Author's note: Ok, apparently some of you liked my idea so I'm gonna expand it into a proper story. Hope you enjoy.
The City of Vale was known as the largest city on the face of Remnant which also made it the safest place to live save for the city of Atlas itself. This was due to the vast mountain range south of the city which acted as a natural barrier against the grimm. And to the north, a large sea port which supported a thriving shipping and fishing industry. The city itself was surrounded by tall and heavily fortified walls that also had a contingent of vigilant huntsmen and huntresses on duty that deterred any grimm from encroaching on the city or the nearby settlements.
These facts made Vale a very attractive place to live as people flocked here in hopes finding a home here. This in turn made it one of the most heavily populated city out of the Four Kingdoms. However, this also meant that it is also one of the most crowded city on Remnant as one young man was experiencing first hand as he tried to make his way through the crowd of the morning rush.
"Geez, I know mom warned me about the city being packed but this is ridiculous." Jaune Arc muttered to himself as he gawked at the number of people moving through the city.
'Certainly quite different from Ansel isn't it?' Ozma commented as he noted that the city was more crowded than he remembered which told him that humanity had flourished in the years between his last incarnation which made him glad in spite of the annoyance it brought his host.
'Yeah…how do these people even know where they're going in such a large crowd anyways?' Jaune wondered.
'By living and adapting. As humanity has always done.' Ozma replied with some pride, 'Now stop dawdling and move. You're late as it is.'
'Right! I almost forgot!' Jaune panicked as he joined the crowd.
'Just like how you forgot to set your alarm last night,hmm?' Ozma chimed in knowingly.
'I know, I know. No need to rub it in.' Jaune replied as he steadily made his way through the crowd.'On the bright side, I can't possibly get lost in this crowd.'
'Indeed, being literally a head and shoulder above others certainly does have its advantages.' Ozma agreed as Jaune Arc was rather tall for a seventeen year old, even taller than most adults. While the boy was hardly a towering figure, his height allowed them to navigate their way through the crowd without getting turned around.
Jaune soon arrived at his destination, an airship terminal. He hurriedly made his way through the gateway and towards the closest ticket counter where he could see a number of people ahead of him. As he joined the line, he decided to check his mental checklist of his preparations and by that, he meant checking with Ozma.
'Money for the ticket?'
'Got it.' Jaune lightly pat his wallet.
'Your weapon and armor?' Ozma asked.
'Sent in ahead just like you told me to.' Jaune had wanted to bring both on him but changed his mind when Ozma told him of the delay it'd cause with security checking him before allowing him into the terminal due to him still technically being a civilian.
'Excellent! And it seems to be your turn now.' Ozma stated as Jaune realized that it was indeed his turn at the counter where he could see the holographic ticket girl behind the counter. Jaune had paused as he stared at the flickering image of the girl staring at him unblinkingly as she waited for him to approach.
'Do I need to remind you that it isn't a ghost?' Ozma asked teasingly. Jaune's cheek's went red in embarrassment at the memory of his first encounter with holograms a few days ago. He thought it had been a ghost and screamed like a little girl.
Not his finest moment so far. He was thankful that none of his sisters were around to see it though the strangers who witnessed the scene did get a good laugh at his expense.
''No need…just taking a while to get used to it.' Jaune replied hastily before stepping forward.
"Good morning sir, and welcome to the airship terminal. How may I help you today?" the translucent woman asked in a tinny voice, enforcing its artificial nature.
"Hi, can I get a ticket for the next flight to Beacon Academy?" Jaune asked.
"Certainly. Please deposit twenty lien into the slot and place your scroll on the terminal for verification." Jaune did as instructed and heard a beep from his scroll. "Thank you for your payment Mr Arc, your ticket has been uploaded onto your scroll."
"Thanks. So when does my flight leave?" Jaune asked as he retrieved his scroll.
"Your flight will be leaving in eleven minutes and twenty three seconds." the hologram replied. "Please make your way to the boarding area upstairs where your scroll will direct you to your assigned flight. Thank you and have a nice day."
"Thanks…wait a minute, how much time did she just say?" Jaune said as he opened his scroll and saw his digital ticket on the screen alongside the relevant information for his flight, including time until take off.
'Now ten minutes and counting down. Might I suggest you hurry along?' Ozma urged.
Jaune followed the suggestion and left the counter in a hurry. People saw the very tall young man running through the lobby and quickly made way for him before they heard him yell out "Sorry!" as he ran past them and up the thankfully marked stairs up to the boarding area.
Once he reached the top of the stairs and into the boarding area proper, Jaune turned his head frantically in search of the landing pads for his airbus.
'Your scroll, Jaune. Follow the direction on it.' Ozma reminded. Jaune opened his scroll back up and looked at the way the arrow was pointing. Following the arrow, Jaune looked and saw a number of landing pads that was empty save for one last airbus. He looked at the number plastered on its exterior and saw that it was his flight.
'We best hurry less it takes off without us.' Ozma advised.
'Right!' Jaune started jogging towards the airbus though he panicked when he saw the boarding ramp closing up.
'Pick up the pace, Jaune.' Jaune obliged as he broke out into a sprint again but they both knew they wouldn't make it.
"Wait! Stop! Wait for me!" Jaune shouted desperately at the airbus while waving his arm frantically in an effort to grab the pilot's attention. The pilot either didn't noticed or didn't care as the airbus's dust engines powered up.
To add to Jaune's troubles, he could see a pair of burly looking security guards approaching him with stern looks on their faces. They were clearly unhappy with the disturbance he was causing.
Looking between the approaching guards and the still open ramp, a desperate and admittedly stupid idea popped into his head.
'Jaune…I highly recommend not going through with this idea of yours.' Ozma warned but he went unheeded as Jaune suddenly came to a stop and crouched low to the ground, making the security guards think he was surrendering.
"Alright kid, let's go to the office so we can-what the" one of the yelped when Jaune's aura suddenly flare up in a bright flash of white and green, forcing the security guards and nearby bystanders to step back.
Jaune focused his sights on the airbus before pumping as much aura as he could into his legs before he leapt into the air.
"Sorry! I have a flight to catch!" Jaune yelled out as he cleared the security guards' heads as well as everyone else by several feet into the air before he started falling towards the now airborne airbus.
Unfortunately, he had miscalculated his angle of descent by which, he made no such calculation in the first place. So instead of going through the partially open ramp and landing inside the airbus as he had intended, he overshot the opening by a wide marge and crashed onto the airbus' deck face first, right in front of the cockpit window where the pilot jumped back in surprise from Jaune's sudden appearance.
Jaune groaned in pain as he sat back up and saw the evidently annoyed pilot who was gesturing for him to get off his ship. Jaune shook his head and fished out his scroll and showed the pilot his ticket on the screen.
After squinting at Jaune's scroll through the window, the pilot made an incredulous expression before deadpanning at Jaune who had the decency to look apologetic for the stunt he just pulled. The pilot then shook his head and pointed to his right where Jaune saw a side hatch that hissed opened.
Jaune gave the pilot a grateful smile before he made his way to the hatch and through it. The hatch promptly closed shut right after he entered.
"You huntsmen types always pull the craziest stunts." the pilot grumbled.
"Sorry." Jaune said, "Didn't want to miss my flight."
"You do know that you could have sent a signal on your ticket that would have told me to wait for you, right?" the pilot said while pointing to Jaune's scroll.
"Wait, it can do that?" Jaune asked as he looked down at the electronic ticket on his scroll and saw the 'Wait' button in the corner in big bold letters. "Err…Oops?"
'I'll admit, I genuinely didn't notice that myself.' Ozma honestly stated.
The pilot shook his head before his terminal started beeping and he held a hand to his earpiece, "Everything's under control, just an excited huntsman trainee almost missing his flight. Yeah, didn't see the 'Wait' button… Understood."
"Er…Am I in trouble?" Jaune asked nervously
"No, you're fine. We've dealt with worse from other huntsmen. Just means we'll need to do a public service announcement down the line." the pilot explained before waving him off, "Anyways, you're free to go. There's a stairwell just outside that will take you down to the passenger compartment.
"Er…thanks." Jaune said before he left the cockpit and saw the stairwell the pilot mentioned and went down it and just as the pilot said, he ended up in the passenger compartment where he only saw a small handful of people who just glanced at him briefly before going back to their own business.
Thankful for the lack of attention, Jaune made his way to a quiet side of the room and sat himself down on an empty seat. He looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to him before he let out a long sigh of relief.
'Well that could have gone better.' Jaune thought as he leaned his head back against the headrest. He was feeling lightheaded for some reason.
'It certainly could have been worse.' Ozma pointed out, 'While you didn't land where you intended, you were incredibly fortunate. If I didn't know any better, I would have believed you have a luck based semblance.'
'The good kind or bad?' Jaune asked.
'Considering what just happened…I'd say both.' Ozma said. 'By the way, we never did check the last item on our to do list.'
'What was it?' Jaune asked before he felt his stomach growing gurgling from the airbus' movement. 'Nevermind, I think I remember what it is now.'
'Oh dear…please tell me you remembered to bring your medication.' Ozma asked, his voice tinged with dread.
"Come on, where is it? I know I brought it this morning." Jaune muttered as he searched his pockets as well as the pouches strapped to his belts but couldn't find his medication anywhere.
'Do you think you might have dropped it during your stunt to get onboard?'
Jaune groaned as the queasiness started getting worse, 'Crap…I think you're right. What do I do now?' Jaune looked around to check if the airbus had a bathroom he could use but saw nothing of the sort. 'Who designs an airship without a toilet!?'
'My best guess, Atlas.' Ozma replied unhelpfully.
'I was being rhetori-' Jaune paused as his wrapped an arm around his stomach as the discomfort grew, 'Oh that didn't feel good. Er Oz…think you could do me a favor?'
'No.'
'But you didn't even let me tell you what the favor is!' Jaune groaned as his nausea grew worse.
'You were going to ask me to take over for the duration of the flight, no?' Ozma asked rhetorically. 'We both know that won't help. The first and last time we tried that, we emptied our stomach all the same. Makes me wonder if your family's collective motion sickness is a genuine curse or not.'
'Then what do I do!?' Jaune pleaded desperately.
'You'll have to endure until we reach our destination.' Ozma answered solemnly.
Jaune took out his scroll and paled at the remaining time until the airbus arrived at Beacon. He looked up at the ceiling and prayed to the Brother Gods for help but as he already knew, they won't answer.
'Endure, Jaune Arc…' Ozma sad gravely. 'Endure…'
Jaune only whimpered in response.
When the airbus landed at Beacon, it lowered the boarding ramp to let its passengers disembark. However, for one passenger, the ramp wasn't lowering fast enough for his needs as he made an aura enhanced jump out through the exit the moment it was wide enough.
Nearby members of the staff were startled when the figure landed, causing the ground to crack from the force of the impact. Everyone went into alert positions when the figure suddenly shot up into a standing position and started looking around with a wide bloodshot look in his eyes. He frantically looked around until he found what he was looking for and made a beeline towards it.
Staff members who were in his way quickly leapt to the side while others reached for their scrolls. Some made calls to security while others started dialing the numbers for huntsmen and huntresses that served as part of the school's faculty.
However, they stopped when they saw the figure stop at a nearby trash can and promptly vomited into it. They just kept staring as he continued hurling what was left of his breakfast into the trash can and maybe his guts too given how violently he was vomiting.
Some contemplated calling the school nurse to help. Then they remembered the nurse's unusual 'quirks' and decided against it. All they could do was to trust the poor guy to handle it himself and went back to work.
After he had thoroughly emptied his stomach, Jaune leaned back and sat down on a nearby bench to catch his breath. He never felt more drained in his life after what he just went through.
'Remind me to keep my pockets secured from now on.' Jaune moaned. 'I don't want to go through that again.'
'Noted and agreed. That ordeal was far worse than the last one.' Ozma groaned in reply.
'By the way, thanks for switching out with me.' Jaune and Ozma had taken turns being in control, allowing one to recover while the other withstood the motion sickness. It helped Jaune endure the flight though at the cost of worsening the nausea overall.
'You're welcome but I think I'll need some time to myself for a while. If you have need of me, just call.'
'Talk to you later, Oz.' Jaune felt Ozma nod in response before he felt Ozma's presence fading into the deeper recesses of his mind, leaving him truly alone with his own thoughts. This also made him realize how thirsty he was right now as well as the nasty aftertaste in his mouth.
"Ugh…I need a drink." Jaune said to himself as he looked around for a vending machine or water fountain but saw nothing of the sort. He then remembered that he had a water canteen on him. He prayed that he didn't lose it too like he had his motion sickness pills.
To his relief, he found the canteen still attached to his belt and after sloshing it around, it was half full to boot. He unscrewed the cap and guzzled down the water in big gulps, washing away the aftertaste and quenching his thirst. Now feeling refreshed, Jaune put away the now empty canteen and took out his scroll to check the time.
'Huh, plenty of time left till the exam.' Jaune then pulled out his scroll again and opened up his email where he had pinned an important mail titled 'Beacon Practical Exam'. He opened up the mail and reread its content.
Dear Mr Arc,
We have received your application to Beacon Academy and are pleased to offer you the opportunity to earn your place at our school in the school Initiation this year. The Initiation will test you to see if you have what it takes to attend the school.
However, due to your lack of a formal education at any of the Four Kingdoms' combat schools, you do not have the necessary credentials to verify your capability as a huntsman-in-training. As such, we will verify your qualifications in an exam here at Beacon.
The exam will be separated in two parts, a written portion where we will test your knowledge of being a huntsman. The other portion will be a practical exam where your physical ability will be tested.
Should you pass the exams, you will be allowed to take part in the Initiation and prove yourself if can earn your place at Beacon Academy.
Below that listed the date and time for the exam. It also pointed out the place where he'll take the exam. It was aptly named the exam hall and the email also included a map to the hall attached to the email…at least there was supposed to be one.
"Wait? Where's the map?" Jaune scrolled up and down the letter on the screen over and over to see if he had missed the map somehow but he soon understood that it was never sent to begin with. He hadn't noticed until now since he had been so excited to receive the letter at the time.
He immediately thought to ask one of Beacon's many staff he saw earlier but when he looked around, he saw no one. He kept looking around until he saw a building he assumed to be a ticket booth but when he walked up to it, nobody was there though he did find a sign hanging there.
"Out to on union break…back in…an hour!" Jaune read out in panic. Not sure what else he could do, he turned to the net on his scroll and searched for 'Beacon Map' and soon found Beacon's own website where he started skimming through the description of the academy's facilities, "Library…no…cafeteria…a little hungry but no….classrooms…nope….exam halls, yes!"
He had found a picture of the place where the practical exams would take place. It didn't come with a map but he'll take it as he started running around, comparing the buildings around him to the picture on his scroll.
However, had he waited by the ticket booth a while longer, he would have seen one last member of the staff leaving the 'ticket booth'. The worker saw Jaune running off but shrugged his shoulders and left for the cafeteria.
"Mr Arc, do you have any idea how late you are?" the teacher standing outside the exam hall asked as she stared at the boy panting in front of her, "The written portion of the exam started thirty minutes ago. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Sorry…." Jaune wheezed out as he tried to get his second wind, "Got…a little lost."
"How? Weren't you provided a map in the email we sent you?" the teacher asked and Jaune brought out his scroll and showed her the email and explained to her what happened, "I see. Then I suppose I owe you an apology on behalf of Beacon." before she muttered softly to herself, "Oh dear, wonder if I missed anyone else."
"It's alright…er." Jaune pretended he didn't hear that as he tried to look for a name tag or something on the woman's clothes.
"You can call me Professor Peach." the woman introduced herself. "And as an apology for the mistake, I'll let you come in and take the exam with extra time added for you to make up for the time you missed."
"Is that even allowed?" Jaune asked.
"Normally no, but I can make an exception in your case to make up for the mistake we at Beacon made." Peach explained before winking at him, "So long as you keep what happened a secret between us, got it?"
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Jaune readily nodded in agreement to which Peach smiled and sighed softly to herself in relief.
"Excellent! If you'll follow me, I'll take you to a private room to take your test." Professor Peach opened a side door and gestured for him to follow.
"Sure but why not put me with the others?" Jaune asked as he followed Peach who went down a long hallway.
"And make a scene that will create rumors of favoritism among applicants, especially those that don't make it?" Peach said as she gestured through a slightly open door and pressed a finger to her lips. The universal sign for silence.
Jaune quietly stepped towards the door and looked through the gap. Inside he saw a not small number of people around his age sitting at desks arranged equidistant from each other inside the large room. Each and every one of them had pencils in their hands as they focused on the sheets of paper on their desks. And around them were a number of slightly older people in uniform he assumed to be observing the applicants to make sure they didn't try to cheat.
He could imagine the unhappy looks on their faces on their faces if he suddenly entered the room and allowed to join them which will get worse if he's seen to be allowed more time to take the test. He stepped back and nodded to Professor Peach who then led him away from the door and further down the corridor.
They soon arrived at another door where Peach opened up to reveal an empty classroom that was much smaller than the one Jaune saw earlier.
"Feel free to take any of the seats and wait while I go fetch a copy of the test papers. And try not to make any noise." Professor Peach warned before leaving the classroom.
Not wishing to push his luck, Jaune quietly picked a seat and sat himself down and waited.
'Well that was certainly eventful.' Ozma suddenly commented.
'Hey Ozma, when did you get back?' Jaune asked, happy to have someone to talk to even if it was someone in his own head.
'Around the time you ran past the cafeteria building.' Jaune frowned in annoyance
'Why didn't you help me with directions back there?'
'I tried but you were too caught up in your panic to hear me.' Jaune felt a little ashamed at that. 'So I thought I'd just keep quiet and let you fumble around for my entertainment.' said shame promptly shriveled up and died a quick death at that statement.
'Glad you find my misery so funny.' Jaune heard Ozma chuckle in response
'My apologies Jaune, I didn't mean it that way. I simply want you to live your life and experience as much as possible so you can grow into your own without my meddling.' Ozma explained.
'Thanks Ozma.' Jaune smiled.
'And if your experiences happen to be funny from an outside perspective, it'd be a waste not to enjoy it.' Ozma added.
Jaune deadpanned at that last part, 'And the moment is ruined…thanks Oz.'
'Someone has to keep you humble.' Ozma quipped. Jaune was going to say something in response but was interrupted as Professor Peach came back with the promised test papers as well as a digital clock.
"Sorry for the delay Mr Arc." Peach said as she walked towards Jaune, "Had to explain the situation with the head examiner before he let me have the papers. Here." Peach held the test papers out to Jaune along with a pencil.
"And he was fine with this?" Jaune accepted the papers while Peach placed the clock on another desk.
"He was very understanding though he did stress that we keep quiet on the matter. Are we clear on that, Mr Arc?" Jaune nodded, "Good. You'll have an hour and a half to finish the written portion of the exam. I will remain here to observe you so no cheating. Is that understood?"
"Yes professor." Jaune gulped at the stern glare Peach was giving him.
"Good, you may now start." Peach then pressed a button on the clock and a timer for his test started counting down.
Jaune looked down at the papers and read the first few questions on it. He started sweating bullets as he suddenly realized that all the times he had spent playing video games and reading comics instead of studying as Ozma had insisted was now coming back to bite him.
'Oz…think you could help me out a little here?' Jaune asked as he eyed the questions.
'Remember what I said about you experiencing life as much as possible? That includes making mistakes.' Ozma replied. 'Besides, we've covered these questions before so you should be able to handle them.'
'Can't you just give tell me the solutions?' Jaune pleaded.
'I'm afraid not. Doing so would rob you of the opportunity of learning from your mistakes.' Ozma said smugly, 'You've made your bed Jaune, now lie in it.'
Jaune's jaw went slack at the betrayal and wanted to argue but Peach saw that he hadn't done anything for the past few minutes. She tapped her fingers on her desk, attracting Jaune's attention. She pointed down at the clock.
"Time is ticking, Mr Arc. Better not waste it." Peach advised.
Jaune panicked as he turned the pages, hoping some of the other questions would be easier to solve to which they were as he vaguely recalled the solution to them.
'See? It wasn't that hard.' Ozma chimed in smugly to which Jaune huffed in response.
'You sure you can't give me some hints for the harder questions?' Jaune bargained one last time.
'You reap what you sow, Jaune. You reap what you sow.' to which Jaune could only growl in frustration as he continued his struggle with the questions while Ozma simply watched.
Quick question:
How do you feel about SummerXQrow?