So I noticed that no one else had decided to bring this idea into fruition. Team JNPR is supposedly based off of historical figures, but what if it were more than just them? This first chapter is an intro of sorts, it will not carry the theme that most of this story will.
"The world looks very different, when you're pushing yourself every second you've got." – Monty Oum
The Modern Hunter
Normal POV
The Beacon Academy campus was peaceful in the mid-afternoon atmosphere. Students were sitting and talking on the benches or the expansive lawn, or taking a stroll across the beautiful campus.
This peace was interrupted for a few seconds as a small wail of anguish echoed through the school. This wail came from none other than Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY, and youngest student at Beacon. Her partner, and heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee, was currently dragging her down the hall. They were followed by their teammates, Blake Belladonna, the resident Faunus of the group, and Ruby's sister, Yang Xiao Long.
"Weiss!" Ruby complained, trying to remove herself from her partner's grasp, "Why do we have to go to the library? We just got done with classes, and it's the weekend!"
Weiss scowled. She really did love Ruby as her friend, but sometimes, for all the maturity she showed, she could just be so childish.
"I know you want to take it easy, but we need to further ourselves in both our minds and skills. I know you must feel invincible after successfully fending off those Grimm last week, but while we are not in need of any physical training, we need to learn from the past! That is why I have put several history books on famous Hunters and Huntresses on hold in the library."
Ruby groaned. "But I don't wanna!"
"I agree," Blake said, " We've become too comfortable with our own experiences. We need to see what other Huntsmen went through to see how we can compare to them."
Yang rolled her eyes. "I see what you're getting at, Weiss, but I don't understand why we have to do it now."
Weiss glowered at the blonde brawler. "We need to start now or else we won't be able to get through the first few Hunters before bed."
Yang sighed while Ruby continued complaining.
They continued on their way to the library, Ruby finally walking with them under her own power with Weiss promising cookies for the next session.
When they arrived at the library, Weiss walked up to the front desk and talked to the librarian, who smiled and handed her a few textbooks.
She then walked off to a corner of the library that had fairly few people and put the books down on an empty table, her team taking seats around the table.
"Now that we're finally ready," Weiss started, "I suggest that we start from the beginning. Any objections?"
There were none.
"Alright then," she said, and opened up one of the books to the table of contents, searching for the first place to start.
Finding what she was looking for, she read:
While the Hunters and Huntresses that defend Remnant are as old as history itself, the 'Modern Huntsmen' are only a few hundred years old. This section will focus on many of the best 'Modern Huntsmen' to have ever lived.
Weiss looked up from the book to see questioning looks from her teammates.
"What does it mean by 'Modern Huntsmen'?" Ruby asked.
"It basically means that that was when many Hunters and Huntresses started using mecha-shift and dual purpose weapons instead of only one or the other. Some still practice the single use approach, but for the most part, it's gone out of style," Weiss explained.
"Oh," Ruby said.
Weiss continued reading:
The first Hunter to be considered to be a 'Modern Huntsman' was a man named Monty Oum. He was an extremely talented individual who was the most dedicated Hunter of his time. He is one of the only documented Hunters to have more than one semblance, and is the very first scythe-rifle user.
At these words, Ruby became very excited, speaking quickly and incomprehensibly.
Once Ruby had calmed down, Weiss continued reading about this highly skilled Hunter, and all of his accomplishments.
Another Time
Normal POV
Monty Oum was having quite the day. He was currently helping to guard the developing city of Vale from Grimm while the construction crews finished constructing the walls and defenses.
Today of all days, when he had been working on a small project, a large number of Grimm had started to attack. He hurriedly ran from point to point on the half-built wall, trying to find any weak points in their current defensive line of Hunters and Huntresses. He found an opening and slipped in, cocking his rifle as he did so.
He then realized that he knew the two men on either side of him. They often went on missions and patrols together. Their names were Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross.
As they had often seen him in action, and how effective his scythe-rifle was against the Grimm, they too had changed their weapons slightly.
Miles had at one point carried a basic short sword and a shield, but had switched to a pistol-sword and a rounded shield that could be thrown and returned to the user.
Kerry had taken a liking to his double-bladed axe, so he added a blunderbuss into the handle, the stock on the handle while the muzzle was next to the blades.
" 'Sup Monty? Come here often?" Miles asked with a smile.
"Yeah, I was wondering if you were going to show!" said Kerry.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Monty replied.
A Couple Years Later
Miles, Kerry, and Monty were once again on patrol, making sure the Grimm didn't get too close to the newly constructed walls around Vale. They had easily taken out a couple packs of Beowolves, along with a Nevermore, and a few Ursi. They were now about 3 miles outside of the wall, and had a long trek to get back.
They were nearing the city when everything went wrong. Four enormous Grimm burst from the trees surrounding them. Goliaths, the largest, smartest, and most heavily armored of all the Grimm had just ambushed them.
They all quickly jumped out of the way of the charging monsters, trying to get to a safe spot to regroup and attack. Monty used his speed semblance to move out of the way and then slide underneath one of the creatures and slash it down to middle of its under-belly.
This successfully injured the Grimm, but it wasn't out of the fight just yet. It slammed its trunk into the ground where Monty had been a second before he had sped out of the way.
Miles and Kerry were firing at the other creatures, trying to hold them back so that they could possibly make it back to the city alive.
Monty examined the battlefield. They were incredibly outnumbered and outmatched.
"Miles, Kerry!" Monty called, "You guys to get out of here and get reinforcements! I'll hold them off!"
"We will not leave you to die like this!" Miles called back.
Monty smirked. "I may fall, Miles, but not like this, it won't be by their hand. Or whatever they try to kill me with."
Miles and Kerry looked at each other.
"You better live you idiot!" Miles called.
"We'll be back before you know it!" Kerry shouted.
They quickly turned and ran through the trees, knowing that if they didn't hurry, no one was going to live through this.
Before the Goliaths could go after them, Monty jumped in front of them and started firing rounds at their eyes, mouths, and under-bellies.
The Goliaths roared in pain and charged. Just as they were about to reach him, Monty used his weapon to jump into the air and start raining down firing from above, hoping that an armor-piercing round might be able to punch through.
The Goliaths, meanwhile, had rammed straight into each other, causing a couple of them to stumble around, a little disoriented.
Monty took his chance to try to kill the disoriented ones. He concentrated for a moment, activating his secondary semblance, and formed a dozen swords, which floated behind him, waiting for a command.
He focused on one of them first, having the swords slash through its under-belly and turn it on its side, after a short time, the creature finally let out a final roar and began to dissipate.
"One down, three to go," Monty said to himself.
He quickly used the same strategy on the other disoriented Goliath until it too started to dissipate.
There were finally only two left. If they were going down so easily, they had to be younger than many of the other Goliaths around Vale.
Activating his third, and final, semblance, Monty jumped in between the two remaining creatures of Grimm and released a powerful shockwave that disoriented them for a short time. He quickly took out the Goliath closest to him and just as it started to dissipate, he was blown across the clearing, hitting a tree and then the ground. His Aura was almost completely gone, and there was no way he could pull off the same strategy as the other three.
As the final monster approached, he poured the remainder of his Aura into one final shot from his scythe-rifle. Once it was as close as it would get, it went for the kill, prompting Monty to pull the trigger, letting the bullet fly.
Each attack struck at the same time, the Goliath falling dead, and Monty severely injured, bleeding out, with no Aura left to heal him.
Before he could lose consciousness, he took out a notepad and a pen. He quickly wrote and wrote until he was finally done, and closed his eyes, letting darkness take over his vision.
When reinforcements finally arrived two minutes later, they found four dissipating Grimm corpses, and one dead Hunter.
Miles and Kerry paid their respects and read the note he had left:
I know I said I would live. I truly wish I had. But do not let yourself fall into hopelessness.
Instead, keep moving forward.
Teach the younger generations what it means to protect Remnant, and keep living and remembering. That is all I ask.
Your friend,
Monty Oum
Miles tucked the note in his pocket, holding back the tears in his eyes. Kerry was standing in shock at what had happened.
"Hey Miles?" Kerry said.
"Yeah Kerry?" he replied.
"What do we do now?"
Miles thought for a moment before starting to walk back towards the city.
"We do what Monty wanted us to do. We teach the younger generations what it means to protect Remnant."
"How are we going to do that?" Kerry asked.
"We're going to open a school. How does 'Beacon' sound?"
Kerry laughed. "Alright, then we should get to work."
Weiss shut the book. All eyes were on her. Ruby, Yang, and Blake were all just as shocked and touched at his story as she was.
"Well," Yang said, trying to lighten the mood, "That was a thing."
"Weiss… do all of these stories of Hunters and Huntresses have endings like that?" Ruby asked.
Weiss sighed. "No. Thankfully there are only a few that have as sad of an ending as that. But it's only the real heroes that have endings such as those."
Blake was at a loss for words. She didn't normally talk much, but this time she had absolutely nothing she could say that would even come close to describing how she felt about that story.
Wanting to change the mood, Weiss said, "Why don't we switch to a story that does have a happy ending? We don't need all of that noble sacrifice stuff right now. Right?"
The rest of her team nodded their heads in agreement; they wanted something to cheer them up.
"Well then," Weiss said, trying to brighten the mood to a little bit more success, "Who likes stories of knights?"
"To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something; to be inspirational is to be crazy enough to live a little." – Criss Jami
That's the intro to what Team RWBY is doing this time. Let's see if you guys can guess who the next person will be. The main theme of this story will be myths, legends, history, and a few RT references for good measure. Maybe one of my OCs could make an appearance. But for now, please follow, and don't be afraid to give me ANY kind of feedback!
ShadowofAxios out.