A/N: This chapter and the next one take place nine years before the events of RWBY Volume 1. This story is to be written by two separate people, so be mindful of two different writing styles moving forward. There are a total of 8 OC's that this story follows, 2 huntsman teams total. Extra information that cannot be listed in the story itself will be written in the form of author's notes to give the reader a full experience. The title of this chapter is merely a clever reference to the Weiss/Ruby ship. Neither of these characters appear in this chapter. Hell, hardly any of the show's main characters appear in the story. But, nevertheless, we hope you enjoy our very first chapter to our very first fanfiction.
Everyone crowded around the windows of the airship as the CCT Tower came into view. The voice of Glynda Goodwitch affirmed their arrival.
"Welcome to Beacon."
As the tower stretched to the sky along the horizon, a thin layer of mist blanketed the landing pad. An abrupt stop, an open door, and a swarm of potential students flooded out of the craft.
Among them stood a tall, burly faunus with Golitah-like feet, a silver buzzcut, and baby blue eyes. He weaved his way along the outskirts of the crowd and adjusted his uncomfortable-looking hearing-aid. This was Grayson Dunce.
Without a word, Grayson made his way toward the Great Hall. As he did so, every human that saw his mountainous form found his demeanor to be intimidating, therefore giving him a wide berth and letting him pass. While he appreciated the gestures, Grayson did not like how they did so out of fear and, possibly, prejudice. In reality, he was just as wary of them as they were of him.
He had no idea what was in store for him as he entered the Great Hall. Filing into the building, he just stood there with plenty of elbow-room, just waiting for something, anything, to happen.
Eventually, something did. A hush fell over the room as the man himself, Professor Ozpin, approached the microphone and began a speech that would change Grayson's life forever.
"It seems just like yesterday I had to address a crowd of new potential students, but I will do so once again," Ozpin said dryly.
"However, I will spare you the lies of how I look upon this room and see nothing less than the finest heroes tomorrow will ever know. Instead, I will tell you the truth. Today, I will give you a choice, a path if you will. The things we will teach you here are just the preparation for the long, arduous journey ahead. It is up to you to see where that journey leads. It could lead you to honor, glory, and pride...or you could become the very thing that your fellow huntsmen and huntresses, well…hunt," he said with what seemed like a chuckle.
"Either way, I bid you good luck on your endeavors, I pray you make the right decisions, and I humbly welcome you to Beacon Academy."
As Ozpin stepped off the stage, Ms. Goodwitch approached the microphone to further address the sleeping arrangements and other details for that evening, as well as announcing the specified time of the entrance exams. As the students migrated out of the complex, one of the last to leave was Moose Bully, a young man who wore a fur-collared leather jacket and a cattleman's hat with one brim pinned to the side and a large brown feather protruding from the back.
Before he stepped out the door, he paused and looked back into the Great Hall, just to take it all in and to appreciate the surreal nature of the situation. He took a breath and thought to himself, "It's finally happening. I'm finally doing it." And with that, he exited the building to catch up with the rest of the mass.
After a less-than-comfortable night of sleeping in the ballroom, Moose woke up confident, refreshed, and ready to take on whatever Beacon could throw at him. He was, however, taken by surprised when he realized that Ozpin wanted to throw launch him off of a massive cliff into the unknown that was the Emerald Forest.
As he stood on that platform, he looked to his left and his right and saw a plethora of different people and characters; from a large, burly faunus who wore a flowing grey trench-coat and a cumbersome hearing device, to a small, thin, green-cloaked faunus with wings and a strange-looking mask that resembled a bird's beak. One by one, they were all catapulted into the sky with little to absolutely no time to prepare for it. Moose found that he would have to come up with his own "landing strategy." Before he knew it, he was flying through the air, heading towards the ground at an unsettling pace.
As Grayson plummeted to the earth at break-neck speeds, he began to crash through the top layer of the forest roof. Tall, deciduous trees hurled past him as blurs, and he saw that he was heading straight for one of them.
"Aw, crap," he muttered.
Thinking fast, he reached for his weapon, a mace that he called Plume Charm. With a flick of his wrist, the spiked head of the mace popped off with an attached chain trailing behind it. At the very last second, he flung his flail, which wrapped around and caught the tree trunk. It whipped him into a downward spiral to a large branch that was lower on the trunk. Upon landing safely on the branch, he could not help but smile. As he wiped the sweat from his brow with a sigh, he suddenly heard a loud cracking noise. The branch broke, and he was earthbound once again.
BBBOOOOMMMM! Grayson landed on his faunus feet on the grassy ground. The impact of his landing created a rather large crater on the forest floor. He looked around him to see if anyone was nearby.
"God, I hope no one heard that," he said to himself.
"Actually," a female voice behind him said, "I do believe everyone heard that."
Red-faced, Grayson turned around to see a pale-skinned brunette girl whose purple and black outfit was covered with a smorgasbord of golden trim and gears. The girl continued.
"I do suppose that since we have made eye contact, that means that we are stuck with each other."
"Yeah, I guess," Grayson replied, "You're, uh...Ebony, right?"
"Correct. And, forgive me, but I did not catch your name," she said.
"My name is Dunce. Grayson Dunce."
"Well, then, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Grayson Dunce," Ebony responded reaching out her hand.
"Likewise, Ebony…,"
"Rouge," she said curtly.
Suddenly, a deep growling came from behind the pair.
"Uh oh," Grayson said.
"Don't tell me. There is a rather large Ursa right behind me?" Ebony replied.
"Yep."
"Is it a Major with spikes?"
"Oh yeah," nodded Grayson.
A devilish smile flashed across Ebony's face.
"Bring it on."
Having landed somewhat safely, Moose found himself blindly wandering through the Emerald Forest. At least he knew which way was north, thanks to his outdoors expertise and his keen tracking abilities. He had an objective: he needed to get to the ruined temple of which Ozpin spoke and retrieve the "relic" that was housed there.
"Sounds simple enough," he thought to himself.
As he continued hiking, however, things became a tad less simple. Two massive Griffons fell from somewhere in the trees above and stopped him dead in his tracks. Moose, unfazed, just stood there. He closed his eyes and pushed up his glasses. Reaching behind him, he pulled out and cocked his Rough Duster, a lever-action rifle, which he then split into a sword/pistol combo.
He stood in a ready position, waiting to make his move, or at least for the Grimm to make theirs. As they were all about to charge, out of the sky fell a small golden-glowing canister. It bounced and rolled its way to the middle of their stand-off. Moose could not help but become confused.
"What the h—"
BANG!
An explosion of lightning dust followed by another exploding canister of fire dust both stunned and set the Griffons ablaze. Suddenly, a pitchfork-like weapon rained down from the heavens and pinned one of the creature's head to the ground, dissolving it into mist instantly.
In a comical fashion, Moose and the remaining Griffon stared at pitchfork, then each other, and finally where the weapon came from. Moose recognized the green-cloaked faunus from before. As the boy stooped out of the sky, his mask gave him the appearance of a missile as he hurtled in the direction of the Grimm.
Before he crashed face-first into the ground, the faunus swiftly opened his wings and glided, landing just behind the Griffon, putting it between himself and Moose. While the creature was distracted by the boy, Moose took the opportunity to his advantage and attacked. He charged at the Griffon, slashing at its legs with his blade. The monster let out a hellish cry as its legs crumbled beneath it. Moose launched back at the beast and slashed at its wings, which fell right off its back. Another horrible scream. With the Griffon now incapacitated, Moose reverted his weapon back to a rifle and aimed for the face. One shot. One blast. One kill. The Griffon dissolved into thin air.
Moose looked back at the faunus boy, who was retrieving his pitchfork weapon. The boy was breathing heavily, but began to breath normally as the seconds passed. With one last breath, the faunus' mask mechanically retracted back into the hood of the clock he was wearing, revealing a pale, sickly face. The kid had emerald green eyes to match his attire and a cockney grin on his face.
"If I were you, I'd get clear the next time I throw one of these bombs. These things can be lethal. Believe me I know," the faunus said.
"You know I had that, right?" Moose told him.
"Eh," the boy replied, "thought I'd lend you a hand anyway. The name's Gron. Gron Lakare."
"Moose Bully." The two shook hands.
"Well, that's a pretty…unique name," said Gron.
"Probably not as unique as Gron," Moose returned.
"Point taken," Gron chuckled.
They did not have time to exchange any pleasantries as the two suddenly became surrounded by a drove of Boarbatusks. The pair readied their weapons and took their stances.
"Gron, I hope you have more tricks up your sleeve than just dropping bombs," Moose said.
"You insult me, Moose. Of course, I do," replied Gron, as his mask mechanically formed back around his face, "What, you think I carry around this pitchfork because I'm scared of hay?" The mask made his voice sound somewhat robotic.
"Alright, point taken," Moose responded, "Now, what do you say we kill some Grimm?"
Gron laughs. "I thought you'd never ask."
Then, the two charge into battle, launching themselves into the horde of soon-to-be-dead monsters.
The longsword made a satisfying SHINK as the curly-haired boy pulled it from the neck of the now-dead Beowulf. The Grimm slumped over and slowly dissolved into a thick, black mist.
"Now that's what I call being blown away," he said chuckling to himself.
He took a moment to dust himself off and make sure none of his clothing had ripped during the confrontation. He wore a burgundy sports coat over a forest green vest and matching trousers, adorned with many golden buttons. Unfortunately, one of his leather sandals had been torn by the Beowulf's claws.
Sheathing his blade on his back, he looked to his left to see the platinum-blond girl finishing off the two remaining monsters, brutally beating them to death with a terrifying pair of over-sized cestus gloves. Upon her completion of the dirty work he approached her, running his fingers through his curly mess of golden-brown hair.
"Looks like that's all she wrote. And the fat lady, she's a singin'," he remarked, stretching out his hand in a gesture of gratitude.
"Thanks for the backup, girly."
"Mmm-Hmm," she nodded with a meek smile on her face. She took his hand and shook it.
The girl's silence made him feel a little awkward, so after a few agonizingly uncomfortable moments, finally, he broke the ice.
"You know, since we made eye contact, we're gonna have to be partners," he stated.
Silence.
"Which means we might have to…you know, talk."
More silence.
"Oh, I see, you're one of those quiet types, right? Well…we should at least know each other's names."
Even MORE silence.
"Name's Ringo, Ringo Hobbs. And, unless I blacked out there, I don't think I caught yours," Ringo said, jokingly.
"Poppey Leifgreen," she replied, timidly.
Feigning shock and awe, he exclaimed, "She speaks! For a second there I thought you were a mute. But I guess, you got better."
They started walking in the general direction of the temple, based on what little information Ozpin had given them to start with. On the way, Ringo took the chance to get a better look at his new partner, as the grove they had met in was quite dim and overgrown. She wore a sea green blouse, tucked into a royal blue skirt with maroon leather boots. A royal blue neckerchief wrapped, loosely, around her neck, held together by a small, red bow. On her head, tilted to the side was a worn, sea-captain's hat and, tucked behind her ear, Ringo could just barely make out what looked like an old, wooden pipe. Finally, hiding under her hair was an eyepatch made of black leather that was covering her right sea-green eye. Ringo figured it would be rude to ask what had happened to put her in that condition.
Poppey's weapons looked just as impressive as they did deadly. From her belt hung two, highly modified, crimson-colored cestus gloves; the knuckles of which were covered in what appeared to be spikes that had been filed down into blunt ridges.
Curious, Ringo inquired, "So, what do you call them?"
"Blutoyl Spin. Yours?" Poppey replied.
"What?"
"Your weapon, what's it called?"
"Oh, uh, I call this guy Venom Tail," he answered, proudly pulling the serrated sword from its sheath to show her. "My uncle and my other mentors helped me forge and perfect it. Saved my sorry hide on more than one occasion."
"It's nice," Poppey praised.
"Thanks. Yours, too," said Ringo, returning her compliment.
The pair traveled onward for about thirty minutes, exchanging very little conversation. Their quiet journey came to a sudden end when a hoard of Creeps stampeded out of the wood, followed by a tall blond girl wielding a large battle-axe. Behind her trailed a fit-looking young man with dark brown hair. They were apparently chasing the creatures. Given that they had nothing better to do at the moment, Poppey and Ringo joined in pursuit.
The Grimm numbered about twenty or thirty, but were not the toughest monsters ever. With ease, the four of them made short work of the Creeps. Ringo unsheathed Venom Tail and switched it into its crossbow setting, taking pot-shots at the various targets scurrying through the forest. Poppey had already racked up about nine kills, punching away with Blutoyl Spin. The other girl, which Ringo now noticed was a faunus on account of the wolf's tail sprouting out of her lower back, decimated the freaks with her axe. The weapon could apparently release a corona of dust-powered energy which burnt, electrified, or froze, whatever it hit. Slashing through Creep after Creep, her partner was clearing out the final few stragglers with his falchion. The Grimm never stood a chance.
"Thanks for the help, but we could have handled it," the faunus girl said.
She was clad in leather and furs with steel plates on her chest, legs and forearms. Her axe was about five feet in length and had glowing blue ports on its head, where the dust blasts were charged.
"Either way, that was pretty fun," Ringo responded.
"We should do it again sometime. I'm Azure Newfond," she said, bowing her head slightly, "And you are?"
"Ringo Hobbs."
"Poppey Leifgreen," Poppey said quietly.
Azure's human counterpart stepped forward, "And I'm Titian Valentine, good to meet you both."
His face was accented by a small patch of hair on his chin. A worn, quilted doublet, fastened together by a leather belt, was draped over his puffy-sleeved shirt. From his waist hung a, intricately-designed falchion-style sword.
"Well, what say we head on to the temple together, eh?" Ringo suggested.
"I don't see why we can't. I mean, Ozpin never said that we had to avoid other teams once we paired up," Titian agreed.
"Alrighty then, let's get a move on. Those relics are 'a waitin'!" Azure concluded.
And with that, the group continued northwards.
Across the forest, on the cliffside they were launched from, stood Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch, monitoring the students as they made their way through to the temple.
"And that appears to be the last pair, Titian Valentine and Azure Newfond," Ms. Goodwitch informed him.
"If I may, Professor, we are seeing a much larger concentration of Grimm in the forest as of late. Do you really think it's wise to put these children at such risk?"
"Oh, I'm sure they can handle themselves," Ozpin said plainly, taking sip of his cocoa.
Glynda sighed, "If you're certain."
"I am. Besides, what would life be without a few obstacles?" Ozpin chuckled.
A/N: Grayson is based on the beloved classic Disney character, Dumbo. By Goliath-like feet, we really mean elephant feet, as, to our knowledge, there are no actual elephants in the RWBY universe.
Moose is based on Theodore Roosevelt, before he was the President of the United States. The hat and the glasses that he wears are part of Roosevelt's signature look.
Ebony is based on the Charles Dickens character, Ebenezer Scrooge. She speaks in a posh British accent. And, when we mean "golden trim and gears," we're saying that her outfit has got a cool steampunk look to it.
Gron is loosely based on Nostradamus, a famous plague doctor. The allusion is in aesthetic alone.
Ringo is based off the Lord of the Rings character, Frodo Baggins. He speaks in a snarky, Australian accent due to the where the LOTR franchise was filmed (New Zealand and Australia).
Poppey is based off the classic cartoon character, Popeye the Sailor-Man and Blutoyl Spin's left gauntlet spinning attack is a homage to Popeye's famed left-handed punch.
Azure is loosely based on the Viking explorer, Leif Erikson. She speaks in a Scottish accent, as it fits the character's aesthetic better than the traditional Norse.
Titian is based on a lesser known Italian Renaissance painter, Tiziano Vecellio, who invented the color titian, which is a reddish-orange color. His current weapon is not the one he will use going forward, he will acquire his specially named falchion later.
The 'Bring it on' conversation Grayson and Ebony have is a reference to the Disney film Emperor's New Groove.
Upon writing this, RWBY Volume 6 was announced so, going forward, expect the story to differ from whatever canon is presented in the new season. And, as, such we will be taking small liberties with canon.