The scales tip as the warriors who fight for the balance of the world are now thrust into the briar patch of the enemy of balance. But when light out balances the darkness, the darkness must grow stronger. The darkness must fight back. There must be casualties.
"Ruby Fall, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Shi Long. You have been Chosen to be team RWBY. You will be led by miss Fall. May The first hunter Oum be with you on your journeys together." The four girls all retreated to their quarters after the nerve-wrecking assembly.
Some students had died out during initiation. Some by their hands, others by the hands, or rather; the claws, talons, stingers, tusks, fangs, and bulk of the grimm. And only a few of them were not controlled by Salem's herald.
Hours earlier…
The up and coming students had just been launched into the forest. Yang noticed a redhead preparing a crash landing. 'Hmm, not a bad idea…' Yang smashed into tree after tree, her aviator goggles protecting her eyes from any branches or twigs that would otherwise get lodged in, and the last thing she needed was people asking why her eye was both bloody and intact. She finally landed, using her fire to burn the twigs off her hair, she started to the direction of the temple. Some of the wayward branches impaled some poor fool who had wanted to have his way with her the night before.
Blake had used her weapon to slice through several trees to slow her descent. She had noticed a guy garbed in green using a similar tactic of hooking his blades to the trees, and decided to do something similar. On the final strike, she fired a dust-infused arrow towards her, having it explode in a storm of sand. She landed on her feet in the middle of the pile. Dusting herself off, and readjusting her bow, she started towards the direction she assumed held the relics. 'Alright, the fight starts now…' Shame that the blast from the dust threw some chick off guard and caused her to break her neck on a different branch.
Weiss had seen a young girl with a hammer smashing her weapon to come to a sudden stop, "Quite the brute" Winter had commented, "Try shooting some ice and blast dust to create a pile of snow to land in." She advised. Weiss nodded, after unleashing her flurry of snow, she used a glyph to slow her descent a bit more before crashing into the snowbank. She whispered her thanks to her sister and started towards where Winter had mentioned the temple's direction. She left some frigid stalagmites for the poor unfortunate soul who had decided it would be funny to steal her underwear.
Ruby had quite the firepower under her belt, but seeing a blonde kid flailing, she decided to use a much different tactic. Using Rending Thorn's greatsword mode, she placed her feet on the flat side of the blade. Using her weapon as a riding board of sorts, she slashed through several trees, and one nevermore before she could safely transfer the momentum of the launch into her speed. She started to dash towards the temple. Her thought upon landing being 'For the Queen.' She shot some person who had the gall to try and flirt with her out of the air.
Yang's very presence alone keeps the grimm at bay. They dare not to attack their queen's herald. 'As it should be...' she thought. Her trek had gotten her some rather… Interesting tributes to her and her queen. Bodies of various students and wild animals littered the forest floor.
Do you like our offering mistress? Yang turned her head to a small beowolf, it held a man's body in its teeth. The man appeared to be the same guy whom she had noticed was flexing to impress some girls or something last night. She didn't really pay attention as she didn't need sleep in the first place. He had a weird weapon, it resembled shoulder pads, just with spikes on them, and handles to fire the dust in the spikes as needle projectiles. The herald crouched down, took the fallen warrior's weapons for her own, and ruffled the hair of the small beowolf.
"Yes, little one. What is your name?" She asked, her voice having an echo to it that would make many people flinch. She wasn't one to talk often.
Name? I was not given a name. We are merely grimm. Only the most powerful gain a name. I was the only survivor of my pack when this one fell. the beowolf 'communicated'.
"Shame." Yang looked down at the beowolf, and at the man. When she noticed the beowolf moving away in a solemn way. "Wait!" The beowolf stopped and turned around.
Yes great one?
"Would you like to travel with me?" Yang asked, extending her hand.
Of course! Thank you so much mistress! But of what help would I be? I am but a simple beowolf.
"You are more than that. You are a survivor, like I am." Yang reassured. She looked to the spoils of the assault 'Hmm, perhaps I can use my abilities to make these weapons usable for this one…' She concentrated, weapons became enveloped in hellfire, becoming usable for the young beowolf.
The beowolf had the newly reforged weapons attached to the shoulders of the beast. Heavily modified so the young beast could utilize it without having to actually pick it up sure, the weapon could no longer be used in its gun form, but the spikes could now imbed themselves with hellfire. The beowolf was rather excited to be of use for the herald. I love them mistress! But, how can I accompany you?
"Simple Shadow, I can hide you in my own shadow with my abilities." Yang explained.
The beowolf appeared confused Shadow?
"Yes, that is your name now. I noticed you are a female grimm." Yang explained.
We have genders? the newly-named Shadow questioned
"Yes, it is impossible to tell for regular humans, mostly because they don't take the time nor effort to study grimm. But I am Salem's herald, I am not ordinary." She said firmly. "Also, call me Yang." She requested in a friendly voice.
Of course mistre- I mean Yang. Shadow said with what could be construed as a smile on her face as she leapt into Yang's shadow, completely disappearing in a darkened portal, the only trace being some faint red markings that disappeared after a while.
Blake had used her natural abilities to defeat several grimm. She noticed a blonde girl heading in the direction she was heading and figured that she could be a worthy addition to her revolution. She had decided that the girl must be worth something if she was ready to just crash into the trees like she did, and as she could attest, not many people would be willing to hide their appearance unless they were faunus. She would need a partner to properly attend Beacon after all. 'Now, where is she?'
She noticed the girl she was looking for. Blake had finally found her target. She noticed an ursa trailing behind her. No, not an ursa, a large bear. Not a grimm, but still deadly. It may not have that armor plating, but they made up for it in pure brute force.
Her arrow went right through the head of the bear. "Looks like we're partners, huh blondie?"
The blonde girl only grunted in response. She motioned the girl to come with her.
"Not much of a talker huh?" No response. "I can dig that." Still no response. "Your name is…?" A hand showed the young faunus a piece of paper with her name on it. "'Yang Shi Long', huh, nice to meet ya Yang, my name is Blake. Blake Belladonna, and before you ask, yes. I am aware that 'Blake' is traditionally a guy's name, but my parents are sorta weird like that."
Still no response.
"Dammit! Will you just talk already?" The blonde stopped walking after the outburst from the black-haired girl. Her glare alone would have been enough to strike fear into any normal person. Unfortunately for the spectre, Blake was one who had a large empire of revolutionaries and was far from normal.
Mistress! There is a rogue King Taijitu in the area! Yang's attention was drawn south towards where she sensed its presence. She grabbed the arm of the other girl, and started running west, towards the temple.
"What the- What are you doing?" Blake demanded. Then the two-headed snake made its presence known to many with its scream towards the heavens. "Was that a king taijitu?" Blake asked, worried.
Yang merely nodded. The taijitu were more prone to rebel against the Queen of Grimm, and the herald of the queen. Granted, she was the only herald to have been made, but that was beside the point. The snake reared its heads and started to strike.
Both girls were in for the fight of their lives
Ruby Fall had hardly felt an emotion since her time on the island of patch, but she was close to what one would be considered 'annoyed'. She was simply minding her own business, slicing any tree, grimm, or wildlife who were unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Then she met Weiss Schnee.
'Something is very strange about this heiress.' She thought. Not that she was wrong or anything, the white haired girl seemed to be having a conversation with an invisible person as they were trekking through the forest. 'Who the hell is she talking to? The Queen could possibly use this information.'
She sighed internally, Ruby never enjoyed being separated from her Queen for long periods of time. Her Queen was always kind, and caring, and Ruby was always happy to do what she was asked. Her life prior to her turning seven was a total blank to her. Having the surname of 'Fall' gave her a boost of confidence on her missions, the only downside was that she felt as if she had to earn the right to keep the name.
She was surprised to find Cinder cuddling with her after a particularly rough night.
This Weiss, on the other hand, was a strange case, her attitude seemed to scream both 'Ice Queen', and 'Nice Girl' at the same time. But the fact that she appeared a little eccentric was off-putting to say the least.
"Do you even know where we're going?" Weiss asked.
"Well, I-"
"I wasn't talking to you." Weiss cut her off, ignoring the spiteful glare that was sent her way. "What do you think?" She asked in a whisper.
"I am disappointed in your lack of faith in me, sister." Weiss shot the ghost a glare, "Yes, I saw several other teams heading in that direction, if it's not the temple, it should be the place where the teachers will pick you up. Your partner should be able to rush to the temple's location and back in a few minutes, a few hours if she is unfortunate enough to run into grimm." Winter added.
"Good, we keep moving." Weiss responded.
"This is taking too long." Ruby suddenly said without a hint of emotion in her voice, startling Weiss, but before the heiress could ask what her partner was planning, she noticed a giant nevermore sailing ahead.
It took Weiss eight seconds to realize what Ruby was planning. "I hate you. I really do."
Blake and Yang had arrived at the temple, with Yang covered in taijitu blood, her hellfire having gotten rid of the saliva. Her plan had involved jumping into the mouth of the beast, and burning it from within using hellfire. Blake was impressed to say the least, especially since she had only been able to snap off the fangs of both heads. They were her trophies, and she was planning to turn them into daggers.
The grimm may dissipate after a certain amount of time, but any bone pieces that are shattered or broken off beforehand, did not.
The duo arrived at the relics, "Chess pieces?" Blake questioned, "Why would they use chess pieces as relics?" She pondered for a bit, "Maybe if the pairs grab the same piece, they're placed on the same team, what do you think Yang?" She turned to her partner, who merely shrugged. "Well, you're the one who brought down the taijitu, you pick." She offered.
Yang had walked up to the remaining pieces, deducing that several had possibly been taken by other students, wildlife, or destroyed by grimm. She looked towards the remaining pieces, seeing two golden knights, two golden rooks, and two bishops of different color. She walked up to the pedestal and grabbed the knight.
"Ahh. The white, or rather golden, knight. You must be one who prefers to jump to the front lines to attack or something."
"Nah, I just won more games with this piece than with others." Yang replied, barely able to mask her echo. Blake was surprised to say the least, the only other time she heard the blonde talk, was when she was shouting obscenities while inside the stomach of the taijitu.
"Well, let's get going before anymore grimm show up-"
Blake was cut off by several shots of ice raining down nearby, creating a large pile of snow. A few seconds later, a white-haired girl came down holding onto the waist of another girl in a red vest riding on a glaive. The two then used the improvised snowboard to come to a stop after a bit of showing off on the red girl's part.
"What the…"
This time, Yang was cut off by a red haired girl being chased by a large deathstalker that had a blonde guy clinging onto the tail for dear life, and another girl riding an ursa with an exhausted-looking boy trailing behind her. 'And here I thought I was the only grimm rider here.'
"That was the worst idea ever! Of all time!" The white girl screamed at her partner, "Honestly, Ruby, I'd expect this sort of recklessness out of ursa rider over there." She pointed to the girl who was riding a grimm earlier, who seemed disappointed that it was 'broken'.
"Well, we're still able to walk, right Weiss?" Ruby asked with harshness, "A…" She clenched her eyes shut, as if to indicate irritation at what she was about to say, "... Friend of mine once said, 'Any landing you can walk away from is a successful one.'" Indeed, Roman had said that several times, given how many airships he crashed due to incompetence, local law enforcement, grimm attacks, or even more incompetence, it was practically his favorite thing to say.
Weiss merely harrumphed, clearly unimpressed by the impromptu landing. All attention was on the argument until the blonde boy pointed to the deathstalker, "Uh, guys? That thing's rearing it's ugly face!" He failed to notice Yang's glare.
The herald could care less about the nevermore, it was one of the few ones that actually decided to go rogue, but the deathstalker was one that Salem commanded to impale anyone unfortunate or stupid enough to walk into its cave. How the two in front of her survived was beyond her comprehension.
"Alright Jaune," The redhead commanded, "You go get a relic, and I'll hold this bug off!" She also failed to notice Yang's glare.
Jaune went across the bridge, and grabbed a rook piece, noting the other girl doing the same. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She sang.
Ruby and the young man the singing girl was accompanied by rolled their eyes.
"Nora, c'mon, we gotta go help the others." The boy said.
"Okay Ren!" Nora said, with enough enthusiasm that Yang and Ruby would find nauseating, as she skipped back to her friend.
"Pyrrha! I got the relic! Do you need help?" Jaune asked, seeing his partner struggling against the scorpionic grimm.
"That would be nice!" She yelled atop the feather shots from the nevermore. "Team rook! Let's take on the stalker! Knights! Hit the nevermore!" She commanded.
"Don't order me around." Ruby muttered under her breath. Only her Queen had the right to give her orders.
The team consisting of Cinder's finest assassin, The frigid girl who knows ghosts, a criminal empress, and Salem's herald all stood nearby each other. All ready to take on the large bird.
Yang's attack came first, as she used Diyu Guagou's grappling hook to latch onto the nevermore's left leg. "GET OVER HERE!" She yelled, as she started pulling on her weapon. The nevermore was caught off-guard, as the herald's brute force forced it to veer closer to the quartet before using its wings to pull itself and Yang into the air.
Blake's attack came second, "Eat your heart out, Robin Hood!" Her Fortuna Nero shooting an electric shot at the nevermore's eye, causing a painful shock to go through it and Yang at the same time.
Despite Yang's glare, Weiss launched the next attack on the disoriented and half blind nevermore using the green dust to start launching air slashes at the bird using Staubblatt. "This is only going to hurt for a moment. The slashes of air hit the wings, causing several cuts and even caused some holes to form on them.
Yang used her weapon to bash the leg off of the nevermore before she jumped off. The nevermore crashed into a cliff, as Ruby's attack came to finish it off. using the rifle mode of Rending Thorn, she shot off several shots into the head of the bird. each of them being embedded with the blast dust that Weiss was carrying, causing the nevermore's head to explode, leaving only the body and a pool of blood remaining. "Feel the thorns of the flower." She said in a voice that sent shivers down the other team's spine.
The four girls looked over to the deathstalker, seeing that its stinger was cut off and forced into the head, effectively killing it. "Are we done here?" Jaune asked, in a bit of a sarcastic tone. Ren had passed out, needing to be carried by the Nora girl as she not-so subtly tried to get his unconscious body to cop a feel.
Winter had surveyed the area and reported that no other grimm were in the area. Weiss relayed the message, "Yeah, I think so. Let's get to the pick up zone." Everyone nodded, as they all trekked to the airship area, making little, if any conversation.
Ruby was walking through the halls, looking for all possible areas that can be used to plant surveillance devices; Weiss was roaming the cafeteria, taking note of the food supplies and estimating how long it would take for them to run low; Blake was in the computer lab, gathering information; and Yang was on the rooftop, chatting with Shadow and discussing the revolution.
Unbeknown to the newly christened team RWBY, all said the same thing in the middle of the night, at the same time.
"Long live the revolution..."
AN: Yep, plot's all set up, time to see the revolution. Now, as I said before, I was going to explain the revolution, and I figure this is a good place as any…
To tell you that it will be explained in full detail next chapter.
Yes, I'm a troll.
Fun Facts: I made Oum the first hunter, because when you think about it, he's the reason huntsmen and huntresses exist in the first place… Eh? eh? Well, that aside, you probably noticed that all OCs are effectively cannon fodder. Anyways, Shadow's weapons are similar to the needlers from Halo, just orange in color, and acting as shoulder pads that can shift itself towards the claws.
Disclaimer: I would be lying if I said 'I own RWBY.' Which is to say, that I don't own it.
