Chapter 8
The trial of the forest
Pyrrha touched down on a sturdy branch and swung Milo in its rifle form to check her perimeter. She found no enemies on close proximity but that was to be expected as she was currently not on the ground and it is not as if Beacon would allow Nevermores or Gryffins to reach beyond fledgling state this close to the city of Vale and the Academy.
Looking up she spotted a form in free fall and showing no intention to deploy a landing strategy of any sort. If she were to judge the person was not in control of his or her descent. She switched to spear mode and prepared to throw her weapons to help the person. She paused as she spotted no loose clothing that could be used to pin the person to tree. She realised for this she would have to utilize her semblance. She dropped to one knee and concentrated hard. For a moment she was surprised as she could not feel any of the usual metal alloys. She shookit of and doubled her comcentration, she found metal in the figures back pack and concentrated harder. The figure slowed its fall and dropped at a gratly reduced velocity into the canopy of trees below it.
Pyrrha jumped up and rushed towards where the form had fallen into the lush forest. She was unaware of another form that had been observing her and that had decided to follow her.
Jaune was beyond gratefull for whatever had pulled him from the terminal fall he had been in. Firing a grapnel line he slowed his fall even farther. He grunted as the sudden decelaration caused it to feel like his arm was being ripped from it socket. He reeled in the line and pulled himself against a tree, cursing from the pain in his sore shoulder.
He heard the soft drop of a body nearby and spotted Pyrrha as she dropped from the branch she had been on, cradling his sore shoulder. She was upon him in a moment
"Are you allright." She asked
"I think I tore something." Jaune said through gritted teeth
Pyrrha looked at him in confusion
"Surely your aura is already fixing that. Or do you have very little aura?" She asked
"What is this aura you are speaking of?" Jaune asked
Pyrrha gasped.
"You don't know? Everyone knows what aura is." She said perplexed
"Consider me the one who does not know." Jaune gritted out
He had one handedly retrieved a med kit and was using a hyposyringe to inject a combination pain killer anti inflammatory into the back of his knee where the armour did not cover his body suit. Being a non vascular space he knew that the drugs would take a while to take effect, going femoral was not an option with his armor in place
Pyrrha was still trying to rationalize how someone could not know what aura was, it was something every child learned in kindergarden if not from their parents. Then it hit her, Jaune had not been to kindergarden as she had been, not attended the basic Grim recognition classes every child took , nor took part in the mandatory emergency drills that every citizen has come to hate, and for a greater part of his life had no parents to explain some of the things she took for granted as common knowledge.
She cleared her throat
"There is a lot of debate as to what aura is. Some say it is the physical manifestation of ones soul. Others believe it a genetic trait that allows al Remnantions the ability to defend against the grim. Once unblocked or released it can act as a defensive barrier against the grim and it strengthens its user and helps the user recover quicker from injury." She explained
"So everyone has this protection?" Jaune asked, as the painkiller went to work
"Only those that had it unlocked. Not everyone does that mostly it us Hunters or the police or militias. There is a downside to having your aura unlocked it makes the Grim focus more on you."
Pyrrha pauses
"Can I take of your helmet? I need to make physical contact to unlock your aura."
"You just said it makes you a bigger target." Jaune stated
"We are in a forest surrounded by Grimm, we will have to fight our way out, at this point we could not be any bigger targets than we are now. Plus even untrained it will help your recover quickly and completely, right now you are dependant on me for protection and I am only one person." Pyrrha stated
Jaune nodded his consent and told Pyrrha how to remove his helmet. She looked into his eyes before placing a hand on his face. She started speaking softly in a reverential tone, a red outline like a personal shield forming around her
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become paragons of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."
The red shield extended to Jaune and he started glowing gold in colour. Pyrrha felt her aura extending further than she had anticipated. Jaune added a second colour to the gold an electric blue and the drain increased. Pyrrha gasped as she felt the strain worsen.
Velvet Scarlatina shifted in the branches where she was watching the couple. No guarding the couple she corrected herself. She shifted closer as a third colour manifested, something she had not heard of before, The branch broke below her and she fell towards the couple. Instinctively she raised her Aura to protect her. Her hand touched Pyrrha Nikos's shoulder and she felt her aura being channelled through Nikos into the boy.
Coco Adel pulled her Scroll from her belt as a low aura alarm triggered on her groups channel. The scroll pin pointed the person in danger as accurately as it could in relation to the nearest CCT tower and or relay station. She noticed the dots of Fox Alistair and Yatsuhachi Daichu already moving towards their bunny. She switched her handbag into its mini chain gun form ad started sprinting towards the stationary dot marked by her scroll
Goodwitch looked to her pad as two low aura alarms went off. From the corner of her eyes she noticed Port and Oobleck staggering back in exhaustion having needed to both to unlock miss Hina Ichura. A very tired Peach was currently being glomped by a purring Katya Ichura. She decided to let Ozpin deal with that. While Professor Silver was currently resting on the edge of the fountain. She strode purposefully to the currently abandoned launching pads to go attend to the matter personally when she received a voice call from mister Alistair
"Professor we have reached Velvet and the two initiates. All of them are unresponsive but uninjured as per Yatsuhachi. The area is secure for now." The blind boy reported
"Do you need assistance?" Goodwitch snapped
"Yes, Mam. Coco is currently very emotional and may attract grimm to us despite all efforts by myself and Yatsu to calm her down."
"Hold your position I am en route."
She found Tsune waiting on a pad, a jumpbag on her back and her shotgun axe combination being loaded as she waited. Goodwitch waited for her to finish before activating the launchers.
Tsune dropped her jumpbag beside the bunny girl on reaching the group of second years and the two initates. Opening the top she pulled a stethoscope and BP cuff with Spo2 finger probe which she attached to the older girl and assessed her vitals. Placing a specialised monitor on the girls neck she noticed with surprise that the girls very low aura reading was recovering much faster than anything she had seen before.
"Miss Adel you will calm down now, right now you are the biggest source of emotion and any grim drawn here will be because of you." Tsune heard Glynda berate the normally held together huntress
She finished assessing the other two before breaking a smelling salts capsule under the second years nose after taking a tight hold on the girls head. Velvet rose to the smell of rotten eggs and Coco's week old socks. She whimpered as she tried to move away from the smell.
"Rise and shine." She heard a familiar voice spoke
She wanted to shiver in fear as she recognised the voice, Tsune was an excellent doctor and the one who was the most creative in the punishments she handed to students who ended in her care due to their own stupidity. Her meow was decidedly worse than a pack of rabid Atlasian attack dogs bite.
The smell went away and she was pulled upright by the doctor. She had a massive headache., worse than the one she had than the last girls night out with Coco and the other second year girls on passing their first year exams and that was with her being the designated driver. She shunted the memory of that epic fail to the back of her mind.
"Miss Scarlatina. How are you feeling?" Goodwitch asked
"Tired and hungry, professor." Velvet stated
Fox passed her one of the tasteless Atlesian food ration packs he always carried. Right now she was too hungry too care and tore into it ravenously.
"Can you explain what happened?" Goodwitch asked
Velvet took a moment to think
"I was shadowing Nikos. She had used her semblemce on the blonde there to stop him from falling to his death and then she went looking for him. She tried unlocking his aura, Mam he had two colours as she tried to unlock his aura." Velvet reported
She looked up
"The branch broke under me and I fell, I had my aura up and touched Nikos , I felt my aura draining and that is the last I remember clearly."
Goodwitch looked up as she heard gunshots. Above them a blonde haired girl was using her weapons to propel herself further into the forest. She wanted to march up the cliffs to the academy and go slap her boss up the side of his head. Anyone else would have delayed the initiation or reschedule it to the next day, but not Ozpin.
"Tsune how is miss Nikos and mister Arc?" She asked
"Aura almost fully recovered on Miss Nikos, With his armour I can not really asses Mister Arc. I would suggest that Ozpin rigg his friends launcher that they touch down close to here and have them check him." Tsune replied
Goodwitch made her decision
"Team CVFY, take your team mate and fall back to the emergency extraction vehicle and have the reserve team take over your shadowing duties. Miss Velvetina you will report to the infirmary with the wounded initiates as soon as the first rescue vehicle has been filled. Tsune stay with me."
The two Huntresses disappeared in the foliage and waited. Fifteen minutes later four figures burst into the clearing, three walking and a fourth slung over the shoulders of one. Apricot Miller was furiously struggling from where she was being held. Tsune snickered softly as she recognised the colour of the armour. She leaned closer to Goodwitch
"Shall we let Peach know her cuddle buddy has moved in on her little sister." She asked
Goodwitch finally recognised the struggling form. Apricot Miller, like her sister she was petite with purple hair, unlike her sister her dominant trait was a tiger striped tail. She had seen the girl here many times before when she was visiting or being baby sat by her older sister. Though when she was younger that duty had often been usurped by Peter having found an audience he had yet to put to sleep with his wild tales. Her attention was drawn to a device the more rational seeming sister pulled from a pouch on her leg and ran it across the two prone figures.
She seemed to be satisfied with her readings before she pulled another larger device from her backpack. The device looked like a small hand sized shield. The device made a whining sound and a bolt slammed into mister Arc. He rolled to the side coughing harshly and was soon joined in this activity by miss Nikos.
"Katya, put down Miss Nikos's partner and let us take Jaune and get this initiation done." Yara ordered
"But I want to keep her." Katya whined
April increased her struggles and Goodwitch made her presence known
"I am afraid Mister Arc already has a partner. And put down Miss Miller please and let her find her own partner." She said sternly
Katya put the girl down and opened her helmet to give Goodwitch the pleading kitty eyes. He shoulder rocked as April aka Apricot Miller slugged her shoulder. The two made eye contact and Goodwitch received notification that another partnership had been made. She looked at April in pity
"I am sorry as per the headmasters rules Miss Katya Ichira become your partner when you made eye contact."
Jaune had made it to his feet and moved his now uninjured shoulder. The residual stiffness was now receding rapidly
"You good to go?" Hina asked
"Sure, how is Pyrrha?" Jaune asked
"I am fine thank you, just very hungry." Pyrrha stated
She was handed a square metal box by Yara.
"Press the button in the corner." Yara instructed
Soon the box warmed up and following Jaune's example opened the box. The smell of hot food hit her. Taking the eating utensil included in the top she started shovelling food into her mouth. Three boxes each later the two were sated enough to continue. No one had noticed the senior Huntress returning to the foliage and her still hidden companion.
"What is your impression?" Glynda asked Tsune
"One I want a real close look at their equipment and two finding that hidden Kingdom has become a very high priority." Tsune answered
Tsune snickered
"I am also glad I am not teaching this year, you sure have a lively bunch this year. Miss Xio Long has already trashed a night club before she even got here, her sister foiled a robbery. Miss Valkyrie looks to be as lively as the three sisters before us."
Glynda sighed as she contemplated this. Tsune sobered
"It can also turn very deadly quickly. A Schnee and a Belladona in the same year. It will be a matter of time before the two become aware of each other and there is real enmity between the Schnee and the Faunus. And with Belladona being ex White Fang…" Tsune trailed off
"According to miss Belladona the surname is just coincidence." Glynda remarked dryly
"And I have an Oasis filled with tropical fruit trees for sale in Vacuo." Tsune rejoined
If it would not have severely hurt aura or not April would have repeatedly slammed her head into the wall of the cave they were standing in. Nikos was being of no use in trying to get the sisters to leave the cave. The three of them had decided that the object they had to retrieve had to be inside the cave. Both she and the boy Jaune had tried in vain to point out that the relics would most likely be in the areas marked on the map they had been given at start of initiation. Finally giving up the fight Jaune snapped a light attachment onto the side of his helmet. The ear pieces of the girls armour lit up in pink green and blue backlights with a normal torch in the middle.
Jaune paused and dropped his back pack and brought out two square objects. Peeling strips off from the back of the items he placed them on the side of the cave walls
"Red, red green, red blue." She heard him mutter.
Two blinking red lights came to live on the side of the blocks
"What is that?" Pyrrha asked
"Explosives. If there is something unfriendly in there, I want to make sure it can not follow us back out." Jaune replied
April looked down at her hand and a half sword and dagger combination and once again regretted not having gone for a ranged option as well. She felt something brush her shoulder. Jaune was extending his pistol to her.
"Thirty shots for that power cell. I would suggest double tapping."
The four advanced into the gloom. Jaune advancing as easily as the sisters. Despite being Faunus and having natural night vision April was having difficulty seeing in the cave, Pyrrha being standard human must be near blind as she kept close to the light made by the other four. April's curiosity won out
"How can you see so clearly? Those lights you have are not that strong." She asked
Jaune tapped the side of his helmet
"Night vision mode." He explained
"Any other tricks in your helmets?" April asked
"Thermal vision, electronic and electrical view, and fifteen minutes of air should we seal our helmets in case we have to submerge or we found ourselves in an area with poor or absent air supply."
Hina took a look around a corner and started backing up
"April, what kind of creature is ten metres long six metres high in body have eight legs and two pincers and a golden stinger?" She asked
"Deathstalker?!" April gulped
"I vote we leave this cave and blow the exit." Jaune suggested
"Seconded." April and Pyrrha stated
The rumble of falling stones followed the crack of explosives. Glynda accessed the camera system hidden in the trees. Tsunewas busy setting a fracture on a failed initiate. She looked over at her collague
"Ten Lien it is our intrepid sextet." She called as she finished applying a splint
Goodwitch sighed as she found the group
"Bart is going to be very unhappy, they just sealed the cave he suspects contained cave drawings." She said
" You think they found something or just cutting loose?" Tsune asked
"For their sake I hope it was the former, Bart will likely get them in several detentions if they can not explain to his satisfaction."
Hearing this caused a mass of winces among the second and third year minders that had retrieved the failed initiates and brought them to the evacuation zone. Even extended story time with Port was preferred to the essays on history a detention student was forced to write by Oobleck. Even being driven into the ground by Goodwitch with extra training was preferable to that.
Yang was tossing a knight piece up and down as she and her new partner Blake waited at the altar piece of the ruins they were directed to by their map. She looked to the side as she heard excited screaming and hollering. The excuberant ginger had burst through the treeline riding an Ursa Major, using her hammer to guide and force the Grim in the direction she wanted to steer it.
" Blake…"She started
"Already took the second knight piece. There is only the two castles and two bishop pieces left."
Blake barely looked up from the book she was reading her weapon Gambol shroud laid out across her legs. Yangs attention was brought back to the rider as she exclaimed loudly.
"Aw, Renny. It broke can I go get another?" She asked
A black haired boy with a pink highlight in his hair. Was doubled over breathing fast, his hands on the knees of his white pants
"Nora, no. No more riding Grimm." He said sternly
"But Renny, you did not even ride one with me." She pouted
Yang looked at her partner and caught her sticking the piece deeper into his shirt and bra. Her attention was diverted from movement further up the slope. Four armoured figures and two vibrantlt dressed girls broke through the tree line. All of the snap shooting before turning and running before the previous runners spun around and fired
"Look Out!" She heard Ruby call out
Yang spun in a circle and saw no movement
" You left me!" She heard a girl screech
" I said jump!" Ruby called back
Yang looked up and saw her sister in free fall to the ground and the icy little heiress hanging from the claw of a giant Nevermore. The girl lost her grip and started falling. The girl in the blue armour dropped her rifle and fell to her knees. She extended her hands upwards and Ruby's and the Schnee's fall slowed down. The ones in the pink and blue armour pulled her to her feet and dragged her to the ruins
"I am Queen of the Castle! I am Queen of the castle!" Th ginger was now dancing around the broken altar the castle piece on her head. The boy with her was merely sitting down catching his breath.
"Cover!" The white and gold armour figure called out as the Nevermore circled
They fired blue bolts into the Nevermore causing it to abort ist attack run giving the eight the chance to enter the ruins
"Grab your relics and let us get to the bridge." The boy ordered
"Who put you in charge." The Schnee snapped
The pink armoured figure grabbed the girl and brought her close
"Listen bitch, there is a whole forest of creatures coming this way. Stay if you want, otherwise shut up and follow orders." She snapped
"What do you mean an entire forest of creatures?" Blake demanded
"Some Schutta set fire to the forest, all the Grim are running for the clearings." Green said breathing harshly
"Birdy is coming back." Ruby reported, firing Crescent Rose.
Pyrrha added to the attempt to snipe the bird. Ruby looked to the Side and Jaune and Blue stepped up to the line. They unclipped part of their rifles and added another section with a long barrel attachment to the grips. Both slotted shorter magazines into a receiver on the new attachment. They dropped to their knees and took aim. Ruby shook her head and returned to firing on the approaching bird, not having any effect
"I have left eye." Blue reported
"I got right." Jaune stated
Two dark red bolts ripped from the barrels of their weapons and slammed into the approaching Nevermore. The bird dropped and skidded along the grass plain ripping up the grass. Green and Pink stepped up their rifles now having a block like attachment to theirs. With plopping sounds they fired into the mass that was now exiting the trees. Trees dropped onto the mass as they were blown apart by the explosions. Rapid fire came from Jaune and Blue as they had swapped back to the original shorter barrels
"Fall back and set a firing line on the bridge." Jaune ordered
They sprinted back and ran flat out halfway up the bridge before the four paused and placed four squares on the sides of the bridge. Taking turns they fired a combination of bolts and grenades into the persuing horde. The ginger adding grenades tha left of pink smoke as her grenades exploded. Both Nikos and the purple haired girl fired their weapons into the mob as the other four reloaded with Renny and Blake adding their own shots as well from their submachine pistols
Yang felt useless as both she and the Schnee was unable to contribute in any meaningfull way. Yang being a close range fighter and the Schnee unable to use her fighting technique as she needed time to set it up, not that they had any as the horde was steadily pushing them back. As per usual not even heavy losses would deter the grim from pushing on to their position.
" They are at the first charge." Green called out.
"Fall back." Jaune ordered
Yang was about to protest before she was grabbed by Ruby and Blake and pulled back. She looked to Ruby who had not being firing
"Lost my ammunition in the fall." Ruby admitted
Again the four paused on their fighting retreat to add another four blocks on the reached a round intersection on the bridge where other briken sections had once joined it. Those with functional weapons spread out and kept up their barrage of fire.
The grom horde was rapidly encroaching on their position
"Katya, fire the charges." Jaune called out
The last set of charges were the first to detonate vapourising both Grim and stone as it blew. The second set went off and the remainder of the bridge fell into the chasm, leaving a large gap between them and the pursuing horde. They stopped firing and watched the Grim horde still trying to get to them and falling to the doom as they encountered nothing but empty space.
Ozpin was looking at his Crying history professor as the man sat on the ground guzzling from a flask. He did not delude himself that his fellow coffee connoisseur was indulging in their shared passion for the holy drink
"Thousand of years gone in a moment." Bart was lamenting
He turned his attention where Port, Silver and Brown were watching the Grim charge to their deaths
"Taking a rough guess, how many do you think have they killed?" Silver asked
"Enough that next year we will have to hold initiation somewhere else. Between the forest fire, those falling to their deaths and the ones they blew up it will take a long while for the numbers to pick up." Port replied
A line of Bullheads belonging to the Vale Militia flew overhead followed by the three red bullheads belonging to the Vale Fire department. Explosions rippled as the Militia dropped charges to create a firebreak in the treeline of the forest heading towards Vale's side of the forest. The fire bullheads dripping tons of water in their wake. Ozpin lifted his cup to take a sip of coffee and paused as he realised his cup was empty.
A very ruffled and sloppily dressed man approached him reeking of smoke and fire overwhelming his usual smell of alcohol
"Crow." Ozpin greeted him
Crow handed him a tube.
"Managed to get one of their expended ammunition clips before the fire got to it. Whatever is in there is volatile. The empty clips exploded as the fire ran over it, the force of each explosion was enough to topple the trees close to it." Crow reported
Ozpin looked at the tube where a faint blue line was showing, a set of symbols were outlined on a small screen in red blocky numbers. He had never seen any such symbols in the long lives he had lived He showed the symbols to a still distraught Oobleck
"Bart, have you ever seen these writing or symbols before?" He asked
The man was brough out of his grief over the loss of the cave and the bridge long enough to study the symbols
"No, I can not say I have." He slurred, confirming Ozpin's suspicion.
The rest of the faculty and the students have adjourned to the auditorium to greet the new first years. There was a soft and muted cooing and a few cries of cute as the four cat girls were hustled onto the stage
"Collecting the Bishop pieces. Katya, Hina and And Yara Ichira and Apricot Miller, they will be forming team KHYA, pronounced Kay. With miss Apricot Miller as team leader" Ozpin announced
The four girls were next
"Collecting the Rook pieces, we have Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blabe Belladona and Yang Xio Long. Making team RWBY, pronounced Ruby. Miss Rose will be taking the mantle of team leader."
Ozpin looked to the door as the last team was hustled in
"And our final team. Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren and Norah Valkyrie. Making team JNPr, prounounced Juniper under Jaune Arc as team leader."
Ozpin lead the assembly in applause for the ten teams of first years gathered on the stage.