RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, not me.
Had this idea pop into my head and decided to run with it. Enjoy.
Hey kid,
If you're reading this then you're alive. Congrats! Good job on the whole not dying thing, not everyone manages it. Case-in-point yours truly. Which you probably don't need me to tell you considering you woke up next to my corpse. Bummer. Unfortunately, I'm also fairly certain that you're on your own now since no one else in the village seems to have survived the grimm attack.
The only reason you survived comes down to luck. By the time I arrived the village was already done for, but I atleast managed to avenge it by killing all the grimm. So take whatever confort you can from that. The only reason I found you is that the last Beringel managed to get one last shot in as I killed it and sent me flying straight through a building. Broke my ribs too.
That's when I found you lying on the ground behind some debri with one hell of a head wound. You were on death's door kid. Truth be told I didn't expect you to make it, but I had to do something. So I did the only thing I could think of that had any chance of saving you.
I awakened your Aura, and immediately realized you might have more of a chance than I initially thought. Still not a good one, but better than before.
Kid, your aura is massive. Easily double the amount I have, and I'm a trained Huntsman. I didn't even know that was possible. Don't get cocky though. Having that much aura doesn't mean shit if you don't know how to use it, which you definitely don't.
Anyway, after that I scooped you up and carried you down to the basement of the nearest house just in case anymore grimm showed up.
Which brings us to the reason for this letter. I'm pretty sure this is where I meet the reaper. That last hit from the Beringel? It broke a few ribs…which then went on to puncture a lung. Honestly, I'm surprised I survived long enough to write this. I'm starting to feel lightheaded so it looks like it's time to wrap this letter up. Not gonna lie you got dealt a pretty shit hand, but I got a feeling you'll pull through.
Good luck, Kid. Try not to die.
Your friendly neighborhood Huntsman,
Damian Thorne
I'm not sure how long I sat in that basement trying to process what I just read.
Aura
Grimm
Huntsman
I've been fucking isekai'd! Not only that, I've been isekai'd into a world with massive racial inequality, magical bullshit, and fucking shadow monsters whose only reason to exist is to kill as many people as possible.
How!?
How the fuck did this happen! I didn't even do anything! The last thing I remember is going to the dmv to finally upgrade my learner's permit into a proper drivers license. I remember taking the road test…FUCK REALLY!? FUCKING TRUCK-KUN GOT ME!?
"Let it go, Felix. You've got more important shit to deal with" I groaned to myself.
I looked over to the corpse now named Damian, as I folded the letter before storing it in my pocket.
"Thanks for saving me I guess. Fuck you for bringing us to the basement though. Yeah, I get you had your reasons, but now I've gotta carry your ass up a flight of stairs to give you a proper burial" I said annoyed at the prospect. Especially since my age has regressed. Yesterday I was seventeen and today I'm around ten. Goddamnit.
"Literally every aspect of this fucking sucks," I said as I stood up to get started on my new life, "First things first, I gotta find a notebook and a pen to write down everything I remember from the show before I forget."
My stomach however chose that moment to remind me that I had no idea when my last meal was and that needed to be fixed immediately. So the plan was altered. Food first, all other bullshit second.
I started to head for the stairs before pausing and walking back towards Damian. Taking the chance to go through his possessions for anything that could be of use. It's not like he needed it anymore.
Unfortunately, there wasn't anything that would be of any immediate use. He did have four thousand lien, which while nice to have, wasn't useful if I didn't have anywhere to spend it. Still, it was better than nothing.
The kitchen wasn't anything special, but it had all the necessities to make a decent meal. The stove did give me a bit of trouble since it wasn't like any I've used before. I was confused until I remembered that it ran on Dust. Everything did. With that mystery solved, I turned to the fridge to figure out what I wanted to eat.
Ultimately I decided to make myself a grilled cheese sandwich along with some canned tomato soup I found in the cupboard. My stomach started gurgling halfway through the process, highlighting just how hungry I really was. Making it all the more satisfying when I finally sat down to eat.
The meal was delicious, but the ambiance left a lot to be desired. The dichotomy of the pristine kitchen and the desolate village visible through the window caused an ineffable mood to settle. It was too quiet.
I wished I had a radio or something.
No such luck though.
With no distractions available to me I was left to finish my meal in silence, as I contemplated my situation. I wasn't strong enough to make my way to another village. Not if I had to journey through grimm infested territory.
Damian was right, even if I did have a ridiculous amount of aura it was irrelevant if I couldn't consciously use it. Even now I could feel it, billowing off of me like steam. I don't have the faintest idea how to go about training aura in this world…but maybe I didn't need to.
I remember aura being described as the manifestation of one's soul, that's not exactly a power system unique to Remnant. Could there be overlap? A lifetime of watching anime has given me more than enough research material to draw upon. Which ones though?
It could be similar to Chakra or Ki, but neither of those really felt quite right. So I can cross Naruto and Dragon Ball off the list. Haki? No, that's not right either. While the defense barrier provided by aura does share similarities with Armament Haki it still doesn't account for the development of Semblances. Then there's Spirit Energy from Yu Yu Hakusho. That has similarities with the individuals developing their own abilities, but it doesn't share the passive defense aspect that Aura has.
Thinking of Yu Yu Hakusho reminded me of Hunter x Hunter, another series written by the same author Yoshihiro Togashi. That was it!
Nen! That's perfect!
The Hatsu aspect of Nen explains the existence of Semblances, and the passive defense aspect can be explained by the Ten and Ken aspects of Nen.
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Especially by trying to determine what type of Nen users' different characters are. Qrow is definitely a Specialist, I can't see any other way his Semblance could be categorized. Yang is obviously an Enhancer. Ruby is probably an Enhancer and makes her Semblance work by using Transmutation to alter her aura into rose petals and then using Enhancement to increase her speed.
It all makes sense! I can't believe it lines up so well!
Actually strike that, considering how much Miles and Kerry "were inspired" by other media like Avatar the last airbender or Cowboy Bebop I can easily believe that these similarities could be intentional.
Still though, even if it does bear numerous similarities to Nen it's not like I have more than a superficial idea on how to go about learning the four major principles of Nen, nevermind all the advanced techniques. It might be even more difficult depending on what type of Nen user I am. Enhancer or Transmuter would probably be best since then I'd be able to imitate either Gon or Killua's training a bit.
Of course that's assuming there's enough overlap between Nen and Aura for these principles to even apply.
"What a drag," I sighed as I stood and made my way towards the sink to wash my dishes. As I started to wash the dishes I couldn't help but chuckle. Here I was in a whole new world filled with danger, and here I was doing something as mundane as washing dishes. Funny how some things never change.
As I finished with the dishes another thing occurred to me. The water Nen test. That's probably the easiest way for me to determine if the rules of Nen really do apply to Aura. Where am I gonna get a leaf though? I can't see any trees from my vantage point at the window. I'd rather not even risk leaving the village to find a tree before I increase my odds of survival. I racked my brain trying to think of a solution and quickly growing frustrated. I was just about to resign myself to a quick trip out of the village when my gaze shifted to the cupboards. That's it! I rushed over and started opening them and searching through them as fast as possible.
"Come on! There has to be at least one," I growled as I tore through another cupboard before I finally spotted what I was searching for.
Bay leaves. A common herb used in cooking. Bay leaves are almost always added whole to whatever dish they're being used in.
"Never thought I'd be so glad to find a fucking seasoning" I said walked back to the sink and grabbed a glass.
Thankfully this test didn't have many requirements. Just a glass filled to the brim with water, and a leaf floating in the center. I set the glass on the counter once I was finished, and ready for the next step. I moved my hands so they were each hovering on one side of the glass then tried to focus my Aura to envelope the glass…
…and nothing happened.
"Goddamnit! Come on, work already!" I growl at the stupid glass.
My Aura still felt like steam billowing off me, and while I could feel it, I couldn't direct it. I knew it was possible since it moved slightly how I wanted it too, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't manifest enough of it to affect the glass. After trying for another ten minutes I finally gave it up.
The problem wasn't the test. The problem was I didn't have enough control to even attempt the test!
"Guess I'll just have to try again some other time," I sighed as I dumped the water and cleaned the glass.
Then, I realized I had gotten sidetracked. Yes, it was important to check if the rules of Nen applied, but that wasn't the most important priority. In the short term it was important to advance my strength as fast as possible, but long term? Long term the most important thing was to write down everything I could remember while I still could.
I could train and take the water test at any point, provided I had the necessary materials, but if I forgot any information before I got a chance to write it down then it was gone forever. This was a marathon, not a sprint, and if I stumbled early on then it could guarantee my death later on. The margin of error was practically non-existent.
Training was important. After all, it was only a matter of time before some random Grimm wandered into town, and since I was the only one here it would be drawn straight to me. So I had to handle the information as quickly as possible in order to maximize the amount of time I would have to train before I faced my first Grimm. Especially since I had no idea what kind it would be. Hopefully it would be a regular Beowolf or an Ursa, but there was no way to know for certain so my only option was to get as strong as possible and hope it would be enough.
With that in mind I set off to search the house for a notebook and writing utensils to get started. As the saying goes, today is the first day of the rest of my life.
And I had no intention of wasting it.
So yeah like I said at the start this just popped into my head and I decided to run with it. Leave a review if you enjoyed it and want me to write more. My focus is still on my other story so the better the response this chapter receives the higher I place Ruthless in Remnant on my list of priorities
Also if any of you would like to support me just search for DelinquentDream over on Pat-r3e-0n