The day has finally come. Today Mikoto would be leaving for the Vytal festival, to show what she has been working towards for the past year ever since she finished only third in the regional martial arts championship. Twelve months of soul crushing training later, she emerged as the best fighter on the academy with the promise of attending the most prestigious competition on the world. However the sudden summon by the Academy commander made her worry her plans have been changed.

Knocking on the door, the swan faunus waited to be admitted. Once the door clicked shut behind her, the commander took a while to rise from finishing a piece of bureaucracy. “Cadet Kage. Please, take a seat.” Mikoto thanked him and did so, waiting for him to start. “Let me congratulate you personally on your performance. We do not often see people like you here, being only third in the food chain after the Huntsman and Militaries. That, however, gives us another problem to work around for your attendance on the festival.”

Mikoto’s gaze dropped down: She knew what the problem was. No one else on this academy could stand up to a hunter, and while the officials of the festival might have had made an exception for her, there was an issue of her not having any team. “I see you understand. Fortunately, the headmaster of Beacon offered us his help. You will be assigned to one of Beacon’s incomplete teams. However, due to the secrecy involved in the program, not even Mr. Ozpin knows of your unit’s purpose. As such, you will be representing the hunter school for the time being.”

Mikoto pouted, but knew she should be glad she could participate in the first place and said nothing. “I want you to remain discrete. If at any point it becomes imperative to share your assignment, I want you to contact your CO first, and it will be handled on a per-person security clearance basis. Other than that, treat your time participating in the tournament as being off duty, but I advise you to pay attention. Participate in the classes, observe the others. Those will be the people that will potentially be your opponents. It is a unique opportunity to study them.”

“I understand. If I do well enough and make it to the one on ones, will I be able to represent our school? Despite Paddy- Commander Ryan’s efforts, I am still the only recruit in two years. It might help advertise us a little.” Mikoto asked.

The commander sighed, rubbing his eyes: “The festival [i]was[/i] originally founded with only hunters in mind. However, I see what you hint at. I suppose we shall cross that bridge once we get to it. At that point you would also have your results as leverage, it is senseless to bring it up to the officials now.” Walking over to the secretary’s table, he pulled out some paperwork and handed it to her. “These will be your new credentials and instructions. I was briefed in haste on some of the details, but I think it will be best if you heard them from the headmaster himself. You may leave when you’re ready, they are waiting for you.”
With an affirmative and a salute, Mikoto grabbed up the files and left to finish packing.

[b][i]Day after; Fairgrounds[/i][/b]

Mikoto felt strange. The entirety of her past year was a routine. Wake up. Eat. Actually wake up. Go to class. Eat some more. Personal training with Paddy. Eat a [i]lot[/i] more. Study. Snack time. Two hours of personal time. Eat again. Work out. A quick prayer to the Old Gods before sleep. Rinse and repeat.

Now she was in the middle of a mess of people in the middle of the week in the middle of the day, and she didn’t quite know what to do with her time. What she did know was that she wanted to change out of her fancy getup so she could let her wings loose. Right now they were crammed into the harness and Mikoto could swear they grown again with how much it made her ache. Perhaps she should just head to the dorms where she would be staying.

Then again, right there was a guy serving food, and she left so early she didn’t grab much of a breakfast. One particular stall attracted a particularly large group of people, so Mikoto had a look at the manu. To her disappointment, most of it was noodles. sighing, the swan went along in search of something with higher animal protein content.

She finally parked in front of a lottery stand - a guy with a cart selling meat on a stick. She recalled some of the health and hygiene inspectorate cadets telling frightening stories about where that meat - if it could be called such - came from, but her growling stomach made her go for it. “Ugh. I hope I don’t get defeated by food poisoning before the fighting even starts.” she hushed for herself, sitting down and taking a bite.