Dating back approximately two years and three months, a group of Faunus protestors belonging to the White Fang were shot and killed by an unknown assailant with a gun. Official Police reports indicate that there were two dozen deaths. The White Fang claims that their death-toll was double that number. As of yet, the killer has not been found and the White Fang cause has been strengthened as they gain more and more support.
"The official report…is more questionable. Verified is that a dossier containing the details was stolen a month ago. Verified is that the White Fang is adding and removing details to fit their own agenda. Verified is that, should the truth come out, White Fang hostility towards SDC shall decrease and hostility towards Onyx will increase."
Day 4: Beacon Academy, headmaster's complex, 11:02
"What have you found?"
"That criminal outpost in the south? The small one we suspected wouldn't be a big problem? The people there had something important. Important enough to have them running scared. Someone's out there, hunting and scaring the piss out of hardcore crime-lords."
"So what now?"
"Now? I want to know more. I'd suggest we take it easy for now."
Headmaster Ozpin sighed and put his scroll away. Professor Adamant was testing his patience…but if his truth was even the slightest bit credible, they would all be in big trouble.
There were no doubts about it. Even though the Kingdom of Vale was a beautiful place to live, they had their fair share of problems. Just two years ago, two of the largest cities in the entire Kingdom had waged a war proportional to their status. Thousands upon thousands had died pointless, cruel deaths and nothing had changed. When compared to such violence, organized crime was just a mild inconvenience.
But it was still his mild inconvenience.
Ozpin took a sip from his coffee and sighed when he thought about the implications of Professor Adamant's search and its supposed success: the man was actively searching for answers to questions he did not even ask himself. Such a quest would be doomed to failure and yet…he felt worried.
His worries were born out of true reasons. A man had sought him out. A man with a proposal. A proposal entailing a joint-cooperation between Beacon Academy and an organization without a name.
Of course he had been skeptical. Only a fool would accept something like that. But when he had pointed that out, the representative had not cared for that. He had told him that they knew that problems would eventually raise their heads and when they would, Beacon would need to stand tall.
Ozpin had come with a deal of his own. When the moment arrived that someone from Beacon was in mortal danger, he would gladly accept any form of cooperation. But until that moment arrived, he would not have any of it.
And at the very start of his newest year, the Headmaster had been contacted again. It was his mutual friend again, telling him that "the moment was there and that events had been set in motion.' And with that, the man had told him that they had a…a "student" of their own. The deal was simple; the organization would solve the problem that the isolation of Kingdoms meant for Beacon and in turn, Headmaster Ozpin would accept the person they wanted stationed at Beacon.
Lo and behold, the ruling councils of both Mistral as Vale had suddenly decided to put their hands together and work to improve the future.
Ozpin could remember the conversation that had followed as lividly as it had been. He remembered the strange way that his conversational partner had used to speak. They would send one of their members –but whether that person was a student or a Professor had been unclear up to the day that the boy had arrived. Mysteries covered up by ascending lies…they had not given him much to work with, even though he was the Headmaster of Beacon Academy. The boy was a soldier; but there were barely any soldiers in the Kingdom of Vale.
The young man had not been in possession of a normal name: instead merely being called Operative by his superiors and Two-Oxford in the field. And when Ozpin met him, he had been struck by such a sensation of discomfort and alarm that he had wanted nothing more than to send the boy far away from his Academy, far away from his students.
But he was a man of his word. The boy was allowed to stay.
So Beacon was being attended by a young operative with an unknown name, whose unknown superiors originated from an unknown organization. It did not run well with Ozpin and if things didn't work out for the better, he would contact his old friend Ironwood and find out the truth together. But that would not take place until after Matt returned. In the meantime, he could take a look at the schedule of teams RWBY, JNPR, LACG and CRDL.
Beacon Academy, Goodwitch Obstacle Course.
In a way, team CRDL had jumped the gun and left the area without waiting for further instructions. Even though Glynda Goodwitch had told the four of them that time was not important to the exercise, they had probably still felt like they needed to prove something to the Professor and blindly ignored every other sign or order that they should have encountered.
But now that the other teams had gathered together, they could continue with the exercise and show that their leaders were capable enough. Jaune had performed excellently; most likely because he had been perfectly shown how NOT to do things, but still. It was good.
"What now?" The blond girl called Yang said. Compared to the rest of her team, she was almost unharmed: a minor scratch on her cheek was all that showed that she had been hurt in the first place. And if one were to shift his or her attention to...Weiss, for example, they would see that not everyone was impervious to damage. And fire.
The Schnee Heiress' skirt was torn in a few places and she had multiple red spots on her body that signified that she had been hit by the nasty paintballs…that would leave some bruises.
Blake Belladonna's arms were covered with small cuts and spots where she had been pelted with not-so-harmless projectiles and a nasty bruise was forming on her shin.
Ruby Rose was the least wounded of team RWBY –besides her older sister of course- the redhead had some minor cuts and a single bruise on her cheek.
"I think that we need to continue along the trail." Jaune replied, stepping closer to the shack to investigate it.
"Didn't we have to wait for a reason?" Weiss said with an annoyed tone.
Three buzzes demanded attention and the three teamleaders present pulled out their scrolls to read the new message that they had received.
"Head northwards and complete the real obstacle course. Then you will return to the starting area, using the most direct route available. Go." Ruby and Lisa almost simultaneously read out loud.
"Oh good." Grace said. "Instructions."
"Easy peesy!" Jaune called out and put his scroll away, before trying to orient himself. "Northwards would be…here!" He turned around and looked at the sky, before scratching himself behind his eye. "Or…here?"
"Just admit it maestro!" Weiss angrily said. "You have no clue where to go!"
Pyrrha frowned. That was slightly uncalled for…even though Jaune did not know where to go; he did not deserve to be treated like that.
"Do you know where to go Weiss?" She gave her reply to the pale girl, secretly hoping that the Heiress would have no clue herself on where to go.
"Sure! We need to head…northwards!"
"And that is…where?" Ren added, catching on to what Pyrrha was trying to do.
"Well…ehm…I don't…know…" Weiss said, a small blush appearing on her cheeks. Good. The girl was already feeling the consequences of her actions in the form of her own emotions. No need for hard feelings.
"Thanks Pyrrha…" Jaune whispered.
"You are welcome…" She softly replied.
"We are standing here with thirteen people." Jason Cho said. "And nobody knows how to orient to the north?"
"Well, do you know, mister smartass?" said his blonde teammate.
"I never said I knew. I asked if nobody else knew," He replied, not shifting his bored expression and inch.
"He has a point…" Yang pointed out, causing Ruby to sign in frustration.
"Very useful dear sister…why don't you use your love of the sun to point us towards the north?" She said.
"No can do…unless we need to head there-" She pointed at a general direction that was incidentally covered in Jaune's own attempt to orient to the direction they needed to go. "-but I am not sure."
"Who is running this education…?" Blake said and pulled out her copy of Soldiers of War again.
"So how do we proceed now?" Grace asked.
The girl had a good point: arguing had no use. They needed to focus and pick a direction.
The boy without a team shifted his weight from one leg to the other and young Ruby instantly looked at his direction, like a bird picking up motions. The black-clad warrior walked towards the nearest tree before kneeling down in front of it, seeming very interested in the forest's ecosystem.
"Look! Mister no-face feels like praying…" Lisa sighed and rolled with her eyes.
"You might want to do something…oh I don't know, useful?" Weiss sneered at him, but he ignored her and ran his left hand down the tree. Then his dark visor turned to look at the sun before he stood again. What was he doing? Had he found a way to orient himself?
He turned towards the right a bit and pointed in that direction.
"That's the way yes?" Yang asked him patronizingly, like she was addressing a child.
The helmeted student did not reply in any verbal way, choosing to nod instead. It was quiet for a few seconds before Ruby broke the silence. "Well, good enough for me."
"I second that. Let's go." Grace added and with that, it was suddenly decided where the north was.
Pyrrha did not really care for who picked their direction, as long as they simply kept moving. But both Weiss and Lisa did not feel that way and they were happy to share their discontent with each other.
"That was pure guessing and then suddenly everyone wants to head that way? That does NOT make sense!"
"Hell yeah…I could have picked a random direction by stroking a tree!"
"Yes, but you didn't."
"At least I did not make an idiot out of myself for attempting to do it."
"Hey! Do you know who you are talking to?"
"Do you know who you are talking to?"
Well…happy to share might be an overstatement. They could communicate for ten seconds before falling into a chaotic argument, that was good enough for now.
It seemed that both Lisa and Weiss had a problem with maintaining their cool…and while Weiss was not a teamleader herself, her conversational partner was. If she didn't learn how to control her emotions soon her team might run into trouble. But that was why they were attending the academy in the first place, right? To learn from mistakes and become even better for their troubles.
"So…" Pyrrha started and turned to face the only person whose face was obscured at the moment. Starting a conversation with someone you did not know was usually done the easiest by giving them a compliment, before showing interest in the intricate 'how's' and 'why's'. "Good job by figuring out where to go next. How did you know where to go?"
The boy did not respond immediately, instead choosing to look at her general direction before returning his attention at the road ahead.
"Moss." He eventually said, before looking away again. Judging by the way he had not even bothered to look at her while talking and his complete disinterest in keeping the conversation up, he had to talk. That was alright; if he didn't want to be bothered by her, she wouldn't force him. But still, she was interested in his technique and she wanted to get to know him better. It was hard, being alone without friends. She should know it.
Pyrrha ran a hand through her red hair and quickly figured out how to proceed. "What about the moss?"
He looked at her direction again, before turning away again. And she didn't know what to do with that; normally, people were always desperate to talk to her about all kinds of things, shallow and not. But ignoring her? That was a first. Sometimes people dismissed her opinion because they thought she didn't have the smarts or experience to make an educated remark, but that did not happen often.
"Pyrrha!" A voice yelled a few meters in front of her. "You better come and see this!"
The girl sighed and chose that the call of her teammate was more important than the rude manners of a student she barely knew and quickened her stride to catch up with Ren. "What is it?" She asked.
"I think you might want to see what is coming up…" He said and pointed at the rays of sunlight that were indicating an end to the forest.
She passed two members of team LACG and overheard a small part of their conversation.
"Are you sure Alessa?"
"Very sure."
"Two dozen meters?"
"Yes."
Pyrrha briefly wondered what that was all about, but as soon as the party exited the woods her curiosity was quenched. Rather dramatically. "Oh…" She said and took a position next to Jaune. "That looks…fun."
A letter? Now that was rather interesting. Who would put all their intricate information in a letter? And more importantly, why was it of any significance? The large O on top of it looked familiar to him…in a twisted way. But the organization that had been in possession of that particular document…how in the name of the living bowtie had they ever managed to get their claws on it? And why hadn't they opened it yet? What could possibly be inside of the letter that was so scary for a bunch of people whose career was breaking the law?
He should be capable of opening it straight away. Any indication of problems at all would have to be conferred to Ozpin immediately…but he was so curious!
No. Duty came first, then one's own unearthly and ravenous curiosity. No touch! No open!
…can open now?
Right! It was settled! He would most definitely NOT open it not!
I am so good, he thought and stepped in the car. He twisted the wheel around in order to barely miss the nearest building and then put the car in its Mth gear. Once again he pushed the pedal in and cursed his lack of multiple directions at once. At least traffic wasn't so busy today…
There was a problem. Stahl's organization was harmless and the other one was small. So why were they in possession of the most official-looking letter he had ever seen? And what could have possibly happened between those two groups to cause a massive shootout? There were so many different details…a corrupt politician, hiding with criminals and being kidnapped. A mysterious woman forcing herself into the circuit merely because she was "obsessed" over something…and this letter. This letter that had everyone scared straight. Yes, he was willing to bet his bowtie over the fact that that woman was after it.
He steered to the right and avoided an incoming truck, before steering to the left again to miss an approaching pedestrian and quickly setting the car in its Ath gear.
But what did all of this have to do with Beacon Academy? Why was he feeling worried? After all, criminals were always killing each other off. There was only one person who was capable of actually harming Vale…well, two of them. And the two of them were partnered and running around in a city with a large population. Ready to cause another massacre.
Perhaps that was why he was interested? Because the so-called Black Angels would point him to the right direction? Perhaps a nice conversation and the complete documentation would help. Until then…the letter was interesting him too much for him to simply let the thing stay unopened.
So he would let it stay closed for now.
Beacon Academy, Goodwitch Obstacle Course.
"That does not look fun…that does not look fun at all!" Ruby said with despair as she beheld the sight that lay before her: it was a real obstacle course, not unlike the ones she had seen in her nightmares back when she was still a little kid, dreaming of school and PE-classes. It was a one-hundred meter long stretch covered with racks, unclimbable walls and blockades, patches of water and mud.
And the many moving segments…those counted too. Those things…looked scary too. But at the very least she had Crescent Rose to work her way through the mess…she would support her in the coming battles!
"Oh relax, I've had worse when I was a kid!" Her older sister replied with a bright smile.
"What's the matter Cho?" Lisa snickered and bumped her teammate with her elbow. "Feeling the memories touching your head?"
"It's Jason. And no." The boy replied. His expression was pretty much unreadable to Ruby…but that problem might not lie entirely with her. The Jason/Cho combination was a very hard one to understand…she might want to talk with Lisa about that. Keeping your face so stoic could lead to bad facial problems.
The first problem was not a problem at all though. A large wooden wall that her scythe could cut through with ease. Or shoot through with ease.
"How..." asked Nora, "does THIS call back memories?"
"That's the spirit." Grace replied and walked up to the course. "A little this of that…mustering with the stuff…additional boom…I can forge us a way in!"
Yang blinked at that. "Excuse me? Can you translate that to proper English?"
"Oh…sure." She scraped her throat and put her hands in her pockets. "A little bit of incendiary fluids powering my Dragon's Foliage, combined with an ounce of water and a small amount of natural occurring Nitrogen and a small HUBRIS centi-explosive to set it all off. That can blast its way through everything but solid concrete and enable us to advance!"
Yang looked at Pyrrha and Jaune, who shrugged and face-palmed respectively.
"She means napalm, water and someone to piss on it before blowing it all to hell…" Lisa explained the delicate procedure to them.
"Oh!" The three students replied, suddenly understanding it.
"Ew."
"How…how does she know that such a…strange technique works?" Blake asked the one question that everybody wanted to ask, but lacked the courage to do so.
"You don't want to know…" Both Lisa and Alessa answered before turning to face each other.
"I don't understand what is going on here…" The blonde said with a suspicious look on her face, alternating between pointing at herself and the blindfolded girl respectively.
"So what now?" Ren asked.
"Now…we either blast our way through the barricades or use our weapons to propel ourselves over it. Either way, easy going." She gave her reply and deployed her scythe, preparing herself to launch over the obstacles.
"Nope…don't think so…" Jaune then said after all four of their scrolls buzzed once again. He pulled his one out of his pockets and started reading the newest message. "By this time I feel free to assume that all four of the teams have reached the final obstacle course. Your goal is to cross it any way possible, without utilizing your equipment. A student may only be supported by his or her partner –the one acquired in the Emerald forest- during the exercise. I say again: Do not utilize your weapons and equipment to get to the next obstacles." He folded his scroll away again. "That's it. We're goners."
"Well that sucks…" Lisa said. "Why are we doing this again?"
"Teamwork I guess…" Pyrrha replied before beckoning Jaune. "Shall we go first, Jaune?"
"Yeah…good idea." The boy replied and stepped forwards, facing the three meter tall wall. "How are we going to do this?"
"I don't know about your plan, but if I may?" She said.
"Sure…you know I always appreciate your feedback…"
"Get a room…" Yang softly whispered, causing Ruby to snicker. Pyrrha and Jaune were a bit too kind together…was this supposed to be so obvious?
"Good to hear it. If I stand here…" She took her position in, "And you come running at me before I give you a boost… I can throw you up there before joining you."
"Excellent idea!" The boy replied.
"That actually sounds like a plan," said Yang. "Come on Blake, let's do this."
Both Pyrrha and Yang took their positions at the wall and prepared themselves.
"Go Jaune!" The redheaded girl yelled.
"Yang, give me a boost!" Blake called.
Jaune took a few meters distance before running towards his partner, aiming with his feet to her extended hands.
"Uh…alright…" The blonde girl replied and crossed her arms. "You are a nice person…and I like your bow!"
"A physical one…" growled the bow-wearing girl.
"Ah! Right! Sorry…"
Jaune's feet hit Pyrrha's hands at the same time Yang boosted Blake all the way over the wall, nearly throwing her over the thing.
"Watch out!" She yelled after her partner, seemingly oblivious to her own physical strength.
"Okay, I'm up Pyrrha" Jaune yelled yet. The way that the teams tried to make their way up the first obstacle was just hilarious to watch and even though both Yang and Blake were already up the wall, they seemed content to wait until the rest had crossed over before continuing.
The former athlete jumped in the air and folded her hands in Jaune's, allowing the boy to pull her over the wall. Now there were four students standing at the top of the wooden wall, leaving only nine other to proceed. She could already see how that was going to become a problem.
"I have an idea too…" Ren said.
"No!" Nora shut him up and brought her head closer to his to tell him her own little plan. On the contrary to what she naturally spammed with her mouth, her newest addition to the idea-pool seemed actually valid judging by Ren's response.
"Let's do it."
Nora kneeled down next to the wall and her long-haired friend took a running jump before landing with both feet on her shoulders. The girl then jumped in the air and propelled Ren up in the air, allowing him to grab the edge and slowly pull himself up. "Grab my legs now!" He called.
Nora looked over her shoulder and gave Weiss a not-so-subtle wink before jumping at Ren, clasping her hands around his legs and slowly climbing up via his body.
And the fact that she accidentally and almost pulled his pants off was totally not suspicious at all, by the way….all three attempts.
"Good job!" Yang happily yelled and gestured for them to move on. "Next loving duo!"
"Since when are you fixing people up with love…" Blake replied and crossed her arms.
"I always spread the warmth wherever I go."
"Grace does the same thing…" Cho dryly mentioned.
"I believe there is a difference between burning people and-" Lisa started, but Ruby cut her off.
"-and burning people."
"Dear god there are two of them now…" Weiss said with despair and sighed. "I might as well try to climb the damn thing next…come on Ruby, let's go!"
The pale girl then practically proceeded to grab her hood and pull her towards the obstacle, not taking the slightest chance in account that neither of them had an idea.
"Weiss, I don't really know how to do this! We aren't exactly the strongest ones of our team!" She tried to make her partner listen to reason, but she might as well have talked to the helmeted student for all the good that did. Since when had a person replaced a metaphorical wall in her thoughts? Oh well, it was slightly innocent as long as it did not happen too much.
"We will figure something out!"
"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Team LACG's leader asked team LACG's Cho.
"Probably not." Said Cho replied. "But I will go ahead and guess…screw that wall?"
"Hell yes!" Lisa replied, causing Yang to nearly lose her balance and fall off of the wall.
"Mind your language!" She snapped and waved her fist with anger. "Or I will come down and teach ALL of you some manners!"
She snickered when she saw her sister's words cause such a funny response in the students still standing on their side of the wall: Lisa blinked with disbelief at the sudden threat, while Cho and Grace merely took two steps a person backwards.
Alessa dropped her head, but that was all that she could see, really. Why were people suddenly becoming hard to read again?
"I know girl…living with constant death threats can be hard…" The demolitions expert said, baffling her already hard-pressed mind even further. How in the name of all that was a Scythe could that girl see what Alessa was thinking, while she was suddenly struggling to do so? That was so cheating!
"So…" Grace then said. "Do you want to commence operation S-C-R-E-W that wall?"
"I guess so…" Her friend replied. "Come on Cho, let's go! Hey, that rimes."
"The name is Jason."
"Jason doesn't rime with go."
"Just go…"
"Fine."
The two ever-bickering students both ran up to the wall –only to stop and stare at each other as the only form of unspoken communication went complete sideways.
"I have an idea!" Ruby suddenly yelled, catching Weiss by surprise.
"What?" The Schnee Heiress replied, but she was already on the move. Glynda had forbidden them from using other people's help…but using other people had no such rule. She jumped and landed on top of Cho's shoulder just as he was about to say something and accidentally shut him up.
"Sorry!" She then said as she took another large jump, just barely managing to latch her hands onto the wooden frame.
"Good job sis!" Yang said.
"Hey! What about me!" Weiss anxiously said. "I can't just…do that!"
"Sure you can…" Cho sarcastically said, unknowingly giving the girl the green light to undertake operation Jump-on-Heads.
"See! He even grants us permission to do so!" Ruby yelled at her friend before beckoning her. "Come on now, you can help me get up here!"
"I am SO going to regret this…"
Weiss then took a running jump as well, bounced her petite frame off of Cho's head and landed right next to Ruby, hanging on the wall.
"How are you?" She asked.
"Be. Quiet. And now allow ME to execute an idea!"
By the time Ruby and Weiss had gotten themselves up and over the wall, the remaining team LACG was slowly getting boring.
"Wanna try out another recipe soon?" Grace asked Alessa, but her question had to remain unanswered forever as the wall suddenly separated the two girls from her and Weiss, after they had successfully dropped down.
"Your turn!" Yang yelled towards two other students. "Make it quick, we want to advance!"
Why was she so impatient? Time wasn't that important in this exercise.
"I hate you…" Weiss grumbled, before reaching out and running a soft hand through her hair.
"What did I do to deserve that?" She asked suspiciously.
"Let's just say that jumping and climbing people is more fun than doing so with Grimm."
"Oh…the Nevermore?"
"The Nevermore."
Actually, no. he was definitely opening the letter after a minute.
Racing down the road with his vehicle in its second Tth gear, he started pondering the consequences of the recent activities in Vale. Things were turning messed up very quickly and that was because of a series of escalating events.
He honked twice and the group of cars in front of him dispersed, enabling him to continue onwards.
Where was he again? Oh yes, Beacon. So Ozpin had received a message from some unknown man working for an unknown organization offering him some unknown help. And now, years after that, Ozpin had seemingly received the help in the form of the socially awkward Operative what's-his-name-thingy –whose help primarily seemed to exist out of posing as a Student.
A student who had the nasty tendency of disappearing every now and then. His designation…Two-Oxford…that could not be a real name. It was a lie –and not a really clever one at that. Whoever the kid worked for had to be either complete geniuses or retards.
Because Oxford was military slang for…actually, that might be…slightly problematic. His letter had seemed very official and also very in the possession of criminals, yet appeared completely unopened. The letter on the letter…was an 'O'.
Two-Oxford meant Double-O and a letter saying O that was too official for seasoned criminals to open…mysterious yet official help for Ozpin that disappeared every now and then. All these separate things, all of these pieces of one large puzzle weren't separate at all!
Never ever ignore coincidences-
"Whoops!" He yelled and steered away to avoid sudden traffic. "Why is everyone driving on the wrong lane? I am trying to think here!"
-unless you were busy. In that case, always ignore coincidences.
So! Back to the official documents of The Black Angels. There was a glaring problem there; the Police wasn't doing anything about their activities. Like, nothing at all. So they were either so small that they weren't worthy of justice, or they had some way to escape the justice of the Police. Ozpin hadn't seen fit to remove them with students, so he too didn't worry about them. But Stahl had suspected them of the bloody murders, meaning that they did have something to do with all of this. And this letter…suspicious.
It was time to do multiple things as soon as he returned to Beacon Academy-
-damn cars!
"Move it!" He yelled angrily, before realizing that he had yet to lower the window. So instead of angrily yelling at all those people that were driving in the wrong line, he decided to angrily think.
Step one: pierce a hole in the tight schedule of the first-year students. Step two: look at Ozpin with lovely coffee-eyes to enable permission. Step two-and-a-half: create awesome new dropship to enable students to effectively travel. Step three: put students in dropship and fly them to Black Angels headquarters.
But…that would have to wait for a while.
First thing to do now is get to Beacon in one piece.
Glynda Goodwitch' idea of an Exercise was very…unique. Letting them climb obstacles without any sort of help beside their teammates was an excellent way of solidifying teamwork in the teams, but it was poorly executed and resulted in quite a few awkward situations.
But as long as all of them had crossed the three meter high wall it wouldn't matter that much. And with Grace and Alessa being the last students to get over the wall together, every team that mattered had gotten past the first obstacle.
"Come on Blake!" said Yang. "Let's go!"
But…not everyone had a team that could be relied on. While every single pair had managed to get over the wooden obstruction, there were thirteen students that had to finish the exercise. A total of thirteen, at least.
And the last person to get past the first obstacle was also the only person that seemed to work without allies that could be relied on. It was sad really; to see a person operating all alone when everybody around him was finding success with their allies…their friends.
"We can't leave yet…" she replied and took another look at the helmeted figure below her. He wasn't exactly the most social student, but neither was she.
But Ruby Rose had pierced right through her instinctive distancing methods and pulled her right in the team, causing her to find friends in the place where it had seemed the least likely for her to actually FIND friends in the first place.
Perhaps this young man was merely looking for someone to help him get over his emotional walls?
"Why not- oh…" Yang replied when she realized that she had blatantly forgotten about someone. "Well…I guess that is the result of 'working alone' huh buddy?"
That was a cruel thing to say. Why was she acting like that? "What do you mean?" She asked her partner.
The black-clad student merely walked up to the wall and looked up, his polarized visor making it look like he was looking right at them.
"It was just a thing he said," Yang told her and shrugged. "He told me that he worked alone. Guess this is what happens when you don't have a partner to rely on."
Yang was right…even though it didn't feel good to admit. Back when she was younger, the only way for people to survive was to stick together. If someone simply refused to work with other people, there was a good chance that said someone would die. Such was the way things worked. "We are prohibited from helping you…" She said and turned to face the student standing alone at the base of the wall. "I am sorry…"
Then she turned around and –without looking over her shoulder to meet Yang's eyes or witness the realization of the helmeted boy- walked away. His stupid behavior reminded her of her past…and it hurt. She pitied him for his situation and hated him for doing the one thing that people should never do if they wanted to survive in a cruel world.
"Blake! Hold up!" The blonde yelled and jumped after her. "We need to keep working together!"
Her sensitive ears twitched and she heard the familiar scraping sounds of someone running at increasing speeds, before those disappeared and made place for a loud scrambling noise.
She identified the incoming noises as someone running at the wooden wall before attempting to scale it. She turned around to look at the obstacle; faintly hoping that the Black student could manage on his own.
Armoured fingertips appeared at the top of the structure, but slid away when the maneuver proved unsuccessful.
Blake sighed and refocused her attention on the coming problems: teams JNPR and LACG had already moved ahead, but both Ruby and Weiss were still waiting for them to meet up with them and…why were there were four other people waiting for them there?
It was team CRDL, sitting at the edge and looking completely exhausted, utterly beaten and very covered with dirt and mud.
"Ready for this Yang?" Ruby laughed and pointed at the next obstacle: it was a two-meter wide river of mud, stretching out for at least five meters. Normally anybody could have used their weapons to propel themselves over the pool, but because of the prohibition of their equipment they would be forced to take the hard way.
"What the f- I mean heck! Who designed this?" exclaimed Yang. Her attempts to hide her cussing were pitiful.
But the sight of an obstacle that could only be identified as a mudbath was not exactly enticing to her. It would take HOURS to groom herself properly after this. There was no way she was going to swim through mud.
"So…" Jaune said as he stepped to the edge of the wooden platform that was suspended half a meter above the mud. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"I see something up ahead, there!" Pyrrha Nikos replied and pointed at the platform that lay on the other side of the five meters long slice of hell.
"It looks like a lever…are we supposed to pull it?" Grace asked one of the males from team CRDL.
"Find out on your own…" The boy bit at her.
Blake looked up and noticed another thin wooden bridge suspended at least three meters above the pool of mud. Too high to utilize in their maneuvers, but it had to be a part of all this.
"Your professional opinion?" Weiss Schnee asked her teamleader.
"I'd say that the lever over there will activate something that enables the rest to cross. It depends on the goodwill of one person to cross the mud and activate it, though."
Depending on the mud-clad boys from team CRDL, there had to be a catch to it.
"I knew it…" Jaune sighed and crossed his arms. "So one of us has to jump in there, work his or her way to the other side and pull the lever, enabling us to cross in some way?
"Either the platforms will lower…or something else will." Ruby finished.
But the biggest and most burning question right now was: who would sacrifice himself?
"I won't do it!" Weiss yelled. "I am wearing WHITE!"
"Neither will I…" Yang agreed. "I just did my hair this morning!"
"I'd do it…" Grace said, causing everybody's heart to elate with glee. But before any of them could rejoice in the coming of the new hero, she continued. "But if this is mud…sand with water…then it will detonate the explosives I am carrying. Will make a preeeetty big boom."
"Boom is bad…" Ruby muttered. "And mud is bad for my baby! It would clog her up…no can do!"
Blake assumed she was talking about her scythe.
"Well…SOMEONE broke the showers in our room…meaning that nobody can clean themselves in there." Ren said and as if it wasn't obvious enough who he meant, Nora jumped and yelled: "Not my fault, someone placed a Ren in my way!"
The implications were obvious enough.
"So…that leaves us CRDL as projectiles." Yang said and stepped closer to the four, causing them to jump up with anger.
"Or better yet, we play Rock Paper Scissors to determine the person who will have to sacrifice themselves." Lisa said, actually offering a good idea for once.
"I do not like that. " Jason Cho said and crossed his arms.
"Why? Feeling unlucky?" Pyrrha joked.
"She always cheats…"
"Do not!" The blonde yelled.
And how did someone cheat at playing Rock, Paper and scissors?
"Well someone has to go in there!" Dove sneered. "I thought girls liked mudbaths?"
"Don't worry!" His friend laughed. "Our showers still work!"
And with that, not a single girl on the teams wanted to jump in the pool
"I think we found our guy…" The blindfolded girl called Alessa said. Her…predicament was a peculiar one. Why did she wear such a strange piece of clothing and how could she even see with that? It had to have got something to do with Dust…or Aura…or both. And what guy was she talking about?
The teams JNPR and LACG turned towards the way they had come from, where a helmeted figure came towards them to once again join them in their problems.
How had Alessa seen that person? She had been standing with her back turned towards him…what was her secret?
"Glad you could make it." Jaune said and extended his hand towards the student. "I don't even think we've been properly introduced! My name is Jaune Arc, yours is?"
"Like that would work…" Ruby muttered and Yang held up her hand, as if she was waiting for someone to dump money in it.
The armour-wearing male completely ignored Jaune's extended hand and walked past him, moving towards the edge of the platform to take a look at the situation. Cardin also moved a bit closer to the edge, looking fully intending to push the helmet-wearing student in the filthy mud. Jerk.
"Here's the situation…" Weiss angrily said while Ruby gave Yang a high-five. "Big dirty mudbath and one person needs to-"
He did not wait for the white-skirted girl to finish her rant and instead jumped off of the platform just as Cardin was about to shove him, ending up to his ribs in the thick brown substance and showering the entire platform with waves of mud. Thankfully team CRDL had been standing in the way of most of the deadly projectiles, reducing the gross fluids by ninety percent before the remainder splattered through the air.
Lisa yelped and quickly hid behind Jason Cho –as did Grace and Alessa- allowing them to continue relatively clean while their male teammate merely sighed as if he had been expecting that to happen. That boy was taking quite the abuse in his team…
Nora did something familiar with Ren, but Jaune did something that Blake –and she was sure that she was not the only one- had never expected. The blonde boy saw what was coming and actually stepped in front of Pyrrha, protecting her from the multiple splatters of mud that would have hit her otherwise.
Everybody grew quiet –with half of the students looking at the still unknown student wrestling with the thick layers of mud and the other half gawking at Jaune's attempt to be a gentleman.
"Why thank you Jaune…that was very kind of you." Pyrrha smiled and gave him a subtle hug. "But I wasn't afraid of a little mud. "
"Liar liar pants on fire…" muttered Ruby.
"Ehm…" The blonde boy said and his cheeks turned red with a little blush. "I…didn't think about that, no…"
"Is that guy an idiot!" Mister Winchester broke the awkward but cute little situation with his idiotic surprise. `What kind of person in their right mind would willingly jump in a pool of that?"
"A real man does that." Blake bit at the bullying teamleader. "Someone who IS willing to help others."
"Burn!" Yang and Grace both yelled at the bulky male.
"Go stick your head in a toilet…" Cardin replied angrily and turned around to start conversing with his teammates.
"That was a good one!" Yang told her as she walked closer to the edge of the platform again. "I didn't know you had it in you."
"Whatever." Blake replied and watched as the student with his strange mindset continued making his way through the deep mud, struggling to keep himself upright and attempting to reach the other side as soon as possible. She had to give it to him: even though he acted like a Cardin-graded jerk, he was willing to do what was necessary to grant the other students the chance to work with greater ease. The only thing that worried her a bit was the previous statement of working alone…if he really worked alone, then what use was helping other people to him? The main reason for him jumping so willingly in the mud would be for his own reasons: continuing on with the exercise.
But…whatever his reasons were, at least he had done something that benefitted them all.
Nora was pointing at the guy with a multitude of "Ooh!'s" coming out her mouth, while Ren was merely and silently conversing with Cho about some topic she could not overhear properly. Lisa and Grace were watching with a mixture of disgust and admiration at the sight, occasionally trying to give him some hints.
"My idea: avoid the mud to your right! That looks bad!" Lisa told him.
After two minutes of silent wrestling and struggling in the nipple-high layers of mud, the student had reached the opposite platform. There was only one problem: it was at least five feet high and he could barely reach it. Being sucked down by five feet of mud while you were trying to get five other feet in the air was something that not everybody did on daily basis.
"There has to be a way that we can help him," Yang said, surprising Blake with a degree of caring that she had severely lacked during the last obstacle.
"He only needs to pull that lever…but he can't reach it from his position. He needs something to balance himself on." Pyrrha said and looked over her surroundings for anything that might be able to help the boy. "Like a branch or a large stick of some kind…it can't be one of our weapons, for Glynda's and other, more obvious reasons. "
A large branch? There were trees virtually everywhere, but they were prohibited from using their weapons to assist in the crossing of the obstacle course…in the obstacle course, that is.
"I have an idea." She said and grabbed her Gambol's Shroud and aimed it at the nearest tree."
"You know we are forbidden from helping other people cross obstacles, right?" Jason said.
"Yes. But right now, he is not crossing the obstacle just yet."
"And the no-weapon thing?" Ruby asked her.
"I am not using it on the course itself."
"Of you clever thing," said Pyrrha, "that is brilliant."
She threw her weapon, cut off a large branch and pulled it right back at their position –taking care to not accidentally flatten anyone with it.
"That is a smart plan indeed." Ruby said with a smile. "Go fill that garbage-filled ditch with branches!"
"Totally not an insult, by the way!" Yang found necessary to yell at the mud-struggling young man, before lifting the heavy branch and slinging at him –nearly decapitating Russel in the process.
Not a single care was given that day.
The normally black-clad student looked up and tried to dodge the incoming projectile –it wouldn't feel nice to let that wooden appendage smack one on the head, even though one was wearing a helmet- but seeing as he was so intensely stuck in the mid, there was no way he could dodge that thing.
"Damnit Yang!" Weiss yelled, looking frustrated that the only person that seemed immune to the mud was about to be knocked out by a thick branch. "Look at what you did?"
"Sorry…" She muttered.
The wooden appendage hit the surface of the brown substance and splashed mud all over the boy's protective helmet. He really was lucky for wearing that thing all the time…
He reached for the thing and tried to push it down, pulling himself up in the process. The procedure was similar to a documentary she had once seen, a few years back. If you suddenly found yourself stuck in something like quicksand and you were in possession of a stick or similarly formed object, you could use said object to spread out your weight and pull yourself on top of the surface of the quicksand. But after that you had to crawl on your belly to escape, and the student was doing the opposite: trying to balance himself by standing on the branch. If he was planning on doing what she thought he would do…then he only had one chance to do so.
"Where is the rest of that idiot's team?" Cardin asked angrily. "And what is he even doing?"
"Oh shut up you big idiot…" Lisa said, causing the brown-haired male to angrily glare at her. .
By the time Jaune gave his reply, the student had managed to get on top of the branch and jumped; a one-time maneuver, because it would push the wood down and away, preventing any other technique like that to be used.
But the boy was either very lucky or very skilled; his hands wrapped around the wooden edge of the platform and even though they were slippery with the nasty mud, his arms supported his weight. If he could simply pull himself up, he could pull the lever and they could all go home.
"Come on! You can do it!" Ruby yelled like she was watching a movie.
"No way that's going to work!" Sky yelled with amazement as the now mud-covered student pulled himself up and reached for the lever.
One more final act of power and they could all finish this damn thing and go home. She too found herself immersed in what was happening at the other side of their wooden platform. Mud had never been one of her strong suits and if the boy messed up, they would be swimming to the other side.
Or hiking, considering the amount of suction that the messy ground had.
He was kicking with his slippery feet against the wood, attempting to get himself higher. Eventually, he shot forwards and reached for the lever. Just ten more inches and they could utilize whatever result the mechanic would have to cross the mud.
"Heh…sucker." Cardin whispered and he and his team slowly backed up, as if they expected another wave of mud to crash over them. Nobody could hear him but her and she did not like his tone. They had all forgotten that team CRDL had had more time to stumble around in the obstacle course than any of them had. And they were all covered in mud…why was that? Only one person would need to get to the lever and she had the foreboding sense that the boys weren't the types who would willingly accompany their chosen one when they were perfectly capable of hanging back and doing nothing.
So what had happened to make them all so dirty? This smelled like a trap…and mud.
"We might want to get back. Like now." Blake said and jumped backwards, feeling like something was going to go horribly wrong. Thankfully the students of teams RWBY, LACG and JNPR were that much closer to each other than CRDL could comprehend and only a few second after she had warned them, all the would-be-hunters had backed up as far as the small wooden platform allowed.
"No!" Cardin angrily stated, but by then the rest of his words were lost as both of the platforms suddenly tilted over and nearly slid them all into the mud. Pyrrha instantly reacted and grabbed Jaune, who had been standing a bit too close to the edge and had almost fallen into the mud for his troubles.
"Thanks Pyrrha!" He said as his feet stopped mere inches from the thick layer of mud.
"Don't worry about it…" she said. The rest of the students had used a combination of weaponry and sheer skills – and even sheerer luck- to stay put.
She looked up from her own relatively safe spot and saw that she helmeted figure had also run into a similar trap. As soon as his platform with the lever turned into a mean ramp, he kicked himself up with his feet and slammed his hands into the wood, attempting to gain as much leverage as he could to save himself from sliding back and dooming their clothes.
"You bastard!" Lisa yelled. "You knew about this!"
"Oh your ass is staying here…" Yang growled as her pupils shifted between their two colours, showing that she was attempting to keep a tight control over herself.
"As a hunter you should expect anything!" The egoistical leader of CRDL yelled. "Merely trying to assist here."
The rest of his team burst into laughter at their leader's joke.
"Ass…" She muttered and looked at the other side of the mud-pit again, hoping that the teamless student could fix their troubles just right. It was not looking very good; in the two seconds that had passed between his ground collapsing, he had only been able to desperately claw at the ramp to get up. Just a few more inches to go and he could reach the lever.
By sheer luck, his right boot had gotten stuck behind the dropping mechanism and prevented him from dropping into the pit again…but that looked very painful, the way his foot was now oriented. If it were to collapse or even shift, he would tear the tendons around his ankle to pieces.
He looked over his shoulder and gazed at their position, taking notice of their own predicament. Then he turned back and tore his foot free, before digging his hands deep into the wooden ramp and managing to lift himself the few inches up that he needed to be. His right hand reached the tip of the lever before his legs collapsed and he slid back down the ramp, only stopping in time because he had managed to keep hold of the lever.
It gave underneath his weight and was shifted to the front, fixing the platform at their own site and dropping multiple long, thick ropes from the wooden structure above them.
"Hah!" Jaune yelled. "Well done!"
"Woohoo!" Ruby yelled before twisting around and looking at Cardin. "In your face!"
"Is that official permission?" Yang asked her little sister.
"Not today dear sister…not today."
The only thing that was left to do for the teams was to travel across the ropes to the other site. The helmet-wearing student was still hanging from the lever, waiting for the other teams to cross over before doing anything.
"That was actually fun." Grace said when she and Alessa crossed.
"Speak for yourself…" Ren replied.
"I wonder how beautiful we can become by using that," Nora said and pointed at the mud.
"Don't even start…"
Yang and her were the last ones to cross the ditch besides CRDL and as she looked back to see what the four were doing, she noticed that they too were attempting to use the ropes to cross.
"I thought that 'their asses were staying' there?" Blake reminded her partner of her own words.
"I know…you know what they say right? Forgiving and forgetting and the likes."
"That does not sound like you."
"Oh hush."
They reached the platform at the other side and Yang looked at the big smear of mud that was their savior. Then she sighed and inclined her head towards him.
"Thanks, I guess…" She said and extended her hand to him to help him up, but he waved her away –taking care not to shake too many droplets of mud at her face.
"Fine." She said and stood again. "Come on Blake! Let's go!"
She faced the boy too and decided that his behavior was kind of asking for that treatment. "You asked for that you know…" She told him.
He didn't reply, but instead reached with his other hand to the lever and slowly pulled himself up. She didn't feel like sticking around to watch, but as the young man reached the wood with one foot and still held hold of the lever, realization started to dawn on her.
"Yang…you might enjoy this." She said and turned around to move on, using her sensitive ears to listen to the glorious aftermath of the Mud-plays.
"What are you doing?" Yang asked, but a sharp 'SNAP!' and four screams of despair followed by four loud splashes sort of provided her with an answer.
The socially awkward student had set the lever back and broken it off, dumping CRDL in the pitch of mud and trapping them there until they could all figure out a way to get back on the platforms. He hadn't waved them away because he felt like he didn't need their help; he had done so because they would have interfered with his plan. Perhaps there was still hope for him.
"Did you send us away because of a practical joke?" Yang asked him.
"Negative."
Well…that was one line of thinking that went down the drain.
"As long as there have been monsters, there have been people who fight them. Wherever the Grimm appear, we strike like lightning. Wherever a war threatens to break out, we open a world of new solutions. Wherever there is darkness, we spread the light. Wherever there is light, we bring darkness. In a world of bloody evolution, we bring and hold balance and peace. Whatever the cost."
-Introduction of Thesis "On Grimm", by General █. Eventide.