AN: I'm naming this story with a geology pun, on the grounds that if you start at rock bottom the only way to go from there is up.
QRTS: Formation
Ch. 1. A Routine Mission
Beacon Academy was renowned through all the four kingdoms as one of, if not the, best schools for huntsman and huntresses. With such a formidable reputation many people were often less prone to questioning the rather unorthodox methods the school had in assigning teams. At a less renowned school the government's safety and education departments would be quick to call bullshit on teachers launching students into a forest filled to the brim with vicious murder-beasts, but Beacon could get away with it.
The Beacon initiation exams often resulted in tales of a ridiculous nature, and were shared around the campfire during missions by graduates of the school. Some were quite mundane, but remembered fondly as good times, others were most unusual; really the only guarantee of what to expect in such stories was that they would take place during the initiation exam. An odd trend arose in that often the teams who met in more unusual and bombastic ways, were the ones who achieved the greatest success at Beacon
It is fitting then that one of Beacon's most accomplished teams, met in the most unusual of ways. They would come to be known as team Quartz.
There are some things about you that are decided at birth, your name, your luck, sometimes your status and most importantly, whether or not you were a morning person. 17 years ago it had been decided, by whatever force of the universe it is that manages these sorts of things, that Summer Rose was most certainly not a morning person. Summer was in fact strongly opposed to the very notion of mornings; she did her level best to avoid them whenever possible. Unfortunately since the holidays had ended, and she had begun attending Beacon academy, it had once again become impossible to simply shun the first half of the day in bed. With great reluctance Summer opened her eyes to the morning sunlight; immediately she closed them and began plotting ways to murder her alarm clock.
After a few more attempts Summer opened her silver eyes fully, brushing her dark red hair out of her face, and sat up. She looked over to the other occupied bed in the dorm; her teammate Taiyang Xiao Long had managed to wake up and get dressed already and was now reading one of the magazines from his collection. Summer had never asked Tai just what the contents of his vast supply of magazines and books entailed, probably smut, Summer had assumed; if she was going to bring a huge supply of reading material to school then it would've been smut.
If there was one thing Summer hated about her new partner it would be his snoring, but if she could pick a second trait she hated it would be his impossible liveliness during the morning, seriously how does someone wake up with that much energy?
Taiyang glanced away from his magazine at her, "Tick-Tock sleepyhead, we'll miss breakfast if you don't hurry up"
Summer grumbled in protest as she rose from her bed; while she wished to be as inactive as possible this early, she wasn't willing to let her stomach become a casualty of war in the process. Throwing her signature white cloak on over the rest of her school uniform just as Taiyang finished… whatever he was reading, the partners took off for the dining hall.
Tai and Summer arrived at the dining hall, grabbed breakfast and made their way to the table occupied by team GOOP. Tai and Summer's team was different from most, in much the same way that a unicycle is different from a bicycle, in that both had only half of the number of pieces needed to make it work in a way that didn't seem ridiculous. The number of people who completed the initiation exam three weeks ago had not been enough to form a full team, leaving Summer and Taiyang as an undermanned unit; a fact that the headmaster had found most annoying, it was hard to form team names out of only two letters. Professor Sepia had assured the duo that suitable applicants would be found, tested and added to their team; in the meantime they were grouped with team GOOP who, despite their unfortunate name, were some of the best hunters of the year.
"How about POGO then?" Port suggested. Peter Port generally reminded Summer of a dwarf out of a fantasy book; stout, loud, kind of hairy, fought with an axe. Port was self-described as being a Hunter of both Grimm (something she'd seen enough to confirm) and women (Something she'd yet to see him do successfully). Despite his habit of using everything as a segue into a story of his own daring and bravery, Peter did in fact have the skill to match his bravado a fact he'd proven when he'd insisted on forgoing his weapon to face a particularly lively Ursa Major during the initiation.
Peter's excessively bushy brown eyebrows were pinched together in a frown of concentration, he seemed to be once again in an argument regarding the team's name and appeared to be racking his brain for any options he had not already suggested.
Across the table, Glynda drew in a breath as she attempted to rein in her anger, "No,"She said, curtly. Glynda Goodwitch had been Summer's best friend since the age of 5, growing up down the street from her house. The daughter of a master Dust wielder, Amethyst Goodwitch, Glynda had trained under her mother's tutelage since she first unlocked her Aura becoming highly proficient in the precise control of Dust. A skill she'd more than once had to put into use when Summer got them in over their heads with some adventure or another.
"What's wrong with it?" Port complained.
"I refuse to be on a team named after a children's toy."
"Well it's better than GOOP."
Glynda's fist tightened as she ground her teeth. Summer was about to jump in to try and prevent Port being thrown through a window when Ozpin spoke up.
"That's enough you two. We have our first mission today; I'd suggest you save your strength for that rather than arguing with each other."
Summer rolled her eyes, Ozpin's voice grated on her almost any time she heard it. It may have had something to do with the fact that whenever he was speaking to her his voice took on a tone that was that mix of disdain, contempt, and seriousness only achievable by the kind of person who was both completely focused on getting the job done and convinced that they were the only person who knew how to do the job correctly.
'He would be great in management,' she thought idly.
The leader of team GOOP hadn't liked Summer ever since they'd met at initiation. He claimed it was because of the way she fought, something to do with collateral damage. Summer was pretty sure he was just discriminatory against people who liked explosions. As far she was concerned he had no right to fault her for her combat ability. While she wasn't quite at Ozpin's level Summer was hardly a slouch in combat, having been trained alongside Glynda in the art of Dust manipulation. Although she lacked her best friend's precision, she made up for it in talent and, as Amethyst had put it, an enthusiastic approach to wonton destruction.
It was at this point that the fourth member of the team, the wiry, bespectacled, and unusually hyperactive Bartholomew Oobleck spoke up.
"I very much doubt that it will be a task of any extraneous difficulty" Oobleck said at roughly the speed of a mid-sized locomotive, "The headmaster was reluctant to allow us on a mission so early in the year to begin with, I shouldn't have to remind you that he only agreed due to our team being above normal capacity and the fact that it was you, his protégé, asking."
Oobleck had always had that mad scientist look to him, the fact that he'd gotten into the school by successfully implementing a plan to defeat an Ursa Major using nothing but a paperclip, a ballpoint pen and a red balloon, Bartholomew swore to this day that the colour was important, only exacerbated this opinion. Now that he was speaking about as fast as a dog could run and twitching every so often, Summer felt an overwhelming urge to move away from him lest something terrible happen to her.
It took Taiyang several seconds to catch up with everything Oobleck had said.
He turned to the rest of the team, "what's up with him today?" he asked.
"Peter, in his infinite wisdom, decided to introduce Oobleck to coffee this morning" Glynda said through her still clenched teeth.
"He complained of not feeling quite awake earlier," Peter explained, "I was merely trying to invigorate him, to be ready for the mission."
Ignoring them, Ozpin sighed, "Oobleck's probably right unfortunately, this will almost certainly be an easy task"
"What's the matter with going on a cakewalk?" the redhead asked
Ozpin glared at Summer, "I don't know about you but I came here to be challenged, not to perform some meaningless task that anyone could do."
Summer raised an eyebrow, "Careful Oz, your ego's showing"
"Worry not my companions," Port interjected, looking between the two, "we shall see what the headmaster has in store for us soon, no doubt."
Slate Tempest was not a man to make rash decisions, he had learned to think through all the options and possible outcomes before choosing a path to take; it was a skill that had served him well throughout his years as a huntsman and headmaster of Beacon. It was quite rare for the man to regret a decision once he had made it. However, seeing the looks of gleeful anticipation on the faces of Summer, Taiyang and Port gave him a distinct feeling of uneasiness, perhaps this had not been his best call.
'It's too late to do anything about it now' he conceded to himself, 'everything's already been arranged'
"So students, I trust you are eager for your first assignment as Hunters?" he asked.
"Yes si-"Hell Yeah, let's Bust some Heads!" Taiyang suddenly roared over Ozpin's attempt to answer.
Slate's sinking feeling grew, "That won't be necessary for this task Mister Xiao Long" he assured, "Recently there have been several reports of theft in the residential district of Vale. The police have been investigating these reports and discovered it to be the work of a gang of street orphans"
At this Summer spoke up, "Sir are you asking us to go beat up some wide-eyed little six year olds?"
The headmaster pinched the bridge of his nose, "Miss Rose firstly they are comprised mainly of teenagers, not six year olds; furthermore, the idea of this assignment is not to 'beat up' the transgressors; the police have attempted to apprehend the group in the past but some members are reported to have rudimentary combat skills. Your job is to track down the group with the police and then aid in their arrest."
He looked over the group in front of him, "It should go without saying that you are not to attack them without reason; and if you must fight, then show restraint. These children may be capable of fighting off small groups of police, but that does not mean they are at the level of students of Beacon"
The team all nodded affirmations of the headmasters statement.
"Good, your transport shall leave in fifteen minutes; when you arrive in Vale you will be greeted by an officer of the police force, follow their instructions. You are dismissed"
The group turned as one as began to shuffle out of the office.
"Oh and one more thing," Slate called after them, "good luck."
Summer smirked, "doubt we'll need it" she said to no one in particular, "looks like this is gonna be a cakewalk after all."
AN: So that was the first chapter of Quartz Formation, Oh how delightfully wrong you are Summer.
I've been wanting to write an origin story for team Quartz for a while now, but ran into a problem on my first attempt. It was exactly the same as how team RWBY met. Seriously, Summer showed up and pissed off Raven, Raven got calmed down by Qrow, then they all meet in the forest later and kill a big Grimm.
I realized that there was really only so much variation I could put on the story where they all meet at initiation and decided to go with something different, leading to the story you see now.
As this is my first Fanfic I'd appreciate any advice and criticism of the story.
Hopefully I'll have the next one out soon,
The Wandering Cactus.
