Search and Destroy

"Professor Oobleck?" Weiss asks, stunned.

"Oobleck?!" Team STRQ was shocked at who Team RWBY's huntsman would be. How could they not, the boy that they knew, he was a nerd and they really didn't think he would be able to graduate Beacon. But apparently they were wrong; he did graduate and was offered a teaching position at the school as well.

"Well, this is different. Do you… know him?" Ghira asked Team STRQ.

"Yeah… you could say that." Tai said. "He's my friend, along with his partner, Peter Port, their Grimm Studies teacher."

"I still can't believe he's still alive." Raven muttered.

Summer smacked her head. "We saw him and Peter teach Ruby and the others. So of course he's alive, but yes, it is a bit shocking that he's an active Huntsman." Summer says, hand under her chin in thought.

Oobleck spoke in his usual rapid manner. "Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls, seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you, we will not be establishing a single base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our air course, and readied the airship. And..."

He zooms up right to Weiss' face. "It's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn the PhD for fun, thank you very much!" The green haired Huntsman shouts in her face and quickly backs away.

Weiss looks over at Blake Belladonna, who is equally disturbed. "Uh..." Weiss couldn't form anything to refute that.

"Did… did any of you understand him?" Ghira asks Team STRQ.

"Yep!" Tai smiled, happy and grateful that his friend was watching over their children.

"Come now, children; according to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind...schedule!" He zips off to the airship docked farther ahead in a second.

Ruby was positive and upbeat before suddenly becoming as depressed as her team halfway through. "Well, alright, then! Looks like we're going to save the world with Doctor Oooobleck- okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse."

Qrow and Raven snorted at the thought of Barty saving the world with their girls. "You two are horrible. Stop it, he's a good guy." Tai reprimanded the twins, not liking the fact that they were silently making fun of his friend.

"Save the world?" Nora asks suddenly, coming up behind Team RWBY. Ruby's team turns around to see Nora and Team JNPR approaching.

"You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt... sad!" Nora said, being dramatic and then her stomach rumbles. "Maybe a little hungry? That last one's not your fault, though, Ren..." Lie Ren, for his part, simply crosses his arms and turns away.

'What happened between them?' Summer wondered.

"Sounds exciting. Where ya going?" Jaune asks his friends.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, just outside the kingdom..."

"Hey! So are we!" Nora exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha told the other freshman team.

"We set out tomorrow." Ren said simply.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" Neptune Vasilias said as he and Sun Wukong approach the two groups. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges." Jaune is awestruck.

"Are all boys this awkward and stupid at this age?" Raven mutters.

Summer, Kali, and Raven look over to the three males with them.

"Oh yeah. Why am I surprised?" Raven smirked.

"We normally go to the city with you guys, which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know... normal." Sun said, glancing at Blake for a moment.

"Well-" Ruby tried to say but Oobleck appears in front of Team RWBY.

"Four minutes, ladies!" The professor goes back inside the airship as their friends smile awkwardly at the girls.

"Wow… he's punctual." Kali said, looking at Tiayang for some confirmation.

"Yeah, he likes everything to be organized and neat. He's a bit OCD when it comes to time management." Tai told the two Faunus.

"Well, uh...Wish us luck!" With that, the friends disband, either back to Beacon Academy or towards their mission.

Cut to the airship flying over buildings and streets amid deafening turbines.

"I guess I just never saw you as much of a fighter." Yang said to Oobleck.

"I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles." Oobleck told the blond.

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "Like the mushroom?"

Blake leaned over toward the younger girl. "Those are truffles." The Cat Faunus informed her leader.

Ruby was still scratching her head in befuddlement. "Like the sprout?"

"Those are Brussels." Yang told her sister.

Team STRQ and the two Faunus howled with laughter.

Oobleck continued. "Besides, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in the archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw fit to assign me to this particular... assignment!"

"I mean…he's not wrong. This is a recon mission, not really a search and destroy mission." Summer said.

"Knowing the girls, it'll turn into a search and destroy mission. That's the title of the episode isn't it, so it's not surprising that they'll find trouble." Ghira pointed out.

"What does history have to do with this?" Weiss asks the professor.

Oobleck turned sharply on Weiss. "Why, what a preposterous question, you silly girl! Why, history is the backbone of our very society! And the liver! Probably the kidneys, if I were to wager."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "And that means..?"

"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves, but it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures!" Oobleck said with anger in his tone.

"Mountain Glenn." Ruby said mournfully.

Team STRQ looked at each other, blanching in horror. "They…. They're going to one of the worst disasters in the history of the Kingdom of Vale's history." Summer had a hand covering her mouth in shock.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that." Qrow muttered, glancing at Raven with fear.

"You know what this means, right?" Raven asked her team.

Taiyang and Summer flinched at what Raven was insinuating about Mountain Glenn. "Stop!" Summer hissed, silver eyes leaking tears of anger and fear. "Don't bring it up." The leader demanded.

Raven wisely went quiet at Summer's tone. "Do you want to take a break?" Kali asked cautiously.

Summer and Tai shook their heads. "No, we can continue." Tai said shakily, his hand drifting to Summer's. Both needing to take comfort in each other.

"Okay then."

Yang's eyes widen at that. "That's right! It was an expansion of Vale... but in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city."

"Correct! And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder." His hands clenched into fists.

"And a likely place for a hideout." Blake said.

Oobleck adjusts his glasses and smiles, "Precisely!"

The airship comes in over a spot of street amidst the ruined buildings and structures of the ruined area. It hovers right above the ground as Yang, Blake, Oobleck, Weiss, and Ruby all jump out of the craft with weapons drawn (minus the doctor, who simply holds his coffee canister) before the ship flies away from the destruction.

Oobleck calls to Team RWBY. "Ladies! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Huntresses has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?" The girls nod, but he suddenly looks at Ruby, startling her. "Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all of your bags back at school."

"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't." Ruby said lightly, hoping she wouldn't get in trouble for talking back to the professor.

"She's not wrong..." He said to himself. "Very well, Ruby; leave your bag here, we can pick it up upon our return."

"But I, well uh-"

"Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with..." Oobleck stops as the bag's zipper opens and out pops Zwei's head, causing everyone to stare at the uninvited guest.

All six of them face palmed. "I forgot about the dog." Tai groaned.

"How did you forget?!" Raven shouted.

"I don't know! I was preoccupied!" He shot back.

"With what?!"

"Enough!" Qrow got in between his sister and teammate.

Ruby whispered to her dog through the side of her mouth. "Get back in the bag." Zwei merely barks in response.

"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought... a dog?" The Huntsman asked slowly, as if he didn't understand what he was seeing.

"I, uh..."

"Genius!" The green haired man backs away long enough for Ruby to give a confused shrug before speeding past and snatching the pet away from Ruby, who tumbles to the ground as Oobleck spins Zwei in the air. "Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!" Zwei barks happily in his hands.

"He's cute, but…really?" Kali asks Tai.

"Uh… he'll protect them?" Tai said, phrasing it like a question.

"Idiot." Raven muttered. Qrow smacked her head.

"He is the father of your daughter, shut up." Qrow whispered to her.

After being stunned for the unexpected reaction, Ruby proudly states: "I'm a genius!" Weiss and Yang both face palm at their grinning leader.

Blake gets the group back on topic. "So, what are your orders, Doctor?"

"Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" He suddenly lets go of Zwei, suspended in the air for less than a second before dropping down, to put his hands behind his back for a serious pose. "As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hot spot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being... Grimm."

"Well, yeah. What else would it be?" Tai questioned.

"Let's just watch, please." Ghira says, hoping they don't have to pause every time someone speaks.

Ruby was just as confused as her teammates for the redundancy. "Uh, what?"

"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment."

"What?!" Yang yelled.

She turns to look like the other girls at the lone Beowolf wandering into the street, joining them in unleashing their weapons.

"Stop!" The Huntsman called out to them.

"Huh?" Blake lowers her Gambol Shroud like everyone else to listen.

"There are a number of reasons why Grimm will congregate in this particular area, the most likely of which will be their attraction to negativity: sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harboring ill intent." Oobleck said.

"So... What now?" The leader asked their teacher.

"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey." The man informed the First-Year team.

"How long do we wait?" Blake asked him.

"Isn't she supposed to be the ninja?" Qrow asked, looking at Ghira and Kali.

"I guess, but that doesn't mean she has endless patience." Kali told the younger Branwen twin.

"It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months - and there's the whole pack." His sudden realization is true: Five Beowolves are already following the first.

"What?" Weiss asks dumbly.

Oobleck continues to state the obvious. "And now they've seen us."

"What?!"

Oobleck shouts, "AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!"

"I take it tracking them is out of the question?" Ruby asks.

"An accurate assumption, yes." Oobleck nods.

"What's the plan, then?" Yang looks to Oobleck.

The team turns to their teacher as the creatures close in, black bars converging dramatically over the approaching Grimm.

"Let's see how they do." Summer says.

"Show me what you're capable of." He commands.

Ruby swings Crescent Rose to prepare it for shooting. "Cover your ears, Zwei!" The dog does so, curling up into a ball.

Black lines race across the screen as a single Beowolf and smiling Yang run towards one another, ending with the blonde knocking it out in one fiery punch as they pass. Several stop chasing after the party girl to focus on Blake, who stands and waits with hand on her hilt until one of the enemy swipes at her afterimage, the real deal slicing her would-be attacker in half before slashing through another and cutting down on one more.

Behind the Faunus, Weiss runs from several black-coated beasts before jumping in the air and taking one down with Myrtenaster. She dashes towards them with rapier held high and slays four of them in a straight line until she stops. A wave of Beowolves are converging on Ruby, but the scythe wielder shoots multiple bullets at the oncoming force... while Zwei is busy chasing his own tail. He stops to watch his owner fire forward and, after a dramatic mid-air stare-off, cut the single remaining Grimm in two.

"Not bad, but they need more teamwork drills." Summer comments.

"They should focus on their individual strengths first and then tackle the teamwork aspect." Raven said, countering her leader.

Ruby turned to Oobleck, "Heh. Piece of cake!"

"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" Oobleck said grimly.

"He's right. They're getting cocky and that will lead them to their deaths sooner rather than later." Qrow growled, his red eyes narrowed.

Continue they do, as it cuts to Ruby cutting through the scene change, Blake slicing the previous shift, and a random slash going to the view of Oobleck rooting through a plant as Grimm parts fall around him. He is center in the faces of tired Huntresses.

When they're done killing the Grimm, Oobleck happily says, "Excellent work, girls! Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this sector. Oh, well! Moving on!"

As they follow Oobleck, with Ruby sheathing her scythe and beckoning Zwei to follow, Yang irritably asks: "Hey, Doc, y'know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a 'pro Huntsman' in action. Like, fighting, or at least, helping us fight?"

Oobleck calls over his shoulder. "Ah, but I am in action! Scouring the ruins of this once-great city for any signs of irregularity!" He fully turns to the team. "Not every mission is filled with daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination! Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that."

"Told you, recon mission." Summer said with a smile. "And he's right. This is a job, first and foremost. It's not the fairytale that they think it is. They'll learn that… one way or another." Summer was thinking back to that mystery woman in the beginning, whoever she was… she was dangerous and the girls would on doubt need to figure out how to stop her.

Since Ghira and Kali weren't Huntsmen, they didn't know what to say to that.

"Well, yeah..." Yang stumbled, trying (and failing) to sound more resolute with her answer. "O-Of course!"

Oobleck hummed as he took in the four girls.

The scene changes to the view of another victory for RWBY and their mentor amid the noise of fired shots, but switches again to Oobleck and Yang away from the group.

"Tell me, Yang: Why did you choose this line of work?" Doctor Oobleck questioned the blonde.

'To find me.' Raven thought. They still didn't know what had happened to her. All they did know is that she had left Yang and Tai after Yang was born for some reason.

The other five all looked to Raven. The elder Branwen twin shifted uncomfortably under their gazes.

Under Oobleck's gaze, Yang answers. "Well, to fight monsters and save-"

Oobleck cut her off. "No, that is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a Huntress."

Yang considers this, and then answers. "The honest reason? I'm a thrill-seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. It's a win-win, y'know?"

Tai, Raven, and Qrow look at each other. They were all taking in Yang's answer. "She's lying-partially." Qrow spoke up. Raven and Tai gazed at him, purple and red eyes on him. "Her main goal is to find Rae." He whispered.

"I see."

One claw-scratch transition later, Oobleck is sitting on a high windowsill writing in his journal while Weiss fights off Beowolves below.

"And you, Miss Schnee? A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So... why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?" He questions the Schnee Heiress.

Weiss answers after she impales the last foe on her blade and drops the body. "It's exactly as you said: I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty."

"Jacques is ruining everything that Nicholas Schnee had worked to build. It's only natural for her to right that wrong." Kali piped up. No one could deny that.

"Interesting."

Oobleck jumps down into the next scene, where Blake slashes a door down and releases a swarm of small Nevermores from the building, which she back-flips under before she shoots them all with her blade's pistol form.

"And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose."

"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption... Someone has to stop it." Blake tells him.

"The White Fang." Ghira growled, clenching his hands into fists.

"Very well. How?" He asks her with a raised brow.

Blake can't answer. "I, Uh..."

Oobleck hums to himself, then dashes away, leaving Blake to bow her head in troubled thought.

The two Faunus worry for their daughter.

Later, Ruby is using her weapon in the most practical fashion and lifting a whole turkey on the sharp end of her gun to tease a jumping and flipping Zwei with. That is, until she spots her teacher watching, quickly sheathing Crescent Rose.

"Sorry! Uh... Are we ready to keep going?" Ruby asks him.

"Nope! I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon." He throws his bag over to Yang, who makes a sound when she catches it. "You three, set up camp in that building. Oh, and please do make sure there are no more of those... creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby."

They start walking away from the rest of RWBY, who each look at their leader, knowing what she'll be asked.

The six wait for Oobleck to ask Ruby the same question he asked the rest of her teammates.

As Oobleck and Ruby round the corner of a building, she sees something off-screen that makes her say: "Whoa…" The camera allows the audience to see the wide forest stretching below the ruin, and in the midst of it, a line of giant elephants with the black and white features of animals of darkness marching through the trees. "What is that? It looks awesome!"

"Those are Goliaths!" Summer exclaimed.

"Ruby can't kill those things. It would take multiple Huntsmen teams to dispatch a herd of them." Raven says, quickly glancing to Summer.

"That, my dear girl, is a Grimm." The Huntsman told her.

Ruby stares at the lumbering mass of monsters in amazement and awe before pulling out her gun, saying, "Let's kill it."

Raven shot a deadpan expression to Tai and Summer. Both flushed and laughed awkwardly.

"I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size." Oobleck shook his head.

"But... What if it attacks us?" Ruby frowns as she looks at him.

"Fret not, Ruby; those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather not every Grimm is still mindless. You see, the Grimm you see before you are so powerful, so superior to the Grimm you fought, that they've undoubtedly lived hundreds of years, and in that time between killing humans and attacking our borders, they have done one important thing: They've learned. They've learned that when they attack our borders, they're likely to die, and what we lack in strength, we make up for in will, and that killing one human will only bring more." The green haired professor explains to his student.

"True."

As he says this, one Goliath swivels its thick neck to look at the figures watching their procession, eyes glowing as fiery red as any other Grimm.

Kali shivers, never seeing a Grimm of that size before.

Ruby looks back at the Grimm and then asks, "Then why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?"

"Waiting." As he says this, the Goliath turns its head forward again and moves on with its kin. Oobleck turns around and walks away as well, and Ruby puts away her weapon, not moving.

"Doctor Oobleck?" The young team leader called out to him. Oobleck hummed.

"I was wondering..."

Oobleck stops walking and turns back to her. "Wondering why I've been interrogating your teammates all day?" He questions quickly.

"Been wondering that too." Kali says quietly.

"A-Actually, I was wondering... Why did you want to become a Huntsman?" Ruby asked, wanting to know more about her teacher.

"Look around and tell me what you see." Oobleck spoke.

Ruby takes a look around. "Lots of old buildings, uh, empty streets..."

Oobleck starts speaking softly. "I see lives that could have been saved." He continues walking with Ruby beside him and Zwei at their heels. "As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people, and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland, and I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity; an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy, and therefore become stronger." He stops for his final answer. "I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be."

Everyone in the viewing room grew silent and contemplative. What Bartholomew Oobleck had said resonated with all six of the young adults. They knew that they would need to think more on what he had said, especially Kali, Ghira, and Taiyang.

Back at the building, the team has done as instructed, building a fire in the center of the room and huddling around it or standing up.

"I can't believe we didn't find anything..." yang groaned in frustration.

"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side." Blake pointed out.

"That's not what I meant." Weiss started, going off-topic.

"At least now we know their motives." Qrow called out.

"Yeah, but how long will those motives stay the same?" Raven questions her brother.

All of them stayed silent, not answering the dark haired female.

Blake looked at the white haired girl in confusion. "Huh?"

"Earlier, about... upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that." Weiss explains.

"Yeah... No, me too. I mean... I don't know." Yang sighed.

"I don't know, either. I know what I want to do, but I figured I'd always take things one step at a time." Blake tells her teammates.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We know why we're here. Right?" Yang said, waving it off like nothing.

The girls merely stare in silence.

Oobleck suddenly comes rushing into the room. "Ah, wonderful; a textbook campfire!"

"Fire!" The 15 year old comes in behind Oobleck and immediately sits next to the blaze alongside Zwei. "So... warm..." she sighs in happiness.

"Very good! Eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?" The Doctor asks the group of four.

Ruby lifts an arm while still looking into the fire, simply answering. "Yo."

"Only you." Qrow smirks at Taiyang. The blond male mutters under his breath.

Oobleck rushes off, and Ruby gets up to go over to her lookout point.

Yang stops Ruby as she passes them. "Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean... what did you tell him?"

Ruby thought for a moment. "Hmm... No, he didn't. Weird. Oh, well; good night, guys!" Without a second carefree thought, she continues on her way.

"Why didn't Oobleck ask Ruby?" Kali questioned.

Team STRQ looked at each other and then back at Summer's daughter. None of them could answer that.

Yang looks disappointed in the lack of an answer. Blake is similarly troubled as she unrolls her mat, Weiss tries lying down but fails to sleep; Yang half-heatedly eats her dinner of bread rolls. Soon, all three Huntresses are on their backs around the fire, weapons within easy access, wondering why they are there.

Ruby, meanwhile, is sitting in the vacant windowsill of the room as Zwei goes over to her upon hearing the howling of Beowolves. She pets her pooch on the back.

Ruby says softly. "Don't worry. Things will be better tomorrow." Master and pet look out onto the rubble and stare in silence.

The six of them when their separate ways to think about what Oobleck had told the girls.