Morning sunbeams shone through the large windows of the hall, waking up the sleeping student of New Beacon.
Honey was one of those students as she woke up, yawning and stretching, sitting up in her hammock.
"Good morning," she heard Luke greet as she turned to see said person already awake and dressed for the day as he was in the midst of tying his sleeping bag up.
"Mornin…." yawned Honey sleepily, smacking her lips, pulling up the strap of her black tank top.
Eric stirred as well as he sat up slowly, yawning as well.
"Morning guys…" he yawned, turning to them.
"Morning."
Honey rubbed her eyes turning to her cousin. "Mmm morning Er- WOAH!" Honey exclaimed in shock, her eyes popping open in shock as she fell out of her hammock upon seeing Eric's face.
Eric looked at his cousin weirdly as she quickly got up. "What's up with you?"
"Me?! What happened to you?!"
Eric just stared back confused, unaware that he had a huge bump growing out from the middle of his forehead.
"Uuhhh…." Honey began to say, until she caught Luke's eye, who shot her a look.
Instantly she understood.
"Nothing," she just replied, awkwardly whistling as she started to pack up her stuff.
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"-Would All First-year Students Please Report To Beacon Cliff For Initiation? Again, All First-year Students Report To Beacon Cliff Immediately.-" Glynda's voice was heard announcing over the intercom as the students were placing their stuff in their lockers.
Luke had strapped on his holster holding his weapon, Riptide. "You guys ready?"
Eric threw on his jacket with Gentleman's Rose holstered while Honey strapped on her belt with a pair of hand sized balls, her weapon; Honey Drops, attached to it.
"Ready!" they answered as they moved out towards Beacon Cliff.
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As the trio walked the trail Honey noticed someone familiar up ahead. "Oh my gods is that… Tessa? Hey Tessa!" Honey called waving excitedly.
Tessa had short black hair with an orange streak on her left side styled into a small braid, light pink eyes, and a light tan complexion. She was wearing white Asian styled shirt with pink accents. She also has a breastplate, black pants, combat boots, and metal knee and elbow pads. Strapped onto her back were a pair of melon hammers.
Upon hearing Honey's voice, Tessa turned in her direction. When she spotted her, Tessa's eyes widened in recognition.
"Honey!" Tessa said running up to Honey who did likewise.
The two girls squealed happily as they jumped and hugged each other. When she saw Eric and Luke over Honey's shoulder and beamed.
"Hey Guys~!"
"Tessa!" exclaimed Eric, enthusiastically throwing up his arms while Luke smiled as they joined in on the hug.
"Ooooh! It's so good to see you guys! I should have especially known that you were here Honey!I knew that popcorn smell was familiar! Astrid was practically driving herself nuts trying to find an elusive popcorn vendor."
The group laughed as they broke apart.
"Speaking of Astrid, where is your sister?" asked Luke looking around.
Tessa's eyes popped open in realization.
"OH SHOOT! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE FOR THE GATHERING!"
The group all gasped as they decided to book it to the site.
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The group just barely made it to the site where Headmaster Pine and another blond male teacher stood.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Oscar spoke. "Welcome Students to Initiation Day. Today's the day, you all will find out who your future teammates are. Teammates that you will choose yourselves."
The students all looked at each other excitedly, wondering who would be their prospective teammates when the Headmaster cleared his throat.
"This is Professor Arc. He will be teaching you Combat Studies and Strategies once the curriculum starts. For now, he will assist in overseeing this initiation process," Oscar explained, gesturing to the teacher behind him before stepping back. "If you would, Professor."
The Professor was a tall blonde handsome man in a smart black suit that made some of the girls starry eyed.
Eric's group plus Tessa gave small excited waves to him.
"Uncle Jaune!!!" Eric squeaked as Tessa held him still, looking around trying to spot her twin sister.
"Welcome students! As the Headmaster said, I am Professor Arc. Now I'm sure you know that you will form teams of four. The teammates who form your teams will be with you for the rest of your time training here at New Beacon, and for some, maybe even for life. Speaking from experience," Jaune announced looking over the different expressions of his students. "That being said, it should be obvious that the ones you choose should be people who you can work well with."
"HOWEVER!" Jaune exclaimed, keeping everyone's attention on him. "Personal choice will hardly play a factor here. In this initiation, Luck and Fate will be the ones choosing your teammates. The first person you lock eyes with in the forest down below will be your partner and future teammate."
Whispers rang out through the sea of students who started to look worried.
"Once you have partnered up, head North and you will find some ruins where we have left relics. Retrieve one and return here by sundown."
"Be warned, there are many dangers to face once you enter the forest," Oscar continued becoming solemn. "Real dangers. Your progress will be monitored and graded accordingly. Remember, this is no longer a training exercise. You are all fighting for your lives from this point on. Myself and all the teachers WILL NOT assist you. You CAN die."
Some nervous gulps were heard in the crowd.
"NOW, I believe I told you all you need to know. Students! Step up to the metal plates on the ground if you please," Jaune ordered.
The students all obeyed in nervousness and confusion.
"Take your stances!"
Students began whipping out their weapons and bracing themselves as they faced the forest below them.
"Oh yes, one more thing," Oscar interjected. "I hope you have your landing strategies planned out."
Some students' eyes bugged out as they whipped their heads to the two teachers as if to say; "Wait, WHAT?!"
"Have a nice flight!"
WHOOSH!
Suddenly the panels flung forward simultaneously, launching the many students through the air at high speeds into the distance, some whooping excitedly while others screaming in terror as they flailed.
"DAD YOU DIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiicc-" Oscar could hear his son curse fade out into a star in the sky.
Jaune sighed fondly at the memory. "Good times…"
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Eric was screaming in terror as he spun flailing in the air. He looked around in panic, trying to formulate a plan quickly.
He spotted Luke up ahead, unsheathing Riptide, which appeared to be a cutlass handle, from which a flat baton extended from it. The baton's tip began to glow as a large white Glyph manifested in the air with a stinger pattern.
A loud buzzing was heard as a glowing Warrior Drone Lancer emerged from the Glyph, allowing Luke to land on its back as he rode it safely over the trees.
Seeing Luke use his semblance immediately gave Eric some clarity as the light bulb lit up in his head.
"Oh yeah….duh!" Eric went as he curled into a ball, disintegrating into a rush of tiny red flowers that flew away on the wind, floating gently to the forest floor before reforming back into a swirl and breaking apart, revealing a very relieved Eric.
"I can't believe that actually worked! I've never done it on the move before!" cheered Eric fist pumping as he whipped out his cane and started running. "Ok time to start finding teammates!"
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At that exact moment, there was a girl whooping like crazy in excitement.
She looked almost exactly like Tessa except her shirt was black and had a white skirt along with black leggings. Instead of melon hammers though, this girl had a pair of black batons with pink lily patterns which she joined together into a staff and sat on it like a witch's broom.
Feeding her Aura into it activated the combustion dust within the staff, propelling her forward as she rode the staff towards North.
Some branches snapping below her caught her attention as she looked down as saw the familiar back of Eric. A huge grin grew on her face as she aimed herself downwards.
"TRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSST FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa...!!!!!!!!!!!"
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Eric perked his head up when he heard someone screaming excitedly. Screams that were getting much, much louder.
"....aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Uh-oh..." he muttered as he quickly turned around and looked towards the sky to see a girl coming in straight at him.
WHAM!!!!!
The girl slammed right into Eric who had reflexively braced himself to catch her, the impact strong enough to send them into a tumble through the trees and bushes. They eventually came to a stop in the dirt, creating a deep trench in the ground.
"Ow."
"WOW!" the girl excitedly exclaimed, popping up from the trench. "I can always count on you for a trust fall catch Eric!"
"Hi Astrid…." Eric groaned, crawling from the trench as Astrid crouched in front him giggling and poked his nose.
"Boop."
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Luke landed to the ground as his Lancer disappeared. He took a breath. 'Mom makes it look so easy…..' Luke thought standing up to dust himself off.
He had handed in a grassy area somewhere in the Northern Area, so he knew he should be close to the Relic point.
As he began to walk, plucking leaves out of his hair, Luke sensed a large menacing presence stalking up to him. He cautiously glanced behind him. While he did not see anything at first, he noticed movement of the tall grass around him.
Immediately, Luke went on high alert as his grip tightened on Riptide. He pressed a trigger on the handle, activating the Hard Light Dust cartridge in his weapon as a Cutlass blade projected from the baton. He began to slow his pace, closing his eyes to focus on sensing his surroundings.
From behind him, a large white snake silently rose from the grass, eyes locked on its prey.
Suddenly, the snake struck.
It lunged at Luke, fangs bared, but Luke was faster as he performed an aerial backflip, easily evading the snake as he landed on its head and raised his cutlass, ready to stab the White Snake. At that moment, a black Grimm snake lunged at him from the side, forcing Luke to jump away as he projected a Glyph and summoned his Lancer once more.
On Luke's command, the Lancer caught its Summoner and carried him as Luke looked down.
Both snakes slithered out into the open, revealing itself to be not two snakes, but in fact one BIG snake, its bodies joined where its tail should have been.
A King Taijitu.
Luke smirked with glee. Using his thumb, he flipped another switch on Riptide. Mechanisms whirred as the handle began to extend out as the guard shrunk a bit. The teen spun the newly transformed Riptide above his head and brandished it, revealing it to be a Guandao now.
"I've Tangled with some Taijitu before but never a KING! This is gonna be fun"
The Taiijtu heads hissed loudly as Luke sent his Lancer in to charge, Riptide poised to strike.
The white snake lunged for Luke but the Lancer dived and stabbed its stinger up into the opposing Grimm's head. There was a ghastly shriek as the stinger stabbed right through,
Luke made his Lancer disappear as he began to aim for the Black Snake while the White Head was writhing in agony.
The Black Snake bared its fangs at the teen who used Riptide to slash at them.
CLASH!
Fang met blade as the attacks repelled each other, sending Luke flying. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled as he heard a loud hissing coming up behind him. It was the White Snake!
Apparently it wasn't tapping out just yet as it moved to swallow Luke.
"WOAH!" Luke exclaimed as the tip of Riptide glowed, projecting another Glyph above the White Snake.
There was a loud groan as a summoned Ursa Major dropped hard on to the White Snake, crushing it to the ground. At the same time, Luke summoned a Gravity Glyph, pulling him out of the way of another strike from the Black head before skating through the air on a path of base Glyphs before blasting himself forward above the remaining Taijitu head.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!" he cried out, swinging down his Guandao.
SLICE!!!
Luke landed on the ground in a crouch as the decapitated Tajitu head fell behind him with a loud thud.
With one head crushed and the other sliced off, the familiar hissing sound was heard as the Grimm body began to disintegrate into the air.
The Ursa Major summon lumbered up to its summoner and bowed its head, allowing Luke to pet its head before it disappeared.
Finally getting a break, Luke sank to the ground heaving a sigh of relief.
Summoning really burned through his aura fast, especially when he was forced to move a lot and that King Taijitu really made him move...a lot.
Luke reverted Riptide back to Cutlass mode as he sat down to catch his breath and regain his aura.
"I should be ok here for a bit…." he sighed when he heard thundering hooves coming towards him making him whip his head around to see a herd of Boarbatusks stampeding.
"SCHEISSE!!!" he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet and booking it.
With his Aura almost used up from the earlier fight, Luke was pretty much on his own now as he focused on escaping the herd coming towards him.
""Heads UP!" he heard someone yell above him.
Luke looked up when suddenly a black tentacle wrapped around his waist tightly.
"WOAH!" he yelped as he got yanked upwards into the trees before being placed gently on a large branch next to somebody.
Luke's eyes were wide with bewilderment at the sudden rescue as he looked to his savior. It was the grey haired guy from yesterday!
His savior had his goggles down and his arms out as his 'gloves' had transformed into tentacles of some sort, growing out of his sleeves. The surface of the tentacles was rippling as it shrank back and reformed into his gloves.
The two looked down from the safety of the trees as they watched the stampede trample past them and into the distance.
"Thank you," Luke said, sighing in relief.
The grey haired guy lifted up his goggles and smiled at Luke, practically dazzling him.
"Your welcome…. I'm Daedalus by the way," He said good naturedly, holding out his hand.. "Daedalus Electra, but you can call me Lusy."
Luke blushed a bit as he shook hands with Lusy. "I'm Luke. Luke Vasilias."
"Nice to meet you. Guess we're partners now, huh?"
If Luke had a tail, it would be wagging by now. "Y-yeah….partners…" he said almost dreamily while internally he was doing some major fist pumping.
"So what do you think they were running from anyway?" Daedalus was asking.
Luke was about to shrug in reply when suddenly they felt the tree they were on rumbling even more violently than before.
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Elsewhere, Honey was leaping from branch to branch, having the time of her life, occasionally swinging out Honey Drops, which were revealed to be poi balls as she used them to grapple branches and swing farther out.
"Whoo-HOOOOO!" Honey whooped as she swung and did a backward somersault, landing on the ground with a roll before getting back to her feet with a finishing gymnast pose.
"Nailed it!"/"Nailed it!"
Honey's eyes popped open. Either her ears were ringing from the sudden descent or there was someone else nearby.
Turning her head, Honey found herself staring face to face with another boy, only a few distance apart.
He had orange spiky hair, tan skin and wild yellow eyes that also looked at her wide with surprise. He had on a black zipped hoodie with the front open and the hood up revealing large pointed "ears". on his back was a large triangular black shield with gold accents and fox looking emblem. The boy had on a fitting tank top and beige puffed harem pants bound at the ankles.
Honey widened her when she saw his legs. They weren't human, but animal, and judging from the smallish paws and the red and black fur, it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was a Faunus, just like her.
"Oh….hey," she said awkwardly waving.
"Hey…" the boy answered just as awkwardly, waving back.
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Back at the cliff, Jaune and Oscar checked out the surveillance feed on a scroll tablet.
"Looks like the teams are coming along nicely," Oscar noted as Jaune swiped through the different feeds before resting on some familiar faces.
"Eric and Astrid, there's a pair I never would have thought off," Jaune commented, making Oscar chuckle.
"Eric's going to have his hands full with her," he said as he swiped to the next duo.
"It looks like Luke found a partner as well."
Jaune looked a little concerned. "Luke's definitely talented but he doesn't really associate with others much apart from Eric right? Will he be ok?"
"I'm sure he will be fine. You should worry about your own son though, Jaune."
Jaune swiped and gave a small smile. "Seeing who he partnered with? He's gonna be in good hands."
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"We have found civilization!" Astrid announced dramatically as Eric groaned behind her.
Eric was still a bit sore from breaking Astrid's epic trust fall so as an apology, Astrid had piggy backed him the rest of the way to the ruins.
"Finally!" Eric exclaimed thankfully as he hopped off Astrid's back.
As Eric and Astrid made their way to the ruins, they realized they were not the first ones as they spotted Tessa and, in Eric's opinion, one of the most intimidating looking guys around. He had blood red hair and eyes, a pale complexion, and a scar across his face. He was wearing a dark gray long shirt and pants with red accents.
"Sis!" Astrid yelled running up and happily throwing herself at her twin sister.
"Astrid!" Tessa exclaimed while hugging Astrid back.
"Where have yo-"
"OOOOH SHINY TIARA!" squealed her sister cutting Tessa off as she bolted towards the relics which were based off the Four Ancient Relics of Remnant.
They were multiple copies of each relic scattered around the ruins, with the gems in the treasures being of different colors.
The one Astrid managed to spot was the Crown of Choice with pink jewels sitting on the tallest pedestal as she shimmied up and grabbed the relic before sliding down. Astrid excitedly hopped around laughing as she placed the crown on her head.
"I'm Queen of the Cas-tle! I'm Queen of the Cas-tle! I'm Queen of the Cas-AAAAAH!!!!"
Astrid shrieked as she was suddenly electrocuted by Tessa who touched her with the ball of her melon hammer.
Tessa sparked as well but was unfazed as she watched her twin spaz out on the floor.
Eric finally caught up, bending over to catch his breath before straightening up.
"Thank you!" he heaved.
"Don't mention it."
Eric eyed Tessa's partner who stood quietly holding on to a replica of the Staff of Creation with a green gem. "Hey."
"Hey,"the guy said in return, nodding in acknowledgement.
"Oh, Eric, this is Taavi," Tessa introduced gesturing to her partner. "Taavi this is Eric. And the one on the floor is my Twin Sister Astrid."
"Hello!" piped up said twin, recovering instantly as she popped back on her feet.
At that moment there was a loud rumbling as the ground began to shake.
Everybody quickly grabbed their weapons and braced themselves.
Suddenly, a large Boarbatusk came bursting out of the forest, bucking and attempting to shake off the teenage girl on its back.
"WHOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" whooped Honey, swinging one of Honey Drops in the air above her head while her other hand hung on to the Boarbatusk hair.
"HONEY?!" Eric exclaimed as three more smaller Boarbatusks breached the edge of the forest with a male in a black hoodie riding one of the smaller ones, whooping just as wildly.
Upon hearing Eric, Honey waved enthusiastically before she jumped off her ride, somersaulting through the air and landing neatly. Meanwhile her partner got bucked off, sending him through the air as he hit the ground tumbling before rolling on to his feet.
"WICKED!" he exclaimed high fiving Honey as they both laughed.
Tessa raised an eyebrow. "Did you just come riding in on a Boarbatusk?!"
Suddenly there was a loud throaty squeal as the Boarbatusks curved around and charged back at the group, clearly displeased at being taken for a free ride.
Weapons all around went up again as Eric quickly modified Gentleman Rose into rifle mode and took aim.
"Honey watch o-!". SHICK! SHICK!
A pair of throwing knives were flung from behind Eric's head and embedded themselves right between the eyes of the three smaller Boarbatusk.
Honey turned around to see the disintegrating Grimm before turning back to the group, looking to the left of them.
"Thanks Red!" Honey said.
Everyone followed her gaze to see Taavi holding a throwing knife. He nodded to Honey before he pointed to the remaining giant Boarbatusks which bellowed angrily as it continued to charge through the remains of its kin.
"SPREAD OUT!!!!!" yelled Eric, prompting everyone to scatter.
Eric ran around the perimeter, getting to high ground in the trees as he began to fire his rifle.
The bullets bounced harmlessly off the Grimm's tough hide as it continued charging wildly at Honey and her partner who were sprinting in circles.
"HONEY! IT'S YOU IT WANTS! AND YOUR PARTNER!!!"
"NO SHIT GENIUS!!!!" Honey yelled over her shoulder.
"AND THE NAME'S NARANJA!!!" her partner yelled as he whipped out the shield from his back and flung it to the ground while jumping on it.
A loud hum was heard as it turned out the shield could fly as it took off with Naranja who had pulled Honey on as well.
Eric looked stunned when he saw what the shield could do as he released the cartridge from his rifle and reloaded. "Oh that is Cool!"
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Astrid ran with Tessa and Taavi as she took the lead, flicking out her batons which folded with a click, transforming into tonfas but with triggers on the handles as Astrid let loose a flurry of bullets on its face to get its attention away from Honey and Naranja.
It worked.
The Boarbatusk bellowed and began to turn. Taavi took the opportunity to fling a knife which stuck itself in the Boarbatusk's eye causing it to cry out in pain while Tessa dashed forward, brandishing her melon hammers.
From the opposite end, Eric had jumped out the tree and dashed forward transforming his weapon into a scythe.
Tessa jumped high into the air, raising her hammers above her head.
"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!" Tessa cried out, bringing the hammers down on the Grimm's head, aiming for the knife embedded in its eye.
The Boarbatusk let out a loud roar as the knife was pushed further in, causing it to rear up, giving Eric the opportunity to slide under the Grimm, using his Scythe to slice one of its legs off.
The noise it was making was something truly unholy as it fell over writhing while everyone else regrouped, preparing to deal the final blow.
The Boarbatusk convulsed in an attempt to right itself back up when suddenly a black spike dropped from the sky, impaling the Grimm through its head.
The creature gave a final ghastly noise as it disappeared into ash, revealing Luke and Daedalus as the spike disintegrated as well, flying to Lusy and reforming to his gloves.
"You guys ok?!" Luke exclaimed running to his childhood friends with Daedalus close behind.
"Yeah!" replied Honey as Eric sighed in relief.
Luke and Daedalus quickly whipped around and brandished their weapons, facing the way they came from.
"Well don't relax just yet!"
Confused, everyone looked from behind the two as they heard a loud guttural hissing coming from the forest.
BIrds were taking off into the skies in panic as trees could be seen rustling violently before falling over. It was a pretty good enough reason for the rest of the group to take up their stances again as they tensed nervously.
They could all sense something was coming.
Something huge….