New story! Welcome Brandon Hunter to the world of RWBY! Technically not a self-insert if those turn you off. Brandon will have some things in common with me but he is not a representation of me. Many things will be trivial as well, like playing the clarinet. For those of you who are disappointed because it's not Xenoblade... who's to say that this Brandon isn't from the Xenoverse :)

IDK about pairing or if there will even be one but the one I'm leaning toward is BrandonXBlake but that is subject to change. Also damn, I just realized if that holds up Brandon would be paired with a catgirl in both of my stories so far.

Keep in mind before you judge me too harshly, I am still in high school. This is my second ever fic, the first being for Xenoblade. Sorry if the characters are OOC in any way. Leave a review if there's something you dislike so I can address it, or even if there's something you liked. Please review or offer to be a beta… plz…

"Ugh!" Brandon sighed as he stretched out. It had been a long journey from the city up to Beacon Academy. He chuckled as he walked by a blonde knight unloading his guts into a wastebasket. He shook his head to refocus. He was here to learn to be a huntsman not to make fun of people's weak stomachs.

"Oof," he grunted as he walked into the back of someone else and got a mouthful of black hair. "Sorry," he murmured as he swept a hand across his mouth.

The girl turned her head and gave him a glance, "you're fine," she looked back to her book.

"Hey!" Brandon pointed, "is that The Man with Two Souls?" He exclaimed.

She gave him a glance, "yeah? What of it?"

"Uh," Brandon scratched his head sheepishly, "it's one of my favorite book series."

"Hm," she hummed and went back to her book. Brandon took the hint and sighed as he walked past. "Curse my social skills," he grumbled to himself, "of course I can't interact with anyone, especially a girl, what was I thinking?" He heaved another sigh.

Not for the first time, he wondered, was this really a good decision, coming to Beacon? First in the family to be a Huntsman, to be a fighter and not a full-time inventor. He didn't even have his Aura unlocked for crying out loud! His imposing six foot tall height and wide build did little for him if he couldn't tank a single blow.

He could have made a life for himself in the city as a Huntsman weapons seller. He shook his head. He was here so that he wouldn't face the same fate as his father, so that he wouldn't die surrounded by weaponry that he couldn't use, all because he tried to defend him against some small-time criminals.

Of course, that did mean that he had access to weapons that no one else could even hope to obtain.

He glanced down to the shimmering metal bands that were resting on his wrists. These were his creations, huntsman weapons, inventions to be proud of, especially considering how high tech they were. They were both supercomputers in of themselves but that wasn't the special part. They were storage for the nanomachines that he had created that could form themselves into his signature weapons: his electrical gauntlets. Of course, the nanotech could also form into armor, which is where the larger metal slab on his back came in, on top of being a life support unit.

The wristbands also contained project files for multiple tools and parts, as well as a couple of other weapons, allowing him to be extremely adaptable. Of course, the secret project he had orbiting directly above him could only help.

He clenched his fists and squeezed his fingers in the all too familiar combination. He grinned as the nanotech gauntlets formed around his arm from his elbows to his hands. He traced a finger over the green and black pattern that he had designed, feeling comforted by the familiarity. He closed his eyes for a moment as he clenched his fists, withdrawing the weapons. He reopened his eyes as his vision sharpened, he had come this far, he would become a Huntsman if it killed him.

….

"Snrk, uh what?" Brandon looked around in surprise as he felt knuckles rap against his skull.

"Hey idiot," Brandon looked up to see a blonde girl in front of him, the kind of girl that you instantly knew was too good for you… which made him wonder why she was talking to him, "you zoned out really hard during the speech. You all good?"

Brandon looked around in confusion to see most of the crowd of students had cleared out. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just really tired I guess…" he rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Good," she looked over his puzzled expression, "my sister over there noticed," she jabbed a thumb in the direction of a red-cloaked girl, "she wanted to make sure that you weren't going to die in the next couple seconds but she's too socially awkward to come over here and tell you."

"YANG!" he heard the girl react. Brandon chuckled and gave a lazy salute, "thanks for that. See you, I guess." He started walking away then he suddenly stopped, "wait," he said as he turned around and the blonde shot a glance backward, "what were we supposed to be doing?"

Yang started laughing, "right, you weren't listening at all, were you? Well, we're supposed to be heading over to the hall to get some sleep before initiation tomorrow."

"Oh, thanks!" Brandon said and started heading out.

….

Brandon sighed as he laid down onto the mat that was provided. He closed his eyes to try to sleep but gave up quickly, knowing that his thoughts running rampant through his head would make it impossible. A light flicked on in the corner of his vision and he sighed as he sat up. He looked over to see the black haired girl from earlier.

He stood up and started to head over then stopped as he saw the pair of sisters from earlier. He gave a short laugh, chiding himself for even thinking that he could go interact with girls. He probably would have made a fool of himself. He sighed and sat back down as he shook his head. He pulled out his heavily modified scroll, set it to minimum brightness, and pulled up a game.

He was just finishing up a round when he hears shouting and fighting. He looks up to see the sisters in a playful tussle, well, the older one was being playful while it looked like the younger one was doing her best to cause damage.

"Argh!" he turned at the sound of someone yelling to see a girl clad completely in white and light blue, "do you have no respect for those of us those of us trying to sleep!"

He sighed and stood up as she continued ranting at the other girls. "Stuck up, arrogant heiress," he grumbled to himself as he walked over. He stopped behind the heiress to see if she would notice. While she didn't, the blonde certainly did and struggled not to laugh after one glance at Brandon's expression.

"What's so funny?" the Shnee demanded.

Brandon cleared his throat and tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me, miss heiress… but typically people don't make more noise than the people they're trying to shut up," his voice turning menacing at the end. The heiress turned beet red and stomped off grumbling. Apparently that was too much for the blonde bombshell who immediately cracked up.

"Nice one!" she held up a fist, Brandon bumped it. "I didn't get your name earlier," Yang continued.

"Brandon, Brandon Hunter," he murmured.

"Hunter… sounds familiar," she commented.

"Yeah, you're probably thinking of my dad's company," he chuckled, "main reason why I hate the SDC."

"You do?" the black-haired girl asked.

"Yeah… my dad hated the corporation," his eye ticked and he prayed that no one noticed his use of past tense, "he would always say to me: if you ever work for the company, promise me that you'll show everyone the same respect, regardless of race, creed, gender, or religion. I've done my best to follow that and it infuriates me to see the SDC toss that consideration to the wind."

"Hm, your dad sounds alright" she considered, "and you're alright too. Name's Blake by the way."

Brandon gave a lazy salute, "nice to meet you. I guess I'll see you." He turned around to head back to his bedding but paused for a second. He looked over his shoulder and shot the smaller sister a grin, "thanks for earlier by the way."

Brandon chuckled as the younger one stammered and blushed in response.

….

Brandon woke up covered in sweat. He bolted to his feet in a panic as his eyes rapidly flickered around. He may have been used to waking up in unfamiliar areas while he was living on the streets but after several years he had fallen into a routine. He sighed in relief and relaxed as he spotted the sleeping bags around him. He was at Beacon, his new life. He didn't have to struggle just to get enough money to see the next day.

He heaved a massive yawn. He may have been used to rising early but that didn't stop him from feeling tired, although he wouldn't be able to fall asleep even if he tried. He checked his watch and slumped: it was six in the morning, still several hours before initiation. He decided to explore the school and search for a library. He needed peace and quiet after all if he wanted to get any work done.

He wandered through the halls of the massive academy for a hour before finally stumbling across the library. He headed inside to see a mass of students, most likely upper years, already starting to fill the room up. He looked around for an empty space before spotting Blake already at a table reading, surrounded by a pile of books. He headed over and joined her. She nodded politely at him as he took a seat and grabbed a book off the top of the stack.

He put the book down an hour later feeling contented. Rather than pick up another one he slips off his wristbands and started tinkering with them. Another half an hour went by quickly. Brandon slipped on his weapons, nodded to Blake, and headed to grab a bite to eat.

He walked over to an empty table and sat down, placing a heaping pile of pancakes in front of himself. He started to dig in but stopped right before he could take his first bite at the sound of arguing from several tables over. He rolled his eyes at the Schnee heiress antagonizing the younger huntress in training as he resumed eating.

Best not get himself involved with them, or anyone else, although he would like to see the heiress be taken down a few notches. Of course, it was his own fault for not having social skills. He would study and tinker late into the night and wake up early to learn from his dad. He never went out to make friends or to socialize despite his dad's best attempts. He banged his head against the table and let it rest there for a couple seconds before lifting it back up, inhaling the rest of his food, and heading over to the locker room.

He quickly pried open his locker and took out the bag that rested inside. This particular bag was interesting in the fact that it only had a small handle attached to the top of it. Brandon smirked at some of the awed looks he received as he lifted it over his head and slid it onto his back letting the metal plate lock onto the bag.

Unsure of what to do next as he had finished everything relatively quickly he decided to wander around the locker room.

"... I was thinking that we could be on a team together!"

"Well that sounds grand!"

Brandon walked over, "sorry to burst your bubble but the team selection process is completely random, ice queen. Of course, you should know that given that you're the esteemed heiress to the SDC," Brandon taunted sarcastically.

"Oh, hello there!" the redhead greeted.

"Uh, hi…" Brandon immediately turned awkward now that he wasn't antagonizing the Schnee, "sorry about the interruption, just wanted to let you know."

"Well then, I supposed I'll just let the chips fall where they may."

"Hey there ice queen," Brandon facepalmed as the blonde knight sauntered over, ignorantly changing Brandon's earlier insult into a nickname, "I heard some rumors going around. I was thinking that you and me would make an excellent team. What do you say, Weiss?"

"Actually," the redhead interjected, "I think the teams are comprised of four students each so…"

"You don't say," the knight said, "well then hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you can join up with the winning team."

"Okay okay, Jaune is it?" Weiss shoved herself in between the two and shoved them apart, "do you have any idea of who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest snow angel," the knight said earnestly.

"She's someone important?" Brandon said just as ignorantly.

Weiss groaned as if their ignorance caused physical pain, "this is Pyrrha!"

"Hello again!" Pyrrha waved.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

"So?"

"Never heard of it." The two responded in sync.

"She's won the Mistral tournament four years in a row," she continued haughtily, "a new record."

"Ohh, that's you? Dang, even I've heard of you," Brandon said with a grin, "you have to be world famous if even I know about you."

"The what?" Jaune simply asked in confusion.

Brandon sighed, "you're hopeless."

"For once, we're in agreement," Weiss commented, "so, after hearing all that do you still think you're worthy enough to be on her team?"

"I… I guess not," Jaune slumped.

"Cheer up," Brandon put a hand on Jaune's shoulder, "teams aren't picked by," he glared at the heiress, "worthiness."

"And I think you'd be a great leader!" Pyrrha added her own two cents.

"Really?" He immediately perked up, making Brandon quickly retract his hand and regret his earlier comforting. Jaune turned to Weiss, "well then, it looks like Pyrrha and uh…"

"Brandon."

"Brandon! Are on team Jaune, spots are filling up quick-"

Brandon raised his hands defensively and backed up, "Uh no. I am definitely not going to be on a team with a teen who thinks with his… hormones rather than his brain."

"All first-year Beacon students, please report to Beacon Cliff immediately," the intercom interrupted.

Brandon popped his knuckles in anticipation, "well then, I'll see you guys on the battlefield."

….

"What's a landing strategy?" The blonde knight stammered as the other students were launched into the forest one by one. Brandon shook his head, really, did the guy not do any research before heading to Beacon? He shook his head and got into a ready stance as the launchpads slowly moved toward him.

"We weren't given parachutes or anything?" the knight continued asking in desperation.

"No," Ozpin answered, "you will be using your own landing strategy."

"Wait- AHHH!" the knight screamed as he was flung into the forest.

When his launchpad finally triggered, Brandon flicked a couple of fingers, causing his bag to rearrange into a jump pack, the small thrusters on his back to give himself an edge. He twisted his body to slow his descent, the thrusters firing at maximum capacity. He hit the ground rolling to disperse the energy and use the redirection to bolster his sprint. He continued running through the trees then a thought flashed through his head. He slowed his sprint down to a lazy walk as he realized that he had no idea where he was going.

He cursed his own arrogance to think that his intelligence would be more than enough to make up for lack of other skills. Then again, intelligence was his most prized possession, after all, he had spent years taking long nights to hone it down to the sharpened tool it was, so he might as well use it.

He froze as something growled behind him. He turned around slowly to come face to face with an Ursa. An Ursa Major at that.

"Why me?" His eyes widened at the paw that was clawed at his face. He ducked under the massive appendage, using his current lack of armor to his advantage. He scrambled backward away from the massive beast, considering his next move. Without an Aura, a single hit could mean the end of him. He let the Ursa lunge at him, timing his movement precisely, weaving underneath the giant claw and he slammed an electrically charged gauntlet into the beast's underbelly.

The thing twitched for a moment as its muscles seized up and its momentum carried it forward but a moment was all he needed to roll out of the way and let the thing collide with a tree. He pressed his advantage and activated the energy blades in the metal bracelets. He thrust a fist forward only for the beast to move and manage to mostly avoid his attack, the energy blade barely leaving a cut in the Grimm's flank.

He cursed under his breath as he sprinted around the Grimm. He gave a small hop as he activated his jump pack, giving himself an extreme speed boost. The Ursa charged in a blind rage, unable to get a proper lock onto Brandon's position. The lumbering Grimm of course, had nothing on Brandon's speed which he took immense advantage of, dodging all of the slow Ursa swipes and beating more and more electricity into the beast, that is until his luck ran out.

Whether it was fatigue or something else entirely, he missed the second paw clawing at him and he reacted just before it connected, turning a potentially fatal wound into a glancing one. It still hurt like hell though, the angry red lines in his side throbbing and bleeding. He panted as he raised his fists one last time in a singular act of defiance. He took a step forward then stumbled, his vision tunneling as he rapidly lost blood.

He heard someone gasp behind him. The Ursa that had been slowly advancing on the fallen inventor was knocked back as a yellow blur leaped out of the surrounding forest.

"Blake! Get over here, quick!" He heard a familiar voice call.

"What is it? Oh…"

"I'll distract that thing, you keep this idiot from dying," Yang ordered as she charged to intercept the Grimm. Blake scowled as she unzipped his ruined vest and tore off parts of Brandon's shirt and applied pressure to the wound to try to stop the bleeding.

"Damn it," Blake muttered, "can't let a fellow book lover die on me."

The bleeding refused to stop. "Argh," Blake cried in frustration, "C'mon, C'mon!"

Brandon groaned in pain as Blake's frustration built up, causing her to apply more and more pressure. Suddenly it was too much as Brandon sat up with a gasp as he regained consciousness, knocking Blake off of him. Brandon looked down to see that the wound was still bleeding profusely. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He weakly typed a couple commands into his wristbands as his energy blades took form once more. He set his jaw in determination as he slowly moved the blade of plasma to his side. He braced himself but was unable to keep the screaming in for less than a second. He pulled his hand away and sighed in relief, the agonizing pain fading into something a little more manageable.

He tried to stand up and nearly fell back down when Blake ran up to him and pulled one of his arms around her shoulder, helping him up, a newfound respect visible in her amber eyes.

"Hey! Yang!" He called weakly. She turned in surprise, "how much longer can you distract that thing on your own?"

"Don't know!" she grunted as she blocked a hit, "a little while!"

"Blake," he turned to the girl beside him, "can your blade cut through its hide?"

"Wouldn't be much of a huntsman's weapon if it couldn't," she snarked, "the problem is getting in a good hit."

"Yang, hold that thing off!"

"Got it!"

"Blake, wait for my move!" Brandon slid off of Blake and slammed his fists together as an electrical charge built up.

"Get clear!" The pair of huntresses jumped backward as Brandon unleashed a massive electric blast that locked up the Grimm's muscles, rendering it immobile.

"Now!" Both huntresses jumped at the Grimm, Yang delivering a powered uppercut with a shotgun blast knocking it up to Blake who slashed down, relieving the monster of its head.

"Woo!" Brandon whooped. He watched the two celebrate over what was probably one of the larger Grimm that they had killed. He collapsed to a knee panting.

"Hey," Yang and Blake walked over, concern etched into their faces.

"You should come with us, at least until you can find your own partner."

"I can take care of myself," Brandon said.

"That last fight says otherwise," Yang rolled her eyes, "you're in rough shape, I doubt you could even take on a Beowolf by yourself. Don't be an idiot." She leaned over and helped Brandon up to his feet.

"Jeez, your Aura must have taken a beating," she noted the burn marks on his side.

Brandon chuckled awkwardly, "yeah..."

He didn't find a partner. Not for lack of trying on his part though. They met up with three other pairs: Ruby and Weiss (he laughed until his wound started hurting when he found that one out), Jaune and Pyrrha (no surprise there considering how… interested the redhead had been), and Ren and Nora (whoever they were,) but not one solo Huntsman.

They even managed to collect the pieces that they were after and returned while only encountering minor Grimm resistance until…

"Shit," Brandon cursed, one arm over Yang for support and his other hand held over his wound. The team of nine looked up to see not one but two giant Grimm, a Nevermore and a Deathstalker.

"Get Brandon to safety!" Pyrrha immediately took charge, "the rest of us will distract them," she said as she sprinted at the Deathstalker, morphing her sword into a javelin, Nora and Ren following closely behind as they each fired their respective weapons.

Brandon gritted his teeth, he hated being the weak link. He let go of Yang's shoulder.

"Hey idiot, what are you doing?"

Brandon shot her a smirk, "getting my armor on." He paused then grimaced, "also you may want to be ready in case something fails spectacularly, this is experimental after all."

"What?!"

Brandon tapped a command into his gauntlets and his armor immediately started unfolding from the bag on his back. It locked into place around his body, connecting with his gauntlets. He gave Yang a grin, giving a laugh at her awed expression, though she couldn't see it behind the green faceplate.

"Welp, looks like I'm not in any kind of new pain so I'd say this was a success!"

"New pain?"

Brandon scratched his armored head sheepishly, "yeah, I've never tested the armor unfolding process before so it could just as easily have cut through me or something…"

"... You're insufferable."

"Well, I aim to please." Brandon turned back to the fighting, noting Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were all firing at the Nevermore while it seemed like Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune were losing ground to the Deathstalker.

"You go and help with the Deathstalker," he said, "I'll help with the oversized poultry." She looked like she was about to complain but Brandon had already jetted off to deal with the Nevermore. To their credit, none of the girls said anything as Brandon joined in, firing off electric blasts into the sky, though Ruby looked like she was going to have an excitement overload.

The Nevermore wasn't too pleased about the addition of harmful electricity to the mix where the bullets and glyphs before had simply bounced off of it's toughed feathers. It shrieked in rage and dive bombed the ruined bridge that they were shooting from in an almost suicidal fashion. It easily tore through the weakened stone, forcing the team to jump for the closest patch of land.

"Blake!" Brandon cried in shock when she missed the ledge and began to fall. However, she quickly put his fears to rest as she morphed her sword into its gun form and fired, the recoil in addition to her throw gave it the push to lodge into a wall, allowing her to swing around on the ribbon. She gave it a hard yank, wrenching it from the wall and it soared back into her hands. She suddenly soared up as she pushed off a shadow clone, her upward momentum launching her onto the back of the giant bird. She ran across the Grimm's back using her blade to attack whenever possible before jumping off and rejoining the team.

"It's tougher than it looks!" she exclaimed. Brandon narrowed his eyes. "I think we can take it out like the Ursa from earlier! My electricity looks like it's causing its muscles to seize up." He turned to the youngest of the group, "hey, uh, you! Ruby! If I send a shock through it do you think you can get up close? I think your scythe is going to be the only thing that can kill it."

She replied with a simple nod.

Brandon focused, tracking the bird's movement with an eye honed to physics work. "Now!" he cried as he fired a blast of electricity, stunning the Grimm as it passed by, causing it to miss and allowing Ruby to disappear into a cloud of rose petals and reappear above its head. She let gravity do the rest of the work as she swung her scythe down and cleaved the Nevermore into two.

….

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team Juniper," he paused to let the audience applaud. "Led by Jaune Arc."

The blonde knight looked stunned, then the look on his face quickly turned to horror. Pyrrha, not seeing his face, punched his arm friendlily, only to underestimate her own strength and knocked Jaune over. The crowd roared with laughter and even Brandon cracked a grin.

"And finally," the headmaster continued as team JNPR left the stage, "Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long…"

Brandon raised an eyebrow in confusion. He thought that he would have been lumped together with a team that was missing a member but finally?...

"And Mr. Hunter? Will you please join us on stage?"

Huh?

"Due to several unforeseen circumstances, we have had no choice but to form the first trio in Beacon's history, creating a team of five."

Wait, several unforeseen circumstances? Did the computers malfunction or something? Also, damn. Him with a team of girls? His majesty, king of social awkwardness in a group of the opposite gender? Shit.

"The five of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team Ruby, led by… Ruby Rose."

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang exclaimed as she enveloped her sister in a bear hug. Brandon glanced to his side and smirked at the Heiress' aghast expression.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year," Ozpin concluded.

Welp, honestly I put Brandon into team RWBY because I couldn't figure out anything else. Each character is relatively important to the progression of the story so I didn't really want to kick any out. Pyrrha's friendship and later death is motivation for Jaune, Ren and Nora are inseparable, etc. Plus it's convenient that Brandon's name can just be slipped in there as it starts with a B. Also I probably am going to go through the story with minor changes and maybe an original arc or two, I'm not good at writing :(

I don't know much about wounds or medical things so the whole near-death scene probably wasn't too realistic but it'll have to do.

I also have the best music for any Brandon fight scenes. Look up I'm a dragon on youtube or use this link: www . youtube watch?v=dXl1f11g88w

This is for the intense fights. www . youtube watch?v=O59iwBYDYcw

Just don't forget to delete the spaces cuz fanfiction.

Edit: Changed all the Juanes to Jaune. That's embarrassing. I even spelled it right the first time.