill, Strings: ride it into these stupid beasts.
"You'll probably want to watch this!" Paz yelled at her three teammates, Emi in particular giving her a thumbs up before punching a hole in an already weakened Beowolf.
Paz ran to the Griffon and waved her wand to lighten herself. Then she made a great leap towards the screeching beast, which was about to whisk her away in its beak when–ech!–I—she grabbed onto the back of its neeeck..! Reset the gravity, quick, qui—
Wah! Okay, Mr. Griffon just flung Paz, but at least she's not flying off into space without her wa—Wait, Livio just got his battleaxe knocked away, and now he's getting—ah!—knocked back and forth—gah!
This isn't good, I can't focus! One moment, I was kicking ass effortlessly, now I'm inches away from becoming bloody, messy shreds! What happened?! This isn't how it's supposed to go; I have to get out of here, now!
I started running! With the Grimm on my tails, I flipped the clasps under Emi's shoulder epaulettes and...
Why isn't it working?
I got out a Scroll as I barely avoided a Borbatusk's charge and saw that my Aura levels were... Nonono, I can't die like this! I promised myself I would train my Aura, but here I am, about to have a Beowolf's claws—
"AAAH!" Oh, OH GOD, IT HURTS! REDHEADED BODY'S BLEEDING! C'mon, Talan, GET TO H—
GAH! Now Talan's flying and—MY LEG MY LEG! MY LEG IS BROKEN!
I had to—AAAAAAAH!—t-t-try to take on Grimm all by myself, and NOW I have to watch myself bleed to death as the Grimm maul me over and over again! I haven't even reached my 20s, and this is how I'm going out? As a bunch of stupid little shits who got sooo bored with school that they'd rather die achieving the highs they did in Initiation?!
Dear God, now a Beowolf's about to slash across Paz's face, AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT! She's not going to come out of this looking pretty at all, nor anytime soon, and—
Wait, what?! The Beowolf's claws just stopped... no... Is that—WAH! I–It just flew at those other Grimm! Wait, so if those Grimm are getting tossed around, getting killed, all that jazz, then who's...
It's Glynda! ...Oh God, it's Glynda!
I picked up my two injured bodies—fffffffffff! Owowowow—and started carrying my selves away from the chaos that was her making smoky mincemeat out of those Grimm! Wherever I was, it wasn't safe anyway before, and it sure as hell isn't now, especially when she just crushed the last of the Grimm from above, using the air in conjunction with her Semblance.
Well, at least it's over. It has to be, right? Right?! I mean, I don't hear any more Grimm around me. Now it's just me and her cold gaze.
Speaking of her cold gaze... I'd almost forgotten how terrifying it can be for someone with power to look down upon me.
Just another sprinkle of salt on my wounds.
. . .
"Good afternoon," Ozpin said.
Here he was, sitting with Glynda on his side. I suppose this visit was to be expected, since I basically broke into restricted school property and almost died in the process. Still, the pain of going to the principal/headmaster's office never goes away... unlike the literal pain I'm going through (that said, ow).
At least his office looks nice, though.
I went to his desk (well, as best as I could in pain) and sat down in my four chairs. I was about to place my feet on his desk as the redheaded friend when Glynda cleared her throat. Yeah, couldn't help it, I know.
"I'm going to ask a few simple questions." Ozpin adjusted his glasses. "What happened earlier?"
I took a deep breath. "I..." Oh, what should I say... "I broke into the Emerald Forest and my teammates tried to get me outta there," Emi said.
Ozpin nodded. "I've seen plenty break into the forest before your time. Now, what was your motive?"
Exactly why did I do that again? Grew bored and tired of school, and decided I missed having fun, am I right? I think that was the "rationale." But look where that got me; nowhere but trouble. I already had to deal with four classes at once, so why can't I just imitate those teen comedies where the adult teenagers get to do what they want? Would a writer with a solid plan for my unfettered enjoyment be too much to ask for?
Whatever...
"I got bored," Emi confessed. "School just ain't my thing, ya know?"
I can already see the wince on Glynda's face. "It's one thing to not like school," she began, "but it's another to abandon your studies so you can risk your life over something incredibly unwise and completely pointless."
Paz raised her finger and sai—"And before the rest of you say anything, you also broke into restricted Beacon property, no matter what your reasons were. If you were serious about making sure your teammates don't trespass into forbidden areas, you would have just let us know."
"I'll take it from here," Ozpin said. Thank God, that would've been several miserable minutes of shame. "I understand that school in general is not for everyone; some have cited work, pressure from all sides, or any kind of uncertainty. In fact, a few have chosen to earn their Huntsman Licenses by skipping straight to the license exam in the past; typically, these are given to fourth year students.
"However." Ozpin leaned in on his cane. "I'll admit that Glynda was right: there were plenty of other opportunities to blow off steam."
Glynda leaned into his ear and whispered. I watched him nod.
He's right; damn right I could have gone sparring! Seriously, I could have sparred with either Ash or myself, and both of those wouldn't have been as damaging as this! Then again, it may have taken up more energy, so chances are, I would've passed out before I could drain one of my own Auras...
"So, here is what's going to happen: you will be in Dr. Oobleck's lecture hall for detention on Saturday." Glynda gave him an approving nod. "Understood?"
"Yes," Livio answered.
"Good. You may now return to your dorm."
I nodded, then left, but as I did, Ozpin gave me a few more words.
"One more thing..." Ozpin smiled. "Good luck with your recovery."
