III. Freefall

Cray Nicholas stepped forward from the metal plate he was instructed to stand on and peered over the side of Beacon Cliff.

His eyes widened at how deep the drop is, along with how far the forest in front of him reached. He wanted to take a guess as to how long the Emerald Forest, the name his best friend informed him just a few seconds earlier, stretched. The amount he estimated was a hundred miles since he is not an expert on calculations. He concluded that it is VERY far.

His throat felt dry, his entirety feeling nervous. Cray did not like showing any hints of weakness, so he attempted to look casually concerned, raising an eyebrow at the sight.

"Just what are we doing up here…?" Cray wondered silently to himself.

A short hiss came behind him, but his gross fascination and growing dread prevented him from hearing it. It came again at least twice more, but was left ignored. However, he did hear the next sound that was directed towards the teenager.

"Mr. Nicholas!" His name was shouted by a bespectacled blond haired woman holding a tablet in her hand, dressed to look too professional despite the black and violet cape on her shoulders. Cray turned his head to her and straightened in an instant. "I would advise you to follow instructions unless you do not want to partake in the initiation."

"…Of course," He winked and pointed to the professor before going back to his instructed place in the line while a few students began whispering to each other. The blond professor shook her head before putting her attention to the others getting into position.

Cray didn't care about his fellow students' reaction were about what happened. He is only concerned with hearing his name in their conversation. They knew who he was now. His goal now is to make them remember who he is.

One person who knew him now was looking at him. Head topped with white hair standing beside the professor known as Glynda Goodwitch, hands holding to the hilt of his sword and, strangely enough, a mug of coffee that is hot enough to see the steam from where he is. Ozpin is his name and he is the headmaster of Beacon Academy.

Cray felt somewhat intimidated now that the headmaster was looking straight at him. The only time he felt like this was when he was training at home as his father and trainer looked on.

"Seems like you want to have a negative impression on your first day," Cray looked over to his right where the source of the deep voice was: his best friend, Malkas, his large fur covered arms crossed at his chest and his head shaking at him.

Malkas is one of the only few people he has known from childhood to recent memory, a gorilla Faunus who was almost three times bigger than any normal human. He was born in Menagerie and had moved to Atlas, Cray's original home kingdom, at a young age. Malkas has been with him for as long as he can remember. Any memory he can bring up always had him by his side, the two friends being somewhat inseparable. Even now they had moved to another kingdom and are now in the same school.

The teal-wearing teenager scoffed at him. "Any impression is better than no impression at all," Cray stated confidently, pounding his chest once before grinning. Malkas just sighed.

Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch spoke briefly to the line of students in front of them, confirming the assignment of teams in regards to the rumors that have been floating around with the freshmen since yesterday after their arrival. The headmaster told them what the purpose of their next endeavour is, which is being paired up with their fellow students into teams of 2. Cray could not help himself in nudging his best friend, prompting him to nod back. They are then tasked in travelling to the temple in the Emerald Forest, obtaining one of the relics, and going back to Beacon Cliff safely.

Cray paid attention to the headmaster's instructions. What he got out of Professor Ozpin's brief explanation is that this whole activity is not a competition, but more of a complex assignment of pairings. But he did not say that it could be a competition and try to best the other pairings by being the first pair to get back. He thought that this would prove their team's efficiency as a huntsman-in-training, thus proving that he is one of the best upcoming students in Beacon Academy. And he is all about being the best.

He looked over to Malkas and saw him absorbing the details of being given by the two professors like a sponge. If Cray could pick anyone in the world that he would team up with, it would be the individual physically towering over him. He is one of the few people he trusts and he knew he would have his back. That is something anyone would look out for a partner, right? Why bother looking anywhere else? If they could be paired, he would be the spectacular, great, and awesome leader and Malkas would be the daring and loyal right-hand man.

"Are there any questions?" Headmaster Ozpin asked, but did not look around for any curious eyes.

"Um…yeah. I got one." He actually did not need to look far since the one who spoke up, a young man with blond hair who looked like he didn't belong with everyone around him, raised his hand near the front.

"Good!" The Headmaster exclaimed, ignoring the questioning teen. "Now take your positions."

The row students moved upon notification, some readying their weapons and took their own stances, save for the blond guy with his hand still raised. Before he could ask his question, Cray started to hear whirring of gears and the groaning of machinery.

"So this...landing strategy thing, what is it? Are you dropping us off?" The student asked. Cray heard this and rolled his eyes.

The teen in teal did not know who this guy us, and he really didn't care who he was, but he thought he was an idiot. He should have already figured out by now what is going to happen. Did he need more context clues to be able to tell what is going on?

His hand went to the hilt of his weapon, Letha, strapped to his back. If his guess is correct, and 10 times out of 10 it is, whatever will happen may involve a lot of falling. Letha's tertiary form, where the blunt end expands into a form reminiscent of an open umbrella and spins like a propeller until flight is managed, a form inspired by his brothers' current piloting careers in the military, would certainly help him in this scenario. Cray grinned as he waited for the signal to jump off the cliff.

His thoughts were disturbed by the sound of whirring mechanisms once again, causing Cray to look around. To his left he saw one of the students on their platform get catapulted off the cliff. The sight surprised him, his widened eyes following the students into the air as they peaked in the ascent and started descending. Strangely enough, the student looked prepared instead of scared.

"Uh oh..." The grin on his face dropped. He may have been right on the falling part, but he definitely did not expect being forcibly thrown off the cliff by the plate under their feet.

"What's the matter?" Malkas asked him, a smile forming at the edge of his lips. "Losing your nerve?"

Cray straightened and glared at his friend. "Cray Nicholas NEVER loses his nerve!" He grabbed Letha from his back and pointed it to the faunus. "Don't ever say such a ridiculous thing ever again. It's insulting!"

"Rather touchy today, are we?"

"You don't attack a man's ego just like that!"

"It's because you make it so easy."

"Listen here, just because I'm your friend doesn't mean I'm not going to smack that hairy face of yours. Do you want me to prove to you why I'm the best huntsman-in-training in all of Atlas?"

"Okay, first off, you are not the best. 26th best, sure, but not the overall best. Second, I'd like to see you try. Here's hoping you'd last longer than our last mock battle."

"How dare you bring that up!?" Cray hissed, stepping forward and digging his index finger to Malkas' chest. It looked like he had ruffled his feathers a lot with that just one statement seeing as he was now turning red in the face.

Malkas rolled his eyes as Cray continued to rant on his friend, which he had now tuned out. But unbeknownst to him, the Initiation did not stop just because he was not paying attention. A couple of students near Cray had already been launched and there were only 3 left before his turn.

"Cray," Malkas tried to interrupt as a student was catapulted into the air.

"The reason why that fight was so short was because I had other matters in mind! My schedule was full for that day and I could only entertain you for a few minutes. But if circumstances were different, hohoho, I would surely show you why I am better than you!"

"Perhaps you'd like to listen-" Another student was sent flying. He could see from the edge of his peripheral vision that Miss Goodwitch was staring at them along with a few of their fellow classmates.

"If you were fighting any normal man, they would have immediately conceded, but not Cray Nicholas! Cray Nicholas fears no man, woman, Faunus, or Grimm! Fear itself is scared of me! It'd be a dark day when I am to be seen shaking in my boots over any individual brave enough to even attempt to intimidate me, because that is impossible!"

"If you interrupt me one more-" One more was sent flying, leaving Cray to be up next.

"Or what?" Cray went forward once again, staring upwards to the taller student, eyes burning with determination, unafraid of the possible consequences for not listening. "What are you going to do? Huh? Nothing, that's what! Cray Nicholas does not take orders from the likes of you! If you want, I'll even show you why I'm the best student to ever graduate from Core Academy, 26th best or not! You may be the bigger combatant between us, but my efficiency, athleticism, and complete mastery of my skills will definitely show you that I. AM. THE! BETTER! HUNTER!" He emphasized his point by jabbing his finger continually at Malkas' chest.

Malkas growled at him, expressing his impatience with his friend. If he didn't want to listen then he would just have to use force. He grabbed Cray's wrist to stop him from prodding him, eliciting another outraged cry. With his other hand he simply shoved back, getting him back on his platform.

"Oh you're in it now!" Cray pointed Letha to Malkas' face. "You want a fight? I'll give you a fight. It'll be a fight you won't ever forget because by the end you'll be whimpering at my fee-"

He was unable to finish his statement when the platform he was one suddenly whirred and sent him airborne.

"-EEEEEEEEEEEEEETTT!" Cray finished his statement with a yell, not expecting to be flying over the forest at the moment. His form upon flight is barely graceful with his body flipping and rotating all over the place, but that did not matter to him when his mind was finally able to get a grasp of the situation. He had committed one mistake he made that could possibly cost him dearly.

Cray had accidentally let go of his dear Letha.

Cray was swearing to himself when he realized what he had done when he saw his weapon sailing through the air just ahead of him. He was severely caught off-guard that he inadvertently released his grasp on his weapon the moment he lost feeling of the ground under him.

The raven-haired student reached for the umbrella-shaped weapon, but his arms were coming up short as he is unable to even touch it. He looked down and saw the forest is still at a reasonable height below, though that was about to change in a few seconds. Cray knew he wouldn't last if he didn't have Letha's tertiary form to help him out. Seeing himself as a splatter on the ground did not entertain the confident boy one bit. So he had to act quickly.

He quickly tried to remove his orange tie as fast as he could. As he did this, he heard a few students around him reacting to being launched. One guy was screaming and one girl was trying to tell the others to get out of her way. One notable girl he saw, one with long yellow hair, use the momentum she was getting by firing her weapon to push her up into the air and continuing her flight. Cray mumbled to himself that he should have gotten a weapon with recoil instead, but he didn't have time to complain. When he had his tie in his hands he used tried to throw it like a lasso to get a hold of Letha and pull it in. He barely missed the first attempt when the hilt flipped out of reach.

Fortunately, the second attempt worked in his favor, the loop catching the hilt of the weapon. He barely had any time to celebrate when he was a tree branch coming his way. He put shoved the tie into his jacket's pocket and activated Letha's tertiary form and cut through the branch with ease. That did not make things easier for him as part of the branch was left stuck in the blades, stopping it from spinning.

"Nonononononononono!" Cray muttered as he tried getting the branch out, kicking and pulling at it, but it was stuck in there real good and it clearly was not moving anytime soon. He needed time because another tree was in front of him, a massive one at that, and soon it was going to hit him, or rather he was going to hit it. He pulled the trigger of his weapon to make it spin over and over again, but each time it only whirred like a car that refused to activate.

Hopelessness began to set in when Letha did not want to cooperate with him. He could only look forward and see the tree coming closer. Cray Nicholas only wished that if he had a choice in his death that it would be a fantastic send-off that would equal the Moon incident, like how awesome individuals such as himself deserve, not a disgusting splat. But he closed his eyes and hoped it would be quick and painless.

He counted the seconds, hoping to be cut off by the impact. One. Two. Three...Four...Five...?

... …

Cray was sure that by the speed he was going along with the descent being caused by gravity, he would have been a simple abstract art of blood on the tree trunk by now, his carcass to be given for free to the Grimm to munch on. But it did not happen yet.

Six...seven...eight...nine... TEN…

Again, nothing.

When death didn't come, he realized something was wrong. He opened his eyes and wondered if he was already dead, that his death was indeed quick and painless. He turned out to be wrong as he felt the world around him to be still there, but everything looked like it was going in slow motion. The tree was still there a few feet in front of him as he rotated towards it, waiting for his demise to be met against it. He looked around and his surroundings went by him slower than usual.

Actually, that is not the case. Things went by slower than usual for a reason. When Cray tried to move, he expected his limbs to react also in slow motion, but they did not as his hands went up to his face in normal speed. He also heard some whooping and gunfire in the distance, and it did not sound like it was warped or anything as it sounded normal. Realization hit him when he saw his hands and arms along with his entire form being covered by a glow that shared the color of his jacket.

What he realized is that he had activated his semblance. His ability to control his own gravity.

"Stupid, stupid..." He groaned, smacking his forehead when it sunk in, making him rotate in the air. He momentarily forgot about his own semblance since he was too focused in teaching his friend a lesson.

He felt himself hit the tree now, but the impact was rather anticlimactic since his speed and velocity was barely there and it all felt like a ball in a slow roll nudging a wall. The second-born of the Nicholas family righted himself with his feet planting against the tree's trunk and pushed off the tree towards the ground. He flipped and landed in a three-point stance.

At least he was able to land on his feet with more grace and elegance compared to how he was during his flight.

After putting down Letha for a second and brushing off the leaves and pieces of wood off his clothes as well as putting back his tie where it belonged, he proceeded to remove the branch from his dear weapon. It came off eventually, granting him use of his weapon's full abilities once again.

"Now to find that annoying ape," Cray said to himself once he was finished fixing up his tie. He might have been arguing with him earlier, but he is still his best friend. He's the only person he can be partnered with, one way or another. He is not going to be stuck in a duo with anyone else. With that goal in mind, he picked a random direction and started to walk, hoping to find Malkas before he makes eye contact with anyone he would regret.

A/N: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this particular what-if Initiation experience of our cocky hunter-in-training. This was the first thing I had in mind when I was done making his character, especially after the weapon concept was made. I am planning on making one for each of the other members of the team, especially Amber's, but it may turn out a bit shorter than this. If you listen to the RT Podcast then you will immediately know where I got her landing strategy.

The reason why this chapter was this long was because I wanted to introduce another character, and in turn, work on the dynamic between Malkas and Cray. Of course there will be other original characters aside from Team MACL. And if you were wondering, yes, Malkas is part of a team.

Well, that's it for me. Until then, I'll see you guys when I update!