Blue Blood

It was still early when you were woken up by a loud knock on the door. While you got up and started throwing on the minimum amount of clothing necessary you took in your old dorm room one last time. This had been your home for the last five years and looked uncomfortably empty right now. All your clothes except the outfit you were planning to wear today were packed into a duffel bag while the decorations, games and books that had filled your bookshelf had been stowed away in a travel suitcase. You opened the door and to your surprise all three of your friends were standing outside.
"Eugene, are you not ready yet? We were supposed to be packed away and ready half an hour ago." Caitlin said sternly.
"Right, sorry. I guess I must have missed my alarm. I'll be ready in a second, just have to finish getting dressed." you replied apologetically.
"Did master not get enough sleep yesterday? I knew I should have insisted on sharing a bed with you!" Lila teased without missing a beat.
"Hey Blue, let me help you with the bags. it's gonna be faster if we split the work, right?" Jean seemed in extremely high spirits today, likely due to the unexpected prospect of attending Beacon immediately after her graduation.

Soon enough you, now dressed in a fresh pair of jeans with a grey T-shirt and Jean had made it downstairs where Caitlin was making the final preparations for your trip while Lila was scrolling through social media on her scroll. Given that all of you already lived in Vale there was little need to take one of the bullheads for transport. Instead Caitlin had rented you a car with sufficient space for both your group and your luggage.
"Are we ready to go?" you asked Caitlin while heaving your bags into the trunk. She simply nodded and opened the driver side door. "Good thing CD has a license." Jean commented while taking the co-driver seat. Of course she would ride shotgun. You and Lila got comfortable in the back row and not seconds after you fastened your seat belt she was already pawing at you. "Lila, behave. We'll have lots of fun together once we're at Beacon, I promise." you tried to placate her. "Okay, but I'll hold you to that!" she tried to sound strict, but you could tell she was happy to get your attention. Caitlin and Jean simply chuckled, enjoying your struggles with the playful girl.

About half an hour later you arrived at a parking lot near the campus, the last few minutes to the dorms you'd travel by foot. When you approached the impressive complex the big doors of the ballroom were locked open, likely because of high volume of new and returning students expected today, but the building was still mostly empty due to your early arrival. You'd have to sleep here tonight so you found an empty corner and placed your luggage there before going back outside. You still had a bit of free time before orientation started, so you explored the campus and got a feel for where everything was ahead of time. "This place is huge, no wonder there's only one of these in the kingdom!" Jean said, astonished at the opulent size of the buildings. It was true, these schools were built to teach the best of the best and so it was only fitting that they offered all the equipment necessary for that. Gyms, Dorms, several lecture halls and even swimming pool. They really had everything.

Soon it was time to find your way to the training area where the school headmaster and staff would hold the orientation procedure. Swarms of students were now coming out of the recently arrived bullheads, most of them as confused and uncertain as you would expect of students thrust into a new city or in some cases even a new continent. You followed the masses towards your destination and waited silently. A few minutes later a bespectacled man with messy white hair stepped up to the microphone. He introduced himself as Ozpin and his speech was brief and concise, explaining the schools philosophy of providing knowledge in order to enable students to unlock their potential. He notes that this requires effort and dedication from each of you, something you assumed most of you already knew. You looked around the crowd and were surprised to see the that most students were listening attentively, things really were different here than at the combat schools. Still you continued scanning your surroundings and you saw some familiar faces. Zane and Ripley were standing in a group with two students you were unfamiliar with and you recognized two girls you knew had been in your year at Pharos Acadmy. One of them was a human wearing a black beret, stylish sunglasses and fashionable designer clothes, while the other was a shy rabbit faunus dressed in a simple black top and brown pants. They hadn't competed in the tournament you remember, they were participating in one of the alternative exams organized by the extracurricular clubs at the time which focused on field training and survival skills. They'd likely have little problem dealing with whatever this school would throw at them tomorrow.
The Headmaster stepped back and let a mature blonde woman take the stage. She repeated that you were going to stay in the ballroom for tonight and should take the time to rest for tomorrows initiation. Shortly after that you were dismissed. You and the girls did as you were told and returned to where you left your luggage. Soon enough it was getting dark and you changed into your sleepwear. You had brought sweatpants and an undershirt, comfortable yet modest enough as to not be embarrassing. After chatting with your friends for a while longer you realized that more and more students turned in for the night so you decided to follow suit.

Morning came much to soon for your liking, but the rummaging and chatter of your fellow initiates made sleeping in an impossibility. Jean felt similar it seemed as she to was groaning and cursing under her breath as she rubbed her eyes. "Morning sleepyhead." came Lila's purring voice from above you. You turned to face her and were greeted with her attractive figure, lightly obscured by a purple nightgown that revealed the sillhouette of lingerie underneath. You appreciated the eye candy for a bit and got up too.

After getting through your morning routine you all met up with Caitlin who was already waiting in the locker room. They had made you store your battle equipment here for the night, getting you used to how the locker system worked early. You opened yours , number 310, and retrieved your items. First was the blue and white tracksuit you had been wearing during the tournament. You would rather not fight and run for your life in jeans, as mobility was a large part of your strategy and it was easier to replace than your nicely worn in everyday clothes. After that was your sword "White Dove" with it's sheath and the belt you used to carry it. Last but far from least you attached the silver bracer that contained Infotracker to your left forearm. You didn't need to pull up your sleeve, it fit comfortably over it thanks to the elastic material of the tracksuit.
Looking over to your side you saw that Caitlin was already clad in her armour, though instead of her previous school uniform she was now wearing a white dress shirt under her chassis and bracers while below her legs were covered by tan riding pants and knee-high leather boots that fit underneath her greaves. Lila was also done, putting on her dress and make up had taken the bulk of her time. Jean was just abut to finish tying up her black combat boots. Her fighting style relied a lot on martial arts, so she was wearing a dark brown sports bra with camo patterned yoga pants to support her flexibility while her hands were protected by fingerless leather gloves. Her hatchet, named "Beauvais" as you learned in a recent conversation with her, hung loosely at her side for easy access. Most everyone else was getting was getting ready too, the two Pharos girls from yesterday were carrying a handbag and camera respectively, dressed in combat focused variants of their previous outfits.
Further back you saw a tall mountain of a man with tan skin, green armour and a bronze blade as large as some of the students here. Next to him was a dark skinned boy with copper hair and scars all over his body. He was pulling a pair of bladed tonfas out of his locker, an interesting choice in weaponry.
Zane and his goon squad were cackling in another corner of the room. Zane himself was wearing a dark armour over a red vest and black pants and was leaning one hand onto his mace while he loosely held his shield in the other. Before you got a chance to closely inspect the other guys around him Ms. Goodwitch's voice bellowed over the intercom that initiation was about to begin and that you were to gather at Beacon Cliff.

Once you arrived you were each assigned a spot on one of the platforms while Ozpin explained the exact task you were to fulfill. The first part was using a landing strategy, which led you to believe the ominous squares you were standing on were some sort of launchpad. That seemed incredibly irresponsible, but that was likely the point. Huntsmen didn't get to play a fair game. Grimm didn't give you time to breathe, so neither could your teachers if they wanted you to survive. The man continued that once you had landed the first person you made eye contact with would be your partner for your entire time at beacon. Lila's eyes shot over towards your face with a mischivous grin. You weren't sure what it was she was hoping to do here, but it didn't matter. Neither of you had any way of influencing this, though you could imagine much worse partners than Lila.
After partnering up your objective was to retrieve a relic from a temple and then return here. Apart from the copious amounts of Grimm in the forest that sounded downright easy, but one thing at a time.
The first priority was the landing strategy. You didn't know the exact angle nor the altitude to which you would be propelled, so you had to get creative. One possibility was using the trees as a way to break your fall, but you were hesitant to rely on that alone, you'd need to be in top shape for any Grimm encounters. Your semblance wouldn't help you much here, apart from letting you circumvent initiation completely but that would defeat the point of attending the academy in the first place. No, you needed to do this, but how?
Interrupting your contemplations was a crumbling sound further down the row of students as the first of you was launched into the forest. Okay, think fast. You pulled up Infotracker and started typing away. Given the angle the first platform launched student at and the speed at which they were propelled your lighter weight meant you'd have to deal with approximately 4% less air resistance, thereby increasing your distance traveled about this far into the forest.
Then you saw it in the horizon.
Just barely visible in the sky was a Nevermore. Now you were cooking with gas! Your hand was dancing across the screen as you calibrated the holographic projector of Infotracker to it's absolute maximum distance. Then you went to the canvas and changed the wording. Assuming this worked you could project your writing onto the dense treetop where the Grimm hopefully read it in time to fall under it's effects. Crash, another student, this time much closer to you, was flung into the sky. How were they all so confident? You would have to be too, you realized. One mistake would make you a cloud of red mist on the ground, or worse, Grimm food.
Jean, who stood next to you, winked at you before she too was flying through the air. You really had to compare notes with them afterwards, was this discussed in combat practice?
Your turn. You closed your eyes in anticipation. Breathe in. Breathe out.
3
2
1

CRASH! You felt the pressure against your legs for only a second before you opened your eyes and took in everything. You were gliding, well falling really, through the air and could see so much of the area from here.
Your attention snapped back to the situation at hand. You checked the horizon again. Perfect, the Nevermore was coming this way, albeit slowly. You straightened your arm, which proved difficult with the wind crashing against your body. Inch by inch you **** it into position though and activated the projection.
IT WORKED.
You could clearly read on the treetops
"E U G E N E B L U E B E A R D S G R I M M P O P U L A T I O N"
The Nevermore came closer, but it's eyes were still facing forward. Then it seemed caught another student flying by it that landed close to your hologram. YES. The flying Grimm saw it and then turned towards you. It saw your descent and immediately went into a nosedive to catch up with you.

The ground was getting closer, at an uncomfortable speed. You couldn't check Infotracker for your altitude, but a parachute would have to be open by now for it to work.

You could start making out students in some of the clearer parts of the forest, that's not good. The Nevermore was getting near you though, you just had to keep it up.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. This was getting way too close.

THUMP. You landed in something soft. Did a bush break your fall? No this was... feathery? Wait.
THE NEVERMORE CAUGHT YOU! You raised your hands in celebration before noticing what a grave mistake that had been.
With the effects of your semblance gone the Grimm let out a ear-piercing shriek and started shaking and turning. You grabbed on for dear life, thinking of how to make it out alive. It hadn't started ascending yet, so letting go was probably less dangerous than anything else. You didn't feel quite comfortable with that. Instead you started grabbing one tuft of feathers after another, climbing your way towards the neck of the Grimm. If you could make it crash you would be okay, right? Better than falling on your own at least.
Great, you got to the neck, what now? You pulled out your sword, the wind flying past you made it sing in the air, then you plunged into the body of your mount. It shrieked and fluttered, but was able to keep it's altitude.
Again, you pulled out the blade and then **** it back down. Now the Grimm was flapping wildly. The descent was a bit steeper than you expected though.
Infotracker analyzed your position and predicted your movement. About ten seconds until impact.
You made sure both your bracer and belt were fastened, losing either would put at a massive disadvantage.
Then you could only hope for the best.

Lila smiled, satisfied with herself as she descended from the tree she had landed on. Samael, her whip, had come in handy once again as she had used it sling around and up a thick branch of a tree on the outer parts of the forest. Her head snapped towards something strange in the sky, a giant bird was crashing into the forest. That was master, no doubt about it. Only someone so interesting could use a Grimm as their landing strategy.
She made her way over to where the sound came from and approached the crater. The Grimm had desintegrated, it must have died from the fall, but there he was. Master was lying on the slope, covered in dirt kicked up by the impact. She rushed to comfort her new partner.

Were you dead? Your entire body was aching and you heard a loud beeping, so probably not.
"Maaster~ you are soooo mean. You can't just always do fun things like riding Grimm without me."
Okay, now you knew you weren't in heaven, angels wouldn't tease you like that, right?
You opened your eyes and sure enough the opposite of an angel looked at you with concern.
"I'm... alright." you said. The beeping hadn't stopped and you looked over at Infotracker. It was still in one piece but the screen was cracked. You must have landed on your arm somehow, it would explain the pain in your shoulder. You flicked the off switch. Infotracker would be of little use other than protection if you couldn't interface with it.
"Does that mean we're partners now?" you asked Lila to distract yourself. Excitedly, she replied "Yep, I made sure to avoid aaall the other students I heard on the way, aren't you glad?" Honestly, you kind of were but you wouldn't admit that to her or she'd gloat over it for hours on end.
You gathered yourself and patted off some of the dirt covering you.
"What do we do now, master?" Lila asked with curiosity. Had she been so focused on finding you that she didn't listen to the earlier explanation?
"We go and find the temple, then we bring back one of the relics." you explained.
If you weren't mistaken you had seen some ruins from up in the sky, they should be somewhere northeast of here. You told Lila as much and you two went on your way.

Jean slowly raised herself up straight from her extremely cool and badass landing. Her body started glowing dark red as she recovered her aura. The air around her was still filled with dirt and leaves kicked up by her touchdown. No Grimm would fuck with a girl that could just brush off a fall like that, right?
She started strolling through the woods when she heard a loud sound. Grimm? It came from her right but before she could turn towards it she was knocked to the ground. A second later something big crashed through the place where she had just been standing.
She checked to see what pushed her down earlier and was pleased to see a familiar ginger mane on her chest.
"Hey CD, thanks for the assist." she said casually.
"Not worth mentioning Jean, though it looks like we're partners now." Catilin said, almost apologetically while getting up.
"Woah, why the long face? You just saved my ass, I'd be damn glad to have you watch it more often." she teased the taller girl who got flustered at the innuendo.
"Er, be that as it may, I believe we have a relic to recover?"
"Right, any idea where it is?" Jean was not entirely sure what they were even looking for.
"Vaguely, though it will be a while before we get close."
Deciding to not waste any more time Jean got up to follow Caitlin and her directions.

"Master, I think I see some weird rocks over there!" Lila shouted from a bit further in the forest. She had insisted on running ahead a bit and you saw little reason not to let her. When you caught up with her you saw what she had meant. An odd arrangement of stones was visible in front of you.
As you approached you could make out what must be the relics mentioned by Ozpin. They were small stone tablets each depicting either a king or queen of the four suits. Half of them were already taken, the king of hearts, the suite of spades as well as the queen of clubs were gone from what you could tell. That left the queen of hearts, both diamonds and the king of clubs available to you. The two of you looked over the tablets, wondering if there was any deeper meaning here. Well, you were checking while Lila was mostly eyeing the admittedly nicely crafted engravings.
Before you made a choice you heard some rumbling in a cave closeby. You had a bad feeling about this...

Four figures came running out of the cave, the bunny girl and giant guy from the locker room were rushing ahead of Jean and Caitlin. The latter two did their best to slow whatever was following them down. They each took a stand on the sides of the cave entrance readying the weapons for a coordinated attack. Caitlin gestured towards Jean, likely a heads up from her semblance. Sure enough not ten seconds later a gigantic creature burst out of the far too small cave. It was a huge snake like Grimm, a type named King Taijitu. These were usually in hibernation around this time of year and must have been angered by the disturbance of the group. As soon as it's black body had pushed enough of itself out of the stone tunnel Jean and Caitlin engaged it, while the sword bearing giant lured it further outside. Beauvais spun through the air, it's blade made a clean incision and **** itself deeper inside thanks to the remaining momentum from the throw. At the same time Caitlin's spear Dagda shot out it's own projectile that deeply pierced through the scales of the now struggling Grimm. She pressed her advantage and jumped onto and over it, wrapping the connecting chain tightly around the monster's circumference. Jean joined her, grabbing the upper part of the hilt then following in Caitlin's downward pull. The wounded snake was **** onto the ground, though not without doing it's best to resist. The two girls dug in their heels and stood their ground, which allowed the boy wielding the curved blade to sprint towards and up on top of the beings head. He forcefully pulled out the hatchet still stuck and jumped into the air. From there he threw the axe downward into the Grimm once more and followed with a downward slash from his sword. the strike cut it's skull in half which soon vanished.
Lila took the initiative before you could even fully process what you had just witnessed.
"Holy shit, that was so cool you guys!" the black haired girl shouted excitedly.
"Wow, haven't seen you in a hot minute, how are you Lil'?" You didn't know how Jean could be so relaxed after accomplishing such a feat but it was very in line how you've come to know her the past two days.
Caitlin on the other hand still seemed apprehensive as she approached the ripped apart cave entrance in concern. You remembered now. Taijitu were made up of two halves that could act independently from one another which the others seemed to have forgotten about. This time you acted.
"Guys, the other half is still alive, either we get away or go after it."
None of them felt like letting it get recover after the damage they had already done to it, though you saw uncertainty on the face of the brunette faunus.
You told her, named Velvet, and Yatsuhashi as the tanned guy introduced himself, to wait at the entrance with Caitlin, she could warn them should the Grimm try to escape this way.
Meanwhile you, Lila and Jean went inside the cave, intending to finish off the white half too.
It was curled up in the middle of a large open area within, likely where it had rested before the intrusion.
Jean and Lila positioned themselves on it's flanks while you faced the center. You tightened your grip on your blade as you opened your mouth and screamed at the top of your lungs to get it's attention.
It's blood red eyes flew open and the split tongue sizzled out of it's lips in anticipation. The Grimm saw only you standing alone, weak prey and an easy meal. You had other plans however and let it approach you inch by inch before you gave the signal. Lila jabbed her dagger into the lower part of the snake while Jean used the distraction to throw her hatchet at a stalactite right above the creatures skull. It collided violently, the tip stuck quite far inside the Taijitu's head. You used your chance to swiftly climb onto it and hammer the rock downward with the pommel of your sword. Each hit sent ripples through it and a screaching sound followed from it's mouth like an echo. After five exhausting hits it went limp and you hopped to the ground next to it. The body soon vanished, leaving no trace of the snake-like monstrosity.

You joked with each other to recover from the experience while you left the cave and were soon greeted by the other three with relieved sighs and congratulations. Now that you had eliminated any immediate danger you had to pick your relics. You let Velvet and Yatsuhashi choose first while you caught up with the others.
"And then she just tackled me out of the way of... what was that even? An Ursa or something?" Jean finished the recollection of her landing strategy. Of course the girl with aura regeneration would just brush of a direct landing like that without worrying over being eaten alive.
Yatsuhashi signaled to you that they were done and wished you luck with the journey back. You turned your attention towards the remaining relics. Velvet had chosen the queen of hearts for them, which left the diamond suite and king of clubs on the table for you. Deciding to go for the same suite out of comradery you took the king of diamonds while Caitlin picked the queen of diamonds.

Once back at the cliff you handed in your relics and were told to rest in the ballroom until further notice. An hour later it was announced that the results of the initiation would be revealed in the training hall now, which resulted in a flow of students making their way over. It was mostly fellow initiates, but there was a decent amount of higher year students coming along out of interest and curiosity. You noticed that the beret wearing girl from earlier was chatting with Yatsuhashi, she seemed impressed with his part in your fight against the King Taijitu. You received a few comments too, mostly from older students that were amazed at how you landed while also killing a Nevermore. So much for keeping a low profile then.
"Now you might be wondering about the significance of the relics we had you recover. In truth these are how you teams will be composed. Two pairs that brought back relics belonging to the same suit will become a team. I will now announce this year's new teams and their leaders." Ozpin explained.
"Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina and Yatsuhashi Daichi. You four have retrieved the suite of hearts. From this day forward you will work together as team Coffee led by Coco Adel."
You saw the stylish girl's smug expression, she had been confident in her leadership ability, though you knew too little about her to judge for yourself.

"Zane Boolie, Orpheus Magnolia, Ripley Cement and Nasil Muscat. The four of you have retrieved the suite of spades. From this day forward you will work together as team Zorn led by Zane Boolie."

Huh, while you didn't like the guy Zane did have some good combat instincts, you could see how he might be an efficient leader, but he was far from a good person. Not that you were much better these days.

Next you were called onto the stage alongside Lila, Jean and Caitlin.
"Eugene Bluebeard, Lila Serach, Jean Burgundy and Caitlin Danaan. You four have retrieved the suite of diamonds. From this day forward you will work together as team Blue Blood."