Chapter 3,
New Recruits
"Come on guys, hurry up!" Ruby whined.
"The games are loading, Ruby." Blake said, "We can't do anything to make them go faster."
Ruby groaned and went back to looking over her Spider's stats.
"Hey Weiss, how did the site say to become friends?" Yang asked.
"It says you have to click on the button with the three silhouettes and type in the person's username." Weiss answered, looking down at the website on her scroll. Yang turned to Ruby.
"Well Ruby, why don't you send us invites while we wait."
"But you're not in the game yet." Ruby said.
"That shouldn't matter if we have accounts," Blake stated, "We will still get the invites even if we're not in the game."
"Oh, okay." Ruby clicked on the silhouette button and selected 'Add Friend'. "Alright, DustHeiress31413..." She said as she typed.
"I still can't believe someone already took Dust Heiress." Weiss grumbled.
"And sent!" Ruby announced as she hit confirm. She then clicked the Add Friend button again and typed in Blake's username. "ShadowCat..."
"You like cats, Blake?" Yang asked.
"Uh...yeah, kinda." She answered nervously.
"Okay." Ruby said, sending the invite. "And last but not least, Burning Dragon."
"And just in time too." Yang said as the game's mechlab finally loaded on the three computers. The silhouette buttons on the three girls' computers were blinking blue. They clicked the button to find Ruby's invite.
"Alright, now we can play!" Ruby said happily as her teammates accepted the friend requests.
"Not yet Ruby," Blake said, looking through the mechlab, "We have to decide what mechs to use."
"And I still need to configure my controls." Weiss added as she went into the game's settings.
"Awwwww!" Ruby whined.
Blake and Yang selected the second trial mech, a Firestarter. A slightly bigger mech than the Spider, the Firestarter was equipped with two medium lasers in each arm and one more in its center torso. The third light mech of the trials was a Jenner, a mech with humanoid legs and a long, stretched torso. In the small flap that was its left arm were three medium lasers, and in its right were three small lasers.
"So there's a few light mechs to choose from." Blake said.
"Yeah, but I want something with more firepower." Yang admitted, "Besides, I think Ruby will be our scout."
They clicked on the first of the three medium mechs, a Blackjack. With no head and large barrels for arms, it looked like a small Jagermech. It had a medium laser in each side torso and one in its left arm. In its right arm was a massive AC/20. They selected the next mech, a Centurion. It was a very buff looking mech with a fin on its left shoulder and a small fin on its head. Its right arm was bare but its left forearm was large and shield-like, and ended in a large four fingered claw. It had two medium pulse lasers in its center torso and three SRM 4s covered by a missile door in its left torso. Its SRMs were also upgraded with Artemis.
"I wonder what Artemis is?" Ruby said, now viewing the trial mechs with her teammates.
"Probably makes the missiles better or something." Yang guessed.
"Alright, now my controls are set." Weiss announced, saving her controls and exiting the settings. "What mech are you on?"
"The third medium mech," Ruby answered, "The Shadowhawk." The Shadowhawk was a tall mech with a rectangular block on its left torso. Protruding from the block were two AC/5s and on its right arm was a large barrel with a light-blue coating inside.
"What weapon is that?" Yang asked.
"Well, let's see..." Blake said, looking at the mech's stats, "It says it's a PPC."
"PPC?" Ruby questioned. She then pointed at Weiss, "Quick Weiss, look up what PPC means!"
"Okay, okay!" Weiss said and typed it into her scroll. "Okay, PPC means 'Particle Projector Cannon'."
"Particles? I guess that sounds cool." Yang said.
"Yeah, I think I'll try the Shadowhawk." Blake announced and set it to her current mech.
The girls continued looking through the mechs, now in the heavy class, starting with the Catapult. The mech was very odd looking with a curved, bullet-shaped torso and reverse-jointed legs. Its arms were two large missile pods, holding an LRM 15 and two Streak SRM 2s in each arm.
"Looks like this one is mainly a support mech." Ruby observed.
"Hm, it could be useful..." Weiss agreed.
The next mech, a Cataphract, had reverse-jointed legs as well, and a hunched over, headless body. Each arm had a medium laser and a large laser in each side torso. Its right torso also held an LB-X 10 Autocannon. The final heavy mech was a 75-ton Orion. Its components were very blocky with a triangular left shoulder and large barrels that made up its entire forearms. Each arm held a large laser and its left torso had two Streak SRM 2s. A large AC/10 was held in its right torso.
"Well, I think we'll need a support mech, so I'll choose the Catapult." Weiss decided and selected the mech.
"Okay, I guess that means I'll be playing an assault mech." Yang grinned and clicked the first assault mech, a Victor. It had a muscular torso and its left arm had two medium pulse lasers next to its hand. Its left torso housed two SRM 4s and an SRM 2. Its right arm ended with two, Ultra AC/5, gatling gun style barrels.
"Ooh, that looks fun." Yang said.
The next mech, a Highlander, had a very boxy torso and a short rectangular head. Its left torso had two Streak SRM 2s with one more in its left arm. Its right arm held an AC/10 and its right torso had two ER large lasers.
Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped by Weiss. "Ruby, I know what you're going to ask so I already looked it up, ER means 'Extended Range'."
"If it has more range, why would anyone use a regular large laser?" Yang asked.
"Well, an ER large laser has a longer range than a standard large laser, but it also generates more heat." Weiss explained.
"Right, heat." Yang said as she clicked on the last mech, "Like that's anything to worry about."
The final mech was the Atlas, just as ugly as it was in the trailer. In each massive arm were two medium lasers. The missile rack on its left torso held two LRM 15s with Artemis and its right torso held the large, triangular barrel of a Gauss Rifle.
"That doesn't look like the Atlas we saw in the trailer." Ruby said.
"Because it isn't." Blake stated. "The Atlas the trailer showed was an AS7-D, this one says it's an AS7-RS."
"So not only are there different mechs, but there are multiple types of each one?" Ruby questioned.
"Yup."
"Okay," Yang announced, "I think I'll choose the Victor."
"Does that mean we're all ready?" Ruby asked, beginning to jump out of her seat in excitement.
"I think so." Weiss said.
"Yes!" Ruby cried and stood on her chair with her finger pointed to the sky. "Now, Team RWBY is complete, and together, nothing will stand in out way! We will rise through the ranks in Mechwarrior Online! Nothing will be able to stop us! We will become the greatest Mechwarriors in the WORLD!" Ruby jumped back down into her chair and was about to click play, but paused. She sat staring at her computer for a few seconds as her friends wondered what happened.
"Um, Ruby? Are you okay?" Weiss asked.
A light blush formed on Ruby's face and she put one hand behind her head. "Uh, how do you play as a group in this game?"
Weiss, Blake and Yang all fell out of their chairs after hearing this. They were starting to have doubts about Ruby leading them in this game. Weiss sighed as she got back in her chair. She typed something into her scroll and then looked back at Ruby.
"Alright Ruby, click the silhouette button and go to 'Create Group'. Then invite friends. That's all." Ruby did as Weiss said and invited her three teammates. The silhouette buttons in their mechlabs began flashing as they received the invites. As each one accepted, they appeared in Ruby's group, until all four of them were in.
"Alright, NOW Team RWBY is complete, and together, nothing-"
"JUST HIT PLAY!"
"Okay, okay. Jeez..." Ruby clicked play and all four computers connected to a game.
River City
Game mode: Skirmish
Win Conditions: Destroy all enemy mechs. On time out most kills wins.
"River City?" Yang questioned.
"It looks like the game randomizes the maps." Weiss said.
"Which means depending on how many maps there are, it could take a while to see them all." Blake added.
The game went to the pre-match lobby showing both teams. Ruby and her teammates were put in Charlie Lance with their mechs being abbreviated to SDR-5K(C), CPLT-A1(C), SHD-2H(C), and VTR-9S(C).
"Why do all our mechs end with a C?" Ruby asked.
"I think it's how the game shows a trial mech." Blake said.
The match began and the girls' computers went through the start-up sequence. When they were able to move, Weiss, Blake and Yang tested their mech's controls.
"This actually controls pretty well." Blake said, moving her Shadowhawk's torso around.
"I don't know..." Yang said, "It feels kinda clunky and slow..."
"You're piloting an 80 ton machine. What do you expect?" Weiss told her.
"Yeah! Something small like my Spider is really mobile!" Ruby agreed and started running around Yang's Victor.
"Hey! Stop it!" Yang said, trying to keep Ruby in her view. "Aren't you supposed to lead us or something?"
"Oh yeah." Ruby stopped behind Yang and looked around the map. She saw her team beginning to group-up across a body of water and around a few buildings. "Um, there! We should go with the rest of the team."
Weiss smiled, "Finally you have a good idea..."
The RWBY Lance began moving toward the rest of their team, with Ruby, being the fastest, rushing ahead. Weiss and Yang's mechs moved at 70 KPH while Blake's Shadowhawk moved faster at 75 KPH.
Weiss' computer: Warning, incoming missile.
"What!? From where?" Weiss yelled, turning her Catapult's torso left to see a small missile volley flying towards her. She turned forward again as the volley hit her left arm, its armor indicator flashing yellow. "I can see him but I can't target him!" She growled.
"Let me try..." Blake said, stopping and zooming in to where the missiles were fired from. Standing on the cliff was a small Commando. It fired its LRM 5 at Weiss again as Blake lined up her crosshairs on the mech's center torso and fired her PPC. It fired a large, light-blue bolt of energy that flew quickly at the Commando. Blake's Crosshairs turned red to indicate a hit.
"What was that?" Weiss asked.
"That was my PPC, apparently." Blake said.
"Aw, no fair!" Yang complained, "I wanna test out my weapons!" They continued walking towards their team when suddenly multiple red arrows appeared among the blue ones.
"Whoa!" Ruby screamed. The score changed to 1 to 1.
"Ruby, what is it?" Yang asked.
"You guys need to get here quick!" She answered, "There's a big battle going on here!"
The three girls finally made it to the buildings and the rest of their team. Weiss targeted one of the enemy mechs and fired her two LRM 15s. The missile bay doors on her mech's arms lifted and the missiles flew out, hitting the Hunchback they were locked onto.
"Okay Ruby, what do we do now?" Weiss asked.
"Huh? Why me?" Ruby asked, zigzagging through her teammates to avoid fire.
"Because you were the one who wanted to play the game." Weiss said, "So, what do we do fearless leader?"
"Um..." Ruby thought as she continued running around. She fired her ER large laser at a Thunderbolt and ran back to her lance. "Uh, okay. Weiss! Stay back here and keep giving us missile support."
"Okay." Weiss acknowledged.
Ruby's Spider turned to Blake's mech. "Blake, you stay here and guard Weiss. Try and snipe with your PPC but mainly make sure no enemies get near Weiss or behind the team."
"Right."
"And Yang, you and me are going to join the brawl and do as much damage as possible."
"Finally!" Yang said and began walking to the main battle. Ruby followed as Weiss and Blake backed up and fired their long-range weapons. Yang made it to the brawl and began firing all her weapons at anything with a red arrow above them. The red bar on the right of her radar began to rapidly shoot up. Ruby ran up and fired her machine guns at a damaged Centurion, destroying its critical right torso. Its torso exploded and it fell, a message appearing saying Ruby got a kill. Yang continued to advance and focused her weapons on an enemy Thunderbolt. "Yeah! Take that you son of a-"
Yang's computer: Heat level, critical.
Suddenly, Yang's Victor stopped moving and shut down. An alarm began sounding and her mech was covered in steam.
"What the heck!?" Yang yelled as she frantically moved her mouse.
"Yang, what happened?" Ruby asked, running up to Yang and shooting at the Thunderbolt.
"I don't know, it just shut down!" She replied. Her mech finally came back online and the Thunderbolt began backing up. "Okay, it's back on. Now..." Yang fired all her pulse lasers, Ultra Ac/5s and SRMs. Her mech shut down again.
Yang's computer: Heat level, critical.
"Oh, come on!"
"Yang, you're using your mech's weapons too much." Weiss explained, "The site said firing weapons generates heat, and if you generate too much heat, your mech automatically shuts down."
"That would have been useful information to know!" Yang said back as the Thunderbolt began advancing again. It fired its AC/10 and ER PPC at Yang's right arm, destroying its remaining armor and making its structure orange.
"No! Shoot me you big dummy!" Ruby said, shooting at the Thunderbolt with her ER large laser and machine guns. It payed no attention to her and fired at Yang's arm again, destroying it.
Yang's computer: Right arm, Destroyed. Ultra autocannon, destroyed.
"I could really use help here!" Yang frantically said, still trying to move. Suddenly two missile volleys struck the Thunderbolt, causing it to back off. A friendly Atlas walked up and finished off the Thunderbolt. The score changed to 6 to 2.
"You're welcome." Weiss said as her Catapult walked around a building and Blake's Shadowhawk jumped on top of it.
"Thanks ice queen." Yang smiled as her Victor came back online. Weiss just rolled her eyes and fired her missiles at another enemy with Blake adding her PPC and AC/5s. Ruby and Yang began moving with their team again, now moving up a cliff-side to a large platform. An enemy Jenner ran off the platform, using its jump jets to slow its fall, and kept running toward Weiss and Blake. It fired four medium lasers at Weiss, then used its jump jets again to leap over her.
"Stupid light..." Weiss mumbled and locked onto the Jenner. She fired her Streak SRMs and 8 missiles flew from her mech's arms and homed in on the fleeing light. The SRMs struck its back and the Jenner jumped into the air again, turned around, and fired its medium lasers again.
"Watch out guys, there's another mech going after you!" Ruby warned as she pelted a Stalker with machine gun fire. Blake turned around to see a Cicada running towards her and Weiss.
"I'll get this one." She said, firing her PPC and chain firing her AC/5s. The Cicada returned fire with its four medium lasers and Ultra AC/5. As it ran nearer, Weiss and Blake's radar began to flicker and 'Low Signal' appeared on it.
"What's going on?" Weiss asked, "I can't lock onto the Jenner."
Blake turned to the Jenner and tried to target it, but wasn't able to. She turned back to the Cicada, whose info was flickering. She noticed 'ECM' above the pilot name.
"That's it!" She realized, and started unloading her weapons on it. "Weiss, that Cicada's ECM is somehow cloaking its teammates. We have to destroy it."
"Alright!" Weiss agreed, locking onto it and firing her SSRMs. The Jenner, not liking being ignored, shot its medium and small lasers at Weiss' left torso. The Cicada focused its fire at Weiss' torso, destroying its armor. Blake maneuvered behind the Cicada and fired at its weak rear torso. The Cicada's rear torso exploded and it fell, taking its ECM cover with it. With its cover gone, the Jenner shot one more time at Weiss then began running away.
Weiss' computer: Left torso, critical damage.
"Oh no you don't..." Weiss growled and locked onto the Jenner with her LRMs. She fired, sending thirty missiles towards the fleeing Jenner. It turned right, trying to avoid the missiles but was still hit, the LRMs destroying the structure in its right torso and its XL engine. The score became 9 to 3.
"Nice job Weiss." Blake complimented.
"Humph, serves him right." Weiss said as she and Blake began moving to the platform.
"You take care of those two?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah," Blake answered, "How are you and Yang doing?"
Yang's computer: Left leg, critical damage.
"Oh, you want some!? I swear, I'll- Get back here!"
"Oh..." Blake said flatly.
"I thought as much..." Weiss sighed.
On the platform, Ruby began chasing the Commando that had just shot Yang. Yang tried to keep up, but with her Victor's slow speed, she instead turned her attention to a brawl between an enemy Banshee and a friendly Jagermech next to a large ship. Yang targeted the Banshee and her enemy indicator showed it was equipped with three AC/5s and four medium pulse lasers. She fired her pulse lasers and SRMs at its center torso as it finished off the Jagermech.
Yang's computer: Heat level, critical.
"Oh come on..." She thought as she backed off to let her mech cool down. The Banshee turned towards Yang and started shooting every part of her mech it could.
Yang's computer: Left leg, destroyed. SRM ammo, destroyed.
"Yang, hold on!" Ruby cried and broke off her pursuit of the Commando. Yang limped back as the Banshee continued to fire at her. On her radar, a blue arrow was moving behind Yang. The Highlander behind Yang used its jump jets to fly out from behind her and fired its SSRMs and AC/20 at the Banshee, with every shot hitting its center torso, destroying the rest of its armor and damaging its structure.
"Now's my chance!" Yang thought as she fired all her SRMs, using the remaining ammo, and her pulse lasers at once, causing a large heat spike. "Run hot or die, A-hole!"
Yang's computer: Heat level, critical.
Yang's Victor shut down as her lasers and missiles stuck the Banshee's center torso, destroying the remaining structure. Yang sat back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh God... That was close..."
"Yang! Are you alright?" Ruby asked.
"Oh yeah, totally fine." She replied, "I'm just missing two limbs and have no SRM ammo, but other than that..."
"At least you're still alive." Blake said, her Shadowhawk jumping onto the building next to Yang.
Yang shrugged as her Victor came back online, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
The friendly Highlander began moving to the rest of the team as Weiss' Catapult walked up. "So, does anyone know where the last enemy is?" She asked.
"I don't see him on the radar," Yang said, "Maybe no one's around him?"
"Or like Blake said, he could have an ECM." Ruby said, finally rejoining her teammates.
"But that means he could be anywhere!" Weiss exclaimed, "We would have to search the entire map!"
"Weiss! That's no way to talk!" Ruby said and used her Spider's jump jets to fly up to the top of the large ship and turned back to her teammates. "We are Team RWBY, the greatest team in the history of Beacon! We can not just give up because a task seems too hard! We, as Huntresses and Mechwarriors in-training, have an obligation to eliminate all evil, and to help everyone, be they human or faunus, or if they live in Vale or River City!"
"River City? There's no people here." Yang whispered.
"The enemy will never be able to defeat us! We, Lance RWBY, will defend Mechwarrior Online from all evil at any cost! And if they think they can stop us, then-"
The match ended as victory music played and the match score appeared on the screen. The end score was 12 to 5 with each of the girls getting a kill.
Ally 4 : gg
Ally 7 : gg
Enemy 6 All: GG
Enemy 10 : gg
"Aw..." Ruby sighed.
"It's OK, Ruby." Blake consoled, "It really was a good speech."
"Yeah!" Weiss agreed, "And we all survived the match and we each even got a kill."
"I guess..." Ruby said. All four computers changed to a loading screen.
"So, another match?" Yang suggested.
"Already?" Blake said.
"Yang, remember that we got lucky just now. Not every match is going to be like this." Weiss told her.
"I know, but it was really fun! It's not like we have anything else to do!"
Weiss sighed, "Well, it's our leader's decision." She turned to Ruby, "What do you want to do Ruby?"
"Sure!" Ruby said, exited that her teammates finally wanted to do something together. Their computers loaded and they all returned to the mechlab with their mechs being auto-selected. "Okay! Now it's time for Lance RWBY's second match!"
"Hold on Ruby." Blake said.
"What?" Ruby asked.
Blake was looking at the bottom left of her screen, "Does your C-Bill count have anything?" The girls all glanced at their C-Bills.
"Yeah, it says I have 280,370 C-Bills." Weiss answered.
"Right, mine says I have 290,423." Blake said.
"Ha! I have 302,710 bills! I'm finally richer than you, Weiss." Yang teased and began dancing in her chair.
Weiss smiled, "In virtual currency, yes."
Yang stopped dancing and frowned, "Always there to ruin my fun..."
Weiss turned to look at Ruby, who was giggling at Yang's comment. "Ruby, how many C-Bills do you have?"
"Um..." Ruby said, checking her C-Bill count, "609,852."
"What!" Yang exclaimed, "How come you have twice as much as we do?"
"Because she played a match alone before us, remember?" Blake reminded her.
"Oh yeah..." Yang said and leaned back in her chair, "Oh well, at this rate we'll have all the C-Bills in wherever this takes place anyway."
"I wouldn't be so sure..." Weiss said, searching something on her scroll.
"Why?" Yang asked.
"Because according to the Mechwarrior site, a new player gains a cadet bonus for their first twenty-five matches." Weiss explained, "After that, the average income becomes about 50,000 C-Bills."
"That's it? That's like, less than half what we just made!" Yang complained.
"Then I suggest we make the best of our first matches." Blake said.
Yang sighed, "No kidding..."
"So, does that mean we're ready for another awesome match?" Ruby asked, full of enthusiasm.
"Sure..." Yang said, still somewhat slumped over.
"Okay, I think I'll stick with the Shadowhawk." Blake confirmed.
"Yeah, I'll keep using the Catapult for now." Weiss said, "Alright, we're ready."
"Yay!" Ruby squeaked and clicked play, loading the girls into another game. "This is Lance RWBY of Beacon, dropping into another match!"
Welp, there we go, all four of the girls in a match together. Man, gameplay is hard to write! And for the people who actually like this story, updates may take a bit longer now. I've been focusing on getting to the point where Team RWBY plays the game together and now that it's there, I probably won't be typing as frequently as I have been. But I will eventually update again, as my new journey making fanfiction is not yet over! So until then, please enjoy what I have written so far, and goodbye!