Finally, The Initiation Begins!

Gray woke when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It jostled him gently, followed by a voice saying, “Gray. Gray, you’re going to want to get up, man.” Tanner Roux called out across the cotton in Gray’s head. “If you want a shower and breakfast before initiation, you’re gonna have to get in early.”

Gray turned over to look up at Tanner blearily. “What time is it?”

“Almost seven.”

Tanner Roux was another one of Gray’s friends from his previous combat school. He was very much an early bird and had gotten that habit from his parents from having to help them with the family business. They owned an armor workshop and store front. So, getting up early was in his blood.

“Dude... I had an alarm set for seven...” Gray mumbled.

“What's five minutes?” Was all he said to that, a cheeky grin on his healthy and refreshed morning face. He even had time to style his reddish-brown mop head into something halfway decent.

Gray just glared at him. The glare bounced off Tanner and he moved away. Probably to wake the next victim.

Gray was left to blink away the sleep in his eyes, tempted just to shut them and get those five minutes of sleep back. For a moment he did shut them, but in his mind's eye he saw images of the things he had done yesterday. He opened his eyes again and looked at the high ceiling, the chandeliers, the staircases that led up to some balconies, and finally, the forms of a whole heap of bulging sleeping bags all around the room. Gray was reminded of the new school that he was going to, the people he had met and, more importantly, the Semblance he was testing to see if he could... get some action.

That happened to do the trick. Gray sat up and yawned, still trying to shrug off some tiredness. “I’m up, I’m up...” He mumbled.

Turning to his left he saw Orrin was already sitting up; however, his head was resting on his arms which were supported by his knees. Gray’s other two friends were still wrapped up in their sleeping bags with Tanner trying to rouse them.

“You look like a rock with moss growing on your head.” Gray casually insulted the green-haired boy.

Orrin blearily turned his head and side-eyed Gray. “...ha ha ha. Bite me.”

Gray chuckled.

To make sure that yesterday wasn’t a fever dream, Gray took out his scroll, turned off his now useless alarm and checked his pictures.

Yep, Weiss was definitely still there in his folder.

He shut off his scroll and stretched. He shook with barely contained excitement and anticipation for what the day would bring.

But first Gray wanted to get in a light jog before his shower. Better to try and limber up for whatever initiation would expect of them.

He ran this by Tanner, who managed to get one of the stragglers to wake up. Of course, the early bird with blacksmith arms thought a jog was a great idea and doubled his efforts to pull Classius out of bed.

“Bastard...” Gray heard Orrin mutter in his direction for suggesting a run in the morning.

Ignoring the moss-covered rock, Gray got up and attempted to wake Nero.

One jog later, with the boys trying to get some info out of Gray about the girls he was hanging out with, then a short shower, after he had deflected their interest with his Semblance once again (to which he was somewhat guilty about), and on to breakfast.

Breakfast happened to be bacon, eggs and hash browns. With a couple other assortments and a choice of tea, coffee and juice.

Gray kept his plate light with two bacon rashers, one egg, a hash brown and coffee. He would wash it all down with water afterward. His friends were sitting with him at one of the long tables in the cafeteria and had their own varying amounts of food to go through.

Tanner and Classius were the bulkier ones of the group and often ate the most. Orrin, Nero and Gray were the slim ones and often needed to be more fleet of foot in the field. This didn’t mean that Tanner and Classius were fat. They were definitely fit. They just had more mass, muscle and height on the other boys.

Tanner was a two-handed swordsman who liked to wear dark leather armor. His sword just barely had mecha-shift technology that allowed it to make itself more compact. Other than that, he liked to keep it simple. Gravity dust crystals were embedded throughout the blade and hilt, this made it just light enough for him to be a speed demon with the thing. His other talents were in understanding the flow of battle and making quick decisions. He was a pretty cheerful guy, an optimist and, of course, an annoying early bird.

Classius was more of a tank with his metal armor and twin axes. He went a little overboard with the mecha-shift tech in both his axes and even his armor. He could go from protecting just his vitals with certain choice armor placements, to an unravelling suit of flexible chainmail, the links of which were made of a microfiber type metal that were resistant to hot or cold temperatures. His axes could be used as guns with a slight shift in shape or could be linked together to become a large battle-axe. Making quick decisions was not his forte. Classius was more of a gentle, methodical giant. Cautious with his actions and stubborn once he made his stand.

Nero was similar to Gray, in that he preferred to use ranged options. He owned both a handgun and an **** rifle, both of which could shift into a knife and a mace respectively. He didn’t really wear armor like the first two. His outfit was more like a gunslinger crossed with a stylish emo/goth. That description sounded weird in Gray’s head but the actual ensemble looked better than it sounded. The jacket was pretty cool too. Nero’s strategy usually consisted of weakening an enemy before they got to him, then he would whip out his mace (that’s not a euphemism for his dick, honest) and finish the job. He was an easy enough guy to get along with, if a bit blunt.

Orrin was the glass cannon. Wielding two curved sabers, he would rip through enemies like the wind. The blades were forged with wind dust and could create all sorts of cutting streams that tore up the battlefield. While enemies would be focused on someone like Tanner or Classius, Orrin would flank them, cutting as much as he could before backing off. While he was great at attacking, he didn’t have much staying power. Beefy Grimm like the Alpha Beowulf and the Ursa Major could swat him away. Or even large numbers could give him trouble. That was where his agility shone though. The boy was often too quick for anything fatal to land a hit. Green was his favorite color, and that definitely showed in his combat outfit and green hair. He was usually a lot of fun to hang out with and was often joking around.

He was also the one to kick the ball into the car window. The event that led to Gray discovering his Semblance in the first place.

The Semblance that he really needed to think of a name for already.

Gray chewed thoughtfully on his bacon as he pondered on some names.

“You sure you have enough on your plate, big guy?” Orrin was saying to Classius.

Classius hummed for a moment before replying with, “I might need some more bacon.”

“...ah... that’s not what I meant, but okay go for it.” Orrin said, not expecting a serious answer.

“Maybe you should make do with what you have, Classy.” Tanner interjected. “We don’t want you getting a stomach-ache in the middle of a fight.”

Classius chewed on some food and swallowed before saying, “You’re probably right. I don’t want to be distracted by something like that.” He said, while looking thoughtfully at his plate. As if he was still debating with himself about getting more food.

Having finished one of his own rashers of bacon, Nero flipped his last one onto Classius’s plate without looking.

“Nero? You sure?” The teenaged giant asked.

Nero simply shrugged as he was finishing off some eggs.

“Thanks man.”

That was a common thing that happened at their old school at lunch break. Classius would eat a lot, think about eating more, then Nero or one of the others would give up a bit of their food. And make no mistake, the big guy wasn’t exactly fat. The boy had muscle and a strict exercise regimen alongside Tanner.

He just happened to be wider than the other boys.

Anyway, back to names.

Firstly, what exactly did Gray’s Semblance do? Was it some form of hypnosis? Was he mind controlling everyone when he activated it? Did it only effect people when he said or did something? That didn’t seem right. People seemed to ignore his existence as well as his actions and words. He could have sat still in one place and no one would call out to him or look his way.

Gray took a sip of his coffee.

People would act as if he wasn’t there. No, wait. That also wasn’t right. They would move around him as if they were aware of him to a degree. Like a person would know that there was a street lamp nearby, but they would move around it without acknowledging it. Or furniture. He would be treated like a normal part of the scenery. All his actions and words treated as par for the course. There would be no big reactions to anything he did. Like if he stole food off someone's plate.

That last part was exactly what he did to Classius’s hash brown.

Everything he did was just seen as normal.

Gray didn’t know if he could even call that hypnosis. There was no swaying coin or phrase like, “You are getting sleepy.” He didn’t click his fingers or have a need to make eye contact. It all just happened organically.

What kind of name could you come up for that?

“...still, I hope we end up on the same team together,” Said a feminine voice to Gray’s left. A voice that sounded like it was speaking through a mouthful of food. Gray glanced over curiously and saw a girl with ginger red hair and wearing a trendy pink and white outfit, practically inhale a pancake with a loud slurp. “Ooh! We should come up with some sort of plan. To make sure we end up on the same team together.”

The person she was talking to seemed to be ignoring her, because the black-haired girl with the single pink streak was calmly eating her food. Never mind that the hyper ginger was holding onto her shoulder and practically talking her ear off. “What if we bribe the headmaster?” The ginger continued. “No, that won’t work. He has a school.” She immediately answered herself.

The girl that probably had too much coffee continued to spout off random ideas. Some were decent while others were just batshit crazy. Throughout all of that the other girl just ate with a grace that the ginger just seemed to lack. Her patience was staggering to Gray. He couldn’t imagine having to listen to the ginger girl and not try and shut her up for even a moment.

They seemed like such an odd pair. Not just in behavior, but also in attire. The one girl who looked like she drank the coffee straight from the tap wore a pink skirt along with this odd metal corset over a white turtleneck top with a heart shape cut-out in the chest, pink gloves and white arm warmers. Gray had no idea what the metal corset was about, other than possibly being armor, which was doubtful considering how little it covered. The rest of her outfit wouldn’t have been out of place on the streets in the kingdom of Vale.

This other girl though. She had all the appearance of a Mistralian with the common dark hair, kept short and tied in the back with pink ribbon, tilted eyes, that happened to be a pretty pink color, a green shoulder-less dress that went down to her thighs, except for the wide slit in the front that went from hip to thigh and would have shown her underwear, except that she also wore white pants that stopped at the knee. She had black arm warmers that covered her from wrist to elbow, singular pink strings tied around each bicep and green shoes in the shape of Mistralian slippers.

Bottom line, she was an elegant, graceful lady who most likely came from the east.

The other girl was basically a Vale preppy cheerleader. That went nuts on coffee.

And she was still talking!

Peace be with you green girl, whoever you are.

Having been distracted from thinking up a name for his Semblance, breakfast had passed by. At some point Gray had caught sight of Jeanne and the other girls entering the cafeteria a little late. He had thought about going over to say hello but thought against it. As much as he wanted to spend lots of time with the girls, or girls in general, he wasn’t about to abandon his friends all the time for it. Or become that weird male friend that wouldn’t leave the girls alone.

Maybe he’ll be put on a team with some girls. Who knows?

Until then he needed to get through initiation. It would suck to be accepted into this school only to become a dropout straight away.

“You know, I’ve been hearing that they’ll be putting us into four-man teams.” Nero said next to Gray, his head inside his locker as he was shifting his stuff into place.

They were now in the large communal locker room where everyone had stowed their luggage and weapons the day before. Each student was assigned a locker to keep their equipment and tools in for the rest of the school year. To one side of the large room everyone's luggage bags had been neatly piled up for when dorm rooms were finally assigned later that day. Until then each student was told to get their weapons and equipment ready for the initiation, and to familiarize themselves with their lockers.

“Where did you hear that?” Gray asked. He was checking to see if his daggers had gone dull since he last saw them.

“Some other students were talking about it yesterday in the assembly.” Nero said, pulling back and checking the ammo clip of his handgun. “Also, this morning in the shower some guy who has a sister in the second year mentioned it.”

“Well, I guess that means one of us misses out then,” Orrin joked. He was sitting on a bench behind them and was inspecting his swords. “Goodbye friend. It was great knowing you.”

Nero looked over his shoulder at Orrin. “What if you’re the odd one out?”

Orrin froze for a second but followed up with, “Then, goodbye fools. I’m on to bigger and better things.”

Nero’s and Orrin’s lockers were practically next to each other.

Gray hadn’t taken long to get his stuff together and take a look inside his locker. He didn’t need to put anything away so he simply waited with his two friends and looked over his weapons in preparation. He did notice Jeanne and the rest also getting ready by their lockers. Jeanne had noticed him too and waved, to which he responded with his own wave.

Gray and Orrin sat together on the bench and waited for Tanner and Classius to be done getting their armor and weapons ready. Their lockers were in opposite directions from Nero’s.

Some moments later that girl in the green and white Mistral-inspired outfit walked by. Her long graceful legs, partially bare, mesmerized Gray as he was making sure that the mech-shift function of his pistols was working. He couldn’t help but track those legs as the girl walked and her friend, the ever-chipper ginger, hopped and skipped after her, just humming this time instead of talking. Every skip happened to lift her skirt slightly, teasing more of the ginger’s thighs.

Gray activated the shift function that turned his gun into a dagger in its sheath. The movement being reminiscent of someone getting a boner. He smirked at his own inside joke.

“See, I told you there were a lot of cute girls here,” Orrin whispered to Gray.

At that moment Tanner walked up, all geared up. His leather armor, with bits of metal here and there, looked pretty cool, and that sword on his back really sold the look.

“All right boys, you lot ready for this?” He asked enthusiastically. His fists were clenched in excitement.

Nero closed his locker door, finally having everything where he wanted it, and hooked his mace to his belt. “Eh, sure.”

Tanner just huffed in amusement at his lackluster answer. Turning to Gray and Orrin he asked, “Classy still not done?”

“Nope.” Gray answered. “You know how he gets.”

Tanner rolled his eye before walking past. “Alright then, let’s go hurry him along.”

“Would all first-year students please report to beacon cliff for initiation.” Professor Goodwitch’s voice called out from a speaker in the ceiling. “Again, all first-year students report to beacon cliff immediately.”

“And there is the holy summons.” Orrin intoned. Finally, getting up and stowing his semi-retractable sabers behind his belt. “The hot milf Professor hath called us to battle.”

“I don’t think she’s a mother, though.” Gray said. Strapping his gun, Mist, to his thigh. He stood up and patted himself down to make sure he had everything ready one last time. Mist on one leg, Wisp on the other, the daggers inside them secure. Obscurity was hooked to his belt. His ammo clip holders were full. He patted the pockets of his grey and white coat to make sure his various Huntsman tools were in place. Next, he pulsed his Aura a little, feeling it respond, ready to be used at a moment's notice. Finally, Gray activated his Semblance briefly, noticing the blur around his hand.

“The hot librarian Professor hath called us to battle then. Happy?” Orrin conceded.

“Ecstatic.”

Upon arriving at the cliffside overlooking the emerald forest, after trying to find the right path through the complex courtyard around the school building, Gray and his friends found a quaint little cobblestone seating area. It was circular and was fenced off from the cliffs edge by a semi-circular stone fence.

The cliff itself was covered in grass, mowed neatly, and had the occasional tree or rock outcropping. As Gray and the other boys made it to the stone fence he could make out two people standing at the cliff edge facing the seating area. Some students were walking towards the two from an opening in the side of the fence.

The boys made their way to the opening and stepped out onto nature, leaving the cobblestone sign of civilization behind.

Gray could now tell that Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch were the two by the edge.

The man still had a coffee mug in his hand, too.

As they got closer Gray noticed a series of platforms laid out in a perfect line parallel to the cliff edge. There seemed to be partially eroded cobblestones connecting all of the platforms and fading into the dirt the further they got from the slabs of carved stone. The stone slabs themselves had some basic carvings of an animal or a tree. There were a number of birds depicted on a fair few of them. All of them, however, had the symbol of Beacon academy etched as the focus. Two axes crossed on top of a circle and a wreath of leaves.

Gray didn’t even bother to count how many there were. He assumed that each student was meant to stand on one because there seemed to be enough stone platforms for every new student that arrived to the school. If he had to guess there were likely to be forty stone platforms. Give or take.

“Please stand on one stone plate each,” Professor Goodwitch told Gray’s group once they were close enough. “We will wait for everyone to arrive before we begin.”

The boys followed her order and found five unoccupied spaces to the professors right. As they waited for everyone else to show up Gray decided to flip his Semblance on so he could stare at Professor Goodwitch’s body without being noticed.

Glynda Goodwitch was a good-looking witch. Blonde hair done up in a bun and curls. Deep green eyes adorned with tasteful glasses. A sizable bust, thin waist and wide hips wrapped up in a sexy white top with an amazing cleavage cut-out, tucked into a tight high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons. Underneath the skirt she wore black-brown tights and black boots. She still wore her cape, purple on the inside and black on the outside.

She really did have that sexy teacher/librarian look. Maybe with a bit of a sexy secretary look too, since she was holding a holoscroll up.

Her womanly curves drew Gray’s eyes. He stood there and drank the sight of her in and fantasized about all the things he could do with her. Maybe he could get her to give him after school tutoring with his Semblance?

Gray continued to ogle the hot witch until every student had made it to the cliff. Only then did he stop with his staring and flip his Semblance off to look around. He noticed that Jeanne, Ruby, Yang and Pyrrha were several spaces off to his right. It didn’t look like they had noticed him.

Ozpin finally stepped forward and began to speak, his words measured. “For years you have trained to become warriors. And today your abilities will be evaluated in the emerald forest.”

“Now, I’m sure many of you have heard rumor's about the assignment of teams.” Professor Goodwitch chimed in. “Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today.”

Gray wasn’t sure why she had to pause for effect there. He did hear someone down the line say something, but it just sounded like a worried groan.

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well.” The headmaster took over. “That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.”

That was a funny way of dealing with things.

The person that groaned now squeaked out a, “Whaaat?!”

Was that Ruby? Gray wondered. He looked over and saw her shocked face. He also saw his own friends grin at each other. He knew what that meant. They were definitely going to find each other in the forest. One, because they had experience doing orienteering from their old school, and two, because... well, technology has come a long way. And Huntsman equipment, as pricey as they can be, did have certain useful perks. We’ll leave it at that.

“After you’ve partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die.” Ozpin told them, which didn’t sound ominous at all. “You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene.”

All of this sounded pretty dangerous for little Huntsmen- and Huntresses-in-training. Not that he hadn’t had his own escapades into the wilderness outside of Vale. Gray just thought that there would be some form of safety imposed by the more experienced teachers. Unless, of course Ozpin’s just saying all of that to scare them. Make them think this was a life-or-**** thing so that they take it seriously. Maybe there will be teachers hiding and watching in case something happens?

“You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff.” Ozpin continued. “You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and we will grade you appropriately. However, if you do not find anyone to be your partner and cannot find the temple and relics, then this may be the last we see of you before sending you home.”

That definitely had everyone gulping nervously.

“Now, are there any questions?”

“Um...” Came a voice that Gray recognized as Jeanne. He leaned forward to look at her.

“Yes, Ms. Arc?”

“Y-You said something about landing. Will we be taking an airship into the forest?” Jeanne asked, her voice hesitant. Gray immediately understood why she might have had reservations about taking another flight.

“No. You will be propelled into the air by the platforms beneath you.” Ozpin clarified. Gray and every other student looked down at the stone they stood upon. “Powered by gravity dust, those platforms will send you into the air over the forest. It is up to you to figure out a landing strategy.”

He calmly sipped from his mug as if he hadn’t just said something absurd.

“Any other questions?” He asked the assembled students after swallowing. Gray looked over at Jeanne again. She shook her head but still looked uncomfortable.

“Good. Now, take your positions.”

The students hesitated for a moment before they all got into some kind of ready stance.

Gray heard some kind of... sparkly sound? Tinkly? He looked to his left and saw the last student in that end of the line start to glow purple. Or rather, the stone platform underneath them began to glow purple. The air around them seemed to fill up with a mist that matched the purple emanating from the carvings. Then the tinkly sound seemed to increase and come to a head the same time the mist and the glowing stone... blasted the student into the sky...

Holy shit!

Gray knew that gravity dust was used in all sorts of transportation technology, but he had never seen it used like that before.

The next platform lit up and sent the second student flying.

“Oh, I like that.” Gray heard Orrin say from in between Nero and Tanner.

Of course, he would. Thrill seekers did like their adrenaline rushes.

Now, the platforms on the right began to glow and send their payload to the heavens. More students were sent onwards to task. Gray’s friends were getting more excited by the moment and, if he was being honest, he too was looking forward to the eventual send off.

Before it got to his turn Gray tried to think of the best way to stick the landing without hurting himself, or wasting too much aura recovering. A few things came to mind. He pulled up his quarterstaff hanging on his belt and checked the dust cartridges it was armed with. He smiled. One of them was exactly what he needed.

Reassured, Gray readied up and focused.

He knew that one thing was for sure. His friends can team up if they wanted, but Gray was going to try and get on a girls' team. Absolutely. No question.

Finally, it came time for he and his friends to soar. His stone plate shone, the air around him turned purple and the sounds of tinkling chimes mixed with rushing air surrounded him. The plate beneath him vibrated.

He knew the moment that he was about to be shot into the sky as all the sounds and effects increased and the vibration became a mini-sonic boom beneath his feet. The next moment he was zipping through the air. The wind cut to either side of him as his aura sharpened just in front of his face.

He accelerated into the deep blue. A deep blue dotted with the shapes of students flying without wings.

It was exhilarating.