Just a couple things people should know before we get started...
1. Roman, Cinder, or any other villain introduced after volume one of RWBY will most likely NOT make an appearance in this story. Sorry to disappoint anyone, but they will not be here.
2. I intend to not pair any characters in a relationship unless they already have an established chemistry/romance. (Jaune and Pyrrah being an example.) So for those of you who are expecting a Yang and Blake relationship, look somewhere else.
3. This story will take place in the middle of team RWBY's first year at Beacon, with Cinder and Roman out of the picture. How they got out of the picture will be explained, but at a later date. With all that out of the way, Let's get started.
Weiss, Blake, and Yang of team RWBY woke up to the familiar sound of a loud whistle being relentlessly blown into their unsuspecting ears. Every day that they had attended Beacon academy the morning always started the same, but it never came as less of a shock, especially when they barely got any sleep in the first place.
"Gooooood morning, sleepyheads! The sun has officially risen on our last day of this semester!" Ruby exclaimed.
"You do realize a simple shake would suffice to wake us up, right? The whistle isn't necessary, and it never has been." Weiss complained, stuffing her head back under her pillows. Blake hopped off her bunk, having gotten used to Ruby's morning routine, only giving an irritated glance before grabbing her uniform and heading to the bathroom.
"C'mon, guys, the whistle is a tradition! We can't just give up on tradition, can we?" Ruby asked, cheerfully.
"I think our first order of business for the second semester should be to destroy that thing." Weiss mumbled. Yang climbed out of her bed, stretching out her legs and arms.
"I second that," Yang yawned. "What does the school even have planned for us today?"
"Hopefully it isn't another final." Blake called out from the bathroom. Everyone's faces went white at the mere mention of it, but Ruby quickly recollected herself.
"Whatever it is, Ozpin wants us up bright and early for the assembly this morning." heading towards the door, Ruby quickly turned around. "Oh, almost forgot! I'm heading down to the cafeteria for some breakfast, anybody want anything?" Weiss only asked for an early morning coffee, Yang shrugged her shoulders, and Ruby heard Blake mention something about cereal, but no specific kind. "Coming right up!" Ruby chirped as she left the room. As she closed the door though, she heard footsteps walking slowly towards her. She turned toward the sound to see an unfamiliar sight.
He was a Faunus. Wolf, to be exact. He was garbed in a large, white robe with red markings here and there. His sleeves stretched far past his hands, and in fact the robe seemed to be far too big in general. His hair was very short, and was a snow-white color, greatly contrasting his great, black ears. As he got closer, Ruby noticed the red markings to be the phases of the moon. He stopped in front of her, putting up quite a large smile at seeing her.
"Ah! Finally, someone who is awake. You wouldn't happen to know the whereabouts of the headmaster, would you?" He pulled his glasses down to reveal large, black eyes with yellow irises. Ruby had never quite seen something like that before, even Blake had regular human eyes.
"You're looking for headmaster Ozpin? Sorry, but I have no clue where he is." Ruby couldn't stop staring at his eyes.
"No need to apologize! You have just woke, after all." He let out a chuckle. "You see, I am of a special brand of researcher that focuses on the very things you hunt, the creatures of Grimm." Ruby nodded, listening intently. "We have just made an incredible discovery that could affect not only our understanding of the creatures, but that of combating them, as well!" He spoke enthusiastically, obviously excited by his work.
"Discovery? what did you discover?"
"I see you are interested, my child! Unfortunately this information is confidential, but I have no doubt you will learn of it soon enough in your classes." He pulled up his long sleeves to reveal a watch.
"Well, I best get a hold of him soon, for I am on a tight schedule. A pleasure speaking with you, whoever you are!" He gave Ruby's hand a quick shake and started making his way down the hall before suddenly stopping.
"Oh, curse me!" He turned around and called out to Ruby. "Today is the last day of the semester, is it not?" Ruby nodded, confused. "Why, I can't be bothering him on a day like this!" He pulled a large folder from his robe, looking at it with disappointment. He then turned to Ruby again and perked up.
"You!" He cleared the distance between him and Ruby in a flash, causing her to back up, startled. He was holding the folder out in front of him. "Will you give this to him?"
"Um, y-yeah, sure, I guess." Ruby stuttered, still shocked by his speed. She took the folder from his hand, scanning the outside of it. It seemed unimpressive, no warnings or confidential notices anywhere. She looked up to ask about this, but the wolf Faunus was gone, without even making a sound. Ruby found it a little creepy, but was also relieved to be out of his presence.
She strolled to the cafeteria, only to find it closed off, a sign nailed to the door. Ruby read over it...
"Dear students, as you can see, the cafeteria is closed off to you today. We will be having a feast later, and thus necessary preparations must be done before opening it up to the public. We apologize for the inconvenience, but you must make due with any food in your dorms today. It will be well worth it later!" -Profesor Ozpin.
Ruby raised an eyebrow. A feast? Nobody said anything about a feast. She turned and made her way back to the dorm, noticing other students walking in the direction of the cafeteria, one of which being Jaune.
"Don't bother, it's closed off." She called out. Jaune quickly turned around to greet her with a disappointed look.
"But I'm starving! I couldn't take time for food last night while working on Professor Oobleck's final..." He whined, turning back to walk with Ruby.
"What's with the folder?" He pointed to the object in Ruby's hand. "Is that your essay for Oobleck?"
"Nope." Ruby chirped, and raised her hand over Jaune's mouth to prevent further questioning. She didn't want anyone else to know about her encounter with the wolf Faunus except herself, and Ozpin. Before Jaune could say anything else, Ruby casually walked into her dorm, which was thankfully close to the cafeteria.
Yang and Blake were both in the room, and Weiss was taking her turn in the bathroom. Blake was reading a new book she had recently got for Christmas, and Yang jamming out to "The Achieve Men." Ruby identified it as their hit single, "We Don't Hunt For Trophies." She had the volume loud enough that Ruby could hear the song through her earbuds. At the sight of Ruby empty-handed, Yang pulled out one of her buds and raised an eyebrow.
"Thought you were gonna get us some breakfast. What happened?" She asked.
"Cafeteria was closed," Ruby replied, grabbing her backpack. "We're having a feast later today, apparently."
"Really? That's a weird reason to close it off. People need their chow." Yang commented. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all."
Blake closed her book, eyeing Ruby curiously. "I heard you talking with someone in the hallway earlier, but I couldn't pinpoint the voice. What happened?" Ruby stopped and thought a moment. Could she trust her team with the confidential info she'd been given?
"Well, nothing really happened, just some weird man asking for Ozpin. I told him I didn't know where he was, and that was that." Ruby stuffed the folder in her bag, hoping Blake hadn't noticed it.
"Probably someone who's helping with the special thing we're doing today. What time does the assembly start again?" Yang asked. Weiss suddenly appeared out of the bathroom, looking hardly any different from when she entered. Sometimes Ruby wondered why it took her so long to freshen up in the first place.
"It starts soon." Weiss answered, looking at the clock. "We need to go get our weapons; Ozpin announced yesterday that we would need them."
"Oooh, are we going to have a tournament?" Ruby asked, eager to fight something other than Grimm. Ever since the incident with the White Fang at the docks, she hadn't had a real battle with anything other than monsters. Sure, monsters were fun, but they didn't hold a candle to a one-on-one match of equal strengths. "What do you guys think?"
"I think Ozpin's just using this as an excuse to give one of his 'inspirational' speeches." Yang said, "But we won't know until the assembly starts."
"Why wait, then? Let's head down their now." Ruby proposed. "Get a good seat before everyone else shows up." The other three seemed to like that idea, so the team made their way down to the locker room, grabbing their weapons. It had been a while since any of them got to use them, so they were happy to hold them once again. Ruby was especially ecstatic to hold her sweetheart again.
Once they had their weapons, the team made their way to the commons. The room was virtually empty, save for the few students who came early to secure a seat. The chairs were layed out in a very clustered fashion, due to the fact that the entire school had to fit in this one area. Luckily, very few spots in the front row were taken, so the girls could all six next to each other with an up-close view.
It didn't take long for the rest of the students to start piling into the commons. Eventually all the seats were taken and some students had to resort to standing near the walls. Weiss checked her watch, the assembly should officially start in about five minutes.
"We won't be able to hear Ozpin speak if this commotion continues." Weiss commented, and she wasn't wrong. The sound in the room was deafening with all the students talking about their own speculations for the assembly. Just as she said this, though, Ozpin calmly walked up to the podium on an elevated platform. He seemed to appear out of nowhere, despite there being no back entrance to the area.
He cleared his throat loudly into the microphone. The students all went silent waiting for him to speak. Ozpin merely took a sip of his coffee, a smug smile planted on his face.
"I believe no introductions are in order?" He chuckled, "You all seem to have recognized the importance of this day." He took on a more serious expression.
"Today marks a landmark for all of you and your training. For some of you this concludes the first half of your first year. For others it is a reminder that your time at this school is about to come to an end." He scanned the crowd in front of him.
"Aside from that, today marks a tradition we will remain true to uphold. Freshman!" He called out. A string of whispers spread through the mass of students, and Ruby couldn't help but notice the widespread grinning throughout the upper class men. Ozpin raised a hand, and the whispering immediately ceased.
"I realize the secret isn't exactly easy to keep, but I will give the benefit of the doubt in the assumption that you all didn't spoil it." A projection appeared behind him, showing a top-down perspective of Beacon's full campus. It then zoomed out, showing the forest of Forever Fall, as well as the Emerald Forest. What was weird were the red dots on the projection, here and there. The dots were clearly moving, so it wasn't just Ruby's eyes playing tricks on her.
"These red dots which you can clearly see, represent a Grimm, tagged by professional hunters and huntresses. You freshmen will be burdened with the task of hunting them." A hand was raised, it was Jaune's.
"Uh, Excuse me, profesor? How is this anything special? We kill Grimm all the time." His face reddened as he asked the question, obviously embarrassed as he asked the question.
"Quite simple, Mr. Arc. you see, our hunters and huntresses have tagged enough Grimm around the school for about one hundred kills per freshmen. Meaning there are approximately four thousand creatures out there." Jaune's eyes widened, unable to imagine that many Grimm, even in his head.
"We have always been safe from these Grimm, as they would not dare tread any ground populated entirely with warriors." He continued. "But that doesn't mean they are safe from us, today especially." Glynda Goodwitch stepped up next to the headmaster, taking the mic from the podium.
"It will be a competition. All freshmen will go out and compete for the most kills." She said coolly. "But there are some rules and guidelines." Ruby leaned in, listening intently.
"You will be competing alone, so teams will not be allowed to work together." Ruby's eyes widened. She hadn't worked alone since before she was even enrolled in Beacon.
"Each type of Grimm is worth a certain amount of points. The person with the most points at the end of the day, wins." She moved her finger across her scroll's screen, obviously reading the rules off of it.
"Beowolves and Boarbatusks are worth one point, Ursas are worth two. Deathstalkers are three points, and King Taijitu are worth four points, but you will get ten if you kill both a white and black pair." Glynda looked directly into the crowd, an earnest and pleading look on her face.
"The school highly discourages anyone to attempt to hunt a Nevermore, but they are tagged and on the map only to provide their location as a warning. However," She sighed, "If you do manage to kill one, you win." Ozpin took the mic back, and Glynda slowly walked off the platform.
"The map has been uploaded to each of your scrolls, but before you go, there are a few more things to mention." He spoke slowly and clearly for his next sentence. "Freshmen cannot interfere with or fight one another over kills, understand?" Ruby and her team nodded, as well as the rest of the freshmen. Ozpin was silent, but eventually, he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a revolver...
"Then let us begin!" He shouted, firing the gun. Immediately the area was blurred with the movement of eager, bloodthirsty hunters, but Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang stayed behind. They all looked at each other, a fire burning in each of their eyes.
Ruby was the first to leave out of the four, a trail of rose petals being the only reminder that she was even there in the first place. She rushed straight for the Emerald Forest, looking at her scroll as she ran. The dots varied in size, but there were some medium-sized ones on the outskirts of the forest, with two large ones near the center, and the largest one, unmistakably a nevermore, in the center.
Ruby sprinted for the outskirts, the scenery and landscape a blur at her speed. She reached her destination within minutes, and surely enough, a pack of Ursa were waiting for her.
The pack had six of them, one of them being an alpha. Two of them charged straight at Ruby, but one was immediately beheaded. The other swiped at Ruby's side while she was preoccupied with the other. She narrowly dodged its sharp claws.
Ruby hopped to a nearby tree branch, using the vantage point to snipe two of the Ursa, but not before the alpha charged the tree and knocked Ruby off her balance. Landing clumsily on her feet, Ruby was immediately overwhelmed by the alpha, as it relentlessly slashed and swiped at her. The other Ursa stood back, letting their leader do the work.
It seemed the alpha had the advantage, until Ruby blocked one swipe with the blunt edge of her scythe, and blew the Ursa's claw to pieces with one good, close shot. The beast backed up, howling in pain. This gave Ruby plenty of time to clear the distance between them and slice the other hand off, not taking any risks of it attacking her again.
The Ursa tried biting, but it proved an unwise move as Ruby shifted her scythe to it's gun feature, and shoved the barrel directly into the alpha's mouth. The monster was quickly reduced to nothing but a quivering, headless corpse as it stumbled forward and fell, dead.
Ruby turned to the others, but they had retreated. Disappointed, she looked through her bag again, trying to find the scroll. When she thought she had found it, Ruby pulled out not her scroll, but the folder given to her by the Wolf Faunus. Ruby quickly remembered her duty to give the folder to Ozpin.
"I'll probably see him later today," Ruby thought. "But I will probably forget again later today. I'm fast, I can give it to him now and make it back to win in no time." It didn't even sound convincing as she thought it.
"But how would I win? Losing that much time would surely lead to a loss." Suddenly, a large shadow crept from above, and flew over Ruby's head. That was when the idea hit her.
"The Nevermore!" She said, aloud. "I'll kill the Nevermore!" The idea already excited her, because not only did it insure victory, but it would be a challenging fight. Without a second thought, she decided that was her plan, and then rushed back down to Beacon as fast as she could.
Ruby was out of breath as she appeared in the commons area, surprising both Glynda and Ozpin, whom were standing atop the platform, discussing who knows what.
"Ah, Miss Rose." Ozpin greeted, despite being a bit taken aback at Ruby's sudden appearance. "To what do we owe this visit?" Ruby merely held out the folder, as she was still out of breath.
"Ah, what's this?" He asked, looking through the folder.
"Some wolf Faunus...gave me this...told me it was for you." Ruby gasped. Ozpin's eyes widened for a moment at the mention of the wolf Faunus.
"I see. I do not recall ever knowing a wolf Faunus. But what's this?" He pulled out a small memory drive, meant to be put into a scroll. Glynda handed him hers, and he inserted the drive.
Immediately his face shifted to pure horror. Ruby had never seen the headmaster look so terrified.
"What is it, Professor!? You look like you've just seen death!" Ozpin didn't reply. Instead, he grabbed Ruby by her shoulders, and locked gazes with her. His face was stone cold now, but his eyes couldn't have seen more horror.
"Ruby, you need to listen to me. Your semblance is speed, correct?" Ruby nodded. "I thought as such. Listen, you need to find profesor Oobleck as quickly as you can, only he can keep up with you." Ruby was so confused, and apparently it showed on her face, because Ozpin quickly pulled away and stood up.
"There is no time to explain. You just need to listen to me. Find Oobleck, give him this memory drive," He placed the drive in Ruby's hand. "and then both of you need to get to Vale as quickly as possible. This is a crisis that threatens not only them, but all of Vytal. Do you understand?" Ruby didn't reply. Thoughts of her team sprang through her head throughout Ozpin's orders. She had to find them.
"I need to find my team first."
"No! Listen to me!" Ruby had never heard Ozpin truly shout before. "You need to do as I say! You don't have time to find them. They could be here any moment now!"
"Who are they?" Glynda asked, knowing nothing more about the situation than Ruby. Ozpin started to say something, but stopped as he looked at Ruby again. He quickly walked over to Glynda and whispered something. Ruby didn't hear it, but if Glynda's reaction was anything to go by, she probably didn't want to hear it.
"We need to gather the students. They aren't safe out there!" Glynda pleaded.
"It wouldn't matter, they must have had it planned for today. Our students are away, our defenses are low, and the Grimm are in high numbers."
"We need to get them to safety and evacuate!" Glynda protested.
"Safety?" Ozpin ran his hand through his hair. "Nobody is safe from-
That was when the earthquake finally hit Beacon, and everything began to crumble.