The World of Remnant. A world wherein fairytales often told but never believed, hold the power to save-or ruin- everything. But some stories go untold. Unwritten. They wait in the mind of those who beheld them. Those who have beheld nightmares oft refuse to share. For a nightmare is something many ought not inflict upon the world, for what could the world do to deserve it? Yet some bear their nightmares with hem forever. A burden they carry alone, be it through choice or circumstance, they suffer in silence. Others live in relative peace, their dreams fueling their desires, pushing them to greater things. Some live in the dreams of others, the stories they tell, or the horrors they witness.
This is a story. You might be wondering then, if this is a story, at what point does it begin? Well, the beginning is wherever the viewer perceived it to be. There is always farther back we could go. So for the sake of having a story shorter than eternity, we shall start where the people in question might truly argue that the story begins...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Beacon Academy: Initiation Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beacon Academy. It is exactly what the name implies. A massive tower, glowing in the sky, a signal of hope and empowerment to all the Hunters of Vale. Just recently in fact it has accepted a number of students to fill its ranks. The best of the best, there to show that they are deserving of such a title, and to prove they are the best to the entire world. Currently, the students sit within their locker room, preparing for the moment they earn their right into the school. A moment viewed with anticipation, anxiety, excitement. These fill those that await their chance to shine...
Valance opened his locker to grab his weapon, the mirror on the inside reflecting his features back at him. He was average in height and stature, with brown hair slightly fallen over his eyes and obscuring his ears. His fiery pink eyes looking back at him.
Valance smiled as he grabbed the bow out of his locker, which automatically condensed into a simple metal cylinder that would fit on his belt. His belt had many more cylinders that would expand to form the arrows. An easy way to transport everything. Valance wore a cloak with a brown hood, black boots, and a dark green jacket over a brown shirt.
He had spent a long time making each and every arrow himself, along with collecting the dust necessary to make the worth the effort. Lightning, Fire, Ice, they all had uses and some were better used from afar, hence the bow. He didn't like using guns that much unlike a lot of the other students here, even now one of them had launched - possibly by accident as she apologized for it - a spear through the hood of another student pinning him to the wall. He had nothing against using he moment to power the force behind one's own blows, but the heat and effort they required was something he detested. Especially the heat, they were like furnaces if used to often in a single battle, and Valance hated the heat.
The locker next to Valance opened as another student arrived to grab his weapons. A familiar voice came over the speakers. "All new students please report to Emerald Forest Cliffside in the next thirty minutes to begin Initiation." Ozpin. Short, Sweet, and to the point.
"You excited for Initiation?" The guy next to Valance asked. The teen in question was dressed in casual wear; Jeans, a t-shirt, that was it. He was pulling fingerless gloves from his locker.
"Excited?" Valance replies, "I'm ecstatic, people don't get here without putting a lot of effort into it."
The teen looked at Valance, making eye contact for the first time. His eyes at first glance might seem normal, but his piercing blue Irish was compounded, made of a million tiny lenses to form the eye, in much the same way an ant or a fly would make up their entire eye. The teen was some form of Faunus.
"That's True. But I still intend to win."
"What does that even mean? It's not a competition."
A third student apparently overhearing them pokes his head between them, long blond hair falling over his tan skin as he did so.
"Everything is a competition. You don't think so than you're already losing!"
"Some people would consider it rude to poke your nose where it isn't invited Terrence." The Faunus answered back.
"You an' I both know it ain't ever invited anywhere Rush."
"We are all going to be late if we don't go to the Emerald Forest guys." Valance interrupted. "And no way am I going to be late for my first day."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Emerald Forest~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Emerald Forest. It sprawls itself outwards near the Cliffside. Beacon, as it does all things, overlooking it. An ocean of tree filled with fish that aim to kill. On th Cliffside, students, assembled, waiting, eager to dive in and show their strength. Entirely unaware that heir strength is nothing compared to the creatures that wait outside the walls of the kingdom.
Valance watched as Ozpin walked to stand in front of the row of students cane in one hand, mug in the other. "Your Initiation is simple." He started, "I have placed relics at the northern end of the Emerald Forest. Go in, retrieve them, and bring them back. Be wary though, the Emerald Forest is teeming with Grimm, waiting for helpless prey to fall into their hands. Do not be helpless prey, do not hesitate to destroy anything that stands in your way in order to achieve your goal." He straightened his glasses and took a sip of his coffee. "Their have been rumors about teams flying around. Let me put an end to those right now. The first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the duration of your time at Beacon."
A collective gasp escaped the students. The first person? Valance didn't know anybody here well enough to tell if he would make a good partner. He hated relying on luck, it wasn't very reliable...
"I suggest you pair with someone you work well with. Now, are their any questions?" Without waiting for a reply Ozpin continued, "Very well then, good luck!"
With that the student farthest to Valance's left was launched into the air. The person to Valance's right raised his hand. He wore white armor and had a white sheath on his belt. He had sneakers and jeans and shaggy blonde hair.
"um...Professer Ozpin?" He asked.
"Yes Mr. Arc?" A small smile forming on Ozpin's lips as he waited for the reply.
"How exactly are to get down there?" Arc asked him.
"You will be using your own landing strategy" And that was the last Valance heard before the pad beneath him launched him into the air, leaving Arc to take that response alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Inside the Emerald Forest~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unwyn was fairly easy to please, at least at first glance he was. He worked hard, he achieved his goals. However, that was often easier said than done. For example, his current goal was to be one of the most outstanding Huntsman ever. The drive that pushed him to follow this goal like it was his religious purpose hadn't forced him into a perilous situation. One where he had been almost laughingly launched into a forest of deadly Grimm.
He was a well-built student, though not bulky, he wore dark blue gauntlets and similar light armor on his arms, legs, and torso. He had bronze skin, brown eyes, and black hair just short enough to keep out of his eyes.
He couldn't believe this. He had trained hard to get here, only to be immediatly launches into the forest and told to choose his friends wisely. Ozpin's definition of choose was 'accidentally look them in the eye.' Not a philosophy Unwyn necessaryly agreed with, seeing as luck was the only real deciding factor. He preferred to have more choice in the selection, but no matter, he needed to focus. What happened, happened.
Unwyn noticed what was currently happening was that a Beowulf was breaking the foliage in front of him. And it looked hungry. So did the five friends it brought along.
"Tell me," Unwyn addressed the mindless beasts, unsheathing his weapon of choice, a middle-length sword he had crafted himself. The black blade glowing with red and green streaks. When he had crafted it, Unwyn had melded fire and lightning dust into its very being, making a deadly blade indeed. As he gripped the blade with both hands, it caught fire, green lightning sparking in the deadly glow. "Shall we dance around the Dying Light?"
Thus, the dance began, the first Beowulf leading with a left-handed swipe. A fair move, but pointless against a master of his blade, Dying Light. He sidestepped, lifting the blade swiftly, removing the entire arm of the Grimm in a single move, the lightning from the blade traveling along the beast's body and finishing it. Unwyn couldn't stop there, five more Grimm approached.
Two jumped this time. The dance had now truly begun. Unwyn elegantly ducked under them with a sliding motion, bringing the Dying Light above him in a high arc, slicing them clean in half, and they hit the ground. They had not yet learned to dance the way Unwyn had.
The three remaining Grimm no longer hesitated, each one choosing a different method of attack. One jumped, the other dashed on all fours, the third came in swinging. Unwyn couldn't avoid them all, but he could bet on two out of three getting injured more than he would. He gripped Dying Light tightly,
"Welcome to my da-"
he was cut off by a loud shout from above, "Canonball!" The figure broke through the canopy and slammed into the Grimm, smashing them all into the ground with crushing force, his aura visible for a second as it absorbed the force of his explosive entrance.
He stepped off the pile of dissipitating Beowulves and looked Unwyn in the eye with his insect-like iris. "Hello There." Rush stated simply.
~~~~~Elsewhere~~~~~
Terrence climbed down from the tree he had landed in. Not as smooth as it could have been, he thought, blowing a strand of blonde hair out of his eyes. He wore a plain t-shirt, with a diagonal strap over his well-muscled chest. The strap held on the back, two sheathes for hand-axes with double blades. Small but efficient.
Terrance had gone mostly unhindered through the forest so far, but he knew that couldn't last forever. That was the point of the exercise after all. Well, that and to find whomever his partner was. The idea of partnering up for the duration of the time was a good one. New friends and good allies was never bad.
Terrence stopped. His semblance was a passive. Always active. It gave him Extra-Sensory Perception. He could just feel when living things were near. It made the forest feel as beautiful as it looked. But this wasn't the dark feeling the Grimm made. It was a human. A human to his...right. Terrance turned and someone's slammed into him, bringing them both to the ground. Then he felt the darkness. It was right behind where the person had come from.
A Grimm. But not just any Grimm, it was a massive Boarbatusk. Easily standing over Terrance, even as he and the person that had run into him stood up.
"I don't believe we were properly introduced before being launch-padded." The other teen said, "Name's Valance. I heard Rush call you Terrance?"
"Yup." He confirmed. "So why'd you bring Grimm to my neck of the woods?"
"He didn't exactly listen when I said stop."
Before Terrence could reply the Boarbatusk burst into his field of vision, bending trees out of its way and crushing boulders. Its tusks curled into a fine battering ram, a white carapace covering the vast majority of the beast's back and head. It let off a ground shaking squeal as it saw its prey.
The Boarbatusk charged without a second thought, head down, horns up. Valance drew his cylinder from his belt as he ran to the side to avoid being trampled. The cylinder expanding vertically with a slight curve to make a steel bow, more cylinders from his belt turning into arrows.
Terrance stood his ground, drawing his two hand-axes and forming a cross in front of himself to distribute the force of the blow and hopefully slow down the large Grimm. It didn't go quite how he planned. Yes the Boarbatusk hit the axes head-on. No the Grimm didn't slow down. Instead, it plowed through him, running until it slammed into a large tree, pinning Terrance their with its tusks on either side, his axes now buried in the wood with the giant tusks they had so fruitlessly sought to stop.
Before the Boarbatusk could tear its tusks from the trees three arrows slammed into its underbelly. Arrows full of fire dust. They promptly exploded, causing the large Grimm to rear back, shredding the tree and freeing Terrance. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Terrance ran under the beast and spun, Axe blades swinging outwards, cutting all four legs from beneath the Grimm as another volley of arrows blasted it just to the side, preventing Terrance from being crushed.
"Easy Enough." Terrance said as they set off to find the relics...
~~~~~The Ruins~~~~~
Rush continued to march towards their destination, Unwyn following close behind. "so tell me," Unwyn broke the silence, "Why don't you bear anu weapons into battle with you?"
Rush didn't hesitate to answer. "I don't need a weapon. I have my own natural abilities to draw on."
"Sounds to me like you are an arrogant fool." Unwyn responded, "No man or faunus is so powerful as to never require the aid or advantage a skillfully used weapon brings to a fight."
"I wasn't trying to offend, geez man. No need to toss insuls like 'arrogant' or 'fool'. Besides, I take arrogance as a complement."
Befre Unwyn could respond to what Rush considered a witty comeback, they emerged in a clearing. It had in its center some ruins, in these ruins stood several pedestals. Each one carrying on it a chesspiece. White, black, all pieces from both sides were present, give or take a few.
"I presume we should choose a piece befitting our partnership." Unwyn stated as he walked overand started to examine each piece.
"Or maybe we could just pick one that looks really cool!" Rush replied reaching over and grabbing a white pawn.
"I suppose that piece accomplishes neither."
"I was just aiming to annoy you, but since it worked..."
At this moment Terrance and Valance entered the clearing.
"Hello Rush!" Terrance shouted as he rushed over and started to look over the pieces.
"Hi guys." Valance repeated. "Which piece did you choose?"
"The pawn apparently..." Unwyn Replied sourly.
"Then we too shall choose the pawn!" Terrance shouted as he dramatically grasped the only other one.
"What's with sour guy there?" Valance asked Rush as Unwyn facepalmed.
~~~~~~~~~~Later, at Beacon.~~~~~~~~~
"Valance Viro, Rush Ram, Terrance Thompson, Unwyn Uridon, you chse the white pawn. You are team VRTU (Virtue), led by... Valance!" Ozpin declared to the word. Rush, Valance, and Terrance high-fived each otherwhile Unwyn ignored them. they stepped off stage as the last teams were announced, team JNPR and team RWBY. Rush didn't know what else to think, othe than how epic the rest of the semester must be about to become now that he was on a four-man team. Terrance was glad to have been paired with Rush, he seemed fun. Valance was shocked to be tea leader. Unwyn was vaugely annoyed.
A/N: Bam! my first RWBY fanfic chapter out! It didn't have as much team RWBY as I would have liked, but that is mainly because I lost the notes to the original team, which would have been very differemt and they would have had different semblances and personalities too. Crazy how much it can change during editing...
Anyway, please leave a comment, and if you like RWBY/Legend of Zelda crossover fanfics do me a solid by visiting my favorite writer's fic: 'Unknown Legends' (by KTWizard) and give that a read. Puts most everything else on on this site to shame with his writing...
Pretty please leave reviews guys, I will always appreciate the support/criticism (or even hate) because I just like to know that people are interested in my fic because I have till Vol 4 planned out for ya'll. See you soon!