First of all, thank you to everyone who's reviewed this story. It's gaining far more popularity than I ever imagined it might, so thank you to everyone who's favorited, followed and reviewed so far. During the first chapter I said future chapters would be longer, but last chapter I decided to cut it off where I did purely for from the standpoint that I wanted the glowing-sword to be the main part of the chapter which, as you can imagine, limited what I could do with it a great deal. On another note, if you're enjoying this story why not go check out one of my others?
Either way, I first want to offer a big thank you to two reviewers, namely Luckenhaft and Zathol who put jokes so funny in reviews that it left me in stitches and I just knew I had to incorporate at least small parts of them in the chapter. So if you see these parts all credit to them for the ideas and I thank them both profusely once again. So most of the reviews were commenting on how you guys wanted longer chapters and initially it was maybe fear of the story not being so popular that held me back but seeing as you guys want longer chapters then starting from this one they're all going to get longer and longer. This one is a little bit longer than my last few, but as the story picks up I'm sure I'll have more to write about.
Thank you to everyone who left positive comments on their reviews and to everyone who left constructive criticism as well! You guys have all made this process so worthwhile! I will admit that there's so many reviews that responding to them all would likely push the wordcount to obscene levels so, I'll thank you all here and say that if you have any specific questions then I'll do my best to answer them through private messages instead. Heck, even if you have an idea for something you'd like to see in a future chapter, I'd be down. I love talking to you guys so come and chat sometime!
Disclaimer: We here at PanickedMode don't own RWBY or anything else you might recognize.
Chapter Three: Team ABYN
Well, that was a thing', Jaune thought to himself as he slowly descended back to the ground level. A small sigh escaped his lips and he quickly readjusted his position so that he was able to ride on the back of the deceased Nevermore until he reached the ground. A sigh of relief left Jaune's lips and he returned Crocea Mors to its scabbard once he'd finally taken position on the ground again. Silence hung throughout the entire clearing and Jaune looked up from what he was doing to see varying expressions of shock on his new classmates' favor, well aside from Ruby who was pouting as though someone threatened to take Christmas away.
"What?" Jaune asked.
"You just took down a fully grown Nevermore on your own and all you have to say is what?" Weiss threw at him sharply. Jaune's eyes widened slightly and he turned his head back to the downed beast. Wait a second, he did that!? Well, all he could really remember of the situation was a strange voice and an intense surge of power, but after that it was all drawing a blank for him. Was it possible that he could've really done something like that?"
"Yeah," Ruby exclaimed from Weiss' side, "You were all like blitz, woosh, slice! No fair, Jaune! I wanted to fight the birdy, too! Not too mention the acrobatic skills it must've taken to jump between the feathers like that!"
"Not really all that difficult on the jumping part," Jaune said, not particularly knowing where he got this information from, "The Nevermore's feathers are projectiles, right? So it stands to reason that they would be incredibly strong, strong enough for a human to stand on. Thank you for the compliment though and should we ever find ourselves in a situation where someone needs to cut off the head of a giant killer-bird ever again then by all means, you have the floor."
"What just happened?" Pyrrha muttered to herself.
"That was rather unexpected," Yang agreed, "Who knew Vomit Boy had it in him?"
"Riiight," Blake said, "Can we get out of here before anything more sinister comes along?"
"Y-yeah, good idea," Pyrrha agreed weakly.
Jaune, on the other hand, was discussing things with Ren, mostly that he was mystified by the strange way his sword had reacted during the battle, "It's never done something like that before."
"You said it was a family heirloom, right? Did your family speak much of it?"
"Only that every heir of the Arc family had wielded it. See, unlike most weapons, Crocea Mors has always chosen its wielders personally. However, my father always told me that I wasn't the right person to wield its power since it never awakened to me when I touched it before."
"Perhaps you were just never in a situation where you needed it up until now?"
"Yeah...maybe..."
Though, Jaune thought, Crocea Mors reacting like it did had only happened once his aura had been unlocked on purpose. Had...he really hated to even entertain a thought like this but was it possible that his father had purposely sabotaged Jaune so that he wouldn't become the true successor to his family name? His father didn't like him, that much was obvious, but to stoop low enough to ruin the rest of his life? Could he really believe the man capable of something so horrendously vile?
"Well, we'd all better get back to the Cliffs, I doubt Ozpin's going to wait around all day for us to finish our initiation," Yang said, "The chess pieces here are the relics." The blond took a golden castle and dropped it into Weiss' hand, then took the final remaining piece, a golden horse like her own and dropped it into Jaune's, "And now everyone has a relic. Let's get out of here."
Ozpin looked at his tablet upon seeing this and silently groaned, why? Why did she have to not put the chess pieces the opposit way? Now he was going to have to try and find a way to combine the team names when he'd practically already chosen them upon seeing the students launched. Well, the man supposed, it was his own fault for putting all of his eggs into one basket. He was really going to have to think on the spot about this one.
"Glynda..."
"What is it, Headmaster?"
"I need a refill, would you be a dear?"
The blonde-haired woman sighed, but collected Ozpin's mug for him nonetheless and moved to go and get the refill that her boss wanted. Ozpin, on the other hand, returned his gaze to the screen and a thoughtful smile crossed his lips, "Team names aside, I have a feeling that this is going to be an interesting year."
And so the initiation of this year came to an end. Jaune was still mystified on what caused his sword to take on such a transformation, but yet here they were. Whilst initially he had thought coming to Beacon might be a mistake and though the jury was still out on that, he was happy to say in the very least that he had not died on his first day.
" Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark," the screen behind the stage displays the portraits of the four boys moving together until an initial appears between each of their names, "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"
The four boys were stood lining up along the length of the stage, Cardin, the large and bulky individual dressed entirely in heavy armor held the most proud expression that Jaune had ever seen and he wasn't sure whether it was from happiness at being named leader or something more in line with overconfidence, but then again, only time was going to tell something like that.
"Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Pyrrha Nikos, you collected the white knight pieces and from this day forth you shall work together as Team ABYN (Auburn) Led by Jaune Arc."
"Me?" Jaune asked in disbelief.
"Congratulations, young man."
Though the playful punch to his shoulder from Pyrrha should have jolted Jaune out of his stupor, he still was frozen in place. He had been chosen as a leader? What kind of nutcase was this Ozpin guy exactly? Deciding it would be in his best nature not to comment, Jaune retreated from the stage with Pyrrha, Blake and Yang in tow, oddly silent for someone who'd been so full of life only moments before. Had Ozpin only given him the spot of leader because of what had happened with his sword? Crocea Mors had reacted so oddly during the battle inside the Emerald Forest but Jaune thought that was hardly enough reason to make someone the leader of one of the Beacon Teams. That was just his luck though, faked his way into beacon, would've been happy to just cruise by and now here was, with some kind of magical sword and a leadership position that he had no business being in.
"Ruby Rose, Lie Ren, Nora Valkryrie, Weiss Schnee you all collected the white rook pieces and from this day forward shall work together as Team LVWR (Lavender) led by...Lie Ren."
Nora seeemed overjoyed at the selection of the team's lader, Ruby seemed happy too and Weiss for the most part, while disappointed not to be selected herself, Jaune thought the slight relief in her expression would've come from Ruby not being chosen as the leader. Jaune looked over at Ren, then gave him a nod. This nod was filled with much more confidence than Jaune felt, but he did feel a small rush of real confidence with the nod that was given back to him by the boy dressed in green.
"Very well," Ozpin said, tipping his mug back slightly, "Those are our new teams. First years, follow Miss Goodwitch to your dorms, I look forward to your future exploits. Good day."
"He never really sticks around much does he?" Yang said to her team-mates quietly.
"I think that might just be the very least of that guy's problems," Jaune muttered darkly.
Not noticing the smirk on his fellow blonde's face, Jaune turned his attention to the direction that Miss Goodwitch was now leading Team LVWR and quickly followed along. Pyrrha, Blake and Yang in hot pursuit, "Wait for us!" Jaune called out. Goodwitch still wasn't sure what the Headmaster saw in that boy, but perhaps things would become more clear in time as the year progressed. Her first Combat Class later in the week would be a good opportunity for her to get a decent first-hand look at all the potential this boy supposedly had. To produce a magical blade and kill a Nevermore on his own was one thing, but unless he could prove some consistency then she was positive that her doubts about the Arc boy would never truly be gone.
"Now that Mr. Arc's been kind enough to realize that we're moving, if you'll all follow me," she said aloud, a look of disapproval thrown in the direction of Jaune "We'll make our way to the dorms. Do try not to let yourself get sidetracked in future, you're a leader now, Mr. Arc."
Though he thought he might've misread the situation, he thought that he could see the ghost of a smile on the deputy headmisstress' lips. Jaune figured that she was one of those ones that would be on your side as long as you gave her one hundred and ten percent of your best-effort but the moment you crossed her? Well, you lived a nice life and all, but it's over now.
There's small chuckles around the group at Jaune's expense, save for Pyrhha who merely narrowed her eyes at the ones responsible, most notably team CRDL. She thought it odd that Cardin and his friends were laughing at Jaune already given that they'd not seen him during initation. That, had Pyrrha feeling a little bit smug. If those boys had seen the way that her leader had taken down that Nevermore, she doubted they'd have been treating him like this.
The few teams that had been formed walked alongside Goodwitch, following her from the Auditorium and out into the wide expanse of Beacon's grounds once more. There was a heavy silence that reined, but Jaune thought it might be down to the fact that this was perhaps their most important taks of the day. He couldn't imagine the levels of embarrassment that one might feel if they were to be left behind whilst searching for the dorms. Jaune felt a small vibration from Crocea Mors, but he chose to ignore it for the time being. The sword seemed to have a mind of its own and he highly doubted there'd be much of anything he could do if the sword decided to act out and do something.
The last time it'd done so, that had led to him pulling off some of the most complext moves he'd ever seen let alone produced. The intense speed, the way he'd rushed up the Nevermore's feathers as though they were stairs and to cap it all off, he'd cleaved the bird's head off as though it'd taken absolutely no effort at all. He'd known what it'd looked like to the others, but had it been his own skill that had taken down the Nevermore...or was it the sword itself? His attention went back to the direction they were moving in, his ears tuning back into what Goodwitch was saying-
"Now, your scrolls are keyed into the doors for your rooms and will function as the keys that unlock them," Goodwitch explained, "This ensures that only you and your fellow members are allowed to enter. Be that as it may, we expect those in co-ed dorms to act responsibly and use your discretion when entering your dorms. A knock on a door can sometimes be the difference between life and death."
The group rounded another corner and finally they approached a large building, Goodwitch opened the door by showing the infra-red on her scroll to the scanner and the group all pushed their way onward, moving through the first floor, "Team CRDL, Team METL," Goodwitch said, extending her hands to either side to indicate the teams rooms and then she moved along towards the staircase with Teams ABYN and LVWR following closely behind. Once the group had ascended the stairs, Goodwitch pointed ABYN to the door to the left and LVWR to the door on the right.
"Well, that's the tour done, I assume you'll all be able to manage getting yourself acquaintained with the school, classes will begin on the next Monday from now which will give all Teams a better chance of getting to know each other before we begin our lessons. If you have any concerns between now and then, please do not hesitate to contact myself or any of the other staff members. Dinner will be served in the cafeteria at six o'clock every night while lunch is at one o'clock in the afternoon and breakfast runs from seven o'clock until just before nine at which time morning classes will begin."
"Thank you for all your help, Professor Goodwitch," Ruby said brightly.
"Of course, Miss Rose. Now, why don't all of you get settled in while I go and relay this information to Team CRDL and Team METL?"
Jaune nodded once, "Thank you again."
"Don't mention it, Mr. Arc. Good afternoon, students."
They all exchanged goodbyes with the Deputy and she departed the top floor. After exchanging goodbyes with each other after this, both Jaune and Ren moved to the doors of their dorms respectively and unlocked them with their scrolls. Jaune's eyes widened upon seeing inside. It was a relatively normal room all things considered, four beds were strewn across the room at different angles and each of the beds had a desk at the end of them, which he could only assume was for all the theory work they were going to get throughout the year. Finally there seemed to be a wide arrange of storage options which Jaune could only assume was for their clothes and personal belongings, which from first glance seemed to have already been packed away for them including their new uniforms for the year ahead. The final thing he noticed was a lone door to the side of the bed at the front which he presumed must've led into the bathroom.
"Home sweet home," Yang declared, "After we put some ABYN touches on it of course."
"I think we should choose our beds first, Yang," Blake pointed out gently.
"Er, right..." The blonde bombshell answered sheepishly.
"Though, don't you think it's a little weird that they're going to just let us hang around for a week before classes start up? I mean...it seems like a waste of time if you ask me," Jaune said scratching at his chin thoughtfully, "Though, given that the Headmaster's a nutcase, I don't know what I'm really expecting here."
"Well, they kind of toss you in the deep end during initation and force you to pair with someone you've got no history with. This often times is a good thing, but at other times if an incompatible partnership exists, one that puts the entire team at risk then it's best to weed it out early. I've never heard of anyone needing to have partners switched but it could be a possibility."
"Why are you two complaining?" Yang threw at Jaune and Pyrrha, "We all get to know each other a little better and we get to chill out while all the second, third and fourth years are going back to classes and hell, maybe even missions."
"Don't forget that'll be us in a couple of years," Jaune threw back at her, a smirk curling up on his lips.
"Didn't realize that vomit boy had fangs," Yang threw back and the two of them shared a laugh.
"Well, suppose we should go around and do introductions anyway. Name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tounge and-" Jaune wisely paused what he was saying after this. The introduction had made Ruby laugh, but he doubted it was something that he should repeat with everyone, let alone his new team-mates, "And I'd like to make the best of the next four years as I can. I may be an inexperienced leader but hopefully together we can become one of the best teams Beacon has to offer."
"Rehearse that in the mirror?" Yang asked him, still shooting a playful grin at the blond opposite her, "Cause I mean if you did, it' sounded a little cheesy, VB. Not that I'm complaining though. 'Sup everyone, I'm Yang Xiao Long. I hope we get along and VB?"
"Yes, Yang?"
"Eyes out of the bathroom when any of us girls are in there and make sure to knock when you're coming in or I'll take your block off, clear?"
"C-crystal!"
"Glad, we're on the same page!" she offered a grin, then looked toward Pyrrha and Blake expectantly.
"I'm Blake Belladonna," the black-haired girl said, "I want to stamp out the injustices in this world and rise to the top as a formidable Huntress."
"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, and my true hope for the next four years is to forge strong, unbreakable friendships and move into becoming one of the best Huntresses that this Academy has ever produced with all my friends and especially my team-mates by my side."
"Well, looks like we're all acquainted then," Yang said happily, she reached into her pocket and removed her scroll, opening it up to its full size. She scanned the screen for a second then nodded, "Any of you got Ninja Madness Three?"
"Ninja Madness Three?" Pyrrha asked confusedly.
"My uncle's a menace at it, but I figure we'd all be a little more evenly matched."
"I've got it," Jaune indicated. He unfolded his scroll and connected it to the holographic screen that Yang had summoned. The voice on-screen then spoke up in a loud voice that could be heard throughout the entire room, "Burning Ninja versus Shining Ninja, begin!"
"Oh, you're so going down!" Yang exclaimed, quickly tapping the screen on her scroll where the corresponding buttons lay. Her bright features were accentuated by the smile she produced, the competitive smirk could have lit up the entire room in Jaune's eyes, however, he didn't notice it for his own gaze was intently focused on the fight before him, "Combo!" Jaune shouted, hitting in a complex sequence of buttons rapidly. His character on screen then summoned a sphere of blue energy which he slammed into the side of Yang's character, reducing the remainder of her health to zero.
"What the- how!? You're just as bad as my uncle!"
"Shining Ninja, wins!"
"You download it, yet P-Money?"
"I think so- does this look right?"
Pyrrha held out her screen and Yang chuckled, "Not quite right, but here, let me fix that right up for you." The blonde took Pyrrha's scroll gently and completed the download process for her then handed the scroll back.
"Sorry Jaune, but I'm going to be the one fighting Pyrrha. Seeing as you took me out, I doubt putting Pyrrha up against a player like you is a good idea."
"As if you're one to talk, you almost had me like three times, it sounds like the one Pyrrha needs to compete against here is Blake."
A silence then hangs in the room, it rests for a few moments and the dark-haired girl now seated in her bed merely raises the book in her hands, a quiet mutter of, "Sorry, but I'm reading," being the answer given. Jaune was a little disappointed that she felt the need to withdraw from them but at the same time he could understand being none too graceful in terms of social ability. Hell, it surprised him that he was doing so well socializing with Yang and Pyrrha. With the two of them now setting up the game so that Yang could teach her though, Jaune decided that it would be the perfect opportunity for him to try and reach out to Blake a little. He couldn't be too forceful, he knew what he had been like when his parents had tried to force socialization from him with other kids in his village when he was a kid. Suffice to say that it hadn't ended very well.
"What're you reading?" he asked the amber-eyed girl softly.
"You care what I'm reading?" she asked, her brow shooting up inquisitively.
"Sure," Jaune said with a shrug, "I have a profound interest in reading. Most people accuse me of being nothing but comics, but I love all manner of genres, comics just capture the attention visually and true novels capture the attention through ones imagination, personally I'm a big fan of the man with two souls. The internal struggle is not unlike the things that most people face on a daily basis. Two sides to a coin, two veering paths that the traveler's decision determines which one they take. I think that it has a lot of correlation to the real world even if it's not exactly what people might notice at first glance."
"Yeah," Blake nodded, genuinely both surprised and impressed by Jaune's thoughtful answer, even more so that he had already read the book that she was currenty perusing, she had a small smile that curved up upon her lips, "I'm reading that one right now, d'you mind if, once I'm finished we go over it and discuss it sometime?"
"Of course not," Jaune said brightly, "Though, leave it until then, I'd hate to spoil the ending for you."
"Yeah, you'd better not."
"She beat me!" Yang exclaimed in horror, "What is it with me and my horrible losing streak today!?"
"Spartan Ninja Wins!"
"I won? I won!" Pyrrha's surprised and happy exclamation followed this and Yang shared the smile with her near team-mate, offering a hand out and the two girls exchanged a shake. Both of their attentions were then drawn up to Jaune and Blake, the two currently smiling quietly at each other.
"Well, it seems we're all getting along just fine, aren't we?"
"It's grand!" Pyrrha beamed happily around the room.
"Wonder how Team LVWR is getting on?" Yang finished.
"You need to get your act together, you dolt!"
Jaune, Blake, Yang and Pyrrha all looked toward the door and all four of them heaved sighs at precisely the same moment. Well, they knew who that voice belonged to and if anyone was going to be the person causing difficulties for a new team to get along, then Weiss Schnee was likely to be the biggest candidate in this year's Beacon Intake, Cardin Winchester included.
"My guess is not very well..." Jaune pointed out, "Should we?"
"No," Yang said, shaking her head, "We have to let Ruby figure this out on her own. If she doesn't then she'll keep running to any of us the moment something goes wrong. She won't be able to do that out in the field so it's better that she and Weiss work out their differences without our interference so that Rubes can learn to stand on her own."
"Do you wish to go another round, Yang?"
"You're on P-Money!"
End Chapter
Well, there we have it. Another chapter complete. Next Chapter will begin the week of doing nothing and the teams getting to know each other better. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you on the next chapter!