The God of Remnant Chapter 8: Journey to the Southeast
" " – Dialogue
' ' – Thinking
Vale - Location
"Renewal Taekwondo" – Technique
Team RWBY's Airship
The cabin of the airship was filled with the back and forth chatter of both teams as they discussed a strategy at the behest of their leading huntsman. The timeline they had been given had them spending 6 days in the city and 6 days in the city's subway cave system, with a day of rest before and after the latter 6 days. Considering the city's circular shape, they had decided to split the city into 6 areas and thoroughly search one per day. Given that it would take them until late afternoon to land, they decided to focus mostly on base establishment on day one.
"Should we split up when it comes to searching each area? Like breaking off into smaller teams to search smaller buildings and regrouping for larger ones?" Blake asked the group, receiving a chorus of affirmatives at her sound suggestion.
"That sounds good, we should split off into the pairs decided at initiation for the greatest synergy. I don't think experimenting in the field would be the best idea…" Weiss added
"We should also take into consideration where we're gonna camp. Should we do it at the center of the city? Or maybe we should do a mobile camp…" Seraphina intonated.
Oobleck sat there, watching his students studiously create their plan with a hint of pride in his features. Thinking of the task ahead wiped the smile from his face, however. Thinking of the possible scenarios in which they would encounter the White Fang made him worry. The possibility that the upper echelon of the organization would be present weighed on him heavily.
"We're about 10 minutes out from the DZ." The pilot said over the cabin intercom, breaking Oobleck from his thoughts.
Shoving the dark hypotheticals into the back of his mind, Oobleck took a breath and addressed his students. Having them explain the plan to him, he was surprised that they were able to come up with such a solid plan on the fly.
They had decided to spend the rest of the day from when they landed securing a circular perimeter in which they could spend every night. They figured that keeping their base in one location could reduce their chances of being ambushed, as they could plant traps and familiarize themselves with the area to spot any irregularities. Just in case, they would have an alternating watchman to make doubly sure of their safety. They also already planned out the sleeping arrangements with their planned curfew at 11 with each of them taking an hour watch before setting off at 6 the next morning.
"That's a solid plan but if I may make a single change, it's that I would like to be the one to set the traps and survey the area before we rest." A request which everyone aboard was willing to oblige.
"We're about 1 minute out so I advise you all to prepare to disembark. Remember, I'll swing back around in an hour to drop off your supplies so make sure to clear a landing zone by then." The pilot once again interceded, prompting everyone to line up at the back door. They waited until the aircraft had reached a suitable height as well as for the bay door to open, and with Oobleck leading the charge began to leap out one after another.
In a strange callback to initiation, everyone had to come up with their own landing strategies on the fly. Through various methods such as Mori's Kinto'un and Weiss's glyphs, everyone made it to the ground safely. Landing in the center of the city, the landing zone was mostly bare. They had chosen to land in an overgrown park that spanned a small section of the area. The only large building of note was the nearby city Library which stood out among what appeared to have been a shopping district. One thing stood out as odd, however.
"Ms. Rose, I believe you were supposed to leave your belongings on the ship until they come back around, so why is it that you have that backpack?" Oobleck asked with an air of indignity at the girl already not following directions.
"Oh! Um… Well you see…" She began but was interrupted by a loud bark as a familiar black and white dog peeked his head out of the backpack.
"A dog?!" Oobleck and Mori both yelled out at seeing the canine. In response, Zwei let out a friendly bark towards Oobleck but seemed to hold a glare towards Mori as he began to growl. Surprisingly, Mori returned the growl in kind as he glared right back at the dog with an intense disdain. Seraphina took the time to snap a picture of the comical scene, suppressing a laugh despite the situation.
"Let me get this straight. You knew you'd be heading out into a dangerous area that would not only be extremely dangerous but requires the utmost of focus to survive in and you brought a dog along?" Oobleck questioned with a stern tone, holding an intense look at the leader of team RWBY, who now very much looked like a child under his intense gaze.
"…Yes sir…" Ruby confirmed with a weak voice as she awaited whatever punishment Oobleck had in mind for her.
"Simply brilliant!" Oobleck praised, much to Ruby's great surprise.
"I know, I'm sor- wait what?" Ruby backtracked as Oobleck picked up Zwei and began examining him.
"Yes! Yes! This was a wonderful idea Ms. Rose! Bringing a canine companion into the field will not only allow us to utilize his sharp instincts to tread safer, but also allow us to track the enemy more effectively!" Oobleck praised while playing with the now happily panting Zwei.
"Hehe…" Ruby let out as she sheepishly basked in the praise. Weiss could only facepalm in response as anyone could tell this is not how Ruby planned it.
"anyways, we have much work to do and less than an hour to do it so we should get to it." Oobleck said, refocusing the group on the task at hand. "There are now eight of us so we should append our plan accordingly and all split into groups of two. You will all split into your initiation groups and I will take the dog with me. I will assign each of you directions, and you will clear those areas in a hundred-meter radius from this point, is that clear?" He asked the students and received a chorus of 'Yes, Sir's. "Team RW, you will take the east-southeast. Team BY will take South-southwest. Team JS will take West-northwest. And I will take North-northeast. Any questions?" Not getting any responses, Oobleck dismissed them and everyone was off to their areas.
-GoR-
Clearing out the area Oobleck requested turned out to be easier than the group expected. The grimm presence in the center of the city was much weaker than any of them had expected. The distinct lack of large buildings made it a little obvious, but caution dictated that they assume the enemy was everywhere.
Returning to the park within the given hour wasn't too tall of a task for any of the burgeoning hunters as they all reappeared at the designated spot one after another. Their speed was nothing compared to that of the speedy professional hunter, however, as by the time the slowest group of Ruby and Weiss showed up, Oobleck had enough time to write a whole 10 pages into his field journal.
"Great job, everyone!" Oobleck congratulated at the first minor success of their mission. "Now that we've surveyed the area and have some extra time before our supplies are delivered. Where should we set up camp? We previously decided on the center of the city but now that we've touched the ground, does anyone have any grievances with the decision?" Oobleck questioned his students to gauge their survival knowledge.
"I say we camp in the library as it's the largest building nearby and even disregarding its state of relative repair, it would give us the space to fight in a pinch." Blake reasoned to which she received a nod of approval from Oobleck.
"Great choice and reasoning, Ms. Belladonna. I was checking to see if any of you would suggest we stay in this forest because while it does provide cover, it also provides just as many disadvantageous blind spots." Oobleck explained to idle group.
Hearing the airship approaching, Oobleck silently waited with his team while the pilot brought the ship to a gently landing in the clearing they first disembarked into. Quickly boarding the ship and grabbing all of their supplies, the team was out, and the ship was taking off again in less than 2 minutes. This too was something they had refined in survival training, after all.
"Alright, everyone stay in formation behind me. We may have cleared the area out but that is no reason to let down your guard!" Oobleck warned as he began to lead the way to the library with his students forming a loose line behind him.
Quickly making their way towards the library, the group found themselves in awe of the architecture of the place. The large gray building had several columns in front of it, all supporting the roof from their position atop a large ser of stairs. A couple of the pillars had crumbled, leaving large portions of the entrance covered in rubble such that a majority of the threshold was unusable. This was of little consequence to the group, however, as they simply weaved through the debris.
Entering the library, nobody was surprised to see that the interior was ravaged. The claw marks adorning the walls and floors as well as the decaying wood of what much have been bookshelves painted a clear picture of the causes. The many broken windows that laid high on the walls allowed a good deal of light to enter the building, allowing them a clear look at most of the large room. The few corners that were still hidden in shadow were few and far in-between, giving the building a sense of security.
Sad eyes roaming the destruction around him, Oobleck took a deep breath and shook his head before heading to a spot where there was a distinct lack of debris. Dropping his backpack, he turned to address his young charges. "This looks like a relatively good place to stop." He announced. "The ground here seems sturdy and the ceiling appears to be in good condition, so we need not worry about being buried. The abundance of old wood appears to be extremely dry, optimal for firewood." Oobleck droned on effectively in 'lecture mode'.
"So, what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Mori asked, his normal tone would almost make one think he wasn't in a tug-o-war with a corgi for his bag. It would seem they really were not going to get along.
"Glad you asked, Mr. Jin. For the remainder of daylight, which is about four more hours, we will all thoroughly comb an area which we cleared out earlier. This time, instead of looking for grimm, we will be looking for artifacts of historical significance! Quite exhilarating wouldn't you agree?" Oobleck explained with a large smile on his face.
He was the only one with a smile on his face however as the teenagers in his presence had to keep from groaning at the tone in which he announced their 'fun' activity.
"We'll take a thirty-minute break for lunch, so you all can replenish the energy you've spent thus far. And then we'll head out." Oobleck instructed as he sat down and brought out one of his packed MREs.
Everyone followed his lead and began to bring out their own meal kits with their mental image of them all raiding a White Fang base becoming further away by the second.
The first day turned out to be completely uneventful as none of them found anything of note. Thus, after the sun began to set, everyone returned to the library, set up camp and once again followed Oobleck for their last lesson of the day, trap setting.
-GoR-
Roman Torchwick was happy. With the way that the man conducted himself, one would think this is a state he constantly found himself in but that was untrue. Normally, Roman held a façade of happiness to throw off his opponents, baiting them into anger that would fuel mistakes at vital moments. This , however, was the rare, genuine happiness that accompanied an operation that actually seemed to be going well. A rarity since he encountered that red nuisance a few months back.
"How's the loading going?" Torchwick asked one of his White Fang partners. This White Fang member wasn't helping move the product; he instead stood with a clipboard and directed his brothers and sisters on where and how to load the product.
The product, of course, was dust. Pure, unrefined dust that had been painstakingly collected over the course of the last few months for this specific operation.
"We're moving along faster than expected. At the current rate we're going, we should be able to head out in a week's time." The White Fang director informed as he pointed another of is brothers to the appropriate train car.
"Wonderful. I'll leave you to it then." Roman said, patting the White Fang member on the back before retreating to his personal tent.
In his admittedly large tent, he had a full bed with a large desk across from it. On the desk, lied the documents detailing the operation, such as the timeline and the approximate costs of the entire thing. A figure was seated at his desk, awaiting his return with a grin on her face while she read over the operation details.
"Oh, Neo. When'd you get here?" Roman asked the woman to which he received a playful look and a nonchalant shrug in response.
The woman sitting at his desk is his partner-in-crime, Neopolitan. Neo is a petite woman a few inches shorter than even Ruby. She wears a white cropped wide, broad tailed jacket with a pink interior, collar, a single gold button and large pink cuffs. She wears brown pants with a dark belt that has a gray buckle and an additional narrow belt under it. Under her jacket is a brown corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also wears a multitude of black beaded necklaces, which hang haphazardly around her neck. Neo also wears black and white spat styled under the knee boots alongside black gloves.
Getting up from her place at Roman's desk, she approached him with a look that said 'so, what now?'
"We should be good to go in about a week's time." He said, not even taking a moment to understand her look. "This is going unusually smoothly but we should still be careful of interruptions from the primary colors, as they tend to pop up where you least expect 'em." Roman half-joked, getting a giggle motion out of the petite woman. 'In the meantime, I'll get some guard rotations set up to make sure the grimm don't interfere.' Roman thought offhandedly.
Mind made, Roman sat at his desk and began to diligently plan the finer details of the next few days to ensure that all went as planned.
-GoR-
-5th Day of the Mission-
Today marked the fifth day that Team RWBYJS (name pending) were out in the field. Having not encountered too heavy of a grimm presence made their mission go by without a hitch. Like they had discussed, they split the city into six equally sized sectors to search. They had started with the sector to the northeast and began going in a clockwise pattern, landing them in the southwest sector currently.
They were currently split into teams of two in order to search the large area more effectively as travelling in a large group heeded less advantages. This time was a little different though, as this time Bartholomew Oobleck was accompanying each pair one by one. He left his usual partner in the care of his owner, Ruby, so he could avoid…certain conflicts. Currently, he was accompanying Team JS on their search, helping to dispatch any grimm along the way.
"Mr. Jin, would you mind searching the rest of the building to make sure we've taken care of all of the grimm?" He requested, having just eliminated the last grimm on the floor they were on.
"No prob." Mori agreed as he headed towards the stairs to ascend the multi-floor building.
Once Mori had vacated the floor, Oobleck turned to Seraphina who had already begun searching the floor for anything of note. "Ms. Seraphina, if you wouldn't mind, I have a question I'd like to ask before we begin our search." Oobleck requested of the girl.
"Sure, what's up prof?" Seraphina said, standing up from her crouched position to regard the man.
"Disregarding the fact that my tile is Doctor, I will proceed. I wanted to ask why it is you want to become a huntress?" Oobleck asked with a tone that was equally serious as it was inviting.
Not expecting a question like that, Seraphina raised an eyebrow at it. "Not that it's a secret or anything but why do you wanna know?" Seraphina asked.
"Simply my own curiosity in what drives the next generation of Beacon's prospective hunters, I suppose." Oobleck answered, pushing up his glasses.
"Gotcha. Well, fair warning, my reasoning isn't anything grand." She lightly warned before continuing. "I just wanted to do something other than be groomed to lead a company, if that makes sense? I saw a future that I absolutely didn't want so I searched for another path that I could take, Then I discovered the world of hunters. People just free to do whatever they wanted without having to listen to anything or anyone and then my choice became clear. Is that good enough for you, Prof?" She said, emphasizing the title with a small grin on her face.
Ignoring the girl's bait Oobleck gained a small smile of his own. "That is a fine reason for wanting to become a huntress. Forging one's own path in the name of freedom is a great and fairly common reason for becoming a huntress. I wish you luck in your chosen path and I hope you find happiness at the end of your chosen road. For now, though, it looks like Mr. Jin has finished inspecting the building." He said just as Mori re-entered the room and gave them a thumbs up while he walked over.
" Building's clear, did you guys find anything while I was looking around?" He asked, hoping their time was better spent than his.
"Nah, nothing yet. Let's keep looking though, there's probably something of worth in one of these filing cabinets." Seraphina said as she and Mori began searching once again.
-GoR-
-That night-
Team RWBYJS was currently back at their campsite. It was still early at night, so everyone was awake, laying or sitting around the campfire. Oobleck was the only one missing as it was his assigned watch time.
"You guys still awake?" Seraphina tried.
"Yup/Yeah" She got in response, one voice being notably absent.
"Mori?" She asked to which she got no response. Turning over, she found that her partner was the only one asleep. His sleeping mask was pulled over his face and he was sprawled out on his sleeping mat, lightly snoring without a care in the world.
"Anyways." She said to refocus herself. "Did Oobleck ask you guys why you wanted to become huntresses?" She asked, curious if she got exclusive treatment.
"Yea, it was kind of weird because he was oddly serious about it." Yang said with a furrowed brow.
"it was kind of strange because nobody really asks you that sort of thing, you know?" Weiss said, to which the other girls agreed.
"So, what did you guys say to him?" Ruby asked, now curious since everyone had to answer. "I've wanted to become a huntress from the time Yang used to read me bed time stories about them. Huntresses are always the heroes, so I've decided that I'm gonna live up to that no matter what." Ruby said with a rare confidence for the girl.
"Aw! Aren't you juts the cutest?" Yang said, scooping Ruby into a tight hug that earned her a small yell of protest.
"What about you, Yang?" Ruby asked mid-struggle. Causing Yang to pause and sparing Ruby from her 'wrath' for a moment.
"Well, I'm a thrill seeker. The life of a huntress is filled with constant action so it's definitely one that I knew I wanted from the start." She replied with her usual vigor. Blake eyed her with slight suspicion at her answer but dropped it as Weiss was asked next.
"Me? I've always admired huntresses. They're strong and brave and fight for what they believe in, and I couldn't think of anything else I'd rather do in with my life." She said with a small giggle at how simple her reasoning was. "You're the same way, right Seraphina?"
"Sorta, but I'm also a of the freedom that comes with the job because staying in one place is definitely not the life for me." She elaborated, laying back down as she did so.
"You've been awfully quiet, Blake. I think we all already have a rough idea, but why do you want to be a huntress?" She asked in a similar way to Oobleck.
"Well you probably assumed it had to do with the White Fang, which is right, but I've changed my perspective since coming to Beacon. At first, I just wanted to run from them, to shut them out of my life. As I've learned very well in the last few months though, that's gonna near impossible. In light of that, I think I'm going to try and change the White Fang back to how they used to be. How? I don't know but that's why I'm going to become a huntress and figure it out." She said with a new determination burning in her eye as she stared into the campfire. Realizing what she just said, Blake blinked and looked up to see the stunned faces of everyone that heard her declaration.
"W-what?" She said with a blush forming on her face at the special attention.
Weiss was the first to speak up, "It's just that… I can't recall the last time you were so open with what you were thinking. It was…nice." She said, trying to convey the rare feeling.
"Hopefully it becomes a lot more common because we're gonna need to be on the same page if we're gonna be doing something like changing the White Fang." Yang said with a grin towards Blake.
"We?" Blake parroted.
"Yes, we. We're all gonna help each other along the way, right?" She said, looking out among the others and receiving nods in response. "Besides, reverting an organization back to it's peacefully protesting roots is something straight out of a storybook, right Ruby?" She said, looking towards her sister and only just noticing that she was lightly snoring.
"I think our leader has the right idea, we're gonna need a lot of energy for tomorrow so we should turn in. Goodnight, girls." Weiss said, laying down in her sleeping bag.
One by one, the girls blissfully faded from reality into the land of dreams, yet unaware of the impending dangers lurking below.
-GoR-
-The Next Day (6th Day of Team RWBYJS' Mission)-
Roman was ecstatic. Previously he was happy but now he was absolutely elated. This operation actually seemed to be going his way. They were currently moving even faster than previously expected, with loading set to complete by early afternoon tomorrow.
Walking with a hop in his step, Roman made his way to the front of the train. Passing by the cars in the back, he ignored the loud banging and growling that was contained within. Once he reached the front car, he climbed into the door and found his way to the controls. Checking the energy levels and making sure that everything worked as it should, Roman had to contain his laughter.
Nothing could stop them now.
Above Ground
-Same Time-
Mori Jin was usually a very upbeat person. Ever since he was born, he could scarcely remember a time when he didn't have a large grin on his face to brighten the day.
Today was one of the rare occasions where he didn't have said grin.
Having been tasked with spending more time with that cursed beast referred to as Zwei in order to build better relations is the last thing he wanted to do. Dogs and cats were just beings he couldn't see himself getting along with and the feelings seemed to be mutual. Changing that wasn't in his plans and he could live with that.
Utilizing Zwei's advanced nose, he and Mori were tasked with hunting down any grimm that may be lurking around. So far, it had been as close to pleasant as one could expect. Zwei barks when he has something and Mori kicks that something. Simple. The problem came when Zwei began barking up a storm and Mori was on high alert because of it, only to find out the dog just had to go number 2… for the third time.
"Oi, are you messing with me or something?" Mori asked the dog with a tick mark forming at the sinister puppy dog eyes he was given in response.
"I swear, one day I'm going to…" He was interrupted by Zwei suddenly turning and growling in the opposite direction of him.
"What is it? Another grimm?" He asked the dog, his only response being more growling and taking on an aggressive stance.
Mori's question was soon answered, though, as two figures came around a corner about 50 feet from where he was standing. It only took him a second to identify the uniform the two figures were clad in as the white mask and black garb was a dead giveaway.
Grabbing Zwei with the dog giving a small sound of protest and hiding behind the nearest corner, mori took an unusually cautious approach to this. 'The White Fang? What are they doing here?' He though to himself as the two figures briefly inspected the area before proceeding in a different direction. 'Were they just scouts? That must mean their base is somewhere in this area… I should tell the others ASAP!' He thought.
As Mori was going through this thought process, he failed to notice Zwei getting more and more fed up as time went on. Right as Mori finished his thought about contacting his friends, Zwei decided he'd had enough and bit the monkey faunus on his arm.
Letting out a yelp of pain, Mori stumbled out of his hiding spot and began to shake his arm with Zwei still biting, a vicious spark in his eye. "Hey, let go! Stop biting me damn it!" He commanded to no avail as he was forced to start wrestling the canine.
His wrestling with Zwei caused them to roll around on the dilapidated road, heedless of where they ended up. Soon, they found themselves on the section of the road the White Fang patrol had been on. Not noticing the loud cracks that accompanied their arrival, the two proceeded in their physical contest. Finally prying the pest off of him, Mori let out a small cheer as he sent the small creature flying. His cheer was short lived as the ground beneath him gave way, sending him screaming into the dark depths.
Zwei, regaining his bearings, stood back up ready to fight once more. Noticing a distinct lack of monkey in the area worried the dog, though. Moving over to the giant whole that swallowed the faunus up, he sent down two cautionary barks and waited. Receiving no response, he began to run to where he smelled his owner's scent.
For even if he was annoying, the stupid monkey didn't deserve to die.
-GoR-
Mori was no stranger to falling. He did it all the time, after all. Initiation and the start of this mission being two notable occasions. Dropping down a deep, dark whole that he didn't know the depth of was definitely a new one though.
Thinking fast, "Kinto'un!" He called out.
Only for nothing to appear. He tried twice more; each cry more desperate than the last before giving up on that strategy. Wracking his brain for a second, Mori got a crazy idea that just might work. Reaching into his ear, he fished out his reliable weapon and held it horizontally before thinking.
'Extend!'
The effect was immediate as the staff extended equally on both sides. The staff extended 3 feet in each direction before both sides encountered resistance. They brought his fall to a screeching halt as displaced stone from either side of him fell below. Hearing the stones hit the ground quickly caused Mori to look down and notice that he was only about ten feet off the ground.
Cutting his losses, the monkey faunus allowed his staff to return to its normal length as he braced himself to land. Landing with a loud crash that dented the ground, Mori stood up to his full height and noticed an important detail. "Why are the lights on down here?" He asked no one.
"Don't move!" He got in response.
Turning around slowly, Mori saw a platoon of 20 White Fang soldiers, all pointing assault rifles at him. His response was one typical of Mori Jin.
"Bring it on!" He said, charging the group.
Roman Torchwick's day was about to go from great to absolutely deplorable.
Chapter 8 End
AN: Man, it's been a minute since I've updated. Three weeks was the longest I'd gone without updating but this time I think I broke my record with about three and a half weeks. That being said, I'm sorry it took so long but I hope you enjoyed chapter 8 of this wild ride.
There wasn't much action in this chapter as it was mostly just character interactions, but the plot moves on. I'm planning on having a similar chapter after the breach but not advancing the plot so much so the characters can develop a little more to my liking.
I'm seeing a lot of you guys wondering about the GoH elements that have currently been shown and how they tie in, but for now all I can say is you'll have to wait. They all tie into the story in one way or another and the only way to answer about it would be spoiling the story. That being said, after the Vytal Festival (if not during) is where the AU elements will start to take full effect so beware of that if you're a fan of canon. That's still a little way off so I wouldn't worry about it though.
All of this to say: Thanks for reading and reviewing and otherwise supporting the story and I'll be back before Christmas with the next one. For sure.
-Mango G.