There's nothing quite like starting a show then realizing that it would make for a good crossover with a video game series that you've been playing. In this case, RWBY and God Eater. I mean, look at it! They have a ton in common.
Weapons that can shift form? Check.
Monsters that prey on people? Check.
People that hunt those monsters for a living? Check.
Evil people bent on utilizing said monsters for their own nefarious ends? Ok, kind of check. God Eater doesn't exactly have as much of that, though there is some of it.
But hey, they have a bunch in common. And Blood Powers in God Eater 2 can just as easily be replaced with Semblances.
On another note, the big reason I don't stick this story in the crossover section is because I'm taking elements mainly from GE2 and Fanfiction doesn't have a GE2 page. I'm aware of the existence of the GEB page, I just don't like how small it is (which is slightly hypocritical given that one of my biggest stories is for Aldnoah Zero, which also has a small fanfiction base). While I will be including characters and monsters from GE2RB (including the main character from my only Ao3 story, with the Blood Unit post-GE2 story being the main group in this one), the main elements are still majorly RWBY in nature. Ages will be changed around a bit to fit in with the story.
I also admittedly hate using the crossover label because of how it forces people to actually search for the story instead of just dropping it on the main page's lap so others can enjoy/hate it to their heart's content.
Pairings among RWBY cast to be determined. Romance isn't exactly the focus of this story.
Anyway, enjoy the story.
"So, we start our term at Beacon next week, right?" The young man asked as he walked down the street.
"I don't know why Dr. Rachel sent us all the way out here. Wouldn't it have been easier to send us to Atlas Academy like she did with Julius, Livie, and Romeo?" A taller guy walked down the street next to him.
"Gil, we all know you hate restrictive protocol. And Atlas has like, the most restrictive protocol ever. Besides, we're in Vale now, so we might as well enjoy it, shouldn't we?" A girl next to him smiled, all chipper.
"Indeed. This city certainly seems to buzz with an energy that is sorely lacking in Atlas." The last girl, more mature and with white hair, said as she walked by them.
The first boy turned to the last girl. "I'm surprised you decided to come here with us, Ciel. I thought General Ironwood would have you go to Atlas Academy. You are his adoptive daughter, after all."
"Arthur's right. What's up with that? I thought you would stay at the general's side. You always did respect him." The taller guy pointed out.
"Gil, I think the bigger question here is why Arthur's here as well. I thought he'd want to stay in Atlas with Yuno. They are dating, after all." The chipper girl said with a slight giggle.
Some color tinged Arthur's face. "Nana, did you really have to ask? Yuno's going on her tour soon."
"Oh yeah…" Nana deflated a bit before perking back up. "But why did we come out here and not some other school?"
Arthur sighed. "Well, Dr. Rachel said that she wanted us to train under Professor Ozpin's wing for a while. Plus, it's a nice way to get out from under all the 'Julius' level expectations that people stick on me."
"And as Arthur's best friend, it's my obligation to always have his back; to make sure that he becomes one of the strongest huntsman possible." Ciel finished.
Arthur looked over at Ciel blankly. "Ciel, I don't think someone with a Semblance designed to give everyone around me a permanent boost to ability is going to become one of the strongest huntsman ever. I mean, sure, we all have similar skill levels, but your Semblances have something to do with combat. I'm just the person that got you guys there."
One of Arthur's great flaws came in the form of his inferiority complex. While it wasn't obvious to that many people, those who knew Arthur well knew that it came from his brother Julius's achievements. While Julius made everything look easy, Arthur had to work hard to attain anything. It was at moments like this that Arthur would start brooding.
Fortunately, his friends knew exactly what to say, given how many times it had happened before.
"Uh huh. Says the person who's been on Pumpkin Pete's Cereal Box at least three times." Nana deadpanned. "I mean, sure Pyrrha Nikos has been featured on it more recently, but come on! You're great even without taking your Semblance into account."
Gil supplemented his opinion. "Nana's right. We wouldn't be here today without you. Besides, you're plenty strong by yourself. Forget about what Julius has done; you're your own person. You made your way here."
Arthur smiled a bit, mood lightened a bit. "Thanks, guys. I feel a bit better now— Whoa!"
Arthur tripped out of the blue, colliding with the ground face first.
"Arthur! Are you okay?!" Nana asked.
"Ow… I'll be fine. It's not like this the first time I've tripped."
Gil seemed a bit confused. "I still don't get how you, a guy who's athletic and enjoys dancing, still manage to trip over nothing on a regular day-to-day basis."
"Bite me, Gil."
"While I would like to input my opinion, I must interrupt you all. There's a group of men that's been following us for a while now." Ciel cut in.
"Did they start following us when we turned into the dark alleyway?" Arthur asked, face gone serious.
Ciel nodded. "They took the bait."
"Strength level?"
"Minimal."
Gil and Nana's faces shifted a bit. "Orders, captain?"
Arthur's hand flurried a bit, going from four fingers to two fingers to one finger. Getting the message, the group turned into a building that was empty, with the gangsters following them into it. When the gangsters got in, they were very much surprised to find nothing in their sights. Then all hell broke loose.
Ruby Rose was walking down the street when she heard the law enforcement run past. Following the noises, she ended up in front of a building where a group of 4 were talking with one of the officers.
"Thank you for responding so quickly to our call. We were not sure how long we would have to wait for authorities to arrive." A white-haired girl in a dress and corset bowed to the officer.
The officer looked abashed. "No, it's thanks to you guys that we were even able to apprehend these people in the first place. They've been bothering the local populace for a while, so it was good that you guys caught them. You can come by the office later for their bounty."
A young man with dark blond hair spoke up next. "That won't be necessary. We were just doing our jobs as huntsmen and huntresses-in-training. I would stay and talk some more, but we've already given our witness accounts and everything, so we need to get going. We're on a bit of a schedule."
"Sure, go on ahead! We can clean up here. Thanks for everything!"
As the group left, Ruby noticed something peculiar about them. It wasn't the way they walked, or how they acted. Rather, it was their weapons that they were putting in their bags. It took her a second because none of the weapons looked that similar, but when it finally settled in, she understood what she was looking at right away.
"God Arcs!" The next thing the group knew, Ruby was in front of them, taking a closer look at the weapons. "Omigosh I've always wanted to see a God Arc up close!"
The person at front looked at the rest of his friends before turning back to Ruby, eyebrow raised. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Oh, right. I'm Ruby Rose, huntress-in-training extraordinaire! I'll be attending Beacon Academy two years early!"
"Huh. That's really impressive." The guy extended his hand in greeting. "I'm Arthur Visconti, pleasure to meet you."
"Ciel Alencon."
"Gilbert McLane."
"And Nana Kozuki! It's so good to meet you."
Ruby was taken by surprise for a couple seconds. "Um, right. Can I see your God Arc though?"
Arthur seemed hesitant for a second. "Can I ask why?"
"Well… I've always been interested in weapons, and I've read all about God Arcs, but I've never gotten to see them up close before. You guys are God Eaters, right?"
"Yes, we are. But the thing with God Arc's is that they're volatile."
Ruby was confused. "How are they volatile? They're weapons, right?"
"What do you know about God Arcs, miss Rose?" Ciel asked.
Ruby's eyes lit up. "Members and trainees of the Anti-Grimm Punitive Force, otherwise known as God Eaters, all bear weapons known as God Arcs. The invention of Dr. Rachel Claudius, God Arcs are unique in how they are constructed, for which the process is very much a secret. What is known is that all God Arcs begin with cores, which are created by solidifying the aura of the user. From there, the core can be fitted with all sorts of equipment, though they usually follow the trend of a blade component, a gun component, and a shield component. All of this is up to the personal customization of the user.
The reason that God Arcs are superior to other weapons is because unlike other weapons that might run out of charge or rely on dust, God Arcs never go dry. While the abilities of God Arcs can be increased with dust, it's not necessary to using it. God Arcs respond to the wills of their users, as they absorb aura from the user. While this might normally be a problem, part of the damage caused by God Arcs in combat is absorbed by the weapon and used to replenish the user's aura. In other words, a God Eater and his God Arc have a symbiotic relationship. It's this reason that allows a God Eater to theoretically never run out of aura. The higher the compatibility between a God Arc and its user, the higher the performance.
Due to the difficulty in creating God Arcs, there are only thirteen in existence, though many prototypes exist as well."
Nana's eyes bugged out. "Wow. She knows even more than I do."
Arthur ignored Nana, mainly because he knew why Nana didn't know as much. "You memorized the entry in the most recent 'Weapon Collector' article, didn't you?"
"Mhmm. How'd you know?" Ruby looked proud of herself.
"I wrote that article." Gilbert answered her question.
"Oh. Ohhhhh. So that's how you know. But why are God Arcs so volatile?"
Gilbert shook his head. "God Arcs are dangerous weapons. And not in the sense that every weapon is dangerous. A God Arc is almost sentient in nature, bonding with a user that is compatible. Unlike regular weapons, only the original person that it bonds with can use it. God Arcs are kind of like living beings. They don't like it if anyone besides their original users touch them. Anyone else who tries to wield will find themselves unable to create a bond with the weapon. Instead, the weapon will just drain you away until you're gasping for breath."
Ruby jumped back a couple feet, freaked out by the new information, eyeing the bags with disappointment.
"But, if it makes you feel any better, you can still look. Just don't touch it. I'll even change its forms if you want." Arthur pulled out his God Arc again.
Ruby's eyes became stars. "Can I really?!"
Ciel sighed. "Arthur…"
"Oh relax, Ciel. It'll probably only take a couple minutes at best."
"-and that's how I got held up for almost an hour." Arthur scratched the back of his head nervously.
A giggle came from the girl onscreen, who was currently unbraiding her hair to settle in for the night. "It's not like you to be late for our weekly call, Arthur."
Arthur chuckled. "What can I say? She was insistent. But really, I'm sorry for being so late to our call, Yuno. I promise I'll make it up somehow."
Yuno Ashihara smiled from the other side of the screen. "Don't worry about it, Arthur. Just take your time. Besides, there'll be more calls in the future. How about we leave it for now and I think of something later?"
Of the things that made Arthur smile, none did it quite like Yuno. The girl had appeared in his life back when he first developed his minor, but noticeable inferiority complex. She had been a blessing, listening to him and giving him advice. He, in turn, had loved how her eyes lit up whenever she talked about her travels. When he asked her why she chose to be an idol, she had told him. "I don't have much besides my voice, but if I can help to raise awareness by singing, it's the best thing I can do." The day Arthur asked her out was one of the happiest for both of them.
Arthur smiled. "I think that'll do. Thanks, Yuno. So how's the tour coming along?"
Yuno's eyes sparked. As she started talking about her trip to Vacuo, Arthur listened intently, not missing even a single detail.
Had anyone else been in the room to witness this moment, they would have known that the two of them were perfect for one another. Little did they know, Nana, Ciel, and Gilbert all stood right outside with a smile, with another person listening through scroll. They could say what they wanted, but going to Beacon was the smartest move. It was rare to have Arthur smile so much in a day.
So I finally started watching more RWBY recently, and I have to say I'm really enjoying it.
I also found this to be a perfect opportunity to try and apply a couple pieces of advice I got regarding storywriting. Also helps me to take a break after classes, so it's a win-win situation for me.
The one difficult thing I'll have to work with is the fact that the there's no reliable website that has a list of all the God Arcs in GE2RB. I'll probably have to make do with uploading pictures at some point or another.
Other than that, I also decided to try something new (for those of you who know me) and add character profiles at the end of each chapter to try and give the story more filling. Here's the first one, featuring this story's protagonist, Arthur Visconti.
Name: Arthur Visconti
Age: 17
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Dark Blond
Height: 5'9
Likes: Sewing, knitting, dancing, sports, noodles in soup, oranges
Dislikes: Bullies, spring (the season), mushrooms, apples, pickles
Equipment: God Arc – Long Sword, Blast Cannon, Tower Shield
Semblance: Evoke – The ability to unlock another's potential.
Combat Description: Despite his self-esteem issues, Arthur is by far the most skilled fighter among his friends. He works effectively as a leader and can make tactical calls on the fly. As part of a team, Arthur works as a middleman, switching between ranged and melee attacks based on what's needed, though he usually works more often with the frontline.
Trivia:
Has appeared on Pumpkin Pete's cereal box in the past, though nowhere near as often as Pyrrha Nikos.
Is acquainted with, but not friends with Weiss Schnee as their families are of the upper class.
He and his older brother Julius were adopted by Dr. Rachel Claudius back when they were little.