Fun and Games
I don't own RWBY, Doom, Kingdom Hearts, Assassin's Creed, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Legend of Zelda, Horizon Zero Dawn, Metroid, Dishonored, Wolfenstein (obliquely referenced, but not used for a living character), Megaman, or Overwatch.
Glynda Goodwitch sighed as she entered the room. Why Ozpin always sent her to deal with offering acceptance into Beacon to the eccentric ones, she did not know, but she did not enjoy it. Still, she supposed that, if she was to handle such a thing, she could do worse than to have all of her expenses covered over the course of the trip.
Nonetheless, the potential students in question were called eccentric for a reason. The first two were an interesting pair. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie were practically infamous for the things they did. She, using only some sort of device attached to the hook of her giant hammer, had managed to kill an ancient, deadly AI that, had it been able to do as it had pleased, it would have been the end of life as a whole, from the largest Grimm to the smallest ant. He, in contrast, had powers that he said were from a mysterious being called The Outsider, which had caught Ozpin's interest, particular with how he made use of that entity's power to disrupt a plan to create what, from the file's description indicated, would have been a worse entity than Salem, herself.
They were not hard to find. She was drinking coffee from her seat on top of a pile of battered and bruised bandits, which Glynda idly noted did not have any of the Branwen tribe's signature outfits. He, on the other hand, was clenching his marked hand, clearly planning on dealing with her if she proved to be a threat.
"Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie," she said, deliberately not raising her riding crop to illustrate that she was not there to start a fight, while Nora ran her hand over the triangular piece of jewelry on her ear. Instead, she slowly raised the hand holding the admission forms and continued, "I am…."
"You're Professor Glynda Goodwitch!" Nora said cheerfully, "Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy, working directly under Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy! What brings you to our neck of the woods?"
Suddenly beside Nora as if he had teleported, Ren was completely silent as he stared at Glynda from behind his skull-like face mask.
"Professor Ozpin has sent me to offer you both a position at Beacon Academy." Glynda said, "Your room and board will be provided at no cost to either of you, and you shall receive training designed specifically to get the combat techniques of all who come to Beacon to their peak performance."
The two locked eyes, seeming to share a short, silent conversation, before Nora said, "Alright. We're in."
Before Glynda could say anything, Ren seemed to vanish before the sound of someone screaming before suddenly being cut off could be heard a short distance away. Turning, she saw that one of the bandits had tried to escape, only to be knocked unconscious by Ren.
"Just let us pack our stuff," Nora offered with a cheery grin, before glancing at another attempted escapee of the battle, then the mug that read '#1 Boss!' in her hand. Shrugging, she threw it, causing it to shatter against the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.
Glynda just sighed, hoping that the next one would be easier to talk to.
She was not sure what to make of the giant key with a snowflake keychain on it, nor the fact that Weiss Schnee was using it to cast literal magic. What she did take note of was that the girl seemed to be fighting imp-like creatures that looked like Grimm, but clearly weren't, which fit with the little explanation that Ozpin offered her regarding the girl and her abilities. All she knew was that the girl had apparently saved the world at least once, though the exact details were unclear, and that the shadow beasts she was defeating were called the Heartless, which seemed to feed off of emotions, if she understood correctly.
Her movements were extremely graceful, flowing as if she were dancing through a ballroom, rather than battling in a courtyard.
"It would be best to let her finish up before you speak with her," the butler, a gentleman by the name of Klein Sieben, remarked, "She should be done momentarily."
Once the girl had finished with the Heartless, she seemed to banish the key-shaped sword and turn towards Glynda, revealing an eye with scar along it as she gracefully made her way to the woman.
"How can I help you?" she asked, and Glynda couldn't help but feel that this was a sincere question, rather than simple politeness.
"Miss Schnee, I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy," she greeted, "I have been sent by Professor Ozpin to offer you a position at the Academy."
"Professor Ozpin sent you?" she asked in interest, "Well, I guess I do owe him one. Okay. I'll need to pack my things, but that won't take too long."
Glynda hoped that the remaining three would be equally accommodating.
It had taken her some time to find the mysterious bounty hunter known only Nikos, who was based in Mistral. Aside from being known to be the appropriate age for applying to one of the Hunter Academies, all that people knew about them was that they were never seen without their armor, and had recently been spotted traveling with a blond figure with a sword and shield, both marked with a triangle made of three triangles, with the latter having a stylized red bird directly below the triangle. By that description, these were the exact people she was looking for.
"Nikos?" Glynda inquired.
"May I help you?" asked a voice heavily distorted by a helmet that looked like it was made from the remains of an Atlesian Knight, while the rest of the armor looked like it was a major improvement upon the Paladin, redesigned to fit a person as armor, rather than as a piloted robot.
"I am… what is he doing?" Glynda interrupted her own speech at the sight of the blond creating a block of ice out of the water beside them by using a bizarrely outdated-looking scroll.
"Treasure hunting, I believe," Nikos replied, "I've found it best to let him do as he pleases It helps him with his memories."
"Who is he?" she asked, watching him scale the block to get to a treasure chest.
"He said that his name was Jaune," Nikos replied, "But you were going to discuss something with me?"
"I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy," she said, "Professor Ozpin sent me on his behalf to…"
"I'm sorry," Nikos said, "One moment please."
So saying, Nikos raised an arm that had a canon mounted over it and fired a single blast, taking out a figure in the distance, before whistling towards Jaune as small, pig-like creatures began to rush towards them. Jaune, for his part, flew over to them with what looked like some sort of glider as Nikos inexplicably converted to small, perfect sphere, which began to spin at faster and faster speeds. It was at that moment that Jaune reached behind him and pulled out what looked like a wooden bat before striking the sphere towards the approaching group. Offering Glynda a respectful nod, he then drew his sword, causing the ones still standing to all flinch, before he charged them. Nikos, for their part, had unrolled and was tearing through them with impressive skill before he joined her, the pair covering one another's backs as they fought. Idly, Glynda began to fling the creatures that got too close to her high into the air, causing them to vanish when they finally landed from lethal heights.
As Jaune gathered up the items that fell from their opponents, Nikos returned to Glynda and said, "Sorry… So, you were saying?"
"I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy," Glynda stated, "Professor Ozpin has sent me to offer you a position at Beacon."
"I will go," Nikos said, "But only if Jaune can come along as well."
"Glynda mused upon that. She knew that Ozpin wanted this legendary bounty hunter in Beacon for the sake of ensuring that there would be heavy-hitters in the next generation that were well-trained in being Huntsmen and Huntresses. She thought on how he and Nikos seemed to have a natural rapport and how combat-effective he had been. After a few moments, she said, "I believe that we can accommodate him, as well."
"Alright, then," Nikos said, removing their helmet to reveal a red-haired young woman, who smiled and said, "We'll go to your Academy, then."
Glynda supposed that it was good that the latest band of eccentrics seemed to be polite, despite their quirks, though she had been more surprised than she should have been to find that Nikos was a girl.
Still, she had two potential students to speak with, and only one of them had an actual address and had actually sent her own application, so she supposed that she would meet that one, first.
It seemed that fate had a different opinion. The Assassin was standing before her on the road in the darkness of the early morning of the forest, her amber eyes the only light in the shadows.
"I heard you're looking for me, Professor Goodwitch," she said, "Why is that?"
"Professor Ozpin is trying to find as many promising students as possible," Glynda replied freely, "You have a reputation…"
"I see…" she murmured, "And how do I know this isn't a trap?"
"If this were a trap, you'd have already been taken in," Glynda said.
"Perhaps," she said, having somehow gotten to the other side of Glynda, stepping into the light of Glynda's torch. Observing her, she saw the signature hidden blade of the Assassins on one hand, but the other was clenched into a familiar position. She stared at the clenched hand carefully, only for it to be pulled away just after she got a slight glimpse of a sigil that she had seen before.
"I know that mark," she said carefully.
"Nothing is true. Everything is permitted," she replied flatly, "I struck a bargain to save lives."
"And you'll save more if you learn at Beacon," Glynda responded.
The Assassin was silent for a moment as she slinked back into the shadows, "Alright. I'll find you when it's time."
And with that, she seemed to vanish, melting back into the shadows.
Whatever Glynda had expected when she had gone in search of Yang Xiao Long, this was not it. A blond berserker beating a creature as large as a mountain to death with her fists and what were effectively shotguns attached to her wrists was very far from what she expected. As the blond leapt back, the colossal reptile lunged for her with one claw only to have the offending limb blasted back by her cry of "Fus Roh Dah!"
She continued to battle the beast, dodging and striking, until the beast was finally subdued, and she delivered the killing blow from atop its head, ending the creature permanently. Her deed done, she then practically surfed down the corpse
"Yang Xiao Long, I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy. I have been sent to personally inform you that your application to Beacon has been accepted and you are welcome to attend. All the necessary forms have been left with your father and…"
Gunfire echoed from the top of the cliff.
"What is that?" she asked.
"That'd be my sister, Ruby," she said, "She's just having some fun, but we can check on her as long as we don't get in her way."
Quietly, she led her up the cliff, taking care to stay unseen. And then, Glynda saw it. A red cloak. Grey armor that looked even more advanced than even the Atlesian knight armor. Hundreds of Grimm and hundreds of abominations of flesh that seemed to practically ooze blood and viscera. And it was the one in the cloak that was winning the battle.
She wouldn't have even realized that it was a person in there if not for Yang's comment. She would have likely mistaken it for a thing that was designed for the sole sake of slaughtering those things.
It was less of a dance than that of the Schnee, but the girl's movements were clearly coordinated. She tore through the Grimm with a cross between a scythe and a gun, but the creatures that Glynda could only call demons were nowhere near as fortunate. Those, she seemed to take particular delight in destroying. The Grimm were simply in her way. The demons, she was ripping apart with any sort of tool she could find except for her scythe. She could have even sworn that she had seen the girl rip some sort of power core out of the chest of one of the larger demons.
And that was when the scythe-gun hybrid was put away, replaced with a heavily modified shotgun in one hand and a chainsaw in the other as she began to shred the demons and Grimm with an almost sadistic glee. Somehow, Glynda suspected that, had she not been wearing the helmet, she would have had the smile of a fanatical killer.
Glynda could only watch in fascination as she avoided any damage, vanishing into a stream of rose petals before reforming elsewhere on the battlefield, tearing through the creatures as if they were nothing to her. And that was when she put away the two weapons and took out the scythe once more, converting it to a rifle as another swarm of Grimm and demons approached. In response, she took out the clip of the rifle and replaced it with a strange-looking clip, before taking out another item and attaching it to the rifle, making it significantly larger.
"Take a couple steps back…" Yang said as the girl raised the modified rifle, "The BFG9000 does not have a pretty effect on the things she points it at."
One round was fired, releasing what looked like some manner of energy, which turned the demons and Grimm into nothing but a red mist and dust.
As the girl approached them, removing her helmet to reveal a young face that looked too innocent, especially when compared to the carnage that Glynda had witnessed, Glynda couldn't help but be reminded of the reason that the Enemy had so few worshipers left alive, now. She remembered Summer Rose and realized that this girl was potentially an even greater threat to Salem.
She hadn't even spared a moment to think beyond that when she said, "I would like to offer you a position at Beacon Academy."
"I get to go to Beacon?!" the girl asked in a voice that was as at odds with the carnage that Glynda had witnessed as the face was, "Yes…! I mean 'Thank you, Professor Goodwitch.'"
Glynda was certain that Ozpin wouldn't argue the case and was simply relieved that she had finished her work. At least there were no other over-the-top personalities that were of the right age to attend the Academies.
In his own private lab, Professor Polendina nodded to himself as Penny tested her modifications. An ability to copy the abilities of opponents she defeated could prove to be useful, and the blaster hidden in her arm was the perfect hidden feature for if the situation got too dire.
He looked away from the room she was testing in to glance at the notes for the device that he was almost finished developing. The chronal accelerator would help Ciel Soleil keep herself from once again popping about the time stream unwillingly outside of the containment facility. He had known that project was going to be a catastrophe, and he was simply relieved that he had personally destroyed all copies of the research before anyone could try to use it again. With work, she could even make herself more combat effective with it.
