A/N: So the poll results are in for adding Yang to the harem and after three days the results are as follows: 6-5 in favour of yes. (One person voted no but PM'ed me that they meant to put a yes out there. So sorry to those of you who voted no, it looks like I'm going to be adding her after all.)
Thanks for voting!
-X- -X-
"Runrunrunrun-"
Blake's bow twitched in the early morning light and Ruby blinked, narrowing her eyes at the accessory in suspicion. "Huh."
"Do you hear that?" Her partner spoke, looking up into the surrounding foliage with a look of concern.
"-RUNRUNRUNRUN-"
Her attention drew away from the bow and she focused on the sound of frantic voices in the distance, growing ever closer. "Yeah." She acknowledged quietly, fingers twitching as they closed around the pole of her weapon. "What is that? Is someone coming?"
"RUN!" With a final hurried exclamation the source of the voice came darting through the bushes, yelping as he hastily avoided the startled Huntress'. "Hi Ruby RUN RUBY bye Ruby!" He said in a single breath.
"Hi Jaune." She greeted absently, parsing his words just in time for the much larger shape to come darting out of the bushes. "Uh... Observe?"
DEATHSTALKER
Level: 14
HP: 340/340
STR: 12 (15)
VIT: 12 (17)
DEX: /
CHA: /
INT: /
WIS: /
PER: 2
AGI: 7
LUK: /
SCORPION GRIMM (+5 VIT, +50% Defence, + 3 STR)
"I can see it just fine." Blake said dryly beside her, following the motions of the Grimm's stinger with a sense of bemused wariness.
"RUBY!" Her sister called, flailing to-and-fro in the grip of the gigantic beast. "Help! Stuck! Stupid-" With a sudden jerk the stinger flung to the left, sending her yelping sister slamming into the ground. "-Jacket..." She finished.
"Hold on Yang!" She cried, bracing herself with both feet and darting forward.
"W-Wait!" Yang yelped as her sister drew closer, eyes wide. "Don't-!" A single sweeping swing and the tail separated, falling gracelessly beside her."-Do it...?"
Ruby swung her scythe back onto her shoulder, ignoring the frenzied Grimm as she lifted her sister to her feet. "There you go." She consoled, patting the other girl down lightly and wrapping her in a hug.
"Um... Thanks." The blonde murmured, gaze flickering for a second before, with a huff, she dove, dragging her sister with her.
Ruby grimaced in the awkward hold, twisting her head to see a claw bisect the air where they'd previously been standing. "Oh." She realized dumbly, blinking as she turned back to the brawler. "...And then they were even."
"Eyes on the prize, sis." Yang quipped, falling into a fighting stance beside her.
"Right." As she readied her weapon the redhead could see out of the corner of her eye both Blake and Jaune lining up beside them, blades drawn.
"Ready?" Blake tensed.
"Ready!" With a yell all four teens dashed forward, striking the Grimm head on at the same time.
To its credit the Deathstalker, despite being wounded and overwhelmed, managed to last slightly more than ten seconds, but- "Ugh, it's in my hair!" –In the end, it just wasn't enough.
Ruby ignored Yang's griping in favour of turning back to her partner, grinning at the black-haired girl and pointedly ignoring the bow twitch this time. "Partners?" She reaffirmed, holding out a fist.
For a moment Blake continued to stand there, gaze flickering between her outstretched hand and hopeful face before, finally, she sighed. "Partners., She agreed, bumping the offered fist and closing her eyes in embarrassment as the younger girl let out a "Whoosh." "Never do that again."
"I make no promises." Ruby grinned, relishing in the other girl's exasperation and turning to regard the two brighter fighters. "So, team?" She offered, offering her hand.
"Team!" Yang agreed before Jaune could speak, clasping her wrist and pulling her into a hug. "Oh, my baby sister's growing up so fast!" She squealed, ignoring the indignant squawk that resulted as the petite redhead attempted to lean away from her assets.
"Air, air!" Ruby protested, begging with her eyes for the others to intervene.
Thankfully Blake came to her rescue, bow twitching once more as she attempted to separate the two. "We should find the relics before relaxing." She pointed out dryly, raising an eyebrow pointedly at the blonde's pout.
"Point." Yang agreed reluctantly, giving one last squeeze before she finally released her captive. "My life-" Her sister gasped dramatically. "-It flashed before my eyes!" "So, any clue where we should start?" The buxom brawler asked the quiet girl.
Blake pursed her lips, glancing about briefly before, with a nod, she gestured towards their previous route. "Ruby said that she spotted the ruins somewhere over in that direction, didn't you?"
Ruby finished composing herself, nodding quickly. "Yeah, I spotted 'em over there; it's not even that far. Although," She paused, twiddling her fingers nervously. "The other teams might have gotten there already by now and taken their own relics..."
"Well, what are we waiting for!?" Yang stalked determinedly in the direction her sister had pointed, sparing barely a second to grab Jaune by the shoulder and drag the beleaguered boy after her. "Let's move, people!"
Her partner shared a look with her and the Huntress-in-training shrugged half-heartedly, gesturing for them to follow the blonde's lead. With a sigh Blake hurried after her.
"So Yang," Ruby started when it became clear that her older sister wasn't about to initiate conversation. "How'd you bump into Jaune, anyway?"
Lilac eyes glinted in the shade of the forest and the older girl didn't even hesitate as they continued to march on, lips quirking into a smirk. "I guess you could say..." She paused and Ruby knew she had made a mistake. "...He decided to drop right in."
"Yang." She groaned, vaguely aware of her new partner shaking her head.
"What?" Yang raised an eyebrow at her blank expression. "You'll learn to appreciate my humour one day. All tree of you."
"Oh my god, stop." She huffed, glaring as her sister regarded her with clear amusement.
"What, you want me to act my foli-a-"
"-Actually, do stop." Blake cut across the pleasantries, narrowing her eyes as the trees began to thin out. "I can hear something coming."
Immediately the three of them tensed, on high alert as they searched for the source of her wariness.
"There!" Despite her previous misgivings with his skill set it was actually Jaune, of all people, that noticed it first. "Not to make you panic or anything, but... Are those feathers?" He slowly pointed.
The grass gave way in the middle of the clearing beyond, rough stone and shoddily put together pedestals revealing a set of multiple different objects- 'The relics' She beamed. -and beyond that a criss-cross pattern of massive thick white spines, barely comparable to feathers in the same way you might compare a kitchen knife to a katana. "Big feathers." She murmured, eyes flicking across the expanse in search of the cause of such massive plumage.
"It's gone." Blake said shortly, not quite relaxing but sheathing her blade nonetheless. "Let's grab our relics and get out of here before it comes back. I'm not too keen on seeing the bird those belong to."
"Retreat and live. Finally, an idea I can get behind." Jaune quipped as he stored his sword and shield on his hip.
They didn't rush as they walked towards the objective of their mission and the young Huntress-in-training could tell that they were just as wary as she was of the bird coming back; it was a relief when they all managed to grab both horse pieces without too much fuss and quickly they started back towards the cliffs.
"This feels..." Yang hesitated, gaze lingering on the ruins as they left their line of sight. "...Anti-climactic, somehow."
"Anti-climactics's good." Jaune defended, crossing his arms as he stared over at her. "Anti-climactic means no running and fighting and possibly failing the test because we got caught off guard..."
The words were surprisingly insightful and Ruby beamed as she looked up at him, ignoring the twin looks of surprise shared by Blake and Yang.
"...Plus if you say something like that you might jinx us, I mean what next? 'What could possibly go wrong?'" He joked.
All four tensed, gazes darting across the quiet forest clearing as they waited.
"Huh." He spoke once more. "That usually doesn't go down this well." He noted.
"Let's just get back to the cliffs." Yang grunted, grabbing both him and her sister and speeding up.
-X- -X-
"...Team PRWN, "Prune", led by Ms. Pyrrha Nikos." Despite all that they had been through the Headmaster still sounded entirely disassociated from reality, gaze lidded and glasses hanging loosely against the bridge of his nose. It really was anti-climactic, she reflected, narrowing her eyes at the older man and blinking. 'Did he just wink at me?' "And finally, Blake Belladona, Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao-Long. The four of you have retrieved the white knight pieces, and so, henceforth, you shall be known as team RBAY, "Ruby", led by Ruby Rose."
If the team name didn't make it obvious enough then the tip of the coffee in her direction and slight nod made it clear that favouritism was at work and Ruby could feel her cheeks heat, even as Jaune shrugged at the syllable change and Yang nudged her with a smirk. 'Kill me now.' She whined internally.
"Looks like things are shaping out to be an... Interesting year." Ozpin mused, taking a sip of his coffee and returning to his previous state of ambivalence.
The clear dismissal was obvious and Ruby had scarcely made to move when strong arms encircled her, yanking her off her feet into a powerful embrace. "I'm so proud of you!" She cheered.
Tutorial Complete!
The words shone in the air before her and Ruby groaned. "Not you again!"
"You're never too old for a hug!" Yang scolded and the petite girl blushed as she realized that her sister had misinterpreted her words.
As a Huntress the "Menu" has now been re-activated; all skill and perk bonuses are now permanently applied to your stats, Title: "Beacon Academy Student" has been earned! (+1 VIT, +1 PER, +1 CHA, +1 LUK, +25% earned from all activities while in Beacon!)
Title Earned: "Team Leader"! (+3 CHA, +3 PER, +3 LUK, Party Unlocked!)
The bold black words hovering in the air weren't entirely useless though and as she thought back on her performance during the test she had to admit that it was pretty clear that this thing came with some hefty advantages. 'Party, for a start.' She grinned.
"Who's up for celebratory ice cream!?" Yang cheered, throwing a fist in the air.
"Ice cream!" Ruby caught herself before the childish cheer could escape and instead said the words with a strange warble that had her sister in hysterics. "Shut up Yang!" She scowled.
If anything her words made the blonde laugh even harder and with a sigh Blake stepped past them, vaguely mentioning something about heading to check out the dorms.
"How about you Jaune? Up for ice cream?" She smiled, Observing the boy's stats out of curiosity.
Name: Jaune Arc
Class: Huntsman-In-Training. (+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CHA.)
Traits: Confident (+1 CHA, +1 STR, +1 LUK), Determined (+1 STR, +1 VIT, +1 CHA, +1 PER, +1 AGI, +1 LUK), Lovestruck. (+1 CHA, +1 PER, +1 LUK, Chance to Evolve Relationship(!))
Level: 4
HP: 220/220
AP: 110/110(220/220(?))
MP: 11/11
STR: 11 (13)
VIT: 12 (12)
DEX: 11 (12)
CHA: 5 (8)
INT: 10
WIS: 11 (11)
PER: 11 (12)
AGI: 10 (10)
LUK: 12 (14)
Her face grew hot as she read over his traits again, honing in on "Lovestruck" and feeling her heart skip a beat. 'Evolve relationship? D-Does that mean what I think it means? I, ah... I need to think about this.' Silently she congratulated the boy's progress, pushing the thoughts of romance purposefully out of her mind and wondering instead for a brief moment just how he compared to her own Status-
Name: Ruby Rose
Class: Huntress-In-Training (+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CHA).
Traits: Trainee (+10% EXP), Friendly (+1 CHA, +1 LUK, +10% Chance to succeed when engaged in social situations), Socially Awkward (-1 CHA).
Level: 6
To Next Level: 824 (855 EXP) (+)
HP: 220/220 (260/260(!))
AP: 110/110 (130/130(!))
MP: 10/10
STR: 11 (12) (15(!))
VIT: 11 (12) (14(!))
DEX: 15 (16) (40(!))
CHA: 27 (27)
INT: 11
WIS: 11
PER: 11 (7(16)(!))
AGI: 16 (26) (44(!))
LUK: 12 (15)
Points remaining: 3 (Skill Points can be earned by levelling up either yourself or your skills, in addition to earning titles.)
Perks: 0 (Perks can be earned by Levelling up!)
Lien: 65
PERKS!
People Person! (CHA = 25! – You sway hearts and minds with your well-placed words! Earn triple the points for all social situations and pre-existing relationships are boosted X3! (To maximum 100/100)
Smooth Operator! (DEX = 25! – You're a dab hand with all weapon! Every weapon you wield immediately gives you a level in that weapon as well as a modicum of the previous user's experience! (10%))
Woman Of Action! (AGI = 25! – You're a demon of speed on the battlefield and impossible to trip up besides! +10% to all Speed related skills and +50% to Weapon and Running Speed, all PERCEPTION afflictions related to your Speed are removed!)
The Weapon Of Choice! (AGI & DEX = 25! – All Weapon abilities are boosted to the level of your current highest Weapon and you gain twice the POINTS from levelling an ability!)
Idle Hands Are The Devil's Playthings! (CHA & AGI = 25! – Social situations will naturally gravitate towards you! (Opens more dialogue options, + People Person opens HAREM Route, people will automatically feel better around you!))
Relationships: -
Yang: - 100/100 (Love) (Potential Relationship!) Jaune: - 100/100 (Love) (Potential Relationship!) Taiyang: - 100/100 (Love) (Familial Restriction) Qrow: - 100/100 (Love) Roman: - 15/100 (Fond) Glynda: - 12/100 (Fond) Ozpin: - 18/100 (Fond) Weiss: 5/100 (Tolerated) Blake: 22/100 (Good Friend)"Uh..." She swallowed, going slightly cross-eyed at the mass of information displayed before her. '40 and 44?' That couldn't be right, could it?
"You okay, sis?" Yang stared down at her, brow furrowed in concern. "You're being awfully quiet."
"Y-Yeah." She stuttered, shaking herself from her reverie and turning back to her sister. "I'm fine. Just... Thinking." She quickly reassured.
As Yang casually brushed off her awkward behaviour and made to drag her towards the entrance Ruby snuck a quick look at her stats, wondering if perhaps she'd become stronger as well.
Observe
Name: Yang Xiao-Long
Traits: Ecstatic (+1 STR, +1 VIT, +1 CHA, +1 LUK), Loyal (+1 CHA, +1 LUK), Lovestruck. (+1 CHA, +1 PER, +1 LUK, Chance to Evolve Relationship(!))
Title: Huntress-In-Training (+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CHA).
Level: 9
To Next Level: N/A.
HP: 200
AP: 100
MP: 9/9
STR: 17 (18)
VIT: 12 (13)
DEX: 12
CHA: 12 (15)
INT: 9
WIS: 8
PER: 8
AGI: 10
LUK: 10 (13)
"Lovestruck!?" She blurted suddenly, startling both of her new teammates out of their celebrations. "I mean..."
Silently she stared up at her sister, unsure just what that even meant. 'Maybe it meant Jaune, they do seem to be getting on well.' She told herself, ignoring the two as they shared a brief glance.
"Maybe we should go out for ice cream." Yang decided, reaching over to pat her on the back and shooting her a fond look.
Despite what the gesture was meant to symbolize Ruby found herself focusing on how her sister seemed to linger, mind going over their interactions over the past several days with a nervous zeal.
The quiet, contemplative looks at the end of their training sessions, the nervous stutter so unlike her as she asked if maybe Ruby wanted to join her while she went out shopping and the over-protective manner she behaved in whenever one of the local boys tried to approach her. But that was just normal sister stuff, wasn't it? Right?
And all of a sudden a memory surfaced, going back to even before she'd had this existential-crises-causing ability.
"You leave my sister alone!"
Ruby winced as her classmates retreated in fear, a familiar head of bushy blonde hair covering her line of sight. "Yaaaang." She whined, pouting as her over-protective sister wrapped her in a hug.
"Aw, Ruby." Yang huffed, pursing her lips as the redhead stumbled back. "What'd they do to you?"
Milk dripped from short locks, dank, moist hair clinging to her face even as she shook her head in denial. "Nothing!" She lied, absently reaching up to wring out the offensive liquid. "It's just some stupid prank, I should've waited until I left school before I had it." She admitted, embarrassment written across her face. "I know better; they're jealous cause Qrow's my uncle."
"Probably." Yang confessed, kneeling down beside the small white puddle. She grabbed at her carton of milk and ruefully shook the mostly empty container before, with a sigh, she tossed it over her shoulder. "Well, it's too late now." Her brow twitched in suppressed annoyance and silently she turned to face the direction the younger boys had run off in.
"Yang, no!" Ruby quickly protested, cheeks puffing out as she glared up at the far taller girl. "I'm not a child, Yang. I can protect myself!"
The blonde stilled, regarding her tiny twelve-year old sister for barely a moment before, with a sputter she lost it. "Oh my god," She wheezed, ignoring the silver eyes narrowing up at her. "Y-YOU- OW!" She winced, hopping on one leg and blinking down at the small girl. "You kicked me?"
"Y-Yes." Ruby blushed, grimacing as the blonde burst out laughing once more. "S-Stop it, you-!"
"Oh, Ruby." Yang finally gained enough control of herself to stop, shaking her head in amusement and wrapping the girl in a hug. "I know that you're growing up, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna protect you! You're my little Huntress, and so long as we're Huntress' I'll always be there." She cooed."Your knight in shining armour."
Ruby sighed, relaxing into the hold and glancing up at the brawler. "...Thanks, Yang." She smiled. "You're the best sister ever."
Against her damp hair Yang's chest stilled for barely a moment. "R-Right, damn right! I'm the best sister ever!" Her voice cracked slightly yet as Ruby looked up at her Yang's grin had never been wider.
"But..." Yang blinked, staring down at her inquisitively. "I think you're more like the dragon in that tale."
"Wha- You-" As the smaller girl darted away she could almost hear the cogs in her sister's mind whir. "Ruby you little- Get back here!"
"Wow." She blinked, focusing on the here and now and the two older teens eyeing her with clear confusion. "I think I need ice cream. And cookies."
And just like that the tension faded, a chuckle escaping the tall blonde as she grabbed her other teammate by the sleeve. "Well then, come on!" She ordered.
Ice cream, Ruby decided, would make everything better.