Hello everyone! I am pleased to inform you that this story has easily become my fastest growing story ever. Thank you all for that. Now let's get on into it.
"Hello folks," a new voice remarked from the fireplace where Kurt usually sat. It was a woman in her mid-40s. "I am Panto Mime-Mectix and Kurt has other duties today, so he asked me to read this next part of the story. Please enjoy."
Ash sat down in the way back of the Amphitheater. He did it to hopefully attract less attention from others, however news of what happened last night must have spread quickly as everyone kept shooting glanes at him. His eyes roved the room. He caught a glimpse of the girl who was in the shop last night with him standing next to a girl in Mistralian armor. His eyes continued to wander until he heard the sound of feedback coming from a microphone. His eyes shot to the stage where Headmistress Rogers was standing, waiting for everyone's attention.
"Hello there new first-years," she greeted with a cheerful smile. "As many of you may know, I am Headmistress Rogers or Professor Rogers if you prefer. I run the school, yet I also teach Combat Classes due to unfortunate circumstances from last year." She gained a somber voice. "As some of you may have heard, last year three of our teachers and two teams of first years were killed protecting a nearby village from invading Grimm."
"It was a doomed mission from the start with most of the people there being wild variables due to their Faunus heritage," a cold voice remarked. Ash briefly turned to the source of the voice to see the same young man who had insulted Faunus in front of Amy and Nyx. His comment made Ash clench his fist, but he knew fighting the other student would gain him unnecessary attention.
"Returning this year to fill in the positions that they had done so last year after the tragedy are Professors McFly and Brown," Professor Rogers introduced the two and took a step back to allow them to take the front stage. The first professor didn't look that much older than the students that had gathered. He had brown hair in a simple hair cut. He wore a simple pair of blue jeans and wore several layers of clothes on his upper body, most notably a red puffer jacket. Strapped to his back was what looked like a neon pink piece of plastic.
"Hello new students of Beacon. I'm Professor McFly and I'll be your Grimm Studies professor for this year and probably the years to come."
Their other professor went up to the mic, compared to his colleagues, he seemed to be much older, maybe in his 70s. He had white hair that seemed to be all over the place. It was matched by a white lab coat. "I'm Doctor Brown and I'll be teaching you all about Dust in the coming years."
His name and his connection with Dust sent many whispers up the student body. "Isn't he the mad scientist from Atlas who thinks that you can travel through time with dust?" one student asked.
"Yeah, but his studies did lead to the creation of the automobiles used by the elite of Atlas and other kingdoms," another voice responded.
"That's enough students," Professor Rogers remarked as she took back the mic. "I should probably explain your initiation tomorrow. Each of you will be given a time and place for your initiation tomorrow when you leave this room. There you will find a partner and eventually form a team. A Huntsmen and Huntress's job is to protect people from both Grimm and other people who wish to cause violence. So tomorrow's initiation shall involve both of those activities."
That sent up another set of whispers amongst the crowd. "Do you think that means that we'll have to fight other students to claim a spot in the school?" Amy asked Nyx.
"Probably not. I think that we've already been accepted into the school, this is moreso our first grade," Nyx whispered back.
"Tomorrow we shall drop you into a Grimm infested area. It is your job to make your way to find a relic that will determine your teammates. Upon finding the relics, you will be challenged by one of 4 second-year students, handpicked to give you a tough time, yet still provide a winnable situation."
"Can we see these students so that we know what we're up against?" Rubrum called from the back of the Amphitheater.
"I was just about to get to that Mr. Ramirez. I am proud to introduce to you all Team LTAN(Light Cyan)!"
That also sent up several whispers amongst the crowd similar to Doctor Brown's reveal.
"Do you know what is causing all the fuss?" Amy asked Nyx.
"Remember how earlier Professor Rogers mentioned that two teams and 3 professors were killed last year protecting a village from Grimm? Well there was a third team, and Team LTAN was the third team."
"Well then, they must be impressive."
Everyone's attention was drawn back to the stage from a tapping on the microphone. This time the tapping was caused by a young woman with a jade mask covering her face. The only real physical features that could be seen about her was her height, a modest 5 foot 6, and her brown hair. "Hi. I'm Lunaka Kāleka, leader of Team LTAN. These are my teammates Aerolynn Altherr, Nicholas Napier, and Tawny Cathwo." They were an odd bunch to say the least. Aerolynn was easily dwarfed by almost every first-year in attendance standing at only 4 foot 6, minus the pair of cat ears that stood atop her head. She was smiling at the crowd and a few in attendance couldn't help but smile back at her. Standing next to her, Nicholas looked like a giant, which he was to be honest, standing at an inch shy of 7 feet tall. Tawny had an arm wrapped around his waist, as if to signify to any first-years that he was taken. She had forest green eyes that seemed to scan the crowd.
"Whoever gets the small one is going to have an easy time during initial," Rubrum snickered.
Aerolynn's ears twitched a bit, having caught the comment. She looked over at Professor Walker in a manner that seemed to ask if she could react to that. Professor Walker simply shrugged, which was all the tiny cat Faunus needed. Suddenly glowing letters appeared in front of her. They read, "Most people say that until they've been decked by a rocket launcher Ramirez." She was looking directly at Rubrum as the letters appeared it, so there was no mistaking who it was directed at. There was a few chuckles and bits of laughter from a few members of the crowd. Amy and Nyx however seemed happy that he had been put in his place.
"When you leave this room you will receive a message to your scrolls telling you when your initiation is. Be sure to arrive on time. You are all dismissed," Professor Rogers told them.
Sure enough, as people filed out of the room, their scrolls went off. "When is your initiation?" Nyx asked Amy.
"9 AM, and yours?"
"Same time, which means there's a chance that we become partners," Nyx remarked.
"That would be wonderful."
"You lovely ladies have an equally likely chance to be partnered up with me as well," came a familiar voice.
The two girls rolled their eyes as they turned around to see Rubrum. "What do you want?" Amy asked.
"Oh. I just overheard that we were all going to be doing initiation together."
"Only two people really do initiation together," Ash remarked, having been in the shadows the entire time. "You and your partner. No one else really helps in that matter."
"Hey you're the other person who got their ass kicked by Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan. Since Nyx over here didn't answer, how did it feel to do so?"
Ash rolled his eyes and walked past him. Nyx and Amy had used the opportunity to slip into the crowd. "He's a prick," Nyx remarked. "A narcissistic prick."
Amy nodded in agreement. "But at least he's not like the racist guy," she murmured. "I hope that neither of us are on the same team as them."
"Glad we can agree on that."
Later that night, Ruhe Grau Sturm sat in the back corner of Beacon's ballroom reading a book. Occasionally he would peak out over it to see the other first years. He was also listening in to conversations to allow himself to figure out who would be the best teammates for him, but it seemed fruitless to do so. Most of them seemed boring to him with the only one who he could even probably have a decent conversation with being a bat Faunus who was in conversation with a guy wearing a shark tooth necklace and someone who seemed like he was training for the military rather than being a huntsman.
Amy and Nyx were sitting a ways away from Ruhe, having wonderful conversations about what tomorrow would bring. "Who do you think the most difficult person to fight will be?" Nyx asked.
"Definitely Aerolynn. Her semblance probably had something to do with those glowing letters that appeared. I don't know much about the others to make an informed decision."
"It will actually depend entirely on your partner," Ruhe remarked, having heard the question. "Someone sleek and agile could easily dodge the attacks of a brute, like Nicholas, however one good hit could knock them out. Similar to bird Faunus with the ability to fly," he added, looking at Nyx.
"Did my friend somehow offend you in some way?" Amy asked him with a glare.
"It is nothing personal, however I just don't like how Faunus aren't consistent like humans."
Amy's right eye twitched a bit. "Who are you to think that you can say all of that?"
"I am Ruhe Grau Strum."
"Well Ruhe, you have insulted my friend and all of Faunus kind, for that I challenge you to a duel."
"I would take you up on your offer, however what would I have to gain from such a fight? You say that you are protecting your friend's honor, yet what would I fight for."
Amy pointed to the markings on her face. "Do you know what these stand for Strum? These are the markings of a Hikari warrior. You would bring honor to your family should you beat me."
Ruhe stood up and walked to the nearest balcony door and pushed it open. "Fine. But let's do it out here as that would probably cause the least amount of unnecessary attention."
Amy nodded and followed him outside. "Nyx, could you be our impartial referee?" she asked.
"Of course I will," Nyx remarked as she followed them. "So how should I do this? RWE rules of a pin fall count to 3?"
"Works for me," Amy responded with a nod.
"Of course, however do be consistent with your counting, as you could use it to skew this in her favor."
Nyx narrowed her eyes. "Kick his ass Amy. Begin!"
Amy instantly went on the offensive, striking Ruhe in the middle of the chest with her palm, sending him stumbling back a bit. She didn't let up and began striking many different parts of his body, each one leading to a loud smack carrying across Beacon's grounds and attracting the attention of some of the other people around.
For his part, Ruhe was managing to take each of the blows, however, he had never really trained for close range combat, so he couldn't even effectively strike back. It was like watching a professional wrestling fight against someone who has only seen the occasional fight.
Inside the ballroom a crowd was beginning to form nearby the balcony doors, catching the attention of the second-years who had been told to stay with the first-years for the night to answer any questions they had.
"It's probably a fight," Nicholas remarked as he stood up. He walked over and used his massive frame to push through the crowd. Outside Amy had Ruhe in a pin and Nyx was just about to begin counting the pin when Nicholas caught her arm. "It is the first day and people are already fighting? Come on you guys. We're all training to fight a common enemy. Now get back inside and get to bed."
The trio nodded and quickly rushed inside. Nicholas definitely had an intimidation factor to him that compelled them to listen. "You are an amazing fighter Miss Hikari," Ruhe remarked before heading back into his corner.
Nyx laughed as she clapped Amy on the back. "Nicely done! If you keep that you'll make me look bad."
"Thank you Nyx, but I doubt that a warrior like you could ever look bad."
"I'm much more of a survivor than a warrior. One that got their butt kicked repeatedly as a child."
"It takes a warrior spirit to survive in this world... believe me, I know," Amy responded with a somber tone.
Nyx nodded warily. "Yeah. I guess you're right." She went over to her bedroll and laid down as Amy did the same. "Goodnight," she whispered. When she didn't get a response, she just assumed that Amy had went to sleep. Nyx closed her eyes and pretended to drift off to sleep.
As she closed her eyes, Nyx heard a small, "Good night Nyx," come from Amy's direction.
Nyx grinned a bit. "Night Amy. Don't let the Grimm bugs bite."
When she was almost certain everyone else was asleep, Nyx stood up and went to the balcony to stargaze. However she was wrong about everyone being asleep as she saw Lunaka standing out there.
"Can't sleep?" the masked girl asked, not even facing towards Nyx.
"No. I just like to go stargazing. What about you?"
"Oh you know, just thinking about how many asses I'm going to kick tomorrow," Lunaka responded as she turned to face Nyx. Her mask had a lopsided grin on it that seemed to shift back into a neutral face.
"Cool mask," Nyx remarked.
"Thanks. It was something my family found a long time ago. I think that it is an old bit of Atlas tech that is supposed to mimic the facial expressions of the person wearing it."
"That's really neat."
"Yeah. Well, I'll leave you to your stargazing. Just don't cause any fights while you're out here."
Nyx chuckled at that as Lunaka went back inside.
Nyx spent what seemed like an hour stargazing before heading back inside. There she found Amy muttering from a nightmare. "No...no...please...no, stop it...I'm sorry...mother..." Nyx went over to her friend and began to hum a quiet tone that her uncle used to sing to calm her own nightmares. Soon Amy's muttering stopped and she was just left whimpering a bit. As Nyx continued to hum, the whimpers also slowly faded out until Amy was just curled up contentedly next to her friend. Nyx smiled as she laid down and went to sleep.
"And that's the end of that," Panto remarked. "And what a wonderful ending it was. I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did."
So I was planning to write a little bit more, but it would have felt tacked on in a chapter that didn't need anything tacked on since the ending as it is currently is really good. Until next time, enjoy.