V. Fated to Meet

5:00AM

Lashe Sherwood sat up from his sleeping bag and looked around, trying to loosen his joints after a good night's sleep. No one seemed to be stirring from their slumber at this time of day. Not that he had any expectations that there would be anyone else who like to wake up this early. Too much excitement had been used up upon arrival at the school grounds. They are bound to be tired, wanting to take their time in sleeping.

The sleeping bag and additional blanket had been packed away before he would proceed in changing for his early exercises. Lashe may be starting my first week at an academy, but it gave him no excuse to skip on his strict morning regiment.

Walking out of the hall with the intent of finding a place to put his belongings momentarily, as few as they are, he came upon the bathrooms as he silently explored the campus. Even the faculty seemed to be inactive at the moment. That or they preferred to watch from a distance.

He turned around as fast as he could, hoping to find the thing/person stalking him. There doesn't seem to be any cameras explicitly placed anywhere on campus. They must be using stealth or minuscule cameras in order to keep track of their potential students, faculty, and other staff. If not, he would have already spotted them. His training would never let him miss anything he needs to see.

Cautiously, he approached one of the bathroom doors, only to be hit by one of the girl's bathroom door when he is about to pass it. The person on the other side gasped when she felt the collision.

This girl had brown hair, short and directed to the left and somewhat still wet, capped by a white headband. A small diamond with four smaller triangles was attached to the accessory, her insignia most likely. He saw green eyes widen in surprise.

"I'm so sorry!" He heard someone say, worried they have hurt him.

But when she tried to look for the person she hit, she saw no one else in the hallway. Her violet and white flannel scarf followed her head movement as she surveyed the area. She felt strange to have been talking to someone a second earlier only to have no one there with her.

The girl pulled out what looked like a shield from her bag and placed it on her wrist. It was big enough cover most of her arm, her forearm and half up her elbow to be precise. But it was no ordinary shield as a quarter of it opened up to reveal a sawblade underneath. It revved as she took a few steps away from the door, hoping that there really was no one there playing tricks on her and that it was only in her mind. Lashe thought of the act as a warning shot a police officer would do to in an attempt to intimidate a criminal trying to flee.

"Stand down." The voice made her jump. She spun around and still saw no one, but she knew that there was a person with her. That didn't stop her from maintaining her battle ready stance, despite the bag she is carrying with her other arm. At least she didn't randomly swing her weapon in hopes of getting him.

There was a bit of flickering just a few feet from her. Lashe began reappearing a few feet from the bathroom doors, hands raised as if to say 'Don't shoot' or in this case 'Don't saw me in half'. He would not be doing such a gesture if he's armed, but who would have thought a girl would come out of the bathroom armed with a shield-saw?

When she realized that he was not a threat, she closed her shield and dropped the stance. "Please don't tell me you weren't going to take a peek in the bathroom." Her tone was not unlike a mother about to scold her own son.

The boy across from her could only glare at her for thinking that he would do such a thing.

"O-Oh. Sorry," She stepped back, scratching the back of her head as if understanding his wordless statement. "You were invisible there for a second there..."

"Semblance," Lashe simply answered. He received a nod from her as a response.

"I hope you don't plan on going to Initiation like that." She pointed to his current outfit. A loose green shirt and jogging pants with a dark shade of green. He shook his head in reply. "Good! Don't wanna make a bad impression out there."

He presented his own bag, as if telling her that he plans on changing as well.

"Well, I'm just gonna go and put these away." She pointed her thumb to one of the hallways. "I still have some exercises to do. Loosen up and prepare, you know?"

Lashe raised an eyebrow at the girl. In a school as big as this, he knew that he wouldn't be the only one to like doing morning rituals similar to his. He just didn't expect them to happen this early in the semester, probably a week or so when everyone has settled in. Again, he nods at her, understanding her desire.

"I'm Marille, by the way." Marille introduced herself, extending a hand to him.

"Lashe," he replied, shaking her hand once before pulling away.

"Nice to meet you, Lashe. I guess I'll be seeing you later then." With a wave, Marille turned around and went looking for the lockers, leaving Lashe alone by the bathrooms.

The boy in green could only shrug his shoulders at their brief introduction. 'It could have been worse,' he thought to himself. But he knew that this was not going to be the last time he sees her. That he was sure.

- MACL -

They were told to assemble at the cliff later for the event called 'Initiation'. Marille had mentioned that same word back in their first meeting, but apparently it had a bigger meaning than he previously thought. The concept of being paired with someone else was thrown around in some rumors he had heard during breakfast sent a lot of people panicking. But he knew rumors were just rumors. He will have to wait for the official word on partners from the staff.

He ate at a steady pace, filling him up for the important event soon to come. He had chosen to eat at the corner of the room on his lonesome with his own table. None of the other students seem to pay attention to him, which he liked. It would give him some space and room for observing his fellow first years.

There were quite a number of students there. It might have been a blessing to have such a space to accommodate a big enough number with the food supplied all the while being aptly comfortable. The academy didn't pull their punches in the quality of the food. It might as well be the best breakfast he's had in a while, but he still had a bias from a certain delicacy prepared by a certain individual who brought him in to the world.

Some of the individuals there were quite colorful. He had spotted a girl with bright yellow hair that burned as bright as the sun accompanied by a smaller girl with black hair and red highlights, who looked like she was younger than the rest of the student population. He saw a boy, brunette and short haired, armored enough to be thought of classical equipment, breastplate and armguards and all as a mace was hung from his waist. He felt uncomfortable as he saw him grin at a passing deer faunus.

He had seen another girl, this time she had a familiar patterned scarf around her neck. He remembered her name. Marille. She was chatting with another person, a boy who held a bag of chips. It seemed like she was scolding him for his choice of breakfast, who answered loosely with a shrug before he put in a chip in his mouth.

His eyes zoned in on two individuals who had just entered the room. A faunus and a human, both boys. The duo differed in size, the faunus being almost three heads taller than the human. And hairy too. His arms too were longer and bigger than the usual faunus and human. Silence also seemed to be a strong suit that contrasted the human's perpetually moving mouth, one that was accommodated by a resigned deadpan stare.

His human companion seemed to be in the middle of a story as he had been using exaggerated gestures whilst telling it to his friend. The voice carried over to where Lashe was. Some of the preoccupied students even turned to the source just to see what the commotion was all about. From the looks of it, his body language seemed to get bolder with each pair of eyes focused on him, his story telling getting louder and grander.

"My classmates would have been dead meat if I hadn't intervened! Just goes to show you that if you want things done, you better have the best on your side." The human bowed to no one in particular when he ended his spiel.

"I know. I was there." The gorilla-faunus sighed, taking a tray from the stack as he lined up for breakfast. His friend took his tray and cut in front of him, earning him another sigh as he grabbed another tray with his long reaching arm.

"Move aside." He just walked up to the middle of the line and casually shoved a poor unassuming blonde teenager from his spot, which then became his. Several of the other students behind him expressed their outrage with various iterations of the phrase 'What the hell!?'. He looked back at them over his shoulder and scoffed before returning his attention to his friend. No one else seemed to continue their reaction upon seeing the towering half-animal, half-human in front of them as they shrank in their spots and were effectively silenced.

"I'm sorry for his behavior." The much taller first year bowed slightly before turning his focus back to the human in front of him.

"Now where was I? Oh yeah, good thing too. But you weren't as good as you are now compared to back then. If you were then you might have lasted longer."

"That was because I had spent the last fifteen minutes of that encounter fighting them off while you struggled to make a dent on a Beowolf." The faunus argued.

"Semantics, dear Malkas." The human waved a finger in front of him with a proud grin on his face. "Potato, tomato. Moral of the story: the hero always wins, and the hero that story is 'moi'!"

"Not every hero is always victorious," The boy named Malkas said. He received a frown and a shake of the head from his companion.

"You're bringing this hero down with that kind of talk this early in the morning."

"I won't be talking like this if you weren't lying, Cray."

The frown deepened. "Are you really going to start? Let's not."

Malkas shrugged. "As you wish." He said dismissively, passing Cray as he had kept the line waiting.

Lashe was interested in knowing what this Malkas person's skills and abilities were. His friend, on the other hand, was someone he'd like to avoid. He would only test his patience. Once he had finished the last bite of his sandwich, he disposed of his tray and went to the lockers to equip himself and prepare as best as he can.

- MACL -

The wind blew gently as he stood on the plate he had taken up upon arrival at the cliffs. It almost blew his hood back, but his hand kept it in place. Lashe's eyes scanned the area where the Initiation would be taking place in.

A horizon of green stood in front of him, various sizes of trees had grown in this massive forest as well as the population of Grimm. If this place were the designated Initiation location every year then that same population is always affected by the students aiming to impress the faculty while being paired with another hunter or huntress in training.

Speaking of faculty, two of them were already at the front upon their group had finished occupying the plates. One of them had been scolded for not paying attention, only to play it off as he swaggered over to his designated place. Lashe made a note to never look at him in the eye if he meets him at the forest until Initiation ends.

"You're seriously fighting the Grimm with just a bow?" A feminine voice spoke up in the midst of their orientation. He looked over, only having to look down due to the girl's smaller stature. She couldn't have been only five feet and five inches. A head of orange hair tied into a long ponytail with a small peaked cap.

He only raised his eyebrow at the question. "If ya got offended by that then don't worry about it. Was just curious."

She had been eyeing his dark green longbow for quite a while. As if attempting to answer her question, he activated its secondary form. The bow folded in half and twisted until it became a sword, its blade ending with a hook-like point.

"Cool." She remarked. He immediately returned it to its longbow form when she was done looking at it. Lashe nodded at hers, prompting her to tilt her head sideways. He then gestured to the weapon placed on her back.

"Oh this?" The girl pulled it off her back to show an axe. It had a long handle and two blades at the top with what seemed like thrusters at the front and back attached on the blades, its massive size overshadowing the girl, but she confidently handled the weapon like she had used it for a long time. "Don't worry about the size. I may be small, but this thing ain't that heavy once you get through years of training with it."

He could only nod at the statement. She must be quite strong to be that small and still be able to wield such a large weapon.

"Are there any other questions?" The headmaster piped up after a long explanation. A moment later, even after one of them had expressed a curious question to which he was ignored, he added, "Great. To your positions!"

A chorus of gears grinding and machinery activating sent of the students who understood the implied incoming chain of events and the headmaster's previous instructions into readied stances. Lashe was curious as to how they were beginning the Initiation, which was answered by one of the students hollering in excitement as they were catapulted into the air by their plate.

Lashe only nodded and prepared himself, taking note of his specialized arrows in his quiver, thinking ahead and taking note of what hazards lie in the forest below.

"I hope I run into a lotta Grimm! Just so I can see how much of 'em I can cut down!" The girl beside him spoke to no one in particular, but it did get Lashe's attention. The Grimm were very dangerous creatures, especially for civilians and other individuals unequipped for encounters with them. Normally, a hunter/huntress-in-training would do their best to avoid them in their initial days in an academy. Seeing one relishing the thought of fighting and slaying one made Lashe want to be cautious with this kind of person, perhaps avoid them in case he would get in her line of fire.

"What's your name?" The girl asked him, her murderous smile being replaced by a casual yet inquisitive glance. "Mine's Amber Solarys."

"Lashe Sherwood." He answered. Lashe would have given her his first name only, but thought to give his full name since she had given hers.

"Lashe Sherwood?" She repeated, a hint of curiosity in her voice. "Nah, doesn't fit 'ya." The only made him look at her with confusion. "How about 'Arrow', since you use a bow and arrow. Sound good?"

He only shrugged. He wasn't going to try to convince her to use his actual name. That's her prerogative.

"Great!" Amber cheered.

The student next to Amber had been launched into the forest. She took her weapon at hand and readied herself, the thrusters on her weapon flaring as she gripped the handle with both of her hands.

"See ya down there if I see ya!" Amber told him, her grin almost as big as the axe she twirled above her head, just before the plate under her feet activated. She flew into the air and over the lush trees and dangerous Grimm with a cheer.

Lashe shook his head. He sure was meeting a lot of interesting people. It was inescapable that he would. A school that trains teenagers to fight the darkness of the Grimm and what else that may endanger the world has a tendency to do that.

His only issue now was what kind of people he would get teamed up with. Would he agree and like them or would he hate their guts? If it were the latter, he knew it wouldn't beat his hatred for the person he hated the most. Whatever it is, he has four years to spend with them whether he likes them or not. He hoped it would be worth it.

A/N: Hey there guys and girls! You may have noticed that I did not explicitly state that the academy in this chapter is Beacon unlike the previous chapter. This is because I only used Beacon as a placeholder school. So I tried to keep it vague this time around. I've yet to decide if I should make my own academy or not.

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. The 'landing strategy' chapter is still on the way! Funny thing about that is I was writing that when I veered off course and made this one instead. Took me a few days, but now it is done. It may be short if I do get through it. Hopefully, it'll only take a few days to write, probably fewer than this if I could concentrate.