“Students, and future graduates of Atlas academy.”
Ironwood’s voice rang out through the massive and expansive metallic room he found himself within. It was a hanger, specifically one located within an Atlesian command ship, and the headmaster was far from alone. Joining him in the hangar were exactly thirty-six teenagers of varying height, appearance and gender. Each and every person in the room had their eyes focused on the headmaster as he spoke.
“You have all come so far to arrive at this moment. You’ve overcome trials within your chosen combat school and graduated with the skills necessary to pass your entrance exams and gain access to the prestigious Atlas Academy. Now, those acquired skills will be put to the test…”
As he spoke, the massive blast doors that separated the interior hangar from the cold winds outside began to move. They slid open, revealing to the future students within the freezing tundra of Atlas. Not only that, their ship had parked itself above one location in particular. A mining facility. A massive sinkhole that went deeper and deeper into the earth, with its bottom an impossibly thick void of darkness.
“...Within the abandoned mineshaft.”
Many of the students expressed nervous or distasteful mutters at the sight of the mine. Others kept up their stern faces of bravery, while some simply stared in despair at their task.
“Your task today is a simple get in, get out extraction mission. There are several relics located within the mines below, and you with your partner must each bring one back up to the surface, at which point you will be extracted and returned to Atlas Academy. Do you understand?”
“Yes sir!”
“Yessir!”
“Yes, General sir!”
Ironwood received a chorus of salutes from the students.
“Now. Many of you may be wondering amongst yourselves how these partners will be formed. As Professor Ozpin would put it, ‘the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years’” Ironwood recited. “That will be all. Any questions?”
The general didn’t wait for any of the students to raise their hand. Rather, he simply turned his back on the group and made his way towards an elevated platform.
“Your initiation begins now.”
The students instantly steeled themselves, with many taking up fighting stances, readying for… Whatever was about to happen. Several moments passed, nothing. The seconds ticked on by and still, nothing. A full two minutes and the students had been given no further instruction, nor had anything out of the ordinary occurred. Many had begun to drop their readied fighting stances and return to their normal casual body language, with bewildered expressions.
“Hey, do you know what’s going on?”
A boy tapped a nearby girl on the shoulder. His clothing was rather tattered and in poor condition, all the way from his grey cloak, black baggy pants, brown boots and black top hat.
“Huh?” The girl turned around to face him. She had long flowing hair, dyed a dark purple with a short dress of the same colour. Strapped to her back was a harp.
“I dunno. Why are you asking me?” She replied.
“I am overall very confused.” The boy said, gazing around at the interior of the hanger and out at the open blast doors. “How did we even get up here?”
“What the- What are you even-”
“I was sleeping the whole time, I barely even remember getting on this thing. Now everyone looks like they’re waiting for something. What’s gonna happ-!”
The boy was instantaneously cut off as the floor below him disappeared. Not just for him in fact, but for each and every student within the hanger. The floors of the room had opened up, leaving a sheer drop to the ground below and nowhere to stand. Instantly, with a collective scream of surprise and terror, the students dropped.
The students all began to plummet to the ground in masse, all headed towards the massive pit that contained the mining facility.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“AH! WHAT?! WHAT AM I EVEN DOING HERE?!” The boy with the tattered clothing screamed as he fell.
“This reminds me of the time I fell out of a moving aircraft.” Another boy said, relatively calmly despite the circumstances. This student was a faunus, sporting a pair of bright green cat ears, sticking out from a mop of similarly coloured hair. He wore a bright purple suit, dotted with blue pineapples all over and matching pants. He didn’t seem all that phased by the situation.
“That pitiful ground is no match for me!” A third boy exclaimed. This student sported a purple shoulder pauldron and bracers, paired with feathered hair ties that streamlined his black hair into a bun.
“Keep calm. This is just like training… Just like training… Definitely just like training…” The girl in the purple dress muttered to herself as the ground neared with every second. Taking a deep breath, the girl extended her hand. A spectral construct of sorts began to materialize itself around her. The shape of a musical staff, with notes dotting it all along its length. The staff wrapped around her like a shield, whilst slowly rotating.
The snowy ground of the tundra was now a mere few feet away. Realizing this, the girl grabbed her weapon off her back. An elegant purple harp grasped delicately in her hands… Which was then thoroughly and roughly played as though it were an electrical guitar.
“This had better work, damn you!” She screamed as the ground prepared to welcome her with open arms. Before she could fulfill her destiny of becoming a red stain on the snow however, the staff surrounding her body moved. It flew away from her, moving between herself and the ground and forming a slope that led safely to the ground. Her feet landed upon the slope, allowing her to skate down it like a slide and arrive on the ground in relative safety.
“Maybe this is actually just a dream.” The boy with the tattered clothes spoke to himself aloud as he plummeted. “Surely that has to be the case! So I’ll be perfectly fine if I hit the ground. I’ll just wake back up in my trash can!”
With this in mind, the boy absentmindedly relaxed himself. He grinned as he found himself seconds away from impact with the ground, not a care in the world… Until he slammed directly into a tree. One of the few trees in the mostly barren tundra.
“What the-! AAAAAAA!” He screamed as he fell through the branches, each one breaking his fall before he finally hit the ground with a thud, surrounded by a pile of twigs and bark, the impact of the fall thoroughly reduced.
“What did I do the time I fell out of that moving aircraft again?” The faunus boy questioned himself as he fell. “Oh wait.”
Without batting an eye, the boy simply stood still and activated his aura. The purple energy flickered to life around his body as normal. However, following this seemingly average activation, his aura began to glow even brighter. A thick purple energy emanated from the faunus as he suddenly changed trajectories. Instead of plummeting towards the ground he now flew upwards, farther into the sky. It was as though he was falling, but backwards. He seemed content with this new trajectory for the moment, now headed towards the atmosphere at a rapid pace.
“Actually it is quite possibly a bad idea to fly directly into space.” The faunus figured. His aura began to glow brightly again, and his trajectory once more changed to falling back towards land. Seconds before he would have made impact with the ground, he once more reversed his gravity, halting his momentum entirely, before returning to normal and allowing himself to reach the ground safely.
“AHAHA! STUPID IDIOT GROUND!” The third and final boy exclaimed as he fell. Thinking much quicker on his feet than the others, he reached for his belt and extracted… A metallic bird statue, about the size of his hand. Pointing his finger at the statue, his aura began to glow a dull purple. “I, the great Raco, imbue you with life!”
A tiny beam of light flew from his finger and into the bird statue. Instantly, the statue’s eyes began to glow the same dull purple. It began to move of its own accord, flapping its metallic wings furiously and letting out a small chirp. Raco grabbed hold of the statue’s legs, grinning the entire time.
“Carry me to victory, my creation!” The boy shouted. The bird furiously flapped its wings, barely able to even hold the weight of its creator. Slowly but surely, Raco and his bird descended towards the ground at a snail’s pace. They would get there. Eventually.
*
“It seems as though most of the students have landed now, sir.” A woman clad in the outfit of an Atlesian technician looked up from a monitor and turned to Ironwood. The General now found himself within a control room of sorts within the Atlesian airship. It was filled to the brim with various technicians all monitoring screens that displayed the various students taking part in the initiation. The General oversaw all of it, glancing at the various different cameras and students at random.
“Very good. Did all of them make it?” Ironwood questioned.
“Well, none of them failed to come up with a landing strategy at the very least. Some are taking a little longer than others…” The woman grimaced at the screen in front of her. It displayed Raco and his bird, still traveling towards the ground with quite the ways to go.
“That was rather unexpected.”
Ironwood looked away from the technician briefly, instead focusing his attention on a new arrival in the control room. A man clad in a double breasted white collared coat, fingerless brown gloves and white pants. He sported brown hair, green eyes and a shiny four leafed clover badge on his jacket. A familiar face for the general to be sure.
“Ah, Clover. I’m glad you could make it. I know you always enjoy monitoring the initiations.” Ironwood greeted Clover with a kind demeanor, grinning at the man. “And yes, this delayed drop will teach the students a valuable lesson in keeping their guards up. I’m sure many of them won’t forget it.”
“A little harsh for new students though, don’t you think?” Clover asked apprehensively.
“We need to ensure that every new generation of huntsmen and huntresses is better than the last. This means pushing them right out the gate. And it seems as though they’ve already proved their worth to attend this academy.” The General replied. He paused, before adding soon after. “Also, the fall isn’t enough to kill or seriously maim anyone with their aura up.”
“You’re the headmaster I suppose. Better prepare the generation that might replace us one day…”
“Speaking of which, where are the other four Ace Ops? I would’ve thought that they’d want to come along and watch the initiation as well… Or that you’d have at least forced them to.” Ironwood questioned with a laugh.
“All four of them apparently had better things to do with their time, and I wasn’t gonna force them to come with me.” Clover answered with a shrug. “But honestly… I think they’re all just worried that this next generation is gonna be better than they were as students.”
“We’ll soon see who truly comes out on top this year. Who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself a worthy successor to take up the mantle, like with Marrow.”
“Why do you think I enjoy coming to watch the initiation every year? I think I have an eye for picking out students with the most potential…”
“Is that right Clover? Well I guess we’ll see soon.” Ironwood glanced back at the monitors that surrounded the room. “It seems as though these first years are about to have their first encounter with the creatures of Grimm…”