CHAPTER 1 - THE EXAM

     “Miss Rose,” the examiner addressed me. “As listed in your entrance examination application, you wish to spar with a student from the academy.”

     I rubbed my nose, “Yep.”

     The examiner, an elderly man, looked slightly offended for a moment, as if I had interrupted him mid-sentence. He cleared his throat and continued, “While it is not necessary or expected of you to defeat your opponent, our panel of judges will be scoring you based on your performance.” He paused, likely making sure I didn’t interrupt him. He then asked, “Do these conditions suit you, Miss Rose?”

     Smirking, I pounded my fist into my palm, “Let’s get this started.”

     I could see a small hint of a smile on the examiner’s face. Gesturing towards the spectators, the examiner spoke up, “Mr. Arc, could you please come forward?”

     Without hesitation, a young man jumped from the pews and into the arena. His messy brown hair and his fairly beat up armour told me he didn’t care much for looks – a real fighter, nothing like those movie 'heroes' that run off at a puppy’s yelp.

     The examiner continued, “Your Aura gauges will be monitored, and the examination will be declared over when either of your Auras enter a critical state.” He added, “Is this understood?”

     Arc and I nodded to the examiner.

     “Prepare yourselves,” the examiner commanded.

     Arc reached over his head for a two-handed sword. It certainly looked heavy, as I could see a subtle hint of effort in Arc’s face when he propagated the blade in front of himself. The sword wasn’t absurdly large, but it definitely looked hefty. I noticed Arc taking a gander at the swords on my side, expecting me to draw them. With a grin on my face, I ignored them, raising my arms for an appropriate hand-to-hand combat stance.

     After exchanging looks with both me and Arc, the examiner raised a race pistol. “You may begin,” he stated, firing the pistol.

     Without hesitation, Arc leap at me with an overhead strike. Side-stepping, I dodged the blade. As a result, Arc dug his sword into the ground. Taking the chance, I punched him in the face; he performed a back flip to make some distance. Biting his lip, he nodded, as if he was impressed. I flourished my fists a bit, ending with a hand gesture, coaxing Arc to come at me. Grinning, Arc obliged – however, this time, he activated a mechanism on his sword that engulfed it in flames.

     Arc swung wildly at me, flinging fire balls at me. As I ducked and weaved from his assault, I began to wonder if the sword’s weight was mostly to blame in the amount of Dust stored inside. Considering his onslaught was persistent, I began to figure he had a lot of Dust inside it. Returning the favour, I dove under a fireball, doing a sweeping kick in the same motion. Using my Semblance, I had created a gust of wind that swept Arc from under his feet. As he got to his feet, I dashed towards him, propelling myself using my Semblance. As the weight of the sword hindered his ability to raise his defenses, I was able to blast a gust of wind to his chest, sending him flying into the arena walls.

     Bouncing off the walls and landing on his feet, Arc activated another mechanism on his sword, this time engulfing it in a torrent of wind.

     I smirked, “Fighting fire with fire, huh?”

     Arc nodded before getting back to taking wild swings at me. This time, the sword shot blades of wind at me. I began throwing gusts of wind at the incoming blades. As our attacks connected with each other, they dissipated. You could say it looked like a dance, as if I was catching them. Tired with this game of patty-cake, I drew one of my swords, swinging it in the same motion, creating a considerably larger wind blade than his.

     While he blocked it with his sword, he was once again thrown into the wall. Keeping up my assault, I drew my blade, entering a flurry of swings, launching an unrelenting series of wind blades. While his defense was solid, it was eventually proven futile, as my flurry began to become too fast for him to keep up. Briefly letting up, I combined my swords, Thorn and Petal, together to become a bow, which I lovingly call Arc Rose. Doing a kicking back flip, I sent a gust of wind running long the ground towards Arc as I launched myself into the air. While Arc was thrown into the wall, I quickly fired an ice Dust arrow at Arc, freezing him to the wall.

     As I landed, the buzzer rang, indicating my victory over Arc. Thrilled at my success, I threw my arms into the air, letting out a very audible cheer.

     The examiner cleared his throat very loudly.

     Feeling a cold chill down my back, I stood erect as an Atlessian Soldier to the examiner’s attention.

     The examiner spoke, “As the panel of judges were impressed with your performance, Ms. Rose, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Beacon Academy.”

     Absolutely thrilled, I let in a huge gasp before jumping into the air, punching my fists into the air, yelling out, “Yeah! I’m the champ!” Realizing what I was doing, I resumed my Atlessian Soldier impression.

     The examiner softly smiled, “Congratulations, Ms. Rose.”

     Considering that the green light, I went back to cheering for myself. After getting it out of my system, I looked for my brother in the audience. When I finally found him, he was talking to some girl. I raised an eyebrow, pouting. As Arc struggled out of the ice, I threw myself up to my brother.

     Announcing myself, I yelled at him, “Hey!”

     Qrow jumped at the shock while his company ran off.

     “What the hell, Summer!? You scared her off!” Qrow complained. “I was this close to getting her number,” Qrow added, as he pinched his fingers together.

     Skeptical, I asked him, “Really? What’s her name?”

     Qrow drew blanks, “Uhhhhhh…”

     I pouted, raising an eyebrow.

     Desperate to change the subject, Qrow asked, “So how did the exam go?”

     I placed my hands on my hips, “Wow, thanks for coming out to support your little sister…”

     Qrow blinked a couple of times at me. “So…?”

     I threw my arms in the air, “Ugh!! I passed! And with flying colours, I may add!”

     Trying to rebuild his image as a brother, Qrow threw his arms open for a hug, “Oh! That’s fantastic!”

     Denying his hug, I shoved my palm into his face, sitting him back down on his seat. I added, “I’m getting some grape soda…”

     As I headed over to the vending machines, I overheard the examiner. He said, “Congratulations, Ms. Violet, and welcome to Beacon Academy.”

     Curious, I took a glance at the arena, only to find a girl in a black and blue dress standing over the body of a Boarbatusk. When I realized she killed a Boarbatusk, which is difficult for first years in the first place, my jaw hit the floor, as I realized she did so while I was yelling at my brother. As she hugged a silver haired boy in the pews, my heart skipped a beat, impressed with the skills other people were bringing to the table. So this is Beacon...