Introduction

CarrollCYOA: Introduction



    The warm light of dawn streaks through the cracks in the curtains and flows gently over you like the buttery kiss of a velvet tulip. Wait, that's too saccharine, even by your standards. In actuality, it just rouses you enough to make you notice exactly how uncomfortable you are on the table.

    "Um, Miss? Are you alright?"

    As you slowly groan yourself out of torpor, your eyes creak open to see a school porter looking down at you with an expression of concern.

    Determined to make a decent impression of yourself, even if just to the staff, you bring yourself upright and adopt what you hope is an elegant and graceful posture.

    "Why, good morning to you! I am most certainly well, thank you! Whatever made you ask such a question?"

    "Well, most students tend to sleep in their dorms at night, rather than on a table in the dining hall. In fact, I think that might be against the rules."

    Oh yeah. That's how it is. This royally sucks.

    "Oh, well, you see..." You desperately try to concoct a convincing excuse through the haze of aching poorly rested muscles and about two hours of consistent sleep tops.

    "Since our dormitory was in a state of disrepair, I felt it necessary to find sleeping quarters elsewhere, and due to the lateness of the hour, it seemed unfair and inappropriate to disturb any of the school faculty to make alternative arrangements, and chose to sleep here where no one would be disturbed." You really hope he buys this.

    "Uh...You're in Team AMMD, right? Wasn't that "state of disrepair" caused by your teammates?"

    Oh boy.

    "There were some complications during the settling-in period...some disagreements and disturbances were had..."

    "I'm pretty sure there were Atlesian patrol officers and Grade-9 narcotics involved. The headmaster wasn't too happy with the affair.

    "Yes...(he wasn't the only one)" you add to yourself, through gritted teeth.

    "Well anyway, you should probably get to class. I don't want to get you into anymore trouble than you've already had, so please get going before someone else notices you've been out of the dormitories."

    You suspect his willingness to turn a blind eye to your questionable activities is less altruistic and more to do with his failure to notice your absence during night patrol. Regardless, you really had better get going.

    "Thank you so much! I'll be sure to repay the favour"

    "Lady, just don't cause anymore trouble. If that's at all possible."

    You curtsy quickly and make your leave. You're already dreading making your way back to the dorm, but you need your textbooks and utensils for class. This is going to suck.

    The door to the dorm is, somewhat amazingly, still in one piece, and not even remotely knocked from it's hinges. You knock on the door. And then remember that you shouldn't have to, but upbringing can be hard to fight sometimes. Especially under stress. Not that it matters as the damn thing is still locked anyway. What a surprise.

    "Hooizzit?" comes a barely salient voice from somewhere below knee level.

    "It is I, Alison Wunderland, your teammate and leader! I demand you open this door immediately!" Well, that's not quite what you had in mind, but you're not exactly at peak performance right now. You need a shower badly, for several unpleasant reasons, and you don't even want to think about the state of the bathroom right now.

    "Ah fuck, it's the narc. Tell her to go away!" Comes a different voice, one far more obnoxious than the last.

    "I have long since ceased to care about your drugs, Madelyn!" you shout through the door. "I just want my things and a shower so I can at least attend class with a faint trace of dignity!"

    "Yeah, sure, good luck with that. Fuckin' narc."

    "Marsha, are you in there? Please open the door!"

    "Yeah, you don't want to talk to her right now. She's having one of her episodes and I don't think it'll be ending any time soon."

    "TASTETHEPAPERIT'SGREATIT'STHEBESTOHWOWHOWISITEVENDOINGTHAT?????!!!!" shrieks the voice of your final, and possibly least stable teammate. If such a thing were possible. And then a little more quietly: "It's okay, Mr. Paper. I will still respect you. We can always be friends, even after this."

    By the gods, you need help right now. What did you ever do to deserve this?
    "Dora. Please be awake and please open the door."

    "Nnnn." Grunts the first voice again. There follows a brief shuffling noise as though something is being dragged along the carpet. Then the door opens.

    The state of the room is something truly remarkable. Anyone can make a mess of a room by simply being negligent and clumsy, but this required the sort of mind that can calculate the most efficient and effective means of providing the most devastation possible on a purely subconscious level. And possibly unconscious level.

    Madelyn Hattrick, the number one suspect, sits slumped against the wall next to her bed with all the grace of a sopwith camel, her head adorned with a raiment of no less than three baseball caps and a bandana, each at their own jaunty angle. She glares at you with piercing contempt, but otherwise seems incapable of movement.

    "Goddamn it, Dozer. I told you not to let her in. Now I'll have to throw her out again."
    "Go on then. Get up and throw me out. I can't wait all day, you know." You really haven't the patience for this anymore.

    "Oh, I'll get up. Just as soon as I remember what my bones feel like, I'll be right at you like a hurricane candy cane, bitch.", she sassily non-sequiturs you, still crumpled against the wall like a folded flannel over a sink basin.

    "Hmph. I've no time for your idiocy. It's 09:15, I'm extremely late for class, I won't make it there until at least 09:25, and I dare say none of you losers will even be attending, thereby further ruining my reputation as leader. Now, if you'll excuse me."

    You turn to the bathroom, but are waylaid by an errant hand from the floor grasping your ankle.

    "Dun go in there. She's nuts."

    The hand belongs to Doreen Mauz, pint-sized mouse faunus and narcoleptic. It seems that she never made it off the floor in her effort to open the door, and remains mostly prone on the carpet, with her head encased in a large tea pot. Why.

    Nearly at your wit's end, you ask the question you don't want the answer to.
    "Why are you in a tea pot?"

    "I don't like coffee."

    "Um, Narc-girl? You don't want to come in here right now. Mr Shower and Mr Toilet got into a lovers spat and it's not pretty. It's also not my fault that I'm bad at relationship therapy.". The deranged hare faunus that is Marsha Herr seems to be currently occupying whatever is left of the bathroom. It's clear enough that you won't be having that shower any time soon. You can't even bring yourself to care anymore. With a sigh, you grab your school gear that you stuffed inside your mattress for safe keeping (miraculously, it's not on fire) and leave for class, smelling considerably worse than roses.

    Why you? You never asked for this. Everything seemed so perfect at the time. When did it all go so wrong?

    <INSERT RIDICULOUS ANIME OPENING HERE>



    "Alison? Miss Wunderland?"

    "I'm terribly sorry, Professor Ozpin, my mind was wandering. Please, do continue."

    "As I was saying, your results for the Beacon Entrance Exam have been quite...exemplary." the Beacon headmaster rests on the final word, as though it doesn't really belong in the sentence. "However, we do have some concerns that I wish to address at present. It strikes me as a little odd that of your four designated opponents, three failed to attend the preliminary duels, whilst the fourth seemed to have been dreadfully sleep deprived and apparently intoxicated."

    "I hardly see how that affected my performance, Professor. I must admit, having a sub-par opponent did restrict the extent to which I could demonstrate my combat style, but nonetheless-"

    "Yes, your combat style. Very curious. Very systematic. Very...simulated, if you will."

    "I'm sorry?"

    "We were running some scan tests during the tryouts, just as a cursory measure, you understand. Did you know that during combat, your aura emission is remarkably low? Below the levels of an untrained human without their aura unlocked, even. And unusually low body heat. Though you did seem to be generating some other kinds of energy that most organic lifeforms tend not to produce, so perhaps there is nothing to worry about. I don't suppose you have anything to say on the matter?"

    "...Are these scans strictly legal, Professor? Performing such revealing checks on underaged students who have yet to even enroll at your school without their consent can't possibly-"

    "It's all in the fineprint of the papers you signed, I can assure you."

    "Signed whilst not in the presence of a parent or legal guardian-"

    "MISS Wunderland. Please understand that at Beacon Academy, we have a reputation to maintain. Such a reputation requires certain measures be taken in order to prevent...uncouth and underhanded...means being undertaken by students or staff, prospective or otherwise."

    "Are you calling me a cheater?"

    "Believe me, Miss Wunderland, if I had any intention of calling your exam results into question in a formative manner, you would have already left these premises by now. Permanently, I might add. There is more than enough evidence to warrant it."

    "..."

    "It seems that I have your undivided attention. Good. Then allow me to explain why I have brought you here for this little talk. You see, here at Beacon, we all believe in second chances. That is why we have introduced what is tentatively being called a 'Remedial Program'. Students who would ordinarily not be permitted to enter our fine institution can be granted a certain amount of lenience at given entry, with certain conditions applied. You will be allowed to study here as a legitimate student of Beacon Academy, though unlike other students, we will need you meet certain requirements in order to remain here. Rest assured, these are not requirements that are any different to what we would ordinarily expect from regular students, although your behaviour will be monitored a little more thoroughly...with marginally stricter consequences to any lapses in said behaviour."

    His information dump monologue pours over you like a bucket of ice water.

    "I'm on parole? I didn't know these schools had prison regulations."

    "Well, this is a combat academy. I can't very well turn out graduates who are incapable of following simple rules, can I?" He sips his coffee. In the tense silence of this sterile room with all the warmth of an interrogation chamber, the sound might as well be the crashing waves of a tempest. Gross.

    "Now then, I suggest you run along to the group dormitory. You've already been assigned teammates, but for the sake of anonymity, you will all take part in the matchmaking challenge tomorrow. You will probably want to get on good terms with the other remedial students, as they'll be your teammates for the remainder of your academic career here."

    "What? You're putting all the dud students on the same team? Do you want us to fail?"

    "Consider it a test of character. I'm sure the camaraderie you'll have from sharing similar standpoints will let you overcome all sorts of odds. I have nothing but the highest hopes for you all."

    "...You're surprisingly cruel, you know that?"

    "I prefer to consider myself efficient. Now run along now, before I change my mind."

    You move to leave. Bullets not entirely dodged, but at least the wound isn't fatal.

    "Oh, and Miss Wunderland?"

    "Yes, Professor?

    "Try to sabotage tomorrow's group challenge, and I can guarantee you'll face much worse than expulsion. Do you understand?"

    "Yes, Headmaster." You answer brightly, before cursing under your breath.


    Elsewhere, some time later...

    "I'm not sure if I follow your reasoning, Professor. You've assigned four of the selected test cheaters to one group for remedial treatment, but...there was also a fifth one, wasn't there?"

    "Ah yes. He will take the assignment of teams challenge along with the regular students."
    "With all dear respect, Professor, the student in question is hardly capable of surviving our standard curriculum, let alone a test this dangerous. I must protest."

    "The boy has spirit, and character. He may not have what it takes to down a Grimm with pure force right now, but...he may just find something else just as valuable."

    "And he will find it before being gobbled up by a Beowolf, Professor?"

    "Have a little faith, Peter. Have I ever once led you astray?"

    "No, Sir. Though I must say..."

    "Yes?"

    "You're surprisingly cruel sometimes, aren't you?"

    "..."



    End of Part One, please turn over.