Chp. 3: Swamp Initiation Pt. 1
Mistral Swamp
August 11, 2020
It was morning the next day as all the first year students, including Siavash, Athena, Mitra, Lloyd, Yasu, Atar, Amethyst, and Deriko were all gathered up top a cliffside with the Mistral Swamp down below. They were all standing on silver tiles facing the edge. Professor Bellerose stood in front of the students, holding a tablet in her hands.
"For those of Remnant, you have trained to become warriors and I expect nothing less of that. And as for those of Earth, your training may have been rushed, but from what I have learned of your world, you all take what you have to great use and more. I expect great results, not disappointments. For all of you today, your abilities will be evaluated in the swamps of Mistral."
The students paid close attention as Bellerose continued.
"You will also be given a teammate during this initiation. And they will be with you for the rest of your time here at Haven. Hopefully, you'll work well with each other. The first person you make eye contact with after you all make your landing within the swamp will be your partner for the next four years."
The students looked at each other for a moment before facing the headmistress again.
"After finding yourselves a partner, you all have two objectives; Survive the Grimm infested swamps and find a relic before you make your way to an airship which will take you back to Haven Academy. Your actions will be monitored and graded. You will not receive any aid from any of your instructors. You will be completely on your own. Now are there any questions?
Nobody spoke or raised their hands.
"Excellent. Now everyone, take your positions," Bellerose said.
'The students all got into a stance, preparing to be launched into the swamp.
"Welp... good luck to us," Siavash said.
One by one, the tiles raised up into springboards, rocketing the students into the air, and over and into the swamp, including Amethyst, Siavash, Lloyd, Yasu, Athena, Atar, Mitra, and Deriko. Siavash draws his sword and transformed it into its whip form. He then hurled it at a nearby tree as it wraps itself around a branch. Siavash swung himself safely down onto the ground an retracts his whip. As Amethyst sores through the air, she pulls out a broomstick that has a couple of revolver chambers placed together to where the handle met the bristles. The chambers rotated for a moment until they stopped. The first stopped on fire Dust, and the other gravity Dust. She places the broomstick in between her legs and sat on it as the bristles then caught fire with traces of purple ambers. She sore all the way down until she lands onto a large tree branch.
Mitra was soaring through the air as the disk on the back of her armor spun for a moment before stopping on the Gravity Dust. Her arms and legs started to glow purple as her fall to the ground below started to slow. Mitra hovers to a stop just inches from the ground. Her arms and legs stopped glowing as she safely dropped to the ground. Lloyd pulled out his kusarigama and threw the cycle at a nearby tree branch. He swung down by its chain and landed safely on the ground. Lloyd pulls his weapon back and sheaths it away before looking for his new partner.
Atar readied his gauntlet blades and shot his blades at a couple of trees. Swinging down from the chains of his weapons, Atar was able to land onto the ground as he then retracted his blades and chains. Deriko pulls out a Winchester rifle and fires a few shots at the ground, slowing down his fall. He lands onto a nearby tree branch, then jumps on to another before jumping down to the ground.
Athena pulls out her handle as a hard-light sickle as she then snags it onto a tree branch. She swung around for a moment before dropping down to the ground safely before wandering off to find herself a partner. Yasu draws out his katanas and slices through some tree branches that he was falling towards. He then lunged his katanas into a thick tree branch stopping his fall as he was hanging over the ground a few feet. Yasu pulled his weapons away and dropped to the ground and then ran deep into the woods to find a partner.
Lloyd walked through the woods, trying to sense someone to be his new partner. He heard the sounds of growling and twigs snapping as something was approaching him from behind. He turned his head as an Ursa let out a roar standing on its hind legs. Lloyd pulled out his kusarigama and swung it at the Grimm's stomach, making it stagger back in pain. He then threw his chain at the Ursa as it wrapped around its neck. Lloyd pulls the Grimm back with his chain as a burst of fire shot past Lloyd's head and struck the Ursa in its chest killing it. Lloyd turned his head around and was facing Mitra who had her hand extended out to where the Grimm was.
"You almost hit me," Lloyd said.
"You're welcome, partner," Mitra said as she approached Lloyd.
"Next we retrieve a relic and make our way to an airship right after. Is that right?" Lloyd asked.
"That's what Professor Bellerose said," Mitra answered.
The two newly formed partners then began roaming through the woods in search for a relic.
"Your semblance still hasn't kicked in yet?" Mitra asked.
"Nope," Lloyd answered. "Truth be told, I'm a little jealous that you all found your semblances."
"Sorry, Lloyd," Mitra said.
"It's fine. I mean, your semblance is amazing. Be able to bend aura for attack or defense. And combining it with Dust for elemental based attacks and defense. It almost works similar to that of the Scarlet Witch from the Marvel films," Lloyd said.
"I guess you could say that. It's not as powerful as her. But it would be pretty cool if it were. My semblance does work really well with my armor, Angel," Mitra said. "But whatever your semblance will be, I'm sure it will be amazing."
"I hope so, Mitra. I hope so. If I don't, at least I've got good old Shinigami with me," Lloyd said as he pulled out his weapon. "And even though I'm blind, it doesn't mean I'm helpless."
"That's true," Mitra said.
Meanwhile in another part of the swamp, Siavash was wandering through the woods looking for someone to be his new partner. Suddenly, he heard the sounds of roaring and wrestling from behind some bushes. A Beowolf jumps out of the bushes as Siavash draws his sword. Before he was about to attack, a cyan blade suddenly poked out of its chest. As the blade retracted back, the Beowolf fell forward and dissipated as behind it was revealed to be Athena. Both she and Siavash put away their weapons and approached each other.
"I didn't think I'd be partners with you, cousin," Athena said.
"Same here, but here we are now," Siavash said.
"Now we look for a relic and get out of this swamp," Athena said.
"Professor Bellerose never said where the relics are going to be, so this might take a while," Siavash said.
"Then we better get started," Athena said as she and Siavash started to walk their way through the woods.
"I see that Armament is still holding out," Siavash said, glancing down at her weapon. "And you also stopped me from using my other feature on Simorgh Wings."
"Save it for when we're facing some more serious Grimm out here. I'm also just making sure you save your strength, and I don't want you to over use your animal summoning semblance," Athena said.
"It was one time! Don't even start with that! And you have Weiss's semblance," Siavash said.
"I still need to practice on it. And it's not completely like Weiss's semblance. I can use my glyphs as platforms, shields, and can use them as makeshift hoverboards to fly, and that's it. Weiss can't do the latter with her glyphs," Athena said.
"It's still useful," Siavash said.
"I know it is. But enough about that. Let's just find the relic and get out of this swamp," Mitra said.
"Right," Siavash replied.
Meanwhile in another part of the swamp, Atar was fighting off a couple of Beringels. Atar slices off a Beringel's left arm as it roars out in pain. In response, the now one armed Grimm swiped its only good arm at Atar, sending him flying straight into a tree, knocking it down in the process. As Atar stood himself back up, the other Beringel approached him. It swung its fists down at him as he rolled away to the side, avoiding the attack. Atar began to glow as he then gave a couple slashes at the Grimm's chest, slicing through the bone-like plates before slicing off its head, killing it. The one armed Beringel charged over at Atar and rammed him to the ground, making his aura flicker. Atar quickly gets up and faces the one armed Grimm
"Come on you! I'm right here!" Atar yelled.
Before the Beringel could attack, a gunshot was heard as a bullet shot through its head. It falls over in front of Atar's feet as it then dissipates. Atar turns his head to see where the shot came from and sees Deriko holding his rifle.
"Hello, new partner," Deriko greeted as he approached Atar.
"Ummm... hello," Atar greeted back.
"How's your aura?" Deriko asked.
Atar pulled out his Scroll to check his Aura meter and saw that it was in the red and almost out.
"Almost out," he answered.
Deriko pulls out a small capsule and then jams it into Atar's arm. It lets out a blue glow as it then extends into Atar's arm for a moment before they stop glowing. Atar pulls his arm away.
"What the hell?!" he shouted.
"Check your Scroll again," Deriko said with a chuckle.
Atar looks down at his Scroll and gains a surprised and confused look on his face upon seeing his Aura meter almost full and green.
"You're welcome," Deriko said.
"What did you just do to me?" Atar asked.
"I restored most of your Aura," Deriko answered.
"How did you do that? What was that thing?" Atar asked.
"These capsules hold Aura. My Aura to be exact. And how is this possible you ask? My semblance. It allows me to extract out my or other's Aura. Useless on its own, but with these capsules that I had created, I can store aura inside them and use them for later. I had been stocking up on them for months now," Deriko explained.
"That's... actually pretty useful," Atar said.
"Pretty useful? It is ingenious!" Deriko exclaimed. "By the way, What is your semblance?"
"My semblance allows me to increase damage of anything I attack. Think of it like Kratos's Spartan Rage from God of War," Atar answered.
"Never heard of it," Deriko said.
"Oh, right. You're of Remnant, and I'm of Earth. You wouldn't get it," Atar said.
He then raises his gauntlet blades and shows them off to his new partner.
"And as for my weapons, I call them Belize," Atar said.
"I've seen better," Deriko said before pulling out his rifle. "Mine is this rifle and pistol that combine into a sword. I call it Mind Charger."
He then struck both his guns as they transformed into a sword as Atar looked at it for a moment.
"Basic," Atar commented.
"But useful. Now that we're partners, we must now find ourselves a relic," Deriko said.
"Let's go then," Atar replied.
He and Deriko then started to wander through the swamp in search for a relic.
Meanwhile near a large pond, Yasu was walking next to the edge of the pond, looking for a partner before moving on to find a relic for themselves. He stops upon seeing someone approach the pond. It was Amethyst. She turned her head up at Yasu and then ran up to him.
"You haven't run into anybody yet?" she asked.
"Nope. You're the first person I ran into," Yasu answered.
"Then you and I are partners now," Amethyst said.
"Yes we are," Yasu replied.
"So what's your semblance and weapons?" Amethyst asked.
"Amateras and Tsukiyomi," Yasu answered as he drew his swords. "My semblance sends my aura into my katanas which I can use to throw off energy and leave off a trail. And it works well with Dust in the mix."
"Nice," Amethyst commented.
"So what's your weapon and semblance?" Yasu asked.
"Say hello to Hurricane," Amethyst answered as she raised up her broomstick. "And my semblance allows me to harness energy from Dust through direct contact, then lets me expel it whenever I'm ready."
"Useful semblance there," Yasu said.
"I know it is," Amethyst said.
"Shall we find ourselves a relic?" Yasu asked.
"Let's," Amethyst answered.
The two new partners then began making their way through the swamp to search for a relic.