Hello Readers,
Oh, I loved the anime RWBY! It was a shame that alot of the original content was cut out for time sakes, but I loved the original content; the Nightmare Grimm and all. I might even incorporate new RWBY content of the remake in this story.
I hope you enjoy the next installment of Professor Tohsaka at Beacon Academy.
ShirouKuroEmiya
Chapter Three "First Contact"
Ozpin stared at his coffee cup for a long time. Inside the cup was not his usual hot coffee, but the liquid that Rin Tohsaka had been handing out as samples to her students. He hadn't ever drunk the Mana Potion. Yet, he had heard nothing else but praises for it. The headmaster swirled the liquid around in his cup while in deep thought.
He had read the testimonies of the students that had drank the Mana Potion, and also the scientific reports done by professional scientists, who specialized in analyzing liquids. Everything suggested that there was no harm, only great benefits. Yet, it seemed too good to be true in Ozpin's mind.
"Well it's time to experience it for myself, I suppose," muttered the immortal headmaster before slowly taking his first sip.
His eyes widened as he immediately felt the effects of the liquid. The taste wasn't the same, but it was no doubt a Mana Potion if what he experienced was anything to go by. An object that he had believed vanished when the knowledge and ability to use magic was basically lost forever - outside of himself, Salem and those that they blessed magic upon like Qrow and Raven.
Ozpin's mind started working at full speed.
One of the greatest disadvantages that humanity and faunuskind faced against the grimm was the limited Aura reserves that all Huntsman faced. While there were several experimental methods to replenish Aura, those were very unreliable and dangerous. The only tried and proven method had been food and sleep. Nothing worked as reliable, safely, and most importantly, instantaneously as Mana Potions. It seemed that was going to change very quickly.
With Mana Potions, Huntsman could fight for much longer, and could avoid preventable deaths that came from Aura exhaustion. Such a game-changer could turn the tide of his war with Salem, and he needed to secure it for himself.
The Beacon Headmaster leaned back on his chair and swirled around to look in the general direction where Rin Tohsaka would be currently teaching.
Ozpin didn't know if he should be pleased or scared of this alarming development. Rin and the Tohsaka Industries represented a new party that had unknowingly stepped into the shadow war between himself and Salem. They could be potential allies, but also... another growing threat to humanity and faunuskind. He needed to tread carefully on this matter.
If all his efforts failed to ally himself with Rin then the very least Ozpin could do was keep Tohsaka Industries as a neutral party.
"I wonder what else you have planned, Rin Tohsaka?" Ozpin muttered as he brought out his Scroll and went through the intelligence reports of his spies embedded in Tohsaka Industries or information brought from employees that were willing to sell insider knowledge and trade secrets. "Oh, my... This is something I didn't expect..."
- O -
"Hello students," I called out as my class of First Years Beacon trainees started to enter the classroom and sat down at their unusual seats. "Welcome to another class of Aura and Semblance 101. I hope the last class opened your minds to the new era that is upon us."
"Professor, do you have more Mana Potions to give out?" asked a student as she approached me.
Soon more students approached me for more Mana Potions.
I smiled happily at the results of the free samples of Mana Potions that I had handed out at the last class. My company, Tohsaka Industries, was about to release Mana Potions and the popular PR from Beacon Academy students endorsing my product would be highly beneficial. It wouldn't be hard to imagine how well it was going to sell if the bombardment of requests for additional Mana Potions was anything to go by. The more Mana Potions sold then there was more profit generated to fund my interdimensional research back to Earth.
My husband's growing smile nearly made me laugh. Shirou was happier than I was. He didn't think about the profits generated that would help us back to Earth. No, he was just very pleased that the Mana Potions would greatly benefit the huntsman and huntress, who put their lives on their line to protect Remnant's humanity from the Grimm, from Mana Potions.
"Do not worry. There are more Mana Potions that I will hand out after class," I spoke up loudly while placating my students. "Please sit down so class can begin."
The students grumbled, but compliantly sat down.
"Professor Tohsaka," said Pyrrha Nikos. "I felt incredibly energized and alert after drinking the Mana Potion. It was different from coffee or any falsely advertised 'energy drink' that temporarily stimulates my body or mind."
"I am pleased to hear that." I nodded happily. "Does anyone else have anything to add? All advice helps in refining Mana Potions before their release helps every future user."
"Ahem," Shirou coughed loudly. "Please send your comments to this email address or website."
I glanced over to my husband as he started writing out the email address or Tohsaka Industries' webpage regarding experimental products like the Mana Potions before they were released for the general public. The question of why he had interrupted me had been about to slip out of my mouth when I saw Shirou pointing at a nearby clock.
Oh, that's right. I quietly giggled. "Please disregard what I just said, and if you have the time to spare please send an email your thoughts to the Tohsaka Industries' official webpage or post your opinion on the social media account. We have a very busy class before us, and I have some exciting activities prepared."
The class started to look at each other and whisper. I allowed the conversation to last a few seconds before clapping my hands to attract my students' attention.
"The focus on today's lesson will be on Magic Circuits," I continued as I started to write on the whiteboard. "While knowledge and the ability to use Magic Circuits might have been lost to us with the fall of our ancient ancestors' magical civilisation, Magic Circuits continued to have had a profound effect on our biological, social, cultural, economic, scientific and technological developments."
The confused looks of my students only pleased me.
"The discovery of Aura and Semblance didn't just happen by chance. Our predecessors to Modern Huntsman might have lost the ability to use Magic Circuits or the knowledge about Magic, but there is no smoke without fire. They knew magic was real. Many myths and legends are testament to that, the story of Four Maidens being the most well known example. They tried to recreate Magic, leading to the eventual development of Aura and Semblance we know today."
My words seem to have a tremendous impact on several students as they started to talk amongst each other after I stopped speaking and allowed them to discuss with each other. I allowed the conversations to last for about five minutes before raising my voice.
"There is also solid evidence that how Fanus came about was related to the first Huntsman trying to replicate lost Magic in an attempt to find anything to use against the Grimm."
I might have as well dropped a bomb. Before I could even attempt to continue with my lecture, the class erupted into chaos as the sensitive topic of race was suddenly brought to the forefront. My attempts to get my student's attention like shouting or clapping my hands failed. I just shook my head and turned to Shirou for help.
"Boys and girls!" Shirou shouted. His voice was further backed up by a release of killing intention that made all students in the class nervous. "Please listen to Professor Tohsaka."
"Thank you, Shirou." I smiled at my husband before turning my attention to the class. "There was a branch of magic that went by many names; Shapeshifting, polymorph and etc. Whatever the name you use, it was magic that involved transformation of the human body into non-human creatures like plants and animals. This allowed shapeshifting magic users to gain the natural physical and magical abilities that certain creatures possessed for their own use. The ancient Huntsman tried to replicate shapeshifting magic, but were not completely successful since they had lost the ability to use magic. Fanuskind was born from these efforts."
"So this is how Faunus came into existence..." added Blake in an absentminded tone.
"Hence, Faunuskind are an abomination!" A very vocal student with anti-Faunus sentiments shouted.
"You are very disrespectful to your predecessors that gave their lives for the lives that you now enjoy," growled Shirou as he approached the racist student. "If the Faunus were not already then humanity wouldn't even exist."
The student trembled as Shirou walked towards her. It was no surprise as Shirou was a very scary man when he wanted to be. His bloodlust was so powerful that many of my students were genuinely afraid and one had even fainted.
I sighed, and as a teacher I shouldn't allow Shirou to scare my student, but I made an exception to it. So far all evidence, the archeologists and historians, who worked for my company and involved in the investigation of Remnant's past magical civilization, had discovered that Fanuskind had played crucial roles with their animalistic traits where humans would have likely failed. No, I shook my head. It was a fact that Remnant's humanity would have gone extinct without the Faunus.
My husband, thanks to his Reality Marble from the weapon relics that my company had discovered, might have been there in person to experience the countless Faunus giving their lives to combat the Grimm in roles that humans would have failed in. He knew firsthand how much blood and sweat the Faunus had given to rescue not just their own kind, but humanity. The fact that someone was spitting on the sacrifices of the Faunus was very personal to him.
"You don't have the mentality to become a Huntsman if you cannot appreciate what the Faunus have done for humanity," growled Shirou. "I recommend that you change your choice of career as-"
"-Shirou!" I interrupted my furious husband. "You are scaring the students and acting unprofessional." Shirou balled his fist and went to the corner of the room far from any of the students. "While my husband was very rude about the matter, I do agree with his stance. Many Faunus gave their lives for the peace and prosperity we enjoy today. I recommend you take this course with another teacher if you have Anti-Faunus beliefs as I will go over many topics on the Faunus. Some may even misunderstand my future lessons on the Faunus as being pro-Faunus."
The female student that had voiced her anti-faunus belief quickly left the role, no doubt scared by Shirou. Several students, who I knew had anti-faunus opinions, looked like they wanted to leave. Some did. Others remained conflicted whether or not to take my class.
"I hate to admit this," said Weiss loudly, "but Faunus are superior in certain respects depending on their..." She paused as Blake stared at her. "Unique traits..."
I clapped my head and nodded in approval. "Miss Schnee, I applaud you for honesty. You have some bad blood with the White Fang, and no doubt have some reservation about the Faunus, but have moral integrity that is expected from an aspiring Huntress." I paused for a moment before resuming. "The effects of Magic Circuits had on the birth and development on Faunuskind will take place in another class. For now, we shall continue onto another topic." I smiled as I looked towards Weiss. "This next subject interestingly involves the Schnee family."
"My family?" asked Weiss in confusion as she pointed towards herself.
"That is correct," I nodded. "The Schnee family is very well known for their unique Semblance, Glyphs, that is inherited by their descendants. This hereditary Semblance is what is known as Sorcery Trait. In fact, the Schnee's Glyphs is the greatest surviving example in modern times of how flexible and diverse magic is capable of."
Weiss was left speechless by my words. No doubt very confused why I was using her family, my company's greatest rivals, in a positive light. I wanted to snort. My negative opinions about the Schnees wasn't the result of the family's action, but one particular man, Jacques Schnee, for his ruthless and often unethical business decisions.
"If anyone is willing to volunteer, I can awaken their Magic Circuits."
The class erupted into uproar. I silently observed the students' opinions. The most common reaction being disbelief that it was possible to activate their lost Magic Circuits or skepticism that my methods were even safe. I was about to respond after listening to my students for several minutes when I heard Shirou's voice in my mind.
"Rin, do you see the ceiling window? Look at the black crow."
"I do. Why bring this up?"
"Doesn't that black crow seem familiar? I swear it's the same one from yesterday's class."
My eyes widened as I stared at the black crow. I used Reinforcement to enhance my eyesight to superhuman levels and found that it looked exactly the same as the one from yesterday's class. I also noticed once again the black crow's intelligence. I had dismissed it as a figment of my imagination previously, but it didn't possess the wisdom of a smart crow. Looking at it for the second time, I knew that it possessed the intelligence of a human.
"Shirou, I think we might have discovered our first Remnant native mage."
"I thought the same. Continue with the class, I will try to catch it."
"Don't overdo it. We are trying to establish peaceful contact. The last thing we need is to get in battle with a Remnant mage."
"Got it."
I saw from the corner of my eyes, Shirou silently slipped out of the classroom and I continued my class to distract the black crow.
- O -
Qrow felt like the days of drinking were past him now that Rin Tohsaka had appeared at Beacon Academy. He felt like for the first time in years that there was hope instead of the prolonged stalemate that humanity and faunuskind faced against Salem and the Grimm. The knowledge that Rin was passing on to her students was invaluable. No, scratch that! Priceless. For the first time, magic might once again wielded not just by Ozpin, the Four Maidens and those were blessed by Ozpin with great sacrifices.
Yet, nothing excited Qrow as much as the miracle that was known as Mana Potions!
I need to immediately prioritize stealing the formula of the Mana Pot- Qrow suddenly felt a sense of danger and he was about to react when... What's this!? A net? I cannot believe I was so careless as to lose my awareness of my surroundings that someone shot a net at me. I am a professional Huntsman with more than a decade under my belt! Qrow was about to flap his wings and escape out of the net when he found that he couldn't move. What's going on? A net shouldn't be able to stop me from...
"That isn't a normal net," said a voice that turned Qrow's blood cold. "It's made out of special material and imbued with spells to prevent anyone caught inside it the ability to move and use Od."
Qrow stared in disbelief at the speaker. There were several individuals that he never wanted to confront, Salem being on the very top of his list of people. Standing before him was another person that came second to Salem.
Shit, it has to be Shirou Emiya! cursed Qrow.
Shirou Emiya was a living paragon of the Huntsman that had gone down in history as mythical and legendary figures that seemed impossible to exist. Individuals that could even the darkest hours and faced impossible odds , creating miracles to save the day. Hell, Qrow had a strong feeling that if Shirou had the means to negate Salem's immortality then the Queen of the Grimm would have ceased to exist.
He quickly snapped out of his meaningless distractions. His chances of victory or escape might as well be impossible now.
"Look, whoever you are," said Shirou in a calm and gentle tone. "I don't want to fight, only talk." Qrow wanted to scream, but since he was currently a crow then only angry chirps came out. "Would you have stayed if I had approached you peacefully?"
That got Qrow to pause. He certainly wouldn't have stayed around if he had noticed someone figure that he wasn't an ordinary crow. It was just his second nature, and matched the natural behavior of a normal crow that would act cautiously around humans.
"As a gesture of peace, you can just leave to go if you choose."
Qrow cawed in surprise as the net disappeared from around him. He quickly felt movement return to him and his ability to use Aura once more. The shapeshifted huntsman stared at Shirou for a while before responding.
"What are you planning?" asked Qrow, making sure his current voice did not sound like his natural human voice to prevent being tracked.
"My wife and I want to help Remnant spread the knowledge of magic for the good of all. We are also looking for any magic users," explained Shirou.
The shapeshifted huntsman frowned, and found what he heard slightly unbelievable. If he had been Shirou and Rin then he would have been more subtle about their actions as that would draw upon Salem's attention and paint them as a target to be eliminated. Yet, from what Qrow saw as reckless behavior, it seemed that Shirou and Rin didn't seem to know about Salem if their actions were anything to go by.
"Well you have our attention," replied Qrow. "The organization that I am part of have noticed your recent actions and sent me to investigate."
"That's great to hear." Shirou smiled. "Would you mind introducing me and my wife to your organisation? There is a great deal we have to discuss."
"That's going to be difficult. We have been investigating your past, and..." Qrow carefully considered his words before continuing, "We are deeply troubled by what we have found."
"You must have discovered no traces of our existence prior to the founding of Tohsaka Industries. I wouldn't be surprised if your organisation is suspicious about us because my wife and I had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. After all, how could you work with someone you knew very little about?"
Qrow was taken back but Shirou's frankness. He was expecting the usual deflection and stonewalling that was normally practiced in politics. The huntsman quickly composed himself and thought about his plan of actions.
"We can sign a geas," continued Shirou, "to establish some level of trust that would lay the foundation of our future cooperation."
Geas? Qrow almost blurted out before stopping himself. From the undertone of Shirou's word, it had to be some sort of pact, and a likely binding one if Shirou was sure that it would provide some comfort to him. Must be magic... I am going to ask Ozpin what a geas exactly is. Smiling, at least the best that he could do in the form of a crow, Qrow replied. "I will have to consult with my superiors before making any deals."
"Please do." Shirou nodded in an understanding manner. "Rin and I are not going anyway for the foreseeable future."
"I will let my superiors know right away," replied Qrow as he took off into the sky.
- O -
"Rin, it's done." I heard Shirou speak in my mind. "I established first contact with a Remnant mage. It seems like the shapeshifted mage belongs to an organization of unknown power and influence."
"That's great to hear," I replied in the same telepathic manner as I finished activating the last of my students' Magic Circuits. "Keep watch out for any suspicious activities. We cannot rule out hostile actions such as kidnapping or murder."
"Okay, Rin." There was a brief pause before Shirou continued in a cheeky tone, "Remember, you are not allowed to use corpses, even animals. Only living animals."
"Of course, I know that." I snapped. "The last thing I need to do is spook Remnant with ethically debatable magic such as necromancy or create misunderstanding that we hurt our cause!"
I cut off the telepathic connection to Shirou and glanced at the cages of common animalsthat I had prepared for the next part of my class.
"Students, our next topic of the lesson will be..."
:) Can you guess what the topic of Rin's next class be?
What do you guys think about what you read? Is it good, bad or meh? Any recommendations to improve? Please let me know.
Thank you for reading!