Chapter 3: Fighting Dreamers
In the cliff headmaster Ozpin was looking through the security cameras using his scroll and he couldn't help but to find the entire situation dangerous. Petra Gigas weren't normally found in Vale or Vacuo and this was an ancient one considering the size and its actions.
Such a grimm normally needed a team of graduated huntsmen to deal with effectively and these were initiates and yet, something told him that these four students would be able to at least survive if not win.
Glynda, at Ozpin's side, however didn't agree at all.
"An Alpha Petra Gigas?! - Glynda exclaimed in surprise - "We should send the Bartholomew and Peter to deal with it"
"And make the students fail their exam?" - responds Ozpin concentrated in the footage as the grimm attacked one of the initiates, one Jaune Arc if he remembered correctly.
"While it would be a regrettable fact, leaving the Alpha Petra Gigas puts not only those students but the entire test AND any new student at risk. We do have field classes in the forest after all" - responds Glynda looking directly at Ozpin, something he feels her doing so.
Any other man would have buckled under Glynda's gaze, but Ozpin was no ordinary man - "We can wait to see the result of this fight"
Glynda shaked her head in resignation before starting to watch the fight again, ready to call Bartholomew and Peter at the moment the initiates either retreated or died. She hoped it was the first what happened
Back in the forest Weiss created a glyph to her left over herself to block an attack from the Petra Gigas, before creating another to bind its arm. Jumping over the fallen trees, both Ruby and Pyrrha hit the grimm from different angles trying to break the rocks only for the grimm to use its other arm to attack Pyrrha who was forced to defend itself while Ruby used her semblance to enhance the speed of her attack which penetrated into the thick rock creating several cracks, however before she was able to take advantage of the situation the Alpha Petra Gigas finally broke Weiss' glyph and moved to try to crush Ruby between its arm rock and the nearby trees forcing her to jump off the grimm's arm.
"We need a plan!" - shouts Weiss, seeing nothing they had been doing was having any real effect
"Retreat into the forest, it will buy us time to think of something!" - shouts Ruby before using Crescent Rose's to provide some covering fire while retreating, Weiss soon follows, then Pyrrha and finally Jaune with the Alpha Petra Gigas following them.
The chase was a surprisingly close one, the massive size of the Alpha Petra Gigas tearing through the mass of trees as as if they were not present, massive rocks crushing the plants with easy while shots, glyphs and dust attacks barely slowing the giant monster down, the incredible mass and momentum of the giant grimm helping it greatly.
Being the slowest, Jaune Arc was the closest to the grimm, Weiss' glyphs barely keeping him out of range of the ancient grimm, even if it came at the cost of heavily upsetting his stomach. not that he could even feel it due to the adrenaline coursing through his veins.
However it also gave him a close view of the grimm which led him to start noticing something odd. Whenever a branch or one of his fellow initiates attacks came up close to hit the mask, it would cover it with one of its "arms".
Then it hit Jaune like a freight train.
"It's ONLY covering its mask! It must be its weak point!"
Suddenly he noticed the right arm of the giant grimm moving towards him, the intention to crush him underneath clear. Suddenly one of Weiss' glyphs catapults him flying forward, making the grimm miss him by a literal inch.
Jaune then begins to shout as he also begins to fall, putting his shield before him to cushion the impact but before he hits the trees, he is caught by Pyrrha's semblance, who catches him and puts him alongside the group.
Quickly recuperating from the short flight and ignoring his angry stomach, Jaune tells them what he realized as he tries to not be left behind.
"Guys! I noticed something! - he shouts - "The weak point is the mask!"
"Are you certain?!" - responds Weiss who is now concentrating on him.
Ruby and Pyrrha also turn to look at him despite the four are still trying to run away from the giant grimm.
"Yes!" - responds Jaune with urgency - "It covers his mask whenever anything comes close to striking it, while it ignores any other attack!"
"I see, it makes sense!" - responds Pyrrha
"But how can we use that to our advantage!" - continues Weiss - "As you said it covers its mask whenever we try to attack it and it can easily ignore anything else we do!"
The fact quickly deflated the sense of accomplishment Jaune had gotten while Pyrrha's face also showed her doubts if only for a few seconds. Only Ruby seemed to be unaffected by Weiss' declaration, in fact it was the complete opposite.
"I have an idea!" - shouts Ruby shooting at the grimm which covers its mask once again, making the shots ricochet uselessly - "we just need to get into a clearing!"
As the team continues to run from the grimm searching for a clearing, Ruby explains her plan to Jaune, Pyrrha and Weiss.
Hopefully it will work.
If there was one thing Yang Xiao-Long could say about the initiation is that it had been a blast, and quite literally!
Her new partner, Nora Valkyrie, had a hammer grenade launcher, a HAMMER GRENADE LAUNCHER! How awesome was that?!
And not only that, but she was very skilled using said weapons, as shown when she literally blew up half a pack of beowolves in a few seconds.
And that had been the start, now matter the grimm or how many of them appeared, the two of them dived right into the fight, punching and crushing all opposition in their way until their objective. A bunch of ruins and inside them the relics, which were …
"Chess pieces?" - mentions Yang, surprised and completely underwhelmed.
"They could've at least put something cool as the relics!"
Before Yang could react Nora zoomed right at her side and took a Rook.
"I'm the queen of the castle! I'm the queen of the castle!" - starts repeating Nora in a small singing tone, Yang rolling her eyes and chuckling as a result.
Now, if only Ruby could get here in a decent time frame the initiation would be perfect.
Getting into clearing had been harder than anticipated but they had managed now it was time to put the plan into motion. Jaune's part in the plan, while not glamorous, was critical.
He was the bait. And to his credit (and bad luck) a very good one.
As Jaune desperately evaded the attacks of the massive grimm while running around him incircles to keep him in place, the rest of the team went into action.
First Weiss, creating a series of glyphs, which held the arm the Alpha Petra Gigas was using to strike Jaune in place. As it started to fight against Weiss's hold, which she was reinforcing as hard as she could with additional glyphs, Pyrrha started to take potshots at the grimm's mask, making it use its free arm to cover the mask.
Finally using the opening created by her team Ruby used her semblance to rush the Alpha Petra Gigas from behind, using the recoil from Crescent Rose to propel herself upwards and land on top of the grimm making Pyrrha stop shooting as planned.
Noticing the lack of attacks the Alpha Petra Gigas tried to attack Ruby, sealing its fate as Weiss let go of the glyphs, making the massive grimm lose balance as Ruby jumped evading the clumsy attack from the grimm which had just left itself open. Taking aim while falling at the grimm that was still struggling to regain balance, Ruby took its shot which hit its target, shattering the grimm's mask and killing it as a result.
As the remnants of the grimm started to dissolve the four initiates looked at their handiwork, while they finally calmed themselves down as the adrenaline rush subsided.
"We … we made it!" - shouts Jaune still struggling to believe their achievement - "I can't believe we made it!"
"A remarkable achievement" - says Pyrrha, winded but smiling to the others.
"I'll admit, I had my doubts but well done" - says Weiss herself crossing her arms while looking at the remaining stones with a serious face.
"Well, done team" - says Ruby obviously happy - " now, we only need to get the relics!"
"The relics!" - shouts Weiss, suddenly remembering their main objective with the reaction of Jaune and Pyrrha also making it clear that they had forgotten about it.
The group of four then started to run again towards the north, hopefully, they were not too late.
On top of the cliff overlooking the forest under it, Headmaster Ozpin couldn't help but smile for a little bit. It seemed his faith in the four initiates was not wrong.
"It seems your faith was not misplaced" - said Glynda to Ozpin's side - "not that I approve of this"
Ozpin turned to find Glynda glaring at him.
"In any case, they seem to be on track to getting the relics. Anything about that?" - says Ozpin, not affected by the glare
Sighing, Glynda goes to check on her scroll while Ozpin watches over the group that had just defeated the Alpha Petra Gigas. They had the making of a great team, a bit rough around the edges but the bases were already there.
"Apparently those four are the last ones in need to retrieve their pieces" - says Glynda, not looking up from her Scroll - "and apparently they'll get to be a team too, the last remaining pieces are the same"
Ozpin, wished he had his cup with him right now.
Compared to the fight against the Alpha Petra Gigas, the rest of the initiation was downright calm for Ruby, Pyrrha, Weiss and Jaune, despite having to rush through the forest, and having to deal with another two beowulf packs, leaving them exhausted when they got their relics. It was the last two, a pair of white pawns.
Too tired to think anything about the underwhelming nature of the relics, the four of them just took them and went back towards the cliff from where they had dropped. A creative use of Weiss' glyphs and the four of them were on the top of the cliff, in fact, right on the same place they had been launched from, both Headmaster Ozpin and his assistant who then told them to go back to Beacon for the team presentation ceremony.
As far as ceremonies went, it was boring, being basically the headmaster calling the students who were going to be a team for the rest of their stay at Beacon. The only exception to that rule was Team RBYN (Robin) which had Yang within its members.
A few teams later, the four of them realized they were the only ones that were left which made them realize they were teammates from now on. Before they could even mouth their thoughts The four of them were standing in attention, waiting for the headmaster to speak.
"And finally: Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Jaune Arc. Pyrrha Nikos. The four of you retrieved the white pawn pieces." - started the headmaster - "From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWAN (Rowan). Led by... Ruby Rose!"
The headmaster's declaration caused several reactions.
The public gave the last team a great ovation, with Yang being the one cheering the most among them.
Ruby can't help but to feel excited at being proclaimed team leader.
Weiss only looked first at the headmaster and then at her new leader in surprise.
Jaune couldn't help but feel relieved, giving his congratulations to Ruby.
And Pyrrha calmly also gave her congratulations.
Having finished, the students were all sent to their new rooms. Seeing the new student go to their rooms Ozpin couldn't help but to comment:
"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."
The newly created Team RWAN, soon reached their room. It was very simple all things considered, four beds, four chairs, four desks, five book stands, four small wardrobes and a simple bathroom which included a shower.
Simple didn't mean it wasn't functional however and the four teammates didn't have any problem finding enough space to store their things and soon the four were sitting on their beds looking at each other while thinking about how the day had gone.
At least until their stomachs decided to show their displeasure.
"Ah, it seems we are all hungry" - said Jaune lamely before continuing - "want me to see if they're serving food in the cafeteria?"
"Too tired to go to the cafeteria, so if you could go I would be happy" - responds Ruby before letting herself drop into her bed.
"While I agree with Ruby, are you sure you don't have an issue?" - asks Pyrrha torn between going with Jaune and wanting to rest
"Yeah it's no problem" - responds Jaune, his tiredness obvious - "I don't mind truly"
As Jaune stood up from his recently claimed bed, Weiss spoke up.
"I'm going with you" - says Weiss
"Are … you sure?" - responds Jaune
Weiss huffed and rolled her eyes.
"As if I'd let some tiredness stop me" - said Weiss in a dismissive voice.
Seeing no reason to fight against the decision of nis new partner Jaune just accepted the help with both going towards the cafeteria.
"Well, I suppose there are worse ways to start my stay at Beacon" - thinks a nervous Jaune.
Author notes:
This update came abnormally fast so please don't expect the next one to come so soon, my writing abilities aren't that good.