I want to thank you all for your support and reviews in this story of mine guys, I really appreciate it. I also want to thank you all for taking your time to read this story
HalosZealotDemon, thanks for that review buddy. :) Stay safe as well, dude
Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue, RWBY, nor the items from Halo. They belong to Rooster Teeth and 343 Industries.
Vamonos, mi amigos
"What did the headmaster call us for?" Washington asked his partner. The two freelancers were currently in an elevator that took them straight up towards Ozpin's office as they have ben summoned by the Academy's headmaster.
Carolina shrugged her shoulders before replying. "I don't know Wash. It might be something important that could involve our teams."
"I hope it isn't anything too serious." Wash muttered, slightly nervous about what was going to happen.
"Just take it easy. For the record, the guys haven't caused any trouble. Well, aside from Caboose and Nora who we need to restrain every time they go to the kitchen for pancakes. Those two are absolute monsters when it comes to them being withheld from their favorite snack."
Wash couldn't help but chuckle. "I agree though. Let's keep it in mind to buy more pancake batter next time, and to give Ren a gift basket. I have no idea on how he could stay sane with being around his partner for so long, and to just volunteer to cook Caboose some of those pastries himself."
Carolina hummed in response as she looked over the view the elevator ride has given them. It gave them a clear eyeshot of the academy below.
"This place, it's nice…" Wash spoke. Carolina turned to face him and ask "What do you mean?"
"Well, for starters, it's calm, peaceful. Save for the occasional grimm though and criminals but that is just commonplace here. But what I mean is, I like the change of scenery. No life-threatening situations, or world ending scenarios. Just, small little problems that could be easily taken care of without us having to worry losing another one of our friends."
Carolina smiled underneath her helmet. Washington was always the one who could give some inspiring pep talks. He probably might have been influenced by York due to his ideologies as the two were close friends. But nonetheless, it gave Carolina some good old nostalgia of her history with Project Freelancer that could be considered a pleasant memory.
"I'm with you on this Wash. Like you said, no more catastrophic events that we need to solve. Only this time, we need to just watch out for our mischief making teammates and get dragged along in their shenanigans. But, if we were to choose to go save the world again or stay with our idiotic friends, I'd take the latter a thousand times over."
Wash took of his helmet and grinned cheekily at Carolina.
"What?" her partner questioned.
"Was that…? Were my ears functioning correctly. Was that you actually giving a wholesome talk about our group?"
Carolina snorted and punched Wash in the arm, although it was playful. "Shut it you. You won't be hearing another one of those anytime soon."
Their ride finally stopped as they arrived at the top-most floor of Beacon Academy's tower. The two disembarked from the elevator and approached the double doors that lead to Ozpin's office. Washington politely knocked first and heard Ozpin say to them to get inside.
Once they did, they were greeted by the nice interior of the headmaster's personal quarters. There was a desk at the end of the room accompanied with holo-screens that functioned as cameras and as a form of television that displayed the news that was currently going on right now. There are sets of moving gears on the ceiling and on the floor below them. There was also the Academy's clock which was revealed to be behind Ozpin's chair.
The headmaster took a sip of his coffee before noticing the two armored freelancers walk towards him.
"Good morning to you two." Ozpin greeted them warmly and offered a small smile.
"To you as well Professor Ozpin." Carolina replied.
The headmaster motioned his hands towards the two chairs in front of his desk. "Please, do take a seat." Both freelancers complied as they sat in each chair.
"So, how are you finding your time here at Remnant?" asked Ozpin to the soldiers from another dimension.
"It's alright here headmaster. We've found Vale and your academy a nice place to stay and to suitable area to take some leave from our world." replied Washington.
"That is good to hear. Now, the reason I have called you two here is because of something important."
"Our group isn't in trouble, right?" Carolina queried.
Ozpin chuckled and waved his hand. "No, nothing of that sort. It is regarding an individual who may have acquainted himself with your teammates."
Ozpin tapped a button on his desk which revealed the picture of a certain blonde knight.
The two freelancers were puzzled by this. "Jaune?" Wash gasped. "What did he do?"
"We'll be getting towards that, Mr. Washington. For nor, I would like to ask you two some questions because the two of you have the most experiences in life rather than your teammates and it is rather fitting that I rather get answers from you on this matter."
"We'd be happy to help professor." Carolina said to Ozpin which made the headmaster nod in appreciation.
"Thank you, Ms. Carolina. Now, for the first question, how do you feel about someone faking their credentials in order to achieve something?"
There were a few seconds of silence before the cyan freelancer replied. "If it is something dire, we'd be force to intervene but if not, then we shall notify the authorities directly. Counterfeit is considered an offense."
Ozpin slowly nodded, taking in the freelancer's answer. "But what if I were to tell you, it would be for a good cause?"
"Well, why would they go for the unethical approach? Why not just follow the rules? Surely everyone has the sense to do that right? No one would be foolish enough for doing such a thing." Wash chose to answer back.
"That is why I summoned you hear today, to take in this information that I shall share to you." Ozpin grabbed some sheets of paper and presented it to them. "These are Mr. Arc's transcripts."
"I don't see nothing wrong with it." Wash piped up.
"That is the thing, Mr. Washington. These were forged by my student."
That stunned the two freelancers. Why would Jaune ever do something like this? They never expected the goofy knight of theirs apply for the institution in a way that was considered a criminal act.
"Why show us these? Why not just call him up here?" Carolina pressed on.
"I showed you these because I want to ask you two, does this change your perception of Jaune Arc?" Ozpin asked the two.
"Uh, we don't know how to answer that, professor…" Washington mumbled, still shocked by the revelation of Jaune's stunt.
"Well, his transcripts were too good to be true, but the results say otherwise. He lacks training in combat and has no experience in Aura. But, I do give him credit for having tactical prowess and knowing how to lead his team into battle."
"What the hell was he thinking? He could have gotten himself killed." Carolina hissed.
"A hero complex, I guess?" followed Washington.
Ozpin chose to interrupt from there. "You see, Mr. Arc's lineage consisted of well renowned huntsmen and heroes, especially his great grandfather who participated during the Great War. Unfortunately for Jaune, he was dissuaded of the notion to continue his family's legacy and they refused to train him in the skills needed to become one. I understand and admire Mr. Arc's drive and passion to be a huntsman but he is taking it on bold and dangerous consequences."
"Why us?" Washington grilled, "why not call him up here and explain to him for his forged transcripts?"
Ozpin remained calm and gave the two a reassuring look. "Which leads to my other reason, I chose to let him continue."
The freelancers remained silent which prompted Ozpin to continue his explanation. "A good number of our new students here want to become huntsmen with the purpose of fame, riches and glory. But Jaune does not strive for those. He chose to be a huntsman so he can save the innocent, to protect the ones who couldn't do so themselves, to act as a symbol of hope. Reasons like those are very rare these days which is why I am appeased to find that goal in him. And lastly, in these times of peace, the number of applicants for huntsmen have severely dwindled, due to the people relying on the current situation that there is no threat to get them and that they have huntsmen patrolling around to protect."
"I need all the help I can get I can which is why I am making an exception to him. Besides, he is very dedicated into improving himself with the help of Ms. Nikos and his teammates. As I said before, he is a great tactician and a very observant leader and I am not willing to waste potential like him."
Both Wash and Carolina took in the headmaster's words and understood them clearly. Jaune really has the potential in him to become a great huntsman. With proper and dedicated training, he would catch up to them in no time. Then, another question came up from the two freelancers.
"Then why explain this to us headmaster? Why not call on his team and team RWBY for this?" Carolina asked.
Ozpin smiled one again before replying. "Remember when I said earlier that you all have experience, when I revealed this news to you, both of you took it with rational minds. I am afraid that if his teammates and friends were to hear of this, they may think irrationally and may cause tension between the two sister teams. It pains me to see to have their bonds severed over this."
The headmaster straightened up. "Now onto business,"
"You mean, that wasn't the reason you called us up here?" Wash asked, befuddled.
"That was only partial." Ozpin revealed "It seems that Mr. Winchester from team CRDL may have found out about Jaune's predicament and is using him for their own gain to blackmail him if he doesn't succumb to their commands."
"It's not surprising that those fools would instigate this." Carolina voiced her thoughts.
"I want you two to shadow them and make sure things don't go out of hand, especially now of all times because of tomorrow's excursion to Forever Fall. And please, just keep this confidential between us three. If you do this, I will be giving your teams some recompense for your efforts."
After their meeting with the headmaster, the two freelancers boarded the elevator again and went into a conversation.
"What do you think Wash?" Carolina asked her partner.
"We'll only be there to guide Jaune. If he really wants to improve himself, then he must stand on his own legs." The grey freelancer replied.
As the elevator descended, they saw what their teammates were doing out in the school's grounds. A makeshift hoop was constructed and the rest of them were playing a 3v3 basketball competition.
"Well, looks like some of us have ways to kill the time…" Wash muttered.
Out on the school grounds, the reds and blues decided to spend their weekend break on a fun competition. It was Tucker who pitched the idea that it would be in a form of competition, and that they play basketball to which the others agreed.
It was him, Caboose, and Doc; because Wash was called by the headmaster, versus JD, Lopez and surprisingly, Grif.
The aqua sim trooper was now starting to regret his decision as he moaned on why he couldn't get himself better teammates. The swordsman was dribbling the ball and was defended by the Rookie.
'Damn it, he's good.' He remarked. He then grinned as he performed a quick fake then switched to a crossover that got him free of JD's lockdown defense on him.
Tucker saw that no one was guarding Caboose which made him call out to his teammate.
"Caboose, heads up!"
"Okay!"
The aqua gave him a bullet pass to which the blue received and was now contemplating on what to do.
"Caboose run!" Tucker ordered.
"Run? To where?"
"To the basket you idiot!"
Caboose looked around for a moment before replying "But, there are no baskets around here."
"I meant the hoop, moron!"
"Okay! Running, running, running."
"Don't forget to dribble!"
The blue stopped, then dribbled and ran while saying "Dribble, dribble, dribble." Suddenly, Grif appeared right in front of him. "Nowhere to go this time!" the orange one declared.
"Caboose, pass it to Doc. He's wide open!" Tucker shouted. Caboose turned and saw Doc nervously gesturing to him to pass up the ball.
"Boy, I'm not ready for this." Doc muttered
"That's because you suck" O'malley jeered.
"No Caboose, give it to me please." Grif said to the blue, taking advantage of his stupidity.
"Don't give it to him Caboose!"
"Come on buddy, please."
Caboose then decided to hand it over to Grif. "Okay, here you go since you asked nicely.". Grif nabbed the ball and smirked victoriously.
"NO!" Tucker hollered as he rushed in to defend. Sadly, it was for nothing as Grif easily posted up Tucker due to his size and made a quick turnaround jump shot for the easy bucket.
"Deuce!" Grif hyped up after his successful shot.
"And the score is 24 to 8, definitely a one-sided battle!" Simmons spoke up from the sidelines.
Tucker huffed and stretched his arms. "Man, is this what Lebron feels after carrying his team many times?"
The aqua trooper then inbounded the ball to Doc who was now shaking of the pressure.
"Come on Doc, shoot it!"
The medic nodded and shot the basketball in a very weird jump shot. It completely missed the hoop, only hitting the backboard which rebounded onto Lopez, who with the help of aim assist, easily scored a bucket extending the lead to 26-8.
"Man, that was the weirdest jump shot ever, of all time…"
Everyone turned their heads and saw the freelancers approach them.
"I'm sorry guys, I excelled in track, not this." Doc meekly replied. His alter ego chose to butt in. "Which solidifies the proof that you do suck at this game."
"Wash, you gotta help us man! We're losing like, badly!" Tucker pleaded.
The two freelancers exchanged nods as Washington stepped up to help and replaced Caboose.
"Let's do this" he encouraged his teammates.
"Oh yeah, we're finally back in this baby!" Tucker cheered and Doc happily nodded.
Grif meanwhile scoffed. "Yeah, as if that's gonna change everything."
The blue trio turned towards the red trio and saw them posing smugly, with Grif smirking, Lopez crossing his arms, and JD spinning the ball in his finger.
"Oh yeah? Well you better not piss your pants because we've got Wash with us!" Tucker boasted.
"How 'bout we raise the stakes eh? If we win, you give us cash mothafuckas, the bling, dinero." Grif began as he fixated Tucker with a confident gaze.
"That's cool, that's cool. And if we win, you're gonna be our manservants for the whole week? How about that?"
The red trio huddled for a moment and incoherently speaking. Finally, Grif approached the blues and said "You're on."
And so, the game restarted. JD and Tucker met for the jump ball to which JD tapped it towards Lopez who then gave a quick outlet pass to Grif. Tucker then went on to put defense on the red but failed to notice JD doing a quick cut, to which Grif gave the assist to the ODST for a quick scoop lay-up.
The blues then inbounded the ball to Wash who dribbled the ball, staring down at his defender Lopez.
"Okay, time to get serious."
"That was so unfair, you guys have Lopez's advanced features. That's cheating!" Tucker whined.
"Nah, that was just skill." Grif shot back as he counted the number of Lien in his hands. Like their first game, their next one was one-sided again as the reds torched the blues with a score of 86 to 52.
Wash, who was still a bit embarrassed of his performance placed a comforting hand on Tucker's shoulder. "Sorry bud, I have been out of practice for a long while."
"Bummer" Tucker pouted. Actually, if it weren't for Washington, they wouldn't have at least scored more than half of the red's points. He led the blues with 26, while Tucker scored 18, and Doc scored the least with 6.
"Alright, so much for that" Carolina now announced. Everyone was currently at team CCDT's dorm where their meetings were usually held. "Tomorrow, we will be going to Forever Fall for a class activity. Does anyone remember what the objective was?"
"Ooh, we'll be collecting some sap for research. Forever Fall's trees produce sap that has many benefits."
Carolina nodded. "Exactly, so is everyone prepared for the trip tomorrow?"
"I've collected jars for each one of us" Simmons answered.
"And I've got permission from Goodwitch that we'll be using a separate vehicle!" Sarge exclaimed.
"What?"
"That's right! We won't be using those bullhead thingies, no siree. We'll be flying ourselves in the good ol' Pelican of ours!"
"Where di you even get one of those?" Wash asked.
"JD has one in the Voyager." Sarge pointed to the trooper. "Besides, it was Kimball's gift for us when we liberated Chorus so I say we use 'em."
"Okay then." Wash replied.
"And Grif will be piloting it." Sarge stated.
"What!?", said soldier exclaimed as he dropped the Lien he was counting.
"You heard me dirtbag, you'll be the one flying us to our destination."
"But I don't know how to land the thing!" Grif protested.
"Which is why you're practicing," *chk* *chk* Sarge cocked his shotgun, "right now."
"Oh for fuck's sake!"
"Everyone, brace for impact!" Washington yelled.
A pelican flying overhead came crashing down in what was ironically, the place where they first set foot in Remnant, onto Forever Fall. Everyone inside, the ones who were lucky enough to have a seat were doing fine, but the ones who were left to stand and to hold onto the handle bars went flying inside the blood tray and crashing into the others. The reason, a certain orange themed soldier was purposely forced by a raging senile red soldier (I don't know if the word senile can be applied since he became young, but it was only his looks, his age is certainly way older, but whatever) after threats of making him do his unfinished exercises on Basic Training early morning, and getting blasted by his shotgun.
"That will be the last time we will by flying alongside you Grif." Carolina said after wobblily standing up. She was lucky to have a seat, but was still unfortunate to have a blue moron of a soldier be sent hurdling onto herself and to the others since he didn't get a seat.
"Hey, this whole operation was Sarge's idea!" the orange soldier immediately defended himself. It has been known that he may be skilled in driving other vehicles, piloting aircraft isn't particularly his specialty, especially with the landing part. Sarge then spoke up "And a damn shame it is dirtbag! I swore this situation will have you immediately offed after the so many attempts I tried to put you out of commission, but in the end, here you are, still breathing."
"We managed to survive a horrendous near-death experience and you're already starting shit." retorted Grif.
"Thank God." said Doc. "Boy am I lucky to be not on the ground and face this pelican crashing towards me a second time."
"When did that actually happen?" asked Simmons.
"You know, back at Sidewinder, when we fought the Meta?"
"*groan* Nope, don't remember it." Tucker groaned as he stood up.
"Fuck you guys." snapped Doc, which made the purple medic recoil in disgust for using such a profane word. "Oh, I shouldn't say bad things like that, how uncharacteristic of me."
"Alright, so much for that" said Washington "it seems that everyone's alright."
"Except for Lopez though" pointed Donut. The poor robot was also unlucky to have not find a seat and was a complete mess of parts.
"Mierda(Shit)" cursed Lopez.
"Oh, don't worry Lopez, your good old buddy Donut will be sure to put you back together" The pink trooper reassured Lopez. "Would you guys mind tossing me Lopez's body parts, be careful though, those parts are rather delicate, even though they have been thrashed and ravaged from all those experiences that we all faced-"
"No need for you to continue that Donut" Tucker quickly cut him off. He and Doc grabbed Lopez's other parts and helped reassemble him.
"Looks like our equipment is still intact, no broken jars. Ooh, this will be the perfect time for me to test out that sap." Dr. Grey happily said.
"That's good to hear" said Washington. "JD, would you mind opening the door, I need to check that we didn't land far or else miss Goodwitch will be looking for us."
JD flashed a thumbs up from the co-pilot seat as he was busy checking the ship's diagnostics to make sure no severe damage was present. Luckily though, Grif somehow did a good emergency landing with only minor damages to the front. He then pressed the switch to the pelican's back door opening it up.
"Oh my god! I remember this place! Forever Falling, Michael J. Caboose has returned!" Caboose quickly ran out. "Caboose wait up!" Tucker quickly chased after his blue team mate. Washington just shook his head and also stepped outside followed by Carolina. He saw a few bullheads flying over and not landing far which was good.
Both freelancers nodded to each other "Ok everyone, let's pack up and head over to the others" ordered Carolina. Everyone complied and grabbed each of their needed equipment.
"Doc, be a gentleman and help me carry these jars please?" asked Dr. Grey.
"Oh, uh sure thing." awkwardly replied Doc which made Dr. Grey giggle.
The Reds and Blues made their way to the other students who were still standing near the bullheads listening to Glynda who was busy trying to lecture something.
"Hey, I heard this sap is supposed to be delicious." Grif whispered to Simmons.
"You better not chug all of these down Grif, they are important." replied Simmons.
"Make me" the orange soldier confidently said. The maroon soldier sighed in annoyance "You are insufferable."
JD, which was now Red Team's newest member watched the two bicker and looked at Lopez.
"Creame, no ha sido testigo de todo lo que he soportado durante todos los anos que pase con estos idiotas(Trust me, you haven't witnessed all the things I have to endure from all the years I spent with these idiots.)" Lopez said to the ODST. JD could only shrug back in response since he was not also good in understanding Spanish.
"Well, it seems that everyone here is already present." Glynda announced. "Now, if you all follow me, I will show you the path to where we will go."
And follow her, they did. As they walked, both Wash and Carolina excused themselves from the group and did what Ozpin tasked them with. The two then located Jaune being dragged away by Cardin and his cronies with Pyrrha looking on with a frowning expression in concern for her leader and teammate.
"Damn, I wonder what's going on between those two." Wash said to his partner
"Hmm?" Carolina asked.
"Pyrrha and Jaune. I don't know if you've noticed but Pyrrha saw him get dragged away and only looked on with disappointment, not going over to help."
"Well, it's his problem, not ours. Come on, let's just do what Ozpin tasked us to do."
The two silently and sneakily trailed off to where the boys went as they hid behind the bushes, out of their sight. The duo then saw Jaune carry a crate full of jars filled with sap and was dragged away by Cardin and his teammates as they peered over the ledge.
"This is not good." Washington quietly whispered.
Carolina motioned to intervene but stopped as Jaune now stood up against his oppressors. Looks like there really was grit and integrity in the Arc fellow. Jaune, with all his might threw the jar of sap onto CRDL's leader, angering him. But it all dropped once he realized what was approaching them all.
A giant Ursa, who was drawn in by the negativity, and possibly the sap, sent all of Cardin's men running in efforts to survive, abandoning their leader. Alas, the one proud and haughty bully was now inching away from the beast and in a sudden turn of events, it was Jaune who stood against the giant grimm, once again proving his worth of attending Beacon, and that he really was a true huntsman at heart.
The blond knight slashed at the Ursa's torso, angering the grimm which made it swipe its huge claws at the boy. Jaune rolled over to the side but failed no notice it's other claw swipe at him. He raised his shield just in time but was sent flying over.
Washington and Caorlina now sprung out of the bushes and fired their weapons at the grimm. Their shots bounced off its tough armor plates which distracted the Ursa from finishing off Jaune.
The bear grimm roared at the two and charge right towards them.
Jaune, who was still recovering from his daze sat up and saw the fight right in front of him. Before he could stand, he saw a hand being offered. He looked at the person who gave him a hand and was surprised that it was Cardin of all people!
His bully, or should he say former bully, hauled him to his feet as the two shared a tense eye contact.
Jaune at first was still distrustful of the Winchester scion but was cut off with the boy's words.
"Come on, let's kill this bastard first and finish what we had later."
Jaune, understanding their current situation sighed and relented. "Fine, let's do this."
Both huntsmen in training helped Wash and Carolina fend off the beast, killing it finally for good. Meanwhile, a certain redhead looked on, hidden behind the trees with a smile on her face, knowing that her partner has greatly improved himself and gained a lot of confidence.
After the battle, the four then engaged in a discussion.
"Alright, so let me get this straight, you heard of Jaune's transcripts being fake which you used as leverage for yourself to use him as your personal grunt." Wash stated.
That surprised Cardin and Jaune and shocked Carolina.
"Wash!" she hissed.
"W-wait, you knew that I faked my way here? H-how did you-?"
Washington knew that trying to keep things a secret would not make things any better so he promised to Carolina to share their discussion with Ozpin to the two boys without notifying the rest and say that Jaune and Cardin were on good terms now.
Carolina reluctantly agreed and shared to the two on what their meeting with Ozpin was about. The two huntsmen in training silently listened as they explained to detail on their purpose on why they followed them there and what they were supposed to do.
"Look, I know that him getting a free pass to the academy was unfair on your parts because you worked so hard to have a chance to attend here, but by bullying a classmate instead of focusing on the bigger picture that huntsmen are supposed to work together doesn't exactly make you the better person, alright?"
Wash said to Cardin as the now former bully, who was still frowning as his ego was damaged, nodded in understanding.
"And as for you" Carolina said to Jaune "being the hero and using your skills for good is an inspiring thing, and it hurts that your family doesn't hold you in the same regards as them. But by trying to apply here at a combat school without formal training was suicidal. You could have gotten yourself killed. And what would happen to your friends that they learned that you perished here? Not exactly a favorable setting isn't it?"
Jaune also listened to what the freelancer said to him and ingrained to himself that he must be better.
"I hope the both of you learned your lessons today." Carolina finished. Once again both boys nodded in understanding.
"Oh, and tell your team to abandon their ways too, okay?" Wash said to Cardin. The mace wielder accepted it with a grunt. "Now shake hands and make amends."
Both Jaune and Cardin complied, albeit the latter being reluctant to do so but then remembered that Jaune did technically save his life and that there were two other people who are capable of beating him if he refuses.
"Looks like the mission went successful after all, right Carolina?" Wash turned to his partner as he smirked
"Indeed, it was." Carolina nodded.
A/N: So, instead of going the usual route where most RWBY fics depict CRDL as their beating sticks and chew toys for our protagonists, I went the other way and decided that they should be redeemed. I try to show that the bullies in RWBY don't necessarily equate to them being the villains.
