This is a recreational project with no set timetable or plans. Adam in this story will be OoC to the one in the show. He and Blake will not be in a relationship. He will not even join the White Fang. This is a Gamer System story. There are some AU aspects.
I feel the obligation to let any readers know this immediately so as not to get any expectations dashed later. It is purely a work done for fun and as writing practice. Informative reviews will only serve to help me a lot faster.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
Chapter One: Beginnings 1.
"You've got five minutes till showtime kid. The boss bet big on this match so you know better than to lose.", said a voice from outside the room.
I turned back to look over my weapon. It was a standard long sword. I was actually surprised to get something decent to fight with this time. That fat bastard must really be serious about this match. Almost makes me want to lose on purpose. Almost. The consequences wouldn't be worth such a petty win on my part.
I look around my little room and can't help wondering how long I'm going to be stuck doing this. Fighting for my life for a couple more Lien than what the average miner makes. Then I remember the bad conditions of the mines. How dangerous it could be. How it killed my parents. How that made me want more out of life.
I wasn't going to end there. I'd already decided that I'd go as far in life as I could. I'm not destined to be fodder for the strong like the others who are just fine working themselves to death in the mines.
The opening of the door caught my attention. Five minutes already?
"It's time kid. You better not fuck this up.", the man from earlier said. Like I would even have a chance to feel bad about losing.
The matches at the particular arena that I fought at were a very special case even amongst the other death match arenas. Most others settled for seeing poor and desperate bastards beat other poor and desperate bastards into a pulp. The term death match was a loose one since you could actually surrender. Rarely was your opponent so bloodthirsty as to still try to kill you.
But at 'big boss' Skye's arena the opponents you fought were guaranteed to kill you if you lost. After all, Grimm apparently didn't know how to do much else. There was no surrendering. Once you got in the arena you either won or you came out in unrecognizable pieces. The Grimm seemed to be a hassle to catch and handle but I guess the chance to see people get mauled to death caused Grimm Death Matches to be especially popular.
As I walked closer towards another possible life or death battle I had to once again question what drove me to such extremes when others were fine settling down with mediocrity. There's only so many times you can remember watching your parents blow themselves sky high trying to feed your leeching little ass before it lost its effect. I would be fifteen in a month, meaning about four years would have gone by already. The trauma was still there but was also joined by several new ones. Apart from not wanting to rely on others I'd also decided not long after i started fighting that I wasn't going to settle for this life.
The arena was merely a checkpoint in the tutorial city of Mantle. Ever since I was little that one gift that I got from my parents has never left my hands. Originally it was nothing more than a game. Cool to have especially since such a luxury was extremely rare for kids like me. I had played it through dozens of times out of boredom as getting another game was out of the budget.
Then life had turned upside down and I'd nearly spiraled into deep depression. Not having parents didn't matter in Mantle. There were no orphanages. Orphans didn't get a grant of some sort. Getting lost in depression meant not working. Not working meant no lien to pay for life's necessities. I was bound to die of starvation at that point.
But then I'd remembered my little game. The gift from my parents. Something to remember that they had loved me and cared for me to the best of their abilities. The story was extremely cliche. The classic hero's journey. Everything from the dead parents to the exploration of a new world to the meteoric rise of the no name underdog into a legendary hero. It was the same story but this time it sort of hit me in a way that it never had before.
This is what I wanted out of life. I want to be powerful and self reliant just like the heroes in games like this. I don't necessarily want to be a true hero but having the strength and resourcefulness of one would be enough. That is why I am fighting. To become something more. To rise above my peers who are fine with mediocrity. I'd always been a smart child and my parents tried to encourage that in me by buying me lots of books. I knew what I had to do the moment I'd decided to be unordinary.
Huntsmen were the celebrities of the world. Essentially super beings who were the only reliable people that could handle the stronger Grimm. They were the height of power and status. And becoming one wasn't easy.
After preschool, education in Mantle could get really expensive depending on how far you expected your kid to go in life. To apply to participate in Atlas Academy's initiation a candidate needed to meet three requirements. A standard education up to the age of seventeen, parental consent and a five hundred lien initiation fee.
The first I would have in a little over two years time. The second gets waived with an orphan status. The last is why I'm working my butt off fighting in the most dangerous arena in Mantle during after school hours when other kids who could afford to go to school are having club meetings or hanging out.
To save up enough money for both my education and the five hundred lien fee after paying rent and buying food I needed more than a simple mining job. The basic arenas paid barely enough to scrape by but Skye's paid just a bit more. The little extra was why I wasn't too skinny and malnourished to even fight in the first place. Otherwise I would have to skimp out on much needed food to save up enough to pay the fee.
The roaring of the crowd finally pulled me out of my little mental dialogue. I gave the place a little look and snorted. Full. As usual. Nothing like watching a kid fight a Grimm to the death to get some people going. I don't necessarily blame them. I wasn't a saint myself. Everyone got off to something. That was a truth that I'd unfortunately learned very early on. I was no exception. At least my desires were more normal.
"Welcome to the main event of the night! Everyone's favorite Grimm Slayer is in the House again. The youngest fighter in Mantle will be going against a special Grimm this time. This one's already killed six other veterans in a row.", Skye's voiced boomed out of the speakers surrounding the arena.
A special Grimm? Killed six people already? That was a bit concerning. Up till now I'd always been one of the smaller, less popular fighters. Taking on young Grimm. Sabyrs mostly, even a few Beowolves. Then last week I'd outdone myself and killed an Ursa. A small less armored one but an Ursa nonetheless. Skye was a greedy bastard but he had some tact and never really made me fight anything too far above my skill level. So I was fairly sure that he was just trying to get more people to bet against me so that he could earn more money. It wouldn't be the first time he'd tried to do that.
"Everyone got their bets in? Good. Because the match is about to start. Three, two, one ..." he trailed off.
"Release the Grimm!", the entire audience shouted excitedly. That was the little catchphrase that Skye made popular years ago. Now the crowd shouting it out had become tradition. People are weird.
Dropping all extraneous thoughts and focusing on the battle I unsheathed my sword and got into a loose stance. I'd always been a quick study and a smart kid but not to the extent of being a genius. There was, however, one thing that I was proud to be able to say about myself. I was an extremely talented fighter. It's the reason why I'm still here today.
The Grimm came out of it's cage on the opposite side of the arena from me. When I saw it I cursed a little. It definitely wasn't young. This had to be an Alpha even if a relatively small one. At least it was a Saber. That was the Grimm that I had the most experience fighting. Of course being an Alpha meant that this one would be a trickier fight. It had killed six other people already.
Usually the Grimm tended to burst out of their cage frothing at the mouth to kill something. This one peered out first, locked eyes with me and then carefully stalked its way out.
The two of us started circling each other. The roar of the crowd had already been drowned out by my focus. More so than ever if my attention slipped for just a little bit too long I would be dead.
As we circled around we also got closer and when it was only about twenty feet away I could see it more clearly without devoting too much attention to checking it out.
It was at least twice the size of a regular Sabyr and was covered in even more ice. The size wasn't really the problem. Regular Sabyrs were already heavier than most adult men could handle. A little more didn't make a difference.
No the important part was the ice on its skin. Sabyrs essentially had bone armor on their hips, ribs and shoulders. Attacking such areas was suicide unless you were a huntsman or just freakishly strong. That made the skin the only real target. Even if their skin was frozen as long as you practiced with enough blocks of ice you could be fairly confident in your ability to cut them. If you could just you get the right angle and apply the right amount of force you would, nine times out of ten, get a clean cut without getting your weapon stuck.
At this point it's patience must have run out because I saw it's muscles tense up in the telltale way that they usually do for a lunge. Must not be used to an opponent that spends this much time thinking.
I sidestepped it's lunge and turned around to face it as quickly as I could. Good thing too because the bastard was already dashing in to close the distance.
This time it went for a swipe that was too fast to dodge and I was forced to go for a hasty parry. A full block was nearly impossible at my strength. I'd just be disarmed. In more ways than one.
Even parrying, a skill that I was very good at, was difficult given just how much force was behind it's claws.
I was forced to retreat by a step, then another and another as it started performing some sort of combo. Such an attack style was unheard of in younger Grimm that generally just kept trying to tackle you and sent predictable one off attacks. This was a coordinated set of claw strikes that were fairly difficult to predict as it randomly switched up which leg it was going to attack with.
It didn't take me long to realize what it was trying to do. It's trying to tire me out. It was trying to force me into a position where I would be too fatigued to fight back. After all Grimm seemed to never get tired. This was a trait that they tended to be too dumb to lean on. But this one is different. It knows that it can simply keep throwing these hits until I make a mistake. That's when the real attack will come.
My arms had already started to go numb and my fingers were beginning to cramp up. I've got to end this quickly. I can't let it dictate the pace of this fight or I'll die.
The next time it sent a swipe I made the choice to force a dodge and scrambled to the side. It's claws just barely reached me and cut right through my shirt to leave shallow marks on my back. They stung like a bitch but adrenaline and experience kept me from even flinching at the wound. I'd managed to get away.
Once more taking a stance I decided to go on the attack instead. I had to end the fight before it could pull any more tricks out. It seemed to respond by setting itself up to take the hit and retaliate.
I wasn't dumb enough to let myself fall back into the same position that I had just gotten out of. When I was close enough to attack I feinted to the left and in doing so dodged it's attempt to take a bite out of my face. I normally tried to be fancy with my dodges to dazzle the crowd. Sometimes the spectators with looser pockets would give a little extra to the fighter, especially if they won big.
This wasn't the time for any sort of elegance though. The little pirouette that I barely managed to pull off was just to help me gather enough momentum for a decisive slash. It worked.
The Grimm howled and jerked away from me as I cut it right across the side from it's neck to it's hip. I even made sure to hit the skin between it's exposed ribs and it's spinal bones. It wasn't enough to end the fight but it would definitely hinder it at least. That was all that I needed.
It retreated a bit and watched me with more cautious eyes. I could tell that it was favoring it's left side more. I didn't let it have any time to itself and rushed back in to press my advantage. Now it was the one on the retreat. Blocking some of my strikes with it's teeth and claws but taking more and more damage to it's skull as it's two right legs were being liabilities.
Many Grimm had a tendency to rely on their bony outgrowths to serve as their defense. It was a crutch but an extremely convenient and hard to deal with crutch. Like I said before there were only two ways to cut through the bones on a Grimm. Be a huntsman or be freakishly strong even compared to an adult human or faunus male.
I wasn't a huntsman and I wouldn't exactly call my strength freakish yet but for now? It would be enough. Especially with the preparation I'd made.
Grimm tended too rely on their little skull helmets too much against regular people. It was a crutch. This Grimm wasn't any different. It had been taking hits there but didn't care because it thought it was successfully blocking me. It wasn't.
Every other strike that I swung at it was directed at the same general area on it's forehead. I wasn't strong enough to cut right through it but I was definitely capable of gouging it out bit by bit. And now the bone on that spot should be shallow enough to pierce through.
I suddenly jumped back and gave it some space. The Sabyr couldn't seem to grasp the situation and floundered for a bit before getting it's guard back up and staring me down. It was definitely confused as to why I'd given it breathing room all of a sudden.
I made sure to telegraph my every move as I recklessly charged at it. While many Grimm could and did show some intelligence, I've never seen one actually act with any sort of wisdom or cunning before. The Sabyr just could not seem to understand that I was baiting it and instead it saw a chance for it to end this fight.
It charged at me as I stayed the course right up until it was about a foot in front of me. It must have expected me to dodge again. Maybe feint it and strike once more. I didn't.
I could see the shock in its eyes as the tip of my sword was suddenly on a crash course with it's head. I allowed myself to smirk as the blade dug right through the spot that I'd gouged out and then sunk halfway up the blade into the Grimm's head.
It was dead before it even landed and I'd gotten away with nothing more than a little bruising from being bumped into by its dead body while trying to dodge to the side. The tumble was rough and I'm sure that I've sprained my wrist from trying to abort my stab a little bit too late but all that wasn't important right now.
I'd won.
I'd won and once again validated my choices through action. I can do this. I have what it takes to make it to the top. I'll become my own hero and save myself in the process.
The crowd was positively deafening and even though the adrenaline was wearing off I couldn't help but smile as I raised a hand up. It felt good to accomplish something and be recognized for it. I won't lie. This was a minor aspect of why I did things this way.
After all, who didn't want to be lionized?
I made sure to get my sword from the dissolving Grimm before leaving the arena and getting my arm checked out. Skye of course was ecstatic about how much he had made. I got my payment and a few bonuses from some fans then left the arena around midnight.
The walk home was cold and yet bustling. People were out doing stuff even this late at night. No one was dumb enough to try to mug me as I took multiple shortcuts between buildings and arrived at Misty's Apartments. There was a letter on my doormat after opening the door. The landlady wanted my 'services' again. Everyone has their fetish and if it means paying a fraction of the normal rent for an above average apartment then I'll keep on catering to Miss Misty until I can leave.
As the painkillers that the, probably, mob doctor gave me began to set in that night I couldn't help but look forward to the future. Things were hard but nothing came free. I can't tell if I am on the right path but I'll be damned if I half ass things due to indecision.
I fell asleep thinking about what kind of weapon I will use as a huntsman. Whatever the parameters may be, it's definitely gotta be a sword.
X-X-X
The following morning I woke up to something that changed my life.
I'd been hoping to awaken my aura on my own for years now. The only other alternative was to get a huntsman who knew how to do it to awaken it for you. And depending on how nice they were that could cost you a lot of Lien. Plus it was illegal to do so I'd have to involve myself even more with the underworld in Mantle to even find someone able, much less, willing to do actually it.
I knew that it was possible to awaken to it by yourself but I also knew that it took a lot of factors that I couldn't control or even take into account to make it happen. It could awaken due to a spike of emotion, serious injury, etc and despite experiencing both on multiple occasions it had never happened.
But I've finally done it. I've finally awoken my aura.
Or at least I think I have.
Congratulations!
You have fulfilled all of the requirements to awaken your aura and semblance.
Your last battle has been evaluated. You have been rewarded with;
-25 Attribute Points.
-3 Skill Points.
-A Unique Skill: [Battle Meditation]
Status
Adam Taurus
Arena Fighter
Grimm Slayer
Attributes [25]
Aura: D665
Vitality: E972
Strength: D108
Agility: D125
Dexterity:D365
Intellect: D756
Senses: D570
Charisma:C175
Luck: B369
Skills [3]
-Household Care 3
-Mixed Martial Arts 4
-Swordsmanship 5
-Acrobatics 3
-Battle Meditation 1
New Task!
Go through the tutorial.
I stared dumbly at the holographic screen in front of my face. Is ... is this a video game interface?.