48

"-you will have to figure out your own landing strategies." The Headmaster that Jaune told her to not 100% trust droned on. "Any questions?"

"Sir?" A random raised his hand, dressed like some sort of Vacuoan cowboy. "Eye contact being a way we gain our Partner for the rest of our school life is weird enough but about the landing strategy? Sure that's fine and dandy, but what are we doing on a buncha little platforms for? Are we not being lifted up via Bullhead?"

"No." The Headmaster messed with his Scroll-Pad. "The platforms have purpose. Like this."

"Like whaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Trivia held up an illusory judge score card with a 9.5/10.

"Then let us see if we can't get that ten, Miss Rider."

Oh this bitch. Neo spat as Trivia felt her body fly through the air.

Trivia turned mid air with an acrobatic flick to flip the double bird as she flew into the air.

Cinder soared in the air with a scowl.

Yeah, Amber. Thanks for not giving her a HEADS UP!

Literally this specific landing strategy requirement was a counter to her entire standard fighting style!

Her left hand reached out for her Decanter.

"Don't fail me now, blue!" Cinder hissed, popping the cap off with her thumb, slotting it into a tube created with her right hand. She aimed at a tree top she was about to pass by. "GEYSER!"

Scorching Caress ripped with maximum heat as it vaporized thirty gallons (she and Amber had measured it) of water as it erupted from her Decanter of Endless Water to create a massive thrusting force to slow her momentum as it tore apart the branches and even some of the bark of the treetop.

Still that wasn't quite enough.

Cinder couldn't help but glare at a hateful pink and white blip in the corner of her vision floating lazily using her parasol (fucking weird rich bitch weapon) as she yawned into her hand as she lazily descended in the distance.

The Decanter rippled with that odd feeling once more (sometimes it weirdly reminded her of Amber's Aura) as she used the Geyser keyword once more, creating an updraft of steam beneath her covering her Aura with heat and draining it slightly as it kept her cool and protected.

Actually that heaviness felt stronger than normal right now for some reason.

Her legs and Aura braced properly for the rest of her landing, absorbing the force of the fall cleanly as Cinder added a quick forward roll, just in case.

She brushed the dirt of the forest floor from her hair and jacket.

And groaned when she spotted Half-Pint lazily sitting on a tree stump in front of her, her parasol open and hanging casually over her right shoulder, spinning slightly in place as the patterns of her weapon turned lazily.

One of her black gloved hands fluttered their fingers at her as she gave Cinder a saucy wink that made her grit her teeth.

Why hello there. The tree branches behind her seemed to twist and spell out (how flexible was Half-Pint's Semblance?) Fancy seeing you here.

Trivia had been planning on strolling through the Emerald Forest after landing and dealing with whoever looked strongest with the least bothersome personality, but things changed when she felt magic.

Of course her Jaune would give a magic item to his sister's friend like it was no big deal. It was a huge deal! Grrr! If other people get one two then Triva should get two! One for her AND Neo!

She'd bring it up with him later. Hmph.

It was so unassuming in appearance, too, despite it being pretty strikingly blue. Just like her own gloves that let her do some fun and fancier tricks with her weapons and somehow hit harder. But probably because she needed it the blue flask-thing on Cinder's hip blasted out a bunch of water (she presumed) that was vaporized by her weird fire-hand Semblance to create additional thrust via steam.

Blue because it blasted out water. Gods, Jaune was an adorable little nerd.

Ugh, this must have been why Jaune told her to get along with her. He was trying to set her up with a friend or something. It was cute, but also annoying. Trivia wasn't interested in making friends.

Honestly she was already dreading meeting his family a little bit. People cared so damn much about images and whatnot and their age difference was going to be another thing to work through. She was just going to have to make it work somehow. Play up the cute, poor mute Huntress with a heart of gold or whatever.

She fluttered her fingers teasingly and winked at Cinder as she let Whisper shade her from the sun as it twirled slowly over her shoulder. Her Semblance rippled behind her, siphoning off a smidgeon of Aura.

"Really? You actually came to me? I didn't come here for some Half-Pint to fuck with me for four years." The taller girl growled at her. "You couldn't go off for anyone else?"

Trivia just flicked out her Scroll with her left hand and typed out a quick message.

Oh please. You're my partner now so I'll ease off. If Jaune gave you that little water fountain he must trust you, so I'd rather you than someone boring. Her Scroll stated.

She saw Cinder make a complicated face before clipping her magic water bottle to her left hip again.

"...Fine." She sighed, shoving her right hand out. "Cinder Fall. I guess this makes us partners."

Neapolitan Rider. Call me Neo. Her Scroll flashed as she let the curved handle of Hush hang off the crook of her left elbow.

Her right hand shook Cinder's although the older girl definitely gripped a little too roughly.

Just let her have it this time. Neo sighed, equally unhappy about not having the last word. We'll fuck with her more later when we can comfortably get away with it.

That was true, Trivia mused. No point in making the initiation more annoying.

"Alright. Let's go." Cinder spoke curtly, letting go with one last narrowing of her amber eyes. "We're burning daylight."

She blinked, folding up Whisper as she quickly trotted along to catch up, her shorter legs being annoyingly problematic in keeping pace with the taller girl.

Ugh. I just wanna magic up a gust of wind and have us float along. Neo groaned. Walking sucks when you can FLY.

Still she wasn't quite so proficient with her Maiden powers yet. When she'd detected Cinder use her magic flask, she'd tried to channel just a bit of wind to blow herself closer and almost flew wildly off the mark. As in almost crashed into the ground like a rock.

It wasn't as if she had no control, but more that she.. struggled with keeping the power down to more manageable levels for subtle actions. Direction was easy, but trying to pitch a soft underhand when there were literal stormwinds and thunder at the tips of her fingers though?

Ugh. She needed more practice but couldn't until she'd get more private training. Magic was too noticeable to practice at home.

How do you know where we're going? She typed on her Scroll, flashing it at her Partner.

"Well for one, I actually listened to Headmaster Ozpin drone on." Cinder shrugged. "He said the ruins were northbound. So we're going north by judging it against where the sun is in the sky. We can find some elevation to look around for the ruins in question once we get further into the forest."

Trivia shrugged, giving a casual thumbs up.

She then paused, feeling danger. Like when she was out gang-busting with Jaune and one of those sneaky little rats actually managed to get the occasional drop on them.

Grimm. Neo agreed. A fight.

Cinder didn't like Neo much. The rich bitch was an absolute brat through and through. Worse was that she had an amazing Semblance that let her do some mindfuck levels of annoying bullshit.

As a trio of Ursa burst through the woods, detecting her and her Partner, Cinder witnessed Neo shatter into shards of pink glass as twin copies of her began to dance about two of the Ursa, confusing them and leaving herself with the remaining one.

Ursa were tough things. They could take a man's head off with a lazy swing without Aura. She'd seen someone get their skull popped like a grape from one of them.

Just POP.

But they were mostly fleshy. Plenty vulnerable with their large bodies if you knew what you were doing.

She popped open one of the canisters on her right side, grabbing a pinch of Depleted Dust. After Dust Crystals got used up they were thrown out like garbage. Pretty much useless. But unlike its normal volatile state, once it was depleted the stuff was tough. Still reactive with the right kind of Aura application, but harder than steel.

Getting it ground down into powder was hard and definitely not something that came highly recommended, but the good news is that it didn't need to be broken down too fine for Cinder's needs.

A small handful of pebbly chunks and shards were scooped up by her fingers.

Scorching Caress ignited, melting and shaping the crushed chunks and shards Depleted Dust into a glassy blade with Aura manipulation, the milky gray shards of Dust expanding under the heat and fluctuation of her Aura.

Her second canister was filled with powered Burn Dust if she wanted to empower and strengthen her weapon or her Semblance, but she wouldn't need that for mere Ursa.

Her hand cooled as a smooth hilt was palmed into her grip.

Cinder easily and smoothly spun and side-stepped the charge of her Ursa as she cut deeply into its side, her glassy saber tearing a crimson length into its side.

It roared in pain as it reared up onto its hind legs to swing with a powerful paw swipe, only to be stabbed through the throat by her Saber, Scorching Caress transferring extreme heat down the length of the blade and overloading her weapon, forcing the tip of it explode into shrapnel.

The Ursa's head exploded into fine mist as she pulled out her Saber, now shortened by about a quarter of its length, the tip still red hot and forming from shattered splinters into a proper curved tip.

It was still usable if Neo wasn't done with her two.

Cinder turned to see Neo at the end of her own skirmish. It seemed that her illusions weren't perfect against Grimm like it was against people, however as she hadn't finished killing both Ursa yet, just the one.

The dissolving body of one of the two Ursa laid on the ground with a long length of a cane sword (Cinder knew that the rich bitch would have some sneaky shit like that) piercing through its eye and pinning the head to the ground as it fragmented. The other Ursa however was right at the edge, Neo currently looking rather annoyed as a length wire from the tip of her parasol wrapped around the neck of this second Ursa. Her feet pressed up against the back of its head as it thrashed, claws failing to reach up to the small girl.

At least the small girl had spirit.

Cinder hefted her pared down saber over her shoulder like a javelin, throwing it into the eye of the Ursa's mask, putting the thing down much faster than trying to choke the life out of the Grimm.

"Grimm don't breathe, you know. Choking them out does nothing."

Neo frowned as her wire retracted, showing that there had been a vicious hooked blade tip at the end, that too retracting into the top of her parasol. She strut over to her cane blade, whipping it clean of dirt to the side with a practiced grace and sheathed it.

Her hand pulled out her Scroll and gave her a reply.

I'm used to fighting people. Only fought Grimm a few times.

That actually sent a slight shiver down Cinder's back as Cinder imagined Neo standing on the Ursa's head, that form suddenly replaced by a human in her mind's eye, being slowly shredded by the steel wire, a barbed blade tip stuck in their throat. Neo was actually well suited to be some kind of assassin. Frankly with her inherent silence, her ability to disguise herself, and her attacks which were tailored to fight people…

It was probably a good thing that Jaune would be some kind of a leash for the girl. He hadn't seemed too bothered by her killing her 'family' years ago, but he definitely didn't like the thought of wanton slaughter. That should be worth something. Probably. The girl was weird enough to put hearts around his name, so she'd listen to his words, probably.

"Well…" Cinder took a breath and attempted diplomacy. "That's what you're here to learn, right? How to fight Grimm? I assume your tutors must have taught you how to fight people plenty."

Neo rolled her eyes, both of them flashing pink before returning to their heterochromia.

Yeah I guess. Fighting people is more fun though.

The bloodthirsty grin and the way the small girl fingered her weapon made Cinder realize that maybe Neo wasn't quite as prim and proper as Cinder had first expected. It was both a good and a bad thing.

It didn't change that she was a rich girl and probably had been pampered like hell, but as unhinged as the girl could potentially be, she wouldn't drag her down through initiation. That would have to do for now. She could put up with four years of Neo as long as Cinder found the rich brat someone else to mess with.

She pitied the first easy scapegoat that she'd find to foist Neo's bad habits off to.

"Alright. We should try to keep pace. Let's go." Cinder shifted her three-quarters length Glass Saber into her left hand as she quickly checked that the lids of her Dust canisters were clicked in all the way. "It'd be embarrassing if we got there too late to get our relics."

I'm sure I'd still get in either way. You though? Meh.

Fucking rich brats.

"Well we aren't all quite that lucky are we, princess." Cinder growled as she continued walking on. "The rest of us have to work for what we get."

Not saying I'm going to sabotage you, moron. Just saying it as it is. I only chose to do the initiation exam because it's something Jaune wants to experience.

"I didn't think you were threatening me." Cinder rolled her eyes, "Although that sounds like way more nepotism than I was expecting. Amber said Beacon's better than that. Goes to show you can't trust shit without seeing it with your own eyes."

Naw. I'm just special. Jaune knows why, but I doubt he'd tell you, even if he did give you that water bottle of yours.

Cinder stepped under a tree branch, brushing it up and away with the back of her hand.

"Well he didn't explain how to use it all the way. I had to figure out how to use this thing for more than drinking water on my own." Cinder laughed depreciating. "I'm surprised he gave me this at all after… nevermind."

After what?

There was a dangerous light in Neo's eyes and there was a thickness in the air. Like when Amber used her Semblance to spark bolts of lighting from her fingers and sky. It felt viscous and thick and not quite right, even if Neo's eyes weren't glimmering like balls of flame.

She knew something about Neo wasn't quite right. Something about her was weird as hell. Like her teacher or her Decanter.

"Ask Jaune if it's that important to you. I messed up and he… ha." Cinder still let out a laugh of gentle disbelief whenever she thought back to that day by the campfire in the woods a day and a half after she'd been abandoned to the wilderness of Sanus. "Well, I owe him a lot. We're leaving it at that."

Neo's eyes narrowed, the heavy pressure building for another few seconds before it began to ebb away.

Fine. Jaune keeps no secrets from me.

That did make an uncomfortable shiver down Cinder's back.

Jaune was a weird kid. He probably kept some things close to the vest from everyone, but Neo seemed so sure about that it made her sweat just a little.

She was going to have to sleep with one eye open because of this damn Half-Pint, wasn't she?

Trivia stared at a slew of steel cards, each embedded into the rocky platforms at a slight angle, a variety of strange drawings and fancy cursive lettering upon them.

"Cards? Our 'relics' are just a bunch of dumb playing cards? I guess I'll tuck it into a zipper pocket." She heard Cinder sigh as she reached over to grab one at random.

Her hand flashed out and rapped at the back of her Partner's knuckles.

"What now, Neo?" She sounded tired. Good.

It was funnier that way.

We should at least pick one that we LIKE. She typed on her Scroll.

"Why on Remnant would that even matter?"

Not very attentive, is she? Neo crowed mockingly. Being focused on the big picture is important but ignoring the little details is bad.

Trivia just signed with two fingers in a V, then to her eyes, then waved the V she was making in small circles around the place.

"...Mmm. Ok, they're pairs. Makes sense because teams are meant to be groups of four. So what, this is some weird personality quiz? They're forcing us to live with three strangers for four years off of a personality quiz?! Is this… really how Huntsman Colleges work? This is juvenile." Cinder scowled as her right hand came up to massage her temple. "Screw it. Are there any pairs that aren't a full set? If we grab a pair that's already been taken, that means our teammates will be competent at least."

Trivia quickly pointed out three sets that had missing counterparts.

"...You're not bad at this." Cinder gave her a grudging compliment. Trivia didn't care much for it, since it wasn't from Jaune or Aurelia, but it certainly felt better than being snubbed. "Okay. Let's see. The Devil. The Lovers. The Sword. I'm vetoing The Devil. Anyone that instantly gravitates to a card like that's going to be a pain."

This bitch. Neo laughed. I wanted that though. Still she's right.

Trivia thought that The Sword looked boring so she grabbed The Lovers, holding it above her head like a mistletoe and making a kissy face at Cinder, already stepping away in invisibility as Cinder just shoved a nonplussed hand through her illusion's face, shattering it.

"Great. That's our card. Let's get out of here."

They left the clearing where the 'relics' lay, Neo shattering back into vision as they glanced at two pairs of Beacon hopefuls also come into view.

One of them was the weirdo Vacuoan cowboy looking boy that had been launched right before her.

"Howdy!" He gave a warm smile and a friendly wave.

Neo just gave him a fake plastic smile, regretting it instantly as the boy blushed heavily.

Oh great. He's clueless. Neo groaned as he began to jog in Trivia's direction. Fuck him, let's go.

She entered an illusion, making both herself and Cinder invisible as their illusion forms 'disappeared' in flying flutterings of glass.

Cinder looked confused down at herself, her body mostly visible to her own eyes, but faintly translucent.

Neo grabbed her wrist, made a HUSH motion with her other hand as she dragged the older girl away.

"Hol' up! Wait! Ah didn't even get yer name!"

Cinder rolled her eyes and gave Trivia a shrug, choosing to agree to ignore the headache waiting to happen, joining her as she walked away.

Ok so Cinder MIGHT be alright. Depends on what she did to Jaune before any final judgements. Neo gave a grumbling thanks towards the taller girl. She gets a pass for now.

Trivia rolled her eyes.

Saying thanks or sorry really wasn't in her nature.

That didn't stop her from trying to slide the metal card into Cinder's cleavage on the way back to Beacon as the taller girl failed to clock her upside the head.

The taller girl might have been better at fighting Grimm than her (the damned things seemed to vaguely know where she was even when invisible, even if they were bad at actually sniffing her out) but Trivia had been fighting people since she was twelve. And people that had come at her with the intent of truly harming her from all sorts of fighting styles.

Sure sometimes they'd get lucky and get a lick in, but Trivia had lost to none of them to date.

It was five years too early for Cinder to hit her if Trivia was being serious. She did have a mean right hook though, judging from the feeling of displacing air. Still, Trivia was ten times better at reading hand to hand than weapons. It kind of sucked that she was more talented at that than her fencing.

She'd never be a boxer, lacking both the size or strength for such, but she was confident that she'd never lose to a hand-to-hand fighter without extraneous circumstances. Frankly, Jaune said that it was almost as if her abilities were uniquely suited for fighting people, rather than Grimm. That suited Trivia just fine.

Definitely a shame our build was never suited for boxing. Neo agreed sadly. We throw a decent one-two punch.

Either way they only ran into a smattering of Creeps, Beowolves, and a small flock of little Nevermores the size of hawks, dealing with them all in short order.

And despite the fact they'd been launched from the cliffs of Beacon overlooking the Emerald Forest there was a set of stone stairs carved up the side of the cliff-face that allowed the two girls to arrive safely at the platforms where they had been launched from.

"Congratulations on your return, Students Rider and Fall." The big titty blonde Deputy Headmistress (she would not look out of place in an expensive porno, Trivia decided) gave a small polite smile. "You all did great jobs out there. And retrieved The Lovers card, no less. That would mean you will be partnered with the two students over there."

She gestured over to a pair of Faunus (ooh, fun) with avian features to the side. They might have made a bit of a mistake with The Lovers card, however, as the two seemed to be taking it quite literally.

A lightly naturally tanned (Aura blocked UV Rays apparently) blonde boy with a red feather plume erupting from his forehead dressed in bright flamboyant blue robes meant for a more desert environment sat on a tree stump, a large round shield with a single large central spike and what appeared multiple grooves on its surface holding 20mm grenades rested by his side.

Because putting explosives in a shield meant to PROTECT yourself is SUCH a smart idea. Neo deadpanned, clearly unimpressed by the weapon. It better have safety mechanisms built in to prevent it from going off at random.

On his lap was a pretty redhead, dressed in a black punk outfit with a ripped up stocking that led down to clawed bird talons. Her pleated skirt was a black with white and red plaid pattern. Her tee was cropped, revealing her navel where a silver belly piercing shone. Which was dumb. Huntsman and Huntresses rarely got more than simple ear piercings for a reason. And the girl had a lot of ear piercings as well, alongside a single lip ring by her left lower lip.

Her weapons weren't obvious, like her Partner Cinder's. Maybe it was the fingerless gloves with a multitude of studded leather bracelets? Probably not. That would be dumb. Her belt did seem to have some small pouches behind, though. Probably stored in those.

"...Well this sucks." Cinder sighed. "Might as well introduce ourselves though."

Do we have to? Trivia typed, Neo agreeing with her fully. They seem like a pain.

"As long as they keep to each other, you and I won't have to worry about them bothering us. We can just do the bare minimum teamwork stuff with them and they'll probably work well enough with each other until something goes wrong and they break up. If they break up. Not our problem until then."

Trivia sighed silently before shrugging with both her hands.

It couldn't be helped.

She watched as Cinder stepped forwards to at least try to introduce themselves, laughing in her mind as the taller girl stopped, realizing that Trivia hadn't followed, glared at her, then stomped back to drag her by the arm as a smug w shaped smirk appeared on her face.

"Sup?" Red Head nodded her head coolly with a smirk. "You two the ones to pull The Lovers as well?"

"So it seems." Cinder shrugged, her strong arm still not letting go of Trivia even as she began to struggle slightly against her grip. "I'm Cinder, this brat's Neo."

"She's tiny." Feather Plume laughed a bit as his hand squeezed Red Head's waist on his lap. "She really Beacon age?"

Both of Trivia's eyes flashed pink as Neo promised pain, getting the boy to flinch from her bloodlust as Red Head gave her a faint glare.

A hand quickly typed on her Scroll.

Tall enough to kick your ass.

"Eh. She's got spunk. And I've been thinking I needed another foot to borrow to put up your ass, Ray."

"You wound me Xayah." Ray (obviously a pet name) held his other hand to his heart. "Only foot I want up my ass is yours."

Xaya raised a foot with a wicked set of jet black curved talons.

"You sure?"

"Everything's a plug if you're brave enough."

"Gross." Cinder scowled as Xayah laughed and gave her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek.

Ozpin smiled inside.

Though unorthodox, the Spring Maiden seemed to have somehow gravitated towards the potential Fall Maiden Inheritor. It felt like too many of his eggs were beginning to weigh down in a single basket, but Amber was starting to also get up there in age despite her youthful appearance. She had been twenty nine when she'd inherited her powers about fourteen years ago.

Mana had an odd way of keeping the body younger for longer, even if it was mostly surface level. Still Amber had already decided that she would serve as a Huntress until her dying day, swearing to pass on her legacy to her chosen apprentice. And despite his concerns, he wished to respect her wishes.

His own bones already felt old in his late fifties even if he appeared like a fresh thirty something on the surface. Well. Aura helped with that a bit too. Still his current incarnation probably still had another fifty or sixty years left if he'd be able to stay away from any intense fighting. He wished he had Peter's Semblance Spirit of Youth so that he could still move around like he was in his twenties.

Not that Ozpin would go around wrangling up Grimm with his bare hands in his spare time like the man, but having the ability to move like he was still in the prime of his life would be nice.

Still trouble was brewing in the upcoming years, so a peaceful end to his current body wouldn't be very likely, however. And that was worrisome. Salem had been more active these last few decades than the whole previous century. As always he was running out of time.

"And now our last team, ironically the first to have both pairs make their way out of the Emerald Forest." He announced. "Cinder Fall. Rakan Skywalker. Xayah Sundance. Neapolitan Rider. You four retrieved The Lovers relics. Thus you shall become Team Crimson (CRXN), led by Cinder Fall."

He nodded at the four students that stepped up to the stage, though the Spring Maiden, the willful girl she was, just looked bored. Qrow assured him, however, that the girl would listen to anything the Last Magus of Remnant would ask of her and he was aware that the boy dreamed of coming to Beacon like his father.

Truly the God of Light was with him.

As long as he kept Cinder Fall, formerly Amber (the irony) out of Solitas everything would turn out fine.

Not to mention that he was curious what it was about the girl that caused Last Magus Jaune Arc (who according to Qrow had a frightening eye for talent, finding the young Pyrrha Nikkos before she'd even won the Mistral Circuit at a record breaking age) to allow her freedom after her betrayal. It was fortunate that she seemed to find purpose under his Amber's wing, perhaps.

Still Ozpin would keep a better eye on this one, if only to prevent another Raven Branwen incident.

"It seems that this shall be a most… interesting few years."