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For nearly a thousand years, his Academies had existed in one form or another. One name, one style, one place or another, but all with his hand guiding it. It and the best of the Hunters he saw through their walls and training yards. At first, he'd had them arranged into cohorts. A dozen men and women, well trained for jobs. Like soldiers, but with the best scientific advances at their fingertips, and the money of nobility funding it all, and supplying them with fresh-faced nobles in need of a heroic tale to keep their numbers up.
It had worked well for a time.
But, eventually, those cohorts would graduate. And most would break apart, either for noble youths returning home to pursue their own ends with Aura and the training to use it, or for casualties. Others, those made up predominantly of lowborn recruits, would simply sell themselves to the same nobility. Aura-enhanced, well equipped, Dust-educated soldiers, hoarded by the nobility…
The Twelve Year War destroyed three city-states and put an end to that model.
From there, he'd spent time refining and doing his utmost to keep his Hunters free of politics. Focused on the Grimm. Every century or so, he'd change things up. Test new models, new teaching styles, new training regimens and unit sizes. That went on for nearly five hundred years, until shortly after Oz the Great founded the Kingdom as it stood today. And the four - or rather, three - Academies that stood now, with the addition of Atlas.
Four or five had proven the ideal number, eventually. Small enough that losing one unit didn't cost too many valuable lives, large enough to be effective even with one or two losses - and more adaptable to merging, if two teams were damaged but not lost.
It was ideal…
And he was standing on a stage, waiting to set its dismantling into motion.
"Pitiable…" He murmured, standing against the back wall and watching the auditorium fill with the students who had managed to pass Initiation.
"Headmaster?"
"Nothing, Glynda." He murmured, sighing. "I was just thinking."
"About…?"
"The past." He chuckled, "Which, for me, is a rather lot to think about."
"It is." She hummed, "You're still unhappy about the changes to our team layout. Aren't you?"
"I'm afraid so." He sighed, "For as old as I am, as much as I've seen change, I fear I'm rather… Unwelcoming to change."
"Well, the elderly do get that way eventually." Glynda chuckled, "And I'm afraid we've already modified the first year dorms. So, short of hosting them in the auditorium for the next month of lessons and training…"
"Yes, yes, I know." He sighed, "It's too late to turn back now, and frankly, I'd rather not even if that weren't the case. The technology we could get, the strength of the Insec- The Cybertronians, rather… We all could gain so much with enough time to wear down their hesitation and open them up to the world."
"She will have a response planned…"
"I'm certain." He said, "But that is a constant, as it has always been. A guillotine blade, ever posed over every head. But even so, stagnancy will help no one."
"And compromise breeds progress."
"Turning my own words back on me?" He smirked, "Touche."
"All's fair in love and war, and turnabout is all the more." She quirked a little smile, head cocked ever so slightly to one side. Eyes glinting sharply, she added, "For what it's worth, I prefer Ozymanda's poetry to Oswald's philosophy."
"A-Ah, well, hmph." In all honesty, that period of his life was an older one he'd scrubbed of much of the… Darkness surrounding it. Only a century after he and Salem had fallen out, little about anything had survived since. Legends, mostly, and he was glad for the quieting of all of it.
Though he was happy his poetry, along with a small parcel of the culture of the time, had survived…
Finally, the lights dimmed and the bell chimed gently, hushing the crowd, and Goodwitch hummed, "Well, let's see this done then, hm?"
"Yes." Ozpin smiled, "Let's."
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"You really do need to learn how to use Dust better, Ruby." Weiss sighed, folding her arms across her slight - and the blonde beside her did nothing to dissuade her from that descriptor - chest while she watched the girl read the little booklet she'd handed her. "Even if you don't use it to enhance your clothing, or supplemental yourself directly, Dust-augmented ammunition is quite potent in the right hands."
"But expensive…"
"Yes, well," she smirked, "I am the Heiress to one of the most powerful businesses in Mantle, you know."
"I can't just take your money though…" Ruy murmured, pursing her lips and scrunching up her nose, "Friends aren't just… Bank accounts, ya know?"
"A-Ah…" That… Hadn't been what Weiss had expected to hear. She was no stranger to charity, or to those beneath her on the wealth graph's happiness to take it, aside from those who were too prideful to take it.
This, though… Was something new.
"W-Well, um…" She felt heat flash up her neck when the younger Huntress hopeful turned to her, bright, silver eyes wide and a smile quirking her lips. Scoffing, she turned for the stage and grumbled, "W-We're a team. We have to cover for each other, dummy."
"D-Dummy?"
Thankfully, the lights dimmed before Weiss had to respond, and she could hide her sudden embarrassment in hushing her partner and turning back to the stage.
A moment after the lights had dimmed, and the crowd of tired, sore students had quieted down enough, the Headmaster appeared from the dark at the back of the stage. Before, on the cliff, she'd thought he looked rather bright. Almost happy and eager, in a way. Now, though… He looked almost tired, or perhaps weary, as he surveyed the room.
It was oddly disconcerting…
And she was sure his eyes lingered on her for a moment longer before passing on, too. Which only worsened it all.
Finally, though, he spoke, "Beacon Academy. That is more than just a name, for myself, my predecessors, my fellows. It is a goal. Or rather, two goals."
"Firstly." He held up a finger, slowly turning to look out over the crowd. "This place stands as a beacon to all. Not just of what is, but of what can be. Unity, strength, comradery and fellowship. Irrespective of origin, race, ideology - even of what makes up our very being. Flesh, metal, and for some, both. Each and every last one of you has come here to take on a mantle and a task. To be the beacon, lighting up the world, chasing its shadows away, and leading Human, Faunus, and Cybertronian alike into a brighter future."
"Secondly, and no less important for its brevity…" He held up a second finger and smiled more warmly, "The Academy. Here, you will not just train in combat and arms. You will learn. Change. Adapt to new ideas and information available only here, and a few other places. Academia is an ever changing, ever-evolving creature. As alive, as living, breathing and fighting, as any one of you."
"It is your job to join that fight." Ozpin finished, "To learn, to shape and be shaped, and to reckon yourself with hard truths. Truths about yourself, about history, and about everything around you. How you contend with these hardships are as much left to you as how you will contend with any duel or Grimm."
"That is to say," He frowned, "Entirely."
"Isn't he awesome?" Ruby whispered as he backed away. Weiss turned, one brow raised, to watch her partner positively vibrating in the seat beside her. "Oh, I can't wait! I hope we get to study Cybetronian tech…"
"Somehow, I doubt that…"
"B-But Professor-"
"History." Weiss smiled, "Not the sciences, sad to say."
"Boo…" The girl pouted, turning and poking her knee in what Weiss supposed was meant to be meaningful, somehow. "Punishment poke."
"P-Punishment?" She scoffed, "What for?"
"Dunno." She smiled, "I'll figure that out later."
"T-That's… Not…" Her Scroll pinged and Weiss looked down at a room number and a map-app icon as the headmistress cleared her throat.
"There's always some delay on the room-assignment notifications, with so many of you together, so please accept my apologies." The headmistresses sighed, and then sighed again as another, final Scroll pinged. When it was finally silent, she went on, "Each pair of you has been assigned a room together, which the maps on your Scrolls will guide you to. Please, keep in mind that these were formerly larger, four-person dorms. So do inform us of any problems you may happen across. Our contractors are the Kingdom's finest, but every man may err."
"Now," she smiled, "enjoy tomorrow off, to settle in, and I look forward to seeing you all in our new, improved history course after."
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With access to the Academy's internal communications network, Soundwave set to work immediately on that for which he was uniquely skilled and suited - information gathering.
Some items, unfortunately, were unavailable on the digital network that ran throughout the Academy. Lengthy entries, covering small sub-categories of subjects or ideas within them and ranging all the way up to entire stretches of critical, core information of others. Most Grimm bestiary data, for instance, was digitized and easily accessible, likely as a matter of obvious, indeed understandable, fixation given the Academy's over-all purpose. But others, for instance a detailed history of the Kingdom of Vale's founding and governance - and why a representative republic, or close enough to one, was referred to as 'Kingdom' were only available as hard-cover prints in the library.
And then, there were only twenty such books… A paltry amount in an Academy of hundreds of students.
Other subjects were seen as too base, too trivial, to keep topics on. Basic history, for instance, was left uncovered. As were simple tools of language, and lesser mathematics. These were all relatively useless to him, of course - his understanding of physics, mathematics, the sciences, and all were far beyond these primitives' grasps on them - but some basic sciences would have been useful. Basic Dust, for instance. He only had access to advanced materials, not basic, and as such a gap was left in his understanding.
Unfortunate, but-
"Echo?" He blinked as he cut his connection to the Academy's net and turned, looking up from his spot at the foot of his designated bed and meeting the blonde's confused look. She cocked a hip and then her head, brows furrowing, "You, uh, you good?"
"I am." He nodded, cocking his head the same way she had. "Why?"
"Uh…" She turned and waved at the other side of the room, where posters - some boy band he neither knew or cared to - and a tiny fridge shoved into a corner. "You're supposed to be decorating?"
"I am."
"There's nothing over here, though…?"
He nodded, "I didn't wish to decorate. Is that a problem?"
"I guess not…" She sighed, "It's just kinda boring."
"It's also my side."
"Fair, fair." She waved him off, turning and pacing for the bathroom. "Gonna steal the shower. My hair takes forever."
"You could cut it…"
"I could end you." She threatened, smiling as she slipped around the corner. "Out in a bit, then we're going and getting you something to put on that wall!"
He waited until he heard the shower start to frown and shake his head, "Organics…"
He would never understand them, truly. Though, for Shockwave's sake, he would tolerate them as much as he needed to.
The room was simple. A door, then another to the side of it where the bathing and relief room had been built, pushing out to take up a quarter of the space. A bookshelf lined the opposite wall, empty for now but likely meant for them to fill with their own selection. And at the back of the room, two beds had been tucked into opposite corners. Beside them were small, rectangular clothing repositories with a pair of desks between those.
It was open enough to be comfortable, he supposed. With a window over the desks that let in natural light well enough.
"The walls are adequate." He murmured, eyeing their fine creme color idly. "Why cover them?"
Still, he figured she wouldn't let it alone…
He leaned back as he disconnected from the distant-control system and let one of his Minicons take over for him, in case Yang came out. Turning, he left the room, maneuvering through several halls to a wide storage bay. There he found a simple metal armor panel, surplus sheeting that could be appropriated for anything, and cut out a segment no wider two feet and no taller than four. A multi-purpose laser cutter was easy enough to find, and he laid the panel out on a sheet of back-cutting steel - metal of a sufficient heat durability to withstand the cutter and allow him to work.
Using them, he cut out a simple enough statement, 'I dislike this'.
However, he stenciled it in Cybetronian glyphs, and as such, knew Yang would be unable to read it. Which would serve the purpose perfectly.
Shaking it to be rid of the shavings and waste, he held it up to be certain all the extraneous metal had been cut away, allowing a clear view through it, and then set it aside. Retrieving a thicker, dark red colored plat, he applied adhesives and pressed it into place. The quick-seal formed easily, as did the one that attached the small hook to it, and he turned to head to the Spacial-Bridge. The energy cost to send such a small parcel was minute, as was the crackling warping it made as it appeared at his drone's location.
The ionization scent, he hoped, would be masked by the woman's shower.
"Oh." Yang chirped as she left her shower and he turned, one hand holding the little 'poster' up where he'd hung it. "You found something you liked?"
"In a manner of speaking." He hummed, turning and sitting on the edge of his bed, "There. I've decorated now."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." She laughed, "Imma head out, though. See my baby sis, make sure she's settled. You good?"
"I am." He nodded, splitting his attention to open up a dozen more Bridges scattered around Vale's walls in a wide, wide range. On the off chance they could detect the energy signatures, he also opened up a few in the woods closer to Beacon. With luck, they wouldn't be able to discern his presence.
At least, not without discerning his nature - which should pose more of a problem.
Luckily, only a few systems existed that could track Bridges like his, and he was adept at masking them. And, regardless, there was only a single Cybertronian walking about any part of Vale freely.
Noise drew his attention away and once more he disconnected, allowing a Minicon to remote into the drone, and turned. Shockwave's pet Human had tripped an alarm - a motion sensor - and so he stood and made his way up the hall and into her rehabilitation unit. She was stirring in her pod, pawing at her tubes in a typical way she seemed to have gathered would get attention.
"Stop." He grunted as he came to stand before the little pod. "If you disconnect those, you will die."
"You care?"
"No." He answered frankly, "Shockwave does."
"Where…"
"He is undergoing repairs." Soundwave explained simply, "He was damaged extensively in the battle of Mistral, mainly to his lower servos. Years without repair, and poor maintenance…"
"Is he okay?"
"You care?" He asked, turning her own words back on her. "Or is this simply your worry for your own continued existence?"
"If you call this existing…"
"It literally is."
"It isn't… Enough…" She sighed, closing her eyes and shivering exhaustedly. "I want out…"
"You will die."
"Already dead." She murmured, "Life support isn't living…"
"It literally is."
"Gods, machines don't… Get it."
"We do." He rumbled, turning to look at the plants along the walls. "We simply define things in different terms to yours. Our lives are measured in eras. Yours, in decades. Oft, my species spends lifetimes of yours in a similar stasis."
"That's sad…"
"It merely is." He rumbled and then, out of consideration for her mental well-being and its impact on Shockwave's own, he added. "I have encountered your daughters at Beacon Academy."
"What?" Her eyes widened, "O-Ozpin didn't- No! He promised he- Ah!"
"I am administered a sedative." He said as she began to seize. Soon, the tremors died down and he watched her fall back into slumber with no small amount of consternation and confusion for it. Why had she reacted that way?
It made little sense…
She should have been happy to hear of her daughters after so long. Unless…
Was Ozpin so frightening?
"It bears investigation…" He rumbled, turning to leave. "Luckily, I am well-enough placed."
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Arno Auditore :
Glad you enjoy it!
Dark Tyrant Fool :
All shall be revealed in time, low, but in short, Shockwave is… Not held in very high regard, lol. Not outside Menagerie, at least, and not even very well there.
Wiping out most of a Kingdom will do that, lol.
Also A, I didn't know Velocitronians existed as a term, and B, they adopted the name themselves when 'Insecticon' failed to describe them.
Lord of Tentacle :
Soundwave or Shockwave? Lol. And read as you like, but the details in the world will be important.