The fourth chapter revised here it is.
|_|- thoughts
[I own nothing but my OC]
As morning came, Aren started to wake. Rising, it became clear to him that mostly everyone were still asleep. Seeing that, he got up to stretch.
As he did, he noticed an energetic orange haired girl looming over both an extremely long, black haired boy with a streak of magenta in it and short brown hair boy, her turquoise eyes shifting for one to the other as if checking with of them would wake up first.
The girl wore a black collared vest, with a white sleeveless top under it, which strangely had a small heart shaped hole on her chest. Above the vest she wore some metal armor that went from her shoulders and around her waist. She wore a pink skirt with a light gray bow tied on the back. On her hands she had a pair of fingerless gloves that matched the skirts color. On her feet she wore white high tops with pink laces that folded near the top.
The black haired boy, despite sleeping, wore seemed to be wearing a dark green, long-sleeve, collared tailcoat with diagonal buttons and pink cuffs. The tail coat had black and gold trim going from the right side of his torso up to the collar. Underneath, he seemed to be wearing a tight, black, long-sleeved shirt. On his legs he wore a pair of light tan pants with black shoes on his feet.
The final boy was similar as the black haired boy, in that he seemed to be wearing his normal outfit rather than pajamas. He wore a simple light blue t-shirt with some black combat pants on and a pair of black military boots. Yet what caught Aren's attention was the fact that his right arm seemed to be a lighter color than the rest of his toasted skin tone.
Not wanting to get involved, he looked over at his company and turned a slight tint of red. To his right, Ruby slept curled up cutely in her sleeping bag making her look more youthful than she was. Next to her, Yang laid sprawled out with the sleeping bag just barely covered one her legs and her long hair looked like a tangled mess. Looked to his left, he noticed the only other guy in their small group was missing.
|Hmm, where could Ryan have gone?| He thought, as he got up to go shower and get ready for the initiation to come in the following hours.
As he reached the bathroom, he quickly scanned the bathroom to see if anyone else was in there. Seeing that he was alone he ready the shower, but his thoughts went back to a certain black and red haired girl.
|Ruby looked so cute curled up like that.| he thought, before shaking his head.
|No. She shouldn't even bothering with someone like me.| he berated as he stepped into the shower revealing a long, gray jackal tail protruding from his tailbone,
|An idiot that's too much a coward to show his true self.|
The sound of short, steady breaths resonated through the hall leading into the auditorium, as Ryan jogged in. Having trained to be at his best for seven years, Ryan grew accustomed to waking up early, a fact that scared Ruby half to death the morning after they meet.
As he made it to the group he saw that Ruby was groggily getting up, Aren seemed to be missing and Yang was starting to stir a little. Remembering how he put her to sleep last night, Ryan decided to take a shower before meeting up with the two.
After showering and getting ready, Ryan headed towards the lockers where they had left their weapons the night before were. As soon as he got there, he saw Ruby and Yang getting their thing in order, while a colorful trio walked by with the girl skipping behind the two boys.
As they walked past, Ryan asked,
"What's up with them?"
Before he could react, Yang grabbed him by the dress shirt and tried to hold him in the air, only to fail as he was slightly taller than her.
"Ryan~." She said in a sing-songy voice,
"Mind telling me why I woke up with a headache and the last thing I remember being you putting your hand on my shoulder?" Pulling him towards her slightly so she can look him in the eyes.
"Well, while you and Weiss started to argue after she came to quiet us down, I got tired and decided to end the argument before going to sleep." He explained.
Yang studied him for a few seconds before letting him go and saying,
"Well at least you have enough guts to tell me the truth,"
Helping him straighten the wrinkles on his dress shirt, she whispered into his ear,
"Do it again and you won't be able to use that hand ever again." She threatened with a smile.
Flinching at the threat posed, Ryan responded,
"Yes ma'am,"
Feeling satisfied with Ryan answer, Yang turned to a confused looking Ruby and said,
"So, you seem awfully chipper this morning?" Doing a complete 180 with her attitude in seconds.
Ruby, not in the least bit confused by her attitude change, giggled and responded,
"Yup, no more awkward small talk or getting to know you stuff. Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." Hugging Crescent Rose tightly to her chest.
"Well remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation. If you want to grow up you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together." Yang said, reminding Ryan of how he almost got himself killed so many time in his early days of being an Aura Guardian for thinking that he was invincible with his aura.
"Ugh, you sound just like dad. First of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk." Ruby retorted, crossing her arms and turning away from them as she mentioned the milk.
"But, what about when we form teams?" Ryan asked.
"I don't know. I'll just be one of you guy's teams or something?" Ruby shyly responded.
"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Yang responded as she played with her hair, getting a look of anger from Ruby and a confused look from Ryan, who knew that Yang was as protective of Ruby as he was of Ash.
"My, dear sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?" Ruby asked while glaring at Yang.
"What, no, of course I do. It's just I thought, I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of you shell?" Yang responded hastily.
"WHAT!" Ruby yelled "I don't need to break out of my shell that's absolutely ridiculous."
"Calm down, Ruby you're making a scene." Ryan intervened,
"I agree with Yang though. You shouldn't rely only on people you've known the longest. You need to make new friends too."
"Not you too. Why do you both want to abandon me?" Ruby asked with a hurt expression adorning her face, before she looked down in defeat.
"Ruby." Ryan said quietly, causing her to look up at him.
"We aren't abandoning you Ruby, were making sure that you'll always have someone to be by your side especially if we can't be there for you"
"But I can take care of myself. I'm not a baby anymore!" Ruby said slightly anger at being looked down on.
"I never said you can't take care of yourself, Ruby. But experience has taught me that without someone to back you up, your weaknesses can be easily exploited."
"But, I don't have weaknesses!" Ruby retorted.
"Ruby…" Yang started gloomily, only to be interrupted by a loud grunt and someone saying,
"I'm sorry."
Turning, they saw Weiss with her hands on her hips facing a red headed girl and a dirty blond haired boy, while Aren was laughing like crazy at Jaune, who was held to a locker by a red and bronze spear.
The redhead had waist-length hair held together in a ponytail and had a bronze circlet headpiece that looped just above her ear and under her bangs. Hanging of the headpiece, on thin chains, were two small emerald teardrops on either side of her head, which drew more attention to her livid-green eyes. She wore a corset style, bronze chest piece, a red miniskirt and brown cut-off sleeves on both arms, with a bronze bracer adorning her left forearm and a similarly colored bracelet on her left tricep. On her hip she wore a red ankle-length drapery that appears to be wrapped around her skirt and on her legs she wore bronze greaves going from her upper thighs to her ankles and slide into her brown, calf high boots. Around the drapery she also wore a brown thin belt that had two pouches on her left hip and a small bronze circle with the image of a spear in it that Ryan could only assume to be her symbol. Seeing the symbol and the color scheme behind her outfit, Ryan took a shot in the dark and assumed it was her spear holding Jaune on the locker
The dirty blond boy had long, messy slightly curly hair that reached the end of his neck and draped over his eyes slightly, only leaving room to see his eyes. He wore a black, ankle length military coat that was only closed by two buttons in the center revealing some of his muscular chest under his charcoal black v neck. The rest of the coat opened outwards, revealing a pair of loose, black jeans and black combat boots with straps on them. The coat itself had multiple shredded sections that looked like tailcoats, that started at his knee length and had a blood red coloring on the inside, but what stood out to Ryan were the two hilts sticking out of his right hip. On his right hip, were two black daito with a black handle and red diamond like designs, going from the guard to the end of the sword. The guards were revolver-like, much like Weiss'.
Before anyone could ask what happened, Professor Goodwitch's voice came on through the intercoms,
"Would all first-year students, please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again, would all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."
As the announcement came to an end, the trio saw Weiss walking away with the two others following. As she came to Jaune, the girl reached for her spear, before it surprisingly flew out of his hood, causing him to fall.
With spear in hand, she said,
"It was nice meeting you." Before she hurried after Weiss and the boy, leaving an almost depressed looking Jaune on the floor before he signed out a,
"Likewise."
"Having some trouble their lady-killer?" Yang asked as they walked over to the duo, with Ryan extending a hand Jaune.
"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?" Jaune asked, as he go to his feet.
Signing, Aren responded
"Jaune, you saw how she was yesterday. What made you think that it was a good idea?"
"Oh? Then why didn't you stop him?" Yang asked.
Rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly, Aren responded.
"I, kind of, wanted to see how far he would go, before she got annoyed. In my defense I didn't expect Pyrrha to intervene."
The moment he said that the sisters started to laugh whole heartedly, while Ryan chucked lightly. Jaune for his part tried to glare at them but its effect failed as he almost fell on a knee form having been quickly shot into a locker.
Seeing that he was a little weak on his feet, Ryan swung Jaune's arm over his shoulder and said,
"Come on Brock. Let's go" Confusing the blond.
Standing in a straight line, all the first-years stood on stone platforms with the school's insignia on them. In front of them were Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch, both facing the students and their backs turn to a forest, which reminded Ryan of Eterna Forest in Sinnoh. To his right stood Yang with Aren to his left. Next to Yang, was Ruby nervously playing with her hands, who stood next to a completely stiffened Jaune.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Said Professor Ozpin.
Stepping forward Professor Goodwitch said,
"Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."
Hearing this, Ryan started heard Ruby grumble, but it ended quickly as Professor Ozpin spoke up,
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Causing Ruby to complain louder.
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ozpin finished, getting a loud yell of protest from Ruby and the colorful girl from earlier to turn to one of the boys and say,
"See. I told you."
Ignoring the outbursts, Ozpin continued,
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path. Or you will die. You will monitored for and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"
"Yeah, uh sir…" Jaune started, before Ozpin interrupted him,
"Good. Now take your positions."
As everyone got ready, Ryan got into a low squat and started using his Aura Vision to try and get a layout of the forest. Looking over at Aren, he saw him pull up his scarf and hood. Yang looked like she was ready for a fight before putting on a pair of aviators. Ruby had her hand ready to reach for Crescent Rose in a moment's notice. Looking at Jaune, Ryan noticed he was still trying to get information out of Ozpin.
Before he could try and listen in on the conversation between the two, Ryan heard a repeating mechanical sound to his right. Looking over, Ryan instantly got out of Aura Vision to check if he was seeing correctly. Every student to his right was suddenly flying through the air with the guy next to Aren being the next in line. As it came down to Aren's turn, Ryan saw the kid decided to add some extra 'spring' to his jump and jumped as soon as the mechanism launched him causing him to fly farther than does before him. Too distracted by Aren's stunt, Ryan was caught off guard when he was shot into the air.
As he flew through the air, Ryan started to wildly think of a landing strategy. Seeing that he was starting to descend, he decided to take Ozpin's advice and ensure that he wasn't attacked when he landed. Surrounding himself in aura, he braced himself as he approached a tree. As soon as he connected with center of the tree, it exploded in tiny fragments. The top half, being hit by the air from his descend, topple after him.
The moment he hit the ground, he rolled forward getting just out of the topping tree's way. Turning around he was that his original landing spot now had a small crater in it. Thinking that that would be enough to keep any Grimm away from him for the time being, he expanded his aura and started to search for anybody that he could partner up with. Seeing that were two slightly familiar auras in the area, one walking toward a small clearing while the other was standing a few feet away kicking up some dirt, Ryan started to jog over to the clearing to meet up with them.
As he neared the clearing, Ryan started hear grunts coming from his destination. As soon as he reached the clearing, he saw a rather amusing sight. Jaune, who once again caught in the redhead's spear only this time he was about 15 feet in the air, was waving at an annoyed Weiss.
Hearing the sound of the bushes being pushed aside, Weiss turned to Ryan and started for a moment before saying,
"You seem to be more capable than him. Would you like to be my partner?"
Not liking her way of choosing who her partner would be, Ryan remembered sensing another aura in the area. Activating Aura vision, Ryan saw small red rose petals trailing behind Weiss' icicle like aura.
Knowing whose aura created that effect, Ryan asked,
"Weiss, did you come across Ruby on the way here?"
Trying not to return to Ruby, Weiss calmly responded,
"No."
"Really? Then how come her aura seems to be following you?" Ryan asked with a completely innocent look on his face.
Huffing, Weiss turned around and started walking back from whence she came. Ryan, knowing that she would lead him to one of his friend, started to follow her, forgetting about Jaune's predicament. As they reached the clearing, where he saw the aura he now knew to be Ruby's was, Weiss instantly grabbed Ruby's hood and started to drag her along telling her,
"By no means, does this make us friends."
Cheerfully Ruby half yelled,
"You can back."
"Only because this dunce knew that we had already teamed up." Weiss said, pointing at her 'shadow'.
Noticing that Ryan was with them, Ruby instantly perked up even more knowing that one of her friends was now with her, before she waved at him childishly. Ryan, upon seeing Ruby wave at him, he chucked lightly before he waved back.
As they got farther though, Ryan heard Jaune yell out,
"WAIT! COME BACK! WHO'S GONNA GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!"
Smacking his head in frustration, Ryan mentally berated himself for forgetting about Jaune. Just as he was about to turn around to help him, he heard a girl ask,
"JAUNE?"
Seeing Jaune's aura lighten up at the voice below, Ryan continued to follow the two colored themed girls, who were currently starting a conversation.
"What's the hurry?" Ruby asked, after getting out of Weiss grip.
"I will not let my mission be delayed because you two are too slow." Weiss retorted, stomping ahead to the pair.
"I swear if I get a bad grade on because of both of your-" Weiss started only to be interrupted by Ruby suddenly appearing in front of her.
"What the-"
"I'm not slow see" Ruby added. "You don't have to worry about me!" She continued with a glee.
"When did-" Weiss started, before Ruby continued,
"Weiss just because I don't know how to deal with people, doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters. You're about to see a whole different side of me today Weiss. And after it's all over you're gonna be like 'Wow that Ruby girl is really, really cool.' And I wanna be your friend."
As she finished Ruby used her semblance and shot forward into the forest, leaving Weiss and Ryan on their own. Annoyed Weiss said,
"You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time."
Turning to Ryan, with the hope he had an idea of where she was heading, she received a shrug in response. Hearing a sudden sound they both looked in the direction that Ruby speed of to.
Curious Ryan asked,
"Ruby?" Only to get no response.
Slightly worried, Weiss stepped forward a little and asked the same question, this time they both heard a loud growl behind them. Activation his aura vision, Ryan saw no auras in the area, despite the growl turning into multiple snarls all around them. On instinct, Ryan got closer to Weiss and reached for his blade. Hearing a loud snarl behind them, both the teens turned and saw a spine chilling creature.
Before them stood a bipedal creature, that reminded Ryan of a Zoroark in shape but it's flowy red and black mane was replaced by a completely visible spine and bone spikes coming out of its forearms, knees and behind its elbows. On its head was a smoother version of a Marowak's skull, with red lines connecting from its snout to it glowing red eyes and continuing onto the lowest point on the back of the skull. Adding on to it terrifying image, were its fangs and large claws.
Remembering his reading from earlier in the week, Ryan knew that this creature as a Beowolf and judging by the continuous snarls around them, it was merely leading its pack into battle. Seeing that they were getting surrounded fast, Ryan looked at Weiss and said,
"You ready to fight for that grade, Weiss." Getting a slight nod in response, they got into their stances with their backs to each other and waited for the first strike.
"Damn. I think I over did it with that jump. And now I lost too." Aren said, berating himself even more quietly.
After flying through the sky for a few minutes, Aren used semblance to slow himself down. That semblance being to manipulate the wind to push him across any surface letting his glide.
But now, he had been walking for over about an hour and was getting tired of the endless sea of trees. Just as he was about to rest he heard a faint sound in the distance. Listening closely he faintly heard,
"Is anyone out there?"
Smiling at his luck to find a partner this far into the forest he jogged over to the voice. As he got closer he heard,
"Ruby? Is that you?" before hearing a loud roar followed by gunshots.
Now knowing that the person knew Ruby and sounded female, he guess that it was probably Yang. With this in mind, he started sprinting to Yang's location to help her with whatever it was that roar.
As he ran, he hear the sound of something running towards him. Seeing a black mass coming at him out of the corner of his eye, he waited till it lunged at him to dodge. Using the momentum from his sprint, he slide under the mass. As soon as he got a few feet away from it, he spun around and stopped, reached his hand for his holstered weapons.
With the black mass was in front of him, he finally got a good look at it. It looked like a big bear with spikes coming out of its back and arms, with similar spikes coming out of its knees and shoulders. Its upper face was replaced with a skull and had a dot in the center of its head with a circle around it that arc to its blood red eyes. The lines then swirled around his eyes like vortexes and move towards some small protrusions near the back of the skull. The main dangers with this creature seemed to be it strength and claws.
Aren tensed, realizing that the beast before him was an Ursa. Putting out his sword he held it in a reverse grip and the instantly aimed the gun at the Grimm. Slowly, the Ursa rose to its hind legs towering over Aren in a challenging manner, causing him to tighten his grip on his sword.
Out of nowhere the sound of a loud yell resonated from behind the Ursa, before a blue and black blur threw the Ursa's legs out for under it and shoot past Aren. Taking advantage of the fallen Grimm, Aren jumped upwards and plunged the blade deep into the Ursa's chest as they both fell. Along the way, Aren also unloaded a clip into the Ursa's mouth.
Turning, he saw the last thing he expected. The brown haired teen for the morning now had his left shoulder covered in a double plating paldron. To add to the image he was currently holding a Gladius to hold back the slumped over body of another Ursa with the tip of a blade coming out of its back.
Pushing back the Grimm slid off the blade a swift motion.
As it fell the teen flipped the blade into a reverse grip much like his own and sheathed the blade to his left side.
Noticing he was being watched, the boy looked at Aren before holding out his left hand and saying,
"Name's Marcus. Marcus Baldovino."
"Aren. Thanks for the save. Partner." Aren responded, shaking Marcus' hand.
"Any time. I saw you were gonna get ambushed and wasn't about to let the first person I saw in here get picked off that easily." Marcus explained.
Before they could continue their conversation, they both heard a snapping sound and turned to see a bigger Ursa that the last two standing before them. Holding his sword in front of him, Aren got ready to strike while Marcus dropped into a low stance.
As they were both about to charge, they heard,
"You… YOU MONSTER!" Followed by the sound of an explosion and multiple shotgun shots rang through the air before a flaming Ursa came flying from the direction of the explosion, taking the Ursa they were going to fight with it. As the Ursas came to a stop, the large tree that stopped them, collapsed onto the two ending the threat.
Surprised by the sudden event, both boys looked through the clearing of fallen trees and saw an enraged Yang challenging another Ursa, who appeared to no care that it comrade was just brutally killed by its challenger.
Before either of the boys could make a move to help her, the sound of metal tearing into flesh came from behind the Ursa before it fell forwards. As the Grimm hit the floor, Blake appeared holding a black ribbon attached to the end of a handgun with a long blade coming out the back of it. Pulling on the ribbon, the gun returned to Blake's hand before she sheathed it and smirked at Yang.
Trying to act unaffected by Blake's entrance, Yang said,
"I could have taken him."
Suddenly Marcus burst out in laughter, startling the two girls and Aren in the process. Realizing that he was the center of attention, Marcus composed himself enough to explain his outburst.
"Sorry. It's just that, you were in an enraged mode a few minutes ago and changed it in seconds, just so you could be cocky." he said with a light smile on his face.
Smiling at his partner's comment, Aren said,
"Thanks for that by the way. Saved us the hassle of having to kill another Ursa."
Slightly embarrassed, Yang rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
Halfheartedly rolling her eyes at her partner's actions, Blake said,
"We should started heading to the temple." getting a nod from everyone as they moved out.
Catching Weiss as she got pushed back while trying the kill one of the Beowolves, Ryan took a shot at it and ran forward. Holding his sword low to the ground, he waited till his target lashed out at him. As it slash at him, he used his blade to block the strike before spinning into the Beowolf's inner defenses. Seeing another slash coming at him, ducked under it and came up stabbing his blade right under its ribcage. Using more of his strength, he force the blade deeper into the Grimm, puncturing it's lungs before giving it a twist, ending its existence. Quickly pulling out his blade, he used it to block another Beowolves attack and punched it with an aura infused fist to give himself some breathing room.
Smelling something burn he turned to see one of the nearby trees on fire and a trail of fire leading to an arguing Ruby and Weiss. Before he could do anything, he saw a sharp movement coming from his left. Running in reflexes, Ryan raised his blade in time to block the strike from one of the bigger Beowolves only to get knocked back by the force. Righting himself in the air, he flipped his blade into a reverse grip and stabbed it into the ground skidding to a stop in the middle of the girl, both ready to continue fighting the Beowolves. Before either side could make their move, a blazing tree fell to Ruby's left causing the fire to spread.
Seeing the dangers of continuing the fight, Ryan said,
"We gotta go."
As he sheathed his blade, he saw that Ruby was still in a crouching position with Crescent Rose poised to strike. Grabbing her wrist, he yelled,
"NOW!"
Just they started to run, Ryan was side tackled and was had to hold the Beowolf back with his hands. Seeing him in trouble, Ruby reached for Crescent Rose only for Ryan to yell,
"NO! Weiss take Ruby and get to the temple. I'll catch up."
Before she could protest, Weiss grabbed her wrist and started to run as fast as she could. Once they were gone, Ryan kicked the Beowolf off and jumped towards it. As he was in the air he charged an aura sphere in him hand and plunged it into the Grimm, killing it. Getting up, he saw that the fire was spreading quickly, but some Beowolves decided to try and get a quick meal before they left.
The five remaining Beowolves, started to surround him in an attempt to try and catch him off guard. Seeing this, Ryan sighed and reached into his satchel. Out of his courier bag he pull out a black sphere with aqua blue lines swirling around it. Throwing it up, the sphere popped open in the air and released a mist of water, quenching the flames.
Thinking that the water would distract him, one Beowolf lunged at him, dragging its clawed hand on the ground to tear into him. Just as it was about to slice into him, he sidestepped the slash and rammed his shoulder into its stomach, causing it to hunch forward. Using the time he had, Ryan exerted his body and lifted the Beowolf up before slamming it into the ground, causing some of the bones on its back to break. With it arching its back in pain, Ryan created two aura spheres and shot them at the two nearest Beowolves, stunning them, while he unsheathed his blade and stab it through the downed Beowolf's head, ending its pain.
Seeing that he was distracted, the other two Beowolves jumped at him from behind their clawed hands raised for the kill. Before they could land a hit, the two were suddenly bisected. Hearing the sound of the two fallen Grimm, Ryan turned and saw the blonde boy from before, with his blades pointing outwards.
Turning, the boy rushed to one of the remaining Beowolves and began his assault. He used one of his daitos to parry his target's slash, before spinning around and slashed its knees with his other blade. As the Beowolf fell to its knees, he stabbed one of the blades into its chest, while block its desperate counter-attacks with the other blade. Quickly pulling his blade out of the Beowolf, he placed both blade on either side of the Grimm's head before sliding them across its jugular, ending it instantly.
Seeing its partner life end before its own eyes, the remaining Beowolf went in to try and kill the swordsman. Noticing this, the black clad boy readied his blades to kill it quickly, only for the Beowolf to get thrown backwards by an aura sphere piercing it. As it hit the floor Ryan stabbed his own blade into the Grimm's chest.
Looking over at the surprised boy, Ryan said,
"Sorry about that, but seeing as you had already killed three of them to save me, I figured I'd return the favor. Name's Ryan Ketchum."
Sheathing his weapons, the boy responded,
"Oscar Kurokawa. It's fine, but how did you do that? I've seen aura tricks before but that's the first time if seen that one."
Sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, Ryan chuckled slightly before remembering their previous objective and promise to Ruby, Ryan said,
"We should get going to the temple, I'll tell you on the way."
"Fine, but I expect a full explanation."
As they both started heading away from the slightly blazing clearing, a pair of giant red eyes appeared from the trees near the blaze, followed by an ominous clicking sound.
Walking out of the forest, the group of four reached a small cliff side that overlooked some ruins. The stone ruins looked to have been beaten severely by Mother Nature as vines draped of some parts of the damaged circle that was held up by pillars. In the middle were pedestals in an almost completely circular order.
Turning to the group, Yang asked,
"Think this is it?" Getting a chuckle from Marcus while Aren and Blake gave a deadpan expression.
As the go to the temple, they noticed that the pedestals had some chess pieces on them. Confused Marcus asked,
"Chess pieces?"
"Some of them are missing. Looks like weren't the first ones here." Yang commented.
"I guess we should pick one." Blake said, as she looked at the remaining chess pieces.
"Let's look for one too, big guy." Aren said, whilst looking for a reasonable chess piece for him and his partner.
Not long after they started their search, Yang grabbed a white knight and asked Blake,
"How about a cute little pony?"
"Sure" Blake said with a playful eye roll.
Seeing the two girls get their piece, Marcus looked at a piece before grabbing it and saying,
"Hey Aren. Think fast."
As Aren caught the piece, he looked it over and asked,
"The white Pawn? Why this one?"
"Can't win the game with a few pawns making a sacrifice right? Plus I doubt they mean anything, so why not take it." Marcus answered.
"Can't argue with you there." Aren replied, before they all meant in the center of the 'temple'.
"Well, that wasn't so hard." Yang said cheerfully.
"The place isn't exactly hidden, Yang" Aren responded, motioning to the fact the 'temple' was in the middle of a huge clearing.
Suddenly, the sound of a girlish scream pierced the air. Turning in the direction of the scream, Yang said,
"Some girls in trouble."
"She's got strong set of lung then." Marcus added.
Rather than commenting on the scream Aren focused on a faint sound he couldn't pinpoint. As he searched around their surroundings the short teen noticing that Blake was rather quiet during the exchange. Turning towards her, he saw the black themes girl looking up.
Confused by this his eyes instantly locked onto the cause for the faint noise.
Above them was Ruby, plummeting straight towards them.
Thinking fast, Aren jumped up before activating his semblance, pushing himself high enough to catch her in a bridal position. Hearing another scream coming from his right side, Aren turned and saw Jaune flying at him.
Quickly reactivating his semblance, Aren kicked his leg to the side which gave him a small boost to the left avoiding the approaching Jaune and causing the blond to collide with a tree behind them. As Aren landed, Ruby clinging to his hoodie and shirt with swirls on her eyes.
Blake, slightly surprised by the teen's reflexes, looked at Yang and asked,
"Did your sister just fall from the sky?"
"I-" was Yang's answer, before suddenly an Ursa came flailing out of the forest. As it reached the edge of the clearing, a pink explosion occurred followed by a sudden,
"YYYYYYYEEEEEE-HHHHHAAAAA!"
Hearing the voice, Marcus chuckled and said,
"Only she would get that idea."
As the Ursa collapsed, the orange haired girl that was with Marcus earlier fell off and said,
"Aw, it's broken."
As she zoomed off of the Ursa's back, Marcus' other friend came out of the forest.
Wheezing and trying to catch his breath, the boy managed to say,
"Nora. Please… don't ever do that again."
Hearing no response the boy looked up and realized that Nora has suddenly disappeared. Nora was already at the 'temple', looking at the white rook chess pieces before picking it up and singing,
"I'm queen of the castle. I'm queen of the castle."
"Nora! Ren!" Marcus shouted in glee, having his two friends with him.
"Marcus!" Nora shouted back, as she ran up to him and 'booped' his nose, before starting a conversation with him about sloths.
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Aren asked confused by the event that occurred before them.
"I-" Yang started only too interrupted again, this time by a screeching sound. Looking in the direction of the screech it turned out to be the redhead from before being chased by a giant black and white scorpion. The body was covered in heavily armored plates that lead to a yellow, glowing stinger. Its multiple eyes were surrounded by curving lines, as were its pincers.
Dodging the Deathstalker's pincer strikes, she continued to run as she yell,
"JAUNE!"
Hanging upside down from a tree, Jaune responded with,
"Pyrrha!"
Finally getting out of her dizzy state, Ruby realized she was in someone's arms. Looking up she saw a confused looking Aren still trying to follow the events that just played out before them. Soon she was blushing up a storm in realization, as she was still clinging to his shirt and hoodie.
Trying to calm herself down she asked,
"Aren?"
"Hm? Oh hey Ruby. How's your day been?" He asked while looking down at her with a small smile.
"Uh… good? Your?" Ruby responded in confusion, not knowing how to respond with him still holding her in his arms.
"Can't really complain since I signed up to do thing like this. Just wish Ozpin would have given us a bigger heads up." Aren responded with shrugging, an act that unintentionally pulling closer to him.
Feeling him pull her closer Ruby couldn't hold down her blush. Not only was her friend having a conversation with her while she was in his arms, something she'd never done with any of her old friends or anyone for that matter, but he didn't seem to care either.
"Um… Aren?" Ruby asked shyly.
"Yeah?" he responded before noticing how close her face was to him.
Instantly his face also light up as he slowly placed her onto her feet, while apologizing quickly.
"It… it's okay." Ruby responded while looking down shyly.
Looking over at the two younger teens, Yang finally realized Ruby was on her feet. Instantly she started to run over to them while shouting
"Ruby!"
Seeing her sister, Ruby shot her hands up in the air and shouted back
"Yang!"
Just the two were about to hug, Nora, having got out of her discussion with Marcus, shouted out,
"Nora!"
Marcus, catching up with Nora, asked,
"Uh, did she just run here with a Deathstalker following her?"
Yang, having had enough of the craziness that just happened, exploded into flames and yelled,
"I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?"
As she took deep breaths to call herself, Ruby hit her shoulder getting her attention before pointing up and saying,
"Um, Yang?"
Looking up, they all saw Weiss hanging of the talons of a giant black bird. The bird was pitch black like most Grimm expect for its white bone mask.
As she hung of the bird with one arm, she yelled,
"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?" She yelled, directly at Ruby.
"I said jump." Ruby halfheartedly answered.
"She's gonna fall." Blake uncaringly said.
"She'll be fine" Ruby responded.
"She's falling." Ren said monotonically.
Jaune, having finally untangled his leg from the tree, saw Weiss fall and was ready to jump when suddenly a black and red blur shot past him.
Just as Weiss reached the trees level, she felt something grab her waist and then felt a thud as she and her savior reached the ground. Looking up, she saw that Oscar was the one that saved her. Realizing that she was hanging under his arm, her pale face burned red as she remembered her dress wasn't exactly long.
Looking down at Weiss' red face, Oscar smirks down at her and said,
"Relax Weiss, I made sure my coat was covering you."
True to his words, she was in fact covered. Trying to get over her embarrassment, she realized she was still under his muscular arm. Getting her bearings in order, she put on her scowled and yelled,
"Will you put me down, you oaf?"
"Sure thing, ice queen." he answered shrug, before gently placing her back on the ground.
Jaune, having lost his balance when Oscar shot past him, fell off the tree only to land into Ryan's arms.
"Just dropping in?" Ryan jokingly asked, before placing the blond down and running towards to group, Jaune on his six.
Just as the teens meet in the center, the redhead was throw over to them, landing at their feet. Seeing his friend get knock out like that, Oscar ran to her and he, along with Jaune, started to check on her.
"Great! The gang's all here now we can die together." Yang jokingly said.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said, as she ran at the Deathstalker.
"Ruby, wait!" Yang yelled.
Ruby, removing Crescent Rose from her back, shot a round behind her giving her a speed boost as she held the scythe above her head ready to slash downwards on the Deathstalker, only for it to smack her aside with its claw.
Slowly getting off the ground, Ruby said,
"Don- don't worry. It totally fine."
Hearing some noise behind her, Ruby turned to see the Deathstalker behind them. Shoot at its face, she hurriedly shifted her weapon back to its compact mode before she started running back to the group, the two Grimm trailing her.
Yang, seeing the Grimm following her sister, started running towards her sister with Ryan by her side. As they ran, Yang yelled out,
"Ruby!"
As they made it halfway through the clearing, Ryan say that the Nevermore gaining on Ruby front above, causing him to tense. Suddenly the bird stopped midair and reared its wings back before shooting feathers forward, in a move that reminded Ryan of a pin missile, at all of them. Knowing the damage the move normal caused, Ryan grabbed Yang by her shoulder and pulled her back, causing her to fall from the momentum. Before she could protest, Ryan threw up an aura shield in front of them, stopping a feather that would have impaled them.
Gripping the shield, he formed a condensed Aura Sphere before firing it at the Nevermore to keep it away, while Yang begged Ruby to get out of their as she struggled to get her cloak free from a feather that caught it.
Struggling to get the cloak loose, Ruby hear the horrid sound of pincers clapping behind her. Looking up she saw the Deathstalker in front of her slowly rearing its stinger into the air. Knowing that she wouldn't get the feather out on time, Ruby held her arms in front of her face.
Suddenly a gust of wind appeared, followed by the sound of a mechanized shift. Looking up, Ruby saw Aren in front of her with his sword facing the Deathstalker head on.
Frightened for her friend's safety, Ruby shouted,
"Aren!"
As the stinger came closer, Aren tightened his grip on the blade and held it before him at an angle to try and redirect the attack.
Before the attack could connect, a giant wall of ice encased the stinger inches away from his blade.
Looking to Ruby to see if she was the one had saved them, he heard a voice say,
"You are so childish."
Turning to the sound of the voice, Aren saw Weiss a few feet away from them with her rapier imbedded in the ground. Behind him, he heard Ruby said,
"Weiss?" Surprised that the heiress actually cared enough to save not only her but Aren as well.
"And dimwitted and hyperactive and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit… difficult … but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off… I'll be… nicer." She finished, completely ignoring Aren's presence and focusing on Ruby.
"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby said.
"You're fine." Weiss said, before finally looking at Aren and saying,
"Thank you for coming to Ruby's aid."
As she finished with Aren, she walked back towards the group as if nothing happened.
As Aren turned to help Ruby up, he heard her whisper,
"Normal knees."
Finally up, the two looked behind the ice wall and say the Deathstalker struggling to break free. Turning around, the two found both Yang and Marcus running at them, before were both pulled into a hug by their sibling/partner.
Yang hugging Ruby said,
"I'm so happy you're okay."
"You're crazy kid. Almost getting killed for your girlfriend." Marcus said, much to Aren and Ruby's embarrassments.
Just as Yang was about to join in on the teasing, the Nevermore roared above them causing them to run back to the group.
Reaching the group, Jaune pointed upwards and said,
"Guys, that thing's circling back. What are we going to do?"
"Look, there's no sense in dilly dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss said, looking at the chess pieces in the 'temple'.
"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and get back to the cliffs." Ruby said, gaining a smile from Weiss.
"There's no point in fighting these things, so let's go before the Deathstalker breaks free." Oscar added.
"Run and live. That's an idea I can get behind." Jaune said, as he, Ruby and Ryan grabbed a chess piece each.
"Time we left." Ren said, seeing that the Deathstalker was creating cracks in its icy prison.
"Right let's go." Ruby said as she led the group back to the cliffs.
Watching her sister, not only break out of her shell, but actually led a group that she had just meet caused Yang to stand and smile at her.
Seeing Yang stand there unmoved, Blake and Ryan stop by her.
"What is it?" Blake asked, wondering about her partner's behavior.
"Nothing." Yang replied, before running ahead of the two.
Turning to Ryan for help, she saw him look at Ruby with the same smile before running to catch up to Yang, causing the jealous feeling to return in her.
As he catch up to Yang, Ryan asked,
"It's a wonderful feeling to see her as a natural leader like that, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Yang answered, with glee.
As they reached a clearing full of stone ruins, the Nevermore caught up to them, forcing them to take cover behind ruins as it perched itself on a 'castle' like structure right below one of the cliffs.
As they tried to find a way around it, Yang said,
"Well that's great."
The moment she said that, the Deathstalker came crashing through the forest besides them, prompting Oscar to glare at her.
"Ah man, run!" Jaune yelled, as he and Pyrrha ran from their cover, quickly followed by everyone else.
Seeing them leave their cover, the Nevermore flew off its perch and started to pull its wings back.
Looking at Nora, Ren yelled,
"NORA! DISTRACT IT!"
Hearing her orders, Nora ran to the middle of the clearing. Dodging the feathers, she pulled out a gray and pink grenade launcher. As she opened fire on the Grimm, the surrounding explosions caused the Nevermore to retreat.
Just as Marcus was about to run for the 'castle' he hear a clicking noise to his left, followed by trees falling. Suddenly, a giant black mass threw Marcus across the clearing.
Getting up Marcus saw his attacker was giant mantis like creature. Its head was shaped like a triangle with blood red eyes and a mouth that split down the middle by its lower jaw. Its body was white and covered in armor like the Deathstalker and had black spikes protruding from its legs. Its arms and legs were long and sleek but its upper arms were replaced with two large, yellow scythe blades. Its back seemed to have two protrusions as well but they were sleeker than the legs.
Seeing it turn to him, Marcus quickly unsheathed his blade and blocked a sudden strike by the Grimm. Unfortunately, as he struggled to block the blade, he noticed that the Grimm was only using one of its scythe arms.
Reaching back with its other 'arm', the Grimm tried to bisect him only for Aren to help start blocking the slash with all his strength. Struggling, the two started trying to put more force into their blades to keep from dying.
Just as the Grimm started to overpower them, it was hit by two aura spheres causing it to disengage the two, revealed the two thin protrusions on its back to be wings. Taking to the air, it flew high enough to stay out of what it thought was the shooter's range.
Looking up, Aren saw Ryan charging more Aura Spheres in his hands while Oscar rushed over to them before feeling him grab his arm getting yanked to his feet.
As Ryan continued firing warning shots at it, Oscar unsheathed his swords and asked,
"How did you two manage to piss off an Unholy Priest?"
"Us? This is the first time we saw this thing!" Marcus countered, as he pressed a button on his sword, shifting it into a M1 Garand and taking aim.
"Well who else could have piss it off for it the attack you?" Oscar asked slightly annoyed.
"Oscar, the Priest's got burn marks on it." Ryan said as he reached for his own weapon.
"Damn! So it's after us?" He asked, looking at Ryan, who nodded in response.
"Just great. Well, seeing as how it already attacked you two. Mind lending a hand?"
Before either could respond, the Unholy Priest tried to drop onto them only for them all to jump out of the way. Going in for payback from its first attack, Marcus shifted his weapon back into its Gladius mode and took a powerful swing at its side. Seeing his advance, the Priest raised its 'arm' and blocked his strike. Retaliating with its other 'arm', it once again tried to bisecting him, only for Marcus to raise his right arm and stop the blade with his forearm.
Using his partner's defense as a distraction, Aren used his semblance to jump into the air above the Grimm. Shifting his weapon into assault rifle mode, he unloaded a clip on its back while descending. Unfortunately, the bullets only caused sparks to fly as the dust connected with its thick armor.
Still try to fight the Grimm in a bout of strength, Marcus was slowly started to push the Priest back. Feeling itself losing the battle, the Grimm suddenly disengaged Marcus, causing the powerhouse to stumble forward. Trying to take advantage of its prey's situation the Priest once again tried to plunge its scythe hands into the boy, only for it to be peppered by bullet, courtesy of Aren.
Once again spreading its wings, the Grimm tried to fly away only for Ryan to do the unexpected. Shifting his weapon into tonfa blade mode, he darted towards the Grimm.
Before Oscar could stop him, Ryan was already in front of the Unholy Priest. Seeing this, the Grimm was caught off guard allowing Ryan to quickly jump onto its back start a frenzy of slashes across its body.
Looking up, Oscar saw the despite the attacks the Unholy Priest was starting to fly toward the giant ravine where the other fought their previous chasers. Not wanting the other to have to worry about another Grimm, he put his finger on the trigger mechanism of his blade and pulled it causing the steel blade to suddenly shift to have an earth brown edge around it. With the newly shifted blades in hand, he slammed them into the ground causing a pillars of earth to rise in front of the Unholy Priest delaying its flight.
Seeing the Grimm stop, Aren shifted his weapons and aimed his sniper rifle at its wings. Seeing his partner's actions, Marcus added his own rounds to the mixed causing the Priest to fall back down to earth as the bullets found their target, causing the wings to quickly fall apart.
As Ryan experienced the quick descent, he felt as though he had overstayed his welcome but should leave a 'parting gift'. A he jumped off the Grimm, he shifted Guardian's Guild into Bo-staff mode and slammed the earth dust boosted weapon into its back, before jumping to the dirt below. Once the Priest hit the ground in caused a spider web effect to appear on the ground from the force of the parting blow, giving those on the ground enough time to regroup before rushing in and switching from slashing at its armored body to shooting at it as it wildly slashed at them.
Wondering if it would work, Ryan reactivated his tonfa blade mode before running under the beast and focusing his slashes on its legs.
Almost instantly, the Priest's legs started to fall apart as Ryan's slashed meet joints. With the beast now immobilized, for the most part, the four started to add more pressure on the Grimm. Ryan and Oscar focused on becoming its main targets, while Aren and Marcus opened fired from a distance.
Having had enough of the attacks, the Grimm tried to overpower two before it with it 'arms' only for the pair to redirect the attack off their own blades. As soon as the Grimm's blades hit the ground, Ryan quickly shifted his weapon into bo-staff mode and started assaulting the Unholy Priest with earth dust swings. Oscar, seeing that the hits were causing cracks in the Grimm's armor, started to focus on the cracked areas, effectively creating breaks in the armor for Marcus and Aren to aim at. As the Grimm's slashes started to slow down, the four grouped up. Turning to the other, Ryan looked at them and said,
"It slowing down, so let's finish it and get to the cliff."
Nodding at the world hopper, they all shifted their weapons into their blade modes and charged at the Grimm. Not going down without a fight, the Grimm readied itself by raising both 'arms', before side swiping at the huntsman-in-training. Ryan and Marcus, being in the front, intercepted the swipes and held them back while Aren and Oscar jumped up and covered the broken armor in deep gashes. Screeching in pain, the Unholy Priest reared back and began to flail and swipe wildly.
As the quartet watched it flail around trying to find a time to strike, Ryan felt a surge of aura coming from his partner. Looking at Oscar, he saw the swordsman's eyes glow a crimson color before he seemingly teleported behind the Unholy Priest, much Ruby does with her semblance.
As he reappeared he suddenly sheathed his blades causing one of the Priests arms to explode into blood.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Marcus rushed in and shifted his sword into a form they hadn't seen before. The weapon at first glance looked like his M1 Garand with an angled gunstock, except that there was no trigger mechanism and were the gunstock angled the tip of his sword appeared.
Swinging the weapon with both hand, Marcus effectively scatter the Grimm's remaining 'arm'. The Unholy Priest, now completely immobilized, could only screech at Marcus as he lifted the war club above his head and brought it down with enough force to crush the Grimm's skull and some of the ground below it as well.
With the Unholy Priest taken care of, the four stopped to take a breath. As they all caught their breath they final realized their surroundings and saw that Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren was killed the Deathstalker. While Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss were finishing of the Nevermore, courtesy of Ruby beheading it.
As the carcass fell, Marcus turned to Aren and said,
"You sure know how to pick a girl, Aren."
The comment caused Aren to blush up a storm and the older teens to share a chuckle.
"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. From this forward you will work together as Team CRDL. Led by Cardin Winchester." Professor Ozpin told the newly formed team before the entire first year populous.
Soon after they meet up again, the twelve teens arrived at the cliff side and were directed back to the auditorium, where they currently being assigned their teams.
"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team JNPR. Led by Jaune Arc." The professor said much to Jaune's surprise, and as Ryan noted, Pyrrha's joy.
The moment soon ended when Pyrrha, in her joy, tried give Jaune a reassuring shoulder punch with too much force behind it, causing the Arc to fall ungracefully.
"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. From the day forward you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by Ruby Rose." Ozpin said.
Ruby, much like Jaune before her, was shocked while Yang ran up and hugged her kid sister, with glee.
"And finally, Aren Franco, Ryan Ketchum, Oscar Kurokawa and Marcus Baldovino. The four of you retrieved the White Pawn pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team ROAM. Lead by Ryan Ketchum."
As the Professor announced the last team, he smiled and said,
"Looks like thing are shaping up to be a… interesting year."
Well there's the initiation. I wore it all in one go because I'm not one for cliffhangers. For those that read my previous story you noticed that I cut the other languages, that's because I find it better to keep it in one language.
