Chapter 6: Initiation (5)

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This is a fanfiction, so the familiar characters you see belong to their respected authors and owners.

"Speech"

'Thought',

—Line Breaker—

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Volume 1 - Chapter 6: Initiation (5)

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Current Location: Emerald Forest,

Sora and Jean are currently on their way toward the temple. During their walk, they fought many Grimms trying to obstruct their quest. They have been inside this for forest for about 15 minutes now.

They became closer as they fought together and walked the same path. They became more familiar with each other. Sora discovered that Jean takes her responsibilities and duties seriously, regardless of how minor the tasks may seem. This is something he can respect.

She would make an outstanding leader like her counterpart in Teyvat. Meanwhile, Jean found out that her partner was not the most sociable person ever. He seemed a bit cold as he responded to her attempt at conversation with very short and blunt answer or even grunt.

But she knows that Sora has his heart in the right place. During their search, Sora would help Jean in his own initiative and look out for her in fight. She couldn't ask for a better partner for her next years at Beacon. She definitely lucked out from the many students present at the initiation.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you writing in your booklet, Sora?" asked Jean as she keep seeing the same booklet in Sora's hand during their entire trip. Sora didn't respond to her inquiries as he kept writing something.

Jean saw this scene and waited for an answer from Sora if he wanted to share his action to her. They kept walking for a few minutes as Sora closed his booklet and putted it away as he glanced back at Jean.

"I'm recording the various materials found in Emerald Forest for my future endeavors." answered Sora as kept his pace with Jean.

"You don't mind me asking if I ask more?" Jean asked, with curiosity at his unexpected answer. She didn't expect this from her teammate. Sora took another peek toward her and answered her doubt.

After all, they would be together for their entire school years, so might as well reveal it. Who knows, he might need her help and his team in the future.

"...Alchemy..." answered Sora as he picked up the pace as he saw a silhouette of a building in his vision.

"Alchemy? this is the first time that I heard about this..." murmured Jean in doubt at this obscure profession. She gave Sora a deep glance but said stayed silent as she decided to not asking further. While she might be full of curiosity, she knows her boundary for now. They just met and Sora's would explain further when he wants to.

They kept walking in silence as they saw the temple in full view. As they walked near the temple, they saw the relic of this initiation. The relic were chess pieces. Jean notes that quite a few are missing, meaning that they are not the first to get there.

"What about this white knight?" asked Jean as she pointed at the piece on the temple. She looked at Sora for his confirmation. Sora simply looked at the white knight in the temple. He nodded in agreement at her choice and turned his back to observe his surrounding.

Jean looked at her partner nod and took the white knight in her hand. As they prepared to leave, they heard sound coming from the forest near them. They took their stance with their weapon out toward the cause.

"Hey! Atalanta look, we found the temple!" said a familiar woman's voice for Sora as he listened to the sound. He sighed as he recognized the voice as he listened to more of it. He signaled Jean to put her weapon away.

Jean frowned a little but decided to trust her partner as she sheathed her sword as she looked toward the voice with curiosity. Her curiosity didn't last long as two figures came outside the forest as Jean saw two women of her age coming toward the temple.

Sora saw his first friend at Beacon with her partner. A beautiful cat faunus named Atalanta, if he heard correctly from their conversation. Well more, like Tifa one sided conversation as the cat faunus answered her with grunt and short answer.

He couldn't help but getting an eye twitch as Jean stared heavily at him. He knew the cause of her intense stare. It is exactly the treatment that Jean received during their walk. He simply ignored her stare as he sighed and called Tifa out.

Tifa's face brightened a lot as she saw Sora as she waved her hand at him, receiving a questioning look from her partner. He saw Tifa talking to her friend as she saw the look. He saw the faunus nodding at Tifa as they hastened their pace toward them.

"Hi Sora, did you get your relic? Oh! what did you get?" asked Tifa as she looked behind him as she saw the temple filled with chess pieces.

Sora massaged his temple in annoyance at the succession of questions from Tifa. Jean chuckled at their little interaction as she covered her mouth with her hand. Atalanta stayed in silent near Tifa and stared at them.

"Haaaa, yes we got our relic, we took the white knight chess piece."

"Moreover, this is my partner Jean, Jean G. Goodwitch." said Sora as he introduced Jean to the two of them. Tifa looked a bit shocked but quickly recovered from her blunder as she introduced herself and her partner.

"Sorry, Jean, I was too excited to see Sora, and I didn't see you."

"Ah, my name is Tifa, Tifa Lockhart! Nice to meet you, Jean!"

"This is my partner Atalanta! say hi Atalanta." said Tifa as she introduced herself to Jean than looked at Atalanta with encouraging gaze.

"..."

"Atalanta Belladonna..."

"...Hello nice to meet you." said Atalanta in low voice as Sora simply stared at her for a little. He saw right at the cliff the same Atalanta from the Moon-Type series in his old world. Sora wonders how much this Atalanta differs from her counterpart.

The name Belladonna gave him a pretty big hint of her current ties. Sora guessed that she might be related to one of the four protagonists of RWBY, Blake Belladonna. Adopted maybe? like Jean and Glynda Goodwitch. No middle name? Maybe they found her in the wild, like her counterpart.

He wonders if there would be more familiar characters in the future. So many questions yet so little answer, how interesting.... Sora's face lighted up a little by his current researcher mood. His good mood quickly disappeared as he heard a sound from his mind.

[Congratulations to the host, fueled by the feeling of enlightenment, increase the degree of performance by 5%, for finding a thing that piques your interest.]

[Current progress]: 46% → 51%]

[Congratulations to the host, for obtaining "Knowledge of Teyvat history and technology" by achieving 50% in acting]

Sora frowned a little as he put a hand on his forehead at the sudden influx of knowledge from the reward. His sudden state attracted the attention of his new friends as they looked at him with worried look.

They asked for his condition, but Sora told them that he was fine, just a little headache. They accepted his word as they returned to their conversation, but they took a few peeks to monitor his condition in an unspoken agreement between them.

He chuckled at their worry about him, but their action warmed his heart a little. It's nice to know that some people care about your well being. Little did he know, this little action lighten up his chaotic heart a little.

"Let's go back Sora! we took the same piece as you and Jean." said Sora as she cut Sora from his musing. He looked up as he saw them walking back toward the cliff as they waited for him outside the forest.

Sora nodded at them and followed them in their next direction to end this initiation.

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They encountered an unpleasant situation. The team of four got trapped inside the middle of a canyon by some strong Grimms. They are surrounded by two Elite Death Stalkers and one Commander Nevermore.

"Really, we had to get in trouble at the end of the initiation." shouted Tifa as she took her fighting stance with her teammates. Sora sighed at their luck as he took his sword out and got ready to fight. Jean analyzed those Grimms with her sword out as Atalanta took her bow with her firing stance.

They took a circle formation with their back facing each other as they looked at their situation. Jean took the lead as she came up with a plan..

"Atalanta, we need you to distract the Nevermore while Tifa and Sora tried to fight the two Death Stalkers and I will provide support for both parties." said Jean as she took her fighting stance.

"You got this Jean!" said Tifa

"...Ready, Jean" said Sora

"...Ok, Jean" said Atalanta

"In my mark, 3"

"2"

"1"

"GO!" shouted Jean as they dashed toward their targets in this last fight.

[Words:1516]