Chapter 8

Being shown around by a nice girl. Looks like my first day might not be so bad after all. Talking to her might actually help me start to relax a little more. I STILL hate myself for freezing up around Yang.

"Anywhere in particular you'd like to go first?" Pyrrha asked.

"How about the locker room? I'm getting a little tired of lugging this briefcase around." The two of us set off from the landing platform once again. Hopefully for the last time, and headed off to the locker room. "Ah, hey." I said speaking up.

"Yes?"

"This is your first time attending Beacon right? How do you already know your way around?"

Pyrrha smiled. "A while back I was brought here so I could see the school. It had been decided long ago that I would attend this academy because of my...accolades."

"Oh, I see."

Makes sense, Pyrrha is regarded as the strongest student in Beacon Academy, and her performance before coming here was pretty stellar too. I can see why they did that since she's practically a shoo-in for this place.

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "Enough about that, I don't believe I've caught your name yet."

"Ah, sorry about that. My name is N...Aero." This whole name thing is taking longer than I thought to get used to...

"It is a pleasure to meet you." she responded with a nod.

"Thank you." We continued walking when I couldn't help but notice Pyrrha giving me an odd look. What? Was there something on my face? It got weirder until...

"Well?" she asked looking at me expectantly.

"Well, what?"

Pyrrha gave me a surprised expression and crossed her arms with a frown."You introduced yourself, but aren't in the least bit interested in asking about me?"

'That's right! I'm not supposed to know her yet! Since I already knew her name I didn't bother asking! She might already be well known by many people, but I'm still acting like an ass right now.' "Ah, sorry about that. Yes, I would love to hear your name. Please."

Pyrrha's expression softened. "That's alright, you were just preoccupied with your first day right?"

"Yeah." I said letting out a sigh. I'm glad this woman is so forgiving.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos." She said putting a hand on her breastplate and giving a slight nod with her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you Aero."

"Likewise." I said smiling with a nod of my own.

*************************

"Here we are."

Pyrrha led me to a long gray room, with rows upon rows of lockers. Not unlike what I might see in a regular school. I walked up to one of the lockers on my left and inspected it. A tall, silver rectangle which looked like any other locker, save for the holographic keypad I saw by the handle giving it a unique futuristic feel. My hand reached out to the keypad, hovering over the hologram projection before pressing a finger onto it.

BEEP

To my surprise, my finger touched the hologram as if it were a solid surface. The button lighting up and releasing a small sound.

"Careful there." Pyrrha said walking over. "Those lockers are designed to transport themselves based on a code you put in."

"Oh, okay." My mind was still on the solid holograms. How exactly did they make those work? Come to think of it doesn't Velvet do something similar? Making copies of weapons using holograms? That's incredible. Imagine if I could have a choice weapon of my own designed from that. Would the weapon be light or weigh as much as a regular one?

I casually walked through the locker room, placing my hand on a locker as I passed. Pyrrha followed me on my leisurely stroll. "This is where all of the teams are gonna gather huh?" I knew that there was still one more day before the exam but I couldn't help but feel nervous and excited. Who's team would I be on? How hard would the exam be? I should be alright, after all, I AM Aero...

"Speaking of teams." Pyrrha said, speaking up. "I wonder who we are going to end up with, there are so many possibilities. I had planned on letting the chips fall where they may, see what fate had in store." Pyrrha sat at one of the benches and turned to me. "How about you Aero? Do you have anyone in mind you'd like on your team?"

"Hehe, well I may have ONE person in mind I'd like on my team." A grin formed on my face for a second, as a blonde-haired girl came to mind, before it quickly disappeared. "Unfortunately...we don't get to pick our teams so that's a moot point."

"We don't get to choose our own teams?"

"Nah." I sat down next to her and frowned leaning on my hand. "The staff are just gonna chuck the students into some danger zone. Whoever you see first is on your team. You take your team and grab a 'relic' at the end of the area to pass." I flashed her a smile. "Looks like you get your wish Pyrrha, fate's gonna decide who's on your team."

Pyrrha tilted her head. "Aero, the exams are different each year and are kept a secret so that no one can prepare in advance. How would you possibly know all this?"

'Is that how that worked? Shoot I really shouldn't have just run my mouth like that. Quick, make something up.' "Heh, guess that makes me psychic then." I said trying to play it off.

"Psychic huh?" Pyrrha stood up and gave me an amused smile. "Pray tell, what does my future hold?"

"That's easy, you..." Flashes of memory shot through my mind as I recalled what happened to Pyrrha. Countless grimm attacking everyone, Vale overrun with rogue paladins and grimm killing indiscriminately. Yang losing her arm and Pyrrha turning to ash. "...die."

"Aero?"

"H-huh?"

"Are you alright? You zoned out there for a second." Pyrrha gave me a concerned look. "Come on." she said putting a hand on my shoulder. "We should go or we'll miss orientation."

I couldn't shake what I'd just remembered, but eventually decided to save it for later. Pyrrha led me to a large dome-shaped building which looked like a mini coliseum. Again, I'm pretty grateful to have her as my guide or I definitely wouldn't have known to come here. Walking through the impressive doorway I was greeted by a familiar sight.

'Oh goddamn it...' More shadow people. This time there were more of them all lined up. This made students like Yang and Weiss REALLY stand out. I swear if I somehow end up with a shadow person on my team I'm going to murder someone...

"So many are already here Aero, are we the last ones to arrive?"

"Almost the last ones." I said gesturing to Ruby and Jaune who were now making their entrance.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!"

Yang happily shouted and waved at her sister. Honestly, Yang could probably cure cancer with her bright smile.

"I wonder what they'll tell us." Pyrrha said thoughtfully. "These are people who have fought and endured for many years. Imagine the experience and wisdom that they will share with us."

"Yeah...wisdom..." I've seen what Ozpin has done with his 'wisdom' and I am NOT impressed. Now I can't remember what his speech was word for word but I do know the general idea of it. "They're probably gonna say something along the lines of: 'Things aren't going to be easy, we'll help, but it's your responsibility."

"I think they're going to be a little more profound than that Aero."

Up ahead, I could hear yelling between Ruby and Weiss. I'd go over and say something, but if memory serves, one of Weiss's greatest lines is about to happen right now.

"Look uh, sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot." Yang said scratching her hair. "Why don't you start over and try to be friends okay?"

"Yeah! Great idea sis!" Ruby cleared her throat. "Hello Weiss, I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails! And try on clothes! And talk about cute boys like tall blonde and...scraggly over here." Weiss said gesturing to Jaune.

"Oh wow Really?!" Ruby asked, absolutely bursting with excitement.

"...No."

"Heh, heh heh." I couldn't help but laugh. The idea that something so simple and mean could be so funny. I didn't know Weiss had it in her.

"Looks like THAT guy's having a good time." Yang said jerking a thumb in my direction and chuckling.

I immediately turned away and frown with a sigh.

"Aero, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked.

Out of all the ways I could've greeted Yang, that's the first impression I get with her? Fortunately, there was a slight feedback from a microphone as Ozpin began speaking, taking the attention off of me.