Chapter 76 - Menagerie - Applications Welcome

Year 71VE, December

Cover Art by Mi Chumi

Cove Staff applications and interviews had proceeded quietly over the last two months, and the school finally had what could very loosely be described as a rather unconventional skeleton crew, consisting of a mixture of academics poached part-time from the non-combat schools in Kuo combined with a handful of retired faunus Huntsmen and Huntresses who would focus on Aura and Combat. Rounding it all out were hand-picked administrative, maintenance, and custodial staff, all loyal to Chief Perine Ursulus and at least modestly competent.

Though some of the recruits had been hard sells.

. . .

Chief Ursulus sat behind his desk, eyeballing the three faunus who were, in turn, looking back at him with dubious expressions.

"You want us to teach kids?" Cassie Kanana asked, the Huntress' shocking green mohawk nearly vibrating as she shook her head in disbelief. "I've never taught anyone. Never even took on an apprentice." She glanced at her two companions.

Dark-skinned and orange-eyed Salt Boudda was staring at the floor and frowning in thought, while his partner Daisy Alenta ran the fingers of her left hand through her short blonde hair and then nodded in agreement.

"It's just temporary," the Chief tried in a placating tone, "until we can start openly recruiting from more experienced staff. Think of yourself as substitute teachers. I'm reaching out to all of our retired Huntsmen to pitch in. And some of you will be mentoring older folks instead. Anyone over seventeen with Aura can apply for classes and training."

Salt seemed to rouse from his thoughts, shifting in a way that made the nearly-translucent scales on his neck shimmer. "We know this is a big deal, Chief," he said.

Ursulus focused on him and raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, it's not like the three of us are blind," Daisy interjected. The three Huntsmen shared a look. "First these outsiders show up, and suddenly we're helping them set CCT relays. Then that upgrade to the Technology Institute. Then you're building a 'bigger relay'," she made air quotes' "out on east side. And then you're putting in all these buildings." She gave Cassie a meaningful look. It had taken them longer than it should have to realize what was really going on here. They'd probably gotten suspicious faster than most, because they were Huntsmen and had spent time at Academies themselves. They known what an Academy included, what they looked like, what they felt like.

But it'd still taken them almost a month before Cassie had vocalized her suspicions to the other two, and they'd all reached the now-obvious conclusions.

It'd taken a month cause it's Menagerie, Cassie thought sourly. Who'd believe that Menagerie is building a freaking Huntsman Academy? "We're pretty sure we know what's really going on here."

Ursulus' round ears pivoted for a few seconds, then he folded his arms. "If that's the case, then I don't have to tell you to keep your mouth zipped, Huntress. Nor the rest of you. There's a reason we're playin' this quiet."

"Nope," Cassie shrugged. "And we can guess who it is we're trying to keep out of the loop, too." The three Huntsmen shared another glance. Atlas. It was always Atlas. Except when it was Mistral.

"Pretty much everyone," Ursulus muttered. "For a little while. Until we can't deny it any longer."

"Right."

The most difficult piece had been finding someone who had the skills to maintain the newly installed Combat Arena, and who could also be trusted not to blab about the fact that it was clearly high-level enough to be used for Academy training. In the end, he'd had to coordinate with Lionheart to have Haven's lead technical engineer provide some under-the-table training to Menagerie's most promising Technical Institute graduate. Who was also now their lead engineer on the Menagerie CCT Relays. And would also end up the lead engineer on the CCT Tower, when it went live.

They'd also kept Garek and Sophia in the loop, of course. It had turned into a sort of Board of Directors made up of Ursulus, Lionheart, Grae, and Keene, though the two youngsters tended to defer to the older faunus unless there was something very specific they were aiming for.

It was only when all four were sure they had all the critical bases covered, despite the fact that at least half the campus was still unfinished and empty rooms or stacks of boxes, only then did flyers go out across Kuo Kuana.

Paper flyers. Boring paper flyers. There would be no electronic advertisements. No billboards. Not for this opening.

Not just yet.

The first dozen or so high-schoolers pouring out through the interior doors and into the entrance/exit lobby of Westbay High didn't notice the table that had been set up just to the right of the doors. Not the first day at least. It was only after the flow of students, eager to get a start on the weekend, had caused some bottlenecking in the lobby that a handful of faunus drifted off to the side to get out of the crush of bodies.

And a score of those happened to notice the printed flyers on the table.

A few idly skimmed over the text, and an observer would have seen them frown in contemplation, perhaps tap a mate on the shoulder, and hold the flyer out for them to read.

Which caused similar expressions to spread to those teens.

Consideration. Slight confusion. Perhaps a hint of curiosity.

A handful of them took copies, in some cases grabbing extras to show to their friends.

Over the weekend, word spread. First by mouth, and then by chat rooms that catered to them, of something called an Aura Training Center that would be taking student applications.

Lagoon District

"Yo, Gill, come look at this."

The young faunus man, only two years shy of his majority, sauntered over to where his classmate was holding a folded black and white printout.

Gill, of course, wasn't his real name. It was his characteristic. Rosso Aukei had as a faunus trait the ability to breath water through a set of gill slits along his neck, if air wasn't an option. Slits that, as a pre-teen, he'd cried over and then hidden behind his shirt collar, despite his mom's reassurances.

Right now, groundside, those slits were tightly sealed shut against the burning feeling that air would cause. Like having your sinuses sandblasted. But a dip in the water, especially saltwater, and they'd gradually open up and ensure his first held breath wasn't required to be his last.

It took a bit, and the transition was uncomfortable. But… he'd never drown, that was for damn sure.

He'd been thinking about going into the local Merchant Marine after high school. Or maybe underwater construction. Either one seemed obvious choices. He had a few more years left to decide, though.

"Cove Aura Training Center…" he read the page his buddy had handed to him. "Open to all ages. Offensive and Defensive Aura Training."

His friend punched him on the shoulder and pointed lower. "Not that part, stupid. This part."

Buried at the bottom of the list of topics taught was "Special Instruction in Aquatic-Based Skills"

"Huh…"

"Yeah. Whatcha think?"

"Looks like something I might wanna check out."

. . .

When Rosso arrived home, he found that his mom had not yet made it home. So he busied himself with his homework and waited. From time to time, he'd pause and glance at the paper flyer beside him on the desk and frown.

And he had questions.

"I'm home!" he heard his mom call from the living room as the door slammed shut.

"In the kitchen, mom!" he yelled back. "Got a sec?"

His mom entered the kitchen smiling at her son's good study habits, and he couldn't help but smile back. He knew his mom worked hard, and he felt like being serious about school was the best way to pay her back.

"Getting a head start on your finals?"

"Yep." He glanced down at the flyer, and shrugged. "There's also this, but… I'm not sure what to make of it. It talked about aquatics-based skills."

"Hmmm?" she asked, and he handed it to her. He watched as her eyes scanned the text, and her brows drew down gradually.

"I tried to look it up on the nets, but there wasn't anything about a Cove Aura Training Center." He frowned. "What's an 'Aura Skills Training Center', mom?"

She looked up, lowering the flyer. "Well… I suppose it would be… training in how to use Aura?"

Rosso tilted his head. "What… like for fighting Grimm and stuff?"

The Faunus woman frowned. "Well… I guess so. That's… weird." She scanned the flyer again. There was an address, and directions to something called the Airtram Transfer Station on the eastern edge of Kuo Kuana, along with a scroll number. "Hmmm…"

. . .

An older faunus with a cheerful expression and laugh wrinkles at the corners of his eyes blinked into view. He smiled broadly and nodded. "Cove Center, how may I direct your call?"

Mrs. Aukei glanced at the flyer again, "Cove Aura Training Center?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the man replied, smile growing slightly larger.

Wow, he's… happy. "Yes well, my son found a flyer when he was leaving Lagoon High, and he was asking me some questions, but… I didn't really understand most of it. I was hoping someone could confirm a few things?"

"Absolutely!"

She considered her first question. "Um… can you tell me what an Aura Training Center is?"

The man nodded and leaned back, resting his hands in his lap. "Well ma'am, that's a very good question. Cove Aura Training Center seeks to improve Kuo Kuana's citizen militia, both current and future, in order to better resist Grimm incursions." He rattled off, almost by rote. "We do that by offering various services, including Aura Unlocking, practical and instructional courses in offensive and defensive Aura use, not to mention standard coursework to offset any normal education classes one might miss if they were to enroll in our specialized program."

Mrs. Aukei frowned, chewing on all of that. Aura unlocking? Offensive Aura use? Specialized program?

She wasn't a Huntress, but she thought she knew what Huntsmen did. And that all sounded and awfully lot like… "I… see. Is it… like… a Combat School then?"

The man's face shifted to one of mock horror, and he waved his hands. "Oh no ma'am. You see, we offer this training as an opportunity to all age groups thirteen through adulthood. A Combat School? Well, that would only be for youngsters."

She blinked. "So, it's… not a Combat School?"

"By definition, absolutely not! Though for a young faunus, it would provide an expressly equivalent education." His smile returned broadly and he most definitely did not wink. Not even a little.

Expressly equivalent. "Oh…"

"I'm pleased to tell you that enrollment is currently open, with classes starting in January. Since this is our first year of operation, we are being somewhat flexible on enrollment dates, however. You're welcome to stop by and visit, of course. We have open house Monday through Saturday in December. We don't have a netsite up yet, but we're working on that as well." He rattled off rapidly, again as if it was something he'd had to say a lot today. Probably had.

She decided that answered most of her questions. "Thank you, you've been most helpful.

"Our pleasure, and I hope to see you!"

. . .

The truth was, her son Rosso had unlocked his Aura by accident a year ago, and he'd been practicing with one of the local retired Huntsmen, a lame bull faunus named Mort, for the last two months. She knew her son wanted to go to a Combat School, a real Combat School, but there weren't any in Menagerie. And they'd missed this year's application window for the ones in Vale and Mistral. And she couldn't afford the airfare, nor the tuition, on her salary.

Of course, they might be able to apply next year, if she saved. But by then he'd only have a year to get up to speed before Academy.

The truth was, she loved her son, he was the only family she had left, and she was terrified of sending him off to some foreign Kingdom. They'd both been born here in Kuo Kuana, and she'd heard the stories of how faunus were treated in the other Kingdoms.

But what if…

She made her way back into the kitchen, where Rosso was continuing his studies. He looked up as he entered.

"How do you feel about taking a little trip this Saturday, son?"

Kuo Central Mall

The rhino faunus, meaty arms crossed in the classic 'I am a badass stance' scanned the crowds as they roamed from stall to stall. His uniform was neatly pressed, and his badge shined in the sunlight reflected off the nearby windows. At his belt hung a taser and a rather impressive leather-wrapped club.

Security work wasn't exactly the highest paying job in Kuo, but he commanded a premium for his services, which was why he was working the more up-scale market. He commanded a premium because unlike his fellow security officers, Brook Gage had a little extra going for him.

He had an unlocked Aura, Pharos Combat School graduation certificate, and six months apprenticeship in Huntsman weapons and tactics from back in Vale. Heck he might have gone all the way to official Huntsman, if his mentor hadn't gotten crippled by a Grimm attack and retired. And he'd been unable to find anyone local in Vale willing to continue his training, other than a few shady types that he highly suspected had been working for various underworld gangs. On top of that, he'd gotten tired of the doors slammed in his face just because he happened to be born a faunus with a small horn in the middle of his forehead.

So, he'd thrown it all to the wind, and headed to Menagerie. Once there, he'd taken what work he could and set all his other dreams by the wayside.

Besides keeping an eye on things, one of his other jobs was listening. Which was why when he heard a group of high schoolers chattering nearby about something called Cove Aura Training Center, he waved one of them over and asked them about it.

Instead of answering him, the kid had just handed him the crumpled flyer he'd been carrying around, rolled his eyes, and rejoined his mates.

"Cove Aura Training Center"

Aura Unlock Services

Age-Appropriate Offensive and Defensive Training

Adult Continuing Aura Education

Specialized Militia Tactics

Special Instruction in Aquatic Skills

And below that was a list of specific subjects to be offered, come January.

Brook stared at the flyer for several minutes. And then he pulled out his Scroll and pulled up two websites, side by side. The first was for Pharos Combat School, where he'd graduated, but just barely. But that didn't mean he hadn't paid attention.

He compared the course offerings from Pharos to what was being offered here at this so-called Aura Training Center.

Then he pulled up the website for Haven Academy, where he'd once hoped to go after Pharos. Unfortunately, he'd not been accepted to any of the academies. He'd gotten as far as a video interview, and then had been politely declined.

To be fair, he hadn't been all that gung-ho about it at the time. He'd been a bit of a slacker and he'd had a bad attitude. And his combat grades had been mediocre at best, despite his size and strength.

It'd still stung, once he'd absorbed it. It'd left him questioning his life decisions, and floating in limbo for a year, working odd jobs, before he'd tried for the apprenticeship.

And then that had gone south too.

He compared the training they were offering to adults to… well to Haven's course offerings.

They were titled differently. But…

Open to all ages?

He stared at the Pharos and Haven sites some more, and then back at the flyer.

His eyes widened. "Holy shit."

The next day, he called in sick, and made his way to the Cove "Aura Training Center".

Third time's the charm?

Saturday morning found dozens of people milling around at the city-side of what the flyer called the Cove Skyway. Fifteen-year-old Rosso found himself gawking at both the number of people, and the structure itself.

The crowd leaned heavily toward teens like himself, some accompanied by their parents. Others in the crowd were clearly alone and ranged in age from upper teens into adulthood. Several looked, to him at least, to be freaking old. One guy had an obvious limp and was missing an arm!

He recognized some of the teens from his own high school, and gave a few of them, the ones he actually liked, a brief wave. A few others he recognized from rival schools at sporting events. Most of those, he didn't know well enough to acknowledge them.

One of the adults, a bulky faunus with a small horn sticking out of his upper forehead, he recognized as a security guard from the Kuo Central Mall.

His gaze finally shifted back to the building he was approaching, made out of something that looked like a cross between coral and concrete, steel, and glass. It was really freaking different from the other buildings in the area. This was primarily an industrial district, only an hour's walk southeast from the Bullhead Docks, but even here most of the buildings leaned heavily toward wood construction like his high school.

But not this building, rearing up three stories high. He could see cables running to and from the third floor, and followed them, mouth agape, over the walls of Kuo Kuana, past multiple support pylons, and out of sight over the rising ground to the east. The only structure he could see that direction was the upper portions of the new Kuo CCT Relay. But what he could see of the relay was a thing of beauty. Its upper levels rose and sprouted what he suspected were antennae, like the delicate fronds of some sort of scarlet reef filter-feeder.

"Wow," he breathed.

"Mhm…" His mom replied thoughtfully. "Somebody's been spending money. How did we not hear about this?"

He just shook his head. If his mom didn't know, he sure as heck didn't.

They reached the entrance of the building as the crowd filtered through to find a trio of ticket-takers were ticking people off on their scrolls, apparently keeping a count, and allowing people inside in groups of twenty. As they waited, they saw one of the sleek skycars slide out of the upper floor and over the wall, and then they were waved in and entered the first floor themselves. They found that the ground floor was mostly nonpublic areas, with wide stairs leading upward.

As they worked their way upstairs among the press of their group, Rosso kept his eyes glued to the windows, watching as an empty skycar began working its way downhill to cross paths with the full one heading upward.

He could feel himself getting excited. This is freaking exciting! It was weird and new and very much not typical for Kuo Kuana. Kuo was… slow. People walked. Things changed slowly. Three weren't exciting jobs and there weren't a ton of opportunities.

Except for this Aura Training Center, apparently, which from the second floor, still couldn't be seen because it was blocked by the slow rise of the highland slopes to the east.

They soon found themselves in a second-floor lounge area. It was a spacious room with comfortable seating and a slightly better view of the CCT Relay, and a clearer line of sight of the skycar still speeding its way toward them. And there they waited for another ten minutes. Some people sat, others stood. A few milled around. There was the low hum of murmured questions and comments.

Until someone came down the last flight of stairs dressed in some kind of uniform, and waved them up and into a room that was half departure gate / half garage, to find the empty skycar swaying gently in its cradle with three sets of doors open, inviting them to enter.

Within minutes, they were watching the walls of Kuo Kuana roll past beneath them, and then… they were out in the open lands of Menagerie. For Rosso, this was the first time he'd ever been outside the city walls unless you counted the beaches or boats. He'd expected… what? Hordes of Grimm? Herds of wild animals? Blasted landscape? Instead, what he saw was a wide cleared band of rolling tropical grassland, the mighty pylons in the middle of it below him, flanked by some sort of gravel road.

No Grimm in sight, he thought with a weird combination of relief and disappointment. I mean, I don't want to run into any Grimm. But it's not like they could get me up here. So, it'd kinda be cool to at least see one.

And then they were drawing level with the top of slope, and Cove rose into view.

"Mom… it's beautiful," he murmured. Around him he heard similar comments and sounds of appreciation.

It really was beautiful!

Far to their left, he could now see the entire height of the CCT Relay. The central spire that he could see from Kuo was just the top quarter. The lower portion was broader, and flanked by four curving towers or columns that were attached by thin walls to the center tower. And the whole thing's color seemed to shift like iridescent mother-of-pearl as they approached Cove.

The core of the campus appeared to be right in front of him, made out of that strange white coral-concrete looking stuff. It had that same soft color that shimmered subtly as he moved his head. It was gorgeous. At first glance, the campus looked like a gigantic wide and flat cylinder with some sort of huge domed top. But as he stared he realized that wasn't right at all. No. It wasn't an unbroken wall, but instead was a series of separate buildings in a large circle, linked by graceful arches. And what had at first looked like a solid dome was some sort of open framework that had a very familiar pattern to it that reminded him of coral reefs.

And then he couldn't see any more detail, because the skycar had slid into the terminal inside one of those buildings.

As they disembarked the skycar, this time just above ground level, they were welcomed by someone who could only be a Huntress. She was older than his mom but built like an athlete, with rich amber eyes and a bright green mohawk haircut. If her build and flamboyant haircut weren't a giveaway, the leather-wrapped handle and flail at her waist would have sealed the deal.

Rosso wanted, more than anything at that moment, to ask her a thousand questions. One of which would have been whether he could hold that weapon, just for a minute.

But he didn't get a chance, at least not yet.

"Welcome everyone to Cove Aura Training Center! My name is Cassie Kanana, semi-retired Huntress and part-time staff here!" She clapped her hands. "I'll be your guide today. Please follow me so we can send that skycar on its way for the next batch." And she turned and began immediately moving from the lounge area through another adjoining hall. "Now I'm sure you all have a lot of questions," she called back over her shoulder as she walked, "but we're going to start with a quick tour first." She waved at the hall they were moving through. "This is our reception area. Ordinarily there'd be a handful of staff here checking IDs and handing out badges or visitor passes, but of course we're an open house at the moment, so we're not being quite so picky."

And with that, she strolled through the double doors, down some broad steps, and into a grassy area. Rosso exited to find that he was now inside the outer circle that he'd seen earlier. Before him stretched a ring of open green space, about 150 feet wide, that ran between the outer circle of buildings he'd first seen and another inner ring. Here and there, trees dotted the landscape.

He realized the shadows cast were slightly diffused and it definitely wasn't quite as bright and hot as it had been outside. He craned his neck, looking upward, to see that he was beneath that large domed framework. And he realized what it reminded him of.

"Mom, it's like brain coral."

She followed his gaze and nodded. "Yep. Not quite as tight-packed as what you'd find on a reef, but the same pattern."

"What you see above you," Cassie continued as if reading Rosso's thoughts, "is the Reef Dome. Its primary purpose is to reduce the overall heat load on the campus, but it also serves to block most airborne Grimm." She gestured to the left and right, "and this open area is for recreation and general relaxation for anyone using the campus."

"That's an awful lot of space," one of the older faunus said. He might have been in his twenties.

"Yep. Has to be," Cassie nodded. "They built the campus to handle a wide range of ages and interests. And of course, there's an ulterior motive." She pointed to one of the arched passages between the buildings of the outer ring, and then one on the inner ring. "You'll notice that the openings between the inner and outer buildings don't line up. That's by design. It creates a bottleneck if any Grimm ever happen to get past the campus walls, and allows us to turn this open area into a happy little killing field." She grinned, and a bunch of the people nearby flinched back at the way her eyes glowed. She laughed and then crossed her arms. "Sorry, hazard of the trade. Nothing a Huntsman likes more than favorable ground and a nice kill sack."

The Huntress then turned and began leading the group along a paved curving path between the inner and outer buildings, and then through an archway between the inner ring. It was, like everything else, built for both utility and aesthetics, decorated and painted to look like part of a coral reef. The ceiling of the passage wasn't solid here between the buildings either, but instead felt oddly like you were moving through an actual reef under the ocean from the way the light filtered through. There were wide double doors leading into the buildings on either side.

"The building to your right contains the school-age classrooms, and to the left is the campus cafeteria," Cassie explained. "In the interests of youth protection, we keep the kids and our older clients separated. For those of you who are interested in continuing adult education, we'll be seeing that part of the facility as well."

And then they were through the passage and inside the inner ring. In the very middle of the campus, a four-winged and single-story building sat, with multiple regular windows. Each wing had a slightly different theme and coloration. "The Sea Whip wing, to your left, is ready for our first crop of school-age students. We can also manage accommodation for older students in other wings if they want to become full-time students on-campus." There were a few murmurs of surprise at that. One man, the rhino faunus, raised his hand. "Yessir?"

"You're saying that you're offering full-time instruction for faunus who've reached their majority?"

"Yep. Or part time. Or they can live off-campus if they want. We're pretty flexible at this stage."

The young man rubbed his jaw and held Cassie's gaze for a long minute. Finally, he shrugged. "Alright."

"Great. The other wings are Staghorn on the north, Elkhorn on the east, and Sea Fan on the south. Staghorn is available for adults, and the other two wings aren't open just yet, though we anticipate they'll be ready by the time we have enough folks needing them. And if you'll follow me this way."

Over the next hour they toured building after building. Wonder after wonder. The central building contained a common area where students could relax. The inner ring was primarily classrooms, though many were not yet needed, she explained. The outer ring of buildings included a weapon smithy, administrative offices and housing, etc. The southeast quad contained a gorgeous organic-looking building that served as a large auditorium, designed to look like a giant fiery red gorgonian coral.

Map of Kuo Kuana based loosely on this Artwork by Anonamos701:

But the crown jewel was in the northwest quad. The building's exterior wasn't awe-inspiring, though the roof and walls were sculpted to look like ripples in sand. It was the interior that blew Rosso's mind.

Some of the older faunus, including the older lame man, actually gasped in shock when they entered. "This is sparring arena," Rosso heard the rhino faunus mutter in an almost accusatory tone.

"Got it in one!" Cassie replied brightly, overhearing. "Be a piss poor training facility without a sparring arena."

But he wasn't done. "No, you don't get it. This is a world-class sparring arena." He gestured at the control panels near the far wall. "This is Huntsman-grade stuff!"

"Huh. Really? Hadn't noticed," Cassie said blithely. "I mean yeah it's pretty fancy stuff. The boys upstairs are definitely proud of it. I've had a few rounds myself, and I gotta say, it kept me on my toes." There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed a seasoned Huntress being 'kept on her toes'. "Of course, just to reassure any parents present, we'd dial it down a lot for your precious youngsters." She smiled crookedly. "Anyone want to see a demonstration?"

. . .

Down on the arena floor, Huntress Cassie Kanana faced off against a metal and plastic construct that looked vaguely like a Beringel with a soft white glowing field around it and began a play-by-play. "Everyone, this is Bob. Bob, this is everyone," she nodded toward first the combat automaton, and then the audience. "You'll forgive Bob if he's not much of a talker. He's more the strong, silent type."

Rosso laughed, along with about half of the crowd. This is gonna be so freaking cool!

"For the purposes of this demonstration, and to prevent destroying Bob every time we have a spar, he uses hard-light shielding to simulate either armor in the case of Grimm, or Aura in the case of a humanoid simulation." She took a defensive stance, flail at the ready and one arm slightly up and out.

"Bob Begin," She called out

And then the Huntress moved.

And the fake-Beringel met her halfway, charging forward in an eye-watering blur of metal, plastic, and hard-light.

For minutes that stretched out into an eternity, the group cheered and gasped as the two battled. Cassie's Aura flared a few times as 'Bob' managed some glancing blows, and the hard-light shields absorbed multiple strikes from her flail and a rather nasty-looking spike that protruded from the pointed toe of her boots. Both participants had status displayed on a large holographic board that hovered in the center of the arena. But Rosso was still shocked when a buzzer announced that 'Bob' was now deceased, and the simulation ended. He looked up to see that "Bob" was apparently deceased.

"So, as you can see, this facility can give an extremely realistic combat experience. Would any of you youngsters like to give it a try?"

Rosso heard someone make a strangled gurgling sound and realized that he was A) standing up waving his hands frantically and B) had forgotten how to talk and C) didn't have a weapon!.

And the Huntress, Cassie, was staring right at him!

"And is that your mom there next to you, young man?" His mom stood and nodded. "We can adjust the system so there's zero risk of him being injured. Does he have his Aura unlocked?"

"Um.. yes. He does. But…"

"You really don't have to worry, ma'am. I'll be right here next to him."

"Mom… pleeeeeease…"

"O- Okay. I guess."

"And what's your name, young man?"

"Rosso. Rosso Aukei."

"Well, Mr. Aukei. I hope you'll have a little pity on Bob here. He does the best he can, but after the butt-whooping I just gave him, I'm not sure he's going to be in top form." She laughed as Rosso made his way down to the floor of the Arena, and she was just so… fun… that he couldn't even be nervous anymore.

"Um… I didn't bring a weapon or anything."

"No problem. We have practice weapons here. What's your poison?"

He blinked and looked at the rack of weapons she'd pointed to. There were most of the basic ones represented there. Maces and clubs, swords and rapiers, an axe and a couple of hammers. Even a couple tridents. He could see a second rack that contained ranged weapons. But he'd not practiced much with those. Frowning, he chose an axe. It wasn't razor sharp, by any stretch, but it had some heft.

"Good choice. Alright. What's your age again?"

"Fifteen."

"Any training?"

"Some basics with Huntsman Mort?"

Her left eyebrow raised. "Old Morty? Oh, that's nice. Let's see." She tapped her cheek. "Bob, Protocol 15A Level…. Two."

"ACKNOWLEDGED PROTOCOL 15A LEVEL 2" And the original configuration of the Automaton shifted, even shedding some mass, from something roughly resembling a Berengil to something closer to a small Beowolf. Hard-Light shielding reactivated.

"Confirmed," Cassie replied, and turned to the audience. "Bob is programmed to respond to specific staff members only, and I just told him he was facing a fifteen-year-old with unlocked Aura and some basic skills. The system will tune its speed, reaction time, aggression, and basic toughness based on those parameters. There's other stuff we can adjust as well, but that's the core of it." She turned to Rossi. "All that's a long way of saying 'don't worry, you got this' Mr. Aukei. When you're ready, you just say his name and the word "begin" like I did earlier.

Rossi tightened his grip on the axe, and looked up at his mom. She was… well she was obviously freaking out. But she was hiding it and trying to smile too. She waved and nodded at him.

I got this, he thought as he pushed his Aura forward. Just gotta keep it in front of me.

"Bob begin," he said, and charged forward.

. . .

Rossi had never felt so alive in his life. Okay yeah it was a fake Beowolf, and it wasn't moving nearly as fast as when Cassie'd fought it as a Berengil. And he'd still gotten nailed a couple times because… well he wasn't very good. Not yet.

But he was fighting. He was fighting something that was sorta like a Grimm. It moved like what he'd seen on the videos, and attacked like one would. And he was fighting it. He wasn't freaking out or running away or screaming.

And he was getting in some hits of his own too.

Huntsman Mort would be so proud of me, he thought.

This is amazing.

This is what I'm supposed to be doing.

"Ow!" he yelped as the stupid thing raked fake claws across his leg, Aura flaring and a voice announcing a loss of four percent. Crap! Get your freaking head in the game, dude!

Bob the Beowolf, apparently deciding that what worked once would work again, lunged forward for another strike, just like the first.

Stupid. Stupid and predictable.

This time, Rosso was ready for it. And he twisted at the last minute, shifting his leg out of the way and bringing the axe around and nailing it right where the head met the neck. A chime sounded, and Rosso spun, nearly pulling himself off balance, but putting all his weight behind the follow-up strike.

I'm gonna end this sucker!

There was a clang that shook his arms, making him yelp and nearly drop the axe. He looked up to find pair of amber eyes and a wicked grin in front of him, and looked down to see that she'd blocked his strike with the shaft of her flail.

"Easy there, kid, save some Grimm for the rest of us!" She laughed. "That chime, in case you missed it in the midst of your bloodlust, was telling you 'stop stop he's already dead!'" She lowered her flail, and Rosso looked around for the first time in several minutes, gasping for breath.

He realized that he was exhausted. And sweating. And kinda dizzy. But gods did he feel awesome. He looked up at the board to find he had 83% Aura left and Bob was… marked with a big fat red X.

Holy crap. I did it.

"Can… can I—"

"Go again? 'Fraid not. We need to let a few others have a turn before I turn you folks over to some paper-pushers to talk over fine print and stuff." She punched him lightly on the shoulder. "But that was a heck of a showing, Mr. Aukei. Not bad at all."

Grinning from ear to ear, Rosso returned the axe and rejoined his mom, who hugged him with watery eyes. "Oh gods, Rosso, I was terrified. But you did so well!"

"Thanks mom!"

. . .

An hour later, Ross and his mom found themselves in a small administrative office. "So let me get this straight. Tuition is 10,000 lien per year?" His mom asked, bewildered.

"If you can afford that, yes." It was the same older man she'd spoken with by phone.

"And if we can't?" And the truth was, they couldn't. Not really.

"Then you file some income statements, we verify them, and we'll come to an agreement on what you can afford. And we're waiving first semester tuition for minor students since this is our grand opening."

She shook her head in amazement. "That's… very generous."

"Honestly, our funding is pretty much covered for the first semester. Menagerie is eager to improve our defensive capabilities, so they've dug into their emergency fund to help out."

They talked over logistics a bit longer, and Rosso remembered something. "Um… sorry but I forgot in all the excitement. What about the special aquatics training?"

His eyebrows raised. "Oh you're interested in that?"

Rosso felt himself tense. It was… still kinda a touchy subject. But… well.

His mom came to his rescue. "His trait makes aquatics attractive. He can breathe underwater."

The man's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Is that so? Well then. Let me show you something. This part of the campus is definitely not ready yet, but it will be soon." He stood and beckoned them out of his office, down the hall and through a different door than the one they'd entered. This door led through one of those open breezeways into a second building, which Rosso quickly realized was a second airtram on the opposite side of campus.

Before him, past the open building, the ground dropped off in a cliff that made him slightly dizzy.

"Have a look there," the staff-member pointed east and down.

There was another set of cables running steeply downward to the east, and another terminal at the bottom along with a low ornate building that sat right on the edge of a large shallow cove.

Wait, no. It's not on the edge. It's freaking halfway in the cove itself.

"That is our Aquatics Center. We'll be training students on combat both on and in the water there."

"Fighting. In the water."

"That's right, young man. We've got two-person jet-skids on order, as well as a couple of tow-subs. Scuba gear too, though it sounds like you won't need that." The man put a hand on his shoulder, and turned to Rosso's mom. "Mrs. Aukei, in light of your son's unique trait, I would like to offer you a full waiver on tuition. Menagerie needs faunus like him more than we need your lien."

"Huntress Kanana!" Brook called after their guide. He'd managed to hang with the dwindling tour group as several had filtered off to talk to administrative staff, grab a snack at the open campus shop, or just meander around, and then she'd announced she was going to go meet then next tour group.

She turned and gave him a look as he moved to catch up with her, then kept walking. "I'm kinda busy, Mr...

"Gage. Brook Gage."

"Mr. Gage. Got another tour group."

"We can talk as we walk, right?"

She smiled slightly and continued moving. "Guess so. What's up?"

"I need an answer to a question. And I think you're more likely to give me a straight answer than some staffer."

"I'm a staffer."

"Sure, and I'm the Chief of Menagerie. You're a Huntress."

"Retired Huntress." They passed through a breezeway into the outer greenspace ring and saw a tour group with another Huntsman coming the other way.

He held his question until the group passed, they were ogling the sights the same way he was sure his group had. Then… "If I enroll here, I need to know, will I end up with a Huntsman's license?"

Cassie stopped, and looked him up and down. "You've got some training?"

"Combat school. Didn't get accepted into Academy. Some apprenticeship hours."

"How hungry are you?"

He thought about that. He knew what she meant. "I want it. I want it bad."

She seemed to consider. "We don't know what the future'll hold. Will you end up with a license that Mistral will recognize?" She shook her head and started walking again, forcing him to keep up. "No promises there. But here, in Menagerie?" Her lips thinned. "If you sign up here, work hard, and finish your training?"

"I'll do it. I'll do whatever I have to."

"In that case, as far as I'm concerned you'll be a Huntsman." She smiled. "And I'll kick the ass of anyone who says different." And with that, she strode off.

Eighteen-year-old Brook Gage wandered back into the central quads of Cove and looked at the campus with new eyes. It had never looked like an 'Aura Training Center' to him. And now it didn't even look like a Combat School.

Right then, at that moment, It looked like a third chance. A dream come true.

It looked like home.

[A/N] Thanks to recent reviewers Rookie80, Shadowstorm-Vash and AtomicR4y. Thanks for sticking with me! I did get other reviews, but they appeared to be mostly bots pitching commission work. For the record, I can't imagine being able to afford paying someone to turn this into a webcomic, and frankly most of the bots are scammers who are stealing other artists' profiles to get money out of the unsuspecting.

You can find some graphics of Cove and Menagerie here (remove spaces and replace dot with period)

bgskins dot net / Grimmling

Rookie80: Yep. Two Maidens secured, and two Relics out of pretty much anyone's hands at the moment without their cooperation. And yes it's amazing how much you can accomplish when you aren't going full murder-hobo on the world. And yes, Qrow is indeed a bit of a wildcard at the moment. Summer's playing the long game on drawing him in, rightfully so, eroding his trust in Ozpin much more gradually than happened in canon when Jinn spilled the beans. I've decided where the Relic of Choice is hidden, and I've decided that Amber knows where it is, too, though she's not going to share that right out of the box.

Shadowstorm-Vash: I opted not to explicitly write yet another "Hey Mom Guess What" chapter, instead alluding to it in Watts' reaction later. And yeah, exasperated Qrow is funny Qrow! And in many ways, most of Ruby's adorable personality traits come from Summer (except for her fascination with scythes).

AtomicR4y: Glad you liked that little quip! Stay tuned for more Summer-Raven madness!

I know that several of you have expressed keen interest in Cove, so this chapter was for you! Not a ton of action or intrigue, mostly familiarizing us with the campus and fleshing out the three Huntsmen that we met wayyyy earlier who helped Garek and company set up the CCT Relay.

And of course, we introduce a couple of new characters including Rosso (who will figure heavily) and Brook (who will probably be a secondary character).