The Outliers
Chapter 1 - Over, Under, Around, and Busting Right Through
Who would believe it? An outlaw like him, in a free ride to a Huntsman academy, well, it wasn't exactly free, but regardless, no one would believe it. Dusty has been an outlaw in Vacuo for more than three years now, he's been trying to avoid the authorities, avoid the other outlaws and, you know just chill. He found it somewhat bigger and more bustling in Vale, it was like a million Vacuo towns stacked on top of each other. Absolutely amazing.
And this ship flew! That was something he didn't see every day, granted you barely even saw water in the places he lived, this was still breathtaking to him. And the views! Oh, the views from here utterly astounding.
But what he found himself looking at the most were the people, they were a lot less hardened and grim looking around here. In fact, they looked happy and carefree, who would've thought. But there was someone specific he had his eye on, a blonde-haired beauty, as he would call her. He walked up to her slowly and suave-like running his hand across his hair.
"Ew, there's vomit on your shoe!" The dark red haired one screeched.
"Gross, gross, gross, gross!" She began hopping on one foot, rushing to the suave man himself.
"Oh shit!" He replied, jumping behind the nearest person, he waited until they were lost in the crowd to get out from behind them. The man glared at him. Dusty chuckled. "Heh, new coat. can't get it dirty now."
Axel was none for wasting time.
When he made it to Beacon's campus, there wasn't much to see, and not many people to look at. He entered the reasonably vast auditorium where everyone was crowded and watched the Headmaster delivered his speech and the students began to get ready for tomorrow, their own personal judgment day. He opened his suitcase and check for his two primary weapons. Two Guns, like two newlyweds on their first honeymoon. He reached for them grasping them in each hand, he cocked the gun and pulled the trigger with a "click" sound coming from it. He flicked it forward and it changed into two batons.
'Perfect.' He thought to himself as flicked it back into an ordinary gun. After a few checks and maintenance, he returned them to his suitcase and took out his sleeping bag, and set it out on the floor. He took off his sable coat and placed it to the side along with all his other unnecessary clothing and drifted off to sleep.
'About eight hours of sleep.' Axel counted to himself, he softly stood up and looked out the window, seeing dawn break. The dim blue sky lit the room similar color, it was still early, so he began dressing for his own, personal day of judgment.
He dawned his dark leather coat and placed his similar colored holsters to his sides and slid his guns in. He went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror, and splashed water on his face to bestir himself up further.
There would be no mistakes today.
"Hey, you're Pyrrha Nikos aren't you?" A voice sounded, standing behind the Invincible Girl was a girl with dusky hair and lilac colored eyes. "It's great to meet you personally." The girl stuck her hand out to her.
"Oh, likewise, and you are?"
"Last year's Wyatt Festival in Atlas? Semifinals? Mean anything to you?" She asked.
"Oh, you're..."
"Lilac, yes, I am. You absolutely had me in that ring that day." She replied.
"Oh, well, I was a little sloppy that day, you got me down to my last legs in the final round."
"Ah, well, I didn't really think I could beat the Invincible Girl, with just my sword. It's going to take a whole lot more than just my sword to beat you." She laughed. "So, what brings you to Beacon? You're already fully trained, so why?"
"Well, I'm not fully trained. There's always someone better out there, someone who knows the rush of battle like the back of their hand."
"I learned that when I fought you." They both chuckled at the joke. "Well, I'll see you around. I have to go get my things."
"Okay, see you."
Lilac began making her way to the locker she packed her weapon in, walking at a quick pace. Not paying attention to her surroundings she walked into a man by accident. "Hey, watch it!" She chastised.
He replied with a quick 'sorry' and stumbled his away from her.
She reached into her locker, pulling out her famous gleaming sword, it's edge was slightly worn, possibly from overuse. She grinned and swiped it a few times as if she were trying to get a feel for it again.
"ALL STUDENTS REPORT TO BEACON HILL FOR INITIATION." She heard over the intercom, and slowly a grin crossed her face.
"Showtime." She muttered.
Raphael couldn't have asked for a more satisfactory way to start the year off than this. He would need to fly for this, he would need to utilize his ability. He was prepared. As the launch pad shot him off into the air, he could hear the wind whistling into his two ears, as he began seeing the trees come close to him, he let his wings loose and began to soar as he flapped them.
He turned and saw the other students develop their own strategies for making it safely onto the ground. More or less.
He flew over the trees and landed on some of the branches and folding his wings back into the crook in his back. Jumping down into the wilderness, he heard the leaves below him crunch as his feet touched down. He sighed contentedly and smiled, nature was always soothing to him. It was as if he belonged here.
But there was no time to waste! He had to find a partner as quickly as possible and get those relics.
He ran off into the wilderness and killed any Grimm that stood in his way. And the more and more he ran, the less and less Grimm he saw. Rather he saw more and more corpses of the Grimm littered on the ground fading away. And that's when he heard the sound he would hear more times in this school than anywhere else.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He stopped and looked around, investigating the sounds getting closer and closer until he saw a face.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
It was a man dressed in a black coat, black pants, a belt with strange metal contraptions on them, and a dark blue collared shirt, he had dusky auburn hair that scarcely passed his shoulders, ankle length boots, and red eyes. His face appeared grim as if restraining something untameable.
"You must be my new partner." He said after a few seconds of tense silence. "My name is Axel Statato. Nice to meet you."
Lilac tore through the Grimm, like scissors to a paper with her katana, and leaving the corpse to rot with the rest. She ripped through multiple Grimm that jumped out from the bushes with one effective swing. They fell to the ground in front of her, she grinned. 'They never learn.'
She sheathed her sword and continued walking the forest cautiously, being wary of her surroundings. She kept her right hand on the hilt at all times.
There was a rustle in the bushes, she was swift to grasp her sword and rush forward to strike it, but she suddenly stopped when she felt something sharp on her neck. She looked down slowly, to see a young man with chestnut-colored eyes and brown hair, holding a blue dagger with jagged edges running through it at her neck.
The young man jumped back in surprise. "Ah! Sorry, sorry. Instincts..."
He looked up at her curiously. "Does this make us partners?"
She pondered on it for a second and answered him with a smile on her face. "Yeah, I guess it does. I'm Lilac."
"Derron Brown. Or you can just call me 'Dusty'." He said, with a goofy grin on his face. "Well, no time to waste! Let's go find those relics and get the heck out of here."
"Alright."
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Those are some guns you've got there," Raphael observed.
"Yeah, my mentor made them for me. They can use every type of bullet or shell in the world, which is why..." A Grimm jumped out from the bushes behind him, he cocked his gun without even glancing.
BANG!
"...they are so powerful. Right now, I'm using 9mm bullets, really drive into the Grimm's skin and tears it apart. Kills them in an instant." He said holding the gun in his hand. "Anyway, what weapons do you have?"
Raphael smiled when he asked and held his two wrists up for Axel to see, showing the gauntlets on his wrists. He grasped two cartridges from his belt and placed it into a slot in the gauntlet and a beam of pure energy shot out above his hand, an energy sword.
"My semblance allows me to surround my body with plasma. And I can use that to power this." He grinned, brandishing it. "And I can also make it blow up."
"That's helpful."
"Speaking of helpful, I have an idea." He said, flapping his wings a little. "Let's go flying."
"Oh, no, no, no, no way am I doing-"
Before he could finish his sentence he was flown into the air kicking and screaming.
After going through the forest a little more, Dusty and Lilac found their way to the relics. Dusty pushed through the branches, one slapping Lilac in the cheek. "Ow! Will you watch those branches?!" She shouted at the young outlaw.
"Hey, I think I see the relics!" He shouted, another branch slapping her in the face.
Lilac growled in anger. "Dusty!"
"Oh, I was wrong. They're just chess pieces." He sighed to himself, picking one up then placing it back down.
"Those are the relics, you dim-wit." She snarled. "Hurry up and take one so we can get out of here!"
"THESE are the relics? Damn, I thought it would be like a golden lantern or something."
"Dusty!" She shouted again.
"Coming~ " He replied in a sing-song voice, scampering up to her.
"Hey, you two!" A cheery voice sounded from behind them. A blonde girl and a raven-haired girl appeared from the bushes. "So, this the place?"
"Yeah," Lilac replied warily.
"Ah, well how about a cute little pony?" The blonde asked grabbing the knight piece.
"Actually, that's the knight piece." Lilac corrected.
"I like calling it a pony better." She replied. "Which one did you get?"
They both pulled out their pieces, both of them were bishops.
"Oh, cool then. Let's head back together." She suggested. "Oh, by the way, the name's Yang. Yang Xiao Long. And this is Blake."
"I'm Lilac."
"I'm Dusty."
They all shook hands fervently, then began to walk away. "HEADS UP!" A voice sounded from above the four of them, they looked sharp to see a girl dropping from the skies, heading right toward them.
"Oh, shit!" Dusty shouted as he rolled to the side, Lilac following right behind him. A large man with eagle wings dropped someone onto the ground and picked the girl right out of the sky like an apple in an orchard.
The eagle faunus landed on the ground in front of them, his wings receding into the crook in his back. He dropped the red-haired girl onto her feet in front of Yang and Blake, smiling. "Is this yours?" He quipped.
"Yup." Yang simply replied. "Thanks."
"All in a days work." Then he heard another shrill scream. "Oh, one second, I hear another damsel in distress!" He took to the skies, and saw a young blond boy, shooting through the air.
"More like a damn idiot." Dusty quipped, making the eagle boy chuckle.
The eagle faunus caught him as well, dropping him safely on the ground.
Dusty stood, looking at the new character. "Playing air rescue I see. I'm Derron Brown, but you can call me Dusty."
"Yeah, sure. I'm Raphael Meshach." They both shook hands.
"Looks like you got another one," Dusty pointed to the white-haired beauty that appeared to be falling out of the sky. "I think that's Weiss Schnee."
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME!" She shouted.
"One sec." He said, bursting into flight once again. He caught her in a bridal-carry. "Aren't you gonna say 'thank you'?"
She only huffed at him.
"Oh, I guess you didn't want my help," He said, mockingly. Proceeding to drop her into the air again and then catch her before she could hit the ground. "What do you want to say now?"
"Don't you ever do that to me again!" She replied angrily, pouncing on him by slapping him over the head multiple times. He placed her onto the ground again, albeit roughly, and turned to Dusty who was standing behind him.
"Remind me next time to let her drop to her death." He deadpanned.
"Ugh, women," Dusty replied with the same expression.
The first guy Raphael dropped, began to stir and looked at his partner angrily. "Fucking pigeon." He said angrily. "I told you to just let me find it." He said.
"Well, it doesn't matter now Axel, we're here aren't we?" Raphael pointed out.
"I- Well, yeah... I guess." Axel resigned.
"Just get the relics and get the fuck out of here, guys," Dusty suggested to them.
"Alright, alright." Raphael and Axel ran back to the pedestals and took the black bishop pieces. Yang and Blake just looked, mouths agape with incredulity at the wide array of colorful things that just took place.
And it only got crazier from there.
"YEEE-HAAW!" A feminine voice cried from behind the trees, a ginger girl burst through, riding the Grimm bear on it's back like a bull. The creature eventually tired itself out and fell to the floor in pure exhaustion. She looked the creature over and frowned. "Aw, it's broken."
Someone else came through the trees as well, an exhausted young man, wearing a knitted green shirt, and black pants.
"Nora... don't do that again..." He sighed.
She looked at the pedestals, grinning widely. She picked up the rook piece and placed it on her head. "I'm the queen of the castle, I'm the queen of the castle!" She chanted.
"Nora!" The boy shouted.
"Sorry, Ren." She replied.
"That is one weird ass girl," Raphael said, softly to himself and Axel.
"Yeah..." Axel replied.
"Did that girl just ride in here on an Ursa?" Blake asked no one in particular.
"Jaune!" A voice sounded from the other side of the forest, a redhead girl ran into the clearing until a Deathstalker followed her, knocking a few trees aside as well.
"Hey, that's Pyrrha Nikos!" Dusty shouted.
Her weapon transformed from a spear to a rifle, shooting multiple rounds at the scorpion-like beast. It barely even flinched, as it knocked her aside to the group.
Yang looked down at her. "Great, now we can all die together."
"That's Pyrrha Nikos!" Dusty repeated.
"I can take it!" Ruby declared, rushing forward at a high speed to attack the Deathstalker with a battle cry. Yang cried her name, as the young girl's cape was caught by a sharp feather from the sky.
Dusty looked up to the sky, seeing the large black Nevermore, soaring menacingly through the firmament. "Oh, shit..." Dusty muttered to himself.
Axel stood up, his face hardening suddenly. He reached onto his belt pulling out two strange contraptions and attaching them to his guns and he rushed forward, shooting multiple rounds at a high speed, like a machine gun, at the Deathstalker. "She needs support! Dusty, Raphael!"
"Aye, aye captain." Dusty replied, rushing forward coming in low to defend her from the Nevermore, reaching under his coat and pulling out a crossbow, shooting at it with dust-tipped arrows. Raphael silently tore the feather from her cape allowing her to move freely, Weiss came as well, helping Ruby up.
"Hold still, you overgrown chicken! No offense, Raph." Dusty called out.
"None taken." He replied soaring over to the Nevermore, landing on it's back and stabbing it with his energy sword. The Grimm screeched in pain as he sliced downwards as if he were making an incision.
Dusty, Ruby, Weiss, and Axel rushed back to the group, escaping the Deathstalker narrowly. "Alright, guys what's the plan?" Dusty asked.
"We already have our objective and it's right up that cliff. We don't need to fight those Grimm." Axel announced.
"Run and live. Sounds good to me." Jaune chimed in.
"Well, let's go then!" Dusty shouted. They all rushed to the bridge, beginning to run across, but the Nevermore quickly cut them off, splitting up the people in the front and in the back. Dusty, Lilac, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Yang on one side and Jaune, Nora, Axel, Raphael, Pyrrha, and Ren on the opposite side. "Da'aw, shit."
Axel looked back at the other side, frowning slightly. "Hey, Raphael, can you get me to the Nevermore?" He called out to his flying faunus friend.
"Hold on a sec," He ripped off the cartridges on his wrists and threw them at the Deathstalker. He flew over to Axel and grabbed him by the arms, while behind them the cartridges blew up in an explosion of green flames.
Below him, Axel watched as the six sent a barrage of projectiles the Nevermore's way. Lilac's arm was engulfed in flames and spit fire like a flamethrower, but coiled in a way. Dusty looked at her in awe.
"How'd you do that? Is that your semblance?" He asked eagerly.
"Yeah, it's my semblance. I can use it to protect my left arm or send fire someone's way." She replied.
"Two fiery chicks... huh. Wasn't expecting that." Raphael spoke above Axel. "Get ready to grab onto that beast tightly." He warned Axel.
"Okay."
"Now!" He called out, throwing him to the Grimm. Axel held his hand out to reach for a feather or something to grab, but suddenly, the Grimm jerked downward, toward the bridge. He reached for the tail, just barely grabbing a feather and holding on tightly. He pulled himself onto its back, grabbing a cluster of its feathers and pulling harshly. The Nevermore jerked back upwards, cawing loudly as it felt the stabbing pain.
"Raphael-"
"Already ahead of you!" He responded launching forward, arms outstretched, energy blades out, surrounded by a green aura. He stabbed into the beast's chest slamming it into the mountain behind it. The oversized bird screeched in pain once again. Raphael drifted up to its face and grinned. "Not so tough now are ya?" He taunted. Suddenly, the bird's head lurched forward and swallowed him.
"Wow," Dusty said to himself back on the bridge. "We have to do something!" He shouted to the others.
Yang wrapped Blake's ribbon around two pillars and landed safely on the bridge. Ruby launched backward right into the ribbon (which was surprisingly withstanding all the abuse). Behind her Weiss raised her glyph, holding the ribbons in place.
"Of course you would come up with this plan." The heiress jeered in an even tone.
"Can you make the shot?" Ruby asked.
The heiress scoffed. "Can I?"
There was a short silence.
"Can y-"
"Of course I can!"
"Well, you better make the shot count." Lilac interrupted behind them. "This is a one try thing."
The glyph launched Ruby into the sky, which was when she grabbed the beast by the neck landing smoothly on the path of glyphs Weiss made, using her speed to race up the cliff and grab the beast by the neck. Pulling the trigger, the scythe ripped off the Nevermore's head, rose petals flying across the sky wildly.
Everyone watched the girl stand above the Beast's falling corpse.
"Well, that was a thing," Yang said.
Abruptly, Raphael ripped through the beast's stomach, covered in muck and slobber. "Fucking pigeons." He frowned.
"...led by Ruby Rose." Ozpin announced to the crowd, some of the team members looked shocked, but most of all Weiss. Her mouth hung agape in clear disgust.
"I mean that makes sense. The team's name RWBY, sooo..." Dusty said to himself.
"And lastly Derron Brown, Raphael Meshach, Axel Statato, and Lilac Armando." He announced in a loudly. "You will form team BRAL. (Brawl) Led by Axel Statato." Dusty grabbed him in a big hug, and lifting him off the ground and Raphael punching him lightly on the shoulder.
"You know what..." Dusty began. "This is shaping up to be a great year."
A/N: This has been an idea that I wanted to do for a year now. Axel was the first character I made, then Dusty, Lilac, and Raphael. I'm hoping this'll be a decent fic at least. You'll find out their backstories one at a time.