Author's note: And now, coast guard stuff. Yay, water.
The next morning, Ruby met with Khione at the coast guard post near her house, which was just far enough from the beach to not be noticed by tourists, keeping them from thinking of the ever-present threat of Grimm and keeping negativity low. Both were given life jackets as standard procedure, and introduced to Brand, one of their land support staff. Thanks to her semblance, the coast guard had an ample supply of bullets that weren't affected by water, allowing for greater efficiency.
"Do you need help with that?" Khione asked when she saw Ruby fidget with the life jacket she had to wear as per protocol.
"Yeah, thanks," Ruby said, and Khione quickly helped her put it on. She knew she didn't have to wear it, but it was easier than arguing, and didn't hurt anyone. And in a pinch, she could use her semblance to get out of it anyway. The bright orange flotation items had Vale's icon on the chest, with three wavy lines under it.
~o~
An hour later, Ruby and Khione were on the boat, and at sea, patrolling the stretch between Patch and the mainland to make sure there were no Grimm interrupting traffic to or from the island. Each side of the boat had two mounted machine guns, with pearl bullets loaded, which looked like they were made from pearls. There was a chain gun on the front, which had ice-dust bullets loaded and was operated by Khione. Sensing a small pack of Lurkjaw approach, Ruby drew Thief's Respite, which also had pearl bullets loaded.
"Grimm!" One of the men on board called out, and both guns on that side immediately opened fire. The Grimm, which resembled angler fish, were hit by the bullets and spread out. Ruby focused on the ones trying to get behind the boat, using Tranquility to hide herself and benefit from the damage bonus from Ambush.
"Drive them to the front," Ruby said, and the gunners changed their course of action, aiming at the Grimm further behind the boat. As soon as the Grimm got within reach, Khione opened fire, gunning them down in a hail of bullets and creating numerous ice chunks. The ship shot its gravity-dust tethers to the ice chunks, pulling them closer and keeping them close to the boat.
"Good work, Ruby," Khione said.
"Thanks," Ruby said, "But there's more coming." She put Thief's Respite away and drew Crescent Rose in its sniper rifle form. She loaded pearl bullets and shot the Grimm at the bottom of the pack, before making the bullet explode, driving the entire pack closer to the surface. The ship maneuvered itself to face the Grimm, and as soon as they got in range, Khione opened fire. The Lurkjaw, shark-like Razorfin, and serpentine Mameleu spread out, and Ruby helped take out the smaller ones, while Khione focused on the larger ones. One of the Mameleu rammed the ship, throwing several men against a wall as the vessel rocked to the side, knocking them out.
"We've got a leak," the captain said over speaker.
"I've got it," Ruby said and used Glyphs, augmented with ice-dust. The water around the hole froze almost immediately, plugging the leak and stabilizing the boat.
"That's amazing," Khione said and asked, "What can't you do?"
"Allowing those monsters to hurt people," Ruby answered, put Crescent Rose away and drew Thief's Respite again, shooting the Mameleu. When it dove away from the surface to hide under Lurkjaw and Razorfin, she made the bullets explode, augmenting Exploding Projectiles with ice-dust to make the explosions send ice shards everywhere. The ice shards came back up, hitting Grimm on the way and forcing them closer to the surface, where the gunners could easily deal with them.
"Nice one," Khione said. Another Mameleu approached the boat to ram it, but she opened fire and drove it away.
"Hold on tight, we're shaking them off," the captain said over speaker and tried to get away from the Grimm, bringing them all behind the boat. The captain turned the boat in a snake line, allowing the gunners on either side to shoot the Grimm for a moment. When Ruby realized that the Grimm were getting too close for comfort, she used Petal Burst to get to the last ice chunk in the line and unleashed her silver eyes, petrifying the Grimm.
~o~
A few days before running into Khione, when Ruby first fused with Sapphire's soul, both Taiyang and Zwei were watching, in case the fusion went rouge and needed to be subdued. Despite their good intentions, Ruby knew that the only thing stopping the fusion from hurting either of them was her own love for them. After deciding on a name, Sapphire let Ruby into her memories, where Ruby learned a new way to help people. They agreed to pull Emerald into the fusion and teach her as well, fusing into Opal. The new fusion wore a red bikini, with a small golden horse shoe clip holding the top together, and two small horse shoe clips holding the bottom. She also wore a transparent black mesh t-shirt, a blue sash, and beige sandals. Opal had shoulder-long black hair with a single green streak framing her face on the right side, silver eyes and a horse tail. Leaning on her chainsaw, she gave Taiyang a confident look, then reverted back to Ruby once Emerald had learned how to impose her aura structure in other people's souls.
~o~
When the coast guard's boat returned to port, the gravity tethers were released and pulled the ice chunks towards a separate building, where Brand and her sister Meer would use the increased aura regeneration to turn bullets into new ones.
"We don't use the fire projectiles that often, but it's nice having them," Khione explained, "They get super hot, and deal a ton of damage to enemies that can't take the heat."
"I see," Ruby said, "Excuse me for a moment." She dashed away and pulled out her scroll, opening the clip of Qrow, Clover and Robyn fighting Tyrian in the other timeline. She paused it when she got a good look of the bolts Robyn's weapon uses, and put her scroll on a nearby barrel, making it project the image as a hologram. She put her hands together and focused on a nearby pile of scrap metal, then used her alchemy to turn the materials into a crate full of crossbow bolts.
~o~
While the bolts were turned into fire bolts, Ruby met with Joshua, Khione's father who oversaw the coast guard post. He had orange eyes and short black hair, and like his daughter, had two horns coming out of the side of his head. He wore heavy black boots, and an otherwise navy blue uniform, with Vale's emblem on the left side of his chest, under which Ruby saw several awards for outstanding service.
"Ruby Rose, is it?" Joshua asked and looked up from the report on the most recent patrol mission.
"Yes, sir," Ruby said, sitting up straight in the regular office chair, while Joshua sat in one that looked much bigger, more comfortable, and even had arm rests with a cup holder.
"You can just call me Joshua," Joshua said with a chuckle, turned serious again and asked, "But what was that light people reported?"
"That was me, actually," Ruby said, "I can release the light of preservation, the divine power that opposes Grimm, in times of crisis to save those I hold dear. You could say I wield the power of a god."
"The power of a god?" Joshua asked and said, "Well, whatever it is, as long as it keeps the people safe, I really don't care. Anything else?"
"Well yes, one thing," Ruby answered, "The light is born from the power of creation, which allows me to tap into the very fabric of creation, and change my surroundings, within certain boundaries. That is how I turned that scrap metal into ammunition, for example."
"I see. That sounds like it could be really useful," Joshua said, "If there is anything else you can tell me about your powers, be sure to let me know."
"Alright, will do," Ruby said, "In fact, there may be one more thing. The light is my soul. If people look into it, a copy of my soul is imprinted on theirs, allowing them to emulate the effects of my semblance." Joshua got a call on his scroll, cutting Ruby off before she could explain the other aspects of this process. He looked who it was and motioned her and Khione to leave, then took the call when both got up to leave the room.
~o~
After fusing with both Emerald and Sapphire, Ruby retreated into her soul core to talk to the others, and found that they had already imprinted the blueprints for their respective semblances into her soul. She went and touched Emerald's emblem.
"I will best you inside your own mind," Emerald's voice echoed through the air, and Ruby went over to Sapphire's emblem.
"My chains will restrain all evil," Sapphire's voice whispered over the wind. In the middle distance, she saw the emblem for Bubble Teleport, and made a decision. When she returned to the waking world, she shared it with Yang, and Ambush with Ren, just for good measure.
~o~
Walking around the coast guard post after sending a crate of fire bolts to Atlas, Ruby thought about what to do. She picked up an ice-dust crystal and used it to augment Wolfpack, sending spectral wolves made of icy mist to hunt down some nearby Grimm that approached a town with an Atlas base.
"Something good happen?" Khione asked, pulling Ruby out of her thoughts.
"Yes, very good," Ruby answered, "The nearby settlement is restless, due to the military's presence, which draws in Grimm. The soldiers stationed there kill them using semblances they copied from some fusions, making them more like said fusions. Of course, I make sure that the threat of Grimm does not get out of control, but it is nice seeing a plan work out."
"Wait, you planned for the soldiers to return?" Khione asked, visibly surprised, "And why does it sound like you're saying that Grimm attacking the town is good?"
"I didn't plan it, no," Ruby answered, "That was Sirena, my mentor. However, I aided that plan, and am now doing what I can to ensure its success. And for that to work, we need those soldiers to use the semblances of silver-eyed warriors. One of those only works against Grimm, so it is important that Grimm are present. But as I said, I am making sure that there are never too many Grimm."
"Well, if you're sure of that," Khione said, "But if something happens, I have to inform authorities about that. Those are the rules."
"I will inform them myself, should the need arise," Ruby said, "For now though, I have an idea."
"And what?" Khione asked.
"I can teach you to imprint your semblance onto someone else's soul," Ruby answered, "It will allow them to use your semblance. That way, the soldiers stationed at the base could use it to help each other even better."
"That sounds awesome," Khione said, and her face lit up in excitement, "Alright, let's do it." Ruby put her right hand on her friend's left shoulder and used Mentor, and a few moments later, Khione had learned how to leave an imprint of her semblance's blueprint on someone else's soul.
~o~
Weiss was walking through Atlas, looking for Jaune. She had a very specific goal, though she didn't know if it was possible. All she knew was that Jaune seemed to have the skills necessary. It was either that, or it was just a coincidence. Along the way, she walked past Marrow, turned a corner and found Jaune.
"Jaune, there you are," Weiss said, "I need to ask something."
"Hey Weiss," Jaune said and asked, "Sure, what is it?"
"How did you learn to shoot rose petals?" Weiss asked.
"Oh, that," Jaune said and answered, "Well, Pyrrha and I experimented with Petal Burst, and created a new semblance."
"So, you made a new semblance?" Weiss asked.
"Yes. To be honest, I still can't believe it myself," Jaune answered, "But it's really just a slight modification, and we had some trouble figuring out the specifics."
"Can you teach me?" Weiss asked.
"Wait, what?" Jaune asked.
"I want you to teach me," Weiss answered, "I want to be able to modify some of the semblances I can use, to better suit my needs."
"Well, if you insist," Jaune said, "Alright, let's do this." The two of them fused again, and Jaune let Weiss go through his memories so she could learn how to modify semblances. While he wasn't paying attention, Weiss also copied the blueprints for Rose Tourbillon, then went back to making a new version of Combat Drone, though Pyrrha ended up helping her a lot, so they dubbed it Magnet Sphere.
~o~
Early the next morning, Khione started up her jet-ski and drove out into the ocean a bit, where she would meet with Ruby, who had said she had a special surprise for her. It was a regular jet-ski, with two small gun barrels under the handlebar in case she gets attacked. It had a white bottom, but was otherwise blue, with the emblem for Vale's coast guard printed in the center of the handle, and on the back.
"Now, where is Ruby?" Khione thought and checked the radar, which showed something coming her way. It was smaller than any Grimm she knew lived in the area, but too big, and fast, for a human or faunus. She got ready to evade, and maneuvered herself into a better position, one where she knew the under water landscape made high-speed pursuit impossible, but where a jet-ski was light enough to not sink that deep. Just as she got near a rock, Ryn jumped out of the water and landed on the stone, wrapping her tail around it and leaning back, using her clawed hands for additional support.
"Ki- Ki- Kiki," Ryn said, "No fear. I am Ryn. Ruby, fusion, shark." Khione, however, was far too mortified to hear what Ryn was saying, and only saw an almost human figure with claws, rows of sharp teeth, skin and scales like murky water, and bone spikes along her spine, complete with dirty black hair hanging below her shoulders. Khione screamed and drove away, and Ryn jumped into the water and followed her. Khione took evasive maneuvers, and Ryn had trouble gaining speed in the tricky under water environment, with corals and rocks everywhere. She couldn't even jump out of the water, since she'd risk hitting something when she came back down.
"Hello, Whitecliff," Khione said over radio as soon as she got close enough to the coastal city, "This is Khione Waters, I'm with Vale's coast guard, Whitecliff branch. I need backup. Unidentified humanoid pursuer. No match with known species. Appearance heavily suggest predator." She weaved through the waves, just above tight corridors in the coral reef. Ryn tried to catch up and clear things up, but building up speed was borderline impossible, and Khione was luring her towards a military vessel with net cannons to capture her. And she would not accept that level of indignation. She used her hands to speed-crawl across the rocks, allowing her to build up more speed, since all she had to do was keep her body above a certain level. She used Shadow Clones to dodge a net fired at her, and used Petal Burst to get onto the ship, where she saw the Atlas soldiers. They wore similar uniforms to the ones in Argus, but with life jackets from the Vale coast guard. Ryn wobbled around a bit, then reverted back to being Ruby, just as Khione approached.
"Hey," Ruby said with an apologetic smile, "Sorry for the scare."
"Ruby? But how?" Khione asked and stopped her jet-ski next to boat.
"Fusion," Ruby answered, "With a shark. I got her soul, and her teeth have some of her aura, so yeah."
"Hello Ruby, nice to see you again," the captain of the boat said, "I'm Shale Kalk, the captain of this vessel." The man wore heavy black boots, blue suit pants tucked into them, and a blue suit jacket, along with a captain's hat, with his short, black hair showing just barely.
"Wait, you know Atlas military?" Khione asked in surprise, and used Petal Burst to dash onto the boat.
"Yeah, I helped them out in the past," Ruby answered and rubbed the back of her head, a bit nervous talking about her past achievements.
"No need to be so humble, huntress," Shale said, "You saved the kingdom from destruction, and even remedied the cancerous society that would see it destroyed."
"Wait, huntress?" Khione asked, "You mean you have your license already?"
"I mean, kinda?" Ruby answered.
"Captain, we've got problems," one of the soldiers said, "There's Grimm approaching."
"Damn, I totally lost track of those," Ruby said, cleared her head and drew Thief's Respite.
"I'll help," Khione said and jumped back onto her jet-ski. She drove off and engaged the small pack of Lurkjaw.
"What about you?" Ruby asked.
"I'll do my duty," Shale answered and sent a Combat Drone to protect Khione, then waved the helmsman to lure the Grimm away from the city, while he moved to the back of the boat, with Ruby following him. When he reached the back of the boat, and Ruby aimed at the Grimm, a small purple orb formed near Shale, which remained in place and was promptly left behind by the boat. However, another one appeared, and another, and so on. When the Grimm got too close, the orbs homed in on them, exploding on impact.
"What is that?" Ruby asked while shooting the Grimm with pearl bullets.
"My semblance, Spirit Flame," Shale answered, "I unlocked it some time ago, actually."
"I see," Ruby said, "That sure looks useful." Khione caught up to the Grimm and began shooting them with pearl bullets as well.
"It is, but it also takes a lot of aura," Shale answered. He closed his eyes, a single tear rolled down his cheek, and he released a burst of energy that coated all the Lurkjaw for a second. He opened his eyes and continued using his semblance.
"What was that?" Ruby asked.
"Aura Drive," Shale answered somberly, "My brother's semblance. He wanted to become a huntsman. If one of my allies hits an enemy marked with it, they regain some of their aura. It also helps me. I miss him, but using it… it feels like he is helping me, even now."
"Does it hurt?" Ruby asked.
"Yes, every day," Shale answered, "But it is a good pain. It tells me I loved, and it tells me I can love again. It scares me to lose more people, but for the ones I love, I will accept that pain, and make it my strength."
"I understand that all too well," Ruby said, "I… that's it." Her face lit up and she quickly dealt with the Grimm, shooting them with nigh-impossible accuracy, even considering the bullets' accuracy bonus, then made the bullets explode, killing all the Grimm.
~o~
After all was said and done, Ruby fused with her shark soul again, and Ryn and Khione returned to the coast guard base, while Shale and his crew returned to Whitecliff. Back at the base, Ryn jumped out of the ocean and reverted to being Ruby again, and met up with Khione after she brought her jet-ski back.
"So, why didn't you tell me you already had your license?" Khione asked.
"Why does it matter?" Ruby countered, "I'm still the same person."
"Yes, but you're also a licensed huntress now," Khione said, "I can't believe that you made it big, this big, and don't even tell me."
"It's not big," Ruby said, "It really, really isn't."
"What do you mean?" Khione asked, now more confused than anything.
"The day I got my license, it felt… normal, really," Ruby answered, "All that changed is that the words 'in training' are missing from my ID. The party wasn't that big, either."
"Wait, you had a whole party? With cake and all?" Khione asked.
"Yes, but that's the thing," Ruby answered, "It didn't taste any better, or anything. In fact, I can get a better cake from the convenience store down the road. Being a huntress, finally getting your license, does definitely open some doors, but by the end of the day, you'll still feel like you did in the morning. You don't wake up as a student and go to bed as a huntress."
"I… I don't know what to say," Khione said.
"Don't worry, it's not bad," Ruby said, "It's just better not to get your hopes up about it, either. A huntress is just a title, and having a fancy title doesn't automatically make you a better person. Anyway, sorry, but my dad said I had to be home by five, and it's already late." She rushed off, leaving Khione to ponder what she had just learned. Despite the new information, she was still determined to become a huntress, if only so she could find work more easily during the winter season.
~o~
When Ruby arrived home, she was out of breath and decided to walk the last few meters to catch her breath. Taiyang was in the garden, while Zwei was talking to some birds, and the Alpha Beowolf in the backyard was pretending to be asleep. When Ruby arrived, both Taiyang and Zwei raised their heads to see who it was.
"Hello Ruby," Zwei said, "You're back early."
"Yep, and I've got great news," Ruby said. She made a Glyph appear in front of her and focused.
"I am a huntress, and this is my way," Ruby said to herself, "If it hurts me, or makes me sad, then I will accept it all." Slowly, a Beowolf appeared in front of her. Both Taiyang and Zwei were impressed and surprised to see the summon, but when Ruby let out the breath she didn't know she was holding in, it disappeared again. However, she smiled, as she now knew how to summon. Now she could finally talk to her friends.
Author's note: The pearl and fire bullets are based on spells from The Dark Eye. Brand and Meer are both German words, meaning Burn or Fire, and Ocean, respectively. Take a guess which girl has which semblance.
Also, leave it to Ruby to forget mentioning that she's a huntress already.
Khione's plan is actually to become a huntress, but join the coast guard as a regular member, since the pay is lower than if they hired her as huntress, and they can declare all the ice-dust she uses as business expense, saving tons of money. She also helps out because it looks really good on her application for Beacon.
The Spirit Flame semblance is based on the mana weapon from Terraria of the same name, while Aura Drive is based on Karmic Drive, an enchanter skill in Log Horizon.
Finally, the whole "If it hurts me, or makes me sad" line in the end was inspired by a similar line from Go! Princess Precure.