Author's Note:
Teenagers saving the world with wicked combat skills and razor-sharp wit? Frickin' awesome weapons cleaving beasts from nightmares in half? Comedy and romance as a backdrop (Jaune and Pyrrha? Love them!)? What's not to like about Rooster Teeth's teen adventure series RWBY?
A friend, who has asked that I refer to him as S875, introduced me to this awesome world in 2013 and I was hooked right away.
After some collaborative writing with S875, I invited him to hone his skills with a little round robin action. Thus, the story you see below was born. Now into its fourth episode, my friend gave me full permission to post our piece here at . I have to say, it has been a pleasure watching his skills grow over the last 4 years writing together.
The stories themselves have been a labor of love, and a joy in their own right. For instance, Team HOPE has blossomed in ways I never expected. I've loved writing these characters, one of which has gone on to be one of the most organic characters I've ever worked with (Seriously... she fancies him? Why? Girl, what were you thinking?)
S875 and I alternated chapters, and I've credited him in each one he wrote.
And so, without further ado, we present The Rubied Hunter Chronicles: a Round Robin.
EPISODE ONE: THE BATTLE OF BEACON
Chapter 1 (S875)
Azure stirred in his Beacon-issued bed, blinking as he gazed into the blurry ceiling. He slowly brought his left hand into the air, clenching it several times before finally bringing it down to cover his left eye.
"And just what might you be doing at this dreadful hour of the morning?" sighed his roommate and girlfriend Rin. "Bad dreams again?"
He lifted his heavy eyelids again, and brought himself to meet Rin's beautiful blue eyes, situated in her own bed a couple meters away. But he couldn't bring himself to return her warm smile – Because she was right. It was a recurring dream, and every time it came manifested it seemed to uncover more and more of a particular event from a couple years ago that he otherwise had no memory of.
Long before arriving at Beacon, Rin and Azure were already together, striving to become the best hunter/huntress pair that they could. They trained routinely, and operated in almost perfect sync with each other, almost completely eliminating the need for vocal communication.
But one day on a fateful day of training, they had an unexpected encounter with a Deathstalker and a few Grimm, and ended up locked into combat with it. The battle was going poorly – As coordinated as they were, they had never fought an enemy of that size and strength before. The last thing Azure remembered was seeing Rin struggling to get off the ground, and then an enormous claw being swung in his face.
And then there was nothing. He woke up some time later to Rin frantically treating a set of serious wounds covering his body that he definitely didn't have when he was knocked unconscious. When he asked what had happened, she looked at him in disbelief at his apparent unawareness of what had happened.
According to her, he had apparently gotten up in some sort of crazed state, and completely destroyed the Deathstalker and its entourage. There were telltale signs of his prized Kusanagi behind the carnage spread around him. There was no way Rin could've or would've engaged in close-range combat with her Dragon's Teeth. Those daggers were far from capable of raking the Deathstalker's armor like was seen on its corpse, or dismembering the limbs and torsos of its entourage.
Rin's warm expression faded as Azure lost himself in his recollection of the dream. While in his trance, she crawled out of bed and sat beside him, wrapping her arms around him to comfort him. She knew she was right, and knew that he didn't' like what he was remembering.
"Mmmph, now what's wrong?" mumbled Celeste, their team leader, beneath her covers.
"Nothing!" said Rin and Azure in tandem. Rin withdrew her grip, and quickly fell back into her bed.
"C'mon, I'm trying to sleep," came the muffled voice of Picton, the last member of Team CAPR.
Celeste picked herself up and stretched, combing her tangled dirty blonde hair as she finished. Picton was less responsive, only managing to barely open his eyes as he pulled the covers off his head.
"0749 hours. That's a new record," teased Celeste. "How long have you been up?"
"We just got up, don't worry about it," replied Azure.
"Seven minutes, 35 seconds to be precise," grumbled Picton under his breath. "You two really aren't good at being quiet."
Rin blushed slightly as she retreated back to the safety of her bed, as if that'd change something. Both Azure and Rin were aware that Celeste and Picton were aware of their involvement with each other, which bothered both to some degree. Azure more or less didn't care, but Rin always shared some greater concern, because exposure of their relationship served them no good. For other people to be aware would be for them to potentially exploit it as a weakness.
"Keep your head out of their business," laughed Celeste. "Wouldn't want to bother them, would you?"
"Can't help it, ma'am," replied Picton.
"Alright then, let's get ourselves some breakfast, shall we? Might as well start training early now that we're all up. That upcoming tournament isn't going to make itself any easier on us."
"Yes, it's best if we start as soon as possible," stated Rin. "Let's go."
Rin tugged at Azure, prompting him to get up. He rubbed his eyes a couple times before responding and catching up to her side. Picton was out of bed and standing in a swift motion, as stretched once more before following the couple out. Celeste was the last out, who stayed to ponder the upcoming competition.
There was the inter-school tournament that would pit students against each other, and then there was the hunting competition, which would test what each student had enrolled into Beacon for – To destroy the Grimm. There were two ways a team could compete – By either seeking out the Grimm, or having a set of judges throw Grimm at them.
Celeste wasn't quite sure which one she was going to sign up Team CAPR for. Though they were several months into the semester, she still didn't feel confident in their abilities as a team. And if she didn't feel confident, then it'd be on her if something bad happened to any of them.
Death could easily sweep down upon them before an instructor could step in to do something about it. If the worst were to happen…
It'd be that… All over again, thought Celeste.
Everyone else was halfway to the dining hall before Celeste caught up with them. The majestic carved wooden halls echoed slightly with the voices of her teammates, and she hushed them as she got close – Most people were still sleeping.
They arrived in the dining hall just as it opened, and grabbed their fresh meals off a la carte line. Azure and Rin were sharing some soup, fruits, and tea. Picton settled for cereal, and Celeste toasted some bread before sitting down and losing herself in her thoughts.