Since this is my first RWBY story, lets establish some things straight way - This story is inspired heavily by My Hero Academia. HEAVILY. It's also very similar to my Those with Powers story - Miraculous Ladybug, RWBY and My Hero Academia well know for overlapping (Sarcasm) So that's where a lot of this comes from.
Second, this story takes place pretty much directly after volume 2, and in between volume 3. Everything that happened in the original story happened in this - Only We may have a canon divergence - We may not. I dunno yet, we'll see how I feel.
finally- Primarily WhiteRose, because they are adorable ad holy goddamn hell, and if they do not become canon, I swear to God, I'm gonna be incredibly unhappy, but I get ahead of myself! There may be some Bumblebee in here. I don't ship them much, but they're kinda cute, so why the hell not. We'll see ^_^
I hope you enjoy this - Please do let me know what you think - I'm very eager for feedback ^_^
Long before the Great War, long before Humankind came into contact with the Faunus race, and long before any kind civilization was made, there were Traits. Unique abilities that were hugely variable depending on the individual, with no two being the same. There were similarities, of course there were, but in essence, for every one of the millions of people in this world, there was a Trait that went hand-in-hand with them. Their usefulness was dictated by the creativity and imagination that the user implemented. No one knew how these powers came to be, but they had been a part of evolution for all races in the world from the very beginning.
A Trait was, in essence, a superpower. A superhuman ability that every person on the planet possessed, and with which they could do incredible things. Everything from Pyrokinesis to shape-shifting, to the control over the weather, and to Teleportation. Traits were an incredibly variable strand of DNA, and so little was known about them, despite having been an integral part of evolution for several tens of millennia.
What an individual's Trait would be was basically a dice roll. There were no cases of Traits at the very least being passed down genetically. The powers of the parents were completely irrelevant, and the child could end up with something world destructively powerful, or could be a danger to only insects that wondered too close.
Of course, with evolution being such a cluster at that point, it shouldn't have surprised anyone that a new sub-species had evolved from the baseline strain of Homo-sapien. Abnormals, only a four hundred year old species, had the ability to hold many powers within their bodies, and could pass them down genetically. As it stood, they were rarer than the Faunus were, living only in Menagerie at the point of their discovery. The same place as the Faunus were. Generally, it was believed that the Abnormal race evolved from the Faunus.
What characterized this species was a huge variety of inhumane appearances. Of course, Humans and Faunus had both evolved, and bizarre appearances weren't uncommon. In fact, they were the norm, particularly for a race in which every member possessed an animalistic quirk, but Abnormals took it to a whole new level. Beings made of fire and water as one, twisted amalgamations of beings. Only 20% of their entire species represented their original species anymore. Faced with such a horrific foe, Human and Faunus relationships improved dramatically. Of course, exceptions existed, but as a whole, Humans and Faunus were generally speaking, on the same page. Recently, Abnormals had begun to be treated as equal citizens, but there was still a long way to go. It was a painfully slow process, but one that the world stuck to nonetheless.
Such unique gifts were the source of a lot of violence in the early stages of the world. Using a Trait to level a city was practically commonplace in the ancient times, and was so for thousands of years. It wasn't until the Great War that the line was finally drawn, and it was established that if the world kept going like this, there would be nothing more than a pile of ashes to rule over.
Thus was born the concept of the Hero.
The job of a Hero was, in layman's terms, to protect the general population, regardless of prejudices and beliefs, from the dangers of the world. The Grimm in particular, but also from the Villains that inhabited the world. Those who used their powers for personal gain, for want of a better world, evil reasons. Heroes were given permission to use their Traits where it was otherwise forbidden in order to save those around them. But Heroes had to be trained in the use of their powers. Untrained Heroes were almost as dangerous as the Grimm were. To establish a place of learning, each one of the four kingdoms of Remnant were contracted to be given an Academy of their own, from which they would train, refine, and guide the next generation of Heroes to greatness.
Of all the academies in the World of Remnant, Beacon Academy was widely known as the one to go to if you wanted to learn to become a Hero. Of course every one of the four kingdoms had their own academy's, Mistral having Haven, Vacuo having Shade, and Atlas having the narcissistically named Atlas Academy, and while each one of these fine institutions could brag about their list of gradates and the success of their students in the world of Heroism, the fact was, they couldn't hold a candle to the marvellous success of Beacon. Of all the Academy's in Remnant, Beacon had gathered some of the best examples of the greatest Heroes to ever grace the field of Heroism. Summer Rose, Qrow Brawen, to name only two. Names practically etched into the world of legend.
Age of admission to Beacon Academy, as well as any other one of the four was, normally, 17. It was something that you had to train for years for, over a decade, to test the nerves and dedication of those who wanted to be Heroes. Combat schools, like Signal and Sanctum, conditioned their students for years before they would eventually send their applications for consideration, not just to Beacon, but Shade and Havan, Atlas too. Thousands were turned down every year. Only a handful of exceptionally skilled students were ever admitted into Beacon, or any other academy.
The fact that Ruby Rose was given a special invitation at the age of 15 was a huge testimony to her skill and innate talent. Not to mention her powers.
The fact she was made the leader of Team RWBY spoke even greater volumes.
"You didn't learn anything from that lesson, did you?"
"Eh heh heh... Not... Really..." Ruby scratched her cheek and awkwardly laughed, trying to shrug off Weiss's question. As per expectation, she felt that blunt hit to her forehead that came from the side of her partner's hand. She was used to the action by now, and it didn't really hurt. It was more akin to a slap on the wrist than it was anything else.
Weiss sighed irritably, grabbing the bridge of her nose and rubbing it. Tightly closing her eyes, she was unable to know if she was exasperated with the young leader of Team RWBY for not paying attention in class again, or if she had just grown to expect this from the girl, and couldn't decide which one annoyed her more. "You dolt. Sit down and get the textbook out."
Of every single lesson that Ruby had on her timetable at Beacon, Professor Port's lectures had to be one, if not the single most boring one that she had throughout her weekly life here. And of course, if she wasn't able to remember any of the subject material, Weiss would yell at her for not paying attention, smack her around the back of the head, and then take her through every single aspect of the lesson they had just gone through in their dorm rooms.
Like she currently was doing right now.
She tried, honestly she did, she tried to pay attention, but hearing Professor Port's constant stories about how he saved one village or another from cartoon Villains and the Grimm in-between the actually important stuff bored her beyond words. She'd start looking for something, anything, to break that monotony, and before she'd know it, the lessons were already done, and she hadn't learned a damn thing. To make matters a thousand times worse, it was on Ethics regarding Heroics, which was probably one of the three most valuable subjects that was taught at Beacon, alongside Trait Application and Combat Practice.
At this point, going through things with Weiss back in their dorms was easier for Ruby to understand. Weiss didn't spend ages talking about how she brilliantly defended a family of seven from beyond the walls of Vale from an encroaching Grimm attack. Not only that, but she also focused on teaching Ruby what she actually needed to know, not wasting any time on the miscellaneous details. Part of that was from the older girl's desire to waste as little time as possible with this retelling of a lesson that Ruby should have been listening to in the first place, but also part of it was because she knew that it was those little details that bogged Ruby down, and started to make her head spin.
Ruby nodded, and obeyed her partner. Sitting down next to Weiss and reaching into her bag, she routed through her belongings until she found a slim book, no hardback, and a slightly thicker, laminated-feeling cover on the outer pages, which she pulled into the air. Smiling at her victory against the force that was her schoolbag, Ruby announced in a sing-song voice, "Found it -"
"Wrong book."
Two blinks later, Ruby realized she'd retrieved one of those old age comics that Jaune had let her borrow for reading. Glancing to her left, she saw Weiss just looking at her in the normal neutral-angry expression, with her eyes half closed, and eyebrows buried. "Ah... Woopsie?"
Quickly returning to her bag in defeat, Ruby rummaged around again, this time acquiring the right target, a four-hundred-and-sixty-seven page mammoth of a book. Ethics held a huge part in the first year's curriculum, being taught nearly every day, with the exception of Fridays. The fact Ruby was struggling in it was not a good sign.
"Page two-thirty-three." Weiss instructed, edging closer towards Ruby so she could see the small writing that the book had printed at. At Calibri, size seven, it was difficult to see from even a small distance. Only a few reference images broke up the layers and layers of writing, otherwise leaving the pages with nothing but about seventy lines of intimidating text.
The subject matter regarded the use of Traits in a public area, something which wasn't entirely illegal, but it sure wasn't looked favourably at. It all depended on the kind of Trait it was. "Do you even know anything about Public Trait Usage?" Weiss asked, coldly. The white-haired girl hadn't asked out of any genuine malice - But Ruby was probably one of the most lax people she knew when it came to using powers in public. She's jump and dart around the place with her abilities, completely disregarding anything and anyone around her whenever she was brimmed with energy.
"Um..." The girl twirled her naturally-red-highlighted hair between her fingers and her thumb, gently biting her lower lip as she considered what the remembered from being taught at Signal. "Let's see... The use of powers that orientate around combat that could cause damage to property or people are strictly outlawed unless a Hero or someone with a licence is the one using them. So, Yang wouldn't be allowed to go boom in Vale..."
"Good."
"Emission types can't use theirs either for similar reasons... But movement types can be allowed if they acquire a certification."
"That's right. A certification you don't have." Weiss reminded her partner for maybe the sixth time this week alone. Why Ruby didn't just go and get one was beyond her. Maybe she just couldn't be bothered to. Moving away from the subject, Weiss went on to explain in more detail. "Exceptions for the use of powers can be forgiven, such as self defence, the defence of another person, a method of intimidation if feeling threatened, and of getting away from dangerous situations. Of course, there are lots of people who try to find loopholes in these laws, which is why Heroes have to carry both a lie detector and the knowledge of these laws."
"Aren't lie detectors like... Super big?" Ruby asked, tilting her head. She was now imagining having to run across the rooftops with a huge black box strapped to her waist, which would limit her speed at the worst, and completely and utterly screw her over at the worst.
"Not that kind." Weiss snapped irritably. Ruby should know this, surely? This was common knowledge, things the heiress had known since she was a small child. "They're small ear - sized contraptions that are able to tell if someone is lying by detecting flares of electricity that run through the nerves system. They only work with yes-no questions though."
Her partners silver eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment in admiration. In total spite of her harsh treatment of the girl, Weiss was receiving a smile from her partner. Expressing her respect of the intelligence the other girl seemed to possess, Ruby spoke in awe, "That's so smart, Weiss! You're super smart!"
This sort of response to her knowledge about the world around her was becoming more and more common whenever Ruby was taught anything by her partner, to the point Weiss had to remind herself, Ruby and Yang were from Patch, an out of the way island that wasn't all that close to the rest of the Kingdom of Vale. They lacked a lot of the huge technological applications that the mainland did, at least according to the two half-sisters. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise that Ruby hadn't heard about a lot of these contraptions. Weiss was the daughter of the head of the SDC - The Company which designed a lot of the costumes and gadgets Heroes needed and had come to rely on in their everyday lives. Surrounded by the everyday of her life, she had just integrated them into her memory
It was hard to remember that not everyone came from such a background, least of all Ruby. Such cold dismissals would be unjustified were Ruby not aiming to be a Hero herself. She had to know about all this sort of thing, and it was bad enough that it was already reaching the end of their second semester here, and Ruby still knew roughly as much as she did when she started here. Perhaps a bit more, but not nearly enough.
Her only redeeming quality in that regard was her combat prowess, and her Traits. Those aside, Weiss still couldn't get her head around the fact that Ruby had been specially invited to Beacon Were it not for the clear talent that Ruby showed, and the obvious potential that she would never vocally admit, Weiss would have said it seemed unfair.
Weiss made a dismissive noise to the compliments given to her, brushing them off as she normally would when they came from her young partner. "Hrmp. You dunce, these are things you should know by now. It's common knowledge! How do you even hope to become a Hero if you don't know what sort of equipment we're supposed to carry around?"
"Ummmm..." Ruby seriously took a few seconds to consider a valid answer, squinting her eyes and biting her lower lip as she attempted to think up one. "Enthusiasm and a can-do attitude?"
The way Ruby always acted so carefree, regardless of the situation was always something that Weiss could never understand, even when dealing with people who were so openly hostile towards her. She just didn't seem to care about that sort of thing.
She was just so friendly with everyone. Weiss just didn't get how.
The older girl let out a second sigh, this one half amused, half vexed, and rested her head in her hand, finding a resting place around the area her scarred eye resided. "Right. Moving on, these laws came into place because of the Great War..." The two continued going over the Ethics of Heroism, Ruby making an admirable effort to absorb the information that she was being pelted with, even taking down notes, which had her messy handwriting sprawled all over them quickly.
Whenever Ruby was called upon to recite the knowledge her friend had just given her, she would try her best, but occasionally fail, which earned her a harsh chide from said friend. Most people would be taken aback by such an abrasive personality. Not Ruby, apparently, who just responded to each of them with light laughter and a happy promise to do better next time.
It was one of the things that the pale skinned girl really, truly did admire about her partner. There simply wasn't any way of getting around that, the way that Ruby could so easily and readily act in such a sociable and kind manner to anyone she met was something that Weiss did find enamouring about her partner. Even in the face of such harsh treatment, she didn't really seem to register it all that much. That was something Weiss couldn't begin to comprehend.
The very first day they had met had ended in such an incomprehensible mess of both surprise and anger that Weiss had unleashed her own powers accidentally, probably nearly killing the klutz of a girl. After that, Weiss had unleashed absolute hell onto her. She didn't hold back, threw every insult and condescending phrase she had at the Ruby. She wasn't the kind of person to lie, and she didn't mince her words often. The only exceptions were when the situation truly called for it, or she genuinely felt too uncomfortable that one of the two was the only way out of the situation. These aside, when Weiss said something, she damn well meant it.
And how had Ruby responded?
Genuinely friendly interactions and acts of friendship.
How was that even possible? Weiss had asked herself this many times throughout their two semesters at Beacon, and she just couldn't figure out what it was that made the younger girl tick. Socially awkward as you could get, yet completely willing to engage in friendly conversation with someone who had made it explicitly clear wanted nothing to do with you? Had the heiress not seen Ruby's powers, she would have put her Trait down as sheer obliviousness.
And yet somehow, she'd grown fonder of the leader of Team RWBY. Enough to acknowledge that yes, there was potential in her, and yes, she had skill. There was a reason that Weiss was even helping Ruby here at all - To help her develop into the leader that Weiss had become truly convinced she could become.
That was it.
"Well, doesn't this look nice and cosy?"
Yang's sudden intrusion seemed to alarm Ruby, who made a small squeal and shifted back slightly, until she realized who it was, whereupon she relaxed immediately. It had come as a surprise to Weiss too, who was snapped out of her thinking, but not overreacting like Ruby had done. Turning her head to face Yang, Weiss could already tell she had a number of jokes or god-awful puns to make about the current situation. The brawler of the team had positioned herself in the door-frame, leaning on the right side of it, with arms folded and a smirk on her face. An eyebrow was raised above her left lavender eye, and her long blonde hair was almost doubling as a cloak for the well-endowed woman.
She looked thoroughly amused. What was so entertaining, Weiss had no idea.
"Oh, Yang." Ruby let out with a sigh. "It's you."
"Expecting someone else, Rubes?"
"N-No! You just surprised me."
"Uh huh." Yang grinned, looking at the two of her teammates. Swapping glances between Weiss and Ruby, her smile only grew more and more. If Weiss wasn't confused before, she certainly was now. Yang was thoroughly aware that their relationship could be strained one moment and mended the next. At this point, she saw it like free entertainment, almost as a soap drama, but there wasn't any sort of conflict happening here. "Not interrupting, are we?"
It was only with this statement that both the dorms occupants realized that Blake was stood behind her partner in the corridor, waiting patiently for Yang to do whatever it was that she had planned here. The Faunus girl held herself with composure, arms folded across her chest, with one arm still outreached so she could read one of the many books she owned. It didn't even surprise anyone anymore that she seemed to spontaneously generate these things out of the ether anymore. She must have reached an interesting part in this particular story, since her ears twitched underneath her large black bow atop her head, which hid her Faunus-based cat-eared quirk.
"Not particularly." Weiss responded plainly to the question asked. "I was just taking Ruby through Professor Port's lecture. The one she didn't pay attention to." Her last sentence went a bit deeper in tone as she shot a menacing look towards Ruby, who just laughed nervously.
"How nice of you." Yang commented, before pushing herself off the door-frame and standing upright, stretching her arms in doing so. "Anyway, come on, we've gotta go."
"Go?" Ruby questioned, with a tilt of her head. "Where're we going?"
"End of semester assessment." Blake simply said, not looking up from her book, and turning the page. She looked over the pages after a few seconds of silence to investigate why said silence had descended. "You didn't forget, did you?"
End of semester assessments basically translated to Trait assessments. At the end of each semester, the students would have to complete a series of seven events that would measure the progress that each student was making. These events were designed to make each of the students do several things. Number one was to showcase off the sheer power that each student had, demonstrating combat prowess and pure destructive force they possessed, and how much force they could put out with their powers. Number two was how much control they had over their abilities, which would be a huge requirement when using their deadly superpowers in a crowd of people, and the third thing was the creativity that they displayed, a key component in improvisation, adaptability, and ingenuity a Hero required. Each one of these factors was taken into consideration whenever they were marked, and given back their scores.
Scores fell into three categories also. The individual who displays the most talent and power, the team who shows the most overall progress, and the individual who has progressed the most. Competition was encouraged in a friendly manner to spark a fire in the students to push themselves to become better, to test the limits of their Traits, and to overcome them entirely. These seven events were the 100 meter dash, the ball pitch, the long jump, the high jump, projectile evasion or deflection, and application of force.
Last semester, the person who displayed the most individual skill was, unsurprisingly, Phyrra, and that was unlikely to change anytime soon. Team QRTZ held the record for the most overall progress by a Team as a whole, and the person who had made the most progress was, and this was surprising, Jaune. Start from zero, and the only way was up, Weiss supposed.
Ruby had forgotten, very obviously. Her wide eyes and jaw dropped expression revealed that much instantly. How she had was a mystery. It was the end of the semester. An end of semester assessment seemed pretty logical. Weiss on the other hand hadn't forgotten in the slightest, and had in fact, prepared herself for said assessment rather diligently, practicing with her Trait nearly every day for the last few weeks, to the point where she was incredibly confident in her abilities.
"Of course not." Assured the white haired girl, reaching for her scroll k the time for said assessment period. Four thirty, as she remembered.
She only realized her mistake when she saw that it was currently four fifteen. She and Ruby had been at this for the last two hours, and had somehow gotten so engrossed into the subject matter that they had completely lost track of time. They barely felt like they'd been here for more than twenty minutes. Weiss had to rub her eyes to make sure that she was seeing the correct time. She was.
"So yeah." Yang chimed in, leaving her position from the door-frame. "We need to get going. Now, preferably, but please don't let me ruin your little den." The blonde grinned, before making her way down the halls with her partner in tow.
Weiss had to blink a couple of times before she turned to Ruby. "What's up with Yang? She's behaving... More..."
"More like Yang than usual." Ruby finished off the sentence perfectly. Her sister was acting more like Yang than, well, Yang normally did, which was certainly saying something, and Weiss wasn't sure if that meant she needed to be worried or not. "Dunno, but we should get going if we don't wanna be late."
"Right. We'll finish this off another time." Weiss agreed, raising to her feet and neatly placing putting her scroll alongside the rest of her belongings, perfectly placing it so the corners of the book she rested it upon lined up with her now closed device. She wouldn't need the high tech equipment for the assessment. Nor would she need to switch into any combat gear that she had. At the end of the first semester, many first year students had made the mistake of thinking that they'd need such things for the trials that they had. The only thing they needed was their Trait.
"Hey, Weiss?"
Ruby's voice was rather quiet when it reached Weiss's ears. Soft, nearly tender, like she was on the edge of the dragons nest, and being too loud would cause an eruption of fire. It reminded her partner of the first few interactions that they had, how Ruby would sometimes recluse into a soft manner of speaking before bursting out again.
Naturally, this sparked Weiss's curiosity. "What is it, Ruby?"
"Umm... I don't know if this goes without saying, or whatever... But, well, thank you. For helping me with everything."
This marked the first time Ruby had actually explicitly thanked Weiss for aiding her with her catch-up. Most circumstances saw either Ruby dashing away like a torpedo to God knows where doing God knows what, or Weiss would simply get up and focus on her own studies once she had finished tutoring Ruby. No thanks had ever been exchanged, and Weiss had assumed that Ruby had felt the same way that she had, that no thanks had ever needed to be explicitly stated between the two.
They were teammates. Partners. It was expected that they would help one another. It almost felt like second nature to Weiss to help Ruby at this point. After everything that Team RWBY had gone through together, dealing with Torchwick, the White Fang, and everything else that came with training to be Heroes.
Helping each other was almost like helping themselves. A stronger team was only a benefit to each of the individuals.
But that didn't change the fact Weiss had wanted to help Ruby for the sole reason of helping her leader to reach the best she possibly could.
She just needed to not make a habit of it. Better not to let Ruby end up becoming dependent on her. That would have the opposite effect of what she was trying to accomplish here. But still... Just hearing those words of thanks was enough for Weiss.
Showing one of her rare smiles, she responded with kind. "Sure thing."
Teams RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and CFVY, were just a few of the many team groups that Beacon housed, and that were currently stood awaiting the end of semester assessment to begin. Looking around, Ruby counted at least another ten teams around. Team's QRTZ and SLVR being two she had some very, very limited interactions with, and others like Team SPHR and MTAL she knew nothing about excluding reputation. Even Team CFVY she barely knew that well. It was a reminder, being stood there, of just how many students were here, aiming for the same thing that she was.
Humans, Faunus, Abnormals and Primals. Each one of the four main species of the World of Remnant co-existed within this school, not that it was to say that everyone was treated equally by their peers. By the staff, of course, but exceptions within the student body existed. Team CRDL's treatment of Faunus members of the school was testament to that in itself. Although other teams, like Team QRTZ seemed to be a perfect example of accepting individuals. It was refreshing to see that it wasn't just Team's RWBY and JNPR who were accepting of their fellow races.
The sheer variety of people here as well was enough to make someone's head spin. None of the teams from outside Beacon were here, since this was the test for Beacon students only. Different Academies would perform their own tests with their own groups, perhaps varying in the way they assessed their pupils. But from the students in Beacon alone, visual quirks and mutation-Type Traits none-withstanding, the level of variety here was astounding.
To give just a few examples, the leader of Team QRTZ possessed not only heterochromia iridum, he also seemed to be a split down the centre, having dark black hair on his left side, and snow-white on the right, eye colour opposing the side the hair was coloured, leaving him with a black iris on his right side, and a white one on his left. The leader of Team SLVR was someone who, fittingly, who had a body entirely made of said substance, making his team name all the more fitting.
Other such examples existed, like people who had tails, wings, some more obvious, and some more subtle things that made each individual stand out in some way. As fitting with the worlds focus on individuality, the introduction of Traits into Humanity meant that no two people, not even twins, would be identical anymore.
But it was also a reminder that everyone here had something that made them dangerous about them. There wasn't a way for them to be here if they weren't a dangerous person. To even enter Beacon, you had to be thrown into a forest filled to the brim with creatures of Grimm, so if you didn't have what it took to withstand that, you were screwed from the get-go.
So everyone here was deadly. Everyone here wanted to be a Hero. And everyone here was like a challenge that Ruby and her team had to surpass in order to improve and become the best they could be. That was the law of Remnant. The strongest survive. Especially true for Heroes. The ones who put themselves in the line of fire every single day.
Of course, Ruby never thought of it like that. She always liked to think of things as being a lot friendlier than that. That everyone was working towards the same goal and they were all here to help each other achieve it. It was an innocent way of looking at things, but not entirely incorrect either. That was the aim of the school, after all.
The clearing that the fifty or so students were stood in had all the equipment already set up by Professor's Ozpin and Goodwitch. Piles of rocks and softballs were scattered around the place, presumably to be used by the students at each of the varying stations. Their records would be tracked by high tech computers that would automatically track their progress, including distance, force and the likes, and transmit them to Ozpin and Goodwitch's scrolls. It seemed to be that they were still tinkering with that system before either of the professors addressed the large number of pupils eagerly awaiting to begin.
"That seems to have fixed it..." The head of Beacon muttered as he dialled a few keystrokes into his scroll. He paused for a second, typed in a few more, shrugged, and closed the device, and finally faced his student body. Clearing his throat, he made sure to speak loudly and clearly so everyone around him would be able to hear him. "I do hope that each of you has been taking your studies seriously throughout this past semester, and that you'll take the opportunity to show off what you have learned here today."
A few murmurs and sounds of the various students getting ready could be heard around Ruby, some activating their powers in miniature form as a way to expel some excitement, others cracking knuckles, and some slamming fists into open palms. Ruby herself felt her nails dig lightly into the flesh of her palms, but a smile spread across her lips.
"Each one of you here has something that makes you stand out from every other person in this world, regardless of race, gender, nationality, and heritage. We are given our gifts, but it is up to us to develop them. Your powers belong only to you, and to no other person, and you have all dedicated yourselves to using them to protect those who cannot protect themselves. This assessment is to evaluate not only your skill, but your dedication to that goal."
A philosophy that all of the first years had heard a thousand times before. Ozpin was consistent with it, and he always reminded them what they were there to do. It was clear her truly did believe everything that he said when he told them about it. He wasn't making up his beliefs just to keep his position at Beacon. He truly believed every single word.
It was good. Nice to hear that kind of genuine passion for what he held dear, not out of some ulterior motive, but because he genuinely held what he said close to his heart. Everyone remembered the many impassioned speeches he made when they first arrived in Beacon, it was clear how much he truly loved the work he did, even if he did have an aloof way of showing it.
"Mr. Xiao Long." Ozpin called out, turning his head towards Yang, whom he stood just maybe a few meters away from. When he had the young woman's attention, he knelt down and scooped up one of the softballs that was casually placed by his feet. Holding it up for her to very clearly see, he peered over his glasses and asked, "What was your record for throwing a softball at the end of the last semester?"
Yang blinked, and then responded. "Seven-hundred-thirty-two meters."
"Think you can do better this time?" Challenge issued, He threw the sphere to Yang, and saw her grin as she caught it in her right hand. He'd made the choice deliberately, knowing of Yang's fiery, competitive personality would be the perfect thing to spark everyone else into unleashing their fullest potential after setting a bar so high.
A few moments later, Yang was up at the pitch, stretching her arm, and getting out all of the cramps that inhabited it, and loosening it up for her pitch. There was a fire in her eyes, unmistakable by anyone who knew her. She had every intention of sending this thing straight into the stratosphere if her powers would permit it. Unlikely, but she'd damn well give it her best shot.
"Think she can beat it? She set herself a high record last time." Blake asked her teammates, her eyes narrowed in on her partners limbering up. Not that Blake doubted Yang's capabilities, but she wondered if she had set herself a realistic target to beat.
"She'll do it!" Ruby stated, absolute certainty obvious in her voice, not even the slightest hint of worry and doubt present. She had absolute confidence in her sister and teammate. Weiss had to agree. Besides, Ruby knew Yang the best out of all of them. She was probably the most capable of guessing out of all of them.
Around them, the other students began to take close attention to Yang, eager to see how she'd fare. Some looked for ways they could improve, making notes of things like stance and pitch, while others just watched out of curiosity and or sheer boredom.
Taking aim, Yang stuck her tongue out as she figured out the best way to go about this. She could already feel her power activating, bristling with the anticipation that came from the challenge set ahead of her. "Time to wrap this semester off..." Sparks flew off her, and when satisfied with her plan, she wound up the pitch, and began to throw and strong overhead lob.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been a very good throw anyway, but this situation allowed Yang to use her Trait to get the absolute maximum distance possible. She'd started out the year very strong with her first scored, and that had dramatically improved by the end of her first semester. Now, in between fighting the White Fang, Roman Torchwick, studies and hands-on-practice, she was set to completely obliterate that record.
Ninety degrees was a pointless point to throw it at. She'd get it high, sure, but that wasn't going to get her the distance she needed. Same with eighty or seventy.
Sixty would be too low.
Sixty five?... Her arm reached that point in its arch, so it was that or bust...
Now!
"...With a Yang!"
A tremendous explosion erupted from the blonde girls palm in an instant, expanding a good ten feet out into the air, and rippling all around her as she catapulted the softball into the air at incredible speeds. Anyone who hadn't been prepared to follow the immense speed that Yang's explosion had sent it flying at missed it, and within seconds, the ball was a speck in the horizon, and had to be followed via satellite imagery.
Smoke rose from Yang's palm, now sweaty from the aftermath of her powers. Her grin was still wide through, showing a full set of white teeth. It had gone far, far, far better than she had expected it to go, having seemingly almost doubled in power since the last time she had tried this.
Yang Xiao Long - Trait - Explosive Impact - Yang is able to make her body secrete a compound that is very similar to that of nitroglycerin from any point on her person. She can then force this compound to detonate at will, allowing her to create explosions from her skin, which can be used for both combat and mobility purposes. The more active she is, and the more damage that Yang takes, the more of this compound she is able to secrete at any one time. The drawback to this power however, is that overuse will make Yang's flesh begin to sear.
Yang had rocketed the softball a good One-thousand-two-hundred-twenty-six meters. Well over a kilometre. Noises of surprise and endearment were suddenly abound in the air, congratulating her on utterly obliterating her record. Only the members of Team RWBY who caught onto her namesake pun were groaning at its pure horribleness.
"Impressive." Ozpin complimented. Yang just smirked at him, and blew onto her hand to dissipate the rising fog from her explosion as she re-joined her team. While she did this, Beacon's Headmaster spoke loudly for all to hear, and issued his challenge to them. "This is your target to beat - Let's see what you've learned."
Right, since this is a new story, you all know what that means - Time for a couple info dumps. Ill leave those under all this so you can check them if you want to.
I'm hoping that you all enjoy this. I'm a massive, massive fan of RWBY, and me and my girlfriend came up with this idea, so this is basically being written for her - Since we're both massive superpower nerds. If you have any questions about the story, ideas you'd like to submit, etc, lemme know ^_^
Either way, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed ^_^
Team QRTZ (Quartz) is a team I made up to fill up a Uni application file. Same with team MTAL (Metal) And SLVR (Silver)I can make them slightly more prominent if enough of you are interested, but they're mostly background chcracters - Cause why the hell not?
SDC - Schnee Design Company - Dust doesn't exist in this world, so the next best substitute is Hero Costume Designs. Anyone who watches My Hero Academia knows where I'm going with this. Those of you who don't, Hero costumes can enhance a persons powers, so it'd make for quite the business racket in a world filled with them.
Hero Costume - Basically Hero attire. So in the RWBYverse, Ruby's Slayer outfit, Weiss's Snowpea outfit, etc, as well as everyone's default costumes would classify as their Hero attire. Designed to make the most out of a particular Trait.
Trait - A superpower. Varies HEAVILY.
Abnormals and Primals - Two species that evolved in the world due to Traits - More info on them as the story progresses.
Human/Faunus relations - Far better than in the RWBYverse, but as always, exceptions still vary. Still enough to warrant The White Fang's existence.