Funny story, this chapter had been done for a while and I forgot to upload it.
My bad.
I've been reading replies lately and I'm glad you all are enjoying the story! Warms my heart to read them and see how you guys are interpreting things.
Enough of my drivel, let's begin, shall we?
"Man I hate speeches," Yang stretched after Ozpin had thanked the students gathered in the auditorium and walked off stage.
"You hate anything that you can't punch," Whitley bemoaned, already walking towards the assignment boards that had popped up after Ozpin's speech.
"That's so not true, I like drinking!"
"WHAT!?" Ruby screeched.
"Uh—! I mean! Drinking... Milk?" Yang laughed nervously. Ruby's eyes glowed and hid behind Whitley.
"Oh no! Don't try to use me as a shield! You're the doofus who can't keep her mouth shut!" Whitley stepped away, leaving Yang to Ruby's sisterly wrath.
"So what are we thinking?" Adam asked the boy as Whitley came to stand next to him, both now staring at the assignment boards and scanning them.
"I've had enough excitement as of late, personally," Whitley grunted, "Military war machines were all of the fun I had left in me for this semester."
"I can agree to that," Adam smirked. Not to mention the White Fang, he and his partner almost getting crushed by a mech, and learning that Penny was a cyborg.
Yeah he was pretty tired too.
"Alright Ruby, let our leader go so she can decide what we're doing," Whitley called back. Ruby stopped mid ear pull, looking as innocent as an angel.
Adam and Whitley both looked unamused. They knew that once that girl had a grip on your ear it was all over. Ruby sighed and shoved the blonde forward, Yang sending them both thankful looks despite neither of them doing anything.
"So what are we doing? None of the assignments for our year go too far outside of Vale, if at all," Yang rubbed her ear as she read through the listings.
"And even so, some of these listings seem... Advanced, for first year assignments," Adam read one mission that would have students investigate the bottom of a ravine for recent cave dwelling grimm activity. Those kinds of missions were quite delicate however, and he failed to see why it was listed.
"No kidding! 'Insurgency and uprising suppression'? 'Bandit extermination'? 'Deep sea sightings investigation'!? These sound way too dangerous for most first years!" Ruby shouted, confused as to where these extreme assignments were coming from.
"Unfortunately, Miss Rose," Ozpin cut in as he walked up from behind the team, "these are the least egregious of the assignments we've been receiving. While we live in a time without war, we are not without sudden spikes in activity pertaining to a... Shall we say, chaotic manner?"
"So... Things are picking up outside of the kingdoms lately then?" Yang tilted her head.
"It would appear so. This is not uncommon I'm afraid, it just so happens that your first year and one of these periods of activity coincide. Rest assured there are periods of time where some hunters struggle to find assignments," Ozpin smiled playfully at the last comment.
"Huh," Ruby kept reading the board, "and you're sure first years can handle these?"
"I'm hardly sure of anything I can't see, Miss Rose," Ozpin's smile remained, "but that's why a professor accompanies any first years that are required to leave a certain perimeter of the city walls."
"Insurance," Adam grunted. Ozpin chuckled lowly.
"Nothing so dour. We simply don't want to see any losses so early on in a hunters career. All the students here know what they signed up for when they received an acceptance from the school," Ozpin tapped away on his PDA, the assignment board lighting up in a few places. Some were different colors and vibrancy.
"Those are some suggestions. The brighter the color the higher the intensity of the assignment," he explained upon their questioning looks.
"And the different colors?" Adam asked.
"The type of assignment. Red is search and destroy, green is patrol, blue is investigation, to name a few," he listed. Yang pointed to one.
"What's white with pink polka dots?" she asked.
"Clown slaughter," he answered without missing a beat, noticing the horrified looks on all of their faces, "it happens more often than you'd think."
They remained silent, Whitley reaching out and slowly swiping past the assignments with white and pink polka dots. There were... Quite a few.
"That's... Staying with me in my dreams tonight," Ruby sighed in defeat. The rest nodded.
"At any rate, I hope you find an assignment that you feel suits your skill sets. There will always be more, so don't fret if you find yourself displeased with the nature of your mission," he said wisely. They nodded and thanked the headmaster as he stepped away.
"Hey! You! Guys!" a loud voice called from the right. They turned and watched Ren bound over, the rest of team PAVL behind him, albeit slower.
"Did you guys pick an assignment yet!? Didja? Didja!?" he asked. Nora placed a hand on his head and dragged him back a few steps.
"Forgive him, he's excited," Nora said tiredly.
"You guys already found one?" Ruby asked. Pyrrha shook her head.
"We haven't decided yet. I thought it'd be a good idea to see what you all were thinking. These listings are quite dangerous looking," she said the last part a little nervously but the look was dashed away as Jaune placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Relax Pyr, you're getting better every day. Plus you'll have us around, so there's nothing to worry about," he said in an even and calm tone. She blushed and thanked him, leaning into his side slightly.
"Damn, well weren't you two fast with the affection. Looks like some people have moved past the friends phase~" Yang laughed. Whitley rolled his eyes.
"Not fast enough. The signs were all there from the beginning," he grumbled.
"Anyways!" Pyrrha blushed, Jaune a little red too, "we just wanted to check in with you all! We'll be out of your hair now!"
With that Pyrrha essentially ran away, Jaune smiling apologetically, but clearly lovingly as he chased after her. Ren screamed 'Nora's it!' and then dashed after them as well.
"So when are you and Ren gonna seal the deal like those two?" Yang asked. Nora sent her a scary look, a rare display for the otherwise straight faced viking.
Without another word, but clearly heard grumbles and growls, Nora waved goodbye and followed her team away.
"So what are we thinking then?" Ruby swiped through the listings. The most common mission was patrol. Made sense considering how important the main city of Vale was.
"Well I for one would like to get out of the city," Whitley claimed, "the longer we remain without something to do, the more likely we are to get wrapped up in more terrorist activity."
"Sounds good to me," Adam nodded, "it'd be nice to get away from the city and help out beyond the walls."
"Let's see then..." Yang swiped around, stopping on a search and destroy.
"Says here it's a primarily faunus settlement that's been on the end of both grimm and raiding," Yang read aloud, a frown present on her face.
"Makes sense," Adam sighed, "the bandits know the faunus won't get much help from humans and the grief and tension caused by the raids means grimm follow soon after. It's a vicious cycle, and more unfortunate, one that's none too uncommon."
"Then we shall focus our efforts there," Whitley decided. Ruby smiled at the boy.
"Ohh! I'm so proud of you! Weiss will be happy too, for sure!" Ruby jostled the boy. He flushed slightly but didn't push her away.
"That... Means a lot," Adam said shortly, unable to show the full extent of gratitude that such an act meant to him. Whitley nodded, the two sharing a smirk.
"Then it's settled! Team YSTR will kick ass down the faunus countryside!" she pumped a fist. Ruby did the same, mirroring her sister's pose. They looked expectantly at the two males of their team.
Adam sighed and slowly, lazily really, raised his fist to mimic their own pose. Whitley rolled his eyes and did the same.
"Hoorah!" Yang cheered, selecting the assignment.
"Well now that that's squared away, it says that our departure is at noon sharp. We should go prepare now so as not to make a poor impression," Whitley said promptly.
"Also says we'll be accompanied by a teacher, but it doesn't say who..." Ruby read the assignment, the information now transferred to their scrolls. They walked away, scanning the room to see if they could spot any of their friends.
"Salutations friends!" a familiar voice called.
"Hey Penny," Yang waved. Penny sprinted towards them, skidding to a halt right before them and smiling brightly.
"Has your team decided on your assignment!?" Penny asked. Yang nodded, explaining their mission.
Weiss smiled as she heard the mission details, sending her brother a proud look. He seemed to stand a little taller at that, a smile of his own gracing his features.
"That is very admirable! Many would seek missions that seem to hold grandeur! But your reasoning is honorable!" Penny praised.
"Yeah well, we're pretty awesome," Yang preened under the ginger's words, "What about you guys? You decided on anything yet?"
"Indeed!" Penny saluted. Weiss spoke up before Penny could answer in full.
"We'll be meeting with the rest of our team in two days and then be helping a fishing village to the north," Weiss said succinctly.
"Didn't take you for the fishing type of girl, Weiss," Yang joked. Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Still your tongue. We'll be investigating a series of missing persons incidents," Weiss explained.
"Oh?" Yang had a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"Yang..." Ruby started in a warning tone.
"I guess you could say..."
"Gods above and below, don't!" Whitley gripped his face in frustration.
"There's something pretty fishy going on in that village! Eh? Eh!?"
Adam had already left, and Ruby and Whitley looked ready to follow.
"I don't get it!" Penny blinked, still smiling.
"What!?" Yang shouted, looking genuinely affronted by the remark.
Weiss just groaned. Why'd her brother have to be partnered with such an annoying and persistent person?
"So what are we doing!?" Ren asked, swiping through the missions faster than anyone could read the assignments.
Nora grabbed his hand to stop him from going any further, pulling him back and letting Pyrrha step up to the plate. The redhead nodded her thanks, looking over the various assignments.
"So what are we thinking?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune hummed.
"Well the majority seems to be patrol missions, but personally I'm not one for waiting on walls or walking in circles," the champion said, mostly jokingly but with a hint of boredom at the thought of waiting around.
"Yeah! I wanna destroy!" Ren chanted.
"Well there's no shortage of search and destroy, so I think we'll be able to fulfill your request," Pyrrha hummed as she tried to appease her team's requests.
"If I may make a suggestion," a wizened voice spoke up.
"Professor Ozpin," Nora nodded in greeting. Ozpin waved lightly to them.
"If you're looking to stretch your skills and see some time in the field, there's a mission slated for a site quite a ways from here," Ozpin spoke in an even tone, garnering their attention as he brought up his PDA.
They looked at the assignment that had just been selected and the details were brought up.
"A mission to... Mountain Glenn?" Pyrrha questioned.
"Your team should have no issues with the mission requirements, and you'll be accompanied by a professional hunter," Ozpin assured.
"But still..." Jaune mused, "Mountain Glenn seems like a... Strange site for a mission."
"Who cares!?" Ren grabbed Pyrrha, shaking her back and forth, "Let! Me! Destroy!"
"Gah! Okay! Okay!" Pyrrha stammered and selected the mission, succumbing to Ren's desire to wreak havoc.
"Wonderful. You'll meet with your professional soon. I apologize for the abruptness, but you'll be leaving shortly," Ozpin nodded. They didn't protest the short notice, having known beforehand that some missions may have started directly after Ozpin's speech.
"Well, let's go then team. Make sure you've got everything you need," Pyrrha took charge, her team agreeing as they walked away.
"Yeah! And we gotta say goodbye to team YSTR!" Ren shouted.
"We'll get everything in order," Jaune reassured them, "let's focus on preparing first."
Ozpin watched them leave, turning and striding away from the scene and entering a meeting room behind the stage in the auditorium.
He closed the door, meeting the eyes of one Raven Branwen, feet propped on the table.
"Did you get me a good team for the mission?" Raven asked, skipping any formalities.
"I think you'll find that they're exceptional. One of them may be a little rough around the edges but I'm sure they won't hinder any progress," he assured. She clicked her tongue.
"Still don't know why you had me disguise this mission as a class assignment old man," she glared.
"And I still don't know where you learned that there was activity in Mountain Glenn," he challenged back. She rolled her eyes.
"I already told you, I got it from the White Fang while I was scoping out those Paladins," she explained. He smiled lightly.
"Of course. I didn't mean to assume. I just hope the scale isn't as grand as we're thinking," he said casually.
"You and me both Oz. I'm thinking it's a convoy, if anything. A lot of men and maybe some more stolen prototypes or the like. Either way, not something we want in the hands of the enemy," she stretched, standing working her neck.
"Quite right. My hope is that we'll dissuade the council from asking for anymore interference from Atlas if we can cover this up before it reaches the city," Ozpin held that shine to his eyes when he had everything planned out.
"So we take the kids on a mission and just 'happen' to stumble upon some terrorist activity and, being the great samaritans that we are, handle it before it blows up and the council can know about it, giving Jimmy the old middle finger and keeping soldiers off of Valean soil," Raven rattled off. Ozpin tilted his head one way then the other.
"More or less."
"Classy," Raven snorted.
"Indeed," Ozpin toasted with his mug, "on to something different, why ever did you request not to take your daughter and niece's team? I'm sure they would've performed adequately."
"I don't want Summer getting on my ass for dragging Yang and Ruby on missions. She may be retired as a field agent, but she's still a huntress who can tear me a new one if I put her family in danger," Raven grinned.
"They're your family too," Ozpin raised an eyebrow.
"True, but I expect them to get hurt every now and then. Summer doesn't want to think about that yet, but she knows it can happen," Raven shrugged.
"Ah, the doting love of two very different types of mothers," Ozpin quipped. Raven snorted, standing and making to leave.
"Damn straight. I'll be on my way. Hopefully these brats won't keep me waiting," she grumbled.
"Do take it easy on them," he said with a chuckle.
"When have I ever been known to do things easy?" she asked as the door closed.
When she was sure that she was completely separated from the man, Raven let out a sigh that she'd been holding in. Lying to Ozpin wasn't easy, and even when the man knew she was lying, covering the lie in an effective manner was even harder.
But her plan had worked. Or rather, her plan with a few of Cinder's suggestions had worked. Earlier in the day she had fed Ozpin a truth and a lie. That she had overheard on the night she'd destroyed the Paladin's that there was White Fang activity in Mountain Glenn. Ozpin, being in his place, couldn't just take the chance that there was nothing there and so he'd devised his own plan to both have her sort it out and cover it from the council.
Sometimes Ozpin's secrecy worked in her favor. With James breathing down the man's neck about bumping up security, he needed to do whatever he could to stop the council from giving him any more favor.
She hadn't explicitly said she wanted team PAVL, she'd just said she wanted a strong team that wouldn't get in the way. After feeding the other lie about not wanting to work with Yang or Ruby, Ozpin would be forced to pick the best team he could think of. And what better choice than the team with the famed Immovable Champion?
The plan was all set to stop the Fang from making any radical decisions. Cinder said that the person leading them was a little on the extreme side. Now that they had been given the chance, there was no way someone with those extreme ideals would just let it pass. Even without Cinder's support, they wouldn't give up the opportunity to further their own goal.
Now she just had to deal with the little bastards.
"This... Isn't who I was expecting," Jaune said out loud, wincing as he realized that he had done so unintentionally.
"A joy to see you're so motivated too," Raven bit back, standing in front of the bullhead.
"Mom? Why didn't you tell me you were fielding one of the missions!?" Yang shouted, having come to send team PAVL off.
"I don't mix work with family, brat. Ozpin called in a favor for me to chaperone and now I'm here," Raven grunted.
"So that's why we bumped into you," Ruby hummed before brightening, "How's mom?"
"Summer is as she always is; worrying and waiting to use her vacation days to visit you," Raven rolled her eyes. While she technically hadn't actually seen Summer in a while, that was still true if their calls to each other were any indication.
"Well, have fun you guys," Yang saluted, looking apologetic towards them.
"Why did that sound more like a warning..." Nora sighed.
"Now come on you bundles of hormones and violence, we have work to do," Raven turned and boarded the airship, not waiting for a reply.
"Good luck you guys! Stay safe!" Ruby hugged Nora and Pyrrha, waving at the boys.
"Don't come back in a body bag," Adam grunted, him and Jaune gripping each other's forearms.
"The Grimm will have to blow up the whole city if they want that," Jaune laughed.
After a few more pleasantries and farewells, team PAVL boarded the ship, and watched their friends and school get smaller and smaller.
"Alright kiddies, here's the play by play," Raven broke the quiet of the hull, standing between the four of them.
"We'll be dropping into the middle of Mountain Glenn and securing a base. We'll be here for three days, and on the third pickup happens at ten hundred hours. Don't talk back, I won't listen. Don't act up, I'll hit you. Understood?" Raven gazed among them.
They looked unimpressed, but nodded anyways. Content as she could get, which was not very, she took a seat and closed her eyes. It wouldn't take too long to get to the drop off point, but it would still be enough for her to rest herself.
"So... What's Mountain Glenn?" Ren asked into the silence.
What the fuck do you teach these kids now Oz?
Raven sighed and opened her eyes, glaring as she realized three out of four of the students were looking at her expectantly. The only one who wasn't was the champion, who was focusing more on his teammates with a slightly perplexed expression.
"I take it you three aren't from around Vale, are you?" Raven asked.
"Our team is mostly from Mistral, with the exception of Jaune," Pyrrha stated. That explained it. Not many knew about Mountain Glenn, even those in Vale nowadays didn't always know. The kid probably had an old family if they taught their kids about it.
"Mountain Glenn was planned as an expansion of Vale. It'd be the biggest settlement outside the main walls of a kingdom. The idea was that a new city would fix the overpopulation and unemployment in the kingdom," Raven said gruffly.
"And I'm guessing that didn't work out the way the council planned," Nora spoke up.
"One of the most devastating events post-Great War," Raven shot back.
"My parents told me about this," Jaune joined in, "they told me that the fallout of city falling sent the kingdom into a miniature depression."
"City fell. Families were separated. More people died than any village outside the walls ever had at once," Raven leaned back, "when a village falls, people are sad, hell you even get survivors who have seen their whole life taken away. But Mountain Glenn was bigger than any village by a longshot. The losses felt were deeper than people ever expected."
Nora and Ren had gone into a silence, both moving closer to the other but not saying anything. The subtle glow from Ren meant he was using his semblance to keep them from any negative thoughts right before their mission.
Pyrrha was in deep thought, going over the information in her head. If Mountain Glenn was as Raven said, then they'd be going into some dense ruins. The amount of leftover grimm would probably be high. Jaune gripped her shoulder and nodded reassuringly, sending her a winning smile. She nodded back gratefully, thankful he was able to keep composure in almost every situation.
The rest of the flight was spent in relative silence. A few mumbled thoughts were passed back and forth, but the earlier excitement had dissipated somewhat. Raven didn't feel too bad about that.
Sure, it was good to go in with a happy go lucky disposition, but if you ignored the reality of every situation while trying to 'stay positive' every time, you missed a crucial part of life as a hunter. Not every mission would be a simple one where they could just remain happy. Sooner or later they'd go on a mission where the objective wasn't to kill grimm that were attacking, it would be to find survivors after grimm had already attacked. And sometimes you didn't find any.
It was better they learned the mentality now when it was a low relief assignment. They may not have known that they'd be fighting terrorists, but they'd apparently done it already so it wasn't something they couldn't do.
The bullhead slowing down was their sign that they were nearing their drop off. Raven stood and went to check with the pilot, the four students standing and preparing themselves.
"So... We have to land from up here to down there?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune smirked.
"I'm sure you're better at landing than before," he tried. She whimpered in response, drawing laughter from her team.
"Alright you little bastards," Raven grunted as she reentered the hull, "we're dropping here. Expect a fight, even if there is none. Better to be caught with a weapon in your hand than your dick."
They all sighed at her language, but prepared nonetheless. Raven nodded when she felt they were in decent enough form. She turned and threw the bullhead door open. The wind rushed in and she looked around for a moment before gesturing out the door with one arm, the other holding the handle so she wouldn't fall.
"Let me see how you land!" she called. They looked between each other and nodded. Nora and Jaune jumped at the same time.
The two powerhouses of the team landed in a crouch, aura flaring. They scanned the area, weapons out. When nothing jumped at them, Jaune raised his shield into the air.
"That's our cue," Pyrrha nodded. She and Ren jumped next.
Jaune and Nora both held their arms out, catching their respective partners before gently placing them standing on the ground.
Raven landed lightly a moment later, sending them a look.
"Unorthodox, but whatever works, I suppose," she shrugged.
"So what now?" Ren asked, twisting his body to stretch.
"We do what we came on the mission for," Raven grunted.
"So... Kill grimm?" Jaune sent Pyrrha a look.
"Well the mission said there was increased activity around the area, so I guess we just start clearing things out?" she suggested. Raven snorted.
"What a rudimentary plan. Luckily for you it's not like the Grimm can plan around you or anything. If you just run around looking for grimm then you'll get yourself killed. Let them come to you," Raven looked around, her eyes stopping as she looked down the street.
"There's one now! Do I kill it!?" Ren had his bow ready, arrow nocked already.
"There's only one," Nora observed, "don't beowolves normally travel in packs?"
Suddenly, a howl rang out throughout the ruined city, masses of the monsters clawing their way to the street. They all pulled their weapons up, turning their backs to each other as they kept the Grimm in their sights. After just a minute they were surrounded.
"Okay..." Pyrrha raised her shield before her, "now you kill."
The arrow was already flying.
The explosive attached to it had gone off just a second after she stopped speaking. The creatures charged and they all met them in kind.
"Why'd you wanna be a hunter brat," Raven demanded, watching as Pyrrha peeked around the corner of a building, searching for grimm. She'd gotten a lot more tactical since becoming a leader, and she was proud to say that she was pretty good at thinking in advance!
The question caught her off guard however. Her team was spread out. Not split up, Pyrrha had voiced how bad that idea sounded so they were all within shouting distance, but they still wouldn't hear this conversation.
Why did she want to be a hunter? There was the obvious one of wanting to be a hero and help people. She knew that she wanted that, no doubt. But she also wasn't stupid, and had a feeling that Raven's question was a little more nuanced than that.
"I... Suppose I wanted to be better than who I was," Pyrrha answered after a pause.
"You mean who you are?" Raven shot back. Pyrrha huffed shortly.
"No. I am not the same person I was a year ago. Nor months ago. Or not even a few days ago. I want to be better than my past self," she answered. Raven hummed noncommittally.
"You don't say," Raven drawled.
"Is that not to your liking?" Pyrrha deadpanned. Raven raised an eyebrow. So the girl had something resembling a backbone after all. Color her surprised.
"Nothing wrong per se," Raven checked the next corner, obviously seeing nothing since she continued speaking, "Just that I've heard it before. Not exactly a fully formed reason the way I see it."
Pyrrha blinked. It wasn't? That sounded like a fairly good reason to her!
"I see that look. All I'm saying is that there's always more to people than they let on. I won't sugarcoat it; you're the weakest on your team. I know that from observation now," Raven stated bluntly.
Pyrrha winced. That wasn't wrong at all, not by a long shot. Ren was adept at stealth, ironic but true, and had a skill set that'd put most assassin's to shame. Nora was both immensely powerful and agile at the same time, and was capable of thinking rationally even when under pressure.
And Jaune. If ever there were someone to shine a light on how night and day they were in terms of skill it was him. Even if he said it didn't matter to him, it was still abundantly clear that he was model hunter material. In time and with a few more years under his belt, he'd likely be the strongest hunter on the planet, at least for a little bit.
"You're reason can be selfish you know," Raven said again, breaking her train of thought.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'm not saying yours is, or even that you were lying about what you said before, but I know a lot of people who lie about why they started their careers as hunters to make themselves seem way better than they are," Raven told, looking off into the ruined city. It was like she was reflecting on something herself.
"Did you become a hunter for selfish reasons?" Pyrrha asked. Raven barked a laugh.
"Not just selfish ones. Evil ones. But that's in the past, and I have a family now. Not all selfish reasons are bad reasons, brat," Raven said wisely.
Not all selfish reasons were bad...
"I... Want to be someone that people can rely on," Pyrrha stated. It lacked some confidence though.
"That so?"
No, that wasn't all of it. It was more like...
"I want to be someone people can rely on because... Because I want others to know that I'm better than who I was," Pyrrha said, with more conviction this time.
"Hmph. Not a terrible reason. You've got a ways to go for that though kid," Raven didn't let her see it, but there was a small smirk on her lips.
Pyrrha was smiling too. Now that she said it out loud, maybe it wasn't such a bad reason. So what if she wanted people to know she was becoming someone who meant something in the world? She'd become that person she wanted to be in time.
"Look alive. Your loud friend looks like he's bringing trouble," Raven grunted. Pyrrha slumped as she watched Ren round the corner, several ursa following him as he laughed.
Back to work it seemed.
Pyrrha was tired. They'd been fighting the entire time now, with only brief moments when the rest would provide cover so that one of them at a time could hydrate.
By the time they realized it was getting dark and they could no longer see the sun setting behind the ruined buildings, they were sore, exhausted, and hungry. Raven suggested they make their camp in a high place, and they had set to finding a suitable location.
They'd settled on a, surprise surprise, ruined building. They were able to see the streets around them and the sky above them, while also having enough walls to keep them covered in case any grim looked up.
Ren had gotten a fire going scarily fast, something that nobody wanted to ask about after Nora's look of resignation. They all took out the tins that Beacon provided them, heating them over the fire and eating in a circle. The meals weren't great or anything, but after a day of fighting and running around a destroyed city they didn't exactly care enough to voice any complaints.
"You brats weren't too bad for a bunch of first years. You've all got decent teamwork," Raven spoke up, remembering that she was technically supposed to give them some form of evaluation.
"Though I think I speak for everyone when I say that I could do with less explosions when we're fighting in a crowded, already crumbling, cityscape. Bad enough I'm fighting the Grimm, I don't need to get crushed by the second story of a filing company," Raven glared at Ren. The rest of the team sent him unamused looks as well.
"Yeah seriously Nora," Ren shoveled another forkful of food into his mouth, "Uncool."
Nora looked like she had to resist the urge to toss the ninja off the building for a moment but the thought clearly passed quickly. Pyrrha wondered if that kind of thought wasn't all that uncommon if the ginger could get over it so quickly.
That probably wasn't too healthy.
Jaune had finished first, standing and rolling his neck. He began to walk towards the open, destroyed wall of the room they were in. He turned and smiled.
"I'll take the first watch guys. You three decide who I'm waking up in two hours," he smiled as he climbed up the debris to reach a better position.
"Not it!" Ren put a finger to his nose. Nora just shook her head and sent Pyrrha a small smile.
"I'll take second watch," she offered. Pyrrha nodded gratefully.
"I'll take third then," the redhead claimed. That left Ren with the last watch of the night.
They all bid each other a goodnight, wanting to get as much rest in as possible. Raven made sure she was able to see beyond the wall as well, but wasn't worried about sleeping while she could. She'd had to camp out in more dangerous places, this wasn't the worst.
She thought back to her conversation with Pyrrha. The girl had a good reason for being here. She wasn't just in it for some surface level reason but didn't have any delusions of heroism. She wanted to be better, and she seemed ready to do whatever she could to be stronger. Raven's face tensed as she thought about that.
In any other case that'd be fine. That'd be respectable.
In this case it was a sign that Cinder's theory on the girl held more ground than originally thought.
If the girl wanted to get better, she'd need to put in a lot of work. She clearly wasn't the dishonest type, but she also didn't seem the type to miss an opportunity if she saw a good one. If her teammate offered to train her, she'd train her heart out. When Raven told her to embrace her own desires, she did it faster than Raven thought she would.
If she was offered a chance to hold onto a power unlike any other, with the responsibility to be one of humanities guardians?
A lot of pressure, and unbelievable to most. But it wasn't too unlikely that the girl's sense of morals would win out and she'd agree if it meant keeping people safe and being stronger than she'd ever imagined.
If what Cinder said was true and Ozpin somehow had managed to steal half the powers from Cinder, then who was to say that there wasn't a way to give them to someone else? It wasn't like Ozpin couldn't give people powers. She and her brother were walking, or flying, examples of that.
So just why was Ozpin hiding the maiden from her? It wasn't just a matter of trust, there was something entirely suspicious about it. Suspicious enough that Cinder was starting to seem more and more like the ally she painted herself to be.
Hopefully Ozpin wasn't the evil that she believed he was, if that was the case.
Two hours passed and Jaune woke Nora. Two more passed and Nora shook a mumbling Pyrrha. Another two hours passed and Pyrrha very carefully woke up Ren. Ren saluted groggily, trudging over to the watch post.
He sat there, gazing out over the ruined city and taking in the moon as it drifted ever lower in the sky. The night had evidently been uneventful, seeing as none of them had seen a need to wake the others.
He looked back into their camp. Nora had propped herself against a wall, a blanket covering her legs. Raven sat above them, arms behind her head and legs crossed. Jaune and Pyrrha's position made him laugh quietly though. Pyrrha must've thought she was sneaky snuggling Jaune's arm like that. Both looked happy though, and that made Ren happy.
His ears picked up a sound. It was a peculiar noise, not like the growls or clawing of grimm traversing the terrain. It was quick, and it rang out and echoed in the city for just a moment.
This sound was very... Human. Ren looked down, his trained eyesight from years of using a bow. He scanned the streets and narrowed his eyes, almost squinting.
There. He saw movement about three blocks away. But it definitely wasn't grimm. And the sound he had heard had certainly seemed familiar. The smoking grimm body and the figure he could see meant that the noise was most likely a gunshot.
He turned, running into the camp and shaking Nora awake. She blinked her eyes open, seeing Ren, a serious look crossed her face. He nodded and she returned it, standing and preparing herself to move.
They woke up their teammates next, the two blushing slightly when they realized their friends had seen them.
"What's going on?" Pyrrha asked.
"I saw something. A human something," Ren said. That set them on alert mode. Jaune immediately started preparing while Pyrrha ran over to where Raven was perched.
"Mmf, whazzit?" Raven grumbled, clearly not a morning person.
"Ren says he saw human movement on the other end of the avenue," Pyrrha explained. Raven blinked, then grunted and stood, cracking her neck and dropping from her elevated position.
"Why are there people here?" Pyrrha asked aloud.
"Maybe they're survivors from a village that have made it this far looking for rescue?" Nora mused. Raven chose then to interject.
"Alright kids," she gathered their attention, for once taking them semi seriously, "whoever is staking out here likely isn't someone we need to save. Spare me the looks of confusion, there are no villages for miles around Mountain Glenn, it'd be a death sentence. These people might be bandits or looters, but either way, they aren't friendly, especially if they're armed."
It wasn't the best lie she could've told but it'd do the trick. She of course knew that these people were the Fang that Cinder wanted shut down, but she couldn't just blurt that out. She'd play it up a little when they actually found where they were hiding, but she couldn't just let it slip that she knew there were a bunch of terrorists running amok.
"Okay then, with that said, remember not to hold back if they make it clear that subduing them is off the table. And if you've never taken a life..." she watched as they all grew solemn, "Well, do what you have to do to survive. Understood?"
They all nodded solidly. She nodded back, grateful but surprised that they were able to commit to the mission so easily.
"It's... Not ideal," Jaune said, "but it's what we signed up for."
"Yeah!" Ren tried to stay positive, "besides, we've already met a lot of people who'd rather we died!"
"That's true. Those warsuits weren't exactly 'warning shot' material," Nora added.
If they only knew that they'd be seeing the White Fang again so soon. Raven got the rest of her necessary supplies together, before waving them to follow and beginning their descent from their camp.
That's a good place to leave things hanging.
Not a lot of action, but that's coming and I think we all know that if we know anything about the RWBYverse and Mountain Glenn. It's like the PREMIER place for fight scenes. Anyways, don't worry if things seem slow, they'll get faster in the coming chapters.
Not much else to say. I actually had a lot of fun writing the dialogue for this one and I'm wondering if any of you caught the Futurama reference that I threw in.
Follow to stay updated and drop a review to let me know what you think!
Stay healthy, be safe, love one another, and have a wonderful time!
