Author's Note: I do not own RWBY, it belongs to Roosterteeth.
INTRODUCTIONS
"Seriously? You don't know who Tanner Eclipse is?"
A young man stood waiting for the airship to arrive and take him to Beacon Academy. He had once possessed a handsome face, but it had been marred by a horrible scar . It radiated out from his right eye socket. It had a central impact zone with long jagged lines radiating outwards. The scar covered his entire face, to at least some degree. His right eye had been replaced with a synthetic implant that fed off of his aura to operate.
He stood in a way that conveyed confidence, but not arrogance. His posture didn't really invite conversation. This was a calculated gesture on his part, because he knew that as soon as he got too friendly, people would start pitying him. And if there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was someone feeling sorry for him. Why should they? He didn't feel sorry for himself. He had been dealt a bad hand, true, but he still had his natural intelligence and his athleticism.
He had made it a point to arrive an hour early, and the other hopefuls were finally starting to trickle in. The first one to arrive was a young man in silver armor. Tanner instantly identified him as an archer by his heavily armored left arm combined with the complete lack of armor on his right. He saw Tanner and headed over to talk to him.
"Good day.", he said as he extended his hand. Tanner reluctantly shook the offered hand, noting the man's silver eyes.
"An archer, huh? Where is your bow?", Tanner asked curiously. He couldn't see any weapons on the man and his bags weren't big enough to contain a bow. The man simply opened one of the two duffel bags he carried and pulled out what appeared to be a brick of metal with a thin shoulder strap. He pressed a concealed button on the side and it unfolded into an enormous longbow, just as tall as its owner. The bow looked wicked, with long barbed spikes curling off from the shaft on the front side. "Her name is Quill.", he said, patting the bow affectionately.
Tanner was starting to like the man. He hadn't even shown surprise on seeing Tanner's face. Not only that, he hadn't asked or even shown curiosity about the injury.
"Mine are Tenebrosi and Nox." Tanner said, resting his hands on the hilts of the two longswords hanging from either side of his belt.
"I'm Mark by the way, Mark Nutt." The archer said.
"Tanner Eclipse, pleased to meet you."
"You're the Lightbringer! That explains the scars!" Mark exclaimed, with a new note of respect in his voice.
"Please, don't call me that. I'm not the Lightbringer anymore.", he said softly, his expression unreadable. "And I never will be again, either."
/
The next person to appear was a boy wearing a suit of orange plate-mail with green trim and a glaive attached to his back with magnetic clamps. He was average sized, but the armor made him look much larger.
He decided to steer clear of scar-face; the guy had the air of a man not to be trifled with. As he sat down on top his duffel bag, another hopeful wandered over to talk to him and he had to fight to keep himself from letting his jaw drop. The girl was drop dead gorgeous, her beautiful auburn hair reached down to her shoulders and she had eyes the color of emeralds. Her pale skin was flawless, at least he thought so. She was wearing suede brown capris, a peach colored, fitted short sleeve short, and brown converse tennis shoes. On her head she was wearing a brown beret and she had a brown fur belt around her waist. On her ankle she had a leather anklet with the word Hazel. And finally, rounding out her ensemble, she had oversized peach gauntlets on her fore-arms. "Hello, my name's Hazel.", she said warmly.
"Hi, I'm Jacob." He looked to see what her weapon was, but if she had one on her, then he couldn't see it.
"So, what's with that guy?", she asked, pointing to the boy with the scarred face.
"I dunno, but he stands like a guy who can handle himself in a fight. He'd be a good teammate to have, I think."
"Makes you wonder what the story behind those scars is."
"I know where he got them.", a new voice replied, as a tall, lean man in green clothes walked over to them.
"Well, let's hear it then." Hazel said impatiently.
"That is Tanner Eclipse.", he said simply, as if that explained everything. At their looks of confusion, he elaborated, "You know, the Lightbringer? The most famous non-professional duelist in all of Vale? Seriously? You don't know who Tanner Eclipse is?" He sighed as he saw the blank looks on their faces. "He was the reigning world champion minor league duelist. Though sadly, his dueling days are over now. His last opponent was a pathetic piece of dung who couldn't handle losing and attacked him after the judges already called an end to the match."
"You mean the guy who's been on the Pumpkin Pete's cereal boxes the last couple of years?" Hazel asked curiously.
The newcomer sighed exasperatedly, "Yeah, him."
"So, what's your name?" Jacob asked trying to change the subject.
"I'm Samuel Yeager.", he replied sounding ashamed. Jacob wondered what that was all about, "I'm Jacob Bishop, and this is Hazel...", he trailed off as he realized he didn't know her last name.
"Aria. Hazel Aria." She finished for him.
/
While the three of them talked, seven more people had arrived. Two of them, a veritable giant of a man and an extremely attractive girl with long, permed, thick bleach blonde hair that had obviously been teased and hair sprayed to perfection and had a rocket launcher on her back, walked over to where Tanner and Mark stood. The blonde, who was a head and a half taller than Tanner, was wearing tight gray short shorts, a bright red and gray corset top, and bright red stilettos. She looked progressively more nervous the closer they got. She kept staring at Tanner's face, and he was suddenly very self-conscious. He didn't realize it, but as she was staring at him he had reached up and touched his cheek, just below his prosthetic eye.
"Hello.", she said, blushing nervously as she saw the slightly ashamed look on his face. She realized he thought she had been staring at his scar, when in reality she had been staring at the face the scar covered. "I've always wanted to meet you in person.", she said gulping. "I'm a huge fan, and I was there during your last fight. You, well... you were amazing. I- I've seen every single one of your fights and I still think that was your best.", she stuttered.
He blinked in surprise. That wasn't at all what he'd been expecting. He thought he was going to receive the usual pity that people offered him upon seeing his injury for the first time. Instead, she was a fan who had come to give him what little encouragement she could offer. He smiled and extended his hand to her. "Well, you have me at a disadvantage, and you know how I hate those. What's your name?"
"I'm Ginny Starkweather.", she said as she shook his hand. She gestured at her companion, who had been fidgeting with one of his gauntlets during the conversation, "...and this is my brother, Daniel."
"Pleased to meet you.", the man said as he looked up. His armor was blue plate mail with white trim, and he wore a full face helmet with a black T-slit visor. His voice came out of the helmet with a slight mechanical distortion, making Tanner suspect that the armor had an airtight seal, though Daniel probably had a way to filter outside air so he didn't have to constantly use a limited built in air supply.
/
As Hazel, Bishop, and Samuel were picking up their bags to board the airship that had finally arrived, a final person joined their group. He was tall and muscular with a lean, wiry build. He wore Naval camo cargo fatigues under a lightweight Navy blue breastplate, full length shin guards, and to top it all off, he had on black gloves and a black balaclava with a navy blue ball cap. The cap had the word SCOT stitched across the front in white. Rounding out his gear, he wore a blue military-style backpack. His boots looked like they had some kind of built-in weapon system, but it was hard to tell. He walked straight over to their group and introduced himself. "I'm Lancaster Price, but please, just call me Price.", he said to Bishop and Samuel with a slight accent.
"It's about time you got here, slowpoke!" Hazel said as she poked the newcomer in the side. "What did you do, sleep through your alarm clock again?"
"Now that's not fair, lass. You know I never get enough sleep. Besides, that's not even why I'm late. My little sis started crying when I was about to leave and I had to cheer her up."
/
As they boarded the airship, Tanner and Mark split off from the rest of the group, whispering conspiratorially, and occasionally Mark could be seen snickering.
"Is that how you expected your crush to act?" Daniel asked teasingly.
"I don't have a crush on him! I just think he is an interesting character.", Ginny protested. "But don't think I didn't see you fiddling with your gauntlets while we were talking. Was the big, bad warrior boy intimidated?" She teased back.
"I'm not afraid to admit it, I would not want to tangle with him. He scares me.", Daniel replied earnestly. His answer surprised her, she had never seen her twin scared or even intimidated by anyone before. Not even their father, and Dad was an accomplished huntsman.
/
"How are you walking around in all of that? It's the middle of August!" Hazel teased as she pulled Price's ball-cap down over his eyes.
"What did I tell you about my hat, lass!", he exclaimed as he impatiently fixed the ball cap. Hazel just giggled. Bishop and Sam watched their antics with amusement.
/
The twelve hopeful students stood on launch pads as professor Ozpin dropped the bombshell of the year on them. "...that being said, the first person you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years."
A faint grin could be seen on Tanner's face. He had heard Ozpin's teaching methods were unconventional and it seemed the rumors were true. Luckily, he and Mark had planned for this type of problem.
Mark was the first to be launched and as he flew into the sky, he yelled out his battle cry.
"SUCK MY NUTT!"
Tanner just laughed at the stupidity of it as he went flying into the air himself. He drew his swords and attached them to the dust powered ascension guns built into his gauntlets. The little machines could launch a sword point up to fifty yards. With the steel cables hooking them together, they allowed him to quickly climb by launching his swords, or to attack opponents from a distance, and because they had steel cables with 500 pound test, he could rely on them to carry him easily enough.
He launched his left sword into a tree as he fell and swung through, before launching with his right sword and drawing the first sword back in. And so, he swung through the trees on his swords.
/
Jacob pole-vaulted from a tree branch to the ground using his glaive. He landed shoulder first and rolled to disperse the blow.
/
As Daniel fell, he threw his tower shield down at his feet, where the magnetic clamps on his boots grabbed it. He used his shield as a snowboard and grinded a tree safely to the ground.
/
Samuel merely pushed his aura out through his feet as he landed, and bent his knees. His aura took the worst of the landing.
/
Mark pulled out a grappling arrow, fired it into a tree, and then swung to the ground. He hit the ground running. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he threw his head back at a forty-five degree angle and cried, "MARRRK NUUU-UTTTT!"
/
Hazel deployed her pata sword and impaled a tree with it, stopping her fall. Then she dropped to the ground.
/
Ginny pulled out her weapon and hit a button on the hilt. Ekrixi morphed into a pick and she hooked one of the tree branches as she fell. The swing slowed her fall sufficiently enough to land on her feet.
/
Price simply pulled the ripcord on his backpack and floated down on his parachute.
/
"MARRRK NUUU-UTTTT!" Tanner heard the cry and immediately set out towards its source. As he walked, he heard movement and growling in the undergrowth. Beowolves, he thought to himself, as he fired his ascenders and rose into the trees. He had no intention of fighting if he could avoid it.
/
Hazel dropped out of the tree and collapsed her pata back into its gauntlet form. She took in her surroundings, she had landed in a small meadow. It was very pretty, and if she hadn't been on a mission, she would have had to stop and take it in. She looked to see if anyone else was around. As soon as she was sure no one else was within eye-sight, she took off her beret, showing off her brown wolf ears, and uncoiled her the belt, which was actually her tail, from around her waist. She began jogging in the direction she had last seen Price's parachute because she was determined to have him as her partner. After all, she knew where her friend stood when it came to the faunus.
After about ten minutes of jogging, she heard a voice speaking from behind her. "Looking for someone, lass?" She didn't react; if she did she would never hear the end of it.
"Actually, I wasn't.", she replied neutrally as she kept walking.
"We haven't made eye contact, so technically we aren't partners yet.", he said, then he reached out, grabbed her by the arm and spun her around so that their faces were only inches apart. "Now that's better.", he said as her breath caught in her throat. She let her breath out in a contented sigh. After a couple of minutes, she realized where they were and quickly pulled away.
"We should get moving.", she said quickly. He just flashed her his puppy dog eyes and she could feel her resolve starting to shake. "We need to keep moving.", she said more firmly. She could tell he was grinning under the balaclava.
She silently cursed herself for feeling the way she did. The two of them had already tried dating and it had ended in disaster. They had barely managed to salvage their friendship afterward. Yet a part of her was still convinced that should they ever try again, it would end differently.
As they started walking deeper into the forest, he began whistling softly. As always, he was perfectly on time and stayed in key. He was born with a natural affinity for music in all its forms. He could master any instrument after only a month or two of practice and his singing voice was absolutely amazing. She had often wondered why he was so dead set on being a warrior, as he could have successfully made enormous amounts of Lien as a musician.
As they walked, Hazel suddenly held up her left hand and Price instantly stopped whistling. Now that he was quiet, he could hear a faint hissing coming from the undergrowth. He slowly slipped off his backpack and set it down on the ground in front of him. From it, he pulled a massive anti-tank rifle that's far too large to have come from a backpack that size. Hazel simply nodded in approval, and pressed a button on her right gauntlet. The gauntlet unfolded into her pata, while a piece of metal quickly spiraled out from her left gauntlet until it formed a buckler.
Suddenly, a King Taijitu lunged out of the trees. Hazel simply rolled to the side, and then the whole forest seemed to shake as Price fired a round from his rifle. The snake's head simply disappeared and the round ripped off through the forest. The beast's second head attacked as Price hurried to load another round. Hazel went on the attack, flipping through the air, slashing at the creature as she dodged its attempts to snap her up. Finally, Price got the chance to fire without hitting her, and he blew the creatures other head off.
/
In a deeper, darker part of the forest, a massive monster of a man worked his way through the thick undergrowth, struggling against brambles and briars. Fortunately, his battered blue and white armor was impervious to such minor annoyances. He had heard the sound of someone landing in this direction, and he was determined to link up with another huntsman/huntress in training as quickly as possible. As he was walking, he heard a low grumbling. He looked around and saw red eyes glowering at him from one of the bushes. He grinned and leveled his machine gun. As the Ursa Major charged, he ripped into it, the incendiary rounds lighting its fur on fire. The creature's charge ended as quickly as it began, as the creature's instinct took over and it tried to outrun the flames. He pressed a button and the weapon went back to its great-sword form, and he decapitated the bear-like monster, putting an end to the beast's pain.
He calmly collapsed the weapon into its block form and put it on his back, where the magnetic plates secured it to his armor, and continued walking. He eventually came to a clearing, and sitting in the middle of it was none other than Samuel. The clearing was covered in the corpses of Beowolves in various states of dismemberment. Samuel sat on a stump to the side of the clearing. The man looked exhausted. He had taken off his black fencing gear, piling it on the ground next to him. Daniel noticed that the mask actually had a rip in the front.
"Having trouble?", he asked.
"Not anymore.", Samuel replied. "I wish you had gotten here earlier though, it's Danny right?"
"Daniel. Daniel Starkweather.", he corrected. "And you are?"
"I'm Samuel Yeager. I guess we're partners now, huh?" Samuel asked.
"Looks like it. So, where did you learn to fight? I know you didn't attend Signal." Daniel would have remembered a fencer, especially one with a rapier as beautiful as Samuel's.
"I was a duelist. I planned to become a professional, but then I did something horrible and was banned from competitive dueling forever. I deserved it. And no, I don't want to talk about it." The lean man put on his fencing gear as he replied. "Shall we proceed?", he asked as he started walking deeper into the forest.
/
Jacob sat on a stone beside a gorgeous freshwater spring. The water trickled pleasantly, and it was the perfect spot for a hard-earned break. He had already fought his way past a pack of Ursa, and he was currently washing their blood off his glaive. He suddenly heard footsteps coming towards him and jumped up into a combat stance, expecting another Ursa. Instead, he found himself holding a pretty blond at blade-point. She simply pushed the glaive away from her face with her finger and grinned flirtatiously. "Trying to get your pole-arm in me already? But this is only our first date."
"S-S-Sorry about that. I just tangled with a pack of Ursa and I...", he stammered desperately.
"No problem.", she replied as she winked at him. "Besides, I can handle myself around guys..."
"Right... well, we should probably get moving huh? After all, I don't want to get caught alone with you with my pole-arm ready to go.", he replied winking back.
"Oh, I can imagine not. After all, Daniel might have something to say about that. He has always been a bit touchy about things that might puncture me.", she said. She laughed at the look on his face when he realized she was talking about the walking mountain that was her brother. She would have to watch herself around this one; he had quite the silver tongue.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A brief description of the characters, as well as their weapons and weapon names can be found on my profile page. Some of the weapon names have to be translated, but once you do, then they'll give out a few hints about the character's backstories and personalities.
Me and my Beta Reader came back through and did an overhaul on this chapter. Hopefully it's a better read this time around.
Please review or PM me and let me know what you think. After all I'm writing this for your entertainment.