The God of Remnant Chapter 7: Missions
" " – Dialogue
' ' – Thinking
Vale - Location
"Renewal Taekwondo" – Technique
Beacon Academy
Ozpin's Office
Inside Ozpin's normally tranquil clock-themed office, a tense discussion was currently taking place. Occupying the room was not only the man himself but also his faithful assistant, Glynda Goodwitch, and their visiting ally, James Ironwood. Normally, they would be discussing happier events, such as the dance the previous night or the highly anticipated Vytal Festival. This time, that was not the case. This time, they were discussing the apparent security breach that took place last night and almost left Beacon one huntress short.
"They've infiltrated the campus, Ozpin! Our students are in danger!" Roared out the general with a heavy fist hitting Ozpin's desk to hammer his statement home.
"Yes, James, we are well aware of that." Glynda impatiently responded to the enraged general.
"Your awareness is a great thing to have but I believe what we really need is some form of action." Ironwood responded with some bite in his voice. "Or are you suggesting that we just proceed as we have and ignore the threat that's right in front of us?" He continued, levelling a challenging glare at the two other occupants of the room.
"Now James-" Ozpin began only to be cut off at the beeping of his office elevator, alerting everyone to the presence of a guest. "Ah, Ms. Rose and Ms. Polendina. Thank you for coming on such short notice." Ozpin greeted the two young huntresses-in-training.
"It's no problem, I'm actually sorry that we're late. The elevator seems to have a glitch where if you hit the top floor button that every button under it gets pressed as well." Ruby explained with an awkward laugh afterwards.
"But Ruby, didn't you say that you wanted to see what each floor looked like before press-"
"Ah, yeah that glitch did waste a bunch of time!" Penny's version of the events was interrupted by Ruby frantically covering her mouth with a blush spreading across the latter's face.
"…Anyways. Ruby, I wanted to congratulate you." James said, walking up to the red-themed girl and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I thought that your actions were befitting that of a true huntress. Seeing a potential threat, observing, and engaging are exactly what I expect of a huntress." James praised with a small smile.
"Thank you, sir. It means a lot to hear that." Ruby said, returning a smile of her own.
Removing his hand and moving onto Penny, Ironwood stood straight and saluted his student. "Good work as expected, Polendina." He said with a much stricter tone that the softer one he'd used a moment ago with Ruby.
Unfazed by the strangeness, Penny slipped into her own salute with no hesitation with a "Thank you, General." As her response.
Satisfied, Ironwood allowed her to return to a neutral stance with an 'at ease' before returning to his place next to Ozpin's desk.
"Now Ms. Rose, can you describe your attacker in any way? Any defining characteristics that may help us track them down?" Ozpin began.
"Not anything definitive, Sir." Ruby responded with a thoughtful hand on her chin. " Outside of appearing to be a female around my height with long black hair, I don't have anything else on them." Ruby said with a disappointed sigh. "The only other interesting thing is that she fought with glass, but I don't think it was her semblance because her clothes were glowing whenever she used it." She explained as an afterthought.
"Well that doesn't help much because weaving dust into clothes is an ancient technique that's still prevalent all over Remnant." Ironwood remarked with a thoughtful frown.
"How about you, Ms. Polendina? Anything to add to Ruby's description?" Glynda tried.
"The only distinguishing trait she seemed to have were her amber colored eyes, although there is a possibility they could have been contact lenses." Penny concluded.
"Wait, if dust was a major factor in how her attacks worked, do you think she could potentially be linked to Torchwick and the dust robberies?" Ruby asked, realization flashing in her silver eyes.
"It's… Certainly possible, but we still lack the evidence to link the two." Ozpin acknowledged.
"Well, I actually do remember her saying something about a base in the southwest, right outside of the kingdom." Ruby said with a small smile.
"But you just said-"
"Ah, I see. We'll keep that in mind." Ozpin said with a knowing smile of his own as he smoothly cut off Glynda's accusatory questioning. "You both may leave now, as I believe you have a busy day ahead of you." He said, causing the two students to nod and make their leave.
"And Ms. Rose." He said, causing her to briefly turn, "Do be discreet about this information." He said, getting a light salute in return.
It wasn't until the elevator doors closed and the cabin started descending that Ruby gained an indignant expression on her face and said aloud: "Wait, why'd he ask me to be discreet but not you?"
Back in the office, the departure of the girls meant the return of the fully serious atmosphere that permeated the office before their arrival.
"Well there we have it. We should send troops down to the southeast to explore the area. We'll send enough that if they encounter any threat, they'll be able to crush any opposition they face." Ironwood concluded with cold logic.
"Why must you simplify every matter into one of strong-arming the opposition with military might? Honestly, you make everything into a competition of who has the longest D-"
"Glynda!" Ozpin chided.
"I apologize but he does." Glynda said with a huff to calm herself.
"I have served you faithfully for years, but if you mean to tell me that we should do nothing-"
"We will not do nothing." Ozpin asserted with an authority that caused even the physically imposing figure of James Ironwood to freeze. "We just have to proceed carefully as we have no what the enemy forces have in store. After all, James. You're a general so you tell me. Who do you send in first? The flagbearers or the scouts?" He asked, only receiving a satisfying silence in return.
-GoR-
Team RWBY's Dorm
In the time that Ozpin and his associates were finishing their discussion, Ruby had bid farewell to Penny and made her way back to her dorm. Upon opening the door, she was surprised by how her team instantly formed a wall in front of her with Yang popping the question.
"So, what happened?"
Ruby's only defense was a slightly nervous chuckle as she caved faster than a wall of cardboard in a storm. It seems Ozpin's request would go violated less than 15 minutes after being given.
-One Short Explanation Later-
"You were really on the nose with that comment about the Southeast, are you sure you shouldn't have been more careful?" Weiss questioned.
"No. I think she did just fine." Blake chimed in "besides, if Ozpin wanted to stop us, I think he's smart enough and has enough resources to cut us off." She reasoned.
"Yeah… I just hope I'm making the right choice chasing these guys." Ruby wondered aloud. Her saddened aura was broken by Yang pulling her into a one-armed hug.
"I'm sure that even if you weren't making the right choice, the rest of us would be sure to let you know. Besides, Dad raised us to help those in need to why stop now?" She asked with a smile, bringing a small smile to her sister's face.
"Speaking of Dad, I got a package from him earlier today and I wanted to wait till you were back to open it." She said, relocating herself to grab a cardboard tube from her bed.
Upon twisting the top of the tube off, everyone was surprised to see a black, cylindrical object come flying out. Upon hitting the ground, the object began to… wiggle? The object also began to twist and change shape before settling as
"a dog/DOG?" Weiss and Blake said at the same time but with drastically different volumes. Weiss was frozen, trying to comprehend what she had just witnessed, and Blake leapt into the safety of her top bunk, eyeing the canine with suspicion.
The Rose/Xiao-Long sisters had a much different reaction to put it mildly.
"ZWEI!" They both yelled out in unison as they began to pet and play with the dog.
"Hold on, are we just going to ignore the fact that your dad sent a dog in the mail?" Weiss asked incredulously.
"Oh, don't worry so much! He does this all the time!" Yang said as if she was discussing the weather.
"Your dad or the dog?" Blake asked, still peeking out from under her covers. Her question would fall on deaf ears, however, as Yang was now holding the dog in her arms and making baby noises at him.
While Yang was cooing at him, Zwei leaned back and made eye contact with Weiss. His innocent brown eyes held a stare with her suspicious light blue orbs.
"You expect me to live with this tiny, excitable, absholutely adorable ball of joy? Because I would ruv to!" She said, gradually beginning to speak in a baby voice of her own as she began to excitably pet the lovable canine.
A light beep played over the intercom, interrupting their bonding time as Glynda's voice soon followed. "Would all students report to the amphitheater for orientation and mission assignments?" She said, repeating the message once more before going radio silent once more.
"Well what're we supposed to do? We can't just leave him here for 2 weeks by himself." Weiss said, addressing her team while still petting Zwei.
"There's a letter in here too." Yang said while rummaging through the cylindrical passage. "It says: 'Dear girls, I'm gonna be away from the island for a little and I didn't want Zwei to be lonely. Along with him, I sent enough food to last two weeks. Stay safe, Dad.'" She finished as she turned the package over, allowing a pile of cans to fall onto the floor.
"What's he supposed to do with that?" Blake asked incredulously. Conveniently, a can opener fell out of the container right as she said that. Not that the item served to alleviate any of the concern her question had though.
"Well, there you have it. Let's go girls!" Yang said as she tossed the letter and package away and began to make her way out of the room.
"I'll she you in a week and then we can be besht friendsh!" Weiss said with a parting snuggle to the resident canine.
Blake wordlessly leapt from her bed and used a desk to leap towards the door, not even sparing Zwei a side glance as she hurried to distance herself from that beast.
Being left on her lonesome with her pet, Ruby looked down at the canine and gained a thoughtful expression on her face. Staring at the happy eyes of her pet seemed to give her an idea, as she suddenly gained a smile on her face and made her way to her closet to grab a spare backpack.
-GoR-
The Beacon Amphitheater
Arriving in the amphitheater a little later than her team, Ruby was briefly stunned by the amount of people located in the room. There were four groups, each representing their own academy, lined up with each team standing side-by-side. There were at least eighty people standing in the room, by her brief assessment. Although everyone was standing in such close proximity, and they had such events as their first mission and the Vytal festival coming up; the air wasn't tense in the least. Everyone was chatting with their friends and just enjoying themselves before the announcements began.
The light noise present in the room, made it easy for even the awkward Ruby to walk over to where Beacon students were told to leave their luggage and leave her backpack without arousing any suspicion. She made her way over to her team just in time as right when she stopped to stand in formation, Professor Goodwitch took to the stage.
"May I please have everyone's attention?" Professor Goodwitch asked in a tone that made one wonder if that was actually a question, rhetorical or not.
Seeing as the room sunk into a tense silence and everyone got into formation, Glynda took that as a sign to continue. "Good Evening, all. I am Professor Goodwitch, the current department head and combat teacher here at Beacon. I would like to formally welcome you all to Beacon academy and hope you enjoy your stay. With that, we will now start the orientation for your field assignments." She said, pausing to take a breath before continuing. "You are all students. Huntsman and Huntresses-to-be, yes, but first and foremost you are students. That being said, we want to take every opportunity to facilitate your education while simultaneously preparing you for the outside world. This is why, despite it being a bit early, we are allowing you to embark on your first mission. The details of which will be explained to you after a short word by our headmaster, Professor Ozpin." She concluded, giving the excited students a smooth Segway into the second part of the orientation.
Taking the stage before the anxious students, Ozpin stood up straight and took a breath. "Hello all, as Professor Goodwitch stated, I am Professor Ozpin, and I will be explaining the assignment of your missions. Shortly, you will see hardlight screens erect themselves along the walls of this room. The screens will be organized by what type of mission they contain. To select a mission, you or one of your teammates must walk up to a board and press the mission you want and enter your team name. Make sure to take note of the time and location of your deployment. Finally, please be sure to not only use your best judgement but also use everything you've learned so far and above all, stay safe. Dismissed." He finally concluded as he vacated the stage, being followed by Glynda.
At the conclusion of Ozpin's speech, the room filled with various teams steadily shifting towards the boards containing their desired mission. Team RWBY had yet to move however as they began to talk strategy.
"This is perfect!" Ruby exclaimed, "We just have to pick a place that's in the southeast and we should be good to go." She stated in a comparatively smaller voice.
"Yeah, we jus have to do the mission by day and then give our teacher the slip by night." Yang joined in with a grossly oversimplified version of their plan.
"We'll have to be really careful about being caught since we'll be shadowing a pro huntsman, but we'll figure it out, I guess." Blake said, bringing forth a bit of reasoning.
"Well for now, let's go see what they have in terms of Search and Destroy missions because it seems that'll be our best shot at moving independent of our instructor." Weiss suggested to a chorus of agreements.
Making their way over to the board reading 'Search and Destroy', they waited patiently for the students ahead of them to make their selection. Taking the time to look at a map of the various sectors, they decided that their best bet was to pick a mission in sector 5. Sector 5 seemed to be a region to the southeast of Vale that was mostly out of the kingdom and included the abandoned Mount Glenn.
Seeing that is was their turn, the whole team moved up and homed in on the singular search and destroy mission in sector 5. It was a simple mission in that they were only being tasked with clearing out grimm and doing research on the affected area. Seeing as it was the only option, Ruby went ahead and clicked on it. Entering her team name, she was shocked to find that an error appeared on the screen.
"Year Incompatibility error?" She asked aloud as the red error flashed before her.
"It would seem that the mission you are trying to gain access to is on the more difficult side, so it was delegated to second years or above." Ozpin said appearing from behind the display… somehow.
"Ah that's too bad…" Ruby said in response to his explanation, deflating slightly.
"But I have a sneaking suspicion that if I keep you from going on this mission that you all will end up in the area regardless." Ozpin said with a small smile.
Ruby was only able to smile and let out an awkward laugh in response as the light glares of her team bored into her side.
"Afterall, it seems that you all somehow end up at the center of some pretty important events that I'll never truly get the full story about. Like how you all ended up at the center of a major conflict at the docks or how you even came across the information that our enemies may be to the southeast." He listed off as Ruby's blush grew proportionately to her teammate's glares. "So, how about this? Mr. Jin? Ms. Seraphina? Can you come over here for a moment?" He called to Team Jasmine, who had yet to pick a board. Catching their attention, they made their way over to the calls.
"Sup, Oz?" Mori casually addressed the headmaster with a smile, causing a mirthful smile to grow on Ozpin's face.
"It would seem that Team RWBY wants to go on a mission in an area that may be a little too dangerous for first years. Combine this with the fact that a few teachers are uncomfortable having only half a team go on a mission and I believe you can solve each other's problems." Ozpin explained.
"So, you want us to accompany them and basically form a super team of first years that should be able to tackle the challenges of a second year-only mission?" Seraphina asked, receiving a nod in response to her astute assumption.
"Right on the mark, as usual." Ozpin congratulated. "So, do you accept?" He asked, already knowing the answer as Mori's eyes lit up.
Turning to his partner for confirmation and receiving a nod, Mori turned back to Ozpin and voiced his answer, "Team Jasmine will take the mission!" He said with a grin.
"I trust you all will not let me down." Ozpin said as he pulled out his scroll and typed in a sequence that seemed to override the board, allowing both teams to enter their names.
"I promise that we won't. Thank you , Professor." Ruby said as she entered her and Team JS's abbreviations into the system, this time getting a confirmation message.
"I'm glad that you're eager but do not thank me for this. Teamwork and perseverance have taken you far, but the forces outside of the kingdom do not care. Be warned, you must stay close to your assigned huntsman because he can and will send you back if he deems you unprepared." Ozpin warned. After making sure his warning stuck, he was off.
In light of Ozpin's eerie warning, both teams decided that since their business is concluded that leaving was the best option. On their way out, Mori wouldn't notice a certain blue-haired Mistral student eyeing him on his way out.
-GoR-
After making their way out of the building, Team RWBY stated their intention to head back to their dorm room and bid farewell to Team JS until they met tomorrow. Since it was just Mori and Seraphina left, they decided to go on a walk around the campus and talk.
"Why did you decide come to Beacon?" Mori asked, "I mean, Atlas is supposed to be the best combat school, so I figured you'd have gone there." He explained.
"I mainly just wanted to get away from my mom because she can be… overbearing sometimes." She explained, "Why'd you choose Beacon?"
"Because I'm gonna get strong enough to fight Oz and come out on top." Mori stated with a fire in his eyes at the thought of fighting.
"I know it's universally known that Professor Ozpin is really strong, but you talk like you've fought him before." She said jokingly.
"Oh yeah, he completely destroyed me. He knocked me out before I even had the chance to take a swing and left an invitation to Beacon stuck in the ground next to me." Mori stated with a slight frown at having to recall his loss.
"…I'm pretty sure that's not normal." Seraphina remarked with a sweatdrop.
"Hey, Velvet isn't that him?" They heard from behind them, causing them to turn around and find the bunny girl Mori had saved last semester hiding behind a well-dressed girl in a Beret.
"Coco, not so loud!" The now identified Velvet admonished as she stepped out from behind her friend.
"Did you need something?" Mori said as he walked up to the pair.
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry for not finding you sooner but I really wanted to thank you for helping me with Cardin and his team last semester." She apologized and thanked in the same breath.
"You should've seen her right after it happened. She was all flustered that she had to get saved by a first year and was so worried about apologizing to you. It was the funniest thing I've seen in a while!" Coco said as she laughed good-naturedly at the shade her teammate's face turned. "On a more serious note, though, thanks for helping her out, she has a tough time standing up for herself so I'm glad someone had her back." Coco sincerely thanked the monkey faunus.
"Don't worry about it! That Cardin guy was being a jerk, so I was probably gonna kick his ass anyways." Mori said with a laugh. "By the way, what team are you guys on? I never really see you hanging around that much?" Mori asked, not recalling seeing them too much.
"Oh, we haven't really introduced ourselves." Velvet realized. "I'm Velvet Scarlatina and this is Coco Adel. We're half of team CFVY (coffee). And the reason you don't see us around much is because we're second years, so we go on missions more often than you guys." She explained to the curious first year.
"Gotcha. Well I'm Mori Jin and this is my partner, Seraphina. We are the only two members of Team JS (Jasmine)." He introduced with a gesture towards his partner, who was standing a few steps back and playing on her scroll.
"Your team only has two people? I heard about that earlier in the year, but I thought it was just a rumor." Coco said with amazement in her voice. "How are they having you guys do missions with only a two-man team?" She asked.
"Usually it would just work the same way as a normal team, but this time we're being allowed to team up with Team RWBY since they wanna take on a more difficult mission." Mori explained
"I think it's better that they have you guys do that, especially now…" Velvet trailed off as she remembered something.
"Why do you say that?" Mori inquired.
"You see, we just got back from a mission of our own. It was supposed to end a week ago, but it ended up lasting until today. There wasn't any sort of complication, it's just that there were way more grimm than expected." Coco explained with a yawn to punctuate her exhaustion. "Anyways, we're gonna head back to our dorms and probably crash and I suggest you guys relax then do the same. Good luck on your mission." She said as she and Velvet began heading back towards their dorm.
"They were pretty fun people, huh?" Mori stated as he walked back over to his teammate.
"For sure, but why do you think the grimm numbers were so bad? Around this time of year, they usually wane from the excitement of the Vytal Festival…" Seraphina stated thoughtfully.
"I dunno, but we should probably just be careful on our mission because we're gonna be out there for a while." The usually battle-hungry Mori thought aloud with a little caution.
Moving away from the somber topic, the two kept walking and talking until the time came for dinner. At that point, they met up with their friends and enjoyed what would be their last meal together for quite a while before retreating to their dorm for the night.
-GoR-
Team Jasmine's Dorm
The time was 9:55 pm. Normally, Seraphina would be fully ready for bed and already drifting off into the realm of dreams by now. Tonight, seemed like it was gonna be different, though. Clad in her nightwear, a simple pink dress-like nightgown, she laid on her bed pondering her next actions. Seeing the digital clock across from her bed turn to 10 pm, she made her move.
The light snoring to her right told her that her partner was asleep as she stood up from her bed, facing away from him. Looking at her scroll one last time to confirm the location, she silently made her way out of the room.
Making her way onto the top floor of the dormitory and heading towards the public balcony that lie at the end of the east wing, she was unsurprised to see a figure standing there. The figure was a girl of similar height to her, that had long pink hair lightly bound by a single blue bow behind her head. Approaching the figure, she was unsurprised to see it turn around when she walked through the balcony's threshold. Although she was caught off-guard by the hug that followed.
"Seraphina! It's been way too long!" The pink haired girl said.
"Remi. It really hasn't been that long." Seraphina said with comparatively less enthusiasm but a small smile betraying her true feelings.
"So, how've you been? How's your teammate? Will I get to meet him soon? What about your mission? What'd you choose? When-"
"Slow down a little." Seraphina said, cutting off Remi's rapid-fire questioning with a raised hand a sweatdrop.
"Oh, sorry…" Remi said with a small smile, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "How about you just summarize your time here and we'll go from there?" She suggested to Seraphina, who agreed.
"Alright so it all began with the weird orientation." She began. Seraphina proceeded to give Remi the run-down of her school year. She began with Mori confronting the headmaster on stage, to the Emerald Forest, to the events of Forever Fall, and concluded with the recent battle at the docks and ending with the subsequent dance.
"Aw, you've had a really exciting year! I wish I could've made it in time for the dance, but most Atlas students didn't get to come until later." She lamented
"How's your year been, Remi? I know it must've been tough going to Atlas and all…" Seraphina trailed off for Remi to jump in.
"Tell me about it! Everyone in Atlas is so strict, like, I get that it's a military school but we're still just kids! Plus, the whole school is run with General Ironwood's 'might equals right' philosophy so John has been given a lot of freedom…" Remi said.
"John, huh? How's he been?" Seraphina said with an unsure tone, eyes avoiding Remi's.
"Ever since you left, he seems to have made it his personal mission to be as big of a jerk as humanly possible. Making me, Blyke, and Arlo do his dirty work and calling us useless if we fail, whether or not he could do it. Beating on other students, generally being a nuisance to everyone but the teachers, he's been pretty bad." Remi explained with a small frown marring her features.
"Don't worry, I took some time to think about it and I think it'll be best if I set things straight with him at the Vytal Festival. I'll give him a good punch in the face and knock some sense into him." Seraphina said with a clenched face and a determined look on her face.
A smile replaced the frown on Remi's face as she let out a small snort at her friend's corny declaration. "Alright! I'm counting on you then." Remi said, placing a hand on Seraphina's shoulder. "I should probably head back before my team gets worried. Good luck on your mission tomorrow." She said as she began to walk back into the building.
"Same to you, I'll see you at the festival." Seraphina said, bidding her old friend farewell. Looking towards the stars before heading in, Seraphina had a thought.
'This is gonna be an interesting tournament.'
-GoR-
Waking up the next morning to the sun shining and the birds chirping bode well for Team JS. Waking up and getting dressed in their combat gear, they headed to their assigned airship. Making it to their airship wasn't an issue as everyone was pretty organized in their procedures. They didn't know who the huntsman they shadowing would be was as it was intentionally kept a mystery, so they'd be prepared for anyone.
Spotting Team RWBY as they approached the airship, Mori was about to call out to them with a morning greeting. He was cut off by a familiar professor beating him to the punch, however.
"Good morning, girls! Are you ready to go on an adventure!" Professor Oobleck greeted with a dramatic turn. Professor Oobleck was a tall man with green hair that spiked in all directions. He had on pure white spectacles and was normally dressed in formal attire barring a dress coat. Now, he was dressed in traditional safari gear, donning a long brown trench coat and a beige vest underneath. To complete his outfit, he had on a large brown backpack and a light brown pith helmet. He was also usually hyped up on coffee to the point of moving at high speeds. An… interesting fellow.
Upon seeing this, all of Team RWBY and Team JS had a sweatdrop as a thought crossed all of their minds in tandem.
'This is gonna be a long two weeks…'
Chapter 7 End
AN: And that's chapter 7 knocked out! As we draw closer to the highly anticipated Vytal Festival, certain characters begin to move in the foreground as well as the background. We all know how this is going to go but I thought it would be interesting to add a few more conflicts into the background of the main story.
As for the characters: I'm gonna be honest, I didn't really plan to have Remi or Ilpyo appear in this chapter but then I re-watched this part of the show and saw all of the exchange students met before the mission. I made up for it by delaying Ilpyo's confrontation with Mori until a better time, but I didn't want to hold back on Seraphina's meeting with Remi.
As for the story: I read a few reviews saying that the pacing was too fast so I'm gonna take this time to apologize for that. I didn't really realize it until you guys pointed it out, so from here on out I'm going to take this opportunity to slow it down a little. I'm gonna try and focus a little more on character interactions and fleshing out the story than speeding through the story. I'm also gonna try and correct a few plot holes that weren't addressed in the series. I'm not sure if I've said this, but this story will be an AU although the AU elements won't take hold until the late stages of the Vytal Festival.
Anyways, that's enough out of me. Thanks for reading a reviewing and thanks for getting the story to over 100 followers! I really appreciate it because I never imagined my fanfic would be that big so thank you all and I'll see you next time.
-Mango G