Author's Notes
*Rises from the womb*
THIS JOKE IS GETTING OOOOOOOLD!
Except for the womb part. Because twenty-nine years ago as of this posting, I fought my way out of the womb and into a scary brave new world.
So, congratulations to me. *Insert Evangelion's ending scene. You know the one. Where every character congratulates Shinji*
Anyhow. Posted new chapter as a treat to myself. Hooray!
Elbow is still recovering. It's a slow process, but it's going.
Chapter 30: The horrors!
"I play Ravagers from the Deep Pools, which allows me to summon three hordes of small Grimm in three different downed settlements, or one big Grimm if there are three downed settlements or expeditions no more than three hexes away from each other."
Groans of all pitches and octaves erupted as the underpowered card just so happen to be used at the exact time it would deal crippling damage to all four nations.
"You are a really shitty piece of work, Arc," Cardin threw his cards in defeat, no longer caring for the fate of the tenacious people of Vacuo.
"Goodbye, my fair Mistral. You were too corrupted for you own good," Marina sent her farewell to the seedy citizens of Mistral.
"This is not over!" Ruby declared while slamming her hands on the table, earning her a shush from several students and the librarian in the vicinity. "The honest nation of Vale will not surrender to your tentacle-y machinations."
"Lewd!"
"Shut up, Mytyl," Ruby ordered. "We will fight. We will succeed. We. Will. Triumph! Right, Weiss?"
Weiss blinked. "I've seen you play this game three times now and I still have no idea what's happening."
"Well, for once the proud Kingdom of Atlas welcomes their new Grimm Overlord. All hail Jaune, Prince of the Grimm!"
Mytyl's praise earned her a blush from Jaune and squawking indignation from Ruby. Cardin and Marina were too exhausted to care, and Weiss looked intently at the board, trying to decipher its arcane secrets.
"Give up, Ruby. Join us! We have balloons!"
"NEVER!" The red reaper refused the lavender traitor's honeyed offer. "I play the legendary card 'King of Vale', which allows me-"
"Primordial Grimm," Jaune interrupted nonchalantly.
Ruby threw her cards to the air.
"MOTHERFUDGER!"
"Language!"
"Get that stick out of your bum, Weiss. Fudge is not a curse word."
"It's close enough not to fool anyone!"
"And you!" Ruby pointed at Mytyl accusingly. "You played this entire game to Jaune's benefit." She narrowed her eyes. "What did he offer you? Fame? Riches?"
…
"Himself?"
Jaune and Weiss groaned while Mytyl laughed sheepishly.
"Nothing like that. I just figured that if you cannot beat them, join them!"
"It's mutiny then!"
Weiss paused her staring contest with the piece of cardboard to scold Ruby. "I don't know what happened in the game, but I feel confident saying that's not what mutiny means."
"She's right," Jaune pointed out. "It was more of a strategic change in allegiances."
"Aren't you a lovely motley of personalities!"
The five team leaders, plus Weiss, turned towards the newcomer.
"Hi Pantera," Ruby greeted. Then shifted her attention to the other newcomers. "Hi Teseo. Sun. Kohaku... Goggles?"
'Goggles' pouted as Sun laughed. "Sup, nerds. I see you already know the better half of Team PTGA. I want you to meet the tail end quarter of Team SSSN. My partner and, unfortunately, brother in all but blood, Neptune."
Neptune confidently put forward himself and his best roguish smile. "Hey."
"Hi Neptune," Ruby corrected her greeting, oblivious to Neptune's best attempts at charming. In fact, every female team leader plus Weiss minus Mytyl, who opted not to put herself in the line of fire, remained unaware. Marina convalesced alongside Cardin as they rested their heads on top of the table and Weiss went back to being mystified by the mysteries of Remnant: The Game.
It didn't help Mytyl much in keeping under the radar as Neptune directed his attention towards her and Weiss. "Hello there, my Fair Fairy. Snow Angel."
Weiss snapped out of her trance, finally noticing the admittedly cute boy complimenting her. "O-oh, hi," she meekly stammered, embarrassed at being caught unaware.
Mytyl just blinked and looked between Neptune and Jaune, leaning on the table with her elbow and her cheek resting on her fist as she exchanged one last owlish comparing look between the two boys. "Huh… guess you're smoother than I or anyone gave you credit for, Jaune."
Cardin snorted. "Arc? Smooth?"
"Hey," Jaune interjected, "I'm just as surprised as either of you. So, how has your first week of the Beacon Experience treated you?"
"1337!" Teseo answered with Pantera agreeing, if not in word in spirit.
Neptune shrugged in a cool, aloof manner. "Not as bad as I heard you native freshmen had it." Groans and moans from all six present Beacon's first-year confirmed Neptune's words.
"Oh? That bad?" Pantera asked.
Kohaku sighed as she mentally prepared to relive the week's ordeals. "It all started with the Kafkas…"
-o-
"SKREEEEEEEE!"
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
"SKREEEEEEEE!"
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
-o-
Pantera hissed in empathic pain. "That sounds horrifying."
"That was just the beginning," Marina cried.
Kohaku continued. "Then came Oobleck's history class."
-o-
"And that students summarizes the last forty-two doomed attempts that resulted in massive civilians and Hunters losses in the last twenty year, bringing the death toll by the Creatures of Grimm to a sizeable ten thousand three hundred and four accounted deaths, not to mention cases that were never confirmed and to add to that we are also omitting the periodical fatalities of frontier settlements going dark for days before a scheduled supply run weeks later discover the carcasses of one thriving towns if passing Hunters don't stumble upon it first possibly just in time to deal with the naturally occurring increase of Grimm that surges right after the spike of negativity of an overrun town as the pained cries of the citizens only serve to send the Grimm into further frenzy that attracts more and overpopulates the area to levels that perhaps not even veteran Hunters with twenty plus years of experience are prepared to deal with which brings the worst case scenario of students encountering-"
-o-
"He went on for ages," Ruby cut off Kohaku's scarily precise recount.
A low whistle was Teseo's initial respond. "The Big Lighthouse is pretty hardcore." His pointy teeth shined with a smile. "I'm convinced. Let's teabag Haven, ditch those plebs, and come here!"
"After that, Thumbelina, Spriggin, and Mulberry spent their classes showing us how mismanaging foraging, Dust, and weapons can cut our life expectancy short," Cardin grumbled.
Sun canted his head. "That doesn't sound so bad."
"Graphically. Copious amounts of gruesome imagery and liberal application of scare tactics aplenty. It also doubled as what we can do to civvies if we are not careful."
Sun shut up.
"Professor Greene decided now was a good time as any to show us how a stealth, security, and infiltration missions can go wrong. Again, copious amounts of imagery and real-life stories," Mytyl added.
Sun snapped his finger. "Does all of this explain what happened to you guys in combat class?"
"What happened in Combat class?" Pantera asked, who shared no classes with the freshmen. Kohaku and Mytyl gave the loudest groans, but their classmates were not far behind in vocalizing their displeasure.
"You see…" Kohaku started.
-o-
The rules were simple. Fight until all members of KVKC reached red or until their opponent did. Other eliminations methods such as knock-out, out of bounds, and dirty play didn't apply to the first year.
They could be knocked unconscious and as long as they woke up before the fight ended, the fight continued.
They could be sent flying out of the arena and as long as their Aura remained above red, hopping back in and continue fighting was permitted. Every despicable, conniving, unsportsmanlike trick in the old book was fair game and nobody would call foul play.
And these benefits didn't apply to their opponent. Under normal circumstances, the handicap their opponent faced would have been crippling and this entire battle a farce. But these weren't normal circumstances and Kohaku could do nothing but look in abject horror as GV – GUN VOLT, lightning incarnate – was casually and literally tossed to the side like the icky freshman people mockingly call them when rubbing in their inexperience on their faces. All the Sophomores did it and Kohaku held no illusions that the Junior and Seniors didn't think the same, at least in passing.
Personally, she could agree that any older student, and most of her own classmates, could beat her to the ground. She never doubted that and as such didn't feel threatened by their jest. But the sentiment felt disingenuous when people like GV and Pyrrha existed and could go toe to toe against second-years, most third-years, and probably some of the lower tier fourth-years.
But she supposed that if Beacon's Deputy Headmistress Glynda Fucking Goodwitch decided they were icky first years, there wasn't much to argue.
"And with that, each of you is at…" the professor coolly looked away from them and to the Aura display. She was making it a point with the casual glance away from their team. So little was the danger they represented to her. "…below 50%, while I'm still fresh as lettuce at a comfy 87%."
Mytyl, who stood at the vanguard, perked up at that. Admittedly, Kohaku was also a bit surprised they managed to bring Goodwitch down by more than ten percent.
"Don't pat yourselves on the back too much. That just means you're as persistent as Kafkas. Most of my lost Aura was spent on my Semblance."
And just like that, the surge of pride was extinguished. Their contribution to this fight amounted to making Glynda Goodwitch's heart beat a bit faster. Looking at her teammates, Kohaku saw all of them were frozen in indecision. Mytyl bit her lower lips, desperately trying to come up with a plan. She made a motion to speak to her brother but stopped and shook her head before locking her eyes back to the patient Goodwitch, dismissing whatever idea she had.
GV was recovering from their last failed attempt. He already dismissed his big and flashy aces. They were meant to be finishers, they were mostly indiscriminate, and, if the professor survived them, it would put them one member down in an instant. Weaknesses GV was working on but wasn't quite there yet.
Copen had the stern demeanor he settled in whenever he started brainstorming. With Lola and Lumen, the twins' versatility was outstanding. That didn't help at all when Glynda's Semblance could defend against any projectile. That threw Copen's, GV's, Weiss's and a few other copied Semblances out. So, a physical Semblance…
"Koh, GV, Current Maelstrom on us! Distract!"
Kohaku gave out a small snort at the name – born from an allegedly sober session between Mytyl, Jaune, and Ruby coming up with team attacks – but complied, flailing her sword in the chaotic fashion she relished, weaving it between her teammates and keeping it just a bit shy of actually hitting the professor. The theory behind the 'attack' was simple. She would swing her whip wildly while pushing Aura into it. GV used his Vasuki clip to ricochet darts between the blade segments of the sword. The result? The bladed storm was now an electric bladed storm. Anyone, Aura or not, caught in it was in for a world of hurt. Or in Goodwitch's case, she would probably yank the sword from her hand and beat her with it. Kohaku opted against even trying. That was enough for the professor to be content just watching and waiting.
It was meant to be a distraction, so GV modulated the strength of his Semblance. That still meant the twins' Auras were taking chip damage from it. Mytyl contributed to the chaos of the storm, Lumen taking on her Ruby-mode while Mytyl darted erratically inside the danger zone. Kohaku had to focus on not hitting her leader, but Mytyl's actions spoke for themselves. A veritable wall of Aura butterflies obscured the vision into the danger zone, the occasional bullet from her gun aimed at the professor. Miss Goodwitch even looked intrigued by the tactic as she lazily swatted Mytyl's potshots with her riding crop.
Without warning, Mytyl jumped out of the storm and stopped next to Kohaku, extending her hand forward. "Lumen! Glyphs!" Lumen obeyed instantly, the telltale white of Weiss's color scheme enveloping her and a glyph appearing below the danger zone. It was hard to discern, but Mytyl's butterfly motif was vaguely recognizable in her glyph.
"Break distraction," Mytyl ordered GV and Kohaku at a lower volume. Not even a second after recalling the sword, Kohaku was hit by a gust of wind as Copen, faster than she could fathom thanks to his boots and Weiss's copied Semblance, shot forward towards, and pass, Glynda, who raised a hard-light shield to protect her ignored front. His hair burned in white Aura flames while Lola burned in yellow, the golden and brown hues of her appearance signaling Yang's charged Semblance. Before Goodwitch could recover, he sent a devastating kick promising to shatter bones, Aura be damned.
And the sounds of shattering reverberated through the auditorium, as Beacon's Deputy Headmistress Glynda Fucking Goodwitch blocked the attack with a hard-light shield that encased her forearm, projected from her crop.
"That was scary, Mister Kamizono," Goodwitch said conversationally to the stunned Copen. "For a second there I honestly thought I might not react in time. Guess I'll have to take you seriously."
It all happened too fast. The only reason Copen's body didn't crash into Kohaku was thanks to GV's enhanced reflexes as he dragged her out of the way. Instead, the white-haired boy's body crashed into the wall behind. A wall that was a good fifteen meters away and cracked from the force.
Copen remained on the crater for an entire second before being ripped forcefully from it and slammed viciously into the ground in a damning display of telekinetic prowess. The buzzing sound of Aura falling to red ominously echoed through the dead silent auditorium. A silence that was broken by the rhythmical clicks of the Deputy Headmistress's heels.
"Welcome to the big leagues, Team Kaleidoscope," Goodwitch emphasized the team's name. The word 'foreboding' suddenly gained a face and an entire snapshot in time as Dust projectiles of many colors coalesced around her. "Let's knock you down a peg."
GV rushed to the vanguard, activating his Flashfield just in time to halt the barrage of Dust weaponry the professor sent their way. At least that was the intention, as the projectiles froze not even a meter from impacting GV's defense.
"Wha-" was GV's last fraction of a word as a water lance cut through his Flashfield like a hot knife through butter and hit him straight on. With the instant short circuit, GV's Aura plummeted to zero, the angry buzzer of the scoreboard making it official.
"What are you two going to do?" The question was an invitation. GV and Copen were out for good. Mytyl and Kohaku had come far, but nowhere near enough to deal with this. Miss Goodwitch was content with waiting, her arms crossed and the Dust projectiles hovering around her while the remains of the Kaleidoscope agonized over their course of action.
Kohaku turned to her leader for answers. She could tell Mytyl wanted to keep fighting. To not give up. Kohaku forced herself to place a hand on the lavender-haired girl's shoulder, catching her attention. With a shake of the head, she made Mytyl's will to fight waver and dissipate. Defeat crossed the leader's face, accepting the fact that they were woefully outmatched. To Kohaku's surprise and confusion, a flash of shame also discernible.
Why? She had done admirably, both in battle and leading them. Surely, Mytyl understood this fight was meant to show them how badly fights can go. This entire week has been designed to be that.
"We forfeit…" Mytyl trailed off, her attention clearly leaving the lost match to deal with whatever was bothering her.
"Team KVKC forfeits." Miss Goodwitch announced to the silent audience. "Miss Mino. Miss Kamizono. Please help your teammates out of the arena. A nurse should be by the sidelines to help if needed.
They did as told and soon Team KVKC found themselves nursing their wounds. Copen was back to the land of the living while GV naturally stopped convulsing after the initial shock of water induced Overheat. Under normal circumstances they would have been escorted to the infirmary and be excused from the rest of the class. The nurse being there just added fuel to the suspicion that this class was following the supposed 'Hell Week' itinerary.
Miss Goodwitch stood in front of the audience of students, as if she hadn't just singlehandedly destroyed in body and spirit one of the best first year teams. Thinking they were one of the best wasn't arrogance on Kohaku's part. It was just a fact when GV and Copen were on your team. Only RWPY, who had their own powerhouses in Pyrrha and, to a lesser extent, Yang, compared. Ruby's and Weiss's overall skill over Kohaku's and Mytyl might tip the scales on RWPY's favor.
"As you just saw, do not believe for a second that just because you believe yourself good, or because you are a team, or because you outnumber your opponent and more, that any battle is a foregone conclusion. Remnant is full of monsters and not all of them are Grimm. Today each of your team will fight a Beacon professor. I expect each of you to give your all. Remember that your performance across all classes will determine which teams are chosen to represent Beacon at the Vytal Festival. Just because you face insurmountable odds does not mean I will look kindly to throwing the towel."
Kohaku's eyes widened at that. Just as Miss Goodwitch said, their professors walked from the auditorium's backstage and stood in line behind the deputy, armed and ready. Be it Oobleck's weaponized thermos, Port's blunderbuss axe, Thumbelina's razor edge shovel, Greene's sniper crossbow, or more, their weapons and disposition were a stark reminder that their teachers were fully-fledged Huntsmen and Huntresses. And they will remind the students of this fact like Miss Goodwitch did for them.
-o-
"I counted Professor Greene using at least five transformation on us," Ruby said, undecided if she should fangirl at the weapon or be haunted by what the weapon did to her team. "Crossbow, sickles, a serrated saw, butterfly knives. Even a pitchfork! And that's not to mention the hidden blade she shanked Weiss with."
"I don't like the word 'shanked'" Weiss said with a frown on her face.
"Our only solace is that she knocked out Pyrrha before the fight even began." Ruby said. "She said it was to make a point; that your opponent won't wait for you to be ready."
"She has a point," Pantera pointed out. "If you can neutralize a risk before it becomes a risk, you should."
"At least you fought a professor who uses physical weapons," Cardin protested. "Peach uses poisons. What kind of Huntress uses that? Does it even work on Grimm?"
"If infused with Dust," Pantera answered. "But I'm guessing this Peach might have focused on dealing with more human threats. Wow, Teseo is right. Beacon is pretty hardcore. Was that the highlight of your week?"
All four team leaders – minus Jaune plus Weiss and Kohaku – shared a look. Then laughed a dire ensemble of chuckles equal part relief, disbelief, and misery.
"N-no," Ruby said, her voice breaking a bit.
"God, I can still hear the screams," Marina leaned forward on the table and held her head, a brief haunted look crossing across her face.
"We… had one more class," Mytyl admitted.
"Ozpin's" Ruby started.
-o-
Ruby knew being a Huntress wasn't all fun and games. How couldn't she? She was motherless due to the profession. She also knew what the professors were trying to hammer into their skulls. Bad things happen and they must prepare for it. Some of them can be, if not avoided, minimized. Other are beyond their control and a Hunter must adapt. And sometimes they just outright fail. Professor Greene's systematic dismantlement of Team RWBY during combat class made it abundantly clear how screwed they could be if faced with an opponent above their skill level. It was the reason first years were not being sent alone in their first mission.
What Ruby didn't expect – which in retrospect she should have since that was the whole point of half of the lessons they had during this hellish week – was Ozpin's final trial. A nice little figurative package wrapped in metaphorical paper and tied with an allegorical bow.
Ugh. She was spending too much time around Weiss.
She spared a look at her temporary team. For the exercise, all the first-years were present, and were subsequently broken and mixed into new teams, each team leader at the head. All in order to simulate the likely scenario of having to work with Hunters out of their comfort zone.
She had the good fortune of having one well-known face in her team: Ren. While she wasn't the closest with the quiet boy, their teams' camaraderie was enough to make him a comforting presence. The second member of her team – a girl called Nixie from Marina's team if her memory served her correctly – agreed with the sentiment as Ren comforted her. She wasn't crying, but she was clearly shaken by the touch of realism Ozpin felt the exercise needed. There was no other explanation to adding visuals and sounds to the death of hundreds.
Ruby was sure she would be more affected if Ozpin hadn't made it a point in their first semester to make sure they understood that as leaders, if they falter, how can they expect their teams not to follow them in that downward spiral? Leaders are supposed to be an emotional pillar in times of distress.
Ren met her eyes, to which Ruby responded with a mouthed thanks. In turn, he replied with a nod.
Her final member was Sky. He was awfully quiet, but thankfully didn't look rattled like Nixie. Probably contemplating the exercise.
They weren't the only team in the classroom where they were told to wait. Each team has to go through Ozpin's trial one by one. Being the third team in, by the time Ruby and her temporary brothers and sister in arms exited the trial, they were met with two more teams. The general atmosphere of the first two teams was one of quiet contemplation with a hint of discomfort, no dissimilar to their own.
As far as persons of interest went, Blake was on Cardin's team and Pyrrha on Marbre's team. Pyrrha was a bit jittery, but mostly from having to wait rather than actual distress. Did her team succeed in the scenario? Because Ruby and her team failed. Spectacularly.
Blake played with the ribbon she used to wear on her hand, passing time and not meeting anyone's eyes. She looked more resigned than anything. Thankfully, she didn't seem to be at odds with Cardin and was probably sullen due to the exercise. A thought occurred to Ruby as she remembered Blake was ex-White Fang. Maybe Blake has experience with things going horribly wrong? It would explain her relatively tame expression.
One by one, slowly, each team filtered into the lecture classroom. For each one, their faces spoke of the same mixture of contemplation and anguish. Even the most loudmouthed students like Nora exhibited a sullen mood. They were encouraged to quietly contemplate the exercise before speaking with each other. A chance to gather their thoughts, as the Headmaster put it. Nonetheless, Ruby made it a point to send at least a nod towards Yang and Weiss when they arrived, which they responded in kind.
Finally, the last team to take the test walked in. Ruby's eyes widened slightly at what she saw. And she wasn't the only one with that reaction.
Jaune, GV and two others – a member of CRDL and the sole male member of MRNN – walked in with neutral faces. They weren't the tight, stern faces the less emotional of their classmates forced themselves to have. Nor was it the restrained mortification others sported. Even Copen was showing more emotions than any of the four members. The only one to rival them was Ren and he has a Semblance to suppress emotions.
"Good afternoon, students," Ozpin strolled in with Miss Goodwitch in tow. The disciplinarian's eyes were glued on Jaune's team. What did they do?
The headmaster took a position in front of the classroom, opting to lean on the table casually rather than sitting behind it. "Before we debrief, anyone besides Mister Arc's team wants to share anything? Thoughts? Experience? Questions?"
By the gods. Jaune DID do something, didn't he?
"What the heck was that?" The strain in Yang's voice was unmistakable. And to Ruby's experienced ears it was obvious her sister was making a concentrated effort not to say an actual curse in front of the teachers.
It also remined her that only the team leaders were familiar with the headmaster's fondness towards thought experiments and programmed simulations the students had to roleplay. If they weren't having a lecture, they either discussed hypothetical scenarios and how they would react to them, or they were asked to go over a preprogrammed mission where they gave a course of action and an update on the current situation was given as a result. This test was the latter.
"That, Miss Xiao Long, is a simulation we like to call the Kobayashi Maru, named after a fairly large Mistrali settlement of the same name that existed some fifty years ago, give or take some odd years, and that met, if not the same, an eerily similar fate. A blitz Grimm incursion encroached the settlement to devastating results, with only a handful of Hunters available to meet their end alongside the civilians. For years historians, strategist, politicians, and more have discussed how to avoid a similar tragedy and, after taking all known variables into account, reached the same conclusion: the destruction of the settlement was inevitable."
"Couldn't Haven have intercepted the Grimm force?" Marina asked.
"I believe you asked the same thing during your simulation, Miss Rios. The answer remains the same. The Grimm appeared suddenly and without warning, hence the term 'blitz'. There was no Grimm force to be intercepted since that implies there was a route the Grimm took that could be intercepted."
"What about the cultists we found?" Cardin asked.
"That was actually added to the simulation," Ozpin answered. "The original settlement didn't have an underground tunnel system to escape to and find the cultists. The actual tragedy was much more straightforward and many of the possible scenarios added to the simulation are there to give you more options. Experience had taught us, the teachers, that students would dismiss the lesson as unfair otherwise. All added options are based on real tragedies. There was a Grimm worshipping cult that sacrificed people to create negativity and attract Grimm. Just not on the same settlement."
Ruby felt sick just hearing that and, judging from the expression across the room, she wasn't the only one to share her disgust. Even Cardin looked like he wanted to punch something and cave their heads in. Probably a cultist. And she wouldn't even blame him.
"Was there a winning scenario?" Mytyl asked. Was that a tinge of anger in her voice? When asked out loud, the true purpose of the test became evident and a combination of relief and dread pooled in Ruby's stomach.
She didn't fail the test. There was no failure, because there is no winning condition to compare against.
Ozpin gave a heavy sigh through his nose and once more Miss Goodwitch's eyes bore a hole into Jaune's team. "Everybody, feel free to help yourselves to some drinks and food," he pointed towards a table by the side, "we're going to be here for a while, and we encountered… unforeseen creativity."
The next hour was spent with Ozpin going team by team over how their test progressed. Cardin's team, being the first, kicked things off by Cardin's surprisingly well thought out actions. He immediately realized there was no fighting the horde of Grimm, so he ordered his team to find an escape route. As luck would have it, he did find one – an abandoned tunnel system. Unfortunately, that also prompted the cultists that caused the Grimm invasion to act and seal their fate. Surprisingly, while Cardin naturally lost the civilians, he managed to get his team out by sacrificing himself.
The strategies employed by students varied across the board. Some, like Ruby herself, refused to abandon the civilians and died for their trouble. Others immediately and correctly assessed the situation as a lost cause and opted to ignore the civilians cries for help. Those had to deal with the consequences of their actions; some had their team commit mutiny, others projected enough negativity to attract a contingent of Grimm their way and get wiped out, while others got murdered in the court of public opinion in the after-battle report.
When Mytyl's turn came up, the entire class was in for a surprise. She fell in the group that realized the hopelessness of the situation early on. But when it came time to act upon the realization… she gave up. Professor Ozpin asked her to elaborate on why she completely shut down and allowed herself and her team to just stand there and die. She didn't answer, instead looking to the side and refusing to meet anyone's gaze. Not even Miss Goodwitch pressing for an answer managed to pry a response.
Then came Jaune's turn.
"Mister Arc… did you realize the point of exercise?"
Jaune nodded. "I had an inkling, which my team shared. And you confirmed our suspicions."
"Then why did you have Mister Volt hack the simulation and force a winning condition?"
All eyes in the classroom converged on Jaune. It was hard to believe anyone would admit to cheating so brazenly, right in front of the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress.
"Because I had the option to do it."
The Headmaster did that sip thing he does whenever he either needs time to think or make the students sweat. "I'm listening," he invited Jaune to elaborate.
"Had Gun been in any other team, I wouldn't have any other option but to admit it was a hopeless situation. But that wasn't the case. By pure chance I happen to have the one teammate that could win us the day, so I seized the opportunity and used him to the best of his capabilities."
The Headmaster chuckled at Jaune's audacity. Miss Goodwitch didn't seem to share the sentiment.
"I can hardly fault you for thinking outside the box and saving lives when failure was assured. As long as you understand that you won't always be able to rewrite reality to your whims, I see no reason to penalize you for it."
Miss Goodwitch still seemed like she didn't share the sentiment, but Ruby guessed one didn't just contradict the Headmaster.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it," Ozpin addressed the rest of them. "The life of a Hunter is riddled with hardships. Many begin this path romanticizing what being a Huntsman or a Huntress is. You see the flashy battles in television and lie to yourself, choosing to believe that's what being a Hunter means. But that's all it is. A lie. Today's lesson might be considered cruel, but we believe it is far crueler for you to go out there unprepared and see families destroyed. To have to console a child who just lost their parents to a Grim incursion."
Next to her, Ren tensed. And it was not the imperceptible changes in mood the boy normally had. He was visibly struggling to keep himself calmed. Further down the row, Nora had worry etched on her face. With the confirmation that she was not imagining anything, Ruby place a hand on Ren's shoulder and tried her best to send him a comforting smile.
That seemed to have worked, as Ren snapped out of whatever memory was haunting him.
"Today was but a taste of just how badly a mission can go. As Mr. Arc so elegantly showcased, it is important that we do everything in our power to save lives and fight against the forces of Grimm. But it's just as important to recognize that we will fail. Sometimes by no fault of our own. All we can do is survive, get stronger, and do our absolute best. Think about what you learned today. Soon, you will be out there making a difference. And there's only so much us teachers can do for you."
-o-
"Jaune! My man!" Teseo grinned from ear to ear.
"Wow… Beacon IS pretty hardcore." There wasn't much more Pantera could add to her words. "Ozpin isn't wrong though. The world can be pretty messed up when it wants to be."
"Speaking from experience?" Jaune asked.
Pantera nodded. "Tenji and I grew up in the slums of Mistral as orphans." She winced at the memory. "Mistral has easily the worst poverty out of the four kingdoms, and that includes Vacuo. With the prevalence of organized crime and the literal tiered structure of the city, it's not a nice place to grow up."
Something clicked in Cardin's head. "You don't want to be a Huntress to fight Grimm."
Pantera smirked. "Astute observation. You are not as dumb as you look."
"Hey!" Cardin yelled as his fist slammed the table and the students close by shush him into silence.
"There, there, Cardin," Marina patted her fellow team leader on the back. "Everybody thinks that and you're the only one to blame."
That deflated Cardin's ire. He looked hauntedly at the board of Remnant: The Game. "But… but… I was among the top five in grades for our first semester."
Everybody froze.
"You… were?" Weiss asked skeptically.
"Copen was first, you second, Mytyl third, Ren fourth, and I was fifth," Cardin listed offhandedly.
"Today's is full of surprises," Ruby said, before returning to the initial topic. "You don't want to fight the Grimm?"
"I will fight them if I have to, but I want to be a Huntress to aid the people inside the kingdoms. Being a Huntress opens a lot of doors to you that being a regular law enforcer doesn't." Pantera leaned in conspiratorially. "Also, it helps that Tenji is a Huntsman. I admit, I'm a bit of an adoring little sister."
Jaune's scroll rang, putting the conversation in pause. The blond sighed as he glanced down at the device.
"Duty calls," he mumbled as he stood up and started to clean up the board game.
"By the way, what's with the game? Isn't the library for studying?" Neptune asked.
"Don't be a nerd," the quartet of Sun, Kohaku, Pantera, and Teseo said in unison, reprimanding Neptune and earning them a pout from the blue haired boy.
"We are actually studying," Marina explained.
Cardin continued. "Ozpin asked the leaders to split into two groups and play Remnant using the alternate Grimm rules."
"Ouch, sux for Grimmy-grim-grim."
And Teseo was right. While the normal Remnant: The Game was meant for four players, the alternate rules takes all Grimm cards and make a new faction out of them. It was hilariously imbalanced against the Grimm by design. It wouldn't do for the game to paint the creatures of darkness as anything remotely competent.
"We would agree with you, but…" Ruby trailed off.
"Jaune played the Grimm the three times and won all of them!" Mytyl groused. She quickly mellowed down at the look Jaune gave her. "Sorry, I have little experience losing."
Jaune sighed. "Seven sisters."
Mytyl pouted. "You do use that excuse a lot."
"If the shoe fits," Jaune shrugged. "I better get going before Blake does something we are all going to regret." Jaune waved a notebook towards his fellow team leaders. "I'll make sure to have our notes and copies ready for next class."
-o-
After Jaune left, the remains of the game were cleaned up and the group made their way out of the library. With Cardin and Marina going their own way, Weiss and Neptune striking a conversation, and the rest of the group making small talk, Ruby took the opportunity to speak to Mytyl discreetly.
"Mytyl?"
"…"
"Mytyl."
"…"
"Mytyl!" Ruby hissed and shove the lavender-haired girl harshly, finally getting her attention.
"Huh?"
"Are you ok? You've been a bit… off… since the simulation."
"I'm ok…"
Mytyl continued walking, but her arm had other intentions as it dragged her back into place, courtesy of Ruby's iron grip on her forearm. From the hand still holding her in place, up to her captor's silver eyes. Her unflinching silver eyes.
"Everything fine back there?"
Both Huntresses-in-training found themselves the focus of their group of friends, who were observing them inquisitively.
"Ruby wanted to ask me something about Ozpin's class. Leader stuff. You can go ahead. We'll catch up."
Mytyl's explanation was met with skepticism. Thankfully, between Pantera and Kohaku, the group was convinced to continue forward. With the desired privacy achieved, Ruby returned to staring. Mytyl sighed and combed her hair in exasperation.
She didn't share the doubts many had about Ruby. Ruby deserved being the team leader of Team RWPY. Ruby was a combat savant. Not dumb, but not exceptional in any other area outside combat. It was easy to lower one's guard in front of her. And that meant Mytyl diligence faltered and allowed herself to act careless in front of the fifteen years old prodigy.
And now she was paying for her carelessness.
"It's fine, Ruby. I just don't like losing."
"It's not a game."
"Huh?"
"Ozpin's simulation. It's not a game." Ruby frowned. "I know it sucks there was no winning it, but-"
"Jaune won."
Ruby blinked. "Well… yeah, but he cheated."
"HE DID NOT!"
Ruby flinched while Mytyl immediately regretted yelling. Their privacy consisted of people's common decency of not eavesdropping on every passerby. But if you yell in the middle of a hallway, all bets were off. Now it was Ruby's turn to have her forearm grabbed and dragged to an empty classroom, slamming the door behind them, away from prying ears. Mytyl leaned against the door, forehead resting in the wooden slab.
"Mytyl, what's wrong?"
"…Nothing is wrong, Ruby. So please, just drop it?"
"You can talk to me. We are friends… right?"
She gritted her teeth. "We… are. And as a friend I'm telling you to drop it."
Ruby placed a hand on Mytyl's shoulder, but Mytyl clenched her eyes and refused to turn and meet Ruby's. "Something is wrong. You have not been yourself since the semester began."
"I fail to see how I am not being 'myself', as you put it-"
"You're talking like Weiss."
Mytyl froze. And Ruby continued.
"You are acting like Weiss does in public. Aloof. Impersonal. As if every move was being judged."
Mytyl inwardly cursed. Of course, Ruby, Weiss's partner, would pick up on the business-like mask she and Weiss had been taught to put on. However…
She turned to finally face the red-haired Huntress. "Weren't we just joking about a board game a few minutes ago?"
"I don't mean always, but enough times to make me worry. Just now you yelled at me for suggesting Jaune cheated. And during the simulation… the Mytyl I've gotten to know wouldn't just sit there and die, even if it wasn't real. That goes beyond not liking to lose."
Mytyl didn't respond.
"And then there's your bouts of dizziness. It happened during at the bar and Jaune told me it happened again after the food fight."
Ruby failed to notice Mytyl's expression hardening at that.
"I've heard about your childhood sickness," – Mytyl struggled not to grimace at that reminder – "and if it's affecting you, I want to help."
Leave it to Ruby Rose to want to help in things she cannot even fathom.
Mytyl took one calming breath. "Ruby… I'm asking you again. Drop the subject."
Her plea went ignored. "And it's not only me. Weiss is worried. GV too. Jaune-"
"I SAID DROP IT!"
The effect was instantaneous. Mytyl was unprepared for the vacuum effect Ruby's speed caused, causing her to slightly stumble forward as the reaper backed away. Regaining her footing, she looked forward, through the falling rose petals left in Ruby's wake. She was met with a frightened and unnerved girl. Wide silver eyes looked at her with abundant terror. Visibly shivering.
"W-w-wha… what w-was that?" The fright in Ruby's face and the tremble in her voice made Mytyl immediately regret everything.
"R-ruby… I… I…" Mytyl stepped away from the door.
Ruby didn't wait for an answer. In a Semblance fueled dash, she ran pass Mytyl, only stopping to open the door before escaping. Mytyl's shoulders sagged, hand extended midway in half an attempt to stop Ruby, futilely. Instead, she closed the door again.
And slipped as she went to lean against it, hitting her head and landing in her knees. Hissing in pain and nursing point of impact, tears glistened at the edge of her eyes.
"Damn it."
She messed up.
Author's Notes
Michiruuuu D:
Being Mytyl is suffering. This chapter took a while to write. Both a bit of writer's block and IRL circumstances (not elbow related. This was written way before that kerfuffle). It was longer, but that last section wasn't planned, and I have no idea where I'm going with it. But it served as a good end to the chapter, so I moved the rest of it to the next chapter.
Let's go to our rundown.
MICHIRUUUUU: Fun fact: that's, technically, Mytyl's Japanese name. Her name in Japanese is written in katakana (indicating her name might be foreign) as ミチル. If you know the logic behind katakana, you know each symbol represents a syllable. So, her Japanese name, romanized, would be Mi-chi-ru.
So basically, her name in Japanese and English is the same, since in Japanese there are no ti- or -l sound, so they are transliterated as chi- and -ru, respectively.
Remnant: The Game: Maybe I'm making Jaune too smart, but the idea he's exceptionally good at a lot of domestic stuff is not particularly rare across fanfics. So, I took the game that RWBY plays in the show and switched a few things around. In a world that runs on preventing negative emotions, it makes sense a game would serve the dual purpose of keeping morale up against the monsters of Grimm
Jaune, Prince of the Grimm: Yes, this is a reference to Coeur Al'Aran's fic White Sheep. Still holds the single, funniest scene I've read. Or at least the one that made me laugh the most. I don't know why, but I laughed loudly for five minutes straight when Jaune got yeeted to the Emerald Forest. Good thing I lived alone back then.
The Grimm have balloons: Another reference to Coeur's fics, this time Headmaster Arc. Specifically, Drei, the Grimm Seer Ruby wants to adopt.
Fame? Riches? Themselves?: In case it isn't obvious by now, I'm fond of repetitions, mirroring, alliterations, brick jokes, and other similar syntactical structures. It's the reason Mytyl's and Jaune's court play gets brought up every now and then. Why Fame-Riches-Themselves joke was used by Nora first, then Ruby. Why each player of Remnant: The Game referred to their nation with an adjective. Etc.
Dust Teacher: There are no known professor for a class dealing with Dust, so I created one. Name them after the spriggans from Cornish mythology.
KVKC vs Glynda: Ah yes, Glynda Goodwitch 100-0 the entirety of KVKC. It helps show the relative power between KVKC and professional Hunters of Glynda's caliber. Frankly, it's a pity that we did not see Glynda fight beyond simply throwing stuff with her telekinesis. That I remember, at least.
The Kobayashi Maru: This is actually from Star Trek. The purpose of the test is to see how captain candidates respond to an impossible situation. In Star Trek, Kirk has some infamy for beating the test by cheating on it. A role Jaune takes on earnestly.
If you watched the J.J. Abrams movies, it's the test Kirk cheats on in the first movie.
Mytyl's House of Card: Is tumbling down. Hard to keep a matter private when it keeps rearing its head and making everyone interested in it.
Rewrites: Sometimes, while going over a chapter's pre-publishing revision, major rewrites occur. Originally, the 'flashbacks' for both KVKC vs. Glynda and Ozpin's trial were written in first-person from Kohaku's and Ruby's perspectives. But I decided to change them to third-person after first-person became emblematic of something else. Hence, you might find some oddities in wording.
Another thing I expanded upon was the final scene between Ruby and Mytyl. It was originally much shorter.
Reviews
98kazer: To be fair, KVKC = Havoc is a pretty neat interpretation of the name. Much better than mine, if we're being honest. If I wasn't dead set in using Kaleidoscope due to how cool of a name it is on a system revolving around colors and due to canon ASG fascination with big fancy words, Havoc would be a cool alternative. What color is havoc anyways? A dark blue? A radioactive orange?
