"Nope. Looks like you're gonna be stuck with me, little bro." A voice rang out, getting my entire team's attention. We turned and saw one of my older brothers.
"Kinshiro!" I said, walking up to him and the two of us chest-bumping.
"So, this is the brother I've heard so much about?" Damion asked.
"Yep. Quite a piece of work, am I right?" Kinshiro said, running a hand through his hair. He wore black boots with white lining that covered his calves, stopping a good way below the knee, bluish-gray pants with armored plates on the front going up to the top of his thighs a black, short-sleeved coat with red lateral linings going down to his knees, open in the chest to reveal a small dark green upside-down triangle tattooed on his chest and black hair, slicked back and slightly curved outward into a small number of points the back, red at the end of the points. But probably the most interesting thing about my brother was the fact that his face around his right eye was robotic like Kano's, except with more character, as just below the eye to the right, the metal was spiked and also curved and spiked upward into his hair. It also crossed over to the left side of his face just below his left eye and going down to his jaw, covering his left cheek.
"The metal part certainly is." Damion said.
"Yeah, what happened, did someone slice your face open?" Draco asked.
"All things considered, this isn't too bad after taking a nuke to the face." Kinshiro replied. He turned to his right and leaned back a bit as he saw Nicolas right in his face, staring at his mechanical eye. "Can I help you?" He asked.
"That eye is weird. Can you shoot laser blasts out of it like Kano?" He asked.
"Of course." He said, blasting Nicolas in the face, knocking him onto his ass.
"So, what's your crazy power then? Sai uses fire, his dad and Nightshade control darkness, Lance can do almost anything, what about you?" Draco asked.
"Well, as you just saw, I have an eye laser, I also have telekinesis and can control the ground, watch this." He said, the ground to his right raising up as an open hand, which he high-fived before it sank back into the ground.
"Epic!" Draco said in awe.
"How about your weapon?" Damion said.
"I think you mean weaponS." He said, holding his arms out wide. Suddenly, a number of chrome weapons appeared around him: A short sword with two small blades that curved around each other and met at a point (like a really small version of Link's deity sword), a slightly longer straight sword with a number of small inward curved blade on each side, making it look like a number of crescents down to the handle of the blade, a katana with a serrated back edge a thin and curved broadsword, a small axe that looked like skeletal fingers that went into an axe blade, a small piercing sword rather plain compared to the others and lastly, a large double bladed sword with a massive blade curving outwards and a smaller blade curving inwards.
"Okay. I admit, I'm impressed." Damion said.
"I am to please. Now come on, let's go. I brought my own jet." He said, walking over to a badass jet.
"AWESOME! It looks like the Blackbird!" Draco said in awe, him and Nicolas popping up everywhere to observe it.
"I call shotgun!" I said, taking the cloak off of Kira.
"It's official, I'm gonna have fun on this trip." Damion said.
So, after giving team RWBY earpieces so the two teams could communicate on the way, we were off. "I wonder how the girls are doing with DOCTOR Oobleck?" I asked, tuning into their conversation, remembering how the speedy huntsman insisted on being called Doctor as they left.
"I may not have a PhD myself, but something tells me that guys got a couple screws loose. He needs to lay off that coffee." Kinshiro said as he piloted the jet.
"I guess I never pictured you as much of a fighter." I heard Yang say.
"I dare say I fancy myself as more of an intellectual, but I can assure you: as a huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles." He said.
"'Tussles', the man is an intellectual." Kinshiro chuckled.
"Yeah, I'm willing to bet his PhD has something to do with coffee, specializing in the drinking." Draco said.
"Like the mushrooms?" Ruby asked, referring to the word 'tussles'.
"Those are truffles." Blake and I said at the same time.
"Like the sprout?" She corrected herself, but was still wrong.
"Those are Brussels." Yang and Damion said together.
"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history and my dabblings in the archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw it fit to assign me to this particular... assignment." Oobleck continued.
"I just showed up for the action and a chance to catch up with my little brother." Kinshiro said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and neck, pulling me into him playfully as I tried to pull away and pushed him back a bit.
"Wow, a big 180 compared to what we've heard about him and Nightshade." Draco said.
"Eh, that old sack of wind just likes to think he's better than everyone else. Trust me, you'll regret it when you meet him." Kinshiro said.
"Yep. You could take on an entire army, not get hit once. At the end, he'll just scoff and ask if that's the best you can do." I agreed.
"He's trying to push you to better yourself." Damion tried to reason.
"Stopped listening, Damion, you're talking to yourself." I said loudly over what he was saying.
We listened back into Oobleck and RWBY after the Profess- I mean DOCTOR explained History's roll in the anatomy of our society. "The Southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves. BUT! It is also the location of one of the kingdom's greatest failures." He started to explain.
"Mountain Glen." Ruby and Kinshiro said at the same time.
"That's right! It was an expansion of Vale, but in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city." Yang said.
"Nice, babe." Damion said.
"Correct. And now it stands abandoned. As a dark reminder." Oobleck continued.
"And a likely place for a hideout." Yang said (hey, her hair's clipping through her arm).
"Precisely." Oobleck continued.
We then arrived over the city. "Here we go, ruin central, home to crumbling, half-made buildings and a shit-ton of monsters you better be ready to shake a really big stick or your weapon of choice at." Kinshiro said as we landed. We jumped out and all landed in badass poses as the jet hovered above a crumbling Starbucks for us to jump back into later. "Okay, now. We are officially in enemy territory. Stay alert, try to stay together at all times and I shouldn't have to tell you this, but be careful." Kinshiro said, looking between the 4 of us as Oobleck did the same to team RWBY not too far away.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked as we walked up to the other team and Huntsman as the doctor was saying how good of an idea it was for Ruby to secretly bring Zwei along with her.
"Ah! Straight to the chase, I like it!" Oobleck said, dropping the dog, slightly to our shock, but he recovered quickly and started playing with Kira. "The Southeast has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity. Now there are several possible reasons for this type of behavior, one of which being... Grimm." He said.
I turned to the 4th wall at this moment. "Wait, could it be there's actually a dude controlling these monsters and we're about to meet a new bad guy in the series!?" I said excitedly for the possible progression and expansion of the plot.
"Uh... What?" Ruby asked as we looked between each other.
"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately 100 yards away from us at this very moment." He said as we turned around to see a large beowulf and I slumped down in disappointment at my hopes for a new villain being dashed. Everyone except the Huntsmen prepared to attack and Kira was ready to charge the creature. "Stop!" Oobleck said.
"Whoa, girl. Not just yet." Kinshiro said, crouching down and holding the back of Kira's neck to hold her there. We all looked to Oobleck to explain.
"There are a number of reasons why Grimm congregate in this particular area. The most likely of which being their attraction to negativity. Sadness... Envy... Loneliness... Hatred..." He said.
"We get it, they like bad mojo. Get to the point." Kinshiro said.
"All qualities of our hidden group harboring ill intent." He explained.
"So, what now?" Ruby asked.
"Glad you asked. Time for a ninja specialty: waiting in the shadows, hiding from the creature, tracking its movements. With any luck, that puppy will us back to its pack and just maybe the pack will lead us to the group." Kinshiro said, looking back at us with a smirk, which faded when he turned back.
"How long do we wait?" Ruby asked, the rest of them unaware of more beowulves rounding the corner.
"It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Some Grimm have been known to stay away from the pack for months- and there's the whole pack." He said as they looked up to see what Team BDSS was seeing.
"What?!" Weiss said, alerting them.
"Nice work princess. Now they've seen us." Kinshiro said.
"WHAT?!" She asked again, thrown off-guard.
"AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!" Oobleck repeated in a shout, more than gaining their attention as they rushed at us.
"Oh well, have at 'em, girl." Kinshiro said, releasing the cougar, who rushed in with a mighty roar, attacking and tearing through the first one she reached. The rest of the pack simply ignored their comrade and rushed at us (the tales of Remnant suggest animals attack the Grimm, not the other way around).
"What's the plan, then!?" Yang asked.
There was a short pause as the Grimm barreled towards us before Oobleck answered. "Show me what you're capable of, girls." He said.
"Why don't you guys have this round. I'll take over next time." Kinshiro said.
"FINALLY some action!" I said, Yang and I rushing in, me jumping further into the crowd as Yang rushed at the first one she saw and smashed it in the face as I created a tornado of chains to send a number of Grimm flying. Yang rushed off into a bigger crowd as more of them chased her, but stopped when they saw Blake and Nicolas standing not too far away, charging at them as they were the closer target and appeared to be off-guard.
Blake started to draw her sword as a beowulf rushed in and slashed her, but it was just an afterimage and she sliced IT in half, landing a couple small hits on another before slicing it in half as well. She did a couple tricks with afterimages and sliced the third one if half. All the while Nicolas had the Grimm trying to attack him retrained with giant bone hands, forcing them to punch themselves in the face. "Stop hitting yourselves, stop hitting yourselves, stop hitting yourselves." He said, eventually making them punch their own heads off.
We then see Weiss jump out of nowhere and run from another small pack of Grimm, before turning and rapidly slashing through the first one, before gliding at high speeds across the ground, slashing through them all faster than the eye could trace. "Impressive for a spoiled rich kid." Kinshiro said in an impressed tone, Oobleck nodding in agreement.
Meanwhile, another group of Grimm were charging at Ruby as she mowed them down with her sniper rifle. As she did this, Zwei was simply chasing his tail. And as he was doing this, Kira was tearing through another small group of Grimm, her metal-coated claws easily tearing through them and her teeth taking out large chunks of flesh from them. Ruby then pulled her scythe out of the ground and rushed in, after an intense battle of stares with the final Beowulf, she sliced it in half as she reached it. "Piece of cake." She said, chuckling nervously as Oobleck walked up.
"They got destroyed quick, I didn't have a chance to have fun with them." I said, crossing my arms as Kinshiro walked up.
"That's exactly what we're looking for. Nice work all around. I like the attitude, too, Sai." Kinshiro said.
"But do not celebrate yet. I fear this shall be the first bout of many. Now, shall we continue?" Oobleck asked. Team RWBY sliced through the next rather small group of Beowulves as Oobleck inspected some grass. Team BDSS didn't jump into action quick enough. "Excellent work girls. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any signs of criminal activity in this area. Oh well! Moving on!" He said, starting to walk off.
"Hey, Doc, I was actually looking forward to seeing a pro huntsman in action. You know, like fighting or at least helping us fight?" Yang asked, slightly angry.
"You got to this fight quicker than I did, but the next one's all me." Kinshiro said.
"Ah, but I am in action: scouting the ruins of this city for any signs of irregularity! Not every mission is filled with heroism, girls. Some times it's just a heightened form of extermination. Remember: this is a job and you signed up for it." Oobleck explained.
"Wow, this guy got to be a huntsman? Suddenly the bar feels EXPONENTIALLY lowered." Kinshiro said, shaking his head as we walked on.
Kinshiro led the way this time as we encountered another small group of Beowulves. "Eh. Just like you said, little brother: not enough action. Still, just the right number." Kinshiro said, his weapons appearing from nowhere and each one flying into one of the monsters and killing them instantly. Both teams and Oobleck looked on in awe as I nodded, knowing my brother's skill. He turned back at that moment with a look as if he let us down. "I know, not much of a show, but that wasn't much of a fight, either. Maybe next time." He said, walking ahead.
As we moved onto a more peaceful area, Oobleck decided to ask questions. "Tell me, Yang: why did you choose this line of work?" He asked the blond brawler?
"Huh? Well, to fight monsters and save-" She started.
"No, no, that is what you do. I'm asking why did you choose to do it." He said.
"The honest reason? I'm a thrill seeker. I wanna travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, well then that's even better. It's a win-win, you know?" She explained.
"I see." He said simply.
"It's definitely not the worse reason I've ever heard. If you ask me, it's pretty good." Damion said.
"Well, how about you then, Damion? You've got that company CastroNet, so you clearly don't need the extra cash, so what's the reason?" Kinshiro asked.
"I did some bad things in the past, now I'm trying to make u for it." He answered.
"Redemption. That's always a good thing to fight for." My brother said, nodding.
We move to the next scene, Oobleck with apparently writing something on the side while Weiss and Draco are backing Kinshiro as he slices the Grimm to pieces with his Crescent sword. "And you, Ms. Schnee. A girl like you born into fame and fortune doesn't need the extra work. So, why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?" He asked as she impaled the last Beowulf.
"It's exactly as you said: I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty." She said.
"Interesting." He said, jumping down.
"So, how about you, Draco? What special reason you have for risking your neck for others?" Kinshiro asked.
"Born into it, I guess. My dad used to be a Dragon god who protected people. And I'm a member of the X-men, so that's kinda where the chips fell." He explained.
"Hm... Fair enough." Kinshiro said as they continued on.
Blake sliced a door in half and Nicolas kicked it in, which allowed a bunch of small Nevermores to fly out. Nick dove to the ground as Blake did a couple back handsprings and shot into the air, shooting them all down. Oobleck peered into the room before looking at the cat Faunus. "And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose." He said.
"There's too much wrong in this world to stand by and do nothing: inequality, corruption, someone has to stop it." She explained (meh. In my opinion, the whole world's going to hell eventually, so nothing we can do but wait and hope it happens after we're dead and gone).
"Very well, how?" He asked.
"I- uh..." She started, but was at a loss for words.
"We'll figure it out some day." Nick said.
"Did you figure out why YOU want to be a huntsman, Nick? You're one of the last people I'd expect to stand up for something." Kinshiro said.
"Meh. I just like to beat things up." He said.
"I like it." Kinshiro said with a nod as he walked away.
Meanwhile, Ruby was playing with Zwei by offering him a turkey if he did tricks and I was giving Kira a couple of steaks as the huntsman for our group walked up to us. "Sorry! Are we ready to keep going?" Ruby asked.
"I'm ready whenever you guys are." I said.
"Nah, we're done for today." Kinshiro said.
"Indeed. It's going to be dark soon." Oobleck said, throwing his pack to Yang. "You 6, set up camp in that building." He said, pointing to a building for the non-leader team members to secure. "Oh and please make sure there are no more of those creatures. Your leaders and I are going to secure the perimeters, come, Ruby!" Oobleck said, waving to the young girl and walking off.
"Let's go, Sai." Kinshiro said, flicking his head in their direction as we followed them. We walked around a corner and saw something that got two different reactions from me and Ruby.
Ruby: "Whoa..."
Me: "HOLY SHIT."
"What is that?!" Ruby asked in awe as we walked closer to the edge, seeing a herd of massive, elephant-looking Grimm bigger than the trees they trudged through. "It looks awesome!" She said.
"It looks like a good boss in a video game. Hint, hint." I said, to the 4th wall (if anyone from Rooster Teeth reads this, you know where I'm going with this).
"That, my dear girl, is a Grimm." Oobleck said.
"A Goliath to be exact. Easily the single largest Grimm discovered as of yet." Kinshiro said.
"Let's kill it." Ruby said, taking out her weapon in its gun form.
"I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size." He said.
"Yeah, they just bounced off the Deathstalker, that thing won't even feel it." I said.
"But what if it attacks us?!" Ruby asked.
"They won't." Kinshiro said.
"Fret not, Ruby, those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather not every Grimm is STILL mindless. You see the Grimm you see before you are so powerful, so superior to the Grimm you fought, that they've undoubtedly lived for hundreds of years. And in their time of killing humans and attacking our borders, they've done one important thing: they've learned." He said.
"Then if only the rest of those assholes would smarten up and leave us alone." I said.
"They've learned that when they attack our borders, they're likely to die." He explained. One looked over at us for a moment, but then continued on. "And what we lack in strength, we make up for in will. And killing one human will only bring more." He said.
"Then... why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?" Ruby asked.
"Waiting." He replied.
"And we'll have to be ready for whatever they might think of. Or whatever those criminals want with them." Kinshiro said.
We turned and started to walk back when Ruby spoke up. "Doctor Oobleck, Kinshiro? I've been wondering something." She said.
"Wondering why we've been interrogating your friends and teammates all day?" Oobleck asked.
"Interrogating may not be the right word." Kinshiro said.
"I was wondering... Why did you two want to become Huntsmen?" She asked.
"Me? Well, same reason as Sai or Draco, really. We were born into it. Since the earliest days in history, the Blade Clan has rebelled against other demons trying to take over or harm the human race, so Sai and I just have to continue that tradition." Kinshiro replied simply.
"Yeah, we got stuck with a hard job from birth." I said.
Oobleck, however, was slightly more profound. "Look around you, tell me what you see." He said.
She did so. "Lots of old buildings... empty streets..." She said.
"I see lives that could've been saved. As a huntsman it is my duty to protect the people. And although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher I am able to take knowledge, one of the most powerful weapons of them all and place it into the hands of every student that passes through my classroom." He said.
"Okay, maybe a little more than slightly profound." I said to the 4th wall.
"Gotta admit, the guy really knows what he's talking about. People like him might actually keep the world from being dragged to hell a little longer." Kinshiro said.
"I look at these ruins and I see lives that could've been saved. But I also see an opportunity. An opportunity to STUDY these ruins and LEARN from its tragedy and therefore become stronger. I am a huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing in this world I would rather be." He said, walking on as we stood there, contemplating what he said.
Back inside...
"I can't believe we didn't find anything." Yang said.
"We will, babe. It's only a matter of time." Damion said supportively, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side." Blake said, tending to the fire.
"It's only been one day, Blake. We still have plenty of time. No manhunt or search has ever been completed in one day." Nicolas said supportively.
"I'm pretty sure there have been, but I get what you're saying." Draco said.
"That's not what I meant..." Weiss said.
"Huh?" They all asked.
"Earlier. When I was talking about upholding the legacy. There's more too it than that." She said.
"Yeah, I know. Me, too. I mean, I don't know." Yang said.
"I don't know either. I know what I want to do, but... I figured I'd always take things one step at a time." Blake said.
"That's the ideal way of doing something, yes, but you don't always get the luxury." Nick said.
"Well, it doesn't matter. We know why we're here. Right?" Yang asked.
"Right." My team all said at once. The rest of her team, however, was silent.
"Ah, very good! A textbook campfire." Oobleck said as we all came in.
Ruby gasped at this. "Fire! So warm!" She said, dropping to her knees beside it and holding out her hands.
"Great job, guys. Glad you didn't need me to be around to make the fire." I said.
"Yeah, that should last us the night if tended to properly." Kinshiro said.
"Very good: eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We've got a lot of ground to cover in the morning. We'll also need to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?" Oobleck asked.
"Yo." Ruby said, to which he zoomed off.
"Man, the guy's gotta lay off the coffee. Well, if you don't need me, I'll be turning in, too." Kinshiro said, walking to a corner, running his hand along the side of his face as if changing a dial or something, shooting a wide laser across the ground in front of him, making a scorch mark on the ground about his height, at which point he took his coat off, laid down and used it as a blanket.
"Okay, that was awesome." Nicolas said.
"Of course, he's my brother, what did you expect?" I asked.
"Now if only you acted more like him and less of a smartass." Damion said.
"Then no one would read these stories. It's about a funny, badass fire demon, not a moody, emo vampire, this ain't Twilight." I said.
"Did you SERIOUSLY just compare me to Twilight?!" He asked dangerously, standing up instantly.
"No." I said quickly, going to the far end of the building along with Kira, putting her between me and him.
"Hey, did Oobleck ask why you wanted to be a huntress? What did you tell him?" Yang asked her sister.
"Hm... No, he didn't. Weird. Okay, good night!" She said. Everyone laid down and slowly drifted to sleep as Zwei walked up to Ruby and the beowulves began howling. "Don't worry. Things will be better tomorrow." She said as they looked out into the night.
"I hope so, because these last two chapters have been easily the most boring so far." I said, getting in the last word.