Feeling very pinned under the two gazes on her, Ruby reached for another cookie. Thinking things through, this situation made next to zero sense for her. Why on Remnant would Ozpin suddenly ask her this?
It wasn't due to her abnormal skill level for her age, it wasn't for her top grades.
Ozpin would have undoubtedly already known of those things. He was the headmaster of Beacon Academy after all. He had to know of prospective students, or at least his staff would.
So why now of all times would he suddenly ask her? There was an ulterior motive that she wasn't aware of and she didn't like that feeling. As such, she mulled over it with a cookie. Slowly chewing her way through it, she glanced between Ozpin and Goodwitch. The witch didn't seem too pleased with Ozpin's offer, if her tight grip on her scroll was anything to go by. The man himself was unreadable, calmly drinking out of his mug. And so she gave the only reasonable answer a fifteen year old girl faced with a life changing decision could.
"You'll have to ask my Dad."
Ozpin and Goodwitch shared a look. Amusement coming from the man and bafflement from the woman.
"Of course, it's only natural you would want to consult your father. Would you like to use Glynda's scroll to call him here? It would be preferable for this to be done quickly." Ozpin offered, gesturing towards the mentioned woman.
Ruby nodded and Glynda held out her scroll to the younger female. A few seconds later and a factory setting ringtone was heard, much to Ozpin's personal amusement. Of course Glynda wouldn't have bothered changing it, that was so… Her.
"Hey Dad, it's me. I was asked to join Beacon by Ozpin."
Ozpin snorted in amusement as he heard how Ruby greeted Taiyang. Even Glynda's lips were twitching, to further Ozpin's enjoyment. It seemed Ruby certainly didn't waste time getting to the point. A few seconds went by and he could faintly hear Taiyang's voice coming back through the scroll.
"You already knew this would happen, didn't you?" The girl didn't sound surprised, to Ozpin's slight interest. Apparently she could quickly piece things together.
He had been planning to approach the girl tomorrow in actuality. He'd told Taiyang he wanted to recruit his daughter, the man was hesitant but accepting of it. Taiyang knew Ruby was skilled, that Ozpin would be interested in Ruby.
One of her heritage would not be allowed to slip through his hands. From Summer and Taiyang alone, she had extreme potential. Potential that she was reaching, and extremely quickly. She was clearly a prodigy, one in a hundred thousand. Most likely surpassing even Glynda's own natural talent. Her progress was astounding. From what he had read, the girl simply understood things. It was like she already knew the things being taught, but that was impossible. Even if Taiyang was teaching her at home, it wasn't possible for Ruby to be as skilled as she was in the short amount of time she had been alive.
However it was the eyes Ozpin was more interested in. Those shining silver eyes, that only a certain group of people were known to have.
Summer had those eyes, but never fully utilised them. Summer's eyes were too soft, but Ruby's already seemed hardened. There was a certain intensity to them that Summer had lacked.
Yes, Ozpin was looking forward to seeing Ruby's growth under his influence.
Pyrrha Nikos kept up a well meaning smile. No matter how often she would see one or two people notice her, go into shock and then go and whisper with their friends. No matter how jealous she was, that they had such friendships.
Pyrrha kept up that small smile.
If she didn't, then maybe no one would approach her at all. Not that any were doing it right now though. She was currently seated on an entirely empty row of seats, which admittedly stung her feelings. Nevertheless, she kept her smile up and hoped for the best. Occasionally bringing up her scroll to check how much longer this awkward flight would go for, she couldn't wait for it to end.
To enter Beacon, to be put in a team. At least then, no one would ignore her and leave her alone like she currently was.
Hopefully her team wouldn't be the type to only see her fame, and not the person she was. Sure she was the Invincible Girl, but she was also Pyrrha Nikos. And if she were to brag, she would say she was quite a nice person that would make an excellent friend to have. At least she hoped she would be.
Noticing yet another person attempt to subtly point her out to his friend, she sighed. Bringing out her scroll she decided she may as well play a game to pass the time.
A few minutes later, she noticed a very slight weight of someone sitting nearby her. A slight tinkling of a bell also alerted her accompanied the weight. Pyrrha didn't want to look up, if she did she might scare the person away. It was probably the only reason why they sat on this row of seats after all, they must not have recognised her while her face was down to her scroll.
After a few moments though, her curiosity got the better of her. She slowly raised her eyes from her scroll and moved them to the left of her.
Her eyes widened slightly as she took in the form of the girl next to her, she didn't look like she could be of age to enter Beacon. Of course, she could just be a small person. Pyrrha scolded herself mentally. No reason to jump to conclusions.
Optimism getting the better of her, she put her scroll down into her lap and spoke to the girl next to her.
"Hello there!" The greeting was chirped out by the rather happy redhead. Would she already be making her first friend?
The girl made no movement to acknowledge her. Rather messy black hair blocked Pyrrha's view of her ears. Maybe the girl had headphones on and was resting?
Pyrrha frowned to herself. She didn't want to disturb anyone, she just wanted to talk. She would wait another few minutes to talk to the girl. It was getting close to the predicted landing time, so she could use that as an excuse to ask the girl if she knew where to go. Pyrrha nodded, it was a solid plan
As such, she leant back and faced forwards once more, pocketing her scroll. Taking a few glances towards the person nearby her every few seconds, she observed who would hopefully be the first of many friends Pyrrha planned to make.
Quite messy black hair with red tips that fell just onto the back of her neck blocked almost all of the girls head from Pyrrha's view. Pyrrha pursed her lips, the urge to run a comb or brush through those untamed locks was immense.
The diminutive frame was really all that let Pyrrha know that the person was in fact female, as no male the age of seventeen would have such a small body. A black, almost armoured looking type of garb covered her torso and cloth fell from it down to her knees. A small silver bell on a matching silver chain was worn like a necklace. Pyrrha approved of the armour, they were still students with much to learn. Armour would do them no harm, something she could attest to personally as her own armour had been invaluable at certain times. Pyrrha was confused by the bell though, what use could that possibly have?
Dark brown trousers covered the girl's legs, which disappeared into armoured leather boots. Pyrrha could tell the leg wear wasn't made with defense in mind with how light and thin they seemed, they were more so made to keep sharp sticks or stones away from the girl's feet and shins. At most, it would deflect a glancing blow from a sharp weapon.
After taking in the appearance of the unknown student, Pyrrha's eyes fell onto the hilt she could see, poking up on the other side of the girls hips. Another sword user? Maybe they could have a spar. Nothing was better to build a strong friendship on than a shared weapon style and friendly bouts. Or so she had been told. By her mother. Maybe it wasn't actually such good advice?
Deciding that she had observed her target, friend, she meant friend, Pyrrha decided to initiate contact with the girl. Gently placing a hand on the shoulder closest to her, Pyrrha watched as the girl calmly removed her headphones and turned to face her. Not even a slight flinch was given, so the girl obviously knew about her presence.
"Yes?" A defined eyebrow was raised at Pyrrha, disappearing into her fringe.
"Hello there! I was wondering if you would know where to go when we land?"
"No." Half lidded eyes gazed back at her, unconcernedly.
Pyrrha's smile turned somewhat strained. This girl wasn't giving her much to work with. But at least she wasn't fawning over her.
"Would you be against staying together until we do?" This would allow Pyrrha to spend more time and learn about the girl.
"No."
"Great! By the way, what's your name?" Pyrrha smiled eagerly. Even if it wasn't the best start, it seemed like she would be making a friend already.
"Ruby Xiao Long. What's yours?"
Pyrrha grinned, even with no inflection in Ruby's tone, she could tell the smaller girl was honestly asking her that rather than out of courtesy.
"Pyrrha Nikos, it's nice to meet you. Hopefully we can be friends!" With that Pyrrha held out her hand to Ruby, who took it and gave a firm shake.
Yes, Pyrrha hoped they would be good friends. Beacon was already turning out better than she had expected.
Yang Branwen was not enjoying her time in civilisation so far.
There was just so much buying she had to do, clothing, food, drinks, transport, a place to stay during the night and more. How did people live like this? She had to keep track of so many extra things whilst in 'civilisation' it made her head spin.
Not to mention, the combat exam had been a walk in the park, she simply smashed everyone down. Not one other contestant had posed a challenge to her, it was actually pretty disappointing. She wanted to gauge the strength of Kingdom kids her age, so far she was let down.
If the Beacon students were anything like the contestants, she might as well leave and go back to her clan already.
Given that the exam was only a last minute entry type thing, she did have higher hopes for the people that got in the academy properly. Hopefully she would actually get a proper fight from them. If she didn't, then maybe she would go looking for her paternal side of the family.
Her mother had been rather vague on the details, but she knew her father was named Taiyang Xiao Long and had hair the same shade as she did. Other than that, she knew nothing about the man.
Then there was her little sister, Yang was far more interested in meeting her than her father. Yang wondered what the girl would be like, would she be like a younger version of herself? Would she be completely different? Yang was excited to find out.
Ruby Xiao Long.
Yang was going to meet her, even if she had to go out of her way to do so.
Yang moved from her corner she was in on the airship and made for the massive windows. As she was striding through the mass of students, she shouldered a smaller body out of the way.
"Hey! Watch where you're going." A voice too high pitched for Yang's liking yelled at her. Looking over her shoulder she saw that it was from a small girl in all white clothing, white hair and a white tiara.
"Yeah, whatever princess." Yang scoffed before continuing to move for the windows.
Weiss Schnee grit her teeth in frustration. To be bodily forced out of the way like she just was, it stung at her pride. She clenched her fist and glared at the back of the blond woman who simply continued walking after giving her an insult.
She did recognise the bright side though, she wasn't being treated like the princess the woman claimed she was. Letting out of huff of breath she tried to drain the frustration out of her body and continued walking down the path to an exit. She knew the flight would be landing soon enough, and she wanted to get out before she had to wait in line with the rest of the students.
As she walked past the rows of seats, she noticed an extremely tall red haired woman sitting next to a far smaller black haired woman. As the red haired woman rose up from her sitting, Weiss recognised the facial features of the Invincible Girl.
That was Pyrrha Nikos!
The girl next to her also stood up, and Weiss wondered who the Invincible Girl would be associating with. Surely someone of equal skill and stature. As such, Weiss went to go introduce herself. But as she took a step towards the duo, a awed and excited voice interrupted her movement .
"Are you Weiss Schnee!?"
Weiss put on her crowd smile. Just another day of dealing with fans.
Ruby was half listening to Pyrrha as the girl discussed how exciting it was to be in Beacon. She had nothing against Pyrrha, the girl seemed quite nice. It's just that Ruby didn't particularly care about the topic. Beacon was a stepping stone, nothing more. She was only going to graduate and be formally recognised as a Hunter. Ruby already had the skills and know how to be a hunter. The memories took care of that. The most she was hoping to gain from Beacon was connections and more knowledge about the world.
The two had gotten up and started walking towards an exit when a tall blonde man bustled past the two and around a corner.
"I wonder what caused his rush?" Pyrrha idly questioned.
Ruby shrugged and Pyrrha began the nearly one sided conversation once again. The two had reached the closest exit point and were simply waiting before Pyrrha suddenly stopped mid sentence. Ruby, who had closed her eyes while resting against the wall opened them to see what was wrong.
Pyrrha was staring out the window with a awestruck face. Ruby, following her gaze found the building that was Pyrrha's focus. Her eyebrows raised in surprise.
"It's… Beautiful." Pyrrha softly murmured.
"It is quite a sight." Ruby nodded in agreement. Even Yharnams gothic beauty would struggle to contend with the view that was Beacon Academy.
Blake Belladonna was rather enjoying her time at Beacon so far. After disembarking the flight, she had made her way straight for a chair underneath a tree to read. After reading a few chapters, she had made her way to the auditorium for the opening ceremony, where the students were given an… Odd speech.
Ozpin seemed like someone directly out of a book from what she had seen. The wise, old teacher who had seen many things in his lifetime and was guiding the younger generation through giving vague information and tips. Not directly influencing their growth, but giving them the nudge they needed. Yes, he fit that character perfectly.
Right now, she was sitting against the wall of a massive room that held every student of this year. With lit candles on a small table directly next to her, it was the perfect scenario to read in. That was, if she could. Rather than reading, she couldn't help but observe the students before her.
A few of them had some rather questionable nightwear, mainly the blond boy in a bunny onsie and the golden haired girl in boxers and singlet that were probably several sizes too small for her. Naturally the Schnee girl was in a rather well made nightgown. Blake didn't expect anything less from the little Schnee princess.
Her year-mates had nearly all formed their groups, or stuck with their friends from their previous occupation. Only herself a few more had been completely alone from what Blake could see. Including the Schnee, to Blake's vindictive pleasure.
It was an odd feeling for Blake, to call these people her year-mates. That they were part of her group. They were all human, from what she could see. That all these humans had a connection to her, it was a different feeling.
Hopefully she would be teamed up with more faunus accepting types of humans. She didn't know what she would do is she got stuck with the Schnee.
Blake did in fact want her team to know she was a faunus… But she was already hesitant about it. Faunus were a rather controversial topic to humans these days. The majority of humans were actually rather accepting, or at least they didn't actively discriminate against faunus. But the issue was, that they also didn't do much to accept faunus' into their life.
It was the humans who were racist. Sadly enough, they were the ones who spoke out about faunus. They were the issue. The smallest group of humans were the pro faunus types, the ones that actually wanted to improve faunus' standing in society.
Blake wasn't one of the hardcore White Fang believers, she had left it for a reason. She knew that faunus and humans were the same. She didn't blame all humans for the issues some had, just like she didn't blame all faunus for the issues they also had.
Not every human was a Schnee.
Not every faunus was like Adam.
If only more humans and faunus' could see that, then maybe it would be easier.
The young woman heaved a sigh and tried to focus on her book but movement caught her attention, and her amber eyes darted to a girl who was rising from her sleeping bag. The girl spoke a few words to her red haired friend and strode out the doors and left the room.
No one else had made their way for the doors before, given that the bathrooms were accessible on the other side of the room. As such, Blake's interest was peaked. If the faunus was a lesser person, she might have trailed after the girl. But as it was, she merely just raised an eyebrow to herself, before looking over to the red haired girl who suddenly looked rather lonely. Blake squashed down the slight tinge of sympathy she was feeling.
Noticing her candles were the only remaining light source, she decided she would wait until the girl came back from whatever she was doing. Her book was still only halfway done, and Blake was used to long nights and even longer days. She could wait, it would be a polite and helpful thing to do.
Who knows, maybe she'd be grouped with the girl and they would already be on a good standing with each other.
It wasn't long before the girl came back through the doors, but everyone else was already asleep or trying to. Blake looked up and met the girls silver eyes and offered a nod. She received a thankful looking incline of the head as the girl moved toward her mat next to the other red haired girl.
Blake bookmarked her book and blew out the candles, throwing the room into darkness.
Standing in the locker room, Ruby was once again next to Pyrrha as the taller girl was finishing gearing up. A javelin and a shield were Pyrrha's weapons of choice to Ruby's internal displeasure. Using a shield was not something she approved of. But this wasn't Yharnam, circumstances were different. But even so, surely a shield would not do much against the bigger Grimm in Remnant.
As she was gazing at her friend another girl approached the duo.
White hair, white clothing, white heels of all things, white weapon and a white tiara made Ruby raise both brows. There was nothing stealthy about this new girl.
She also wore a skirt. That was questionable, as unlike Pyrrha's it was rather loose. Pyrrha's one would stay still on on her legs, but this one looked like a gust of air would blow it up.
"Hello, I'm Weiss Schnee. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." A small curtsy was given to Ruby, who was merely leaning against a locker with arms crossed over her chest.
"Ruby Xiao Long. Do you want something?"
Weiss faltered under the completely disinterested and blunt answer. She was expecting maybe some recognition, or at least a pleasant greeting from the girl accompanying Pyrrha Nikos.
She couldn't even get mad, because Ruby clearly wasn't doing it out of any malicious intent. She just got straight to the point.
"I wanted to see if you and Pyrrha would be interested in forming a team. I feel we would accomplish much together."
Pyrrha perked up at the mention of her name.
"Hello there, Weiss was it?"
"Yes, I am Weiss Schnee. It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Nikos."
"Oh, just call me Pyrrha. It's nice to meet you also!"
Ruby tuned out as the two began to talk animatedly, only taking notice when the Schnee had the most comical 'evil mastermind' look on her face. She didn't know people could actually pull off that kind of expression, but apparently the white themed girl could.
Next a blond haired man came stumbling past, muttering about locker placements before he barged into the two girls talk. Ruby rolled her eyes as he started complimenting Weiss and made for the exit. Pyrrha could do without her and she'd rather not have to deal with a lovestruck teenager fawning over a girl.
Standing on her platform, Ruby was gazing out to the forest. It was simply massive, spanning far more in size than the woods near Yharnam. It almost reminded her of Eileen's younger days.
Next to her, a orange haired girl was talking about sloths to the man next to her. Ruby bit back a laugh as the orange haired girl planned to make sloth cries as their call to find one another. It was simply a ridiculous plan, but it did have merit. No one else would know that the so called 'sloth cry' would be used to locate one another.
"Your partner for your time at Beacon will be the first person you make eye contact with." Ozpin's voice sent a ripple through the students gathered. Shock, surprise and apprehension were the emotions going through most of them.
Ruby turned her head to gaze at the man. It was certainly an… Interesting method to decide who you would be with for the next few years. Not at all what she was expecting from Ozpin to be sure. She slowly lets her eyes slide away from Ozpin and across all the gathered students. Very few stood out to her. As of now, she would prefer Pyrrha, or that girl who had the candles. They both seemed acceptable enough, at least more so than many of the other students.
The golden haired woman with a almost bloodthirsty grin on her face was also someone to keep an eye on. Ruby narrowed her eyes. Yes, she would definitely watch that 'student'.
Ozpin brought up his mug to hide the amused little smile he was wearing. The reactions he got were always highly entertaining moment.. Of course, there were the more stoic type who didn't seem to care. Those being Xiao Long, Belladonna, Ren and a few more of the not so upstanding students. Then there were the types like Branwen and Valkyrie, who had a vicious grins on their faces. He would have to keep an eye on both of them. Hopefully the teams they got would be able to handle their attitude. Especially the Branwen.
Destruction, death and despair came hand in hand with the Branwens, even Qrow was no exception. Speaking of that man, Ozpin would have to talk to him. The little Xiao Long was far too similar to how Raven was during her Beacon days. In fact, if Ozpin didn't know for a fact that Ruby was Summer's daughter, he may have thought that Raven had conceived two children from Taiyang.
He shook himself free of his thoughts and officially began the partner and team deciding exercise.
By launching an unsuspecting student into the air with no warning whatsoever.
His eyes shone with amusement at the horrified scream from the student.
The perks of being a headmaster to a Hunter academy were many indeed, and treating students how he wanted was one. Glynda let out a soft exasperated chuckle, she knew he was rather enjoying this moment.
"Uh, sir?" A hesitant voice from the young Arc drew his attention.
"Yes?"
"How… How are we meant to land?"
"I'm sure you'll manage. Everyone has their own landing strategy."
"So, you didn't give out parachutes or anything?"
"No."
"Oh…"
The Arc was sent into the air, giving off a shrill scream as he flew.
Ozpin smiled behind his mug once more. This really was the highlight day of every year. It never got old.
Ruby landed lightly on the ground. Soaring through the air was an enjoyable experience, something she had never done before. Naturally gravity eventually took hold and she started descending. She had transformed her blade into its dual wield form, stuck both blades into the trunk of a rather large tree and used that to slow her momentum from the fall.
Wiping her blades on the her thigh to remove any bark and sap, she spun it back into its original form and placed onto it's magnetic holder located on her hip. Giving a quick inspection of her location, she started towards where Ozpin had directed them to.
North, where a temple would be at the end of the path.
She had only been moving at a light jog for a few minutes before coming across noises of combat. Ruby stopped for a moment, should she go and offer assistance to who would be her new partner, or should she move on and leave the person to their own devices?
She took her blade off its holder and moved to assist.
Seven grimm were surrounding the girl who was going to be her partner. Ruby took in the sight of three other grimm slowly disintegrating into the air. Good, at least her partner wasn't useless.
The grimm variants they were now fighting were beowolves, one of the most basic and common grimm in existence.
Ruby dashed in quickly, taking advantage of the grimms focus on the other girl. Sinking her blade into the side of one beowolves neck, she quickly ripped it out and moved instantly onto another one. Her blade tore through the chest of that one and the other grimm took note of the new threat.
Three broke off of the remaining group and moved towards her with beastly growls, leaving the other girl with two to deal with.
Watching them slowly circle her, Ruby took in their forms with calculating eyes. These beasts were nothing special, but even so they were still deadly. As one leapt at her, swinging it's claws she quickly dashed off to the side and brought up her blade in retaliation, swiping the beowolves leg off, causing it to fall in a heap and let out a whine as it tried to stand up again.
The other two were clearly older than the one who had simply lunged at her, as they were still circling her, looking for an opening in her guard. Ruby tracked both of them, eyeing the one in front of her whilst keeping the other one in the corner of her eye.
They both leapt in unison at her and Ruby quickly changed her weapons form into dual blades, and with one in each hand she simply thrust out at the beowolves. The grimm, not having anticipated the sudden change in weaponry impaled themselves upon her blades.
Ruby kept her blades thrust out as the grimm dissolved, the process only taking a few seconds.
She spun her blades into a single blade and moved toward the downed beowulf who was still struggling on the ground, desperately attempting to stand up on it's three remaining legs. Ruby deftly swung her weapon down and put the grimm out of it's suffering.
Turning, she faced the woman who was to be her partner and silver eyes met golden eyes.
Blake made quick work of the remaining beowolves attacking her, several swings with Gambol Shroud ended their existence. As the last one dissolved, she quickly spun to face the one who had taken out the majority of the grimm.
A light tinkling of a bell reached Blake's enhanced hearing making her blink in surprise. Why would she be hearing a bell? She shook off the thought and focussed on the girl helping her.
It was the one from last night, much to her surprise and to some extent, her pleasure. Her amber eyes widened in surprise as the girl's weapon suddenly split into two short swords impaling two grimm at once. She was even further surprised as the girl spun the weapon back into a single blade.
That was an unusual shifting method, the blades literally spun on each other and then linked into place. There was an odd gracefulness to the weapon, which was almost disturbing because of how distorted the blade looked.
Their eyes met each other, and their partnership begun.
Blake's faunus ears twitched inside the bow as the light tinkling of a bell began once again as her partner began moving towards her. Blake's eyes honed in on a small silver bell on the chest of her partner.
Why on earth would the girl be wearing a bell?
"I'm Ruby Xiao Long. Your partner, it seems." A nod was offered in recognition by Ruby. No handshake or other type of physical greeting.
That was perfectly fine for Blake, she wasn't much of a physical person anyway.
"Blake Belladonna. Given the rules set, I would agree."
Ruby gave a slight hum of agreement and moved to face north, where the temple was located.
"I'm heading straight to the temple. Any objections?"
Blake shook her head. "No. That's fine with me."
Ruby turned and gave her a measuring look. "Good. Let's go."
Ruby set a brisk pace, that was one thing Blake learned early on. She easily kept up with the smaller girl, but she was being pushed from the 'comfort zone' of her pace, where she could keep it up for hours if need be and into an all out run type of pace. The fact that Ruby was managing it and not looking even slightly bothered was impressive to Blake. It seemed she got a more than competent partner.
The rest of the girls trip was rather uneventful, only coming across two other beowolves that Ruby gunned down with a burst of fire from her submachine guns just before they made it to the ruins.
Pedestals in a circle, each with a chess piece on top.
"Given their placing and that some of them are gone, I presume these are the relics Ozpin spoke of." Ruby mused out loud to her partner who nodded in agreement.
"Any preferences?" Asked Ruby as she moved towards a golden Knight piece.
"None at all. Let's take one and get out of here." Was Blake's short response.
Ruby grabbed the piece, before she suddenly stilled. Blake's attention shifted to her partner as she noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"Listen." Ruby brought a finger up to her lips in a shushing manner.
Blake rose her eyebrows, a human hearing better than she could? But Blake did as her partner bid. Shotgun blasts and a girl screaming?
Suddenly white and blond blurs burst out of the trees and bushes, one flying through the air and one running on the ground. The screaming passed overhead, and Blake caught sight of a man before he crashed into a tree. The shotgun blasts were originating from a blond haired woman, who was cocking her fists back and forth upwards into the air. The Schnee was the white one, also aiming upwards in the air.
Blake looked up and paled.
That was a Nevermore chasing the two girls.
Suddenly an Ursa also burst into the clearing, but that was dealt with what looked like pink lightning? A girl even smaller than Ruby tumbled off of the downed grimm as it began dissolving into the air. A tired looking black haired man stopped to a rest beside the orange haired girl.
"What… Is happening?" Blake was stunned as she questioned Ruby.
"A lot it seems." A understatement and an amused little smile was the reply she received.
"This is just ridiculous. What are the chances of a Nevermore appearing?"
As if Blake had jinxed it, a tall red headed figure ran into the clearing with a giant Deathstalker hot on her heels.
Blake's eyes were wide as she turned to face Ruby. Even Ruby was startled by this event, if her slightly open mouth as anything to go by.
In the distance, the blond haired man landed with a painful sounding thump at the base of the tree. The Nevermore seemed to circle away after giving a final screech and everyone had gathered near the temple for a few moments of rest as the events unfolded before their eyes.
Pyrrha slid and tumbled to a stop before the group, the Deathstalker staying at a distance, noticing there were far more of them than what it was previously chasing. Instincts bred by surviving for many years had alerted it to engaging the group straight away would not end well.
So it stood its ground and frustratedly mashed it's pincers together as the group of teens all warily watched it.
Ruby tilted her head and regarded the group around her. The blond that slammed into the tree was now making his way to the group. The other blonde looked like she couldn't wait to get back into the fight. The princess looked somewhat frightened but determined. Blake was seemingly calm, but her shaking hands gave her away. Pyrrha had stood up and faced her weapons to the Deathstalker, eyes narrowed in concentration. Hammer girl was grinning excitedly. Black haired man was exhausted.
Not the best group to fighting a obviously strong grimm, but Ruby supposed it would do. Seeing as no one was making a move, it seemed like she would have to take charge. Not something she particularly wanted to do in all honesty.
"Hammer girl, blondie and Pyrrha. Take the front line and keep it busy. Blake, ponytail and I will try to do the damage. Princess, you do the ranged attacks and support us if you can. Any problems?" Ruby broke the silence.
"What about Jaune?" Pyrrha slightly turned to her. Ruby flicked her eyes over to the man who was slightly stumbling.
"Looks out of commission. Not worth the extra worry."
Pyrrha's eyes narrowed, obviously disliking the callousness of Ruby's assessment but nodded in agreement.
"Any other issues?"
Some looked reluctant, but none of them spoke up against what Ruby had said. The moment of stillness was broken by Yang and Nora, who both launched forwards toward the Deathstalker with Pyrrha slightly behind them. Ruby, Blake and Ren split off to the sides to surround the enemy whilst Weiss remained where she was.
The group made short work of the Deathstalker. As old and experienced as it was, it simply couldn't keep up with seven enemies hitting it all at once. Yang, Nora and Pyrrha were guarding the attacks, either hitting the pincers and tail off to the side, or simply blocking the attacks. Ren, Blake and Ruby were darting in and out, weaving between legs and tails to land hits in the weaker spots with less armour. Weiss was at the back, out of range sending bursts of dust as attacks, also using her glyphs to assist when she could.
It didn't take long until the deathstalker was worn down and Yang and Nora landed simultaneous blows on the head, shattering the armour and skull within causing the grimm to slowly dissolve.
Some of group fell to the ground out of exhaustion, their adrenaline finally wearing off. Ruby, Blake, Pyrrha, Yang and Nora remained standing. Jaune made it to the group, his eyes full of worry.
"Are you guys ok? I'm sorry I couldn't help."
"We're fine, not a scratch on any of us I believe. Great work everybody!" Pyrrha smiled at Jaune, trying to comfort him before turning to the group and congratulating them. Ren raised a first in the air, Nora ran over to him cackling in glee. Ruby and Blake nodded as one, before turning and giving the other a look. Yang made a disappointed sound and Weiss was still panting on the ground.
"I'm sure you'll be of help in the next fight we get in, Jaune." As Jaune reached Pyrrha, the girl gave him a light, friendly punch on the shoulder in greeting. He laughed off the rocking motion it gave him.
"Yeah, I'll definitely try my best. Have to make up for that last fi-" His reply was cut off as a mighty screech cut through the air. Everyone darted to their feet or readied their weapons as the Nevermore swooped along the tree line towards them.
"Shit, how do we fight this one?" Yang's muttered question was heard by everyone.
They all paused in consideration, none of them had any true ranged weaponry. Pyrrha had her rifle and Weiss had her dust attacks. That was about all they had to combat a flying enemy who could rain deadly feathers down from far above. All they really could do was run, but even then they wouldn't be able to outpace a Nevermore. Nor would they be able to deal with other Grimm they might encounter while fleeing.
"I'll deal with it." Ruby's statement caught them all off guard.
"What? How? You don't have any ranged attacks, your sword turns into submachine guns. You're more limited than even I am." Blake hissed out her response, eyes narrowing as the Nevermore drew closer.
"Are you sure, Ruby?" Pyrrha's follow up held a concerned tone and a mild frown was on her features.
"If the kid thinks she can, might as well let her try." Yang snorted, displaying her disbelief.
Weiss narrowed her eyes but didn't voice anything. Ren raised both eyebrows and Nora pouted in disappointment that she couldn't have a go at the big birdie.
Jaune took a hesitant step backwards and brought his shield up as the Nevermore approached, it's talons aimed at the group. "It's getting closer!"
Everyone moved into defensive postures, bracing their weapons or turning slightly to face the woods where they could easy dart to and use the trees to their advantage.
The groups eyes widened collectively as aura began seeping out of Ruby's small frame. Silver in colour, it came out denser than anyone had seen before. Dissipating off into the air above her, it brightened for a moment before both Ruby and the Nevermore were suddenly gone from view.
"The fuck was that?" Yang's question summed up what everyone was thinking. She turned to Blake "You know what that was about?"
"No. It has to be her semblance though." Blake shook her head in response. Wide eyes still staring at the space the Nevermore was once in.
"You know what her semblance is? You two seemed buddy-buddy before." Yang turned to Pyrrha who merely shook her head.
"Well what the fuck do we do? Wait here or what?"
AN:
Yeah I don't know if this fic will go any further, kinda lost interest tbh. RWBY isn't really heading in a direction I like any more. Lost interest in RWBY quite a while ago, hell this chapter alone was written months ago but I never felt happy with it so it just gathered digital dust in googledocs. I wouldn't get any hopes up of more chapters.