AN: Probably won't make this a priority, but I felt like I should get a start on this anyway. Get it out of the way.
Okay, so here's the score: There's this challenge that was started by an author known as The Swordslinger ("The" included). The Challenge goes as such:
1. Create a Team using Naruto, and three other characters, each from their own franchise. These characters can be from anywhere, from an anime, to a book, to a webnovel, to a video game, etc.
2. All characters must be adapted to originating in Remnant.
3. Naruto does not have to be the leader of the team. Any other team members can be the leader if it is in character for them.
4. Do not overpower your characters (although personally, some things must be taken into account), but character development is recommended for all of them.
5. Do not be afraid to make up your own plotline.
6. Pairings are up to you.
7. PM The Swordslinger when you post the fic so that he can check it out (and possibly review).
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, Naruto, or any other franchise referenced in this fic.
"Speech"
Text
Thoughts
Aura Mode
Technique/Skill
Chapter 1: NTRY
The world of Remnant is old. Old, mysterious, dark, and dangerous. What human life that dwells on it is almost constantly in danger. What light exists runs the risk of being extinguished. Kingdoms come and go like leaves in the wind. The Creatures of Grimm are a blight to all humans that must be burned away. The lifeblood of mankind's ingenuity, Dust, only keeps things at a stalemate. Even worse, the humans are prone to infighting, attempting to subjugate their Faunus neighbors and sowing only more hatred between the two groups.
In the Remnant of today, only four Kingdoms still stand. Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, and Vale. Whether they too will fade away into memory is anyone's guess, but at the moment, it seems unlikely; after a long, brutal war, the four Kingdoms have achieved a state of peace, which has lasted for about eighty years.
However, in the darkness, something is stirring. Someone is using the peaceful attitudes of the people to avoid detection, and are scheming. With the now-violent White Fang running wild, and Grimm restricting travel between Kingdoms, it seems that it may not just be the moon that ends up shattered.
Even in peace…mankind is afraid.
J/N
Even in the centuries that preceded the Four Kingdoms, there was always one profession that stood out in the minds of children, standing as synonyms with the word 'hero': Huntsmen and Huntresses. The ones who trained their whole lives to combat the forces of Grimm, defending the innocent people of Remnant with their lives on the line.
Jaune Arc was a descendent of a long line of such Hunters, and had always regarded his ancestors with both awe and envy. What he would do to learn to become as great as them…as strong as his mother and father…
"Hurk-!" he clapped a hand to his mouth as the airship shuddered again. Everyone else seemed perfectly fine, chattering excitedly to each other and making friends. Stupid…motion sickness! he thought dizzily, stumbling back and forth with the body of the ship, How is everyone else not feeling this! "This sucks," he muttered, trying to keep his nausea from building up to intolerable levels.
There was a laugh behind him and a hand clapped heavily on his back. "Ah, don't worry!" said a cheerful male voice, "You'll get used to it at some point."
"Y-you think so…?" mumbled Jaune, turning carefully to see the newcomer, "'Cause this does not feel like making me like something I'd want to repeat."
The one who'd spoken was a tall boy, with heavily tanned skin, along with blond hair that had been cut short and somehow stuck up in spikes. His eyes were a bright blue, similar to Jaune's own eyes, and were narrowed in a sort of amusement. "Ah well, you know Hunters have to go over the borders a lot, right? They're sure as hell not gonna walk there, ya know!"
Despite himself, Jaune found chuckling. "Yeah, well, maybe I'll start a tradition. Jaune Arc: the first Hunstman to save everyone within walking distance!"
The boy gave a boisterous cackle of laughter. "Hey, you know, one step at a time with these things! Trust me though, you'll be okay in a bit."
"If you say so," sighed Jaune, "So anyway, the name's Jaune. Jaune Arc. What's yours?"
With a grin, the boy gave him a thumbs up. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet you, Jaune, but I'd better get going. I'll probably lose my seat if I hang around for long!" Laughing again, Naruto wheeled around and stalked off, leaving Jaune blinking at the sudden departure.
As he stood there, thinking the conversation over, he realized that indeed, he didn't feel so sick any more. "Huh. I guess you do get used to it," he muttered. He looked out the window again, taking in the distant cliff-face and the sea below them. "Ulp-!" Maybe not! he thought, doubling over.
MN
Naruto hummed to himself as he threaded himself through the crowd. He winced as he realized that his hand was suddenly holding a wallet, and quickly slipped it back in the pocket it had come from. Nope, nope, not gonna steal. I'm a student now, and these are my comrades. I will not steal from them… He silently repeated the mantra to himself as he finally made it to his seat and sat down heavily. His neighbor, who had still not moved, twitched at the noise.
Relaxing as he sat, Naruto regarded his seat neighbor: a girl with chin-length, fluffy, strawberry-blonde hair (or at least an odd mix of pink and tan), whose body was covered by a large, baggy pink sweater. Her slender legs were encased in a pair of black tights and simple shoes. He couldn't make out any other details, because she was hunched over in her chair, arms crossed. Looking closer, Naruto saw that her hands were clenched so hard on her upper arms that they shook. In fact, he realized that her body was tensed up and trembling minutely, as if about to spring into action. "You alright?" he asked. Unlike when he'd spoken to Jaune, he made sure to keep his voice low.
When he spoke, the girl stilled for a second. Then, slowly, her head turned towards him, almost mechanically. A pair of tawny, golden eyes met his, glazed over and almost unseeing. To someone like him, the silence was suddenly quite damning; while the other prospective hunters were excited to begin their training, this girl was terrified. Of what, he had no idea.
Then she blinked, and the hopelessness retreated from her eyes. "Eh? Ah, sorry, what was that?"
"Oh," Naruto began, smiling easily and keeping his voice light, "Nothing much, just wanted to see if you were alright. Airship rides aren't for everyone, I guess. I just got through talking to a guy who looked like he was gonna hurl before we got to Beacon. Can you imagine sitting through the smell?"
She grimaced. "How unpleasant," she agreed, shuddering.
"Heh," he chuckled, "Anyway, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. What's your name?"
The girl fell silent, a shadow seeming to flicker across her whole countenance. "...My name is Kuriyama Mirai. Nice to meet you," she murmured, nodding at him.
Naruto nodded back. "So, first day at Beacon, eh? What do you think is in store?"
She shrugged. "Classes. Training. Meals. I don't know."
"Bah, that's like a given. They have that crap in the combat schools, but Beacon's the best of the best!"
"In Vale, at least," Mirai pointed out neutrally.
"Well, yeah, I know that. I'm a Vacuo boy."
The girl perked up minutely. "Really? What's it like there?"
"Eh." Naruto shrugged. "Pretty much everything that you'd hear about it over here is pretty much true. Hot as balls, sandy, stormy, full of raiders, 'uncouth' inhabitants besides…" he paused. "Yours truly included, of course."
He thought he heard a tiny snort of laughter from her, but when he glanced over, her face had reverted to its grim (but not Grimm) mask. Now, though, it seemed a little less cold. He smiled himself and edged a little closer.
"Please don't approach," she deadpanned.
"Tch."
C/NR
"Hah…" sighed the girl, gazing admiringly out of the airship's window. Her violet eyes sparkled in wonder. "So high. View is amazing!" she murmured to herself.
Chaika Trabant had never been able to enjoy an airship ride before. She'd occasionally seen one flying overhead, but had never imagined that she'd ever be allowed to ride in one. On the way to one of the most prestigious schools in the Kingdom, no less.
"Clouds below," she said quietly, "Sky above, so blue. Must remember." She reached into a pocket on her skirt, only to freeze. "Mui?" She mumbled, thick black brows furrowing momentarily. Chaika dug a bit deeper, but sure enough, her questing fingers found nothing. "Ah…" she looked around agitatedly, "Ahh, g-gone! Where? Where?"
A hand tapped her on the shoulder, making her turn. Standing behind her, clad in a green coat, was a tall young man with dark hair that had a pink streak in it. He was holding a small notebook.
"Is this yours?" he asked, smiling slightly.
"Yes! Is mine!" she agreed happily, taking it in both hands with much relief, "Much gratitude!"
"Hey! What's goin' on?" An orange-haired girl in a black and white top with a pink skirt came skipping over. "Found ya, Ren! Who's this?"
Chaika smiled welcomingly at the girl, briefly running a hand through her own silvery hair. "Chaika Trabant. Greetings."
What followed was a veritable barrage of verbiage. "Hi there! I'm Nora Valkyrie, this is Ren, and we're goin' to Beacon! I mean, obviously we're going to Beacon, this ship is only going to Beacon, but it's so cool, ya know? Anyway, what's that book you got there? Is it your diary? Don't worry, Ren wouldn't look in your diary, he's too nice from that, and I should know, we've been together since practically forever. Well, ya know, not together together, but you know what I mean, right?"
The silver-haired girl found herself realing mentally under the unprecedented social assault and could only respond with a befuddled "...Mui?"
"Sorry about that. Nora is a bit…" the green-wearing boy's mouth twitched minutely in a smile, "Well, you can see." He held out a hand. "Lie Ren. Nice to meet you, er, Chaika."
Chaika took his hand in her own. "Nice to meet."
Ren frowned slightly at the fragmented quality of her speech. "You're…not from Vale, are you?" he asked.
"No. From south. Came from Tribe."
"Oh cool!" Nora exclaimed brightly, "Ren and I are from outside the Kingdoms too. We're becoming Hunters so we can help protect our village."
"Ah!" Chaika started, "Chaika too. In tribe, Hunters rare. Big honor." She indicated the wheeled wooden case that rested by her feet.
Nora looked at the case wide eyed. "Oh wow, whatcha got in there? Betcha its a sword. Ooh, or maybe a hammer!"
"Nora, don't be rude," Ren rebuked her lightheartedly.
The girl pouted at him for a moment, before the floor beneath them suddenly swayed. "Oh, we're here!" gasped Nora, "Or there, whatever. I'm gonna grab my stuff, see you at the orientation!" She rushed off.
Chaika blinked after her, feeling unusually slow. "...Chatty," she mumbled.
Ren snorted, even as he turned to walk away. "You don't know the half of it," he grumbled, but the corner of his mouth twitched as he did so. "It was nice to meet you, Chaika."
"Agreement!" she called after his retreating back, waving, "See later. At school!"
N
Naruto whistled to himself, a swagger in his step as he made his way down the airship's ramp. Slung over his back was a large, black rectangular case, held lightly by a single handle. He was forced to stop his whistling by the large smile that grew across his face as he took in the sight of his new home. "Huh. The pictures didn't really do it justice. It's way bigger than I thought." Indeed, the white-stoned walls of Beacon Academy loomed over him, even from across the front lawn. The central tower was lost in the clouds, with an unnatural green light shining down from their midst.
"Move it," someone growled, bumping into Naruto as they exited the ship.
The boy only snorted and gave the offender a vaguely rude hand gesture. Why should I? You didn't waste any time leaving, did you? he thought derisively. But, not being one to be dragged down by such attitudes, he put it out of his mind and sauntered onward.
RY/C
"I can't believe we're really here, Yang," sighed a young girl in a black and red. She smiled wistfully as she gazed up at the school.
Her sister, a girl with long, wavy blonde hair, slung an arm around her shoulders, grinning. "And to think, you didn't have to wait another two years."
"Yeah yeah," sighed the younger girl, "Everyone's gonna be on my case about me being too young, though."
"Oh stop it, you'll be fine!" Yang chided exasperatedly. "All you gotta do is play it cool. That way you'll definitely find new friends."
"Why do I need friends when I have you?"
Yang sighed. "Ruby...I know you like weapons more than people, but seriously, everyone gets put on teams here, you know that."
Ruby seemed to shrink underneath her red hood at her sister's tone. "So?"
"So you should make sure you get along with them!" exclaimed the blond sternly, releasing Ruby and crossing her arms over her generous bosom, "You had friends back at Signal, didn't you?"
"W-well, yeah," hedged the younger girl. She unconsciously pulled out her folded up weapon, Crescent Rose, and cradled it protectively in her arms, "But, you know…those guys were all my age…everyone here's already got two more years on me."
Yang gave a snort of laughter. "Oh, and what does that make me, chopped liver? I'm here because I'm old enough, you know. Not all of us can be weapon prodigies or go chasing after robbers."
"Yang…"
"Hey." The older sister put both hands on Ruby's shoulders, leaning down to stare into her eyes, violet into silver. "I'm serious. You'll be having the time of your life here, okay?"
For a moment, she remained silent, biting her lip, then sighed minutely. "Yeah, fine. Just don't drag me out to clubs or stuff like that."
"Oh come on, one time-!"
"Well, what was I supposed to think? You threw that guy out of a window."
"Hey, he messed with the hair; he totally had it coming. Oh, and he tried to blow me up with some Bat-zooka thingy."
Instantly Ruby's face brightened. "Ooh! How powerful was it? How many rockets could it fire? Could he still fire it while swinging?"
"Whoa, hey slow down," Yang backpedaled quickly, "It's not like I was paying attention to how he was trying to beat me up."
"Aw, but-"
"Oh hey look there are my friends gottagobye!" Before Ruby could get a word in edgewise, Yang shot off, leaving her sister spinning.
Ruby staggered from the the abrupt departure, swaying uncontrollably. "H-hey wait! Yang! Where are we supposed to meet? At the dorms? Do we even have dorms? Ahh..." Finally, she overbalanced and collapsed onto her back. "What am I doing?" she murmured to herself, eyes closing wearily.
A shadow fell over her. "Assistance?" asked a soft, thickly accented voice.
Surprised, Ruby opened her eyes and sat up. Standing over her was a girl who looked even smaller than Ruby herself. Her hair was long and tidy, hanging down at waist-length in a silvery-white curtain. She wore a thin, frilly headband to hold back her bangs, adorned on each side by jewelled silver butterflies. Her dress was white with a black skirt and silver tracery embroidered about her waist and chest. Her arms, holding a large wooden case, were enclosed in puffy sleeves, and she wore a pair of black, thigh-high platform boots. Eyes that were a similar color to Yang's violet gazed worriedly down at her, beneath a pair of bushy black eyebrows.
"Uh…" Any potential lines of conversation that could be started promptly fled the red-clad girl's head. Think, Rose, think! "...Hi?" A+ Ruby, great job!
"Greetings," the girl replied, nodding back at the red hooded girl. She held out a hand, which Ruby took, and pulled her to her feet.
"Thanks…"
"Is okay."
A long silence passed.
"So… um… you're going to Beacon too?"
The girl gave her a slightly confused look. "Yes? Nothing else here. Where else, go?"
F- Ruby, you fail!
"Uh… there's a brilliant… mountain range?" Ruby shook her head, "Nevermind, I'm just rambling."
"No worry. Mountains nice," The girl replied back.
"Mountains? Well, yeah, I guess the school is on a cliff, so you get a nice view..."
"Ah, yes! View, wonderful. Liked flight. First time in Kingdoms."
"Oh, well, awesome… I'm Ruby."
"Chaika."
Silence again…
"Where do you come from?" Ruby asked.
"Outside Kingdoms. From south. Past Vale."
"Whoa. Er...you got a weapon?"
The girl patted the box in her arms, smiling proudly. "Yes. In here. Name, Gandr. Rifle. Is strong."
"Ooh!" Ruby's silver eyes brightened instantly, "What kind? I've got a rifle too!" So saying, she flicked the switch on her Crescent Rose, letting it expand and unfold to its full length. "See?" she asked, "High impact and customizable. And, y'know, it's a scythe." She gave it a practiced twirl before setting it easily on her shoulder. It always made her feel proud that despite her size, her weapon gave her almost no trouble. Or at least, not any more.
"Hey! Watch it!"
Chaika clapped her hands to her mouth, staring wide-eyed over Ruby's shoulder. Another girl, clothed in pale blue and with hair even paler than Chaika's own, was glaring murderously at Ruby.
"Uh, whoops," she muttered, laughing nervously, "Didn't see you there."
The girl apparently took that as a cue to start shouting. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You could take someone's eye out with that thing!"
Chaika started backing away slowly.
"Hey, I'm sorry, alright? How was I supposed to know someone would walk behind me when I pull out my very obvious scythe," Ruby said exasperatedly, "I mean, when someone pulls out their weapon, that usually means they're gonna show off with it. Duh."
"Yo-wha- No it doesn't!"
She gave the girl a blank look. "Sure it does. People did that at Signal all the time."
The white-haired girl simply stared, dumbfounded. "...How old are you?! There's no way you're old enough to be here."
"Y-yeah, well...I'm at least taller than Chaika!"
At her words, Chaika looked down at her own platformed feet, then used her hand to silently compare her height with Ruby's. Her eyes widened in dismay. "Shocking truth!" she whispered.
The white-haired girl scoffed. "Oh, sure, like that says anything about your maturity. Are you really a student here?!"
"Pff, of course I am! Professor Ozpin personally invited me."
"I find that very hard to believe," she snapped haughtily. She grabbed the handle of her luggage trolley and stalked off, nose in the air.
Both Ruby and Chaika remained where they were, staring after her for a while. Finally, Ruby glanced back at her new friend. "I don't think we got her name, did we?"
"Ah, no," Chaika realized.
"Shame…huh, I don't think she knows our names either."
Her thick brows drew together in a frown. "Wrong. She know Chaika. Ruby said."
Ruby twitched, smiling nervously. "Heh, eheheheh, heh...sorry about that."
The frown vanished almost immediately. "Is okay. Chaika, not angry."
"Oh, good," the red-clad girl sighed in relief, collapsing and holstering her weapon in one smooth motion, "I guess I don't always think about what I'm gonna say very well."
"Chaika notice."
"Yeah, I- hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
The silver-haired girl only grinned back at her new friend.
A cleared throat made both of them turn. Approaching them with badly disguised nervousness was a boy with blond hair and a simplistic, white armored breastplate over a hoodie and a pair of jeans. "Er...hi there. Do either of you guys know where everyone's supposed to meet up?"
"Uh, nope."
"No."
"Aw, man…"
CRMN
AN: This fic is dedicated to the creator of RWBY, Monyreak "Monty" Oum, who passed away on February 1st, 2015. He will be missed, but his creative spirit will live on.
So, here's my new fic. As the opening AN said, it's based on a challenge by The Swordslinger. Not much to say here, besides the fact that I hope you guys are at least interested enough to stick around.
Team CRMN members (so far)
C: Chaika Trabant, from Hitsugi no Chaika. Hails from outside the four current Kingdoms, far to the south of Vale. Cheerful, kind, a bit naive, small in stature, and has a distinct, broken way of speaking. And yes, her eyebrows are a different color from her hair; it's canon, so deal with it. B/
R: TBR
M: Kuriyama Mirai, from Kyoukai no Kanata/Beyond the Boundary. Native to Atlas, or at least an area close enough to it. Almost as small as Chaika, but much more serious and pessimistic. Wears glasses and baggy clothing.
N: Uzumaki Naruto, who needs no further introduction. Raised in the deserts of Vacuo. Always positive and willing to engage with others. Haven't decided on a definite outfit for him yet…
Anyway, if you have any questions or comments, please leave a review or send me a PM. No idea what fic I'll be working on next, but Waking Dreamer is looking like the most likely.
North South out.