BlazBlue is owned by Arc System Works and RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth. Please Support the official release.
Thanks to SwapAUAnon, Gladsome Praetorian, and GamerJay for Beta Reading this chapter and providing feedback and advice.
Okay, this next chapter is gonna be the one to wrap up this whole initiation, so it's gonna be much, much longer than a usual post. It's also gonna have more POV shifts than previously, so be weary of that.
Chapter 10: Team-ups and Takedowns.
"Alright feather face! Soon as I get out of this, I'm ripping those fucking wings off!"
"RAGNA! NOT HELPING!"
"NEITHER IS LETTING THIS FUCKING THING FLY US AROUND!"
At the moment, Ragna's frustration had reached an apex as they were flown around by the large Nevermore that decided to piss on his day even further. He'd basically been doing his own thing, killing off whatever Grimm decided to screw with him, and making his way to the forest's relics. Ruby kept whining about "working together" and "letting her help", but that wasn't his problem. She couldn't carry her weight? Why should he let that stop him.
Unfortunately, amidst all the arguing he and his partner did, they managed to attract this obnoxious bird to them and it scooped them up for an unwanted ride. And now they were just flying around, probably getting taken back to wherever the Nevermore set up its roost so it could kill them there.
I can work with that. Soon as this feathered fuck lets us go, I jam Aramasa right down its throat, Ragna thought to himself as he savored the idea of tearing this thing's head off.
"Hey Ragna!" Ruby yelled over the wind roaring in his ear. "I got an idea!"
"Save it brat!" Ragna shouted back. "Soon as this thing drops us, I'm killing it myself!"
"Look Ragna! Can you just hear me out FOR ONCE! I think I know how to kill this thing and get us to where the relics are!" Ruby yelled back.
Ragna was about to yell at her to fuck off, but before he could, the gears in his head started turning. The Nevermore takes them back to its roost, he kills it, but then what? Bird bastard probably lives way further off from where the initiation is. If he kills it then, he and Ruby would be too far off from the initiation site to finish in time. They'd probably be declared KIA or just get kicked out of Beacon for failing the initiation if they did come back.
Granted, Ragna honestly didn't care about being here. It was basically something his master forced him to do (after his master kicked his ass in a sparing match on a bet regarding coming to this place), wanting him to "make friends", "grow up", and "socialize" or some shit like that. But while he didn't care about this place or being here, Ruby, on the other hand...
Gods fucking dammit, Ragna thought to himself. "Fine!" He then yelled to Ruby, "The Hell's your bright idea anyway!?"
Ruby seemed to smile brightly despite her predicament. "Okay! First, we need to get out of this thing's talons!"
"I ALREADY KNEW THAT, DAMMIT!"
"JUST WATCH!" Ruby then managed to get her hands free, both of them holding on to her weapon. She then clung one hand tight to the talon and the other to the trigger on her gun as she aimed up at the bird's underbelly and fired. The Nevermore's flight path was disturbed before it continued. Ruby kept firing and as she did, Ragna felt the talon holding him loosen. Realizing what his partner was doing, Ragna grabbed onto the claw and prepared for the moment the Nevermore would let go.
"SCRRAAAAWW!"
The Nevermore cried in pain as it let go of its prey, clearly hoping that they'd fall to the forest floor far below and die. Unfortunately for it, both Ragna and Ruby were now holding onto its legs as it flew.
"Okay! Now we need to get onto its back!" Ruby yelled out.
"And just how the Hell are we supposed to do that!?" Ragna asked.
"Like this!" Ruby then turned her weapon into its scythe mode from earlier and impaled it into the Grimm's flesh, causing it to cry in pain as Ragna held on tight to its leg. Seeing his partner use her weapon to climb the Nevermore, Ragna drew his weapon into a reverse grip and drove it into the Grimm as well, using his other hand to grab its feathered body as he climbed to the back. Repeatedly stabbing the Grimm did make it a challenge though, given that it kept trying to shake them off, but he managed to get to its back along with Ruby.
Holding on to the back of the Nevermore, Ragna yelled, "Great, now we're on its back! What now, just get it to fly us to the relics!?"
"Yeah, pretty much!" Ruby said with a smile.
"And just how the fuck are you gonna make this thing fly us there!?" Ragna incredulously asked, not seeing where she was going with this.
"LIKE THIS!" Ruby then drew her scythe again and impaled the Grimm, but this time she stood up and drove the scythe's blade even further into the Nevermore's back. The Grimm once again flew erratically as if to try and shake them, but Ragna held tighter as Ruby drove her scythe further into the beast's back. She then twisted the blade, moving its handle to the right and making the Nevermore cry in agony. Much to Ragna's surprise, this also caused the monster to turn to the left slightly, as if trying to follow the blade to lessen its pain.
"Oh, I get what you're getting at." Ragna said, realizing Ruby's plan. He then drew Aramasa and shifted it to scythe mode as well. Much like Ruby, he impaled the metal blade into the Grimm's back, once more causing it to wail in pain as it tried divebombing for a brief second to shake the students off, but both of them and their weapons held tight.
"Alright! So now we just gotta get this thing to where the relics are!" Ragna yelled with a smirk on his face.
"Yep!" Ruby said with a more exuberant and chirpy smile. "Look!" Ragna looked where she was pointing and saw the cliffs where Ozpin and Goodwitch resided far in the distance.
"He said that the relics were opposite to those cliffs, right!? So we just gotta fly opposite from them and look for where they are!"
"Huh, fuckin' A." Ragna replied. "Alright, let's go!"
The two of them turned their weapons in unison, forcing the Nevermore to fly them to where the relics may be. All the while it kept struggling so as to knock them both off.
Well, looks like we made it, Makoto thought as she and Blake found themselves staring at a stone ruin in the center of a grassy forest clearing.
"Y'know, this place was a lot easier to find than I thought it was going to be." Makoto thought as she and Blake jumped down from the small cliff they were on.
"I suppose the hard part of the initiation was supposed to be all the Grimm in the forest." Blake said as the two of them walked into the stone ruin. Makoto looked around and saw numerous chess pieces set on platforms in a circular position. From how it looked, it seemed like there were two of the same piece in either black and white. It looked like a few of them were already missing. If these were the relics, then some of the others must have gotten here before they did.
"So...do we just pick one each and start heading back? Or do we have to choose something specific?" Makoto asked Blake, unsure how exactly this worked.
Blake hummed to herself and looked at the individual chess pieces that remained. She then walked to one of the platforms and picked out a white rook piece.
"Well, it looks like that's that." Blake said as she looked around. "I guess we should head ba-"
There was a sudden rustling of foliage that caused both Makoto and Blake to turn to the source of the sound. They saw two familiar figures walking towards the small temple clearing. One was that Weiss girl from the locker rooms earlier, the other...
Makoto's eyes brightened as she ran forward to greet her friend, "TSUBAKI!"
Said girl then looked up from the circular thing in her hands with widened eyes as Makoto launched herself right at her. Surprisingly and impressively, Tsubaki managed to not fall to the floor and stand tall as she returned Makoto's hug with all the strength she could muster up.
"Good..to see...you to...Ma...ko..." and it was at that moment from her friend's lack of breath that Makoto realized she was accidentally crushing her. Realizing this, she immediately let go.
"Heh, sorry Tsu. Got a little excited." Makoto said as she rubbed the back of her head. Rustling from behind her indicated that Blake had moved to her side as well. "So where have you been? Seen Noel anywhere?"
At that, Tsubaki shook her head. "No, I didn't find her anywhere. We tried calling out to her on the way here, but we didn't see or hear her anywhere. She must have landed farther off from us."
"Shit," Makoto said as she looked to the side, away from the small group that had now formed. As she looked back, she sighed and said, "Well, guess all we can hope is she got paired off with either Ruby or Yan-"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
She was suddenly stopped by the sound of shotgun fire as she and the rest of the impromptu group looked towards the direction of the sound. She equipped her tonfas as each of the others brandished their respective weapons, expecting a fight.
The gun blasts continued as a Boarbatusk was sent flying out of the trees and onto its back; a scarlet-haired woman in gladiator-style armor jumped out of the trees the Grimm had just came from, landing on top of its stomach and impaling it with her sword. The woman then stood up and Makoto immediately recognized her; the illustrious Pyrrha Nikos.
"Hey! I wanted to kill that one!" A voice Makoto recognized called out to the champion. Sure enough, Yang ran out of the trees and stood right next to Pyrrha, stopping to catch her breath.
"I'm sorry. I wanted to end the fight as fast as I could, so I needed to make a quick follow up." Pyrrha said apologetically to her boisterous partner.
"YO, YANG!" Makoto called out to the blonde. Said blonde and her partner then turned face the group that had just formed. Upon seeing Makoto, Yang smiled.
"Hey, Makoto." She then ran up to the group with Pyrrha in tow. When they got to them, Makoto raised her fist towards Yang expecting a fist bump, which the blonde gladly gave. "Good to see you." Yang said.
"Same here." Makoto replied, before her face became somewhat worried. "Any chance you ran into Noel around here?"
Yang shook her head in reply, "Sorry Makoto, wasn't exactly looking for anyone besides Ruby."
"Pyrrha Nikos."
The two then turned to Weiss, who was now looking at Pyrrha with a look of...reverence? "It's an honor to meet you. I'm Weiss Schnee, but you can just call me Weiss." The Schnee said with the biggest smile she had ever seen on her face and holding out her hand for Pyrrha to shake.
"Nice to meet you as well, Weiss." Pyrrha said in a calm, neutral tone, but Makoto could tell from the look in her eyes that she was rather uncomfortable with the attention the Schnee gave her.
"No, the pleasure is all mine. It's truly an honor to meet a masterful fighter and champion such as yourself." Weiss replied. From Makoto's perspective, it almost looked like Weiss had stars in her eyes.
I can't tell if Schnee's trying to kiss up to Pyrrha or just plain kiss her, Makoto thought to herself.
A roaring sound emitted from trees further in the distance. The group then turned to see an Ursa wobbling towards them, only to fall down and reveal another student who presumably killed it.
"Ah man. I broke it."
The student said as she looked over her kill. Said student was an orange-haired girl with blue eyes wearing a black sleeveless vest and a white t-shirt with a heart-shaped cut out that exposed a bit of her cleavage in addition to a pink skirt with white boots. She also wore silver armor that seemed to wrap around her waist, chest, and neck, as well as pink, fingerless gloves on her hands with white sleeves covering her elbows. In her hands was a large white war-hammer.
"Nora!" A male voice called out, followed by said man walking up to the girl, now named Nora. The man was raven-haired with pink eyes and a pink streak going through his hair. He wore a green tailcoat with black and gold trim with pink trim at the edge of the sleeves, as well as white pants and black boots. In his hands were a pair of green fire arms with blades attached to them.
"Don't...EVER...do that...again..." The man said, panting and trying to catch his breath. Not seeing that the girl had already wandered off to the stands holding the relics.
She then picked out one of said relics (from the looks of it, the same one Blake picked out) and proceeded to...sing?
"I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE! I'M QUEEN OF THE CAST-"
"NORA!"
"Coming Ren!"
The exasperated yell from the man, now known as Ren, broke Nora out of...whatever that was supposed to be, as she excitedly saluted and skipped back to her partner with the relic in tow.
"Okay, that was officially, the weirdest thing I've seen at Beacon so far." Makoto said out loud to no one in particular.
"Agreed." said Weiss.
"No arguments there." from Tsubaki.
"Yep." Blake.
"Amen to that." Yang.
"Definitely." Pyrrha.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
What sounded like a pair of two loud, girlish, high pitched squeals come out from another corner of the clearing, once more causing everyone to turn to the source. Out of the trees ran...
Noel!, Makoto thought as she saw her friend running towards the entire group. Accompanying Noel was some blonde, scraggily boy with white armor, jeans, and a black t-shirt who was somehow screaming at a higher octave than Noel.
The two of them stopped right in front of the group, both of them gasping for breath as their heads faced the floor. Immediately seeking to comfort her friend, Makoto moved up and placed her hands onto Noel's shoulders, getting her to look at her in the eyes. Tsubaki followed suit, walking up to them and rubbing Noel's back to help calm her. Out of the corner of her eye, Makoto could see Pyrrha comforting the blonde guy for some reason.
"Okay Noel, breath." Makoto said as her friend stopped gasping and breathed in and out. "What happened?"
"B-b-b-bug. Gi-gi-giant b-b-b-bug." Noel stammered out as she pointed to where she ran from.
Tsubaki then opened her mouth to question Noel, but then they heard the sound of rustling trees and breaking bark from the same area of the forest that Noel and her partner just ran out of. From the sound of it and look of it, entire trees were being knocked down by whatever was chasing them.
Blake and Tsubaki were the first to have their weapons drawn. "Everyone, get ready." Both of them said almost in unison. Makoto re-equipped her tonfas as everyone else drew their weapons, including the scraggily blonde, who just had a sword and shield. Noel drew her guns, but stayed in the very back of the group.
As the trees fell down, Makoto saw the Grimm that Noel was talking about. It was an enormous scorpion Grimm with an amber stinger. It's body and claws covered in bone armor with its ten orange eyes staring at them like a predator to its prey. A Death Stalker.
"SCRAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!"
Before either party could make a move to strike, a loud, cawing noise sounded from the sky. They all turned their attention skyward and saw an enormous black avian Grimm.
Shit. A Nevermore, Makoto thought as their problems now doubled themselves.
At least, that's what she initially thought, but then she saw that the Nevermore was flying and swerving...rather erratically.
As it flew, the Nevermore did a roll in the air, and Makoto saw that it had two figured on its back. Both of them looked to be cloaked in red and wielding what looked like curved blades that were impaled into the Grimm's back; both of them seemed to be holding on for dear life.
"Wait." Noel said as she was looking upward. "Isn't that Ruby and that scary guy from the locker rooms earlier?"
When Noel said that, Makoto looked back up and saw that one of the figures was indeed that one jackass from earlier, and from what she could make of the other's hair color, Ruby was definitely up their too.
Apparently, those two decided to hitch a ride on a friggin Nevermore like it was an airplane and flew it all the way here.
Yang promptly yelled out a summary of what she was thinking right now.
"WHAT THE FU-
-UCK! THIS BITCH IS REALLY HARD TO STEER!"
As Ragna yelled, Ruby grunted and struggled to keep her position. The whole "Ride a giant Grimm to the relics" idea probably wasn't her greatest plan, but it was the closest one she could think of at the time amidst the whole "Impending death directly below them" thing. And now it looked like the idea was starting to wear out its welcome. The Grimm was really getting desperate to shake the two of them off.
Ruby looked around, trying to figure out where they could drop off safely, and then she saw a clearing with a stone ruin at the center of it.
Wait, that must be where the relics are! Ruby thought as she realized they made it to the relics.
But what really drew her attention was the large group of students that were gathered in front of a large, scorpion-like Grimm, a Death Stalker as Ruby recalled, that had just arrived as it knocked down the last of the trees in its way. While she couldn't make out all the details from this high up, she did see a very recognizable head of long, blonde hair.
"Ragna! We need to land the Nevermore over there!" Ruby yelled, pointing to the relics and to the group of students below.
Ragna looked to where she was pointing and yelled back, "Well how do you think we're supposed to land this thing!? Don't think you've noticed, kid, BUT THE AUTO-PILOT'S A FUCKING CRAPSHOOT!"
"Look! We need to get it to start flying low to the ground! Get it to face the Death Stalker!" Ruby yelled as she started trying to get a plan into motion.
Before any of that could happen, the Nevermore flew into a barrel roll to try and shake them off once again. Ragna managed to dig his feet in and hold on tight to his weapon, but Ruby found herself slipping as she hung on to Crescent Rose. Her grip weakened until...
"OH NO!"
She slipped and started falling to the ground far below.
As she closed her eyes and braced for the fall, she stopped. She opened her eyes and saw that Ragna had grabbed her by her hood and kept her from going down.
"Really bad time to start screwing up, idiot!" Ragna yelled, as aggressive as ever. That didn't stop Ruby from smiling, thankful for the save.
As he said that, the Nevermore's roll had ceased and Ragna stood her back to where she had impaled her weapon.
"Alright, let's try this again!" Ruby said to her partner, "Ready?"
"Let's go!"
It was a struggle as the Nevermore kept trying to fight control away from them, but they managed to get it to face the Death Stalker as it flew directly towards it. From what Ruby could see, she saw that the girl in beige flashed a bright light at the scorpion Grimm, likely blinding it, and the girl in black wrapped a large ribbon around its claws as it shielded its eyes. She could also see that Weiss had frozen its stinger tail in place on the ground when it tried to impale her.
Good, that means it won't be able to dodge this. Ruby thought to herself. She didn't know what the others were doing, but it looked like their plans coincided with one another's. From how they were flying, it looked like the Nevermore was flying close enough and fast enough.
"Okay Ragna, now I need you take take your sword out of this thing and cut it's head off!" Ruby relayed to Ragna.
"Finally!" Ragna smirked as he removed his weapon from the Nevermore's back. He then quickly made his way to the neck and proceeded to swing his scythe, decapitating the monster in a single blow. The Nevermore couldn't even let out a whimper as it was killed, and just like Ruby had hoped, its wings were still fully spread out, guiding (or swiftly gliding/crashing) them to their target.
"Alright Ragna, looks like we're low enough! Get ready to jump!"
So far, Nora's day could be described as awesome.
She got to eat pancakes, pulverize a bunch of Grimm with Magnhild, partner up together (but not together together) with her bestie, Rennie, and now she was taking part in a large super battle with a Death Stalker.
Well, not all of them got to join the fun though. Tsubaki asked the other blonde girl and the blonde guy to sit this out for a bit since they were really worn out and not in a fighting position at the moment. The blonde guy looked depressed, but the girl, Noel if she could remember correctly, was super happy about it. Something about "scary bugs".
Anyway, they all started this big fight. Nora and Ren, alongside Pyrrha and the taller blonde, got to distract the bug; Nora by hammering its head, and Ren, Pyrrha and Yang by firing at its legs. The Stalker tried to impale the white girl as she ran around it. Before it could remove its stinger though, Makoto grabbed it and forced it back into the ground with some really cool strength. She jumped away and the white lady impaled her sword into the ground, making ice coat the tail and freeze it in place. Tsubaki then charged the monster with her weird eyeball weapon glowing bright; as soon as she reached its face, a large light erupted and the Stalker covered its eyes. Blake took the opportunity to wrap up its claws with a large ribbon so it couldn't use them, keeping them locked in a shielded position.
"Alright, it's trapped. Let's get the relics and go." Blake said.
"Aw, what!" Nora cried, unbelieving that they were done already. The blonde girl that helped distract it seemed to agree.
"Yeah, we have this thing where we want it! Can't we just kill it first?"
"Listen, there's no point in doing so. We have an objective and we can't afford anymore distractions." The white-haired girl said.
"Weiss' right. We need to get-" Tsubaki started, but before she could continue.
"Uh, guys, what's that?!" The blonde guy asked nervously as he pointed upward.
The group looked to where he was pointing and saw the headless body of the Nevermore they saw those two red students were still riding on (which is awesome), and from the looks of it, they were about to crash right into the large Death Stalker.
"I-I think we might want to move away from the giant b-bug." the blonde girl that stuck back had said.
"Yeah. What Noel said, we need to move now!" The blonde guy yelled out as those two started running back to where the relics were.
All of them ran back to the small temple at the center of the clearing and as they did, the Nevermore corpse flew overhead. Nora and some of the others looked back and saw the two figures in red jump off right as it as it crashed into the immobilized Death Stalker, knocking the monster back into the trees.
The taller red guy was holding a scythe blade that he shifted into a sword that he rested on his right shoulder. The girl in the red hoodie also held a scythe that she sheathed and put behind her.
That. Was. AWESOME! Nora thought to herself as she saw the whole spectacle.
"Aw yeah! Chalk one up for team Scythe!" The hooded girl cheered as she held out her fist, expecting a fistbump from her partner, who just looked apathetically at her arm.
The girl kept her fist raised, not once showing any sign of dropping it. The man sighed and relented, giving her a fistbump that didn't seem to have much effort put into it, but the girl didn't seem to care.
"Yang. Di-did your sister and that guy just kamikaze a giant Nevermore corpse into a Death Stalker!?" Nora heard Makoto ask loudly. She looked back and saw that the squirrel Faunus was talking to the tall blonde, whom she now knew was Yang. Both of them were just staring at the spectacle completely, slack-jawed by it all with their arms limp at their sides.
"I'm...still trying to process what just happened." Yang said, looking like she had just seen some intense shit. Which she technically just did.
Don't worry Yang, I've been there. Oh, I've been there. Nora thought, though with a tinge more melancholy than she would have liked.
From atop the cliffs, Glynda and Ozpin continued to watch the events unfold. Of all the things Glynda thought would happen at this semester's initiation, that was not one of them.
"Well, that's one way to traverse the forest." Ozpin said, completely nonchalant about what those two students had just done.
Glynda looked at Ozpin slack-jawed. "Two of our upcoming students just recklessly road a Nevermore across the entire Emerald Forest and THAT's your response!?"
"Quite." Ozpin replied as he sipped from his mug. "I've seen such strategies employed before. Besides, recklessness and craftiness have a tendency to go hand-in-hand."
Glynda remained silent as she went back to watching the students.
Mental note: Stock up on aspirin. Something tells me I'm going to need it. Were Glynda's thoughts as she continued viewing the video feed.
"Ruby!"
Ruby turned and saw her sister waving at her alongside Makoto, Noel, and Jaune. Excited to see them, she ran at near full speed, crying "Yang!" as she sped up to hug her. But just as she reached her sister...
"AND NORA!"
An orange haired girl in white and pink with a hammer/grenade launcher on her back jumped right in front of the two and cut her off, causing her to stop in her place and Yang to jump back.
Ragna then walked next to her and looked at the temple where the relics were. "Chess pieces?" He said, "The relics are chess pieces?"
"Looks like it." Ruby said as she petal boosted forward to get a closer look. She decided to go with the white knight piece. "Guess each pair just takes one?"
"Oh crap!"
Ruby turned and saw Jaune running up and grabbing the nearest chess piece he could. Much like Ruby's and Ragna's, it was a white knight. "I almost forgot to get one. The whole giant scorpion thing threw me off." He said, rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion.
"Same here." Noel said, equally embarrassed as she joined Jaune's side.
"There's no shame in that, Noel. I believe we all got caught up in the fight against the Death Stalker." One of the red-heads, this one in beige, said as she walked up to collect a relic as well. The one she picked up was a black pawn.
Behind her, Yang collected her pair's relic from the pedestals as well. Much like Tsubaki's, hers was a black pawn.
"Well," Weiss said, "I think now would be a good time to-"
Suddenly, a large piece of a fallen tree flew overhead, causing all of them to duck. Ruby looked to where it came from and saw the Death Stalker get back up. It had taken a severe beating, as it was now missing its tail and it looked like a few of its eyes were ruined, but it stood, and it looked pissed.
"How is that thing still standing!?" Yang yelled. "You guys drove a Nevermore into it!"
"Clearly it's more resilient than we thought." The gladiator girl next to Yang said.
"Tch, whatever, just need to beat it down till it stops moving!" Ragna exclaimed as he drew his sword and ran straight at it at full speed.
"Ragna, wait!" Ruby tried to stop him, but he was already halfway to the monster.
Ragna then lunged into the air at the monster and brought his blade down, intending to strike at its head. The Death Stalker instead brought up one of its claws and blocked his sword strike, knocking him back on his feet. The Grimm then slammed its other claw on top of Ragna, who blocked the attack with the flat edge of his blade. Rather than slam again, the Stalker instead opted to try and crush Ragna under its claw, with Ragna managing to hold it up, though it looked like he was struggling as he did so. Suddenly, the Death Stalker grabbed Ragna with its free claw and proceeded to slam him flat on the ground. Not giving him any reprieve, it brought its claws down on him again twice over.
Ruby rushed as fast as she could and drew Crescent Rose into its sniper mode, firing on the Death Stalker's eyes as it raised both its claws to crush Ragna, leaving them uncovered. The Stalker winced back in pain as she managed to shoot out two more of its eyes, leaving it with only five left (three on the left and two on the right).
As soon as she reached Ragna, she grabbed him and used her Semblance to pull him back to the group. She only managed to get halfway across the clearing before Ragna's hand grabbed her face and pushed her away from him, knocking both of them to the floor. Ruby looked up and saw Ragna stand and glare at her, though not with the vitriol he glared at Weiss with over a day ago.
"What the Hell, brat!" He yelled. "I didn't ask for your help!" He then hoisted his sword back onto his shoulder and tried to run back and fight the now recovering Death Stalker again, but this time Ruby was fast enough to rush in front of him and hold her arms out to stop him.
"Get out of my way, idiot. If I don't kill this thing it's gonna annoy us all the way back to the cliffs." He narrowed his eyes at her again, but this time Ruby returned with an equal glare at him.
"Look Ragna, we're supposed to be a team here, and every time I try talk to you or fight alongside you like we're supposed to be, you brush me off and do your own thing. Now, you're doing it again, and it's not working!" Now Ruby was yelling at him, hoping to get him to listen like he did on the Nevermore. "I'm trying to help, so just let me help!"
"For the last time, I don't need your help! Never asked for it in the first place!"
Now Ruby just crossed her arms. "Didn't look like it from where I was standing. Besides, I didn't ask for your help up there when I was about to fall, but you helped me anyway. So quit acting like some angsty loner who doesn't care, because I know you do!"
All Ragna did was just glare at her, not saying a word. Getting tired of the yelling, Ruby sighed and said, "Look, we don't need to fight this thing, okay. We have the relics, we just need to head back to the cliff."
After another thirty seconds of glaring, Ragna eventually relented, saying, "Fine. But I don't like this."
"I'm not saying you have to Ragna, now let's get moving!" Ruby exclaimed as she started making her way to where she remembered the cliffs to be with Ragna following suite. She turned to face the rest of the large group and yelled out, "Come on guys, the cliffs are this way!"
So Ruby moved as fast as she could without using her Semblance to try and reach the Beacon cliffs. For a brief instance, she turned back and saw that the group was following her.
They all ran and eventually found themselves at the cliff; it was high above them as they were surrounded by stone ruins and bridges. As Ruby tried to find a way up, the crashing of trees made her turn around to see that the Death Stalker was in hot pursuit of them, more enraged than ever.
As they started running across a stone bridge, Noel fired shot after shot towards the Death Stalker from afar, frantically trying to keep the monster away.
She must really hate bugs, Ruby thought.
However, as Noel turned to face the group and run further from the Grimm as it closed in on her, she tripped and fell to the ground. In panic, she collected herself and tried to stand, but stopped when she saw the looming shadow of the Death Stalker's claw over her. Before it could crush her, Jaune ran over and held his shield overhead, blocking the attack with more strength than Ruby thought he possessed. However, similar to with Ragna earlier, the Grimm used its free claw to grab at Noel, holding her in its claws as she panicked and screamed; unable to fire her weapons as her arms were restrained in the Death Stalker's grip.
"NOEL!" Ruby heard Makoto, Jaune, and the beige dressed red-head call out in worry. She looked around and saw Blake and Ragna and immediately put together a plan.
Ruby rushed to Ragna's ear and whispered her plan before rushing right to Blake's and doing the same. Both nodded, given the circumstances, and got into position; Blake using her ribbon to swing to the top of a nearby pillar while Ragna stood beside her.
"Ready?" Ruby asked her partner, to which he nodded and drew his large blade.
Ruby then jumped into the air as Ragna swung his sword with all his might at her and she planted her feet on the blade's flat edge, using the momentum to propel herself forward straight at the Death Stalker. Pulling out Crescent Rose, she spun as she neared the arm of the claw holding Noel captive and proceeded to slice it off with a single slash. As she landed in the grass behind the Stalker and the bridge, Noel was released from the removed appendage and started to fall to into the fog covered abyss below. Blake took her cue and grappled her ribbon onto the bridge as she swung down after her. She managed to catch the falling blonde and proceeded to swing their way back to the bridge top, landing with the girl in her arms carried bridal-style. As she landed, the three who called out to her before rushed to her side to make sure she was okay.
Just as the Death Stalker started to recover, Ragna rushed forward with his weapon in its scythe form, crimson energy pouring out from the other end of the blade. He proceeded to impale the monster from its chin (if it had one) beneath the bone plated armor. Before it could make any moves as it screamed in rage and agony, Ragna gripped his scythe with both hands and proceeded to hoist the Grimm overhead, lifting it right off the ground with a roar of might. Ruby and the rest of their group could only watch, feeling somewhat intimidated by the strength he displayed, as he swung away, sending the Death Stalker flying off the bridge and falling into the fog-filled void below them.
As Ruby ran back to the bridge to rejoin the group, she saw that many of them, such as Nora, the green clad man she was with, Jaune, and Noel all looked in amazement at the display of strength that Ragna had just shown.
"Woah..." Jaune said as he was still slack-jawed by what just happened.
"Now THAT, was awesome." Nora said, resting her hands on the handle of her hammer as her partner nodded.
"It was also kinda scary." Noel said as she tried to avoid eye contact.
"That...was a thing that just happened." Yang said.
Ragna, for his part, didn't seem to care much for the attention he was getting and elected to ignore them all as he walked past them. Wanting to break up the tension and gawking, Ruby decided to speak up.
"I think we should head to the cliffs now before anymore Grimm show up."
She got nods of agreement in response as they all began making their way back to the top of the cliffs.
"Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Russel Thrush, and Sky Lark. You have successfully retrieved the black bishop pieces. From now on, you shall be be known as Team CRDL (Cardinal). And you will be led by Cardin Winchester." Noel heard Ozpin say into the microphone as the loud, watchful crowd cheered on the newly formed team.
If she wasn't nervous before initiation, she was now, since the team she was supposed to be part of now had to stand up and in front of a large crowd that would stare at them, or laugh, or-
"Weiss Schnee, Tsubaki Yayoi, Pyrrha Nikos, and Yang Xiao Long, please step forward." Interrupting her thoughts, Professor Ozpin called the students up, including Tsubaki and Yang. The four students stepped up and stood in front of Ozpin.
Guess I won't be with Tsubaki's team, Noel dejectedly thought to herself.
"The four of you returned the black pawn pieces. Your team shall be known as Team TSYP (Zap). Led by Tsubaki Yayoi."
Noel saw Tsubaki give a brief bow and she also saw that Weiss had a surprised look on her face, though it quickly shifted to what looked like was trying to be a warm smile. Next to her, Pyrrha and Yang congratulated her friend on the position. Noel didn't really find it that shocking that Tsubaki got the position of leader if she were being honest with herself.
Back at Sanctum, she always led us around. Always knew what to do. If anyone could lead a team, it's her. Noel mused as she thought back to their times at primary school.
"Makoto Nanaya, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Blake Belladonna." Ozpin called the students up as they made their way to him, once more causing Noel grief that she wouldn't be on the same team as either Makoto or Blake.
"You four have successfully retrieved the white bishop pieces. Your team name shall be Team BRNN (Brine), and you will be led by Blake Belladonna."
Now it was Blake's turn to look shocked as Makoto and the other girl on her team, Nora, rushed and hugged her with smiles on their faces. With how blue Blake's face was turning, it looked like she was about to pop with the amount of strength being put into the dual hug. Thankfully, they seemed to realize this and let her go, though Makoto retained a one-armed hug around Blake's shoulder.
"Finally, Noel Vermillion." Ozpin started.
Hooo boy. Noel thought as her nerves started to get thrown into overdrive and blood rushed to her face.
"Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, and Ragna." The Professor continued. The other three members of her team had all walked up without any nervousness to them.
Dammit Noel, stop shaking and be just a little bit as confident as your team! Noel tried her best to walk forward, though there was still a nervous gate to how she moved as she stood next to Jaune. As she stood there and looked to the floor, hoping nobody saw her face, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up next to her and saw Jaune and Ruby offering her sympathetic smiles, as if saying, "It's okay, we're here with you." Noel felt her nervousness die down a bit as she looked both of them in the eye.
Though, she did get somewhat concerned when she looked at Ragna, who unlike the other two, just looked ahead and seemed content to just ignore her, though she couldn't blame him for that. What still bothered her was how familiar he seemed. Even the name, Ragna, felt familiar, as if she knew someone with that name before, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. Together, you will be known as Team RNJR (Ranger). Led by Ruby Rose."
As the crowd clapped, Noel turned her attention to Ruby to get her mind off the large audience. She saw that her friend was shocked that she was given the leadership position. Jaune smiled at her and was clearly happy for her, but Ragna just looked apathetic to the whole thing.
Well, Noel thought, at least I have Ruby and Jaune on a team with me. It wasn't the same as being with Tsubaki and Makoto, but it felt close enough.
It was around nightfall as Makoto and her team walked to their dorm room amidst the velvet carpeted floors in the dormitory's white halls. Blake, now the leader of their small group, led them to where their dorm room was, while Nora excitedly bounced in pursuit as Ren calmly kept pace with her.
As Blake stopped at a door on the right, Makoto saw that Noel was just entering the door directly next to their dorm room, with Ragna immediately behind her.
"Oh, hey Noellers." Makoto then rushed up to hug her, this time being careful not to accidentally crush the girl like she did with Blake, and Tsubaki, or Noel herself a few times.
Her shy friend returned the hug, "Hey Makoto." There was a tiredness to her voice, indicating that she was ready to take a nap.
"You gonna be okay?" Blake walked up and asked. "You seemed really jumpy back there when the teams were being presented."
Noel sighed and said, "Yeah, I'll be fine. It was just being in front of a crowd is all. Though I'm also nervous about not being with you guys though." She then stammered out, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm okay with Ruby and Jaune, it's just..." She then started falling silent at the end.
Blake then walked up and rubbed Noel's back as Makoto hugged her from the other side. "It's okay Noel. Like you said, you have Ruby and Jaune on your team, and they're pretty nice. Besides, we're right next door, so if you ever need anything, just knock, okay?" Makoto said as she comforted her best friend.
"Okay. Goodnight you guys." Noel finished as she turned to enter her dorm room, though not before waving at Makoto and Blake one last time as she closed the door behind her. Ragna moved to open the door himself before Makoto stopped him.
"Not you. Blake, could you and the others go to our room please? Me and grumpy here need to have a little...chat."
Blake nodded and motioned for the rest of her team to head into their dorm room, while Nora whined out, "But I wanna see the fight." as Ren dragged her back. Makoto and Ragna just stood alone in the hall, her glaring at him while he just apathetically stared her in the eye.
"Look Ragna," She started. "Let's get one thing clear. I don't like you. After what you said to my friend earlier, I'll be blunt, you're an asshole."
"Uh huh, riveting." Ragna said as he cracked his neck, clearly not caring about what she was saying. "And I'm supposed to care what you think because, why?"
"Because my best friend is on your team now." Makoto continued, trying to keep her temper in check. "Noel's one of the sweetest, most caring people I've ever known, and...I owe her a lot. But she's also the most sensitive, so let me keep it simple." She then grabbed Ragna's collar and drew her fist back as a means of intimidation. "You do anything to hurt her. Hell, you so much as make her shed a single tear, and I'm gonna rip one of your arms off and beat you senseless with it. We clear?"
If her attempt to intimidate him worked, he didn't show it. He just stared at her, but then he broke out a slight smirk and said, "Alright. I can respect that. Fine, I'll try to be nice with your friend. Of course, you try anything, and don't cry to me when you're the one who ends up on the pavement."
Figuring that was the closest she'd get to an agreement, Makoto drew her fist back and let go of his collar, "Well, now that that's settled. I'm going to bed. But remember Ragna, I'm watching you." She then turned to head to her room, but before she did...
Oh crap, almost forgot!, She thought as she turned back and grabbed Ragna's shoulder to stop him from going into his room.
"Hey, what the fu-"
"Look Ragna, before I forget, I need to tell you something and I need you to pass it along to Ruby and Jaune without Noel knowing." Makoto said, her voice in a panicked whisper.
Ragna just sighed and asked, "Okay, I'll bite, what is it?"
"No matter what, never eat anything Noel cooks. Trust me, you guys will live longer."
While Makoto sure as Hell didn't like the man in front of him, she genuinely didn't want him to eat any of the...stuff Noel, for lack of a better term, creates when she cooks. No one deserves to go through that.
Ragna's face, for the first time in their conversation, went from apathetic to perplexed. "Ooookay? I'll...pass it on then." Makoto then let him go, letting out a sigh of relief given the crisis she just barely averted, and started going back to her room, hearing the door to Team RNJR's room open and close behind her. She then opened the door to her room...
"Waaaaah!"
…and saw Blake and Nora fall down right in front of her. Ren just laid on his bed with his eyes closed.
Makoto just looked down at her two teammates, "Where you eavesdropping on that?" She asked.
"Uh, no.", "Yes", "I was against it", came the responses from Blake, Nora, and Ren respectively.
Makoto just stared at all of them before yawning and saying, "You know what, doesn't matter. Tired, and first day's tomorrow. Need sleep."
And with that, she started preparing for bed and for her first day at Beacon Academy.
Alright, initiation is all wrapped up. Next time we'll be starting their first days at Beacon. Giving a thanks to everyone who's stuck around so far. I actually found myself enjoying writing this thing more than I thought I would. The story has some expectations attached to it now, so here's to hoping I can live up to them. Hopefully now I can really get things going since the teams are finally formed.
To recap that bit, the teams include:
RNJR (Ranger): Ruby Rose, Noel Vermilion, Jaune Arc, and Ragna
BRNN (Brine): Blake Belladonna, Lei Ren, Makoto Nanaya, and Nora Valkyrie
TSYP (Zap): Tsubaki Yayoi, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, and Pyrrha Nikos
Speaking of, big thanks to SwapAUAnon and Gladsome for helping with the team names for the latter two because I couldn't come up with any good ones by myself.
Now, I was playing a lot of God of War recently and I remembered all those moments when Kratos would ride a larger enemy and force it to attack everyone else around him. In this chapter, I figured, "Why not have Ragna and Ruby do that with the Nevermore?", and so that happened.
Sorry if the final fight with the Death Stalker was on the anti-climactic side. I wasn't keen on adding more Grimm to the scenario and the Death Stalker was heavily crippled while running on fumes and rage, so I couldn't think of much for it to do with that in mind. I did try to have everyone pitch in on the fight against it in Nora's POV section, but after that, couldn't think of a way to do a 12 v 1 against a Grimm much weaker than its canon version due to the circumstances, so...yeah, the last battle here's kind of a disappointment.
Now, after the next chapter, given that it's stated that weeks happen in-universe between the events of "The Badge and the Burden" (which encompasses the first day of classes) and "Jaundice", I'm kinda wondering if I should just skip ahead after the first day to those events, or if I should make a few small, slice of life chapters that take place during that few weeks before we pick up with the plot again. What are your thoughts on the matter?
And now, for something completely different; AN EPILOGUE!
After the students had all left to their dorms for the night, Ozpin made his way towards his office at the top of Beacon's tower. He bid his staff to have a splendid evening before he took off, grabbing a cup of hot coco along the way.
All-in-all, this was going to prove to be an interesting year.
As Ozpin walked into his office, he took in the surroundings. From the large window overlooking all of Vale to the gears encompassing the ceiling, but what drew his attention the most was the presence that he could sense in his chair, which faced the aforementioned window.
This presence. Oh, he knew this presence all too well.
Ozpin lowered his mug from his face and sighed, "Hello, Rachel."
The chair swiveled around, revealing a girl with crimson eyes who looked no older than thirteen, but all parties currently within the room knew she was older; much older. Her long blonde hair was done up in twin pig-tails using black ribbons that looked almost like the ears of a rabbit, and she was dressed in a black gothic dress with white ruffles on the sleeves and hem, as well as an upside-down cross design on the bottom of the dress.
"Hello, Mister Wizard." Rachel said in a cheerful tone. She made it a habit of calling him by that nickname since his time as the old hermit long ago. It annoyed him at first, but he grew used to it, though that was the only option since Rachel had no intention of not using that name. "Quite a cast of characters your school has collected this semester, hasn't it?"
Ozpin smiled. "Yes." He said, "It's shaping up to be an interesting year." He then placed his mug on his desk as he continued to talk to the head of the Alucard family.
"So, why are you here, Rachel. And sitting in my chair for that matter?"
At the question, Rachel dawned a playful smile and said, "Now Mister Wizard, you don't expect me to stand around and wait for you to arrive. That would be exhausting and unbecoming of me. As for your former question, can I not stop by to visit an old friend?"
"Well, you most certainly can." Ozpin said. "But you never do. So what's the real reason why you're here?"
"Skipping the pleasantries then. Good to see that old oaf you once were hasn't completely vanished. I missed making fun of that imbecile."
The girl's face turned from playful to deathly serious. "I sensed Terumi's presence in Vale recently." She said, no longer carrying the playful tone she had earlier.
Ozpin's faced turned to shock. If Terumi was in Vale...
"Have you been able to track his movements?" Ozpin asked. equally as serious as the vampire in front of him.
"I'm afraid not. He's a slippery little snake, and he's managed to avoid my line of sight so far." Rachel replied, "But I've been able to identify one of the people he's collaborating with. You recall the crime lord, Roman Torchwick?"
"Yes." Ozpin said, musing over what Terumi could want with someone like Roman. "One of my students, Miss Rose, recently prevented him from robbing a local Dust shop."
"An adequate feat for a mere child." Rachel shifted to a condescending tone for a moment before she returned to talking as she was previously, "However, Terumi has more than just Roman on his side. The problem is I can't sense or see who they are. It seems that Terumi is granting them some form of protection from my sight, as he's hiding their movements from me, but Torchwick is exempt from it."
Ozpin immediately knew what Rachel meant. "You mean that Roman is just being used as a front." He didn't even ask, he just knew.
"Yes, and an expendable one from the looks of it. It seems Terumi isn't even trying to hide that fact from us." Rachel continued, "What's more is that this isn't just Terumi managing to hide his movements across Remnant. There's been something in the air. Something that's hiding not only him, but all those that he's aligned with from me."
Ozpin pondered on this. Could it be Salem? She's never had this kind of power before, but I don't know anyone else who could be behind this.
As if reading his thoughts, Rachel answered, "Before you get any ideas, it isn't Salem. Whatever this is, it feels different from her. It feels...primal, if I can find a word that can properly describe it. Whatever mythical powers are at work are unlike those we've encountered in the past, Mister Wizard. I suggest you prepare for them."
She then got up to leave, looking out the window and at Vale one more time before saying. "And Ozma," which made him even more worried. She never referred to him by his true name unless things were truly dire. From the sound of it, while they weren't dire now, they were going to be soon. "The Silver-eyed child and Jubei's mongrel? Keep close watch on them. They will both have important roles to play in the coming battles. I fear that many of your students will." A swarm of rose petals erupted from her feet, and like that, she vanished, as if she was never here.
I fear that many of your students will. Rachel's words played in Ozpin's mind. That was the last thing he wanted. This battle against their enemies wasn't meant to be fought by teenagers and students, so bright and innocent to the true darkness that plagued the world. He wanted to avoid bringing any of the students into it. But now that was starting to feel more like a fantasy.
No. Ozpin thought to himself. I will not allow them to be forced into this war.
He'd do what he could to ensure that what was to come was not a burden his students needed to bare.
And that's all for chapter 10. Let me know what you guys think.